So That It May Go Well With You

Good morning, Watermark. My name is Graham, and I'm one of the elders here.

Last week, Chris mentioned an expectation when we come to hear God's Word, and I'd like to really continue that expectation that we set when we sit before God and His Word.

We want to hear Him speaking to us. I'd like to pray. I'd like to speak to Him before I speak to you.

Father, we thank You so much that You are a God who is real, who is a Father who wants to have a relationship with us.

Lord, I pray prepare our hearts and our minds for Your Word.

I pray help us to hear what You are saying to us, and Lord, not only to be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word.

I ask that if there's anything that I say that is not true to Your Word, that You would help us forget it before it does any damage.

But I do pray that if Your truth comes out today, that people will forget me, but they will remember Your Word.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

I want to begin by asking you to imagine with me that I have the means and the power to make you a millionaire.

Well, let's up that a bit.

I have the means and the power to make you a billionaire this morning.

All you need to do is get out of your seat, walk up on the stage, and take it.

Let's up that a little more.

I have the means and the power to make you a trillionaire this morning.

But all you need to do is get out of your chair and come and take it.

Okay, let's test that.

I have the means to make you a trillionaire this morning.

All you need to do is get up and come and take it.

Oh, good.

Lorna was first.

I saw that you moved.

Come.

Well, you have to move.

This is a trillion dollars on offer here.

All right, yeah.

Let's get very clear.

Oh, Lolly, you're too slow.

No, no.

It's just the first one.

Sorry.

Even if you're pregnant, it doesn't count.

Sorry.

Got to go sit down.

All right.

Moment of truth.

Am I true to my word?

Well, you've got to ask for it, Janet.

Okay.

Not only am I going to give Janet a trillion dollars, I'm going to give her $20 trillion.

This is legal tender.

It really is $20 trillion.

Unfortunately, it's Zimbabwean dollars.

Okay.

But it is real and it is legal tender.

So, Janet, there you go.

That's yours.

That's Watermark's first trillionaire.

Before you get too excited, it's only worth about $80 Hong Kong, right?

So, before you start asking her to buy you a car or take you out for lunch or anything like that, a trillion dollars.

But that's exactly the situation the Israelites faced.

God had promised them that a land flowing with milk and honey, a good land,

all they had to do was go in and take what God had promised them.

But they failed.

God had promised them.

They got to the promised land and they said, we're not going in.

We're too scared.

We're not going in.

So, God sent them on a 40-year journey and he said all the adults in that generation would have to die out except for two.

And then we would try again.

And that's where we find ourselves now.

The Israelites are camped on the side of the Jordan, ready to go in to the land of Canaan

and take the land that God had promised them.

And Moses is giving them the book of Deuteronomy.

Okay, now have any of you ever been into a synagogue?

Anybody?

Okay, a couple.

Now, if you go into a synagogue, what you'll see is a cupboard, right?

And in that cupboard, you open it up and there are scrolls.

I have a little miniature copy of what they would look like.

So, they would take out these scrolls.

There were five of them.

They would contain what the Jews called the Torah, the law.

And to make sure they got the right scroll that they were looking for, they would open it a little bit.

Okay?

And they would see what the words were.

The first words that they read, they would just give the name to that book.

So, for Genesis, they would open it up and it would be in the beginning.

And that's what Genesis means, in the beginning.

And with Deuteronomy, you'd open it up in Hebrew.

It means these are the words.

Because that was the first word on the scroll.

But when it came time to translate it from the Hebrew to the Greek, they changed it.

And they took two Greek words, judo, which means second, and numos, which means law.

The second law.

Now, the reason it was called the second law was because, if you know, in Exodus, the law, the covenant, was given the first time.

And now it was being repeated to a new generation.

Because they forget, right?

And Moses was giving them all the encouragement, all the decrees and the commands that they would need to go in and live in the promised land.

It was theirs.

God had promised it to them.

But they needed to go in and take it.

And he says, if you go in, there are two areas which you really need to take care in.

These two things are the foundation.

You have to get them right to live how I want you to live in the land.

And that is, you need to get your duty towards God right.

You need to understand your relationship with Him.

That is your foundation.

And then the second thing you want to get right is your duty towards your children.

Because you need to pass on this message to the next generation.

Because they are going to be foundational and live in the land.

Two things.

Your duty towards God and your duty towards your children.

And he tells them, the reason, the reason you need these is so that it may go well with you.

So that it may go well with you.

Have any of you seen a Singaporean movie?

It's quite old now.

It's called, I'm Not Stupid.

Anyone seen it?

It's a good movie.

Quite funny, right?

But there's a scene in it.

I love it.

You constantly get these parents who are forcing their kids to study.

And whenever the kids protest, the parents would say, for your own good, la.

For your own good, la.

And that's exactly what God's saying, right?

It wasn't about studying.

But he's saying, get it right.

It's for your own good, la.

So that it may go well with you.

And God hasn't changed.

He still desires the same thing.

He wishes and desires that it may go well with you.

Now, we might need to readjust what we think well means.

But this year, God wants it to go well with you.

And God wants to do things for you, in you, and through you this year.

So, your duty towards God and your duty towards your children.

But first, before he tells them, he details what he means by that.

He needs to remind them of who he is.

Because the Israelites had this tendency to make God small.

And we tend to do the same thing.

So, he reminds them.

He says, I am the creator.

This little ball that we are on in space, just floating through space at millions of miles an hour.

God made that.

And not only did he make that, he made the heavens and the stars and the moons and the planets and the universe.

He made that.

He's powerful.

He's big.

That's the God who is making this covenant with you.

And he gives them this little prayer, right?

This little saying.

It's probably one of the most famous verses in the Torah.

And it's called the Shema.

And it goes like this.

We read it today.

It says,

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

In English, hear, O Israel, sounds very polite, very proper.

But in the Hebrew, it's a word that's kind of like, listen up, Israel.

Pay attention, Israel.

This is important.

This is the foundation on which we will build and will go forward.

This is it.

The Lord our God, the God who created everything, he is ours.

We belong to him.

He belongs to us.

He's relational.

He cares about you.

He knows you.

He is ours.

And the second thing, the Lord is one.

Meaning he is the only God.

There is no exception.

There is no other choice or add on.

It's God and God alone.

Now, to put that into context,

the Israelites were about to go into the land of Canaan,

which was full of idolatry.

And idolatry always leads to immorality.

And it was the idolatry of many gods.

They worship lots of gods.

And God is saying, don't.

Don't even ask how they serve their gods.

Don't do it.

I am the only one.

I'm the only true God that really exists.

Do not be tempted by what you see.

However good it looks.

However good that sin that leads from their idolatry looks.

Don't do it.

I am the only God before you.

And then he reminds them of who they are.

So first he reminds them of who he is.

And then he reminds them of who they are.

And he says, you were slaves in Egypt.

You were nothing.

You had no power.

You had no place.

You had no influence.

You were nothing.

But God chose you.

There's a lovely verse that says,

I love you because I love you.

Right?

Not because you have anything to offer God and say,

God, look at me.

I'll give you this.

No, you were nothing.

And yet God chose to love the Israelites.

He chose them.

And he made them great.

He made them into a great nation.

Right?

They had nothing to offer him until he came and entered a relationship with them.

And if you look today, they were in the might of Egypt.

Powerful, powerful nations around them.

And yet God has been faithful and he has made the Jews into a powerful nation.

Even today, the Jews, their influence in this world is exceptional.

Right?

In the areas of art, entertainment, culture, finance.

There's Jewish names all over it.

So I read a statistic that in Harvard, they actually had to put a quota on it.

But at Harvard, there were about 25% of their students are Jewish.

But only 2% of the population in America.

Hugely influential.

Because God is faithful to his promises and he's faithful to us today.

Because get this.

Fast forward into the new covenant and we read this.

It comes from 1 Corinthians 1.

It says,

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.

Not many of you were wise by human standards.

Not many of you were influential.

Not many of you were of noble birth.

But God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise.

God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

God chose you.

I think it's such a humbling reminder that all the gifts and the talents that we possess,

all the things that we're tempted to become prideful and arrogant about,

are ultimately given by God to you.

So no one can boast.

No one can really say, you know, I'm actually pretty impressive.

The only duty we have is to respond to God.

You gave me the gifts and talents.

Mold me.

Let me use them for your glory.

I think it is a great leveler.

Really helps us to see who we are and just how good God is to us.

So God makes this incredible covenant with his people.

It's a great deal.

So it's kind of like, I want you to imagine again,

it's kind of like a king who has this incredible palace in his kingdom.

There are vineyards and wells and animals and lush green grass.

But outside is absolute poverty and squalor and nothingness.

And the king himself comes out of his palace and he goes in to this poverty

and he sees a boy who is an orphan.

He has nothing.

He is hungry.

He's starving.

And this king comes to him and says,

you, I want you to come and live with me in my palace, in my kingdom.

I will give you things that you did not work for,

but I'm going to give them to you.

And I just want you to come and I'm going to provide for you.

I'm going to give you food and shelter and clothing and love and care.

But all I want from you is just to remember that I'm the king.

I have the power to execute judgment and punishment.

And I just, I want you to love me.

The love that I've shown you,

I want you to respond to me with that kind of thing.

I mean, can you imagine that kids' eyes,

like, wait, wait, hang on, let me get this right.

So I'm living here.

I got no food.

I'm living in dirt, no clothes.

And you just come up and you say,

can I live there with you?

It's an amazing deal, right?

I mean, if you think about it,

what God is asking of that boy or the king,

sorry, what he's asking of that boy,

it's an incredibly just thing.

He's just saying,

show a little bit of gratitude for what I'm giving you.

It's completely reasonable.

But the benefits, who benefits from it?

The benefits are purely in our favor,

incredibly advantageous to us.

So here it is.

These are the things that God lays out.

It's our duty towards God.

And he gives it in three words.

He says, fear, love, serve.

Fear, love, serve.

The fear of the Lord.

Every day, I meet people who are afraid.

They're afraid of sickness.

They're afraid of financial collapse.

They're afraid of their children

not getting into good schools.

They're afraid of the future.

They're afraid of air pollution.

And ultimately, they're afraid of death.

But I meet very few people

who are genuinely afraid of God.

If you are afraid of God,

you will fear nothing and no one else.

Let me say that again.

If you fear God,

you will fear nothing and no one else.

Here the Israelites were.

They were going to go into the promised land.

And they had every temptation to be afraid.

Their parents' generation had got it wrong.

They walked in and said,

yes, everything God had promised.

Hey, there's grapefruit, everything.

But we're afraid.

We're afraid.

The people there, they're scary.

We're afraid.

And they were going to be tempted

to be afraid again.

And God's saying,

do not fear them.

Do not fear them.

Fear me.

I'm the only one you really need to be afraid of.

Because if you're afraid of me,

you're not going to be afraid of them.

But what is this kind of fear

we are talking about?

Because I really see that

the fear of God

is kind of a controversial thing.

And it's something

we're a little bit uncomfortable with.

So we tend not really to talk about it.

But it's actually incredibly liberating

and powerful

to walk in the fear of the Lord.

So what kind of fear is it?

It's not a phobia

that paralyzes you,

that holds you down.

It's the kind of fear

that will lead you

to the right action.

So let me put the thing.

As a father,

there are times

I need my children

to be afraid of me.

It just sounds weird,

but it's true.

I need my children

to be afraid of me.

So I'll give you an example.

About two weeks ago,

I'm sitting in our living room

and I'm working at the desk

on my computer

and our balcony door is open.

And my three-year-old,

which is quite an adventurous little girl,

she, I look,

and she is now climbing up

the railing of the balcony.

Okay, now you're thinking

bad parent, bad parent.

Okay, I was, yes.

But in that moment,

I just shouted her name

and called her here.

And she obeyed, right?

There was fear in her eyes.

And she came straight to me.

Now, if she hadn't been afraid of me,

afraid that I had power,

she would have just ignored me.

Oh, yeah, who are you?

And carried on doing.

But she didn't.

There was genuine fear

that led to the right action.

The right kind of fear

will lead you to the right action.

If you ever see a snake,

that's a healthy fear.

Okay, the right kind of action

will tell you,

run away.

Run away.

That's not a good idea.

Don't touch the snake.

That's what it is.

The fear of the Lord.

Here's the question for us.

What are you afraid of?

I ask myself this question.

What am I afraid of?

Because how I answer that question

will determine if I'm really fearing God

or am I fearing the circumstances around me

or the people around me.

What are you afraid of?

The second thing God tells them,

He says you are to love

the Lord your God.

Now,

we hear the word so much.

It's everywhere.

Love, love wins.

Love's great.

But the thing with this kind of love,

it's not an emotional love.

It's much more of a devotional love.

It's a love of obedience,

a love of reverence

for who it is

that is speaking to you.

It's a love that

creates in us

a desire

to want to be close

to that person.

And it's a love

that is responsive

to the love

that has been shown in you.

God first loved you

and how we respond to Him

is an expression of that love.

How we live

is proof

of this response.

Jesus said it like this

in John 14.

Jesus replied,

Anyone who loves me

will obey my teaching.

Let me read that again.

Anyone who loves me

will obey my teaching.

I don't know if this

has ever happened to you,

but you meet someone

who is knowingly

and blatantly

living with sin

in their life.

They know it's wrong.

They're living it.

Whatever it is.

Sleeping with your girlfriend,

cheating on your taxes,

whatever it is.

You know it's wrong.

You say,

You know,

I love Jesus.

I still love Jesus.

No, not really.

You love your sin

and you might love Jesus

a little bit,

but you kind of love the sin.

And Jesus is saying,

That's not what I'm about.

Love me.

Love me.

And all this other stuff

will not matter.

Love me

out of a sense of reverence

for Him.

The question we have

to ask ourselves is,

Do we love Jesus

or do we love our sin?

Which one are we holding on to?

And the third thing

it gives Him is this,

Serve Him

with all your heart,

with all your mind,

and with all your strength.

It's about giving God

everything.

Everything that's inside you.

One thing about being a servant,

the very first step in serving

is to imply

that you serve a master.

You serve a Lord.

Right?

There is someone greater than you.

You have to recognize

that He's the Lord

and you're not

and I'm serving someone

greater than myself.

I like sports.

I like watching sports.

At the moment,

it's the Australian Tennis Open.

Anyone a tennis fan?

Okay.

There's about three of you.

The rest of you

just go along with the story.

Okay.

So,

at the moment,

there's the Australian Open

and there's this,

it's actually an Australian

tennis player.

It goes by the name

of Nick Kurgis,

right?

21-year-old.

Anyone heard of him?

About two months ago,

he was playing in a tournament

where he just gave up

and he wasn't trying anymore.

He was still playing tennis,

but he just gave up

and they actually found him.

You go on YouTube,

type in Nick Kurgis,

just some of the language

he uses is not appropriate,

but he's there, right?

And you see,

you get to this match

and he just gives up.

He's still playing tennis,

but he's not giving his all.

It's just a little part of him,

the little bit of effort

that he puts in.

And God is saying,

I don't want that.

Give me your all.

There is no area of your life

that is not worthy

of service to him.

You serve him in your work,

in your relationships,

in your finances.

Every area of your life,

it is in service to the Lord.

It's not just the sacred Sunday thing

that we're serving the Lord.

It's every moment of every day

you walk and you live your life

in service to him.

And the exact opposite of that

is to test him.

And this is how the Israelites tested him.

It comes from Exodus 17.

Listen carefully.

It says,

they tested the Lord

by asking a question.

Is the Lord among us or not?

Now put that in context, right?

Everything the Israelites

had seen God do,

every time he had provided for them,

he had shown them the miraculous.

And they asked this question,

you know,

is God really amongst us?

Has he gone on holiday

and left us?

It's the ultimate disrespect

and doubt to the Lord.

Yeah, I don't know.

I'm not really sure

if God's here or not.

I just,

as a father,

I just like to think,

if my six-year-old

suddenly got up and down

and said,

you know, Dad,

I'm not really sure

that you're the father

of this house.

I'm not really sure

that you actually care

about our family.

It would hurt.

As a dad,

that would be,

it would hurt me

to know that kind of thing.

And in that moment,

we get a little bit

to see God's heart here

and know that God

has feelings too.

Do you know that?

We're so wrapped up

often in our own feelings,

how we feel about God.

But do you know

that God has feelings?

And he says it here.

He says,

I am a jealous God.

Now, right,

again,

that has lots of

negative connotations.

Oh, jealous,

that's not a good thing.

Let me put it to you

like this, right?

If I saw someone else's wife

that I like more than my own,

which I don't,

honey,

I don't,

but if I did,

that would be envy.

I want something

that's not mine,

which somebody else has.

But if I saw someone

with my wife,

that would be jealousy

because she belongs to me

and I belong to her.

She's mine.

I should be jealous.

If I wasn't,

my wife would be

asking questions.

You know,

that's a bit of a problem

if you do not feel

in a slight bit jealous

that I'm with someone else.

And that's how God's feeling.

He's showing his heart.

He says,

I'm jealous,

guys,

don't you get it?

That you're mine

and I am yours.

Don't flirt with other gods.

Don't test me

and say,

are you really in this or not?

I'm jealous

because you are mine.

Don't flirt with other gods.

They've got nothing

to offer you.

And we do it, right?

We might not have the gods

that the Israelites

were facing

like proper Asher poles

and stuff,

but the gods

of power,

status,

money,

sex,

they're all around us.

And sometimes,

if I'm honest,

I kind of flirt with them

a little bit, right?

Or maybe a lot.

God's saying,

don't do it.

I'm jealous for you.

You're mine.

They're not.

They pale in comparison

to who I am to you.

Fear,

love,

serve the Lord.

That is your foundation.

That is what you are

to live in the land.

And if you live like that,

it will go well with you.

If you live like that,

it will go well with you.

And I want it to go well with you.

But don't just stop there

because you need

to think about your kids.

This is your duty

to your family.

And this is the verse.

It says,

impress them,

the decrees

and the commands of the Lord,

impress them

on your children.

Talk about them

when you sit at home,

when you walk along the road,

when you lie down,

and when you get up.

Now,

to impress

means to make

an impression.

Right?

Like an imprint.

It leaves a mark.

And I don't know

if you've ever been

to a farm

and you've seen

cows being branded.

Right?

They belong to this farm

and they kind of

brand them on the bum.

But they leave this mark.

They leave an impression.

And that's the word here.

Leave an impression

on your kids.

So that's what you to do.

And he says,

like,

when do we do this?

Right?

When you talk,

when you sit,

when you walk,

when you lie down,

when you get up.

Basically,

he's saying

every moment

of every day

is an opportunity

to leave

an impression

on your children.

All of life.

It's not just

quickly send them

to Sunday school.

It's all of life

that leaves

an impression

on your kids.

And kids are going

to learn two ways.

They're going to learn

by what they see

and what they hear.

And they're far more likely

to learn

by what they see.

So,

as I was preparing

this,

my first draft,

I thought,

I'm going to give you

great tips

on how I parent

and how I want

to leave an impression

on my children.

And actually,

it was very short.

So,

I then was reminded

what left

an impression

on me.

What impressed me

as a child?

So,

I'm going to share

a little bit

of my story

with you this morning.

So,

bear with me,

okay?

But,

my parents

got divorced

when I was

three months old.

So,

that left

my mom

with a newborn baby

and my

four-year-old

sister.

And my mom,

who's now

a retired nurse,

was nursing.

And nurses

don't get

that well paid

in South Africa,

so she had to take

a second job,

right?

So,

my mom would

work night duty,

come back,

and then go and work

another job,

and so,

I have huge amounts

of respect

for my mother,

but she didn't know Jesus.

And when you don't know Jesus,

you can't introduce your kids

to Jesus,

right?

So,

at about the age of seven,

we made a critical move

from Johannesburg

to a small little coastal town.

and my sister,

my older sister,

was invited to a birthday party

by one of her classmates,

and we went

to drop her off.

And the family

that she was,

had been invited by,

they were farmers,

they lived on this big farm,

and when we got there,

the couple came out

to meet us,

a couple by the name of

Gary and Heather Cook.

And it turned out

they didn't just have a daughter,

they had three other sons.

And they looked at me

and they said,

would you like to stay too?

And I said,

yes.

And we always joke

that that's kind of the day

they adopted me

as their fifth son.

They didn't realize

what I was saying yes to,

right?

But I kind of became

their fifth child.

And I stayed,

I spent all my weekends

on the farm,

often when my mom

worked night duty,

I would go and sleep over.

So we did life together.

They took me to school,

they took me on holiday

with them.

But Gary was also

a lay Methodist preacher.

He was a farmer

and he was a preacher.

So I'd go to church

with them as well.

And we just,

I did family with them.

So these are the five imprints

that they left on me.

So I was about seven years old

at this time.

There are many more,

but these are the five

that left a big impression on me.

The first one is

they taught their children

the commands

and the grace of God.

They showed their kids

what the relevance

they have in everyday life.

They taught them

the difference

between what is really right

and what is really wrong.

They modeled

how to honor your parents

by modeling,

by honoring their parents.

They taught their children

the value of telling the truth.

That was imprint number one.

They taught their children

the commands.

And the second imprint

they left was

a desire for learning.

Now, just to put it in context,

two of their children

had learning difficulties.

They were very gifted at sport,

very athletic.

So all they wanted to do

was the sport,

not so much the learning.

The parents said,

no, no, no.

It says to love

the Lord your God

with all your heart,

all your mind,

all your mind.

Okay, don't forget that.

So they encouraged

this development

to love the Lord your God

spiritually

and intellectually,

even when it's difficult

and tough.

And the third thing

they left an imprint on

was this was a family

of prayer.

They prayed naturally

and they prayed all the time.

They prayed at meals.

They prayed before going to bed.

They were a family of prayer.

And it wasn't just ritual prayers.

They were kind of heartfelt prayers,

right?

Not just something that we say.

They were thought about.

I have this memory

imprinted in my head.

They took me on holiday once

and we went fishing and camping.

And we had this great week,

right?

And we packed up the tents.

We were just about to leave.

And Gary says,

let's all gather around

and give thanks to God

for this time.

And we just stood there

and for about three minutes

everyone prayed

giving thanks to God

for a holiday.

It just left

an amazing impression

on my mind.

Fourth imprint

that they left

was this was a family

of repentance

and forgiveness.

They taught their children

that it takes

a big person

to say,

I did it.

It was me.

I'm sorry.

And they did it by

as a husband and wife,

right?

This wasn't a perfect family.

When they fought

or they argued,

they modeled

in front of their kids.

I did it.

It was me.

I'm sorry.

And they taught

their children

to own their stuff.

You did it.

It was me.

Okay?

I'm sorry.

You did it.

It was me.

No, I did it.

It was me.

Okay?

They taught their children

to own their stuff.

Not to play

the victim card

but to say,

I did it.

And the fifth imprint

that they really left

on me

and this kind of

involves me

was their love

for the outsider.

And I was that outsider.

They already had

a family

of four kids.

They already

were very busy

being farmers

and preachers

and leaders

in the church.

And yet,

they took the time

to love the outsider.

Hey,

let's have a fifth kid

who's not really ours

be part of our family.

And it cost them

financially, right?

They paid for me

when I went on holiday

with them.

But they taught me

what it truly means

to love the outsider.

And I want you to notice

that you might be

thinking here today,

okay,

I don't have kids.

I'm excused

from this little bit.

But,

hey,

I wasn't their child

and they left

an imprint on me.

All of us

sitting here today,

we will have

the opportunity,

the means,

and the power

to leave an impression

not only on our kids

but all the kids

out there.

All those kids

in Sunday school

will have an impression

of you.

How we live our lives,

how we relate,

how we love each other,

how we do community

will leave an impression

on our children.

We have a very powerful

responsibility.

I want to say that

I only,

we only lived

in that little town

for three years

and then my sister

went to high school

and we moved away.

So I only had

basically three years

of influence

with this family.

And,

but they planted seeds.

They planted seeds.

I didn't become

a believer

during that time

but they had

planted seeds.

And when I did

become a Christian

at the age of 21,

one of the first

things I did

was write a letter

to this family

and thank them

of the models

they were

and their love for me.

I now had

a clearer understanding

of what motivated them

but it was one

of the first things

I did

just to honor them

for the impression

that they had left

on my life.

What impression

are we leaving

on our kids?

Okay,

now all this

sounds great,

right?

So that it may

go well with you.

We do these things,

we live them

and it's all

working wonderfully

but it doesn't.

God constantly

warned them.

He said,

don't forget.

When you've got it

and it's going well,

don't forget God

but they did.

The Israelites did.

It's kind of like

if that analogy

I gave you

of the king

going and rescuing

that little boy

from poverty

and brought him in.

After a while

he's clothed,

he's nice and clean,

things are going well

but after a while

he gets bored.

He starts thinking

a lot of himself

and says,

you know what,

I'm going to climb

over the palace wall again.

I'm going to go

and check out

the dirt

that I used to play in.

Maybe I'm going

to get dirty again

and I'll kind of

jump back in

over the wall.

You know,

that king,

his demand,

I have to love him.

That's exactly

what happened

to Israel.

Time and time again

if you look

at the history

of the thing,

they kind of

remembered God,

they forgot him.

Remembered God,

they forgot him.

But here was

the fundamental problem

was the law

because the law

was an offer

and a demand.

It was an offer

of protection,

provision,

blessing,

but it was

a demand

of righteousness.

I will bless you,

I will protect you,

I will be your God,

but you need

to be holy,

you need to live right,

you need to respond

to me.

And they couldn't

do it.

They couldn't do it

because there's

something fundamentally

wrong with the human heart.

The human heart

is bent towards

rebellion and sin

and wanting to do

our things

our own way.

We don't like

to be told what to do

and they couldn't

do it.

But then the gospel

comes along

and the gospel

is an offer

and an offer.

It is an offer

of blessing,

adoption,

sonship,

provision,

care,

love.

But it's also

an offer

of righteousness.

God's righteousness,

not your own.

This is what it says

in Romans 1.

For I'm not ashamed

of the gospel

because it is

the power of God

that brings salvation

to everyone

who believes,

first to the Jew,

then to the gentle.

For in the gospel,

the righteousness

of God

is revealed,

a righteousness

that is by faith

from first to last.

Just as it is written,

the righteous

will live by faith.

And that means

the righteous

will live

by keeping faith.

It is no longer

a demand,

it is an offer.

God is giving you,

He's offering you something

but He is offering you

even more.

In the beginning

when Janet came up

and collected her

20 trillion dollars,

even if it was

really 20 trillion

US dollars,

it is nothing,

nothing in comparison

to what you are

being offered by God.

The gospel

is infinitely greater

than that.

When we grasp

our heads

how wonderful

God is

towards us.

An offer

and an offer.

But we have to go in

and take it.

God is offering you

something.

Will you accept

His righteousness?

So,

maybe there are people

here today

where you have heard

the gospel

time and time again,

but you are sitting

on the opposite side

of the Jordan

and thinking,

I don't know,

I'm pretty comfortable,

I'm pretty happy here,

it looks like a scary

place to be.

Will you go in

and take

what God is offering you?

let's think about that

individually for us.

What is it

that God has

for you

this year

that we

have the opportunity

to go in

and take?

Maybe

for some of us

God is saying,

I want you to step up,

I want you to be

in leadership,

I want you to serve.

will you

take it?

I've given you

every provision

you possibly need.

Will you take it?

Maybe

for some of us

it's

God's forgiveness.

Are we holding

on to a hurt?

Are we kind of

holding on?

We're scared

to cross over

and take

what God

is freely

wanting to give you.

Maybe

He's asking you

in the workplace

to be

a light

for Him.

You're afraid

to speak out.

Are you prepared

to go in

and take

what God

has for you?

For our children,

for our children

guys,

the next generation,

are we prepared

to leave

an impression?

It will cost us,

right?

When the Israelites

were promised

go in and take

the land,

it wasn't a walk

in the park.

They still had

to get rid

of all the enemies

that were there,

but God

would be with them.

It was still

an effort.

Guys,

to invest

in the lives

of others,

to invest

in the children

around you,

it will be

a costly thing.

It will require

sacrifice,

but are we

prepared to do it?

Are we prepared

to live lives

that point them

to Jesus?

Are we prepared

to model truth

and grace

to them?

Guys,

and finally,

as a church,

are we prepared

to go in

and take

what God

has for us?

This is really

something that's

been burning

on my heart.

I look around,

there's empty chairs,

guys.

One of the mission

of this church

is to be

a light

in this city,

in this district.

And the day

that we don't have

any empty chairs

left,

then we will build

a bigger place

or find a bigger

place to get

more people in here.

But that is the heart

and soul

of why we exist.

are we prepared

to go in

and take

what God

has for us?

I have to put up

my hands

to ask my question.

God,

are we prepared

to take it?

Because you are offering

us,

you've given us

everything,

but are we prepared

to walk in

your truth,

your righteousness,

and be the church

we're called to be?

Are we going to take

hold of God's

righteousness

this morning

so that

it may

go well

with you?

If we care

about the city

out there,

there are people

who are desperate

for the gospel.

They're living

in their sin.

They're bound

by so many things.

And we have

the word of life

for them.

We ourselves,

do we live

in that gospel?

Do we live

in God's righteousness?

Or do we default

to our own

kind of righteousness?

Or do we just

blatantly sin?

Or are we taking

hold of God's

righteousness

and thanking Him

for it?

All right,

I've spoken enough,

but I really,

I'd love to pray

for us.

Father,

Father,

I ask

for forgiveness

forgiveness,

where we've,

you've given us

everything,

your blessing,

your mercy,

and we haven't,

we haven't taken it

or we've taken it

for granted.

But we know

that you are a God

who is full of compassion,

full of grace,

and freely forgives us.

Lord,

you're a God

who picks us up

and leads us on

and wants us

to take

and lead others,

Lord Jesus,

to a relationship

with you.

I pray,

give us

that power,

that joy,

that desire

to live for you,

to serve you

and you alone,

to give you

everything

that we are.

Lord,

I pray that as we

go out this week,

Lord,

bless us

in such a way

that there is

a desire

in our hearts

to love you,

to be with you,

and to know

that your desire

is that it may

go well

with us.

Lord,

we thank you

for the death,

burial,

and resurrection

of Jesus Christ.

And in that,

in that alone,

we have our hope,

we have our future,

we have our foundation.

We love you.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.