Hebrews 11:32 - 12:2

hey guys it is uh sunday may 30th i want to welcome you to calvary chapel thank you guys so much for joining in with us if you are live with us we want to welcome you if you have uh tuned in uh during another time uh at your leisure well then we want to welcome you also um i want to welcome you guys here that are in the building today and uh okay let's worship the lord amen father we come before you today and we lay our lives down before you we ask lord that you would take this time be honored by it lord our voices are here to worship you and to honor you and to glorify you to tell you lord what we feel about you to tell you what you mean to us worship is never about us and our our warm fuzzies or how we feel it's not about our feelings it's not about it's about us giving back to you because lord you're worthy to be worshipped and so lord that's what we're going to do here today we're going to worship you we're going to sing our best we're going to play our best whether we are here in this building or whether we are watching this online somewhere so lord we just offer this time to you it's your time we pray lord that you be blessed in jesus name amen amen [Music] well see this will sound a whole lot more different if we do it in the right key and mandy won't sound like barry white [Music] [Music] he came to rise [Music] that's why we offer him our everything [Music] is [Music] is [Music] and that's why we see [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] a [Music] that's [Music] [Music] and worship [Music] that's why we praise him and that's why we speak [Music] cause he gave [Music] [Music] [Music] praise the lord [Music] [Music] i was sure by now god you would have reached out and wiped our tears away step in and save the day once again and it's still raining you as your mercy falls i raise my hands [Music] you are who you are you never left i [Music] [Music] my strength is almost gone how can i carry on if i can't find [Music] i barely hear you whisper through the way [Music] takes away and i will lift my hands for you are who you [Music] your are you've never left my side though my heart is [Music] of heaven and earth [Music] hey [Music] and i'll praise you in this story my with for you are who you [Music] left are side though my heart [Music] though my is is torn [Music] [Music] [Music] alone in my sorrow dead in my sin lost without hope no place to begin your love made a way to let mercy come in when death was arrested my life began ash was redeemed only beauty remains my orphan heart was given a name [Music] dance when death was arrested for your grace [Music] no more was a ransomy faithfully [Music] is [Music] pouring down on [Music] us [Music] darkness rejoiced as though heaven had [Music] lost that's when death was [Music] me [Music] pouring down on us you have made us we're free forever we're free come join us [Music] amen [Music] my life began [Music] all your grace [Music] it's [Music] begins with you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] too i'm going to make her seem like minnie pearl i don't know i can't think of anybody who sings i think [Music] you give life you are love you bring light to the darkness [Music] is your breath [Music] so we pour [Music] [Music] me you give life you are loved [Music] you restore every heart that is [Music] so [Music] need lord and our hearts will cry and these bones our hearts will cry these bones will sing [Music] come on church lift up your [Music] will voice [Music] [Music] so we pour [Music] so we pour out our praise pour out our praises your breath [Music] lord [Music] [Music] great [Music] [Music] the love of god is [Music] it goes beyond the highest star [Music] and reaches the lowest the guilty pair now [Music] he [Music] is when years of time shall pass away and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall when men who hear refuse to pray on rocks and hills and mountains god's love so sure i'll [Music] redeeming grace [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] and dangers [Music] a parchment made [Music] oh [Music] no stretch from the sky [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] oh hallelujah and pure how measureless [Music] how measureless [Music] rich and pure how measureless and so strong [Music] foreign [Music] it's the saints and angels [Music] songs shout for us [Music] [Music] jesus thank you lord for your love that is so great so deep god you've seen my life you've seen our lives you've seen the failures that they've been lord you see that we don't measure up not in our own ways no way not under our own works not under anything that we've ever done but god your love is so great and it's so pure and it's so sacrificial word that you you saw the only way to save us was to come and show us the way he died on a cross for us lord your blood was shed your body broken you took our curse you placed it upon your own shoulders you hung on a tree we call it a cross the word says cursed is every man who hangs on a tree and without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins god you hung on a cross jesus christ for us motivated out of nothing other than your love this great love we just say we sang about this love right now he loved us that much didn't have to you didn't have to provide a way of escape force you'd have to provide a way of salvation force you didn't have to do that but you did it motivated out of one thing and that is love you just wanted to have a relationship with us you didn't want to establish a religious rules of rights a checklist of what i have to do in order to be in good graces with you lord no you wanted a relationship you gave us a husband and a wife you gave us the ability to have this relationship between husband and wife to recognize that a relationship is not one that is checking the boxes i said hi to you this morning i said thank you for the food this morning i said thank you for washing my clothes thank you for going to work whatever it's not a checklist item it is a relationship born out of love they love each other you sacrifice one for another you sometimes take the the bad in order to give your loved one the good this relationship if anyone were to ask you why would you do such a thing you didn't have to do that no no no i didn't have to but i did it because i loved and god that's the relationship you desire with us god that's what you showed us on that cross lord you you you loved us you weren't simply checking a box you were proving your love to us by dying on that cross providing a way for us so that we can choose to follow you or choose not to follow you i choose today lord to follow him i pray everybody does thank you lord we worship you we honor you we pray lord that this time of worship songs and hymns and spiritual songs lord that we've sung today cracked a smile upon our father's face upon your face be blessed today lord we worship you we adore you god we thank you god for who you are in jesus name amen amen hey welcome welcome welcome if you're in this room you can shake hands with somebody uh if you're not in this room get up and give your dog a high five we'll be right back in just all right we are back we are back it's a memorial day weekend we would rema be remiss if we did not recognize those who fought and died for our freedom and so here in just a second we'll pray together uh regarding uh what this day represents you do understand that difference between veterans day and memorial day of which we're celebrating memorial day today is that we celebrate and we remember in whatever capacity we do those who gave their lives for our freedom in our country veterans day is later on this summer where we we thank those that have served in the military uh in the forces and and uh armed forces and are still alive and we're able to actually eyeball time welcome or thank them and and let them know how grateful we are that's veterans day memorial day we focus more upon the sacrifice yes of the soldiers absolutely but we we also remember the families of those who have lost their loved ones and they've lived for many years some maybe even recently but there are those that even today are still distraught over the loss of a spouse over a loss of a loved one a father or a mother and so we pray for the families so let's do that right now father we come before you recognizing what this day in our country what we celebrate what we memorialize we celebrate our freedom was born on the backs of those brave men and women who laid their lives down and sacrificed their lives for us so that we could enjoy a day like today have the freedom to stand behind a pulpit in our country and preach out of this bible without the fear of the government coming in and arresting to the freedom that we have for free enterprise in our country to have the freedom to marry to love and to move between state lines without the fear of being arrested being scrutinized every move lord we have this freedom today and i know that there are those that will be celebrating with maybe a barbecue maybe a family get together and what have you and and and lord there's nothing nothing wrong with that i know it's a reason why these men and women they died so that we'd be able to have the freedom to do these things the lord help us not to forget how it is and why it is that we get the opportunity to even get together with family today or get together with friends or just the freedom to jump in our car and go home today god we thank you and we thank them for their sacrifice lord we thank the families the soldiers their lives they paid the ultimate price but the families they continue to pay a price even to this day they're loved and cherished one or ones are no longer here so lord we pray that you would place them in your hands these families who are wondering if people remember their loved ones sacrifice today we we remember them lord we remember them that's what we're doing right now we're remembering them and we're thinking these families for their sacrifice it is not a small thing that they have given up but it's the greatest sacrifice that even they have given it's the lord i pray for these families i pray god that you would comfort them this day you would let them understand and know and sense just this unified heart in our country of our gratitude and our thankfulness for the life of their loved one or or loved ones we do not take it lightly we do not look at their death as trivial no lord it was everything they gave everything they had they gave so that we can be here today lord we're grateful comfort those families be with them this day give them peace let them have this sense of understanding that there is a nation that is lifting them up today and saying thank you families for all that you've done for all that you've you've given and our hearts are heavy for you today but our hearts are approaching the throne room of the lord to offer you up that he would give you grace and he would give you peace and lord we would also be remiss if we did not even consider even looking at the greatest sacrifice of all time that's you lord you died on a cross for us you laid your lives down for us your life down for us that we might have eternal life we celebrate those soldiers that went to give us a national freedom but lord we also celebrate you for giving us an eternal freedom you laid your life down you died you were buried we remember that even this day and we thank you and we're grateful we're thankful that you defeated death that you rose again from the dead i'm grateful for that lord so lord this day we are grateful for our freedom nationally and eternally thank you god thank you to those families thank you to those soldiers in jesus name amen amen amen all right all right we are in uh hebrews chapter 11 today hebrews chapter 11 beginning in verse 32. as we have gone through the book of hebrews chapter 11 through the book of hebrews one once we got to chapter 11 the writer of hebrews as he's writing you know we've talked about this before that the writer of hebrews he was writing to hebrews is actually a synonymous term we know this it's a synonymous term with jews jewish jews or hebrews it's a synonymous term and the writer of hebrews who i i believe is paul i mean not dogmatic on it we don't really technically know exactly who the writer of hebrews is other than we understand that the the lord helped whoever write it write it but the writer of hebrews was writing this book to the jews or the hebrews be on a couple of different levels on a few different levels he was writing to those that were that were believers in christ that had had accepted jesus christ as their lord and their savior they recognized that jesus was the jewish messiah he was that coming messiah that came on the scene and he died on a cross he rose again three days later they have salvation not through the keeping of the law but through the keeping of jesus christ and him crucified and and so they have this this freedom in christ they have this uh salvation in christ they have this eternal salvation in uh afforded to them in jesus christ well that's one group of people that the writer of hebrews was writing to he was also writing to those who had believed that but begin to vacillate over wondering wait a minute uh i don't understand how all this works i don't understand how the law was all that we learned we learned the law and the prophets we learned the the books of moses the the the torah we we learned uh the the traditions of our fathers we learned all of these things growing up and then when jesus comes along all of a sudden we're no longer under these but we're now under christ i'm having a hard time understanding how to reconcile the two the writer of hebrews is doing this in order to help them to recognize how christ is the fulfillment of the law and that we find righteousness through jesus christ there there is this this second group well the third group is that group that's sitting there going um i just don't understand i don't understand that i i'm just a jew i'm going to continue to be you know a jew under the law i'm going to be a jew according to the writings and the traditions of our fathers that's what i'm going to do and the writer of hebrews is saying please don't do that please understand that those fathers that wrote to us they were talking about this coming messiah they were talking about this coming jesus and he came don't miss what god has offered to you don't stay stuck in a tradition don't stay stuck in a system understand there was a purpose for the law there was a purpose for that but it is to to bring you to the place where you understand who christ is so don't just rest in this fact that well i'm a jew i'm always a jew and i'm going to just stay a jew and and i you know i'm going to let god work it all out i'm just going to be a good jew over here and i'm not going to consider jesus and the writer of hebrews is saying please don't do that please understand jesus and and so as we moved into chapter 11 so those are the three groups as we moved into chapter 11 the writer of hebrews he begins to detail and he begins to highlight various men and women of faith who died waiting for the promise they had learned that there was going to come a messiah on the scene they had learned that one day god was going to send someone who would be the messiah and there were so many different prophecies all through the old testament that prophesied about this coming one the writer of hebrews is saying he came it was jesus that's who it was but these all looked forward to this promise waiting for this promise to come on the scene jesus would come on the scene and so the writer of hebrews as he writes chapter 11 he's writing we affectionately call it the hall of faith you know we you know can't ohio is a hall of fame for the for the nfl well hebrews chapter 11 is the canton ohio of the the saints okay this is the hall of faith this is where you have men and women who died in the faith and we look back and take comfort and we take uh strength and we we draw uh such uh confidence in their faith that they had in looking forward to a promise that they had not yet realized in their life well today you we've talked about this in the past we actually christ has come christ has has died on a cross he's risen again from the dead he ascended into heaven and he will come back again but we have we have the promise we realize that the promise of the coming messiah has already happened and so in as much as that writer of hebrews writes these men and women in chapter 11 all of them look forward to the promise today we look backwards to the promise we see that the promise happened we see that it happened and so so the writer of hebrews is saying let me take you down a uh uh you know candy lane you know and and we're gonna go down and we're gonna look at this this this walk of faith of all of those who died looking forward to the promise and let's look at what they did in their life so let's look at some of the things that happened to them let's look at at how convinced and how convicted they were that this coming messiah would come that this promises of god were true that god's promises were absolutely sure and true and that you could bet on it and so here are all of these chapter 11 saints that the writer is writing we've gone through you know all of these abel enoch noah abraham sarah isaac jacob joseph moses's parents moses we went through joshua and rahab last week but now as we move into chapter or in verse 32 of chapter 11 the writer of hebrew says picking it up with me here in verse 32 he says and what more shall i say for the time would fail to tell me of gideon and and barrack and samson and jephthah also of david and samuel and the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms they worked righteousness obtained promises and stopped the mouths of lions they quenched the violence of fire they escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong they became valiant in battle they actually turned flight the armies of the aliens not aliens from outer space but aliens into the land women received their dead race to life again and others but but others weren't so fortunate okay others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection what does that mean it means that there were those that that under threat and penalty of death just deny this promise of the coming messiah just deny and and they say no i i can't do it i'm not going to do it if you don't do it we'll we'll kill you we will take your life we'll take the life of your of your wife right in front of you if you do not deny honey we're going to be in the presence of the lord i cannot deny i mean we we have these graphic pictures over the last few years that happened about four or five years ago of christians that were being beheaded over the middle east simply because of their faith that's what it's talking about it's talking about these that are saying i'm i'm not going to deny just not going to do it do with me as you will you remember it was the the the three the the three boys shadrach meshach and abednego the command had gone out and said listen when you hear all of the musical instruments play the whole land fall down at your knees and bow and worship the king your king nebuchadnezzar in babylon modern day iraq and as the music began to play everybody fell down on their knees and on their faces to worship but there was a very conspicuous sight amongst the mass of bodies whose faces are on the ground you had three boys that were standing straight up shadrach meshach and abednego boys who were hebrews or jews that understood i don't bow to anyone but god for god is the only god nebuchadnezzar is not god and they brought these boys over and nebuchadnezzar actually liked these boys he actually liked what they could do they he actually liked their their friend daniel and he said perhaps maybe you didn't hear the music i'm going to give you a break here perhaps you didn't hear the music so you know listen we're gonna i'll have him play it again okay when they play it again you guys go ahead and and go down and and they said you know whether you play it once or whether you i'm gonna loosely paraphrase it in dawn's language okay so that's whether you played again or whether you played a thousand times we're never going to bend our knee to a to a man who makes himself out to be god we're not going to do it we only bow our knee and our face to the lord to the lord god this was an affront to a king this was an affront to a king amongst all the people for if he let them get by with this what kind of a king would he be and so he became so enraged that he went out of his brain basically and said heat up the furnaces seven times hotter than they ever are heated it doesn't make sense that's what makes me think that he's gone out of his mind he's he's become illogical he's raging he's he's raging you know kind of that steroid rage king nebby nebby you know he's got the steroid rage going on hit up the furnace is seven times hotter and you go well you know if you really want him to suffer just turn it down a little bit and let him cook for a while but no no let's throw him in and just immediately just kill him seven times hotter he wasn't thinking rationally he says take my meanest and baddest and most valiant soldiers grab a hold of these four boys and take them into that fire and throw them in and toss them in and let them burn so these men they grabbed the boys and they started running towards this heat and the flame but that because nebuchadnezzar out of his brain he wanted the furnaces turned up seven times hotter he killed all of his men as they tossed the boys into the furnace but his men his soldiers had died right there because the furnace was too hot his soldiers died but the three boys they fell into the furnace were they frightened probably i would be i don't know about you but i would be frightened did they second guess whether or not they were really following the right lord i don't know that they ever second guess but they're sitting there going it's going to come to this i mean lord i believe in you and i'm willing to die for you and i'm i'm okay i guess this is how it goes and they get thrown into the furnace and they get in and somehow they don't burn they don't cook and and somebody to the to the gratification of nebuchadnezzar sitting there going all right so i killed some of my own soldiers but i am never going to be disrespected amongst the people i think it's interesting because i don't know who was the bold enough soldier to to say hey uh oh king what hey you know i see some people walking around in there there's four of them in there didn't we only throw three the fourth one actually looks like the son of man how do you even know what he looks like i think in heaven i think you're going to immediately know i think we're going to be shocked that he's not going to look like what we see on pictures i think we're going to go no no no no that's not you yeah no i'm not joking we're not going to do that because we're going to know who he is but here's the thing there's four men walking in there my soldiers are dead there's four men walking in there and the fourth one looks like the son of man nebuchadnezzar hey hey hey boys boys all of a sudden he becomes a little bit more humble as a king hey hey boys come out come out of there i want to talk to you and they did they came out and they didn't even smell like smoke they didn't smell like smoke god protected him in the midst of it it's at this time that god began to touch nebuchadnezzar's heart i believe i'm going to see nebuchadnezzar in heaven personally i think i'm going to see him in heaven some might disagree with me but i think that this guy got humbled so many times in his life that he ended up coming to a place where he declared how glory how glorious god is and he bowed his knee to god he bowed his knee to god the point is is that these boys were willing to be tossed into the fire for the sake of god than to deny god and and that's what that's what it's saying here in verse 35 others they were tortured not accepting deliverance they might obtain a better resurrection still others had trial of mockings and scourgings yes and of chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn in two they were tempted they were slain with the sword they'd wondered about in this deserts and sheepskins and goat skins being destitute now why would that happen because they would become outcast if they didn't do what the rest of the populace did and they chose to wander around in the desert in goat skins and sheepskins than to be accepted amongst their peers because it was the popular thing to do they were willing to trust that god had a better better a better plan for their lives than what the rest of their friends the rest of the world thought that they should do the rest of their society or their culture thought they wandered around in sheepskins and goat skins being destitute afflicted and tormented and then look what the writer of hebrews says of whom this world it wasn't worthy of these guys it wasn't worthy of them they wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth that's how they had to find home that's where they found home because they weren't accepted into their villages they weren't accepted into their cities they weren't accepted into their former homes they were cast out all of these having obtained a good testimony through faith they didn't receive the promise you remember i was talking about here in the beginning they were looking forward to the promise they didn't see jesus yet they just believed that he was going to come and they were willing to die they were willing to become social outcasts they were willing to actually suffer horrible deaths than to deny that promise all these having and all these having a good obtained a good testament let me read that again and all of these having obtained a good testimony through faith they didn't receive the promise god having promised or provided something much better for us that we should not be made perfect that that they should not be made perfect apart from us now here we have these men and women that the writer of hebrews he gets to the point he goes you know what i'm running out of time i can sit here and write a bible full of these stories i i'm gonna just touch on a couple here today before i move on and and uh and then be done today but uh verse 32 says he says what more shall i say for the time would fail me to tell of gideon and barrack and samson and jephthah also of david and samuel and the prophets who through faith they did all of these things i i look at these men and and i see gideon gideon was a man who was a coward he was a coward god called him to do something he's like [Music] i'm not so sure that that's you lord oh man of faith the lord has called you gideon o man of faith you know where god had to find gideon inside a well that they used to draw out water they dumped all of their wheat down in there and he was winnowing the the wheat he was he was if if you understand back in this day they would load up the wheat and they would take these winnowing forks and they would put the wheat put the winnowing fork into the wheat and they'd throw it up into the air and and and as the wheat would go up into the air the heavy seed kernels would fall down and and make a pile but the wind would come along and blow the chaff away okay and so the chaff would be down there the good seed the good food the good grain would be here and so that's how they winnowed their wheat that's how they separated the the the fruit if you will from the chaff the good seed from the chaff and you do that outside where the wind is blowing well gideon is found inside of a cistern there's no wind in a cistern he's afraid he's afraid that somebody is going to come and take his wheat he's afraid that there's going to be an army that might come down and take all of his food he's not oh man great man of valor wait where's the valor here and and he says the gideon gideon uh i want you to i want you to deliver my people israel i i want to use you oh man i don't know if that's you lord you ever feel that way i don't know if it's you lord hey i'll tell you what i'm gonna just ask if uh i've got this this this lambskin that uh i'm gonna lay outside at night if tomorrow morning i wake up and the lambskin is wet and all the ground around it is dry then i'll know it's from you okay so i'm going to put out that that's it i'm going to put a fleece out that's why that's where we come up with that term hey he put a fleece out we put a fleece of wool out on the ground gideon did to understand whether or not it was of the lord the next day it happened exactly like he told the lord did that convince him no no no it didn't convince him he goes all right well maybe i got it backwards how about tomorrow if if the fleece is dry but the ground around it is wet then i'll know it's a view he just he wouldn't trust the lord and yet here he is mentioned in the hall of faith because he had a promise and he did carry through the thing is he had a promise that he longed for he understood there was a promise of this coming messiah there was a promise he had never seen him but he knew that there was one he was some would consider a failure barrick he was a general he was a he was a battle-tested soldier that was to go and fight the enemy and and he said i'm not going to go and fight him not unless deborah comes in and and goes in front of me i'm just not going to go and and fight cicero and all of them i'm just not going to do it why i'm i'm frightened i don't want to do it i'm i'm afraid i'm going to die in battle and so he says deborah i'm not going to go unless you go with me and she goes hey we'll just know this that the battle when we win and we will win uh it's going to say that a woman won the battle because i don't care i'm not going unless you go with me and so god had directed barrick to go and do his job but he wouldn't go unless somebody else went with him and yet here he is in the hall of faith in samson well we know about samson he kept toying toying with this gift toying with this gift and toying with this gift oh delilah if you just braid my hair in a certain way i will not have the strength so she braids it a certain way and she goes middle of the night samson is sleeping oh samson the philistines are upon you and he gets up and he kills him and she says you mock me you told me that it was your hair being braided and three times he talked to her about his hair of what they could do and tying him down with ropes and the new ropes all the old those were old ropes you got to tie me with new ropes and but he always played around with his hair and he finally got to a point where he's going listen it's my hair cut my hair off and i'll be just as weak as any other man really samuel or samson this is now the fourth time she's already duped them three times not the sharpest knife in the box man he's he's three times she's tricked him three times he's woken up because she says oh samson the philistines are upon you and he gets up and he kills them and then she gets upset oh you just don't trust me you men how could you possibly you don't share your heart with me and you don't and and she manipulates him to continue to play around and he says listen okay all right all right all right it's my hair cut my hair off take it off i'll be as weak as any other man okay sam you sampson come here and take a nap oh sam said go to sleep go to sleep [Music] shaves his head and they didn't have electricity back then but you know she cuts his hair she comes back and she goes oh samson the philistines are upon you oh but samuel or samson didn't understand that his he had played around so much i'm not so convinced that samson's strength was in his hair i'm not really all that convinced that samson's strength was in his hair i think that samson had a gift from the lord of having a supernatural strength but he kept toying with the gift that god gave to him in order to get what he wanted out of someone else and it ended up biting him and and god is never going to be the brunt of our jokes god is never going to be what we demand him to be if we play with god we're going to get burned man we're going we're going to get hurt and he was taken down they took rod hot iron spires and stuck him in his eye went blind and then they forced him into slavery his hair was growing back but there came a point again we might look at it and go well his hair grew back and then he regained his strength i think where he regrained his strength is when he said lord i need your help i i i want to do what it is that you actually called me to do i'll do what you want me to this one time just give me the strength give me the strength i'll i'll i'll do what you want me to do one more time and and and it was at that time i think the humility of his heart coming before the lord and here he is in the hall of faith jephthah a king battling the ammonites he had a faith that god was in control he saw that god had delivered israel he saw that god was was leading israel but jephthah he he wanted to have a relationship with another town another people the ammonites and the ammonites wanted nothing to do with jephthah even though god says i don't want you to have a relationship with the ammonites and i kind of want the relationship with the ammonites and and and god says no i that's that's not going to be healthy for you and and so jephthah keeps trying to have this relationship and and finally he goes why why won't you have a relationship with us they said well because you have taken our land you know back in the days when you guys were crossing the red sea you took some land from some of our brothers and what have you and we don't like it and so on and so forth they have a little bickering and what have you and jephthah goes well god all right we're going to take them out like you told us to we're going to do it but here's the thing god if you give us this delivery if you deliver these ammonites into our hands whatever walks out of my door the very first thing that walks out of my door i will sacrifice and give to you did god ask him to do that no god didn't ask him to to make an oath and so he goes and he he has this great victory and he runs home to tell his family that it's done look at what god has done and the very first thing that came out of us his house was his youngest daughter to come and welcome her daddy home and he looked at her and he says you have made my heart grieve by coming out of my home for i promised the lord the very first thing that came out of my house i would offer to death to him and he sacrificed his young daughter was that god no that wasn't god that was man that was man doing stupid stupid stupid oaths stupid things and yet here he is in the hall of faith you know why he knew that god was who god said he was he knew that god had a promise and he tried to accomplish god's plans according to the way that he thinks that god should have done it or the way that he thinks that god god would want us to do it no it's not that what we see are failure after failure after failure david think about david david here the thing what more shall i say time would fail me to tell of david there's so many failures in david's life and yet david is a man after god's own heart even after his sin is exposed even after you know he has this grievous sin around here god still ministers to david all of this point i don't have time to get into every one of these because i have a couple of things that i want to say i look at gideon and barrick and samson and jephthah and david and samuel his boys were a piece of work but i look at these men and i i see failure but i also see faith i see a trust in god i trust that there was a promise that god had made they're in here because they believed god they're in here to show you and i that we're never going to be perfect you and i we might look at it and go oh man i can't be like pastor i can't be like those ministers i can't be like this or i can't be like that i can't be like those goody two shoes at church you know listen god takes us right where we're at he saves us not because of what we do for him but because what he's already done for us we simply just acknowledge it that's it we don't we don't ever make ourselves worthy before the lord we are simply a church filled with failures that recognize that we are lost without christ doesn't mean that once i come to christ i'm never going to sin again i will doesn't mean that when i come to christ evil thought won't pass through my brain it will doesn't mean that when i come to christ that everything in my life is going to come up peaches and cream it's not the one thing that i have is the promise looking back that he rose again from the dead he promised that he would give me eternal life i came to him i believe that he died on a cross for me i believe he rose again from the dead for me that's it i'm not righteous because of anything that i've done other than simply acknowledge what he already did for me and it's in that that is that the herald of hebrews crying out to those that were struggling that third group struggling to be saved because they wanted to continue in what they had always been in the writer of hebrews is going please don't stay there as a christian today as a pastor today as a as a brother in christ today i say don't stay there don't stay in according to the society wants you to do this society wants you to do that no what does jesus what will you do with jesus what will you do with the promise of god there is only one way to heaven and it's through christ it is that jesus says i am the way john 14 6 i am the way and the truth what and the life who comes to the father no one comes to the father except what through me not not dawn but through jesus right no one comes to the father except through jesus christ that's a promise to you and i for god so loved the world he gave his only begotten son whoever that whoever would believe in him wouldn't perish but have everlasting life it's not a ritual it's not a religion it's not a mark on your bible that hey i went to church today that's going to get you nothing that's going to get you nothing that's religion jesus didn't come to force more religion jesus came to establish relationship between you and god it's not religion it's not about following the certain rules or dogmas or whatever your church says you have to do this that and thus listen it's jesus christ and him crucified that's it paul says man i came to you corinthian corinth i didn't come to you with excellency a speech i didn't come to you boasting of all of these wondrous things i didn't come to you blowing you away with my with my intellect no i came here determined to know one thing jesus christ and him crucified that's it that is the answer that's the answer it's the answer for all of us i don't know about you where you are what faith you were brought up in you know what your tradition is but jesus didn't come here to continue to press on tradition to continue to to encourage us to stay in tradition tradition is what jesus came and said to those who were steeped in tradition now please don't i it was a a shock to my system also when i heard this the very first time in my church we've always done it this way we've always done it that way well this is what the pastor says or this is what the priest says or this is what the father says you know all of these i got to do it this way because that's what they say stop it listen listen you don't follow tradition you follow jesus christ and him crucified jesus said to those who were following all of their religious leaders that they thought that they found some sense of of of uh peace in and and some sense of of acceptance before the lord and they they were following the dogmas and the traditions of the fathers and jesus said to them that we're teaching all of these things these priests you teach as doctrine he this is these are his words to them you teach as doctrines of god the traditions of men that wasn't a a commendation that was an accusation jesus looked at the men and that were leading the churches back in the dead that were legion leading the synagogues back in the day and he was saying you take tradition and you elevate it to god's word to my father's word and that should not ever be you have taken the guts out of my father's word in order to continue to propagate tradition because this is how it's always been stop it stop it it has to it has to start with jesus christ and him crucified and it has to end with jesus christ and him crucified there is no more oh it's it's it's jesus christ and him crucified plus we have to read this certain book no just the bible we have to adhere to our leader's book that he wrote or she wrote nope nope that's a cult jesus christ him crucified oh but we have to do exactly what these pastors say or exactly what these prayers said nope nope you don't you got to do what the word what the word of god says and i know that steps on toes but for goodness sakes we need to hear the truth today we got to hear the truth that's what the word of god prove me wrong prove me wrong in scripture i don't many won't want to prove me wrong because they don't want to take the time to go back and look for themselves for two reasons maybe one you'll realize i'm i'm what i'm saying is right and you'll have to change your whole manner of your approach before god number two you just don't care enough you just they're like ah i'm gonna let god wash it out you know sift it out in the wash can i just wake you up here for a second there's gonna matthew chapter 7 jesus said many are going to come to me in that day and they're going to say lord lord didn't i do all these things in your name didn't i go to that church didn't i listen to these guys didn't i didn't i didn't i didn't i and jesus says i will declare to them in that day depart from me i i never knew you we never had a relationship you and i never had a relationship your relationship was with a religion that's what i came to abolish that's what i came to to rebuke was tradition i came here to establish a relationship can you imagine those of you who are married if you had a a marriage that was based upon how how loving would your relationship with your spouse be if you attributed the same practices to your marriage as you do to the church you go to you show up once a week you cross off some boxes i opened the bible i sat there i sang some songs which i didn't really like all that much i i the pastor was kind of boring it was kind of it was a long time so but at the end of that some services 45 minute service we'll never be guilty of that um the end of my 45 minute service i did it god must be pleased with me that's not that's not what god is seeking that's not what your wife is seeking or what your husband's seeking not in a marriage if you do that in a marriage i'm going to tell you something you're going to be single because that doesn't work and yet we think that that works with us in god that doesn't work that way god wants a relationship with us why because he's real why because he loves us why because he wants the best for us he loves you and he cares about you he wants to have a relationship with you he wants to be a part of your life not so that you can check a box no that's not relationship that's religion that's rules it's a relationship with jesus christ that god is desiring from you i'm gonna leave verse one and two to next week i was gonna look at verses one and two but i would i don't have the time to get into verse one and two and that's a whole message in and of itself but we look at these men we look at these women who look forward to a promise and they were willing to lay their lives down they were willing to die they were willing to be burnt at the stake they were willing to be sawn in two they were willing to be beheaded they were willing to be tortured they were willing to have people killed and their their family members killed in front of them they were willing to wander around in deserts and and in holes in the sides of mountains in order to have their own home so where they can can at least find some safety because the people wouldn't accept their form of faith their their form of a relationship that they had with god how about us today how about you today today your life was required of you and you were standing before god and taking maybe an old line out of evangelism explosion if you will from d james kennedy over in fort lauderdale many many years ago if you were standing before god right now and the lord were to say to you why should i allow you into my kingdom what would be your answer what would be your answer well i went to church that's uh i didn't see that as a prerequisite to get to heaven well i i did a lot of nice things i i don't see that well i was probably the nicest person out of all of my friends i don't see that one either i gave to a lot of very worthy causes i don't see that you know well you're going too fast i know i've read this thing i know what's in it have you read it if you've read it i would say this you're going to find that there is no way that you can find confidence in going to heaven based upon anything that you have done in this earth except for this one thing i recognize that you know why god is god here's my only answer lord i'm not worthy to go to heaven i'm just not i'm not why should i let you into my kingdom you know lord that's a question i've had for a long time i don't know why you loved me but you did you sent your son jesus christ to live for me and to die for me and he he was crucified on a cross his blood was shed for me and he died and three days later he rose again from the dead for me for my sin he took my sin upon his shoulders and on his shoulders he paid my sin and i simply believe that i come before him i come before you and i acknowledge that there is nothing worthy in me except for jesus christ and him crucified that's it that's why i don't know why you did it that way lord but here's the thing that's my only way that i could get into heaven it's through not my own works but it's through the works of jesus christ and him crucified that is it well done enter into the joy of your salvation it's the answer jesus is the answer but i went to this church and i went every week i went more weeks than i didn't it's not about church attendance it's not about which church you attend it's not about how many times you read your bible it does not about how many when you do read the bible how many chapters you read it's about a relationship those are all check boxes that is not why jesus came he came to establish relationship he loves you he loves me he loves all mankind it's for this reason that he says go into all the world and preach what the good news the good news is that man doesn't have to go to hell anymore because i have come to seek and to save that which is lost in order that they might have a relationship with me do you have a relationship with christ do you have a relationship with christ if you don't have a relationship with christ you are on borrowed time my friend you are on you are are living you are walking a tight rope in this life that it the moment a slight breeze comes off and you fall your eternal destiny that i know you might have lived for 20 years or 40 years or 80 years or or 120 years you might be i don't care how old you are you are only going to be on this earth for this amount of time but it's the decision that you make with jesus christ and him crucified in this amount of time that is going to dictate what the rest of your eternity is going to be it's not going to be about a priest it's not going to be about a church it's not going to be about a building it's not going to be about how many times you do it it is about a relationship with jesus christ do you have it if you don't get it it's free for your taking it's free for your taking that's why the bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god the wages of sin is death according to those two scriptures have you sinned well yeah i guess because it says all have sinned i guess i fall under that category of all doesn't say gender doesn't say race doesn't say nationality it just says all i've looked up all in the in the original text and you know what it says you know what it means this means all means all so here's the thing that means you and that means me all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god have you are you a sinner yes the bible says the wages of that sin is death so if you're a sinner you've acknowledged that you're a sinner and the bible says that the wages that you have earned because you are a sinner is death and death is separation from god for all eternity you're in a world hurt and i'm in a world of hurt but if you continue that verse on the wages of sin is death but the gift of free gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ it's free for you and it's for me it's the only way that i can come and enter into eternity with god it's through a relationship with jesus christ who died on a cross and was buried and rose again for me that is the only way to heaven it's through jesus christ and him crucified and so we're going gonna pray right now and we're gonna i'm gonna give you an opportunity to in your heart where you're sitting right now whether you're in this building whether you're sitting at home whether you're watching this by yourself or whether you're watching it with people i don't know they give you an opportunity right now to accept christ to invite jesus into your heart not for religion but for relationship i'm going to ask you to i'm going to ask you to to say this for if this is something you want if this is something you desire you want to be right with god here's here's here's where you go father lord i come to you and i recognize that i'm a sinner i fall under that all i am a part of the all i'm a sinner your bible says that i've earned the wages of my sin i've earned death but the rest of that verse as pastor don was just saying is that the free gift of god is eternal life through jesus i want to have eternal life i want to recognize this day that i can't make it to heaven on my own merit i can't make it to heaven based upon a building i attend i can't make it to heaven based upon how many chapters i read in the bible i can't make it to heaven based upon how much money i give to a worthy cause or how nice i am to my fellow man the only way i can get to heaven is through you jesus christ that's it you are the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except through you john 14 6 lord i believe that today i come to you and i recognize that i don't have a relationship with you and i want one i want to know that my relationship with you is not going to be one built on religion but it's going to be built on a back and forth relationship where you speak to me i speak to you and lord you show me you show me to walk you show me how to live you show me how to take this little bit of time that i have that represents my life here on the earth how you want me to live the remainder remaining remaining portion of this in order to live for eternity god thank you for allowing me to stay alive until this very day to hear this message to hear this moment of how i can be right with you i'm a sinner lord you know it i believe that you went to the cross god in human flesh emmanuel is what the bible says emmanuel god with us jesus name was emmanuel god with us jesus went to the cross you went to the cross for me you died with my sin upon your shoulders but you rose again with my righteousness and my forgiveness my restoration my renewal my eternal life when you rose again you carry that i accept you as my lord and my savior thank you god for hearing my prayer thank you for forgiving me of my sin god take all of my sin wash it away i want to be brand new this day forward i don't even really even know what that's going to look like but i don't even know what the next steps are going to be but i'm confident that you're going to show me god because i want to be sure that i'm going to be with you for eternity i love you lord thank you show me the way i want to be a christian from this day forward thank you for hearing my prayer thank you for hearing my heart thank you for opening my ears and my eyes and my mind to see the reality of this bible here today of your word today of your plan and your purpose your good news thank you god thank you for hearing me thank you for making me your own for the rest of us lord we thank you for today and we thank you god that you take those that the world might look at as failures major screw-ups and you can continue to work in us and you you change us day by day that's what the word sanctification means is changing us and transforming us day by day to become more like you sadly we slip back some days lord god never never stop doing your redemptive work in our life when we fail when we fall when we screw up lord help us to acknowledge it and get back on our feet acknowledge it confess it and lord move forward with you thank you lord for today thank you god for your word that shows that these men and women in here were not perfect men and women they were just like me that looked forward to the promise and one day your bible says you're coming you're coming back to get me to get your kids i can't wait for that day i want to be one of your kids i want to be anticipating your return use me in this day until that day happens in jesus name amen amen amen now the bible says that if anyone is in christ he's a new creation old things all of the past has passed away behold all things have become brand new and so everything you've ever done in life when you become a christian god forgives he just forgives he he takes it and washes you clean and from this day forward you're new now you can take steps that you can call me you can write us you can you know uh there's information on on the website if you're here you've got stuff all over the place that you can look at come up and talk to me afterwards i want to help you on your very first steps with the lord so let us know if you made a decision for christ today we'd love to put a bible and a bible study in your hand and i'm excited for your very next steps in your life so with that said hey god bless you guys um remember what this weekend is all about man and don't forsake that opportunity to remember and thank the lord for the sacrifices of men and women who gave us this freedom let's sing i will serve you because i love you you have given life to me i was nothing until you found me you have given life to me heartache broken people and ruined lives are why you died on calvary your touch is what i long for you have given life to me thank you lord hey god bless you guys we'll see you next week thanks for joining us today thanks for coming in today god bless you guys you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Christian Fellowship SRQ

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Id: ehl9b6uohbc

Length: 103min 41sec (6221 seconds)

Published: Sun May 30 2021