Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / March 24, 2024 | Deuteronomy - Blinded by Pride

Transcript

March 24, 2024 | Deuteronomy - Blinded by Pride · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jeremy McGrath.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the youth pastor here, and I have the privilege of being with you guys this morning.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you know me, some of you don't, but either way, I'd like to generally start things off by inviting you into a little bit of my life.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I want to just start by saying I am 100% dressed by my wife this morning.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all of her decisions.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, now, I tried to put a little Jeremy flavor in that, and I I wore these this morning.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: I walked to the house with my, these are my uh uh sock shoes.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um now my wife I didn't tell my wife I was doing this, but somehow she found out and made me wear these.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: She brought these this morning, so I had to do a quick wardrobe change.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, those are those are my preferred uh preferred footwear.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, before we jump in, let's uh let's go to the Lord in prayer.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to be in your house.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um Lord, we thank you for your word.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And just especially excited to jump into the Old Testament this morning into Deuteronomy.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and Lord, the reason is because we get to see how you are an unchanging God.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Are you the same back then as you are today?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and that you work in the same ways.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you're you're a God who doesn't change, but you're a God who doesn't change in good ways because you are good.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so I pray that we would see you, Lord, this morning.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um you would allow us to behold you and to walk from this place appreciating you more.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Pray this in your name.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys have a person in your life, maybe a friend or a family member, that no matter what is going on, what situation you're dealing with, they have the same solution.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: They always have the same solution.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: When I was thinking about this, what first came to mind, Michael Constantine from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yes?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Any of you guys uh watch the movie, you know that this guy, he's the father of the bride, and no matter what physical ailment someone's dealing with, just spray Windex on it.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: At one point, he's like soaking his elbow in a whole bowl of Windex.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so so whether it's a bruise or a scrape or swelled joints or whatever, Windex is the solution.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And some of you guys know my big fat Greek wedding number three is coming out soon, and I heard Windex is coming back.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just I'm just hoping that like the final evolution is like the entire family like taking Tide Pods as vitamins or something.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, actually, I don't hope that.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Don't take Tide Pods, Athen, okay?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the message this morning.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Windex, used for everything, okay?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: No matter the situation, the simple product used in every situation.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And my contention, my point this morning is that Windex is very similar to our gospel.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now hold on.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Give me a second to explain.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like Windex, the gospel message, that we were separated from God because of our sin, our disobedience to him, the evil that we have in our life, and that he sent Christ to die on the cross, take the punishment we deserve, so that we could be with him, that's a simple message.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the message that we celebrate, that's the reason why we're here.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: But although it's a simple message, it has far-reaching implications.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: There are various situations in our life where understanding the simple message of the gospel will change everything about how we relate to God, how we relate to ourselves, and how we relate to others.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And today, in the passage we're going to be looking at, we're going to explore how part of the simplicity of the gospel message should change our understanding of God, of ourselves, and others.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys have been with us the last couple weeks, you know we've been in Deuteronomy.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's a book in the Old Testament that details God's faithfulness and walk with the Israelites, the ancient Israelites.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And just a super quick recap for those of you who are new today, the book of Deuteronomy details how God brought them out of Egypt.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: They were enslaved in Egypt, and then he was bringing them to a new land, modern-day Israel, where that was like his gift to his people, a place that where they could be protected, they could be safe, they could enjoy life.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: But along the way, the Israelites screwed up a couple times.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's most of what we've talked about in Deuteronomy, right?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And they had to wander in the wilderness for many, many years because of their disobedience.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: But finally we get to the passage where God is saying, it's time.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're finally going to get to enter the promised land.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: But there are some things that you need to be aware of.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: There are some things that I want to warn you about before you enter, and that's what we're going to look at today.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to be in Deuteronomy chapter 9, verses 1 through 6.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to have the word up for you on the screen, but if you have your Bibles, I'd definitely recommend you turn there.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And we got three points for this morning.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: First, the Lord's work.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord's work.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: What he's going to communicate to Israel is that them getting into the promised land is not going to be contingent on what they do.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be entirely done by the Lord.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, he's going to show the Israelites or communicate to them in this passage that they're going to receive goodness for their wickedness.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to receive goodness even though they don't deserve it.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then number three, we're going to learn that the Israelites and also us are helplessly loved by God.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you know I have a tradition downstairs in the basement when I'm preaching with the students.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: After I give the three points, I ask them, Are y'all with me?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And they respond with, Oh yeah.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I need you guys to help me, all right?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Are y'all with me?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's get into it.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: First, we're going to start with Deuteronomy chapter 9, verses 1 through 3.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Let's all read it together.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: God says, Hero Israel, you're to cross over the Jordan River today, and go in and dispossess nations that are greater and that are mightier than you.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Cities great and fortified up to heaven.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: A people great and tall, the sons of Anakim, whom you know, and whom you have heard it said, who can stand before the sons of Anak.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: He will destroy them and subdue them before you, so you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: So there are a couple takeaways that I want to get from this passage, because this is going to come into play later on when we start thinking about the gospel again.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: So a couple points that God makes in this passage when he's talking to the Israelites.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, he makes it very clear, and he's made this clear in the rest of Deuteronomy, that these enemies are preventing Israel from entering into what God has for them.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: But not only that, these enemies are greater and are far stronger than Israel.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Israel does not have a hope or a prayer of defeating them on their own.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so the second thing God communicates to them is, look, your human ability isn't going to cut it.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: You guys can't do this on your own.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then third, he says, I'm the one who's going to do it for you.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to intervene.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to come through.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we remember this also from chapter 8.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys were here with us last week when Connor was speaking, God tells the Israelites that he's the one that's going to conquer these people and move Israel in.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then he warns them.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Look, you guys are going to be tempted after years and years pass and you've settled in and you start like growing all of these great things and your wealth begins to grow, you're going to be tempted to say, I did this.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: I accomplished this.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: I made this for myself.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Don't do that.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, I'm the one entirely who got you to where you are.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Ryan?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: That was his warning in chapter eight.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: But he has a new warning for the Israelites in chapter nine.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Okay, after you understand, after you understand that it was me who got you to where you are, now you need to answer the question, why?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Why did God get you to where you were?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And God's going to show them there's a correct answer and there's an incorrect answer.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the incorrect answer can have major implications on their relationship with Him.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: So let's look at the next passage and the next point here, or the next part of this passage.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: So the next point here is that Israel receives goodness for their wickedness.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to finish here in chapter 9, verses 4 through 6.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, um, part of the end of this verse got cut off, so I'm just going to summarize it for you guys.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: But if you have your Bible, you can read through the end of verse 6.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: God continues Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust the Canaanites out before you, it is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess the land.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's what they shouldn't do.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas, God says, the real reason I'm bringing you into this land is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving out before you.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess the land.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: But because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God is driving them out from before you.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: God says it twice, because he knows we're forgetful, okay?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: But then he adds another reason, another reason why he's allowing the Israelites to go in this land.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: He says, also, that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then the part that's cut off here, he says, In fact, you are a stubborn people.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: You are rebellious and evil people.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do not think that you are righteous enough to deserve this promised land.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we have two more points that we get from the Lord here in this passage.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, or one, number four, God is faithful and merciful, and he's also the righteous judge.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's merciful and the righteous judge in the context that he says, the reason I'm bringing you in to the promised land is because the Canaanites are extremely wicked and evil.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you guys have been with us throughout this entire series, we know that God allowed 400 years of time to pass for the Canaanites to clean up their act.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: But at this time the Canaanites were so evil and so messed up that they were even sacrificing their infants to their gods.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so God says, enough is enough.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: I've been merciful, but now it's time for me to be the righteous judge.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's reason number one, why Israel is coming in to inherit this land.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: But then he says, reason number two here, the God is faithful part, the reason why you're inheriting this land is because I promised your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the first Israelites, I promised them that you would become a nation and I would give you a land, right?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm being faithful to my promise to them, and I'm casting judgment upon the wicked, even though I was merciful to them.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then the final thing he says, what I don't want you to conclude, O Israel, is that you're receiving this because of your righteousness.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, you're receiving this in spite of the fact that you were unfaithful.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: You're receiving this in spite of the fact that you were unfaithful.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So God knows as humans, we notice this in chapter 8, that one of our propensities is to think that everything we've received, all of the blessings that we have around us, we can say were our doing.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: But even after that, even if we recognize all that we've received is from the Lord and that He's helped us a heck of a lot on the way, our next great downfall, just like the Israelites, is to start thinking, well, I earned this.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: God is just blessing me for how good I naturally am.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's saying, No.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing this just because I'm faithful.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing this just because I'm faithful.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the passage and the message that God gives to the Israelites.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I had mentioned before that the cross comes into play, that the gospel comes into play here and can be seen in God's character and how he treated the Israelites with how he treats us in Christ.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's the next thing we want to talk about, which is our final point here.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Our final point is that we are helplessly loved.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: The Israelites were helplessly loved, we are helplessly loved.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take the very first thing that God communicates to the Israelites, there was an enemy preventing them from entering the land.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go to our situation.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: The situation of every human that's ever existed is that we have an enemy as well, and that enemy is sin.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Every human being has an innate, broken nature that makes us rebel against God, do evil to him, and then do evil to those around us.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is an enemy.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And this enemy is preventing us from entering into relationship with God and then also entering into our eternal land, heaven.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the bad news.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: If we tried to do it in our own power, like the Israelites were anticipating in the beginning going into Israel with their own power, they would lose.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: We would lose.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: We cannot overcome our sin with our own power.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the good news is just as God went ahead of the Israelites and overcame their enemies, God overcomes our enemy sin by sending Christ to die on the cross.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: We couldn't pay the price that our sin had accumulated.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: We couldn't do enough good things, we couldn't make up for it, and so God needed to send someone who was perfect, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross, to take our punishment, so that we could defeat the greatest enemy we have ever had, which is sin.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: We just sang about it.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: So God will overcome.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: But then he communicates to the Israelites, oh actually, here we are.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: So these are the points we've covered so far.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: God will overcome, Christ is overcome.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: But then God communicates to the Israelites that the reason he does this, the reason he defeats their enemies and brings them into the promised land, is not because they are good, but because he's faithful and merciful.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because he's faithful and merciful.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: And similarly, guys, in Christ, Christ died for us.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Not because of anything that we'd done, but just because he loved us and because he's faithful to us.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to hit this last part here that we are unfaithful.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's not even just that we weren't faithful enough, it's that we are not faithful.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're unfaithful.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think some of us, and I'm included in this, at some points have thought, you know what?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I was this close.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: I was this close.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm overall I'm a pretty good person.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have a couple screw-ups, I have a couple sins in my life, but overall, I'm most of the way there.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: God just needed to help me a little bit.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Think of like opening a jar of pickles, okay?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Jar of pickles.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: So we got this jar, and you guys have ever, if you've ever tried to open it, you're like, you're straining and it's not coming, and so you grab this knife and you start hitting the edges, still not coming, then you grab a towel, and you just go with all your might, and then your wife says, Give it to me, and I'm like, okay, and she takes it, and then she just goes, and then reaches for your man card.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to give it to her.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you really have to.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um but and the only thing you can say when that happens, the only thing you can say when that happens is, well, I got it most of the way.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that sometimes that's what we say to God in our hearts.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we say to God, I got it most of the way.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: You saw God that I was a really good person, I just needed a couple tweaks, a couple adjustments, just a little nudge, a little help.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the Bible's very clear, none of us could have gotten to where we are at in Christ without God working entirely.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: You need to do it from start to finish.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so the last point we learn here, the parallel, is that we are unfaithful.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: We let God down.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Not a little bit, but entirely.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yet his faithfulness comes through anyways.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some of us, most of us, I'd say, understand this about the gospel.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been a Christian for a long time, you know that it was Christ's faithfulness, God's faithfulness to us, that got us salvation.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: If we talk about the why Jesus saved us, it was just because of his love and faithfulness for us.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: But there's another mistake that modern Christians make that I've made that can be in the same vein.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let me explain here.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, let Paul explain.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Galatians chapter 3, verses 2 through 3.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says this to the church in Galatia.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you only this.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what he's saying.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us treat the Christian life like making a pit stop in a race.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: We recognize we're out of fuel, we can't finish the race on our own, and so we pull into the pit stop, and there's Jesus.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: And he starts to fuel up that engine, that tank.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that salvation, that's the salvation we knew we couldn't have done it without him.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus does it.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: But then we take off out of the pit stop, and what Paul's saying is some of us fall into this trap where we start going around the track and we're like, Jesus, I got it from here.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Watch me go, watch me go.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Aren't you impressed, Jesus, with what I can do?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we forget that every lap we make, it's only Jesus' fuel that continues to sustain us and let us go.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so what the Galatians are doing here, what Paul warns them, and what Paul warns us, is many of us can make this mistake.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, yeah, I know Jesus saved me, that was all him, I didn't deserve it, but now it's time for me to earn his love.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now that I've gotten that salvation, now I can, now I can work, now I can show him how good I am.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: How much I can love, how much I can earn his love and affection and praise.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: But man, the reality is Jesus continues to sustain us.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Without Jesus, we could do nothing.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: So don't make that mistake.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, guys, what we learn from really all of the Old Testament, but especially kind of coming to a climax in this passage, is that we're not called to impress God.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, we're called to be impressed by Him.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: The entire Old Testament is the Israelites trying to show God how great they are.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then God saying, You're not that great, but it's okay, I love you anyways.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to recognize that.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: And to see how much I'm faithful to you, how I save you over and over again, how I forgive you over and over again, how I stick to my promises even when you don't.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're not here to impress God.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're here to be impressed by God.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's the sermon.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: We just got through that whole passage, and uh, what are we tracking?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like 15, 20 minutes?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking good.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I promised you something at the beginning.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: I said, not only are we gonna look at the passage, but we're gonna show through this passage how the gospel, this simple gospel, just like Windex, this simple gospel has immense and far-reaching applications in a variety of areas of our life.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's where I want to end.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: We just understood the simple gospel message that God is faithful to us even when we are not, has nothing to do with us deserving it.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: So how should how should this impact our life?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: We have three application points for us.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, pride obscures God.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, pride prevents mercy, and then number three, pride creates contingent love.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take the first one.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Pride obscures God.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And for this first one, I'm gonna need uh a volunteer, specifically a kid who really likes candy and thinks they're a boss that Simon says.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, right here.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: I saw your hand first.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Let's give her a round of applause as she comes on up.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Alrighty.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: And what was your name?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Madeline.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Madeline.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, come right up here, Madeline.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're feeling confident, huh?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is the reward.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Gummies, okay?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what we're doing.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna challenge me, and Simon says, to get this candy, okay?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you beat me, you get the candy.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sound good?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, you know what a plain assignment says?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: So like if I say Simon says touch your head, you do.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if Simon says to touch your nose, you do.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if I say touch your belly, good.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, oh, Simon didn't say.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: That was the practice.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you're fine, you're fine.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: But now you know.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Alright?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's let's do it.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let's uh I'm gonna face these guys, but you can watch me.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, ready?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Simon says, rub your tummy.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Patch your head.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Good, good.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, touch your nose.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, stop rubbing your belly.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, Simon didn't say.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay, I'm gonna give you a do-over.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you a do over, okay?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, Simon says, hop around.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now Simon says, give me a high five.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Give me another high five.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's right.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you one more chance.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you one more chance, all right?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Simon says, close your eyes.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Simon says, wave to the crowd.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: I can't see you, so I hope you're doing it.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, stop waving to the crowd.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: I peaked, sorry.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, good job.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then Simon says, put your hands down.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: You women.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Good job, Madeline.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well done.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before you sit back down, I just have to ask you, why did you get that candy?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because you were my small.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's give Madeline a round of applause.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Go ahead and take a seat, Madeline.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Someone was paying attention the last seven years in Sunday school.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us, after having done something like that, would have been tempted to say, I won the candy because I deserved it.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: I beat Jeremy, right?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: I did it.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: But as Madeline noted, there are a lot of factors that went into her getting candy that she had no control over, right?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the one who brought, bought the candy and brought it.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: If I didn't do that, she could have patted her head all she wanted.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: She wouldn't be getting any candy, right?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: But not only that, as she noted, there were a couple times she screwed up.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: There were a couple times she didn't win.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I extended mercy, right?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so she was able to say at the end of it, look, I I did something, but I know it wasn't near enough to deserve what happened.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something as gospel people that we really need to understand about the cross and about the gospel.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us think that we deserve what God has given us, right?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Failing to recognize, making so small all of the ways that God is intervening, all of the ways that God is faithful and God is merciful and God is working.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: We focus on our little tiny contribution for getting the great contribution of the Lord.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so the first application point, the first takeaway here, is that gospel people, people who understand the gospel and love it and apply it to their lives, are more appreciative and humbled by our blessings.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Gospel people are more appreciative and humbled by our blessings.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, pride prevents mercy.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Pride prevents mercy.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: A common occurrence in my household growing up was all three of us brothers were in trouble.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty often, mostly daily.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Usually it was because we tried to like shove Mitchell off the roof to see if he could fly, but he couldn't.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: But a common thing that would happen is we'd we'd all get in trouble, and one of the punishments that my dad would give us sometimes was he'd say, Okay, you don't get dessert tonight.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, you get dessert after dinner.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some of sometimes we would try to like finagle our way into getting it somehow.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I might, during dinner or right after dinner, clean the dishes off the table unprompted.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then my dad, because he's a bit of a pushover, would say, All right, you guys can have dessert anyways, right?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: But then I'd get upset.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I go to my dad and I say, Dad, why do they get dessert?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I clean the dishes, I understand why I get dessert, but why do they get dessert?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't do anything, they're still punished.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And my dad, because he's a he's a gracious dad, he would say, you know, Jeremy, I'm really proud of you for doing the dishes unprompted.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: But doing the dishes doesn't get you out of your punishment.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the one who did that.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that we need to understand as Christians, if we ever think that we're blessed because we're deserving of it, how will we view those who are less fortunate than us?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: The message of the gospel is that God extended mercy to us because we didn't deserve it.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: All of us.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Full stop.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think we can say that there are some people in this world that are, quote unquote, better than others or more righteous, but the Bible's very clear that all of us fall woefully short.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's not even close.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, in Isaiah it says our righteousness is like dirty rags before God.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem is if we have this prideful concept that because we are slightly better than others, we somehow deserve the punishment removed, and in fact, we deserve blessing, we're missing the gospel.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: And when we miss the gospel, we cannot be merciful to those around us in the way that God calls us to be.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Think about the homeless people around you, the drug addicts, the sojourner, your enemy.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: How many of us have been tempted to look at some of these people in our life and say, well, they probably deserve the situation they're in?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason we say that is because we think we deserve the blessings that we have.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so if we don't understand this simple aspect of the gospel, we're not gonna be able to live as a gospel people, extending the same mercy that God extends to us.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the second takeaway is that gospel people give grace to the undeserving because we recognize we're all undeserving.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, pride creates contingent love.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Pride creates contingent love.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys have seen Avatar The Last Airbender?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's a Nickelodeon TV show.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in your 20s, maybe you've seen it and that's it.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay, no hands.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: So oh, we got one, two, we got a couple.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's arguably the best TV show of all time.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Not biased.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um now I wanted to show you guys a clip, but our tech guy, Sam, promised me that if I did, the FBI would break in and arrest me for copyright.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we are going to instead show still pictures of the show, and I promise it'll still be okay.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's two characters in the show that are up on the screen that I want to tell you about.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: One is Prince Zuko, and he's the younger guy in the back, and then the older gentleman is his uncle Iroh.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: And all you need to know about them is that Prince Zuko betrays his uncle at some point.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: They love each other a lot, but at some point he betrays his uncle.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he leaves him in the dust.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: And later on, he really regrets his decision.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: And he's just like eaten up about it, and so he he goes to find his uncle to make amends.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: And this scene that you see up on the screen is him entering his uncle's tent, and he sits on the ground because his uncle is sleeping, and his uncle wakes up and notices that someone's in the tent, he sees it's Zuko, and then he turns away looking sad.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then Zuko says this.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing the uncle, but I want you to know I am so, so sorry.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: I am so sorry and ashamed of what I did, I don't know how I can ever make it up to you, but I.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: And before he can finish, his uncle turns to him and grabs him and violently, physically, pulls him into an embrace with tears on his face.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: And Zuko's shocked, and he says, How can you forgive me so easily?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: I thought you would be furious with me.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: And his uncle says, I was never angry with you.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was sad because I was afraid that you lost your way.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: But you found it again.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: The reason I love this story is because this is how God treats us, his children.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the problem.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us, and again, me included, struggle with this idea that God's love for us is contingent on our performance.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes if we're doing good, if we're if we're killing the Christian life, we're living like good people, like Christ called us to be, this idea of contingent love makes us feel secure, makes us feel that God loves us just a little bit more.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: But the opposite is true as well.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: When we're not doing well in our Christian walk, when we reject God, when we push him away, when we backslide, then we begin to think we cannot go before God because God will look at us with so much anger and so much hate we wouldn't dare go before him.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: But the gospel is clear.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: We cannot do anything more to earn God's love, and neither can we fall so short that God would love us less.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because God is faithful and God is merciful.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: One of the best pieces of advice I received from a mentor growing up, I used to think this way.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: If I wasn't doing well in my Christian walk, I couldn't go before God because I just thought he was so angry with me.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: And this mentor said, Every time I go for Jesus, I go before God, I picture him smiling at me with open arms saying, I'm so glad you came.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the correct picture of our Heavenly Father.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not because of us, but because of what Jesus paid for us on the cross.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so the final takeaway here is that gospel people always approach a God who is wildly and unendingly in love with them and in love with you.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel has the power to save, but it also has the power to change our whole life.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: May the gospel always remind you to be ever impressed and in awe of our Heavenly Father's faithfulness, his mercy, and his love, whether we deserve it or not.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you that you are an unchanging God.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it seems hard to see when we look at the Old Testament and we read about your anger and your wrath, but we recognize that you were showing us what was awaiting us without Christ.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: But that your plan was always to bring Christ into the picture.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your plan was always to be faithful and to be merciful and to be loving, even when we didn't deserve it.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, I pray that we would be gospel people.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: That we would be people who show mercy to others, even when we think they don't deserve it, because we know we don't deserve anything that we have in our life that is good.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that we would be gospel people.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: In the sense that we would be so appreciative and humbled by our blessings and not think that we deserve them.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, finally, I pray that we'd be gospel people and that we would constantly and fearlessly approach your throne, knowing that there is a Father awaiting us who is just so happy that we came to be with him.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: We pray this in your name.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Go in peace.