"Avoiding The Elvis Syndrome" | August 1, 2021

hi i'm robert jeffress pastor of first baptist church in dallas we are so excited to have you join us on the i campus today for a time of inspiring worship and biblical teaching you are part of a vast online community gathered from all over the world we consider you a part of our first baptist church family and we hope you feel a part of what god is doing in and through first baptist dallas no matter where you are we hope and pray that this is a time you will grow in your relationship with god and others as we worship our savior together welcome to worship [Music] [Applause] [Music] well good morning first baptist dallas family it's great to see you for worship this morning let's stand together we welcome our guests joining us as well as those on i campus across the world today we welcome you let's lift our voices together as we sing about our great lord we've waited for this day we're gathered in your name your calling like a fire awakening desire will burn our hearts with truth [Music] your love is [Music] a mighty river growing from your heart your presence in this [Music] with place [Music] we want to see [Music] show us show us your glory show us show us your power show us show us your glory lord show us show us show us your glory glory lord us show us your power show us your glory lord [Music] filling every part of our brains [Music] [Music] everyone oh bless his name this morning we thank you lord for your great love let's sing together come on [Music] the water [Music] taste of his goodness [Music] oh to save us [Music] is [Music] foreign praise god praise god [Music] [Music] is [Music] um [Music] jesus [Music] oh we thank him for his love this morning amen you may be seated well it is great to worship together here at first baptist dallas today and it's great to see you we welcome our guests joining us on campus this morning as well as on our eye campus and we have a very special gift package for our guest this morning first off we have our pastors a place called heaven devotional 100 days of living in the hope of eternity we also have our choir's recent cd project all for your glory and guest as you came in this morning you received a worship guide and you're going to find enclosed this guest card please take the time to fill this out and keep the card with you at the end of the service take it outside these main worship center doors right there you're going to find our welcome center our staff is waiting there we cannot wait to meet you and you'll just exchange your completed card for your gift today we can answer any questions that you might have regarding our church as well now if you can't make it to the welcome center we have some orange boxes on your way out you can slip the card in one of those and we'll mail you a copy of your gift if you're joining us on icampus just follow that link on your screen and we'll uh access your gift for you there as well again it's so good to see each of you for worship so many exciting events taking place here in the life of our church let's all take a look together at the screen good morning we are so thankful to be with you in worship we have an exciting season ahead and want to take a moment to tell you about a few upcoming events our annual old-fashioned revival is coming up on sunday august 8th with guest speaker dr os hawkins and music from gospel group greater vision we will gather to worship grow and pray for revival in our nation over three evening services on saturday august 14th we will host a serve day which is a church-wide opportunity to gather and make a difference in our community by serving through our local mission partners in addition to our in-person service opportunities we are partnering with the children's hunger fund to provide food for undernourished children in the dfw area hacks will be available for pickup on the sky bridge and crystal lobby sunday august 22nd we will have a night of worship to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first dallas orchestra this free concert is in special memory of former directors and will feature our orchestra's new album to god be the glory you will not want to miss it finally it is good to gather together in worship we encourage everyone to help maintain a healthy environment by using our hand sanitizer stations practicing social distancing when appropriate and wearing your mask if you are not vaccinated for more information on everything happening at our church visit firstdallas.org events [Music] thank you so much for worshiping with us today i want to encourage you to become an eye campus i member from wherever you are in the world we want you to be a part of what's going on here at first baptist dallas when you do so today we will send you daily devotionals from our pastor dr robert jeffress the digital edition of pathway magazine great encouraging equipping resources delivered straight to your inbox each and every month as well as an icampus imember certificate to commemorate this special day we love you guys so much we want you to be a part of what's going on here at first baptist dallas so join us today as an icampus i member to do so simply visit firstdallas.org forward slash free gift now let's join right back in live with the remainder of today's service our scripture reading this morning is in the epistle of james uh james chapter 2 and we'll read verses 23 through 26. reading from the new american standard bible and those will be the words you'll see on the screen in the worship center and for eye campus as well so that we can all join in reading god's word and would you also join me in standing we do that to honor the reading of god's word as we we read together james chapter 2 beginning with verse 23 ending with verse 26 and the scripture was fulfilled which says and abraham believed god and it was reckoned to him as righteousness and he was called the friend of god you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone and in the same way was not rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way for just as the body without the spirit is dead so also faith without works is dead may god richly bless the reading of his word keep standing now as we continue our worship time together it's so good to worship together this morning and we welcome back to first baptist dallas dr leo day who is with us here and going to continue to lead us in worship there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus break every chain break every chain break every chain break every chain break everything break every chance [Music] [Music] jesus there's power in the name of jesus [Music] rising up there's an army [Music] there's an army [Music] break everything every day [Music] thank you [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Applause] right [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] well thank you so much leo day and wonderful choir and we look forward to hearing from them again in just a few moments well for the last few weeks i've been telling you that today we were going to unveil our plans for the fall here at first baptist dallas and i've hyped it up and i've said you know there is no church in dallas that is going to be doing what we're doing this fall there's no church in america that is going to be doing what we're doing this fall and i imagine some of you thought i was exaggerating just a little bit well i want to show you this morning why i wasn't i want you to look now at the preview of the fantastic fall coming here at first baptist dallas it's a new day at first baptist dallas we have been called for such a time as this to influence our city our nation our world with the gospel of jesus christ this fall we have the opportunity to open our doors to eight of the biggest names in christian music to lead us in worship eight big sundays in a row michael w smith or king and country casting crowns matthew west we the kingdom i am day rebecca saint james and stephen curtis chapman church the time is now to worship all together to invite those who need to hear the good news of jesus christ it's a new day welcome home [Applause] pretty exciting wouldn't you say and they're all going to be joining this great choir and orchestra every sunday beginning september the 5th labor day weekend with michael w smith and we're going to have a fantastic service that day all built around the lord suffered together and then following with seven more weeks and beginning sunday september 12th i'm going to begin a brand new series i've never preached before on the book of acts called unstoppable power the reason we're doing all of this is to invite people both christians and non-christians alike to make first dallas their home beginning this fall and this will give you a great reason a great hope to invite people to be with us this coming fall beginning september 5th so thank you for making it possible let's pray god uses this in a fantastic way to reach our city and nation for christ now we're going to continue our worship right now by praying together in these days we're giving our offering online or in the receptacles that you see on the way out but we want to pray not only for the offering we want to pray for the message and especially the invitation time so i'm going to invite you that can here in our worship center or in day one to kneel wherever you are and we're going to be led in prayer today by our friend ron harris ron you come and lead us in prayer heavenly father what a privilege it is to be in your house among your people drawing strength from each other but mostly from the lord acknowledging your sovereignty as king of kings and lord of lords the great i am and lord become at this time to dedicate not only our tithes and offerings but lord dedicate ourselves to your service everything we are everything we have belongs to you you ask for a portion back but lord may we be willing to give of ourselves day in and day out in service to you we thank you lord for your blessings the blessing of this church our pastor the leadership we ask lord that you would use each of us to proclaim your truth each and every day far and wide of the saving knowledge of jesus christ and the hope that we have through him our savior we pray this in dedication and in hope and in love in the name of jesus amen [Music] i am the lord i'm the almighty god i am the one for whom nothing is too hard i am the shepherd and i am the door i am the good news to the bound and the poor i am [Applause] i am i am i am the righteous one and i am the lamb i am the ram in the bush for abraham i am the ultimate sacrifice for sin i am your redeemer beginning [Music] am [Music] i am [Music] i am the bread and i am the one i am your future so leave your paths behind i am the one in the mystical [Music] [Applause] he's so great [Music] [Music] behind [Music] i am he said i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] freedom [Music] i am i am [Music] i am i am [Music] is [Music] [Music] hallelujah now you just heard the gospel right there thank you dr leo day and marvelous first dallas choir and orchestra for your music today we welcome those of you who have just joined us in our day one worship service and we welcome all of you who are worshiping on our first dallas high campus and of course on pathway to victory we're so glad to have you with us today years ago in the midst of the sex scandal involving then president bill clinton and monica lewinsky world magazine published an open letter to one of the men that president clinton had selected to be his spiritual advisor in the aftermath of that scandal i thought a portion of that letter was particularly applicable to our message today the letter begins i'm heartened to know that you are among those who will offer counsel and accountability to the president i'm praying that god will use you an evangelical as an instrument of god's grace in the life of mr clinton i hope you will not be offended if i'm so bold as to offer a few words of advice first remember that the president is a southerner there are some interesting things you should know about us southerners one is that many of us suffer from the elvis syndrome by which i mean the ability to stand around the piano at graceland and sing gospel songs with tears in our eyes then go upstairs to fornicate and persuade ourselves in the morning that the real person is the hymn singing one we have to confront the truth that the real person is not the sentimental one but the sinful one the other thing to note about us southerners is that we grew up in a culture that holds a peculiar perversion of the fifth point of calvinism the doctrine that god preserves his people so that they persevere in faith became once saved always saved which in turn became once you've walked the aisle you're saved no matter what this gives a false security that we can live like hell and still go to heaven second piece of advice teach the president that while forgiveness is free grace is expensive in the present moral crisis we evangelicals must remain evangelical refusing the jewish idea that we can atone for our sins and the roman catholic idea that we can make up for our sins through acts of penance forgiveness is free granted immediately and completely to those who confess their sins and claim christ but the grace that provides that forgiveness has an infinite cost the humiliation and death of the son of god now let's turn the spotlight away from the former president and turn it on ourselves for a moment what evidence is there in your life that you are truly saved i'm afraid that too many christians today suffer from the elvis syndrome we think because we gather together on sunday and sing great hymns of praise to god and study the bible that somehow that means we're free to live however we want to monday through saturday we have our ticket to heaven don't we why do our actions matter we cling to the doctrine of once saved always saved putting our emphasis on the wrong phrase you see even more important than the phrase always saved is the phrase once saved you see the security of the believer the assurance of salvation only belongs to those who are truly believers yes the basis of our salvation is grace not works it's grace but the evidence of our true salvation is genuine obedience to god faith always produces fruit we see that illustrated in the passage we're going to look at today if you have your bibles turn to genesis chapter 45 as we look at the account of how joseph's offer of forgiveness profoundly changed both his brothers and his fathers genesis chapter 45. now remember last time we saw the dramatic account of joseph's revelation of himself to his brothers they didn't know all this time they had been dealing with their own brother joseph and we saw that joseph had already forgiven his brothers and we saw four characteristics of genuine forgiveness remember what they were if you've truly forgiven somebody you resist unnecessary embarrassment joseph dealt with them privately as possible genuine forgiveness relieves our offender of unhealthy grief joseph said to his brothers don't be sorry or angry with yourselves thirdly genuine forgiveness releases the offender of their obligation to us we let go of our right to hurt them for hurting us and finally genuine forgiveness refocuses people's attention on the sovereignty of god joseph would say to his brothers you meant it for evil but god but god used it for good and now we come to verse 16 of genesis 45 to see both how joseph's brothers and his father jacob responded to that forgiveness for the brothers their forgiveness resulted in a change in attitude look at verse 16. now when the news was heard in pharaoh's house that joseph's brothers had come it pleased pharaoh and his servants as much as joseph tried to keep this matter private between himself and his brother's words spread through the egyptian grapevine very very quickly of all that had happened now everybody in egypt knew that joseph the prime minister of egypt had been a slave that was already known but they didn't know the sordid details of how his own brothers had sold him into slavery but when that became known and it was known that the brothers had come and sought joseph's forgiveness and repented of their sin it meant that he came from an honorable family and pharaoh was glad to hear this because quite frankly i'm sure people questioned pharaoh's judgment in putting a former slave in charge of all of egypt so pharaoh felt vindicated he also felt grateful to joseph for all he had done to preserve egypt during the time of famine and so he wanted to show his gratitude in the way that he treated joseph's family look at verse 17 then pharaoh said to joseph say to your brothers do this load up your beast and go back to the land of canaan and get your father in your households and come to me and i will give you the best land of egypt and you will eat of the fat of the land now you were ordered do this take wagons from the land of egypt for your little ones and for your wives and bring your father and come do not concern yourselves with goods for the best of all the land of egypt is yours remember it was the egyptians who invented the wheel they invented the wagon and so what pharaoh is saying to joseph is tell your brothers to take a bunch of empty wagons with them back to canaan to load up all of your family the 70-plus family members and bring them back to egypt daryl that was quite a moving experience wasn't it i see daryl flood out there when you go to move somebody you don't send trucks that are filled already you see into empty trucks to go and pick up all the stuff and bring people to the new location that's exactly what pharaoh was saying right now take some empty wagons and go home and get people now tell them they don't have to bring any stuff back with them just bring the 70 family members back i'll have plenty of stuff new stuff for them as we'll see in a few minutes they didn't listen to that part they loaded up the wagons filled with their junk i mean their possessions and came back to egypt so verse 24 so pharaoh sent his brothers or joseph sent his brothers away and as they departed he said to them do not quarrel on the journey now this is insightful joseph really believed his brothers had changed but they hadn't changed that much they still had that old sin nature inside of them he knew that they would be tempted as soon as they got out of his sight to start arguing with each other and blaming one another for the predicament oh that wasn't my idea to sell joseph in the slavery he said don't quarrel and interestingly there's no record that there was any major incident on the way back now i want to stop here and say something about these brothers we've been pretty hard on them and for good reason and they did sell their brother into slavery they lied to their father they lived for 25 years with the deceit and deception but i want to point out something positive once they truly repented of their sin they said god we are responsible for this they became changed people they lived differently in fact it's interesting from this point until the end of genesis you never find one time that they resisted the will of their brother joseph they submitted themselves to the lordship of joseph the joseph is a type of the lord jesus christ himself and it's a good picture and reminder that when we truly are born again when we receive god's forgiveness it produces a change in our attitude now there are some people today who teach what i believe is a false doctrine called lordship salvation they say to become a christian you not only need to trust in christ as your savior but you need to clean up your life you need to get out of an immoral relationship you need to give up this addiction you need to make this change and this change in this change and they use this phrase if he's not lord of all he's not lord at all is that true does a non-christian have to do a bunch of things in order to inherit eternal life no the only thing a non-christian must do the only thing a non-christian can do is to call out to jesus for salvation a non-christian doesn't have the spiritual ability to clean up his life many times he doesn't have even an inclination to clean up all of his life he doesn't know as a fledgling christian that this is wrong or this is wrong or this is wrong and he doesn't have the inclination or even the power to change those things if he wants to the only thing a non-believer can do and even that has to be empowered by the holy spirit is to call on jesus for salvation but once a person truly does that he receives the gift of the holy spirit this coming fall when we study the gift of acts we'll talk about that unstoppable power that comes into the life of every believer a believer a true believer has that desire and power to begin making changes in his life and if no changes occur it's not that he loses his salvation it's just proof that he never was truly saved there will always be works evidence that accompanies salvation and you see that throughout the scripture you see that in james 2. we read that passage a few moments ago people get confused about james and about being justified by works the bible is very clear romans 4 5 to be justified to be right with god it is by faith and faith alone not faith and works that word justified in romans 4 5 is used to mean to become righteous to be declared not guilty by god but abraham after he was declared righteous years later was shown to be righteous by his willingness to offer his son isaac as a sacrifice and that was what james was talking about not that abraham was made righteous by his works but he was declared he was seen to be righteous by his obedience you never can separate faith in works in james 2 verse 14 james says what use is it my brethren if someone says he has faith but he has no works can that kind of faith save him no verse 17 even so faith if it has no works is dead being by itself the other night we were having our dinner with the pastor at maggiano's and during the q and a time a woman asked me a very perceptive question what is the place for good works in the life of a christian well paul answered that in ephesians 2 8-10 he said for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of god not as a result of works that no one should boast there's no good work we can perform that merits eternal life we are not saved by good works but too many baptists stop at the end of verse 9 and they'll go on to verse 10. four we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them remember this we are not saved by good works but we are saved for good works martin luther once described the relationship with between faith and works this way he said faith alone saves but saving faith is never alone where there is genuine faith there will be genuine fruit in the life of a christian and where there is no faith and where there is no fruit there is no genuine saving faith and we see that by the way not only in the life of the brothers but we see that in jacob as well now for joseph's brothers their authenticity of faith and repentance were seen in a change in their attitude they were different in the way they related to one another different in the way that they related to their brother joseph for the old patriarch jacob his faith evidenced itself not in just a change in attitude but in a change in latitude you remember latitude and longitude by latitude i'm talking about location i'm talking about direction you're traveling in and we see that change in latitude that change in location and direction in jacob's life and go back to genesis chapter 45 the brothers with the empty wagons leave egypt and they go back to canaan now think about jacob for a moment he doesn't know any of this has happened in egypt he doesn't know about the revelation of joseph or any of this all he knows is he reluctantly sent the brothers back to egypt and he sent his favorite son benjamin off to retrieve simeon who was being held hostage by the governor of egypt he didn't know it was joseph so he sends them off and now they come back home and he's anxious to hear what happened and so look at this report in verse 26 of genesis 45 and so the brothers told him saying joseph is still alive and indeed he is ruler over all the land of egypt but jacob was stunned for he did not believe them now i think that account is a little bit abrupt i think it makes it sound like boys came home from their journey they were sitting around the table with their father jacob munching on some bagels when all of a sudden one of the brothers said oh by the way pop guess what joseph's alive would you pass the cream cheese please that's not what happened remember everything the bible says is true every account the bible gives us is true but it's not always complete we don't have a record of all the words jesus spoke during the three years of his ministry we don't have the record of every sign and supernatural miracle he did and many times conversations we have in the bible are summarized it's a summary of what was said i'm just imagining that probably what happened was they got back they thought how are we going to break the news to dad and so their father asked them what happened they said dad we want you to come over here and sit in your favorite chair we have something we need to tell you i said oh what is it well dad remember 25 years ago when you sent joseph out to check on us and we told him that we told you that a wild animal had killed him and we brought you back that multicolored tunic dipped in blood how could i ever forget that day he responded the brother said well that's not exactly what happened and so they went through the whole story and then they went to the climax of their story when the governor they were buying grain front said i am joseph is my father still alive and when jacob heard the news that his son his favorite son was alive verse 26 says he was stunned the hebrew text says literally his heart grew colder some people speculate that he may have fainted or even had a mild heart attack here when he heard that news for 25 years think about it he had lived under the assumption that his son his favorite son was dead it's interesting that during that 25 years when he heard that news the pilot light of his relationship with god went out his heart had grown cold toward god for 25 years did you know in those 25 years there is no record that jacob had any conversation with god no supernatural encounter with god no desire to follow god the light of his light had gone out all because he had embraced a lie he had allowed a lie not the truth a lie to govern his life and it destroyed his relationship with god what lie have you embraced that is hindering your relationship with god i was called to the ministry when i was in high school and i was so excited about becoming a pastor and i started a massive program of reading the scriptures and memorizing books of the bible and committing those passages to memory and meditating on god's word and reading every christian book i could get my hands on and then i went to college and there in my religion classes i would hear these what i think are pagan professors saying this book is a good book but it's nothing unusual the bible is filled with errors it's filled with historical inaccuracies it's filled with contradictions it's just a human book about people's thoughts about god that's what i heard at this so-called christian university and it just blew the pilot light out in my life of any enthusiasm i quit reading the bible quit memorizing scripture question why i would want to even spend the rest of my life preaching a book that is filled with error that's what a lie does some people embrace the lie that they can't trust the bible some people embrace a lie that even though they've become a christian that they're slaves to their old habits and addictions and they can never have any victory while they're still in this life that's a lie romans 6 7 says we who have died with christ have also died to sin and we are free from sin other christians have bought into the lie that there's something they have to do to be saved other than trust in christ and they go through their whole christian experience without any assurance any conviction about their eternal destiny they lived under unnecessary guilt and anxiety some people believe the lie that because of some terrible failure in their past that they can never be used by god in a significant way that they are sentenced to become second-class citizens in the kingdom of god some people have embraced the line that this life is all that there is that they will never see that loved one that husband that wife that child they'll never see them again that death has created an uncrossable chasm between them and their loved ones let me ask you today what lie have you embraced that has destroyed your relationship with god what is it that you wish you could know for sure if you had said to jacob jacob let your imagination run wild for a moment if there's anything you would want to be true what would it be jacob would have known immediately if there's anything i could imagine that i hoped were true it would be that my son joseph is still alive and i'm going to see him again but jacob couldn't allow his mind even go to that place to him that was unthinkable let me ask you that question today if there's one thing you wish you could know with absolute certainty what would it be what would your greatest fantasy be that you would hope would be true if you really knew there really is a god if you knew with absolute certainty that one day you'll be welcomed into his presence in heaven if you knew for sure that one day you're going to see your loved ones again would it change your life right now would it change the way that you live far too many christians have allowed the pilot light of their enthusiasm for god to be snuffed out because they've embraced a lie rather than the truth joseph when he heard the news that his son was alive it changed him look at verse 28 then israel that's the other name for jacob then jacob said it is enough my son joseph is still alive i will go and see him before i die knowing that his son was alive led to a change in latitude a location immediately but notice something beginning in chapter 46 verse 1 and this is where you see jacob is a changed person he gathers up his family there are about a total of 70 the brothers and then all of their offspring there are about 70 of them and they start heading immediately to egypt but on the way they stop in beersheba beersheba was the border of southern canaan what we call israel today and jacob stops there before he goes into egypt it's a significant place beersheba it's where jacob's father abraham grandfather abraham had met with god it's where his father isaac had met with god and now he stops here and he meets with god as well he offers a sacrifice certainly out of gratitude for this great news he had that his son was still alive but then the bible says he prays to god because he wants to make sure that this journey to egypt is something that god really wants that's a difference for jacob 25 years earlier there wouldn't have been any praying about anything he would have done exactly what he wanted to do but he was changed now he wanted to make sure god really wanted him to go into egypt you say well what's the big deal about going to egypt it's just another country right no in the bible disaster always occurred when god's people went to egypt in fact jacob had grown up hearing his parents and his grandparents say whatever you do stay out of egypt nothing good happens to people who go to egypt reminds me of what i used to tell my girls when they were younger and teenagers i said remember nothing good happens after midnight they still repeat that today nothing good happens after midnight hopefully they'll pass that on to the triplets and others through the generations because it's just true sorry that's about the only thing they remember i said to them but it's a good thing to remember nothing good happens after midnight well for the israelites it was don't go to egypt and not only that it seemed counterintuitive for this fledgling nation of israel the 11 sons and their families it seemed not right to pick up and go to a foreign country because god had promised to give them and make them a mighty nation in the land of in the land of canaan the land of israel but god had spoken jacob just wanted to make sure is the voice of god he was hearing and so he prays and notice in verses 3 and 4 of genesis 46 god said i am god the god of your father do not be afraid to go down to egypt for i will make you a great nation there i will go down with you to egypt and i will also surely bring you up again and joseph will close your eyes the way the brothers evidenced their repentance was a change in attitude toward one another and toward their brother joseph the way jacob evidenced his forgiveness and remember he needed forgiveness too he needed forgiveness from god it was his favoritism the mistakes he made that caused this whole debacle to begin with the way joseph had jacob evidenced his forgiveness was by seeking god's will before he moved to a new location let me just say this if you're truly saved if you've truly received god's forgiveness there'll be a change not just in your attitude there'll be a change in your direction about your location how do you know when god is leading you to make that change of location that change of latitude i want you to know that notice the four ways he worked in jacob's life first of all don't be surprised when god wants to move you in a new direction if he doesn't bring difficulty into your present situation look at chapter 45 verse 18 and pharaoh said to the brothers take your father and your households and come back to me and i will give you the best of the land of egypt and you will eat the fat of the land now remember god's plan was to build a mighty nation the nation of israel but the way he was going to do that was to bring them to egypt for 400 years where they would grow from a nucleus of 70 people to a nation of two to three million people that moses would one day lead out of egypt they didn't see all of that clearly god wanted to get these 70 people from canaan to egypt to accomplish his purpose so how was he going to move them one way was to make life miserable in the land of canaan yes jacob wanted to go see his son in egypt but that was just for a visit he couldn't imagine actually living in egypt why would he leave everything familiar to go to some place unfamiliar the way god motivated him was making his present situation difficult see this famine that engulfed the whole world certainly affected egypt but at least there was grain to be had and purchased in egypt there was nothing in the land of canaan and so god turned it into a desert a famine area and it motivated the family to pick up and move to this new place don't be surprised if god doesn't work the same way in your life god had done that in jacob's life earlier remember much earlier when he was working with his uncle laban and god was ready to move jacob and uh suddenly laban's heart turned hostile toward his nephew jacob jacob says i've noticed that his attitude has changed and god used that difficult search circumstance to move jacob where he wanted to go he does the same thing with you and me as well now let me be quick to say just because you're having a difficult time doesn't mean necessarily you're to change locations you may be experiencing a famine so to speak and where you are right now because you haven't tended to your present location like you should just present difficulty isn't always a sign that you're supposed to move i remember in a previous church i was contemplating going to a new church and some people knew that i was contemplating that and a godly older woman in our church slipped me a note and i'll never forget what it said remember robert sometimes it takes as much much faith to stay in a location as it does to move to a new location that's true but if god does want to move you sometimes he will use difficulty secondly god uses desires he places in our heart to make us want to move to a new location look at verse 28 of genesis 45. then jacob said it is enough my son joseph is still alive i will go before i die israel jacob wanted to see his son joseph if god wanted to move jacob how would he do it just like putting out a carrot in front of a horse he put his favorite son in a different place and it made jacob want to go immediately to see his son one way god works in our life is he quenches the desire we have for our present situation and he gives us a desire for a new situation but again you have to be cautious about that do you know people who are always switching jobs they're always switching churches always switching mates always looking for something better they have fallen for the myth that the grass is greener someplace else somebody once said if the grass is greener in somebody else's pasture it may be because it's better tended that's true one reason some people may be doing better than you are is they're taking care of their situation and when you move to a new situation you're carrying the same problems the same bad attitudes the same bad habits you have with you in this present location to a new location nevertheless if god truly is moving you to a new place he'll quench the desire you have for the present situation and give you a desire for something different thirdly god uses direction to change our location our latitude and that's what he did with jacob jacob sincerely prayed for god's direction and in genesis 46 3 and 4 god said i'm the god the god of your father do not be afraid to go down to egypt for i will make you a great nation there do you ever wish that sometimes god would speak a clear word to you from heaven so there's no doubt that it is he who is speaking to you god does lead us he leads us in various ways not sometimes with an audible voice from heaven but he speaks to us through his word through the wise counsel of other people through circumstances but one way he speaks to us is the desires that he places in our heart but here's the key thing whenever a child of god truly seeks god's direction he promises to give that direction in proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6 the word of god says trust in the lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight the only person more interested in knowing god's will than you are is god himself and he promises to give his direction to those who sincerely seek it finally god puts us where he wants us to be with delight that is when we follow through on the change of location the change of latitude god wants us to make god will send a confirming sign of delight look at genesis 46 verses 5 through 7 then jacob arose from beersheba and the sons of israel carried their father and their little ones and their wives and the wagons which he had sent pharaoh had sent to carry them here it is and they took their livestock and their property which they had acquired in the land of canaan and came to egypt jacob and all of his descendants his sons and his grandsons with him his daughters and his granddaughters and all of his descendants he brought with him to egypt can you just picture that sign all of these wagons with these scraggly hebrews and all their stuff piled up they must have looked like the beverly hillbillies coming into canaan remember the beverly hillbillies they loaded up their truck and they moved to beverly hills that is movie stars swimming pools that's what they look like coming in to egypt but what a great reunion it turned out to be now look at verses 28 to 30. now jacob sent judah before him to joseph to point out the way before him to goshen and they came into the land of goshen and joseph prepared his chariot and went up to goshen to meet his father israel as soon as he appeared before him he fell on his neck and wept on his neck for a long time and then jacob said to joseph now let me die since i have seen your face that you are still alive if you had asked jacob what his greatest fantasy and life was it was that he would one day see his son again and notice how god worked in jacob's life to put him right in that situation he used difficulty he used desire he used direction he used the light to put him in the middle of god's will which is the safest place anyone can be richard cecil said one time all the lives of all of the great men and women of the bible can be summarized in this one sentence they acquainted themselves with god and acquiesced to his will in everything that's a winning formula for lasting delight in your life and mine as well let's bow together in a word of prayer i'm speaking to some of you who are christians right now you profess to know christ as your savior is there fruit is there evidence of that change in your life not perfection but is there a change going on in your life a change in your attitude toward other people a change in your willingness to follow god's direction and say lord if you want me to stay i'm staying if you want me to leave i'm leaving but i'm following you wherever you command if not maybe right now god is speaking to you calling you to serve him in a new way to remind you that his plan for you is a good plan and you're open to following that plan whatever it is but i'm also speaking to some of you right now who are not yet christians the greatest need you have is to receive god's forgiveness so that you can be assured of being welcomed into heaven one day today if you would like to receive god's unconditional gift of forgiveness a gift that is received not earned i want to invite you wherever you are to pray this prayer in your heart to god knowing that he's listening to you right now would you pray this with me dear god thank you for loving me i know that i have failed you in so many ways and i'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but i believe what i've heard today that you love me so much you sent your son jesus to die on the cross for me to take the punishment that i deserve to take for my sins and right now i'm trusting in what jesus did for me not in my good works but in what jesus did for me to save me from my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to live the rest of my life for you in jesus name amen today if you're watching online and you prayed that prayer with me please go to the top of the screen and click on the link that says i prayed the prayer to trust in christ as soon as you do i'll be notified of your decision i have some free material i want to send you this week about what it means to live now as a christian don't wait another moment go to the top of the page and click that link i prayed the prayer for those of you watching in day one or those of you here in our worship center i want to invite you to take this card out of your bulletin and there's a place for you to register several different responses if you prayed that prayer with me check that third box i prayed the prayer to trust in christ and we'll send you the same material we're sending our online friends maybe you're a guest today check that box maybe you'd like more information about the many ministries of our church you can indicate that notice the final boxes i would like to join first baptist dallas today all you have to do is check that box i think we had 30 some odd people who have indicated they're checking that box today to join our church and if you'll check that box we'll be in contact with you we'll also invite you to our lunch with the pastor sunday august 22nd after the 11 o'clock service it'll be my chance to meet you and answer your questions about first dallas now once you finish the card you can drop it off at the welcome center and receive a copy of the hardback devotional a place called heaven if you don't want to stop at the welcome center just drop this card in one of the many receptacles on your way out thank you so much for doing that i want to thank you for praying this last week for our youth camp had a great experience at mount lebanon people being saved a number of students being called the ministry and we rejoice in that and our vacation bible school and all the great things that have happened so far this summer and it's not over yet thank you so much for being here today hope you have a great rest of the day and we'll look forward to seeing you back next sunday for the beginning of our old-fashioned revival with dr os hawkins now let's stand together if we can as tyler comes to lead us in our final song thank you pastor a great morning of worship together let's sing his praise this is my story this is this is my story this is [Music] god bless you church well thank you so much for joining us for worship today on the first dallas i campus it's our honor and privilege to worship chat and pray with you throughout the service if you are local to dfw let me encourage you to come on down we'd love to have you visit us in person we'd love to greet you and show you a great spot in the worship center for you to sit it would be our honor to worship with you in person in the heart of downtown dallas right here at first baptist dallas also if you are new here to the icampus or have been watching for a while and want to get plugged in let me encourage you to sign up for a free gift we'd love to provide that to you directly in your inbox and then sign you up for pastors daily devotional it's straight from the pen of dr jeffress and you will be encouraged with that great resource each and every day simply visit the link that's provided on your screen and lastly stay connected with us each and every day with our facebook global group there we encourage one another through scripture and graphics but also pray for one another so head on over to facebook and join our icampus global facebook group thank you again for joining us today for worship we look forward to seeing you next week on the first dallas i campus hi i'm robert jeffress pastor of first baptist church in dallas we are so excited to have you join us on the i campus today for a time of inspiring worship and biblical teaching you are part of a vast online community gathered from all over the world we consider you a part of our first baptist church family and we hope you feel a part of what god is doing in and through first baptist dallas no matter where you are we hope and pray that this is a time you will grow in your relationship with god and others as we worship our savior together welcome to worship [Music] [Applause] [Music] well good morning first baptist dallas family it's great to see you for worship this morning could we stand to our feet we welcome guests and i campus viewers joining us across the world today let's lift high our savior king jesus in this place your glory like the fire always [Music] we want to see [Music] killing every part of our your presence in this place we're looking to the sky [Music] you're the reason we're here [Music] we want to [Music] flowing see your heart [Music] show us your glory show us show us your power show us show us your glory lord show us show us show us your us your glory show us show us your glory us lord glory show us your power show us [Music] filling every part of our grace [Music] oh killing everybody oh praise the lord the sport we magnify you father in this place be lifted high [Music] no more [Music] he will satisfy [Music] is [Music] bring all your failures bring your [Music] addictions [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is save us [Music] um [Music] jesus all praise the lord bless his name you may be seated and let's turn our attention to the baptistery [Music] this is sarah forbes sarah upon your profession of faith in jesus christ as your personal lord and savior and your willingness to follow him at believer's baptism it's now my privilege to baptize you my sister in christ in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit you've been baptized in the likeness of christ's death raised to walk in newness of life this is tommy lee [Music] tommy upon your profession of faith in jesus christ as your personal lord and savior and your willingness to follow him in believer's baptism it's my privilege to baptize you my little brother in christ tommy lee in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit you've been baptized in the likeness of christ's death raised to walk in newness of life incredible we praise god for change lives this morning through christ jesus our savior we welcome everyone to first baptist dallas for worship this morning we welcome our guests joining us here in our downtown dallas campus as well as on our eye campus and we have a very special gift package for our guests today it includes our pastors a place called heaven devotional 100 days of living in the hope of eternity as well as our choir's recent cd project entitled all for your glory and guest as you came in this morning you received a worship guide you'll find and close this guest card we ask that you keep this card with you fill it out and then at the end of the service take it outside these main worship center doors to the welcome center our staff is right there waiting for you to exchange your completed card for your gift package today and answer any questions you might have regarding our church now if you can't make it to the welcome center you'll find some orange receptacles aren't your way out where you can slip the card in one of those and we'll mail you a copy of your gift if you're joining us on icampus just simply follow that link on your screen to access your gift as well again great to see each of you this morning we have so many exciting events coming up in the life of our church at first baptist dallas so let's take a moment and look at the screen together good morning we are so thankful to be with you in worship we have an exciting season ahead and want to take a moment to tell you about a few upcoming events our annual old-fashioned revival is coming up on sunday august 8th with guest speaker dr os hawkins and music from gospel group greater vision we will gather to worship grow and pray for revival in our nation over three evening services on saturday august 14th we will host a serve day which is a church-wide opportunity to gather and make a difference in our community by serving through our local mission partners in addition to our in-person service opportunities we are partnering with children's hunger fund to provide food for undernourished children in the dfw area hacks will be available for pickup on the sky bridge and crystal lobby sunday august 22nd we will have a night of worship to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first dallas orchestra this free concert is in special memory of former directors and will feature our orchestra's new album to god be the glory you will not want to miss it finally it is good to gather together in worship we encourage everyone to help maintain a healthy environment by using our hand sanitizer stations practicing social distancing when appropriate and wearing your mask if you are not vaccinated for more information on everything happening at our church visit firstdallas.org events [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you so much for worshiping with us today i want to encourage you to become an icampus i member from wherever you are in the world we want you to be a part of what's going on here at first baptist dallas when you do so today we will send you daily devotionals from our pastor dr robert jeffress the digital edition of pathway magazine great encouraging equipping resources delivered straight to your inbox each and every month as well as an icampus i member certificate to commemorate this special day we love you guys so much we want you to be a part of what's going on here at first baptist dallas so join us today as an icampus i member to do so simply visit firstdallas.org forward slash free gift now let's join right back in live with the remainder of today's service our scripture this morning is found in the book of james the epistle of james chapter 2 and we'll be reading verses 23 through 26 and we'll read from the new american standard version of the bible and we'll have those words on the screen both in the worship center and for eye campus so that all of us can read together god's word and we invite you to stand here in the worship center so that we might honor the reading of his word james chapter 2 beginning with verse 23 ending with verse 26 and the scripture was fulfilled which says and abraham believed god and it was reckoned to him as righteousness and he was called the friend of god you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone and in the same way was not rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way for just as the body without the spirit is dead so also faith without works is dead may god richly bless the reading of his word let's keep standing and continue our worship time together [Music] so great to worship together this morning and we welcome back to first baptist dallas dr leo day who's going to lead us in worship let's continue together there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus to break every chain break every chain break every chain break every chain break everything break everything [Music] thank you lord for being here [Music] here's an army [Music] [Music] is [Music] break everything break everything break every day [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] oh wake up glory [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i open up holy clothes [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] is [Music] right [Music] [Applause] you may be seated i remember so well standing backstage at the kennedy center with president trump while the choir and leo sang that song the president looked at the screen he was mesmerized by it and he said who in the world is that guy and i said sir that's the great leo day don't you thank god for somebody like that and the great leo day and our choir and orchestra will be back in just a moment for another great song and you don't want to miss it you know over the last few weeks i have been telling you that today we were going to preview our fantastic fall sundays here at first baptist dallas no other church in america has been as blessed by god as we have over this last year and been blessed by god to be able to do what we're getting ready to do and the whole purpose of this is to let the city let the nation know that first baptist dallas is open and it's a place where they can find a spiritual home and now i know some of you probably thought i was exaggerating just a little bit when i said this is going to be so great it's going to blow your socks off well hold on to your socks because right now you're going to see a preview of our fantastic fall at first baptist dallas it's a new day at first baptist dallas we have been called for such a time as this to influence our city our nation our world with the gospel of jesus christ this fall we have the opportunity to open our doors to eight of the biggest names in christian music to lead us in worship eight big sundays in a row michael w smith for king and country casting crowns matthew west we the kingdom i am day rebecca saint james and stephen curtis chapman church the time is now to worship all together to invite those who need to hear the good news of jesus christ it's a new day welcome home [Music] [Applause] isn't that going to be great to have these great eight worship leaders join this great choir and orchestra every sunday for eight sundays it all begins labor day weekend sunday september 5th michael w smith will be here to lead us in a special lord supper observance and then seven sundays after that and on sunday september 12th i'll also be beginning a brand new sermon series i've never preached before on the book of acts called unstoppable power god has called us to be an unstoppable force for him we're going to discover how the early church did it so i hope you'll plan to be here each of these sundays beginning sunday september 5th the whole reason we do this is not so we can come and be entertained it's so that we can invite people some who aren't christians yet some who are believers but all who need to be a part of first baptist dallas so use this as an opportunity we'll give you the tools to do it in the weeks ahead well right now it is time for us to dedicate our offerings to the lord and these days uh we do it either online or by giving to the in the receptacles that are provided on the way out but right now we want to pray not just for our offering but pray for the message and our invitation time so i invite those of you who are here in our worship center to kneel wherever you are and we're going to be led in prayer by our good friend dr ron harris ron you come and lead us gracious and loving heavenly father we are thrilled to be in the presence your presence but also the presence of those who love you and love to serve you what a joy it is to be in your house and lord we come at this time to dedicate tithes and offerings and lord even above that we dedicate ourselves because we recognize that you are the sovereign god you're the king of kings and the lord of lords you're the great i am and anything we have comes from you everything we have comes from you and so lord we come to give a portion back to you but at the same time dedicate our whole lives and self to serving you this day this week that we might share the hope of christ in a hopeless world we asked lord that you would use us thank you for our pastor and his messages that from this place your truth is going out in a powerful and strong way reaching around the world thank you for our staff and lord for this church and its members that take seriously the proclamation of the gospel of jesus christ by word but in our lives as well that we might reflect your nature into the world around us lord it's our heart to to give you the praise to honor you with these gifts and lord we ask that you would use them in ways that are exceeding abundantly above all that we can hope or imagine for it is in the strong and powerful name of jesus we pray amen [Music] i am the lord i'm the almighty god i am the one for whom nothing is too hard i am the shepherd and i am the door i am the good news to the bound and the poor i am i am [Applause] [Music] i am the righteous one and i am the lamb i am the ram in the bush for abraham i am the ultimate sacrifice for sin i am your redeemer beginning [Music] jesus and i am the king i am messiah david's offering i am the christ i am is he said i am i am the bread and i am the wine i leave your am behind i am the one in the midst of towards me i am your tabernacle i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] he said [Music] is [Music] [Music] i [Music] today i am [Music] [Applause] i i am i am [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] am [Music] is [Music] [Applause] hallelujah [Applause] you just heard the gospel thank you so much dr leo day and first dollars choir and orchestra for your music today we welcome the hundreds of thousands of you who are worshiping with us on our first dallas eye campus from all around the world and the literally millions of you watching or listening through pathway to victory years ago in the midst of the sex scandal involving then president bill clinton and monica lewinsky world magazine published an open letter to one of the men who had been selected by president clinton to be his spiritual advisor in the aftermath of that scandal i wanted to read you a portion of the letter because it was particularly applicable to our message today the letter begins i'm heartened to know that you are among those who will offer counsel and accountability to the president i'm praying that god will use you an evangelical as an instrument of god's grace in the life of mr clinton i hope you won't be offended if i'm so bold as to offer a few words of advice first remember that the president is a southerner there are something interesting things you should know about those of us who are southerners one is that many of us suffer from the elvis syndrome by which i mean the ability to stand around the piano at graceland and sing gospel songs with tears in our eyes then go upstairs to fornicate and persuade ourselves in the morning that the real person is the hymn singing person we have to confront the truth that the real person is not the sentimental one but the sinful one the other thing to note about us is that we grew up in a culture that holds a peculiar perversion of the fifth point of calvinism the doctrine that god preserves his people so that they persevere in faith became once saved always saved which in turn became once you've walked the aisle you're saved no matter what this gives a false security that we can live like hell and still go to heaven second piece of advice teach the president that while forgiveness is free grace is expensive in the present moral crisis we evangelicals must remain evangelical and that means refusing the jewish idea that we can atone for our sins and the roman catholic idea that we can make up for our sins through acts of penance forgiveness is free granted immediately and completely to those who confess their sins and claim christ but the grace that provides that forgiveness has an infinite cost the humiliation and death of the son of god now let's turn the spotlight away from the former president and shine it on ourselves for just a moment what evidence in your life is there that you are truly saved i'm afraid too many christians today suffer from the elvis syndrome they think that because they have their so-called ticket to heaven they can live any way they choose to live they can gather together on sundays and sing hymns and feel exhilarated and have tears in their eyes but go out and live like the devil the rest of the week without any consequence whatsoever they cling to the doctrine once saved always saved putting the emphasis on the wrong phrase you see even more important than the phrase always saved is the phrase once saved the only people who can have assurance of salvation or those who have been truly saved the security of the believer only applies to those who are truly believers and let me be very clear about this while the basis of our salvation is always grace the evidence of our salvation is our obedience to god and you can't separate one from the other we see that truth illustrated and the passage we're going to look at today in genesis chapters 45 through 46 as we look at the very real change that occurred both in joseph's brothers and even joseph's father jacob when they received the gift of forgiveness they desperately needed remember where we were in the story last time we saw the dramatic account of where joseph actually revealed his identity to his brothers they thought they had been dealing with just the prime minister of egypt it was their own brother joseph whom they had sold into slavery and we saw how joseph evidences true forgiveness true forgiveness resists unnecessary embarrassment joseph tried to deal with his brothers as privately as possible it relieves the offender of unhealthy grief joseph said to his brothers don't be angry with yourselves and then he true forgiveness releases the offender of their obligation instead of giving his brothers what they deserved death he gave them what they needed a new place in which to live and finally true forgiveness refocuses everyone's attention on the sovereignty of god remember what his brothers would say to joseph or joseph would say to his brothers joseph said and as for you you meant evil against me what you did was wrong but god is bigger than you are god used it for good to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive and so after that great revelation of his identity the story continues in verse 16 of chapter 45 as we look at the change that occurred in both joseph's brothers and his fathers first of all let's look at the brothers they evidenced a change in attitude after they were forgiven look at verse 16. and when the news was heard in pharaoh's house that joseph's brothers had come it pleased pharaoh and his servants now joseph had tried to deal as privately as he could with his brothers he had everybody else leave the room but once this happened once joseph revealed himself word spread through the egyptian grapevine everybody knew about what had happened there now it hadn't been any mystery that joseph was a slave everybody knew that he had been bought out of slavery but they didn't know the whole story i'm sure there's some people who questioned pharaoh's wisdom in putting a former slave in charge of all of egypt and yet once the whole story was known and the fact that the brothers had asked forgiveness and there had been a reconciliation it vindicated pharaoh's choice and pharaoh wanted to reward his servant joseph for preserving the nation during the time of famine so pharaoh gives this order beginning in verse 17. then pharaoh said to joseph say to your brothers do this load your beast and go back to the land of canaan and take your father and your households and come to me and i will give you the best of the land of egypt and you will eat the fat of the land now you are ordered do this take wagons from the land of egypt for your little ones and for your wives and bring your father income but don't concern yourselves with your goods for the best of all the land of egypt is yours you see what he's doing he doesn't know he's accomplishing god's will he doesn't even believe in god probably but pharaoh is accomplishing god's purpose he said i want you joseph to tell your brothers to go back with empty wagons from egypt and load up all the junk and move it back to the land of egypt now remember the egyptians are the ones who invented the wheel they're the ones who invented the wagons it's like pharaoh is sending the moving vans to go ahead and pick up this fledgling nucleus of the nation of israel about 70 people total the brothers their wives or children and grandchildren and move them to egypt now actually he gave orders to move the family and don't take any of the junk or the stuff but as we'll see in a moment they didn't listen to that part of the instruction pharaoh was saying all of this is going to be yours the fertile region of egypt and so joseph sent his brothers back to retrieve their father jacob and all of the family and move them resettle them in egypt and then joseph adds this parting word to his brothers look at verse 24. so he sent his brothers away and as they departed he said to them do not quarrel on the journey you see he understood that his brothers had been forgiven they had repented but they were still as brothers and he knew that they would have that tendency once they got out of his sight to start fighting with each other and blaming one another for everything that happened well if you and planned selling to the egyptians oh it wasn't my bland it was your plan he knew the tendency to do that so he said don't quarrel on the way home interestingly there is no record of any incident of discord among the brothers after this now let me point out something i need to say up to this point the brothers had been presented in a negative light and for good reason sold their brother into slavery deceived their father by saying he was dead deceiving people for 25 years about what had happened to joseph but we need to point out that they did truly repent of what they had done they had confessed their sin to god they had been forgiven and they were changed people never once from this point on do we find any instance in which they didn't submit completely to the lordship the authority of joseph who is a type of jesus christ himself they had a change in attitude toward one another they had a change in attitude toward the one they served their brother joseph when you truly receive forgiveness it's going to change your attitude you know today there are some people who teach what we call lordship salvation it's the idea that to become a christian yes you must trust in jesus as your savior but that's not enough you also need to clean up your life you need to be willing to give up this wrong relationship you need to break this addiction you need to do all of these things clean yourself up to make yourself presentable to god and if you're not willing to do that then you're not truly saved in fact there's a phrase they use to describe this heresy you probably heard it if he's not lord of all he's not ward at all have you ever heard that that's not true ladies and gentlemen a non-christian has no ability or even any inclination to completely renovate his life the only thing a non-christian can do and that's by the grace of god is call on the name of jesus for salvation that's all a non-christian can do don't weigh non-christians down with a load of heavy requirements they cannot possibly fulfill a non-christian all he must do to be saved is believe in trust in cling to the name of jesus for his salvation but if he genuinely does that the holy spirit will come into his life he will have that unstoppable power we're going to talk about in the book of acts and that holy spirit and con and uh partnership with that human being together they will work to clean out all of the junk out of that person's life and they will become a new person in jesus christ doesn't happen immediately but it does happen and also if that change doesn't happen it's not that a person loses his salvation it means he was never saved to begin with they'll always be a change in a person's attitude toward god and others if they have genuinely been saved remember that passage i had you read from james chapter 2 about the relationship between faith and works james 2 14 what use is it my brethren if someone says he has faith but has no works can that faith save him verse 17 even so faith if it has no works is dead it's not existence it is completely worthless you know people get mixed up in that james 2 passage where james says abraham was justified by his works that seems to be a contradiction of what paul said in romans 4 about abraham he wasn't justified by his works but by faith in god alone is that a contradiction no they're using the word justified in two different ways when paul uses it he uses it theologically when abraham was justified in genesis 15 the bible says abraham believed god and his faith was counted as righteousness that day god declared him to be not guilty justified but seven chapters later in genesis 22 when god said to abraham offer your son your only son is a sacrifice and he was willing to do that the bible says at that point abraham was not made righteous but he was seen to be righteous in the eyes of others in other words the proof of his justification was his obedience to god and that's how james uses the word justified not to make righteous but to declare or to be seen as righteous if there is no works there is no faith the other night at our dinner with the pastor during the q and a time a woman asked a very perceptive question you say pastor works are not a requirement for salvation but what place do good works have in the life of somebody who's been saved well paul answers that question in ephesians 2 verses 8 to 10. he says for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of god not as a result of works so that no one should boast unfortunately evangelicals stop right there and they don't go to the next verse they just cling to oh good works are worthless they have no place in my life they can accomplish nothing no he said we're not saved by works but notice what he says in verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works which god prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them do you see that we're not saved by good works but we are saved for good works martin luther once described the relationship between faith and works this way he said faith alone saves but saving faith is never alone isn't that good faith alone saves but saving faith is never alone in other words where there is genuine faith there's going to be authentic fruit spiritual fruit in the life of a person and where there is no fruit there is no faith you see that fruit in the life of these brothers they had a change in attitude for jacob though his receiving forgiveness forgiveness he needed not only from god but from joseph as well for being a derelict parent who didn't treat his children right and led to this favoritism that caused him to be sold into slavery jacob needed forgiveness and his forgiveness resulted in a change not so much of just attitude but of latitude by that i mean a change of location a change of direction remember longitude and latitude i thought this was a good rhyming word with attitude latitude refers to the location jacob was now let's go back to the story of jacob in genesis 45. while all these dramatic things were happening in egypt and joseph was identifying himself to his brothers jacob knew nothing of this he was sitting at home alone he had just sent his remaining sons including benjamin to go back to egypt to retrieve simeon who was being held hostage and buy some more grain and so the brothers finally make it back all the brothers returned this time and jacob's waiting to hear the news of what happened so what's the news verse 26 and the brothers told jacob saying joseph is still alive and indeed he is ruler over all the land of egypt but jacob was stunned for he did not believe them now i think this account is kind of misleading in this sense it makes it seem like this happened very abruptly makes it sound like the boys returned home they sat around the table munching on some bagels and one of the brothers said oh by the way pops joseph is still alive would you pass the cream cheese please that's not what happened now listen everything in the bible is true but not every account in the bible is complete we know for example there are many other things jesus said besides what we have in the gospels the gospels tell us what we need to know he did many other works not every account in the bible is a complete account even if it's an accurate account many times the accounts we have in the bible are summaries of what happened and i think that's what you've got going on here i think in reality what happened was all the way back they said how are we going to break the news to our father jacob because if we tell him part of the story we have to tell him the whole story and so they get home jacob said tell me what happened what happened i said dad why don't you come over here and sit in your favorite chair we've got something we need to talk to you about well what what well dad remember 25 years ago when you sent joseph to check up on us and we told you that he had been eaten by a wild animal and we brought you back that tunic and that multicolored garment that was covered in blood and we told you that he was dead yeah how could i ever forget that they said well that's not exactly all of the story and they begin to tell him what really happened and when they reached the climax of the story and tell him that the prime minister of egypt with whom they had been dealing was in fact joseph and joseph said i am joseph is my father still alive the bible says jacob was stunned literally in hebrew it means his heart grew cold some people believed that he fainted some people believe he had a mild heart attack dr photo right there we don't know but it was absolutely like a thunderbolt from heaven when he heard those words you see for 25 years jacob had been believing a lie that his son his favorite son was dead and it's interesting during those 25 years as soon as he heard the news from the brothers that his son was supposedly killed by an animal it's like the pilot light went off in his life for the next 25 years you never find one instance of jacob praying about anything worshiping god even thinking about god because he had believed the lie that his son his favorite son was dead let me ask you today what lie have you embraced that has extinguished your love for god your hunger to know god and obey him we all have different lies we allow to govern our lives i remember in high school being called to the ministry and so excited and i would read every christian book i could get and i would spend hours a day reading the bible meditating on scripture memorizing many different books of the entire new testament until i went to college and soon after arriving at college i was introduced to religion professors in that so-called christian university who told me that this book is not inerrant it's not infallible there are all kind of errors in the bible and they sought to teach me all the errors and contradictions in this book it didn't take long at all for that to quench the spiritual desire i had if this book is filled with error if it's nothing more than any other religious book why would i want to spend time reading it and memorizing it and why in the world would i devote myself to preaching it to other people that govern my life for longer than i care to imagine the lie that you can't believe in the bible other christians have adopted the lie and they've ordered their life around the lie that even though they're saved they're going to still be slaves to those old habits and addictions that have ruined their life they can never break the chains they can never break free romans 6 7 says if we have died with christ we have died to sin sin has no more control over our life than we choose to allow it to have but some people have believed that lie and are acting accordingly some people some christians have bought into the lie that there's something else they have to do to earn god's forgiveness besides trust in christ and they spend the rest of their life overcome with guilt and anxiety because they can never be sure they're truly saved some people have bought into the lie that because of some deep and dark mistake they made years ago some sin they committed that they can never truly be forgiven they can never be used by god in any significant way they are relegated to always being second-class citizens in the kingdom of god some believers have bought into the lie that this life is all that there is that they'll never see that christian husband they'll never see that child that parent again what lie are you allowing to govern your life you know if you have said to jacob for those 25 years jacob let your mind run wild if you could imagine anything that could be true that would change your life what would it be he would have hesitated and he would say i even don't want to voice it but if i knew my son joseph was alive it would change everything what is it that if you knew was really true would change your life i mean think about it what if you knew with 100 certainty there is a god there is a heaven and a hell there really is just one way to god through faith in jesus christ that there is a heaven for you if you know christ that's going to go forever and ever and ever that you are going to see that loved one again if you knew that with absolute certainty would it change your life it did for jacob jacob had embraced a lie but when he embraced the truth it changed him and it changed him specifically in his change of latitude his change of location look at verse 28 then jacob said it is enough my son joseph is still alive i will go and see him before i die because he knew this thing he could only hope for was actually true he did a u-turn he was ready to go someplace different have a difference in location a change of address but here's what's interesting he gets everybody loaded up they head toward egypt but on the way to egypt they stop at a place called beersheba it was on the border right as you left canaan israel was baresheba beersheba had been a place where jacob's grandfather abraham had met with god it's a place where his father isaac had met with god and he stops here to do two things first of all to offer a sacrifice of praise to god for what he had done for him but then also to seek god's direction to seek god's direction he wanted to make sure before he went a step further that going to egypt was really a part of god's plan for him now this is how he had changed 25 years earlier had he heard the news that joseph was in egypt he wouldn't have prayed about anything he would have got there as quick as he possibly could but he was a changed man he wanted to be in the latitude the location that god wanted him to be so he stops in beersheba to ask god for direction now he said what's the big deal why does he need god's direction about whether or not to go to egypt two reasons first of all there'd all been all kinds of warnings from jacob's forefathers to not go to egypt they would say to him his father and mother probably said to him repeatedly whatever you do jacob stay out of egypt because it was always a disaster when god's people went to egypt it just always turned out badly so he had drilled in him since he was a little boy stay out of egypt don't go to egypt bad things happen in egypt i used to tell our girls when they were growing up and were teenagers my word to them was remember nothing good happens after midnight nothing good happens after midnight they still recite that to me to this day that's the only thing of mine they ever remember that i said of significance but i do hope they'll pass that along to the triplets and all my other grandchildren and so forth that there's nothing good that happens after midnight well for the israelites it was nothing good happens in egypt so he wanted to make sure this was god's will and secondly this seemed counter-intuitive i mean after all the promise was it was going to be in canaan in israel that this nation grew and grew it was hard for him to understand why would god relocate the whole nucleus of this nation to egypt so he prays sincerely for direction look at verses 3 and 4 of genesis 46 god answered and said i am god the god of your father do not be afraid to go down to egypt for i will make you a great nation there i will go down with you to egypt and i will also surely bring you up again and joseph will close your eyes he wanted to be where god wanted him to be now the center of god's will for jacob and the family was egypt but notice the process god used to move them to egypt how does god signal to you that it's time for you to change location or direction in your life notice these four ways god dealt with jacob first of all through difficulty when god wants you to move sometimes he'll make it difficult in your present circumstance look at verse 18 and pharaoh said take your father in your households and come to me and i will give you the best of all the land of egypt and you will eat the fat of the land now jacob was very interested in going to egypt for a visit to see his son joseph but why would he want to move his whole family i mean he was a hundred plus years of age why go to that hassle and move permanently how did he change joseph or jacob's heart to make him want to do that well first of all he gave him difficulty in his present circumstance now remember this god's plan all along had been to take this nucleus of 70 people put them in egypt for 400 years where they would grow and multiply into a mighty nation of nearly 3 million people that moses would lead out of egypt back to the promised land so how does god get people to move if they don't feel like moving well he used a famine to do so you see the famine hit everywhere it hit egypt it hit canaan it hit the whole world in egypt at least there was food to be had there was grain to be purchased in canaan there was nothing it was desolate and that difficulty made them open to the possibility of moving now listen to me very carefully just because you're going through a difficult time in your present location your circumstance doesn't always mean you're supposed to move sometimes god is telling you to persevere learn some lessons but sometimes it gets to a point where it's intolerable and god is using that difficulty to move you in fact he had done the same with jacob years earlier as a young man remember jacob went to work for his uncle laban and they had a great relationship until the end the bible says and laban's attitude toward his nephew changed and jacob used that as a sign that it was time for him to move sometimes god will use difficulty to move us and instead of saying why is this person doing this to me why is my boss treating me this way why are circumstances so bad the question is what is god trying to say to me in this difficult circumstance is it stay or is it time to leave the second thing he used was desire look at verse 28 then israel that is jacob said it is enough my son is still alive i will go and see him if god wants to move you in a different direction or to a different location he will put a desire in your heart to make that change delight yourself in the lord and he will give you what the desires of your heart god many times works through the desires that he places in our heart now just because you have a desire to do something different doesn't mean you're supposed to do something different a lot of people fall for the myth of the grass is greener someplace else do you know people like this they're always changing always changing jobs always changing churches always changing mates you know thinking you know i'm going to find some greener grass i love what one wag said he said if the grass is greener in somebody else's pasture it may be because it's better taken care of i mean one reason you may feel like you're in a desert is you haven't given where you are the relationship you're in the career you've chosen all of your best efforts but sometimes god uses desire here he will quench the desire any desire you have for your present situation and give you a desire for a new situation he did that with jacob if he wanted to move jacob the best way to do it was to put his favorite son someplace else thirdly god uses direction to move us jacob saw god's direction god spoke clearly to him look at verse 3 of genesis 46 i am god the god of your father do not be afraid to go down to egypt for i will make you a great nation there i will go down with you to egypt and i will also surely bring you up again and joseph will close your eyes to be honest don't you wish sometimes god would speak that clearly to you that he would shout from heaven and say this is my will usually that doesn't happen have you discovered that but that doesn't mean god doesn't give you direction james says if any man lacks wisdom let him ask of god who freely gives to all people and upbraids no one god will give you direction if you seek it sometimes his direction comes from his word sometimes it comes from the wise counsel of others sometimes it comes from circumstances sometimes it comes from the desires that he places in our heart but remember this the only person more interested in your discovering god's will in obeying it is god himself and god will make his will clear to you if you genuinely sincerely seek it proverbs 3 5 and 6 says trust in the lord with all of your heart and don't lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight finally god uses delight in our life to move us to a new latitude a new location and by that i mean when we find god's will there is a unique delight that we experience look at verses 5 through 7 of genesis 46 then jacob arose from beersheba and the sons of israel carried their father jacob and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which pharaoh had sent to carry him and they took their livestock and their property there it is which they had acquired in the land of canaan and came to egypt jacob and all his descendants with him his sons his grandsons his daughters his granddaughters and all of his descendants he brought with him to egypt can you just picture that sign all of these wagons loaded to the hilt these scraggly hebrews walking alongside of it they must have looked like the beverly hillbillies coming to egypt they loaded up their truck and they moved to beverly hills that is swimming pools movie stars that's a beverly hillbillies this was the ancient beverly hillbillies coming into this sophisticated city and country loaded up with all of their stuff what was the result what was the result look at verse 28 the delight they experienced now jacob sent judah before him to joseph to point out the way before him to goshen and they came into the land of goshen and joseph prepared his chariot and went up to goshen to meet his father israel as soon as he appeared before him he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time then jacob said to joseph now let me die since i have seen your face that you are still alive if you had asked jacob 25 years earlier and for the last quarter of a century what in your wildest imagination do you wish you would know it's really true he would have said to know that my son joseph is alive and that i will see him again notice how god worked in jacob's life to get him to that very spot he used difficulty he used desire he used direction he used delight to put him in the center of his will the safest place to be the best place to be is in the center of god's will and if you seek to know god's location his latitude for your life he'll put you in the very same spot richard cecil once said the story of all of the great characters of the bible men and women can be summed up in this one sentence they acquainted themself with god and they acquiesced to his will in all things that's a winning formula for experience lasting satisfaction lasting delight in every part of your life as well acquainting yourself with god and acquiescing to his will in all things let's bow together in a word of prayer and asking that no one leave or move for any reason for some of you watching online right now some of you here in our worship center maybe you're already a christian but you've been resisting what you know to be the will of god for your life maybe it's saying yes to some change he wants to make in your life maybe it's saying something to no to something you've been holding on to remember god's purpose not to make you miserable jesus said i've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly there is no more delightful satisfying place to be than in the center of god's will and maybe it's time for some of you right now who are christians to say yes to what god is saying yes to or no to what god is saying no to so that you can experience that lasting delight and satisfaction in your life there are some of you watching or hearing our worship center who are not yet christians maybe you come to the point that you realize you can't clean up your life by yourself you can't make yourself worthy before god the forgiveness of your sins is something you don't earn or work for it's something you receive as a gift christ did it all he died on the cross to pay the payment you and i deserve to make and maybe today you're ready to come to god with empty hands and say god i'm ready to receive your gift of forgiveness if so i want to invite you wherever you are to pray this prayer in your heart to god knowing that he's listening to you right now if you want to know with absolute certainty that one day the father is going to welcome you into heaven for an eternal reunion with him i invite you to pray this prayer with me dear god thank you for loving me i know i failed you in so many ways and i'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but i believe what i've heard today you love me so much you sent your son jesus to die on the cross for me to take the punishment that i deserve to take for my sins and right now i'm trusting in what jesus did for me not in my good works but in what jesus did for me to save me from my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to live the rest of my life for you in jesus name amen today if you're watching online and you prayed that prayer with me i want to encourage you right now to go to the top of the screen and click on that link that says i prayed the prayer to trust in christ as soon as you do that i'll be notified of your decision and i have some free material i want to send you about what it means to live now as a christian don't hesitate a moment longer go up to the top of the screen and click on that link right now for those of you in our worship center i want to invite you to take out this card that is in your bulletin there's a place for you to let us know about your decision the third box says i prayed the prayer to trust in christ today if you'll check that box i'll send you the same material we're sending our online friends maybe you're a guest today let us know that maybe you'd like more information about the church you can check that maybe you'd like to join first baptist dallas we've had about 30 people today join our church you say we want to be a part of first baptist dallas all you have to do is check that box we'll be in contact with you now when you finish doing that you can drop this off at the welcome center on your way out and exchange your card for a hardback copy of our devotional a place called heaven or you can drop the card off and one of the receptacles will process the information and get the book to you this week thank you so much for doing that well it's been good to be in god's house today thank you for being here don't forget our old-fashioned revival begins next sunday morning with dr os hawkins and extends next sunday night monday and tuesday night in the evening time it will be in the historic sanctuary hope you'll come and attend it will be a great half a week of old time revival and we'll look forward to seeing you there thanks again for coming today let's stand together now as tyler comes to lead us in our final song thank you pastor it's been an incredible morning of worship together let's sing his praise this is my story this is [Music] this is [Music] god bless you church well thank you so much for joining us for worship today on the first dallas eye campus it's our honor and privilege to worship chat and pray with you throughout the service if you are local to dfw let me encourage you to come on down we'd love to have you visit us in person we'd love to greet you and show you a great spot in the worship center for you to sit it would be our honor to worship with you in person in the heart of downtown dallas right here at first baptist dallas also if you are new here to the icampus or have been watching for a while and want to get plugged in let me encourage you to sign up for a free gift we'd love to provide that to you directly in your inbox and then sign you up for pastures daily devotional it's straight from the pen of dr jeffress and you will be encouraged with that great resource each and every day simply visit the link that's provided on your screen and lastly stay connected with us each and every day with our facebook global group there we encourage one another through scripture and graphics but also pray for one another so head on over to facebook and join our icampus global facebook group thank you again for joining us today for worship we look forward to seeing you next week on the first dallas eye campus you

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Published: Sun Aug 01 2021