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Good evening everyone welcome to steadfast baptist church
You can all go ahead and find your seats. We will go ahead and get started
We're going to begin this evening off at song number 228 I love to tell the story
Song 228 I love to tell the story
Song 228 sing it out all together
The story
Gee
Jesus
I love to tell the story
Oh
It's just
To tell the old story
Oh
I love to tell the story for those who know it
And when it seems of glory I see
Oh
It'll be my evening glory to tell the old
Great singing everybody. Let's go ahead and bow our heads for a word of prayer
Heavenly father. Thank you so much for this day. Thank you for steadfast baptist church and everyone that's gathered here together
Thank you for all the souls that were one today and for all the visitors
Father we ask that you bless this service you bless pastor
Shelly to teach us and preach to us a edifying sermon that we can all walk away better christians for your honor and glory
It's in jesus name. I pray. Amen
All right, next up we have song number 250 some 256, excuse me
256
Look to the lamb of god
Song number 256
If you from sin are longing to be free look to the lamb of god
He to redeem you died on calvary
Look to the lamb of god
For he alone is able to save you look to the lamb of god
When saints and tempts and doubts and fears assail look to the lamb of god
You in his strength
Look to the lamb
God
For he alone is able to save you look to the lamb of god
Are you a weary does the way seem long look to the lamb of god?
His love will cheer and fill your heart with song look to the lamb of god
Look to the lamb of god
For he alone is able to save you look to the lamb of god
Fear not when shadows on your pathway fall look to the lamb of god
Enjoy your sorrow christ is all in all look to the lamb of god
Look to the lamb
For he alone is able to save you look to the lamb of god
Great singing
Thank you for coming to steadfast baptist church if you didn't get a bulletin already
You can lift up your hand or usher can come by and get you a bulletin
Uh friendly reminder, we're getting close to finishing psalm 59
So if you can quote the entire chapter to a non-family member, you can receive a special prize for that on the inside
Service times and stats make sure you're texting that information or sending that to your soul winning captains
And if you have maps that are completed just please mark them put them in the done folder
Or if they're not completed you can put them back in that singles map
Designation area and we'll get that cleaned up for you on the right is a list of several expecting ladies
Our upcoming events are there listed baby shower on the 24th the ordination of brother?
Salvador alvarez on the first at pure words baptist church. Dr. Stringer is going to be preaching on the 8th
October 4th of the 6th is the heritage of the lord conference and then there's the details for the baby shower below
we
Gave out prizes for our mighty men's competition. And so congratulations to those who participated
And thank you to everybody who came to the friday evening service
We had about 43 guys and so it was a great spirit and I really appreciated pastor men to the sermon
We ended up, uh, not being able to stream it very successfully, but we recorded it and re-uploaded it
So if anybody wants to watch that or share that you can on our rumble channel
On the back. We have the list of our prayer list
And so if you have any other prayer requests just please email us and we'd like to add you
That's really all I have as far as announcements. We're going to go ahead and sing psalm 149
Which is our psalm of the week psalm 149 so, you know, it's singing out nice and loud
All right psalm 149
So
Rejoice
Me
Let them see
Me
The high praises
To execute
Me
Great singing everybody. Does the offering plates are going around? Could you please turn to leviticus chapter number 19 leviticus 19?
So
Leviticus chapter 19
And the lord spake unto moses saying speak unto all the congregation of the children of israel
And say unto them ye shall be holy for I the lord your god. I'm, holy
Ye shall feel fear every man his mother and his father and keep my sabbaths. I am the lord your god
Turn ye not unto idols nor make to yourselves molten gods. I am the lord your god
And if you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the lord
Ye shall offer it at your own will
It shall be eaten the same day you offer it and on the morrow and if ought remain until the third day
It shall be burnt in the fire
And if it be eaten at all on the third day it is abominable it shall not be acceptable
Therefore everyone that eateth it shall bear his iniquity because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the lord
And that soul shall be cut off from among his people and when ye reap the harvest of your land
Thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard
Thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger. I am the lord your god
Ye shall not steal neither deal for deal falsely neither lie one to another and ye shall not swear by my name falsely
Neither shalt thou profane the name of thy god. I am the lord
Thou shall not defraud thy neighbor neither rob him the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning
Thou shall not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind
But shalt fear thy god, I am the lord
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment thou shalt not respect the person of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty
But in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor
Thou shalt not go up and down as a tail bearer among the thy people neither shalt
Thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor. I am the lord
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him
Thou shall not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people
But thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the lord
Ye shall keep my statutes
Thou shall not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind thou shall not sow thy filled with mingled seed
Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee
And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman that is a bondmaid betrothed to an husband and not at all redeemed
Nor freedom given her she shall be scourged they shall not be put to death because she was not free
And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the lord unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
Even a ram for a trespass offering
And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the lord for his sin which he hath done
And the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him
And when ye shall come into the land and ye shall have planted all manner of trees for food
Then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised
Three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you it shall not be eaten of
But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the lord with all
And in the fifth year shall ye eat the fruit thereof that it may yield unto you the increase thereof
I am the lord your god
Ye shall not eat anything with the blood neither shall ye use enchantment nor observe times
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads neither shall thou mar the corners of thy beard
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor print any marks upon you. I am the lord
Do not prostitute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore
Lest the land fall to whoredom and the land become full of wickedness
Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the lord
Regard not them that have familiar spirits neither seek after wizards to be defiled by them. I am the lord your god
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man and fear thy god. I am the lord
And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land you shall not vex him
But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you
And thou shalt love him as thyself for ye were strangers in the land of egypt I am the lord your god
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment in meat yard in weight or in measure
Just balances just weights a just ephah and a just hen shall ye have I am the lord your god
Which brought you out of the land of egypt?
Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes and all my judgments and do them. I am the lord. Let us pray dear heavenly father
Thank you for this day. Thank you for the souls saved. Thank you for allowing us to sing praises to your name
Thank you for your commandments. Please bless pastor. Shelly as he preaches your word. Jesus name. I pray. Amen
Amen. I want to look at verse 14. The bible says thou shalt not curse the death
Nor put a stumbling block
Before the blind but shalt fear thy god. I am the lord
So the bible tells us that we're not supposed to put a stumbling block
before the blind
And of course the bible
very clearly means what it says in a carnal sense that
You would literally not want to do something that would hinder a person that is physically blind or cause something to
Hurt them and so you'd want to take care of them and help them
but of course the bible is a spiritual book and it goes beyond just
Carnal commandments and just carnal wisdom and carnal instruction
And there's another aspect of this and the bible describes unsaved people or the lost as being blind
And in the same way that you would not want to cast a stumbling block in front of someone that's physically blind
And they would fall and hurt themselves
we also wouldn't want to put a stumbling block in the way of someone who's spiritually blind or
Unsaved and cause them to stumble or to fall
And of course when guiding someone who is blind
It's inevitable that there will be stumbling blocks
Or just stairs or steps and if you're a good guide you would help that blind person
Hey, watch out. There's a step here lift up your foot kind of high here so you can make sure to get on that step
That would be something that you would do if you cared for the blind person you would
Help the blind person say there's a stumbling stone ahead. Let's be careful
Let's watch out and make sure we step over that so as that person does not destroy themselves
The person that hates the blind person would not warn someone of a stumbling block that is before them
Now this is just some general wisdom and I want to explain that before we get into our sermon
But go over to romans chapter number nine go to romans chapter nine
in
life
We kind of have to understand some truths the Bible tells us us to not put a stumbling block in front of the blind
But there are stumbling blocks in front of the blind
It's just saying we shouldn't add to that we shouldn't purposely do that ourselves
But there will be stumbling blocks and there is a specific stumbling block that is before every blind person
That we all must step over and that is the gospel of jesus christ
And the bible tells us this in romans chapter number nine look at verse number 30
What shall we say then that the gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness
Even the righteousness which is of faith now again the word even your bible means
Specifically I always try to think of that word when i'm reading my bible because it helps me understand the passage better
But it's just saying specifically
the righteousness which is of faith
It says in verse 31, but israel which followed after the law of righteousness
Have not attained to the law of righteousness
Then the bible asks this question in verse 32. Wherefore the word wherefore is an older word meaning why?
Why?
Why did israel?
Not attain unto righteousness verse 32 because they sought it not by faith
But as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled
At that stumbling stone as it is written behold. I lay in zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense
And whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. So the bible is explaining is
That god has put a stumbling stone in front of all mankind and that stumbling stone is jesus christ
and so
What we want to do though as saved believers who have believed on jesus christ and we've stepped over that stone
Is we don't want to allow the rest of the blind to end up tripping on that stumbling stone and falling
We want to explain to them. This is a stumbling stone
You also must step over and say hey watch out for the stumbling stone
You need to step over this in order to be preserved if you don't step over it
It's kind of an illustration of dying and perishing
And the reality is those who don't accept the gospel will die and will go to hell
And of course israel they tried to attain salvation and eternal life through the law of righteousness
But the problem is is no one is good enough to go to heaven by their righteousness
and so
the jews
Believing that they could obtain righteousness on their own
rejected
This the fact that there's a stumbling stone and so they walked right into the stumbling stone tripped on it and didn't believe in jesus
And now they have fallen and perished and gone to hell and so it's contrasting
The gentiles and israel and what's interesting in verse number 30
Is it says that the gentiles?
Which followed not after righteousness?
Have attained
To righteousness. What is that saying? It's saying the gentiles don't keep god's commandments
The gentiles don't follow the law
The gentiles don't have the law yet. They're somehow righteous. You ask this question. How could you be righteous?
By not following the commandments it's because you have the imputed righteousness of jesus christ
acquired through faith in jesus christ
And that's why it even says at the end of verse 33 and whosoever
Believest on him shall not be ashamed
And so one gets saved by faith alone as clearly evidenced in these few verses
That salvation is a free gift
But to the prideful to the arrogant who's not willing to admit that they're blind not willing to admit that they need help
Refuses to take the advice of stepping over the stumbling stone
And so they just walk right into it and they're going to perish and they're going to die and they're going to fall
And in order to be saved you must humble yourself and admit it's not something you can do
You can't earn it you need to step over that stumbling stone
Which is stepping over jesus christ in a sense and what that means is you're believing in what christ did to save you
You're not trusting in your own works because if you do it yourself, you'll trip and you'll fall
You need you need to be able to be guided to step over that stumbling stone and we can't do it on our own
But we must believe in jesus christ and that was a stumbling stone unto israel because they were too prideful
They were too arrogant they thought that they were justified by the law
But they were found guilty they're sinners and since they didn't want to believe in jesus christ
They literally got replaced as a nation and that's going to be explained in the next few chapters of the book of romans
But that's not necessarily exactly where I want to focus on my sermon on
I just want to explain those concepts before I kind of get into my my sermon go to matthew chapter 9
Go to matthew chapter number 9
We have to understand
That the lost are blind
And there is a stumbling stone
I didn't put the stumbling stone of the gospel there. That was god. God put jesus christ there
What I must do is warn the blind about that stumbling stone
So he steps over but something I could do is I myself could add to that. I could put my own stumbling stone there
And there are many people today
They're putting stumbling stones in the way of blind people and causing them to fall and to not actually get saved
Now in matthew chapter number nine the bible says in verse 10
And it came to pass as jesus sat and meet in the house
The old many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples
And when the pharisees saw it, they said in the disciples why eateth your master with publicans and sinners?
But when jesus heard that he said unto them they that behold
Need not a physician
But they that are sick
But go ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice
For i'm not come to call the righteous
but sinners to
repentance
Now, what is jesus christ?
Getting at what is the point here the pharisees and the sadducees?
Believe that in order to go to heaven or in order to be righteous. You have to keep all the law
But here's the reality no one can do that perfectly and so they condemn
Jesus christ entertaining publicans and sinners which are
on paper the worst sinners
On paper the people that jesus christ is fellowshipping with in this story are quote really bad sinners. It's obvious
It's open the public. I mean, what is a publican?
A publican is a
jewish tax collector
So in in many cases the jews felt betrayed by them
So they're like, oh you're collecting taxes from all of us and giving to the romans
But it wasn't just the fact they were tax collector. They were also dishonest in their tax collection and many of them would
overcharge
all of their jewish brethren and then they would take and kind of
Skim off the top they would skim a little bit
And so essentially they're paying the romans what they need, but they're skimming off the top a little bit
And here's the thing you have to do with the jewish tax collector
You have to do with the publican saying because otherwise he's going to tell the romans then to come throw you in prison
so really the publicans in many ways were considered the worst they were the
The the people being bribed the government officials that we all just can't stand
That are just ripping us all off and taking advantage of their situation and in many ways. They are some of the scummiest people
That were alive at that time and everybody despises them
But
jesus christ
is
willing to hang out with them
And he's willing to what impart to them the gospel and how to be saved but the pharisees and the sadducees they think like
Why are you even talking to these people?
And jesus christ is saying well they that be holding not a physician, but they they're sick. What's similar to that? Well someone that's blind
Would need someone to guide them and someone that's not blind
You don't need anybody to guide them and the reality is the pharisees think that they're right with god they think that they're saved
But really they're actually blind
And those that were blind the pharisees and i'm sorry not the pharisees the publicans and the sinners here
They at least admit hey i'm blind
In the sense that hey i'm a sinner. Hey, I do have serious issues
I need to seek someone to help me seek someone to save me
And that's what jesus christ is saying there in verse 12, but then in verse 13, he says I will have mercy and not sacrifice
What is the contrast between these two words? Well mercy?
Is compassion and forgiveness?
Sacrifice would be
devotion
Or offering of yourself and this is what we see in christianity today that many people are casting a stumbling stone
In front of the sinful and saying well in order for you to be saved or to get right with god
You must make sacrifice you must repent of all your sins
You must turn over a new leaf. You must change your life. You must be willing to surrender
They're basically putting in front of them. You must sacrifice
But you know what? Jesus christ desires he desires mercy over sacrifice and for the sinful to be right with god
In the context of salvation all one must do is recognize they're blind
and ask for help
Recognize that they are sick and ask for help
All they must do is call upon the name of the lord and faith and they will be saved
And so we as god's people we don't want to put a stumbling stone in the way
Of the sinful and cause them to think that they have to somehow clean up their lives
Or change their ways in order to get saved but help them understand that salvation is a free gift by faith
And you know when we go out soul winning there are plenty of people
That I I feel like they don't want to hear our message because they think that's what we're going to do to them
They think that we're going to explain to them
Well in order to get saved you got to start coming to church and cleaning up your life and doing works
And they're not interested
But when we explain that we're offering a free gift when we're offering them grace
Many times they change their opinion. They're interested. And so what we must do is we must offer grace
For sinners and that's the title of my sermon this evening is grace
For sinners we want to be people that offer grace for sinners not a stumbling block not telling them they have to sacrifice
But we're offering them mercy and really it's not even us. It's god that's offering them mercy
We're simply trying to warn them about the stumbling blocks that are out there and helping them to step over them
And helping them to not be destroyed by the stumbling blocks that already exist and making sure we ourselves are not casting any stumbling block
In front of anyone else but the false prophets today are casting out so many stumbling blocks
Repent of your sins turn over new leaf. You have to get baptized to be safe
Just all these heresies that so many people and you know, it's so frustrating you talk to people
They're like, oh i've been to church and they say you have to repent your sins
You can tell this person's constantly been tripping and falling and stumbling their whole life
They've been constantly just beat up by lies and deception and hypocrisy and false prophets
And it's just frustrating because it's hard for them to want to trust a new guide
You're coming they're still blind
And so many people have just caused them to literally just walk over just stumbling block over stumbling block over stumbling block
And it's hard for them to trust you
To say like no
Those are all bad. I will help you step over the stumbling block and then you'll finally see
You'll finally realize what was going on, but that's what we must do
We must offer that grace to sinners and we should not be afraid to preach the gospel to the most sinful of society
To the people that are in the the ghettos and in these derelict areas
So many people would be afraid to enter the areas. We go soul winning in south dallas
I get told when i'm going so do you know where you are?
And i'm like, yeah the harvest field
Where the gleanings are just laying on the ground
I don't feel I don't even feel comfortable in the rich areas because y'all don't want me
Y'all are mad that i'm there y'all literally have a sign on every yard and every door saying go away
But you go in these ghetto areas and they're way more welcoming
They're way way more nice the children out there excited that you're that someone's out there to talk to them and you know
You just have the backwards mentality
We should have grace for sinners and we need to go to the poor
And to the ghetto and to the sinful and we need to preach them the gospel of jesus christ
And we need to offer them grace
And that's what jesus christ wants. Go to hosea 6. We'll look this up. This is a quote from hosea 6
So what does it mean that god desires mercy not sacrifice? It means that jesus christ wants to save us by faith not by works
It's that simple
And of course this is a theme throughout the entire bible there's also other
Aspects of this particular passage of what that means but it's just so funny how someone that's unsaved could even read that passage
And think that it's teaching works
I literally had a conversation with someone that's not saved and they told me that the word mercy here
means covenant loyalty
And i'm like the word mercy
Means covenant it's like almost the exact opposite
Of what the word really means but of course, you know, there's probably uh, if you look up some
Articles and things online they do make that case. It's not like this guy pulled it out of thin air
There are plenty of websites and lexicons that will say yes this word, you know
Chesed means covenant loyalty
But you know
The reason why they're probably coming to that conclusion
Is if you think about it in a sense like when moses
Was was communing with god about how the children of israel had sinned against him
God kind of said like i'm going to destroy them all and start over
And then moses is like well
You know, that's you know, you kind of made this promise and it's kind of kind of make you look bad and like
For thy name's sake will you just kind of pardon them and preserve them?
And so you could almost see in a sense. It's like god showing mercy to the children of israel
Was in some ways him honoring the commitments and the covenants and the promises he had made to them so
Yes
If if I make a promise if god makes a promise to us and think about the promises he's made. How about eternal life?
God promised us eternal life despite our future sin roman's chapter number five and six
Pretty much toward the end of the beginning of that make it clear that god's grace will cover our sin
So in a sense when we sin
God still honors his covenant and then gives us mercy and forgiveness and covers that sin
So is there an element of god keeping the covenant?
For us in salvation and his mercy. Yes, but that's not what mercy means mercy doesn't mean covenant loyalty mercy means compassion and forgiveness
Could it be in the context of god honoring a covenant or promise he made to us?
Yes, but that's where people they love to go back to the hebrew not speaking the language
And read a lexicon and try to tell you that a word doesn't actually mean what it means and i'm trying i'm trying to figure out
How 54 scholars of the king games bible messed up on the word mercy so many times
In the bible that was that was a pretty big mess up
But let's just even look at hosea chapter 6 look at verse number one and let's see if we could just even from the context
Understand the idea of mercy verse 1 come
And let us return unto the lord for he hath torn and he will heal us
What's the context the children of israel had had turned away from god?
And as a result god punished them, but if they turn back to god, what will he do?
He'll heal them that sounds like compassion and forgiveness to me, doesn't it?
He tore but you know what he'll heal you that sounds like the physician
Who's not calling the righteous but calling the sick and he's going to do what?
He's going to heal them, which is the same context he hath smitten
And he will bind us up
That sounds like forgiveness again, doesn't it compassion and mercy verse 2 after two days?
Will he revive us in the third day? He will raise us up and we shall live in his sight. Hey, that sounds familiar
The third day is going to raise us up. What did jesus do? Oh, yeah
He rose again on the third day and that gives us the victory that gives us grace that gives us salvation
That gives us salvation is what jesus christ did for us verse 6 for I desired mercy and not sacrifice
And the knowledge god more than burnt offerings meaning what that god doesn't want us to get saved by offering a bunch of sacrifices
He wants us to be saved by mercy
We screwed up. We failed we sinned but it's by god's mercy that he saves us
That's what it means in. Hosea 6 go over to matthew 12. I want to show you another example this
Matthew chapter number 12 go back to the book of matthew
There's one other time that this particular phrase for I desire mercy and not sacrifice is mentioned
One clear application of that though
Is the idea that jesus christ is going to save us by mercy and not by our works
Not by the sacrifices that we make I don't have to surrender my life to god to be saved
Now should I sure I should be a living sacrifice. That's my reasonable service, but to be saved
All I did was accept a free gift
And it was by his mercy that I was saved that I was redeemed and those who think that they're good
Think that they can see
And don't need jesus. Well, they're actually blind and they're going to stumble on jesus christ and they're going to be crushed when they fall
Now matthew chapter 12 also brings up this concept for a second time. I'm not going to read all the beginning but
You'll notice in verse 1
At that time jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn and the disciples were in hunger and began to pluck the ears
Of corn and to eat
But when the pharisees saw it they said and behold I disciples do that which is not lawful to do
Upon the sabbath day the context of matthew chapter 12 verse 1 is the fact that the disciples ate corn on the sabbath
According to the pharisees they had broken the sabbath
Now if we skip down just a hair
It says in verse number seven, but if you had known what this meaneth
I'll have mercy not sacrifice you would not have condemned the guiltless. So again, we see this verse being brought up in this context
What was the other thing that jesus christ had had pointed out to them was that david ate the showbread
When it was not technically lawful and then secondly, this is more important in verse five
He said that have you not read in the law how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath
And are blameless that's an interesting phrasing
He's basically saying the priests break the sabbath
Every single day on the sabbath like every sabbath day they break it
But then what they're also blameless
How can you break the sabbath and be blameless?
It's because the the pharisees didn't understand the sabbath
They didn't understand the spirit of the law
versus the letter of the law
And this is how an unsaved person doesn't understand salvation by faith because they say well
How can someone just be breaking god's commandments?
And be righteous and saved
It's because salvation is by grace
Just like on the sabbath the priest just breaks the sabbath all day long, but then he's somehow blameless
Just like me as the son of god. I break god's commandments all the time
But in another sense i've never sinned and i'm perfect and I have god's righteousness and i'm saved
Why because this is the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law by the letter of the law?
I deserve hell by the letter of the law
I'm wicked by the letter of the law i'm evil by the letter of the law
I deserve to go to hell but you know by the spirit of the law i'm saved by god's mercy and by his grace
And i'm a child of god and I haven't even sinned. It's the sin that dwelt in my flesh
And so we have to understand this spiritual distinction
And then when he brings up this passage in verse seven
But if you had known what this meaneth I will have mercy not sacrifice you would have not condemned notice this
The guiltless what the pharisees didn't understand is that the disciples didn't even break the sabbath
Because the sabbath and then he explains how the sabbath is not um
I guess it's in a parallel passage, but he explains how uh man was not made for the sabbath but sabbath for the man
meaning that it's not like the sabbath is something that
Man has a sacrifice for but rather the sabbath was to be a blessing unto man
And so we weren't supposed to work a day. Is that is that really a curse?
Like if your boss came and said don't work today
Oh, man, what a burden
That would be really frustrating right if you show up tomorrow morning on monday. He says hey just take the day off
And i'm still gonna pay you you'd be like
Okay, bye
You know you wouldn't be frustrated by that
You would be thinking then that's great. And here's the thing. That's what god did god implemented the sabbath as a day of rest
It wasn't to be a burden but then the pharisee somehow took that and made it a burden
Like oh now you can't even like flip a light switch or press an elevator button or all this other weird stuff
But it wasn't designed like oh my animal fell in a ditch. It's the sabbath. I can't work
No, they would pull their animal out of the ditch or hey i'm hungry and I have no way to eat
Well, you can't make yourself any food or get any food in any way. You better just starve
It's like no, of course you could get something to eat. That's that's silly
It wasn't to take a day off so that you would suffer
It was a day to take off so you could rest
But obviously someone in need someone that needed something let's help them
I mean think about the pharisee and the sabbath they were mad that someone was healed on a sabbath day
Thinking that that was somehow bad
And jesus was even looking on them with anger and with wrath in the sense that he's like is it lawful to do good on the sabbath?
And they wouldn't even answer the question
He's like, what do you mean? You don't know the answer to this. It's so obvious
Of course, we would do good on the sabbath. Of course, you would help someone in need on the sabbath
You don't understand the spirit of the law
And the reality is that we are in the same vein saved by grace and by mercy
Not by the letter of the law because by the letter of the law shall no man be justified
Now go if you would to matthew chapter 21, we need to understand that
He desires mercy and not sacrifice is there's a difference between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law
And understanding that jesus christ
You know even in the law itself
There were quote exceptions
In the sense that yeah
Obviously you're supposed to observe the sabbath. But what about the priest they didn't have to they were an exception
What about in the case that someone needed healing exception?
What about in the case where someone neat was hungered and plucked corn out of the the field that was an exception
They didn't really violate it from god's perspective even though it was a technical violation
And so we have to understand that god offers us grace
And it's about the spirit of the law not always just the letter of the law think about it this way
It's illegal to to drive more than the speed limit is it not
I mean, isn't it? I mean, it's just objectively wrong
But don't police officers drive faster than the speed limit all the time
And in fact doesn't a police officer have to drive faster than the speed limit to catch someone that is speeding
I mean, how could how could the the police officer catch someone who's speeding if he could never break the speed limit?
Obviously the guy's going to drive faster and get away
So the police officer has to break the speed limit just to catch the guy but are we sitting here thinking like that's not fair
Or do we just understand that's the spirit of how the law works
How about another thing?
What if you had a medical emergency and you're driving faster than the speed limit to get to the hospital?
Are the police officers going to call pull you over and give you a ticket
No, they're going to give you grace on that because they understand hey
There is exceptions to this particular speed limit when you're in need when you have a medical emergency
That's the same way that god was working with the sabbath in the sense that hey this guy that needs to be healed on the sabbath
Let's heal him
This guy that needed food like if you honestly think that this guy is breaking the sabbath by getting healed on the sabbath day
Then you're wicked, you know, you just don't even understand the law at all
Because the law is to love the lord thy god with all thy heart and to love thy neighbor as thyself
Upon these two hang all the law and the prophets and of course god can't caveat every single possible exception and idea
And everything that's where the spirit of the law comes into play. But those who are unsaved they often are very harsh
They're very judgmental
And they bring down people very very very difficult. They crush them with the letter of the law often
They're usually hypocrites about it and we as god's people we need to be willing to show grace on the people
and grace under the blind
And understand the spirit of the law and we look at the loss and the sinful and not say well you shouldn't
Do drugs and you shouldn't drink and you shouldn't be a harlot and you shouldn't be this person
I don't want to give you the gospel
If you really wanted you would you would come and beg me for it
You know, that's a bad attitude
That's the calvinist attitude the calvinist added the calvinist believes that those who want to get saved will just come
Show up in irresistible grace and they'll just get saved
You know what? That's not what the bible teaches and you know, there's a lot of calvinists that are not saved
And there's a lot of people in the ghetto that are saved
That are never going to darken a door that have never read john calvin. They don't even know who that is
Yeah
They don't even know anything about reformed theology. They don't even know what the word theology even means
But they're saved and you know what that's a consistent theme in the bible. Look at matthew 21 verse 32
For john came unto you in the way of righteousness and he believed him not but the publicans and the harlots believed him
And ye when you had seen it repented not afterward
That you might believe him notice what the bible tells you what repentance means
To believe doesn't it?
Did you notice i was saying repent in one hand and then believe in the other?
And notice it was in the context of john the baptist many people say oh john the baptist preached repentance
Repent your sins. No, no, no, he preached repentance believe on jesus christ
That's what john the baptist preached. Now. Did john the baptist tell people to give up sin? Absolutely
Did john the baptist rebuke people for sinning? Yes, did john the baptist tell people to do things that were right?
Of course, you know what the baptism
Of repentance that john the baptist preached was to believe on him that should come after him that is on christ. Jesus
Okay, and so here even in this passage we have it abundantly clear that many people believe john the baptist's message
And john the baptist was a great soul winner and notice who john the baptist got saved harlots
And publicans, but he didn't get the religious leaders saved did he?
He didn't get the work salvationists saved because you know what? They're too prideful
To admit that they're a sinner just like the harlot they were too prideful to admit
They're a sinner just like the publican
They thought they were better than people and you know what?
That's what all work salvationist people are is they think that they're better than other people
And they'll say well, I can't believe you think that person saved and i'm not it's like well guess what you believe in works
And they believe in faith. Yeah, but they're more sinful than me
Oh, well, you know what doesn't matter because if you're a sinner you deserve hell
It doesn't matter if you're a harlot or you're just lied one time
You're a sinner you deserve hell and the only salvation is by grace through faith
And we need to realize that we need to offer grace for the blind
We are going out there
Yeah, of course the harlots blind of course the publicans blind but we can give him the salvation by faith and he can get saved
Go to luke seven
Luke seven now here's here's the reality
You don't really see
Beyond this verse
We're not just like inundated
With all of these disciples of jesus christ that were publicans and harlots
Like when we get to the early church and we see the people going out and evangelizing the whole world
It's not just like harlot so and so and publican so and so I mean
It's mostly people that were actually devoted to christ their whole life. Okay, or had some capacity now
There's some exceptions obviously the apostle paul
Had some issues and there's a few people that you know
Matthew the tax collector he's considered one, but he's by and large
It's not just the vast majority of people that really do the works of god had this type of background
But you know what a lot of them were saved
And I think people get confused. They think like oh well, we're going on these ghettos, but they're not coming to church
But they're still going to heaven
And you know, it's not my job
To force everybody to serve god, it's my job to preach the gospel to people and get them safe
And salvation truly is free
And the reality is nine out of ten probably will never do anything for god. In fact nine out of ten didn't even say thank you
But you know what? They were still saved. They're still cleansed
And the prideful the arrogant the Pharisee
They want the person in church so that they can brag about their convert
Even though they made them in many cases twofold more the child of hell themselves
You know, i'm i'm satisfied that most of the people I get saved I won't see them again
Until we all die and go to heaven
That doesn't bother me because you know what i'm glad that I won't see them at judgment day thrown in the lake of fire
Now in luke chapter 7 look at verse 39 now when the pharisees which had bidden him saw it
He spake within himself saying this man if he were a prophet
Would have known who and what man or woman this is that toucheth him for she is a sinner
It's just it's so funny how they use this word as if they're not
right
You ever read that and you're just kind of thinking like okay
You're not a sinner or what like it's almost like they had this classification of people as sinners now
I i'll just be honest with you
I don't know exactly how to interpret this word. I think
Based on contexts in in the bible has some different meanings
Sometimes they refer to sinners as like gentiles
But other times it's clear that the person being referred to as a sinner is not
A gentile zachias, which is a child of israel and he's also described as a sinner, okay
I think that kind of what the mentality is at this time and this is my personal opinion
Is it was someone that was just obviously not following god's commandments?
So, you know you it's like basically from our perspective it's just someone that's just like not going to church
It's not someone reading their bible and so in a sense you're just like well this person's a sinner
But the reality is we're all sinners
Okay, it's just like in their mind
They're kind of thinking like well this person's a sinner because they're not offering the sacrifices. They're not being cleansed by the temple
They're kind of just in open will willful rebellion to god in the sense
That's kind of my personal opinion of when I come across this word how they're probably using it because generally speaking like we're all sinners
But they also just don't realize that they're in the same category
Anyways, and that's why jesus is constant rebuking them and showing them. Well, you're sinners too and you're hypocrites and everything like that
But notice this woman. She's a sinner. I think that's probably true. She probably is
Maybe more sinful
Than most people in society. Maybe she's a little bit worse than your average woman in society
She's a sinner and they're saying well if jesus was really a prophet
He would never have anything to do with this person notice this he wouldn't even let her touch him
So he's letting this woman minister on him verse 40 and jesus answering said him simon
I have somewhat to say unto thee and he saith master sean
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors the one owed 500 pence and the other 50
And when they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both tell me therefore which of them will love him most
Simon answered and said I suppose that he to whom he forgave most and he said in him thou is rightly judged
And he turned to the woman and said unto simon see is thou this woman I entered in thine house
Thou gave us me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears
And wiped them with the hairs of her head thou gave us me no kiss
But this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet
My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment
Wherefore I say unto thee her sins
Which are many?
Are forgiven?
For she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little
And he said unto her thy sins are forgiven
And they that sat at meet with him began to say within themselves. Who is this that forgives sins also?
And he said to the woman thy faith
Has saved thee go in peace now we notice the reason this woman didn't get saved because of the work she did
She got saved by her faith
That's crystal clear in the bible, but of course when someone was very sinful and saved and all the debt forgiven
It can maybe motivate them
To then love jesus christ and to want to do some works for jesus christ
But it's not the works that saved her. It was the faith that she had in jesus christ that had saved her
But what's clear is she had many sins. She was a very sinful person and you know what jesus christ offered grace
unto the sinner
But notice their contract. Oh, you wouldn't hang out with this woman if you realized she was a sinner
Uh, buddy, you're a sinner too. Did you notice the parable wasn't a sinner and a non-sinner?
It was a little sinner and a big sinner
But guess what? They're all sinners
And so he's trying to point out. Hey, this person's just yeah, this person's a sinner, but you know what?
You're a sinner too
And in another context even though she had a lot of sense that gives her an opportunity to love me greatly
And so there's many times in many cases people that have lived pretty sinful lives
And made some really big mistakes
But when they got saved
They made a big change and they started serving god faithfully
And and I think that we as god's people, you know what we don't want to do
We don't want to be people that say only the people that were raised in church
Are going to serve god or can be reached we need to realize there is a lot of people out there that are very sinful
That if we could reach them with the gospel, they may even love jesus more than we do
And so we should offer them that grace out there and that compassion
And we should even recognize, you know, there's probably people in here
And and we're not going to talk about it, but they they've committed some really bad sins
But you know what? They appreciate what jesus did for them and they love him much
And it's i'm grateful that someone offered grace to that person and helped them to realize that yeah, you did screw up really big
But jesus will forgive you
And we should have that same message to people and let them know that jesus can forgive big sins
And many sins go if you would to psalm 51 go to psalm 51
Jesus christ offers grace to sinners. We should do the same. I I think that
Well, I hate
fornication
And god hates fornication and why I hate prostitution and god hates prostitution we shouldn't hate prostitutes
And unfortunately, our society has more prostitution than it's probably had in ever at any other time
It's probably more prostitution than we've ever had
But you know what? Some of them may end up getting saved
And some of them may even not only get saved actually serve god
And so we shouldn't we shouldn't just have this idea of like let's just kill every harlot and we hate every harlot
And they're so wicked and they're so satanic and blah blah blah
We should be willing to give them a little grace and offer them the gospel
And hope that they could get saved and hope that they could actually be delivered now again
I'm not talking about reprobates and stuff
I'm, just saying there are people that are very sinful though and have done really bad things
That can still be reached with the gospel of jesus christ
And we should have the mentality that we're willing to give them that grace and help them over that stumbling stone
whereas many I mean unfortunately
There's a lot of people in those industries and those ways of life and they just say there's no way I could go to heaven
Because of the things i've done
They think they're too sinful and they think I can't sacrifice enough
But you know what salvation is a free gift and we need to give them that grace and that loving message
Psalm 51 verse 14 deliver me from blood guiltiness. Oh god thou god of my salvation
And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness
Oh lord, open thou my lips and my mouth shall so forth thy praise for thou desire is not sacrifice
Else I would give it
Thou delight is not and burn offering
The sacrifices of god are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart. Oh god that will not
Despise you know what god wants god wants sinners to just recognize they're a sinner and accept grace
He doesn't want he doesn't want the sinner to just be like, okay
I'll offer a new sacrifice or here's the sacrifice that'll make me right with god or I gave up drinking now again
I'm not saying he doesn't want us to stop sinning but in the context of salvation all he wants
Is for someone to just admit they're a sinner and say god be merciful me a sinner
The publican went home justified because he said god be merciful me the sinner he didn't say
I thank you that i'm not like other men
Oh, i'm so glad that i've repented of all my sins i'm so thank thank you god that I tithe on everything
That's a weird prayer
There's been some phonies in our movement and they say things like this, don't they they say these weird things
They're just thinking like what's wrong with you?
Okay
you know
God wants us to be merciful and and and he wants us to have a broken and a contrite heart and understand that
We're just sinners
These self-righteous individuals. There's something wrong with them
We should be willing to go to the sinful
We need to go to the harlots and the publicans and go into the ghettos and preach them the gospel
We need to go into the derelict areas and preach to the drunkards and preach to the drug druggies and whatever
I've even been in some really bad areas
I've been in areas where it's like, you know
an addiction recovery center preaching to some people that you're just thinking like you're hanging on for dear life
And some of them were reprobates in there, but not all of them and you know, we need to show them that grace
And not allow these people to put all these stumbling blocks
but you know, there's a lot of people that
They get confused
And they'll say oh you guys aren't gracious at all. Y'all aren't merciful at all. Have you listened to your preaching?
I mean you're ripping on alcohol and drugs and fags and all this stuff. It's like well, that's not going to reach anybody
Well, you're right. I'm not trying to reach anybody when i'm preaching a sermon
But you know what we show our grace by going out there and preaching the gospel
That's how we show our grace, you know, i'm not sitting in here saying let's give grace to a bunch of drug addict drunk
Prostitutes, you know
They better clean up their lives or they're gonna get thrown out of church according to first corinthians five
But you know what? I'm gonna show them grace by going out there and preaching the gospel
Whereas many people are saying you have to clean up your lives to even get come here and get saved
I'm saying get saved
Then let's clean. Let's work on cleaning yourselves up and you can come to church
So it's a backwards operation go to first peter two
The bible even says in hebrews five who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way
You know christ came to save sinners
God wants us to be his ambassadors for christ to where we go out to the publicans
And to the harlots and the sinful and we preach in the gospel and instead of looking down on people for being sinful
We should rather show them grace and give them the gospel
And it's very easy to get a prideful attitude and think well this person's
Loser and lazy and sinful and whatever and not have anything to do with them
But we should be like christ and give them the gospel
And tell them about the free gift of salvation
Now here's the second group. I want to talk about and i'm just going to talk about two other groups quickly
for sake of time, but we need to give grace to
uh, you know the sinful to those people that
To they can't see they're the blind but we also need to give grace for babes in christ
So after someone gets saved
We need to still extend some grace to them in first peter two says in verse one
Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings
As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word
That you may grow thereby
If so be have tasted that the lord is gracious now
I want you to go to first the selenius chapter 2 now
I just want to read that because the bible makes it clear that some people are newborn babes and
One of the reasons why they grow is because they tasted that the lord is gracious
The person that got saved
Understood god is gracious because we were saved by grace
Hey, I was super sinful
And god gave me just free salvation and because of that that should hopefully motivate them to learn more about god and about his grace
and
What would be disappointing is someone getting saved?
And it was so easy. It was so free. It was so much by grace
But then they come to church or they're around other christians and they get no grace
Then they just they just face harsh criticism and the people are just very judgmental and rude
And and not giving them any hope
And what does this look like, you know, i've seen this i've seen people come to our church
Who are very sinful people?
We have a lot of problems and problems that are obvious
Okay, some sins are open beforehand
This is what the bible says so some people come to church and they're dressed and you're like, whoa
You're not a fundamental baptist
Okay
And and like maybe the way they talk
Maybe the things that they do and people are just thinking like well that person's not gonna last
Or oh, I can't believe they're here or you know, I don't want to hang out with that person
You just see what they're doing or they're wearing or they just they just kind of have this critical spirit about this individual
Instead of recognizing they're a babe instead of recognizing they're brand new instead of saying hey
Maybe I should come alongside them and be a friend to them and be kind to them and to help them grow a little bit
Now in first thessalonians chapter 2 the bible says in verse 1
For yourselves brethren know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain
But even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated as you know at philipi
We were bold in our god to speak. I knew the gospel of god with much contention
For exhortation was not a deceit nor of uncleanness nor in guile
But as we were allowed of god to be put in trust with the gospel even so we speak
Not as pleasing men, but god would try their hearts
Neither for neither at any time used we flattering words as you know nor a cloak of covetousness
God is witness
Nor of men sought with glory neither of you nor yet of others when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of christ, but
We were gentle
Among you even as a nurse
Cherish her her children so being affectionately desirous of you
We were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of god only but also of our own souls because you were dear unto us
Apostle paul went out and loved a very sinful group of people the gentiles
As a whole the jews did not want anything to do with gentiles
In fact, they were taught and raised to never even eat with them to have nothing to do with them
To look down upon them and of course the gentiles were very sinful. I mean they were worshiping rocks
They thought that rocks were really gods
And they had all kinds of pagan idolatry
All kinds of evils I guarantee their women were not these proverbs 31 women right off the bat
I guarantee the men the men may have not even been strong leaders or uh great
Men or or anything they could have been effeminate they could have been I mean you go to some cultures some countries and the men are
Just effeminate everywhere
You go to some cultures in america the women are the most feminist people you'll ever meet in your life, okay
But what if we went there and gave them the gospel well, we don't want to necessarily just stop offering grace to that person
We want to continue offering grace and notice how he says in verse seven, but we were gentle
Among you even as a nurse cherished with their children babies and toddlers. They can't handle everything
You have to be careful. You have to coddle them. You have to be sweet unto them. They can't handle all foods
You have to you have to sometimes cut their food for them
You have to do all kinds of work today and this is what it's like in christianity that when we have newborn babes
Coming to church that we meet that we get saved. Sometimes we have to cut up their food for them
Sometimes we have to put a little bib on them. Okay, we have to burp them, you know, and we have yeah
We have to be but you know
We don't want to just be rude and mean and harsh and look down upon them and be like what?
You're not gonna tie your shoes forever
He's two
Give him a few years to figure out how to tie his own shoes, right?
And it's like some lady that's not a fundamental baptist comes to our church dressing in pants
It's like you don't need to walk up and be like, you know, you're an abomination to god, right?
Just want to let you know that
Because i'm loving, you know, it's like that's not that loving
Okay. Now look obviously i'm going to preach whatever I have in my notes if someone comes in
It can sometimes happen but you know in a one-on-one interaction, you know
We should try to be really gracious to people and loving to people and kind and give people a chance to grow
I mean, let's just be real most visitors only come one time anyways
You didn't need to be a jerk to them
Right, we should be kind and we should love on them
We should show grace unto babes in christ and we should come alongside them and help them and if they have a problem
You know, we should go to them in private
And tell them in private in a loving way
Not trying to criticize them not gossiping about them. And of course babes they may not dress right
They not may not believe right they may not act right
They may not go to church as often as we do. They may be pretty sinful. They could be confused about simple things
Heck they could be a you know, believing some weird conspiracies online
They could be envious they could be prideful they could try to gossip
You know
We should lovingly be kind to them and be gracious to them and give them an opportunity to grow a little bit
And not just be a jerk
Go to Galatians chapter 6
I'm worried sometimes that
our church or our friends
churches and the people that we associate with
Could could kind of become a little bit
judgmental a little bit harsh
And and just kind of be jerks
Just because we have so much truth and what does knowledge do it puffeth up?
But charity edify it
So so charity is like we're trying to build people up. We're trying to help the babes grow
whereas knowledge sometimes is is just kind of knocking people down and
It's just it's just causing us to think that we're better than we really are
And and and it's just it's not a great attitude it's not a godly attitude it's not a mature attitude a mature christian
Can be gracious to a babe in christ
an immature christian
Is trying to build themselves up by tearing others down
And we need to try our best to come alongside the babes and to give them time to grow give them space
Help them and of course i'm not saying don't correct them
But i'm just saying we should be we should be
Uh careful with that we should be loving with that we should do it in an appropriate way
And we should even give them space even god gave jezabel space to repent of her fornication
What the bible says I mean think about this god's allowing jezabel space. She's teaching in the church
Like I wouldn't tolerate that for one second
But somehow god was giving her space giving her a little bit of room
If god can give her some space why can't we give people a little bit of space
And again, i'm not saying let's tolerate wicked and evil things. I'm not saying let's ignore
You know judgment, but i'm saying that sometimes we need to offer people grace
Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 the bible says brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault you with your spiritual
restore such one in the spirit of meekness
Considering thyself lest they'll also be tempted. So point one is this we need to give grace to the blind
Secondly we need to give grace to the babes and third we need to give grace to the backslidden
Sometimes someone's not a babe anymore
But they just become backslidden. They just stop going to church
Stop reading their bible
And they maybe they just get into sin
Maybe they're being lazy. Maybe they're not working. Maybe they're
Um, you know struggling in their marriage. Maybe they're gossiping a lot. Maybe they're dressing inappropriately. Maybe they're getting involved in
Something that they shouldn't be getting involved in
and
I believe that we should be careful to still also offer some grace to those people
And not just think like well, I would never do that
That's the whole point of verse number one
If you're spiritual to restore such one in the spirit of meekness considering myself
saying
Okay. Yeah, you're not sinning right now, but that doesn't mean you couldn't be tempted or screw up or make a mistake later
So why don't you restore this person with some grace and some kindness
So that we set an example that if it happens to you
You get restored in grace and meekness and kindness
and people are
willing to help you
What does the verse do bear you one another's burdens?
And so fulfill all grace, you know, someone's like not coming to church. It would be a gracious thing go pick them up
Isn't that a gracious thing what would be a not a gracious thing
Having nothing to do with them and then when they finally come back after a while be like finally gonna come to church again
That's not very gracious
I mean what happens if you did that or oh, you're a roman candle christian, huh?
Or how long you gonna stay this time or you know, just being stupid about it or something like that
You know, that would be that would be being a jerk. Don't be a jerk to people go to second peter chapter number three
Second peter chapter number three, you know, i've had people i've had members at pure words that
They come
For a little bit like they come for like three weeks and they'd be gone for three weeks
And they would come for a week and they'd be gone for a week and they'd come and I mean it
There was the cycle was a lot
like i'm saying i've seen people and then be gone for like a long time and they'd come back and i'm like
Every time they came back. I was so excited
And that should be your attitude
And you know, there's nothing wrong if someone goes into another church who cares i'm just saying some people just literally quit church or struggle
And you know, this is a person that's not really been in church. They don't they're kind of sinful. They have some problems
But you know, i'm just so glad that every time they get an opportunity to read their bible go
So when you go to church, i'm just excited to see them and we should build them up
And we should offer them grace and be kind to them, you know, we're talking to the sunday night crowd
We're talking to the people that are already kind of three to thrive going to church a lot reading their bible
You guys are hopefully the spiritual
But you know some of the more sunday morning onlys or the people that are the casuals or whatever we should offer them some grace
And be kind to them and come alongside them and help them and maybe they're struggling in their lives
maybe they're thinking like it's hard for me to go to church right now or they're in a
they're kind of at a
crossroads
Some people they're like, I don't know what to do
I'm kind of struggling this job's making it hard for church
I don't know if I should you know change jobs or I don't know
You know where I live or what to do
There's all kinds of people constantly wondering and if you're a jerk to them, they're like, well, I don't want to do that
Whereas if you're gracious and kind and being like hey, I would love for you to make this decision where it's a spiritual decision
You can encourage them to make the right decision. Look there's a lot of people in this room
That are here because someone else in this room
Because their friend is there with them or their friend encouraged them or someone provoked them
Or whatever and you have to realize that you have a lot of influence on whether or not someone comes to church
And and i'll be honest
This is what's sad
Is i've heard this
Is people say like I don't even want to come to church because of so and so
Because someone's not gracious to them
Because someone's not being kind to them because someone is rubbing them the wrong way
You know what? That's casting a stumbling block before your brethren
You know, we should do our best
To make everyone feel as comfortable as possible and give people as much grace as possible and be kind to one another
This is this is a place where you know, I would hate it if someone felt like they couldn't come to church
You know what that would that would make me feel rotten if someone said like I don't want to go to church because of you
That's that that would make me that would make my heart hurt, you know as a person
And especially if it's something that I did that's legitimate
Obviously if they're like I can't come to church because you hate fags. It's like we'll hit the road jack. I don't really care about that
you know, but i'm just saying like
You know if I said something or sometimes maybe I said something amiss in a sermon and somebody didn't like it
That would hurt my feeling that would hurt my heart if I felt like i've done something to offend someone
Or I wasn't being gracious for that person or that situation
And you know, we should be doing our best to offer grace to the backslidden
And to help the sinful, you know, hey i'm all against divorce
But I try to be careful when I preach on that and say look if you're divorced. I don't hate you
I love you. I'm glad that you're here. I just don't want you to get divorced again
I don't want your kids to get divorced
Right, but what if you just got up and I never even gave a caveat it just said like, you know
Divorce people are wicked as hell
Then that person might just think like wow
You know, I guess I shouldn't even be here
I've had someone literally tell me am I even welcome to your church? I've been divorced
And i'm like, yes
That's you know, it's frustrating for someone to think that but you know
That's where we need to make sure that we're balancing ourselves with grace
and with kindness and that people can can understand that there is
Judgment and grace, right?
There's truth and grace second peter chapter three verse 17. The bible says this either for beloved seeing you know these things before
Be rare lest ye also being led away with the air of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness
But grow in grace
And the knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ to him be glory both now and forever. I'm in
There's one other thing I wanted to read go to second corinthians chapter two. I'm, sorry go to second
Corinthians chapter two, you know, i'm so glad that god is so gracious
And we should learn from him
and we
Even though it's oh, it's sunday night. I know the bible. I guarantee we can all grow in grace a little bit more
I all guarantee there's someone out there
That we don't have the best attitude towards that we could get a little bit better attitude towards
Whether that be some of the sinful some of the blind
Whether that be some of the babes that are in our lives or maybe that's some of the backslidden people in our lives
And you know, maybe a backslidden person is just someone that's filled with envy and strife and they gossiped about you
Or they lied about you or they were mean to you
And they're just you know, what a little backslidden in their christianity, but you know what give them grace
And be kind to that person and do good in that person, you know, jesus christ
Was rejected of peter peter denied that he even knew christ
But as soon as christ rose from the dead, you know what he went and found peter
I'm, so glad that he went out and found peter and then you know what peter he failed at fishing all night
And then jesus offers him. Hey cast thy net on the other side
You know what? Jesus still offered grace unto peter and still wanted him to be successful
And still wanted to help him and still wanted to use him and you know what?
He had denied him
So that means you could have someone in this church be a bad friend to you
And you know what? You could still be a good friend of them
You could still help them and you can still show grace under the backslidden peter was backslidden peter was out fishing
Peter was actually dragging other people out with him backslidden
He was dragging other people down
But you know what? Jesus came and offered him grace and came and met with him and still gave him a message and look
He still corrected him. Don't hear me wrong
Simon peter lovest thou me
more than these
He still corrected him, but he also offered him some grace didn't he?
And if someone screws up in our church
You know, we should we should give them grace. We should still correct them when it's needed
But you know if they get it right, we need to forgive and forget
Now in second corinthians chapter two, it brings this concept up
Says in verse uh, let's let's just for sake of time read a few verses here
Just verse six sufficient to such a man as this punishment which was afflicted of many
So that contrary wise you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him
Less perhaps such a one should be swallowed up
With over much sorrow wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm
Your love toward him in this context the apostle paul is describing someone that was very sinful made a big mistake
The church knew about it
But then he got it, right?
but then he asked for forgiveness then he
You know repented and the bible is saying don't then hang that over his head
Allow him to live it down. And in fact, not only that
Confirm your love toward him
Say hey, you know what?
Not only did I forget this. I don't even care. Love you brother
Let's hang out. Let's do something and you know if someone in our church
Screws up does something wrong
Whatever, but they get it right love on them anyways
Do good on them in many ways
Give some grace to the backslidden and forgive and forget
And move on that's going to be this the sign of a great church a great church is one that's filled with grace
grace for the loss grace for the blind grace for the babes and grace for the backslidden it'd be a shame if our church is just
Always tearing each other apart
hyper-judgmental
Not willing to show the mercy I mean god offered us so much mercy
The worst thing we could do is then in turn just be harsh to our brethren that owe us
We need to also be willing to be gracious
And forgive and forget and to move on let's close in prayer
Thank you heavenly father so much for the grace that you've given us through your son. Jesus christ
And you forgave us so much more trespassed than we could ever
Have to forgive someone else
I pray that we recognize what you've done for us so that we could be gracious unto others, too
We could be gracious unto those that are blind and and lost
We could be gracious unto the babes in christ and we could be gracious to those even that our backs them
even if they've trespassed against us, I pray that you would give us a
A kind and a charitable spirit towards them. I pray if there's someone in this room that
Has angst towards another that they would just let it go. They would just forgive it
I pray that you wouldn't allow the devil to get a foothold in our church, but rather we would just
Use your grace to continue the work of god in jesus name. We pray. Amen
Amen
All right for our last song we're going to go to song number 351 tell it to jesus
Song number 351
Tell it to jesus
Song 351
Are you weary are you heavy-hearted?
Tell it to jesus tell it to jesus
Are you breathing over joys departed?
Tell it to jesus
Tell it to jesus tell it to jesus he is a friend that's well known
You know
Tell it to jesus
Is
He is a friend
Friend or brother tell it to jesus
Are you anxious what shall be tomorrow tell it to jesus alone?
Tell it to jesus
He is a friend. That's well known
You know
Tell it to jesus
Are you troubled at the thought of dying tell it to jesus
Are you sighing tell it to jesus alone?
Tell it to jesus tell it to jesus. He is a friend. That's well known
You know
Great singing everybody you are all dismissed
You