A Severe Man?

Lord, together we have lifted up our voices. We have

said we exalt thee. That's what we've said. But just

as First John reminded us this morning, we can say

things that aren't fully true. Lord, we know that you

are exalted. Let it be fully true that we exalt you.

We exalt you with our praise, we exalt you as

we gather, and that we exalt you with the manner

of our lives. This is what we desire. And we

know that you are continuing to work in us, mature us,

sanctify us, grow us. That's what you are continuing to do,

and so we ask for that now by the proclamation.

Of your word.

We believe that you will do your work and your

people by the power of your spirit. And so we

ask that you would do that work now as we

step out in faith.

As we get to work, would you do the work

and be exalted in Jesus' name. Amen.

Just grab our bibles, Thank you, bro. Just grab our

bibles and turn to Luke chapter nineteen. Luke nineteen. If

you don't have a Bible with you, just raise your

hand and we'll find you and give you a bible

or a bulletin or a pen or whatever you need,

so just raise your hand and keep it up catch

the eye of an usher as if you need a

Bible or a bulletin turn to Luke nineteen and we're

going to be in verses eleven through twenty seven this morning,

Luke nineteen eleven through twenty seven. A few things though,

this is a good opportunity for me to remind you

to fill out a connection card. We ask everybody to

do that every week, So if you're a member or

a guest, whatever, please take the whole worship service to

to fill out at some point a connection card that

we would know that you're here by name.

That's an important pastoral tool for us.

Also, you can leave a prayer request that we can

be praying with you in forty you throughout the week.

If you are somewhat new, though, you can leave your

contact information will follow up with you. And if you

are new, if you've only been here a few times

and you're wondering, how do I get plugged into this church?

After this service, there's a table called Step one. Meet

you there, answer whatever questions we can, and then invite

you into the process of what it looks like to

become a part of this church, if that's what you

want to do. Let's see, I've been given a couple

of things here. One of them is this, I think

some of you guys, a handful of you should not

come to church next week.

Not here. I think a handful of you.

Guys should go to Providence Church where they're having their

very first launch service next Sunday. And you're like, well,

how might I do that? Well, contact your small group leader.

You see, your small group leader has a spreadsheet where

they have a list of things that you could go

do and serve at Providence Church for their launch Sunday

or the next Sunday or the next Sunday or next Sunday. Now,

there's only nine slots, so you know, first come, first serve.

But there are nine slots every Sunday between now and

December thirty first, So take a slot, whether that's next

Sunday or the Sunday following, and don't come here. Go

there and go serve those folks as they plant Providence Church.

You're like, well, what if I don't get in on

those nine slots? Good news grasier if that is.

Also planting and they're gonna launch the next Sunday, and

you should go serve them. So don't come to church

here at some point this semester. Go to one of

those churches, even two sundays. I'm giving you a free

pass two sundays this semester.

Don't come to church here.

Go serve them there, provide help energy, just worship with them.

I promise you will encourage them and you'll come away

more encouraged than they. Also this, we had a thing

this weekend man Camp queuing up to this video.

That I heard existed. Yeah, that's us. Ah, what a time.

Over two hundred guys gathered from all eight churches that

are together in our church planting network here in Texas

to worship together, get teaching from the Book of Colossians

from Scott Holling's head injure one another and enjoy one

another's fellowship and encourage one another in the Lord. We

have had a great time and we're going to take that.

They're going to take that ethos forward into our relationships

in this church and in our small groups. That's the

point of main Camp. So guys, if you missed it

this year, come next year. And ladies, ladies. Weekend Registration

is open. More details to come, but we're ready to go.

It's set. The date is January thirtieth and thirty. First

registration is open. You'll hear more about it later. We're

gonna have to get into Luke nineteen. I'm just saying

I've got a lot to go here. We've been in Isaiah.

We've been going passage by passage through Isaiah. That's kind

of how we normally handle preaching at this church, as

we start at the beginning of a book of the

Bible and we work passage by passage through that book.

But I'm going to be teaching.

I'm going to be teaching a course on studying Luke

in Phoenix this week, and this particular passage has been

so compelling and I want to bring it this morning

to Crossway. And here's why. Yeah, you can see it's

titled a Severe Man. I know that a predominant picture

that we have in our minds, a predominant concept that

we have in our minds about Jesus Christ is sort

of this gauzy painting of a soft man with flowing

hair holding.

A lamb.

That's on tranquilizers. I've held lambs. They don't sit still.

And it's just this Jesus meek and mild. It's beautiful.

It's beautiful. Jesus is meek and mild. I'm not saying

he's not. But what I am saying to repeat a

Bible teacher that I heard from pretty recently. If you

like staying perfectly comfortable with the way you think about Jesus,

don't read the Bible, because the scriptures will wreck that.

We're going to read this passage here in Luke nineteen

Luke nineteen, verses eleven through twenty seven. And as we read,

I want you to notice the key statement that's made

here about the king being a severe man severe, and

that statement doesn't get refuted, it gets repeated.

Let's read it Luke, nineteen eleven through twenty seven. What

is going on? As they heard these things? He proceeded

to tell a parable.

Because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed

that the Kingdom of God was to appear immediately, he said,

therefore a nobleman went into a far country to receive

for himself a kingdom, and then return, calling ten of

his survey. He gave them ten minas and said to

them engage in business until I come, but his citizens

hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, we

do not want.

This man to rain over us.

And when he returned, having received that kingdom, he ordered

his servants to whom he had given the money to

be called to them to him, and that he might

know what they had gained by doing business. The first

came before him, saying, Lord, your mina has made ten

minus more.

Now, a mina is like, I don't know, five or

six grand.

Okay, sorry, it's a three months wages, so like five

or six grand times three, so I'm like fifteen to

eighteen thousand dollars.

Okay, if you're thinking, you know five or six thousand

dollars a month for a laborer.

Right, He says, You're mina has made ten minus more.

And he said to him, well done, good servant, because

you have been faithful and very little, you shall have

authority over ten cities. And the second came saying, Lord,

your mind has made five minas like I've turned fifteen

grand into what's fifteen times five?

Math that for me real quick? All right? Thank you?

That this is what I've done. This is how the

business I've done.

And he said to him, and you are to be

over five cities. And then another king saying, Lord, here

is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief.

For I was afraid of you, because you are a

severe man. You take but you did not deposit, and

you reap what you did not sow. And he said

to him, I will condemn you with your own words,

you wicked servant. He knew that I was a severe man,

taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I

did not. So why then did you not put my

money in the bank and at least my coming, At

my coming, I might have collected it with interest. And

he said to those who stood by, take the miner

from him, and give it to the one who has

ten minus. And they said to him, Lord, he has

ten minus. I tell you that to everyone who has

more will be given, but from the one who has not,

even what he has will be taken away. But as

for these enemies of mine who did not want me

to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them

before me.

This is God's word.

Not so much Jesus meek and mild, at least not

in this passage that Christ is looking to convey.

A message to those who are looking on, and.

Luke takes that message of Christ and he conveys it

then to his readers, including us.

What is Christ's message? Does it make you as uncomfortable

as I think it might.

Well, we're gonna look at Christ's message in three questions.

I think that'll unpack it for us.

Three questions.

Question about his expectations, question about his timing, and a

question about is judging.

So let's go.

What is Jesus' message here about his expectations? What's Jesus'

message about his expectations? Is he saying that he has

severe expectations? Sort of yes and no. I mean, what's

clear is that the king expects you to be all in.

What's clear is that the king expects you to be loyal.

The king expects you to follow him. The King expects

you to take what you've been given and get to

work accomplish something. I mean, that's what it says in

verse fifteen.

It's very emphatic. He says, engage in business until I come.

So yeah, it's kind of severe. That is an emphatic command.

But then on the other hand, it's kind of no,

because like, is it severe for a king to expect

loyals to This is where you'll start to get less

uncomfortable if you just agree with me along the way.

Is it severe for a king to expect loyal citizens?

No?

Is it severe for a king to find treason unacceptable? No?

Is it severe for an employer to expect an employee

to get to work to accomplish something. Is it severe

for an investor to expect an asset manager to produce

a return or try to produce a return?

No?

I mean you could call it severe, But is it

the other servants didn't think so?

Just this guy.

This guy is like, Oh, the expectations I'm expected to fall,

how I'm expected to work, the severity, It makes me

so afraid.

Really, I think the king is kind of sussing that out.

You're afraid to try, I mean, you're afraid to try.

There were options for the timid. I think the reader

gets it that he's really not afraid to try. He's

afraid because he didn't try, And that how we are.

He's not afraid to work, he's afraid because he didn't work.

I know how it is.

Look, I wish I could say that I have always

been a disciplined, diligent and rigorous employee all my life.

But I was a young person, just like you were

a young person or are one. I remember I remember

working up at the law firm. I had this boss.

He literally had he literally had a marble statue like

chiseled stone, and what was chiseled out of this stone

was a baseball and carved into it was sometimes you

just got.

To play hardball. That was my boss.

He was a very fair minded, rancher, redneck, multimillionaire lawyer.

The combo is awesome. You should meet him. I love him.

I love him, you know.

I still call him on his birthday every days, like

in his eighties now. But when I was very young

and working at this law firm, I'm like most young people.

When I was at work, I somehow lapsed into pretending

like I didn't have a boss. Have you ever lived

in that pretend world when you're at work and you're

living in the pretend world where you don't have a boss.

This isn't a job, this is just your life, this

is just your time. You're responsible to no one but yourself,

and you goof off and then your boss comes through

your office door quickly and it scares the shoes off

of you.

And you're like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, it's a boss.

Why Why was I afraid?

Because I wasn't locked in. I hated that feeling. I

hated that feeling. I hated that feeling. Do you hate

that feeling? Some of you're like, I've never had that feeling.

Come on, man, I hated that feeling and it bothered

my conscience before the Lord, and so I began to change.

And as I did, when he would bust through my

office door, I'd be excited to see him. Hey, Rober,

let me show you what I've been working on. Hey,

I've been thinking about this budget. Hey about our lease

it's cut. And he's like, who whoa whoah, I'm busy.

But I was excited to see him. I wasn't scared

because of my boss's expectations. I was scared because of

my negligence. The expectation that I work hard only seems

severe if I'm living in the pretend world where I

don't have a boss. The expectation that I follow with

loyalty only seems severe if I'm living in the pretend

world where I don't have a king. What Jesus is

saying about his expectations. Is he really is the king

and he really expects you to follow him, and he

really expects you to get to work.

You could call that severe, But is it.

Has expected you to get to work making disciples, lost

people saved, save people, matured, mature people, multiplied to the

glory of God.

He is calling you to get to.

Work, and multiplication may mean that you step forward in

a kind of leadership that you've never done before.

Praise the Lord.

Multiplication may mean that we send out some of our

best people and stand in the gap here at this

church while we see two other churches planted to the

glory of God. It means it means not just that

they get to work. It means we get to work.

Maturing the saved means rolling up our sleeves and sitting

down discipling others when we have plenty of things that

we could do if we wanted to live in the

pretend world where we don't have a king. Lost people

saved means opening up our mouths boldly and expecting words

to be given to us to share the gospel. As

somebody said this week, there are some of us who

have been sitting in church pews or.

Chairs for decades.

And have never once shared the gospel with anyone with clarity.

And boldness. The King expects you to get to work.

You could call that severe, but is it?

And for some of you this is absolutely encouraging.

This is exactly the kind of thing that you've been

about for years, getting after it, getting to work. And

I know that sometimes you think about what it would

be like to take your foot off the gas and

just coast, and it seems tempting.

It seems like hard work.

In making, maturing and multiplying disciples, seems like hard work

maybe for suckers. And then you're reminded, here's what God says.

Engage in business. Here's what God says. Your labor in

the Lord is not in vain. Here's what the scriptures say.

Here's what you toil for with all his energy, that

He powerfully works within you, that you might present everyone

mature in Christ.

Here's what the Holy Spirit says.

Don't be slothful in zeal, don't grow weary in doing good.

Engage in business until I come is what the Lord

Christ says. And you are sitting there going thank you.

I needed that reminder and encouragement.

But some of you.

Aren't encouraged by this at all, because getting to work

for the king is not what you are about. In fact,

your mind will even youse theology to deflect passages like Thish.

With this fallacy.

The Christian faith can't be about works because we aren't

saved by our works.

We're saved by Christ's work.

Of course, we're saved by Christ's work, not by our work.

You think your work is bringing heaven and earth together.

You think your worth, your work is forgiving the sins

of the world.

You think your work is sort of earning your way

into heaven.

You think your work can actually accomplish something.

To redeem you.

No, of course, we're not saved by Christ's work. We

aren't saved by our work. We are saved by him

unto work, unto work. As it says in Ephesians, we

are his workmanship. He's done it. He has done the

work to make us his. We are created by Christ

Jesus for good works which God has prepared beforehand, that

we should walk in them. Or, as James says, faith

by itself, if it doesn't have works, it's dead.

It's mouth.

Faith The demons believe all the true things about God

and about Christ, and about his death and about his resurrection.

There's nothing about it that they don't believe, even more

accurately than you. But they won't get to work for

the king because they haven't really trusted him, have you,

Because James says that trust looks like work. The fact

that Jesus saves and not us is a glorious truth.

The fact that Jesus sets up his kingdom and not

us is a glorious truth. But Jesus's message in this

parable is actually meant to take our eyes listen, take

our eyes off of what he is doing, and.

Put our eyes on to what we are to be doing.

That sounds like something you would never hear a good.

Preacher say, and it's only true if you understand the

sense in which I'm saying it. But it's absolutely what

Christ is doing here. He is taking our eyes off

of what he's doing, not permanently, not ultimately, but importantly,

and putting our eyes on what we are called to

be doing. And you'll understand that if you understand that

Christ's message here is a lot about his timing, his

timing that brings us to point number two. The first

one was what is Christ's message here about his expectations?

His expectations are that we would get to work.

The next question we've got to deal with is what

is Christ's message here about his timing?

Well, let me tell you.

If you look at verse eleven, you'll see that it

says this, we're given this preamble of purpose. As they

heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because

why does he tell this parable?

What's his point here?

Because he was near to Jerusalem. Oh, we're getting to Jerusalem,

and because they supposed that the Kingdom of God was

to appear immediately, he said, therefore, so you see the purpose,

you see this is loaded with I'm telling you why

I'm telling you this.

It's full of purpose. It's full of because it's full

of therefore, and it has a lot to do with timing.

Is he In a variety of places in Luke and.

An Acts, which Luke also wrote, there's this question that

keeps coming up. Is this your timing for establishing the

kingdom Jesus? Is this your timing for establishing the kingdom?

And here everybody's like, hey, we're coming to Jerusalem, and

this is where they expect the king to establish his definitive,

unquestioned authority and kingdom.

And so they're guessing that's gonna be happening like in.

Days, Look what he's gonna do. Look what he's gonna do.

He's gonna do something in Jerusalem in days, for sure.

But instead of him establishing the kingdom like they're thinking,

what they've got their eyes on him doing, his timing

is different, and it's actually gonna be.

A whole lot more like Verse twelve, which says what.

I'm going away, I'm establishing a kingdom, all right, But

I'm like a nobleman who's going to a far country

to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.

That's what my timing is going to look like. I'm

gonna go away and.

Receive a kingdom, which is a pretty understated way of

saying things when you're talking about your crucifixion and resurrection

and ascension, pretty understated.

Again, agreeing with me is very helpful.

Yeah, it's very understated. Why because it's not his point.

It's not the point that he's making. He's actually taking

our eyes off of what he's doing. Again, not ultimately,

but importantly and he just says, I'm gonna receive a kingdom.

Now he lays it out for them. He's already been

laying it out for him. If you just turn the

page one back, you'll see in the prior chapter like

he's not being secretive. Look at verses thirty one of eighteen.

After taking the twelve he said to them, See, we're

going up to Jerusalem.

We're going up to Rusalem. Yeah, we're going to Jerusalem.

This is gonna be great, and everything that is written

about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

Awesome. We can't wait for the kingdom.

And he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and

be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon, and after

flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third

day he will rise.

They understood none of these things.

The saying was hidden from them, and they did not

grasp what was said.

I'm going away.

I mean, we've been talking about severe, and what Christ

does in receiving this kingdom is severe.

He has beaten, flogged, mocked, spit upon.

Receives in himself the wrath of God for the sins

of the.

World, and forgives.

Those who would trust in him, and he receives us

as citizens. That time is coming in Jerusalem pretty severe.

But even though that time is coming, Christ instead points

to the time that that allows.

That sentence makes sense.

Instead of pointing to that time, Christ points to the

time that.

That allows for us.

Christ's message is now is the time to engage in business.

Now is the.

Time to make use of what He's given to us

for his purposes. Now is the time to get to work.

Does that sound severe? I mean, because what sounds severe

is that Christ died, was flogged, spit upon, mocked, received

the wrath of God, forgave us to make a citizen.

It seems like what is severe is his sacrifice for us,

not what he's called us to in his service in

this span of time.

That's what seems severe.

And if you're not a Christian, you should realize that

whoke is conveying is that there are those who don't

want this king, which means actually rejecting a king who

was spit upon for you, mocked for you, flogged for you, died,

for you, received the wrath of God for you, extends

his forgiveness to you and for you to say I

don't want him. That's what seems severe. And he gives

you this time now, He gives you this moment today.

If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.

He gives you this moment now to change groups. You

could be a servant in his service. That's severe mercy.

Maybe he is a severe man after all. Yes, one

day we will see Christ in his definitive, unquestioned authority

and kingdom, either when he returns or we see him

in heaven. That's really what Verses fifteen through twenty seven

is all about.

We see him.

But Christ is making the point of using this time now.

Jesus is saying he expects you to follow him and

to get to work.

Now.

So what's Christ's message in all of this? Number one,

get to work. Number two, now's the time. But number

three his message includes something about what you can expect

the results to be right when the king comes and

he makes his judgment. Isn't that present in this message

as well? Get to work, now's the time. And there's

something about my judging. That's our third question. What is

Jesus' message here about his judging? I think we have

to agree.

Verse twenty seven is particularly striking. As for these enemies

of mine who did not want me to reign over them,

bring them here and slaughter them before me.

Striking. No, this is a warning about judgment. This is

a warning about condemnation. This is a warning that if

you continue to live pretending like you don't have a king,

pretending like you don't have a creator.

The picture is stark, and it.

Corresponds exactly to what the Bible teaches all other all

kinds of other places, like Romans chapter two. Because of

your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath

for yourself. On the day of wrath, when God's righteous

judgment will be revealed. For those who are self seeking

and do not obey the truth, there will be wrath

and fury. Is that severe, undoubtedly, but it's fitting that

it fits the severity of the situation. If you, having

been created for His glory, reject your creator, If you

haven't been sacrificed for on a cross, reject your redeemer.

If you, having been sought by this word, even this

very morning, reject this call into citizenship and service. That's severe,

and the judgment is fitting, And his judgment is coming.

When you meet this king, But I have to say

the other group is just as striking Verses seventeen through nineteen.

You see these.

Guys, and he said to them, well done, faithful, good servants.

Because you've been faithful and very little. You have authority

over ten cities, right, all right? So the king he

takes fifteen grand, let's say roughly fifteen grand, hands it

over to these guys. There's ten of them, and each

of them get like fifteen grand, and I don't know,

some probably go buy fishing nets, some others go get

like bricklaying equipment.

I don't know.

Somebody else is getting livestock. And they just get to work,

and it multiplied over time, as work tends to do.

And the king comes back and says, all right, I

gave you fifteen grand, you've managed to save up one

hundred and fifty thousand. I'm making you governor, and you

you got seventy five. Great, I'm making you governor of

a smaller state. But did you see like I've gone

from I've gone from painting interiors to I now govern

the state. Do you see the severe generosity? Everybody wants

to know what this corresponds to exactly when it comes

to the way God's gonna reward us, I'm.

Sure I don't know. Well.

What I am sure of also is that it's full

of generosity and full of joy. That's the picture, severe

generosity and severe joy.

Just like Peter when he asks one chapter back.

Again, Luke is putting all of these things together. He's

stringing these pearls together, one right next to the other.

And Peter's like, hey, we gave up our homes and

we gave up our businesses to follow you.

What's gonna come of that?

And Jesus says, nobody gives up anything for me and

the Kingdom that will not.

Receive back so much more in this life and in

the life to come. And then.

Luke takes the next pearl, puts it on the string, says,

let me show you. There once was a man named Zachius,

and he wanted to get his eyes on Jesus.

And Jesus. Zachias was a rich man.

He's also short, not actually the point of the story.

Zacchias was a rich man. He's a crook.

He's like a corrupt like local boss, tax collector. And

Jesus says, I'm coming to your house for lunch and

Zachias is overjoyed. And I don't know exactly what transpires

at that lunch, but by the time Jesus has finished

calling Zacheus forward to go all in with him as

the king, Zachias stands up and he says, I am

selling half of what I own and I'm giving it

to the poor and anybody that I've cheated, and I've

cheated a lot of people. Anybody that I've cheated, I'm

going to give them four times as much as what

I cheated. And Jesus says, Salvation has come to this house.

Salvation like we didn't even talk about the cross or

the resurrection or the ascension. We didn't talk anything like

where's the gospel and all that? Jesus knows when somebody's

gone all in with him, And it's not hard to

see on the outside either, because that's what it looks like.

So the enemies, that's a striking judgment. These brand new governors,

that's a striking judgment. But this other guy is the

most striking of all. The pretender. By association, he is

pretending to be a servant of the king, but by

his living he is pretending he has no King, and

I know that there are a lot of people who

want to know, like what so like spiritually, what's actually

happening to him in the end? Like is this heaven

as hell? Like what's what's what's gonna what? What is

this guy's eternal destination? I want to know about this mister,

one minor guy. And Luke doesn't tell us. He doesn't

tell us. He actually doesn't say if he just gets

stripped of his mina and he goes on living in

the kingdom, or if he gets loop you know, lump

together with the enemies and gets his head.

Chopped off, we don't know.

Because it's not Luke's point. It's not Luke's point. Luke's point.

Christ's message is to go all in with the king

and get to work. Now is the time, and the

results will be full of generosity, and the results will

be full of joy, severe generosity, severe joy. Hey, you know,

the the account of Zachius is one of my favorite

stories because it's so full of joy and generosity and

gospel renovation. That's severe, it's that's what it looks like.

And Zachius, I promise you never regretted a single scent

of it. But It's also one of my favorite stories

because it is the answer to another account. It is

the answer to the account of the rich Ruler, which

again Luke just that's a pearl he just strung.

Here's the rich Ruler.

A man comes to Jesus and says, what, my good teacher,

what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus says, well,

you know, you know the commandments. Here's a few of them.

He's like, I've done it all. I've been a really

good boy. And Jesus looked, said him and says, you

one thing you lack. Sell everything you have, give it

to the poor. You'll have treasure in heaven. Follow me,

go all in with me.

And that man.

Went away sad, very sad, severely sad. What a severe expectation,

what a severe sadness. But there's Zachias. What a severe

act of service and followership and worship, and what a

severe joy. I guarantee you. The rich Ruler regrets every

dollar he kept, and Zachias regrets none of the dollars

he gave away. And Luke seems to squeeze all of

the possibilities of madness and joy and disappointment and generosity

down into one mina and says, what are you going

to do with it? Will you take this time and

go all in with Christ and get to work. I've

been an asset manager for Jesus for about twenty seven

years now.

And every cent.

That he has had me invest, and every home he

has had me leave behind, and every friendship that I've

been separated from, and every bold step I've had to

take in evangelism, and every hour that I've spent in

pouring into someone else and.

Discipling, and every.

Every energy, every bit of energy that's spent in multiplication,

I can tell you I've never regretted a shred of it.

It has produced nothing but severe generosity and joy. And

I've only just seen the beginning of his generosity. Christ's

severity is real, but here's his message. Now is the

time to get to work, and what you will find

from him is severe generosity and severe joy.

We're gonna take a few moments in prayer to reflect on.

This, and we're gonna do that in conjunction with the

Lord's Supper this morning. So I'm just gonna ask the

ushers to come forward with the elements, and the band

is gonna come up to the platform and prepare to

lead us.

But for us, it's time to spend a moment in prayer.

This time.

Before communion is a time of reflection and repentance and renewal.

It's a time that was ordained by the Lord to

remember him, remember his sacrifice, remember his teaching. And so

if you're a Christian, this is for you, this is

for you. We're going to distribute these elements in just

a moment. And if you're a Christian, if you are

trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of

your sins, then take these elements in a posture of

repentance and renewal because you're a servant who's gone all

in with him to get to work. Now, if you're

not a Christian, if you would say, I've heard what

you've had to say about Christ dying for me and

calling me into his service, but that's not me. I'm

pretty sure that's not me, then just let these elements

pass you by. We're thrilled that you're here. We want

you to be here, we want you to hear these things.

But this is a moment of truth for those who

are trusting in Christ. And it's a kind of moment

of truth because you might be a third person, a

third kind of person here who would say, I'm a

servant of the King.

But if you examine your heart and.

Your life, you would say, but I know I haven't

gone all in with Jesus in this area or this area.

I haven't gotten to work as He's called me towards

it in this area or that area. I know I'm

in unrepentant sin. And listen, there's only sinners here, only

flawed Christians here. No one here is walking in perfection.

The Bible tells us not to expect that, but to

walk in progress.

And this is a moment of progress for you.

If you'd go to the Lord in repentance and say, Lord,

I know where you're calling me forward, and I'm not going,

But this morning, I'm committed to going. I'm walking in

repentance and submission to you. If that's you, if you

would say that to him this morning, then take this

with us as a celebration of his grace and his

work in you. Let's go ahead and distribute these elements