Life May Be Unfair but Just: Outsourcing Comfort Psalm 36

praise you and thank you. First of all, thank

you. And it just sometimes doesn't seem to make

any sense. Thank you for rain. We know that without

the rain, there's a lot of things that couldn't

happen. At the same time, Lord, we don't necessarily

like getting wet or feeling damp. And we know

that there are people that I've had times in

my life where the rain was just coming down at

the crack of dawn and I almost just felt like

I just couldn't get up out of it. And I'm so

grateful for pain, beyond the sorrow, beyond

the difficulty, beyond the struggles of our current

situation, that we can overcome. That we can

be here to worship you. That we can be here to

call out your holy name. Hallelujah. Praise the

Lord. Jesus Christ. It's been done. It is finished.

And yet, here we are, living in the victory that

was paid for on the cross. Resurrection power

made new. Maybe there's somebody in this room,

Lord, that can't claim that promise, can't claim

that truth. And I pray that before they go today,

that they'll settle this matter with you, that

the truth would be known in this place. We're

looking forward to the preaching of the word,

the children's lessons, and even the little one

playing in the nursery. We're looking forward

to all that's going to go on here today. We pray

that it will honor you and it will glorify you.

But can we be remiss if we didn't lift up those

people who are hurting today? Some of them aren't

even here. There's people who are hurting today,

and yet they're here to worship you. And then

there's people that just couldn't get past it,

couldn't get through it, couldn't get over it.

And so we pray, Lord, that you would deal with

them. We pray for healing. And maybe even now,

you take away that massive headache, you take

away that sinus congestion or that struggle with

pain and inflammation, and then join us yet in

a better way than ever. And we just pray, Lord,

that they're joining us in their hearts even

now. So we as a body, wherever we happen to be,

can work together to worship you and give you

glory. Take over this service. We don't want

the reins. We want you in charge. That's the

only way that it goes, just exactly like it's

supposed to. So we submit to you. And we do this

in Jesus' name. Amen. Caleb is having surgery

tomorrow morning to have tubes put in his ears

and his adenoids removed. So it's a pretty simple

surgery, but there's a lot of anxiety going on

for that. time the children and their leaders

will go to their classrooms. As I mentioned to

you, as pastors are taking the pulpit all over

the United States, and actually probably most

of them are done preaching because a lot of services

start about a half an hour before ours do, or

are finishing up now. But as they're taking the

pulpit all over the nation, maybe all over the

world, they're celebrating Star Wars today. And

so I thought I would share with you some titles

of sermons and the ideas behind them that might

have been the sermon today. These are ones that

I got, the actual sermon titles and summaries.

May the Lord be with you. A faith -filled twist

on the classic Jedi blessing, echoing the biblical

benediction from Ruth 2 -4. The Force Awakens,

reviving our spiritual lives, drawing parallels

between the film's title and the rekindling of

faith and purpose. A New Hope, the gospel according

to Luke Skywalker, exploring themes of redemption

and hope through the lens of both the gospel

and the Star Wars saga. The Empire Strikes Back,

overcoming spiritual oppression. discussing the

challenges believers face and how to stand firm

against adversity. The Phantom Menace, identifying

hidden temptations. Attack of the Clones, guarding

against conformity. The Last Jedi, standing firm

in the faith amidst doubt. So, any one of those,

somewhere else today, might have been your sermon

title, but not here. I didn't write a Star Wars

sermon today, so you don't get a Star Wars sermon

today. I didn't feel led of the Lord to preach

a Star Wars sermon today, specifically. We may

mention it, but I didn't feel like that was the

direction that the Lord would have us to go.

So that being said, then, maybe if you brought

a Bible with you today, grab a hold of it. So

a long, long time ago, in a galaxy not at all

far away, we began to kind of hoot or holler,

say amen. It's been almost 15 years since...

Gosh, this has almost been 20 years now. I'm

getting old. Anyway, it's been a long time. And

so this is God's word. You can be excited about

it. It's what he's got to say today. You can

know with a certainty that whatever we read out

of this book today, that is exactly what God

wants to say. The rest of it, I'm going to try

to explain and talk about it. We'll get some

action points out of it, that kind of thing.

And you may not know with an absolute certainty

that that is what God wants us to hear today.

I feel certain. I've done the work, but you may

not know that. But you can know that the part

that we read out of the Bible is definitely from

God. Okay? And so as I announce the text, the

title today, maybe you take a little breath and

say amen or who or how or just kind of, if you

can't bring yourself to do much more than that,

just kind of moan or whatever. And the title

is Life May Be Unfair But Just from Psalm 36.

Amen. Okay. You're going to get used to that.

That's me saying this marks the moment at which

we read from the Bible. Okay? So it is Psalm

36. So if you're opening your Bibles, you can

just kind of like take a big fat Bible like this

and divide it down the middle. You should either

be in the book of Psalms or Proverbs. If you're

in Proverbs, go to the left. If you're in Psalms,

you're there. Okay? And then it's Psalm 36. We're

going to read the whole Psalm. It won't take

a lot to break it down. I just want you to see

a couple of pieces in there that are really kind

of important. Okay? That God really brought to

my heart. So it's Psalm 36, and it says this.

Transgression. speaks to the ungodly within his

heart. There is no fear of God before his eyes.

So in other words, what a person does wrong when

you sin against God and you do what God doesn't

want you to do or you fail to do what God wants

you to do, that's transgression. If you think

of football, when they step across the line before

the ball is hiked, they call that offsides. That's

a transgression. You moved into the wrong area.

And so when you transgress against God, it says

that those transgressions... speak to the ungodly

in their heart. And so the result of that is

that they have no fear of God before their eyes.

It says in verse 2, for it flatters them. So

for is a because. So when it says for, that means

because. So transgression speaks, there is no

fear, because it, the transgression, flatters

them, flatters him in his own eyes concerning

the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred

of it. So in other words, you've got the transgression,

the things that you've done wrong, talking to

you in your heart when you're a wicked person,

when you're not following God, talking to you

in your heart, comforting you, making you okay

to do the bad things that you're doing, right?

Everybody needs comfort. Like every day you need

comfort. You might have pain, you might not have

pain, right? You have questions about, what if

I say this? What if I say that? What if somebody

does this? What if somebody does that? Am I in

danger? Where am I going to find these resources

that I need? Whatever. We always... humans have

a base set of needs, and these transgressions

speak in the heart of the wicked person, helping

them to not worry about it, helping them to not

be concerned about it, but rather to carry out

their own choices, which I would say in this

case are dishonoring to God, and tell them they're

going to be okay. Verse 3, the words of his mouth,

this is the wicked person, the words of his mouth

are wickedness and deceit. He says things that

are wrong, that God would say no one should say

in that circumstance. And he tries to trick or

manipulate or get his own way. He has ceased

to be wise and to do good. In other words, he

has moved away from the way that God would want

us to be. This is the description of the wicked

person. And they have the transgression testifying

in their heart, providing them with comfort and

their idea of safety and success as they do the

things that they're not supposed to do. Verse

4 says, He plans wickedness. Notice he thinks

about how he can do things to get what he wants,

even though those things are against what God

wants. He plans wickedness upon his bed. Like

when he's going to bed at night, before he even

gets up in the morning, he's thinking about how

he can get away with it, how he can figure it

out, how he can overcome the world system, whatever.

He sets himself on a path that is not good. He

does not despise evil. And that word despise

there means to think of it as worthless. So he

doesn't think that doing something to get his

own way is worthless. And you should, as we understand

in the kingdom. Verse 5, now we're going to look

at the other side of it. Thy loving kindness,

O Lord, extends to the heavens. There is no end

of God's loving kindness. It's infinite. Thy

faithfulness reaches to the skies. God's loving

kindness and faithfulness are infinite. Thy righteousness

is like the mountains of God. thy judgments are

like a great deep, O Lord, thou preservest man

and beast. In other words, he's saying, the righteousness

and the judgments of God, they go on and on,

and the more you know about them, the more you

can. That's what he's saying. The more you know

about the mountains, the deeper into the mountains

you go, the more you'll know about the mountains.

You look, you say, wow, they're huge. Wow, there's

a lot to see there. And when you drill down on

it, you find whole kingdoms existing in a river

valley or under a tree. Right? And he's like,

the more you drill down on that, the more you

realize how awesome God's righteousness and his

judgments are. Verse 7 says, how precious is

thy loving kindness, O God. Look at how valuable

this is. And the children of men take refuge

in the shadow of thy wings. So in other words,

God's people have protection and provision as

they stand under God. Verse 8, they drink their

fill of the abundance of thy house. God pours

resources in. That's his provision. He pours

resources in for his people. Give them to drink

of the river of thy delights. In other words,

they begin to think, I want what God wants, and

they are truly inside being filled up as they

recognize, I know what God wants, and God is

doing that in me. I'm like, wow, I can't believe

that God is doing that in me. And it just goes

on and on as the river continues to fill us,

and you kind of get a picture of the living water

there a little bit. Verse 9. For, or because,

with thee, that's talking about God, is the fountain

of life. In thy light we see light. In other

words, the more you can see, the more your eyes

are opened about God, the more your eyes can

be opened about God. The more you can see of

what God is doing, the more you can see of what

God is doing. I talked to two people on the phone

yesterday. One of them was telling me about their

life situation as a lady. And I was telling her

about the miraculous ways that God has intervened

on behalf of our church. And she was like, Praise

the Lord. Hallelujah. That's awesome. Amazing

what God has done. That's so cool. And giving

God the glory. There's another one. I told the

same story about the kind of miraculous ways

that God has intervened with this church. And

she's like, wow, you know. And she was like,

wow, I need help with this and I need help with

that. And see the difference in the response?

One of us recognized God did something amazing.

And she could already see that somehow in her

life. God has already woken her up to see the

light and the power and the goodness that is

God. And so she was able to praise God when she

saw light. The other person was hearing the stories,

and instead of praising God, she was like, well,

I need, I have this. You say God did that, but

why doesn't God do this over here? And it's different.

When you can see the light that God is showing,

then you can see even more light. The door is

open, the windows are open, the house is open,

and God's light makes us possible to see even

more. And more and more and more. Just three

verses left. Oh, continue thy loving kindness

to those who know thee. In other words, in the

knowing of God is the knowing of his loving kindness.

In fact, in the knowing of God is the opening

up and the receiving of his loving kindness.

He says, and thy righteousness to the upright

in heart. So those who walk right, in Christ

we find righteousness. Jesus is our righteousness.

Then we start to walk it out. And then God delivers

even more righteousness. That's how that works.

So he keeps pouring in the good. He keeps pouring

in the right things. He says, let not the fool

of pride come upon me. So even though I'm making

strides, and I'm like, man, I wouldn't have used

to do that. I'm doing the right thing now, and

I wouldn't have used to do that. But don't let

me become prideful about it. Don't let me start

thinking that this new, deeper understanding,

the more I have learned, the further I've come,

that somehow or other, I am something. Let not

the foot of pride come upon me, and let not the

hand of the wicked drive me away. And as I look

at the world and I think, you know, there's some

people that are getting away with some things.

There are. There's some criminals that got 12

houses and 20 cars and millions in the bank.

And they've done it illegally. And they seem

to be getting away with it. And then some of

us are like, well, I don't know, I'm going to

pay my next bill. I don't know where I'm going

to stay. And that doesn't seem right. But when

you look at the wicked and you see that they

seem to be getting away with something, you start,

it might be like struggling with doing the right

thing, struggling with staying on the straight

and narrow. But what he's saying is you realize

as you look at them, God is not mocked. You don't

come down. There's an old saying, the bigger

you are, the harder you fall. The more successful

they are in their wickedness, the harder they

will fall in the end. And so don't be troubled

by what you see the wicked getting away with

and let that drive you away from being righteous

in God. And then finally in verse 12, he says,

there, and that there is huge, packed in, almost

everything is packed into that there. He says,

there, the doers of iniquity have fallen. So

let's back up for one second. Let not the foot

of pride come upon me and let not the hand of

the wicked drive me away. Don't let me think

that they're getting away with something or that

their actions are going to pull me away from

God. He says, there, in their actions, in their

wickedness, in their goodness, the doers of iniquity

have fallen. So while they've got their 12 houses

and their 20 cars, they have fallen. Hmm, I wonder

what does that mean exactly? And then it ends

this way. They have been thrust down and cannot

rise. So we look at them and we think, wow, they're

so powerful or they're so wealthy or they're

doing so good or so -and -so's getting away with

it or so -and -so's getting blessed in some way.

And it doesn't make any sense that they're getting

any blessing at all, but they seem to be getting

blessings. And that begins to cause a struggle

for us, but realize that in that, in that process,

they have been thrust down and cannot rise. A

couple weeks ago, I mentioned to you that I had

a new feeling about the story of David and Goliath.

And I think it was actually on Tuesday night,

two Tuesdays ago. We talked about the story of

David and Goliath. Anyway, the point is, I said,

you know, I kind of have pity on Goliath. We

always think of David as the underdog because

he was a little guy, not even a full -grown man.

He goes up with this giant dude and so powerful

and trained warrior and all of that. We think

of kind of like, oh no, David. And then David

wins. We're like, yay, David, he's the underdog.

But David wasn't the underdog. Goliath was the

underdog. In his might and in his power and in

his strength and all his training, he was on

the wrong side. You understand that from the

moment that Goliath... went on the battlefield

for the first time, when he first picked up a

spear, he was destined to die to a stone and

a sword by the hand of a boy. He was thrust down

and could not rise even before he stepped out

onto the battlefield against David as he mocked

the Israelites and said, you sent a champion.

Why will you not send a champion? Oh, now you

send this boy against me? What am I, a dog that

you'd send a boy against me? As he mocked the

Israelites and mocked David and mocked God and

denied the God of heaven, he was thrust down

and could not rise already. Before ever the first

stone sailed. The lightning point for today is

comfort outsourced is a prison of the exact same

sort. I want you to think about the fact and

realize from these texts that what it's saying

is if you find your source of comfort, if you

find the blessing that you need, if you find

your success or your overcoming of a problem

outside God's auspices, outside the kingdom of

God, that you too will be thrust down and cannot

rise. There's a few things in this text too,

really, and then a conclusion that I want you

to see. The first thing is this. The wicked,

these people, They are enslaved by the very comfort

they choose to freely receive. Wickedness feels

like freedom. For 25 years of my life, I lived

as a non -Christian. A pre -Christian, I guess

you could say. Didn't really believe in God.

Didn't really believe in Jesus. I did a little

drinking, a little partying, a little driving

drunk. A lot of fighting. In fact, after I got

saved for 15 years afterwards, my hands hurt

almost every single day. I couldn't do push -ups

because they were shooting pains in my hands

from all the punching people and things I did

back then. And a lot more with the things, because

things are harder than people. But I was doing

it all because I thought I could. I drove my

motorcycle 40 miles an hour over the speed limit

because I could. I drag raced down Woodrow Road

because I could. And I felt alive and free, and

I was even excited. Like I would stand up to

a bully, not intimidated, knowing he was going

to kick my butt, which is what usually happens.

When I say I did a lot of fighting, I don't want

you to think that I was often victorious. I had

a lot of fighting and I lost most of the time.

But I kept going back anyway because I could.

And I thought I was free. When my boss called

me up and was hassling me about having to work

on a weekend I was supposed to have a BG class,

I just quit my job. Just like that. I'm like,

ah, fine, I'm done. No two weeks left, I'm just

done. Just like that. Why? Because it could.

Wickedness feels like freedom. People jump off

cliffs with a parachute on, and they call it

base jumping, and they do it because they can.

Because it feels like freedom as the air is rushing

past you, and you haven't pulled the cord yet,

and you know if you don't pull the cord, you're

going to splat on the rocks down below. But when

you pull the cord, you will drift gracefully

to the ground once it slows you down. It feels

like freedom. But it isn't. According to this

text, and many others like it, it's not freedom.

Notice also that wickedness speaks to the heart

of the wicked. The message of powerful encouragement.

Once you start doing things that God doesn't

want you to do, you get this powerful encouragement

inside you. Like, yeah, see there, that's me.

I did that. I got away with that. Yeah, I said

that and they did that. I think there's a historian

who is not a Christian who lived in Jesus' day.

He's called Josephus. And I read his history.

It's pretty cool because he comes from outside

Christianity. He was a Jewish historian. And

he never came to believe in the Messiah, never

was a follower of Jesus. But he accurately records

the history of Jesus' life. He said there was

a man, he did all these things, he listened to

it all out, he died, he was buried, he rose again.

He didn't say he rose again, but he said he was

buried, and then he was seen later and taught

his disciples and started this movement. He says

all of that. And I love that. But then I looked

elsewhere in his history, and I see where he

says, well, I went to the governor and I told

him this was true. It wasn't really true, but

I told him this was true. and he did this, which

is exactly what I wanted him to do, and he's

manipulating the political scene. Right now in

Washington, D .C., not necessarily today because

it's Sunday, but tomorrow, there will be people

making promises to people that they will not

keep. And by so doing, they will get away with

whatever it is they're trying to do. All over

the country right now, there are businessmen

who are conniving and manipulating and tricking

others to get wealthier and wealthier and wealthier.

And all the while, in their heart, they have

this thought that, yeah, I did it again. They

don't know. I'm getting away with it again. I

want you to understand that if ever in your heart

you have a feeling that says, I got away with

it, you need to understand that is your own transgression,

that is your own wickedness, ensuring that you

are trapped away from the goodness of God. You're

not getting away with anything. God sees it all.

God sees everything that we are doing, and we

can see it too if we are able to look with open

eyes. But the wickedness, it testifies in the

heart to encourage. It gives a pleasurable appraisal.

You're smart. You're crafty. You're a problem

solver. You took care of that and you start thinking,

I'm going to be okay. I'm going to be okay because

there's something in my heart telling me I'm

going to be okay. And it talks about promised

potential. Your ship is going to come in. You're

going to get the money. It's going to happen.

You're going to get where you need to get because

it has to be because you're still here and you're

smart and you're capable. And it testifies in

the heart. It is comfort and encouragement and

a pleasurable appraisal and a promising statement

of potential. But then notice in verse 12, the

last verse we read, the trap is sprung. The demise

made certain. It's aimed unerringly at eternal

demise. It says, there the doers of iniquity

have fallen. They have been thrust down and cannot

rise. And what was in the there? It's the fact

that they did what they wanted to do. It's the

freedom that they thought they perceived to do

what they wanted to do. It was contrary to what

God wanted. And it's that constant testimony

in their heart that they're good, that they're

going to be fine, that it's all going to work

out, that they're going to get away with it.

And they feel like they can go on and on this

way. I'll tell you where that road ends. It ends

in hell for an eternity. And they get there and

realize they can't. There's nobody left to manipulate.

There's nobody left to steal from. There's no

positive steps left to take. No problem solving

that can be done. It's done. You're stuck. That

is the end of that destination. That is the end

of that road. Enslaved by the very comfort they

chose to freely receive. One more point in there.

receiving all the benefits that they never paid

for. Now, if I was talking about the wicked,

that's no big deal. But I'm not. We're talking

about the people in the kingdom of God. We're

talking about God's people. God's people, according

to these verses, that whole middle section, from

5 all the way down to 11, was talking about God's

people receiving benefits that they never paid

for. God's people receive His loving kindness

and His faithfulness, and He is good to us, and

it doesn't stop. It goes on and on and on and

on, even though we don't deserve it and we didn't

pay for it. If you stop by Kroger's or something,

and they stop you in the aisle and say, hey,

you're the one billionth shopper at Kroger's

all over the world, and from now on you get free

groceries for the rest of your life. You never

paid for it. You never earned it. There's no

reason. You didn't even know there was a thing

about a billions shopper. You didn't know it

was a thing. It's like that with God. We receive

the loving kindness of God. We receive his faithfulness.

And the more of it that we know, the more of

it that there is. And do you deserve it? Should

you get it? Is it fair? I can't tell you the

number of times that my kids or my grandson,

Jason and Caleb, are both in the room. And Jason

said, well, Caleb had one. Or Caleb will say,

well, Jason had one. Right? And it seems like

it's fair because they're brothers. If one gets

one, the other one should get one too, right?

Well, what we're saying here based on this is

that God himself is unfair. That's not fair.

It's not fair that we get God's loving kindness

and his righteousness and his faithfulness and

his mercy and his spiritual gifts and all of

these things when we didn't pay for it. That's

not fair. The wicked are getting ripped off.

They think they're getting freedom and comfort

by just doing what it is that they would do.

We are getting freedom and comfort that we didn't

pay for in order to do nothing. That's not fair.

God's people receive his loving kindness and

his faithfulness and he is good to us and it

doesn't stop. But also receiving all the benefits

they never paid for reminds us that his righteousness

and his judgments show no limits. There's no

limit to that. We keep learning more of his righteousness

and more of his righteousness becomes available

to us. We keep learning more of his judgments

and more becomes available to us. There's no

limit. His people get to know them and then know

more and more. They get to love them and love

them more. The more you know of what God teaches

you, what God is doing in your life, the more

you will love what God is teaching you and what

God is doing in your life. And then we get to

live them on an eternal journey that does not

end. We can't help but desire to learn and speak

them because as we do, we discover their unending

nature. So it just goes on. Like, oh, wow, God's

doing that too? Wow, that's amazing. I didn't

expect that. And you're so skilled, so trained,

you've seen so much, and yet it goes, what? Every

time there's a new surprise, a new excitement

to go, wow, God is doing that? And we get all

of that that we never paid for. Doesn't seem

fair. His people then, third point, under receiving

all the benefits they never paid for, his people

received his power, his purpose, his provision,

and his presence. In the story of the prodigal

son, there's a son, he goes away, he takes his

share of the inheritance and blows it all on

lots of food and booze and loose women and whatever.

And then when it's all gone, he's got a terrible

job that he's working and he can't even eat.

He's thinking about eating the food that the

pigs are eating. And he says, I should go back

and just be a servant in the house of my father

because my father's servants are... being treated

better than I am right now. And he goes back

and his dad comes out and he falls on him and

he kisses him on the neck. And instead of saying,

see, I told you, son, you shouldn't have spent

all that money. He says, I've been waiting for

you. And he gives him a ring and a robe and shoes

and they throw a party. And those things represent

something. That ring represents power. God gives

believers power, which isn't really right because

we didn't pay for it. We didn't earn it. We didn't

do anything to get it. And the more we use it

for God's glory, the more we get. God's power.

Then we get God's purpose. Right? Those sandals

and shoes that he put on his feet, that represents

purpose. And so God, he's going to go and do

things. We have the sandals of the gospel of

peace. We go and do the things. And the more

we do for God, the more we can do for God. That's

not right. That's not fair. And then there's

provision. That robe that he put on, that's protecting

him, giving him warmth, and taking care of him,

giving him what he needs, and also the food at

the party. That's provision of God. And God gives

that to that prodigal son who went away and wasted

everything that God had given him, but now he

just turned back. He just said, let's go back

and be a servant in the house of my God, or my

Father, as the story says. And then finally,

presence. He is with us. And he says, If you'll

go and do the things I've given you to do, I

will be with you even unto the end of the age,

which as we learned recently on Tuesday night

is right up to the harvest. That's what's next.

So we're going to, till the harvest, have God's

presence in us. Now you think about it for a

second. You got this guy over here. He's just

as smart, intelligent, creative, capable as I

am. And here's me. I'm 25 years old. And there

is no reason. None whatsoever. I didn't ascend

to it. I didn't figure it out mentally. I didn't

problem solve to get there. There is absolutely

no reason that this guy over here is just as

smart or smarter than I am. Doesn't accept Jesus

Christ as his Lord and Savior. Doesn't become

a Christian. Doesn't enter the kingdom of God

and get a beautiful family and ministry and service

and the things that I have had. Not that I haven't

had struggles. Not that I haven't faced trials

and difficulties. Facing one right now, in fact.

But not that that's not true. But there's no

reason this guy shouldn't have all these things

that God is offering. Yet he doesn't. And he

could say, but he gets. Says it doesn't seem

fair. Dan got one. And we get all of that. We

receive all the benefits of being part of the

kingdom of God that we never paid for, never

earned, or never were. And that brings us to

our conclusion. It seems unfair. These guys,

they're just doing what anyone might do. I'm

faced with a problem. What do you do? You think

about what you can do, right? How can I make

this work out? How can I get where I gotta get?

They're just doing what anyone might do. They're

behaving with their own interests in mind. Anybody

in here do that? Do we behave with our own interests

in mind? Sure we do. They're doing what they

want to do. Now, that starts to draw a little

bit of a line for me because I realize as a Christian,

quite frequently, I don't do what I want to do.

I do what's right. Now, there's a little difference

there, but basically... They're doing what anybody

might do. They're doing these things. They're

taking care of their own interests, doing what

they can, doing what they want to do. They're

doing all for reasonably desired results and

to try to get them by means within their own

power. Okay, now wait a second. That chased me

a little bit. I'm not comfortable with that.

I want to stop just short of getting where I'm

trying to get by my own power because there's

going to be a moment in time in which I'm going

to try to get somewhere. That I can't get by

my own power. You follow the logic? If everything

we get by is by our own power, then when the

time comes that we need something that we can't

get by our own power, we're not going to get

it. So I feel a little bit, I want to come up

short of doing it that way. But the truth is,

they wind up so far from a good end just by doing

what seems completely reasonable. Ah. But now

remember that guy that was compared to me? What

did I do to receive salvation? What did I do

to achieve it? What did I do to earn it? Nothing.

So why couldn't he do that? Well, he could. And

so, just the same as to behave with your own

interests in mind, to do what you can, to do

what you want to do, to do all for reasonably

desired results and try to get them by means

within your own power, well, all of that makes

a lot of good sense. Also, following God is available

to anyone. So it really just is about a moment

of salvation. And since it's not something that

you can provide, all you've got to do is be willing

to receive it. And so I guess the big problem

with that wicked person is that he's comfortable.

He's okay with not receiving it. The gospel is

available. Now that Jesus has been publicly sacrificed,

publicly risen, publicly preached, it's perfectly

unfair. For anyone who will receive that gift,

that one would receive it and another wouldn't.

But it's also perfectly just. It's just because

if you'll receive it, you can have it. And if

you won't, you won't. And the alternative would

be everyone would be forced to receive it whether

they want it or not. Let me give you some illustrations

as we're in our conclusion. Kids cry, he got

one! Because they want to believe. That fair

is when everybody gets the same thing. Which,

not amazingly, is most important when it means

that they didn't get something and they want

it. Right? So you've got two brothers. One gets

it and the other one doesn't. Which one's crying?

It's only fair that we both get it. The one who

didn't get it. But the one who got it when his

brother didn't is fine with that. Otherwise,

he'd have given him half. And there wouldn't

be anything to cry about. Right? It's pretty

amazing that we're only worried about what's

fair when what's fair contradicts that very testimony

in our heart that we should get and didn't. Justice

is when the one who knows gives what is deserved.

And God will give to those who stand against

him what is deserved. And he chooses not to give

because of the sacrifice of Jesus. to those who

do not stand against him what they deserve. And

trust this. They don't want what they deserve.

They always want grace. In fact, try this sometime

as an experiment. If you've got kids or know

somebody who does, give one of them something.

Let the other one complain that they want it

too. And say, well, you gave it to him. Why can't

I have it? Then give them two. And watch what

happens. The one who got one will say, but he

got two. So then give him three. And watch what

happens. The one who says, but he got three.

Does it ever end? Or, he got a donut and I got

a donut, but his donut's bigger. Does it ever

end? Humans desire and the desires do not end.

And when you meet the desires yourself, the desires

themselves will speak in your heart to provide

you with a comfort that is outside God. If it

were a Star Wars sermon, I would need some Star

Wars quotes to relate them to the topic at hand,

which would be easy. I could say something like,

Yoda described the dark side of the Force in

several ways throughout the Star Wars saga. One

of his most famous explanations is when Empire

Strikes Back and he says, But beware of the dark

side. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side

of the Force are they. Easily they flow. Quick

to join in a fight if once you start down the

dark path. Forever it will dominate your destiny.

And then he says, consume you it will. Be careful

going after the things that you want. Yoda emphasized

that the dark side is seductive. It's easier,

more tempting, but ultimately corruptive and

destructive. He often warned Jedi to control

their emotions, especially fear and anger, which

could lead them down the dark path. Also in The

Empire Strikes Back, Luke says, Is the dark side

stronger? And Yoda says, no, no, no. Quicker,

easier, more seductive. And then in The Phantom

Menace, he says, fear is the path to the dark

side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.

Hate leads to suffering. This quote highlights

how the dark side begins with inner fear and

grows through unchecked emotion. Palpatine, in

The Revenge of the Sith, said, the dark side

of the force is a pathway to many, abilities

some consider to be unnatural. He's tempting

Anakin to come over to the dark side because

then he'll be able to do things that he can't

do on the light side. Obi -Wan says later, you

have allowed the dark lord to twist your mind

until now. Until now you have become the very

thing you swore to destroy. But it's not a Star

Wars sermon, so we really don't need those illustrations,

do we? How about this? Trusting someone else

to do for you what you can't do is wisdom. Anybody

here ever use a mechanic to fix their car? Go

to a doctor about their body? Call an HVAC tech

to fix your heating or air conditioning? Trusting

somebody else to do for you what you cannot do

is wisdom. And if the world knows that it is

wisdom, then it is just to expect them to choose

a risen Savior who can bring you into eternity

that you desire. One who died and rose again.

Not one who willingly died but didn't rise again,

but one who willingly died and rose again. In

the short term, people seem to benefit from the

non -God choice. But they're locking in only

a certain amount of benefits and not the ones

that will take them to where they need to go

in the long run. They have outsourced their comfort

while in the short term their comfort comes in

the form of reassurance and even quick results.

Ultimately they will bet everything on a losing

hand and they will lose everything and it's already

predetermined that they will do so. They have

been thrust down and they cannot rise. As I said,

I've raised a number of kids. When Alicia was

a baby, she fell in love with the 1992 version

of the movie Aladdin. Have you seen it? Robin

Williams plays the genie. It's pretty awesome,

or now I'm a little bit burnt out on it. And

then by the time she was done, she watched it

273 times. I don't know if that's the right number.

I just guessed. It's a lot. She watched it a

lot. In fact, she had a VCR in her bedroom. Remember

VCRs? VHS tapes? Some people are like, what's

that? VCR in her bedroom. And even the VCR in

her bedroom, which ate a peanut butter and jelly

sandwich at one point, had to be resurrected

to play Aladdin because we just couldn't take

it in the living room anymore. When she got a

little older and finally gave up Aladdin, I thought

I'd been spared until Amalia fell in with Barney

and then began to listen to dance and sing to

Barney at 3 o 'clock in the morning in the living

room when she should have been sleeping. Aladdin

is a great movie about exactly what we're talking

about. There's a scene where the genie is released

from the lamp. This is Robin Williams' voice,

but I don't do imitations. He says, I have all

this power. Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itty bitty

living space. And then at the end of the movie,

Jafar, the big bad guy, he wants to have power.

He's asking the genie, make me the most powerful

sorcerer in the world. And Aladdin challenges

him and he says, you may be the most powerful

sorcerer in the world, but the genie has more

power than you do. And he looks at the genie

and he says, make me a genie. And the genie says,

I don't know. Are you sure? Make me a genie so

I will be the most powerful being in the world.

And the genie says, Okay. You're a genie. The

bracelets come on and Aladdin reminds Jafar,

he says, Ah, but you've forgotten. You now have

the most powerful being in the world. He says,

Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itty bitty living space.

And down goes Jafar into the bottle. Don't kid

yourself. If you live your life that way, exercising

power over the people around you, your life,

manipulating your situations, and getting it

done by your own power, the itty -bitty living

space that you wind up with will not be a pleasant

one. over at the Life Station, which is now the

giant food room in the middle of the Life Station

because we converted it over when we did delivery

and couldn't worship in there during COVID. Anyway,

it was a drug dealer, now saved. I knew him personally.

Spent 21 years in jail. And I asked him, I said,

did you get saved in prison? He said, I did.

I said, how'd you wind up in prison? He said,

well, I owned all these houses. I owned all these

cars. My brother and I were running a drug house,

selling drugs. And people would come there by

in the house, sitting around on the couches and

the chairs and whatever, doing the drugs. The

drug house. We were running the drug house. And

I said, well, that sounds like a pretty good

racket, but it doesn't sound good in the long

run. And he said, no, it wasn't. So what happened

was there was this guy who would come around.

And he was always begging for money and begging

for drugs in the drug house. And the people in

the drug house, who come to the drug house, got

fed up with it. And they complained to my brother

and I. And we were forced, hear me now, forced,

that's the word he used, we were forced to kill

him. They're running a drug house, ruining people's

lives, carrying guns, violent, whatever. Who

can force them to do anything? But their very

own wickedness, their very own transgression

required that they put an end to that man because

he was threatening their business and their clients

were getting upset. And so they took him out

and killed him. And then he spent 21 years in

prison. Now as he stood before me, he'd been

saved. He was a child of the kingdom of God.

Lost all his houses and his cars, but he was

rebuilding his life under biblical principles.

Story of a drug addict who described how he wound

up in church. He said, so here's what happened.

I needed drugs so bad. I was at the point where

I had to have drugs. I was in terrible withdrawal

symptoms. It was terrible. I had been on heroin.

But every one of my friends, all my family members,

everybody I could think of, even extended family,

cousins, people I hadn't hurt, I hit up them

all. I got money from them, or I stole from them,

or whatever. I was in the middle of the street.

Over on the old south end, just off Broadway

there, I walked down the middle street and I

realized that there wasn't a person in the world,

including me, that wanted me alive. That could

find any value in me whatsoever. I had cheated

everybody that I ever could get access to, stole

money, stole everything I could to try to get

drugs, and now here I was needing drugs so bad,

and I was thinking down the list of every single

person I knew, every professional, everybody

I knew, thinking, is there anywhere, anywhere,

anywhere I could get a $20 bill so I could get

some drugs? And I came to the conclusion that

there was nowhere on the earth that anyone wanted

me alive. And then I wondered. In my heart, I

wondered. It was like I was maybe prompted by

the Holy Spirit. He said, I wondered if maybe

in the church, maybe in God's people, maybe in

Christianity, there wasn't somebody who would

want me alive. And he said, so I went, and I

heard the gospel, and I gave my life over to

Christ. And as he stood there before me, he had

gotten a job, and he had a place to live. He

wasn't wealthy, nor probably would he ever be.

He was off drugs, living his life in the kingdom

of God. The next drug addict may not have that

same experience. And it may seem unfair, but

there he was with nothing, literally at the end,

thrust down and could not rise. And he said,

I wonder if there's somebody. Jesus said, he

who sins is slave to sin. And Paul reminds us

that all have sinned and fall short of the glory

of God. That's all of us. Paul explained at the

Areopagus to goers that they. Now that Jesus

was revealed clearly through his resurrection,

God quite reasonably requires all men to repent.

In the book of Job, Satan accused Job of being

faithful to God because God took care of him.

God allowed Satan to strike every good thing,

including ultimately Job's flesh, but not his

life. And Job would not curse God, intoning instead

the famous line, After losing his children, servants,

and possessions, Job said this, Naked I came

from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed

be the name of the Lord. And then later, when

his wife tells him to curse God and die, Job

says this, Shall we receive good from God and

shall we not receive adversity? It's absolutely

just that God's people should receive all the

blessings of family membership and whatever good

God sees fit to send, because we are willing

also to receive from His hand whatever hardship

He sees fit. God's people have not outsourced

their comfort, which is a course available to

anyone. Anyone can do that. Jesus said these

words, For God did not send His Son into the

world to judge the world, but that the world

might be saved through Him. He who believes in

Him is not judged. He who does not believe has

been judged already, because he has not believed

in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

This is the judgment, that the light has come

into the world, and men love the darkness rather

than the light, for their deeds were evil. I

ask you today, what do you love better? The light,

which is infinite loving kindness, righteousness,

and goodness from God, or the darkness, which

is you doing what you've got to do to survive?

Verse 20 says this, For everyone who does evil

hates the light and does not come to the light

for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But

he who practices the truth comes to the light

so that his deeds may be manifested as having

been wrought in God. Make the only good choice.

Choose Christ and walking with Christ over any

other offered source of comfort. Let me be blunt

and simple and I'm done. Are you with me? It's

like this. You do this. By making an open and

public confession that you are turning from all

your sin to God through Jesus his Son. In this

context, the light means open and public. Stop

hiding the truth you know in your heart. Jesus

is Lord and Savior. He's alive and in charge.

Then, daily, take in, memorize, and share his

word. Pray. Worship, serve, give, meditate, steward

the resources of God that he has blessed you

with. And all this intentionally and his power,

his purpose, his provision, and his presence

will open up more and more of the same. And it

will be right that he should do so. All that

remains is to ask you, are you in or not? Be

careful because Too many people are exercising

their right to choose kingdom adjacent lives.

They liberally apply words like salvation, even

worship, godliness, righteousness. They set up

their own rules and tell you what they mean.

But if you are doing any portion of your life

on your own, you are not kingdom, but just kingdom

adjacent. Will you today profess Jesus Christ

as Lord? That means he's in charge. And as Savior,

that means he saves you. Sherry's pain got to

be too bad. Caitlin's going to take her home.

Will you make that public profession of faith

and live your life for Jesus? And the resources

of the kingdom are unending. And yeah. It may

seem unfair, but anybody can do it. And the person

right next to you might not do it today. Your

friend, your family member, your brother, your

wife, your husband, they might not do it. Your

sister, they might not do it. But if you do it

and they won't, you see the end already played

out in Scripture. And if your friend or your

brother or your sister or your person right next

to you does it and you don't, You see the end

already played out in Scripture. Stop outsourcing

your comfort and say no. The spiritual disciplines

are not something we do just once in a while.

Following God is not something we do just once

in a while. Crying out to God is not something

we do just when trouble comes. It's every moment

of every day. And it's a journey. It takes us

time to get there. But the more you do it, the

better you get at it until it's every moment

of every day. I ask the praise team to come forward

at this time and lead us in our closing hymn.

It's going to conclude our services today. But

I'm asking you to end the light. Say, look, I'm

not going to do it on my own. I refuse to do

it on my own. If I cannot do it in Jesus, I will

not do it at all. As the Lord is calling you

to be saved or is calling you to be a member

of this church or be baptized or to begin to

serve in some kind of ministry, To do, like God

is saying, hey, do this, and you're going, oh

man, it sounds like work, or it seems difficult,

I don't even know, I don't begin to know, I don't

have the skills, I don't know how I would do

that. And you just say to God today, okay God,

whatever that looks like, I'm going to do it.

Because as long as you're saying you'll do it

in your own strength, or you're finding your

source of comfort outside Him, you're kingdom

adjacent, not kingdom. You're Goliath, not David.

Would you stand with me and sing this song? And

as the Lord is leading you, if you so respond.

We bow down, we lay our crowns at the feet of

Jesus, the greatest of... His mercy and love

are at the feet of Jesus. And we cry holy, holy,

holy. And we cry holy, holy, holy. And we cry.