How To Be Spiritually Confident

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God, the Bible says that you are reconciling all things to yourself.

This is why we sing and say that heaven and earth are going to be one.

Not because we have a plan or a program or a politician, but because God is sovereign.

He works everything out to his own ends and means and for his own glory.

And so we've come to bow down underneath that reality to see and savor that.

We want to see you.

We want to behold you.

We want to see your resplendent nature on every page and every word and every syllable of the text today.

We want this to be like a pop-up book that we read to our kids.

Bring out a dimension that we've never seen before.

And let us see it and savor it for our nourishment and our friends' enjoyment.

And ultimately, God for your glory.

This is what we want today.

We ask you for this.

We ask it as your children, and we ask it in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said.

Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to 1 John chapter 2.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

If you're our guests, we're preaching through the book of 1 John.

We preach expositorily to books of the Bible.

Like right now, we're doing 1 John.

And after this, it's in the New Testament towards the back, not the Gospel of John, but towards the back.

There's 1, 2nd, and 3 John.

And we're in 1 John.

And I want to talk to you this morning about how to be spiritually confident.

How to be spiritually confident.

Now let me give you some context.

We took a break for Holy Week and Easter.

And so let me just give some context about the people John is writing to in 1 John.

He's writing to a faith community, a church of people that had been infiltrated by these false teachers called Gnostics.

They were called Gnostics because they got their name from the Greek word for knowledge, which is Gnosis, G-N-O-S-I-S.

They were called the Gnostics.

This is an early form of Gnosticism.

And basically, here's what I want you to know today.

This will make more sense next week when we get further into the next section of the book.

But they emphasize two things.

Flesh was evil, flesh was bad.

And secondly, sin didn't matter.

And it's interesting how these things work together.

Sin did matter because they were enlightened spiritual beings.

They had this higher knowledge.

And so it's kind of condescending, arrogant people that have a bunch of degrees that talk down to you.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, turn on your TV.

They're on TV talking.

It's just a modern form of Gnosticism.

Like, that's great.

You guys in the South, you cling to your guns in religion.

That's so cute, but this is really the way it works.

They're all freaking out right now that Elon Musk is gonna buy Twitter and take it private.

That's the people we're talking about, okay?

This is just a form of Gnosticism.

And so flesh was evil, sin didn't matter.

They were very immoral people.

And they people would confront them, they go, it doesn't matter because we're spiritual beings.

And so uh just keep that in mind.

That's the context that he's writing to these people.

Uh now, 1 John chapter 2, I'll start reading verse 28.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

It says this, and now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God, and so we are.

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

How to be spiritually confident.

There's five things I want to point to from the text.

Let me begin with a confession.

I have no original ideas of myself today.

I'm gonna get them all from the Bible, and you'll be better for that.

Amen?

Uh here here's the five things the text says that kind of point us towards spiritual confidence.

Number one, confidence is born of consistency.

Confidence is born of consistency.

It's verse 28.

Look what he says.

And now, little children, abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

Confidence is the byproduct of habits.

And the habit of being consistent is what makes us confident.

It's important to understand that simple truth.

So let me say it again.

Confidence is the byproduct of habits.

The habit of being consistent is what makes us confident.

Like, have you ever asked somebody something and then and they tell you, and like, hey, can you do that?

Like, yeah, like, dude, it ain't my first rodeo.

Uh like I had a problem with my muffler of my car years ago, and a friend here in town said, Hey, take it to this guy.

It's kind of a dumpy little shop, but he's good and he's reasonable.

So I go over there, and you can tell Osha has not been there because he says, Yeah, you come out in the shop.

I drive my car in, I get out, he raises it up on a lift, and I'm standing underneath it thinking this thing could fall on me.

Uh, and then he walks under there and looks and goes, Bam, bam, bam, and it rattles like broken glass.

And he goes, Yeah, here's your problem right here.

I gotta replace this.

It'll be about$185,$190.

Take about an hour.

You want to do it?

Yes or no?

And I said, Well, how do you know that's what it is?

He goes, Do you want to do it?

Yes or no?

And I said, How do you know?

Dude, it ain't my first rodeo.

You want this fixed or not?

And I was like, the soup Nazi opened up a muffler shop.

And I'm like, what?

He goes, dude, do you want I've got uh I my favorite part is he goes, hey, I can make money elsewhere.

You want this fixed or not?

And I said, Yeah, I want to fix.

He goes, All right, get out of my shop, be an hour.

I said, Where do you want me to go?

He goes, I don't care, I'm not running a daycare.

So I just wandered up and down, just like, hello.

But I was fascinated.

By the way, that's not arrogant, that is cocky.

He's just confident because he's done it before.

This is what I mean when I say confidence is a byproduct of habit, of habits.

The habit of being consistent is what makes us confident.

Now it's important that you understand the backdrop against which these people in the Bible will not shrink back, but be confident.

And it's found in these the latter part of verse 28.

It says, When he appears, we may be confident and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

It's talking about the second coming of Jesus.

When he appears and at his coming, it's talking about the second coming of Jesus.

So let me just lay my cards on the table.

My concern is that we're not ready for the Jesus that is going to return because we've gotten addicted to the Jesus who came the first time.

When Jesus came the first time, he was a suffering servant, born of a virgin, laid in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes, cute little ambient light, some donkeys and everything.

But when he comes again, he's not going to be a suffering servant.

He's good when he comes a second time, he's going to be the conquering king.

And I know you think you're ready, but I just want to submit to you, you're probably not ready.

Like if you if you consistently say this, well, my God is a God of love, this will be very disorienting for you.

And here's why.

Because in his high priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus prays to the Father and he says, Give me back the glory I had with you before the world began.

Translation, Jesus, to leave heaven and come to earth to incarnate as a human being, he had to give up some glory and to take on humanity.

And so he did that, okay?

And so now he says in John 17, give me back the glory I had with you before the world began.

Well, here's the good, bad news, kids.

He's got the glory back.

And when he comes, he's bringing it with him.

Now, the Bible doesn't leave us uh blank on what this is gonna be like, okay?

So when these people, again, here's the backdrop.

It's important we understand the backdrop against which these people will not shrink back in shame, but they will be confident.

This is what we mean when we say confidence is born of consistency.

This is how the Bible describes the second coming of Jesus, this same John who records the book of Revelation.

He writes these words in chapter 19, verse 11.

Then I saw heaven opened.

Hello.

Then I saw heaven up.

No guesswork.

No, uh there's a YouTube video I saw one time.

No, I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse.

And the one sitting on it is called faithful and true.

And in righteousness he judges and makes war.

His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, many crowns.

He has a name written that no one knows but he but himself.

He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the word of God.

And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.

He will roll them with a rod of iron.

He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

And on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

That's the Jesus that's coming back.

And so pardon me if someone who said to me recently, Oh, I tell you what, when Jesus comes back, I got some questions for him.

And I'm like, No, you don't.

No, you don't.

I know you think you do.

I know you're popping off like I tell you what, but golly, I can't explain.

Because he said, God owes me an explanation.

Oh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

No, he doesn't.

No.

I know that you clearly don't read your Bible.

He goes, You can't judge me, bro.

I said, I'm not judging you.

I'm just telling you.

If you had a frame of, you think sweet Jesus is coming back, you know, to forgive people for sin.

And then no, he comes back to tread the wine press of the wrath and the fury of God Almighty.

That's what he's coming back for.

He's like, Well, I just got some questions.

I promise you, you will put your hand on your mouth and shut your mouth.

He's like, Well, I don't know about that.

No, I'm I'm very confident about that.

And I promise you, when he does come, you're gonna wish this would never happen.

I might even tell him you said this.

I might be the guy in the back going, hey, you got some questions.

Now, by the way, I give you some bonus round material here.

You want some bonus round material?

There's big theological debates about the armies of heaven.

Who is that?

Because it said the armies of heaven will come dressed in in white and fine linen, riding behind Jesus.

The two schools of thought are A, it's gonna be all the angelic beings that held their ground in heaven when Lucifer and everybody rebelled.

B, the other school of thought is it's gonna be everybody who has died in Christ before Christ came back.

They're gonna come with him.

So if that's the case, your grandma could be in the front row riding a wide horse.

Yeah.

And you're gonna look up, if you're alive, you're gonna look up and go, hey, look, it's grandma.

And your grandma's gonna go, it's not grandma, I got a new name.

It's newanda.

And you're gonna be like, oh, grandma, grandma, lay off the hooch, okay?

But either way, here's the thing.

Now I say all that not to be funny, actually, but just to say, against that backdrop.

For some of you, when I was reading Revelation 19, you were like, ooh, that kind of made me nervous.

The Bible says these people that have been consistent, they're not gonna shrink back in shame.

They're gonna just stand their ground and go, just like you said it was gonna be.

Get ready, kids.

Yeah, put your phone up, you're not gonna need it anymore.

No, why?

Because this confidence, it comes, it's born of consistency.

This is what the Bible says.

Here's the second thing the Bible tells us confidence comes from practice.

Confidence comes from practice.

Look at verse 29.

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

I'm gonna try not to quote Alan Iverson here.

Amen.

Does anybody thinking Alan Iverson right now?

Say amen.

Ten of you, great.

Never mind.

Alan Iverson was a basketball player who got fined for not going to practice.

And he came to a press conference and he goes, What are we talking about here?

We're talking about practice.

We're talking about practice.

What are we talking about?

That's all he said for like eight minutes.

So my wife says, Hey, you said you were gonna clean the kitchen.

I'm like, What are we talking about here?

Clean the kitchen.

We talking about clean the kitchen.

She's like, Listen, I ain't married to Alan.

Knock it off.

But that's not the kind of practice the Bible's talking about.

Confidence comes from practice.

Two things to notice here in verse 29.

Number one, God imparts spiritual life to people.

It's that last part of verse 29.

Look at it right there.

He said, Everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.

Now, let me be clear.

Uh so the secular mind doesn't get it twisted.

It doesn't mean if you do the right thing, you're a Christian.

No, he's talking about every believer who practices righteousness has been born of God.

God imparts spiritual life to people.

Why is that a big deal?

You didn't affect it, nor did you actively cooperate in it.

You just received it.

This is all through the Bible.

The Bible doesn't say one thing over here, it's something else over here, so you can pick which one you're most comfortable with.

It is cohesive and it's unified.

It says the same thing all throughout, like in John's Gospel chapter 1, verse 12, says this.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God.

What are children of God like?

It goes on to tell you, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Hear that last part again.

Who are born not of blood.

In other words, you're not a Christian because your mom and dad are Christian.

My girls are not Christians because their dad and mom, their dad's a preacher and their mom's in ministry.

Okay?

Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh.

That means, mom and dad, you can't make your kids pray a prayer and obligate God to take them to heaven when they die.

Nor of the will of man, but of God.

Now, why is this a big deal?

Because, mom, you can't give birth to your kids twice.

I see this a lot.

So parents pressure your kids into praying a prayer just so you can have peace.

This was a conversation in our house.

Our girls, about age seven, they start asking questions and good questions.

And there's this temptation to say, let's just get them to pray the prayer so we can be at peace.

When you do that, if you do that, you're like the Pharisees who Jesus said to them, You guys travel across land and sea to make one convert.

And when you do, you make them twice the son of hell as you are.

Now, this is what happens when we try to get people to do something, just to check a box to give us peace.

Now, that may give you peace, but your kids are unable to practice righteousness.

Why is that a big deal?

Because remember, I said there's two things in the text.

The first one is God imparts spiritual life to people.

Here's the second one the practice of righteousness is evidence of being born of God.

Hear it again.

If you know that He is righteous, that's who God is, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.

Evidence, like evidence of salvation is not, did you pray a prayer sometime in your past where you got caught up in the emotion of the moment?

Evidence of conversion is do you practice righteousness?

Translation, it is God's nature to be righteous, therefore it must be the nature of his people to practice righteousness.

The word practice, the verb here in the Greek, is present tense, which indicates that the doing of right, it's ongoing action.

The doing of righteousness is habitual.

This is the ruling principle in someone's life.

Let me say that again.

It all starts with the nature of God.

You if the nature of God is righteous, you cannot be in a relationship with God without your nature being righteous.

That doesn't mean you're perfect, you never screw up.

Matter of fact, I'll give you hope here in just a second, okay?

Uh uh, but but but this is why you should go to a church that actually gets down and teaches you the Bible because it says practice.

Hey, that's present tense, that's ongoing, habitual, the ruling principle of this person's life.

Now, ask yourself this question: When is the last time you really wanted to do something, but you were restrained by the power of the gospel?

You really wanted to do something.

You see, the gospel is not just forgiveness, it's restraint.

It's restraint.

Like, let me let me give you uh two pictures in your mind.

Uh, like I grew up in a very difficult childhood, and every once in a while my wife will refer to it, she said, That's that's your orphan in you.

Uh my dad, and I'm not telling you this for pity, I don't want your pity.

My dad abandoned me, my brothers, when I was 11.

And so at the age of 11, I took responsibility for myself.

I'm like, I got it, we'll figure it out.

Uh, and so every once in a while, when the chips are down, if I'm not careful, the orphan in me, he is uh he is spirit aware, he he's aware of everything the spirit of God says and does, but he's governed by the flesh.

He's a ruthless individual.

The believer in me, okay, is flesh aware, but ruled by the spirit.

Do you hear the difference?

That's why I don't trust Christians.

Like I got up early this morning uh and and I thought, well, I'll just turn on the TV.

It's like 6 30.

Oh, TV preachers were on.

I was just like, I couldn't do this because they all smile all the time.

And I'm just like, what?

No, no, I don't trust people that aren't aware.

Like we were driving back from Dallas yesterday, uh, down I-45, which is an 85 mile-an-hour parking lot, in case you're wondering.

I got my cruise control set on 78 because it's 75.

I'm like three miles over because I'm a lawbreaker, and people just wow, wow, wow.

And this happened.

Don't hold it against me, okay?

Uh uh, this had somebody drove by and just cut right in front of me.

And I almost got in in like 0.2 seconds, it was like brrrrr, multiple choice.

Four options came up.

I just thought, it's a good thing I'm not a millionaire because I would floor this minivan.

That's right, it's a minivan.

And just pull up beside the guy, and then start just putting it.

Boom! Boom! Boom.

How do you like me now?

I got good insurance, punk.

And then it didn't stop there.

I just thought, man, it's been a long time since I've been in a fight.

I'd love to just pull that guy over, just smash the window, and just drag him out the patent, the driver's side, and just start curb stombling right down the side of 45.

And then here, here's my depravity doesn't stop.

I wanted some of you to drive by and your kids go, isn't that Pastor Neil?

I think he's got that guy in the belly to belly snoof, like, boom boom.

Oh, Pastor Neil watches WWE.

Yeah, el Champion del mundo.

And all this, look at me.

It was 0.2 seconds.

0.2, just like I said now.

Now, this is where my wife comes in because she senses it.

She puts her hands on me and she's like, You're a better man than that.

To which I say, No, I'm not.

No, I'm not.

I flash back to 1982 in a heartbeat now.

Now, by the way, look at me.

I'm not a violence, I haven't been violent since 1982.

But by the way, we were in Dallas because my oldest daughter got engaged.

Yeah.

He did it right, by the way.

He had ladies, he had a table, he had scattered the walkway with rose petals, had her two favorite uh flowers on the table, had pictures of their first date.

This is the date, this is the first date we kissed on, this is the date that we said that we loved each other, this is the date, da-da-da.

And in the first date, he's wearing a shirt that says, This is gonna be one of those dates.

Because he said, I sent something different about your daughter.

And I thought to myself, I may not have to kill you after all.

He said, So I wore this shirt that said, This is gonna be one of those days.

After the proposal, he unbuttoned his dress shirt and opened it up.

He's got that shirt on.

And he said, This is gonna be one of those days, Madison.

And she just claps in his arms.

And I was like, All right, let me put my Glock back in my pocket here.

Why?

I'm aware, I don't trust any of you that's not aware of your depravity, that's not aware of what you're capable of.

The reason some of you struggle with the same sin over and over and over and over is because you lie to yourself.

You're like, oh, I would never do that.

Sure you would.

Sure you would.

Yeah.

Now remember.

Now remember.

The natural person in you.

I don't call it, oh, because now some of you that had a hard upbringing, you got an orphan in you.

Some of you ladies are married to a man that's got an orphan in him.

He doesn't connect well, he doesn't do intimacy well.

My wife hugs me, and I'm like, okay, that's enough.

Get up off of me.

Yeah.

And she's just like, really?

29 years?

I love you to death.

I would kill for you.

And there's some days I kind of like that.

She's like, really?

Please don't ever say that from the pulpit.

Okay, I won't.

Yeah.

Now some days I just think this, since we're out here, I just think, I ain't been in a fight long.

I miss getting hit.

Makes your ear, you're like, whoa, now we're clear.

And then it's just a free-for-all.

I think men should like maybe have a fight club every once in a while.

Take all these chairs up, get about a hundred men in here, and start swinging on each other.

And then afterwards, have some chicken wings.

Yeah.

And buy some high school kids.

Whoa! It'd be bonus round material.

Now, if you're visiting today, I'm not normally like this.

Look at me.

Don't lie to yourself.

The natural person in you, the natural person in you, he's aware of the spiritual things, but he's governed by the flesh.

The spirit in you is aware of the flesh, but it's governed by the spirit.

This is why you don't do it.

Like I took something back to a store the other day, and Lady said, You don't have a receipt, I don't think I can take it back.

And I went.

And she said, Really?

I said, Yeah, yeah.

She said, Why don't you say it?

I said, Because the gospel won't allow me.

And she said, Come again.

I said, the gospel, it restrains me.

It doesn't just forgive me for doing it.

You ever heard the phrase, easier to get permission, easier to get forgiveness and permission?

That's not that's not what the Bible teaches.

The Bible says there's a the Holy Spirit is inside of you, and He's strong, and He reins the horse in and says, Stop.

I have a friend that's an alcoholic.

He he does good, he's been sober for like 11 years.

Last time we had lunch, he's like, Hey, can we trade chairs?

And I was like, Yeah, you're not comfortable?

And he goes, No, there's a bar behind you, and they got about eight beers on tap, and I want to go over and put my mouth under one of them and pull the handle.

Ah.

And I went, Whew, you got a stranglehold in your depravity.

He goes, Yeah, I've already thought how I could lie and go to the bathroom and get our server to bring me a drink in the bathroom.

What a sinner.

No, he Self-aware.

He's aware of his flesh and he's governed by the Spirit.

The reason some of you give in is because you're not aware of what you're capable of.

C.S.

Lewis said this.

He said, the Christian's nostrils should be always attuned to the cesspool within.

And so we got up and changed chairs.

He goes, That's better.

And I was like, man, do I need to call you later and see if you go to specs?

He goes, nah, I'm good.

All right, just checking.

He goes, okay, thanks.

Now, why do I say all this?

One simple reason: confidence comes from practice.

The gospel doesn't just forgive me, it restrains me.

Even when my flesh doesn't want to.

Here's the third reason you can be spiritually confident.

Confidence is anchored in other world love.

Now let me stop for just for a second.

Everybody here, look at me.

You feel what's going on in the room right now?

Hello?

That's a question.

You feel that?

Now I'm not, it's not bad.

Some of y'all are like, you're touching your depravity.

Maybe you're like, oh, maybe I'm not used to thinking about my depravity in church.

This is the safest place to think about your depravity.

Yes.

See, confidence is anchored in other world love.

It's chapter 3, verse 1.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God.

And so we are.

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Look at that first part.

See, he says, what kind of love?

That two-word phrase, what kind, is the Greek word potopas.

Potopas, and it literally means this from what country?

In other words, I got people in my life that have loved me, but this kind of love is from another world.

I mean, this is otherworldly.

It's cosmic.

It comes from another country.

It's foreign.

I don't get it.

Now, this same phrase potops is used four or five other places in the New Testament.

One of them is in the Gospels.

Remember where Jesus is asleep in the bottom of the boat and they take off across the sea, and the storm comes up and it's, you know, rocking the boat and they're taking on water, and the disciples are freaking out.

They wake Jesus up.

Jesus, my God.

And Jesus is like, is the coffee ready?

You better be waking me up for a good reason.

And they're like, we're about to perish, Jesus.

Get up and do something.

And he walks to the front of the boat and he goes, Peace be still.

And the winds in the way just shut it down.

All of a sudden they're sitting on a pond, it's so still.

And the disciples are like, shut up.

But this is the way they said it in the Bible.

They said, Who is this that even the winds and the waves obey him?

See, you think growing up in America, when he did something like that, the disciples are like, Hercules, Hercules.

No, no.

They were like, Who is this?

What country is this from?

Because here's what they understand that we don't.

If he has the power to do that to the elements, what can he do to us?

And so the disciples are like getting out of the boat, like, we'll just walk and like we're wearing, we'll we'll swim.

See y'all later.

It wasn't like, oh, that's awesome.

It was like, oh, what country is this kind of power from?

John is saying the same thing in 1 John chapter 3, verse 1.

1 John 3:1

What country is this kind of love from?

Why?

Because God loves us in a way that this world doesn't.

Because when the world turns on us, there's lots of people who are not gonna love us.

And you don't have to be swayed by the fact that not there, but your school loves you and agree with your students.

Why?

Because the God of the universe loves you.

Does it sting?

Absolutely.

Anytime I speak to the students out there, word gets back to me, oh, so-and-so didn't like it, and so-and-so's friend got up and walked out.

Great.

How about instead of walking out, walk to the person you disagree with and have a discussion?

How about that?

Put your big boy, big girl pants on.

If you're so confident in your worldview, come talk to somebody who has a different one.

See, that's what Christians should do.

That's what we're called to do.

He's like, hey, you said this and it kind of unsettled me.

I gotta think about that.

Oh, absolutely.

Do you have a coffee cake?

I'll come to your house.

But the Bible says right there, look at it.

Hey, the reason the world does not know us is it did not know him.

Do not expect the world to love you any more than it love Jesus.

That's pride and idolatry.

Neither one are good options.

If you want to understand, when I when I start, if you go to my office right now, there's a hymnal on my desk, the Baptist hymnal.

How sexy is that?

I didn't steal it, by the way.

Some church gave it to me.

Some of y'all are thinking, how'd you get that hymnal?

You thief?

I want to tell my grandma she played the pump organ.

No, I keep it and I read it.

Like I was trying to, when anytime I start waning on the love of God, I go read the lyrics of this hymn so much that I brought them this morning.

And this hymn was written.

There's a man named Owen Roberts during the Welsh Revivals, like 1912 or something.

I'm not good on the ear.

But anyway, he was too radical for churches.

They wouldn't let him preach.

They were like, calm down, bro.

Just get up and give a little speech and then let's go eat potato salad.

And so he went to the coal mines because that's where the people they would go to the brothel and to the bar when they got paid.

And so he stood on a little hill outside the coal mine.

The coal miners would come out and he would start preaching about the love of God because for these people, they'd been drilled with the wrath of God.

God's mad at you and God's gonna get you.

And so Owen Robert said, I want them to understand the love of God.

And he began to preach, and people begin to come to faith.

And one of his friends said, How do you know it's making a difference?

Why do you go back?

And he said, Their faces are stained black by coal dust.

I know that the gospel is sawing on their heart because all of a sudden clean tracks are washed down their face from their tears.

And he had these four or five women that traveled with him.

They had these big old hats.

They were called the revivalists.

I mean, it's like James Brown with some backup singers, okay?

And he wanted to write a song that expressed to these hard men that God hadn't given up on them.

And this is what he wrote.

When the Prince of Life, our ransom, shed for us his precious blood.

Who is love will not remember?

Who can cease to sing his praise?

He can never be forgotten throughout heaven's eternal days.

That line that says, Who is love will not remember?

One of the coal miners says, We're just a bunch of bugs in the earth.

Who is God that he's mindful of us?

Nolan Roberts took his pen and said, Who is love will not remember.

You may be here this morning thinking, man, I've so screwed it up.

God's forgotten about me a long time ago.

The love of God will not let God forget about you.

He wrote a second verse that said, This, on the mount of crucifixion, fountains opened deep and wide.

Through the floodgates of God's mercy flowed a vast and gracious tide.

Grace and love like mighty rivers poured incessant from above.

Heaven's peace and perfect justice.

Kiss the guilty world in love.

These men were considered second-class citizens.

They just thought we're guilty.

We're just dirty, unclean people physically and spiritually.

And Owen Roberts would go out there and preach to them about this God that loved them, and he came to kiss this guilty world in love.

This is this confidence is anchored in this kind of love.

Do you know today, beloved, that God has this kind of love for you?

So I sat in my office, I put my shade up on my window because I felt it coming on.

And I sat and I read every one of them and just cried this week.

I was like, oh, that's so good.

I don't want to tell you about it that it's true for you without first reminding myself that it's true for me, too.

Here's the fourth thing the text tells us confidence comes from perspective.

It's verse two, chapter three, verse two.

Confidence comes from perspective.

He says, This, beloved, we're God's children now.

And what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.

Now, look at the first part of verse two.

Beloved, we are God's children now.

And what we will be has not yet appeared.

What confidence comes from perspective.

Look at me, I'll give you a visual.

Here's the perspective.

You have to hold on to now, and you have to hold on to will be.

Like in counseling not long ago, a student that came to see me, she said, Oh kind, she sat down.

I could tell she was worked up, but I said, You okay?

And she said, Oh my gosh, this happened today at school.

It was so humiliating.

And I said, Tell me about it.

She goes, Oh, seriously?

I said, sure.

She tells me about it.

It was humiliating.

And I was, I wanted, you see, see, my depravity.

I just thought, hey, just write down the name of those three boys right there.

I go pay them a pastoral visit.

And and and in like 0.4 seconds this time, I just thought, let's just hang them up by their ankles and beat them like a pinata until candy comes out.

And just say them, hey, I'm like a fat kid with a sweet tooth.

No?

Over the top?

See, it's not good.

See, this is why I gotta be governed by the Spirit.

I literally thought that.

I just thought, you're nothing but emotional bullies.

I can't stand you and I don't even know you.

I wanted her to tell me their names so I could go visit the school and find them.

You believe in the hereafter?

Then you know what I'm hereafter.

Maybe point for second, because I hate injustice.

I hate injustice.

Three high school guys picking on a little ninth grade girl.

I just thought, oh, and I've got it all worked out.

And I thought, Jesus, go ahead and size me for that crown you're gonna give me for exercising justice on these morons.

But instead, I said, she tells me the story, humiliating.

And I said, you know what?

I'm gonna talk about this in a couple weeks, about now and will be.

And you gotta hold on to the perspective of both of these.

And she's like, What's that got to do with my life?

And I'm like, hey, when you're in the presence of people smarter than you, lose the smirk, okay?

I didn't even say that either, but see, my depravity wanted to say it.

By the way, that isn't my depravity, that's my truth.

Anyway, I said, here's the thing.

One day you're gonna meet a guy, one of the evidences that he's the right guy is that you're gonna tell him this story.

She goes, I want to forget about that.

You're not gonna forget about this.

I want you to tell when you meet somebody who thinks he could be the guy, and by the way, it ain't happening in high school, so don't hold your breath.

Happens for like 0.6% of the population, but even that's sketchy.

But when you meet the guy and you tell him a story, here's how you know he's gonna be the guy.

You'll look over, he'll have tears in his eyes, and he'll say, I wish I could have been there to rescue you from that.

And you'll just be like, Oh my gosh, he gets it.

Yeah.

And she goes, Okay, well, let's have our session.

Okay, here we go.

See, this is the beauty of perspective.

You gotta have the now.

Now, by the way, and the will be.

You don't know it, you don't realize it, but you have some now friends.

Your now friends are the people you go to for a good time.

Because they're just all about now.

They think about now.

They think 30 minutes down the road, they think about, oh, we're seniors, let's be crazy.

Whoa! It's all they think about is now.

If all you think about is now, then you're gonna be ruled by some uh not great things.

Uh like you'll have feelings like, hey, I'm kind of depressed, I'm I'm anxious, I'm flighty, I'm aucurial, I'm falsely confident because I'm bluffing, not being.

Uh you're like the rich man in the Bible who's who filled up his barns and he said, Oh, my barns are full, I'm gonna tear them down and build bigger barns.

And Jesus says, You fool, this very night, your soul will be required of you.

If all you think about is now, you you're ruled by the perspective of now, you're never prepared for what is to come.

Your now friends are about a good time.

Your will-be friends, you go to the you go to these people for for a good time, you go to these people for information.

Hey, when's Jesus gonna come?

That's why I've been getting phone calls.

Is Vladimir Putin the Antichrist?

True story.

Vladimir Putin, he he can't he can't hold a candle to the Antichrist, okay?

Really?

But the reason they ask is they want to just keep on living how they live.

Hey, it's not the very end yet, okay?

Good.

So you have now friends, you have will be friends.

Will be is like information.

Look at me.

What you need is people that hold both of those in deliberate tension because you go to those people for wisdom.

They're able to say, Yeah, senior year's hard, it's very tempting.

It's it's tempting to say, hey, I've been a good kid.

I think I want to be a bad kid for a couple months, see what that feels like.

Yes, that's just your flesh.

You should have adults in your life that kind of go, yeah, that's natural.

That doesn't mean give in to it.

But they also say, hey, by the way, now's not forever.

Will be is coming.

Hold those in deliberate tension because confidence comes from the sense of perspective that holds those two in a delicate balance.

You have to balance them because one fills the other with wonder.

Here's the last thing about having spiritual confidence.

The Bible tells us that confidence has its hope in the right place.

Look at verse 3.

Verse 3 of chapter 3.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Hear that again.

And everyone who thus hopes in him, look at me, beloved.

Let me love you enough to tell you this.

For many of us, our hope is not in him, our hope is in somewhere else.

It's in our 401k or our reputation or our job or our truck or whatever our parents are going to leave us when they die.

A man said to me recently in council, yeah, if I can just hold on two more years, I think my parents will be dead by then.

Then I got a windfall coming.

See, and my depravity, wing! It's like 0.1 second that time.

I said, so basically, for you, your mom and dad are just a commodity you're gonna cash in, and then you can stop working.

You're probably the most selfish person I've met in my life.

Oh, what's your opinion, man?

Jesus, can I shoot him?

It was like a bird just flew over my head.

I didn't let it build a nest in my hair, kids.

Repeat after me, Pastor Neil's not violent, Pastor Neil's not violent.

Hasn't been since 1982, but remembers how.

Anyway, confidence is in the right place.

Look at verse 2 of chapter 3.

And everyone who's thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

The confident Christian is the one who believes that all this is moving to a very certain future.

Somebody said the other day, I'm in a store, I'm in Costco, in line, which I guess we snuck up on them.

We are wrapped down the aisles, and these two ladies beside each other in the line are talking, and one of them said, What's the world coming to?

I know, I mean right.

And I said, I can tell you.

Just it's not a mystery.

And she said, Excuse me, and I said, You said, What's the world coming to?

I can tell you.

And she said, Okay.

And I said, the world's coming to a glorious end.

We're nowhere close, by the way.

It's gonna get worse.

That's the that's the bad news.

But uh Jesus is gonna come back, and when he comes back, uh he the dead in Christ are gonna rise first, and then we're gonna, and then we're gonna go live in heaven, the literal reign of Christ for a thousand years, then Christians are gonna come live on the earth in its pre-fallen state, in perfection, and I'm gonna have a house at Amen Corner in Augusta.

Go ahead and check out, ladies.

And somebody in the next aisle over said, next line over said, He's right.

And I said, Yeah, if you think this is all that this is, you're gonna be small, catty women that raise small, catty children.

Record of Ford been counting.

And she went, Well, thank you, I guess.

And I said, Can I love you who I don't know?

And she said, Yeah.

I said, You're not ready for that, are you?

She said, I hadn't thought about it.

Not wanting to.

See, because when you when your hope is in him, this is what the Bible says.

When your hope is in him, uh you you you you purify yourself as he is pure.

In other words, you become more like him.

You take responsibility.

It's not about the white glove test and being some legalist.

No, no, no.

It's about purity happens by subtraction and addition.

Ask yourself to become more Christ-like today.

Should I subtract something out of my life or add something to my life?

Like, there's probably some friends in your life that just need to go.

You just have to say, hey, I don't like who I am when I'm with you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Never give people the power over you to make you do and become something you don't want to do or somebody you don't want to become.

And some of you, it's purity by addition.

Hey, you know what?

I don't understand things of the Bible.

I need to just get up and just read the Bible for 15 minutes a day.

Starting the Gospel of John, great place to start.

But confidence has its hope in the right place.

Here's why it's confident and your hope is in him because you're becoming more like him.

Look at me.

So that when he comes, you don't shrink back in shame.

Like, oh my gosh, I wouldn't expect this.

No, you're just like, this is exactly the way you said it was gonna be.

Yes, sir.

Kids, put your phones down.

You're not gonna need them after this.

Now ask yourself this simple question as you sit here in this room today.

Do you have that kind of confidence?

Do you have that kind of confidence?

Because the Bible says you can have that.

All this started off with, and now little children abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence.

Why does the Bible say what it says?

Look at me, we're done.

Why does the Bible say what it says?

Because God wants you to know that you can have this kind of confidence.

You don't have to live in fear or shame or uncertainty or oh, I don't know.

No, just no fear.

It's why the Bible says later in 1 John, we'll get into it.

He says, perfect love casts out all fear.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax today.

We like to teach the Bible, and then we like to give you soul space to think about it.

So some questions come up on the screen.

That's just for you to ponder and think about.

You can take a picture with your phone.

Let me voice a prayer and let's just linger and think for a minute.

God, thank you for the Bible.

Thank you that it's thought-provoking.

It kind of stabs us awake.

It doesn't let us slumber and just sleepwalk through life.

It invites us to think about things we by nature would not think about.

So, Holy Spirit, brood over us now as we just linger and we think about you.

Reveal the truth to us and set us free with it.

We pray in Jesus' name.

God, thank you that the Bible speaks a language we understand.

There's nobody in this room that's whatever they've been called, stupid or slow or not smart, not spiritual.

That's not true.

There's nobody in this room that's not created by God in the image of God for a relationship with God.

So anybody can have that today.

So I pray for anyone that doesn't have this confidence, the certainty that they would come to one of our pastors.

We're dismissed and say, I'd like to know about what it means to be a Christian, how to have a relationship with God.

That's what you were created for.

To be winsome, free men and women of God.

That's how much God loves you.

He didn't come to jam you up, he comes to set you free.

And the Bible is an instruction manual that reminds you that you it was for freedom that Christ set you free.

So, Lord, for that we're grateful.

Press in on us everything we need to keep thinking about, let everything else fall to the ground.

We pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest, let me say thanks for being here.

Look at me.

You're always welcome, okay?

You're always welcome.

You you there we have people in our church, they're like, hey, I'll give you a visual.

In the first service, the guy's like, hey, I'm kind of new to this.

I'm checking.

I said, that's great.

Uh every time you come, if you can take a step closer in your journey, that that's enough for us.

We'll never try to make you do something you're not comfortable doing.

We believe God speaks a language you understand, and then and then when he does, we we think you're uh young men and women and you're adults, and we think you'll steward that well.

So we want to help you in that.

So when we're dismissed here in a minute, some of our pastors will be lined up down here at the front.

If you'd like to talk to somebody, you got a question, or if you're like, hey man, I'm kind of carrying this burden, it's kind of heavy.

Can you pray for me?

Absolutely, we'd love to do that, okay?

But before that, we have a couple things going on in the life of our church we'd love you to be aware of and involved in.

So check out our screens.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's some things we want you to know.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the life of our church.

Today is the last day to register for the women's Bible study on Titus.

Sign up at Grant Parkway.org.

Dgroups for kids first through sixth grade are happening this summer starting on June 6th.

There will be daily assignments, scripture memory, and an emphasis on prayer.

This group is perfect for kids who are already believers, as well as those who are asking questions and want to know more about who God is.

Register at grandparkway.org.

While you're getting registered online, be sure and give us a follow on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

Today is Janna McKee's last Sunday as our children's pastor as she transitions to focus on other areas of responsibility.

Janna has faithfully and fruitfully given eight years of investment, vision, and leadership to Grand Parkway's kids and parents.

Join us in the connections room in the lobby area today, after the second service, as we express our gratitude to Janna at the reception.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Is Janna in here?

No?

Can't say a thing.

She's probably in the children's building.

Uh I want to say to all you public, I want to say this to her, but she has done a phenomenal job.

She came here eight years ago.

We were crammed in a hallway over there.

Yeah, you can clap for that.

Where is she?

There she is, right there.

Wave your hand, Janet.

That's Janet right there.

All right.

Yes.

Janet, I want to say to you publicly that you've done a phenomenal job.

God has used you to bring this church and this children's ministry to the place that it is.

And I respect you, and I'm so honored that I got to work with you for eight years.

You deserve a break.

Uh, and we're just we're we love you.

We want you to know that, and we're fixing to show you how much we love you.

So go take your position and we'll be there shortly.

Uh I said I said this in an email, uh, and I meant it.

Uh that you that woman's invested in you and your family, not just your kids, but you and your family.

Be sure you express your gratitude in whatever form, fashion that takes for you.

Uh, but at least swing by and and and tell her thank you, okay?

Uh we'd like to conclude our sermon.

Oh, let me say one other thing.

The women's Bible study you saw, it's on the book of Titus.

It happens in that building right there, the old sanctuary with the green roof.

And it's it's a nighttime study.

Uh, it's it starts at 6:30, it goes from 6:30 to 8.

Uh, if you're anything like my wife, she lingers, comes home at 10 o'clock.

I'm like, okay, I'm in bed.

Uh uh, but it's 6:30 Tuesday night.

Today is the last day to rest.

We have child care available, but if you have a husband, he's a dad, and he'd be glad to be a dad.

That rhymes, and so it's true.

Amen, ladies.

There you go.

All right.

Would I conclude our service with a spoken blessing?

So stand on your feet.

You can beat all the traditional Baptists to the good restaurants.

Hold your hands out.

Shame is not your native environment.

So don't walk in it.

Don't participate in anything that makes you feel shame.

God crowns you with glory and honor and dominion.

Depart now and walk in these realities in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.