Matthew 24, 42.
Watch therefore, for you do not know what
hour your Lord is coming.
But know this, that if the master of
the house had known what hour the thief
would come, he would have watched and not
allowed his house to be broken into.
Therefore you also be ready, for the Son
of Man is coming at an hour you
do not expect.
So that's the context we've been talking about.
That the Son of Man, Jesus, is coming
at an hour that we do not expect.
Now, there's two groups here that he's talking
about.
The faithful servant and the unfaithful servant.
And I always remind people that even if
they are denying God, they don't think there's
a God, they are still His servant.
They are still God's servant.
And they don't like when you bring that
up because they are still under His sovereign
control.
If He wants them to turn right and
run into somebody, they will turn right and
turn into somebody.
God, all of us on this planet are
His servants.
So when we look at these parables, we
understand that some are wise and some are
foolish.
And let me encourage you to be on
the side of the wise steward.
And what that looks like, let me explain
what that looks like.
Now we can read where we're at.
Matthew 24, 45-51.
Who then is a faithful and wise servant?
Who his master made ruler over his household
to give them food in due season?
Blessed is that servant whom his master, when
he comes, will find so doing.
Assuredly, I say to you, that he will
make him ruler over all of his goods.
So stop here for a minute.
What Jesus is saying is, a wise steward
stewards what God has given them.
So God gives this person his household, and
the wise steward stewards it according to the
heart of God.
He's a wise steward, and because of that,
he gets more, and he gets more, and
he gets more.
And this is that wonderful biblical principle we
all know.
Faithful in the little things, and God will
make you ruler over much.
And He tests us in those small things.
Those challenges that you think are a challenge,
and you're not being very patient right now,
and I can't believe I'm in this spot.
Don't give up.
Look up.
Because God will use those little things, and
those things that seem menial, to prepare you
for greater things, and larger ministries.
And not that larger ministries are necessarily God
ordained.
God calls us sometimes to the very small
things, and the minimal.
And I think God hides His people among
the poultry things.
Oswald Chambers said that no monuments are erected.
No monuments are erected.
Not because they're not important, but because they're
in places where they cannot be seen.
Now, I was thinking about this.
I think I mentioned this a few years
ago.
But as I was reading over this, I
thought of 16 years ago.
I was actually patrolling the parking lot here,
and cleaning those toilets.
And ushering, and being in the back.
And I loved it, because that's what God,
but I had no idea that His plan
was, you know, to finally have me come
up and speak, or lead the church.
But starting in these things, but that's where
the character is developed.
How do you develop humility if you're never
tested?
Are you just going to wake up and
be a humble person?
Until they say, can you go clean those
restrooms?
And the kid threw up in the room
B22, and we have to take out the
trash.
It's humbling, and that's how God humbles us.
So don't, if you're in the day of
small beginnings, don't give up.
If you're in that, Lord, how is this
happening?
I can't believe this is happening.
What's going on?
Well, there's always a purpose when God is
involved.
Then we'll keep reading.
But if that evil servant says in his
heart, my master is delaying his coming, and
begins to beat his fellow servants, and to
eat and drink with the drunkards, the master
of that servant will come on a day
when he is not looking for him, and
an hour that he is not aware of,
and will cut him in two, and appoint
him as portion with the hypocrites.
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Now, I want to just throw this in
here because I think it's important.
I've heard Bible teachers over the years talking
about this parable, and the one with the
wise virgins, and the foolish virgins, and the
talents.
Some invested their talents wisely, the other didn't.
Hopefully, we'll get to that.
As looking at these groups as both of
them being believers, but one is not wise,
and the other is foolish, but they're both
believers.
But I can't find that in this text.
When Jesus talks about weeping and gnashing of
teeth, and being served his portion with the
hypocrites, that tells me he's talking about believers
and unbelievers, and the faithful and wise steward.
And you can tell if a steward is
wise and truly following God by how they
treat people.
This is the first point I want to
pull from this.
A faithful servant treats others like God would.
So a faithful servant is going to treat
others like God would.
So you can tell somebody's heart by how
they treat others.
They'll treat the privileged, and the rich, and
the ones with influence very nicely.
But those who are just a bother, they'll
just push to the side.
And that's one reason I would encourage you
to get involved in our hospital homes, where
we go and we visit and we minister
to those people, who cannot offer anything in
return, other than you being filled with the
Spirit when you leave there, because you minister
to others.
Also, the second point, which I already explained,
is faithful over little things first.
God will make you ruler over much later.
And it's just in those faithful things.
And then the third point.
Sometimes we don't understand, you know, just gloss
over Scripture, but it says to eat and
drink with the drunkards.
Eating and drinking, in this here, it's a
lifestyle, in my opinion.
What he's talking about is this fellow, this
wicked servant, this unfaithful servant, is going to
be mean to people, treat them harshly, and
also he's going to be drinking and partying
with this group.
And this parallels today.
You know the people, next week it's Sonoma
County for wine testing, and then it's Vegas
for this, and then it's San Diego for
this, and then it's all the Irish pubs
in Hermosa Beach for this, and then they're
planning their next…
It's just lifestyle.
Now, is there anything wrong with Hermosa Beach?
No.
Sonoma County?
No.
But you know what I'm talking about.
They're planning their next party.
They're planning what to do.
It's always about drinking and eating in this
party lifestyle that is distant from God.
That's what this person does.
The unfaithful servant is mean to people, and
then they party with the drunkards and the
gluttons, and their whole life is a life
of party.
And you see it on Facebook, as do
I.
Right?
Everybody wants you to know when they're at
this place, and this river, and this party,
and this gathering, and this.
Their whole life, nothing about God except for
a sign of the fish.
You know?
So you know, oh, there must be a
Christian.
But if you look at their whole lifestyle,
I mean, Facebook speaks volumes.
I mean, I don't know if it's a
blessing or a curse, because it shows where
really our heart is at.
Now, treating others.
I want to just cross-reference something.
Matthew 25, 44.
Then they also answered Him, saying, Lord, when
did we see you hungry or thirsty, or
a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not minister to you?
Then Jesus will answer them, saying, Assuredly, I
say to you, inasmuch as you did not
do it to one of the least of
these, you did not do it to Me.
And these will go away into everlasting punishment,
but the righteous into eternal life.
So I skipped ahead in Matthew into chapter
25 to cross-reference this point where Jesus
is saying that you gave water to Me,
you visited Me in prison, and came to
Me when I was sick.
But those who didn't visit Him in prison,
didn't see Him when He was sick, didn't
give Him a cup of water, are cast
out into eternal punishment.
So they said, well, when did we see
you, Jesus, in need?
We didn't see you ever in need.
And He said, in that you did it
to the least of these, you did it
to Me.
So if you can ever find somebody, the
least of these, again, not trying to tie
the hospital homes into the sermon, but it
fits perfectly.
If you can go there and visit those
sick, if you can go to those who
are in prison, or those who are shut
up in their homes, and you go and
you help those, the least of these, you're
doing it, actually, to Christ.
That's what He parallels here.
You're doing it to whatever, how you treat
them is the true reflection of your heart.
So be very careful in this area.
And the only reason I think this is
important is because many people come to church
throughout the United States.
I don't know what the numbers are.
It's pretty high.
But how many of those are truly a
faithful servant?
And how many of those are an unfaithful
servant?
And the fruit is the test.
The acid test is the fruit.
Now, we all have challenges in this area.
I don't want to discourage you that you're
not going to feel like visiting the hospital
homes every single day and just filled with
joy and wanting to help certain people.
But you have to fight the tendency of
the flesh to take you down the wrong
road.
That's the battle between the flesh and the
spirit.
The spirit says, let's go.
The flesh says, no, too tired.
My feet hurt.
My back's sore.
I've got a lot to do today.
And the flesh will start to make those
excuses.
So a faithful servant will treat others the
way God wants them to be treated.
A faithful servant truly loves his master.
Jesus said earlier, why do you call me
Lord, Lord, and yet you do not do
the things that I command?
Another mark of a faithful servant is they
do what Jesus told them to do.
It's funny that people call him Lord, but
they don't do what he wants them to
do.
And that's why Jesus said, why do you
call me Lord?
And Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, this and that.
You don't do the things that I command
you to do.
Because see, it's interesting.
Jesus has a dual position in our life.
He saves us.
So he's my Savior.
But then because he's my Savior, he's my
Lord, and I'll follow what he does and
what he says.
And if we throw another title in there,
how about judge?
He's my Savior.
He's my Lord.
And he will someday judge me.
And you've heard me quote A.W. Tozer
on this quite often, that I love him
because he's my Savior.
But I fear him because he is my
judge.
And that's a healthy respect.
And I don't know if it's me or
just the books I read sometimes, but I
just wonder where that awe and respect has
went in the church.
I mean, we used to walk in the
church, and you would head bowed low in
just the reverence for God.
Now it's almost like we're chewing gum and
throwing our stuff everywhere, and it's like we're
at home.
Just plop our feet up on the couch.
And I'm not trying to belittle those who
do that or tank tops and hats.
I'm not talking about that necessarily.
I'm talking about a condition of the heart.
Having that reverence for God.
Coming into church, saying this is the house
of God.
We're going to praise God.
We're going to worship God.
And the presence of God, the manifest presence
of God can be tangible from time to
time.
And that's why I think a lot of
people have never experienced that.
They've never experienced that tangible presence of God.
And I can't quite put my finger on
it, but you know when it's there, and
you know when it's not.
The difference is a cemetery or a live
and vibrant worship service.
And a faithful servant will see him as
Savior, as Lord, and as Judge.
And they'll live their life accordingly.
A faithful servant is not a hypocrite.
Now looking at this example we just read,
one had outer reform, but not inward change.
That was the difference.
They were both servants.
And they were both over the household.
And you couldn't tell a difference until the
master left.
You ever see that at home?
When you're at home and you leave?
You know, do a little, here's a little
trick I learned.
I tell my kids I'm going to be
back in about five or ten minutes, and
I'll just go around the back door.
And you see, when the dad's gone, what'll
happen?
And the same thing here.
Both were servants.
Both were over his household.
When the master left, the wise servant, the
faithful servant, really, the faithful servant governed and
he led those people, and he watched that
home as if God was there.
But the evil servant, the wicked servant, his
hypocrisy came out.
And hypocrisy will eventually come out.
I don't care how you color it, it
will come out.
Hypocrisy comes out in many forms.
I'll give you a perfect example of, well,
let me check, make sure he's not here.
It's not bad.
He wouldn't mind if I said this, but
I was at the baseball field, and actually
my team's playing tonight.
I've got to miss the game.
I was at the field, and this person
kind of came to the side, and, you
know, hey, I need to get back to
church, one of your service times, and, you
know, kind of, like, make sure nobody's looking,
you know, and I told him, and then
as he came over by our dugout, he
was a third base coach, and the coaches
were there, and all the parents, and I
said, okay, I'll see you Sunday, right?
And he's like, you know, like, he didn't
even hear me.
Like, don't say that around people, but it
shows you where the heart is, because I
wanted to shout from the rooftops.
I wanted to preach to the crowd.
I wanted to invite everybody to church, but
why, no, don't tell them, because hypocrisy.
It'll come out, and as I, oh, man.
This, where the direction of our nation is
going is so alarming that, if this doesn't
cause us to get on our knees and
pray, nothing else will.
You'll see in the news, I think it
was yesterday in Texas, a man walked into
the changing room in Ross, into the women's
changing room in Ross, a man, and the
manager said, there's nothing wrong with it, because
he's identifying himself as a woman today.
Levi's hasn't shaven in a few days.
He's a man in the woman's changing area,
and the manager's protecting him, so I told
my wife, if next time you go to
Ross or Target, guess who's coming with you,
and if they try that, your husband might
be arrested.
Like, hey, I'm loving and I'm gracious, but
you're not going in there with my daughter.
Oh, no, I have to.
No, you're not.
Call the police, because where do you draw
that line?
See, so as society keeps pushing in, and
I don't know how many of you are
aware of how much our Supreme Court justices
play a role on the legality and where
the nation is going in regards to laws
and hate speech, and if you get the
wrong people in there, you're going to see
a culture shift like anything, like what we're
seeing now, it'll be on a much larger
scale, and then the hypocrisy will come out
there, too, because people will deny Jesus.
I'm not really into that stuff.
My mom kind of raised me in that,
but I'm not really one of those guys,
so the hypocrisy's going to come out there,
because only true believers are going to stand
before a court of law or somebody and
say, I can't deny him.
I can't deny my Lord and Savior.
And as I read books, you can read
Fox's Book of Martyrs, and you read early
Christians were killed, they would actually preach.
They would preach as the fires were being
lit by their feet.
That's not a hypocrite.
A hypocrite is untimely, wrong person, I will
worship Allah, I will worship Buddha, I will
worship Hare Krishna, I will deny there's a
God, whatever you want me to be, I'll
pray to Mary, I'll pray to St. Peter,
just get me out.
You've got the wrong guy.
I'm not going to die for this.
So see how hypocrisy will eventually come out.
It'll eventually come out.
And I talk to Christians a lot, too,
like you do, and the whole conversation is
everything but God.
Everything.
Now, you know, you talk about God every
single minute.
But you can tell where their heart's at,
and the hypocrisy will eventually come out.
So that's a very clear example here.
A faithful servant is not a hypocrite, and
hypocrisy is always linked with unbelief and foolishness.
An unprofitable servant is a hypocrite.
Now, I've clarified this many times before, but
I feel the need to clarify it again.
Someone struggling in their walk is not a
hypocrite.
Okay, so maybe some of you need to
hear that.
If you're falling in a certain area, and
besetting sin is tackling you, and you're like,
God, I want to please you, but I
can't beat this, and would you help me?
Your heart's in a good spot, because you're
wanting, I'm not validating the sin, I'm saying
to get out of that destructive lifestyle, but
a hypocrite really puts on a mask, like
an actor.
You know, really, Brad Pitt doesn't act that
way at home, right?
And these actors don't really, they're acting, they're
playing a role.
That's what a hypocrite is.
Is he still popular?
I don't know.
I don't know who to use nowadays.
But, The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, right?
Yeah.
He's, well, he's talking about his faith too,
so I won't even touch that.
But people are struggling, struggling in their sin,
and that's not a hypocrite.
And he might be struggling in something, so
I don't know, it's probably steroids in my
opinion, but, you know, that's, that's the struggle.
And so be careful, because people say, I'm
not going to church, there's too many hypocrites
there.
Well, there's a few, but most of us
are struggling.
People are struggling in their walk, because it's
a daily walk.
Sometimes I wish that I'd have just a
month of just spirit-filled, you know, just
a month, I'll just fill up the spirit,
but the flesh wants, every morning, every, it
starts right when I, right when I wake
up, the flesh, go back to sleep.
No, I have to go study.
No, go back to sleep, you can do
that later.
And you have the struggle.
And then you get up, and man, Vente
coffee and a donut sure sounds good, that's
not healthy.
You need to, you know, green tea and
oat bran, you know, in the spirit, and
the flesh is spirit.
And then it's, you need to go walk
and exercise.
No, it doesn't feel good, and the flesh
isn't the spirit.
And then you need to go spend time
with your wife and your kids, and go
pray with, why is it so hard to
pray with our family?
I mean, the flesh just, no, don't go
do that.
Family devotionals, everything is such a challenge, and
the flesh is, every time, the flesh is
fighting me the whole day.
It just wants to say, leave me alone.
Would you just leave me alone, give me
a break.
But that's the difference, there's a struggle.
That just validates that your commitment is sincere.
So don't ever get discouraged because there's a
struggle.
The struggle validates your faith.
It shows that, okay, I'm alive in Christ,
and the flesh hates it.
So hypocrisy is different.
Hypocrisy is just fooling people.
They're just fooling people.
They look the same, they dress the same,
they go to church, but the heart's not
the same.
So actually, I might talk about this for
just a minute.
I'm going to quote J.C. Ryle, Bill
Sunday, and J.I. Packard.
They talk about genuine repentance, the difference between
a hypocrite and somebody who's genuinely walking with
the Lord.
J.C. Ryle said this, True repentance is
no light matter.
It's a thorough change of heart about sin,
a change showing itself in godly sorrow and
humiliation, in heartfelt confession before the throne of
grace, in a complete breaking off from our
sinful habits, and a hatred of sin.
Billy Sunday, who preached about a hundred years
ago, he was actually before Billy Graham, I
don't know how far before Billy Graham, but
he was one of the famous evangelists.
He said, Unless you have made a complete
surrender and are doing God's will, it will
avail you nothing.
That's repentance.
And J.I. Packard said, Repentance is not
moaning and remorse, but turning and change.
So repentance is not moaning and remorse, but
it's turning and change.
How do I know this?
Because everybody's remorseful.
Everybody is moaning and complaining.
When they get caught, when the police pull
you over, and you're moaning and you're remorseful,
are you genuinely repentant?
Well, let's see how you live tomorrow.
That'll be the true test.
Because somebody who's genuinely repentant will want to
reconcile those that they've injured, those that they've
hurt.
So that's another difference between the wise and
faithful servant.
Now let's look at Matthew 25, 26.
We're going to cross-reference this as well.
But his Lord answered and said to him,
You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that
I reap where I have not sown, and
gathered where I have not scattered.
So you ought to have deposited my money
with bankers, and at my coming I would
have received back my own with interest.
Therefore take the talent from him, and give
it to him who has ten talents.
For to everyone who has, more will be
given, and he will have abundance.
But from him who does not have, even
what he has will be taken away.
So again, here's that principle I just talked
about.
If somebody has a lot of things, and
they're stewarding God's, I think God gives us
little things first to see how we're stewarded.
He'll let you, you're over $1,000, that's
his example, $1,000 in this ministry, well
you do well, now you'll be over $10
,000 in a bigger ministry, or a job,
or a career.
He starts with the small things, and he's
saying, if you are faithful, if a steward,
the wise steward, who has a lot of
things, he's actually going to get more.
And the unfaithful steward, everything he has is
going to be taken away from him, because
of his unfaithfulness.
And the next sentence, says something that we
don't want to hear, but we need to
hear.
And cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
When was the last time you heard that
on TV?
Any time soon?
Maybe, if you get Chuck Swindoll, or Charles
Stanley, or some of the guys who've been
on there a while, and they're solid.
But we don't want to talk about this
unprofitable servant, is going to be thrown into
eternal damnation, where there's weeping and gnashing of
teeth.
And this weeping and gnashing of teeth thing,
it's not new, it's actually, they call it,
theologians call it, the law of first mention.
So if you go back and you look,
at when something was first mentioned, I believe
it was Matthew 8, when we talked about
that probably a year ago, when we were
back in Matthew 8.
This idea of the sons will be cast
out.
The sons, the children of God will be
cast out.
And all these Gentiles, will come into the
kingdom of God.
And the Jews will say, let us in.
And God will say, no, I don't know
you.
And they'll be cast out into eternal punishment,
where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth.
That's what this context is.
He's telling them, you don't know me.
And the whole context of Matthew 8, is
that Centurion was coming to Jesus, and he
was saying, my servant is dying.
Come with me.
And Jesus, actually Jesus was going to go
with him, and he said, you don't need
to go, just speak the word.
Just speak it, and my servant will be
healed.
And Jesus says, I have not seen great
faith, like this in all of Israel.
But even the sons, meaning the children of
Israel will be cast out, and people like
this will be let into the kingdom of
God, because they have faith.
They have genuine faith.
So weeping and gnashing of teeth, we don't
even need, you can pretty much picture what
that is, right?
You've ever, I mean, I can't imagine getting
somewhere, and you realize this is eternity.
This has eternal consequences.
This is eternity.
People go into outer darkness, because they reject
God and his will.
One breath, one heartbeat, is what separates some
people from eternal damnation.
Eternity away from God.
One heartbeat.
That's it, one heartbeat.
One breath away.
I like what Jonathan Edwards wrote, in his
famous sermon from 1741, Sinners in the Hands
of an Angry God.
He said, Unbelievers are always exposed to sudden
and unexpected destruction.
As he that walks in slippery places is
at every moment liable to fall, he can't
foresee one moment whether he shall stand or
fall.
And when he does fall, he falls at
once without warning.
And that's the imagery here.
This one moment, one breath.
I'm going to skip now to chapter 25
again.
Verse 1.
The parable of the wise and foolish virgins.
Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened
to ten virgins who took their lamps and
went out to meet the bridegroom.
Now five of them were wise, and five
were foolish.
So here we have this wise and foolish
parallel again.
Those who were foolish took their lamps and
took no oil with them.
But the wise took oil in their vessels
with their lamps.
But while the bridegroom was delayed, remember what
we talked about at the beginning of the
message, that Jesus is coming in an hour
when they are not prepared.
So when the bridegroom is delayed, they all
slumbered and slept.
And at midnight a cry was heard, Behold,
the bridegroom is coming.
Go out to meet him.
Then all those virgins arose, trimmed their lamps,
and the foolish said to the wise, Give
us some of your oil, for our lamps
are going out.
But the wise answered saying, No, lest there
should not be enough for us and you.
But go rather to those who sell, and
buy for yourself.
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom
came, and those who were ready went with
him to the wedding, and the door was
shut.
And afterwards the other virgins came, saying, Lord,
open to us.
But he answered and said, Assuredly, I say
to you, I don't know you.
Watch therefore, for you neither know the day
nor the hour where the Son of Man
is coming.
I think Jesus is really trying to get
this point across, don't you?
Since we started in Matthew 24, ending on
25, be ready, be prepared.
And he's telling the foolish virgins, I don't
know you.
That doesn't sound like a believer to me.
That doesn't sound like two separate groups of
believers.
That sounds like somebody who doesn't know the
Lord.
And I should throw this in there too.
A wise servant is one who, when he
hears Jesus' saying, he does it.
And Jesus said, I will liken him to
a man who built his house on the
rock, who heard my word and did it.
Now, look at here.
The foolish virgins had a form of godliness.
They looked the same, right?
They had the appearance of being the bride.
They were part of the group.
They dressed the part.
They looked the part.
But they were not ready.
They were not ready.
Same thing can happen here.
I won't do it.
Don't worry.
But what about if I start in the
back of this room?
Back seat in the back corner.
Now I've got everybody looking now.
Are you ready?
Yes, I'm ready.
And we went down the list.
And they said, Yeah, I'm ready.
How are you ready?
Well, I'm here, aren't I?
I go to church.
I'm a good person.
No, you're not ready, based on that alone.
You're not ready.
The next person, Okay, I repent.
I believe in Jesus.
You're ready.
Next person, Are you ready?
Yes, I've been a Baptist all my life.
No, that doesn't necessarily matter.
Are you ready to meet Jesus?
I think so.
I mean, So if you, same thing applies
in church.
The 10, this is a wonderful parallel, which
going, what's going on in the church as
well.
That many people are not ready.
They're not prepared.
Look at verse eight, nine again.
And the foolish said to the wise, give
us some of your oil for our lamps
are going out.
Give us some of your oil.
Here's what the foolish wanted.
They wanted the oil from the wise.
So they had enough oil.
And guess what would have happened?
Nobody, but would have been ready for the
bridegroom.
So the wise virgin said no.
And this reminded me of something.
The foolish are always trying to tempt the
wise.
The foolish servants are always going to be
trying to tempt you.
They say things like this.
Come on, live a little.
You've been cooped up all week.
You live a boring life.
Come on, get out.
Experience life.
You live.
That's what they come on.
They're tempting the foolish.
The foolish servants will tempt you to come
away.
Try to get you away from God.
With tempting thought, their temptation doesn't say, doesn't
say they don't say, let's go do this.
And you're going to crash your car.
You're going to regret everything.
They, they tempt you with the pleasantries, but
not the consequences.
So be careful of the evil and wicked
servants, because they will draw you away from
God.
And then again, verse 11 and 12.
Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord,
Lord opened us.
But he answered and said, as surely I
say to you, I do not know you.
Now I've talked about this before, so I
won't belabor the point, but can you imagine
standing before Jesus thinking he knows you?
And he says, I don't know you.
I don't know you, but Jesus, I know
you.
You lived 2000 years ago.
You died on a cross for me, right?
I think you did it for me.
I go to church.
You built, you have a religion after you.
I, don't you know me?
And he'll say, I don't know you.
I don't know you.
It's interesting.
That word, no, it's Oida in the Greek.
O-I-D-A.
And it means to know something experientially and
relationally.
That's what, no, it's not just knowledge.
It's not knowledge.
That's where a lot of people are not
clear.
Don't you, just because you know about Jesus
does not matter.
I'm guessing here that everybody in hell knows
about Jesus.
just speculating.
Everybody knows about him, but this is a
no, a no, they know him relationally and
experientially.
Because if you have a relation with him,
you will experience him.
And that's another concern I have.
And I don't want to, I'm not talking
about a church that looks like a circus
environment, but I am talking about Christians and
churches that experience God.
Because when you experience God, everything changes.
Everything changes.
I've said before, you're not in a hurry
to leave.
Worship is dynamic.
It's heart penetrating.
Why, why can't we experience God?
Look how the people experience the Dodgers.
I mean, whoever they played recently, and they
lost, and everybody's upset, and they're experiencing, and
emotions are charged, and literally games.
Parents are, wow.
I just, I said, guys, it's just a
little league.
They're not going to the pros.
Just calm down here.
Calm down.
And so much emotion experience, but why don't
we have that for God?
Because many people are dead to the things
of God.
It costs you something to have a powerful
experience with God.
It costs you denying the flesh.
I don't know.
Somebody in the Bible said, deny yourself, pick
up your cross, and follow me.
As you do, that's what that is.
It's dying to the world.
You're dying to the things of the world,
the carnal nature.
You're picking up your cross.
Following Christ means doing what he says to
do.
And as a result of that, I now
have a relationship with him.
I oida.
I know him experientially and relationally.
And I've gave the example before.
If I were to meet, some of you
remember this too.
If I were to meet Billy Graham, I
could, I know a lot about Billy Graham.
Read three of his books, autobiography.
I know when he gave his heart to
the Lord, and his crusades.
And I'll say, oh, I know all about
you.
And what will he say to me?
Young man, I don't know you.
I don't know you.
Wait a minute.
How do you, I know you, yeah, but
I don't know you.
You see how that works?
And there's so many people, they hear about
Jesus.
They'll come, they'll go, oh, he, Jesus, yeah.
He lived 2,000 years ago.
That's why we come to church.
the pastor says he died for me.
So I guess he died for me.
That doesn't matter.
None of that matters if you don't embrace
the gracious gift of God via repentance and
faith and believe.
It's when I say it, it's not me
saying it, it's you receiving it.
Here's how it works.
We had a lady come to know the
Lord in Leona Valley Sunday, and it happens
quite often.
People finally say, I don't have what you're
talking about.
I know about Jesus, but I don't have
what you're talking about.
So to receive it, what the person does
is they repent.
They believe, Jesus, you are the son of
God.
Jesus, you save those who call on your
name.
You are God, and you are Lord, and
I give my life to you, and as
a result, I'm going to start obeying you.
That person is saved.
The person who says, I know about him,
but I'm gonna live just like the world,
and I don't care anything about God or
the things of God, is probably an unfaithful
servant.
And, you know, I'll just, I wasn't sure
if I was gonna bring this up or
not, but one of the hardest parts, I
don't know if it's hard, I've gotten used
to it now, but in case you don't
know, not everybody likes these kind of messages,
right?
Okay, you guys know that.
So the emails we get, or people I'll
run into, and oh, you go, that guy's
hardcore.
He tells you, you know, like he says
hard things, and people, they don't come sometimes.
They're offended.
They don't like it, but when I go
to bed at night, I have to do
business with God, and I have to look,
and this is what his word says.
His word says this is what happens to
a foolish person.
His word says that you can know God
intellectually, but not with your heart.
You can know about him, but not being
right.
The word is clear.
So what kind of preacher am I if
I fail to mention all of these key
truths?
I mean, a doctor will lose his license
for malpractice.
Why shouldn't a pastor lose their license for
mal-spiritual practice?
Killing people because they're not sharing the truth.
What's the difference?
I don't understand.
Now, of course I do because they're not
ready to receive it.
The person ready to receive it is crying,
and they're ready to receive it.
The person who's not ready to receive it
is, I hope this guy hurries up.
I'm never coming back here again.
Or I like, I get the emails, oh,
my aunt or my mom sent me my
video, sent me your video thinking it would
change me.
You are the most arrogant person I've ever
heard.
You think you have all the truth.
I'm like, okay, well, obviously you needed to
hear what I was saying, and now you're
upset.
You're convicted.
Why?
Because I told them the truth.
And that's what you're also seeing in the
political arena is what, where we're going is
the more truth you speak, the more you'll
be silenced because they don't want that truth
because the truth will set people free.
I'm fully convinced of this.
If I could get pastors on TV, pastors
with, and there are James McDonald, David Jeremiah,
John MacArthur, there's a lot of wonderful pastors,
but the vast majority that are reaching the
next, the younger generation, the culture, they're avoiding
these difficult things.
They're avoiding these difficult truths.
They're not talking about heaven and hell or
heaven.
Weeping and gnashing of teeth, we're going to
edit that right out.
Why?
Jesus said it.
And if Jesus said it, I must proclaim
it.
We have to point people to the right
source of truth.
And I hear sometimes people say, you know,
whether it's an AA meeting or Al-Anon
or recovery groups or whatever, you name it.
You've heard this before.
They identify, they'll say, well, my higher power
or God is, I understand him as if.
No, you have to bow your knee to
the one true and living God.
Recognize, Jesus Christ is Lord, the son of
God, the one true and living God.
He's not a higher power.
He's not the man upstairs.
We have to identify who he is.
But people say all the time in recovery,
well, Shane, I don't know the God you
know and God is, God, I'm sober.
So yeah, you're sober, but you're not saved.
And here's why.
Because biblical principles, biblical principles are so powerful
that if even unbelievers follow them, they will
prosper in certain degrees.
For example, the 12 steps in AA, anybody
know the secret behind that?
Probably 1940s or 50s, I think the two
guys who came up with it, it was
all Christian based because they had an experience
with God.
God changed them.
First step, admit that you are helpless and
you need God.
It goes down.
Make inventory of yourself.
It goes all the way down and do
right to others, repent, be transparent.
I'm like, oh, well, every single one of
those is a biblical principle.
And everything was built on who God was.
And of course, in the 60s, 70s, 80s,
let's get more secular.
Let's get more, let's get some of those,
you know, higher power God as you understand
him.
Let's, let's, let's do all that now instead.
And then that's why groups like Celebrate Recovery
in different areas brought more of a biblically
based model in there.
But biblical principles are so powerful that you
can get sober, but not saved unless you
look to the one true and living God.
And I'll close with just a few, a
few things.
Hosea said, he was a prophet.
He said, there is no knowledge of God
in the land.
It's, it's a famous text.
Charles Spurgeon spoke about it many times.
Many preachers have.
There's no knowledge of God in the land.
And what's interesting is he's writing to the
children of God.
It'd be like me saying, there's no knowledge
of God in this room.
Are you kidding me, Shane?
I mean this was, these are the children
of Israel.
They just, they were delivered through the promised
land.
Moses took them through.
Now Hosea is speaking to wayward people.
Why is he saying this?
Because there's no faithfulness, there's no relationship, and
there's no obedience.
Of course there's knowledge of God in the
land.
They knew who God was, they just didn't
obey him.
They no longer followed him.
They were no longer faithful.
So he said, there's no knowledge of God
in the land because true knowledge of God
produces a faithful servant.
So I'll just end with a few questions.
Do you know him relationally?
Do you know him experientially?
Do you know him passionately?
And do you know him as both Savior
and Lord?
Because a faithful servant has made him both
Lord and Savior.
He's not a divided Savior.
And sometimes I get in debates with people,
it's called lordship salvation.
I don't have time to talk about it.
But they think you can have Jesus as
Savior and not yet make him your Lord.
And I haven't quite figured that one out
yet.
Really what they're saying is they want heaven
but they want to live like hell.
Told you I'm going to call it straight.
So I just encourage you, do you know
him experientially?
What do you mean?
Have you experienced God?
Have you experienced him?
Have you had that filling of the Spirit
and that joy and that peace?
Because those of you who have, you're either
going, Amen, and I want it again.
And you've lost your first love and you're
returning.
But some are saying, I have no clue.
It's a dead, they have a dead formalism.
And it might be because you've never, ever
surrendered your heart and your life to God.
And said, I want to be that wise
steward.