If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12, we're going to be jumping back into the text in verse 25 through 29. Okay, Hebrews chapter 12, verses 25 through 29. I didn't get far in the first service, so I'm assuming I won't get far in the second service either.

Okay, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 25 through 29. Reading out of the NSV. See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if those who did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven.

And his voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised saying, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven. This expression yet once more denotes the removing of the things which can be shaken as of created things so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and all for our God is a consuming fire. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would protect this pulpit. Whether I stand here or anyone else, may it be your words and your words only protect us, Lord God, from man's opinions and thoughts.

That we may hear your voice and only your voice, that we would not refuse you. May the authority that you've given to the church, that you've placed in your word by the Holy Spirit, be known, Lord God, to everyone who has drawn near to this room to hear from you.

Anoint this time, Father God, that your grace would be enough. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. One of the most powerful words that we have in English is the word grace. Grace is the reason why you and I are here. We're saved by the grace of God. We endure because of this grace.

Grace is what gives hope to the hopeless. When there seems to be no human answer of what's going on in our life, what's going on in the world, and yet grace gives us hope. It gives hope and refuge to those who are helpless and oppressed. What's going on in Afghanistan where brothers and sisters are suffering from human eyes, it is terrifying.

From human perspective, there is no hope. When Apostle Paul, in his suffering, begged Christ to remove the thorn on his side, Jesus' answer to him was, "My grace is sufficient for you." It is sufficient for Paul, it is sufficient for us, and our brothers and sisters who are in Afghanistan who is praying to God, the ultimate answer is, "However this turns out that his grace is sufficient." It is a powerful word.

We sing about his grace, we memorize scriptures about his grace. It gives us comfort, it gives us hope, it gives us reasons to sing. But when grace is misunderstood and it is misapplied or it is cheapened, it has dire consequences. We make grace a free ticket to enter into heaven, that we can continue to live in darkness and sin, and we declare the grace of God to be covered.

It's kind of like when we were children, you know, we played games and we would lie to our siblings or to our friends and we cross our fingers, you know, behind our back and we can tell all kinds of lies. And you say, "You lied." It's like, "No, I'm okay because I crossed my finger." When grace is misapplied and it is cheap, it perverts righteousness, where it gives us a reason to live in sin and selfishness and rebellion against God and declare that it's because of grace I'm safe.

Grace can be easily perverted if we're not careful, not realizing what we believe and practice is cheap grace. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in his book, Discipleship, about this cheap grace, and this is what he says. "Cheap grace is a deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace.

Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like a cheap jack's wear." In other words, he just passes it out like it's not worth much. "The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented at the church's inexhaustible treasury from which she showers blessing with generous hands without asking questions or fixing limits.

Grace without price, grace without cost. The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance, and because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing." That's the definition of cheap grace. I remember years ago, I was out in Kenya visiting an orphan work that our church members were involved in, and I found something very surprising about the economy over there.

Because they've had poor government, and they have so many resources over there, but it's clearly it's been poor for many, many generations. Because of civil war, famine, AIDS epidemic, the economy has been crushed for many generations. And what I noticed was there were a lot of Christian signs everywhere, and I realized that their economy was being propped up by outside help.

So everywhere you go, you'll see buses, cars, buildings that have been dedicated in the name of Christ. Some Baptist something, some Presbyterian something, some Pentecostal something, but you'll see those crosses and signs everywhere. And I realized that they've been getting a lot of aid for many, many generations. And where this was most evident was, those of you guys who know, who's ever traveled with me, I usually travel with some beef jerky.

And the reason why is I'm not very adventurous with food. I usually, like if I like something and I go to that restaurant, I order the same thing 100% of the time, right? Until somebody, it looks good and I'll taste it next time I order that, but I'm not adventurous with food.

So it was no different. I was in Kenya and I took a couple bags of beef jerky and I was eating it, and one of the pastors saw it and I offered it to him. He ate it and he loved it. And then the next thing that came out of his mouth was, "Do you have any more?" So of course, I'll give him some more.

He ate that and he ate it up. And then the next thing that he said to me surprised me and he said, "Give me the bag." Just like that. "Give me the bag." So I was like, "Maybe his English isn't good." You know, that's pretty rude the way he asked for it.

So I said, "Okay, I'm here trying to help them. He's doing work with orphans." So I gave him the bag and then he ate it and said, "Do you have any more? You didn't even finish that." Of course, I brought some more because I was there for a while.

He asked me, "How have some?" I said, "Give it to me." Just like that. He said, "Give it to me." So I said, "What is going on here? Did I do something to offend this guy?" So I ended up giving him the beef jerky and I was just kind of like perplexed the way he asked for it.

And then the next thing that came out of his mouth is because he said, "You are rich and we are poor. You have plenty at home and I do not. So give it to me." Yeah. So I realized that from that encounter is that at least that pastor was so used to getting things from the outsiders.

It was just a matter of fact. Give it to me. There was no thank you, no appreciation. You're supposed to. You're a Christian. I'm a Christian. God gave you plenty. I don't have enough. So give it to me. I remember experiencing that also when I was doing homeless ministry and I would go out and we would feed every week on Tuesday and then we'd gather all these extra clothing because it was wintertime and then we would set up and we would always have a hard time keeping in line because they would rush to the front and just grab whatever they want.

And so those people who weren't at the front and didn't get the clothes that they wanted and it would start out with thank you but it would always end with somebody cussing me out because I didn't bring enough or the sizes don't fit or it wasn't exactly what they wanted.

And I would always leave after giving that to them saying like, "What is this?" And so for a period I was like, "Man, they're not worth this. I'm sacrificing to do all of this and I get cussed out." And again, it's not everybody that did that but there would always be somebody who don't realize what it is and then they would just leave.

As extreme as those examples may sound, that's what cheap grace looks like. When we come into church and we demand grace from each other, you're Christians, you're church, why are you acting that way? Shouldn't you be more gracious? You cannot by definition demand grace. Grace is asking for something that you don't deserve so how can you demand grace?

If you demand grace, you don't understand what grace is. That is cheap grace that we're expecting. We don't expect grace. We should expect justice. I mean if we're to be honest, what we really expect is vengeance if you wrong somebody. But if we are somewhat righteous and have some conscience that we would only seek justice but to demand grace, to demand grace, to come into church and say, "Why didn't God answer my prayer?" Why do you think that God has to answer your prayers?

Where was God? Why do you automatically think that God is supposed to answer your prayers? What is it about grace that you think and you have a knee-jerk reaction, a default setting of God needs to run when I call? All of that is because cheap grace has deeply penetrated our psyche especially because of where you and I live.

The love of God has been passed out like free candy on Halloween. And so we've been trained to believe. Even though we would never express it, we've been trained to believe and feel that God needs to come when I call. That is cheap grace. You know even the word charisma, the English word charisma, when we say somebody has charisma, we automatically think this is somebody who's gregarious, who's good with people, who's not awkward, somebody who's able to keep a crowd and make people feel good.

The very definition of the word charisma in its word has the word grace, the Greek word charis. So if you look at the etymology of this word, it basically comes from Middle English and it basically means the one who has been favored. Where God has been gracious to him.

That's a definition of the word charisma. But the way you and I use it is he has charisma. The actual word means he's been given grace. That's what that word means. And just as we have perverted that word to think that somebody innately has charisma, cheap grace doesn't recognize who it is that we are dealing with.

We must not make the mistake that God's grace means that we are free to do whatever we want. Cross our fingers, right? We raised our hand, we got baptized, so I feel bad when I sin, but once saved, always saved. Grace must not be perverted. It is the kindness of God that leads us to what?

Repentance. And those of you who were at the retreat, Dr. Street did a great job of what is true repentance. True repentance isn't simply feeling sorry. I felt bad that I did that. True repentance is to turn from our sins. To put away our old life, that we may reconcile and restore what ought to be.

That's true repentance. So it's the kindness. It's not the grace of God that simply covers you so that the penalty of sin no longer belongs to you. But true repentance is to turn away from that and to turn to God. And it is the kindness of God, it is the grace of God that leads us to true repentance.

It is cheap grace to think that because we raised our hand, because we went into the water, we are covered so now we can live the rest of our life any way we desire. That is cheap grace and it is not biblical grace. God's grace provides us the ability to choose life over death, to choose obedience over disobedience.

That's grace. It's not you and I, by our own will, by our own effort, that we somehow are choosing to do what we think is right to do. He said it's the grace of God, true grace of God, that causes us to turn from our sins and to live a new life in Christ.

The whole book of Titus is to deal with this idea of cheap grace. People are professing with their mouth that they believe in Jesus Christ but by their life they deny Him. That's what it says in Titus 1.16. They profess to know God. They profess to have God's grace.

They profess with their mouth they know God but by their deeds they deny Him. Your works speak louder than your words. That's what he's saying. Your life is more evident of what you believe than what you profess. Being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deeds because it's just a profession.

It's not real. It's cheap grace. Titus chapter 2, 11-14, "For the grace of God has appeared, grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness, worldly desire, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age." What challenges them? What causes them?

What tells them? What rebukes them? What corrects them? It's the grace of God, it says. The grace of God has appeared, instructing and telling. Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed.

The grace of God did that. And to purify Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. The grace of God did that. We have a tendency to think that if we start to preach strong sermons and people feel guilty and rebuked, that's not grace. We need to talk more about grace.

Grace means that despite your sins, that God covered us and we can leave encouraged and continue to live the way we desire to live. That's grace. You continue to preach grace because our life is hard enough as it is. But when we are confronted over our sins and rebuked and challenged to live righteous lives, that is not grace.

That is legalism, harshness, guilt, law. And yet he says the grace of God, the grace of God teaches us to live and follow Christ righteously. It is because cheap grace has so deeply embedded into our psyche. Because the word of God and the grace of God in the gospel has been peddled.

So that we can get the gospel to the lowest common denominator and an individual who has never truly surrendered their life to Christ can also be accepted into the kingdom of God. Because all you have to do is give Jesus a chance. The way that the gospel is being propagated in our generation is that God is the one who offended us.

And the church is apologizing to the world. Give us a chance. Come to church. Accept Jesus. And whatever it is that you've been offended by, we'll try to minimize that as much as possible. And so people are walking through the door with cheap grace in their mind from day one.

Sinners are coming into the church with a consumer mindset. So do I want to be at this church? If you want to keep me at this church, I want this. So the sinners are the ones who have been offended. And the holy God is the one who has offended.

And the church is begging an opportunity for the sinners to give Jesus a chance. Imagine how offensive that is. If somebody offended you and you sent an ambassador on your behalf and they were begging for them to give you a chance. If you were the one offended, see that's cheap grace.

That's cheap grace. The way that the gospel is preached has to represent the holy God that's been offended. He's the one we need to reconcile with. He's the one we need to appease. He's the one we worship. So when we come to church, our primary thought should not be, "What am I getting out of this?" It's how can I have a relationship with this holy God?

It is because the gospel has been propagated cheaply. It's been handed out as free candy to anyone who wants it. All because men who are afraid of human opinion. Men who have become convinced that a successful church is the largest church. Men who have been convinced that if you have many people who honor you, that you must be doing something right.

Men who should not be speaking. Men who should not have been ordained. Men who should not have ever been speaking on behalf of an offended holy God. All because of cheap grace. There's three things that I wanted to give you an outline of the text that we're looking at, but like I told you, I didn't get through the first one.

So we'll get to the others. We're in no hurry. At least I'm not. Three things. Proper response to the grace of God. God's grace demands that we pay close attention to what God has to say. Proper response. Take what he says seriously. God's grace reminds us to live for what cannot be shaken.

How much of what we pursue when Christ comes will mean nothing. God's grace calls us to worship him in spirit and in truth. Those are the all three things that we see in this text. How to respond properly. First one. God's grace demands that we pay close attention to what God says.

Verse 25. "See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking." Remember, the previous text, just to remind you, just four weeks ago we were talking about this, and he was differentiating between coming to Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. Mount Sinai represented terror, where the people of Israel was begging Moses, "Tell God to stop speaking to us," because they were so terrified.

Even a glimpse of his glory terrified them and asked Moses to go inside the tent because they couldn't look at him. But he says, "You did not come to Mount Sinai. You came to Mount Zion, a place of joy, of worship, where the angels and all the multitudes will be gathered together to worship him, to experience his true life." So after explaining this grace, after reminding them, "You didn't come to Mount Sinai.

You came to Zion, a place of celebration and banquet." But in conclusion to that, you would think, you say, "Well, because God is gracious. Because God is gracious." We would typically think if you only understood cheap grace, "Because God is gracious, I can do whatever I want. My salvation is secure.

Because God is gracious, no matter how much I sin, God will never forsake me. Because God is gracious." And so that's what naturally we would think. But he says, "Because God has been gracious," he says, "do not refuse him who speaks." Because God is gracious. Pay close attention to what he has to say.

That was the practical application of telling us about his grace. Take what he says seriously. Now you have to understand, like when he says, "Do not refuse him," what does it mean to refuse him? And according to the context of the book of Hebrews, the whole time he's been telling them to do what?

Not to neglect. Neglect. What do you have to do to not to neglect? Because clearly that's what he means here by, "Do not refuse him." What does he mean by not to neglect? What do you have to do not to neglect? Absolutely nothing. How will you escape if you neglect such a great salvation?

We're warned over and over again, "Do not drift." What do you have to do to drift? How hard do you have to work to drift? Nothing. So when he says here, "Do not refuse him," refusing him requires no effort on our part. Continue to do what comes natural to you.

Continue to live you as the center of your life. Continue. Just continue. You need to do nothing. If you want to hear the warning from God, if you want to refuse him, do nothing. After the warning that has been given to you, if you want to refuse him, do nothing.

There's nothing to do. Just go outside, live your life the way you've always been living, and just continue to pursue, and just make sure that you're back here on Sunday. That's all you need to do to refuse him. When God speaks, He doesn't come and speak and say, "You know what?

I just want to tell you I love you," and then He disappears. There's a reason why God speaks. When God interjects into human history to speak directly to His prophets, to speak to His children, it's because there is danger. He comes to instruct them, gives them warnings so that we can change.

He speaks in order that sinful men and women would repent. He's not speaking empty words. That's exactly what He says. In Deuteronomy 32, 45-47, when He spoke to the nation of Israel and gave them all the instructions of His law, He summarizes by saying this, "When Moses had finished speaking all these words to Israel, He said to them, 'Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today.'" Remember, at the retreat, Dr.

Shreve said the heart is not just talking about emotion, but it's our very being. And when He says, "Take to heart," He's talking about deep in your soul, not just how you feel. When you've heard the Word of God, "Take to heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully." Command.

And when He says sons, He's not just talking about children. He's talking about the nation of Israel. Don't suggest it to them. Don't suggest it to them and say, "Hey, I'm going to give you some good advice." He says, "Command them." How can He command? Who is Moses to command them?

Moses is just another man like anybody else. He is fraught with weakness like anybody else. He is fearful like anybody else. How can Moses command them? He tells them to command them because He speaks on behalf of God who tells Him to. Command them. Why does He give this command?

Command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of the law, for it is not an idle word for you. It is not something for you to hear and then make your decision, "Ah, let me think about it. Maybe I'll do it later. Maybe at the right time." It is not idle words for you.

Indeed, it is your life, life and death. When God speaks and He says, "Move," and you don't move, there's deathly consequence. When God says to do this and you say, "Ah, maybe not now." And by this word, you will prolong your days in the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.

Even chapter 12, 25b, which we just read, why do we need to pay close attention? For if those did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. Think about what Mount Sinai was.

Mount Sinai was not the demonstration of His full glory. Mount Sinai was a glimpse of His glory. That glimpse of His glory that He touched down on earth at Mount Sinai was so terrifying that sinners not only did not want to look at Him, they didn't want to hear from Him.

His very words were terrifying and they begged Him, "Please tell them to stop speaking." Because they were so terrified. Didn't He say we didn't go to Mount Sinai? Didn't He say we're Zion now? I thought we weren't supposed to be terrified because we've been covered by the blood of Christ.

So who is He speaking to? He is speaking to people who have embraced cheap grace. And they may be in danger of feeling falsely secure because of this cheap grace. And because of this cheap grace, they think they can approach the throne of God. They couldn't approach Sinai from a distance.

But a sinner who's not been washed by the blood of Christ, who doesn't understand true grace walking into His presence with confidence in false grace. How much more would it be terrifying if God who spoke at Sinai caused this kind of fear? How much more a professing Christian who has been deceived when he meets the Holy God from heaven.

That's what He's referring to. People who have been deceived by cheap grace. Hebrews chapter 2, 1-3 it says, "For this reason, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. If the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" You hear it and you just pick and choose what you want.

You know, I love the fact that Jesus loves me unconditionally. I love the fact that my sins have been covered. I love the fact that we have eternity in Christ. And we're going to have eternity with Him. Pick up your cross, deny yourself. You want to live? To forsake your life to follow Christ?

That's for the pastors, the missionaries, the serious Christians, the gung-ho, the Jesus freaks. But for regular Christians, I choose cheap grace. Cheap grace isn't grace at all. In fact, it isn't even salvation. It is the greatest deception. It is the greatest tool that Satan uses to deceive thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of people in the church to continue to walk as themselves at the center, pursuing their life, their comfort, their luxury in the name of Jesus.

But their life has never been surrendered to Christ. And it's hard to distinguish because people who embrace cheap grace are in the church. They serve the church. Sometimes they lead Bible studies. They know a lot about Scripture. They know how to play this game. But you and I know, you and I know if we have been surrendered or not, if we're pursuing our own life in the name of Jesus or we've actually surrendered our life.

When we get baptized, part of the reason why we don't sprinkle is because the meaning of baptism is burial. That's what it says in the book of Romans. We are buried with Christ. That's why when somebody gets baptized, we ask them, "Do you understand that you're being buried with Christ?" And that's why when somebody gets baptized, if they don't put their whole body in, I shove it in further.

Some people go in and they don't want to get their hair wet. No, your hair needs to die too. So we shove them in. Some people have nice makeup on. They go right up to here. And then I said, "No, you got to go all the way in." We can't bury you with your face sticking up.

But the idea of burial is to die with Christ. As He was buried, we are to be buried. That's what baptism is. We are united with His death. Not just sacrifice, not hard life, with His death. And whatever life that we were holding on to prior to is gone.

That's how the Bible describes it. Behold, the old has gone. The new has come. So that's why we ask, "Do you understand you're going into the water buried with Christ?" When you come out, you're united with Christ's resurrected life. People who practice cheap grace have united with Him in certain parts.

But they're not dead. Our life doesn't look much different than the rest of the world. We pursue the same things that the world pursues. We just go to church on Sunday. We're worried about the same thing that they're worried about. We're just active on Sunday. We're just as concerned, just as worried, just as fearful as the rest of the world, except I'm active at church on Sunday or weekday.

True grace causes us to recognize that He saved us from this. The very things that you and I are pursuing is what caused this death. The reason why there's marriage problems is because we're not dead yet. There's relational issues because we're not dead yet. Dead people don't argue. Dead people don't have fights.

Dead people don't divide. So our challenge in sanctification is to die, not to become better. No, to die. You can't think about becoming better until you're dead, until the old has gone. But if you've never got rid of the old and you're trying to build on top of something that haven't died, that's why the frustration is coming.

Because the ground keeps shifting. Hebrews chapter 10, 26 to 31, it says, "If we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." This is talking to the church. But a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

"Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he has been sanctified?" He was sanctified.

"And has insulted the Spirit of grace. For we know him who said, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay.'" And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He says, once you've received the knowledge and you continue to willfully sin, the judgment is much greater.

Wait a second, I thought we were saved by grace. He's talking to people who never really received true grace. Cheap grace. In fact, all the knowledge you get causes you to have greater judgment. Sitting in a church that reveals the Word of God to you week after week after week, and then there continue to live after your own desires, you're heaping up greater judgment for yourself.

Let me give you an example. Let's say you bought a nice house, brand new paint, and you have children aged 17, 10, and 3. You go to work, you come back one day and you see black marker just everywhere. Would it make a difference, the kind of punishment that you carry out, if it was a 3-year-old, a 10-year-old, or a 17-year-old?

If it is a 3-year-old, you would say, he still needs to be punished because he needs to learn, he needs to be corrected, because he just doesn't know any better. If a 10-year-old did it, you're 10 years old, you should have known, we've been training you. What happened to you?

Why did you do this? And you're curious to find out what is his motive. If a 17-year-old did it, you may assume he's trying to make a statement. He knows what he's done. You're 17 years old. He must be angry with me. He must be doing something. But if you say, no, I would carry out the same punishment whether they are 3 or whether they are 10, whether they are 17, we're going to have a parenting seminar, right?

You would not, based upon their knowledge. So he says to the church, you've heard the gospel. You had every opportunity, the examples, every opportunity to come to Christ, every opportunity to surrender your life, every opportunity to come to Christ and embrace the true grace that is taught in the Word of God, and you continue to live your life outside of the grace of God with your fingers crossed.

I hope all of the scriptures aren't true. I hope those parts where we're saved unconditionally, I hope those things are true. I've raised all my life, but when the Bible says like this passage in Hebrews 10 and Hebrews 2 and Hebrews 12, I hope those parts were not meant for us.

You know what's interesting? I had a conversation with somebody, and we opened up this text to them, Hebrews chapter 6, other parts of 1 John, and you know what he said to me? That's not for us. That was written for the Jews. So therefore it doesn't apply to me.

So I'm going to continue to do what I want. Cheap grace is what he chose to embrace. Whatever passages that didn't fit that, it wasn't for him. There are many people who live that way without ever expressing that, hoping that one day when they meet Christ that all of this was not for us.

That's why he says, "Do not refuse him." These are my words. You can easily nullify me and say, "Well, you know, Pastor Peter, he has a certain kind of personality. Everything's so black and white." That's him. Yes, you're right. I have a certain kind of personality. It's all or nothing.

You're right about that. He's weak. I've seen him. He's so careless with his words. You're absolutely right. I try so hard to work on that and it's a thorn on my side, you know, and you're right. I've seen him. He's not perfect. He doesn't practice everything he preaches. You're absolutely right.

I want to, but I'm wrestling and struggling and I want to be sanctified in all of those areas. So you can easily nullify me. What are you going to do with the Word? What are you going to do with this passage? How are you going to nullify this? Do not refuse him when you hear him.

If there were consequences from what he warned in Sinai, how much more the God who is fully revealed in his permanent home speaks from heaven? That's why it says in the book of James, "Not many of you should become teachers because they will incur upon them a stricter judgment because they know better." First Thessalonians 2.13.

Remember that? When we were studying through that, the Thessalonians were known to be the model church in all of Macedonia. And remember, Paul didn't spend a lot of time in Thessalonica. He was only there for three Sundays. So possibly he was there a month and he got chased out because the persecution was so intense and you have to remember, Apostle Paul was not afraid to die.

He was ready to die. Remember, when he was in Lystra, he got stoned, dragged out. He got up, went back in and preached the gospel. This is not a man of fear. He didn't run because he was afraid. They were going after the house church members. He left to preserve them.

And so after he left, he was concerned, so he sent a letter. That's First Thessalonians, to check up on them because he left abruptly. He didn't finish his work. But all of a sudden, they come back with a report that their faith is growing, abounding. Not only are they growing, they become the model church where people were talking about the Thessalonians.

They were loving each other, sacrificing in the midst of persecution. It wasn't because of years of discipleship. It wasn't because of years of human effort. He just preached the gospel. And then he describes why, why and how they became the model church, even though his human work was not finished.

And this is what he said, First Thessalonians 2. 13, "For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God." That was the key.

They heard God's word and they took this seriously. That it's not just men, it's not just people who are talking. God is speaking to us through this man. And as a result of that, it says, "which also performs its work in you who believe." Because they took the word of God seriously.

When Paul and his companions were speaking, they didn't just hear it as a bunch of philosophers coming into town. They said, they recognized God has sent these people. God is speaking to me. So when the word of God was open to them, they received it and believed, which caused them to love deeply, to even to forsake their own life.

You know why we have such struggles? Because the word of God does not have the same kind of authority that it had on them. The word of God is open and we say, wow, there's so many opinions. You say that, but they say this and they say that. We use that as an excuse, oh, God is unknowable.

The word of God is unknowable. So if there's so many opinions, what's the point? I've heard people say so much of that. So therefore, we can never be confident about anything. You know who say that? People who don't study the Bible. Yeah. That's been my experience. You can find somebody, but people don't study the Bible.

Study the Bible diligently, verse by verse. See if you come out vague. See if you come out saying, oh, we're so divided. You'd be surprised how clear the word of God is. You'd be surprised. Yes, it's been translated from another language, but you'd be surprised. God did not write the word of God that only scholars would understand.

And that's the genius of our God. He wrote this Bible that even a Sunday school student can read it for himself and clearly understand who God is. And even the deepest of scholars who has PhD in theology will come and dig all of his life and never exhaust what it has to say.

That's the genius of the word of God. So when somebody says, I read all of this stuff. And so because they say so many different things, how can we know anything? You know what that's like? That's just like somebody coming into the room and say, you know what? I'm Michael Jordan.

But he says he's Michael Jordan. That guy on television says he's Michael Jordan. I heard another guy in Santa Ana say he's Michael Jordan. Kobe says he's Michael Jordan. They all have different opinions. So the end conclusion is we can never know. We can never know. That would be ridiculous.

I'm 5'6". Do I have to tell the rest? Michael Jordan is 6'6". He has different skin tones. It's not that hard. But to simply dismiss the clear word of God because you hear different opinions is simply, if we're not careful, an excuse not to engage the word. Do not refuse him.

Let me conclude with this. First Peter chapter 2, 2 to 3, it says, "Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation if you've tasted the kindness of God." In other words, if you've really known the grace of God, if you've tasted the kindness of God, if you've really understood, if you've really professed, if you've really embraced the true grace of God, tasted the kindness of God, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word.

You notice here he compares like a newborn babe. If you've ever seen a baby who is born into the world for the first time, it's surprising. He was never taught. You know, they don't come out and then we have, you know, we have discipleship. This is how you're going to survive, right?

Just suck, right? We don't tell them that. They come out sucking. How do they know that? With their mouth. How do they know? Who told them that food is supposed to go into their mouth? They're born from the first second that they're born. They come out wanting food. So he says, "Compare." So like newborn babes that God instinctively placed in you when you were born again.

Instinctively, God has placed in you a longing for his word. So you notice here he says, like newborn babes long for what? Pure milk. Not the watered down milk, not the imitation milk, not the milk substitute, but the pure milk. Pure milk. Not the kind of milk that you want that's going to tickle your ears.

Not the kind of milk that's like, "Oh, I feel very encouraged where I can continue to live with me at the center, willfully denying Christ. I'm still at the center. I'm just active at church. I'm still concerned about me, but I'm still practicing at church." You know, the idea of tithing in the Old Testament was that they were to offer up the 10% as a representative that all of it belonged to God.

So some people say, "You know what, New Testament, it doesn't teach tithing." You're right, because the Old Testament was trying to build the kingdom of Israel. And so they gave 10% to build the temple, to build the national Israel. You come to the New Testament, it says, "No, we're not in a period at the end times when Israel is restored.

God's going to fulfill his promise, but we're in a period where God is building his spiritual kingdom. So it's not about the 10% anymore." So Chief Grace says, "Because we're not about the 10%, we're not obligated to give anything." In fact, read the Bible carefully. In the New Covenant, we are obligated to give everything.

Everything. The idea of tithing was to teach us that, so that when the New Covenant came, we can surrender all of it. And whatever it is that we have to be used for His kingdom, all of it, is because of Chief Grace. They perverted the gospel, perverted the church, perverted our witness, and lost our witness in Christ, if we're not careful.

Do not refuse Him. And like I said, all you have to do today to refuse Him is to hear the Word of God, hear the warnings, hear the encouragement, don't do anything. Go home, do a good job at work, get your raises, get married, have children, buy a good house, make good investments, save enough money so you can retire.

If you're good with your money, leave some behind for your children, and then die. Everything I said there innately is not sinful. But if that is our primary pursuit, if that is our primary goal, we have to ask ourselves, is Christ really Lord? Is He really Lord? Have we truly been crucified with Christ?

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives with me, in me. The hope that we have in Jesus Christ is because we have surrendered our life here. And so when Christ returns, we will know true life when He comes. But if your kingdom is here, if your pursuit is here, Jesus' second coming is going to disrupt your life.

Innately, you do not desire a second coming. You're in the middle of escrow. You started a new business. You're putting away for retirement. You just bought a new house. Your children just entered college. If Jesus comes, He's going to disrupt all of that. Only those who have truly surrendered their life in Christ will be eagerly waiting for His coming.

Do not refuse Him who is speaking. These are not my words, but His. Let's pray. If I can ask you to take some time to not just to pray for yourself, pray for the nominal Christians in your life who are professing to believe God and yet living in cheap grace.

So many people, as Jesus says, who says, "Lord, Lord," will not enter the kingdom of heaven because they did not really know God. They're in the church, in the hundreds, in the thousands, maybe even in the millions. Pray for them, your brothers, your sisters, your parents. Pray for your coworkers.

Pray for the people around us that we do not embrace cheap grace, this cultural Christianity that has nothing to do with God, that we do not hold onto the grace of God simply as a security blanket, but the power of God unto salvation to those who genuinely believe. So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.

Pray for ourselves. Examine ourselves. Is it true grace that I have received? Is it true grace that I have professed? And then pray for those around us. Let's take some time to pray again as our worship team leads us.