Dr. Michael Youssep and the Leading the Way Australia team recently coordinated a powerful event, Reaching Australia with the truth of the gospel. at an event called Hope for the Illawarra. In addition to inspirational music, doctor Youssef shared a message where many experienced new life through repentance and revival. Up next, portions of that event for you to hear.
and we hope this experience will encourage you in your faith journey. Learn more about Dr. Youssef and Leading the Way's Worldwide Ministry when you visit us at ltw.org. Tonight is of course Hope for the Illawarra. We are gathered together in the Wynn Entertainment Centre, the largest indoor venue in the Illawarra.
It's just amazing how many different congregations and churches and movements are actually involved in seeing lives saved. Any denominational barriers have kind of melted away, and Dr. Michael Youssef is coming here to really ignite a fire in the local church. Hello, Elohim.
So good to be home. Dr. Youssef, clearly a man of great humility and prayerfulness. Not wanting to be in the limelight but finding himself there. And I think the Lord can do a lot with that.
There's great power in that humility to be used. Jesus asked, What good is it? for a man or a woman to gain the whole world and forfeit his own or her own soul. God is asking every single one of us, where are you? Where do you stand with God?
What are you putting your hope in? I think that's a very important question to ask ourselves. Hello, LOR.
So good to be home. You know, fifty years ago to the year I was ordained Just few yards away from here is St. Michael's. Cathedral.
So I have come a full circle. Today I'm going to show you Some of the most important questions that God has ever asked in the Bible, but above all of them, there is one that is absolutely the most important question that anyone of us could ask themselves, and it's found in the Gospel of Mark chapter 8, verses 36 and 37. Jesus asked, What good is it? For a man or a woman? to gain the whole world.
and forfeit his own or her own soul. Or What can anyone give in exchange of their soul? This is the most important question of any person that can be asked tonight. No, not one of the most important questions. It is the most important question.
And guess what? Only Jesus could have asked that question. No one else could ask that. Not a preacher, not a pastor, not a priest, not a bishop, not a pope. No one can ask that question except Jesus.
Why? Why only Jesus could ask that question? Because Jesus alone knows the value of planet Earth. After all, He created it. Only Jesus alone knows where every diamond mine is found on planet Earth.
Only Jesus knows where the last nugget of gold to be found. Only Jesus knows how. Many tons of silver were created back in Genesis. Jesus alone knows the value of the rubies and the sapphires. He alone knows where the last drop of oil is to be found, is located.
He alone knows where the last undiscovered treasure be found. And that is why Jesus and Jesus alone can stack up. All of the wealth of the earth, all of the riches of the earth on one side of the scale, and then he places your soul on the other side of the scale, and then he says, only a wise person would refuse to trade his soul for all of the wealth of the world. What does it profit a man or a woman or anyone. to gain the whole world and loses his own soul.
Christ alone can ask that question of every human being that's ever lived on the face of the earth. Not just People in the West. East. Everywhere. After all, he created us.
Christ alone knows the value of the human soul. He alone knows the value of each one of your souls. To him, the human soul is so important that he left the splendor of heaven and he came to earth. It is a value of your soul that caused the creator of the world to become a man and a homeless man, a poor man, to sweat blood and to be beaten that his flesh can be beaten, literally torn apart with these whips. It was slapped on the face and his body was black and blue.
He was marked. Because of the value of your soul. That's how much he values your soul. It caused the God of power and glory. To hang helplessly upon the cross and then be buried, but on the third day, victoriously, he rose again from the dead.
But you know the question that I have. been asked through the years why. Why? Why would the Son of God Leave the splendor of heaven. And the Fellowship with the Father, with whom he coexisted before the creation of the world.
Why didn't God just yell from heaven? And say, you people. Be as good as you can. You people of the earth Try to reach out to me. You the people of the earth Try to do more good than bad.
This is how a lot of people think. But you have to think from God's point of view. God's point of view. What is God's point of view? God is perfect.
And therefore, only perfect people can fellowship with God. Only perfect people can make it to God. And here's the big problem. Houston, we have a problem. None of us are perfect.
And none of us can be perfect.
So we got a dilemma. And we know that like astronauts who go go to space and they cannot go without a space suit. If they go without a spacesuit, they are toast. And no man can ever make it to heaven. Without that spacesuit that only Jesus can give you and he can give it to you tonight.
Otherwise we're toast. But as I said, none of us is perfect. None of us could become perfect. Perfect. And therefore we have a problem.
But God provided the answer. Aren't you glad that He did? That we don't have to come up with an answer. He came with the answer. The perfect God became man, lived the perfect life.
So that everyone, anyone, anyone who accepts him as Lord and Savior be forgiven and be given that spacesuit. known as the righteousness of Jesus. The perfect God carried on The cross and on that cross He carried every sin of everyone who would come to him and surrender to him, confess their sin, and repent of their sins. We're still not perfect. But through Jesus's cross.
God can look upon us and see us as perfect. Because he looks at us through Jesus. Oh my friend, listen, please. This is the Christian faith. In a nutshell.
All of that religious stuff that we do is just stuff. It's addition. But the core of the Christian faith says that you can exchange your sin for For his perfection. that you can exchange your sin with his forgiveness. that you can exchange your guilt.
for his peace. that you can change. Your restlessness for his contentment, that you can change your fear for his faith, that you can exchange your doubt for. for his assurance that you can exchange your Destination to hell into heaven. And reversion.
And that is the best deal of a lifetime, let me tell you. I grew up in the Middle East. I know a good deal when I see one. In the Middle East we bargain for everything. And so I know a good bargain when I see one.
There is no bargain like that one. As I said earlier, the Bible has several questions. in order to force us to confront reality. and discover that truth for ourselves. For example, in Genesis chapter 3, verse 9, the very first book in the Bible.
God asked The very first question ever asked in the Bible, in the scripture. He asked Adam. Adam. Where are you? After disobeying God, Adam thought that he could hide from God.
That he can disappear from God. But here's the amazing thing. I want you to listen carefully, please. This is the amazing thing. God did not scold Adam.
God did not ambush Adam. God could have done anything, but He didn't. He could have condemned him immediately. And said, Haram, you're a fool. Did you think that you can hide anything from me?
Don't you know that I know everything? Don't you know that I see everything? How could you do that? But he didn't. Because that's the character of our God.
That's the character of our God. God merely asked him Where are you? Not because God did not know where Adam was. See, asked the question knew the answer to. And God is asking some of you today.
Where are you? Where do you stand in relationship to me? Where do you stand in relationship to God? Not because God does not know where you are. He does not know where you stand, he does.
But because he wants you to come to the recognition that you need God. and you need him desperately just like I do. He wanted Adam to confess and ask for forgiveness for his sin. But he didn't. Instead, he rationalized And played the brand game.
I said, always like a good man. He just blamed his wife for it. He wanted Adam to say, Yes, Lord. I have allowed Satan to seduce me to disobeying you. Yes, Lord, I've allowed false ideas of who you are to mislead me.
Yes, Lord, I've allowed some false philosophies to keep me from coming to you and enjoy fellowship with you. Yes, Lord, I have allowed my own desires to cloud my vision of you and who you are and how loving you are. And God is asking you. Where do you stand? Where do you stand?
Where do you stand with God? Where are you? Where are you? What is causing you to think? that you can run away from him.
What's stopping you? from coming to a loving father. What is holding you back? from experiencing His comfort His peace and his joyful life. What is stopping you?
from knowing me. The God of heaven and earth. What are your rationalizations? about ignoring me. That's the question.
Where are you today? Today God is inviting you to come to Him. God is inviting you to confess Him. Because he already knows where you are. God is inviting you to receive His eternal forgiveness.
and have his peace. Here and now. and for all of eternity. What a deal. Will you respond to him?
A second question that God asked in Genesis chapter 4 verse 9. He asked. Cain? Where is your brother?
Now Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy and out of anger. God knew what Okay indeed. But he asked him nonetheless, where is your brother? God knows everything, God sees everything. But again, it tells us something about the nature of God.
Our God always tries to give us an opportunity to confess our sins, to repent of ourselves, to receive His free forgiveness from His hand. Or perhaps some of you are thinking, well wait a minute, Michael, wait a minute. Kane killed his brother. I didn't kill anybody. I'm a good person.
I'm a good person. I didn't kill anyone.
Now here's the problem. Listen to me. For God to Sin is sin. This is no small sin or big sin. I'm going to explain that to you.
Whether you miss the mark by two inches Oh, by ten miles, you missed the mark. That is how God sees it. A white lie that you tell? It's as bad as the big lie. The money that you have that doesn't belong to you when you padded your books.
They cry out to God. The seething hatred that you have towards someone, whoever had told someone, wished they were dead. They cry out to God. The ground is level for all of us. The speaker and everybody else.
And as I said, when God asks a question, He already knows the answer. But he wants us to have an opportunity to come and acknowledge him. That only Jesus' death upon the cross. can bring you to forgiveness. He waits until he hears that.
But just in case you still think, well, God is only concerned about the big sins. Ask yourself this question, okay? Whether you're a believer or not. Just ask yourself the question. What was Adam's sin?
What caused him to be thrown out of the garden? Murder? Yeah. There's only one person in the garden with him, and that's his wife Eve. He didn't kill her.
She was still living, alive and well. Adultery? Yeah. There was no one to commit adultery with. The only woman in the place was his wife.
Eve.
So what was Adam's big sin that caused him, and all of us inherited that sin. It's in our DNA, it's in our makeup. is disobeying God. Disobeying God. God said, Do it this way.
And so, now I'll do it this way, I'll do it my way. That was really the root of the tree. The fruit. Is all the sins that we talk about. But that's the root.
All of the other sins are just the fruit of that one. God said, When you come to my perfect, sinless Son, confessing your disobedience. I will forgive you the root and the fruit of sin. I told you it's a great bargain. It's a great deal.
Jesus came from heaven. to provide us a way back to God. For we're all born with our backs to God. We want to do our own thing. You know, I used to tell my kids when their kids were little, when they were born, I said, Let me tell you, the first word those kids are gonna say.
Not mommy or daddy. But no. That's the first word, is it? No. You see, we're born with that sin of Adam in us.
And God is saying, turn to me. And I will redeem you. I will redeem all of your sins. I will redeem all of your past. I will remove guilt.
and pain from your life. And there was another question before I come to an end. There was another question that was asked in the Bible, but not by God. It was asked by Job. Remember Job?
We talk about the patience of Job? In Job 14, 14, Job asks the question, if a man dies, will he live again? Jesus answered Job's question. When Jesus Christ came from heaven And died on that cross, was buried, then he rose again on the third day. He answered Job's question.
Not just in words, but in action. He answered it through the A visible eyewitnesses of hundreds and hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw the resurrected Jesus, who saw the risen Christ. And when Jesus rose from the dead, he answered Job's question. Yes, sir. Job.
Yes, every human being will live again. Yes, Job, every human being will eternally live. Yes, Job, every human being will end up in one of two places. Which brings me full circle. Full circle.
to that most important vital question. What good is it for anyone? to gain the whole world. and forfeit. His or her soul.
Jesus asks that question because he knows that our souls are eternal. that our souls are immortal. That there was a time when we were not But there will never be a time when you will not be. A million years from now, you and I will be alive either in heaven with Jesus, in a place of torment with Satan. Your eternal existence is sure.
So the question is, where will you be spending your eternity? I pray that you do not sleep tonight until you answer that question. What does it profit? Anyone? To gain the whole world.
And those His soul. Not long ago, I was reading a report from archaeologists. who were doing some digging. around Pompeii, Italy. And they discovered this amazing story from all those years ago.
That this woman obviously hesitated to run when the ashes were pouring down and volcanic ashes. And she hesitated, went back to get her jewelry. And she was clutching onto them when they found her body. Why? I want to ask her why.
Why did you have to go back? To get These things that cost you your life. Why would you die for all the wealth of the world? Oh my beloved friends, Jewels might not be your thing. But you clutching Into your idea of who God is or what God should do may be the thing that is holding you back.
Clutching onto your ideas of what God should be like and who should be accepted and who should not accept. can be Deadly for you. The last thing. I'm going to tell you as I close. Please understand.
Jesus is asking. And saying That the suffering of the soul is far. Far far. far more serious than the perishing of the body. And that is why Jesus asked the question.
What will you gain? If you have everything. In the whole world. Then you spend your forever. in pain and suffering.
What can you really gain? If you hold on to your ideas of God, well, I think God should do this, or I think God will do this, I'm a good person, God should accept me. Your future of your soul is at stake. Because the answer is not nothing. Nothing would be something.
But the answer is a colossal, a colossal loss. Eternity without God. Imagine the God who tells the sun to shine every day and He tells the rain to fall to water the ground, the God who tells the grass to grow, the God who made the sea and the mountains and this beautiful planet Earth. Imagine living in a place. where none of that exists.
Because that's what a Christless eternity will be like. And when you reject his salvation plan, You'll spend your forever. And what the Bible describes are utter darkness. Extreme loneliness. and continuously falling into this dark pit.
Oh, on the other hand When he stretched his hands to you and say, come to me. I love you. I did everything for you so you can come to me. Confessing me. Come to me.
I love you. My son died for you to carry all of your sins on that cross. What a great invitation. From a great god. Will you accept that invitation?
Would you receive it? Gracefully and gratefully. You think time will wait for you forever Don't ever think that time waits for no one You think you can leave them all to heaven Don't ever think that souls need to be one What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for?
Thank you for listening to portions of a recent Leading the Way rally held in Australia. Where local churches partnered with Dr. Youssef and leading the way to bring the truth of the gospel to Australia. through an evening called Hope For the Ilawara. Did today's content from Doctor Youssef stir faith or life questions in you?
connect with a leading the way pastor or counselor to day. Start your conversation when you fill out a contact form at ltw.org/slash jesus. You're called to live out the truth of Christ, to grow in your faith, and spread the good news of God's love. With Leading the Way's new website, we're leveraging cutting-edge digital technologies to help you. That means more ways for you to access biblical teaching and share the gospel with the world.
At thenewltw.org, dive into powerful biblical teachings while reading or listening to the scripture, all from the same screen. enhancing both study and application. Need prayer or guidance? Our pastoral team is just a click away, ensuring you're never walking this journey alone. Since the launch of the new site, we've seen a dramatic increase in visitors from all over the world seeking truth and peace.
Visit ltw.org today, bringing the uncompromising truth of God's Word to a world in need and walking boldly through every open door God provides. Check it out and share our website with a friend today. Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaims uncompromising truth around the world. through leading the way.
So learn more at ltw.org. You can also listen to and watch more life-changing content like this event from Doctor Yusuf. Or call us. 866. Six two six.
Four three five six. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Usack. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org. or through your favorite social media platform.
including YouTube. Facebook. X, previously called Twitter, Instagram, and more. Uh
