Francis Chan || The Simple Gospel

like I've made mistakes and I've changed my thoughts on certain things you know through the years we all do hopefully you know we grow we learn but there have been a few things that I just go man this is I know it's true and I'm more sure of it now and just thinking okay you guys have to know this stuff [Music] you guys this morning's a little different as you guys know we're we're going to Asia in February a couple months and kind of like with most of things in my life like I don't know how long it's gonna be for like it might be might be days it might be months it could be the rest of our lives and and then people asked like well you know are you getting excited are you planning or you and I'm like I'm not even really thinking about it I just kind of get this sense like that's what God wants and also with the way things are in Asia are so many different things are unstable right now that I go you know what I don't want to do is think too far ahead I don't want to like look back with regrets and go man I was so thinking about three four months from now that I didn't even take the opportunity right now to say everything I want to say to you guys and so I so My Mind's been spinning like okay what if I had 20 or 30 minutes and this was my last message to you guys what would I say because okay like I've made mistakes and I've changed my thoughts on certain things you know through the years we all do hopefully you know we grow we learn but there have been a few things that I just go man this is I know it's true has been true from the beginning and I've not wavered in a more sure of it now and just thinking okay you guys have to know this stuff because the world is changing too like I'm 52 and I've seen like just the thoughts and the way people are so much has changed over these years and I just want to share like from 40 years of studying this book what has been so true and so clear in this book because I guess my concern is like you guys are gonna be taught so many things that just aren't true so many lies you know in in Matthew chapter 7 verse 13 it says enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few because there's a wide gate so there's a wide way that's easy so the easiest thing to do is what everyone's doing just know like whatever is popular and whatever everyone's doing like just remember what the Bible says that there's a wide road that leads to destruction and it's easy so if you're gonna take the easy path the easy path will always lead to destruction but he says there's a narrow road it's like going uphill it's difficult the way we live and very few people are gonna find that kind of life and I just see that in the world like so much of the teaching that is everywhere is just whatever feels good to you which is the easiest thing to believe I just do whatever I feel like doing but you gotta remember like that is the number one command of the Satanic Bible is do whatever you want do whatever feels good do what you desire do as that will't you know it's it's it's what Satan told Eve in the garden right come on you want it just take it just do it if you feel like doing it do it and I just think if you're gonna have so many people pressure you into the wide road that that's why the Bible says Satan is the god of this world like there's just a flow of things and if you just go with popular opinion it's gonna lead you to destruction don't listen to it don't go down that road that the scary thing is Paul tells Timothy in 2nd Timothy 4 he says in the last days people will not put up with sound doctrine sound teaching he's talking about in the church and this is what scares me is in the church some of that worldly teaching of that do what you feel is moving into the church and now pastors that want to keep everyone coming to their gatherings or will just start changing their theology and don't want that's not really sin that's not saying that's not sin and the Bible says in the last days I just want to read it directly because he's so clear he says the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions it's like well I want this to be true I want to sleep with wherever I want to sleep with okay let me find a teacher that I'll tell me that I want to divorce my wife I'll find a teacher to tell me that I want to believe that God is weak and that I'm gonna talk them into how am I good they'll find a teacher to tell them that I want to believe that I'm a good person and then I'm gonna go to heaven based on the world then they'll find a teacher to do that he goes but they're not gonna put up with this what this book teaches but he tells Timothy but you keep teaching this book and that's why today I just want to tell you like this is what this book says despite what anyone says this is what it says one of the things that's so popular today is people go well that's that's your view of God you see God in that way and I see him differently I'm glad it works for you you hear that a lot in San Francisco right that's great that you found God a certain way I see him differently and I really just think that God is you know whatever you want him to be as long as you're sincere and you believe in your heart so I don't judge you you don't judge me but that doesn't make any sense you know like just to say that God is whatever you think he is or you know like you believe in your heart that's like you know me saying gosh I don't I think zach is a 500-pound you know Hispanic you know 610 like and I believe that in my heart you know and Tim goes one of my heart I believe that zach is a you know five foot two white guy you know and and it's like okay well we're both right you know like that that doesn't make any sense like no he is who he is right remember what God said to Moses when Moses like what's your name who are you in God says I am Who I am and the Bible describes them and it's very clear and I believe what from what the Bible teaches God is way more terrifying than everyone the world is going to tell you he is way more if you would just read this book God is always showing like you have no idea what I am like I mean think about it that's why the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom if you don't fear God you have issues you gotta remember like when Moses saw God he said I was shaking uncontrollably when Isaiah this is a prophet Isaiah saw God and there was these angels covering themselves up you know and they're screaming out his holiness and there's there's fire and smoke and in Isaiah just says I'm dead he was so terrified when Isaiah saw God he thought God was going to kill him and he was terrified when John the Beloved Apostle saw Jesus after he has died and rose again he saw Jesus and he said his face was like the sun his eyes they were like fire he says his tongue was like a and he was a moment I saw Jesus he said he fell over like a dead man it just seemed like he was like so terrified yeah like he just collapsed and and so these people in their minds may have thought that God was gonna look a certain way but doesn't matter it's not like you come the end of your life and whatever you thought to be true is true God says I am Who I am I love what Jobe says in job 42 because my ears had heard of you but now my eyes see you and I hate myself like job was questioning God on some things and joke yet I remember job was the most righteous person on the earth and even him when he began to question God a little but at the end he goes I'd always heard of you and now that I see you I hate myself and I repent I'm so sorry so if this is how Moses encountered God this is how Isaiah this is how John is how job is how everyone the Bible sees him who are we to think that you're gonna be the first person you're gonna be the first person in history to come before God and go oh hey God I'm a good no we're all gonna see him this way this is the way God is he's not like you he's not like us he is holy okay I've been teaching Hebrews 12 lately after we read Hebrews this year and how he says in verse 18 you have not come to what can be touched a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them okay this is our God he's not someone you can touch is that like this Cherry's not likely he's not like Silas I can touch the he goes no gods like a blazing fire you can't touch him and he uses words like gloom and darkness and and a tempest like a like a tornado he says this is your God and that's why everyone that saw him just like fell over fell at his feet and were just blown away you are going to face that God we all are and you have to keep that in mind like this stuff whether I live or die where who cares like this is all like temporary stuff we're gonna face God and we are going to be judged by him and I know it's very popular now and I've been hearing more and more every year of my life people say well if if God is a loving God he's not going to punish us man have you read this book did you read what we read in Deuteronomy this week that was crazy what God said he would do to those people and judgment and in was it Deuteronomy 28 man it was so intense what are you were saying how I almost don't even want to read it it's so intense I'm just gonna read it you know Deuteronomy 28 53 you shall it's just talking that is wrath upon these people okay first in 58 he says if you're not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book that you may fear this glorious and awesome name the Lord your God and the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions of fliction severe and lasting and sickness Grievous and lasting earlier in verse 53 says you'll eat the fruit of your womb the flesh of your sons and daughters whom the Lord your God is giving you in the siege and a distress with your enemies shall distress you the man who is the most tender and refined among you will be grudge food to his brother to the wife he embraces and to the last of the children whom he has left so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he is eating because he has nothing else left and the siege and the distress were that your enemies shall distress you in all your towns the most tender and refined woman among you who would not venture to set the soul her foot on the ground because she's so delicate and tender we'll begrudge to the husband she embraces to her son and her daughter her afterbirth that comes from between her feet and her children whom she bears because lacking everything she'll eat them secretly and this Amy's just like gross like God's like do you want to feel my wrath here's my wrath you find the most delicate tend to a woman it and you know she's gonna just turn into a beat she'll eat her own kids and in secret like gone I am grievous going God could you make it any more disgusting more intense like God is is speaking to let us know you don't mess with me like I am a god of Wrath and yet everyone says well he's a loving God how could he judge no if he's a he's also a God of anger a god of Wrath a God of judgment the whole book is culminating in Revelation where he says there's this great white throne judgment where he judges everything and he opens up the books and just goes look I know what you did and it just shows everything you've done in life now by the grace of God we escape that those of us who are in Christ but getting ahead of ourselves we have to you need to know because I know like it's school or whatever else or we're just kind of talks like there's no fear of God they just do what they want to do no one's thinking be judged by him one day one day and I'm telling you guys I promise you there's gonna be a day of judgment and you are going to stand for that God like Hebrews 10 says this if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses how much worse punishment do you think you do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the Covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace for we know Him who said vengeance is mine I will repay and again the Lord will judge his people it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God okay that's what the Bible says you want to keep going on in your sin after hearing the truth there's not going to be a sacrifice for you but it goes instead there's gonna be this fury of fire this wrath of God it's a terrifying thing he goes man what I read from doing right because that's Old Testament he goes if God was that severe about the law of Moses in the Old Testament how much more severe will he be so we read Old Testament and this was alive has told so much of my life like well that was Old Testament and what he was saying nope yeah that was Old Testament that's light compared to what's coming and think about the judgment if we don't take the forgiveness that's before us okay so if you never hear from me again know what I've known my whole life since becoming a believer since reading this book is yes God is absolutely a God to be feared and like no one else and that he is going to judge everyone in this room is going to be judge by him period even the whole world will tell you the opposite here's the crazy thing is what this book teaches is God wants to forgive you and he wants to know you like that okay this is the this is why we call this the good news or the gospel it's like that being who's that whirlwind that tornado the dark is the gloom that you can't even touch because he's this blazing fire and he's this judge is coming with all of his wrath like he wants like right now he wants to be my greatest lover like he wants to totally be in a love relationship with me with you like he wants that that and this was hard for me to believe like because you guys know I never had that from my dad that wanted me so it was weird to think wait he wants me like I don't even know what well it took me years to like really believe this and accept it to go he wants to be one with me Ephesians 2 it says that you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we're by nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved so the Bible says that all of us we used to just do whatever we want to do just like the rest of the world he says by Nature we were like just following the devil like when you do whatever you want to do you're just following the devil and he says you were by nature objects or children of Wrath so that means you were this creation that God was going to pour all of his judgment out on he says but God being rich in mercy okay you guys know what mercy is like mercy means like you deserve all this wrath but God says I don't want to punish you I'm actually rich in it that's in his nature like he just what like that's that's that's great news I mean cuz he could have just ended there like he's this judge he's as God you know but he says he has this mercy where he wants to forgive all of us and he proved that by the cross that's a whole idea of the cross was in order to be fair he made Jesus take all of our sins on the cross so Jesus took all of our sin on the cross so that he says that we could become his righteousness like this is how amazing he is like he wants to forgive you like that's his desire and it's because of his mercy and his great love okay again this is where I didn't understand this for a long time that's what motivated the cross for God so loved the world like why God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not but have eternal life and I guess when I was thinking about what what I really want to say to the kids like if it's the last thing I think it's mainly that like I want you to know that let's not just know these things about God but I want you to know him like like for example like let's say I died today I don't really have to worry about you know you guys being taken care of because mom would be here and you know mom right it's not like you only know mom because you knew me and I would tell you about mom right you know her directly and it's got to be that way with God like it can't just be like I know God because my dad knows God and and God has shown that he's walked with my dad his whole life like you have to know him you know and I want to like if it was in in my life I'd want to just know it's no big deal they know Lisa they know God they don't eat me you've got a direct relationship you know you have direct relationship with God and the verse that I think about is um in Philippians 2 we read this a few weeks ago and I'll just close with this he says therefore my beloved as you've always obeyed so now not only as in my presence but much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure so Paul says to this church he goes look you guys always obeyed when I was there but now that I'm gone work out your own salvation with fear and trembling so in other words it's like okay you guys have been great kids when I'm here and we talk about God we pray we worship Him but he says if I'm gone the idea is now you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling like you work out your own salvation this can't be like you guys through me or living prayers you know just kind of like living through me and so I just I just picture like wanting to leave with total peace you know the country and the only way I can have total peace is knowing that it's not that you just believe a bunch of stuff about God okay I've told you truths it's not just about believing those truths and those facts and I think sometimes we we make Christianity all about believing certain things about God but this book is about being known by him that's why they say like so many people when they turn 18 walk away from their faith because their faith is like a bunch of beliefs it's like it's just like I don't believe this and these things anymore because you can walk away from a belief system you can't walk away from a person like you can't walk away from me you can walk away from beliefs but you can't walk away from your dad why because your dad's gonna come after you and I'll find you you know and in the same way it's like we in the Christian world we sometimes talk about Christianity like it's a set of beliefs that you agree to you don't and that's the end of it and it's like no that's those are just truths that get us to this relationship of knowing him and once you know him as your father he goes I'm not gonna let you go like you're grounded you're in love with me that's what I like like Heather like the the moment you started believing was just so clear like she loves him like he would talk about him as your lover and I'm like gosh I went to school with so many people that know this book backwards and forwards but I just go gosh do you know him and that's why I don't want you guys to ever just go yes I believe that Jesus was the son of God he died on the cross and he paid for my sins he became it's it's not just that it's like relationship like knowing me and again like that verse says though you've got to work it out on your own but you work it out with fear and trembling and it's God who works in and through you and if you don't have that if you're kasha it's not in me like I only tend to obey whenever moms around or dads around her and my husband's around with it whatever it may be and it's not coming from inside and you don't have this life and this joy from knowing him man I'm praying that you'll hear what I'm saying and that it'll get you thinking the more I've been praying for you specifically because the Bible says that something happens to those of us who believe like there's a moment when the Holy Spirit opens up your eyes and you go I get it and you don't have to tell me I want him you know like like those first believers in acts 2 when they heard the message they're like what do I need to do where do I sign up and he says repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the Holy Spirit of God and it's like okay that's everything repent be baptized and filled with the spirit you don't just casually shrug your shoulders and go alright I believe that if that's you then you don't get it and Jesus says you've got to deny yourself pick up your cross and follow me Jesus demands that we follow him and if you don't think it's worth it if he's not worth it to you then you don't get it and again the world is like saying well God can't give me these desires and tell me I can't fulfill them no that's that was his exact message you need to deny yourself even to the point of picking up a cross to be crucified next to me and follow me and if you're not willing to do that you can't be my disciple like he wants to be Lord of our lives so it's just this crazy amazing like you can spend the rest of your life trying to figure out she's so powerful and yet he wants to be intimate with me one with me it's by grace that I'm saved but I'm saved when I understand how beautiful he is and surrender everything to him like all of it is true and there's a truth that the Holy Spirit enters you and changes you completely but there's a side in which I've got to let the Holy Spirit and ask the Holy Spirit and follow the Holy Spirit and make every effort towards His Holiness by the power of the Holy Spirit and all I know is like you know mom and I told the story of last year at our 25-year anniversary about how you know at dinner she just goes as you know anyone more blessed than we are and I go now like seriously I don't know of anyone more blessed than we are but it's not because we have an awesome family it's not because of success is not because money it really is because I know God it's like this has been so crazy I've spent a lifetime talking to God and he answers me and we know each other and I'm loved by God and that's what's made this life amazing for me and as great as the family is as great as ministry whatever life it's like knowing him it's just like in the Bible where all those people who says whatever he touched prospered because God was with him and I just want that to be true of you guys

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Length: 32min 41sec (1961 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 29 2020