Jesus + NOTHING = Everything!

Well, how are we doing, One Church?

It's great to see you.

Wonderful to have you here.

If you're new, thank you for joining us.

And we want to do something every week.

There's people that join us all around the world online, and we want you to know that we love you.

We're grateful for you no matter where you're at.

If you're on a beach or in a hospital room or have to stay home, we just want you to know we love you.

Church, will you let them know how much you love them?

Grateful for you.

I I want to give a quick update because uh something's happened and we're kind of at a pretty big monumental moment for our church.

And so um I gave you an update recently that we wanted to build a sanctuary.

It was called For the One, and we were going through this whole campaign, and many of you have given to that.

I'm grateful for that.

Uh, but then the Solomon Foundation said they wanted us to buy the property in order to build the sanctuary.

And so that made us really consider well, can we do both?

Can we afford both?

And we don't feel like we can.

And so uh now that we're looking at this property, they they said that they want us to buy this property for$15.6 million.

And we're like, that's a lot of money alone if we're just doing that.

And so we we decided let's take a step back, let's get uh a really good appraisal, and so we did that from one of the best in the country, and it was like 80 something pages long.

It's ridiculous.

I I didn't read the whole thing, I'm gonna be honest.

But I have people that did.

And so I I sent that to the Solomon Foundation.

I said, can we reconsider this price?

And so after much prayer and consulting uh real estate commercial folk and real estate lawyer and and our elders all kind of gathered around looking at the finances and really praying, like, Lord, what what should we do?

Uh we feel like we should uh send an offer in to try and buy the property back.

And so that would mean that we'd put five million dollars down, which praise God that we have that, and then we would finance seven.

And so that payment of seven million would be a little bit more than our current lease payment.

And then we could buy this back, and eventually, one day, when we can afford it, uh we we would consider it a sanctuary if possible.

And so I didn't want to do that without telling you first we're gonna send that offer in, and they might say no.

And if that's the case, then we'll just keep our lease because it's for 44 years.

We can hang on for a while.

And so um I I just wanted to invite you into that process.

If you want more information, I have this video that goes into that that's pretty uh extensive.

And so we have uh you can go up on here and look at the next steps card.

If you don't have our email and you don't you want that email, you could just do that QR code, or I think in the in your seat back, you could fill one out and we'll we'll make sure and email you this week when we get all those in, okay?

So let's do this.

Let's put our hands up and let's ask God.

Father, we just want to know your will.

We don't want to move forward without your Holy Spirit guiding us.

We we ask, Father, wisdom and discernment.

We ask, Lord, that you would give that to us as a staff and elders, and as a church, we just want to know, Lord, is it your is your property?

It's your church, it's all yours.

It all belongs to you.

We just want to do what you want with your stuff, be good stewards of what you've given us.

So, Father, by by your Holy Spirit, would you would you lead us and guide us?

It's in the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

All right.

Well, that was easy.

We did that.

So um I just want to um tell you, we've been in the series that that I think's been really powerful.

Um, we've been talking about the one true king.

And it comes down to a big question that it I want us to be asking and thinking about in our own lives, and that is who is sitting on the throne of your heart?

And so, like for you this week, this month, this year, who gets the final word?

Who's the final today?

Who has authority over you?

Uh, you know, is it your parents?

Is it your spouse?

Uh, or is it God?

Who gets to guide us into how we should live?

Is there anyone that you're accountable to that you place as supreme over your life, right?

And the question is, is it you?

Are you the one in charge of you?

And only you?

Um, is it culture that shapes and guides you?

Um is it your family?

Or is Jesus actually the king who reigns supreme over your life?

Last week we talked about uh, I mean, the first week we we learned about the throne of the human heart, it's never empty.

There's always someone or something that's wanting to have our allegiance, wants our worship, and wants to be as our authority over our heart.

And so last week we talked about counterfeit spirituality and how many religions they masquerade as an angel of light, very ornate and beautiful, um, but they're not the real thing.

And they're actually a false gospel.

Uh and the Bible says, even no gospel at all, they're not teaching the truth.

And so today we're gonna talk about whether or not Jesus is a trustworthy king.

Is he trustworthy?

And the other question is, is Jesus actually enough?

Can he, is he have what we need?

And so let's start by answering this question.

Who do you actually trust in your life?

Like, you know, the wheels come off the bus, who are you calling?

In the middle of the night, there's a health something.

Well, who do you trust?

Do you have people you trust?

Um, when we talk about having a king, ultimately, uh, it means that we're placing someone to rule over us.

And in America, we don't like the word rule.

Uh someone that we willingly place as our authority, who has dominion and control over our lives.

And most of us are a bunch of control freaks, and we like to give anybody control.

I want to be in control of me, right?

I I want to be my boss, I'm my own authority, I want the reins because I'm the king of my castle.

That's the American way.

And so in 2026, it's like there's been so much that's happened uh ever since COVID that's brought so much question to like all authority, right?

Policemen and teachers and government officials, and uh, you know, do I trust the FBI?

You know, do I trust all there's like so much that I'm like, I don't know what I our health organization, like what can I trust, right?

What can we trust and who can we trust?

And so, especially with the rise of AI, like, man, when you're online and you're watching something, like I like I I think it's real, but I don't know if it's real or it's fake.

And it's affected everything, right?

Our movies, like that could be AI.

It might be that actor, but it's probably not.

Might be a fake actor, right?

If it's music, the music industry, like you can make an incredible song in two and a half minutes, right?

I mean, you're like, I think that's a real drum, but I don't know.

Is that an actual nice guitar lick?

But I don't know.

It's like everything's like, ah, I think it's real, but I'm not sure it could be fake.

In fact, I just want to show you something.

This week, I took a picture of myself in the gym, and if I took this shirt off right now, this is exactly what I'd look like right here.

That's that's me.

100% real.

Jacked, baby.

Did you like that, Chris?

Yeah.

So today I just want to talk about trust.

Trust.

I've heard it said that trust it takes years to build, seconds to destroy, and a lifetime to repair.

Trust, we know, is the foundation of every relationship.

Business, in any marriage with your kids, especially in the church.

It's in everything.

It's also trust is fragile and it's delicate.

And we're often so careless with it.

We just throw trust away with our friends and with our spouse.

Uh and when you have trust, you know it, man.

You can feel it.

Like it's there's a relationship.

But when it's gone, there's not much left.

There it's you like dwindles to nothing really fast.

It's real quiet and real slow.

A snail's pace.

When you when you have trust, things move fast.

And so we have to have trust.

In the church, we say we live by faith, right?

We we live by trust.

But the question that we have to ask ourselves in today's world is am I placing my faith in something that's fake?

It's a facade, it's counterfeit, right?

And it's temporary?

Or am I placing my faith in something that is real?

It's gonna stand the test of time, it's um genuine and authentic.

Are we trusting in this world and this life to save us, right?

In my own abilities and talents and what I can earn for myself and to save myself, or are we placing our faith and our trust in God alone?

And if so, do we actually trust God enough to rule and reign as supreme and sovereign over our day-to-day lives?

Can we trust what Jesus did on the cross to be enough?

And so today my message is called Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

We live in a world of add-ons.

If you drive by and you're gonna buy a house, it says starting at 500,000.

But then you come in and you're like, well, with 500,000, you don't really get a sink.

There's an advertisement of a plane ticket for$49.

Like, yeah, I'm buying that, but then you have to pay for luggage and your seat and a boarding group, and you can sit in the front, you know, sipping a mimosa, or you sit in the back with the peasants like me, and you get elbowed in your kidneys.

By the time you finish buying all the add-ons, you end up broke as a joke.

In our world, it's trained us to believe that the basic package is never enough.

Right?

If there's an upgrade, yeah, I want it.

And that lie uh throughout history has snuck into the church and you know all the different cities in the Bible, in our faith, and we start believing that Jesus is a good beginning, but there's gotta be more.

Like maybe we need an upgrade for the premium spiritual package.

And that's actually what was happening in the early church.

It was called Gnosticism.

And it's this um like you you'll have secret knowledge and secret powers, and that you'll become enlightened.

Uh, much like the New Age movement, actually.

Uh, false teachers were mixing Jesus with their philosophies and religious traditions and special festivals and and even angel worship.

And they were essentially trying to convince them that, hey, Jesus is is a nice start, but if you really want to be complete and protected and accepted by God, you need Jesus plus other stuff and other things.

And so I want to show you that in Colossians chapter 2, verse 6, if you have your Bibles.

Colossians 2:6

It says, So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as the Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness.

And then it says in verse 8, and this is what I want to focus on today, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophies, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

And then verse 9, I love it.

For in Christ all the fullness, everybody say all, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.

He's the head over every power and authority.

And so the word there, when it says take you captive, it describes someone that's like literally being dragged away, carried away like the spoils of war.

And these people were being deceived by hollow and deceptive philosophies.

And the deception could capture them and keep them in bondage.

And it's still true today.

There's still beliefs in this world where we can easily live in a lie and be deceived.

And it's because this world that we live in is in an epic battle between good and evil, between light and the darkness, God and Satan.

And people are being taken out all around us, your friends and my friends, picked off, stepping on bombs, and they're dying a spiritual death.

And it's because the lie of the enemy has always been you don't need Jesus.

He's not enough.

You know what?

I can give you more.

That started in the garden, and he's so convincing.

We need Jesus plus whatever it is for you.

So what do you fill that blank in with?

Jesus plus, you know, the right, gorgeous, godly spouse.

Jesus plus that job, and Jesus plus my bank account, and Jesus plus the new house car, certain salary, right?

Let me tell you this.

Jesus plus anything is a lie from the enemy.

And the Bible teaches us that all, in the Greek word uh for all, it means all.

You're welcome.

All the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form.

So I'm here to tell you the good news of the gospel.

When you have Jesus, you're made complete.

You have the fullness.

We are whole.

We have all that we need in Christ, and He is alive inside of this temple, the dwelling place of God, the living God tabernacles inside of you and inside of me.

Right?

So, like, you guys remember that song?

Uh You are my all in all.

Like, God's our all in all.

There, there's He's completely sufficient.

The Greek word translated fullness is pleroma, and it means fullness, completeness, or the total sum.

Like, like, can I just say it like this?

Hey, Jesus isn't like a dash of God, he's not a little bit of God, he's not the trial version, he's not god-like, he's not a lucky charm, he's not a political mascot, he's not just an emergency contact.

Jesus is the eternal Son of God, the Savior of the world, and the rightful king over every power and authority, and everything that we need to be reconciled to God is found completely and wholly in him.

That's it.

Charles Spurgeon, the way he said that is if he be something, meaning Jesus, he must be everything.

If he's something, he must be everything.

And if he be not everything, he's nothing to you and to me.

He is our all in all.

Last week we talked about Mormonism.

And the question that I've had for my Mormon friends throughout the past has been, hey man, I just got one question.

Why do I need Joe?

Meaning, you you have this guy named Joseph Smith, and he, you know, he was questionable.

I don't know that I need Joe.

I have Jesus.

And I also talked about Islam and the question that I have for my Islam friends and Mormon.

I mean, uh uh Islam, yeah.

I went blank just now.

Thank you.

I was trying to say Mormons, like, no, it's Islam.

Muslims.

When I have questions for my Muslims, I get, hey, if I have Jesus, why do I need Mohammed?

I think I have everything I need in him.

And the answer is I don't.

I don't need Muhammad, I don't need Joe, and I also don't need any kind of a priest.

Jesus plus anything is a lie.

Because the truth is, if we know anything, it's that Jesus alone is our sufficiency, right?

And that's that's kind of the common lie amongst Christianity is that we look at Jesus plus, and and the Jesus plus is doing church our way, right?

Every denomination's got their own thing, and we do it this way, and that's the right way, right?

And if you have a if you're church, Christ, I love you, but if you have a piano, going to hell, right?

We we have our own way, and that's the right way.

And so Jesus plus our traditions, Jesus plus our hymns, Jesus plus our organ.

All right, it's beautiful.

Jesus plus here, our laser lights and our incredible fog machine, right?

Jesus plus, you know, nice skinny jeans, right?

Jesus plus how we do it, our playbook.

And I hope that you hear I'm not coming after any one specific church.

I'm speaking against anything and anyone that believes that Jesus plus anything is a lie, right?

It's not our preferences.

Jesus alone is our sufficiency.

And so today I want to have an honest conversation about the Roman Catholic Church.

Alright?

We okay with that?

So before you walk out and throw tomatoes at me, the last thing that I want to do is attack any Catholic people.

That's never my heart.

I'm gonna tell you right now, I know a lot of spirit-filled Catholics that I'm confident we'll see in heaven.

Um, maybe you come from a Catholic background and your family is devout.

We we love them.

They're not against us, right?

They love Jesus.

Um, and just like Jesus, my heart is that we're not here to judge.

I I'm here to help educate and help save.

And so I promise that I'm gonna speak truth in love, I'm gonna be nice and kind, I'm gonna play well with others, and I I want to be overflowing with grace, but also have, you know, seasoned with truth.

And so it's important we understand some of the history between Catholics and Protestants, right?

Uh, and some of our doctrinal differences, because I think most people don't know.

And I I want to try and help us go.

Oh, that makes that makes a lot of sense now.

So hopefully this will help.

Uh, the big disagreement, here it is, uh, it comes down to this who gets the final word?

Who has the final say?

Who has the final authority?

And is the finished work of Jesus sufficient?

Right?

So, in other words, do we rest in the authority of man or do we rest in the sufficiency of Christ and his word?

Right?

Because Catholicism, they look to the Pope, and they look to the papal authority, meaning the priests and the bishops, the cardinals, right?

And so they they add that the traditions of man and the papal authority, along with the scriptures, kind of have equal authority.

And they believe that the pope is actually the successor of the apostle Peter.

That Peter was the first priest and pope.

And that's because Jesus says to him, Upon this rock, I will build my church.

And so they they say, I'm from the lineage, I'm the successor of Peter himself.

That's what the popes believe.

And it just turns out right now the Pope is from Chicago.

And so they believe that the Pope is the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church.

And they believe that we need the priests to properly understand and listen to the teachings of God's truth from his word through the papal authority.

And that's why Catholics go to the priest to confess their sins.

Um they they trust that these priests uh have been given divine grace, and that that gives them authority to administer forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation.

And I've always thought it wild that uh I don't have this in my notes, but I'm gonna say it anyways, uh, is that Jesus spoke specifically in Scripture to call no one father?

He directly says that.

And yet the Catholic Church, every priest is called what?

Father Ryan or Father Fred, whatever it is.

And so I I I've always I I've got questions like um why why do I need this dude?

Why why do I need, right?

This man, this priest, right?

See, Protestants believe what we believe is that it's scripture alone, the word of God, has the final authority over our life and the final say.

And that we we place God as the voice versus the authority of man.

And Catholicism teaches that Christ's grace is received through the church's sacraments, the way we do it, right?

Protestants believe that we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, right?

For the glory of Christ.

And so I want to read to you 1 Timothy 2, it says, For there is one God and one mediator.

Everybody say one mediator.

And that mediator is between God and mankind.

Right?

And the man is, here it is, it's Christ Jesus.

It doesn't say the man is a priest or the pope.

I have one mediator, not not many priests across the world that are my mediator, where I have to go to a man in order to talk to God.

The way that I read that is that Jesus is our one mediator, right?

Isn't that the way you read that verse?

And so we don't we don't need another human on earth to have access to God.

Like that's good news.

There's no saint who can improve the what welcome Jesus gave into the Holy of Holies and have access, right?

What he did on the cross purchased that, and we now have freedom to walk in.

If you remember, there is the outer courts, inner courts, and the Holy of Holies in the temple.

And so into the temple was like this massive veil, 40 feet tall, 20 feet wide, two phone books thick.

And that veil was ripped in half from top to bottom.

Why?

Because God did it.

He reached from heaven and he ripped that thing in half.

Why?

So we could have access to the Holy of Holies.

And it was a big deal because the high priest would go in one time a year for the atonement of our sins, and he had to be completely cleansed like an unblemished lamb.

And if he walked through the Holy of Holies and died, it was because he was in the presence of God and he had sin in his life.

And so now we have access, nobody can give us access, right?

Praise God.

We don't need a Pope, I don't need a pastor, I don't need any denomination, any religious institution that owns the doorway into God's presence.

Hebrews 4 says, Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence.

Right?

Why?

Because Jesus died on the cross and he was completely atoned for our sin.

Behold the Lamb of God who does what?

Takes away the sins of the world.

He was the final sacrifice.

And so we don't need a priest because he's our high priest now.

And so we we don't beg a priest or anybody hoping that one day we can be let in.

Because of Jesus, we approach it with confidence.

See, anytime somebody stands between you and Jesus, and there's somebody in the middle of that, Joseph, Muhammad, any priest.

Anyone standing between you and God, then the gospel starts becoming Jesus plus something or someone.

See, I need to tell you the good news of the gospel.

The work of the crow on the cross is completely done.

There is no more work that us mortal humans can do to add to what Jesus did on the cross.

When Jesus died, what did he say?

To telesty.

And that means it is finished.

John 19, 30.

Completed, accomplished, paid in full.

And if Jesus paid it all, you don't need Jesus plus a pope, Jesus plus a priest, Jesus plus tradition, Jesus plus your good works.

There's nothing we can do to earn access because he gave us access.

Jesus alone is our sufficiency, and he alone has supreme authority over our lives.

He is our great high priest, as it says in Hebrews, and we need no other man on earth because Jesus doesn't need an upgrade.

Alright.

So here's what I want to do.

I'm going to do a history lesson.

We're going to go back to the 16th century, and we're going to remember what the Roman Catholic Church were up to.

At the time, they were oppressing the people.

For centuries, the Catholic Church conducted services and they read the Bible and the scriptures primarily in Latin.

It was a language that most ordinary people didn't speak, they didn't understand.

And Bibles, people couldn't afford them, they were crazy expensive.

So literacy was limited.

And most people, they had to depend on this guy, a priest, that would tell them what God said.

And they alone had the right to interpret what the Bible meant.

And so that was dangerous.

After a confession with a priest, it was pretty normal that the priest would assign what was called a penance.

And that penance could be a lot of things.

It could be prayer, it could be a pilgrimage, it could be a time of fasting, right?

They would tell you what God wanted you to do.

And they would also like say, give money, and that money, it has the power to reduce your punishment in purgatory.

And even it could also reduce your punishment for your whole family, depending on how much money you give.

And so, man, the people are like, hey, this feels greasy.

I don't know.

Feels weird.

Feels like you're getting rich and fat, right?

You got a lot of food that you eat.

And I don't I don't understand why you're taking from us peasants who have nothing.

And so that's why they wanted reform.

That is the Protestant Reformation.

The reformers fought to do one thing: to put the Bible, the living word of God, into the hands of ordinary people.

Like we just want to read it for ourselves.

Can we do that?

And then comes along the great reformer, uh, a German Catholic monk named Martin Luther.

And he he did something that's radical.

Are you ready?

Here's what he did he started reading his Bible.

And because he did that, it wrecked him.

Especially the verse, the righteous will live by faith.

And it's like he started to realize oh, so I don't have to live by my works.

I live by faith.

I don't have to do all the things that you say.

I can just live by faith.

For God.

You know, my works are for him, not for man.

And Luther was reading the Bible, and the Holy Spirit was convicting him.

I'm gonna I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna live by faith for God.

And he wasn't trying to start some gigantic movement or reformation, something new.

He simply wanted to reform inside the church.

He needed the church to stop doing the way they were doing and start helping people realize you don't have to do all the things that they're saying.

And so he he began to realize that salvation couldn't be purchased.

You couldn't do good enough and be good enough through through all these indulgences and penance and and earning your way to heaven.

And so there's this great, great story.

Tradition says that while Martin Luther was crawling upstairs, I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna come over here, follow me, camera.

Come on.

He was he was going upstairs on his knees.

This is gonna hurt.

My man was taking a whip and he's reading the Bible and he's whipping himself out of pinnacles.

Man, that hurts.

And so he's going upstairs on his knees, and he's doing this because it's it his sin is repugnant, and it's his way of saying, if I do this, then I'm more it's called mortification.

I'm mortifying my sin.

And so he's going up these stairs.

That really hurt.

I'm not doing that next service.

He's whipping himself and he's reading, for it is by grace through faith I'm saved.

For it is by grace through faith.

And he's like doing that, whipping himself.

He's like, it's not by my beating myself and going up these stairs.

What am I doing?

This is by grace through faith.

And so the story has it that he stands up and he walks the rest away, which was an act of defiance towards those that are lording over him.

Because that's the way you're supposed to do it, to be good in the eyes of the Catholic Church and in the eyes of man.

And so many people believe that it is that moment in his heart when the Protestant Reformation really started.

He he realized I'm saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Right?

It's not it's not by crawling up more stairs or saying enough prayers or paying enough penance, right?

And so he he realized I'm gonna stop with this nonsense.

And so, through the power of the Spirit, a fire was lit inside of his bones, and and he decided to stand up against the evil regime and the oppressors of this religious hierarchy and this system that was very evil.

And so in 1517, Luther does this thing that you've got to read about it.

He published his famous 95 thesis and nails it to the door of the church, and and he's challenging the abuses of the church.

So he's going after the big dogs in charge, and it's surrounding all of these indulgences and the things that they're taking advantage of, the people.

But the debate grew much deeper than that.

See, his statements were like around these ideas.

Does scripture have final authority?

Or does man and the institution and the church and the papal authority, right?

Are sinners justified through faith in Christ?

Or are we justified through this system that's controlled by you, men, and the church?

Is Jesus our one true mediator, or do we need an earthly hierarchy and a priest to dispense my access to God?

That's that's what he was trying to reform.

That's why the great Protestant Reformation happened.

Is that helpful to know that?

And so Luther knew, like, they're gonna kill me for this.

His convictions were gonna cost him his very life.

And guess what happened?

He's excommunicated by the Pope, he's condemned as a heretic.

My man, he's declared an outlaw, right?

Like the Dukes of Hazard.

I don't know why I just said that, but he's an outlaw running for his life, right?

Fighting the system like too.

Modern day Robin Hood.

There you go.

I shouldn't, I shouldn't let those things play off in my head.

Sorry.

So he's ordered to be arrested.

And his friends are like, no, you're not gonna die.

I'm gonna hide you.

And they took him to the Wartburg castle because his life was in danger.

But but Luther, man, he his his thing was, I'm not gonna surrender the authority of the scriptures and God's holy word to the authority of man and his system.

Right?

He's fighting against the self-righteous pride and error, much like the same men that were lording over the people during Jesus' day, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, these men, you know what Jesus called them?

A brood of vipers.

And if people follow after you and become your disciples, they become twice the sons of hell.

That's what Jesus said to that religious spirit that's trying to control the hearts of man.

And so, man, does the Catholic Church have a lot of things in their past that's horrific and embarrassing?

Yeah.

But so does the Protestant Church.

And the things that's happening in, you know, the Methodists and the Presbyterians right now, and the way that they're accepting of so many things and adapting the ideologies of this world rather than the truth that's given in the Word of God.

It's both of us.

It's not us versus them, which one is better.

I'm telling you that, yeah, yeah, the Catholics, they they've been questioned about the Crusades, the Inquisition, persecution, corruption, indulgences and penance and abuse of political power, you know, an enormous amount of wealth.

They have all the money in the world, right?

And sexual abuse to minors, children.

And then that was followed up with all kinds of institutional cover-ups, right?

But has that also happened in the Protestant church?

Yeah.

It's disgusting.

It's because the heart of man is intrinsically evil.

We choose our own flesh and sin.

And so when you put man in charge, it turns out to not go so very well.

So these failures, they simply show the dangers of any man gaining too much power and authority over other men and women.

And specifically when they're not able to be questioned, when no one's allowed to question that authority.

That's true of a pope, that's true of a pastor, that's true of a president.

Can I say that?

That's true of anybody with power.

I love the way that my friend John Acuff says this.

He says, leaders who can't be questioned end up doing questionable things.

It all comes down to the humility of a man that's saying, God, I surrender to you, you're my king.

I place you in charge, you're my authority, and I want your will, not my own.

So Colossians 2, it reminds us of where arc the condition of our heart, right?

I'm just curious, is there anybody here that's a sinner?

Just raise your hand.

Let's make clear, yeah, okay.

If you didn't raise your hand, you just lied, and now you're a sinner.

Welcome to the party.

Um, yeah, so so here's the reality.

All of us, it says in Colossians 2, we were dead in our sins.

We're dead in your sins, right?

The walking dead in this town, right?

We we know about that show.

But but God did something, He made us alive with Christ, He forgave us all of our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness.

And so in the courts of heaven, before God, your life is on trial, and there is a debt, and that debt stood against us.

And what did it do?

It condemned us.

But here's the good news Jesus steps in and he's taken it away.

And what did he do?

He took all of your deadness and nails it to the cross.

So, to be very clear, it's not that we were kind of doing bad.

You know, if we could just perform a little better, we could be a little gooder.

You weren't just underperforming.

No, you're dead.

Dead in your sins.

The Bible says the wages of sin is death.

Dead people don't need another good sermon by Pastor Blake, they don't need a pep talk and a little like slap on the rear.

You can do better than you're doing.

No.

They don't need to try harder.

The only hope for a dead person is a resurrection.

That's the only hope.

And that's exactly what happened.

The Bible says that God took those of us that were dead and he brought us back to life.

The old is gone and the new is come.

We're a new creation.

He made us alive with Christ.

And so the charge of our legal indebtedness was a record of debt.

I need you to think about that personally for you today.

Imagine, like, if I got an email and I got every secret sin that you've committed, and like everything that you've done that was selfish in your life, and every cruel word you spoke over anyone.

Imagine all of that written out and sent as a document to me.

And I call you into my office, like, hey, uh, we got to talk about this.

Well, that's what's gonna happen when your life on earth is done and you stand before Jesus.

And he's either gonna say, I knew you, or I didn't know you.

And he's gonna stand before you and he's gonna have this document, and he's gonna tell you that, hey, the the evidence is all here.

And you're on trial, and it stands against you, and and this debt that you owe for this sin, it belongs to you.

And the verdict, it it's undeniable, right?

The payment is death.

But I did a little something.

I went down to earth and I stretched out my arms and I died on the cross for you, right?

God so loved the world, he sent his only son, whosoever would believe in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

So God came down, he said, Hey, everything that you owe, instead, he takes the entire whole record of what's written about your life, and he, what do he do?

He nails it to the cross.

And now, Hebrews 10, it says, For by one sacrifice, Jesus made perfect forever those who, me and you, are being made holy.

All of us wake up and we're in the process of being consecrated and made holy our whole life, but it's because of Jesus, his one sacrifice on the cross, that made us perfect.

We now, when Jesus looks at us, he sees his blood that covers us, and now we're cleansed and pure and holy and righteous.

You and me.

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we're made perfect forever in the eyes of God.

His blood washed our sins away, right?

What can wash away our sins?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

So the answer to the question is, is Jesus enough?

You better believe he is.

You better believe he is.

He is enough.

For everything you did this week, last week, and any future sin you're gonna commit.

He's enough.

All that we need, all in all.

No pope can improve Jesus, no pastor can replace Jesus, no tradition can complete Jesus, no denomination owns Jesus, no angel outranks Jesus, no demon can defeat Jesus, no sin is stronger than the blood of Jesus, and no grave can hold King Jesus.

There is only one man, it's not Muhammad, it's not Buddha, it's not Hinduism, it is not Mormonism, there is only one man who belongs on the throne of our heart, and he is the only one true King, and his name is Jesus, the name above every name.

He did not come to give us another set of stairs to climb, he came to carry a cross that we could never carry, he came to pay a debt that we could never pay and give us a life that we could never earn.

So let's stop trying to prove ourselves to him because the king has spoken, the verdict is clear, your debt, my debt, has been canceled forever, and the tomb is empty, the work is finished because Jesus plus nothing is our everything.

So, Father, we remember what you did on the cross today.

We remember that your blood is enough, that all of us come to you as a beggar, a hungry beggar, looking for a crumb.

None of us are good enough, none of us can earn our way to you.

And today we recognize that it's only because of you that we have life.

Your blood on the cross is what redeemed us and restored us and made us whole and beautiful in your eyes.

You took our ashes and you made them beautiful.

Only you can do that.

And today we just want to thank you.

We give you all the glory and all the praise.

We thank you for your word, God, that we can study it and learn who we are in your eyes, how precious we are to you.

We thank you that we can study the way that you lived and how you loved people.

Help us to do the same.

Help us to be a beautiful representation of you on earth as it is in heaven.

Lord Jesus, today we just are humbled by the cross.

Thank you for your grace and your mercy.

We don't deserve it.

Your grace saved a wretch like me.

I was blind, but now I see.

Only because of you, Father, you've given us a vision and a hope for our future.

And so today, Lord, we just want to thank you for saving us.

You're our Savior.

And not just that, we place you as supreme over our lives.

You can have dominion and control.

We surrender all of it to you.

So may your Holy Spirit enter us and lead us by your spirit, by your power and your authority, God.

So that while we're here on earth, we can help push back evil and fight against things that are fake and masquerading as an angel of light and things that are not the real thing, counterfeits, and help us to walk as a true son and daughter of the living God.

We want to be the real, genuine thing, Lord.

So help us become disciples, followers of you, Jesus.

Because you're the way, the life, and the truth, the only way.

So, Jesus, we love you today.

It's in your precious and holy name we pray.

All God's people said, Amen.

I love you, church.