And it's awesome, it's always awesome to see when God's Spirit and God's grace moves in the life of people. And let me just tell you, man, that is exactly what we are praying that God will do through our summer studies. If you hadn't heard about those yet, man, I hope you got a little bit of a taste of that. But we'll also have folks in the lobby today that you can go ahead and buy a book for the summer study. You can ask questions about summer studies.
And then you can sign up for any of our summer studies by just going to the Connect page on our website. And then, man, we're excited about next weekend.
Next weekend is Father's Day. We're excited for several reasons. One of them being, man, we've got a special guest, Jace Robertson from AE's Duck Dynasty, who will be joining us. And I know for some of you in here today, you're like, man, I've been waiting for this for years. I've been waiting for Chase to be able to come.
Maybe you got a cut out of him in your garage or something like that. If that's you, man, I hope, I hope that you've invited all your friends and your buddies to be able to come to join you for that. And if you're somebody who's like, I don't know who that is. That's okay, too. I have a couple options for us.
If you're, you know, we just really believe that God is going to kind of bring some folks from the woodworks in, maybe people who are far from him or people who don't know him yet. And we want to be able to create as much space as we can in this room for him.
So for God to be able to move for that.
So, let me give you two options. If you're like, man, I'm willing to be able to sort of move for the mission. One option, one is Thursday night, we will have our regular service that we always have Thursday night right here. But our college pastor, Daniel Thompson, will be preaching a great Father's Day sermon. All of the normal Father's Day festivities that we do will be done on Thursday night.
So, that's a great option. If that doesn't work for you, that's okay. We actually have a campus about a mile away from here that we that's on Edgefield Road. It's called the Student Center, and we'll have all of that streamed over to that campus. If you're like, Man, I can give up my seat, I can give up our family seat, we're willing to go over there.
That would be great too. But we're excited about that. Hope it's an awesome week for our church.
Well, my name is Jason Azarello. I'm the campus pastor here. If you're brand new to Mercy Hill Church, welcome. We're really, really glad that you're here today. And we're excited to be able to continue in our Psalms sermon series that we've been in for a few weeks now.
And I know a lot, June is. Yeah. Graduations are happening and have happened. Can we give it up for our graduates in here today? High school, college grads, man.
I know that a lot of you guys have been like my kids, and I've got two kids that are still in school. My daughter is moving into her senior year in high school, and she was sort of texting the family chat, and she was letting us know some of her accomplishments this year. And she's like, Well, got an A on this AP exam and golf clap in the chat, and that was great. And then she followed it up with, and Because of the curve. I actually got an A in my APGov class, and all of a sudden it was like, well, hold on, hold on.
Is that really an A? Is being graded on the curve, is that really... An A, can you really claim that you got an A in that class? And I want you to help me settle it today. How dare you?
You're not helping. It really made me start thinking about the whole concept of grading on a curve. You know, I think we probably do that in a bunch of different areas of life. Where we sort of grade ourselves based on other people. You know what I mean?
I think one of the ways that we do this most often is in driving. Guys, there are 233 million people in the US that have a driver's license. And every single one. probably thinks that they're a good driver. No, seriously.
It's statistically untrue. It's absolutely false. But it's universally, I mean, it's just. Everybody believes that they're probably a pretty decent driver. And I know for me, I can grade myself on a curve because it's based upon everybody around me.
You know, I'm the type of guy who. You know, if I'm driving and I, you know, and I don't have anywhere to be, but I'm just kind of, you know, going on the road at a good speed and all that kind of stuff. And I see somebody who I can see them. You know, they're coming behind me and they're making the moves and they're speeding. And then once they get by me, I see that they're actually watching TikTok videos while they're driving.
I'm like, instantly, I'm like, how dare you? You're going to kill somebody on the road. Anyone else like me like that? Or maybe you're the type of guy who's like, man, I'm going to teach these guys a lesson. And you're the type that when you see them in your rearview mirror, you're like, I'm going to lower the cruise control a little bit down to the speed limit.
They're going to have to learn their lesson. And if you don't know anybody like that, It's you. Um I think that I tend to just be more than just driving, right? I tend to be.
Sort of the protagonist in my own story. There's a justification for everything. I bend the standard in my own direction. And I don't know if any of you are like that as well, but I think that this is true. We always look righteous next to the wrong person.
Right? And I think that where this is really not good is, you know, driving, sure. But it's whenever we start doing it in things like honesty and integrity and how we treat people. And I think social media creates this little bit of this grave, this curve grading for ourselves, is that we can look on social media. Maybe you're watching videos on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook.
I know a bunch of y'all are on Nextdoor app. But you're watching, you're consuming media there. That was a joke, but that's fine. And you're consuming media on there, and all of a sudden, we could have this. Moral outrage.
You know what I mean? You see something, you see somebody do something. It's totally out of context, but you see somebody do something, you see somebody say something, you see somebody even just verbalize something, and you're like, how dare they? How could they? I would never do this, or I would never do that.
We tend to just grade ourselves a little bit on a curve. Moral relativism is this whole concept that truth is somewhat relative. This is how we get the idea of like, well, you have your truths and I have my truth. The problem with that is that we don't recognize there is a central truth. There has to be.
You know, the whole concept of like two plus two could, depending on whatever you want it to be, it could be that. No, it's like, well, no, there is an absolute truth in that. And I think. Moral relativism collapse. The moment that somebody Messes with us.
The moment that somebody wrongs us, that's when it collapses. Right? The last time somebody lied to you. Just think about it. How outraged were you?
Yeah. The last time that somebody, you know, maybe a business deal went south. And somebody, you know, somebody kind of wronged you in a business deal. And God forbid somebody ever messes with our kids or says something about our kids. Uh my son plays travel baseball.
And a couple years ago, we were at a tournament and you know, they're long days. I mean, you're out there for six, eight hours baking in the sun in the middle of July.
Well, this particular tournament, we had done all of that. It was the final game, the final day, the final, you know, everything. Tight game. Um and And we're up to bat. And we could really make a move here.
And throughout the game, Everybody is just harassing the umpire, you know. I mean, poor guy, he gets 35 bucks for that game, guys. Uh, leave him alone. And he's doing his best to umpire the game, and there's chirping on both sides, and instantly, When one of our kids was up to bat, he looked back at the umpire and he was like, How was that even a strike? And immediately, somebody from the other team.
Says, quit being a baby and play baseball. And you would have thought. All I mean all pandemonium. Broke out. All of a sudden, every mama bear from our side begins to go through.
I mean, it was like we almost had to cancel the game. We all kind of know that the standard exists. That's how there's a moral outrage. Is that enough of us know, like, that that was against the standard? That was.
across the line. And I think we land at this place where I want justice for me, or sorry, I want mercy for me. And I want justice for thee. I want justice for everybody else, but I want mercy for everybody else. For myself.
Well, since we already know that there is a standard that exists, I think it's important for us to be able to come here to this place and say the good news. The good news. is I did not create the standard. The good news is that you didn't create the standard. The good news.
is that God created the standard. That is good news for us. And I think the question that is being asked Of all of us, Whenever we have these, you know, whenever we're trying to, you know, live, you know, grade ourselves by the curve. Really the question is, am I a good person? Am I good enough?
And I think the question beneath the question of that is even. Am I the kind of person Who can Dwell together with God. I think another way our culture says it is, am I going to heaven? It's been really interesting to see so many popular podcasts having Christian authors and other podcasters and influencers sort of questioning them. And one of the biggest question is: hey, Am I going to heaven?
Well, the big idea today is from Psalm fifteen. We're going to open up Psalm 15 together. I'm going to give you the answer. And then we're going to kind of reverse engineer this whole idea. Here's the answer.
Only the righteous dwell with God. Only the righteous. Dwell with God. Here's what David says when he is, you know, Psalm 15. He's the author.
He's right in this. Verse 1: He says, Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Okay, that's the idea of a stranger being able to come and visit. Who gets to come and visit? But then he he's like deeper in Who gets to dwell? Who gets to live? Who gets to be at home?
The New Testament would say, who gets to abide? On your holy hill. And before we get to the answer of that question. I think it's really important for us to all see this, especially if this is your first time here, you're a guest with us today. I really want us to be able to hear this closely.
Sometimes we have the wrong starting place when we begin to think about. You know, be dwelling with God, going to heaven, all of those kinds of questions, we sort of have the wrong starting place. I think that sometimes we just see God. as this gatekeeper. He is running this cosmic audit, and he is trying his best to make things so hard for people so that they won't come in.
They won't be able to access him, they won't be able to be in his presence. And I'm here to tell you there's nothing that's further from the truth than that. That is not the nature of our God. The nature of our God. Is our triune God, Father, Son, Spirit, living in eternity?
of love. Out of an abundance of that love, created Human beings. With both a desire to love and a desire to be loved. You see, God actually wants you to dwell with Him. God wants you to be in relationship with Him.
He desires For that with you. We got to have that right starting point. And I want you to just think about this for a moment. What does that say to the person who has always been stiff-armed in life? The person who has never felt accepted, never felt wanted, never felt loved.
All of us have probably been there at some point.
Some of us have been there for a lot of our life. Where we have wondered, is there a space for me? Is there a place for me where somebody Will hear me, will listen to me, will love me. And I'm here to give you the greatest news ever. God not only sees you, but He wants to be in a relationship with you.
He created us with that longing to be loved, to be accepted. He created us with that. I love the quote from Augustine when he says, You have made us for yourself. And our heart is restless until it rests in you. This is why we lean so hard into adoption and foster care.
It's why we lean so hard into sending and missions. It's because our God. Is too good and too merciful and too kind to leave the unwanted in isolation. You see, and we're going to talk about this for just a second. We all know there's a standard.
We also know that there's a wall sort of between us. God did not design the barrier. He designed a bridge. We're going to talk about that bridge today and what that is.
So from the very beginning, We got to remember this: Genesis 1, 2, 3. We see God creating people and enjoying them in the garden.
Okay, you'll read about this. He's walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, he has a relationship that is unrestricted. I mean, think about that. unrestricted access to the to the to the creator of the universe Every galaxy, he knit you in your mother's womb, and now he has absolute. Un Restricted access to him.
That's how he created it. What did we do?
Well human beings We decided that we thought we could do life a little bit better. We thought we could actually, we could make a way, we could live this life in a different way that didn't mean we would follow his ways and we rebelled against God. Capital S sin. Came into the world, and God, who is righteous and perfect. cannot dwell together with sin.
So God expelled human beings from the Garden of Eden. But in his love, listen. In his love, he already had a path. Genesis 3:15. Hey, I'm going to take care of evil.
I'm going to take care of sin. I'm going to take care of the enemy.
So that we could read back together again. And here's what happens in the book of Exodus, we come to the mountain, okay? Ten Commandments, Moses, all that kind of stuff. That's God on the mountain beginning to take step toward man. to bring him back into his presence.
We know that there was still a fence. I mean, he literally told people: don't touch the mountain. Only one person is going to be able to come up to this mountain, and it's for a very short period of time. Moses is up there in that mountain, he gives them the Ten Commandments, he comes back down. Maybe you know the whole bit.
Continue moving. From Eden to the fall to Sinai. God says, okay, I'm going to build a tent and a tabernacle, and I want to dwell. Together with God, but there's still a curtain. They're still available.
The whole Bible, guys. is one long story of God closing the distance between himself and his people. Think about a God. who would go through such great lengths, to bring people back to himself. That's the God.
Who is answering the question in Psalm 15? God of mercy. God of love. And a holy God.
So here's the answer. Who can go to heaven? Who can dwell with you? Who can be in your presence? Here's the answer.
Read. Psalm 15, verse 2 through 5. He who walks blamelessly and does what is right. and speaks truth in his heart. and who does not slander with his tongue, and does no evil to his neighbour, nor takes up a reproach against his friend, in whose eyes a vile person is despised.
But who honors those who fear the Lord? Who swears to his own hurt and does not change, who does not put his own money at interest. and who does not take a bribe against the innocent. Hopefully, you kind of feel the weight of that. Man There's only a couple ways of being able to read this.
You're either going to read this and go, And this list is pretty, this is a this is a pretty big list. Did you notice that there were ten virtues?
Sort of an echo back to the Ten Commandments, but these are interior virtues.
So, you might be reading this and going, like, man, well, that one I feel like I'm doing pretty good at. This one I'm getting a you know a C. And what are we doing? We're grading ourselves on a curve. We're looking around and we're going, you know, I mean, compared to this person over here, compared to this person over here, I mean, I think I'm a pretty good person.
I think I'm doing pretty good. You're either reading it like that or you're reading it and going, I'm not even sure I'm on the same galaxy. I'm so far from this. It's not even close. This is a portrait.
of the type of person who can dwell together with God. A few years ago, actually almost 10 years ago now, my wife and I took on the challenge where we were going to draw one another. You know, you ever done that where you did a painting of each other? You're sitting looking at each other and you're trying to do a drawing or a painting. And, you know, you got to know something a little bit about my wife.
You can see a picture of her here if you've never met her. This is Mary. She is awesome. She's beautiful. She's a landscape architect, guys.
It's like I'm married to somebody really smart. And who draws really good. Actually, she's a really, really good artist. She paints really well. She has loved all this kind of stuff.
And so she's teaching me. All right, she's been in this process of kind of like helping me with some technique. Helping me to be able to do some shading and helping me to be able to do some.
So, when we came to this time where it's, I'm looking at her, she's looking at me, we're doing profile pictures. I just want to show you how mine turned out compared to her. Let me just tell you, I knew, this was 10 years ago. I knew it was bad, I had no idea. That I have probably deep-rooted issues or something.
This looks like one of those clown masks in your nightmares. I mean the the hair. I was like, man, I don't, it looks partially like an eyebrow that grew completely long. When you put your portrait up next to the real thing. I mean this is bad either way.
But when you put it up next to the real thing. You realize even though there's a semblance of similarity It's not even close. It's just not. Between what is reality and what is Our attempt It's not close. And guys, Psalm fifteen Is this portrait?
The first one, not the second one. It's the portrait. of a person who lives in harmony with the heart of God. And I'll be the first to admit it. When I put my portrait up next to his, It's not even close.
Psalm fifteen is a portrait of a person with nothing to hide. And nothing to prove. Look at this. I think that there are 10 virtues, but they're really, you could kind of break them down into four different categories. And I think that these categories are as follows: there's the interior character.
All right, he says this person walks blamelessly. They live a life Where what's going on in the inside is exactly what's going on in the outside. Here's what I mean by that. Have you ever been talking to somebody and you actually said something, maybe it was even complimentary? through your words, but then in your mind, you actually were thinking something the exact opposite.
You don't have to raise your hand. But you have. And so have I. This is the person who there's actually there's no difference They're the same way in every single room of the house. You're the same at church and in community group that you are.
At your home. You're the same person at work. It's just a person. who has nothing really to hide. Not on their phone.
Not on their search history. Just nothing. Not in their finances. There's just nothing to hide. They're an open book.
Secondly, The idea of speech ethics. Using your words in such a way that you're always building other people up. It says it doesn't slander, this is a person who doesn't slander. Yeah, no mud slinging. Ever This is the person who never speaks evil about his neighbor.
This is the person who uses their words to literally build people up and never destroy, never tear down. The third area. is relational integrity. Relational integrity. Man, this is people who have actually made an oath or made a commitment, made a covenant.
And no matter what the circumstances are. They have followed through on it. Every commitment Every covenant Every time we've ever said, hey, yeah, no problem, I'll help you move. And then the day before we send him a text and be like, dude, my back, so sorry. I know I'm being a little silly with this, but this is the person who doesn't actually ever have to worry about what they have said because it's never going to come back on them as some sort of a shaded truth.
And then financial integrity. This is the person who doesn't exploit the vulnerable. For any reason. No bribes against the innocent. Um They wouldn't take advantage of somebody because they had more information in a financial situation.
They wouldn't take advantage of another person because they had more information or more power. Or more sway.
So, David's asking the question, and God is responding. And I would just be curious to know today in a room this size, how many of us, if we were to do a 360 review, Or you just ask the people all around you. Family, friends, co-workers, all that kind of stuff, neighbors. And ask yourself. Is this me?
Is this me? Is this portrait? Me. Is this a mirror of who I am? And I want us to be really clear about this.
Because I'm about ready to take a turn here. Psalm fifteen isn't a ladder to climb. But it is a destination to move toward. Because guys, the truth is, nobody lives here. Nobody lives in the Psalm 15 portrait.
Not you, not me, not anybody in the room. Adequately, and for their whole life. lives that portrait of Psalm 15. And this is really where you pick the story back up. You know, we walked through Eden and then the fall and then Mount Sinai and then the tabernacle.
We walked through all of that. And listen, each one of the people who went up to the mountain to have that message, to have that time with God. Think about it. On his best day, Mm. He was able to go up there very briefly.
David, on his very best day, he was able to go up there very briefly. Elijah, same thing. There was one person. Who has ever lived? Who could ascend that mountain?
and dwell there. If you don't know, his name is Jesus. But here's the thing, instead of ascending that mountain, Jesus actually climbed a different hill. In the shape of a skull. We know it as Golgotha.
And Jesus, who inhabited every single piece of this portrait and more. Instead of going to the mountain Because he had He had achieved the standard. He went to the hill for you and me. Jesus Was the type of person Who belonged there because he kept his oath even at the cost of his own life. You think about Jesus.
When he prayed that prayer in the garden, he said, Father, if there's any way To let this cup pass from me. The cup of his wrath, the cup of suffering. He said, but nevertheless, it's your will, not mine. And I know for some of us, maybe if, again, if you're not a believer and you're like, well, man, That's awesome. Jesus, he did it.
He did it. That's great. What does that mean for me? And I wanted you to hear this really clearly. The only person who has ever fully lived there is offering to bring you with him.
Let me show you this. I want to show you. There's a couple different really cool things that you need to see here. 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 21 says this.
For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin.
Okay, sin was the object of the wrath of God. The Father says that Jesus became the object of the wrath of God so that. Watch this. In him we might become the righteousness of God. Here's what this is.
He lived the life that we could never live. And then at the end of that, he said, I want to go ahead and trade over. Switch. The l the perfect life that I have lived with what we have done. That portrait?
The second one, not the first one? He said, I want to take that and I want to give him. My portrait. He gave us his record, his resume, his righteousness. And you say, well, I mean, Does this really ever happen in life?
Yes, it happens every single time that somebody is adopted. Think about it for just a second. In an instant, Things change for that child or for that person that is being adopted, right? One signature changes their entire future. Their entire destiny changes in a moment.
Not because of anything that they've done, but because of what the Father has done. for them. Think about it. New name? New inheritance, new family.
All of it signed over. in the moment. That's what Jesus has done for us. Because of his righteousness, When we place our faith and trust in Him. That's good news.
But Yeah. It doesn't stop there. He doesn't just declare us righteous. He makes us righteous. He makes us righteous.
Here's what I mean by that. God Himself, through Jesus, His life, his death on the cross. His resurrection. God not only saves us. But he changes us.
He changes us. He turns us into the portrait of Psalm 15. The Bible talks about it, and he makes us into the image of Christ. Let me read you a verse: He who began, Philippians 1:6, He who began a good work in you. We'll bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Guys, this is really good news. This is the direction that we're talking about. This is what theologians call sanctification. The Spirit changes us from the inside out. Yes, behaviors, man, sometimes the behaviors are really, really slow.
But that's it's it's more than that. The Spirit changes us. From the inside out. Here's how it happens. God's Spirit comes to dwell inside of us.
God's Spirit Plus God's Word. Plus God's people. That's how God designed it to be. Before we head into our application, I think. It could be real easy.
To miss the very last piece. A verse five. Because some of you came in here today and you're like, man, I don't actually believe, I'm not necessarily a Christian. I'm here to to Because somebody dragged me to come or I'm here to learn. And I just want it to be really clearly because I think there are some people in here today who also.
Are going, you know, I think that this is great, but I really need. I need healing. I need hope. I need restoration. I need something in my life.
And let me just give you this promise from Psalm 15. The one who does these things. Shall never Be shaken. You're like, well, I didn't do it. Christ has done it for us.
And here's what I'm talking about when I say God changes us to be a certain type of person. He changes us to be a person who could withstand. The earthquake. He turns us into a type of person who will never be shaken. You know, today, or this past week, I had.
several conversations. One of them Was with a woman who said, you know, my adult child just. just passed and I would like to be able to to get some counseling. Experience some grief, experiencing some grief. Another person who said Hey, pray for me.
I've gone through all these medical procedures and surgeries and testing and all this kind of stuff. It just nothing ever seems to work. Another person Pray for my brother. He's forty-one years old and he he's gotten The news, it's terminal. Guys, we don't need just More coach coping strategies.
More positive thinking. That's that's not what's needed. The only answer is Jesus in us. Because here's the reality: God hasn't promised us. A smooth life.
He's promised us an unshakable foundation.
So there's a few different people that I want to just Talk to really quickly in the room and then we'll be done. If you're here today and maybe you've been around church for a long time and you're kind of just showing up maybe sporadically and you're just like, man, I'm here, okay? I'm here. I just wanna Gently but directly help you with something really quickly. the most dangerous place to be.
is coasting. Thinking that everything is good. In our relationship with God, and actually just completely drifting away from Him. drifting apart from him. You're like, well, I thought I could never lose my salvation.
Drift doesn't cause you to lose your salvation, but It can expose whether or not you ever had it. If you're comfortable drifting, Apart from the good father, What does that reveal about? Are we actually changing? Are we growing? Genuine faith produces genuine fruit.
It's just what the Bible says. And I just want to encourage you today: if that's you and you're just like, man, I'm fine. Don't be fine. Lean in. May remember that the Father chased you down.
and drew you to himself. Then there are those in here today who. This has hit you probably pretty hard. Maybe you're the type of person who's always tough on yourself, and you look at this and you're like, man, I'll never achieve. I'll never climb the ladder.
I'll never reach the goal. I'll never, I'm a failure. Listen. The word is supposed to convict us. Family.
It's supposed to. That's what it's supposed to do. But conviction is not the same as condemnation.
Okay? Conviction is the kindness of God showing you the path back home. That's what it is. He wants to bring you back to that sweet relationship. Lean in.
Lean in. And then I know there's another group in here today. I've been talking to you throughout this whole time, and maybe you're like, man, I didn't, not a Christian, not a believer, all this kind of stuff. Not sure if I believe all of this. That's okay.
If you're the one who's thinking, I've got to clean myself up and then maybe I can get into this. Number one, we can't. Number two, that's not how God does it. He actually doesn't ask you to close the gap up and then draw, you know, and then be like, hey, we're in good fellowship together. You don't close the gap before you come.
You come and he closes it. That's how he closes it. You come to him.
So believers in the room today? Here's what we need to do. And be grateful for the gospel. Number two. Cooperate with what the Spirit is already doing in you.
That's the promise, right? Philippians 1:6. He who began a good work in you, he's going to complete it.
So cooperate. Submit. Obey. We've got to cooperate. But for those of you who are not Christians in here today.
Um I I used to um When we lived in Northern California, I remember knocking on people's doors. We're not Jehovah's Witness or Mormons or anything like that, but we did knock on people's doors and we would ask them a question. Even as a kid, I remember doing this. I would say Um Hey, if you died today, where would you go? Would you go to heaven or would you go to hell or don't you know?
And woo. We would always get very similar responses. And a lot of times, if it started in the first person, I knew there was probably a just We were off track. I'm good enough. I'm trying really hard.
I'm related to a pastor. We got that one so many times. I'm like, how many pastors are there? The only Response. That holds up.
is in the third person. Jesus died in my place. Jesus forgave me of my sin. Jesus is my righteousness. That's it.
There's a Scottish pastor Who has gone viral? His sermon's gone viral. You could find it. Yeah. He, um He talks a little bit about the thief on the cross.
If those of you who don't know the thief on the cross, it's in the Gospels. He was, we don't know a whole lot about him other than he was a bad. Not a great dude.
Okay, he was he was justly being crucified. Yeah, he was hanging on the cross next to Jesus. But the Bible says Jesus said to him, today you'll be with me in paradise.
So he gives a little bit of an imaginary example of how that interaction went. Can you imagine? Thief on the cross shows up in heaven. He comes to the check-in stand and he's like, Yeah, hi, um, I'm I'm here to... And they're like, well, hold on a second.
How'd you get here? No clue. All right. Uh what church or synagogue were you a part of? Never been.
Got it. When was your baptism? I don't know what that means.
Alright, tithing record, zero dollars and zero cents. All right, let's just talk doctrine here for just a second. What do you believe about the doctrine of the scriptures? Blank stare. Sir, we're going to have to get our supervisor.
We'll be right back, okay? Supervising angel comes out and says So I've got to be honest with you. This doesn't look great. Um okay. You actually have a record that's in the negative.
We haven't had very many of those. Your resume is woefully insufficient. What do you have to say for yourself? He said. I don't know what else to say.
But the man on the middle cross said I could come. Guys. That's it. There is nothing that we bring to the table. It is a pure interaction of mercy.
Jesus says, I take All of your negative Okay, below the bar, I take all that and I give you. My record. my righteousness, my inheritance, all of it. And you're like, well, how does that happen?
Well, let me give it to you really quickly. Number one, we have to admit. that we actually don't hit the standard and it's not even close. We got to be honest with that. We don't start with, well, I'm trying to, none of that.
Number two. We believe. In Jesus, I'll be. Alone. His perfect life.
His death and resurrection. is what I'm banking on. We believe that. Jesus has done everything necessary for my salvation. And then see, we confess.
I'm willing to follow him as lord of my life. He is boss. Would you guys bow your heads and close your eyes with me? I want to speak directly to those in the room who. You have no relationship with Jesus outside of what you've heard today.
You've never placed your faith and trust in Jesus. And if you're ready to say, I'm not gonna rely on my own goodness or righteousness or any of that, I'm not gonna rely on any of that anymore. I want to trust in Jesus. I want you to pray. This prayer and I want you just to repeat These words, these words don't save us.
But they can help us. Jesus I admit I have fallen short. I can't meet the standard on my own. I believe that you died on the cross and you rose from the dead in my place. And I confess you as Lord of my life.
Thank you for your gift. Thank you for saying I could come. In Jesus' name. Amen.
