reading from verse 5 down to verse 11. Romans chapter 2 verse 5 through 11. Reading out of the ESV. "But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works, to those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality.

He will give eternal life, but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek. But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek, for God shows no partiality." Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this morning. We thank you for your living word. We thank you for opportunities to praise you where the body of Christ can come together, Lord God, and to express our gratitude and worship. We ask, Lord, that you would constantly keep our hearts and minds fresh, that your word would speak to us and it would have its effect that you've desired.

So we ask for your blessing and your anointing over this time. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now as you guys know, this week there was a lot of news going on because of the shooting that took place in Oregon. And again, this is happening so often now that we can easily become numb.

You probably also read the news that this man was particularly targeting Christians. And we don't know exactly what his state was and what the reason was. But every time this happens, there is a debate, political debate that gets stirred up. Like we need to have some more regulations on firearms.

That we need to change the leadership. And we need to do this and we need to do that. And I think we need to be careful that we don't get caught up with the rest of the world thinking that if we somehow change policy, that if we change leadership, if we change our tactics, that somehow we are going to eradicate this kind of stuff.

Because ultimately, as Paul has been reminding us through the book of Romans, the ultimate problem of man is not external. That these things are not happening because the world is bad and you just happen to step in it and things are bad and just bad things happen to you.

Jesus clearly said, "It is not what you put into a man, but it is what comes out of a man." The problem is not policy. Not to say that we shouldn't make an effort to have a better government. That we shouldn't have better laws to protect people. Not to say that those things don't matter.

But ultimately, the problem of mankind is not policy. It's not about certain laws. It's not if we change our leadership, somehow we're going to have a utopian culture. And every year, election year, we have people pounding, saying that if you elect me, I'm going to change things. We're going to make things much better.

We're going to have a better economy, better world. Our children are going to be educated better. And everybody promises, but again, if you've lived long enough, there's a reason why people don't trust politicians. Because they make all these promises, and every year, those promises don't come true. Because the answer is not in man.

Our issue, and again, whenever these tragic things happen, it's a constant reminder to us that we live in a fallen world. These are the symptoms. And again, it's not going to be the last time. It's not the first time. But then as Christians, we ought to be reminded that this is why we need Jesus.

This is why we proclaim Christ, and this is why we gather together, and this is why we have hope in Him. That it's a reminder why you and I need to be committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul introduces to the book of Romans of the necessity of Christ.

And that's what he's going to be, he's ultimately talking about by the time he gets to chapter 3 verse 21 and on, his goal is to pound to these Christians already, who are already believers of Jesus, but to pound in them the necessity of Christ. Now, for me to say this in this setting, where probably, you know, maybe not everybody is a Christian, but the majority of you in this room have already confessed your faith in Jesus.

You believe in Jesus. You believe in the Gospel. And that's why you're here. That's why you're worshiping. So why do we need to hear, again, the necessity of Christ? Because you and I have a tendency, because we live in this world and what we tend to believe in or trust in are the things that we can touch and taste and see.

And obviously the things that we profess to believe are not things that can physically touch. So if we're not careful we can easily drift in and our values become no different than the world. Even though theologically that's not what we believe. But in practice we're no different than the world.

So what He's been doing in chapter 1, 2, and 3 is to pound to these Roman Christians why Jesus had to come. Why Jesus had to die. It wasn't like, "Oh, He did such a great thing, you know. He's such a good God because He allowed us to have the easiest way to Heaven." He came because He had to.

There was no other way. You and I have absolutely had no hope without Christ. And so He pounds over and over again in chapter 1, verse 18, all the way to chapter 30, is why the wrath of God is being revealed today. Why whenever you see things like that, the shootings and the beheadings and the hatred and all these things, why this is happening?

He said, "Because the wrath of God is being revealed." He said, "Because God revealed Himself and mankind chose to worship the creation rather than the Creator." And as a result of that God gave them over, it says, to their lustful passions, sexual immorality, to all kinds of rebellion against God.

He said He passed them over. And He said last week that, "Do you not realize," in verse 4, "that it's His kindness that leads us to repentance?" Every single one of us who've heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and repented is because God had mercy on us. It wasn't because you had made the right decisions.

It wasn't because you were smart enough and you made the right friends and chose the right church, or you studied the Bible and you were smarter than the other people. He said it was completely by the mercy of God. He was kind to you. He somehow orchestrated your lives so that you may hear the Gospel.

He orchestrated certain people in your lives that may be a witness in your life. It's His kindness that leads you to repentance. Verse 5 is again an ongoing indictment against these self-righteous hypocrites. And He says, "But because you don't recognize that that's exactly what it is, that God's kindness leads you to repentance, but because of your heart an impenitent heart." In other words because you refused to repent.

You refused to acknowledge your sin and your need for Christ. He said, "For yourself on the day of wrath." That you are storing up wrath for the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. In other words if you refuse to repent, not recognizing it is God's kindness that's leading you to repentance, and you're going to rely upon your own self-righteousness, He says in verse 6, "He will render each one according to His works." You know it's a cruel, cruel joke in life.

Again I wouldn't even call it a joke, but you know to live all your life thinking that if I'm good enough that somehow when I die God's going to be fair and allow me to get into Heaven. And there's again when we talk about religion versus Christianity, if there's one fundamental distinction between not just religion but secularism versus Christianity is that as long as we are decent people that when we die the just thing for God to do is to allow us to get into Heaven.

But the problem with that is just like we talked about last week and what I said in the beginning that sin is not something that you just step into. That we're all born neutral and somehow if you make the right decisions that somehow you're going to be able to be free and live clean the rest of your life.

That's not what the Scripture says. It says it's what comes out of we've come out of our mother's womb unclean. And again anybody who's raised children you know exactly what I'm talking about. You know you don't teach children how to sin. You have to teach them how to restrict themselves from sin.

You have to teach them the punishment of sin. You never taught them that. You didn't teach them to steal. You didn't teach them to lie and to cheat. You didn't teach them to be selfish. You're trying really hard. In fact some days you feel defeated because you're working so hard to teach them not to sin.

But they came into this world with that instinct. And that's you and I. Every single one of us. We came into this world with the instinct to be selfish. Instinct to lie. Instinct to boast. And as a result of that He says there's condemnation. See in Romans 2, 8-10 it says, "For those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek." It says every evil deed. When's the last time you considered sin as evil? In fact in our world, in our culture we often call it a mistake. An error. But evil?

In God's perspective in His holy, holy, holy eyes He says what we act out is a rebellion against God. And therefore in His eyes it is evil. In Matthew 12, 36-37 it says, "I tell you on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak.

For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned." Is Jesus serious about that? If you and I were to come before God and to be judged by our deeds, He says not only will you be judged by whether you committed an act of adultery or whether you stole and lied, He says every careless word.

Now some of you guys are more tight-lipped than others, you know. And I confessed to you before that this is probably one of the main things that I repent of more than anything else. At night before I sleep, "Stupid dummy, why did you say that?" "Oh, you're trying so hard to make yourself look better than you are." And you say, "I mean I see it, I see my sins." But no matter how tight-lipped you are, it's not even just about what you say, it's the thoughts that you have.

It's anger, the lust. Imagine if we stood before God, a holy God who is omniscient and omnipotent who knows everything and says, "Ok, now come before me and I will judge you and give you what you deserve." What a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a holy, holy, holy God.

But again, you and I already know that we will not be judged. That when we come before God, the blood of Christ covers us. That our faith, our salvation is not by our works. And if you've, again, been to church for any period of time, you know that that's true.

That's Christianity 101. If those of you are members, if you didn't know that, you would have failed BCC and you wouldn't be here. Right? That's Christianity 101, that you and I are not saved by our works. Thank God that God doesn't judge us according to our works. It is absolutely by faith.

The same man who says in verse 6, "He will render each one according to his works," also says in Romans 3.23, "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." That's the same guy. The same guy who wrote this text is the same guy who wrote that.

Romans 9.30, "What shall we say then, the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it." That is a righteousness that is by faith. And again, in another text, in Ephesians 2.89, you know that passage, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." Now, it is the same author. It is the same author who said, "Those who by patience and doing well, or good works, seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life." And he is the same guy who said, "But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek." How do you reconcile that?

Because in this passage it seems like he is saying those of you who are doing good works will be saved, and those of you who are not doing good works you are going to face tribulation. Did something happen between chapter 2 and chapter 3? Did he have a new revelation from God?

And he said, "Ok, I changed my mind." You know I know I told you just three paragraphs before that you have to have good works to be saved, and then Azor has nothing to do with good works. What happened? Did he change his mind? Obviously not. What I want to talk to you about today for the rest of this time that we have, maybe about 20-25 minutes, is this relationship between faith and works and why this is not a contradiction.

The Scripture clearly says that we are saved by faith and not by works. In fact if you add works to your faith you are perverting the Gospel. That's blasphemy. Basically what it is, it's like well you know I'm going to take the work of God and then I'm going to add some of my work.

It's offensive to God. If there was any other way that we can get to Heaven by our works, to say that, "Oh, Jesus was just one of the ways that I could have gotten to Heaven. He needed my help. The God of the universe did His part and now I've got to do a little bit of my part." It is absolutely ridiculous.

That is not what the Scripture teaches. The Scripture is clear on that. It is by faith and by faith alone. The whole book of Hebrews is to teach us that. It is by faith and by faith alone. If there was any confusion about this, again I think come and talk to us we'll try to clarify it.

But again the Scripture is not ambiguous about this at all. There are some things Christians can debate about but this is not one of those things. This is not a debatable issue. It is by faith and faith alone. But then if that's the case what does Paul mean here?

How can he use this language? "To those who by patience and well-doing seek glory and honor and immortality He will give eternal life." It sounds like you are earning your salvation. What could he possibly mean? Well to illustrate this point, again because this is the main point, I want you to turn your Bibles to John 6.29.

Some of you guys are very familiar with this text because I've gone through it before. But John 6.29. And I want to show you the relationship between faith and works. And why faith and works cannot be separated. Again you guys say, "Well that sounds blasphemous." But I'm going to show you why.

Even though the Scripture clearly says that we are saved by faith alone, but why faith and works cannot be separated. John chapter 6. The setup for the passage I'm going to read are these 5,000, probably the real number is about 20,000 including women and children. They are the ones who ate the miraculous bread and fish, and they are the people in the feeding of the 5,000.

After they are fed Jesus goes to the other side of the lake and they say, "Where is Jesus?" So they go look for Him. They finally find Him and they encounter Him. And verse 25 Jesus sees them and He sees that there is a defect in their faith. They see that they are following Him for the wrong reason.

So He is going to call them out. And that's the text that we are looking at in verse 25. "When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, 'Rabbi, when did You come here?'" And Jesus doesn't answer. He goes, "I came yesterday." No small talk.

He just jumps right in. He said, "Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking Me not because you saw a sign, but because you ate your fill of loaves." Stop right there. "You are coming to Me not because you recognize who I am. You know the signs that I gave.

You said I'm the Messiah and so we are coming because of the promise and you are the Messiah. That's not why you are coming. You are coming because you ate and you are full and you want more." So He corrects them and He says, "Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life." So Jesus is saying, "Don't work for temporary things.

Work for eternal things, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him God the Father has set His seal." Right? So again He is correcting their defected faith. He says, "You are seeking for temporary things like food, but what you really need to be seeking is eternal things." Right?

That's what you need to be doing. Then they said to Him, "If that's the case, what must we do to be doing the works of God?" Say, "We are doing the wrong thing. You should do the right things. So what is the right thing that you want us to do?" Verse 29, "Jesus answered them, 'This is the work of God, that you," what?

"Believe." "That you believe." He said, "Well what should we do? You ought to do what is right." "Well what should we do?" "Believe," He says. In fact He says that over and over again. He says that again in verse 35, right? He says, "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.'" Again He says to come and do the work, "Believe." Verse 40 again He says, "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day." Verse 47, "Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life." So, what is Jesus doing with these people? They are coming and they are exerting a lot of energy to come to Jesus, but they have a defective faith because they don't recognize who He is. He says, "You are working for things that are going to rot, and it's going to mean nothing.

So, you need to work for things that are eternal. What should I do? What is the work of God?" He says, "You must believe." And He repeats this over, and over, and over, and over again to get His point across. Now to fully understand the result of this belief in His teaching, after Jesus says this, and this is where He recognizes that they are not His.

They are coming to Him for all the wrong reasons. So, He basically shuts the door on them by telling them that if you don't drink of My blood and eat of My flesh you cannot be My disciple. And so, they are like, "What? Like cannibalism." He doesn't explain Himself.

So, basically what Jesus is doing He is shutting the door because He sees that they are coming to Him for the wrong reason. He doesn't see the faith. So, He turns to His disciples and He says, "Are you going to leave too?" And look what they say. Starting from verse 66, it says, "After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.

So, Jesus said to the twelve, 'Do you want to go away as well?' Simon Peter answered, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'" What was the difference between the disciples and the people turned away?

The disciples believed and they did not. And as a result of that, because of their unbelief, they turned away from God. And because of the belief that they had, did the disciples understand what Jesus was saying? They didn't get it either. You know, they say, "Oh, you've got to drink My blood and eat My flesh." I'm sure the disciples are like, "What?

What did He say?" Jesus just said to eat His flesh. I don't get it. I don't get what you are saying. And that's why they didn't get it. When Jesus said He was going to go to the cross He said, "I don't get that. You are the Messiah. I'm convinced that you are the Messiah.

You are the Holy One of God. Why would you go to the cross? That doesn't make any sense." But they didn't leave Him because they believed. The difference between again what Jesus is saying here is that you and I, again in our generation we have a tendency to separate the faith and works so clearly that anything that you say, "Well, Christians ought to do this." It's like, "Oh, that sounds like legalism." You know, that's not God because the Gospel of Jesus Christ says it's by faith alone.

So anything that tells us that we need to do something we automatically have a knee-jerk reaction. That's why when we read passages like Romans 2 it sounds like heresy. How can He possibly say that? How can He possibly tell us that our works matter? I thought it didn't matter.

I thought our life and what we did didn't matter because we're saved by faith alone. So our works do not matter. And yet the Scripture is so crystal clear on this subject. See what Jesus was saying to His disciples, to them, He says, "Yes, you do need to seek for eternal things, but again, but the greatest of these things that you need to do is to believe because it is belief that causes you to work.

It is belief that causes you to work." James 2, 18-20. Someone will say, "You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from the works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well, even the demons believe and shudder." In other words, what James is saying is you guys are all good at professing, but when it comes to evidence there is none.

Faith without deeds is useless. That is not saving faith. He says, "Even the demons believe that God is one, they shudder." In fact, in Jesus' ministry it was the demons who first recognized Jesus, not the disciples. Demons are the ones who came and knelt before Jesus, you know, and they were in terror because they recognized who He was.

The disciples were like, "Great, you know, we get free food. You know, when you go to Heaven, you know, can I sit on the left or the right?" The demons recognized Him first. They don't fully open their eyes until His death and resurrection. So he says, "If it is simply a profession that Jesus wanted, then the demons should have been saved." See, the faith that Jesus is referring to is a faith that causes them to follow Christ through the cross.

And it is this defected faith that these people were coming to Jesus that caused them to turn away from Christ. Now what does this have to do with the passage? Turn back with me to Romans chapter 2. If you see the difference between 7 and 8, it says verse 7 is in reference to Christians, and verse 8 is in reference to non-Christians.

So I want you to see the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. "To those who by patience in doing well seek for glory, honor, and immortality, He will grant eternal life. But a non-Christian, but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." So the distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian, they are both seeking.

Right? In most of your translation, the word is translated "seek." So a Christian is seeking glory, honor, and immortality, which is going to lead to eternal life. And that's why they're going to persevere in their good works. A non-Christian is self-seeking. So therefore, they're not going to obey the truth and obey unrighteousness.

There will be wrath and fury. In the end, both of them are seeking life. Both of them are seeking life. A non-Christian, the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is a non-Christian thinks that life is here. So therefore, if I work hard enough, make enough money, make proper decisions, put away enough money, then my life is going to be good, and I'm going to have a better life.

So they're self-seeking. They're trying to exalt themselves, which is at the core of their rebellion against God. Refusing to acknowledge God as Lord, and decided to worship the creation rather than the Creator. Now what creation does he worship? Himself. A Christian is an individual who recognizes that life is eternal.

So he is seeking glory, honor, and immortality. And as a result of that, he will receive eternal life. So a Christian is an individual who believes that life is in Christ. And because I find life in Christ, I seek to be where Christ is. I seek to do what Christ does.

I seek to go where He goes. Because I find life in Christ. That's the distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian. It is not a difference between coming to church and not coming to church. Someone can come to church and be completely self-seeking. It's about them. As soon as I don't get what I want, this church doesn't do anything for me.

Because even in the context of Bible study, even in the context of serving the church, it could be self-seeking. You just happen to find a different avenue. See that's why Scripture says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, He said, "Without love it is nothing." Because all of these things, even me preaching up here, it may seem noble and honorable, but it could be self-seeking.

And that happens all the time. People go into ministry for self-seeking reasons. People go evangelizing for self-seeking reasons. People serve and give to the church for self-seeking reasons. The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is what he believes is going to bring life to him. A Christian believes that life is in Christ and that now we are hidden.

Our glory is hidden in Christ. And we will be glorified one day when Christ comes and He is glorified. And we will be glorified in Him. Therefore, I am investing long-term. See that's what he is saying. He says an individual who is patient in doing good, who perseveres in doing good.

Why do you have to persevere in doing good? Because you don't see the payoff right away. If your good works automatically lead to something good for you, you don't need to be patient. You just need to do the work and tomorrow you get payoff. The reason why you need to be patient in doing good is because the payoff or the reward is later.

Satisfaction comes later. That's why he says the one who is patient in doing good is because he is seeking glory, honor, and immortality. And as a result of that he will have eternal life. Let me tell you again, let me illustrate why this is so important. You know in the church, when we talk about following Jesus Christ, we automatically compare it with whoever we are around.

So a certain culture, so if you are a member of a community church, there is a certain culture that is required of you. So as long as we meet that cultural minimum, we feel okay. So it's like how are you doing spiritually? Ah, you know I did the Bible study.

I haven't done this. I haven't done that. Whatever is the cultural norm of this culture. But whenever Jesus saw something defected in their action, whether it was the disciples or the villages that He went to, He recognized a defect in their faith. He said, "Ye of little faith, why couldn't you trust Me?" When they were afraid, He said, "Oh, why are you afraid?" He said, "Ye of little faith." When a centurion came, He said, "You know what?

Send them. I have servants that follow Me." He said, "Oh, you have to descend. I believe that you have that authority." He said, "This man has great faith." In other words, what was Jesus saying? He's saying, "Your faith is leading you to be fearful or not fearful. It is your faith that's causing you to be disciplined or not disciplined.

It's faith that's causing you to value Christ over the world. At the core, it's your faith." That's why in Hebrews chapter 11, 6, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Because what God is looking for is not just somebody to jump through the hoops and do the right thing.

He says without faith, just like all the people who are coming to Jesus, superficially you would think that, "Wow, look at this crowd, 20,000. You know, they're coming to Me. That's great. We have a successful ministry." But He looked right through them. He says, "No, this is not real fruit.

They're coming to Me for all the wrong reasons. You must first believe. Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must first believe that He is." That He's the answer. That when Jesus said, "Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." That you believe that Jesus is your rest.

Not your vacation. Not your trips. Not to Jimjilbang and rest or whatever you may think. Jesus is our rest. When Jesus said, "If you drink of this water that the world gives you, you're going to be thirsty again. But the water I give you, you'll never thirst." And because you believe that, and you believe that He is, so you continue to come to Him and drink.

That you recognize your hunger. There's something that you're missing. And so when Jesus says, "If you eat of this bread you will be hungry again. But the bread that I give you, you will never hunger again." And you believe that. And because you believe that you come and you eat of Christ and you drink of His blood.

Because that's where you and I find life. That's what He means. If you don't believe that, there's no way for you to please God. He who comes to God must first believe that He is and He rewards those who seek Him. See that's the connection to what He's saying in verse 7.

Those who are seeking Him, they seek honor, glory, and immortality. And they will get eternal life. That because you believe that He is and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Paul is not contradicting himself. What Paul is saying is genuine faith is what's going to cause us to seek Him.

Here's the trouble that again that we get into sometimes. Because we get, you know, "Ah, you know works and knee jerk reaction. That's legalism. That can't be from God. That's not the Gospel." Let me tell you why it is a contradiction to separate works and faith. You and I profess to believe in a fantastic Gospel.

It is not something that you and I would even imagine to create. Imagine if you just conjured up this idea. If you wrote a story. I mean you can understand like, "Oh, there's a great movie. The king comes off his throne and he lives with the peasants. Like, wow!" You know, really some king actually would do that?

These aren't just any peasants. These are the peasants who rebelled against him. These are the peasants who are constantly attacking him, cursing him, and wants to destroy his kingdom. It's that that king instead of being angry decided to come down and live among them and have mercy and sacrifice.

And not only did he love them so much that he would sacrifice his son to win them over to bring them into his kingdom. And he said, "Really? That really happened?" Say, "Yeah, okay. That's maybe in Hollywood." The Gospel that you and I profess to believe is that it wasn't the king of some nation, earthly nation.

It was a God of the universe who created the world. The very oxygen that you and I breathe. That God that we were rebelling against decided to take on human flesh and he walked among us. Not only did he walk among us, he was humiliated. He was beaten. He was mocked.

And he was crucified. All for what? To save a rebellious, stiff-necked people. You and I are saved because we believe that. As fantastic as that is, this is not a story a human being would make up. Because you wouldn't possibly think, "Who would believe this? If I made up a story, even if I told you a king did that, I don't know if they would really believe that.

Let's make it realistic. Let's make it realistic that they were cute orphans and it wasn't really the king. It was just a jester in the court. That's more believable. But a king? A rebellious people? For them to make up a story about a God who did that? Who would believe this story?

And yet, you and I believed it. And we were changed. Our destiny was changed forever. And we sing these songs. We memorize scripture. We tell other people about it. And so we believe this fantastic story. Professing we are saved because of it. And then we hear a passage, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you." It's like, "Ugh, that's hard to believe." That's hard to believe.

Think about the inconsistency of what we profess. The magnitude of the gospel that you and I profess to believe. And the day-to-day unbelief that we accept as normal. You see how faith, how inconsistent a life that doesn't produce works and the faith that we profess in Christ does not fit.

And that's why he says in Romans 8.32, "He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" If you believe that he would give his only begotten son, and we profess this every single Sunday, and then to leave this room saying, "I'm not sure if he would take care of my bills.

I'm not sure if I pick up my cross and follow him that he has my best interest. I mean, I say it, but I don't know if I really believe that." That's just like if I was a manager of a bank and you came into work and said, "You know what I'm going to give you the keys to this vault where we have piled up billions of dollars and I'm going to entrust you with this key." And it's fantastic, but don't ever touch this cash register.

We have about $300 of cash in there and I don't trust you enough. You know, I said, "What? You wouldn't trust me with this vault, but you won't entrust me with this cash register?" Something's off. Something about that guy's faith doesn't as well. Maybe the vault really doesn't have the money.

Maybe the real money is in the cash register, and that's why you're saying this. See, something is off. See, a Christian who professes to believe this grand story of the God of the universe would give his only begotten son and to receive that so flippantly and say, "Yes, I believe that.

Of course, no problem." And then to struggle every single day to follow Jesus because I don't believe the little stuff. You see why faith and works has to be together? If that faith is genuine, you will see Christ. If you believe that Jesus is the living water, why would you not come drink from Him?

If you believe that He's the bread of life, you really truly believe that, why would you not eat of Him? If you believe that life is found in the Word of God, and you profess that, why would you not come and read it? We accept the Gospel and just assume that I have it, and then the rest of it we're just kind of wrestling with, "Maybe I need to be more disciplined.

I've got to do that." But in the end, it may be our faith. And that's why he says, "Do you believe?" And my encouragement to us this morning is, "Do you believe?" If you believe that life is in Christ, wouldn't you be following Him? If you believe that you're satisfaction in Christ, wouldn't you want to be near Him?

If you're thirsty, and you feel something off, you know what, life isn't what you thought it was, and you graduated, and life is hard, and things are difficult, and something feels off, that possibly, maybe there's a spiritual hunger, that you haven't been walking right with God, there's a spiritual thirst, and you believe that the only one who can quench that, and you believe that, is Jesus, why would you not come to Him?

Why would you not drink of Him? And this is why, again, when we talk about prayer, prayer is a privilege, it's an opportunity to come to a holy, holy, holy, omnipotent God, and instead of prayer being a power for us, it becomes a burden, a guilt. Because we don't see it as an opportunity to meet God, we see it as a duty to do, because that's what a good Christian does.

You see the difference between believing and not believing? Not believing, and going through the motions, kills us. But if you believe, if you believe that He is the living water, the closer you get to Him, the more you will live.