(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - All right, good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. I hope you had a good week in the Lord. As always, it's such a joy and a privilege for us to get together and to worship our God. I'd like to begin by reading from Psalm 27, the Psalm of David, verses four to six. "One thing I have asked from the Lord "that I shall seek, that I may dwell "in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, "to behold the beauty of the Lord "and to meditate in his temple.

"For in the day of trouble, "he will conceal me in his tabernacle, "in the secret place of his tent, he will hide me. "He will lift me up on a rock, "and now my head will be lifted up "above my enemies around me. "And I will offer in his tent sacrifices "with shouts of joy.

"I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord." Amen. And with that, let us begin our worship this morning. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ Down at your feet, oh Lord ♪ ♪ Is the most high place ♪ ♪ In your presence, Lord ♪ ♪ I see your face ♪ ♪ I see your face ♪ ♪ Down at your feet, oh Lord ♪ ♪ Is the most high place ♪ ♪ In your presence, Lord ♪ ♪ I see your face ♪ ♪ I see your face ♪ ♪ There is no higher calling ♪ ♪ No greater honor than to bow ♪ ♪ And kneel before your throne ♪ ♪ I'm amazed at your glory ♪ ♪ Embraced by your mercy, oh Lord ♪ ♪ I live to worship you ♪ ♪ I live to worship you ♪ ♪ Down at your feet, oh Lord ♪ ♪ Is the most high place ♪ ♪ In your presence, Lord ♪ ♪ We see your face ♪ ♪ We see your face ♪ ♪ There is no higher calling ♪ ♪ No greater honor than to bow ♪ ♪ And kneel before your throne ♪ ♪ I'm amazed at your glory ♪ ♪ Embraced by your mercy, oh Lord ♪ ♪ I live to worship you ♪ ♪ There is no higher calling ♪ ♪ There is no higher calling ♪ ♪ No greater honor than to bow ♪ ♪ And kneel before your throne ♪ ♪ I'm amazed at your glory ♪ ♪ Embraced by your mercy, oh Lord ♪ ♪ I live to worship you ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, I live to worship you ♪ - All right, good morning.

Welcome to Berean Community Church. Let me get to a few announcements. First of all, starting from today, as some of you guys may know, Berean babysitting, so babysitting for children 12 to 17 months is starting today. So if I can ask of you, I'm sure you guys already know, but please do not use the side doors that enter into our cafe building because there's membership classes and various things going on.

So if you are dropping off your children, make sure you go to the other side of the building with the double glass doors. So make sure you drop off the children there and do not use this way because again, there's classes going on there. So that's starting today, only during second service.

Old Testament survey, the first class is starting today. So if you signed up, make sure you come to this room after lunch at 2 p.m. It'll be going from six sessions from 2 p.m. to 3.30 in this room. Okay, even if you haven't signed up and you wanna participate, again, you can just show up and just tell Pastor Peter Chung when you get here that you're not signed up so that they can add your name to the roster and then whatever material that they're gonna print and give you is that they can be better prepared next time.

Okay, so that's happening. This coming Saturday, we have all church cleaning maintenance day. So if you have signed up, again, please come by nine o'clock. And if you haven't signed up and you're able to come, please come at nine o'clock. There will be a brief meeting to assign you the different tasks and more people come, more thorough and quicker the thing's gonna go.

And it's gonna be from nine to about 12 o'clock just so that you'll know what to expect when you get here, okay? And then I just wanted to give you a heads up. This is not till May, but we have a softball tournament that we have annually for missions fundraising that's gonna be happening on May 18th and the week following week.

Okay, so May 18th for the men and the following Saturday is for the ladies. So if you are interested in signing up for that, please let us know. And so again, you'll get the information for that. Just give you a heads up. We have Easter coming up and there's a lot of things going on.

So Pastor Mark's gonna come and give us an announcement for that. - Okay, good morning, everybody. As you entered service this morning, you received the invitation and info card for Easter. So please make sure you have these. And we wanna encourage you to use the opportunity to think ahead and intentionally thinking about people in your lives, your coworkers, classmates, et cetera, that you wanna reach out to evangelize and invite to church.

Also, as you think about that, our outreach team would love to pray with you. So we're gonna put up a form just on the various platforms so that you can give us the info and we'll pray with you during this month. That being said, we're gonna be planning extra EV outings to the local malls, especially the spectrum where there's a lot of people.

So please be on the lookout for the signup for that. We're gonna be going both Saturday and Sunday prior to Easter. That week, as you guys know, there's gonna be a lot of different events. I'm not gonna go through each one, but please make sure that you have those things on the calendar, the devotions that are taking place each day.

And then on Thursday, there is a special Passover meal that's gonna be taking place from 6.30. It'll include a dinner and reenacting the Passover elements that our Lord did during that time. So if you haven't ever experienced it before, it just really highlights the direct line and path to why Christ was so important as the sacrifice of God.

So please make sure to sign up for that. Oh, you do have to sign up early so that we can prepare for that event. I wanna highlight that on Good Friday and the three services that are taking place on Sunday, there is going to be a resource booth after the services.

So if you do bring a guest, please make sure to swing by in the courtyard. We would love to meet them. Warmly, just welcome them in and give to them any resources they may need, including free Bibles and more, okay? All right, thanks everyone. - All right, let me pray for the offering.

And again, just as a reminder, if you have not made the switch to Subsplash, that we have one more month and at the end of March, Zelle will be shut down. So if you're planning to give physically, we have a box in the back. Otherwise, if you guys can make the transition to Subsplash, it'll help our finance department to better track of what's going on.

And at the end of the year, when they have to prepare tax forms and everything, Subsplash is much easier to do. So if you haven't done so, please do that as soon as possible. You got one more month, okay? Grace, okay? And then after that, the law, starting from April, all right.

Let me pray for us. And then afterwards, we'll give you a minute to give your offering. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for today. Lord, we know what a privilege it is, Lord God, that we are able to have access to you, to worship you, Lord God, and to sing praise to you.

Give thanks, Lord, for everything that you've given. Lord, we know that our life, that all that we have is because you've given it to us. Help us, Lord, in recognition of your grace, that what we sing, what we give, and what we do may all be an overflow of gratitude in our hearts.

May your name be worshiped, Lord God, and even in this giving, help us to give with a cheerful heart, and again, may it be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) - All right, church family, would you please stand with us as we continue our worship?

And as we always do, take a minute to say hello and greet those around you. (people chattering) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) ♪ Heavenly host, the Son of God ♪ ♪ Light can stand before his majesty ♪ ♪ Beautiful beyond your highest thought ♪ ♪ Worthy, he is worthy ♪ ♪ Very holy is the word made flesh ♪ ♪ King of all our pain and poverty ♪ ♪ Come to make your love a land of light ♪ ♪ Worthy, he is worthy ♪ ♪ A glory and honor of power and praise ♪ ♪ Heed to your name, heed to your name ♪ ♪ When you lay down your life for the glory and praise ♪ ♪ We lay down the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Very holy is the Lamb who died ♪ ♪ Cast away my debt of Calvary ♪ ♪ Risen from the grave to reign on high ♪ ♪ Worthy, he is worthy ♪ ♪ A glory and honor of power and praise ♪ ♪ Heed to your name, heed to your name ♪ ♪ When you lay down your life for the glory and praise ♪ ♪ We lay down the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, Lord Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, God beside you ♪ ♪ Greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, Lord Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, God beside you ♪ ♪ Greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ A glory and honor of power and praise ♪ ♪ Heed to your name, heed to your name ♪ ♪ For no one can rival the glory and praise ♪ ♪ We lift high the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ For no one can rival the glory and praise ♪ ♪ We lift high the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ We lift high the name of Jesus ♪ - Amen.

(gentle music) ♪ He who was before there was life ♪ ♪ Walked across the ages of time ♪ ♪ He who made every living thing behold Him ♪ ♪ He who heard humanity's cry ♪ ♪ Left his throne to win as a child ♪ ♪ He became like the least of us behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Son of God, Messiah ♪ ♪ The land of glory, lion ♪ ♪ Oh, be still and behold Him ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ He who died for sinners and saints ♪ ♪ Killed the blind, the hoarse, and the deaf ♪ ♪ Even though He is in our midst ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ He who chose the criminal dead ♪ ♪ He who died to settle our debt ♪ ♪ Buried death as He rose to life ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Son of God, Messiah ♪ ♪ The land of glory, lion ♪ ♪ Oh, be still and behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Alpha and Omega ♪ ♪ Our God, the risen Savior ♪ ♪ Oh, be still and behold Him ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy, worthy to receive all praise ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy, worthy to receive all praise ♪ ♪ Worthy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy, worthy to receive all praise ♪ ♪ Jesus, Son of God, Messiah ♪ ♪ The land of glory, lion ♪ ♪ Oh, be still and behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Alpha and Omega ♪ ♪ Our God, the risen Savior ♪ ♪ Oh, be still and behold Him ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ - Amen, you may be seated.

If you can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter seven, and we'll be reading from verse 29 to verse 35. Luke chapter seven, verse 29 to 35. Reading out of the NASB. When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John.

To what then shall I compare the men of this generation and what are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, and they say, "We played the flute for you and you did not dance. "We sang a dirge and you did not weep.

"For John the Baptist has come eating no bread "and drinking no wine, and you say he has a demon. "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, "and you say behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, "a friend of tax collectors and sinners, "yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children." Let's pray.

Father, we pray for deeper understanding, not simply of your words, but of your very heart. I pray that as you have invested your very breath into these words, help us, Lord God, to see you, to adore you, to worship you. I pray that what you have ordained your word to be, that it would sanctify us, correct us, guide us, that we may become more and more like Christ each day.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. What is the distinction, main distinction, between a Christian and a non-Christian? I think most of you are sophisticated enough and you've been a Christian long enough to know that a Christian isn't somebody just simply that comes to church, right? In fact, some of the harshest rebuke that Jesus gave were to people who were claiming to be worshipers of God.

And he said, "I never knew you." So we know that just coming to church and being involved in church, serving in the church, sometimes the greatest and the most deeply deceived people are the people who are religious, who are in the church. The way Bible describes it, it says the God of this age is Satan.

Second Corinthians 4, three to four, it says, "And even if our gospel is veiled, "it is veiled to those who are perishing, "in whose case the God of this world "has blinded the minds of the unbelieving "so that they may not see the light of the gospel "of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." So the Bible distinguishes between a Christian and a non-Christian.

A non-Christian is somebody who their eyes have not been opened to the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So when they hear the word of God, they don't understand it. And just like Jesus said, like the first soil, because they do not comprehend what is being taught, they reject it.

And so nothing happens. They move away, the word of God is taught, and they may remember things that they heard, but it never had any true effect on them. Versus a Christian is somebody who hears and his eyes are opened to see the glory of the things that they've heard.

And as a result of that, they see the beauty, and like Paul says, that he desires that more than anything else in his life, and so he surrenders and follows Christ as a result. So the distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian is somebody who's seen the glory and somebody who has not seen the glory.

It's not about information, it's not about what you do or don't do, but the primary distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian is have you seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, or you've heard it, but you have not seen the glory. So the fundamental question is what causes somebody to open his eyes?

What causes a sinner to open his eyes so that he also may see the glory of the gospel? In Luke chapter seven, 29 to 30, Luke makes a distinction between the people and the tax collectors who were able to see and understand what was being taught versus the leaders, the Pharisees and the lawyers who were the experts of the law, why they were not able to understand and end up rejecting Christ.

It says in verse 29, "When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, "they acknowledged God's justice," meaning that they were able to receive, that what God was doing was right, it was just, "having been baptized with the baptism of John. "But the Pharisees and the lawyers "rejected God's purpose for themselves, "not having been baptized by John." So you see here the distinction between those who received John the Baptist and those who rejected John the Baptist, and then which ultimately led to receiving Jesus and rejecting Jesus was the baptism of John, right?

That's what Luke says, that was the distinction. The reason why the people and the tax collectors were able to acknowledge and accept the justice of God is because they were baptized by John the Baptist, and the Pharisees and the lawyers who knew all the law, who knew everything, and yet they rejected him is because they did not receive the baptism of John.

This morning, we wanna look at what that means. If that's a distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian, between seeing the glory and not seeing the glory, what caused one to be able to see and what caused another not to see? When we say, so we need to understand that when he says because he received the baptism of John the Baptist, was there something in the water?

Was there some special touch or power that God gave to John that if he touched them, that somehow their eyes were opened? Now obviously, that's not what he's referring to. John the Baptist, his baptism is known as what? The baptism of what? Repentance, right? His baptism was baptism of repentance.

So when he says the distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian, basically he's saying the one who repents and the one who does not repent. The reason why they were able to see and acknowledge God's justice is because they repented. And the reason why the Pharisees and the lawyers did not see and did not reject him is because they did not repent.

In essence, that's what he's saying, right? So that is a broad outline of what we're gonna be looking at, repentance is what causes us to see God and his glory. It is repentance that causes our eyes to become open. If you notice here, in verse 29, it says, "When all the people and the tax collector," why does he make a distinction between the people and the tax collector?

Aren't tax collectors also the people, right? It's almost like it's all the people and then the other people, right? There's a reason why he does that. And you see that repeated in the Gospels, where it was said the tax collectors were justified, the tax, he hung out with the tax collectors, that Jesus was known to hang out with sinners and the tax collectors.

The reason why they make the distinction with tax collectors is because they would have considered tax collectors as the vilest of sinners. They weren't just ordinary sinners. These were people that universally, every Jew would have thought, if anybody deserves the harshest of punishment, the greatest of sinner would have been a tax collector.

Because not only did they betray the nation of Israel, they basically turned the money over to the pagans who were suppressing them. It was the greatest betrayal of God himself. That's how they looked at it. And so when he says that even the people, even the vilest of sinners, that they were able to open their eyes, and when they heard the word of God, they recognized it and said, God is just.

Why were they able to open their eyes? It says because they received a baptism of repentance. Baptism and repentance cannot be separated. There's reasons why we don't practice infant baptism, because baptism and repentance are supposed to go hand in hand. Our baptism was handed down from John the Baptist, was a baptism of repentance.

Jesus baptized with baptism of repentance. The apostles practiced the baptism of repentance. The early church practiced the baptism of repentance. So an infant cannot practice repentance. Baptism was not a sprinkling of a symbol of God's grace in your life. It was when a person repented. That's why when Peter in Acts chapter two stands up and he begins to preach about Christ in front of the same people who crucified Jesus, he said, you crucified the author of life.

You crucified the Messiah. I mean, he didn't hold back. And those who were convicted, they said, what should we do? Peter says, repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized. That's why you see, oftentimes, we have people who are up here who will give their testimony and every once in a while you'll hear, I was baptized when I was 10.

I was baptized when I was third grade. I was baptized when I was in high school. And then they'll qualify, but I never repented. So because they never repented, that baptism didn't mean anything. Because baptism and repentance are supposed to go hand in hand. And that's exactly what John the Baptist taught.

He preached baptism of repentance. So baptism, or repentance in the Greek means metanoia. Literally, it means to change your mind. That there is a radical change that happens in you. And again, it's not just the way you think, that because there was a radical transformation of what you thought was right and what you thought was good and what you thought was bad, that you changed your mind.

So therefore, your life conformed to what has happened to you. So it's more than just your thinking. Your life is beginning to, you begin to live your life according to your repentance. In Luke chapter three, three to six, John the Baptist and his ministry and his preaching is laid out for us, and it describes what repentance looks like.

And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. I want you to let that sink in, because when he says they weren't baptized, it's because they didn't repent. But John the Baptist was preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight.

Repentance is basically, is what lays the road that Christ can come to us and we can go to Christ. That's what repentance does. The obstacle that existed between us and God, through repentance, is straightened so that we can get to Christ. Verse five, every ravine will be filled and every mountain and hill will be brought low.

The crooked will become straight and rough roads smooth. And then he says, and all flesh will see the salvation of God. So what we see in verse four through five, is what repentance looks like. John the Baptist says, repent and receive the forgiveness of sin in order to make the path straight to Christ.

And so whatever was high, that caused you to not be able to get to Christ. Whatever was low, that needs to be filled. Basically, repentance is what causes us to get to Christ. To get rid of our things in our life, he's saying these are things, they're obstacles to get to Christ.

And he says, when you repent, he says, all flesh will see the salvation of God. The reason why the tax collector, the vilest of sinners, were able to see the glory, is because he was repentant. Not because of his deeds, not because of many years of learning, simply because he repented.

In second Timothy three, seven through eight, he says, always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of truth. Our churches are filled with people who are active at church but never repented. Never repented. Because they still live their lives for themselves. Their life doesn't look any different than a non-Christian, other than the fact that they go to church.

They're still pursuing money like anybody else. They still value the same thing like anybody else. Nothing has changed. There was no real repentance. And the way that the gospel is preached in our generation is, would you accept Jesus? Accept him. As if God is the beggar. And we are the one in charge.

We are the ones that, okay, what do you got? Like, we're shoppers. We're going to the mall and let's see, let's see what God has for me. And so, so many people who make decisions for Jesus walk away because, kind of like, you know, buyer's remorse. Like, I gave him a chance but my life didn't turn out the way I wanted.

It's like, why? Because of the way the gospel was presented. Give him a chance. We're the ones who offended him. He's the one angry with us. He's the judge. He's the creator. We came from him. And yet, the way the gospel was presented, gave him a chance. Asking the sinners.

Almost like God is asking for forgiveness. And as a result of that, there was no true repentance. Give him a chance. Accept him. Receive him into your heart. That is not the message that we hear in the New Testament. The message that John the Baptist preached and the message that Jesus preached when he came on the scene was what?

Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent to turn from your sins. To turn from your sins. That you may have a straight path toward Christ. That you may see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It wasn't simply that they didn't understand. In Romans chapter one it says they didn't understand 'cause they didn't wanna understand.

They're very selective hearing. The scripture says because they love the darkness rather than the light, they chose to suppress the truth. And so the reason why they weren't able to see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they were unwilling to repent. They want to have Christ and the world too.

And as a result of that, they're always learning. And they could regurgitate information they heard about Christ. They can tell you what the verses mean. They can tell you systematic theology. They may even be teachers, but they don't know Christ. They don't understand when Paul says in light of the surpassing knowledge of known Jesus Christ, everything became rubbish to me.

It never became rubbish to them. The same things that they were tempted by before they met Christ, the same things that they're tempted today. Because Christ is theoretically better, but in reality, he's not. Theologically, we say he's better, but in reality, he's not. I am more tempted by what my money can buy than the promises of Christ.

I am looking more forward to the money that I save for the vacation that I'm going than the second coming of Christ. Because they're always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth is because they never repented. They never turned from their sin. They acknowledged Jesus, they accepted Jesus, but they never repented of their sins.

That is what the scripture says, the distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian is one who repented and the one who did not repent. It is those who receive the word of God, and even the vile of sinners like the tax collectors, their eyes became open and they heard God.

In contrast, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, because they would not repent, they wouldn't acknowledge his justice. They couldn't see, or they didn't see. Now, you have to understand who the Pharisees were. If you asked a first century Jew, you had a question about the law, what is right, what is wrong?

If I wanted to learn how to pray and evangelize, if I wanted to go to the temple and give many sacrifices, where would they go to seek counsel? It would have been the Pharisees. It would have been the teachers of the law. The teachers of the law, 24/7, was constantly debating, what did Moses mean by this?

What did Elijah mean? Who's the greatest prophet? What's the greatest verse? What's the greatest law? They were constantly expositing the Old Testament. Pharisees were actually proselytizing. They were fasting twice a week. How many people do you know who fast twice a week? They were giving tithing of everything that they had.

They kept the law meticulously. So if there's anybody that they would have thought was closer to God than the rest of the people, they would have put the Pharisees and the lawyers here and the tax collectors down here. But you see what Luke is doing, he's flipping the switch.

That these vilest of sinners were able to hear God, but these leaders could not recognize the voice of God. And the reason that we are given this is that they did not repent. They refused to repent. In Matthew 23, two to three, it says saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves "in the chair of Moses.

"Therefore, all that they tell you, do and observe." Meaning that they know the law, they know the Bible. So when they tell you about the Messiah, when they tell you this and that, he says, "Listen to them because they've studied." But he says, "But do not do according to their deeds, "for they say things and do not do them." It is a dangerous place to be, to be a teacher of the word of God and not practice it.

We have too many people who lead with their mouth and not with their lives. And that's exactly what the Pharisees were doing. They got in the position of honor to lead, but it was all with their mouth, with knowledge and giftedness. And he says, "Listen to them, but don't follow them." The reason why they were constantly learning but not able to understand is because they did not repent.

So the question that we have is what causes somebody, what causes somebody who should have known better? What causes somebody who had all the knowledge, who should have been the closest, had the front row seat to the glory of God, became this blind? I'm gonna give you three things that I believe that causes us to be spiritually blind.

One is familiarity. We become callous to anything that we do repeatedly. I think most of us, if you've been a Christian for any period of time, you know how you were when you first began to sing these gospel songs, when you first repented, what it meant to you, what it meant for you to come to church, what it meant for you to open up the Bible.

But after a while, you become callous to these things. You're singing these songs, but you're just singing. You're not praising, you're not worshiping God. You're putting in your time. C.S. Lewis says, "None are so unholy as those "whose hands are cauterized with the holy things. "Sacred things become profane by becoming matters of a job.

"I've always been glad myself that theology "is not the thing that I earn my living by." The person who is in the greatest danger of this in this church is me, because this is my job. I'm in front of the Bible all week long, all week long. I'm there constantly going through the scripture, preparing sermon, doing Bible study, talking to people about God, and as a result of that, I can easily become cauterized, desensitized.

So I can preach great things of God, and the sacred things are no longer sacred to me. I can become inoculated to the truth. When you come to church every single Sunday, and you hear and not act, when you get convicted and you don't repent, you are also being cauterized.

Your ability to listen and to turn to Christ becomes harder and harder and harder every single year you live without repentance, to the point where you can have the greatest preacher of our generation, you can have Jesus himself come and preach and say, "That's not from God," because you become so desensitized to the truth.

When singing becomes ritual, when worship becomes putting in your time, you have become inoculated by the truth, and that's exactly what happened to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Even though they knew more than anybody else, they were blinder, more blind than even the tax collectors. The second reason why people become dull to hearing is because of self-righteousness, self-righteousness.

Instead of seeking true righteousness, self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is always produced when comparing themselves with other sinners. You see somebody who's doing the right thing, or trying to do the right thing, but they never repent, there's no need to repent, because their sinner's always worse than them. So whenever they talk about their sin, but I'm not as bad as them, I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as them, that's self-righteousness.

There's no true repentance in somebody who immediately turns their attention to a greater sinner. I know I'm not perfect, I know I'm not good, I know I shouldn't be doing that, but I'm not as bad as them, that's self-righteousness, that's not repentance. You acknowledge what you did was wrong, but you didn't repent.

Self-righteousness always is more concerned about other people's sins than themselves. You ever see somebody who gets on a righteous cause, and the very next thing that they do is what is wrong with everybody else? Everything that comes out of their mouth is what is wrong with everybody else? That's not a repentant sinner.

In Psalm 139, 23 to 24, it says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart, "try me, and know my anxious thoughts, "and see if there's any hurtful way in me, "and lead me in the everlasting way." But a self-righteous person, immediately after he acknowledges, yes, I was wrong, why is everybody, why don't they see it?

How come they don't see it? I remember during a period of the BLM marches, all of a sudden, everybody opened their eyes, like, we're all racist. And they said, you know, I repent of my racism. And the next thing you heard was, why isn't everybody repenting of racism? So they were more outraged that other people weren't repenting like they were repenting.

That's not repentance. A repentant person is beating his chest. A repentant person cannot lift his eyes because he is so aware of his own faults. A repentant person doesn't say, I was bad, but what's wrong with you, why don't you see it? That's self-righteousness. That's not repentance. And it causes them to become blind to their own sin.

A self-righteous person is always more disgusted by other people's sins than they are of their own. We all say, yes, I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as them. So they're more bothered. The words that come out of their mouth always is about other people, why other people don't see it, why other people don't live this way, why other people are not doing what I'm doing.

And so they become proud. And as a result of that, in James chapter 4, 6, is that therefore it says God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Because they are unwilling to see their own sins as God sees them. Even their repentance is superficial.

Even their repentance is, look what I've done, and now come, you're not doing it. In Luke chapter 3, 7, through 8 it says, so he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our fathers, for I say to you that from these stones, God is able to raise up children to Abraham. He says, these Pharisees and the Sadducees, we know the law. We come from a line of faithful Jews.

And so as a result of that, because I'm a member of the church, I used to be a Sunday school teacher, I grew up in the church, I know the Bible, I studied that passage, I used to disciple people. As a result of that, they are blind to their own sins.

We make our sins always more favorable than others. And ultimately, we make excuses. If we are unwilling to repent, we have to justify our own sins. Hear me clearly, God justifies a repentant sinner, but he will never justify the sin. An unrepentant sinner always tries to justify his sin.

Let me say that again. God calls us in repentance to justify a sinner by the blood of Christ. But an unrepentant sinner will always justify his own sin. There's always a reason for his sin. In Luke 7, 31 to 34, he says, to what then shall I compare the men of this generation?

And what are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, and they say, we play the flute for you, and you did not dance, and we sang a dirge, and you did not weep. For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say he has a demon.

The son of man has come eating and drinking, and you say, behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. In other words, every opportunity was given to you. If you needed a dirge, hardship in life, that possibly that will cause you to take your sin seriously.

Or the promise of joy, promise of his grace. So whether it is a harsh sermon, or whether it is a light sermon, the end result is no repentance either way. No matter what you hear and say, well, if your preaching was this way, maybe I would repent. No. He said, you've heard both.

You've heard grace, and you've heard warning, and you never came. And the reason why is because when John the Baptist came, he said, because he didn't like his message, and his message was the same. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Bear fruit in accordance to repentance.

And they said, oh, that guy's a demon. He's a demon. So why are we gonna listen to a demon? So the quickest way, quickest way to nullify his message is nullify the messenger. And then Jesus comes, and he was drinking and eating, and he says, he's hanging out with the tax collectors.

He's a sinner. So because he's a sinner, and because he's a demon, whatever they say doesn't matter, 'cause he can't be from God. So the easiest way to remove yourself from the guilt of sin is to disqualify the one who's bringing the message. You know how that happens today in our culture?

Oh, that's legalistic. Anything that we don't like, you call it legalism, and you don't need to listen to it. The question should be, is it biblical? Question should be, does the Bible teach that? The question should be, is it accurate? But once we label something legalism, oh, that's, we can't listen to that.

Why is it legalistic? 'Cause I don't like it. At the end, that's what you're saying. I don't like it. I don't agree with you. I don't like the standard. And so as a result, if you call it legalism, you don't need to listen to anything that comes out. So if they don't like what I say, Pastor Peter is like that.

Or you don't like what the church says, like that, Berean is like that. But the question is, what does the Bible say? So he says the reason why the Pharisees and these teachers of the law did not see, did not understand is because they, at the end, refused to repent.

Refused to repent. You can be at church all your life, and you never repented. I said, what do you mean I didn't repent? I raised my hand, I was sorrowful, and I made a prayer. Repentance isn't simply repenting over one act or certain acts. Repentance is a rebellion that we lived under, that we were born into.

I want you to hear this very clearly, because sometimes we think repentance is like, if you watch porn, I repented. I lied and embezzled a business, so I repented. Repentance that justified is returning your life from rebellion to obedience. Living a life independent of God to pursue your own life versus surrendering your life to Christ, that's what repentance ultimately is, because what brought the judgment of sin to mankind?

We say sin, but what was the sin? Eve ate from the tree that she wasn't supposed to eat. That was it. That was it. That was the rebellion that brought judgment to mankind. They simply ate what God told them not to eat. That, that's what brought the judgment of mankind?

So that doesn't seem that, when's the last time you repented of eating? Right? Oh, I ate a hamburger, I need to repent. God didn't want me to eat that, so I, you know, I hope that mankind doesn't get judged for this. What was it about that sin that was so hideous that the judgment came into all of mankind?

Even though it seems innocent, that little sin was a rebellion against God that I'm going to live my life the way I want to live. A rebellious life doesn't have to be shaking his fist and hang a cross upside down and be a Satan worshiper. A rebellious life is simply, I'm going to pursue what makes me happy.

I'm going to desire what I desire. I come to church, I'll do some things to be religious, but you've never surrendered your life to Christ. So you're always learning, but it's never your testimony that I want Christ above everything else, because maybe you've never seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The word glory basically means the beauty, the weight. What attracts us is his glory. What causes us to want to see him come back is because we want to see his glory up close. Why we want to go to heaven is because we want to be near to his glory.

What causes us to worship is because we saw his glory. But somebody who has never seen the beauty of Christ, because he never really repented, he, to this day, coveting everything that the world covets. Everything that the world says is good, you still agree, and you're pursuing everything that the world pursues, and then you just sprinkle Jesus on everything.

So you don't understand why missionaries would pack their bags and take their children into remotest parts of jungle to share the gospel. You admire them, you praise them, but you don't really understand why somebody would choose the lesser job over a high-paying job, because he thinks it's going to bring greater glory to God.

You don't understand. You admire them, you praise them, but you don't understand. You're always learning, but never able to come to the truth because you never truly repented. And the way that we justify all of that, we nullify it. I don't agree with that. I don't think that's what the Bible says.

Unrepentant person will always justify his own sins. Why I do what I do is because of this, because of that. You don't understand what my mom did to me. You don't know the trauma that the church has caused. You don't realize what I know. You don't realize what's happened to me.

And so as a result of that, you're justifying your sins. I'm doing what I'm doing because these things have happened to me. Paul says, "I love because he first loved me." A vile sinner. So I don't hurt people because they hurt me. I don't sin because somebody sinned against me.

Christ breaks into that and says, "No, I love because he first loved me, because the love that he gave me is much greater than whatever trauma you have experienced in this world." So a Christian whose eyes have been open and repentant can no longer say, "I sinned because they did this to me." No, I pursue Christ and worship Christ because of what Christ did for me.

But an unrepentant sinner can never say that. An unrepentant sinner wishes that God would bless your endeavor, the life that you have chosen, and continues to live whatever brings the greatest pleasure in your life. And it may not look like rebellion, it may not look like a vile sin, but at the core of your heart, you've never surrendered your life to Christ.

And as a result of that, you learn, you study, you memorize, and you're busy, but you never come to true knowledge of Christ. Your love for Jesus is no deeper than it was when you first started. In fact, it's probably much less. You notice how when other people slander us, we're wronged and they need to repent, but when we slander other people, we're just being honest, right?

We're just being honest, we're being truthful. You know where this is seen most obviously? Is the way people talk about abortion. When that child is inconvenient, it's no longer a baby. When that child is inconvenient because of the things that they covet in life, the standard of living that they have chosen for their life, that they must have, and this child is going to somehow get in the way, it's a tissue.

But the moment they want that child that's a baby, it's precious. And just by simply changing the term of how you use, how you address that child, you can kill it or you can adore it. You can go to prison for double murder for killing a child, if you call it a child.

But if you simply want to discard it, we have people in our generation that says they want to make it legal to even kill a child, even after it's born, if the intention was to kill a child, they can kill the child. That's how far this evil can go.

The scripture says in Jeremiah 79, the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? That we can call murder something inconvenient. That's how sick our heart is. That's how easily we can be deceived. Now, most of us may not go this far, but that deception doesn't only happen at this extreme.

It happens at every turn. Where we're judging people, there's pride in our heart, there's bitterness, there's judgmentalism, and all of that is excused because our heart is corrupting at the end because we refuse to repent. Instead of allowing the word of God to judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart, we turn the word of God into a judge and the thoughts and intention of their hearts.

And as a result of that, we remain blind. We remain blind. God calls us to acknowledge our sin. Without repentance, you cannot see God. Just by studying the word of God doesn't cause you to see God. Just by being an expert of the law doesn't cause you to see God.

Just because you are active in the church doesn't cause you to see God. Just because you claim to be a Christian for 40 years doesn't cause you to see God. Only way to see God is if you repent of your sins and you make the path straight. The scripture says, "Broad is the way that leads to destruction.

"Narrow and difficult is the path that leads to life." John Owen says, "He that hath slight thoughts of sin "never had great thoughts of God." In other words, he never saw God. He never saw the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He just admired him. Said, "That's a great story." But they choose to covet.

They choose to pursue. They choose to allow impurity in their life. But they don't know God. The scripture says, "All have sinned and fall short "of the glory of Jesus Christ, or glory of God." Sin is not determined by whether you were born into it or not. Oftentimes they'll excuse homosexuality, saying, "Well, we were born that way, "so therefore it's not sin." Guess what?

Guess what? Liars were born liars. Murderers were born murderers. Everything that I do, every sin that we commit, the scripture says, "Because all have sinned "from the glory of God." So even heterosexual sin is sin. Just because you're born into it doesn't make it not sin, whether that's true or not.

Just because you have an inclination toward that doesn't make it not sin. It's a modern day of justifying our sins. Sin is sin because our hearts are corrupt, even from our mother's womb. So when we repent, we're not just repenting of an act. We're repenting of our rebellion against God.

You and I were created to be the image bearers of God. But when we choose to live our life for our own pleasure, for our own glory, we are in rebellion against God, no matter how innocent that looks. We are in rebellion against God. There is no repentance. So therefore, if somebody who's unrepentant hears this message, and those of you who refuse to repent are probably irritated by what I'm saying.

It's like somebody who wants to sleep and I keep turning the light on. Turn off the light, turn off the light. Only those will thank me if you have to go to work. You might not like it, but I did you a favor, 'cause you gotta go to work.

You're gonna get fired if you don't go to work. But those who want to remain in the bed, turn the light off, 'cause you're irritated. God calls us to repent. A sin is not simply a mistake. Sin is a rebellion against God. In Psalm 51, two to six, it says, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity "and cleanse me from my sin, "for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

"Against you, you only, I have sinned "and done what is evil in your sight, "so that you are justified when you speak "and blameless when you judge. "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, "and in sin, my mother conceived me." Jesus said, "He who finds his life will lose it, "and he who loses his life will find it." Now, it's such a profound statement, but the whole world dedicates their life to find better life.

Everything that we do is in pursuit of better life. People immigrate into this country because they think they're gonna have a better life. You get education so that you can have a better life. You make investments, buy a house so that you can have a better life, for you and for your children.

The whole world functions on this principle. We have, according to the concept, we have inalienable rights to pursue a better life, but Jesus says, "Those who pursue their life will lose it, "and those who surrender their life for my sake "will find it." You know how true that is.

If you ask somebody who's lived a long life, let's say 60, 70 years, and they spent their whole life, there's not a single person in this world that naturally doesn't want to have a better life. They pursued all their life for a better life, so you would think at the end of their life, they would be the happiest people.

They would be the most satisfied people because they dedicated decades of their life pursuing better life. But if you ask them, "At what age "would you like to turn the clock back?" They always turn it back to the beginning, before they started to pursue this rat race, before they were consumed with coveting.

If pursuit of this life is going to bring true happiness, a better life, a peaceful life, shouldn't the oldest people say, "I have achieved," at least a larger percentage of them would say, "I've gotten it." Or at least they would be happier than the younger people. But they always say, "I wish I was younger," before they started pursuing what they thought was gonna make them happy.

God's statement is proven over and over again in every single life who's in rebellion against God. He said he has come to give life and to give this life abundantly. And to know this life, you must repent of your old life and receive the new life of Christ so that you may have true life.

Not this artificial life when you experience by the moment you become thirsty again and you become hungry again. But he says, "If you drink of my water, "if you eat of my bread, you will never thirst, "you will never hunger." The path to that life is repentance, not acceptance, repentance.

Turn from your old life, empty way of life, the coveting the world, that if I have a better job, if I had more money, if I was more stable, if I can buy a better house, and at the end of this journey, you said, "I wish I was 20 something." 'Cause that whole path of life led to misery.

Why wait to the end of your life to repeat the same confession that every single person who has ever lived this earth will tell you again and again? Give your life to Christ. Repent that you may see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ and live the rest of your life, as Paul said, in light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, everything become rubbish that I may know him even in his suffering.

Let's pray. Father, I pray, Father God, that those who have hardened their heart toward you, that your word would be the hammer, your word would be the fire that causes them, causes them to shake off their sins, to confess, to know, Father God, that the grip Satan has on their hearts and their lives, that they would no longer live superficial Christian lives, that doesn't look any different than the world, that what they have treasured in their heart help them to see the futility of what many of us pursue, that we may know this life, we may know the eternity, that we may know, Father God, that we don't belong here, that we're just passing through.

Help us to number our days, that we may long and covet the coming of Christ more than any other temptation in this world. Lord, we repent that we may see the glory of who Christ is, that we may follow him, obey him, and worship him in spirit and in truth, amen.

Let's all stand up for the closing praise. (gentle piano music) ♪ Change my heart, oh God ♪ ♪ Make it ever true ♪ ♪ Change my heart, oh God ♪ ♪ May I be like you ♪ Sing that again, change my heart. ♪ Change my heart, oh God ♪ ♪ Make it ever true ♪ ♪ Change my heart, oh God ♪ ♪ May I be like you ♪ ♪ You are the water ♪ ♪ I am the clay ♪ ♪ Hold me and make me ♪ ♪ This is what I pray ♪ ♪ Change my heart, oh God ♪ ♪ Make it ever true ♪ ♪ Change my heart, oh God ♪ ♪ May I be like you ♪ ♪ You are the water ♪ ♪ I am the clay ♪ ♪ Hold me and make me ♪ ♪ This is what I pray ♪ ♪ Change my heart, oh God ♪ ♪ Make it ever true ♪ ♪ Change my heart, oh God ♪ ♪ May I be like you ♪ Let's pray.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy. To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.

♪ God sent his Son ♪ ♪ They called him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to them ♪ ♪ He left for me ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ To buy my pardon ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to prove ♪ ♪ My Savior lives ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ He holds the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living ♪ ♪ Just because he lives ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ O Lord, my soul ♪ ♪ Worship his holy name ♪ ♪ Sing like never before ♪ ♪ O my soul ♪ ♪ I worship your holy name ♪