back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 6-27-2021
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We're going to go ahead and start our worship 00:14:37.100 |
by singing this first song, "Name Above All Names." 00:15:41.580 |
As a sacrifice for sin, He satisfied God's justice, 00:16:13.580 |
I'm reigning in glory, Jesus, You're the King. 00:16:21.580 |
Hope of heaven is exalted, exalted to the highest praise. 00:16:39.580 |
To His empty floor, to His empty Christ is risen, 00:17:01.580 |
Angels never cease to worship Jesus in heaven. 00:17:26.580 |
and strength of glory, all glory and dominion 00:17:39.580 |
Highly exalted, name above all names, worthy of all praise. 00:17:55.580 |
I'm reigning in glory, Jesus, You're the King. 00:18:03.580 |
Hope of heaven is exalted to the highest praise. 00:18:24.580 |
You are highly exalted, name above all names, 00:18:47.580 |
You are reigning in glory, Jesus, You're the King. 00:19:07.580 |
Let me get to a few announcements before we start it. 00:19:09.580 |
First of all, Breanne membership class, a new round of it 00:19:13.580 |
is starting this coming next Sunday on July 4th. 00:19:16.580 |
Again, in the cafe area where the youth group meet. 00:19:19.580 |
And so it's a eight week course, 9 to 1020 each Sunday. 00:19:35.580 |
Today is the last day to sign up because they 00:19:38.580 |
need to assign the small groups and various things. 00:19:41.580 |
So please do not hesitate or wait till tomorrow. 00:19:52.580 |
And then we have an announcement from my brother Jason 00:20:06.580 |
So most of you already know it's going to be at a new location, 00:20:11.580 |
It's the West End Mission Hills and Rancho Mirage. 00:20:33.580 |
behoove you to sign up as soon as possible and pay. 00:20:36.580 |
Otherwise, the accommodations will be at another place 00:20:52.580 |
and sign up for that so that we can accommodate you guys. 00:20:55.580 |
And I realize some of the Baman College people, 00:20:59.580 |
have your roommate signed up, but you yourselves 00:21:05.580 |
And lastly, we have an All Church Retreat Facebook page, 00:21:10.580 |
Jane Tang, our sister Jane Tang, has been reaching out to you 00:21:16.580 |
also befriending you guys so she can add you. 00:21:21.580 |
You also might see updates regarding that page as well. 00:21:24.580 |
Make sure you guys add yourselves to that page. 00:21:26.580 |
All future communication regarding the retreat 00:21:33.580 |
just ask me, Esther Leung, or email family@marincc.com. 00:21:41.080 |
So let me just reiterate that our retreat is almost 00:21:53.080 |
So just to clarify that even if you've signed up, 00:21:56.080 |
if you don't pay on time, the other people who sign up 00:22:02.080 |
So take that as an encouragement and a warning. 00:22:05.080 |
And so if you've registered and you just can't hold in your 00:22:07.580 |
spot, they said we need you to sign up because, again, 00:22:15.080 |
I think everybody is just eager to-- we didn't know how many 00:22:17.580 |
people were going to sign up because of what's been going on. 00:22:20.580 |
But I think everybody's eager to get out of the house 00:22:38.580 |
But let's pray, and then we'll give you a minute 00:22:45.080 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing 00:22:47.080 |
and the privilege that we have to be called your children. 00:22:51.080 |
Help us, Lord, never to take for granted the gift that we 00:22:54.080 |
have in you, that our celebration would truly 00:22:59.580 |
I pray that even in our giving, help us, Lord God, 00:23:06.580 |
and that you would bless this time, Lord God, 00:23:08.580 |
that we would give to you what you are worthy of. 00:23:56.080 |
Brothers and sisters, let's all stand together. 00:24:39.080 |
Who can light the fires of a thousand burning fires? 00:24:44.580 |
Raising in the heavens, there is only one, he is our God. 00:24:55.580 |
Who commands the nations, building up and tearing down, 00:25:13.580 |
Holy, you alone are holy, matchless in your glory. 00:25:45.580 |
Who will come to save us when we turned away his love? 00:25:51.080 |
Conquer us with kindness, there is only one, he is our God. 00:26:03.580 |
Holy, you alone are holy, matchless in your glory. 00:26:24.080 |
Holy, you alone are holy, we adore you, holy, holy God. 00:26:40.580 |
Now to-- now to the king on the throne, who was and is to come. 00:26:57.580 |
Now to the king on the throne, who was and is to come. 00:27:08.580 |
Now to the king on the throne, who was and is to come. 00:27:20.580 |
Holy, you alone are holy, matchless in your glory. 00:27:37.080 |
Holy, you alone are holy, we adore you, holy, holy God. 00:29:26.580 |
Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. 00:29:33.580 |
What truth, what truth can calm the troubled soul? 00:30:36.080 |
Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. 00:31:19.080 |
And we will feast in endless joy when Christ is ours forevermore. 00:31:45.580 |
Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. 00:32:07.580 |
Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. 00:32:15.580 |
Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. 00:32:39.580 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12. 00:32:42.580 |
And I'm going to be reading from verse 14 to 17. 00:32:53.580 |
Something funny happened right before I came up. 00:32:56.580 |
I was praying and my mom came up to me and she tapped me on my shoulder. 00:33:01.580 |
And then she opened up a packet and she said eat it. 00:33:07.580 |
And then she opened up another one and then so I just ate it. 00:33:12.580 |
And she said it's good for you, don't worry about it, just eat it. 00:33:20.580 |
And she said it's supposed to help you to sleep. 00:33:23.580 |
And I didn't think about it until middle of the worship. 00:33:31.580 |
So I don't think it's supposed to affect me immediately. 00:33:36.580 |
But anyway, that's the love of mom and my obedience. 00:33:50.580 |
So if I make -- if it's complete nonsense, it's not the Holy Spirit. 00:34:04.580 |
Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 00:34:08.580 |
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, 00:34:16.580 |
That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 00:34:22.580 |
For you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessings, he was rejected, 00:34:27.580 |
for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. 00:34:34.580 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord God, for your grace that sustains us, renews us, strengthens us, Lord God. 00:34:43.580 |
I pray that you would give us soberness of mind, heart, ears to listen, and desire and will, Father, 00:34:57.580 |
If you were to turn the clock back 10, possibly 20 years, I say 10 because some of you guys may not have been alive 20 years ago, 00:35:07.580 |
but some of you guys are older, maybe 20 years, okay, or to 10 years. 00:35:11.580 |
If you were able to turn the clock back, what would you tell yourself 10, 20 years younger? 00:35:18.580 |
Maybe financially you would tell yourself, "Buy some Bitcoin." 00:35:25.580 |
Buy several thousand dollars worth of Bitcoin and you'll become a multimillionaire. 00:35:29.580 |
Maybe financially that's something you might be telling yourself. 00:35:34.580 |
Physically I would tell myself to take care of my knees. 00:35:37.580 |
When you're young, you don't think much about it because you get injured, you get right back up, 00:35:49.580 |
Not that I want to run, but the possibility that you can run. 00:35:55.580 |
If you ask people who are older, and I thought this was interesting because somebody asked me this question, 00:36:01.580 |
"What period of your life would you want to try to get back or experience again?" 00:36:12.580 |
The reason why is because that's when the children were young. 00:36:16.580 |
I think most parents, when you think about this, yeah, that's the period. 00:36:19.580 |
As hard as that period was, financially, church, in every way it was a very difficult period, 00:36:26.580 |
but it's also the period that I have the fondest memory of because the children were young. 00:36:32.580 |
I know that some of the parents who are huffing and puffing with small children right now 00:36:36.580 |
and you think, "Oh, I just can't wait until they are older and you can get out of the house," 00:36:41.580 |
but as soon as they get out of the house, you're like, "Oh, it was great when they were young. 00:36:48.580 |
But our tendency is when time passes, we always look back, and our memory and what we value 00:36:53.580 |
at that period of time is very different than when we're experiencing it. 00:36:57.580 |
So it's good time to time for us to look back and say, "Well, those are things that"-- 00:37:02.580 |
and it causes us to see the future differently. 00:37:06.580 |
If you were 30, 40, 50 years, depending on how old you are, on your deathbed, 00:37:11.580 |
and you were to talk to yourself now, who you are now, however old you are, 00:37:24.580 |
On your deathbed, what is happening now that if you were able to come back and talk to you now 00:37:29.580 |
on your deathbed, what would you tell yourself? 00:37:34.580 |
Maybe physically, financially, you'll have some other thoughts. 00:37:36.580 |
We don't know what's coming on in the future. 00:37:40.580 |
If you are a believer, genuine believer, on your deathbed, that you're not going to tell yourself, 00:37:47.580 |
"Hey, maybe you should have gone to L.A. and tasted that new boba that came from Taiwan." 00:37:55.580 |
I don't think that you're not going to be regretting that. 00:38:03.580 |
You may have some of those regrets, but on your deathbed, you're going to cut through all of that clutter, 00:38:09.580 |
and you're going to get to what's going to matter the most, which is eternity. 00:38:18.580 |
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God." 00:38:23.580 |
In one form or another, you'll probably tell yourself this. 00:38:26.580 |
Make sure, as we are facing eternity, that no one comes short of the grace of God. 00:38:34.580 |
What we're going to regret, if we regret anything, is that we didn't live to the fullest 00:38:40.580 |
in this short period of time that we have to love Christ and to love our neighbors as ourselves. 00:38:46.580 |
We're not going to regret that we didn't put enough money in retirement, not on our deathbed. 00:38:51.580 |
We're not going to regret that we didn't get to travel as much as we did, 00:38:55.580 |
or that we didn't invest in Bitcoin early enough. 00:38:58.580 |
Those are all things that we have concerns during this life. 00:39:02.580 |
But as we face eternity, none of those things are going to matter. 00:39:07.580 |
And so, verse 15 is an accumulation of everything that he's been really trying to say to the readers of Hebrews, 00:39:15.580 |
that you're drifting because you've forgotten what it is that you have in Christ, 00:39:19.580 |
to have an eternal perspective that Christ is worth whatever it is that you are suffering. 00:39:24.580 |
Christ is worth whatever it is that you are sacrificing, 00:39:27.580 |
and to make sure that no one comes short of the grace of God. 00:39:32.580 |
What does it mean to come short of the grace of God? 00:39:41.580 |
So I want to take a few minutes this morning to talk about who is he referring to? 00:39:47.580 |
I think there's three different categories of people that need to take heed of what he is saying. 00:39:54.580 |
If there's anyone in this room or on the internet who is kind of on the fence, 00:40:03.580 |
Or maybe your friend has brought you here, and you're coming because you think something is there. 00:40:23.580 |
Maybe when I find my job or finish my school. 00:40:25.580 |
Then I'll give my full attention to this, but right now I'm just too busy. 00:40:30.580 |
Well, Mark 8.36, Jesus addresses this, thinking, 00:40:34.580 |
"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" 00:40:40.580 |
If eternity is real, if God is real, if what the Bible says is real, 00:40:45.580 |
there is nothing more important for every human being to not only make a decision of what this is, 00:40:51.580 |
but do our best to follow Christ with all our might. 00:40:57.580 |
If Christ is real, then everything that we do is a preparation for eternity. 00:41:04.580 |
It doesn't matter, even if you were successful in your wildest dreams, 00:41:09.580 |
that you bought $100,000 worth of Bitcoin 15 years ago, 00:41:16.580 |
As you face eternity, it means absolutely nothing. 00:41:20.580 |
Maybe if you're young, your fantasy is to become a professional baseball player or NBA professional athlete. 00:41:27.580 |
Even if your most wildest dreams came true, as we face eternity, 00:41:31.580 |
it will mean absolutely nothing if this is true. 00:41:35.580 |
If it is not true, there is no bigger lie that has been told in human history. 00:41:43.580 |
Jesus didn't just say he's a good moral teacher, 00:41:46.580 |
gave us a good example of how we ought to live to make mankind a better place during this lifetime. 00:42:00.580 |
He resurrected from the dead, and his followers gave their life telling this lie, if it's a lie. 00:42:08.580 |
Not tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people 00:42:13.580 |
have forfeited the benefit of this world in order to proclaim this truth. 00:42:19.580 |
So there is no lie that has done more damage to mankind than this lie, if this is not true. 00:42:30.580 |
If he is God, that means everything in this world is temporary, 00:42:35.580 |
and all of it should be forfeited so that we can have eternity. 00:42:40.580 |
Or you deny him, these bunch of crazy people, 00:42:45.580 |
that this is probably one of the worst things that has happened to humanity. 00:42:56.580 |
The Bible says in Hebrews 9, 27, "Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, 00:43:09.580 |
I've never had a conversation with a non-Christian where we said, 00:43:12.580 |
"Inasmuch as it is appointed for all men to die once," and somebody said, 00:43:15.580 |
"No, not all men, some men, most men, but not all men." 00:43:20.580 |
I've never had that discussion because it's not debated. 00:43:24.580 |
We all know, whether you are a multimillionaire, or whether you are poor and homeless, 00:43:29.580 |
we all die the same way, and we know it's coming. 00:43:32.580 |
We know that our life is temporary, and the question is, what's after that? 00:43:40.580 |
We occasionally think about eternity, but if eternity is real, 00:43:46.580 |
shouldn't that be the greatest question that we wrestle with? 00:43:49.580 |
Even more than Bitcoin, how much money we have in retirement? 00:43:53.580 |
Even more than any other question that we wrestle with, 00:43:59.580 |
The Bible says, "Inasmuch as it is appointed for all men to die once, 00:44:06.580 |
To come into the judgment seat of Christ simply because we didn't have time, 00:44:13.580 |
simply because I was just too busy, what a tragedy. 00:44:19.580 |
To come into judgment when the Word of God says that we will have to give account 00:44:22.580 |
for every careless word, every sinful thought, to stand before a holy judge, 00:44:28.580 |
everything that you and I think that we got away with, 00:44:32.580 |
because the government didn't catch us, the police didn't catch us, 00:44:35.580 |
maybe my wife didn't catch us, but a holy God who sees all things, 00:44:39.580 |
knows all things, who is all powerful, He said, "We're going to stand before this holy judge," 00:44:43.580 |
and He said, "We're going to have to give account for every sin, every lustful thought." 00:44:48.580 |
To go into eternity to meet this holy God simply because we were too busy. 00:44:55.580 |
There is no greater question that a non-Christian should be asking and to be affirmed. 00:45:01.580 |
Is this true? And to give my life to make Him my King? 00:45:08.580 |
Or, this is the biggest lie that's been ever told, 00:45:15.580 |
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. 00:45:18.580 |
The second group of people that this is a warning and encouragement to, 00:45:21.580 |
is professing believers, but maybe in danger of drifting into damnation themselves. 00:45:31.580 |
These are people that probably are not Christians. 00:45:34.580 |
We live in a post-Christian culture where people are born into Christianity, 00:45:55.580 |
You get persecuted for not coming to Bible study. 00:45:58.580 |
You get persecuted for not joining small group. 00:46:13.580 |
In a post-Christian culture, with so much pressure, 00:46:16.580 |
during that period, now that begins to die down after you graduate, 00:46:20.580 |
but during college where there's so much pressure, 00:46:22.580 |
especially if you grew up in the church from the home, 00:46:29.580 |
and then not really giving it serious thought. 00:46:40.580 |
but it was always superficially from a distance 00:46:49.580 |
You know what the sociologists call that contagion norm theory? 00:46:53.580 |
Contagion norm theory is anything that you do repetitively, 00:46:59.580 |
That's why when we're young, we're blind to the love of parents 00:47:08.580 |
"Oh, my gosh, you're the best friend in the world," 00:47:18.580 |
sometimes we are blind to until they're gone, 00:47:22.580 |
and then you realize, "Wow, that had the biggest impact in my life." 00:47:26.580 |
And again, that's what they call the contagion norm theory. 00:47:29.580 |
If you are an individual who grew up in the church 00:47:34.580 |
and you just kind of affiliated yourself with Christianity-- 00:47:39.580 |
but you've become blind to what it means to be a true follower of Christ. 00:47:43.580 |
You just inculturated yourself to Christianity, 00:47:52.580 |
It's a warning to those people who just kind of accepted superficially, 00:47:57.580 |
and then when the test came and when it became difficult, 00:48:00.580 |
when the persecution to become Christian starts to die out, 00:48:03.580 |
and then the real persecution to bring you away from Christ, 00:48:06.580 |
all of a sudden now the tide is going the other way, 00:48:10.580 |
It's a warning to them, again, not to drift, not to neglect. 00:48:16.580 |
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, 00:48:20.580 |
but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter." 00:48:25.580 |
Not everybody who professes and says the right things are genuine Christians. 00:48:29.580 |
Verse 22, "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?'" 00:48:40.580 |
Even prophesying is not evidence of genuine faith. 00:48:55.580 |
They are prophesying, casting out demons, performing miracles, 00:49:04.580 |
"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. 00:49:08.580 |
Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" 00:49:12.580 |
I remember the first time I came across this text as a young Christian, 00:49:25.580 |
How do I know that my faith is just cultural? 00:49:29.580 |
I came from a Christian home, surrounded by Christians. 00:49:32.580 |
I was part of a campus ministry, went to a Christian school. 00:49:37.580 |
And I wanted to make sure that this was not me. 00:49:39.580 |
And that was part of the motivation behind why I wanted to pursue. 00:49:46.580 |
How can I believe that this Bible is really God's inerrant word, 00:49:54.580 |
How do I know I'm not a Christian simply because I'm surrounded by other Christians? 00:50:00.580 |
Would I follow Christ, even if I was the only one left? 00:50:04.580 |
If I was living in Iran, would I be a Christian? 00:50:06.580 |
If I was living in the villages in India, where they're hostile toward Christianity, 00:50:13.580 |
And so I wrestled, and that's part of the reason why I pursued, and I asked questions. 00:50:21.580 |
He says, "See to it no one comes short of the grace of God," 00:50:24.580 |
is referring also to people who are professing Christians, 00:50:29.580 |
but the faith that they have is just being around other Christians. 00:50:35.580 |
They grew up, and that's the right thing to say. 00:50:39.580 |
Sometimes just being around and hearing the gospel and hearing the Word of God preached, 00:50:44.580 |
and again, being so much around it, we become blind. 00:50:49.580 |
You know, recently I've been trying to exercise, so we bought a bike, 00:50:53.580 |
and I've been trying to bike back and forth, you know, 00:50:56.580 |
and I've lived in the same street for the last maybe about 12, 13 years on a cul-de-sac, 00:51:02.580 |
and right behind us we have this nice trail that people walk on and bike along. 00:51:08.580 |
For the first 10 years, I didn't think anything about it because nobody's on that trail, you know, 00:51:15.580 |
and then the pandemic hit, and all of a sudden there's so much noise back there. 00:51:18.580 |
It's annoying because there's a little hill, and kids go skateboarding there, 00:51:23.580 |
so I hear them, you know, with music on, and they're playing, 00:51:26.580 |
and I want to be one of those old guys saying, "Keep it down out there!" 00:51:32.580 |
So they started using that, and then now because I started to bike, 00:51:37.580 |
and we started to walk, and I said, "Man, that'd be awesome," 00:51:42.580 |
It was right behind us, but because we weren't using it, I didn't appreciate it. 00:51:45.580 |
Now I'm thinking that we have a wall, you know, between that trail and our house, 00:51:49.580 |
so I'm thinking of ways to knock the wall down without HOA knowing about it, right? 00:51:55.580 |
All along, we've been there for over 10, 12 years, you know, 00:51:59.580 |
and all I was--it's like there's a train track right there, just annoyed with the train track, 00:52:04.580 |
but not realizing there's this great trail right behind the house. 00:52:08.580 |
There are so many people who are in the church, around the gospel, 00:52:14.580 |
preaching, small groups, mission work, and being around all of this all your life, 00:52:26.580 |
Those people will miss and come short of the grace of God 00:52:31.580 |
if they do not stop and ask themselves the difficult question, 00:52:37.580 |
"Am I a cultural Christian, or do I really believe this Jesus?" 00:52:44.580 |
The author says in Hebrews 6, 4-8--this is a passage that we looked at many months ago-- 00:52:49.580 |
and he's referring to these very people, these cultural Christians. 00:52:55.580 |
He says, "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened 00:52:59.580 |
and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit 00:53:04.580 |
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come." 00:53:09.580 |
Now if you just look at verse 4 and 5, he's saying, "I mean, clearly this must be a Christian." 00:53:14.580 |
I mean, he was enlightened. He's not talking about a Christian. 00:53:18.580 |
He's talking about somebody who has understood. He's been enlightened. 00:53:23.580 |
He didn't know before, but now he knows. Tasted the heavenly gift. 00:53:26.580 |
I mean, he's been around the church, the benefit of being in a covenant community, 00:53:31.580 |
partakers of the Holy Spirit. They had first-row seats of the work of the Holy Spirit 00:53:36.580 |
with other people, hearing testimonies, baptism, going out to summer mission trips. 00:53:41.580 |
And he was around all of that, and then yet in verse 6, 00:53:46.580 |
"And then they have fallen away. It is impossible to renew them again to repentance, 00:53:52.580 |
since they again crucified to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame." 00:53:56.580 |
Now some people have interpreted this as saying it seems like they're Christian, 00:54:00.580 |
and if they fall, God won't allow them to repent again. 00:54:04.580 |
Now, you have to make sure that Scripture has to interpret Scripture. 00:54:08.580 |
The Bible clearly says that our salvation is a gift that God has given to us freely. 00:54:16.580 |
So if it's a free gift, we didn't earn it, so we can't lose it. 00:54:24.580 |
He's talking about an individual who's in the church, who's been fed, 00:54:32.580 |
That you were so close, you had all the benefits that any human being could possibly have 00:54:38.580 |
to come to Christ, and you choose to drift away to the world. 00:54:43.580 |
So when he says "fallen away," he's not talking about somebody who is Christian 00:54:47.580 |
and falls away from faith. He's talking about somebody who is so near and chooses to go the other path. 00:54:52.580 |
When he says "there is no repentance," he's talking about if you do not receive the grace of God, 00:55:00.580 |
There isn't two, three, four different ways to get to God. 00:55:06.580 |
And so if you drift away from that, if you drift away from the grace of God, 00:55:10.580 |
there is no other way that an individual can repent. 00:55:15.580 |
"For the ground that drinks the rain, which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation, 00:55:21.580 |
useful to those for whose sake it has also been tilled, receives a blessing from God." 00:55:27.580 |
In other words, the other fruits that actually come to Christ, 00:55:31.580 |
they receive the feeding, the teaching, the church, and then they bear fruit. 00:55:36.580 |
But then in verse 8, "But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, 00:55:43.580 |
He's talking about an individual who's in the church, knows the vocabulary, 00:55:48.580 |
knows the culture, meets the minimum standard, 00:55:52.580 |
and yet with all their heart pursuing the world. 00:55:56.580 |
He's giving warning to them that they will miss the grace of God, 00:56:07.580 |
In fact, some people say, "Pastor Peter, why do you speak so much about this?" 00:56:12.580 |
Because I think where you and I are, this is the greatest problem. 00:56:17.580 |
I am more concerned about people who hear the gospel, who are in the church, 00:56:27.580 |
Every once in a while I'll meet somebody who gets hostile after you preach the gospel. 00:56:31.580 |
How can you be so arrogant to think that Jesus is the only way? 00:56:36.580 |
It's ridiculous that you would think that the Son of God had come and He forgave us of our sins, 00:56:42.580 |
He was resurrected, and that if we don't believe Him that we're going to have eternal damnation. 00:56:49.580 |
To me that makes sense because that's an unbeliever. 00:56:51.580 |
That's a reasonable response from an unbeliever because what I said was very offensive. 00:56:58.580 |
In fact, if you hear Jesus preaching, either they loved Him or hated Him. 00:57:05.580 |
There are very few people who are just like, "Yeah, yeah, you know, I think He kind of might be the Messiah." 00:57:13.580 |
My biggest concern are people who are in the church who may have deceived themselves to be believers. 00:57:22.580 |
I've heard people say in the past years that the greatest mistake that a preacher can make 00:57:30.580 |
is to cause a genuine child of God to question God's love for them. 00:57:35.580 |
So therefore, our preaching has to be affirming. 00:57:39.580 |
That we need to constantly remind people God loves you. 00:57:45.580 |
So it is the greatest tragedy that someone would come to church and leave questioning the love of God. 00:57:52.580 |
Now there is some truth to that, but I don't think that that's the greatest tragedy. 00:57:57.580 |
The greatest tragedy is to have people who are in the church headed toward eternal damnation 00:58:03.580 |
and constantly giving them false assurance that they're okay. 00:58:09.580 |
An individual who is shaken of maybe a genuine believer in Christ, 00:58:13.580 |
maybe wrestling with the love of Christ, will have an uncomfortable path to eternity. 00:58:19.580 |
So when they die, they're going to look back and say, "You know what? That was uncomfortable." 00:58:29.580 |
And an individual who has falsely believed that he is a believer in Christ 00:58:34.580 |
may have had a nice, easy path to eternal damnation. 00:58:48.580 |
That the greatest tragedy, especially in our generation where you and I live, 00:58:52.580 |
is that many who profess to be Christians will meet Christ in His judgment seat. 00:59:06.580 |
Around it, talked about it, memorized scripture, recited it to one another, 00:59:14.580 |
That's why I think one of the greatest mistakes, if you want to call it a mistake, 00:59:22.580 |
that we've seen in our generation is the seeker-friendly movement. 00:59:36.580 |
But the problem is we're trying to make the seekers comfortable, 00:59:40.580 |
non-Christians comfortable with our music, with our culture, 00:59:46.580 |
with the way we talk, the way we bring them to church. 00:59:51.580 |
We don't want them to have a bumpy ride once they come in. 00:59:55.580 |
If someone is genuinely seeking God, you know what they need more than anything else? 01:00:04.580 |
Because the Bible says, "My sheep will hear my voice and follow me." 01:00:08.580 |
They're not going to follow Christ because you're nice. 01:00:11.580 |
They're not going to follow Christ because the community here is good. 01:00:16.580 |
They're not going to follow Christ because they like the music. 01:00:19.580 |
They're not going to follow Christ because the pastor is funny. 01:00:23.580 |
They're going to follow Christ because they hear the truth. 01:00:26.580 |
And they get convicted with the truth, and that truth causes them to be set free. 01:00:31.580 |
I'm not gifted enough. I'm not talented enough. 01:00:36.580 |
There's no amount of money, no amount of talent, no amount of experience 01:00:39.580 |
can get somebody who is condemned for eternity to change their mind and say, 01:00:44.580 |
"I'm going to follow Christ because I like their music, 01:00:47.580 |
because this pastor is interesting to listen to." 01:00:50.580 |
The only power to save a non-Christian is the voice of Christ. 01:00:55.580 |
And so the greatest challenge, calling for every church is to make that clear, 01:01:05.580 |
To build a church filled with nominal Christians who feel safe on the way 01:01:12.580 |
to eternal damnation is the greatest mistake, greatest sin. 01:01:18.580 |
It's no different than being on a sinking ship, the Titanic, 01:01:23.580 |
and your biggest concern is not that they're going to die, 01:01:26.580 |
but your biggest concern is not to disturb their peace. 01:01:31.580 |
If their peace is not disturbed, how will they know that they're in danger? 01:01:36.580 |
I hear people every once in a while say, "Who am I to judge? 01:01:40.580 |
Who am I to judge?" If they say, if you think, "I want to be gracious. 01:01:45.580 |
I want to be loving." Is it loving to tell somebody that you believe is headed to hell, 01:01:51.580 |
that I don't want you to be mad at me? Is that for them or is that for you? 01:01:56.580 |
If you really believe that damnation is coming, to have them feel comfortable near you, 01:02:05.580 |
Now, it doesn't mean that we need to be jerks. 01:02:08.580 |
It doesn't mean that we need to be offensive for no reason. 01:02:15.580 |
If we actually love them, we have to make sure that our greatest goal is that they come to Christ. 01:02:23.580 |
And that's what he means, that make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God. 01:02:29.580 |
But there's also the third group. The third group are genuine believers 01:02:36.580 |
And you may be asking yourself, "Is this really worth it?" 01:02:40.580 |
And at time to time, even genuine Christians will ask that question. 01:02:44.580 |
And then that's what he was referring to, someone who is drooping hands and weak knees 01:02:49.580 |
to make straight path for the Lord, to persevere. 01:02:53.580 |
1 Corinthians 15, 58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable." 01:03:02.580 |
Don't change. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. 01:03:04.580 |
Always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. 01:03:15.580 |
When we are fatigued and we're tired, our first inclination is, "I want to take a break." 01:03:22.580 |
I want to change the circumstance, change the group, change this, I'm going to stop doing that, stop doing this. 01:03:28.580 |
I've rarely found somebody who said, "I need to take a break." 01:03:32.580 |
And then after the break, they came back more rejuvenated. 01:03:36.580 |
"I'm going to take a break. I'm not going to serve. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that. 01:03:39.580 |
I'm not going to participate in the church. I'm just going to come to church and do nothing." 01:03:43.580 |
And at the year end of that, they come back and say, "I'm ready. I'm rejuvenated." 01:03:49.580 |
Most of the times at the end of the year, they're more tired. 01:03:53.580 |
They're more fatigued. They're more bitter. They're more angry. 01:04:02.580 |
They were just tired and they just wanted to be on their own. 01:04:06.580 |
"I'm tired of following Christ. For the time being, I'm going to take a break." 01:04:10.580 |
So what it shows here, the encouragement is to continue, to be steadfast, to be immovable, 01:04:22.580 |
You know, when I'm tired, usually I'm tired, you know, not because I had a long day. 01:04:30.580 |
But most of us feel tired because we haven't moved enough. 01:04:34.580 |
You know what I mean? You have to go to the gym and exercise. 01:04:41.580 |
And I think most people who feel tired may be tired for that reason. 01:04:49.580 |
Is it worth it? And the answer is resounding, emphatically, "Yes!" 01:04:58.580 |
The fatigue comes from, for most of us, is not because we've been working so hard, 01:05:02.580 |
but it's because we've forgotten that Christ is worth it. 01:05:06.580 |
And so he reminds us. That's why he spends 10 chapters. 01:05:10.580 |
Christ is better than anything that you're tempted by. 01:05:13.580 |
Christ is better than Judaism. Christ is better than the temple. 01:05:16.580 |
Christ is better than anything that this world can offer you. 01:05:20.580 |
And when we can say emphatically, "Yes, He is better than all of that," 01:05:24.580 |
all of a sudden we gain strength, energy to persevere and to continue. 01:05:29.580 |
It's worth the sacrifice. It's worth the fatigue. 01:05:43.580 |
Have we forgotten what it is that we profess? 01:05:46.580 |
What is it exactly that we have in Christ? Think about it. 01:05:55.580 |
Think about how often we are so frustrated because we didn't get the job we wanted, 01:06:00.580 |
or somebody said something to us that we didn't like, and how fixated we are on that. 01:06:04.580 |
And then we easily forget God sent His only begotten Son 01:06:11.580 |
to take our place so that we would have eternity, 01:06:23.580 |
When that becomes contagion norm, that's when fatigue comes in. 01:06:32.580 |
I told you, our family immigrated to the United States in 1975. 01:06:39.580 |
And Korea was a third world country at that time. It was very poor. 01:06:44.580 |
And so I remember the first time Halloween came. 01:06:49.580 |
In Korea, it wasn't just us. The whole country was poor. 01:06:53.580 |
In fact, I think our family was probably better off than most people 01:06:56.580 |
because my grandfather was a pretty wealthy man. 01:07:00.580 |
But I don't remember that many times just eating candy. 01:07:04.580 |
So the way that my mom would motivate me to take medicine 01:07:14.580 |
So she would say, "Oh, if you eat this medicine, I'll give you some sugar water." 01:07:21.580 |
Most of you guys have found it ridiculous, but that's what we ate. 01:07:26.580 |
our cousin who was born and raised in the United States said, 01:07:29.580 |
"Hey, what are you going to do for Halloween?" 01:07:32.580 |
He said, "This is a day where you go and knock on strangers' doors 01:07:43.580 |
Some of you guys probably know exactly what I'm talking about, 01:07:46.580 |
but imagine hearing that for the first time from the way-- 01:07:52.580 |
That's just like me telling you, "Go to the neighbor-- 01:07:55.580 |
just any door down the street, they're going to give you some money." 01:08:00.580 |
Nah, how many of you actually would believe that? 01:08:08.580 |
and they're going to have a pile of money ready for you 01:08:19.580 |
Me and Phillip went because my older brother-- 01:08:24.580 |
So we went, and I said, "Oh, before you go, there is a thing you have to do. 01:08:33.580 |
He said, "We didn't have anything, so we weren't prepared, 01:08:35.580 |
and it was already Halloween, so we drew a face on a paper bag 01:08:42.580 |
and put two holes in it, and we actually only had one bag." 01:08:51.580 |
So we would walk to the door, and I would put the hat on, 01:08:54.580 |
and then we didn't speak English, so we just knocked on the door 01:08:58.580 |
And they would put candy in the bag, and then said, "They gave us candy." 01:09:02.580 |
Because we only had one bag, so now it's Phillip's turn, 01:09:04.580 |
so I would take it off, and he would wear it. 01:09:06.580 |
He would go back and knock on the door and say, 01:09:14.580 |
probably about an hour and a half, two hours of knocking on the door, 01:09:17.580 |
and I remember the bag of candy that we poured onto the dining room table, 01:09:28.580 |
This is why everybody wants to come to the United States. 01:09:32.580 |
To this day, if you ask me what's my favorite childhood memory, 01:09:46.580 |
Now you offer a lollipop to kids, it's like, "Nah." 01:09:57.580 |
Even this simple offering of candy, I couldn't believe it. 01:10:10.580 |
Think about what it is that you and I have in Christ. 01:10:14.580 |
We sing these songs, we memorize Scripture, we go out evangelizing, 01:10:18.580 |
we sing all this stuff, and it's become mundane. 01:10:27.580 |
That's why we're tired, that's why we're discouraged, 01:10:29.580 |
that's why we're so fixated, that's why we're tempted. 01:10:32.580 |
Because we have forgotten what it is that we have in Christ. 01:10:36.580 |
The Scripture says He has given us everything that we need 01:10:40.580 |
for a life of godliness in the knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ. 01:10:43.580 |
If He gave all things, if He was willing to give His only begotten Son, 01:10:47.580 |
how will He not, along with Him, give Him all things? 01:10:52.580 |
You think that He doesn't have any power to prevent that suffering in your life? 01:10:56.580 |
If He didn't think that that was what's necessary for you? 01:11:06.580 |
And so the encouragement not to miss the grace of God to the believers 01:11:17.580 |
He says, "So that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, 01:11:23.580 |
The root of bitterness, the way that you and I typically understand it is 01:11:27.580 |
not being able to let go or forgive of somebody, 01:11:30.580 |
and then you have bitterness and it grows up to animosity and hatred and slander. 01:11:37.580 |
It's not a false way to understand it, but again, we need to understand 01:11:42.580 |
In the biblical language, what do they mean by that? 01:11:45.580 |
Well, that term "bitter roots" comes from Deuteronomy 29, 18-19. 01:11:49.580 |
So if you look at that, as Israel is getting ready to get into the Promised Land, 01:11:55.580 |
God warns the nation of Israel, and this is what He says, 01:11:58.580 |
"That there will not be among you a man or a woman or family or tribe 01:12:03.580 |
whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God." 01:12:07.580 |
So again, this bitter root ultimately has to do with relationship with God 01:12:14.580 |
"To go and to serve gods of those nations, not to backslide, 01:12:19.580 |
that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood." 01:12:27.580 |
Everything that I've taught you, instead of continuing to worship me, 01:12:32.580 |
that you allow these bitter roots, meaning that this thing that's going to grow up 01:12:37.580 |
to become a useless fruit, that you do not allow this to happen. 01:12:41.580 |
And then verse 19, He says, "It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, 01:12:46.580 |
that if you turn away from him, that he will boast, saying, 'I have peace, 01:12:53.580 |
so I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.'" 01:13:02.580 |
He's warned a nation of Israel, after all the instructions, all the commandments, 01:13:06.580 |
all the warnings that have been given to you, and then you enter the promised land 01:13:10.580 |
and you drift to where everybody else is and you begin to worship idols. 01:13:16.580 |
And then you say, after all the warnings have been given, you say, "I'm good. 01:13:20.580 |
I'm at peace because nobody's trying to cut my throat. 01:13:27.580 |
So because the curse and the judgment is not today, He's like, "I'm at peace. I'm good." 01:13:33.580 |
So what He is saying is that you are watering this root. 01:13:38.580 |
You are tilling this root. You're paying attention. 01:13:41.580 |
And then the more you pay attention, the more you allow this to happen, 01:13:45.580 |
what's going to come from that is dead fruit. 01:13:49.580 |
So what He means by, if you are not right with Christ, 01:13:54.580 |
if you're a nominal Christian, you've never fully surrendered your life to Christ, 01:13:59.580 |
watering that life is only going to bear dead fruit. 01:14:08.580 |
To let no root of bitterness spring up that causes trouble. 01:14:13.580 |
So a lukewarm life, a half-hearted pursuit, a nominal Christianity that has not surrendered to Christ, 01:14:22.580 |
the fruit that it will bear is going to be bitterness. 01:14:27.580 |
The reason why churches split is because the fruit of bitterness, 01:14:31.580 |
because they cultivated nominal Christianity. 01:14:34.580 |
The reason why there's turmoil, the reason why so many pastors are falling now 01:14:39.580 |
is because they've allowed the root of bitterness, because He was talented, He was gifted, 01:14:48.580 |
And so we've allowed things that we shouldn't allow in the church, 01:14:52.580 |
and the fruit that's coming out of that is because the root of bitterness was cultivated in the church. 01:15:01.580 |
More than our horizontal relationship, He's talking about the vertical relationship. 01:15:06.580 |
Because without peace with God, you can't have peace with mankind. 01:15:13.580 |
Hebrews 2:3, "How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" 01:15:22.580 |
The greatest concern in our generation where you and I live 01:15:26.580 |
are not people who've heard the gospel and were hostile and hated us, 01:15:35.580 |
I think the greatest tragedy are people who are going to stand in front of the judgment seat 01:15:39.580 |
simply because they neglected such a great salvation. 01:15:54.580 |
The temptation when we're young is to think that we are billionaires with our time. 01:16:03.580 |
When we're young, we know we're not going to live forever, but we live like we're going to live forever. 01:16:09.580 |
If you're a billionaire, you're not going to sweat it if you get in a car accident or you lose $10,000. 01:16:19.580 |
You spend money freely because you have all this reserve in the bank account. 01:16:23.580 |
When we're young, our temptation is to think you can spend 10 hours watching Netflix 01:16:29.580 |
and watching three, four hours of video games every single day, 01:16:39.580 |
There's a reason why the Bible says to teach us to number our days. 01:16:43.580 |
Ask anybody who's a bit older how quickly time passes. 01:16:57.580 |
I remember the first time, because we loved basketball so much when we were young. 01:17:10.580 |
What is a committed Christian going to do outside of, you know? 01:17:16.580 |
And so I remember playing basketball, and I reached a certain age. 01:17:24.580 |
So I can dribble around him, and I can lay up. 01:17:26.580 |
I was a decent outside shooter, and I was shooting. 01:17:29.580 |
I remember one day, in my mind, I went around him, but physically I went right through him. 01:17:34.580 |
And I said, "Shoot, that never happened before." 01:17:41.580 |
For, like, 15, 16 years I played right field. 01:17:43.580 |
The ball was hit, just a little lob to the right field. 01:17:46.580 |
And I was casually running there because I knew I caught this, like, a thousand times. 01:17:51.580 |
I missed it by, like, 20 feet because my legs couldn't get me there. 01:18:13.580 |
So the danger is when you're young, you don't see time as something valuable. 01:18:20.580 |
So instead of investing your time, you just spend your time. 01:18:24.580 |
Next thing you know, 10, 20, 30, 40 years go by, and then you're trying to tell your kids, "Don't do that. 01:18:40.580 |
At your deathbed, what would you tell yourself? 01:18:44.580 |
When you're in your 30s and 40s, you're so busy taking care of kids, 01:18:51.580 |
"Oh, the kids, if they want to go to school, I would have some free time." 01:18:57.580 |
But that's when the rat race really is full force. 01:19:03.580 |
And it's interesting that whenever we compare morality, we always compare with people who are worse than us. 01:19:11.580 |
It's like, "Yeah, I know I cheat, but at least I didn't kill anybody." 01:19:17.580 |
So whenever we compare morality, we always choose somebody who's worse than us. 01:19:23.580 |
You know, it's like, "I know I'm not the best Christian, but at least I go to church." 01:19:28.580 |
But for whatever reason, when it comes to money, we always compare with people above us. 01:19:35.580 |
We're just like, "Man, you know, I have more than them." 01:19:37.580 |
Usually, we're just like, "I don't have as much as that guy." 01:19:41.580 |
So for morality, we compare with people worse than us because it makes us feel better. 01:19:47.580 |
But when it comes to finances, we're always comparing with people who have more than us. 01:19:50.580 |
So we never--even if we're filthy rich, we never feel rich. 01:19:54.580 |
And that's a tendency during that period of 30, 40, where we use the excuse of, "Well, it's for my children. 01:20:03.580 |
And you invest all that time pursuing worldly things, convinced that it's for godliness. 01:20:25.580 |
Christian and non-Christian use the same reasoning to pursue the world. 01:20:30.580 |
And then when you get older, the temptation is, "I'm old now. 01:20:40.580 |
Those are for kids, college kids, passionately. 01:20:47.580 |
Passionately making disciples, going on missions. 01:20:53.580 |
So we have a tendency to kind of have a retired mindset and just enjoy life, talk about what we used to do. 01:21:02.580 |
Esther always says my favorite word is "used to." 01:21:07.580 |
And that's the temptation when we get older, as if the race is already over and we're just waiting to get to heaven. 01:21:15.580 |
In every stage of life, our enemy plants seeds in our heads to ultimately to do what? 01:21:25.580 |
To stop passionately pursuing this grace of God. 01:21:30.580 |
That's what he means when he says, "Let no one fall short of the grace of God." 01:21:36.580 |
This is a command not to treat the grace of God lightly. 01:21:40.580 |
Take seriously that this period of time that we have, in light of eternity, there's nothing more important that we must do than to give all our attention for God's glory. 01:21:58.580 |
That those who do not know Christ may hear the voice of God and they also would come. 01:22:03.580 |
Those who have given themselves to false Christianity in the church, that they would be waken up from their slumber and to meet the God of life. 01:22:13.580 |
And those of you who are fatigued, to persevere, to reexamine the glory that opened your eyes, that caused you to come to him. 01:22:22.580 |
That we would continue to strive wherever we are to see Christ and to Christ alone. 01:22:40.580 |
Again, as our worship team comes, I want to invite you to take some time to pray, examine. 01:22:46.580 |
And if you are an unbeliever, at least ask and seek. 01:22:53.580 |
Maybe at the end of this, you might come to the conclusion that this is the biggest lie. 01:23:02.580 |
And if all this is true, that God is offering salvation to you. 01:23:08.580 |
And all he asks is that you recognize that you have fallen. 01:23:12.580 |
That you are in desperate need of his forgiveness. 01:23:23.580 |
Those of you who are nominal Christians and you committed, you committed to have the best of this world and the best of God. 01:23:34.580 |
Knowing full well the Bible says it is impossible. 01:23:39.580 |
You cannot serve mammon and God at the same time. 01:23:44.580 |
To take a step back, examine, where is my faith? 01:23:53.580 |
And those of you who are fatigued, have you forgotten what it is that you have in Christ? 01:23:58.580 |
When is the last time you truly celebrated your salvation, the son of God? 01:24:03.580 |
When is the last time you closed your eyes just to thank God for what he has done already? 01:26:03.580 |
Let's all rise together as we sing this last song, amazing grace. 01:26:26.580 |
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. 01:26:41.580 |
I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see. 01:26:56.580 |
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. 01:27:11.580 |
How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed. 01:27:41.580 |
And like a flower, His mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace. 01:28:16.580 |
He will my shield and portion, as long as life endures. 01:28:46.580 |
And like a flower, His mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace. 01:29:06.580 |
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, and sun forbear to shine. 01:29:50.580 |
And like a flower, His mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace. 01:30:21.580 |
And like a flower, His mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace. 01:30:49.580 |
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today, 01:30:54.580 |
so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 01:30:58.580 |
For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginnings of our assurance firm until the end. 01:31:04.580 |
While it is said, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me." 01:31:11.580 |
Heavenly Father, help us, Lord God, to take heed, your warnings, your encouragement, your challenge, 01:31:17.580 |
that we would not simply drift along in this world. 01:31:20.580 |
Help us, Lord God, to fight, to wrestle, to struggle, Lord God, that we may proclaim the grace that you've given us. 01:31:29.580 |
Help us to be a brighter light as the world around us becomes darker. 01:31:33.580 |
Help us as a community together to sharpen one another, to speak the truth in love, 01:31:38.580 |
that we may build a community that genuinely worships you in spirit and in truth, 01:31:42.580 |
and the voice of your son, Jesus Christ, will become very, very clear. 01:31:47.580 |
And so we pray, Father, as you send us, that we would not use excuses, Lord God, to do what ought to be done today. 01:31:58.580 |
Help us to be the aroma of Christ wherever you send us.