Well, all right, a few weeks ago we started a series called Wonderful, and we're looking at this really amazing section of Romans chapter 8. It's one of the most famous scriptures that we have. It's something that has encouraged Jesus' followers for years, and it begins with this question: What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? And then by the time you get to the end of this section, there's this declaration that might be one of the most famous statements to ever come out of the Bible. It's Romans chapter 8, verses 38 and 39. It ends by saying, I'm convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's a powerful statement, right? That's wonderful. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Nothing. When you give your life to Jesus, when you put your faith in him, there is an inseparable relationship that develops between the two of you. It's like nothing else in this world. There's no other relationship like it. Every other relationship in this world is somewhat fragile. Even the ones that we think are solid, they're not as solid as the relationship we can have with God. When you put your faith in Jesus and you begin that personal relationship with Him, nothing can get in the way of that. It's really, really powerful. Now, in between that first question and that final declaration, there's six other questions. And each week we've been going through these. Because as I studied this and prepared, it just hit me over and over again that man, if you can answer the six questions that it asks, and they they have usually implied answers. Sometimes he gives a really short answer for the questions. If you can answer these six questions, you have a really mature grasp on where you stand with God. And that's really ultimately what this section is about. It's us being secure in where we stand with God. We all know what it feels like to wonder where we stand with people. You know, maybe there's people that you work with, maybe it's a boss, and you hope, you hope you stand in a good place with that boss, right? You hope they like you, that they approve of you. But we all know what it feels like when you're not quite sure, or when you're suspicious. Or maybe it's romance, there's someone that you're you're in love with, and you're not quite sure where you stand with that person, and and you gotta kind of figure that out. Or it's really awkward when you know, when you're married and you know that they don't like you right now at all. Like you're it's not even a mystery, like, oh wonder if they're pleased, but no, they're not. And that awkwardness of knowing that you're not in good standing with the person that you're next to it, it's hard, right? But here's what's amazing if if if every other person in life disapproves of you, if every if everyone in the world thinks little of you, but God thinks highly of you, his opinion of you outweighs everybody's. Like everybody. It's kind of like when when I get food for my family in the car, and we ask the kids where they want to eat, and they all yell their thing, and then I ask my wife where she wants to eat. Her opinion just counts more. It just matters more. And there's times that I have to look at the kids in the rear view mirror and it's like, sorry guys. Mom said, armies, you know? Like certain people's opinions just matter more, and and no one's opinion matters more than God. That's why the first question we looked at said, if God is for us, who can be against us? If every other person in the world is against you, but God is for you, his opinion counts more. In this section, it's about us being secure in where we stand with God. It's about us being settled in where we stand with him. And even if you're brand new in your faith, even if you're just sort of thinking about the whole Jesus thing, if this is new to you, I need you to understand that if you put your faith in Jesus, if you put your trust in him, you stand secure, nothing can change it. But it's challenging sometimes to remember that and live that out on a day-to-day basis. And so that's what these questions help us, help us come to terms with, where we stand with God. Now, last week we looked at Romans 8, 33 and 34. And here's the questions that it asks. Who dares accuse us, whom God has chosen for his own? No one. For God Himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us. Now, if you were here last week, and if you weren't, it's okay. But this this week's conversation it jumps at piggybacks off of last week. It's important. The language that's used in these questions, it's courtroom language. It says who accuses us, who condemns us. The New Testament of the Bible has a lot of courtroom language, and that's great for us because all of us have vivid understandings of what a courtroom is like, even if you've never been in court. Because even if you've never been in court, you've probably seen like Law and Order, right? Or what about, let's go, like Law and Order, how about Law and Order SVU? Okay? Or maybe you've seen Law and Order Criminal Intent, or maybe you've watched, I don't know, The Good Fight, or you've seen The Practice, or maybe you've watched LA Law from like the 80s, why not? Or The Closer, TNC, it's a classic. Uh maybe you've watched Jag. Remember Jag back in the day? I remember Jag. Uh maybe you've watched Judging Amy. I never have. Maybe you've uh watched Franklin and Bash. I think it was on for like a minute. Um, better recall Saul, why not? And I think maybe the most classic uh Nightcourt. Like, anyone remember Night Court? Yeah. We're all old. Maybe you're not a TV person. Maybe you're more into movies. And so for you, it's like a few good men, right? We talked about that last week. That's a classic one. Uh guys, put them up. There's a bunch of them. A few good men, how about uh A Time to Kill, Matthew McConaughey? He speaks with a cool southern accent. Kramer versus Kramer. Never seen it, but it's a court movie. JFK, why not? Uh there's a courtroom scene in that. The Rainmaker, that's a classic movie. I love that movie, by the way. Uh Fracture, recent, but pretty good. And uh My Cousin Vinny, hello? Good courtroom movie, and what I might argue is the greatest courtroom drama ever, uh, legally blonde. Legally blonde. Yeah. You got it. Now, who's seen at least one of these movies or one of these TV shows? Okay, you know what courtrooms are like. You get it, it's totally accurate. It's the real deal. Well, the reality is, uh, even though uh we have varying degrees of experience with courtrooms, we understand those dynamics pretty well because it is a big part of our culture. And there's a lot of language in scripture about it. We looked at that last week. There's the idea of a prosecutor. Satan, the word Satan means accuser. And in that in that culture, that was what that was what the person bringing charges against you would be called, your accuser. But then Jesus talked about the Holy Spirit as our advocate, and that was a term that that would when it would mean defender in a court of law. The advocate was your defense attorney. So you have an accuser, Satan accuses you, he brings charges against you. We talked about this last week. Some of those charges are bogus, but a lot of them are accurate. And so you stand trial, so to speak, you stand accused, but you have a defender. But even more importantly, and this is what we focused on mostly last Sunday, is we have a judge. And that judge is Jesus Christ. We don't tend to think about Jesus as a judge, but but it's very clear that he is. For example, we could look at uh Matthew. Is it Matthew? It's one of these. Hold on. You know what? You can look at a lot of verses in the Bible. I lost my place. It doesn't matter. Jesus is the judge. Listen to last week's message. It's there. I don't use notes, and so sometimes the brain goes this way. Uh but no, Jesus, he's our judge. He's our judge. And he has earned the right to judge all of humanity. Because of the way that he lived life, because of what he went through, he has earned the right to judge everyone. And all of history is moving toward this moment where he is going to judge the world. And so we talked about that last week in detail. And my plan was to move on to the next question today, but I want to read you a text that I got from a really good friend just a few hours really after the message. He said, So I need some help with the problem of hell. I've stumbled and wrestled with this and even lost a few battles to this one. Why are there so many souls going to hell? Entire people groups that are following the teachings of their elders. For me, it's personal. A family member of mine is a far better man than me, yet he is an atheist. Why does he have to be punished for eternity? Sometimes you touch on topics on a Sunday morning that open up a can of worms. And nobody likes worms. I've yet to meet one person that's like a worm enthusiast. None. Don't know any. But you also shouldn't be afraid of worms. I mean, they're just they're worms. And so sometimes we have to sort of, we have to deal with concepts that we don't like, that we'd rather just skip past, but there's no, there's no way around them. And so as I got this text, I think it was Monday, Sunday evening or Monday, and I began to write an email to this friend of mine, doing my best to put him at ease, help him be settled when it comes to these ideas. And as I prayed about it and thought about it, I realized, you know, the truth of the matter is, many of us, I think, can relate to that text. Let's just show of hands. How many of us can relate to the questions asked in that text? Yeah. Because even if you're someone who has put your faith in Jesus, you know someone, you probably love someone who hasn't. And so we sit here and we talk, like we talked last Sunday, about the fact that Jesus is the judge, and if you put your faith in him, your judgment has already been decided. It doesn't matter what you've done, it doesn't matter if the charges and the accusations against you are accurate. He has already declared you not guilty. The charges have been dropped, you've been set free because he's paid the price for you. And that is something that we all celebrate. But what about those that don't put their faith in Jesus? That's what this person was asking. And I think all of us deal with that tension. What about that group of people? Or what about this person that I I love dearly? And so it became very clear that, you know what, let's just talk about it. And I want you to understand, we're we're never gonna be a church that bypasses all the hard conversations. And I'll be honest, I would like to be, because it's much more exciting for every single week to just be this message that gets you guys to go, like, woo, yeah! That's great. And I don't think that's gonna happen today. Um, at least not yet. Like, but it's very easy in our in our modern American church culture, it's very easy for us to just sort of weave through all of the challenging conversations and challenging ideas connected to our faith and focus only on those things that we really, really like that get us excited. And the truth is, if we do that, we might be excited, but we won't be equipped. There's a difference between being excited about God and being equipped to live your life connected to Him, to live your life for Him and to be ready for whatever questions, whatever doubts, whatever struggles come your way. It's vital that you have a mature faith. The way I like to think about it in my role is I never want someone who's part of our church to open up their Bible one day and be like, I have no, I have like no category for this. Like, what does this mean? And have like a crisis of faith just because you open up scripture. And so when we when we come across hard subjects, we'll just deal with them. And and if is that okay with you guys? Like, I would prefer that, that we just do that, and the hope, the hope is that we have like a settled faith. Now, you're not gonna have, we're not, we're never gonna have all the answers, and I'll be a liar if I sit here and say, at the end of this message, you will be completely and totally uh knowledgeable and at ease with the concept of judgment and hell and heaven and whatever else goes along with that. But at the same time, it's not true. These are things people have wrestled with for a long time. But at the same time, I do believe that we as Jesus followers need to be able to have a settled faith. Where we're not shaky, where we're able to handle the hard stuff and even help other people through it. Now, what I want to start by talking about is actually commending my friend. And I know this gentleman pretty well, get to know him better, really like the guy, really respect him. And he used a specific word that I think is a really important word for us as a jumping off point. It's the word wrestle. Wrestle. Uh God loves wrestlers. And I don't just mean like the WWE people, like he's he loves them too. He loves he loves all people, right? But but God loves people who are willing to wrestle with him. And so there's a story I heard someone just say, the name Jacob. There's a story in the Old Testament, and it's the story of a man named Jacob, and he gets his name changed to Israel, and Israel becomes the namesake of the people that God uses to bring his son into the world to rescue the world, right? Israel. And and Jacob is just horrible as a person. Like if you read the story of Jacob, he's there's like nothing redeemable about Jacob. He is he's a horrible father, he's a poor husband, he's deceptive. It's very hard to find a redeeming quality about him in any aspect of his life. Like, young or old, it's just he's he's it's kind of the worst. And yet he becomes the namesake of the nation that God uses. And the reason why is because there's this moment in his life where he he wrestles with God and he refuses to let go. And I heard a pastor once say about Jacob, and it was amazing because it changed my perspective, because I'd always just dogged on Jacob. He said, Jacob was a man who would rather have died holding on to God than lived having let go of God. He wrestled with God, and God says, Yes, I'm gonna make you the namesake of my people. And the word Israel means to wrestle with God. That's what it means. Doesn't mean to obey God, doesn't mean to love God, doesn't mean to do everything God says to do all the time perfectly, and in some ways you think that would be a better name for your people? Like if you're God and you want to pick a people, how about you pick the really obedient person, make that the namesake, and so everyone can be like, Yeah, do what God says, like that guy did. Instead, God chooses this guy who's kind of a perpetual screw-up, but refuses to let go of God even when it's hard. Now, not all of us can be, you know, Joseph's, if you know the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. Not all of us can be that, not all of us can be David's, but all of us can be Jacobs. All of us can be wrestlers. And I think it's vital that we wrestle with God. So I commend my friend because he says, I've I've wrestled with this. Well, good. Be someone who wrestles with God. When something doesn't make sense, when you struggle with some aspect of who he is or the way he does things, don't walk away from him. Grab a hold of him and refuse to let go until you understand. And that might take your entire life. But wrestle with God. Be okay with tension. Tension is what transforms us. Like if you go work out, if you go to the gym, the tension is what transforms your body. If the gym said, Hey, great news today, we've taken all the tension away. You know, no one's gonna be sore, but no one's gonna change. And this is really important. We live in a time and in a culture when so many in the church world are hellbent on removing all the tension. And I watch people create a theology, which is just the way we think about God. And it's a theology that's not so much about who God is and what God has said and what God has done, but it's a theology that's more about coming up with a way of viewing God that eliminates all the tension and all the struggle. Because I just don't want to have to think about those things. I don't want to have to deal with the implications of this. So I'm gonna create a way to understand God that is just easy and I don't have to deal with any of it. And that isn't real. That isn't real. Be a wrestler. Have the courage to hold on tight even when it's tough, even when you encounter difficult concepts. And so on the front end, I want to say that because I commend my friend for wrestling with these subjects. But he talks about hell. And I didn't talk about hell last week, I talked about judgment. So maybe I was subconsciously trying to bypass this. But he brought it up. And I thought about it, and I said, okay, you know, the truth of the matter is the story of Scripture is not the story of people who say yes to God or no to God and then they go to heaven or hell. That's not really the purpose of Scripture. It's not the the story is not so much about getting people to heaven as much as it is about getting heaven into people. You know, that that's really the thrust of the story of Jesus, right? It's it's it's heaven coming to earth and transforming us from the inside out, not just so, hey, make a decision and then you get to go to heaven when you die. That's true, but at the same time, it's impossible to read the teachings of Jesus and and and not come to terms with the fact that there's there's clear warnings. Much of what Jesus does is is warn us and warn people about the severity of the decision that's at hand when it comes to following God and giving your life to God. And so I'll give you a few examples. And hopefully these are in my notes. Let's look at Luke 16, 19 through 31. Jesus said, There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man's tables, the dogs would come and lick his open sores. This is a very detailed story. Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet. The rich man also died and was buried, and he went to the place of the dead. Now, there in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side. The rich man shouted, Father Abraham, have some pity. Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames. But Abraham said to him, Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you were in anguish. Besides, there's a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there. And then the rich man said, Please, Father Abraham, at least send into my father's home, for I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don't end up in this place of torment. But Abraham said, Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote. The rich man replied, No, Father Abraham, but if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God. But Abraham said, if they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead. That's one of those teachings of Jesus. That's Jesus talking. I'm a Jesus follower. His words matter. And it creates that sort of uneasiness in us, going like he's talking about very high stakes. Matthew chapter 25, verses 31 through 33, he says, But when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left, and then in verse 46, he says, And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will have eternal life. So again, the stakes are high, and essentially about a third of Jesus' parables, which are the stories that he tells to illustrate who God is and what God does, a third of them are warnings. And so while it is true that the overall arc of Scripture is not about you know going to heaven, but more about heaven coming here, it would also be a lie, a fabrication for me to say, oh yeah, there's really not a lot in Scripture that talks about what happens after this life and the potential severity of that. That's clearly there. So how do we come to terms with that? And I think what's really helpful is a major paradigm shift that is something that I've wrestled with and had to deal with in my own life, and it's something that my friend is wrestling with as well. It's a paradigm shift of understanding the dynamic of what it means to choose God or to reject God, and even what heaven and hell actually are in some ways. It's been very helpful for me. I don't think, by the way, there's some like easy uh one line or one idea that you're like, oh, totally, everything now, no more questions. That's not the way it works. I wish there was a chapter in the Bible that was like, oh, on heaven and hell, here's how it works, and A, then B, then C, and there's like a diagram, that would be really helpful. It doesn't exist. Maybe we're meant to wrestle with this. But there is a paradigm shift that has been very helpful for me. And it's it's moving from understanding heaven and hell through the con uh through the context of reward or punishment, and instead seeing it through the context of relationship. So moving from reward to relationship. We tend to see heaven as the reward for being a good person. And you saw that in my friend's text. He's wrestling with the idea that he's got a family member who he says is a better man than me in many ways, and yet has rejected God. And so the implications of judgment, and does that mean he's gonna be separated from God? Does that mean he's gonna be in hell? How could that be if he's a better man than me? And that's that reward paradigm that we often look at heaven with, right? Like it's the reward for being a good person. And and by that line of thinking, that that means that we acknowledge that how good we are is the line, and anyone who's as good. Good or better than us ought to make it. And anyone who's worse than us ought not to make it. And the reality is that's something that scripture actually turns upside down for us. See, we tend to we tend to think in terms of good enough. Or we're not good enough. But what if what if no one's good enough? Jesus had an interesting interaction with a man who came to him once and said, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, Why do you call me good? Only God is good. It's an interesting line from Jesus. But the idea is that there is a level of goodness that only God, only God can claim. Only Jesus could claim. And that level of goodness is actually the standard versus our own sort of convenient inventions of how good should should good enough be. I had an interesting conversation with my oldest son when he was about nine years old. Uh that there was an opportunity to explain this to him. And you guys might know this, but I have a I have a son who loves basketball, and he he really does. He loves to play basketball. I haven't dropped that line in a few months, so it's taken a lot of self-control. It's over that. The streak is over. So a couple years ago, you know, we were talking, he was in the backseat, and uh and and I had just been thinking about this concept, and I was talking to him about some stuff related to this, and so I said, Well, Liam, let me ask you a question. Are you good at basketball? And he said, Yeah, I'm good at basketball. I was like, awesome. And I said, What's the best part of your game? He's like, I'm a good shooter. I was like, cool, I agree with that. And I said, Who's your favorite player? And he said, Steph Curry. I said, Okay, is Steph Curry good at basketball? He's like, Oh, yeah. Definitely. I said, Is Steph Curry a good shooter? He's like, Yes. I said, awesome, so that means you're just like Steph Curry. He's like, oh no, I'm nothing like Steph Curry. And I said, well, hold on, you you just said that that he's good and that you're good, right? And he's like, yeah, but I don't mean the same thing. You know, and I said, but you just said you're a good shooter, and he's a good shooter, so when you shoot, you shoot just like Steph Curry. He's like, I don't shoot anything like Steph Curry. And I was like, well, then you're not good. He's like, no, I am good. I'm like, but you said Steph Curry's good, and then you said you're nothing like Steph Curry, so which is it? And he said, Dad, I'm just good compared to like seven-year-olds. And I said, Well, that's very different, right? But it's it's even though it's a child and it's a really simple example, it's it's very it's very often what we do. We create a standard of good that is often very convenient. And our minds think in this sort of reward paradigm, this lens of reward, so that in our minds, heaven is when you're good enough for God. And if you ask the average person in America, are you going to heaven? They'll also like almost everyone says yes. Like it's very rare to find someone who's like, no, I'm not going. They're like, Yeah, I'm going, you know, because I'm I'm a pretty good person. And if we think in those terms, then everyone who is as good as us or better ought to be there. And everyone who's below that line, maybe way below that line, isn't, but that's not the way it works. Hear me when I say this, because it's a little bit of a semantic thing. There's no there are no good people in heaven. This is just not. That's not how it works. There are people in heaven who are forgiven, who have been acquitted, as we talked about last week. Nobody makes it by merit. Like, if you show up to heaven with a resume, I just want to warn you. Don't just don't even don't like, hey, I've I've made a list for you of why I believe I belong in this perfect place. It's not about reward, it's about relationship. Let's look at it this way. Matthew chapter 7. Jesus says, Not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven. Now, right now it seems like it's that reward paradigm, but it's not. He says, On judgment day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and we cast out demons in your name and perform many miracles in your name. That's the resume, right? Lord, look at all the things we did. We did all this awesome stuff. And we did it in your name. But I will reply, he says, I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws. He says, it's about knowing him. It's about relationship. It's not about how good you are. And guys, if you make it how good you are, that's an exhausting way to live. Trying to be good enough for God. That's what religion is all about. This is not a religion. Our faith is not a religion. People turn it into a religion, but it's not a religion. Because religion is do all the things that you have to do to be good enough for God. This is a relationship. God has loved you. He's given himself for you. You don't have to do anything. You can't do enough. It'd be like if one of your children, those of you who have kids, came to you and said, Hey, you know, dad, mom, I've decided I don't want to start paying you back for all you've done for me. It's like, not gonna happen. You know? Sorry, you're you don't realize the debt you owe. Right? I got four kids, and and we're this close to being potty trained on the last one. I did the math. I I've I've changed about 14,000 diapers in my life. My children will never, ever repay me for that. They won't do it. It's just not gonna happen. And I'm telling you, if you live your life thinking about heaven as a reward, and you're constantly having to be good enough for God's acceptance, you will be exhausted, you'll be so burdened, and you will be primed for the accusation that we talked about last week because you'll never be good enough, and the enemy will constantly tell you that. But it's not about a reward, it's about a relationship. Here's another way to understand this. There's no such thing as heaven without Jesus. It doesn't exist. Like heaven isn't a place where Jesus is. Like he's just like like he's there, and every once in a while you're walking down the street, and you're like, oh, it's Jesus. Oh, what's up? He's like, hey, what's going on? You know? Like I have, I'm so I'm the pastor here, and I have this weird experience sometimes where like I'll just be walking here at the church. Like it would make sense to see me here. I'm here a lot. I almost live here. And but it'll be funny, like, sometimes I'll just be walking down a hallway and I'm not on this stage, and someone will be like, Oh, like, you're here. I'm like, Well, yeah. I'm this is I'm here. And then they're always like, You're shorter than we thought you were. Like, that's always the first thing. Yeah, thanks. I am. Like, heaven isn't gonna be like that. Where it's like a place where you're just doing your thing and it's great, and then every once in a while you see Jesus over there, you're like, That's Jesus, oh man. Thanks, Jesus, and he's like, hey. Like heaven, heaven is it is the eternal intimacy with Jesus. It is it is eternity in his presence, it is worship of him. He's unavoidable in heaven because it's about him. It's all it's all about him. In fact, Revelation, which uses a lot of poetic language, says that that in that day, when when the earth is recreated and heaven is a recreated earth, that the sun won't even shine anymore. We won't need the sun. Because the light of Jesus will be what provides light. And again, I don't know if that's literal or or figurative language, but either way, it becomes pretty clear that Jesus is there and you can't ignore him. Just like you can't ignore the sun. And so this idea of heaven, can I can I can I go to heaven and bypass Jesus? Well, no, because it's Jesus is heaven. It's about relationship. It's about knowing him, not about being good enough. So so to help you kind of wrestle with the idea of judgment and heaven and hell and all that goes in it, please understand that it's not about a reward for being good, it's about a relationship with the God who made you. Now, this brings up obvious questions. Like, what about people who who who never hear? What about people who grow up in other cultures? And my friend was asking that. What about people who grow up and what they're taught is something totally different? And and look, I can't give you like a 100% just perfect answer for that, but what I can do is point you to scripture, which is really all I should ever do. Luke chapter 12, verse 47, Jesus says, A servant who knows what the master wants, but isn't prepared and doesn't carry out those instructions will be severely punished. But someone who does not know and then does something wrong will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return, and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. So we do see a connection that Jesus makes between what you know and what you're accountable to. In fact, there's a parable, a very famous parable Jesus teaches. You may have heard it, is the parable of the three servants, and each of these servants is given a certain amount of money, and the first two they go and they invest it, and the third one, he just doesn't do anything with it, and the master returns and he says, You know, Master, I didn't do anything with it because I know that you're a really harsh man, and I was just I was afraid. And the master says, Well, if you knew that I was a harsh man, you should have at least done something with it. You know, he says, You knew who I was, that knowledge matters. And so, again, I can't say definitively, like, oh yeah, I don't, no big deal. I'm not sure how all that works. But I do see a connection many times in scripture between between knowledge and expectation. And I and I trust God with that. I trust God very much with, I don't believe God's more fair than me, I don't believe God is more compassionate than me. I think that's our fear sometimes. Like, what if God is gonna be way more harsh than I would be? Are you kidding me? Guys, if if any one of us were God for a day, like we might at first we'd be thinking about all the good we would do, but like 12 hours in, we're like, they're done, they're gone, none of them anymore, not dealing with that, like everyone just go away. You know? You wouldn't last 24 hours with God's power, and there'd be as many people on the earth as there are right now. There's just no way. There's too many annoying people. But Jesus is different, and so there is comfort in understanding that, and I'll say this too, and we'll move on, and we'll we're close to wrapping up. This is not, it's like I said, not a typical message. I just want us to be settled and understand as much as we can how this works. In our culture, this is where it gets really interesting. There are people who have been presented with a version of Jesus that is not the real Jesus. And they have rejected that Jesus, and rightly so. And so, what does it mean for someone who has grown up their whole life and they've been told about Jesus, but the Jesus they were shown was was was some version of Jesus created by people, and that Jesus is abusive, and that Jesus is demanding, and he's not loving, and he's not he's not a servant who sacrifices himself. And they see all kinds of stuff in the church world that gets messed up as people get wealth and power and it bleeds into to what this is supposed to be about. And you know, I again I I can't say, because I'm not God, oh, here's exactly what happens there, but what I can say is that I believe God has tremendous compassion for people who've either never seen him or have only been presented with a version of him that ought to be rejected because it's it's not real. And that kind of leads us to the end. And this is really where the fact worship team, you guys can make your way out. This this is really where it all comes together. And if you're someone who wrestles with these things, you struggle with these things, here's just what I want us to understand. Never underestimate the goodness of Jesus. Never underestimate the goodness of Jesus. In his life on this earth, people were constantly surprised, constantly surprised by how good Jesus was. And it was like everybody, like the religious leaders, classic story. Mark chapter 2. Later, Levi, who was also named Matthew, invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. There were many people of this kind among Jesus' followers. But when the teachers of religious law, who were Pharisees, saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, why does he eat with such scum? And when Jesus heard this, he told them, healthy people don't need a doctor, sick people do. I've come to call not those who think they're righteous, but those who know they're sinners. So the Pharisees, the religious people, they were shocked at how kind and gracious Jesus was with sinners. Right? Because in their way of thinking, in their paradigm, those people should be rejected wholeheartedly. They're not good enough. But they were Jesus' dinner guests, they were his friends. And so the Pharisees were shocked that how in the world could you do that? And this was not like a one-time thing, this is a constant thing. People who see Jesus interact with people and just, did you see who he was talking to? His love and his goodness shocked people. It wasn't just the religious leaders, though, it was his own disciples. Luke chapter 9 tells a story. As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem and he sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. And when James and John, two of his disciples, saw this, they said to Jesus, Lord, and I think they thought they were like doing a good thing here. Like he's about to go, like, impressed. Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up? But Jesus turned and rebuked them. And so they went on to another village. We don't know what he said to James and John. And maybe it's best we don't. Like, I always wonder, what did he say? It just says he rebuked them. They're like, hey, these people just rejected you. But like, should we? I mean, you want you want us to kill them? Because we'll do that for you, Jesus. And he rebukes them. Like the love that Jesus had for people shocked even his followers. Even after spending years with him, they were surprised by how tolerant he was. It happens time and time again. Second Peter 3, verse 9 says, The Lord isn't being slow about his promise as some people think. This is regarding him returning. No, he's being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but he wants everyone to repent. 1 Timothy 1, 2 through 6 says, I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them, intercede on their behalf, give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and for all who are in authority, so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God, our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For there is one God and one mediator who can reconcile God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. Never be surprised by the goodness of God. And that's what I said last week. There is a judgment. There will be a day when everyone has to give account. And by the way, this is gonna be a really good day. We're actually the first generation, the last 50 years or so, of Christians who have not prayed for Jesus to come back sooner. We live pretty comfortable lives, and so the average person today, who's a Christian in America at least, when you talk about like the end times, like, ooh, hope it doesn't happen when I'm alive. You know? Are you kidding me? Like, if you got to be alive when that all goes down, like you're a special person. If that's the case, listen to what Revelation chapter 21 says about this. Verses 1 through 4. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared, and the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city of the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, Look, God's home is now among his people, he will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them, he will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there'll be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. Are you kidding me? Like, I want to be here when that happens. I want to be here when that happens. And and I hope everyone is. But but this is this is the the truth, as best I can see it. Not everyone, according to scripture, not everyone will be in that place. And that that is something that should break our hearts. And I wish it wasn't so, and I and I think, why how could that be? But then I think about the fact that there were people on the earth who standing face to face with Jesus Himself, seeing him heal people, seeing the things that he did, utterly rejected him. And it wasn't a matter of they just weren't close enough to him, or sometimes we might say, Man, if only God would just come down and like let us see him. Well, he did that, and it didn't go very well in some ways. There are people who who utterly reject, and we have a God, and this is where it gets really interesting. He does not override our decisions, because it is about relationship, and if you have a relationship with someone, a real relationship, they have the freedom to leave, they have the freedom to walk away. I heard a person once say, this is kind of a clever line, but that if you were to reject God, he would simply reject your rejection of him because he loves you so much, and that sounds really nice, it's also stupid because that's not how relationships work. Think about it this way. I proposed to Megan, my wife, and she said yes. She may have regretted that decision a few times, but she said yes. But what if she had said no? And and I continue to pursue her, and I continue to go after her, and I continue to propose over and over, babe. I'm telling you, you will be happy with me, you need me, I'm the one for you. Marry me. And she continued to say no. And then let's say one day I'm like, you know what? I'm just gonna make her marry me. Doesn't matter what she chooses, I reject your rejection of me. You're my wife. I'm gonna make you live with me. I'm gonna make you, even though you don't want to, I know that it's best for you to be married to me. And so you're my wife, whether you like it or not, whether you love me or despise me, you live with me. It's gonna be great. That's not that's slavery, right? That's actually like evil. There is no precedent in scripture that I can think of, and if there is one, it's it's gosh, it's gotta be so minute, of God overriding the decisions of those who choose to walk away from him. The fact that he would create us and give us the ability to do that alone speaks volumes about who he is. That he would not create people to worship him as they ought to, with no choice, but he would create people and give us the ability to reject him. Any of you who have dealt with rejection in your life, it hurts, right? None of us have dealt with the kind of rejection God has dealt with. Because he's created every person, he loves everyone, he desires that no one would perish, but all would be saved, and yet he gives us the ability to reject. And we see story after story in scripture of people doing that, and God's saying, Please don't, and they do, and he says, Okay. Then when those people turn around and come back to him, he receives them with open arms. But he doesn't override our decision, he doesn't make us love him, he doesn't make us choose him, he gives us a choice. And it's important for us to remember that that choice can be in a moment. You know, there's the story of the thief on the cross right before he dies. He expresses faith in Jesus, and Jesus says to him definitively, today you will be with me in paradise. From all we know, everything up to that point in his life was was deserving of death, and yet in this one moment, Jesus says, Nah, you're a good man. I have a friend who lived a pretty wild life, very much ran from God, and he had a near-death experience when he was in his early 20s, and his heart began to give out. And in that moment, he was dying. And in that moment, with one foot on this earth and the other foot out the door, he cried out to Jesus and he said, Jesus. He said, I just heard in my mind Jesus, and I cried out, Jesus. And he lived and went on to be someone that just does amazing ministry, loves the Lord, great man, good friend. And he's definitely gonna spend forever in heaven with the Lord, and I'm so glad he's alive. But what's interesting is if if he had died in that moment, no one would have known that he belonged to the Lord. Everyone would have assumed, oh man, what a tragedy. But but even if he would have died in that moment, he cried out to Jesus and he knew from that moment he belonged to the Lord. Even if that had been the last word he ever spoke, even if that had been the last moment he ever had, he would. Belong to the Lord. So it's important that we remember that that decision for Jesus can happen in a moment. And I trust him with that. And I trust him to be the judge. And I know that he would judge more compassionately and patiently than I ever would. But guys, it's it's about relationship, not reward. And so I say this very just plainly. If you haven't given your life to Jesus, do it. Do not hesitate. Do not wait. Not out of fear. This is not a fear-based message that if you don't make this decision right now, then you're gonna be in hell forever. That's not what I'm saying. I'm not the judge. I don't get to make that call. But I will tell you that there is one way, and one way only to have assurance of where you stand with God, and that is to put your faith in Jesus Christ his Son. That's the only way. It is the only way, and we'll wrap up with this. John chapter 3, verses 16 through 19. For this is how God loved the world, He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life. And God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him. This is talking about Jesus' first coming on this earth. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him, but anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God's light came into the world, but people love the darkness more than the light, for their actions are evil. Be a person who recognizes the light of Jesus and respond. Because he has eternal life waiting for you. He has a life like you can't even imagine. And it's not just a life in the life to come, it's a life right now. Where there's hope and there's peace and there's passion for living and there's purpose, and you understand your place in this world like you never could otherwise. Give your life to him and don't wait. And for the rest of us that have made that decision, what's our place in this? Well, it's really simple. Romans 10 says, anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord who gives generously to all who call on him. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, but how can they call on him to save him, to save them unless they believe in him? How can they believe in him if they've never heard about him? How can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the scriptures say how beautiful are the feet of the messengers who bring good news. If you belong to Jesus, you're meant to be a messenger. You're meant to be someone when it comes to those people that you love, that you know they don't know the Lord. You gotta tell them. You gotta show them enough love to say, hey, I gotta, I can't, I can't keep my mouth shut. I'm sorry if this comes out weird. I apologize if this freaks you out, but there is a God, his name is Jesus, he loves you. You gotta know him. Will you come to church with me or or whatever? I just I just I want you to know that I want you with me for all of eternity in the presence of the God who made you. Be someone who shares because the stakes are high, and I would be a liar if I said otherwise. Let's pray. Father God, I want to thank you so much, Lord, for this church, this family. I love this place. And Lord, I'm grateful that we have a culture where we can talk about difficult subjects and it's not be that big of a deal. And Lord, we just want to be people who are devoted to your teaching. If you say it, Lord, we're gonna listen. If you teach it, Lord, we're gonna follow it. And you teach us ultimately that we are loved by you. And you teach us that it is your plan for people that they would know you and live in relationship with you and spend eternity in heaven with you, an intimate relationship with you. That it's not a reward for being good enough, Lord, but it's it's just through relationship with you. But Lord, just like my friend texts me, there are people that we all love and know that have not put their faith in you. And I pray, Lord, that you would give us an insatiable desire to share our faith with them. God, that we would be the perfect mixture of bold and compassionate. That we would that we would be given opportunities, Lord, to share what you've done in our lives with them. That we wouldn't listen to our enemy who accuses us and says that you know you'll never be able to tell them, you'll never be able to convince them. You've already messed it up too much. They won't, they won't believe in you because of all your mistakes. Because, Lord, help us ignore that. A good friend of mine, Lord, once said that through you we can turn our mess into our message. And so, Lord, I pray that you would take all of our mistakes and failures and make it a message, Lord, that allows us to share our faith with everyone we can because we don't want anyone to miss out on a relationship with you. And we don't want anyone, Lord, to miss out on eternity with you just because we wouldn't share. So give us a boldness for that. And at the end of the day, Lord, I just want to say personally, I trust you to be the judge. I'm glad you're the one making those decisions, Jesus. Because no one, no one could ever make them other than you. That you are good. Your goodness, your grace, your compassion, it always surprises. And even if we're still a little unsettled about some of these concepts and the implications of them, Lord, I pray that what settles our spirit is just the fact that it's you that sits on that judgment seat. And we can trust you fully, Lord. We pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.