Fear God

Morning to everyone. Welcome to the district church. Uh also, it might be a little bit loud in here. We've got some kiddos that are going to be hanging out and staying in uh service with us today, which is amazing because often times uh the the gospel is taught, but it's also caught and they're hearing a lot more than you think they're hearing, even though they might be distracting you with uh misbehavior in the roads. And that's totally fine if that happens. All right.

Um, but as I mentioned, we are a church um that treasures Jesus and helps others follow him. That's the mission of the district church. That's an unchanging mission. That's our goal. That's what we always want to do is help people treasure Jesus above anything and everything else. Because if you get that out of order and you're treasuring other things instead of Christ, miserable life.

Just absolutely miserable life. But if you treasure Christ above everything else and you rightly then steward everything else, you live with a living hope as Peter calls. You live with a rightly oriented life that is managing everything and leveraging everything for the sake and glory of God. And that is a good life. That's the good stuff. That's choosing the good portion, if you will.

And so our mission is that we treasure Jesus and we help others follow him. But that is not age restricted. It's for everybody and that's one of the main reasons why we have a little district is because we want to help our children treasure Jesus. That's the main reason why we want to see that. But the re the reality is also when you look at the scriptures as we'll be seeing today. Guess what?

You never graduate from that yourself. So we often times like to think that once I know the gospel or once I get out of little church as we call it and move into big church, well now I move on to bigger and better things. But we also have to remember that we are always children of God who have a father that we are learning from that we are being guided by. And we need everyone to make sure that they know that and understand that in order to to make sure that you're you're never on your own trying to figure this out yourself. Like there's a point in many of our lives when we get to being whether it's 18. Um at least for me it was 18 when I kind of left the house.

Uh sometimes the younger generation now is prolonging that a little bit longer. They're 25 26 finally leaving the nest. And I know that there's some parents in here that might say finally or amen to that once that happens. Um but but sometimes we think in our minds that same thing like there's a point in which we kind of leave the gospel or we leave father the god as father of our lives and now we're responsible for our own lives. We're responsible for our own walk. We're responsible for our own flourishing in society, building our own life, building our own families.

And what I want to just point us back to today is the scriptures show us is that you never move on from that. You never move on from your dependence and reliance upon God. And we need that. We need to understand that and know that. And so we're walking as a church. We're walking through the book of First Peter.

And so if you've got a Bible, I want you to go ahead and open it up. I love to hear wrestling pages as they move there. But if I see the warm glow in your face because it's on your phone, that's just as fine as well. All right. It's like a little shakina glory coming from your seat. So, open up to First Peter chapter 1.

We're going to be looking at verses 17- 21. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to read it for us. And as I read it, what I'm going to do is actually provide a little bit of commentary as I go. And so, I'm not going to just read the whole thing. I'm going to provide a little bit of commentary as I go through it and then provide the points for you at the end of it as more of an application in regards to the truth of what God is revealing to us in this passage. And so starting in verse 17, Peter instructs the Christians who are exiled, who are dispersed due to suffering and persecution.

Here's what he says to them. And if you call on him, so I'm gonna go ahead and stop there. If you call on him, that's actually a reference back to verse 16, uh, where we just see that he says, "Be holy, for I am holy." And that's actually a quote from Leviticus 11:44, where he says, "For I am the Lord your God." So, we need to know who he's talking about, who we're actually calling on in this moment. For I am the Lord your God.

Consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy for I am holy. And so the one in which we are calling on is God himself, the Lord who is holy and calling us to also be holy, which we looked at last week feels like an impossible command, right? I mean, all right, if I'm doing a comparison here, the Lord says, "I am holy." And then telling us to be holy. And as I've compared those two things, I'm not very holy in comparison to his holiness. I got a long way to go.

And so there's something that we have to do in order to work that out if he's commanding us to be holy as he is holy. And so I'm going to continue helping you figure that out today. But the first thing we need to see here is that we're calling on, and I'm going to even come back to that at the end of the message. We're calling on him as father who judges. As father who judges. So he's not your typical American sitcom dad.

This is one who's engaged. All right? He's not passive. He's not lame. He's not a deadbeat father. He's engaged.

He's intentional. He cares about the outcomes of our lives. And so he's a father who judges. He's a father who intervenes. He's a father who is steady in your life, constant in your life, working things out in your life. And we're going to see more of that here in a moment.

He's a father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds. So God shows no favoritism here. It doesn't matter if you're male or female. Doesn't matter if you're Jew or Greek, poor or rich. Doesn't matter if you're young or old. There are no shortcuts or discounts or coupons in God's economy.

He judges impartially. So, he intervenes and is intentional impartially in your lives. And we'll speak more about that here in a moment. So, if you call on the fair judge as father, then listen to this. Conduct yourselves with fear. Now, that's an imperative command.

Last week, we talked about th this kind of gospel grammar that the writers often use where there's indicatives and imperatives. The indicatives are always the truth and reality about who God is and what he's accomplished. And then the imperatives follow that. So, usually it says something like because God is or because God did this, we are this and do this. So because of who he is, we are who we are. And because of what he's done, we do what we do.

And so what he's doing here is he's providing another one of these imperatives and indicatives. Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. And here's the indicative. Knowing that you were ransomed. Knowing that you were ransomed. So knowing that you were ransomed, which is a past tense, conduct yourselves with fear, present tense.

Knowing what he's accomplished for you, you are to conduct yourself in this specific way. Knowing that you were ransomed from what? The futile ways. Now, I want to give you a bit of insight into what futile ways means. Because last week, Peter instructed us as obedient children, which again, think about this as those who call on him as father. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

This was last week's message. That former ignorance that he's calling us to not be conformed to the passions that are driving that, that former ignorance is defined best in Romans 1 where it says it this way. Paul is instructing the church. He says, "Those who are in sin have suppressed the truth about God and exchanged the truth about God for a lie. and they began worshiping creation rather than creator. So anytime you see the Bible talk about ignorance, it's people who have taken the truth about God and have rejected it and suppressed it and therefore are ignorant.

They're ignorant. And what he's saying is this produces feudal ways, futile ways. Ignorance in another way is just being dumb. It's literally being dumb. It's the biggest fumble in human history when we've taken the truth about God and we've exchanged it for a lie and chosen to then worship creation rather than creator. When I was a kid, um if I did something dumb, my dad would call me ignoramus.

He would just say, "You just be you're an ignoramus." And I thought that was like an animal at the zoo. I had no idea what that was or what it meant. But our first parents when they decided to suppress the truth about God and they trust the lies from Satan, sin entered into the world and with it came death and destruction. And so if you're ever wondering, this is more of a philosophical question. If you're ever wondering why why do bad things happen in the world, why is there evil in the world?

It's because we're ignoramises. It's because we've taken the truth about God and we've exchanged it for a lie and we've worshiped creation rather than creator and we then have ushered in death, evil, and destruction. It's because of our ignorance that the world is the way that it is right now. We broke the relationship with life and therefore the result that has been handed to us is death. It's death, sin, and evil. And the Bible tells us sin, this this calamity that has come upon us, this sin is even passed down to us from the seed of your father.

So everyone who comes from Adam's family tree, and I hate to tell you, it's everyone in this room, everyone who comes from Adam's family tree is a sinner just like their dad. Everyone. That's why Paul uses the language, you are either in Adam or you are in Christ. We are either in Adam as sinners or we are in Christ and become saints. And that's why Peter says that these futile ways were inherited from your forefathers. They were inherited from your forefathers.

Meaning you didn't have a choice in the matter. You didn't have a choice in the matter. You weren't born into wealth. You were born spiritually bankrupt. You were born sinful, separated from God. And as Romans 3:12 and 18 tells us, no one does good, not even one.

Going back to that philosophical question, why do bad things happen? Usually people attach something to it. Why do bad things happen to good people? That's an often a question that maybe an atheist might say or or a secularist might say. Why do bad things happen to good people? And the reality to that question, when you look at the scriptures and you look at what God has revealed to us, the reality is actually there are no good people.

And there's only been one time in human history when something bad happened to a good person, and it's the cross of Jesus Christ. Because he was the only good person that ever lived. He was the only perfect person. He was the only righteous person. And so why do bad things happen to good people? The better question is why does something good happen to bad people?

Why would God intervene? Why would God bring good news? And the reason why we call it good news, that's literally the definition of the gospel just means good news, is because we need to know that there's first and foremost bad news. And I'm telling you right now, this is the bad news. You have inherited the debt of your family, which is sin. When we think of inheritance, we we tend to think of uh like if you talking to a friend over coffee and you're like, I'm receiving an inheritance.

Usually the question is, man, that's awesome. How much money are your parents leaving with you? and and or it's, you know, you you watch the movies and there's some type of inheritance and your family was keeping some secret wealthy uh English estate that you just receive and you're like, "This is amazing. I had no idea." That's not the kind of inheritance the Bible's talking about. Instead, when you go and see the attorney and he reads the will to you, he says, "You've received an inheritance from your family and it's in the millions, except it happens to be a debt and now you're responsible for it and you owe it.

Not quite the inheritance you want to receive, right? But as humans, this is the inheritance that we receive. We're not born spiritually righteous and wealthy in regards to that. We are spo we are born spiritually bankrupt and in debt to God owing him death for all the sin. Like that's what we owe God. That's the wages of sin is death.

And so inheritance is also now. It's also not just later. It doesn't wait until the next generation. When my oldest son was born, I told my mom that we were going to name him Ezra. And she said, "No, actually his name is Payback. And I and it's because I was a terror of a child and and I mean I'm talking like if they bought new, you know, back in the day we used to call it China, but like if they bought new plates and cups and whatnot, I mean, I'm climbing those things and I'm just throwing them on the floor, shattering everything.

I was just a weird kid. I was I I I whatever was like do the right thing, I was like love the wrong thing. And so my mom always reminds me of this um lovingly even today. She's like, "I'm glad you turned out all right." Because we were worried for a long time. And so this idea, it was just my personality, disobedience, refusal to listen to authority.

And and and to an extent, it has been inherited into my children. They're even in the room, and I'll say it with them here. There are moments, and even grandpa talks about it as well. And so, happy baby dedication day, right? Sin is not something we become with time. It is something we are straight out of the womb.

And Paul even says in Ephesians, we are by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. So, no excuses for anyone in the room. No excuses for anyone in the room. So, follow my train of thought here. If we weren't children of God, and if there was no fear of God before our eyes, then what happened that caused us to become obedient children who conduct themselves with fear? What happened?

Because if we're honest, today we have three families who are dedicating children that they want this to be their reality, right? They want their children to grow up to be obedient children who call on God as father and conduct themselves with fear in the sight of God. Like what we're reading in this passage is the reality of what we want our children to become. And so what happened that caused us to become obedient children? Well, look back at verse 18 in First Peter. Knowing that you were ransomed.

Knowing that you were ransomed. And this then connects to the end of verse 18. Not with perishable things such as silver and gold. To be ransomed by God, to be adopted by God, to be born again, as Peter talks about at the early part of the chapter, you must be purchased by God, but not with money. You must be purchased by God, but not with money. Not with status, not with anything that you do or accomplish yourself.

Back in the early 1500s, I'm going to pick on the Catholic Church for a moment. Love our brothers and sisters. I'm going to pick on them for a second. The Catholic Church was selling indulgences. Basically, pay a little, get a lot. That was kind of the idea in terms of forgiveness.

But this is literally part of the catechism of the Catholic Church. The fact that salvation is not by faith alone, but by faith and charity in order to reach the requirements for membership in the body of Christ. I pulled that straight from the Council of of Trent, which is part of their catechism. What we're ultimately seeing here is if I donate enough money, God will forgive me. God will give me his righteousness. God will make sure that I get into heaven.

And the same thing can even be played out for family members. what we're doing here today in praying for and hoping that children get to know Jesus. I'm going to tell you this right now. Grandparents who are in the room, you can't give enough money in order for them to come to know Jesus. It's not going to happen. But you can speak the gospel into their lives.

The gospel. That's what they need. That's what they need to know. Honestly, it reminds me um of Disney's new lightning lanes that they have at their theme parks. For just $50 more on the thousand ticket you've already paid for, you can fast track your way. You can bypass all the lines, all the headaches and whatnot, and your family can get to paradise quicker.

But unfortunately, the world has created this idea that we can earn our way. we can buy our ticket. If we give enough money or we do enough good things, we'll get there. And what Peter is saying is that doesn't work. It doesn't work. You were not ransomed with anything that was earthly.

No silver, no gold, no works on your behalf. None of that except for what 19 says, "But with the precious blood of Christ, God has purchased your salvation." With the precious blood of Christ, God has purchased your your salvation. And to be fair, this isn't just a Catholic problem. Protestants, we try to buy salvation, too. We just do it with a different currency, right?

Sometimes we think just because we attend church enough or we read our Bible enough or we pray enough that God will be happy with us. And you got to remember if you're using the spiritual disciplines to try to earn your way into heaven, that's no different than than trying to use silver or gold or money. Those things are a byproduct of what he's already done for us in saving us and forgiving us and redeeming us that we now want to do those things because we know who our father is. We are now calling on our father in this way. But it's not because of anything you do. It's because of everything he does.

We only become children of God by a gracious father who ransomed us by the blood of his beloved son who became the perfect sacrifice in our place. So let's look at that for a little bit here at the end of 19. Like a lamb without blemish and spot. Look at verse 20. He was fornown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God. Did that say through you, through anything that you accomplish, anything that you do?

No, no, no. Through him, you are believers in God. who, referencing back to God the Father, raised him, Jesus, from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are not in you and what you accomplish yourselves, but in God. In God. And so, let me give you some application and view of the realities that we've just seen in this text. Number one, we need to remember who the father is.

We need to remember who the father is. That's kind of something that I even say in our household all the time when my oldest wants to uh challenge me as alpha. He says, "I think I know better. I think I know what to do in this moment." And I say, "You need to remember who the father of this household is." We need to remember who the father is.

If you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds. What Peter's doing is he's reminding believers that God is both your father and your judge. True to or uh two truths that hold together. They don't contradict one another. They hold together. As father, he's intimately personal.

He's a place of safety and a provider. As judge, he is perfectly impartial. He's a place of judgment. And he is also a disciplinary. Two truths that hold together. And I think often times we view God as one or the other, but not as both and not as equally as both.

For for people in the room who might walk through their Christianity more casual. They view him as father. They view him as the fun dad. They view him as the one who who loves us, who provided salvation for us and then gives us kind of a long leash and then eventually will reconcile all things and he'll bring us into heaven and it's going to be great. We have a great dad. And then there are those who on the other side view him more as judge and not father.

And honestly, they're the rule followers. They're the ones who are like, "We want to make sure that we do everything. I got to make sure that I am reading my Bible every day. I got to make sure that I am attending church as often as possible. I got to make sure that I am praying. I got to make sure that I'm doing all the right things because I don't want to upset the disciplinary.

I don't want to upset the judge. I don't want to be on his bad side. And we got to remember for the parents in the room, you can even pick up on glimpses of this in your own household. I love my kids, but nine times out of 10, bedtime is the time when royal rumble is announced. And at that moment, I am more judged than I am father. I'm more disciplinary than I am safe.

And therefore, sometimes they go to bed with a bit of fear instilled into them. Hey, we shouldn't do that because we don't want dad's consequences. But then at 3:00 a. m. , one of them wakes up from a bad dream. And they're not thinking about the judge with the consequences.

They're thinking about the dad who is safe. And they wake up from a bad dream and they come out of their room even though they remember me saying, "Don't you leave your room." But they end up coming into our room. And nine times out of 10, they come to my side of the bed. And it's because they're looking for the dad who is safe, a provider, a protector. They come telling me that there's something in their room that is scaring them or there was a bad dream that they have.

And I usually say, "Listen, he's in your room, not mine. Don't bring those troubles into me." We need to remember who our good father is. I want y'all to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. It's not going to be on the screen. So, you're gonna have to do some work here.

Hebrews chapter 12. I want to read a few verses with you because I want you to see this played out as father and judge. And often times things that work out in our lives that were like, God, that was a little hard. That that didn't feel as loving or easy as I would like it to be. Hebrews 12, starting in verse 5, it says this. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God's treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. So for those who are fathers who discipline their children, this is a verse for you. Keep it up. It's good work. the gentle parenting is not going to work. Just throwing that out there.

Now, there is a time to be tough and there's a time to be tender with our children. But discipline is good. Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them. That's another thing for the fathers and parents in this room. for the children who can understand this.

We're doing the best we can. We're doing what seems best in the moment. We're trying to practice the wisdom of God. We're trying to figure it out also at the same time. And I would dare say that for the adult children in the room who have their parents here, for the grandchildren, we respect you for what you've done in raising us. We thank you for what you've done.

The difficulty. I mean, again, I know my mom called my oldest payback because I was a difficult child, but I'm thankful for the discipline that my parents gave me, doing the best that they could. And so, for the grandparents in the room, the great grandparents in the room, thank you for what you've done. It's not gone unnoticed. But he, God, disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. Remember going back to the very beginning, be holy for I am holy.

How does that happen? God's going to discipline you on through the process. He's going to get you there. He's going to help you out. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. But later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

So back to first Peter verse 17, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile because you have a father who judges. You have a father who is intentional, cares about you, is working in your life 10,000 things behind the scenes that you can't see. He's disciplining you. And often times that's even going to come through the various trials that you're like praying to go away. But oftentimes through those trials, he's working something out for your sanctification, for your growth in the gospel, for you to become holy as he is holy. And so sometimes life is going to be hard and it's going to be difficult, but we need to trust that God is a good father who is bringing us through and he's working these things out for us.

Again, this isn't terror, but it's reverent awe. I again I remember moments in my childhood when I would talk back to my dad and then he would discipline me and I would learn I'm not to talk that way to him. There was a there was a reverence there through the discipline that allowed me to know who he is and who I am and the roles that we play. And there's going to be moments in our lives where God is disciplining us and it produces in us a reverence and an awe. And it's not that he's unsafe to go and approach. We're still able to come to him at 3:00 a.

m. in the morning. But we also need to know that there's moments in our lives when we're off track and we're not walking in step with the spirit that he disciplines us and it feels painful in that moment. And we need to trust that that is good for us. Again, John Piper once said this, "The sheer majesty of God, the holiness, the justice, the power, the wrath of God cannot be approached in a cavalier spirit. It cannot be approached in a cavalier spirit.

It would be insane to think we can just stroll up to the creator of the universe without trembling." Again, meditate on this for just a moment. Grace should not produce casual Christianity. It should not produce casual Christianity. You should not walk away from here today thinking nothing's different. It should not produce casual Christianity.

This is why I hate right now, this is more of a trend, like Tik Tok kind of stuff. I hate the daddy god culture in the language that's out there because it's just producing this casual like I'm viewing him as again just kind of the fun dad and it's not right. It's not good. It softens the view of God. Grace should produce serious devotion. Not that we are always serious but we are to be seriously devoted.

seriously devoted. So, this is where we kind of take stock of our lives. Do you just view Christianity as this casual thing that's kind of a check off list throughout your your your weeks, your days, whatever it looks like, or knowing that you were ransomed by him, you take it seriously and you are devoted to him. You are bending your knee to your to the lordship of Christ. Again, you don't have to turn there. This is why Hebrews 12 finishes off by saying this.

Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. What God is actually doing as a father and judge is he's not making you weaker. He's actually strengthening you as a follower of Christ. So, first we need to remember who our father is. And the second application I want you to remember is this. Remember what your salvation cost.

Remember what your salvation cost. This is verses 18 and 19. Knowing that you were ransomed. Knowing that you were ransomed. Again, a little bit of word theology here. The word ransom evokes the reality of our condition which was captivity, bondage, slavery to sin.

And then the reality of what we receive from God is freedom, liberation, purchase. But once again, notice the contrast. Not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with something infinitely greater than those things, the precious blood of Christ. Again, I I'm not one that just always disciplines my kids or just is the judge part of the thing. I do like to be sometimes the fun dad. If I buy my kids a $3 toy, I'm a little less concerned about whether or not they destroy the thing within three hours because it's a $3 toy.

But once they get to the age of driving and I buy them a $10,000 car, which by that time it be $50,000 for a used car, if I buy them a $10,000 car, I hope that they treat it with a bit more reverence. I hope they take care of it a bit more. I hope there's a bit more of dad purchased this and it was a great cost to him and therefore I need to drive this not like the $3 toy. I need to make sure that I keep it within the lines. When God purchased you, he paid the life of Jesus for your life. Peter emphasizes the value of the sacrifice by saying it's the precious blood of Christ.

Why did he pay with the blood of Jesus? Because when God set up the economy of the world, obedience to God is life. Disobedience to God is death. Therefore, when we sin, death is the payment. Death is the payment. That's why again we go back to to any type of world religion that says that accompanying your salvation needs to be any type of material possession or wealth or works.

You don't need any of those things. You just need the precious blood of Jesus applied to your account and then you're good to go. That's it. That's what he's talking about here. Therefore, when we sin, death is the payment. And so Jesus is described as a lamb without blemish or spot.

This points directly to the sacrificial system which throughout the Old Testament paid for the sins of the people. But it was temporary. It was year after year. They would come and they would offer up a sacrifice, a lamb or a goat or a dove or whatever it was. They would offer that up. They would slay it.

They would kill it. And then they would apply that bloodshed over your sins and then make sure you come back for the next year. This was the annual subscription. And Jesus shows up on the scene and says those things were just a shadow of the true substance that would come and be a sacrifice once and for all. So, I'm cancelling those subscriptions. And now you get to receive this once and for all.

A sacrifice that can cover your payment that you owe God. Again, your salvation did not cost you anything, but it cost Jesus everything. And so, the third and final application I want you to see from this passage is remember that Jesus was always the plan. Remember that Jesus was always the plan. Look at verses 20- 21. Peter then kind of zooms out to eternity.

Here he Jesus was fornown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you. That's why we celebrate Christmas. That's what that verse is talking about. What he's saying in that verse is Jesus has always existed for eternity pastes. the second person of the trinity and then he stepped out of that role and into humanity and that's why we celebrate Christmas every single year. It's the incarnate Christ coming in order to live the life and this is why he didn't show up as a 30-year-old and just jump on the cross.

He shows up as a baby in a manger because once again you are born in sin. And this is why we believe in the immaculate conception in the sense that Jesus was born without an earthly father but however you want to work it out uploaded to Mary and she was then born and the seed of Adam did not pass to Christ. And so Christ is now born perfect without inheriting the seed of Adam. He's born perfect, lives the perfect life that you could not live. So he is earning righteousness for you because you can't do it. Even if you could, you're like, "No, no, no.

I mean, I remember having a conversation with with a friend one time who said, I think we can get to a day in which we go without sinning." And I said, "Let's let's let's talk about that. What if you do? What are you going to do with the trail that's been behind you for the last 70 years? You still got to account for that. There's still a judge who's going to look at all your deeds.

We're never going to quite arrive there. And so, we need someone who never sinned in order to then give us his righteousness. But in order for us to receive his righteousness, a sinner cannot be righteous. So he has to take our sin and place it on himself. And so the righteous one becomes the sinful one and the sinful one becomes the righteous one. This is 2 Corinthians 5:21.

He who knew no sin became sin so that you and I might become the righteousness of God. The great exchange. The great exchange. And so salvation was not cheap. We need to always remember that Jesus was the plan. This is why we celebrate Christmas.

Look at verse 21. Who through him, that's Jesus. We are believers in God who raised him from the dead. That's why we celebrate Easter. So, two verses back toback. You get Christmas and you get Easter.

And you get the narrative story of what God has been doing and accomplishing for you. for you and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. Again, the cross was not God's plan B. He didn't create humans and then was like somewhere we reprogrammed this the wrong way and it didn't work out the way we intended. Jesus was already set to be the sacrifice before you and I were created. God knew what he knew and knew what he was doing when he created us.

And if you're trying to play like philosophical, you know, hoops and whatnot in your mind right now of, well, how could he create something that then becomes evil and so forth, look, the Bible tells us what we need to know. It doesn't tell us always what we want to know. And we need to know that it's okay to walk into heaven with questions still. That's okay. But he tells us what we need to know. And what we need to know is that before the foundation of the world, Jesus said, "We're going to create this.

We're going to do this. And I'm going to go and offer a sacrifice in their place because they're going to break everything that we started. And once they break it, I'm going to come in and fix it and redeem them. And it's going to be horrible, but it's going to be glorious. Jesus was always the plan so that your hope and your faith would be in him and therefore through Christ we would be believers in God knowing God ransomed you. Does that fill your soul with hope right now?

Like right now just think about think about yourself. Think about your life knowing what he has done for you that you don't have to do for yourself. What is that doing for you right now in your mind and in your heart? Meditate on this. This isn't just church we attend on Sunday. This isn't just baby dedication.

This is reality. And we need to do something with this truth because if we don't do something with the truth, we're continuing to do the dumb thing that Adam and Eve were doing, which was exchanging the truth of God for a lie and worshiping creation instead of creator. If we walk away from this place and you're not calling on him as father, and you're running back into just building your career and building your family and building whatever you want to do and trying to be as successful as possible, all you're doing is continuing to be an ignoramus. and you're exchanging the truth about God for a lie. And right now, the word of God is telling you, stop. Repent of that.

Repent means just a change of mind. I don't want to do things that way. I want to do things his way. He seems a lot wiser than I am. And so conduct yourselves with fear, knowing that costly grace produces reverence. Remember, your father is holy.

He's safe for those who are in Christ. He's a terror for those who are in Adam. We need to know that your salvation was costly because Jesus paid it all. Your redemption was planned before time. It's always been Jesus. It was never meant to be you trying to work it out yourself.

And so I want to close by reading a passage from Hebrews and then offering you a call to respond to this going back to Hebrews. Cheap grace produces reckless living but costly grace produces reverent lives. Just listen to this. You don't have to turn there. Just listen to this. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh.

And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there's no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment. That's why I say, don't let this produce in you some type of just casual Christianity when you leave from this place. Don't go on sinning.

We need to see what he has accomplished for us and then rightly respond with reverence and fear and conduct ourselves in such a way that is walking in step with the spirit of God. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward. We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and persevere. That's what we want. When we hear a message like this, we don't walk away from this place unchanged. And that's even for the faithful believers who are seriously devoted today.

It is a constant every single day remembering who your father is, remembering the cost of your salvation, and remembering that Jesus was always the plan, not you. that changes things about you. And so, going back to where we started, if you call on him as father, I'm mindful enough right now in this moment to know that not everyone here is today doing that. Not everyone in this room right now is calling on him as father. But today is an opportunity for you to start. It's an opportunity for you to start because you've heard the message.

You've heard the good news. You've heard that Jesus lived the life you could not live. So guess what? I'm actually trying to lighten your load. I'm trying to provide you some rest right now. You don't have to give a certain amount of money in order to earn this.

You don't have to do a certain amount of good works in order to make sure that when you get there, the judge looks at your scales and he says, "Good job. You were 51% good and 49% bad." That's not how he judges. He judges whether or not you saw and heard about Jesus Christ. And did you receive him by faith or did you reject him? Because if you receive him by faith, he reunites you with the father and we begin calling on him as father.

We begin calling on him as father. Romans 10:9 through13, if you're wondering in this moment right now, I want to call on him as father. It's stirring up in my heart. It's stirring up in my mind. I want to make sure that when I leave from this place, I'm taking seriously the devotion to Jesus. That I want to bend my knee to him.

that I want to follow him and that I don't want to continue as an ignoramus. I don't want to continue walking in feudal ways. I don't want to be ignorant any longer. I want to know the truth and I want to submit to it. I want to receive the gospel. I want to receive the good news of what he's accomplished for me.

Romans 10 makes it very clear what you are to do, if that's what you want to call it. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You will be saved. Guess what? I don't have to pass the plates for you to do that. I don't have to give you a list of things right now to go and do and accomplish in order for God to say, "Good job.

Well done. You're welcome." Right now, all you got to do in your mind and in your heart, confess that you're a sinner and that you're in need of a savior and that Jesus is a pretty good one to start with and then believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead because he went to the cross and paid for your sins. And because the wrath of God, remember, you were children by nature. You were children of wrath. He took your wrath on the cross.

So that no longer are you children of wrath, but now you are his children. Children of God, by whom we get to now cry out, "Aba, Father." Do you believe in your heart that he raised Jesus from the dead? Then you will be saved. For the the scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there's no distinction between Jew and Greek.

For the same Lord is the Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." will be saved. Let's bow our heads together this morning. Father, we thank you for your word. And right now, I'm mindful with the amount of people in this room that there's a good chance that we came that there might be some people in this room who came into this room not calling on you as father.

maybe even thinking that they did. But something dawned on them in this moment this morning as the word of God was preached and as we truly looked at Jesus and what he did in his life, what he did in his death, what he did in the resurrection, that that payment for sin somehow counts for my life. and right now feel within their heart, within their mind that they want to submit their lives to Jesus. That they want to believe in the work that he accomplished and not their own works. And from this moment on, they want to start following Jesus for the rest of their life, calling on him so that they can be saved. And if that's you right now in this room, I just want you to lift your hand.

If that's you in this room right now, I just want you to lift your hand up. Amen. Amen. Father, we thank you so much for your salvation that you give to us. We don't deserve it, but we gladly receive it. We love you, Jesus.

It's in your name we pray. Amen. Would you please stand with me? We finish every service coming to the Lord's table in communion. And the reason why we do that is because we want to remember that Jesus was always the plan. We want to remember what Jesus accomplished for us.

And the reason that I wanted to offer that moment for someone to call on the name of the Lord and be saved was because this table is for those who call on the name of the Lord to be saved. who call on the father, who are children of God. And so this isn't just there there's nothing miraculous or miracle about the juice and the bread. This doesn't save you. But what we remember that it symbolizes is what does that Jesus broke his body and he shed his blood. And so even for our brother who who just for today put his faith and trust into Jesus, you are invited to come to this table and partake and remember what Christ has done for you and for all of us who have placed their trust in Jesus.

We invite you to come down and grab these elements, bring them back to your seat, and at the end of the song, we will all partake together, remembering what Jesus has done for us. So, I invite you to come down, grab the elements, and bring them back to your seats.