The Hardest People to Reach

Years ago, I was pastoring in a very small community. And one Sunday night, after I got preaching Sunday night service, I had a young guy named Michael come and talk to me. And Michael was aggravated.

He was ready for a fight. And I said, Michael, tell me your story. He said, Chad, I am in a community, a larger city near where you're pastoring. He said, we are starting kind of an LGBT homosexual type support group. I'm the leader of this thing. And I want you to know I'm against everything you just said that you stand for.

You are wrong about the whole homosexual thing. I listened to what he had to say. I'm going to make a very long story short. I ended up leading that young man to Jesus Christ. He left the lifestyle. One year later, he came back to visit the church just to let me know he's still walking with Jesus Christ.

It was an incredible work of the Holy Spirit. Now, at about that time, there was a man in the community. He was mean. He divided churches. He got pastors kicked out of their churches. His family couldn't stand him. I think there were demonic issues. I'm sure there were demonic issues in his life.

He was one of the most mean men I've ever met. If you were to talk to him about are you truly born again, because born-again people don't act the way you're acting, he would talk about, well, I was a deacon at this church. I led that man to Jesus Christ.

I give money to that organization. He could not begin to fathom that he might not be born again. You say, now, Chad, why are you telling us that story? The reason I'm telling you this story is the reality hit me that the hardest people to reach are not the outright wicked pagans. I led that young man to Jesus.

He got radically saved. They're not the hardest people to reach. The hardest people to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ are quote, unquote, good, self-righteous religious people who think they're okay with God, but they're not. It's almost like inoculation. They've been injected with just enough religion to keep the gospel away.

I'm going to say it again. The hardest people to reach are not the homosexuals, the lesbians, the this, the that. The hardest people to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ are quote, unquote, good people, the righteous people, the people who think they're saved, but they're not. In Romans chapter one, last week, we talked about how the apostle Paul says the wicked pagans are under God's wrath. We need the gospel because, and you remember last week, he lists all these wicked, nasty pagans. And we're with Paul on that because we're conservatives.

We're like, Paul, go get them. Let's take down the liberals. Let's take down the homos. Let's take down them all.

Let's do it. And now what Paul does is he turns his guns on us. And he says, let me talk about people who think they're right with God, but are really not right with God. In other words, in chapter one, Paul talks about the reprobate lost. Chapter two, Paul is dealing with the religious lost. Reprobate lost and religious lost.

Do you know you can be religious and still split hell wide open when you die? And so chapter one, Paul's trying to say these wicked pagans are under God's wrath. Chapter two, you self-righteous people are under God's wrath. And so I'm gonna do two things I don't usually do in a sermon. Number one, I wanna cover the entire chapter in one sermon.

Usually I like to break it up, if we break it up, you're gonna lose the flow of thoughts. We're gonna go through the whole chapter, that's number one. And then number two, I'm gonna use the New Living Translation today.

I usually use the New King James Version, but when I'm reading big chunks of scripture like this, it flows a lot better with the New Living Translation. And so here's the thing. Here's the reactions, there's really three reactions that quote unquote good people, self-righteous people, religious people have when they're confronted with the gospel.

Reaction number one is this, no, no, no. I'm okay, I'm not as bad as, well, I'm pointing at you, but I'm not talking to you. I'm not as bad as him. I'm not as bad as her.

I'm okay, I'm not as bad as, fill in the blank. Look at what Paul says in verse one. You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad and you have no excuse. When you say they're wicked and they should be punished, you're condemning yourself for you who judge others do these very same things.

And we know that God in his justice will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God's judgment when you're doing the same things? Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you?

Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin, but because you're stubborn and you refuse to turn from your sin, you're storing up terrible punishment for yourself for a day of anger is coming when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers, but he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness.

There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil, for the Jew first and also for the Gentile, but there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good for the Jew first and also for the Gentile, for God does not show favoritism. So I want you to see this in verses one through three. The Apostle Paul says in verses one through three, you're judging others? You're looking down on others and you don't realize you're just as messed up as they are?

You understand what he's speaking against? This idea that I'm good, I'm righteous, they're all messed up. In fact, Jesus Christ addresses the same attitude in Luke chapter 18. In Luke chapter 18, he said two people come to the Saturday morning prayer service. They walk in and one is a reverend. He's reverend, doctor, bishop, so and so. He's got the title, he's got the degree, he's memorized the Bible. He comes into the prayer meeting and then a tax collector comes into the meeting. That's more than just an agent of the IRS. This is somebody who had turned his back on God's chosen people, had allied with God's enemies. He's a wicked, godless man. Both of them come to the prayer meeting.

So you got that in your mind? And here's what Jesus says in Luke 18, verse 10. Two men went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee. The other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and he prayed this prayer. Listen to this. I thank you, God, I'm not like other people, like cheaters, sinners, adulterers, and I'm certainly not like that tax collector.

I fast twice a week. I give you a tenth of my income. But the tax collector stood at a distance and he didn't lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed.

Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, God, have mercy on me. I'm a messed up, wicked, perverted man. I tell you, Jesus says, this sinner and not the bishop, this sinner and not the reverend, return home justified before God, for whoever exalts himself will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Do you see what he's saying right there? Man, we love to look, we can always find somebody more messed up than we are, can't we? Yeah, I might be messed up, but at least I'm not like that. It makes us feel good to be able to point to somebody else and say, I'm not like that. And the apostle Paul is saying to self-righteous people like that, you better be careful.

You might not be as good as you think you are, you might not be as saved as you think you are, but we love to find the messed up people and point to them, don't we? In fact, let me put a picture of this notorious man in US history up here, see if you recognize this picture. Anybody know who that is? Jeffrey Dahmer. Jeffrey Dahmer killed, dismembered, and cannibalized 17 people.

The man murdered and ate 17 people. I'm gonna cut to the chase, there's this beautiful story about how Dahmer, when he was in prison, a man begins to witness to Jeffrey Dahmer. Jeffrey Dahmer repented of his sins and gave his life to Jesus Christ, he got born again. And after he got born again, he began to read the Bible and says, I need to be baptized. You know, I found out when people had an encounter with Jesus, I don't have to twist their arm and beg them to be baptized, they just read the Bible and say, I need to be baptized. Dahmer's basically saying, that old Jeffrey Dahmer, the cannibal, is dead, I'm buried in this water, I'm a new person in Jesus. And the story about how they were able to get a baptism tank into that prison with a pastor's help, it's an amazing story, I won't go through all the details.

But he was baptized on May 10th, 1994. The pastor who baptized him said he had a hard time understanding he was absolutely forgiven by God. Now, I saw this online, what amazed me was not the story of Dahmer getting saved, I've seen people get saved.

What amazed me were the comments I read underneath that story. Here's one, we can't simply ask the invisible man in the sky for forgiveness and everything is okay, it doesn't work that way. Here's another one, isn't the usual thing for criminals to get religion in prison? The pastor's just trying to sell the rights to a movie, when's he gonna start selling his merchandise?

Here's another comment. Dahmer's probably pretending to have found God because it'll get him out of jail faster. Thankfully, he was beaten to death in prison and we don't have to worry about him anymore. See, that's the human race.

We want to find somebody and bash them because it makes us feel better about ourselves. I wanna tell you something about Jeffrey Dahmer that's gonna blow your mind. In your flesh, you have the capability to do exactly what Dahmer did. No, no, no Chad, I'm a vegetarian.

Okay. If you were raised in his environment, attacked by the demons that attacked him, the flesh is flesh. Every human being has the capability to be as messed up as him. So maybe we ought to stop pointing fingers at each other and to say we are all messed up people. Look, the ground is level at the foot of the cross, there's no one better, no one worse, we are all messed up people. So the first reaction that quote unquote good people have to the gospel, the first reaction that religious people have is no, no, I'm okay, I'm not as bad as that person.

Second reaction is this, no, no, I'm okay because I didn't know any better. Look, here's what you need to understand. The Bible divides the world up into two groups of people. One, for those of you who don't know the Bible, one group are what the Bible called the Jews. These are God's chosen people, they're the people through whom God sends his son Jesus, the Messiah into this world. God gives them the Bible, the law, revelation, those are God's chosen people, those are Jews. Gentiles are everybody else. Now the apostle Paul is anticipating what his Gentile readers are gonna say.

No, I'm good because I'm a Gentile and I don't have the law so I don't know any better. Look what he says there in verse 12. When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed even though they've never had God's written law and the Jews who do have God's law will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it for merely listening to the law doesn't make you right with God, it's obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. Look at verse 14. The Gentiles who do not have God's written law show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God's law is written in their hearts for their own conscience and thoughts, either accuse them or tell them they're doing right. And this is the message I proclaim, that the day is coming when God through Christ Jesus will judge everyone's secret life. Do you see what he's saying?

He's saying, okay, you might be a Gentile, you're not a Jew, you don't have the 10 commandments, okay, I get it. But every human being has a sense of right or wrong written on their heart. I don't care what culture you go to around the world, every culture in the world thinks it's wrong for one man to steal another man's wife and to commit adultery. That's cross-cultural. Every culture around the world thinks it's wrong for me to steal something of yours. That's written on our heart. Every culture around the world thinks it's wrong for a strong person to murder an innocent person. That's wrong cross-culturally. Incidentally, those of you who are in apologetics, that's called the moral law, it's the moral argument.

Why is it that around the world there is this instinctive sense of right and wrong? Do you see what Paul's saying? He's saying, don't throw this thing that you didn't know any better, you do know better.

And he's saying in verse, the beginning of this, verse 12 and 13, you can't plead ignorance, okay? A few years ago, I was coming back from Virginia. Dawn and I visited some folks in Virginia.

It's late at night, we're coming back. And I looked at my rear view mirror, I was like, you gotta be kidding me. That blue light, and so I pulled over and the officer came up and he said, Mr. Harvey, you're going 65 miles an hour. I said, well, I thought this was a 65 mile an hour zone.

He said, no, it changed back there. This is a 55 mile an hour zone. I said, officer, I'm sorry, I thought it was 65. And the officer, so nice, he said, well, if you thought it was 65, I'm not gonna give you a ticket because you didn't know any better.

Do you think that's what he told me? I don't care what you say you thought, this is a 55 mile an hour zone, and he wrote me the ticket. Ignorance, ignorance did not get me off the hook. And the apostle Paul says, you Gentiles, you can't plead ignorant. God's law is written on your heart.

You see what I'm saying? Incidentally, I had a friend, this is years ago. I would never, seriously, I don't do this. I don't even like the title, pastor, reverend, whatever. Friend of mine was a pastor. He was pulled over years ago. And he said, he was embarrassed when he told me this story. He said the officer came to his window, he rolled it down. He said, you're going 12 miles over the speed limit. And my pastor friend said, but officer, I'm a pastor. And the police officer said, oh, you're a pastor? He said, yeah. He said, then you should know better than anybody that we should follow the laws of the government. Here's your ticket, sir.

And he gave him the ticket. And so the apostle Paul says to those people, I'm okay. I'm not as bad as that person. You're under God's wrath. I'm okay.

I didn't know any better. You're under God's wrath. Again, the hardest people to reach are religious, self-righteous, quote, unquote, good people. And then there's another group.

There's a third group of people who say, hey, I'm okay. I'm all right with God. Because I'm a religious person.

I'm a religious person. In fact, look what Paul says in verse 17. You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God's law and you boast about your special relationship with God. You know what he wants, you know what is right because you have been taught his law.

You are convinced that you are a guide to the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness. You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God, for you are certain that God's law gives you complete knowledge and truth. Well then, if you teach others, why don't you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? You say it's wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery?

You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples? You're so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. No wonder the scriptures say the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you. The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God's law, but if you don't obey God's law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile, and if the Gentiles obey God's law, won't God declare them to be his own people? In fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God's law will condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God's law, but you don't obey it, for you are not a true Jew just because you were born to Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision.

No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God, and true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law. Rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit, and a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not people. Now Paul is turning his guns on religious people, us, and he says to the Jews, you think you're right with God. You think you're saved. You're going to heaven and you're going to be called proud of several things. Number one, you're proud of your title, verse 17.

No, no, no, I'm okay because I'm a Jew. You're proud of your title. Number two, you're proud of your knowledge of the Bible, the law. You know the Old Testament inside and out, verses 17 through 18. You're proud of your outreach, how many converts you make. You're a light to the Gentiles, verses 19 through 20. Number four, you're proud of your ritual. You got this ritual called circumcision. I've been circumcised, therefore I'm right with God. Now none of these things are bad things, but verse 17 says the problem is you brag about it and you rely on it. None of these things I've just listed to you are bad until you get cocky and arrogant and you rely on that to save you. You see those four things they're proud about?

I'm going to go back over them. They're proud of their title, their knowledge of the Bible, their outreach, and their ritual of circumcision. Now watch this. Take out the word Jew and replace it with Christian. And I've met a lot of Christians like this. They are born again, they're saved, they're okay, they're going to heaven, they're all right, number one because of their title. I'm a member of cross assembly. That title makes me okay. I'm a deacon in my church. That title makes me okay.

I'm the chairman of the building committee. That title makes you okay. There's going to be a lot of chairman of building committees and deacons and pastors in hell because they relied on their title. Your title means nothing in the eyes of God. Secondly, they're proud because of their knowledge of the Bible.

I've met people like this. I've got these highlights and they're color-coded highlights. I've got a system of highlighting my Bible and they show you your Bible, it looks like a coloring book.

Wow, that's incredible. You really know your Bible? They're proud because, verse 19, they're a guide to the blind. I've witnessed a person, I remember leading a guide to the Lord years ago.

They're proud because of their rituals. They're baptized. I'm right with God, I'm okay. I was baptized. I signed my name up, went to a little baptism thing, got wet, I'm okay, I've gone through the ritual. We're just like the Jews that Paul is warning against.

You can have the title, you can have the ritual, you can have all that stuff and still be lost, dying, and going to hell. Paul says something very interesting in verses 25 through 27. He says it's better to be an unbaptized believer than a baptized non-believer. And then Paul gets to the heart of the matter, verses 21 through 23. You religious people, you talk about how great you are and the Bible's great, but do you practice what you preach, verse 21?

You teach others, why don't you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but are you stealing? You say it's wrong to commit adultery, but are you committing adultery? The Apostle Paul specifically addresses religious people who have a form of godliness, but when you pull back the covers, they're just as messed up as everybody else.

Y'all just, you see what he's, I'm really trying to hit this thing hard. Just because you have the title and you have the facade doesn't mean you're right with God. And he gives some examples. I mean, he starts with adultery.

Do you see that? You say you're right with God and the people shouldn't commit adultery. Paul says, I know a lot of y'all are committing adultery.

I had a thing a couple years ago. This guy came up to me, and he was trying to get everybody back under the law here at Cross Assembly. Chad, we need to follow the Jewish law. You're not doing a good job as a pastor. We gotta get everybody back under the Jewish law. First of all, we need to make sure all the men of the church are circumcised.

Okay, I don't know how you enforce that. You know, next membership class. All right, fellas, pull them out. What do you? Let me pause while the translators are translating that.

Okay, all right. You gotta make sure they're all circumcised. And then Chad, you have worship on Sunday morning. The Jewish way of doing worship is Saturday, and he is chewing me out. Because we worship on Sunday, not Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. What that man did not know is that I knew he's having an affair and cheating on his wife.

So you're lecturing me on what day we have service while you're having sex with a woman that's not your wife. Do you understand why Paul might be a little irritated here? Jesus does the same thing. On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, you religious people, you think you're so great, are you a murderer? No, no, no, Jesus, I'm not a murderer. Okay, do you hate your brother or sister in Christ?

Because Jesus says if you hate somebody, if you have a hatred toward your brother or sister in Christ, if you have that hatred, you are by default a murderer. Yeah, I was talking to my kids about this years ago, and I told them about a phenomenon I call the Southern Gospel. So what's the Southern Gospel? Remember back in the old days down south, everybody went to church? If you're part of the community, you go to church.

And I said the Southern Gospel is this phenomenon that I saw pastoring rural churches for years that people would go to church on Sunday morning, and if they go to church on Sunday morning, they're all right and they can live like hell the rest of the week. And I explained that to them, and we went to a barbecue restaurant, it's another little community, it's not around here, don't worry about it, it's a little southern community we went to, and we got our ticket. We're standing in line to pay our bill. And we're standing there, and we're standing right behind this lady. And this lady starts talking to the cashier. And the cashier says to this lady, hey sweetheart, how you doing? Hey honey, I'm doing good. How's your mama doing? Oh, she's doing good, you know. She's still got arthritis, but it's getting a lot better. Oh, well we've been praying for her. Well thank you so much, it's working.

Keep on praying, God is good. All the time, all the time. And they're doing this kind of stuff. I saw your cousin last week, she's still engaged?

Yeah, she's still engaged. She and her fiance, they're gonna honeymoon down to Myrtle Beach, they're gonna go to the Alabama Dinner Theater and Dixie Stampede, and they're just having all this hillbilly conversation going on here, and I'm just listening to them. And then the cashier says, well I see you at church on Sunday. Yeah honey, I'll see you on Sunday, and they left. And when the lady walked off, the lady behind the counter said to her co-worker, I can't stand that, and she used a term for a female dog. How you doing honey, been praying for your mama, seeing church on Sunday?

I hate that. Fill in the blank. And that's what Paul's addressing right here. He's saying you religious people, maybe I'll do a little gut check here. And then he says something really interesting, he says something astounding, verse 23. He says you're so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. No wonder the scriptures say the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.

Do you hear what he's saying? The whole world hates a hypocrite. They hate people who are so religious, but they know their living lives that don't match up with that, the world hates that. I'm gonna be very careful, because some people after I shared this first service started saying I know who you're talking about. I'm about to say this, I can give you the names of five, six different pastors that fit into this category. I'm not thinking about one in particular.

Well, I am thinking about one, but you don't know who they are. I saw this happen last year during the election. I've seen it happen with multiple pastors. I'm gonna leave my wife, I'm gonna shack up with a new woman, we're gonna start our own church, and then you go online and they're talking about vote Trump 2024 because Trump is gonna bring back traditional marriage. Trump is gonna make sure the homosexuals don't take over our world. These homosexuals, gay marriage is destroying everything. The same couple that broke up their marriage and got together is now lecturing the rest of the world about the homosexuals destroying marriage, and the homosexual community is saying you're lecturing us about destroying marriage? You've destroyed more marriages through your example than we ever will as homosexuals.

I didn't think that would get a lot of applause. You need to listen to me. We can blame them all we want about the breakdown of the family. Judgment starts in the house of God. You can glare at me like that all you want, I'm just telling you.

Maybe we ought to get our mess cleaned up before we start getting mad at the rest of the world. And so, how do you apply this? Well, in three ways. Number one, I'm asking you, good, self-righteous, religious people, are you sure you're born again? You should make people doubt their salvation. My Bible says this, examine yourself to make sure you're in the faith.

Every now and then it's good to give a little gut check here. Because Paul says something in verse 13 that seems contradictory. He says, for merely listening to the law doesn't make us right with God. It's obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.

Now, wait a second, Chad. Isn't there a contradiction here? Because in chapter one, verse 17, Paul says, it's not by works that we're saved, it's by grace through faith. And he will say this over and over and over again in the book of Romans. In Ephesians, he'll say, we're saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves. It's not of our works, it's a gift from God. Right there he's saying, you're justified by works.

Is he schizophrenic? Paul's a smart man. He knows what he wrote a few verses before. Here's what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, the law doesn't save you. Morality does not save you. But your life, the fruit you're producing, is a really good indicator as to whether you're born again or not.

Listen to me. Apples do not give life to apple trees. But they're a great indicator as to whether that apple tree has life. Your fruit does not make you born again. But your fruit is a really good indicator as to whether you're truly born again or not. That's what Paul is saying right there. And so I'm just saying to some of you, every now and then it's good to do a gut check and make sure we really are born again. To a self-righteous, good, religious people, I got a second application here.

Stop trying to fix everybody else. If you look at the first few verses here, the first few verses of this chapter, Paul is excoriating people who are focused on the moral lives of everybody else. And Paul's saying, maybe you ought to stop focusing on everybody else and make sure your walk with the Lord is what it should be. I love this, it's a credible story in the Bible.

Jesus has been raised from the dead. He's walking along the Sea of Galilee with the Apostle Peter and John. And he says to Peter, Peter, here's what I'm gonna do in your life, here's what's gonna happen in your life. Here's my plan for your life, Peter. And after Jesus tells Peter that, do you remember what Peter does? He turns and looks at John and he says, well, what about him? You know what Jesus says? Hey, Peter, why don't you mind your own business? What is that to you, what I do with him? You follow me.

Maybe some of, I'm gonna tell you something. One of the most stressful things about being a father and a pastor is trying to get people to live and act the way I think you ought to act. Don't nobody listen to me. I've given up trying to make people, I can't even get my dog to do what I want my dog to do. So I've kind of given up on that and say, I'm gonna walk with Jesus in the integrity of my heart. I'm gonna walk with clean hands and a pure heart. I'm gonna preach the word of God, but I'm not gonna get wrapped up in your life and trying to fix you.

I can't even fix myself. And I don't know, I was talking to several counselors, Christian counselors. Don't go to a secular counselor.

There's some good secular counselors out there, but if you're a born again believer, I think you ought to go to a Christian counselor. That's just my, whatever, I get off these tangents. You know, when I stick with my script, I do okay. It's when I get away from the script that I start getting into trouble.

So let me just take all that back. But I've talked to Christian counselors and I've said this, why do most people come to you for counseling? You know what they keep telling me over and over again? Most people come to me for me to give them advice on how to fix somebody else. And I tell them, you can't fix other people. You can fix yourself and expand your influence and as your influence expands, you start to influence others. But stop worrying about trying to fix everybody else.

Let's talk about what's going on in your life. And that's what Paul is saying to these people. Stop worrying about the moral life of everybody else. You follow Jesus Christ.

A third application here is this. Be authentic. Be honest. Have you noticed Paul, now watch this, Paul's not coming down hard on people who sin. Paul is coming down hard on people who sin but act like they don't sin and we got it all together. That's what makes Jesus furious. Not people that sin.

If you look at, maybe there's some examples of some exceptions here. By and large, the people Jesus came down hard on was not simple people. It was religious people who acted like they didn't struggle. That's what Jesus gets angry at. Jesus says, no, God is drawn to sinners who beat their chest saying, I'm a messed up person. He's not drawn to self-righteous people who put on this facade.

So just be open and honest. We all wrestle and we all struggle. In fact, I was reading about this this past week. There's a tattoo artist in Manchester, England named Dean Gunther. Gunther said a little while back, a client came up to him and said, look, I hate working out but I've always wanted six-pack abs. Can you do a six-pack ab tattoo on me? And that's what the guy did.

Somehow he was able to cover this guy's flab with a six-pack ab tattoo. I was talking to the team about this right before we came out and I said, now here's the story I'm gonna close out on and some people said, hey, do you have that guy's telephone number? I said, all right. When I read that story this past week, it reminded me of Christians. We have issues, we struggle, but we put on this facade. Oh, we've got it together. I'm not as bad as that person.

I'm not as weak as that person. I've come to the realization. Can I tell you the most astounding thing I've learned as a pastor?

We are all messed up people. So instead of running from that and lying to ourselves about it, why don't we just admit, God, have mercy on me a sinner. I can't do it without Jesus Christ.

God, I need you. This should be honest. There's a beautiful proverb, Proverbs 28, 13. People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

You covered up with that tattoo. I'm self-righteous, I'm good. You ain't gonna get anything from God.

You come clean and say, Father, I'm as messed up as everybody else. I need Jesus. Have mercy on me a sinner.

God snaps his finger and says, that's what I'm looking for right there. Would you stand up with me right now? I wanna talk for just a second. You had to the perverts, you had to the wicked people, the pagans, I wanna talk to you, but I also wanna talk to the religious people. You've gotten just enough religion to get inoculated from Jesus. You've drawn up in church, you got the title, but you're not born again.

There's hope in Jesus Christ. If you'll stop concealing your sin and openly admit I'm a messed up person, God will forgive you of your sins. He'll give you a fresh start and a new beginning because listen to me, we're all sinners.

You're a sinner, I'm a sinner. Somebody's gotta pay for that sin. Either when our God will just let us off the hook. If God let us off the hook at that moment, he ceases to be a holy, just God. He can't just let you off the hook. Somebody's gonna have to pay for that sin.

Either you're gonna have to pay for it or somebody else is. Praise God, 2,000 years ago, somebody else paid for your sin. His name is Jesus. He hung on a cross for six hours paying for your sin.

And if you'll stop trying to conceal that sin and put on this facade and come clean with God, he'll forgive you. I want you to bow with me right now. I've said this before, forget about everybody else in this place. Right now it's just you and Jesus in this room. It's just two people in this room, you and Jesus. I want you to even forget about me. I want you to say this to Jesus.

If this captures what's going on in your heart, say something like this to him. Jesus, I'm a sinner. I'm a messed up person. Jesus, I gotta come clean.

I've done some bad things. Say this to me. But I believe you died for my sins. You paid the price for my sin.

Say this to me. I believe you were buried. And I believe three days later God raised you from the dead. You're alive right now, Jesus.

Now this is so important. Say to him, Jesus, I turn away from my sin and I turn to you. Please forgive me of my sins. Please forgive me of my sins. Lord, come and take control of my life. And when I die, take me to heaven.

In Jesus' name, amen. One of, it's not the biggest, but one of the biggest challenges I have when I share things like this with people is in your mind you're thinking, for the average sinner, what you've just said is true. But I've done some big stuff. I've done some bad stuff.

And I'll hear somebody say this. God could never forgive somebody like me. God could not, he can forgive this, he can forgive that, but he can't forgive what I've done. When you've just said that, what you've just said is the power of your sin is greater than the power of the God of the universe. And brother, that ain't nothing more powerful than the God of the universe. In other words, when you say, I've sinned too badly or too many times, God can't forgive me, you ready?

That's blasphemy. You're saying sin is more powerful than God. Why don't you just sit back and relax and understand that our God is mighty to save. He can move whatever sin issue is in your life. He can forgive you of whatever you've done. Y'all believe that the God of the universe who parted the waters, who raised the sun from the dead, who created the universe in six literal days, you think that God is powerful enough to forgive you of your sin, you believe that? Then if you believe that, raise your hands and raise your voices and let's just sing to that God right now.

Sing this to the Lord. And Savior, he can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave.

Yes, he did. So take me as you find me. All my fears and failures. Fill my life again. I give my life to follow. Everything I believe in. Now I surrender.

We surrender. Sing, Savior, he can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered. Sing, Savior, it's Savior.

He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave.

Jesus conquered the grave. Let me test your Bible knowledge right now. How much condemnation is there for those who are in Christ Jesus? Zero.

None. I'm telling you, if you're a born-again believer, when God looks at you, it's amazing. He doesn't see the abortion from 15 years ago. He doesn't see the infidelity from seven years ago.

He doesn't see this, he doesn't see that. If you're a born-again believer, when God looks at you, he sees the righteousness of his son Jesus. God loves you just as much as he loves his son Jesus Christ. So while you're afraid, while you're walking in shame, while you're walking in fear, be bold, be strong, for God is with you.

And if God is with you, who's against you? And so I think God sent me here today to be his mouthpiece. And I think God says to you, Which means the Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And the Lord turn his countenance to you and give you shalom. Peace, wholeness, mind, body, soul, spirit, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit we pray, Amen and Amen. God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ.