Understanding Why People Hate You

Have you ever had a day where you felt like the world was against you?

Say amen.

Yes, yes, and by the way, guess what?

You had that kind of day because it is.

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For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grand Parkway.org.

God, uh, we when we say that redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die.

There's not another song on the jukebox we could play, God, uh, other than just Redeeming Love.

Uh, because you came after us.

You sought us and you fought us.

You tore down every obstacle that stood between us and you.

Addiction, ignorance, hard-heartedness, being stiff-necked, just being good pagans like we all were at one point.

And because God not just loves us passively, he loves us actively.

And so he comes hard after us.

Come hard after everybody in this room, God, who doesn't know you today.

Not not to uh uh to shame them, but to set them free, to wash off of them everything that is unnecessary.

Lord, we've reminded ourselves with song this morning that there's a moreness to your mercy that requires endless days.

And so let us be reminded of that.

Every time we gather for worship, we are just kind of getting ready for what we've created to do.

And so let it come out of us with gusto and gravity and gladness every time we worship as a church.

That's why we're here, God.

Your mercy.

There's a moreness to it.

You can't get our head around.

And so, Lord, as we open up the Bible today, kind of refract some light from it into our head and into our heart that finds expression in our hands this week.

We pray.

We ask for this in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, don't sweat it.

You're like, I just like to listen.

It'll come up on the screen.

I want to talk to you this morning about understanding why people hate you.

Understanding why people hate you.

Now, your wife's gonna lean over and go, This is why I brought you here today.

Uh uh, but here let me tell you, we don't, I don't pick the topic like uh what I want to preach about, and then try to find a verse in the Bible that has that word in it.

I think that's a lazy uh way to go about it.

We we preach through books of the Bible, and every once in a while we'll do a topical series, but even that comes from the Bible.

And so people ask every once in a while, hey, are you always going through a book of the Bible?

Pretty much, here's why.

We prefer text over topic because we were created for revelation, not just advice.

Uh and so you can go to church sometimes and you walk out, and when you get to your truck, guys, your wife looks at you and she's like, I shaved my legs for that.

Are you kidding me?

Let's go to a champagne brunch next week.

Uh but but but just having the courage to actually read the Bible in its context and teaching people what it says is like holding up a diamond.

And every time you turn the diamond a little bit, a diamond has different, they're called facets, different sides.

And every time you turn the diamond, the brilliance of the stone is magnified.

And so every time you come to a church where someone has the courage, and it's not that many, because most people have a topic they want you to like work on this week.

Uh, but if somebody just holds up the diamond of God's word and turns the diamond and you see it refracting all the character and reflecting all the character of God, your soul will be nourished in ways that nothing else can nourish it.

And that's when your marriage gets better.

That's when you think differently about money and forgiveness and driving on 59 at 5:30 in the afternoon.

Amen?

Yeah, y'all like money, forget whatever.

And so understanding why people hate you.

John chapter 15, we left off last week in verse 17.

John 15 · chapter mention

We pick up this week in verse 18.

Uh again, understanding why people hate you.

If the Jesus is talking, let me give you the context.

Jesus is uh coming to the end of his ministry, he's yet to go to the cross and die on the cross, and so he knows it's coming, and so he's getting his disciples ready.

He's really talking a lot, okay?

He says in verse 18, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but you but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world.

Therefore, the world hates you.

Remember the word that I've said to you.

A servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

If I did not come and i if I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin.

But now they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates me hates my father also.

If I had not done among them the works that no one else no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.

But now they have seen and hated both me and my father.

But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled.

They hated me without a cause.

But when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me, and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.

I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away, that they will put you out of the sin, they will put you out of the synagogues.

Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me.

But I have said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.

And so Jesus says, Hey, when their hour comes, it's gonna, they think it's gonna be their best hour, it's gonna be their worst hour.

And when your hour comes, you think it might be your worst hour, it will be your best hour.

Okay?

And so when we like to read the Bible and then just say, point to things in the Bible.

So I just want to hold up the diamond, kind of turn it a little bit, and say, get a load of this.

The first thing I want you to see is that being chosen changes everything.

Being chosen changes everything.

If you read and starting in verse 18, he Paul uh Jesus uses the word world, world, world over and over.

He said, If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own because you're not of the world.

What is all this thing about all the world?

And so the word world uh is the Greek word cosmos.

Let me ask this question: Have you ever had a day where you just got up and everything went wrong?

You overslept, you were running late, you almost backed into the neighbor's uh trash cans.

They leave in the street where you told them not to leave them because I can't get out of my driveway, but enough about my life.

Uh, and then and then there's a wreck on 90, and you can't get downtown, and but you get to town, and your boss is a jerk, and then your son calls and says, Hey, you know, I don't think I'm gonna I quit my job.

I don't want to work this summer, I just want to discover myself, and I just want to live at home.

And you're like, ah, you ever had a day, and if you've ever had this day, just say amen.

Have you ever had a day where you felt like the world was against you?

Say amen.

Yes, yes, and by the way, guess what?

You had that kind of day because it is.

Aren't you glad you came to hear me tell you that?

You're like looking at your wife right now, going, we should bring homage to this man.

He's so helpful.

Yes, the word world, in the English word world, the New Testament was originally written in Greek and translated into English, the Greek word is cosmos, and it refers to this the whole mass of humanity alienated from God and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ.

When the Bible says world, when Jesus says world right here, he's not talking about the planet, he's talking about the people.

The people, the whole mass of humanity alienated from God, therefore hostile to the crop to the cause of Christ.

Jesus says in verse 19, look at it.

He says, if you were of the world, if you were of the world, in other words, he's saying not this is not a possibility, this is an impossibility because you're not of the world, but if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world.

If you were of the world, okay, the world would love you, but the world doesn't love you is what Jesus is saying.

Who has the chutzpah to look you in the face and tell you the hard truth?

Jesus does, because he loves you.

He says, hey, if to to the Christian, if you were of the world, in other words, if you want the world to love you, Christianity's not for you.

It's just not.

It's just not.

The Bible says that friendship with this world is enmity.

It's to be the enemy of God.

Now, that doesn't say you don't enjoy your life.

He says, hey, if you were of the world, so how do we escape getting out of the world?

He said, if you were of the world, the world would love you.

As it is, you're not of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Now, what we have to admit today is that we've got really cozy with the world.

Jesus says, if you were of the world, and if we're honest, we're kind of like, I kind of like being with the world because I don't like to be hated.

Hey, memo to sell, neither do I.

So being hated is not the goal of Christianity, but sometimes it is the consequence.

Let me say that again.

Being hated is not the goal of Christianity.

But sometimes it is the it is the consequence.

And when that day comes, you gotta just buck up and put on your big boy pants and just take it, just endure it.

I mean, I was thought I was helping, like this young lady that came to me.

She's 19 and she can't decide she's dating a guy, but she met a guy at work and wants to get with him and da-da-da-da-da.

And the more she talked, I was just like, for the love, why are God so central to your life?

So I just said that.

I just said, Why do you have why do you need a man to feel fulfilled?

I do not need a man.

When's the last time you didn't have a boyfriend?

When I was 14.

And I would start losing my peripheral vision.

And so I thought this was helpful.

I said, How old are you now?

I'm 19.

And so you've gone from relationship to relationship.

Yeah, for the past five years.

How can you sit there and tell me you don't think men are central to your life?

I mean, what's the longest you've gone?

Oh, I don't go without a boyfriend.

I mean, if I break up with a guy, I've got another one already on standby.

And I'm just like, and I just said, you're kind of full of yourself.

This is why you don't want to come see me for counseling.

Come see Wade Burgess.

He's the good cop.

He says things like, Well, let's pray about that.

I say jerky things like, God, you're pretty full of yourself, aren't you?

And you act like you're God's gift of humanity.

And to which she said, I can just tell you this, you can go to hell.

Yeah, oh, I don't have a comeback for that.

I said, I've been there.

Your dad said you weren't home, so I came here looking for you.

Oh, oh, you think you're funny.

I said, No, I don't think I'm funny.

But here's what I do know.

I don't think this, I'm certain of this.

I'm not intimidated by your 19-year-old opinions, okay?

So you can walk out of this door and my life will be grand, all right?

Because here's what you got to understand.

I'm not, because she comes to this church, she may be in the room right now.

I don't care.

Get mad all over again.

Come see me tomorrow, but bring me the Starbucks gift card because I told her this.

I said, I'm so changed in your life, you should bring me homage.

I think that's about the students in our student ministry.

I I speak into some of them's life and I just think, these people are gonna be so much better.

I'm gonna come to work one day.

There's gonna be a shrine of fruit and stuff outside my door because they just stop by to pay homage.

And so I said to her, I said, here's what you gotta understand.

You can get mad.

She goes, You didn't bother you that I'm mad at you.

No, no, you're 19.

You you you're codependent on men already.

This is horribly sad.

I've seen this movie a thousand times, but I'm not pastoring the 19-year-old young girl right that's sitting in front of me.

I'm pastoring the the wife and mother you profess to want to be.

And I want you to get there with authority instead of just regret.

And she's like, Well, I don't know what that means.

I said, You know why you don't know that means?

Because you put all your stock in your flesh.

And the Bible says that put no confidence in the flesh.

That doesn't mean hate yourself, but stop being vain and vapid and vaping and other things that start with a V.

And she said, How'd you know I vape?

And I said, That's the Holy Spirit.

I can't help it.

And so what am I saying?

Hey, look at me.

The goal is not to be hated, it's not.

I don't want to be a jerk.

Somebody wrote me the other day and said, Man, I wish I I loved conflict as much as you do.

I'm like, what do you think?

I love I don't love conflict.

I love the truth.

And sometimes the truth gets you into conflict.

It didn't end well.

She said, I've not changed my mind.

I still think you can go to hell.

I said, Okay, well, I got things to do.

Why don't you go to your car?

We're done.

That's just it.

You're not gonna pray?

No, I'm not gonna pray.

Just go.

Just go get another boyfriend, then another one, then another one, then another one, then another one.

I mean, this is like crack to you.

You smoke man crack.

Go smoke.

Now, again, I wish I could see your faces.

Y'all like.

Oh, honey, pinch the baby.

We gotta go.

That's horrible.

No, no, in my mind, I'm loving that lady.

I love that young lady.

And here's the thing: she would tell you that, okay?

She may not tell you that after that, but she goes, I know Passion loves me, but sometimes he just, and I'm like, oh, I've heard enough of your foul mouth, okay?

I get it, you're mad.

But see, here's the thing.

If you were of the world, back to the Bible, verse 19, if you were of the world, but you're not.

See, if you were of the world, the world would love you, but you're not because you're not of the world.

And how did you not get, how did you escape the clutches of the world?

Jesus says, but I chose you out of the world.

Therefore, the world hates you.

What you gotta admit today is that we got real cozy with the world.

We do pretty much whatever the world does.

And so, in that environment, here's the payoff for us.

In that environment, no one gets hated because there's no basis to hate you.

You're just like them.

Your morals are like them.

You you spend your money the way they do, your worldview is the same as theirs.

And so, on what basis should the world hate you?

There's no reason.

None whatsoever.

You're the guy at work.

It's like, all right, who am I to judge you?

Because you think that disagreement is judgment.

If it if we create a world, think for a little bit.

If we create a world where disagreement is judgment, on what basis does anybody have to repent?

They don't.

It's just we're moral cowards.

Somebody goes, Oh, you're judging me.

And we go, oh, I don't want to be judging you.

No, I'm not judging you, I'm just saying what the truth is.

Because there's a been a standard of truth been erected.

We'll get to that in just a minute.

But let me just say this people whom God has chosen are no longer part of the world because they can't be.

God didn't choose them in the hopes that they would do their best and somehow escape the gravitational pull of selling out.

Instead, God chose us, worked in us in such a way that when people hate us like they hated him, we respond like he did.

That's what I'm saying.

I have a friend, my friend Dave, uh, grew up.

He had polio in his legs and cystic fibrosis in his lungs.

He said, I was basically a wheezing cripple.

Uh and my brother was this big strapping athlete.

And I, because I said, Hey, what really shaped the way you think about yourself?

He said, My brother was the baddest kid on the block.

He's the most athletic, big jock, and we'd split up and play pickup games of baseball or basketball.

Anytime my brother got first picked, he always picked me.

And I was just like, he sobbed and we're sitting in a beneggans.

I don't know if they still have Benegins restaurant.

Remember Benegans?

Uh Benigans used to have a fried sandwich called a Monte Cristo.

Oh, thank you, Jesus, for that.

I'm fantasizing about that now.

Let's go.

We'll stand for the benediction.

I'm driving to a Benegens.

No.

We were saying to me, he's sobbing uncontrollably.

And I said, Dave, are you okay?

And he looked at me and said, I never got over being chosen.

And Jesus says right here in John 15, you should never get over being chosen.

I chose you out of the world.

I didn't have to, but I did.

That's the first thing you got to understand about why people hate you.

Secondly, opposition is the outworking of guilt.

Opposition is the outworking of guilt.

Look at verse 22.

Verse 22, the Bible says this.

Jesus says, If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin.

But now they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates me hates my father also.

If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.

So twice Jesus kind of builds this same prima facie case against all of humanity.

He says in verse 22, if I had not come and spoken to them, uh, and then in verse 24, if I had not done among them the works that no one else did.

And then here's the two conditional things.

If I had not spoken and if I had not performed these works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.

But because I did, they are.

Two things you need to take away from that.

Number one is simply this the words and works of Jesus establish a standard of universal guilt for all of humanity.

Let me say that again.

The words and the works of Jesus establish a standard of universal guilt for all of humanity.

It doesn't matter if you agree with it or not, it doesn't matter if I agree with it or not, because look at me, God being God and God being right does not require your approval or agreement.

It just doesn't.

He's not that insecure.

I turned on the TV this morning and as I was getting ready, drinking coffee, getting liquored up on caffeine, ready to come down here today.

And some mealy-mouthed preacher on TV said, Every time you sin, it breaks God's heart.

No, he doesn't.

God's not like your grandma who weeps because you don't stop smoking weed.

God is a glorious, all-sufficient being who stands in the solitude of himself and he is unaffected by your sin.

See, preachers say that because, yo, you should stop sinning because you're breaking God's heart.

You don't have the capacity to break God's heart.

God is so secure in himself that he's not up there weeping every time you sin.

Now, see, we're so therapeutic that I say that I sound like a jerk.

No, that's just that's not the gospel.

Because if every time you sin, it breaks God's heart.

God's the most hard, God lives in agony, and God does not live, just imagine, multiply the sin of every seven billion people in the world.

How does God do anything but just live in agony?

And beloved, God does not live in agony, God dwells in glory.

And God is great with God.

And when you sin, you're not affecting God, you're affecting yourself.

And so the words and the works of Jesus establish a standard by which all of humanity is guilty.

Here's the second thing we take away from the Bible.

This is also the origin of objective truth for Christians.

And you say, Well, I don't believe that.

You don't have to.

That's a non-Christian position you've taken.

You can only absolve, you can only believe so many non-Christian things and still consider yourself a Christian.

This is the origin of objective truth.

You ever heard that phrase?

Well, there's no objective truth, it's all subjective.

No, it's not.

The words and works of Jesus establish the truth as a Christian.

If it's not just the truth about you, here's the good news.

It's not just the truth about your guilt, but it's a truth about where you can find forgiveness as well.

However, here's the pinch.

If you don't acknowledge your guilt, there's nothing for you to be forgiven from.

So Jesus is unnecessary to you.

If you don't acknowledge your guilt, this objective standard of the words and the works of Jesus, so Jesus said, hey, if I didn't come and do this, they would not be guilty of sin.

But because I did, they are, and they are furious about it.

This is why I say that opposition is the outworking of guilt.

If you see people that are just enraged over stuff, I mean, you're smart people.

Ask yourself this question: how can one person say and do things?

Just as simple as that.

How can one person say and do things and because he does, the whole world is guilty of sin?

The only logical answer is that this person is God.

This person is the truth, and that's who Jesus Christ is.

He's God in the flesh, and he's the truth.

And because he said what he said and did what he did, the whole world is guilty of sin.

That's what Jesus says right here in John 15.

And because of this, there's just that they don't deal with it because Jesus goes on and he says, look at it, verse 25, but the word that's written in their law must be fulfilled.

They hated me without cause.

He didn't say they didn't hate me.

They didn't have a valid reason they could point to.

They hated Jesus because they were guilty of sin.

Look at me, and they didn't face their sin, and so they took their frustration for their sin out in opposition against Jesus.

If you want to see it nowadays, it's guilt expressing itself in opposition.

Just go to an abortion rights rally.

It's on display every weekend.

Now, look, listen carefully.

This sermon is not about abortion, okay?

I have friends that go to this church who've had abortions and they've been forgiven by Jesus.

And not only did Jesus forgive that sin, but he forgot about that sin.

And abortion's still wrong.

We've got to stop being cowards and kind of say, we can't talk about anything that anybody in the room may have experienced, then you're hating those people by not loving them enough to say there's forgiveness for any woman who's had an abortion.

And here's the part that doesn't get said for the man that got her pregnant, you need the same kind of forgiveness.

Let's stop making this about, and and because you say, What do you mean?

This this sense of opposition is the outworking of guilt.

I see women at these rallies, and I just think, and here's what's sad is that no one's saying, hey, you don't have to just try to do good the rest of your life to try to kind of outweigh the bad that you've done.

You can face the bad that you've done because here's the reality: keeping abortion legal or making it legal, that's announced, we're going to overturn Roe v.

Wade.

Making something legal doesn't affect the moral nature of it.

There's a lot of things in our country right now that are legal, that are grossly immoral.

So if you're waiting for the government to give you permission for your sin, you will never know the power that only God can provide.

And everyone's sitting around the name of politics, talking about oh, this women go to these things with all this outrage.

Hey, there's forgiveness.

There's forgiveness.

You want to spend your rest of your life holding up signs, you know, it's my body, Philippians 1 22.

It's not a book in the Bible.

There's a sign.

I'm not making that up.

There's a sign.

And I'm just like, really?

You just said that?

Wow.

I mean, wow.

Can I buy you a cup of a cup of coffee?

Just come on.

But here's the thing that that outrage has got to go somewhere.

This sense of disorient, emotional disorientation, uh disorientation, it's got to go somewhere.

You don't stop a beating heart and not say, I killed something.

And we as a country, we're the Christians that have this informed perspective that aren't screaming at those people, that are just saying, hey, we will adopt your children.

Don't do this.

But we live in a country that just kind of says, here's my favorite.

I'm choking on the pure, impossible logic and the hypocrisy of women who hold up signs and say, it's my body, my choice.

It's not your body.

Pregnancy does not kill your body.

It's not your body because they don't take your body and put it in the dumpster out back after the abortion.

Your body gets in your car and goes on sleeping with whoever you want to sleep with because that's what it's really all about.

No one's gonna curb my sexual appetite.

It's not at all about, oh my body, stop.

We don't believe you.

We see through that.

It's fake outrage.

It's outrage masquerading, it's guilt masquerading is outrage.

You're mad and you're angry, and you're mad and angry at yourself.

And I say to everybody who's experienced that, oh, there's forgiveness in Jesus for that.

There's forgiveness.

We've got to hold on.

Opposition is the outworking of guilt.

Why?

Because Jesus says, hey, because I spoke to my words and I did my works.

Everybody's guilty of sin.

And they don't want to admit that.

They want to get mad and have demonstrations and marches.

You're wasting your time.

Put your signs up.

Come to Jesus and He He forgives.

Here's the third thing you need to understand about why people hate you is that we need both the internal and the external witness.

Verse 26, the Bible says this.

He says, uh uh, but in the helper, Capital 8.

That's a reference to the Holy Spirit.

Uh God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So he's never there's never gonna be a sphere of existence where you can be where God isn't.

And so Jesus is getting ready to leave heaven.

He's finished his mission here on earth, go back to heaven, and and the father sends the Holy Spirit.

That's what he's talking about here.

He says, When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.

Now, when I say we need both the internal and the external witness, let me ask you this question.

Have you ever had a spiritual conversation with someone and they got disproportionately angry about what you were saying?

I mean, they got like rageful, and you're like, dude, I just we're just talking.

And I mean, it happened up here.

I was talking to a friend at BJ's.

We're having lunch, and I'm fantasizing about the pazook I'm gonna have for dessert.

That's how shallow I am.

You don't know what a pazookie is, do you?

Oh yeah, for those of you that aren't enlightened, it's a dessert.

It's a chocolate chip cookie in a skillet.

And it comes out, it's hot, and it's got ice cream on top of it, and chocolate syrup, and it's just melting all together.

And you're just like, my kids are like hogs with a trough.

They're like just, I mean, I'm just got I'm trying to get my spoon there like, hey dad, hang on a second, Dad.

I'm like, Dad ain't got a taste, the thing's almost gone.

And then my wife's like, well, if you wanted some, maybe you should order another one.

So now I don't let my kids get it anymore.

I tell them we can't afford it.

We're giving the missions.

But when someone calls me and says, Let's go to lunch, I say, let's go to BJ's.

Because here's what I do I'm gonna have a salad and a bazookie.

So when my wife says, Did you eat healthy today?

Yeah, I had a salad for lunch.

She never says, And what'd you have for dessert, big boy?

So I'm sitting there eating my salad, thinking about, and and the conversation turns spiritual.

And the guy says, Well, you know, I'm doing this, this, and me and my girlfriend, blah, blah, blah.

What do you think?

I said, Well, that's that's sin, is what I think.

I'm sick of you judging me.

I'm not, you ain't gotta raise your people are looking, I don't like being looked at in a restaurant.

People are looking like, oh yeah, that guy.

Happens all the time.

Am I well, bro, bro?

I'm just sick of it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

This is guilt masquerading is outrage.

And I say, Well, why are you yelling, man?

Go, I'm sick of you.

I'm sick of you.

You ever sick of yourself?

That once again you've convinced a woman to move in with you, that you have no plans on marrying.

You're just gonna sleep with her until she sees through you, and then you're gonna throw her away and get another one.

This is your pattern.

You, you, you, you don't know that.

Tell me about the last three relationships you've had.

It ended with him just getting up and screaming, throwing his napkin down on the table and walking out.

I thought, I guess I'm paying for this.

Uh and the waiter, the waiter came over and goes, so the manager's like, sir, is everything okay?

Uh, it's our problem.

Uh, yeah, my friend wants to be like some big moral crusader for his freedom, but he's just guilty and he can't admit it.

Hey, whatever that means, can you hold it down?

Yeah, just men on hiself.

I'm not getting a pazoe.

Uh, let's go.

Uh yeah, bring me the check.

Now, look at me.

I love that person.

I love him.

I want him to father daughters one day with integrity.

Because when it's gonna land on him is when his daughter goes off to college and moves in with her boyfriend.

What's he gonna say to her?

Hey, dad's gonna kind of lecture you.

I didn't really see we're we're we're we're we're forfeiting the capacity to parent with authority.

See, you need both the internal and external witness.

Why do I say that?

Because nobody can get that mad at me.

I'm too nice of a person.

What do I mean by the internal witness?

Here's what I'm saying.

When you're talking to somebody about spiritual things, you're you're the external witness, and the Holy Spirit is the internal witness.

The Holy Spirit is churning up their heart.

You keep talking, it's not like it all depends on you.

So and by the way, the word witness here, when he talks about the, you know, the Holy Spirit will witness, verse 26, for when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness.

We can't just sit back in the name.

A lot of people like reform theology, which I just think is biblical theology.

A lot of people sit back and kind of go, well, you know, God wants to do it, God's gonna do it, God chooses people.

You can't say that.

The Holy Spirit witnesses, and you have to witness as well.

Ours is the external, our words are the external witness.

The Holy Spirit is the internal witness.

And by the way, the Greek word for witness, uh I mean I mean, our English word witness is a Greek word uh martyreo, martyrio, which basically means uh martyr.

A martyr is someone who loses their life for something they believe in.

So to bear witness, here's a little definition to bear witness.

It simply means to affirm that one has seen, heard, or experienced something.

To bear witness.

It's not to memorize some religious information off of a pamphlet and hijack your friends, it's just to bear witness, to affirm what you have seen, heard, and experienced something.

So here's what I'm asking you to do today is to walk out here, live, love, and talk like you're men and women who've seen something, heard something, and experienced something.

And if you haven't, you don't have anything to say to people, they don't want to hear it.

So the next time you're having a conversation, just realize hey, this is not just me talking to my friend.

The Holy Spirit's at work.

Because we'll talk about it next week.

The Bible says that the Holy Spirit can mix of sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come.

Because my buddy texted me the next day, goes, Hey man, I want to circle back and apologize.

And I said, Hey, I'm not mad at you.

He goes, It's just you start sounding like my mom.

I said, Do you find it kind of uh interesting or revealing that the people in your life who love you are all saying the same thing?

He texted back, that's enough.

Don't start still, don't start preaching to me.

By the way, when I read people's texts, I read it in the voice I think they say it.

Don't start preaching to me.

I know you never do that.

I love him.

Here's the fourth thing the Bible tells us uh is that Jesus has a goal.

Jesus has a goal.

Let me say this: everything that Jesus says and does, he has an end to the means.

You say, What do you mean?

Look at verse chapter 16, verse 1.

Jesus says, I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

They will put you out of the synagogues.

Indeed, the hour's coming when whoever kills you will think he's offering service to God.

Isis didn't come up with that.

Religious terrorism has been around since the New Testament.

We're offering service to God.

We're gonna kill you people.

And in verse three, and they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

But I have said these things to you, and when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.

Anybody that kills in the name of God doesn't know God, is what Jesus is saying right here.

But that's just free.

Here's the part Jesus has a goal.

Look at verse 1.

I said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

These are the men that were with him for three years.

These are his buddies, okay?

These are the disciples.

What does he mean?

I said all these.

The goal of his instruction is to keep them and us from falling away.

Listen very carefully.

That doesn't mean you can lose your salvation.

It does mean that you can be found to never have had it.

People who fall away were never a part of Christ to begin with.

Keep in mind that Judas was with them just a couple chapters ago.

And Jesus knew all along.

And so he betrayed them and left.

And he, hey, he went out from us because he wasn't part of us.

This same John, this is the gospel of John, towards further towards the back of the New Testament, you'll see little books, the epistles, 1st, 2nd, and 3 John in 1 John chapter 2.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

This same John says that, hey, people left the Christian faith.

They left, they said, Hey, it's God and Jesus thing in working for me.

And they left.

And they didn't say, Oh, let's pray for these people that have renounced their faith.

Look what John says.

He says, They went out from us, but they were not of us.

For if they'd been of us, they would have continued with us.

But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

Everyone who left, they were never of the faith.

It's a lot of people, and here's the problem the church in America years ago took as its goal teaching people how to become Christians, and they signed up a lot of people who weren't converted.

Their heart wasn't regenerated.

They weren't changed.

They just were tried to live better and felt guilty for it and gave up.

And if that's you, I am so sorry.

Because that's not the way Jesus is.

He tells the truth, and people's heart begins to kind of vibrate like, Dad gum, something's going on in here.

And they don't need some chicken breath preacher to lead them in some prayer incantation that's nowhere in the Bible, just for the record.

And then they go, okay, I'm gonna sign up for this and this and this and this.

In about 90 days, they're burned out and quit.

And again, the goal of Jesus' instruction is to keep you from falling away.

I want to close this morning by giving you what's known in some circles as five the five theses on eternal security.

You say, What do you mean?

Sometimes in the Baptist church, which ours is, it sounds like once saved, always saved.

I hate that language because I think it's too thin.

Uh, it's not, it doesn't have theological richness.

And so when I say the five theses of eternal security, why do I believe that because God chose me out of the world, I'm gonna make it to the end.

Not because of effort, but because of my identity, that God has wrought my heart, he's changed my heart.

Here's five things and and and some Bible verses.

Don't try to write it down.

Just take a picture of your phone.

Number one, uh, we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, apart from any works.

We're justified by grace alone, through faith alone, apart from any works.

The Bible talks about it in Ephesians chapter 2, for by grace you've been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Romans chapter 3, verse 28, for we hold that one is justified by faith, apart from works of the law.

Romans 3:28

Here's a second truth about people that are converted when they become a Christian, they don't they don't quit.

If they quit, they never were.

Here's a second truth that supports that those who are justified will certainly be glorified.

Romans chapter 8, verse 30.

Romans 8:30

And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those he called, he also justified, and those who he justified, he also glorified.

Nobody drops out between justification and glorification.

God doesn't justify you, make you right with him, and then say, do your best.

No, he is at work in you to the day you die.

Those who are justified will certainly be glorified.

Here's a third statement.

No one will be glorified, finally saved, who does not continue in their faith.

I want you to listen carefully.

No one will be glorified, finally saved who does not continue in faith.

First Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1 and 2.

1 Corinthians 15:1

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.

If you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in vain.

Now, I don't look at me.

I don't hold fast to the word that was preached to me and try to white knuckle it to the end.

No, because God chose me and God changed my heart and God came to live inside of me by his spirit, and God is at work in me to the day I step into glory.

This is not just about me and what I'm capable of and what I prefer, it's about God and what God can accomplish.

And so I find myself in situations, what does it mean?

I find myself in situations where I'm capable of more than I by nature would be capable of.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, like sometimes it's just as simple as I get in bed at night and I'm reading and I put my book down.

My wife's watching people cook, which is we do a lot in our house.

And she's watching another episode of Chopped.

Imagine that.

And then she pauses it and she says, Hey, are you tired?

Are you too tired to talk?

And here's my thought.

We've been together all day.

Have we talked enough?

Maybe you gotta talk anymore.

And it's never something simple like, oh, do you want to order Chinese food tomorrow?

You want me to cook?

Are you gonna get pizza?

It's some earth-shattering 45-minute conversation.

And when I think, and I do, I just think, yeah, I'm too tired to talk.

You had a chance to talk to me all day.

Chances up, I'm going to bed.

But instead, I roll over, I even set up in bed.

And I say, Yeah, babe, what's on your mind?

And then the floodgate opens.

And out it comes.

Are our kids gonna be okay?

Are we gonna have to move my dad in with us?

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And I'm thinking by nature, my God, you think about these things?

Just let life happen.

Oh no, oh no.

And it goes from being 1049, look over, it's 1218.

By nature, I'm I'm done.

But because God's at work in me, look at me.

I'm able to love my wife like Christ loved the church and give myself up for her.

And sometimes I give up sleep for her.

And it's not like, oh, my wife's weak and needy and emotional.

No, she's my wife.

Who is she supposed to talk about those things with?

Yes.

Thank you for the reminder.

Now she'll get in bed tonight and go, hey, by the way, I got some more things to talk about.

It's never what I want to talk about.

Let's talk about, yes, your dad, and uh, went to buy a bigger house, and what are we gonna do?

Can we afford that?

Oh, I just like here's here's how shallow I am.

I want to go home today, take a nap, I want to eat lunch, take a nap, get up, and watch the basketball game tonight.

That's all.

That's as far as I thought.

She'll have 14 things, and then she'll say, You want to go for a walk?

Yeah, it's 106 outside.

Let's go walk on the surface of the sun.

That's a good idea.

That's what I think.

But no, you know what I do?

I get up and go, let me get my flip-flops, let's go.

And I sweat like Mike Tyson in a spelling bee.

I gotta come back.

Because not just to walk, I then gotta take a shower.

And I do.

And y'all are like, you don't look happy about it.

I'm not always happy about it.

But I do.

Why?

Look at me.

Because there's this inner compulsion in me that helps me to love my wife better than I would love her by nature.

That's my Christian faith.

My Christian faith didn't, oh, I put a$5 bill in the box, God.

I hope you appreciate that.

Keep it.

That's the way you think.

No.

No.

Colossians 1 21, no one will be glorified, finally saved who doesn't continue in the faith.

Colossians 1 21 and 23, and you who were once alienated, hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, is now reconciled.

He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

Hear that, beloved.

You by nature, we by nature alienated, separated from God, hostile in mind, doing evil deeds.

And because of what he did on the cross, he reconciled in his own body of flesh and by his death.

And to he did this to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

So on judgment day, Jesus is gonna pick my big self up, and it's gonna be like Father's Day.

He's like, hey, hey, here's Neil.

He by nature is alienated, hostile in mind, and does evil deeds.

And when I died on the cross, I died on the cross so I could present him to you holy and blameless and above reproach.

There's no defect in this man because of me, and I got him for you.

Happy Father's Day.

That's the only reason I'm gonna make it to the end.

And that's the only reason you're gonna make it to the end.

And some of you have tried in the name of religion and failed.

I just want to say to you, there's a relationship out here.

He says, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and in which I, Paul, become a minister.

Hear these last two and we'll be done because this is where sometimes I just think, ah, I just oh I don't enjoy conflict.

Sometimes I think, hey, God, they want to be that way.

Let them be that way.

Uh but I I have this on my computer and I just pull up and remind myself God Himself will keep his children from finally falling away.

God Himself.

Philippians 1 6, and I'm sure of this, he began a good work in you.

You notice all through the Bible, it just reiterates how God began this, not you.

This is God's idea.

He began a good work in you, bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1, 8 and 9.

Talk about Jesus.

It says he will sustain you to the end.

Guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Here's the put a star by this last one, and we're done.

You still with me?

God keeps his children by means of his children.

God keeps his children by means of his children.

In other words, uh eternal security is sure and certain, but it's not without its means.

And sometimes you're the means by which people are kept.

Hebrews chapter 3, verse 13, but exhort one another every day, as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Hebrews 3:13

For we've come to share in Christ.

If indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end, it's possible for believers, people that know and love Jesus, to be hardened in their head and in their heart by the deceitfulness of sin because sin feels so good.

And it's just like, I don't care, I'm not listening, I don't care, I don't care.

And what do you do?

Because this truth is true, that God keeps his children by means of his children.

You have to pursue that person, go after them, not in judgment, but in love.

I remember as a little kid, I think I could talk about it now.

I just broke down crying the last service because as a little kid, we didn't go to church, but about maybe three or four times a year when my dad and stepmom would get in a fist fight in the driveway.

We had to separate them, they'll go to church tomorrow.

I guess gotta make it better.

You people drink too much, and you both cheat on each other.

How about stopping doing that?

Going to church ain't gonna change a thing.

I didn't say that, but I thought it.

Anyway, but we do.

I'm not making that up.

That's what that would happen.

And then we'd go to church and I'd sit in church and just think, this means nothing.

But when that man got up, his name was Lonnie Walters, Brother Lonnie, he had a purple birthmark over half his face.

I remember pitying him and just thinking, man, what did God mess up on you?

What happened?

I'm seven years old.

I'm just like, what in the world?

And they would sing this old song at the church.

There's a hymn.

Uh I didn't know what it was about, but I just remember thinking it had a little lil to it.

I'd walk around singing after it.

But the chorus said this: bring them in.

Bring them in.

Bring them in from the fields of sin.

Bring them in.

Bring them in.

Bring the wondrous ones to Jesus.

And that man would get up with tears in his eyes and hold the pulpit and say, Well, beloved, after singing that, I'm uh I'm gonna come see some of y'all this week.

So don't hate me when I show up.

But if you need to, go ahead.

And my dad was one of the men that that man came after.

I remember going to the feed store, and Brother Lonnie would be sitting there in his car.

And he'd get out and go, Leon, you got time for a brief word?

Oh, not today, Pastor.

I'm preaching, I'm really busy, and my time's really important.

And he smiled and said, Mine is too, Leon.

First man I ever saw stand up to my dad.

And as a kid, it wasn't confrontational, it was just Leon.

You don't ever put your hands on a woman.

Well, she disrespected me and blah, blah, blah.

And as a little kid, I had to stand and watch that.

Be careful what you expose your kids to because you can't wash it out of their eyes.

But here's what I knew: that man with the big birthmark on his face, he loved my dad.

He pursued my dad.

My dad was just a drunken, womanizing man who didn't pay his bills.

Not a man of character or integrity.

And then two years before he died, my dad came to faith.

And I'm telling you, I think a lot of that set that in motion was Brother Lonnie would just show up.

He would just come after my dad because before I understood it, before I had read books that taught it to me, he demonstrated that God keeps his children by means of his children.

Let me give you one last verse when we're done.

James chapter 5, verse 19.

James 5:19

This slays me every time I know I got to have a hard conversation, and I'm like, oh, oh.

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Look at me, beloved.

This is where you find the courage to have the hard conversation with your brother or your sister or your cousin or your husband or your own kids or your own mom and dad.

The Bible says that whoever brings back a sinner, that's talking about people.

Whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering, from her wandering, you'll save their soul from death and you'll cover up a multitude of sins.

That's powerful responsibility, beloved.

So what do I mean when I say the thesis for eternal security is that God keeps his children by means of his children.

Thought to be people in your life that come after you and they see you getting off the path, not out of condemnation, but out of love.

I remember every time we'd pull up somewhere and I'd see Brother Walters drove an LTD.

I don't think they'd make those anymore.

I think it was like a Ford or Mercury, some vehicle about 28 feet long.

But I don't know why, but my heart would get glad when that man showed up.

And I remember just thinking, I'm glad he's gonna talk to my dad.

Because my dad, but then my dad would get in the truck and drive home and not say a word.

And I could see on his face, my dad's thinking.

You should have people in your life that when they talk, they make you think.

Speaking of which, we like to just teach the Bible and give you space to think.

And we do that by just uh by means of questions.

Not every Sunday, but most Sundays.

And so some questions come up on the screen for us to think about.

You can put your phone and take a picture.

I'm gonna pray a prayer, and we're just gonna spend about a minute just kind of lingering and thinking about.

Because here's why.

We don't want you just to come and then run out and get on the rest of your day.

We want you to kind of immerse yourself in what the Bible said to you today and take it with you and let it shape your head and your heart.

Let me pray.

God, thanks for the Bible.

It's very thought-provoking.

And sometimes it makes us think things that we don't want to think and have conversations we don't want to have, but we're capable of that because God's at work in us, because God began a good work in us and he's gonna continue it until the day of Jesus.

So I can participate in my sanctification, or I can kick against the goads and be miserable and maybe be found out to never have had the faith at all.

The faith is not a prayer we pray, it's a person we worship.

Make us mindful of that today, God, as we think to the glory of God.

Calling the sheep who've gone astray far from the ship's fold away, bring them in, bring them in, bring them in from the fields of sea, bring them in, bring them me, bring the wandering ones to Jesus.

With our sister, with our brother.

We're humble today, God, that you keep your children by means of your children.

And you're the one that does the keeping, but you you use us to reach out to people that have gotten off the path because we we've all done it before.

And we were thankful.

Maybe not in the moment, we were mad in the moment, but we were thankful after the fact that people loved us enough to come after us, to be like Jesus and lead the 90 and 9 and go after the one who writes mean things about us on Facebook.

God, let us push and press through that and see the beautiful responsibility that is ours because of the gospel.

Because we want everyone to taste and see, because everyone is universally guilty because of the words and the works of Jesus.

We want everyone to taste and see the forgiveness that only comes from God.

Let that inform our path in Jesus' name.

Everyone said, Amen.

I want to confess to everybody that Clyde's a jerk for learning that song.

I just talked about in the first service, but uh here's the thing, and you don't need to take this for granted.

You have a worship pastor that listens to the Holy Spirit.

And what happened was is that after the first service, I don't know this, but I know this.

After the first service, he went and found the hymnal and learned that song.

That was the song they sang.

And at my dad's I did my dad's funeral, and there's things that you forget about.

The Bible says the Holy Spirit will teach you all things and he'll remind you of things.

There's things you forget about.

I was seven years old.

Nobody in my family was Christian.

My dad just drank a lot of schlitz and beat his wife.

Uh I don't make a lot of that.

He just wasn't a good man, and he would tell you that.

Uh, but I'm at my dad's funeral.

And out of nowhere, like a shooting star.

Tell my dad's body goodbye.

I knew my dad's spirit was in heaven.

He's like a shooting star, the Holy Spirit said, and Brother Walters was there.

So if we get to heaven, probably we should want to have a big purple birthmark covered half his face.

Probably not there anymore because he got so much ridicule for it in this life.

Uh that's a man.

They brought him in.

And he would walk down the center aisle after the service.

And once he put his hand on my shoulder and stopped, I was just sitting with my head down because I didn't know what praying was.

And I looked at, he squeezed my shoulder, I looked up at him, and he said, Hang in there.

And it was just like, Okay, you see how screwed up this is.

These people are jacked up.

Fix them.

So here's my point, and I'll be done.

It's not always a lot of words.

Sometimes it's just when you sometimes it's just putting you hand on someone's shoulder and saying, hey, hang in there.

I know you think you love him or you love her.

It's so much better for you.

Anyway, uh, there's a couple things going on in the life of our church we want you to know about, and so we we make you aware of that by way of our announcements.

So let's give our attention to that this morning.

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

ESL will be holding our monthly international coffee hour.

We would love for you to join us in the warehouse on Monday at 6 p.m.

for a beautiful collision of culture, language, and stories.

Rosaria Butterfield will be with us on June 14th and 15th.

Childcare is available for church members if you register.

This is a churchwide event prepared for each of us to grasp and grow in the area of relational, hospitable evangelism and ministering to the LGBT community around us.

Your teenagers need to hear her, we as parents need to hear her, and our church needs to hear her.

So we hope you will make plans to be there Friday night and Saturday morning until morning.

Men, let's lead our families to experience this spiritually formative event.

This is not a large-time investment, but it is an equipping opportunity that will pay dividends in your conversations around these topics for years to come.

If you have questions about anything you've heard today, or you would like someone to pray with you, some of our pastors and elders will be available at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

I am.

Uh, because I want to equip my people.

I was at a grad party yesterday, and a friend of mine's saying he's got a daughter in seventh grade, and said, Yeah, one of her friends just announced this week that she's transgendered.

She's spent the night of her house before.

We can't do that anymore because we don't let boys spend the night with my kids.

And I said, Yeah.

Uh so when you say, Why is Pastor bringing that lady in?

That's why.

Because that conversation's coming to your kitchen table.

Uh and and and and you need to be prepared.

Rosario Butterfield was a lesbian, tenured professor at Syracuse University.

Uh, and she came to faith, became a Christian uh through the hospitality of this pastor Ken Smith and his wife.

And she said, their kindness melted my bitter heart.

And so uh it's Friday night and Saturday till noon.

And so I'd love for you to take advantage of that.

The restroom in the lobby.

If money's a pinch, I'll pay for it.

I believe in it that much.

I mean that.

You just come to me and say, Hey, I want to come, but I ain't got the money.

I I got the money.

I'll I'll I'll pay, okay?

Uh stand your feet.

Let me speak a blessing over you.

We'd like to close our service with a spoken blessing.

Hold your hands out.

Bring them in.

Bring them in.

Bring the wondrous ones to Jesus.

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.