Eyes on Him

So life on this earth over the past 15 months or so has been a challenge for every single person here, there's no doubt about it. And if somebody had told us two years ago that everything that we've seen is going to happen, we never would have believed it. And I think all of us feel that something is very off, something is not right, things are certainly not normal.

And maybe some of us feel that the Lord is at the very door, He's at the gates, ready to come back. In 2021, we've seen a pandemic basically shut down the world. Thousands of people have gotten sick, thousands have died. We've seen job loss, we've seen loss of businesses, we've seen political and social unrest that the 1960s even pale in comparison.

And even now, in the past couple of weeks, we've seen how ransomware can turn everything upside down again. I was thinking, don't you miss the old days when you had a TV twice the size of this pulpit here and you had three channels? And you would watch Andy Griffith and then flip over to Walter Cronkite? You have no idea what I'm talking about. If you're under 40, you have no idea.

Listen, watch Andy Griffith once in a while, it's not going to kill you. But anyway, now that's just what's happening in the world, OK? But think about what's happening in the church, all right? It's easier to find a church where the preacher is proclaiming a self-help motivational message than it is to find a good Bible-preaching church. And many, many people, the Bible speaks of this, have accumulated teachers to soothe their itching ears.

False teachers are absolutely everywhere. The prosperity gospel is burning up the world like wildfire. And many professing followers of Jesus Christ have turned away from the truth. Now, they still go to church, but they deny that this Bible is the very word of God. They will say, for example, that Jesus died for social justice issues or so that people can be relieved of oppression. But they won't say that He died for our sins. They'll take away that cross, which is central to our faith. And now what is happening is people are calling good what God has said is evil, and they're celebrating that.

And every immorality that is out there in the world can be found in the church. And you and I, because we believe in this Bible and we try to live by it, we are now the fundamentalists. And people don't like us because of this. And therefore, we are increasingly under attack. It happens every week. The attack is escalating.

And we're under attack, not just from the world, but from those who claim to possess true, authentic Christianity. We don't. We're old school.

This is outdated. We've moved on. I told Sabu recently that if we're still doing this in the next 10 or 20 years, we're probably going to be in jail. And that's probably true. It's getting that way. Is evil increasing? Absolutely. There's no doubt about it. Are the days getting darker?

Yes. The days are dark. Lawlessness is increasing, and the love of many is growing cold, just like the Lord Jesus said would happen. So, the message I have today is going to be a tough message for you to hear. But I want to challenge you, if you haven't already, to get very serious about your faith. I don't know when the Lord Jesus is coming back, but I know today's a day closer than it was yesterday. And we need to be ready. We need to be found awake doing the work of the Lord.

Now think about something. When Jesus came into space and time, the world to which He came was very similar to ours. It was an evil world. Israel was under Roman oppression. The Jewish government was corrupt. The Roman government was corrupt. And the temple, the dwelling place of the living God, was defiled. And there was murder. There was theft. There was immorality, racism, poverty.

Everything that we see today, they had then. How evil was the days of Jesus? It was so evil that the Jews and the Gentiles and the powers and the principalities in the heavenly places all conspired to kill Jesus.

And they did it. The Son of God. The darkest hour in human history. And I want you to keep in mind that it was the religious people, the religious people, who professed to know God, who had a major hand in His crucifixion. This morning I want to consider a man who lived during the time of Jesus, who walked with Jesus, and who became one of the most important figures in all of human history, and this is the apostle Peter. Now we know a lot about Peter. We know more about him than we do the other 11 disciples.

And we certainly know how the Lord used this man in a mighty and powerful way, despite his many failures. Peter is the one who said, Jesus, you're not going to go to the cross. You're the conquering Messiah.

We're going to charge Rome and eliminate the oppressors. What did Jesus say? Get behind me, Satan.

No. Set your mind on the things of God. Peter is the one who had the sword and cut off the man's ear. What did Jesus say?

Put the sword away. Shall I not drink from the cup my Father gave me? Peter's the one who walked on water and who lost his faith, took his eyes off Christ, and said, Lord, save me. And Jesus said, you have little faith.

Why do you doubt? Peter is the one who said, although every single one of these other guys are going to fall away, I never will. I will never deny you. Peter, you're going to deny me, and you're going to deny me in my most important, darkest hour.

You're going to deny me three times. So, let's look to John 21. Open your Bibles to John 21, verses 20 through 23.

And I want to set the stage for what we're talking about. All of the things that I just mentioned have already happened, including Peter's denial of Jesus. And despite Peter's sins, even the denial, Jesus has reinstated him to an apostle. And Jesus probes the depth of Peter's soul and asks him three times, Simon, Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. Then tend my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my sheep.

Three times he asked him this. And Peter, there's one other thing. When you're old, you're going to stretch out your hands and you're going to die. You're going to die. Listen carefully. Remember, Peter, I told you that the world will hate you and you're going to die for my glory.

They're going to kill you. Nevertheless, you follow me. The cost of your discipleship, Peter, is your own life.

Follow me. John 21, verse 20. Verse 20. Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them and the one who had also leaned back against him during the supper. And had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray you? When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?

You follow me. So, the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die, yet Jesus did not say to him he was not to die. But if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Peter had just committed this horrible crime, denying the Lord three times. And now Jesus has reinstated him, and upon hearing this great news that this wonderful grace has been bestowed upon him, grace and mercy lavished upon him, what does Peter do?

He turns around and looks at the apostle. John says, well what about that guy? What does that say to you about the human heart? What do you make of that? There's a lot of things we can say about this passage, but I'm going to focus on a couple of things. Three things, three challenges I have for you.

And the first one is this, set your mind on spiritual things, not on the things of this world. Think about what we know of Peter for a second. Peter's the boisterous one, he's the loud one, he's the zealous one with the sword, and he's the one with the big personality that wants to mow everybody down to stand in his way. He would have led the capital insurrection at Rome, so to speak.

He would have been first in line. But that sword in Peter's hand will not do any purpose in the kingdom of God. So Jesus says, Peter, put down the sword.

Put it down. You're looking at things through physical eyes, and that is not how the Lord sees things. Think about this for a second. Jesus says, see those birds out there. Do you see the birds? My Father feeds those birds. Do you see those flowers, those lilies in the field?

My Father clothes those. Do you see the kings? Do you see the presidents? Do you see Nebuchadnezzar? Do you see Caesar and Saul and David and Ahab and Trump and Biden and Obama?

I put them all there, and I can take them down. It is my sovereign will that they're there. And by the way, Peter, do you see that Roman centurion? He is not your enemy.

He's the mission field. Your true enemies, Peter, are the powers and the principalities in the heavenly places. Do you understand, Peter, that I uphold everything by the word of my power?

Not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father. I'm working all these things together. I'm orchestrating according to my purpose. Now, we might think the world is out of control, but I assure you it is not. It is in the sovereign control of the Lord God. Remember what Jesus said to Peter. If it is my will that He remains until I come, what's that to you? So, you're saying, Jesus, that you're over, you are sovereign over the day I die? Yes. Yes, Peter.

I'm saying that. I'm sovereign over everything. So, after seeing and talking with the resurrected Jesus Christ and hearing the good news that He's been reinstated and He's going to watch over Jesus' flock, Peter turns and says, what about this guy? I saw this guy, John, leaning against you during supper the other night, and I want the same thing he gets. He was talking about being at your right hand.

I want to be there, too. Don't be concerned with him, Peter. I've got a plan for you, and it's not a plan I have for him. You watch me. You follow me. Don't you remember what happened when you got out of the boat? You took your eyes off of me. You cried out, save me. Didn't you learn a lesson?

Instead of looking to me, you're always looking over here. Don't. Don't. And how does Jesus respond? Follow me.

Right to the point. Follow me. Author of Hebrews. We look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. King David says, I have set the Lord always before me. He is at my right hand that I might not be shaken. He is before me. Not to my left. Not to my right. Not behind me. He is before me. And Peter did not see it.

He didn't understand it. But let me tell you, when Pentecost came, his eyes were opened. And Peter delivered one of the most important and powerful sermons in the history of the church. And 3,000 hearts were slain that day, Scripture says. Not by the sword in Peter's hand, but by the power of the word of God. And they were cut to the heart. Cut to the heart.

3,000. Brothers, what shall we do to be saved? Peter said, repent and believe, and you will be saved. I want to ask you, are your eyes on earthly things? Or are they on spiritual things?

Are you looking to the things that are seen or to the things that are unseen? I think a lot of people have gotten bent out of shape over these last 12 to 15 months for all kinds of reasons, masks, politics, all kinds of things. And there's this idea that if we could just get the right people in the government, get the right laws in place, everything's going to be okay. Maybe we can even usher in a utopia. I want you to think of Israel for a second.

Listen to me. Think about Israel. Israel had the perfect king. They had God himself. What did they say? What did Israel do? No thank you. Get us a human ruler, please.

We want nothing to do with you. Israel had the perfect law, the perfect ruler and the perfect law. Did that perfect law stop them from sacrificing their own children to foreign gods? Did that perfect law stop them from defying God?

Absolutely not. Perfect God, perfect law, Israel failed time and time again. What then was the problem? The problem is the human heart. The laws are good in that they restrain evil. God uses those according to His purposes, but they will never change a human heart. That's why every single one of us, I hope can say, I am not ashamed of the Gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation for everybody who believes. The Gospel changes hearts. So, what am I asking you? I'm asking you to see things spiritually.

And if you're more passionate about worldly things, including politics, by the way, then you have a problem. If you're more passionate about such things, then you are the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you need to repent. The Gospel changes the world. And I want to remind you that when Jesus Christ came into space and time, He did not go into the Roman Senate and start overturning tables.

That's not what He did. He went into His own house, and He found it defiled. And just like He said it would be, not one stone was left standing. Judgment first comes to the house of the Lord, to His house.

That principle still stands. We're spared His wrath, but my friends, we are not spared His judgment. So I want to ask you, what would He see if He came to your house, your house? Would He see a place of peace, where Christ is the center? What would He see as He looks in your heart, because He's looking. Would He see the love, joy, peace, and patience, and kindness?

Or would He see bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and lack of faith? As followers of Jesus Christ, our mission is supernatural. That's what Peter in John 21 does not yet understand. The whole of Christian faith is based on the idea that God takes those who are dead and makes them alive. That's the Christian faith. That involves proclamation of the Gospel. How is this new life?

How does it come? Through the proclamation of the Gospel. So if professing Christians really believe, really believe in the power of the Gospel, then why are relatively few of us telling anybody about the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Why is this place not packed to the brim? Could it be, could it be that some have the appearance of godliness, but deny its very power, denying the power of the Gospel? Oh, I'll come to church. I'll put my kids in the student ministry.

I'll serve at Champ Sports, but I don't want to tell anybody the Gospel. Please understand that looking to earthly things will limit your faith. Without faith, you cannot please God. Believe in the power of the Gospel. Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ where He's seated at the right hand of the Father. That's the message here.

Second thing is this. Never forget the grace of God. Now, we're very, very familiar with Peter's failures, particularly of his denial of the Lord three times. Again, Peter was the loud one.

He's the one who said he would never deny Christ, but when this hour of darkness came, he denies the very one that he professed was the Christ, the Son of the living God. However, in John 21, we are reminded that even the worst of sins can be forgiven. Peter knew what he did.

We know what he did. It's written forever in the Word of God. But Peter was forgiven and restored as an apostle of Jesus Christ. And instead of getting on his knees and crying out, thank you, Lord Jesus, for your wonderful grace that I don't deserve, what does He do?

He turns around and he looks at John and says, what about this guy? When we don't think about this undeserved grace, this grace that God in Christ has lavished upon us, it distorts our view of ourselves. And that's the reality. Now, we tend to think of grace in this way. That we have been saved, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that is very true. We cannot add, we cannot work toward our faith.

We don't contribute anything to it. It's by grace and grace alone. But we tend to leave it right there. It's by grace through faith I've been saved, praise the Lord. But I want you to understand that the grace of God goes much, much deeper than that. Here's the reality. You and I are completely corrupt in mind, body, and spirit. There's nothing good and nothing lovable in any single one of us.

That's the reality. Paul's argument in Romans 3 says none is righteous, none are good, no one seeks for God, altogether they are worthless. And on top of that, if that's not bad enough, we're spiritually dead.

And we're following the course of this world, the power of the air. Satan himself, we are depraved, we're defiled. We are wretched with no desire for God whatsoever.

That's the reality. God, on the other hand, is holy. He is righteous. He is pure and no sin and nothing unclean, nothing unholy can approach Him. He dwells in unapproachable light. He is too high. He is too holy for us.

He is perfection, and He dwells in perfection. And we can't even imagine it. We've never seen it.

We've never been there. Peter got a glimpse of it in the transfiguration, and he was terrified. Isaiah peers into the throne room of God, and woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. I disintegrate before a holy God. God is holy.

He's perfect. We are wretched and defiled. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Wretch? Oh, that's kind of harsh. Is that true? Absolutely. It is true.

He's holy. The lying and the stealing and the immorality and the murder, all of this. This is what the Son of Adam does. This is what we do. This is what we know when we cut on the news. This is what we see. When we look out there, this is what we see. Sin is not something just outside of us.

It's not something we do. It's the core of who we are. We are wretched. And all the terrible human evils in this world, everything that's disintegrating out there is a testimony to our wretchedness.

This is because of us. But in His grace, in His grace, God made a way for sinners like you and me to be reconciled to Him. And so, when Christ was crucified on the cross, it wasn't just our sin that He took. He took our judgment.

He took our penalty. Therefore, when you think about the grace of God, you don't simply think about, well, I didn't earn my salvation. That's true. But also think about how wretched and sinful you are.

And so am I. You know, you may say, well, praise the Lord that, and I hear what you're saying, but if anyone is in Christ, He's a new creation. Yes, yes, that is true. But you, like me, are still in this body of flesh, and we're going to fight, we're going to struggle with our sinful flesh. Even Peter, after Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit, Paul still had to call him out for being a hypocrite. Peter, like us, battled his flesh.

So did Paul. And we will do it to the day we see glory. And so that's why, like the little ones this morning, they recited the Lord's prayer. The Lord told us when we pray, we say, Lord, forgive us our trespasses. Forgive us. When the Lord taught us to pray, He said ask for forgiveness. Now in most churches, you're not going to hear about your wretchedness. Many churches will say, you're just simply quite wonderful.

You're amazing, you're successful, you're just beautiful people. And therefore, they have defamed God. They have made Him tame, they have made Him tolerant, and I want to ask you, is God tolerant? Does God tolerate sin? No. God is not tolerant. This is not a word I would use to describe God. Patient, tolerant, no.

No. God does not accept anybody except through the blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, you can come to Him wretched and miserable and sinful, adulterous, drunkard, liar, all of these things.

You can come to Him just like that, but you can't stay that way. You must be born again. The wicked cannot stand before the Lord. Do not be deceived, Scripture says. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of earth, or the kingdom of God.

I want to read you something. This is from Jonathan Edwards. In 1741, Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest minds that American evangelicalism has produced, I think, brilliant guy. But he was among the pastors who preached during what we call, what started what we call the Great Awakening. And it was through sermons like I'm about to read, just a little snippet, that people were cut to the heart and understood their own wretchedness and cried out to God.

This is a tough thing to hear, but I'm going to read it. Jonathan Edwards, this sermon was called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And he said this, all men are standing on slippery ground, but there is nothing that keeps wicked men out of hell but the mere pleasure of God. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment, for you are a burden to it.

The creation groans because of you. God holds you over the pit of hell in much the same way as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over a fire. His wrath burns, burns towards you like fire. He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else to be cast into the fire. He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in His sight. You are ten times more abominable in His eyes than the most hateful, venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended Him more infinitely than any stubborn rebel did his prince, and yet it is nothing but His hand that holds you from falling into the fire at every moment.

As tough as that is to hear, I want you to know that's absolutely true. And if you don't believe it, look at the cross. That is how much God hates the sinner and yet loves the sinner. He took, Christ Himself took justice. He took our punishment.

He was crushed for our iniquities. And don't ever forget that every single one of us in this room deserves divine justice. We deserve condemnation. And it's because of the Lord's great love for us that we're not consumed.

So what am I saying? Think again of Peter, the bold one, the vocal one. I will never deny you. Listen, beware of spiritual self-confidence. Beware of self-righteousness. Beware of believing that you are spiritually stronger than you are, every single one of us are but sheep prone to wander, and we will fall just like that, lest anyone thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. Apart from the grace of God, you will fall, and so will I. Think of Peter again. Lord, I'll never deny you. Peter, tonight you're going to deny me three times. So please understand this, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not something you ever put behind you.

It's not, well, I came to save in faith when I was 12 years old at VBS. I got it. I understand it. I'm moving on.

That is not it. If you've received the grace of God unto salvation, then you go back to the cross of Jesus Christ every single day and you praise Him for it. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord, for saving a wretch like me. You, like me, need to draw from that grace every day, and you need to be reminded how the Lord drew you up from death into life, from despair to hope. You need to remind yourself every single day. We need to be like that publican, that tax collector who wouldn't even lift his eyes to heaven and say have mercy on me, a sinner.

Yes, that's how we are. The apostle Paul, he never forgot that from which he came. I was a blasphemer.

I was a persecutor of the church. I was the chiefest of sinners, but the grace of God overflowed for me. Praise God for His grace.

Preach the gospel to yourself every single day. Now, Peter did not get that in what we just read, but he did eventually. When he wrote his first letter, 1 Peter, he said this, set your hope fully on the grace of God.

He got it. He even challenges you and me to grow in that grace of God. There's grace for Peter. There's grace for Paul, the one who persecuted the church. There's grace for you and me.

Don't ever forget it. Don't ever forget the grace of God and how He's had mercy on you. Same grace, how sweet the sound saved a wretch like me, a wretch, a wretch, yeah, absolutely. Apart from the grace of God, I am nothing, nothing.

Let me ask you a question. What characterizes you as a Christian? Well, I come to church on Sunday, put my kids in the children's ministry.

I serve from time to time. I've got conservative values. I believe this is the Word of God. I believe what God says is a sin is a sin. I'm a member of the church. I believe, well, even the demons believe. Well, I've said the profession of faith. I've said the prayer.

Well, Peter made a profession. You're the Christ, Son of the living God. Right after that, get behind me, Satan. You're not setting your mind to the things of God.

There are many, many, many people who profess to know the Lord, and many will come to the Lord on that day and say, Lord, Lord, didn't I come to Calvary Church? I took of communion. I took of the Lord's Supper. I served.

I served at Champ Sports. I did all these things. Depart from me. I never knew you. Narrow is the way, and few find it. I want to ask you, are you one of the few?

Are you one of the few? Well, how do you know? I've said my prayer of faith. I believe.

Here it is. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they do what? Follow me. They follow me. Peter, follow me. If you're my sheep, you follow me. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

This is it, Peter. I want you to understand this. I want you to leave your boat. I want you to leave your fishing gear. I want you to leave the things of this world.

I want you to forsake everything from me, and if there's anything in this world that stands in the way of you and me, I want you to get rid of it. Do that, Peter. That's number one. Number two is put down that sword in your hand.

You want to go charge the capital? No. That is not what we do. Put down the sword. Pick up the armor of God. You're going to preach the Word. Use the sword of the Spirit, Peter. You, Peter, have denied me before men, but now I want you to confess my name before men. In fact, Peter, you're going to go and preach the Gospel to the same ones that crucified me.

That's number one. And, Peter, I want you to have unshakable faith. Remember how you sank in the water?

You remember that? You lost your faith, but I want you to have faith to move mountains. I want you to have faith to see a lame person walk. I want you to have faith to raise the dead, Peter, and I want you to put away your pride and your ego and humble yourself before me. I want you to tend to my flock. I want you to love them, Peter. Feed them.

Tend them. As I've loved you, Peter, I want you to love my church, and by this all people will know you're my disciple if you love one another. And, Peter, I want you to be willing to die for me, for my glory, and you will, and you will.

I've told you that. They're going to stretch out your hands. They're going to dress you. They're going to take you somewhere you don't want to go.

And Peter, there's one other thing. I want you to follow me. Don't ever, ever, ever walk ahead of me. Don't walk to my side. Don't walk to my left.

Don't walk to my right. You follow me. Peter denied Jesus three times, and to be restored, Jesus reminds him of his old name, Simon Peter. And he asks him three times, Simon Peter, do you love me? Peter affirms, yes, Lord.

You know I love you. Then do what I tell you to do, Peter. Follow me. It's the same thing I said to you in the very beginning when we first met. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

It's the same thing I'm telling you from the beginning. Follow me. I want to ask you something. Do you love the Lord Jesus?

I really want you to consider that question. How often do you, do you actually think about Jesus? I'm not talking about here on a Sunday, I'm talking about the other six days of the week. How often do you contemplate the Lord of glory?

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Peter confessed his love for Christ, and how did he show it? He left everything.

He did. He didn't get it in the beginning, but he left everything. Complete surrender. So I ask you, what does Christ want for you, from you? What does He want from me? He wants absolute surrender.

He wants everything. He will not take anything less. Whoever believes in the Son of God shall have eternal life, but whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on Him. If you love the Lord, you will keep His commandments. If you obey Him, you will follow Him. My disciples know my voice, and they follow me. My sheep know my voice, and they follow me.

Obey and follow. You know, the pastors and the elders and the deacons all pray every Sunday morning for the services. We pray a lot, not just on Sunday mornings, but we pray for you all the time.

And it's our joy to do that. It's our prayer that every single person that comes on this campus knows the Lord Jesus unto salvation. But we're aware of the parable of the sower.

There are different soils, different hearts in this room as we speak, online as well. And there may be some here that don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, and they may be fully aware that they don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. There may be some who profess to know Jesus Christ, but don't live like it. And that's what some call carnal Christianity, which is no Christianity at all, it's in fact hypocrisy. And there may be some who have been babies in the faith for far too long, who ought to be teachers by now. There may be some who have lost the love that they had at first. They have forgotten from that place that the Lord drew them out of.

But there are some. There are some who have been put in the refiner's fire over these past 12 months, 15 months, maybe all their lives, and they've radiated the light of Christ. They are shining like the stars in the sky for the glory of God.

These are the humble ones. These are the ones that are grateful for that little crumb that falls from the master's table, who loves the Lord not just for His benefits, but for who He is. He is the Lord Jesus. He is the Lord of all.

One of my favorite verses in Scripture is from King David, it's in Psalm 27, I'll read it to you. He says, one thing I've asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and inquire in His temple. That's all I want to do is stand in the presence of the Lord. Is that you?

Does that describe you? To go and open the Word of God until we see Him in glory and just meditate on Him and think about the unsearchable riches of Christ. Oh, He's enough, He's everything. He is heaven. He's heaven. No matter where you are in the Christian life, every single one of us, whether we've been doing this a very long time or we're newborns or whoever we are, we all need the grace of God.

Every single one of us. Despite all His failings, think about this immense love that the Lord had for Peter. If Peter's story had been cut off right after his denial, we would think there's no way that this man saw heaven. He just denied the Lord three times.

There's no way. But Peter received grace upon grace upon grace, and he says himself in 1 Peter, set your mind fully on that grace. And in his grace, this dispensation of grace we call it, he is calling us, you and me, to be restored to himself through His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who takes away the sin of the world.

Remember, He washes you clean. He takes what is wretched and defiled and unholy and makes you brand new. And one day, He's going to present us blameless and spotless before God the Father. What is the message that you and I need to be proclaiming? The same one that Peter proclaimed, the same one that the apostle proclaimed. When he went into the church in Corinth, he said, I delivered to you as of first importance that Christ died for sins in accordance to Scriptures, and He was buried and He rose on the third day. That's the message we want to take to this world out there.

And that's the message that you and I don't want to forget. George Whitefield was a preacher and an evangelist, a very famous, famous one back in the 1700s. And the Lord used him, like He used Jonathan Edwards in a great way, to bring forth revival in colonial United States. And around 1740, Whitefield went to a church in Charleston to preach. And the population in Charleston in 1740 was about 6,500 people. And these were some of the things that was going on in Charleston when he went down there.

There was an outbreak of smallpox, yellow fever epidemic was killing several people every day, major hurricanes had hit the city, fires had destroyed part of the city, and there was a Spanish Armada sitting out on the coast waiting to attack. And Whitefield goes into the church to preach. And he said this, he said, these are humane people, talking about the church goers, hospitable, willing to oblige, they're completely accomplished in every way, it's a good looking group, but they don't understand the one thing they need, they need to repent, to repent. And he said to him this, he said, God has been contending with the people of South Carolina for two years with disease, hurricanes, and a new war, and nothing will provoke God more to give you up His prey into their teeth and lack of repentance and unbelief. And he said, repent, repent now. You think all of this stuff happening out there is because of the world?

No. It's judgment coming to the house of the Lord. He is shaking his church. So when we see these things happening out there, I want you to understand this, please, God is sovereign.

He is working all of these things according to His purposes. But make no mistake about it, He's shaking His church. When the world is increasingly dark, it is because the church is increasingly dark. We are the light of the world, but if the light in us is darkness, how great is the darkness? When we look out there and we see everything that's happening out in this dark world, it should cause every single one of us to look to the Lord.

Yes, Lord, I'm going to trust you and I'm going to follow you, but many people are still looking everywhere else. What about this man? Think about Job for a second, real quick. Job suffered. His whole world was crumbling around him. He lost everything. So he's crying out to God, why?

Why would you do this? And God comes and He answers Job, but He never tells him why these things are happening. And this is what God says, I'm paraphrasing here. He says, where were you, Job, when I laid the foundation of the world? Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars in the sky? Can you send forth the lightning, Job? Have you walked in the depths of the sea? Tell me, Job, since you have such understanding.

And what does Job do? Oh, I repent, I'm sorry, I despise myself, I repent in dust and ashes. Lord, forgive me for not trusting. And if 2020 has taught us anything at all, it's taught us that we are not in control of our own destiny. And that's the reality. And so, what I'm asking you to do is see through spiritual eyes. See through the lens of Scripture. It's easy to look out in the world and see everything that's happening right there and get angry.

It's very easy, don't do that. If you want to be angry, be angry at your own heart. Be angry at your own sin. The world is condemned already. It's been evil and opposed to God since the serpent said, did God really say? No, here.

Look here. If you want to be angry, be angry here. And the more you will grow in this grace and knowledge, the more you will hate your own sin and the more you will adore Christ and be thankful for His infinite mercy and grace.

What am I saying? Get right with the Lord if you haven't already. Most people in this world have no idea that they're standing right on the edge of eternity and they can go into the presence of the Lord just like that.

Life is a vapor. Eternity is a millisecond away. Have faith in the Gospel of God. Tell somebody. When is the last time you shared the Gospel with somebody?

Really. I'm not talking about inviting them to church. I'm talking about share the Gospel with somebody. Today, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, tell somebody the good news.

There is power in the Gospel and set your mind, set your eyes to Christ Himself and don't ever take them off. He is the alpha and the omega. He's the one who died and is alive forevermore. His eyes are a flame of fire. His feet are like burnished bronze out of the sound of His mouth. The mountains will melt and from His mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword. He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of His nature and He holds the world together by His power, the word of His power. He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He's the way, the truth, and the life and nobody comes to the Father except by Him and then He's coming back. Are you ready? Are you ready?

Are you ready? When He comes, be found faithful, pressing on, enduring through all of this. We worship a good and merciful God, draw near to Him. So Heavenly Father, we come before the throne of grace. We thank You for this grace, this undeserved grace.

Father, continue to mold us and shape us into the image of Your Son. Forgive us of our sins, Father, every single one of us sins. Put it on our hearts to confess these sins and to be cleansed of all unrighteousness. And help us to have a deep love for Your Word. Let us not rest any day until we open this Word and partake of this manna from Heaven. So bless us, Father. In Christ's name, amen.