We’ll praise Jesus today everyone. I had this dream right before I woke up in the morning. And in my dream, I was sending out shirts like how I have been, Jesus’ message shirts with the gospel message on it of repentance. And in this dream, there was a young guy, probably 17, 18 years old that received one of my t-shirts. And when he opened up the package his dad saw the t-shirt. And his dad read the message on the shirt and was extremely offended and upset that his son would have ordered the shirt from me. And the son asked him why he was offended because it was the gospel message. I had put the verse from the Bible below the quote on the shirt and it was a message that Jesus had said. And the dad realized that he wasn't offended at the shirt or at his son for ordering it, but he was actually offended at God for the words of Jesus Christ. He was offended at the Son of God. The gospel to sinners is very offensive. The gospel is offensive because it calls us to action. The gospel calls us sinners. The gospel calls us not good people. The gospel says we are going to hell if we don't change. And the world hates this message because they love sin, they love to stay in the darkness, and they have bought into the lies of Satan. It is like confronting your son or your daughter when they have done something sinful. Whenever you confront someone, no one likes to be confronted, no one likes to be told they're wrong or that they're doing something that's inappropriate. No one likes that kind of confrontation. And the gospel is very confrontational. Jesus speaks His truth into our hearts. And if we're not ready for that, if we're not ready to change and to repent, then we will try to put up every wall to block that. And Satan is very good to try to appease people, to make them think that they are right, that they shouldn't receive the gospel. Satan has basically a counterargument for every single word that is in the gospel to try to defend yourself from the truth. So no wonder people are offended at the gospel, they try to throw out the gospel, they try to believe the false gospel of the church, easy grace.
We know that the
gospel is divisive. The words of Jesus will cause divisions among mothers and
fathers, sons and daughters. And if you do put your faith truly in Jesus, expect
that your family members and your friends will despise you, they will leave
you, they will not accept you as their own, because most people have bought
into the false gospel that the church preaches and that the world preaches,
this easy grace, that you don't have to repent, that you don't have to stop
sinning, that God will accept you as you are. That's why the churches are
always saying, “Come as you are, brother. We're all sinners. Church is a
hospital for the sick. Don't worry about repentance. Just believe that you're
saved. We're not saved by works at the end of the day. We're saved by grace, so
don't worry that you're a sinner”. And Satan has used this false gospel, this
watered down gospel, to deceive the nations. It's a witchcraft. And many people
are on their way to hell because they're offended at the truth and they have
believed the lie.
I want to read to
you what Jesus said in regard to sin. Our sin problem and what will happen if
we don't repent. And these are Jesus' words. This is the essence of the gospel.
It is not man's words. It's not my words or someone else's interpretation. This
is what Jesus said in John chapter 8. Then Jesus said to them again, “I am
going away, and you will seek me, and you will die”. Or he said, “I am going
away, you will seek me, and will die in your sins. Where I go, you cannot come”.
So the Jew said, “Will he kill himself because he says where I go you cannot
come?” And he said to them, “You are from beneath, I am from above”. That
itself right there would be very offensive to a Jew. He's saying they're from
beneath, they're going to hell, you're from above. “You are of this world, I am
not of this world, therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For
if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins”. Again, another
offensive word Jesus is saying. You have to believe in Jesus to be saved, not
Allah, not some other god. You can't just believe in any deity. You have to
believe specifically in Jesus Christ, and you need to believe that He is the
Son of God, the Savior of the world, and if you don't believe in Him and eat
His flesh and drink His blood, you will have no life and you will absolutely
die in your sins.
Then they said to
Him, “Who are you?” And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you
from the beginning. I have many things to judge concerning you, but He who sent
Me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I hear from Him.” They
did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. Then Jesus said to
them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and
that I do nothing of Myself, but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.
And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always
do things that please Him.” As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Then
Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My
disciples indeed.” Here is another offensive word that Jesus spoke, because a
lot of people don't think that they have to have actions and deeds, they think
they just have to have belief. They think that if they just believe in the
gospel, that is good enough.
But what did Jesus
say about that? He talked about the wise man and the foolish man. And He said,
if you put His words into practice, you are like the wise man. If you practice
His words, practicing His words is the work. But if you just believe in His
words without work, then you are like a foolish man that built his house upon
the sand. Another word that He said that is offensive. So He says, “If you
abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed”. That means if you obey. “And
you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. They answered
Him, “We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone.
How can you say you will be made free?” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I
say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin”. Again, this is an offense,
because Christians in particular want to believe that they are saved by grace,
that it's okay if they sin, because they are Christian sinners, and Jesus has
saved them, He has done it all on the cross. And now all they have to do is
look at pornography, and live life in the lusts of their flesh. They don't have
to repent of anything, because Jesus has tacked it all on the cross. But that
is not what Jesus says here. He says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever
commits sin is a slave of sin”. You are a slave of sin, even if you are named a
Christian, if you are still sinning. And Jesus says, “And a slave does not
abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever”. In other words, if you
go on sinning, eventually you are going to be kicked out of the kingdom of God,
you are going to be kicked out of God's house. You are not going to be allowed
into His eternal kingdom. People that are sinful, sinful Christians, can be
allowed in church for their whole life, and accepted in church with homosexual
lifestyles, with thinking they are women when they are men. But you will never
be accepted as a child of God, into the kingdom of God, living a sinful life,
living in rebellion to God. You will be rejected.
And this is the
gospel. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ and repent, you will be saved.
But if you reject Him, you will die in your sins. “Whoever commits sin is a
slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides
forever. Therefore if the Son (meaning the Son of God,) makes you free, you
shall be free indeed”. This word is also a hard saying, because Christians do
not want to believe that Jesus will set them free, and that they will be free
indeed from sin. They will say, “No, brother, Jesus can't set me free, I am
always going to sin as long as I am in this flesh. As long as I am on this
earth, I will always be a sinner”. And they do not believe the gospel. They
don't believe that Jesus sets free sinners, and they will be free indeed. Do we
believe the gospel? Do we believe what Jesus said? That we will be set free
from sin? That we actually have to repent and stop sinning? Or have we believed
the easy grace gospel lie? That we don't have to work for Jesus? That we don't
have to repent? That we don't have to stop on our sin?
Then Jesus goes on
to say, “I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me,
because my word has no place in you”. Just as Jesus' word has no place in many
Christians, they reject Him, even though they say they are the sons and
daughters of the kingdom. “I speak what I have seen with my Father, and you do
what you have seen with your Father”, obviously the devil. They answered and
said to Him, “Abraham is our father”. Jesus said to them, “If you were
Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill
me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham did not
do this. You do the deeds of your father”. They said to Him, “We are not born
of fornication, we have one Father, God”. Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your
Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I
come of myself, but He sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because
you are not listening to my word. You are of your father the devil, and the
desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and
does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in Him. When He speaks a
lie, He speaks from His own resource, for He is a liar and the father of it.
But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me
of sin? And I tell you the truth, why you do not believe me? He who is of God
hears God's words. Therefore, you do not hear, because you are not of God”.
Most of Christians
are not of God. They have believed in their Father the devil. They reject the
words of Jesus. They love to think that they are saved by the blood, saved by
the cross, saved by their church, saved by all those things. But at the end of
the day, they reject Jesus' words, they despise Him, they spit on what He did
on the cross, they despise the prophets, and they rip the pages out of the
Bible that they do not like and that they do not approve. They only read the
verses of the apostle Paul and the verses they like that try to secure their
doctrines of once saved, always saved. And they love anyone who stumbles in
their faith and falls and messes up, because that secures their false doctrines
that it's okay to go on sinning. Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we
not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Christians will say
this to you as well if you say that you have repented. They will say, “You have
a demon. No one can stop sinning. No one can repent. You are out of your mind.
You are one of those crazy Christians that thinks you are high and mighty and
better than everyone else. You think that you can't associate with us because
we are sinners and you are so much better”. They will get belligerent. They
will get mad at you because they hate Jesus Christ. They hate His words. They
call Jesus demon possessed.
Jesus answered, “I
do not have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not
seek My own glory. There is one who seeks and judges. Most assuredly I say to you,
If anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death”. Then the Jews said to Him, “Now
we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets. And you say,
If anyone keeps My words, he shall never taste death. Are you greater than our
father Abraham who is dead? And the prophets are dead? Who do you make yourself
out to be?” Jesus answered, ‘If I honor Myself, my honor is nothing. It is My
Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God, yet you have not
known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, I do not know Him, I shall be a liar
like you, but I do know Him, and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to
see My day, and he saw it and was glad”. Then the Jews said to Him, “You are
not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most
assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am”. Then they took up stones to
throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself, went out of the temple, going through the
midst of them, and so passed by.
This right here is
the gospel guys. Jesus calls sinners to repent. He calls us sinners if we are
sinning. And many Christians are still in sin, they are on their way to hell,
they have rejected the truth of the gospel, they will reject you, thinking that
you have a demon if you preach righteousness, but really, they hate Jesus, they
despise His words, they reject the true gospel. They do not want to be
confronted by it. But if we really have ears to hear, ears to hear the truth,
we will receive what Jesus said, we will repent of our sins, we will stop
sinning, and we will say to the Lord, “Please purge me, purify me from
unrighteousness, give me a new heart. Open my eyes so that I can see and let me
be a vessel of honor and glory used for You”. We will stop worrying what our
dad thinks, what our mom thinks, what our grandma thinks, what our grandpa
thinks, what our friends think, and we will start concerning ourselves with
what Jesus thinks of us and living bold, living for Him with all of our heart.
Are you
compromising today with sin and sinners? Are you compromising? Or are you truly
living a godly life to please Jesus? Are you living above reproach? Are you
preaching the gospel? Are you living holy and righteous that you can be used by
God? Pray for those of you that want to overcome in Jesus’ name.
So “Lord Jesus, I
pray for my fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord that want to accept Your
gospel, that want to accept You into their life. I pray that their hearts will
be changed and renewed, that You will fill them with the power of the Holy
Spirit, fill their hearts with Your truth, and change their heart from a heart
of bondage and sin and blackness to a heart that beats, that is filled with
Your Spirit and Your truth. I pray that You indwell Your children and that You
clean them from all unrighteousness, that they would be white and clean and
purified from everything that is worldly and ungodly. I pray that You break the
chains of the sinners and set them free in Your name, that they can be free
indeed and walk in the newness of life and preach holiness and the true gospel
that You have put before us. We know that we walk on the straight and narrow path,
and we don’t want to turn to the left or the right or listen to people who are
deceptive snakes. We want to listen to You Lord and we want You to be our one
and only Teacher, Lord and Master. So I pray that those who are listening today
can truly repent, come out of darkness, that they would come into the light and
be saved by Your gospel. In Your name I pray, Lord Jesus. Amen.”
