Join us as we examine a man found in Mark 9, who exclaimed, "I believe; help my unbelief!"
The Remnant Church
Once and For All - Todd Blanton
Father, thank you so much for this day. I thank you for your goodness and your mercy. Thank you for the truth of your word. I thank you that when everything feels unsteady, God, if we just keep our eyes on you, that will always be in the right place, that the storms will seem smaller, the earthquakes of life will seem less scary. That you are the rock, God. You told us that if we build our life. And so I just pray right now for everyone in this room. God, there are no coincidences in this. There are people today that are here. Even if they think the reason is something else, you have a purpose for them. And I pray you'd make that evident to them, and their hearts would be softened and open. God, I pray for hard hearts to be softened, I heard hearts to be healed, and I'm wondering hearts to be found. And I just pray, God, that you would help me to preach your word, and preach it well, and I won't get in the way, and I'll give you all the glory. In Jesus Christ, name me pray, amen. How you guys doing today? (congregation groans) Great, well, hey. My name's Todd, I'm the pastor here. Well, one of them, if it is your first time, we're not in the middle of a sermon. I'm so used to, I mean, serious. I'm so used to saying that. So I don't need to say it. So there's this section in the story in the Bible. That happened, right? And the gospel of Mark is where I read it this week again. And in this, right? Who's heard the word transfiguration, right? Oh, yeah, gotcha, right? So in this, it's one of the few times Jesus is with, probably his three closest friends. We only kind of gather that because they're the ones he asked to come with him. And he goes to this mountain to kind of pray. And while he's there for a second, it seems like from what we can gather that they saw him the way he really was. Moses shows up and the prophet, they're just sitting here and there. They start to build a temple. They're like, we gotta build some kind of worship. Just seeing him in the way he really was made them want to build an altar in that moment. And after that moment passes, we kind of, it's kind of an abrupt change. Some stuff happens. Jesus walks and Jesus and his friends come back and they see that his other disciples are in a crowd of people arguing with them. Right after this happens and it's interesting. So keep in mind, they just saw him in his glory, right? Now the rest of the disciples, whether they were there or not, we know they saw numerous miracles. So they show up and they're arguing with these people and what we find out, Jesus says, what's going on? And they said, hey, we tried to cast a demon out of this kid, like he told us to and it's not working. And they're getting mad, right? The people around are like, yeah, what are you doing here? So he said, take me to the boy and we'll pick up there. This is Mark chapter nine, starting in verse 20. So they brought him to him, capital H means Jesus. When the spirit saw him, it immediately convulsed the boy. He fell to the ground and rolled around foaming at the mouth. How long has this been happening to him? Jesus asked the father. From childhood, he said, and many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us, then Jesus said to him, if you can, everything is possible to the one who believes. And immediately the father of the boy cried out, I do believe, help my unbelief. I do believe, help my unbelief now. Jesus does, he says, come out, the boy is healed. It actually looks like he's dead. I'd like that Mark put that in there. He just falls in the ground. Jesus grabs him by the hand, picks him up. The disciples come to him and they say, I'm just finishing the story for you. Hey, why couldn't we cast this out? And people get caught up in this verse all the time. And I think they make the focus the wrong thing because they're like, oh, they held something out of it. And it says, depending on your version, it says, Jesus said, this can only come out through prayer and fasting, it's irrelevant. Because the point is, is that through him, in faith, right? But I don't wanna focus on that. I wanna focus on this father of the boy, credit. I do believe, help my unbelief. One of the versions says, I do believe, please help me to have more belief. I believe, help my unbelief. I don't know about you, but I feel like that guy a lot. I believe, but I don't. I believe until the big scary thing happens, or I believe until the circumstance in my life, or I believe until I mess up, right? And I believe until I sin and then maybe I have hope for a second, but someone says, no, you are what you've done. And then guess where that hope goes, right out the window. My belief goes right out the window. It doesn't really, right? 'Cause I still believe, but it doesn't feel that way. Everything that I built my life on, all my faith, all the goodness of God, and God's gonna work things out for your good, all those things start to get shaky and fall away. Man, I remember being saved, and I've told this story many times when I became saved much, 17, 16, 17, it's a count a year, so a few years ago, three, I'm just kidding. And I'm not, I always, I've thought about this years later. You know what I didn't think about when I came out of the church that night, that I never went to again, by the way, never went to the church again, I went to an event. When I walked out, I didn't think about, man, I've done all these bad things. I didn't think about, I wonder if I'll do bad things tomorrow. I didn't think about whether or not anyone, what was even gonna happen, all I remember thinking about was Jesus. I remember believing, you know, my friend, Jack, who's, I don't think he's here today, but he was there, right, and he asked me, this burned in my memory, it was how you feel. I said, I feel lighter. I didn't grow up in church, so some of you, you jaded people, right? You people that are like, "Long, offshore time." No, I did, that's what you sound like. That's, I felt lighter. But then life comes. In a world that hasn't, and then I realize, you know, over the years, you're expected to live life and have this faith in a world that doesn't have faith. And in a world, you know, you become redeemed and you're saved and you're excited and you're ready to live a new life and you expect other people to be that way too, and you expect, I don't know, man, you expect good. But you realize this world isn't redeemed yet. This life isn't redeemed yet. I'm not fully sanctified yet. I'm not fixed yet. The outside hasn't caught up with the inside that he washed clean. You know, hurt and hate and loneliness and brokenness and sin, both sin done to me, but more often than not for me, it's the sin I do. Because when you first get saved, it doesn't matter what you did, you just know you, he grabbed you, but then you start to, you know, people start to say, did he really grab you? Because if he really grabbed you, would you have done this? Would you do this? You start to doubt. Betrayal, so-called Christians hated me more than anyone outside the church ever did. Anxiety, nah, some of you do me stop right there. Anxiety, confusion, rough relationships, all the circumstances of life that make us wonder, and I don't think I'm alone here, where are you, God? I believe in those moments. If you ask me, if I believe, I believe, but I doubt. And I want to trust and we want to trust and you want to trust, but we don't. It's like we need his help, and this is so weird. It's like I believe in you, but I need your help to even keep believing. And here's where he gets kind of messy. This is where we got to be honest. Where do I turn to when life's hardest first? Do I turn to him or do I turn to the bottle? Whether it's a pill bottle or alcohol bottle or whether it's that little thing you line on fire makes you feel good for a little bit or a warm body. It's not to condemn. But that's a clue that our belief starts to fade because if we believed, right? If we believed, why would we turn to all these things that somehow deep inside of us we know isn't going to last, but we're so desperate that I'll take what? Three hours of drunkenness for relief. What does that say about the state of my faith, of your faith, of our faith? It's like, man, we believe, I believe, but how can he, how can this, and then that starts creeping. If I need his help to believe, did I ever really believe? You know? Why would he help me if I need his help, even unbelief? I mean, even to believe. And then guess what happens? Our feelings start to take over. And this world loves your feelings. Did you know that? That's how I offend most of you. By the way, it's usually Jesus. I offend your feelings. He said something harshly, which means what he said wasn't true. He said something loud, so it must not be loving. I do it too. I get it. You don't talk to me that way, right? The world wants you to worship your feelings. You know why? Because your feelings, I'm going to give you a little clue in life. Your feelings, you're not going to like this. Your feelings don't dictate reality. Isn't that crazy? That's sarcasm. Because the world tells you it does. I'm sad. That's real. You upset me, and I'm mad at you, so you must be evil. Not necessarily true. I deserve this because I want it. Not true. Our feelings start to take over and the world feeds it. And here's the crazy thing. The louder our feelings get, sometimes and oftentimes, the quieter our belief gets. And that's what Christianity has become. Most of Christianity, popular mainstream Christianity has become, I want to appeal to your feelings all the time. I always said, you know, if you want to have a mega church, it's easy. You probably don't think I can do it because I still grumpy looking. No, I could. I tell you that everything you want is godly. I tell you that everything you are is good. I make you smile, right? I tell you, if you give me money, God will give you money. I tell you that what you feel in the moment is the truth. And that God wants more than anything in this world for you to be happy. That's why I love the truth of God's Word. God does not promise you happiness. He promises you joy. Now, that can sound like, if you're like me, I imagine young me or me now, sitting in the crowd going, "Okay, pal, semantics." There's a fancy way to say it, but it's not. You ready? It clicked, man. Joy is just happiness that isn't dependent on circumstances. So the reason that kind of Christianity, it's not Christianity, but I'm calling that, ends up causing so many, it's so dangerous. Well, Todd, why is it so wrong to make everybody feel happy? Well, because happiness doesn't last and you've put your faith, right? If I am an elderly woman and the guy on TV says, "If you give me all your money, God's going to bless you, sow the seed, and you're going to be happy, healthy, and wise, and I give every dime, and then it doesn't, oh my goodness, I must not have given enough." The subtle lie in those moments is what? Your prosperity, your happiness, your safety, your security, it's always been dependent on you. It doesn't matter how you wrap it up, it's still the same lie that's been since the garden. Who's God and who's not? And it's powerless. And then we end up broken in his shambles and the enemy laughs. It doesn't matter what you do, the world has started to say, "Real Christians, once you, you know, if they say anything that upsets you, even if I didn't write it." And over the last week, probably came from the last time I preached a couple of weeks ago, it's brought to my attention that someone in Facebook tagged this church and said they hate homosexuals. Some of you went and said that to people. Why? Because I told you what the Bible says, never said anything about hate. What if I said it's okay to murder people? You can get mad at me, let's start, right? If I said maybe back off of that one a little bit, if I say, "Hey, it's all right, run around and commit adultery, all you want." Well, he hates adulterers. If he says you shouldn't commit adultery, no, it's, I've never made a, do you see how the world lies to you? I have, anyone has ever been in this church longer than three times or a year would know, be on a shadow of a doubt. If you know me, I don't hate anybody like that. I struggle with hate and arrogant people, but okay, I'm being real. I'm a simple person, but I certainly don't hate someone that like that. And I'm not saying that those feelings aren't real, and I'm not saying anything. All I'm telling you is what it says. And in fact, I would tell you that someone who hates that person based on their sin hasn't looked in the mirror to see the sin they struggle with. But the world says he must hate them. And so what does the world do? Well, the world creates a Christ that feeds them what they want. But that's not Christ. And there's, if that's not Christ, then he didn't die for their sins. And if he didn't die for their sins and wasn't raised, then they weren't reborn and remade. And if they weren't rebated and reborn, then they weren't filled with the Holy Spirit. If they weren't filled with the Holy Spirit, then they're powerless. And if they're powerless, guess what? This is life. I'm not bringing all that up because it's hard to believe in the God of the Bible. It's hard to hold our belief. And I feel like that father so many times, right? I mean, you know he wasn't plain Jesus. That was a desperate moment. He said, I believe, help me believe more. And so then it just becomes this thing that we start to say, well, maybe I'm not doing it right. Maybe I'm not worshiping right, following right. Maybe I haven't given enough. Maybe I've done this and then it just kind of so confusing. You ever feel that way? Because it's just me. You just me? I can walk off the stage. Got breed of shaker head. That means something, right? And then we can start to doubt because our belief's shaken that he's still for us. You know the crazy beautiful thing about that is that Jesus, he said to Jesus, help my unbelief. I don't know about you, but you're ready to know how some of you are and I'm including me. You're not going to like this. You would say, you would say, I shouldn't have to prove myself to you. Gotcha. Right? I shouldn't have to prove myself to you. I would probably, right? Because we're snotting him. What does Jesus do? He just does it. Because he always responds to that kind of honesty. If you're in a season where you're struggling to believe, the answer isn't to ignore it. It's not to pretend it's not there because that gets exhausting. And it's not to cover your unbelief with another false God, whether it's a bottle or any of those things. It's to trust in God. Because trust isn't about your feelings. Trust is about what? It's about God help my unbelief. Because here's the truth. I'm going to already know, but it's crazy. There have been Christians, there are people in this room who have been Christians. I don't know them in a live. And some of them I've asked and they say, well, I don't pray to God about that. He's got more important things to do. Let that sink in. I'm not mocking it. How heartbreaking. You want to faith that's alive. You want it to be real. You want it to be more than a Sunday morning faith, right? That song they sang you money. You want it? You think it was easy? If it's easy, why does Paul tell us throughout the Bible, right? We see Jesus tells us, Jesus said, you've got to carry your cross. He said, anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back isn't fit to follow me. He says, if you want to follow me, you're going to have to die to self. He's warning us. Paul says, I have to run the race. I have to beat my body in this submission because there's a part of us that's always going to wrestle with that. And the fact that there's a part of us that wrestles with that doesn't mean that we don't believe. In fact, it proves what we believe, which is, Lord forgive me. I need you. I want to read a big section of Scripture. Big Robin. First time I said your name. So you smiled. All right. It's better than half of you. Right? We're going to read a big section of Scripture and I'll wrap it together. But I want you to think about this. I want you to think about how amazing of a God we have that he could. He doesn't tell us like, you know what, follow me. Everything's going to be awesome all the time. Because we would go, well, we got lied to you. Let's see if this sticks around. I'll get really loud. I woke you all up immediately. I literally saw 15 heads go. Listen, don't worry. The series fast food is coming. I promise you, that's what it's called. Fast food. Get it. You get your little nibble, 15, 20 minutes. I can't wait because you're going to be complaining. I already know you're going to be. I can't wait. I already told him fast food. Didn't I say that? It's coming. AJ, say something. Did I say it? You'll talk any other time. Anyway, turn to the book of Romans. I actually shared this. It's funny. Hannah didn't know this. Hannah and I talked this week. We kind of went over some of this section. You know, when I first became saved and I started, you know, I had a couple years of like, this is awesome. Which I, you know, I think God probably knew I could, I don't know if I could handle it otherwise. All right. I wasn't in church. That's sad. But my faith was awesome. And that's not indicative that I was being obedient. I wasn't. But I didn't know. I just had the New Testament. I was reading in. No one, no one discipled me. But then I hit a part in my life where God began to remove the idols in my life. That he began to move the things that I'd built my life on. And life got hard. And in that time I had it versus in almost every verse I put him in my car, like all the corny things that you now think are corny as a believer that actually work in that funny. When we're new believers, we do these things, we get older. I don't need that. I don't need the encouragement of Scripture in my car. That's, that's what young Christians do. Now that's what wise people do. I had a lot of verses from chapter eight. Now the interesting thing is what makes eight so incredible is the end of chapter seven in which Paul, the apostle Paul who is an apostle, he's done miraculous things. Most of the New Testament he wrote, right? A lot of it anyway. And he says, I'm a sinner. I sin and I have this thing inside of me that fights against what God wants me to do. And I fail and I don't understand why I do what I don't want to do and don't do what I want to do. And then he says, thank you, Lord, for Jesus Christ who saved me, right? From my wretched self, right? From that part of me. And then that can sound kind of discouraging. And then we're going to pick a rare. Romans eight, one, therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Why is there no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus? Listen, I already know you're Christianized. I just want to come out there and just strip your Christianized off you because you can't hear this. I understand this verse. It's what you sound like when you think you know everything, right? Listen to this again. There is now some condemnation, a little bit for those in Christ Jesus. There's none. What's condemnation? Condemnation is the shame. Condemnation says, you're not good enough for God. You've went too far. I don't want anything to do with you. You are unsavable. You are unsalvageable. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Well, what if my pastor said that? What if my, you know, what if my grandma said that? What if my husband and wife said that? What if there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus? It doesn't matter. Does it say if you sin a certain way? No. Does it say if you mess up? Does it say if the world seems like it's condemned you? Are you condemned in Christ? The answer is no. There is no condemnation of Christ. Now listen, you're already zoned out. I'll try to make it fast. Fast food's coming. It's not here yet. This is like slower food. All right. The bottom line is I'm going to tell you why. And it's something so important. I know you're like, Todd, how does this stick together? Jill, I'll try to make connect at the end. It may or may not happen. Drop down to verse 14. This is why there's no condemnation in Christ. For all those led by God's spirit are God's sons. Well, how do we know who's led by God's spirit? Let me give you a news flash. If you are saved in that moment when you trade over your sin and you come and say, Lord forgive me, accept what you've done. This incredible transaction happens. God takes all of your garbage, past, present, and future. And in return gives you the benefit of his spotless perfect life and then seals that promise, the Bible says, with the Holy Spirit fills you up. Well, that sounds kind of hokey. It's real. Supernatural things happen. You say you believe a dead man was raised from the dead, right? You're sealed with it. Guess what? You're sealed with it right now. Raise your hand if you believe in Christ. I'm talking to you then. Now, the first thing you're thinking right now is all the bad things you did this week, right? Yeah, I know you. How do I know? Because I'm you. That's not true. He doesn't see that when he looks at you. Why? Because you are what? You have his spirit. So you were led by God's spirit or God's sons. Does it say if you always perfectly follow it? No, you're led by it. Then he says, for you did not receive a, but you can't try to get ahead of me, guys. This is where you get tricked. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery. Listen to this. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you receive the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children. And if children also heirs, heirs of God and coheirs in Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. This is deep. You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back in fear. What is, what kind of spirit makes you fear whether God is still with you, whether God has left you, whether you still believe. A spirit of slavery. The kind of fear where it says in the Bible that, you know, the beginning of wisdom is a fear of God. That's not I'm crawling in the corner because I'm afraid he's going to beat me. It's the awe of God. It's the kind of awe you feel when you stand at the Grand Canyon. You've never been there, but I imagine it's like this. Huge, right? On the ocean, when you look at the stars, the feeling of like I am small and that is big, the kind of fear that wants you to run away from God, that wants you to hide from God is never from God. That's a weird thing. Now, some of you people are going, I don't know about that. Yes, it is true. If you are one of God's, you don't need to be afraid anymore. How do I know that? It just said it. You don't have the fear of slavery anymore. Why? Because you're his child. So why is there no condemnation? Because your condemnation, your blessing in the sense of, or no, you're standing, excuse me, is no longer based on your actions. It's based on your status. What does that mean? I love my daughter if you hear a lot, okay? I have a little baby. She's sick today. It's a good example. I've said this story before, she just did it again this week. Sometimes she says this, no hit daddy. Why do you think she says that? Because she's hit daddy. She's punched me in my eye. No reason, right? Like, then there's times. So when she does that, guess what's funny or happens? She doesn't no longer become my daughter. When I sit my daughter in timeout, which for her, she's very sensitive, takes literally five seconds and she's sort of like, I'm sorry. When I sit her in timeout in that moment, does she stop being my daughter? I know you think you're too smart. Well, be dumb for a minute. Does she stop becoming my daughter? No. Now, some of you in the room, you don't have a great example of what parenthood looks like. I get it, but you get this concept because it's been woven into your being. She doesn't stop being my daughter when she punches me. She doesn't stop being my daughter when I discipline her. Because in that moment, the reason I'm doing that is never to hurt her. I love her so much. I would never, ever, ever do that to her. I do it so that she doesn't hurt herself or others later. She's sick today. She vomited. She's not as loving to me. Did you know that? I came home and look, hey, boo, boo, boo, boo. You know, I can, and I do talk like that to her, okay? I love you so much. And she's like, get out of my face. She didn't say that. But today, she didn't want anything to do with me. Guess what? She didn't stop being my daughter. She's sick, not her fault. She didn't stop being my daughter. She didn't dance for me. Didn't stop being my daughter. She didn't do her cute little thing. She does. Didn't stop being my daughter. She is my daughter and my love for her is secure, not because of what she does or doesn't do because of who she is to me. And who am I more importantly to her? Because here's the beautiful thing. I might choke up. I never thought I got this. If she grows up and hates me, I'll never hate her. How do you know that Todd? Trust me, I know. I know me and I ain't going to be frustrated, but I'll never hate her. Because her standing isn't dependent on her treatment of me sometimes. It isn't dependent on her mistakes. It isn't dependent on her sickness. It isn't dependent on our circumstances. It's dependent on our relationship. And our relationship is secure and she can't break it, even though it's time she's trying to work. She could run away to China. Guess what? You stole my daughter. And so Paul tells us here, he says that's why we got to connect things. We got to get these Christian earmuffs off. I know this chapter like the back of my hand. If you did, you wouldn't feel condemned. Right? So he says you're condemned. And the reason I skipped the rest is not because it's not important. There's just a lot of theology in there that I got to explain it to you. And I just explained it to you. Okay? If you did receive a spirit of slavery, instead you received the spirit of adoption by whom we crowd Abba Father. I said this for Abba's a very intimate term. It's not just Father, it's daddy. The spirit himself testifies together our spirit that we've got children. And if we're children, also heirs, heirs of God and cores of Christ. Now listen, this is where it gets weird. If indeed we suffer with him. So that would mean glorified with him. If this world, which the Bible tells us in the gospel of John, all the men in line heart, we talked about this. If this world, they told us in the beginning, right? Of the gospel of John, it says, here is the testimony. The light has come into the world that's Christ and the darkness hated the light because the light reveals Christ reveals our flaws. See, there's only two options when you come face to face with Christ. You can hate him or you can seek forgiveness and restoration with him. It's about people hate us. So guess what? The Bible says you are the light of the world in that spirit. So guess how they're going to feel towards you sometimes. They're going to hate you. You're going to suffer in this life sometimes. He's suffered. Now that can get scary, but that's not the point of this. The point of it is sometimes our suffering is proof of who we're with. One of my biggest wounds, I'm going to go back to my daughter, and I've said this if you're close to me. There are people that don't like me. Some of you don't. You all laughed when I said I talk loud and aggressive. You're like, yeah, that's him, right? My biggest fear, one of my biggest fears in life, and I'm being very, very sure it's parrothed you, is that you are going to dislike my daughter because you dislike me. That you are going to treat my daughter poorly or someone in this community. Hope I don't hear about it. Treats my daughter poorly because of how they view me, because her name is my name. That's a real wound of mine, a real fear, right? Especially when you preach God's word because sometimes I mean, listen, I make enough mistakes on my own and then I got to add their anger at God on top of it, right? That's a big fear. Well, guess what? It could happen. There might be people that are like, don't interact with her. That doesn't mean that that's her fault. It doesn't mean she's not valuable. It doesn't mean it just means, right? That's going to happen. In fact, there could be pride in that. And I hope someday she is. That's my dad, right? He messed up, but he stood for truth. And that's the same thing. Sometimes we're going to suffer in this life because, and that's why there's a beautiful part that will come later, like the world is waiting. We know what's messed up and it's waiting to be restored and renewed. The Bible calls us the first fruits. It's saying God's restoration plan on this earth, he's going to fix everything and make it the way it was and eat it again. Do you know that's the promise? The promise is not we float around in a circle and go to God all the time. It's that he recreates heaven and earth meet again. And we live in the proverbial garden with him again in perfect relationship. And guess what? I'm probably going to play some football still, right? And you might crochet and we're going to have a good time, right? And I might learn how to crochet because I'll have plenty of time to do it, right? That's what life's going to be like. But not yet. And because of that, this dark world that has enemies that hate him are going to come with us and he's saying suffering is going to come whether you know him or not. The question is, will your suffering have purpose or will it not? Let's see. What do I mean by that? You're going to find out in a minute because he says it right here. God can use our suffering and he does. It's a crazy thing. God always uses our suffering for a purpose. Isn't that wild? That doesn't mean he makes it happen. That's a crazy thing. Sometimes, you know, people say to me, I've had good friends in this room saying to me, Todd, how do you not get mad at him? And I always say, well, one, 90% of the time it's my own sinful mistakes that have led to this situation. I've done something wrong. But other times I go, it's not his fault. We live in this crazy world that rejects him and they're going to hurt people. That's not on him. Can you imagine how hard life would be without him? Let's go on. Drop down to 18. So those of you in the room right now, you're suffering, that doesn't mean that you should walk away that he's like, go over you or that, oh, gosh, you know, my beliefs, shaky, no, it just might be a sign you're with him. Drop down to verse 18. I just told you about suffering, right? For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. I used to say that to myself when over and over and the horse times your life. Some of you need to hear this. The suffering you're going through right now is not even a drop in the bucket to the glory that he's going to show you and reveal in you. That's a fact. How do I know? It's a promise right here. For the glory that's ice to cling to that. And sometimes, you know, listen, everybody goes, well, that's because we die and go to heaven. That's true. But there's also a verse in Scripture that says, what? I will see the goodness of the Lord, right, in the land of the living. We see goodness every day. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing, it ain't even worth comparing. But the glory is going to be real to us. For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed. All of creation can't wait for the day when you are everything you were meant to be. Isn't that incredible? When you were kings and queens, image bearers walking on this earth reflecting the glory of God the way we were supposed to without all this junk that's been holding us back. Isn't that beautiful? The trees are like, I can't wait. I cannot wait for Jason to be the man I know he is. Isn't that wow? He don't like when I say his name. He didn't allow talk to this guy. So why is God? For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly because of him who subjected it. It's worthy in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay. So it's trapped into decay into the glorious freedom of God's children. Let me put this in words. So the enemy, he appeals to us, we sinned. The enemy now has subjected this world to decay because he knows he's not going to win so he's going to destroy everything, make it ugly, take everyone with him, okay? And in the midst of that, this is a wild verse. See, you guys already know you glossed to this. That's why you need to listen. And he says, creation is groaning. It knows what it was and it wants to be, right? The symbolism of like, oh, I'm tired of living in this world where there's death and everything's fallen apart, right? We live in a world of decay. It grows and then dies. And then what does this say? This is beautiful. The creation will also, the creation looks at you as the proof that God is going to redeem this fallen world. Get it now? You don't get it. You're the first fruits that all creation can look at and say, there's the promise of God. Look what he did to them. He's coming back and he's going to fix it all. Am I losing you? What do you think, Tim? I think I'm losing him. He's like, so, so, see Tim doesn't believe in you, me either. Wake up. Here we go. Tim does this. Do you get it, Tim? Maybe I'm just preaching to you today. You with me? All right. Tim loves talking publicly. Anyway, not only that. Listen, we know that all creation is growing together, but not only that, but we are cells who have the spirit as the first fruits. We also grow within ourselves eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. You ever have those moments where you go, ah, I know that something better is coming. And even on the happiest days, you're kind of like, I'm kind of missing something. That's not a bad thing. That means the best that this world has to offer is what? Drop in the bucket to what's to come. Sometimes that's our, that's, that's proof. Not only that, but we, now on this, sorry, jumped for 24. Now on this hope, we were saved, but hope, this is, I'm about to quit because I can already tell no one's going to appreciate this like me and Hannah did. They're going to appreciate this, Hannah. I can already tell. I look out and this is what I see. All right. This is so good. Now on this hope, we were saved. What's the hope? The hope of what's to come. He's going to finish what he started. The promise is sealed inside of you. I had you raise your hand. You said you're a Christian. Guess what? He made a promise to you. He already started and he's going to finish it. This isn't the end. He's going to restore everything. Right. Your presence sufferings aren't worth compared to the glory that's coming to you. That's not just when you die. Life's hard. Listen. Now in this hope, we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope because who hopes for what he sees? Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. Listen, hope, it's not hope if you see it. I don't hope the ground's here. Man, I hope the ground's here. No. Sometimes it's like, listen, we're not going to get to see it all the time, but you know the feeling when the Christmas presents, when you're a kid, for those of us that believe in Santa, the rest of you, I don't know how I'm just kidding. I always like to poke Juju, especially. She's so passionate about this. When I came downstairs for me and I saw presents wrapped up because my parents were pretty cool in this, like I could see both, but they probably knew we would open them. They put them under that night and I come down and I see that. Guess what? I'm so excited. Like from four, I'm up from four till like as soon as I can wake them up. Guess what I'm feeling that whole time? Hope. I hope I get this thing that I'm with you. I hope that this is coming. I hope that I got this gift to give you. That's a good feeling, yeah? If it wasn't a good feeling, we wouldn't wrap presents. We just chuck them under the tree and trash bags, right? You guys do that. Well, anyway, they still are excited. Anyway, the point is wrapped up, right? Hope's a good feeling and it's so cool because God through Paul here is saying, hey, that hope, I know you don't always see it, but rest in that hope, that feeling you have of something better coming. We wait for it with patience. I cannot wait till 8 a.m., right? In the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness because we do not know what we should what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes with us in inexpressible groanings. Wordy again. You ever feel like coming back to like, Paul's trying to encourage here. I know life can get hard. You can feel far away. Your belief starts getting shaken. Sometimes you go, God, I want to believe, I want to pray. I don't even know what to pray for. It's the intention. Can you even sit there and trust and believe that even when I don't know what to say, the Holy Spirit in you will speak for you even when you don't have the words? Now, you might go, what's the point of that? The point of that, how much must God love you? Even when it feels like you don't have the words to say in the silence, He's still there. He still knows what you need. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. It says, Christ is at the right hand. You know one of the phrases it calls Christ? He is interceding for us as our high priest. Christ Himself is going, James is one of the good ones. He's mine. We know that, here's another one of my verses, 828, listen to this. I just told you guys, we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God who are called according to His purpose. For those He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those He predestined, He also called and those He called, He also justified and those He justified, He also glorified. What does that mean? All things work out for the good of those who love God who are called according to His purpose. There is nothing in this earth that can be used for your evil that He will not use for His good. Now some of you can say, I don't get it. People that are sick in the hospital, how can that be good? I don't know, but it's good and it will be used for His good. This one of the hardest, deaths one of the hardest things and it's something I wrestle with too. But I say this often for a believer. We see a believer who suffers and then passes away. You know what's crazy? They are the blessed one. I'm serious. I know that doesn't seem right to us because on this side we're like, I don't want that because it's unknown. But they're not sitting around going, I am miserable. God, this wasn't good for me. Right? That is good. He works out all things. Even death has lost its steam. Get it now? God works out all things. The circumstance you're in now that's making you doubt. Maybe it's their hate. Maybe it's even, God can even take your sinful mistakes and use it for your good. You know, when I started this church and helped start this church, you know, chosen by grace or tagline it came later, but it was always about grace, getting people to understand that I can't get my way to God. And the constant effort to try to make myself good enough for Him is exhausting. It's never going to work because at the end of the day I've been chosen by His grace, right? And I thought I got grace. And then I messed up. Now, you're probably saying you probably messed up before. I messed up big time. And in the midst of that, I'm telling you right now, I can't see a single thing good that came out of that. And I'm not going to lie to you. I say this all the time, Todd, would you trade it? Yes. If, if, this is the important part, here's the part I can tell you the truth though. If it meant I wasn't here, if I had to go through it to understand God's grace the way I do it now, then I would. Which means He knew what was good for me. He did it. He took what I did in my mess that the world said, you're done. You're not enough. You are disqualified. You're broken. You're irredeemable. And He said, I'm going to show you the depths of my grace because you've never even understood a drop. You didn't understand, Todd, that when I called you, I knew you were going to do this. You didn't think that when I saved you, I didn't know what you were going to do. I knew. And you think that my plans for you are going to be stopped by you? You think His plans for you, His good for you going to be stopped by your stupidity? You, you don't know who you are and who He is. Even in our sin, my mistakes He used for my good because He made me have a confidence. I'm not saying it's here all the time, but I'm telling you right now, the confidence I have in His grace in the truth, I may struggle with whether He likes me, loves me, but I'm telling you right now, when it comes to the gospel, I know the gospel. And that came because I was putting a position in my life where in those moments when the whole world turns against you, you got one big choice. Do I believe everything they're saying about me or do I believe what He says about me? Because they don't always match. Maybe that's where you're at. Maybe the reason, right? You're like, well, Todd, I messed up and no one's letting me forget it. I can't forgive myself. Maybe He's trying to say, maybe I don't want you to forgive yourself yet, right? Maybe that's not the point. Maybe you ought to let me forgive you. Maybe you ought to rest in my forgiveness. Maybe you ought to trust me. Maybe you ought to have to, for a while, walk in belief of who I say you are even when everything inside of you says that's not what you are. Can you follow Him when you feel like feelings you're not good enough to? Will you still follow? Will you know that all things, what a promise. What if you believe that? Well, and then your mind's trying to think all the... What if this promise is true? Guess what? It is. It was a trick. David, this is a trick question. I like your hair, by the way. Will you know that all things work together for the good of those who love God who are called according to His purpose? I do. He's mad now. He's trying to... That's a promise that I had to cling to in moments when I felt suicidal, and I'm not supposed to... I got yelled at one time for it many times suicidal. Somebody said I glorified suicide. No, it was terrible. The glory comes in the fact that in the midst of my darkest moment, He reached in there and brought me light, that when I couldn't hold on to Him, that's what the beauty of that last song was. He says, He holds on to us. For He also knew, now let's get the rest of it. You're like, Todd, how's this all fitting together? I think you're getting it. But okay, so He says He called according to His purpose. He's going to work all these together for the good. So for those He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. At the end of the day, He's going to use those things to make you more like His Son because that was the goal from the beginning. Now, some of you are like, well, I don't want to be like Jesus. You don't want to be confident in your relationship with a Father, right? You don't want to have faith that can move a mountain. You don't want to be pure and holy and good. Then what's wrong with you? Of course, you do. And He's going to make you that. That's a promise. We say this all the time. We talk about, do you know, here's a promise in Christ, you can't avoid it. You can go willingly or He'll drag you, but you're going to be conformed, right? You're going to be made into His image. So He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, He also called. He knew it. He called you. He saved you. We're going to talk about that this summer. We got a big summer ahead. I'm telling you, we got fast food. We got first fruits. I don't know the name of that one yet, but we got some cool stuff. So you should stick around and invite your friends. If you have friends who are interested in Christianity, but they don't get it, I'm telling you right now, I don't say this a lot because I don't like selling you on stuff because I'm prideful. You should invite your friends and family. This is the chance because we're going to start at the basics because guess what? We don't know the basics half the time. Anyway, shameless plug. Those he predestined, he called, those he called, he saved. He also justified. Guess what that means, Jill? Justified means it's a legal term. It means you were declared innocent. Did you know that? That's what happens at your conversion. There's a lot of things. We're going to talk about that. We do it every few years. When you become saved in that true moment, guess what happens? You are justified. Legally, you were guilty. Remember all sin and falling short of the glory of God? Death penalty? Christ comes and says, no, he's not. No, she's not. You're justified. That's pretty cool. So now I'm not going to go to hell. Now I'm not, I'm not guilty anymore. You're not guilty anymore. So when there's words that condemn you, those are words of guilt, right? You're not guilty anymore. He says, you're justified. I love how he builds this up. And those he justified, he also glorified. He's going to finish the promise he gave you. He's going to justify you. He's going to slowly make you more like Jesus. And then he's going to glorify you by revealing you to be exactly what you are. His son or daughter. Drop down to verse 31. What then? And this is it. Listen friends, please. What then are we to say about these things? What things? All of this. The hardship and the struggle and the pain. You ready? Jocelyn, you ready? She didn't do anything bad. If I say your name, it's good, right? What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Let's build this up. If you are his son, let me, I said this earlier, I subtly threatened the whole world and it's true. If any of y'all are ever mean to my daughter at all, really, but because of me and Andy or Luke or Tim or somebody don't find me first, there's a problem. I'm telling you, I'm a weak in the area. Am I threatening you kind of? Yeah, right? Why is that? My point is because, listen, that's my girl. And if a big dog's there, right, I will kick it in the head, right? If a, you know, I've done this with like, I've done this one time, she's like, you can ask what happened when the cat bit her, the cat bit her when she was little. The cat's alive, but only because he learned it's no longer around. I didn't kill it. I would have, they're very fast, but the cat's gone. Why are you full of smiling weird? Because that's a fact. Is the cat around? Nope, the cat's not around. I don't care what the world thinks about the cat. Cat's gone. Listen, why? Because that's my daughter. And if I have the power and it don't matter, right? Sean. If you know Sean, he's a big fella, a clint. These are big men. They hurt my daughter. Okay. I don't know what's going to happen. Imagine now that the God of the universe, the creator of everything, who no one can stand against, the all-powerful Lord of Lord and kings of kings says, that's my girl. That's my boy. Yeah, circumstances are come, right? That cat might have bit her, but the cat might be biting her again because he's gone. Now imagine someone who has the power and is sobbing over everything. He's coming. So the circumstances in your life that seem so huge, the people that are saying you're not with him, the religious people that say you've gone too far, I don't, it doesn't matter the circumstances, the people that condemn you, if God is for you, who can ever stand against you? No one. He did not even spare his, oh man, this makes me tears, he did not even spare his own son but gave him up for us all. I could use that analogy a different way. I love a lot of you in a lot of ways, but this tiny little girl, I don't think I'd slapper sometimes for you. That sounds horrible. I don't mean I don't love you, but that's hard, right? And God uses terminology and parables and symbolism of like fatherhood and kids, okay, your dog, whatever you like, right? Some of you all wouldn't kick your dog from, you know how I know? Because you like will let your dog bite me and then be like, he's just excited. And I want to kill him, like no, the dog isn't just excited, he's mean, right? Yeah, so yeah, you met, I guess. That's a whole different topic. He didn't spare his own son but gave him up for us. How will he not also with him grant us everything? If he was willing to give his only son for you, how much must he love you? You think he's not coming? You think he's not going to keep his promise? You think this is a joke and a lie? No, sometimes the present can make us forget the miracles of the past. Circumstances are the present, right? That's why this is the story of Peter on the water, right? You guys all know it. Peter's doing great until what? He pays attention to all the waves and the storms. You do that too. Circumstances, they are scary. The waves were there. We're not saying that what you're going through is not huge, scary, doesn't feel condemned. Maybe you even messed up big time. I did. I'm not going to say it's going to be an easy cleanup. Here's what I am going to say, keep your eyes fixed on the author and perfect of your faith. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ and I promise you the waves will become still eventually. And the beautiful thing is in the meantime, he will strengthen your faith and trust in him. You see, when I told you the story earlier about man, he rocked my world. I never realized how much of my identity I put in whether other people thought I was godly. Isn't that crazy? Even that got stripped for me and it hurt. But it's good. Listen to this. How will he not also give you everything? He was willing to give up a son for you. What will he do for you? Who can bring an accusation against God's elect? Who can bring an accusation against you, Sidney? You think you're loud enough to accuse you? No. You think Billy Hobo down the street, Billy Christian Hobo, right? That Christian? Did you think that think of alcohol to hell with you? No. That guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Anyone that's condemning you, condemning. Listen to me. Conviction and telling you the truth is not condemnation. That's love. Stop doing that. It's not good for you. We're called to do that. Someone who says you are no longer one of God's is from Satan. Take it to the bank, camera, okay? If you say that to people, that's a fact. That's what you are. You are a servant of Satan. Whether you're Jesus or not in that moment, you're serving Satan because how do I know that? He just told me that there is no condemnation in Christ. So if you're spitting out condemnation, guess who you're working for. How will he also not grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation God's leg? God is the one who justifies. That's beautiful. Who can accuse you? God's the one that says who is right and who is it? Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more he has been raised. He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Do you think that symbolism, Jill? Do you think that's a cute story? Sometimes you probably do, but it's not. He's there right now. Isn't that funny? Let's think about that. That's real. He's interceding for you right now. Yeah, amen, right? Who can separate us? This is a promise. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction? Affliction isn't something you did. It's what happened to you. Circumstances for me scare me. They ever happen to you? Like, we live in a world where crazy, scary things can happen. I can get in my car and somebody could hit me and I didn't do anything wrong. Can affliction, what happens to you? Disease, sickness, can distress, can persecution, can famine, can nakedness, can danger, can sword as it is written. Because of you, we're being put to death all day long. We're being counted as sheep to be slaughtered. Does that reminder again? Things are going to be hard than this world for those who follow Christ, but we are what? Going to overcome. But in order to overcome, there's got to be something to overcome. You get it? Give me a walk. Thank you. Someone, listen, I'm about to walk out. Appreciate it. I get excited and when no one else is, I kind of go, it's like I do. We're being counted as sheep and slaughtered. He says, there's going to be tough things and he says, "No," and all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded in either death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, as demons, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor in any other created thing, we'll be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I know that's a lot, but I wanted to read it all because there's a picture being painted here. And I know, I'm going to say this right now, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. There's people in this room who are struggling with their belief. And because you're struggling with your belief, you start to doubt whether you believe. And then you start to go, did I believe at all, right? And then what comes in, condemnation and doubt, the very fact you ask that question, proves who you are, the spirit interceding, because guess what? People that don't really know him, they don't wonder if they really know him. I know a lot is hard. I know some of you have gone through divorce or going through it, you're on the verge of it. I know some of you are in health issues. I know some of you have messed up and you, it's not even that you're mad at your spouse. You're like, I screwed things up and it feels like I can never get over this again. Some of you have sins and shame that you hide from everyone and you're like, if I told anyone, I'm gonna, you know, they would hate me. And the sad thing is maybe they would because people are flawed, but Christ loves you. You can't, you don't have to hide it because he already knows it. And here's the crazy thing, there's not a single thing you've done that surprised him. Isn't that beautiful? When that hit me that he knew, because people used to say, you know, Todd, because you did something bad, everything you've ever done was bad. You ever have that? You ever have someone imply that? I believed it. I was like, man, I hate the ways it's like I'm building Andy up. I tear him down enough, but you probably remember that. I remember I said, did I preach a false gospel? I asked that. You remember that? Because it starts to get in your head. It starts to, you start to believe the things they're saying. I read all this to you because you need to understand whatever you're going through right now that's making you doubt. You ready for the connection, Greg? In the moments when we doubt the most, maybe what God's saying to you right now is say, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Move in this situation. I need you. And sometimes we don't because we go, I don't even know what it would look like for him to move in this situation, right? And it gets scary, doesn't it? Because you're like, what if he takes away? There is nothing he ever takes away that is not for your good. And I mean that. Or let's be taken away. Let's put it that way too. So the question that I want you to ask yourself, is that where you're at today? Is that where you've been? Is that where you've been hiding from? You don't want to admit, my belief's been wavory. My faith is kind of like, you know, one of those coals that's sort of hot, but cold and you got to poke it all the time. So like you're trying to constantly poke it. Maybe you just need God to help your unbelief. You need to invite him into that situation instead of being afraid of the punishment he's going to give you. She's going to come play some music. And while she's setting up, I want you, I mean this. Listen, I know fast food's coming. All right, Trent, it's coming. Does life seem hopeless right now for you? I think the most heartbreaking ones are the people in the room right now that I would never know that you're struggling with hopelessness. Because you're really good at putting it on for other people, but sometimes at night when you're laying in bed, you know, is when you're looking at the ceiling, you're having these moments and you're going, what is going on? You feel broken? You feel unrepairable? Does your circumstance feel unrepairable? And here's the question. Has your belief become quiet in the shadow of your circumstances? Has it? Has it gotten quiet? Are you scared? Are you worried? Are you condemned? Are you ashamed? He still loves you. You haven't surprised him. You haven't fooled him. He didn't make a mistake when he grabbed you. He knew exactly who you were. And as Christ hung on that cross, and I believe this, right? Holy God, fully man, he thought of you and said, you're worth it. You're worth it. Well, I don't think I'm worth it. See, some of you in this room struggle to believe Jesus thinks you're worth it because your view of yourself is so low. But that's the beauty of having your identity in Christ. We'll talk about this this summer. It doesn't mean pretend. It means I'm just going to trust that I'm valuable even when I don't feel valuable. He's with you once and for all because that's what he did. He took you in the midst of your sin and the Bible tells us, we're talking about this summer, more shameless plug. He transforms you. He didn't clean you up. He didn't just go like sometimes we're like, oh, I'm muddy. He dumped me in the water and I can get muddy again. That's not true. That's not. You can roll in the mud, but you don't get dirty. You're a saint. You could take a bar of gold. I said this many times. You got lead. He turned you from lead to gold. Guys, you remember that from men's group? He took you from lead to gold. I can take gold, chuck it in a room full of lead. I can paint it, whatever color lead is, gray. I can do all these things at the end of the day. If I put it in this room and there's a bunch of lead in the gold bar, we're all going to go. That's gold and we're going to fight to get it because its value isn't dependent on the circumstances, what's on it, what it's around. Its value is because inherently it is gold. You are a saint. You are saved. You're an heir. You're a co-ear with Christ. And you are loved even if people haven't recognized that value. You're going to have a moment here. It's called altar time. That's because this is an altar. And earlier I said like emotions, you can't follow emotions. Listen, emotions are a barometer. They're not bad, but they can't lead us in and of themselves. And God can use emotions, right? In a good way. And the reason I say that is like this can be an emotional moment and that's okay. As long as you're following Him. This opportunity is for you, whether it's at your seat, whether it's on your knees here or whether it's with you, with the people who are willing to pray with you. You're going to be here to pray with you. Maybe you need to confess a sin and say, Lord, I need you. Help my unbelief that I'm not what this thing is. Maybe you need to come in and say, Lord, I need you. I don't know how to get out of this. Maybe you need to come in and just say you're scared. I don't know what it is, but whatever. Maybe you just need to sit and be reminded. Maybe you need to come and go, I need Him to help my unbelief because I don't believe I'm worth it. Whatever you do, God has given you this moment today. Whether it's two minutes, five minutes, 10 or 15, you're here now. Taco Bell can wait, right? All your responsibilities can wait. You are here right now. This is the moment you were promised and God gives you this moment and I mean this. No matter how infallible or fallible I mean how messed up the messenger is, the message is good and true. There is no condemnation in Christ. You are not condemned. You are not forgotten. He loves you. He's still good and he's going to work out all things for the good of those beliefs according to his purposes. So you're going to get this opportunity today to come before him and be reminded of how much he loves you. I don't know what that looks like for you. Some of you you need to confess sin not because you need to be, you know, unforgivable because you can be reminded you're forgiven and not have to carry that weight. And some of you just, you just need your father. You just need to sit. It's real. Some of you in this room you don't know Jesus. Bottom line, the odds of everyone in this room knowing Jesus is pretty much next to nothing. Now you're, you may think well my interest in Jesus makes me saved. It doesn't. The truth is what I said earlier, in order to have this good news you have to understand bad news. You have sinned. You have sinned. The Bible says we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We've sinned and because of that we're separated from the Creator, which means we're going to go where the Creator isn't. Hell is real. You will get what you want. How could a good God send people to hell? He doesn't. He lets them go there. You're choosing it. But here's the good news. When we couldn't make our way back to God, when we were so separated, no amount of good works, no amount of cleaner cells get to him, God had a plan. He sent his only son down for us in the midst of our sin. Jesus of Nazareth existed. No historian in this earth that knows anything and go non-Christian historians. They know he existed. So then what? He lived. The Bible tells us we have numerous accounts of this that he performed miracles. He taught us how to live. He told us what the kingdom is like. And then he died on the cross, an innocent man, for you and me, so that what? He could take your sin, your shame, your condemnation, and give you the benefits of his perfect, sinless life. There's a trade. But you have to come to him. You have to say, "Lord, forgive me." If you can't say right now, "If I had a gun to your head," and I said, "Do you know you're saved?" And if the answer's not, "No," then maybe you need to consider for a second. You know what I mean. The Spirit inside of you. Well, I've went to church. That's not the answer. Do you know him? Does he know you? Now, you're going to have all kinds of lies coming your head. You're going to say, "Maybe tomorrow." I don't know these people. Are people going to be embarrassed or someone's going to see me? That doesn't matter because in eternity, it's about you and him. You're going to get the opportunity right now. I was in the crowd when this happened. I didn't know anyone. These people, I trust him and I don't trust anybody. Come up here and let them pray with you because the Bible says this. You confess with your lips and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ, his Lord, and was raised from the dead. You will be saved. You have to believe he is who he said he was. Come to him and he will save you. And life will not always be easier. In fact, sometimes it's a lot harder, but that's the proof because life is better. It is good. Whatever you do today, don't leave the same as you came in because if you do, you're choosing to.