Transcription
[Music] [Music] we're talking about second corinthians chapter one and we're looking at a message entitled this morning when god says i promise. I want you to write that down. When God says, "I promise." Second Corinthians chapter 1, verses 12 to 24. Follow along with me, if you would.
There, Paul says, "For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you." For we are not writing any other things to you than what you've read or understand. Now, I trust you will understand even to the end. That's a great statement right there, even to the end.
Verse 14: "As also you have understood in part, that we are your boast, as you also are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus." And in this confidence, I intend to come to you before that you might have a second benefit. Now, listen carefully to this. It gets kind of tough to follow. To pass by way of you to Macedonia, and to come again from Macedonia to you, to be helped by you on my way to Judea or back to Israel.
Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I planned, do I plan according to the flesh? That with me there should be yes and yes, and no and no? But as God is faithful, our word to you was not yes and no. But the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was preached among you by us, by me, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in Him was yes.
For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him, amen, to the glory of God through us. Now, He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God. Verse 22: "Who also has sealed us." (Circle the word "sealed.") And given (circle the word "given") us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (Circle the word "guarantee.")
Moreover, I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you, I came no more to Corinth. Not that we have dominion over your faith, but our fellow workers for your joy. For by faith you stand.
What is he talking about? Paul is in trouble with the church at Corinth. They are upset with him. He had told them that I'm going to come by and see you, and he had given them a time frame. And lo and behold, as we shall see this morning, something came up that was of God. God intervened in Paul's plan.
Now, listen. All of us need to pay attention to this because it is true in our lives and it will be true in our lives. And when God intervened in Paul's plan, God had a mission for Paul to accomplish. We'll see it in Acts chapter 18. But what God wanted to do did not exactly correspond with the Corinthians' desires and Paul's plan. Church, do you understand that? God reserves the right to supersede our plans. We don't often like it. We are a people, I mean, humans. Humans do not like change, and we don't like unscheduled change. But God has His plan.
And so, things didn't go exactly right for Paul in his agreement or his, his, uh, plan with the church at Corinth. And here's what happened. Some people at the church said, "Well, you know what? Paul's leading God." And, you know, "When Paul gets here, Paul gets here." God bless those people. Then there are those who began to stir up the dust, as it were, or the water, as it were, and get it all murky and put down in people's minds. And they began to say things like, "Well, you know what? Paul, you can't keep. You can't trust Paul. He doesn't keep his word." Very quick to criticize an action that is not followed through upon and blaming Paul. They began to blame Paul. And they began to say, "Well, you know what? Listen, when he says yes, you don't know if it's yes or not. When he says no, you don't know if it's no or not."
Look, we've all lived like that. Have you ever been misunderstood? Hey, look, if you have not been misunderstood, then you're not using this thing, this hole that's positioned right about in the middle of your face. If you open your mouth, and if you speak, or if you step out, and you are going to be committed to the service of people, to an effort, to a cause, ladies and gentlemen, just, just receive it and relax. Understand this: you will be misunderstood. In fact, listen, in a Christian or spiritual context, you will be misunderstood no matter how hard you try to make yourself so crystal clear unto people. Because there's one that is at work that the Bible says is the prince of the power of the air, and he loves confusion. Satan loves to get Christians confused, disillusioned, off track, questioning, filled with doubt, filled with fear. And listen, in our minds, go in a place that they ought not to be going.
It seems as though as Christians, we need to be careful that we don't quickly judge. Paul was being judged by the very ones that he loved. And they seem to revel, almost in some sort of spiritual, uh, evil joy of theirs, that, "Oh, you can't trust Paul." Trying to cast doubt upon his ministry. Church, mark it down. As we look at this, when God says, "I promise," it's all based upon His person.
Verses 12 to 14. I want you to know that we're going to be approaching this study a little bit different than what might be the norm that's before us. Mark it down. Point number one is that it's based upon His person. When God says, "I promise," verses 12 to 14, it is this: God is true. God is true. Verse 12. Look at it. He says, "For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience." Can you circle two words? Uh, first, the words here: testimony and conscience.
Paul is saying, "Hey, listen up, church at Corinth. I want you to understand something. Our boasting is this, our revelry in God, our boasting in the ministry." Now, hear me out. We'll define the word boasting in a moment. Our boasting is this: it is the testimony of our conscience. Paul is saying, "My conscience and the ministry team that we are serving under, our conscience is clear regarding these attacks." And I want you to understand that for a moment.
When we, as people, make a promise, have you ever promised? Look, I'm not going to ask you that. Of course, you've promised. "I will pick you up at three o'clock." You promised your friends, okay? Oh, my goodness. There's a pastor on staff here. He asked me like, you know, a week in advance, "Can you take me to the airport? I got to fly out at Ontario." I said, "Yeah, I'll do it." And I completely forgot. I completely forgot. And thank God he got to the airport in time. It wasn't through me. I was, I was, I forgot. And it broke my heart. And I got to tell you, man, it, I felt so bad. And I was keenly, keenly aware. In a moment, with all the best intentions, I, as a human, have no ability to guarantee a promise as much as I would want to. Did you know that? You have something quiet in here right now. Let me put it, let me put it to you this way: you do not have the ability to fulfill a promise with all the best intentions. Why? Because we are human, and we are weak.
But I'm not saying that that should let us off the hook, okay? But we need to remember this. As wonderful as the movement, movement of the Promise Keepers was, the only true promise keeper is God. But again, that doesn't take us off the hook. God keeps His promises. And this is vitally important. How does God keep His promises to us? Number one, when Paul says, "My conscience is clear on this." Our testimony is this: we're clear. We may have hurt your feelings. We didn't intend to. Oh, Corinthians, but thank God. The very, very basis of God keeping His promises is that God is absolutely true in His promise-keeping abilities. And all of God's people should say, "Amen" at that. God is the promise keeper. And we rejoice in that.
Listen, the word testimony is this: that when he says, "Our testimony of our conscience," the word means it is evidential. It is fact. It is proof positive. It is confirmed. It means that when someone takes the stand and swears an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God, it is that word testimony. He is saying, "I am as honest and as truthful and right before God right now that my conscience is clear." And Christian, you and I need to live our lives with a clear conscience before all men. And you and I need to work at it. That's not going to happen without us applying hard our efforts as a Christian to be true to our word, even though we'll fail at times. Let it be because of powers outside of ourselves.
Why we need to be like this is going to sound strange to the whole course of this message, but let me put it to you straight up. We need to be more like our God. And stop it. Stop being more like our excuses. Need to be more like our God. We need to show the world the nature of our God. And it's all based upon His person and how true God is that He keeps His promises. And that's an example for you and I.
Then it's the word conscience, that is awareness. Paul's consciousness, the moral consciousness of Paul. Though he didn't keep his word, he didn't, he wasn't able to keep his word to the Corinthians, he didn't arrive when he was supposed to arrive. His conscience was clear. Man, I don't know how to tell you guys this, but listen, when you take a stand, when you step out and you take a stand, as, as I was mentioning earlier, you are going to be, uh, you're going to have, you're going to get pats on the back, and you're going to get knives in the back. People are going to applaud you, and people are going to curse you. And let me promise you this: people are going to judge you. What do you do about it? Now, watch, church. Are you listening? What are you going to do about that?
"I'm not going to do nothing." That's that's my answer. "I'll never risk that. That could hurt my feelings. I could get scared." I'm just going to sit. Jeremiah tried that. The Bible says Jeremiah basically, basically Jeremiah said, "God, every time I open my mouth for you, somebody beats me and throws me into a dungeon." So Jeremiah said, "I'm not going to speak anymore in your name." Now, he said, "I'm not going to speak anymore in your name." Think of that. It doesn't mean Jeremiah didn't speak. He said, "I'm not going to speak in your name." And the Bible says Jeremiah said he determined to be silent. And that scripture says that his bones, he says, "My bones began to burn inside of me." The word of God. I grew up in a house where you, perky, you know, the percolated coffee, remember the, it would bubble, and you know how that works. The word of God began to just percolate. Little bubble here, a little pop here, a little boil there. And then Jeremiah said, "I couldn't keep silent." And I believe a real Christian cannot keep silent in these days.
And you might sit here today and you might say, "Well, I'm going to play it safe. And I'm not going to be engaged in the controversy. This thing could explode." Let me tell you right now, you want to have a clear conscience? With Paul, follow the God that is all true. The God whose nature, His very person, is true. And what you stand for, make sure that you can go to chapter and verse of the Bible and stand on that thing and be absolutely firm-footed. Be sure. But God's people are to stand.
And then this word boasting. I saved it for last. I kind of inverted it. Boasting. For our boasting is this: the word boasting, in a good sense, means your motive is true. Now, look, you and I, it is impossible for us, according to the Bible, for us to know our true motives. Did you know that? The Bible says, "Our heart is desperately wicked, who can know it?" God knows our motives. What you and I want to do is say, "Lord, judge my motives. And if they're wrong, make them right." All the time. We should be praying this prayer. "I'm going to sign up for that ministry. I'm going to pray this prayer. I'm going to preach this message. Or I'm going to do this or that." Then you say, "Lord, please make my motive true. If it's wrong, change my motive." Now, isn't that a great way? That's a wonderful way to live.
The power of God is seen in a life, by the way, when you think about it, of every true believer. The Bible says in John 1:17, "The law was given through Moses," and that's fantastic. But it says, "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." It's not that the law was not true. The law was true. But there's no grace in the law. The law condemns us. And that law came through Moses, given to him by God. But salvation from us breaking the law, the truth of it, the grace of it, comes through Jesus. And the world should know the gospel through us like that. God is true. When God says, "I promise."
Look at this. Look at verse 12. Not only true, but God is pure. The pureness of God. It's all based upon His nature, based upon His person. And God's person is pure. It says in verse 12, continuing, that "we conducted ourselves in the world." How about this? "We conducted ourselves at the gas company, at Edison, at Boeing." Where do you work? "At Dupont." Where do you work? "We conducted ourselves at Ford." Where do you work? "We conducted ourselves among our neighbors." Where do you live? "We conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and in godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom," the wisdom of this world, which the Bible says is devilish, "but by the grace of God and more abundantly toward you." That is, toward you Christians.
I love this. I love what he's saying here. Christians, conduct yourselves in the world, understanding this: they are watching us. They're judging everything we say and do. Listen, does that make you nervous? Does that make you upset? Listen, they should judge you and I by everything that we say and do. The world should judge us. After all, we're the ones that are saying we're Christians. We know God. If we're Christians and we know God, then, you know what? Naturally, the world should say, "I'm going to watch you. And I'm going to, I'm going to watch your life for 30 days. And at the end of 30 days, I'm going to determine if you are really a Christian or not." Right? I say this often. It seems like I say it every weekend, but it doesn't matter what you say or what label you put on yourself. Are you a Christian? Paul is saying, "The world is watching." And our conduct in the world, our conscience is clear on it. We need to hear this today. Oh, there's so many scandals with Christians. There is. I think there's less scandals with Christians than what we really think. There's a lot of scandals, and the label of Christian is put on it. There's a lot of people who traffic in and out of a church who are scandalous, but they may not be Christians, you see. Now, I'm not saying that a Christian is exempt from scandal. I'm just saying that it may be a lot less. But let's be honest. One scandalous event with a Christian leader or a Christian in the neighborhood is one too many. Amen. But Paul is saying, "My conscience is clear."
Jesus said in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, that "when we would be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth." The word witness there is an amazing word. Acts 1:8. When He says, "You shall be witnesses." Notice this, everybody. "You shall be witnesses." To whom? I'm not asking you to wear to wear. We know. "To Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the world." Who are we to be witnesses of? Or to whom? Look, it's capital "M" right there. Jesus. He's saying, "I want you, Christian, to get on out there into that world, and I want you to be a witness to Me." What does that mean? Well, you guys know this because you were up early. Did you see the moon? Did you see the moon rise last night? Oh, my. I don't know if I've ever seen it that big. It was big coming up. And in the middle of the night, I looked up. I went out in the backyard. It was big again. I had, we had shadows in our backyard from the moon. And then it was setting. It was so amazing. I took a picture of it. It's fantastic. He said, "What are you talking about the moon for?" Because the moon ain't nothing without the power of the sun. There is no power to the moon. But it was casting shadows last night. I understand that. But in all honesty, the moon wasn't casting shadows if you were using a, a photometer, or if you could send a laser beam back on the wavelength of light. Guess what would have happened? You'd have been in your backyard. Sent the laser, following the light beam upstream. It would have hit the moon, bounced back. You'd have seen it shoot across the sky and disappear over the night horizon and head right toward the sun that you couldn't see in the black of the night. Because the moon only reflects the power of the sun. And Jesus is saying, "When you go out into the world, you are to reflect My power, My glory, My brilliance." That's a Christian. To shine in this world. Listen, all we're supposed to do as believers is be grand reflectors of the glory of God into our culture. And where are we supposed to shine that light, church? Everywhere. Everywhere. Jesus is saying, "You be that reflection light of Me to the world." What a great truth that is.
In 1 John 4:17, the Bible says, "Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment." When we stand before Jesus in that last day, why? How? Because, "as He is," what does it say? "So are we in this world." That is awesome. The Christian should be illuminated. And Paul is teaching us that his conduct, he didn't have to apologize for it.
Verses 13 to 14. We learned this: it's based upon His person. Regarding His sovereignty. God is sovereign. Verse 13 says, "For we are not writing any other things that you to you than what you read or understand. Now, I trust you will understand even to the end." Understand this, he's saying, church at Corinth. Follow this all the way through. Don't be deceived. As also you have understood us in part. Even, he's saying this, guys. I love this, church. Listen. He's saying, "You know my life. You've watched what goes on in this ministry of Paul's. You know the ministry team. Judge us according to our conduct. And our words match the words as you've learned from the beginning. Have you, as you've known in part thus far?" He's saying, "As you've watched us thus far, watch us unto the end."
This is good news, pastor. Yeah, but doesn't that take a commitment? Yeah. Isn't that, listen, a little concerning that there's so many eyes upon us as Christians? Yeah. Do you know what it's called? Listen, that's called accountability. Amen. Let me put it absolutely dead on crystal clear. And if I offend somebody, this is a godly offense. I mean it. Where should I look to convince you how much I mean it? When Elijah was in the wilderness, to whom was he accountable? When he was alone. When Noah, in his culture, was the only one. To whom was he accountable? When Paul was in the wilderness of Arabia after his conversion, alone, the Bible says for three and a half years. To whom was he accountable?
Don't get me wrong. As husbands and wives, we are to be accountable to one another. Outside of that, we should be accountable to friends, biblical friends, godly friends. But if you don't have a wife or a husband, and if you don't have any friends, and if you're banished to the gulag of Siberia for being a Christian, who are you going to be accountable to? Some people, when God is, or a representation of God, is out of their sight, they cast off all restraint. You know what this weekend? We prayed last Thursday and Friday. 400 women from this church, they're away this weekend at the women's retreat. That means there's, let's say they're all married. They're not. But let's say they're all married. That means 400 men are free from their wives this weekend. You say, "What are you implying?" Um, I don't know. But it is interesting to note that when the wives are not here, when the women's retreat takes place, it is the lowest tithing of the year on the Sunday that they're gone. Did you know that? That's inside information. When the women go on a retreat and they're not here, the tithing that church dips. They're not all, they're not all single, you know. So where's the man? Where's the husband writing the check or tithing? I don't know. I'm just saying. But what else goes on? "Oh, my wife's away, man. What does that mean?" Can you be alone, banished even to the Mojave Desert, and be faithful to God in your thoughts, faithful to God in your words, and in your actions? A Christian, a believer, like no other time, in my opinion, in the history of America, in the history of the church, the Christian needs to practice the presence of God in their day-to-day life. If someone's watching or not. That is called holiness. A life devoted to God. Well, my wife wasn't around. Doesn't matter. God's around. When my husband was away, it doesn't matter. God was there.
And Paul is saying, "Our conscience is clear. God is sovereign." And he says in verse 14, "As also you have understood us in part, that we are your boast, as you also are ours." Oh, look at, "in the day of the Lord Jesus." He's simply saying that when Christ comes back, our conscience is clear. You guys, when Christ comes back, we are going to be able to stand and look at Jesus in the face and say, "Lord, we did not shun to give unto them the full counsel of God's word. We gave them the truth, warts and all, pain, encouragement, correction. We gave it all to them that they might grow strong in the word of God." What a powerful statement.
Before we move on, I, I've got to tell you this. It's going to eat up a little bit of time. When Paul uses the word boast, he's taken it from the practice of the first century era, and actually even before that, out of the Roman Empire. Watch this. According to military law, a Roman general, if he vanquished an enemy that had 5,000 warriors or more in opposition to that general, if that general beat 5,000 or more of the enemy and took possession of their territory, a record was declared. That general would put his foot on the throat of the general of that, in, of that other army. And the magistrate, be it a king, are you with me, everybody? And it sent the picture. Rome has just conquered. The Corinthians knew this. The number that qualified a general to be recognized by the emperor in a public display at the Forum. Many of you have been with us at the Forum in Rome, at the Circus Maximus. The emperor would come out of his palace and he would give homage to the general as the general made his parade down the main avenue into the Forum, into the Roman Forum, then into the Circus Maximus. Watch. That general would be in a gold-plated, gold-gilded chariot, pulled by white horses. And behind him would be his son or sons, his children. The general, the victorious general. Behind them would be the general of the defeated army, and the magistrate or king of the defeated territory. And then all of the booty, you know, all of the treasures, all of the gold, and all of the stuff. And then they would have, watch this, they would have the vanquished hooked in the nose with chains, and they would be pulling them where? To where? To the Coliseum. They would turn animals loose, and they would have the, Rome would go nuts. They would love it. Here's the fun part. Rome set up a rule. You have to, you have to conquer and present under captivity at least 5,000 of the, of those vanquished. When he uses the word boast, the word means a Roman general who vanquishes 5,000 or more. Do you know what Paul is doing here? And if we're a quick reader, we'll miss it. He's calling their attention to the day of Pentecost. To the week of Pentecost. Do you remember when Pentecost came and Peter got up and preached the gospel? Anybody remember how many people got saved at the southern steps of the temple? How many? 3,000. Then there was another preaching. Guess how many got saved at the other preaching? 2,000. When Christ, after Pentecost, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the gospel went forth, 5,000 people got saved in the first week. What is Paul drawing their attention to? Jesus captured those who had been bound by Satan. They were once enemies of the cross. They were now converted. He didn't vanquish them to death. He delivered them from hell. And He presents them. And here's the cool part. I think it's cool. That in the belief of Victoria, ever heard of Victoria? Is your name Victoria? Did you know that you're named after a Roman god or goddess? Victoria, the god of the goddess of victory. Guess what she has a Greek name. Do you know what her Greek name is? Her Greek name is Nike. And Nike, or Victoria, would bless you if you vanquished the enemy. In this case, Jesus vanquished death and rescued us from hell in the grave. That the goddess would bless your offspring to follow in your footsteps. Paul uses Roman understanding to the Greek Corinthians to get them to see, if you follow Jesus Christ, then you can follow in the wake of His great victory because you are the heirs of salvation. And all power has been given to you to go into all the world and preach the gospel. And as you go preaching the gospel, listen, there are those snatched from the crown of Satan and placed in the heart of Christ. What a tremendous picture that is on the sovereignty of God. And He's drawn their attention to that truth. No wonder why the Bible says in Hebrews 12, verse 1, "Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith." What an awesome thing that is. What a tremendous statement that is. We're to be looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.
Point number two, verses 15 to 19. It's probably as far as we'll get today. When God says, "I promise." Look at this. The promises of God. It's founded upon His immutability. Write the word down. So that's a big word. That's a great word. There is no other thing or person that the word immutability applies to. Did you know that? In a sense, you could say, "Some of you who are saying, 'Well, wait, I'm an engineer, and I've taken math. Math is an immutability.'" In the sense, immutable, kind of okay. In the physical realm. You know, that's why we don't like math so much. Did you know that math is perfect? Math doesn't change. Einstein said that math reminds us of God because it doesn't waver. It's dead on. It's like a hint. Immutable means it cannot change. When God makes a promise, He cannot change. He can't change His mind. Isn't that good news?
You know, we're going to save this point for, well, not next week. How about the week after that? It's too important. The immutability of God. God cannot change His mind. So listen, watch this. When you read the Bible, and as Paul's going to tell us in a moment, when we, when we see the promises of God, they're yes in Christ. And you see the word there says, "and amen." It's very interesting. And we'll study it next time together. The, the word literally means that when you read or hear a promise given to you, look, by God, okay? There are some. This number is not. Some people differ on this number, but there's over 2,000 promises in the positive given to us by God in His Bible. Now, watch this. When we get back together, but I want to put it in your heart now because it's too precious to pass up. When the scripture says that the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen, they are yes, meaning they don't change. They're in because God is immutable. Watch, church. I want you to be a militant about what I'm going to say. I want you to get a little growly over this, um, because it is impossible for God to say anything other than the absolute truth. God cannot lie. It is impossible. Oh, okay. So your God cannot do something. This is true. He cannot sin. Yup. You got us busted. Our God cannot sin. When He says to you a promise, you are commanded. And next time together, we'll look at it in detail. You are commanded by God to take the promise and shout, or understand the Hebrew word, amen. Amen means it is firm. It is a fact. It is true. When someone says amen, they are saying, "That is firm. That is a fact. That is true." The word means more than that. It shouldn't, and it's not to leave our mouth unless, listen, we agree to say it is true. It is a fact. It is firm. I stake my life on it. I live it. Wow. This is what we're going to go to next time.
Listen to that. When someone says, "For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe on Him would not perish, but have everlasting life." A, that's a promise. B, the person who hears it. Listen, this separates the sheep from the goats. And that's no joke. The sheep, God's children, who hear His voice and follow Him, they hear that and say, "Amen." "I am taking that truth, which is firm, sure, and assurance. It's a fact. I make that my own. I take it." Have you heard people say, "Just claim it, brother. Just claim it." Now, in the context of how you and I have been brought up, that's not what I'm talking about. But you know what? It's actually what that word means. That's where it's probably twisted from. "Oh, just claim it." Well, let me, let me tell you this. When God says, "If you confess your sins, I am faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness," and you say, "Amen." You know what this is? When you say amen, you're not saying, "Right on, God." Right on. You're not saying that. You're not saying, "That's nice. How nice." You're not saying that either. You are saying, "That is true. It's true for me. I'm going to live that truth in my life." I just made that scripture the reality of my life. And you build your whole existence not on wishful thinking, not on a 10-step program to happiness. You are no longer looking to Paul the Apostle, or Billy Graham the Pope, or me, or that husband, or that wife, or those parents to be your foundational truth. You are looking under the author and the finisher of your faith, Jesus Christ. And when you read the scripture, this separates the, the spiritual men from the spiritual boys. You read that and you say, "That, that is truth from the word of God, and that is my life. I'm staking my life on that promise." And we have got to start doing this, Christian. It's biblical Christianity. It's required for our faith to flourish. And we need to get with God's program. Amen. We really do.
When God says, "Listen, go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel." We are to do our part to pull that off. And we would say, "Yes, amen." That means I'm going to do that thing, God. I'm going to live that. I'm going to speak that. I'm going to do it. Powerful things we're going to be learning from Paul. Powerful things indeed.
Father, we thank You that this morning, the immutability of Jesus Christ. As we go from this place today, the power of God's word in our lives to change us. And what great buoyancy that gives our hearts this morning. There is no sin that could be committed in our lives that Christ cannot forgive. Maybe you're listening right now, or maybe you're here right now, and you're saying, "I'm a very, very big sinner, and God can't forgive me." Oh, yes. Listen, it's not based upon you and your grandeur of sinning. It's based upon the power of the blood of Christ. In every culture, of every religion in the world, there is some sort of penance that people will do. There's some sort of acts of righteousness people will try to earn to take off or to somehow redo, or maybe live a different life or a better life to undo the wrong. All of it, the Bible says, is unacceptable to God. It's worthless. God will not honor it. God doesn't want your money. God doesn't want your children. He doesn't want your husband. He doesn't want your wife. He wants you. And He wants you to believe His word. And His word says, "All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God." And the first word of the gospel is repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. The Bible says Jesus died on that cross and rose again the third day from the grave. Our atonement, our sacrifice, our blood-bought redemption comes through Jesus and Him alone. All other religions fail in the presence of Christ.
And I want to ask you right now, while heads are bowed and eyes are closed, are you trusting Jesus and Him alone? Are you saying that you believe in Jesus, but you're going to be good enough, or you're going to add this to your salvation? Impossible. Right now, right where you're at, it's time for you, finally today, to say, "Jesus, I repent of my sins." And maybe in your case, it's self-righteousness. Maybe you're really impressed with how good you are. Or maybe you think you've sinned so much He can't forgive you. Heads bowed, eyes closed, right now, you'd be saying, "Jesus, forgive me. I believe You died and rose again from the grave, and I give You my life. I say amen to that, and I receive You. I'm saying, Lord, I'm making that truth my new life." I'm coming to Christ. While heads are bowed and eyes are closed, Christians are praying. If you're choosing Christ, Jesus today, and you're going to follow Him, that's the meaning of the word Christian, a follower of Christ. Will you raise your hand right now? And I'll look across this. God bless you. That guy didn't wait for me to even finish the invitation. God bless you. And you, this young lady over here. This young man. God bless you on the aisle. Anyone else? Raise your hand. God is watching. God is looking down right now. The holy, immutable God who never changes says to you today, "That if you'll come to Me, I will in no wise turn you away." God bless you. Anyone else? Awesome. God bless you. Praise the Lord. And you, right here. And you, hand just went up there. God bless. Right up front, right here. God bless you. You can put your hands down. I'm going to ask Christians, as we pray, Christians, Christians, put your hands up as we pray. Just go ahead. Try this. Keep your heads down. Keep this. Father, we lift up these new believers to You. The power of Your Holy Spirit convicting them, speaking to them, encouraging them to choose Christ today. And Lord, as a family, [Music] we pray, we lift them up. We symbolize this with our hands raised. We're lifting up, Lord, these brand new believers. And God, we pray, come upon them and fill them with Your Holy Spirit. God, do to them what You've done to us. Our conscience is clear, and we point them to Christ. We ask You, O God in heaven, that as they leave this place today, that there would be an absolute change. They may or may not feel anything at this moment. We understand that. But as they move in this location and move out today, their minds, within the next 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes, the next 60 minutes, their minds are going to be changing. Their thoughts are going to be different. We remember and we thank You, O God. And we pray that You would do this to them now as they proclaim today, Jesus having died and risen again from the grave, according to the Bible, God's holy word. We thank You, Father, in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, amen. [Music]