Transcription
Hey, good morning church. If you're able, would you stand on up and let's worship the Lord together. Oh, let all that is within me bless his holy name. For his love endures forever and his mercy's new today. We will enter with thanksgiving and fill his courts with praise. Come on church. Oh, lift your voice and sing. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord forever. Bless his name. Let all within me sing. Praise the Lord forever.
And if your life's been resurrected by the war that Jesus won, if you wait in expectation for a kingom yet to come, all you citizens of heaven, sons and daughters of the king, come on church. Oh, lift your voice and sing. Sing and praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord forever. And bless his name. Let all within me sing. Praise the Lord forever.
I'll praise you Lord for the one who's brokenhearted and it's hard to sing this song. You've been walking through the valley and your faith is feeling small. I pray peace and love surround you from the God who understands as a family all around you. Lift your arms up when you can't join the choir of creation in the song of love. Come on church. Oh, lift your voice and say, "Praise the Lord." Oh, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord forever. Oh, bless his name. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Oh, praise the Lord forever. Praise the Lord forever. Hallelujah.
I am an instrument of exultation. I was born to live the name above all. You hear the melody of all creation. But there's a song of praise that only I can bring. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one only you Jesus. You are the infinite God of the aes. Yet you chose to make my heart a dwelling place. You healed my brokenness, showed me your glory. So I have songs of thanks I even angels sing. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. Only you Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one only you Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. Only you Jesus who is worthy. Worthy. There's no only you Jesus. Oh, you're Lord Jesus. You're worthy.
Lamb of God, the anointed one who was and is and is to come. You're seated on the throne above. Holy, holy, right to shed his blood to prove to us the father's love. Jesus Christ be lifted up. Holy, holy Lord God, Lord one was to come to see it all from above. Holy, holy, right to bring to us the father Jesus Christ be lifted Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. There is no Jesus. Only you Jesus. Only you Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. Only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one you Jesus.
When peace like a river attendeth my way. And sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my Lord, thou hast taught me to say. It is well. It is well with my soul. My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought. I sin not in part but in whole. Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well. with my soul. Yes, Father. Oh Lord, haste the day when my face shall be signed. Yes. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound for the Lord shall descend. Even so it is well with my soul. Sing it is well Jesus with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. Oh, it is well. It is well with my soul. Thank you Lord worship.
There was a moment when the lights went out. When death had claimed its victory. The king of love had gi up his life. The darkest day in history. They're on a cross they made for sinners. For every curse his blood atone. One final breath and it was finished. But not the end. We could have known for the earth began to shake and the veil was torn. What sacrifice was made as the heavens. Come on, let's praise him this morning as we sing. All hail King Jesus. All hell, Lord of heaven and earth. All hail King Jesus. All hail the savior of the world. Oh, we praise you, Lord. We lift you up.
There was a moment when the sky lit up, a flash of light breaking through. When all was lost across eternity, the king of life was on the move. In the dark comes true to where our Lord was laid. One miraculous bra and we're forever change. Yeah, we are. All hail king Jesus. All hail of heaven. All hell Jesus. All hell savior of all hell Jesus. All horn of heaven. All hell Jesus. All hell of the world. We praise you, Lord. Come on, give him praise. Give him praise. Give him praise. Let me come down before the king of kings that he is. Lift up your One more time all over this room. Let's sing this out together. All hail King Jesus. All hail the Lord of heaven and earth. All hail King Jesus. Call him the savior of the world. Come on, let's rejoice.
And I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah. Well, I'm clean. Sin was stained on me and shame was running deep, but love was spilled on Calvary. Oh, hallelujah. I'm clean. Oh, God. How can it be? I'm ransomed and redeemed. I'm standing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood because of you. Oh, hallelujah. I'm clean. It's not what I have done, but what you've done for me. You paid it all up on that tree. Oh, hallelujah. I believe has overcome. Mercy is supreme. Dancing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah. I'm washing away. Wash in the blood as good as me. Oh hallelujah. I'm washed in the water. Washed in the blood. Oh hallelujah. I'm in the water. Wash in the blood. Oh hallelujah. I'm in the water. In the blood. Oh hallelujah. Cuz you took away my shame and you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. Hallelujah. Here I come. Cuz he took away my shame and he nailed it to the cross. Got me running out the grave. Hallelujah. you cuz you took away my shame and you got me running out the way cuz you took away my You got me running out. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Here I come. Hallelujah. Here I come. Hallelujah. Here I come. Hallelujah. Here I go. Hallelujah. Here I come. Here I come. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Oh, hallelujah.
Praise you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, that in you we can be a new creation. God, we give you all the praise, all the glory, and all God's people said, "Amen." That sounded good. Good to see you, church this morning. Before you take a seat, would you say hi to somebody next to you? Get their name. Commit to praying for them this week. Then look at the screens for the announcements.
Hey everyone, we're so glad that you've joined us on this amazing Sunday as we seek the Lord together. This week here on this campus was amazing. We had hundreds of kids here for our vacation Bible school and it's just so exciting what God is doing in this younger generation. And we hope that if you attend here and you call this your home church that you're a part of it. And one of the ways you can be a part of it and give to the Lord is through tithes and offerings. And there are a few ways that you can give here at the church. You can either go online to the website. Uh, you can text to give and then of course there's always those boxes in the back of the sanctuary for your convenience.
Now, speaking about the younger generation, we have an opportunity uh for the junior high students to go to a an amazing summer camp. And uh registration now is live and active and ready to go. And so, if you haven't yet signed up your seventh or eighth grader or maybe you have a grandchild who's in that age range, sign them up today. It will be a week for uh for them to remember their whole life as God transforms and changes them as they make friends. And so, be sure to do that today.
We also want to invite you out to this Wednesday night as we celebrate our nation's 250th anniversary with a choir and orchestra performance that is put on uh here at the church. And so we're going to take a Wednesday night to just celebrate what God has done here in this nation. And it's going to be a great time. That's also going to be followed by after service our summer nights that we'll have every Wednesday night in July following the Wednesday night service. We're going to have activities and food trucks and it's just going to be a blast to be together during the summer. And so be sure to mark that down.
And then on Saturday, July 4th, the 250th itself, we are going to gather as we do every year at 9:00 a.m. here in the sanctuary. And we are going to pray. We're going to pray for God's continued blessing and provision and guidance on our nation. So bring out the whole family on Saturday, July 4th at 9:00 a.m. in the sanctuary.
We also want to make you aware of an opportunity where you can bless a child or teen with a backpack and school supplies for this coming school year. You can go and purchase those items. You can scan the QR code to find out exactly what is needed. And then you can bring those items to the front office by July 19th. And if you happen to know a student, uh, child or teen that's in need of supplies, then you can also go to the front office and fill out a confidential reference form.
Now, let's take a moment to hear from Chino Valley Christian Education about what's coming up. Did you know that public school students are allowed up to 1 hour of Bible education and it's perfectly legal and federally protected? Today, we have Miss Rhonda who's going to share her experience in Chino Valley Christian Education Bible Bus Ministries. Thanks, Samia. Well, last year I started with nine students and I asked God for 30. Not only did he give me the 30, but on my last day of education, he brought me one more. So, I ended up with 31. That's our God. Amen. So, I'd like to share some of the kind of interesting, flavorful questions that the students have asked throughout the years. Remember, it's third grade through sixth grade. So, one of the questions was who baptized John the Baptist? Now, I assure them that, you know, if we can't find the answer in the Bible, they'll get the answer when they meet Jesus face to face. My favorite is in the book of Revelation when it says, "When Jesus Christ comes on his robe and on his thigh, it's written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Now, I have a lot of soccer players as my students. So, their first question is, "Well, how big is Jesus's thigh?" So, that just tells me, Mia, that they're interested, they're excited, and they want to learn more about Jesus Christ. Amen.
If you'd like to be a part of this great commission work, scan the QR code for more information, or come and see us in the courtyard after service today. Miss Rhonda will be there and several other states serving in this ministry. Your support can help save a child's life. We'll see you there.
Hey, I know that we go through these announcements quickly and that's for us to be able to get to the best part, which is the teaching of the word of God. And so, download the app, go on the website, but now pull out those Bibles as we dive in to the word of God.
Hey, good morning. How are you? I'm uh I'm a guest speaker here today. Uh, no. June's been an in incredibly busy month. And, uh, Lisa and I got back uh, last night. But, uh, a few things we want to make sure that you guys are aware of. Number one, today is BUDS. Gentlemen, Buds Day today. And if you're watching right now online, if you're within driving distance, we know that men come up every uh, BUDS meeting from San Diego to come. They bring a a group of men from their men's group. Why do we do this? At four o'clock today, uh we discuss biblical masculinity from the Bible. How does it apply to our lives and what is that going to look like? And so, uh we believe that God made uh men to be men. And uh we need to know how to be men and Jesus is the great example of all of that. Uh I want to just echo what Pastor Joel just said a moment ago. Thank you for making this VBS this last week over the top amazing. I don't know if you saw any of the video clips and stuff that they were posting, but wow, amazing. So, um I think 25 or 35 kids gave their heart to the Lord. Yep. And um it was just a tremendous time. And so we're grateful. Look at this. Look at these photos. I don't know how many photos we have, but they're panning for Bible verses. No, I'm kidding. No, but um yeah. No, it was great. It was great. So, anyway, just want to thank all of you. Uh there were over 700 volunteers who made that happen. So, that's pretty remarkable. And these are people, by the way, so many of them took a week off from work to come and work harder here on campus than they probably do at work. Uh because it was just so so much uh happening. Uh grateful for all of that.
Um, we have today because I didn't know if we were going to make it home today. Uh, so that said, we have a guest speaker. He's a guest speaker, but he's I got to tell you, he's not here often, but he's he's a family member of this church. Uh, we love him. We love what he does. You please, if you're not familiar with Ray Comfort, if you are not familiar you need to go to his website uh Living Waters, which by the way, he's the founder and CEO of Living Waters Ministry. It's incredible. He's authored over a hundred books. But if you go to YouTube and just search his name and watch these um for the lack of a better term, I'll just say they're they're video shorts of him witnessing to people and challenging people about their faith. I I love this man. Uh you know, we were just talking about how it's great to be old men now with Jesus because we've almost finished our race. It's the young men that terrify us because they have time to change their mind on things, right? Think about it. But this guy has held the gospel true for his entire life. And uh it's it's getting rare to be able to have more and more guest speakers here because the times are bizarre. But I love this man. Will you please give a warm Calvary welcome to Ray Comfort?
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm the CEO of Living Waters, the chief evangelism officer. Romans 3:1 19. If you'd open your Bibles, I'd be grateful. Our television program has been broadcast worldwide, 190 countries for about 20 years. It's in its 11th season. So when I go to hunting the beach each Saturday to film in the mornings, it's common for people to come up and say, "Could I do a selfie?" And some time ago, I was standing by a wall. It's got names on it, the base of the pier. And an Asian gentleman, very politely said, "Can I take a photo?" I was looking at my phone. I said, "Sure, go ahead." He said, "Well, get out of the way. And that's my earnest prayer with this message today that I would get out of the way.
In the late 1970s, God very graciously opened an itinerant ministry to me. And as I began to travel, I found that I had access to church growth records and found to my horrors something like 80 to 90% of those making decisions for Christ were falling away from the faith. That is modern evangelism with its methods was creating something like 80 to 90 backsliders with every hundred decisions for Christ. Let me make it more real for you. A number of years ago, a major denomination in the US obtained 294,000 decisions for Christ in just one year. That's from 11,500 churches. Unfortunately, they could only find 14,000 in fellowship, which means they could not account for 280,000 of their decisions. And this is normal modern evangelistic results from local churches right up to large crusades. And this greatly concerned me and I began to study the book of Romans plus the gospel proclamation of men like Spurgeon, Wesley, Whitfield, and Luther. And I found they used a principle which is almost entirely neglected by modern evangelism. I began teaching that principle and was eventually invited to base our ministry ministry in Southern California, particularly bring the teaching to the church of the US. Things were very quiet for the first three years until I received a call from a well-known minister who had seen the teaching. He flew me to San Jose where I shared it with a thousand pastors. He put it on video and screened that video to 30,000 pastors. Some time ago, I heard of one pastor listening to the teaching 250 times. I'd be happy if you'd listen just once to this teaching called hell's bestkept secret.
The Bible says in Psalm 19:7, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." What is it the Bible says is perfect and converts the soul? Why? Scripture makes it very clear. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. To illustrate the function of God's law, let's look at civil law. Imagine if I said to you, "I've got some great news for you. This is good news. Someone just paid a $25,000 speeding fine on your behalf." You probably respond by saying, "What are you talking about? That's not good news. Doesn't make any sense. I don't have a $25,000 speeding fine. My good news wouldn't be good news to you. It'd be foolishness. Even more than that, we it would be offensive to you because I'm insinuating you've broken the law when you don't think you have. But if I was to put it this way, it may make more sense. On your way to this meeting today, the law clocked you going 55 miles an hour through an area set aside for a blind children's convention. There were 10 clear warning signs stating that 15 m an hour was the maximum speed. There's a $25,000 fine. What you did was very dangerous. The law was about to take its course when someone you don't even know stepped in and paid that fine for you. You're very fortunate. Can you see that telling you precisely what you've done wrong first makes the good news make sense? The good news becomes good news indeed. But if I don't tell you what you've done wrong, the good news will seem foolishness and it will seem offensive. But once you understand you've broken the law, that good news makes sense. In the same way, if I approach an impenitent sinner and say Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, it'll be foolishness to him and offensive to him. The Bible says the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. And offensive because I'm insinuating he's a sinner when he doesn't think he is. as far as he's concerned, there are a lot of people far worse than he is. But if I follow in the footsteps of Jesus and take the time to open up the divine law, the Ten Commandments, and show the sinner precisely what he's done wrong, that he's violated the law of a holy God, then as James says, he becomes convinced of the law as a transgressor. Now, at that point, the good news that his fine has been paid will not be foolishness, but will not be offensive. It'll be the power of God under salvation.
So with those few thoughts in mind by way of introduction, let's now look at some of the functions of God's law. Romans 3:9. Now we know the whatsoever of the things the law says. It says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world, not just the Jews, but all the world be guilty before God. So, one function of God's law is to stop a sinner's mouth. To stop him justifying himself and saying, "There's plenty of people worse than me. I'm not a bad person." No, the law stops the mouth of justification and leaves the whole world guilty before God. Romans 3:20, next verse. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there should no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law gives us the knowledge of sin. It tells us what sin is. 1 John 3:4 says, "Sin is transgression of the law." Romans 7:7, over the page somewhat. Listen to what the Apostle Paul said. I have not known sin, but by the law. Paul said, "I didn't know what sin was until the law told me." In Galatians 3:24, "The law was our school master to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." Another function of God's law is to act as a school master to bring us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith in his blood. The law doesn't help us. It just leaves us helpless. It doesn't justify us. It just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a holy God.
Here now is the tragedy of modern evangelism. about 80 years ago when for some reason it abandoned the law to stop the mouth and convert the soul and drive sinners to Christ, it had to find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel. And the issue that modern evangelism chose was one of life enhancement. The gospel degenerated into Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. Now listen very carefully to this following anecdote. this illustration because everything I'm saying pivots on this illustration. Two men are seated in the plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put it on as it would improve his flight. He's a little skeptical at first because he can't see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve the flight. After a time, he decides to experiment and see if the claim is true. As he puts it on, he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders, and he finds he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact he was told the parachute would improve the flight. So, he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits, he notices some of the old passengers are laughing him because he's wearing a parachute in a plane. He begins to feel somewhat humiliated as they begin to point and laugh on him. He can stand it no longer. He slinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart because as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie. The second man is given a parachute, but listen to what he's told. He's told to put it on because at any moment he'd be jumping 25,000 ft out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on. He doesn't notice the weight of it upon his shoulders and that he can't sit upright. His mind is consumed with a thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without that parachute. Now let's analyze the motive and the result of each passenger's experience. The first man's motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result is of his experience was he was humiliated by the passengers. He was disillusioned and somewhat embedded and quite rightly so. As far as he's concerned, it'll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again. The second man put the parachute on to escape the jump to come. And because of his knowledge of what would happen to him without it, he's a he has a deep rooted joy and peace in his heart, knowing that he's saved from sure death. This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude toward the His attitude toward those who gave him the parachute is one of heartfelt gratitude. Now listen what the modern gospel says. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. In other words, Jesus will improve your flight. So the sinner responds and in an experimental fashion puts on the savior to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The promise temptation, tribulation, and persecution. The other passengers mock him. So what does he do? He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ. He's offended for the word's sake. He's disillusioned and somewhat embedded. And quite rightly so. He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. and all he got were trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed at those who gave him the so-called good news. His latter end becomes worse than the first. Another inoculated and bitter backslider saints. Instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning the passengers that they're going to have to jump out of the plane. That it's appointed a man once to die and after this the judgment. And when a sinner understands the horrific consequences of breaking God's law, then he will flee to the Savior to escape the wrath that's to come. And if we are true and faithful witnesses, that's what we'll be preaching. That there is wrath to come. That God commands all men everywhere to repent. Why? Because he has appointed a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness. You see, the issue isn't one of happiness, but one of righteousness. It doesn't matter how happy a sinner is, how much he's enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. Without the righteousness of Christ, he'll perish on the day of wrath. Scripture says, "Riches profit not on the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. Peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation, but it's not legitimate to use these fruits as a draw card for salvation. If we continue to do so, if we continue to do so, sinners will respond with an impure motive, lacking repentance. Now, can you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace in his heart? It was because he knew the parachute was going to save him from shore death. And as a believer, I have, as Paul says, joy and peace in believing because I know that the righteousness of Christ is going to deliver me from the wrath that's to come.
Now, with that thought in mind, let's take a close look at an incident on a board the plane. We have a brand new flight attendant. She's carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee. It's her first day. She wants to leave an impression on the passengers. And she certainly does because as she's walking down the aisle, she trips up with someone's foot and slops that boiling hot coffee all over the lap of our second passenger. What's his reaction as that boiling liquid hits his flesh? Does he go, "Man, that hurt." Mhm. He does. He feels the pain. But then is he rip the parachute from his shoulders, throw it to the floor, and save a stupid parachute? No. Why should he? He didn't put the parachute on for a better flight. He put it on to save him from the jump to come. And if anything, the hot coffee incident clauses and causes him to cling tighter to the parachute and even look forward to the jump. And if you and I put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right moment to flee from the wrath that's to come, when tribulation strikes, when the flight gets bumpy, we won't get angry at God. We won't lose our joy and peace. Why should we? We didn't come to Jesus for a happy lifestyle. We came to flee from the wrath that's to come. And if if anything, tribulation drives a true believer closer to the Savior. And sadly, we have literally multitudes of professing Christians who lose their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy. Why? They're the product of a man-c centered gospel. They came lacking repentance without which you cannot be saved.
I was in Australia some time ago. Australia is a small island off the coast of New Zealand. Take that, Ken Ham. And I preached sin, law, righteousness, holiness, judgment, repentance, and hell. And it wasn't exactly crushed by the amount of people who want to give their hearts to Jesus. In fact, the air went very tense. After some time, someone came up and said, "There's a young guy down the back who wants to give his life to Christ." I went down the back and found a young man who was weeping so profusely, he couldn't even pray. Now for me it was so refreshing because for many years I suffered from the disease of evangelical frustration. I so wanted sinners to come to Christ. I unwittingly preached a man-c centered message. The essence of which was this. You'll never find true peace without Jesus Christ. There's a God-shaped vacuum in your heart only God can fill. I preach Christ crucified and preach repentance. Sinners respond at the altar. I'd open my eye and say, "Oh no, this guy wants to give his life to Christ." And there's an 80% chance he's going to backslide. And I'm tired of creating backsliders. So I better make sure this guy really means it. He better be sincere. So I'd approach the poor guy in a Gestapo spirit. I'd say, "What do you want?" He says, "I'm here to give my life to Christ." Say, "Do you mean it?" He says, "Yeah, do you really mean it?" He says, "Yeah, I mean it." So okay, I'll pray with you, but you better mean it from your heart. He says, "Okay, I'll mean it from my heart." Okay, pray this after me and mean it from your heart. And he'd say, I'd say, "Oh, God, I'm a sinner." He'd say, "I'm gone. I'm a sinner." And I said, "Man, why isn't there visible sign of contrition? Why isn't he broken over his sins?" And if I could have seen his motive, I would have seen that he was 100% sincere. He really g wanted to give this he sincerely wanted to give this Jesus thing a go to say it's as good as all these Christians say it. It's peace, joy, love, fulfillment, lasting happiness. Be a fool not to give it a try. He wasn't fleeing from the wrath to come because I hadn't told him there was wrath to come. He wasn't broken in contrition over his sin because the poor guy didn't know what sin was. Romans 7:7 Paul said, "I had not known sin but by the law." And how can a man repent if he doesn't know what sin is? Any so-called repentance would be merely what I call horizontal repentance. He's coming because he's lied to men. He's stolen from men. But when David sinned against God, when he committed adultery and broke those commandments, when he coveted his neighbor's wife, lived a lie, stole his neighbor's wife, committed adultery, committed murder, dishonored his parents, and thus dishonored God. He didn't say, "I've sinned against man." He said, "Against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight." When Joseph was tempted sexually, he said, "How can I do this thing and sin against God prodigal son said,"Ive sinned against heaven." The Apostle Paul preached repentance towards God. And the Bible says, "Godly sorrow works repentance." And when a man doesn't understand that a sin is primarily vertical, he'll merely come and exercise superficial experimental and horizontal repentance and fall away when tribulation, temptation, and persecution comes. AB Earl was a famous evangelist who who had 150,000 converts to substantiate this claim. He said, "I found by long experience the severest threatenings of the law of God have a prominent place in meeting leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy. They'll not escape danger until they see it."
So, I'm going to do something very, very unusual. I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to be really honest to prove an important point. How many of you were thinking of something else when I read that quote from Airl? And you haven't got a clue what Abol said. And I've got to admit, I wasn't listening either. I was thinking to myself, "Nobody's listening to me. They're all thinking of something else." So, if you were thinking of something else, as I shared that quote from would you lift your hand up nice and high? It's usually twothirds of the congregation. Come on. Yeah. Perhaps we get on the organ, we can get more hands raised. Satan hates this teaching. So gird up the loins of your mind. Squeeze that 4 in of sponge between your ears and listen very closely. AB Earl, famous evangelist of the last century, 150,000 converts to substantiate this claim. Listen carefully. He said, "I have found by long experience, that's the true test, that the spire threatenings of the law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy. They will not escape danger until they see it." Amen.
I've got a relative here. So, you try and save a man from drowning, but doesn't think he's drowning. Get a bit of a problem on your hands. You look out, you see a man's swimming. You say, "Oh, I think there's a rip over there. I'll go and save him." So, you dive in, you grab him around the throat, you pull him to the shore. He's not going to be too happy with you. He's got to realize he's drowning before he's going to appreciate being saved. So, let him go down 15 times. Swallow swallow a couple of gallons of water. When he reaches up his hand and you take it, he'll know what you're trying to do for him. He'll appreciate it and he will cooperate because he's seen his danger first. Biblical evangelism is always, without exception, law to the proud and grace to the humble. Never will you see Jesus giving the gospel, the good news, the cross, the grace of our God to a proud, arrogant, self-righteous person. No. No. With the law, he breaks the hard heart. And with the gospel, he heals the broken heart. Why? Because he always did those things that were pleasing in the father's sight. And God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Scripture says, "Everyone who is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord."
Luke 10:25. Luke 10:25. When I give you a biblical reference, I'm reference. I'm going to say it twice because I know that men are present and men men need to be told things twice. Men need to be told things twice. This can be backed up biblically because when God speaks to men in the Bible, he uses their name twice. Abraham. Abraham. Saul. Saul. Samuel. Samuel. Moses. Moses because men need to be told things twice, >> women once. >> I don't know how many times I sat in the pew, the preacher said, "Uh, Luke 10:25." I turn to my wife and say, "What'd you say?" She says, "Luke 10:25." I said, "Thank you, dear. Help, mate." That's why God created woman >> because men can't handle it on their own. The whole thing is men lose things, women find things. Where's the keys, love? Hanging on your nose, dear. I don't know how many times I open the carpet and say, "There's no honey here, honey." She says, "Here it is here, dear." Where would men be without woman? Still in the Garden of Eden. Eve found the tree. Adam didn't know what was going on. In fact, if you look at the creation of woman to create woman, the Bible says God put man into a deep sleep. And scripture doesn't say he ever came out of it. Okay. Luke 10:25. Certain lawyers stood up and tempted Jesus. This was not an attorney but a professing expert in God's law. He stood up and said to Jesus, "How can I find everlasting life?" What did Jesus do? He gave him the law. Why? Because this man was proud, arrogant, and self-righteous. We have a professing expert in God's law, tempting the son of God. And the spirit of his question was, "And what do you think we have to do to get everlasting life?" So Jesus gave him the law. He said, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." And listen what Jesus said this, "Do you shall live?" Then scripture says, "But he willing to justify himself said to Jesus, who's my neighbor?" The Living Bible brings out more clearly the effect of the law on that man. It said, "The man wanted to justify his lack of love for some kinds of people." So he asked, "Which neighbors?" You see, he didn't mind Jews, but he didn't like Samaritans. So Jesus told him the story of what we call the good Samaritan, who was not good at all. He merely obeyed the basic requirements of the law in loving his neighbor as himself. And the effect of the essence of the law, the spiritual nature of the law, of what the law law demands in truth was that man's mouth was stopped. He didn't love his neighbor to that degree. And the law was given to stop every mouth and leave the whole world guilty before God. Similarly, Luke 18:18, the rich young ruler came to Jesus. He said, "How can I get everlasting life?" Now, how would you react and I react if someone come and said that? How can I get Oh, quick say this prayer before you change your mind? No, Jesus didn't do that. He didn't talk about the love of God. Didn't preach the cross. He pointed to the law. He gave him five horizontal commandments, commandments to do with his fellow men. When he said, "I've kept those from my youth." Jesus said, "One thing you lack." And he used the essence of the first of the ten commandments. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me. He showed this man that his God was his money and you cannot serve God and mammon. Lord of the proud.
Then we see grace being given to the hus humble in the case of Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a leader of the Jews. He was a teacher in Israel. Therefore, he was thoroughly versed in God's law. He was of humble heart because he came to Jesus and acknowledged the deity of the son of God. He says, "We know you've come from God. For no man can do these miracles that you do unless God is with him." So Jesus gave the sincere seeker of truth with a humble heart and a knowledge of sin by the law, the good news of the fine being paid for him. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and it was not foolishness Nicodemus but the power of God to salvation. Similarly with Nathaniel. Nathaniel was an Israelite born up under the law. An Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile. There was no deceit in his heart. And the law was a school master to bring this godly Jew to Christ. Similarly with the Jews on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. The Bible says these were devout men from every nation under heaven. That word devout means they grasped hold of wealth. Matthew Henry said they were gathered together on the day of Pentecost to celebrate the giving of God's law on Mount Si. So when Peter stood up to the to preach to these godly Jews, he didn't preach wrath. No, the law works wrath. They knew that. He didn't preach righteousness or judgment. He told them the good news of the fine being paid. And the Bible says they were pricricked in the heart and cried, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" The law was a school master to bring them to Christ they might be justified through faith in his blood. As the himmwriter said, "By God's word, at last my sin I learned. Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary."
Turn to 1 Timothy 1:8. If you would take your time while I choke. Get behind me. You didn't need to turn there. I just wanted you to do something. Oh, look at that. Nothing worse than seeing it. Adam's apple going up and down in the first Timothy chapter 1 verse 8 from the Amplified Bible. So I'll read it a little louder. But we know that the law is good if anyone uses it lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed. God's law is good if it's used lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed. What was it designed for? The following verse tells us, listen to scripture, the law was not made for a righteous man, but for sinners. It even lists the sinners. And in that list is homosexuals and fornications. Fornicators. I have witnessed, and you can see this on our YouTube channel, to many homosexuals without offense. Why? Because I use the law to witness to homosexuals. I say, "Do you think you're a good person?" "Yeah." So, well, let's go through the ten commandments and see how you're going to do on judgment day. Have you lied, stolen, used God's name in vain, looked with lust, committed adultery in your heart? They said, "I've done all those things. I have a mention of sexual orientation. I don't want to go there. I can show him he's under God's wrath despite going there because he's ready with his boxing gloves on. He's waiting for me and it's not going to happen because the law was made for homosexuals. I can show him he is damned. He needs a savior. And when he's born again, God will give him a new heart. when he's got a humble heart and often see this on a on a YouTube channel when those boxing gloves go down when he realizes I really care about him and I'm concerned for his salvation and he is in big trouble and he's going to go to hell justly if God gives him justice on judgment day then those defenses come down I say listen listen to what scripture says it says do not be deceived listen how it begins do not be deceived neither idolattors nor fornicators nor homosexuals nor thieves es will inherit the kingdom of God. And he receives it because he's now humble of heart. If you want to bring a Jew to Christ, lay the weight of the law upon him. I witness to a lot of Jews. Most of them are just secular Jews. They they practice the holidays of Jewish people, but they don't understand the essence of God's law and what it does. You know, when God gave his law on Mount Si, the Bible says, "So terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." And Israel said, "Don't let God speak, least we die." That's when God came in peace with a smile on his face to give his law to humanity. How great will be the terror when he comes in wrath to render his anger with fury upon those who have deliberately transgressed that law. What a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. If you want to bring a Muslim to Christ, lay the weight of the law upon him. I witness to a lot of Muslims and I I I do something right at the beginning. So, you're a Muslim? Thanks for listening to me. Let me just share a little illustration with you. Let's say a man's robbed a bank. He shot a guard and he died. And very serious crime and he's standing in front of a judge and the judge says, "You're guilty." And the man says, "Yeah, I'm guilty." But he says, "I want you to know this judge. I'm really sorry and I won't do it again." So, is the judge going to let him go? The Muslim says, "Of course not." I said, "No, he's bound to do that which is right and just. He's going to jail." So being sorry and saying you won't do it again, it's not going to help because of course you should be sorry and of course you shouldn't do it again. I established that in his mind because I know where he's going to go when I go through the commandments with him. He's lied and stolen, blasphemed God's name, committed adultery, look with lust in his heart. Jesus said, "If you look at a woman and lust for her, you commit adultery wither in your heart." That's the essence. That's the spiritual nature of the law. Seventh commandment, I know where he's going to go. He's going to say, "I I'm I just repent. I tell God I'm sorry." He hasn't got a savior. He just says, "I'm telling I tell God I'm sorry." So remember, that's not going to work in man's court. It's not going to work on judgment day. And it makes sense that he's under God's wrath. Repentance can't help him. He needs a savior. And so the cross begins to make sense.
Even to a Muslim, if we use the law lawfully. Think of the woman caught in the act of adultery, violation of the seventh commandment. The law called for her blood. She found herself between a rock and a hard place. And the only avenue of escape was to fling herself at the feet of the Son of God. And that's the function of God's law as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Paul spoke of being shut up under the law. It condemns. You say, "You can't go and condemn sinners." Saints, they're already condemned. Scripture says, "He that believes not is condemned already." What the law does is show him his danger. Shows him that he needs a savior.
Some of the ladies may appreciate this. Have you ever dusted a table? You dust it down. It's a wooden table and it's just dust-free. It's clean. Then you go and draw back the curtains and let in the early morning sunlight and you see what's on the table? Dust. It's everywhere. Do the light create the dust? No. The light merely exposes the dust. And when you and I take the time to draw back the curtains of the Holy of Holies and let the light of God's law shine upon a sinner's heart, all it does is reveal to himself himself in truth. It shows that sin is exceedingly sinful. That's why Paul said, "By the law is the knowledge of sin." And then he said, "By the commandment, sin became exceedingly sinful."
And the wonderful thing about God's law is it's written upon the heart. Romans 2:15, which shows the work of the law written on the heart, the conscience bearing witness. When you witness to an unsaved person, there is a judge on the courtroom of their mind that will agree with the commandments. That independent, impartial judge, that conscience, which means "with knowledge," con with science is knowledge, will agree with the commandments. You know it's wrong to lie, don't you? You know it's wrong to steal, commit adultery, murder. It's all written on the heart. God has given light to every man. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Sin, which is transgression of the law; righteousness, which is of the law; and judgment, which is by the law. John Wycliffe, the Bible translator, said, "The highest service to which a man may attain on earth is to preach the law of God." How foreign is that to modern evangelism? "The highest service to which a man may attain on earth is to preach the law of God." Martin Luther said, "The first duty of the gospel preacher is declare God's law and show the nature of sin."
Let me digress just a little bit. What's happened in our nation is what happened to Israel again and again in the Old Testament. What happened? God gives his law. The fear of God comes upon the heart. They stray into idolatry. Why is idolatry attractive to sinful sinners? Because it doesn't have a moral dictate. You go to a golden calf; it's not going to say, "You shall not commit adultery, shall not lie, shall not steal, shall not lust." It's dumb. And those that make him are like him. And so what happens? Israel gets the law. They fear God. Stray to idolatry. That brings judgment. And that's exactly what's happened in the United States of America.
There was a time when the commandments were honored. Go back to the 1950s. Most people knew the Ten Commandments. Then there's been a concerted effort to rid the nation of the Ten Commandments, moral law. And what's happened? We stray into idolatry. We don't make a golden calf. We just created God in our own image. And so we have politicians talking about God and how wonderful God bless America. Next word that blaspheme his name. There's no fear of God before their eyes. And the Bible says, "Do not be deceived. Neither idolaters nor fornicators nor homosexuals inherit the kingdom of God." Idolatry is first on that list. Idolatry is one of the chief sins of our nation, creating a god in our own image. It's foreign to the God revealed in scripture.
Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said. "I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the law." And then he said this, "Lower the law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt. This is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than a gain because it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conversion. I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary." That's its most powerful weapon. When you have set aside the law, you have taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ. They will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy law. Therefore, the law serves the most necessary purpose and must not be removed from its place.
Listen to John Newton, who wrote "Amazing Grace." If anyone had a grip on grace, it was John Newton. He said, "The correct understanding of the harmony between law and grace is to preserve oneself from being entangled by errors on the right hand and on the left." And for years, I think it was about 10 years until I began to understand principles of biblical evangelism, it was as though I fought off the enemy with a feather duster of modern evangelism. And it was as though God reached down from heaven and handed me the 10 cannons of God's law. And as those cannons were fired, sinners no longer scoffed, mocked. They surrendered all to Jesus. And such converts become soul winners, not pew-warmers; laborers, not layabouts; assets, not a liability for the local church.
Let's pray, shall we? And then I want to share something with you, if I may. Father, firstly, we pray for your continued blessing on this church and the leadership. Thank you for such a wonderful shining light in this dark time. Pray for anyone here today who never really understood their sin today, that they would tremble before you and flee from wrath, to come and embrace Jesus Christ on the cross and know the joy of having their sins forgiven and the knowledge they are saved, all because of your amazing grace. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen.
Now, I'd like to share something with you that is so important. In fact, I've got really bad heartburn. My heart is burning within me with excitement because of this. We've been involved in many, many church outreaches. I've been Christian for over 50 years, but nothing comes anywhere near the excitement of this. So, I want to share with you a two-minute video and then speak very briefly after that, if we may.
In 2028, the nations will gather in Los Angeles for the Olympic Games. Millions will fill the streets. And in that unprecedented moment, we plan to place 1 million of these gold-colored coins, each carrying the gospel, directly into the hands of the lost. It is beautifully crafted to be valued, kept, and remembered. Yeah, this is wonderful. Very beautiful. Thank you very much. This is really well done. Each coin is substantial, nearly the weight of a golf ball, a perceived value you can feel in your hand, yet pointing to a treasure that cannot perish. If the Lord tarries, these coins will be speaking to hearts 100 years from now. This is a once-in-a-generation golden opportunity. The cost of the 1 million coins will be covered by our faithful donors. That means the coins are completely free, and there'll be no shipping charge. While the world competes for medals that will fade, we are preparing for something eternal. If you or your church would like to become a donor by sponsoring a quantity of coins, visit livingwaters.com/gold for details.
So, see, I've got a coin here. Can you see that? If you're ever lost in the wilderness, this will save your life with a plane going over. Um, I want you to I want you to feel this. The first time we got our a shipment from we got them from China. Um, I asked, that's okay. It's about $6 each in the US. China, we can afford them. Um, I just said, "Give me some samples." And as soon as this was put in my hand and I felt the weight of it, this weighs as much as a golf ball. It's 1.8 oz. So, it's got an instant perceived value. And nobody is going to throw this away, especially if they came for the Olympics. So, we've got 250 coins per service. It's going to be a bit of a gold rush going on in a few minutes out in the um in the courtyard. What I just ask if you're a family, just take one. If you've got 11 kids, just take one. And please don't sell these on eBay because they do look very valuable. So, um, the reason we give them to you is we would love you to partner with us so we can make this thing even far bigger than what we do have in mind. So, God bless you. These are in the courtyard, those 250. Thank you for listening to me today. God bless you.
Come on, let's sing this out. 'Cause you took away my shame and you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. Hallelujah, here I come. 'Cause you took away my shame and you nailed it to the cross and got me running out the grave. Hallelujah, here I come. 'Cause you took away my shame and you nailed it to the cross. Got me running out the grave. I never took away my running out. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Here I come. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. I feel love all because of you. Oh, hallelujah. Amen.
Church, God bless you. If you need prayer, please come on up to the front. Our prayer team will be here with you. We'll see you back here Wednesday night for the I Love America concert. God bless you. Beautiful. Get really repentant. Father's Day. I know. I'm taking it outside right now. Is much prayer.