🎵Music🎵
Welcome everyone to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you could please find your seats and grab your hymnals.
We're going to start off this evening with song 160, Crown Him With Many Crowns.
160, Crown Him With Many Crowns. Sing it out together nice and loud.
160, Crown Him With Many Crowns.
🎵Music🎵
🎵Crown Him With Many Crowns🎵
🎵A lamb upon His crown🎵
🎵A cow upon earth🎵
🎵The end of truth🎵
🎵All music but its own🎵
🎵I'll make my soul and sing🎵
🎵Of Him who died for me🎵
🎵And hail Him as my matchless King🎵
🎵Through all eternity🎵
🎵Crown Him the Lord above🎵
🎵We hold His hand and sigh🎵
🎵Rich food and visible light🎵
🎵Until the angel will die🎵
🎵Only man must die🎵
🎵In lowly hand and sigh🎵
🎵But thou who bright His arm🎵
🎵Do not have this to be survived🎵
🎵Crown Him the Lord above🎵
🎵Who died on board the train🎵
🎵Who rose victorious to the throne🎵
🎵For those with faith to save🎵
🎵With glory now we sing🎵
🎵Who died and rose on high🎵
🎵Who died eternal life to bring🎵
🎵That lived that deadly life🎵
🎵Crown Him the Lord above🎵
🎵For with the Father above🎵
🎵One with the Spirit who lived through🎵
🎵From the new glorious love🎵
🎵To Thee, the endless grace🎵
🎵For Thou who was cast down🎵
🎵We thou wilt go through🎵
🎵We're blessed with the Lord in man and fire🎵
Great singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening and thank you for our church.
Thank you for everyone here.
Just pray that you'd please bless this time of singing.
We'd sing out with love and understanding in our hearts.
And just pray that you'd bless our meal after the service.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, let's flip over back to 158.
Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing.
158. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing.
Song 158. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing.
🎵Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing🎵
🎵My great Redeemer's praise🎵
The love glories of my God in Thee, the triumphs of His praise.
My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth upon The honors of Thy name.
Jesus, the name that drives our peace, that leads our sorrows to peace.
Tis music in the sinner's ear, Tis life with health and peace.
He breaks the power of nature's sin, He sets the prisoner free.
He's one who made the palace free, He's one of them for me.
Here in the earth is raising hell for us in towns in void.
He's one we hold to our Savior now, and we'll be blamed for joy.
We have our Bible memory passage, Proverbs chapter 31, verse 2.
On the inside are service times, soul winning times, church stats for soul winning.
If you have any of those numbers, please make sure you're turning them into your soul winning captains and lieutenants on that.
On the right, we have our list of expecting ladies. We have several that you can be in prayer for.
Also, we have a prayer list. Please make sure that you're praying for our church throughout the week.
On the back, we have the note about upcoming events this evening. We're having a cookout, and so thank you so much for coming this evening.
We've got a lot of food, and so we need you guys to help us eat a lot of it, alright?
And so, pretty much everybody should be getting a burger and a hot dog, and if you want, probably even seconds.
So, please do stick around after the service and help us eat that food.
Also, upcoming soon is we have our Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship Conference.
That's going to be pretty much from starting Wednesday night all the way till Sunday night,
and we have a lot of guests coming into town, and so definitely, if you haven't made plans for that,
do see if you can join us for as much as possible.
Our Texas Chili Cook-Off is going to be October 31st, and so that'll be a lot of fun just to hang out
and have just kind of a fellowship night here at the church.
We'll also have November 4th, the Abilene, Texas Soul Waning Marathon,
and that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements.
As soon as we're done with service, we're going to try and have dinner.
I don't know that necessarily everything will be ready right at that moment,
but we should have some stuff set up back here, and we can kind of make a line to go through,
and we can start eating out there that way.
So, we'll give you a few more instructions right after we're done with service,
but thanks so much for coming, and stick around.
Let's go to our third song, Psalm 150.
We're going to sing our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 150.
Psalm 150.
Praise Him with the timbre of the dead,
Praise Him with strength, instruments, and organs,
Praise Him upon the mountain,
All loud symbols praise Him upon,
All high sounding symbols let everything back and forth,
Praise the Lord, praise He the Lord,
Praise God the Father,
Praise God the Son,
Praise God the Holy Ghost,
Praise God in three persons.
As the offering plates being passed around,
please turn in your Bibles to Acts 17.
Acts chapter number 17.
As the offering plates being passed around,
please turn in your Bibles to Acts 17.
Acts chapter 17.
Acts chapter 17, the Bible reads,
Now when they had passed through Ampiphilas and Apollonia,
they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews.
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them,
and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures,
opening and alleging that Christ's needs have suffered and risen again from the dead,
and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ.
And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas,
and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy,
took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort,
and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar,
and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
And when they had found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren
unto the rulers of the city, crying,
These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also,
whom Jason hath received, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar,
saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things,
and when they had taken security of Jason and of the other, they let them go.
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea,
who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica,
and that they received the word with all readiness of mind,
and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.
Therefore many of them believed, also of honorable women,
which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God
was preached of Paul at Berea,
they came thither also, and stirred up the people.
And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea,
but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.
And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens,
and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus,
for to come to him with all speed they departed.
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens,
his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews,
and with the devout persons,
and in the market daily with them that met with him.
Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him,
and some said,
What will this babbler say, other some?
He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods,
because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection.
And they took him and brought him unto Aeropagus,
saying, May we know what this new doctrine,
whereof thou speakest, is?
For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears.
We would know, therefore, what these things mean.
For all the Athenians and strangers which were there
spent their time in nothing else,
but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said,
Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
For as I passed by, I beheld your devotions,
and found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God,
whom therefore ye ignorantly worship,
him declare I unto you.
God that made the world and all things therein,
seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands.
Neither is worshipped with men's hands,
as though he needed anything,
seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things,
and hath made one blood all nations of men,
for to dwelle on all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before appointed,
and the bounds of their habitation,
that they should seek the Lord,
if haply they might feel after him,
and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.
For in him we live, and move, and have our being,
as certain also of your own poets have said,
for we are also his offspring.
For so much then as we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the Godhead is like
unto gold, or silver, or stone,
graven by art and man's device.
And the times of this ignorance God winked at,
but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent,
because he hath appointed a day,
in the which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men,
and that he hath raised him from the dead.
And when they had heard of the resurrection of the dead,
some mocked, others said,
we will hear thee again of this matter.
So Paul departed from among them,
howbeit certain men clave unto him,
and believed, among the which was Dionysus,
the Areopagite, and a woman named Damarius,
and others with them.
Let us pray.
Father, thank you so much for our church.
Thank you for this opportunity to feast and fellowship,
and to give you and your son all the glory and honor.
And we thank you for blessing Brother Ben's time today,
and bringing in salvation,
and we thank you that you're so long suffering
to those out there, Lord,
and to those people that still have soft hearts
for us to find.
And I just pray that you would just fill Pastor Shelley
with your Holy Spirit,
and please give him the words to speak,
and I pray that he will preach with boldness and authority.
Help us to do a self-check,
look in the mirror, and renew our hearts,
and chase in our hearts if needed,
so we can become more complete Christians, Lord.
And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
So the first part that I kind of wanted to start at
was in verse 24 here of Acts.
The Bible says,
God that made the world and all things therein,
seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelt not in temples made with hands,
neither is worshiped with men's hands,
as though he needed anything,
seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things,
and hath made of one blood all nations of men,
for to dwell in all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before appointed
in the bounds of their habitation,
that they should seek the Lord,
if haply they might feel after him and find him,
though he be not far from every one of us.
For in him we live and move and have our being,
as certain also grown poets have said,
for we are also his offspring.
For as much then as we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the Godhead
is like unto gold or silver or stone,
graven by art and man's device,
and the times of this ignorance God winked at,
but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent,
because he hath appointed a day in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men,
in that he hath raised him from the dead.
And in this section of scripture,
we see the responsibility of every person
is put on themselves.
The Bible is making it abundantly clear here
in this passage that in verse 27
that we should seek the Lord,
and that's how we're going to feel after him,
and that while God, for a time being,
allowed the Gentiles to have their own gods
and to have their own religion,
and he didn't necessarily destroy them all
just for that particular reason,
he's now making it where every nation
is going to have the gospel come to them,
and they're going to have to make the choice
to believe in the God of the Bible.
And so there is a shift in the book of Acts
and in the New Testament
where the religion of God is no longer
kind of isolated into one nation
or one particular geographic area,
but rather it's the entire world.
That's why he brings up things like in verse 26,
and hath made of one blood all nations of men
for to dwell in all the face of the earth,
because God is the God of the entire earth.
He is the God of every single person,
and he wants everyone to repent,
specifically because in verse 31
he's going to judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained.
So he's going to judge everybody
according to Jesus Christ.
So either A, you get Jesus Christ's imputed righteousness,
or you get your righteousness compared to his.
But here's the problem.
You're going to come short
because for all have come short of the glory of God,
and so at the end of the day,
we're all going to be judged according to Jesus Christ.
That's why we're commanded here to repent,
and what this shows ultimately
is that every single person
has to make the choice of salvation for themselves,
and this comes from your ability to have free will,
and we talked a little bit about this this morning
about the free will aspect,
and really if you just even believe in free will,
then you're not a Calvinist.
And you didn't have a choice, okay?
But really if you have free will,
then you have to make that choice
to seek after the Lord and to be saved.
Now obviously some people
are going to have an easier time than others.
Not everybody's afforded the exact same opportunities.
People that are born in a Christian household
are going to have a lot easier time finding the Lord
than someone that's raised in an atheist household
or raised maybe in a false religion,
but it is still inside every person.
It's their own responsibility to seek after the Lord,
and I like that there's a lot of things in this passage
that we can kind of define by not even going very far
because the Bible is telling us
that it's us to seek the Lord,
and we can find Him if we seek after Him.
This is where this argument you probably heard.
There's this guy in the jungle
that's never heard of Jesus,
and he's just going to go to hell and had no chance.
But here's the reality.
This guy had a chance every single day of his life
to seek the Lord.
Every single day that he was alive
and he saw the sun and the moon and the stars
and creation and humanity,
he could have said,
You know what? I want to know what is out there.
I want to know why I'm here.
I want to know who my Creator is.
And I believe every single person that seeks shall find.
And there's crazy stories.
There's all kinds of stories of people and missionaries
and evangelists that have gone all over the world,
and they're in the most remote parts of this world
trying to reach people with the gospel.
And so where there's a will, there's a way.
For 95 to 99% of people alive today,
they don't even have to look hard at all,
and they will find Christ very quickly,
especially even with things like the Internet.
Imagine how much more difficult it was
to find things about Jesus
when you didn't have the Internet.
Albeit, of course, the devil likes to put
a bunch of phony things out there
and a lot of fake information out there.
But, you know, you can see through
a lot of the fake stuff pretty quick
if you care about the truth.
If you love the truth,
it's easy to kind of discern the lies
and to just funnel yourself into Jesus Christ.
In fact, many people that get saved,
they weren't even trying to get saved.
They were trying to find out the truth on certain topics.
And the truth just always leads to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Because you start wondering, like,
why are these people in government so wicked?
And it's like, why is there this one religion
that's just one specific group of tiny hats
that always seem to be in power and control,
and they just really hate this one thing
called Christianity, right?
It's like you just start chasing that rabbit
and you end up realizing, like, oh, wow.
You know, it doesn't matter which inside job
you're looking for, 9-11.
It doesn't matter what government conspiracy
you look down the road to, the Titanic.
I mean, it just doesn't really matter where you look.
You just find all roads lead to the synagogue of Satan.
And you're thinking, like, man,
why are all these people doing exactly what the Bible says?
And why is it that there's one name
that everybody likes to use as a cuss word
and it's Jesus Christ?
Why aren't they using Muhammad or some other false prophet
or Zeus or something like that?
I mean, when was the last time you heard someone
hit their finger with a hammer and say, oh, Zeus?
But again, this is what atheists will say.
They'll say, well, just like you don't believe in Zeus,
I don't believe in Jesus.
Well, then why is it they use his name
as a cuss word and not Zeus's?
Why is it that on our money it says
in God we trust and not in Zeus we trust?
Why does it say in the Constitution of Texas,
humbly invoking the blessing of Almighty God and not Zeus?
Why is it that the Bible is the number one book
in all of humanity and books about the pantheon
are nonexistent?
Nobody cares about them virtually, okay?
There's an obvious immediate difference between these two
and it's super clear to everyone.
And that's why God is saying, look,
it's so dumb to think that a rock or a statute
or a little piece of wood is somehow God
when you yourself are so much more incredible
of a creation than that.
And he's saying if we are in the image of God,
being so much more powerful,
having so much more intellect than a rock,
why in the world would you think
the God of the universe is a rock?
And he's kind of putting a lot of these pagan idolaters
to shame by recognizing the fact that look, guys,
you guys are worshiping something
that doesn't even make sense.
And he's appealing to them through logic.
And think about it, anybody that was logical would be like,
yeah, it's a rock.
Yeah, it's just a piece of wood.
I mean, is it really God's fault
if people didn't get saved because they were worshiping a rock
and were unwilling to change their mind
about a rock being the God of the universe?
I mean, the people that believe in this atheism stuff
where they literally think that monkeys turned into humans
and before that the monkey was a,
we had some common ancestor
and we had another common ancestor
and then it goes all the way down
to some kind of an amoeba type bacteria
that was just magically spontaneously generated
through rain and minerals and lightning
and whatever other events you want to try and concoct together.
And that that all came together from nothing.
I mean, that person is not seeking any truth whatsoever.
That person's not happily seeking to find the Lord.
He's willingly ignorant as the Bible describes him, okay?
And so the reality of free will is
if God gives all of humanity free will,
there's going to be some who seek the Lord
and they find him
and there's going to be some that don't seek the Lord
and guess what?
They're not going to find him.
Go to Acts chapter 19 right here.
Look at verse number 2.
The Bible said that we're supposed to repent.
Repent of what?
Well, what does the Bible say repentance even is?
Look at verse number 2.
He said unto them,
Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?
And they said unto them,
We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
And he said unto them,
Unto what then were you baptized?
And they said unto John's baptism.
Then said Paul,
John verily baptized the baptism of repentance
saying unto the people that they should believe on him
which should come after him.
That is on Christ Jesus.
When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
So a really important passage of scripture,
really close to chapter 17 telling everybody we need to repent,
but notice there was people that had gone through the motions
of the baptism of repentance with John the Baptist,
but it didn't really stick, did it?
And you know, this is an important point.
You have to realize that there's a lot of people
who go through the motions of Christianity
but they're not saved.
Just like these individuals.
You know, it's incredible to me
how many people you could run into
and you could say,
Hey, what do you think about salvation?
Do you think it's by faith?
And they're like, Yep.
And then you ask them more questions
and they're not even saved.
It's like, well, of course you can't just live however you want.
Of course you have to follow the commandments
and of course you can lose your salvation
and of course God's going to judge your entire lifestyle
and you're like,
I thought it was by faith.
Do you even know what faith means?
And it's because they've been brainwashed
or weren't paying attention
or something has caused them to basically just go through the motions
many of them even having been baptized
because churches are really big on baptism
and really low on getting people actually saved.
I would venture to believe that most of the churches in this area
are getting more people baptized than saved.
You know, and isn't that funny
that the false religion,
they get hoards baptized and no one's saved
and then a church like us,
I guarantee our salvation numbers
were way bigger than our baptism numbers, right?
And it's because, look, we're not trying to just see
how many people we can dunk in water,
we're trying to see how many people we can actually get saved.
And it's kind of silly, think about it.
John the Baptist is standing in water
preaching about someone coming and dying for their sins
and then they literally get in the water
and picture the resurrection of Jesus Christ
and then they get up and they still aren't even saved.
But isn't that what so many people do today?
So many people have gotten baptized
and then they say, yeah, being saved is being a good person.
It's like, well, what was your baptism about then?
And, you know, a lot of them will say this,
I don't know, they just ask me if I want to be baptized
and I said, yeah.
It was like, you don't really need a bath that bad, okay?
And what does the Bible make it clear, though,
what repentance even is,
that you should believe on him
which should come after him that is on Christ Jesus.
So what is the commandment in Acts chapter 17?
This is the same guy,
the same author
and the same person we're talking about
is bringing up in chapter 17 and in chapter 19
the word repent.
What does it mean?
It means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so when the apostle Paul was talking to a bunch of pagans,
he wasn't saying, hey, guys, you need to stop lying,
stealing, cheating, committing adultery and doing murder.
He said, no, no, you've got to believe in the guy that rose again from the dead.
And when they didn't believe,
you know, it was because they mocked the resurrection.
Look what it said in chapter 17 at the end of this.
It says in verse 32,
and when they heard of the resurrection of the dead,
some mocked,
and others said, we will hear thee again of this matter.
So, now it says in verse 33,
so Paul departed from among them,
howbeit certain men clave on them and believed,
among the which was Dionysus the Arab pagite
and a woman named Amarius and others with them.
Now think about what the Bible says here for a second.
The Bible says that some believed
some mocked
and some said, I want to hear it again.
Okay?
Who in this story repented of their sins?
No one.
It doesn't say like, well, the first group said,
yeah, I believe in the resurrection, but I don't want to give up my drinking
and I don't want to give up my smoking.
And then it says another group gave up their drinking and their smoking and got saved.
No, no, no, it says some mocked
and some believed.
Why? Because that's the difference between those who are saved and those who are unsaved.
Some actually repented, changed their mind,
and believed in Jesus Christ, believed in the God that was risen from the dead,
whereas others were mocking the idea of resurrection itself.
We're mocking the facts of the gospel.
We're mocking... Think about how silly this is.
People are worshipping rocks mocking the resurrection.
It makes me think of somebody I talked to recently
who was a Hindu, Buddhist, or whatever.
I don't know, she wasn't Hindu. I guess she was just a Buddhist.
And she said that she wanted to become a whale in the resurrection.
And I didn't know a lot about Buddhism,
but I was just kind of asking her,
and I was saying, can you just come back as whatever you want?
And she was like, well, not really,
but I said, could you come back as an inanimate object, like a rock?
And she's like, yes.
And I was like, could you come back as the sun?
She's like, well, that's a pretty lofty goal.
I mean, come back as a sun and all, right?
Because I guess to be a really big creature, you have to be really awesome.
She's hoping for a whale, a big creature.
Which I was thinking, well, number one, you're already kind of big.
And number two, you will get a chance to swim around in a lake.
I don't know how many whales are in a lake, but you know.
Now, this is what happened, though.
In our conversation, I presented her a mini version of the gospel.
I was just giving her the benefit of the doubt, gave her the gospel.
And I asked her, like, if she believed that, and she said no.
And I said, well, okay, well, why do you not believe that?
She says, because I don't believe in the resurrection.
That was her number one reason why she didn't believe what the Bible says.
And she said, the resurrection's impossible.
And I said, oh, is that a miracle?
And she's like, yeah.
And I said, well, would it be a miracle if I turned into a whale?
Like, how is it possible that you can think that the resurrection,
I can't believe that because that's a miracle.
But I'm going to turn into a whale in my next life.
Sounds like an even worse miracle, buddy.
Like, how is that not a miracle?
And even though I cornered her on that, she wouldn't relent.
She wouldn't agree to what I was saying.
But it's super obvious that what they believe is retarded, okay?
It's even dumber than anything you could ever dream up or imagine.
And they say, oh, how am I supposed to believe in a religion
that teaches something that can't happen physically?
You believe you're going to become a whale.
Oh, well, I don't believe any of that.
I'm just an atheist.
Oh, so you believe all this came from nothing.
Talk about an even worse miracle.
It's more likely that I'm going to become a whale
than that I came from nothing, okay?
And that's just how silly atheism and false religion is today.
It's not like they have a better solution
or some more reasonable conclusion.
No, it's because of free will
that they choose to believe something stupid.
They choose to believe something dumb.
And the reality of free will is that people will believe dumb things.
You know, some people get mad and they think,
like, well, why doesn't God just, you know, show up
and we can all believe in him and everything like that?
Well, it's because of free will.
Free will exists, and as a result of free will,
not everybody's going to believe in Jesus.
And let me remind you of something.
He did show up.
It's the whole thing that we're reading about.
It's called Jesus Christ.
And let me tell you something.
He performed miracles.
He told them point blank he was the son of God.
That was the reason why they killed him.
Think about it.
It's like, well, what if he just came down here
and told us to believe in him?
He already did that.
He tried it.
And you know what they did?
They killed him.
And you say, why?
Free will.
This is the reality of free will.
The reality of free will is, from a human perspective,
that the vast majority are not going to believe
in Jesus Christ.
But it is what God wants us to do.
Go to Proverbs, chapter number 8.
I want to show you a couple more things here.
And our assurance is in Christ's resurrection.
That's what it said in Acts, chapter 17,
is that our assurance is in the fact
that Christ is risen from the dead.
That's what gives us the hope that we, too,
will be risen from the dead,
that we won't be perished for all of eternity,
that death will not have its sting,
that death will not have its victory.
Oh, grave, where is thy victory?
Oh, death, where is thy sting?
You know, it's swallowed up by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
And so we don't have to taste of death.
We don't even have to experience that death
because as soon as we die physically,
our bodies, while they're still here,
our souls will be in heaven with Christ.
Or we'll be raptured,
and we'll just be with Christ in the clouds.
But as soon as you leave this body,
you're with Christ for all of eternity, forever.
There's never going to be a point
when we'll ever be separated from Him ever again.
We'll always be with Christ at that moment.
And what a beautiful and glorious, you know,
salvation that we get to experience
and that we get to have.
Of course, we'll have a new body at some point.
And I praise God for that
because the Bible says there'll be no more pain.
You know, and that's something
we're all looking forward to.
All right.
Now, Proverbs chapter eight,
look at verse number 17.
I love them that love me
and those that seek me early shall find me.
Notice again the responsibility
on the person to do something.
Seek the Lord.
Now, right now,
we're just talking about salvation itself.
People are responsible for seeking the Lord.
The Bible does say in Romans chapter 10
that some people aren't even seeking God
and a soul winner still knocks on their door
and gives them the gospel.
But I guarantee the people that get saved,
they still had some level of seeking.
Just think about it.
How many doors do you knock?
And they're just like,
I don't want to get the door
or I don't even want to hear what this person has to say.
Or I don't, you know, you can tell.
And I mean, there's been some times
where I knock on the door
and I'm just maybe not in the best mood.
I don't know if this is you or me,
but I'm like this every once in a while.
And the person at the door,
you're kind of like,
I don't really want to talk to you.
And, you know, this is just your carnal nature.
You know, just you're in the moment.
You're just kind of like, whatever, you know.
But I'm like, I'm going to give them the chance, right?
So you're just like,
hey, if I could show you how to be saved in 10 minutes,
would you want to hear?
And they're like, yep.
You're like, all right, you know.
And sometimes in your carnal nature,
you're kind of like, I'm just ready to go,
but I'm just going to still offer it.
And then they say yes.
And then they get saved.
And like that person was obviously seeking to some degree
because even with a little bit of negative energy,
they're still just like, well, I'll hear it.
You know, I've had some people say like,
I never want to turn down someone
that wants to share something about the gospel with me.
You know, or I don't want to turn anybody down
that has a Bible in their hand or something like that.
They already have a little bit different attitude
than the people that have this sign that says like,
no religion, go away.
You know, I love,
I want to become a whale soon or whatever.
It's like, you know,
there's not a lot of hope for that person.
Go to Jeremiah 29, go to Jeremiah chapter 29.
There's a reality of free will,
and that is that God has given us this choice
and we have to choose the right thing.
And of course, you know, throughout the Bible,
we have an infinite number of stories
about people making their own choices.
Those of us that know the Bible well
and have read it several times
recognize that the vast majority of people
don't seek the Lord.
The vast majority of people don't, you know,
want to get saved.
The vast majority of people
don't care about the things of God.
They're not seeking salvation spiritually.
And Jeremiah chapter 29, look at verse 11.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
say the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil,
to give you an expected end.
Then shall you call upon me
and you shall go and pray unto me
and I will hearken unto you.
And you shall seek me and find me
when you shall search for me
with all your heart.
So he says, hey, I want to get you that peace.
I don't want to give you evil.
I want good things.
But you know what?
You got to call upon me and hearken unto me.
And if you seek me, you're going to find me.
And I like this that you got to seek with your whole heart.
This kind of helps me in the context of salvation
think of the idea of it's not a 50 50 trust
that gets you saved.
But it's 100 percent trust in the Lord.
You know, you got to put all of your faith,
all of your heart into the gospel.
You can't say, well, I'll just I'll just add that
to my list of gods that I believe in.
No, no, no.
You got it.
You can't believe in the unknown God
and all the other pagan gods that they had in Mars Hill.
But rather, you have to believe in all my hearts
just in this one God, Jesus Christ,
just in the resurrected savior, not in.
Well, I'll just kind of try it all or just to be safe.
I'll do everything.
But you can't do everything.
Just like when you go to the airport,
you can get on every plane.
You know, they're all going to different places.
Some are going to California and some are going to Arizona
and some are going to Kansas City
and some are going to Minnesota
and some are going over to Tennessee
and some are going to Florida.
Some are going to hell.
I mean, New York, you know, the Washington, D.C. area.
Sorry.
Some are going, you know, all over different places.
And guess what?
They're all departing and you can only get on one plane.
This is how the life is and how religions are.
There's a Hinduism plane and a Judaism plane
and a Calvinist plane.
The people on that one didn't get on.
They had no choice.
They showed up on it, okay?
It just goes straight down into hell.
And there's just all these different options.
But there's also a plane with no pilot.
That's your works one.
You can get in there and you can fly that plane yourself.
But you've never flown a plane, so guess what?
Good luck.
You probably won't even be able to turn it on.
I mean, you ever see how many knobs and switches are in an airplane?
I can't even imagine being sitting in there,
unless it was labeled like flip this to turn the plane on,
I would be like, I don't even know what I'm doing, you know?
I'm just like, I don't know what to do, right?
I certainly wouldn't even try because even if I tried,
even if I could turn it on, I'm surely probably not going to be able to figure out how to drive it,
to get it lined up, to then get it going at speed, to then lift off.
And for sure, if I lifted off, I'd be like the 9-11 guys.
I wouldn't know how to land it, all right?
Now, of course, you know, Ben had his cousins with all those guys,
so if you need any help, he can, you know, I'm just kidding.
It's because he's Jewish.
They're all Jews, right?
No, I'm just kidding.
But at the end of the day, you know, you have to find the plane where Jesus is the pilot,
and you have to get on.
And some people say, well, you know what?
I believe in Jesus, but I also think it's my part.
Well, those are the people that bring out the box cutters and try to hijack the cockpit.
You know what happens when you do that?
They don't let you in.
They throw you out of the plane, okay?
And so the only way to get to the destination is just to let the pilot do his thing.
If you try to interrupt the flight, if you try to get in that cockpit,
they're going to land the plane, and you're going to be arrested,
and you're going to be thrown in prison for having tried to disrupt a federal flight.
But you know what?
If you just sit back and relax, I mean, you could nap the whole time,
and you're going to get there.
Why? Because that's what true salvation is.
But you know what?
You had to find the right plane, and you had to get on it.
You had to seek to get on that plane, and that's the reality of free will,
and the reality is many people are getting on the wrong plane.
Some people are just staying in the airport.
They don't even want to get on any plane.
And unfortunately, all roads lead to hell except for the one plane that's going to heaven.
Now, Jeremiah, oh, go to Matthew 7.
I want to go to one more place here to kind of prove this point,
but the reality of free will is that the vast majority of people just don't want to get saved.
And they say, oh, I just can't believe you'd have to go to hell for stealing a pencil.
And it's like, first of all, I've never met the person that the worst sin was one time stealing a pencil.
Okay, I don't believe that for a second, all right?
But at the end of the day, it's also the fact that people just don't want to get saved, you know,
because it's so easy to be saved, and yet many people just, they don't seek the Lord.
They don't want anything to do with Him.
They don't want to hear about it.
I mean, think how many times people have ran across John 3.16 or someone trying to give them the gospel.
I mean, many times I feel like when I knock on doors, these people already know everything I'm going to say to them.
They've even heard it to some degree, right?
I mean, it's not like very many people you run into have heard absolutely nothing.
I mean, they've already gotten probably some opportunities.
There's plenty of opportunities to get saved, plenty of Baptist churches.
You know, it's just these people just don't want salvation.
Matthew 7, verse 13.
Enter ye in at the straight gate, and narrow is the... I'm sorry.
For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth the destruction, and many there be which go in there at,
because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
So, according to the Bible, it's a narrow way.
Again, like I said, there's only one airplane at the airport that's taken to the destination you need to get to.
That's the same way with salvation.
There's only one Jesus Christ, one plan of salvation.
There's only one way. He's the only way.
And if you trust in Him, you'll be saved.
But notice what it says in verse number 13.
Many there be which go in there at, talking about the other options that are out there.
And notice it says broad is the way, meaning what?
It doesn't matter if you got on the Hindu plane, or the Calvinist plane, or the Judaism plane, or the plane you're flying yourself.
There's a broad spectrum.
But, unfortunately, they all lead to destruction.
And notice the quantity.
Many, many are going down this road.
Why is it that they're doing such a thing?
Well, look at verse 7. Go back a little bit.
Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and ye shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For every one that asketh receiveth.
And he that seeketh findeth, and him that knocketh it shall be opened.
What percentage, according to Matthew 7, receives after asking?
One hundred percent.
So let me ask you a question.
What percentage of people that aren't saved asked?
Zero.
Notice what it says. I'm just telling you what it says.
For everyone that asketh receiveth.
Now, of course, there's going to be some people that have prayed salvation prayers that are going to split hell wide open
because they weren't asking the right way.
They didn't have faith in their heart.
But they also weren't doing something they weren't seeking.
They wanted to justify themselves, just like the publican that's in there praying about how wonderful he is unto the Lord.
You know what? He's not saved.
He didn't get saved.
He never wanted to get saved.
He wasn't seeking salvation.
You know, it's important for people to even realize that they deserve hell so that they'll seek salvation.
And that's why it's important to understand.
But what's really important is when you understand the reality of free will, here's point one, most won't choose to believe.
And you say, why?
It's just the reality of free will.
The reality of free will itself is that the vast majority won't choose to believe.
That's just how free will works, apparently in the human condition.
In the human condition, for us, the vast majority are just never going to choose to believe in Jesus Christ.
And it's kind of crazy that the vast majority don't want to seek the truth.
But that's just how life works.
That's how free will works.
That's how we work, is the vast majority.
And I'm going to prove why that's similar to another point here in a minute.
But it's really clear in verse number 13 and 14 that many are going to not be saved.
Look at verse 21.
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter in the kingdom of heaven.
But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
So the first group, the vast majority of people, many won't even claim to believe in Jesus Christ.
And that is a fact.
If you look at the statistics of the world today, the vast majority of people don't even claim to believe in Jesus.
I mean, Christianity is the number one religion.
And if you even include Catholicism.
So we're just, everyone that even kind of has some semblance of believing in Jesus is about like two billion people.
Okay?
But that's still even maybe at best about a fourth of the world.
So we're talking around somewhere between 70, 80, maybe about 75% of the world already is just not even choosing to believe in Jesus in any way.
But then he says, let's even get smaller for a second.
Many of the people that even claim to believe in Jesus Christ, many of them as well haven't even done what the will of the Father was.
And what was step one in Christianity?
Believing in Jesus Christ.
That's what it says in John 6.40, that the will of him that has sent him was to believe on Jesus Christ.
Okay?
And so when we look at the statistics, when we look at the reality of free will, the vast majority of people won't even try to be Christian.
Then beyond that, many of the Christians won't even actually get saved because they won't even believe in Jesus Christ.
And so we get to a very small subset of human population that are ever even going to just take the free gift of salvation.
The free gift of eternal life.
The vast majority are not going to get saved.
Go to Luke chapter 13.
This is a sad reality, but at the same time I think it's important to understand.
It's important to understand that the reality of free will is that most people aren't going to believe in Jesus.
Look at Luke chapter 13 and look at verse 23.
Yeah, verse 23.
Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved?
It's a pretty good question.
And he said unto them, strive to enter in at the straight gate, for many I say unto you, seek to enter in and shall not be able.
When once the mass of the house has risen up and has shut to the door and you begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying,
Lord, Lord, open unto us.
And he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not, whence you are.
Then shall you begin to say, we have eaten and drunken in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets,
but he shall say, I tell you, I know you not, whence you are, depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
And so we see a very similar passage to Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 through 23
of a group of people who are seeking salvation, but by the wrong means.
He never knew them.
He doesn't know them.
And they're cast out just like the five foolish virgins who didn't have oil in their lamps.
And so because they weren't saved at the right time, they're never going to be saved.
And it's again to the answer of the question, how many are saved?
And he even already kind of has the idea like, is it few?
Now think about this question for just a moment.
You're walking with Jesus.
You're going around preaching the gospel.
You're having miracles performed.
You've never seen things like this in your life.
And you get to physically witness people's responses.
If everyone was getting saved, do you think you would even ask this question?
I mean if you were going around and just everybody, people are getting saved like this
and the whole town's getting saved and everybody's on fire and everybody's serving Jesus Christ,
do you think you would even ask a question like, hey, is it few that are going to be saved
when 90 some percent of people are getting saved all the time?
No. You know why this question was probably asked?
It's because they've gone and preached the gospel to just tons and tons and tons and tons of people
and no one's getting saved.
And they're thinking like, hmm, hey, can I ask a question?
Is there a few that are going to get saved?
And then look how Jesus Christ answers.
Like, yeah. Yeah, the reality is that many are not going to even try to even get saved.
The reality is through free will.
I mean the reality is that your Lord and Savior can come and feed you and heal you and love you
and preach you the truth and you'll crucify him.
That's the ugly nature of free will.
That's what free will really does.
Go to Romans chapter 11. Go to Romans chapter 11.
The reality of free will is that people are not going to believe.
But you know, God still wants there to be free will.
Even though there's the ugly nature, the ugly reality of free will,
he wants free will because again, he doesn't want slaves.
He wants people to choose him and he wants people to pick him.
Now I'm sure the young single guys in this room could probably attest to the reality of free will
when it comes to finding a spouse.
That they probably don't have billions of ladies lining up just saying, I'm ready. Right?
There's probably more rejections than there is people that want to get married to you. Right?
And isn't that kind of the reality of free will?
And that's how it is.
And for you to get rejected is so much lesser than for Christ or God to be rejected.
I mean, when it comes to most single guys, they're not like the greatest things in sliced bread usually.
Okay? But we're comparing you to Christ.
So that's not really a fair comparison, is it?
And when it comes to that type of a comparison, if he's getting rejected,
how much more just a random dude trying to find a wife?
And look, that's already a needle in a haystack these days.
It's already super hard for people to find a spouse these days.
I mean, the Bible says when it's talking about a virtuous woman, who can find?
I mean, it's like, the question is just kind of rhetorical. It's like, I don't know.
Like, how do you find this one?
I think sometimes you have to kind of just make it. Right?
I mean, you just kind of have to pick one, find one dancing, and just make her your wife.
Okay? And hopefully you can carry her. All right?
Now, Romans chapter 11, look at verse number 3.
The Bible says, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars,
and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
But what sayeth the answer of God on them?
I reserve to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Even so then, at this present time, also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Notice, when God is describing those who are saved in a very specific detail,
how many are saved? Remnant.
What about in the past? A remnant.
So you notice a common theme in the Bible. Remnant, remnant, remnant, remnant, remnant.
Why would you think today it would be magically different?
I mean, the Bible says very clearly about how life works, that there's no new thing under the sun.
There's not like this just random time in history where, well, everybody wants to get saved now.
I know all of our fathers and all the people of the past, they, with their free will,
didn't choose to believe in them by a vast majority, but now they will.
But now it's different. No, no. It's the same.
It's just always been a remnant.
It always will be a remnant that want to believe in Jesus Christ and to get saved.
Now, go over to 1 John, chapter number four, 1 John, chapter number four.
So it's important to realize that, you know, not very many people are going to get saved.
And that's okay.
Now, of course, for us, when we go out soul winning, I think it's good to have a healthy expectation.
I remember when I first started going soul winning, I had absolutely no idea what it would be like.
I thought, like, I have, you know, I just didn't really know what to think.
Positive, negative, good, bad, receptive, unreceptive.
But I ended up trying what I would think in my mind would be a pretty receptive area.
I went to, like, a trailer park area that was literally adjacent to our church building.
And our church building had a cross so tall, like a steeple cross.
It was really nice. I liked it.
But it was so tall that you could see it from every single trailer park in this trailer park area.
Like, it didn't matter where you were, you could just, like, there was the cross, right?
You could just see it because it just towered over everything.
So, it made soul winning pretty easy in the sense that, like, here's a track from our church and, like, where are you at?
See that cross? That's where we're at, you know.
And so, it gives you every excuse and reason to be there.
It's already kind of low income.
And honestly, my first several, you know, weeks of soul winning were really good.
But I had no idea what to expect.
But lots of people were receptive.
Lots of people were willing to get saved.
And it took me a while to realize that that was not the experience that you were going to have when you went to a place other than that.
Right? Then you start going into neighborhoods.
You start going to nicer areas.
And it's way different.
You know, you go to places that are not Texas.
You go to, like, other parts of the country and you realize, wow, it's way different.
And so, you have to have some kind of a realistic expectation of where you're going and how things are going to turn out.
So that way you don't get discouraged.
I think that Christ doesn't want people to have the wrong idea about evangelism or preaching the gospel thinking like,
well, I'm going to knock ten doors a day so I should get about eight and a half salvations.
It's like, no.
You might have to knock 40, 50, maybe even hundreds of doors before you get a salvation.
You can go long stretches of time in between getting people saved because the reality is not a lot of people are going to get saved.
But you know what? It's still worth it to put in all that labor, that effort, and that energy to see that one saved.
And, you know, there's been many times, me personally, and I even feel like my soul winning partner is going to attest to this.
You'll, like, go and it'd be horrible for, like, an hour or two hours.
But just that last door, someone gets saved.
And it's such an encouraging, you know, blessing to get that at least one person saved when you go out soul winning.
But you have to realize, again, through the reality of free will, the vast majority aren't going to get saved, are they?
Verse John chapter 4, verse 1, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they have God,
because many false prophets are going out into the world.
Now, this is an important verse, I think, when we talk about the amount of people getting saved and just kind of context of numbers.
Because the Bible is saying here that there's many false prophets.
Remember when we're looking at some of these other conclusory statements like,
hey, there's many which are going down the broad road and there's many that are going to say unto me, Lord, Lord.
And then it's like, hey, are there few that be saved?
Here it's saying, again, many false prophets.
Compare this in your mind when the Bible says, hey, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors be few.
Notice when it talks about soul winners, few.
When they talk about false prophets, many.
We talk about people that are saved, few.
We talk about the people that are not saved, many.
And it's a pretty consistent theme that you notice in your Bible that many and most are not going to choose to believe.
Go to Luke, chapter number eight, go to Luke, chapter number eight.
But for those of us today, I mean, everyone in here is pretty much saved or adjudiced at this point.
So, you know, except for children, obviously, some of our children are just not,
they haven't quite understood the gospel yet and we're going to get them saved.
But the reality is that we have chosen and we sought the Lord at some point in our life
and some presented us to the gospel and we chose to believe in Christ and we got saved.
But the reality of free will didn't stop with salvation.
There's another layer to reality of free will and that reality is this, that most won't choose to serve Jesus either.
Number one, most people won't even choose to get saved.
But then after we talk about everybody that's saved, let's just dial it in to those who are saved.
Even then, most of those people aren't even going to choose to serve Jesus either.
As evidenced by what I quoted just a second ago that the laborers are few, few.
I mean, this is Jesus Christ saying out of his own mouth in his earthly ministry,
hey, this is something you need to be praying for because few people want to go out there and do any kind of work,
want to go out there and preach the gospel, want to get people saved.
And we see kind of this funnel system illustrated in a parable here in the Bible in Luke eight.
Look at verse number eleven. This is the parable of the sower.
It says, now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God.
Those by the wayside are they that hear.
Then come at the devil and take away the word out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved.
Now, I believe that the right way to interpret this parable is you have to understand that this is just talking about the world.
And if you think about it, everyone falls into one of these categories.
OK, you either fall into category one, two, three or four.
Category one is that you hear the word of God, but you don't do anything with it and you don't believe and you don't get saved.
That's everyone that's unsaved.
And you know, this also debunks the stupid idea of all those people that didn't hear because not in this parable.
In this parable, there's someone going out sowing the word.
And the and the first group is the group that decided not to do anything with it.
Right? They all had, they all had some level of the seed sowed.
I mean, in this parable, the seed goes everywhere.
Think about it.
It's going on the road.
It's going in the field.
It's going against every kind of soil there is because it's just kind of being insinuated.
There's a guy that's got seed and he's literally just throwing it everywhere.
The seed's going everywhere.
This pictures you and I knocking on every single door.
I mean, are we necessarily, we can't necessarily know like, hey, this must be an atheist door.
Sometimes, you know, all right.
But you don't always, right?
You don't know if it's a Hindu door.
You don't know if what you're doing is you're throwing seed on the wayside or on thorny ground or on stony ground or on good soil.
I mean, you haven't, I have no idea, but you know, we're supposed to just sow the seed.
We just throw it everywhere and it's landing everywhere.
And so the vast majority of people, their seeds is laying on the ground.
That's the road and birds just come.
The devil just comes, takes that, plucks it up so that it doesn't even germinate at all.
And these people aren't even saved.
Notice the reason why they didn't get saved.
It wasn't because they didn't repent of their sins.
It's because they didn't believe.
Says thus they should believe and be saved.
Notice what he takes away also.
The seed, which is what?
The Bible.
What is the Bible?
This.
Look, people that are anti-King James Bible are like the devil.
Look, anybody that's just like a virulent opponent to the King James Bible is probably just not even saved.
Like, I can see some people saying, like, I prefer the ESV and they're confused or whatever,
but people that are attacking the King James, making their life mission to get people to stop being King James,
they must be demonically influenced because that's what the devil's goal is, is to get the seed out of people's hearts
lest they should believe and be saved.
And, you know, it doesn't say again, like, oh, the devil came around and whispered in the air, like, keep sinning, bro.
You better, you know, because if you keep sinning, then you'll never get saved because you'll never repent of your sins.
No, no, no.
He's trying to stop them from hearing the gospel and getting saved, isn't it?
Okay.
What's the next group?
Verse 13.
Now, again, people that want to twist this parable would say, oh, see, look, for a while they believe.
So, you know, they either lost their salvation is a bad way to interpret this or perhaps they say they were a false professor
or they didn't have saving faith or all of these nonsensical things.
But obviously faith, while that's what saves us, it's not that the Bible doesn't also command us to have other types of faith, isn't there?
Because one type of faith could be trusting the Lord to keep you safe from enemies.
One could be believing that it's important to read the Bible, believing it's important to go to church,
believing it's important to go and preach the gospel, believing it's important to serve God.
Does someone believe in Jesus their Savior and then stop thinking church is important?
And why would they not think church is important again?
Well, and in time of temptation fall away.
Maybe there's a bunch of ugly, you know, dykes outside screaming and they're like, well, I don't want to go into that building.
Right?
Wouldn't that be a convenient excuse to say like, you know what?
I don't want to go there because there's a little bit of trials or temptation.
There's a little bit of persecution, right?
And so that causes them to not want to go.
As it says in other parables that are like the parallel passage, it says that they're immediately offended.
It says in the time of persecution arises and they're immediately offended or by and by, which means immediately they're offended.
And so because of that little bit of persecution, just any level of persecution, by.
And that's the vast majority of Christianity today is that they can't handle any level of persecution whatsoever.
They just they have to be coddled so much.
They're like just such an infant and a baby that they can't take any kind of negativity, any kind of level of pressure.
That's why they're pre-trib.
I mean, pre-trib is not even in the Bible and they just want to believe it because they're so afraid of any kind of pain, suffering or any kind of evil.
It's just like they're so terrified of any kind of level of persecution.
And for us that get persecuted all the time, it kind of turns into nothing anymore.
You know, it's always funny to me, I talk with my friend Pastor Steven Anderson about this occasionally.
And he'll be like, he'll act as if he's never been persecuted in his life.
And I'm thinking like, bro, like I can think of a lot of things that happened to you.
And he's like, yeah, but this isn't a big deal anymore.
You know, it's like, I guess after you've been, you know, run through the ringer on all kinds of different issues, you're just kind of like, whatever.
You know, it starts to kind of get to a point where it doesn't matter anymore.
I guess it's like working out like, you know, if you worked out with really heavy weights for a long time,
then maybe lifting like five or ten pound dumbbells, you're like, this isn't even working out anymore, right?
So it's like when you go through real persecution, you're kind of like, eh.
Like the Apostle Paul is probably not afraid of protesters at church that are going to assault him with words.
The Apostle Paul is saying, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
He's like, yeah. He's like, yeah, you're not going to kill me after the service?
They're like, no. He's like, what is this? This is nothing.
Every church service I get to, I get drug out and stoned to death.
You know, you guys are weak, you know.
That's what the Apostle Paul is thinking.
But think about it. So many people, they're not even willing to be insulted for Christ.
They're not even willing to just be told, like, called a bad name for the cause of Christ.
Whoo! You know.
And if you don't realize it, they're calling you bad names whether you're here or not anyway, so just suck it up, all right?
But if we keep going, look at verse 14.
And they which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth
and are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection.
Again, another aspect of the reality of free will is that the vast majority, they'll take the free gift of salvation,
but they'll immediately offend it.
And then some will take the gift of salvation, they'll go through a little bit of persecution,
but ultimately their selfish desires take over, the love of money takes over,
and so as a result, it ends up choking their spiritual life to a point where they end up doing nothing.
They end up not really producing a lot of fruit, getting a lot of people saved.
And then it brings us to our last category, but that on the good ground are they,
which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
Now, what's so funny to me is, you know, you talk to Calvinists or these other people about these parables,
and they'll say that this is the only group that's saved.
And, you know, when you read about this in other passages, say some 30, some 60, some 100,
and it'd be like, I'd love to know all of these Calvinists.
Show me your 100 converts right now.
Right, like everybody that's going to a Calvinist church right now that thinks that they're saved and they elect,
show me all your fruit then.
You know, then they change it to the fruit, it's just like, well, it's the fruit of the Spirit.
I'm just a really sweet person, you know.
I just have a lot of joy.
And it's like, when's the last time you met a Calvinist and thought,
you know what, the word that personifies this person is joy.
Calvinists seem so lame and boring and dull, okay.
I don't see the joy of the Holy Ghost in a lot of Calvinists today.
They seem really depressed and upset and just kind of filled with anguish and, you know,
they're always concerned about everything.
You know, I don't even see the fruits of the Spirit in their life because most of them aren't even saved.
But, you know, that's not what it's talking about.
It's literally talking about converts.
It's talking about the evangelism where they're actually going at it, getting people saved.
But, you know, even then when we get a lot of people saved, what's the reality of free will?
Most of them are never going to show up.
Why? Why are most of them not going to show up?
Because immediately they're offended.
And then a lot of people that might even show up a few times,
well, then they get choked with the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches,
come in, choke the word, and they're unwilling to be fruitful.
And then when you look at the final stage group, this is where Jesus is saying,
hey, the labors are few.
The labors are few.
And this is the reality of free will.
Go to chapter 14 for a moment.
Go to chapter 14.
Why do you think it is that in some passages of the Bible, like in Ezekiel, chapter 22, verse 30,
when the Bible says that the Lord sought for a man that would stand in the gap and make up the hedge,
he found none.
Wow, that's a scary verse when you think about it.
You know, when it came to the flood, I mean, he killed a lot of people.
I don't even know what the number is.
But how many people were saved?
Eight.
That was not a lot of people.
I mean, just eight.
And honestly, pretty much seven of those people were riding on Noah's coattails.
Like it was kind of like one again, wasn't it?
It's like because the Bible didn't say Noah and his family found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
It says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
And so his wife and his sons and their daughters got on.
You know, we all know that Ham was not really there for the right reasons.
Ham didn't deserve to be on that boat.
God just allowed him to be on that boat because of his father's sake.
And the reality is, again, that is usually few.
It's few that want to believe.
It's few that want to serve.
Look at chapter 14, verse 26.
If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters,
yea, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, or is he sufficient to finish it?
Lest happily, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it began to mock him,
saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish.
Or what king goeth to make war against another king, sitteth not down first,
and consulteth whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage and desire conditions of peace.
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple.
That does not sound like the vast majority of people in this world, does it?
Notice, I mean, think about what he just said.
Forsaketh not all that he hath.
If you, right now, aren't willing to say, Hey, I'm willing to press a button and nuke every single thing that I have,
you cannot be his disciple.
And you say, What do you mean by that, Pastor Shelley?
I mean your house, your car, your clothes, your children, your spouse, and all of your selfish desires.
All the things that you want for yourself.
He says that person cannot be his, you cannot be his disciple unless you're not willing to press that kind of button.
Now, how many people do you think are just like, I'm ready.
I'm that individual.
Again, what the Bible is describing is few.
It's few. Few.
Now, of course, the Calvinist and the, you know, the prideful person will say, This is what you have to do to be saved.
And it's just like, well, then no one's saved.
It's like, come on, really?
Of course, there's a difference between being saved, the free gift.
I mean, how could you then say, Oh, by the way, this is a free gift.
It costs you everything, but it's a free gift.
And I've literally heard people say that, like Robert Morris.
He said, Hey, the only way to get this free gift is to give every single thing up.
And it's like, you have to commit everything to him in order to get the free.
It's like, what? No, that's just wrong.
No, you're just not saved.
A free gift is really free.
And isn't it sad that even though it's free, vast majority still won't take it.
But then after getting saved, those of us that took the free gift,
how many people are willing to actually be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Very few.
I mean, think about Jesus Christ's own ministry.
After Jesus Christ ministered for years on this earth, in person, performing miracles,
teaching people the Bible from his own mouth, there's only 120 in the house.
He only had 12 disciples and one of them was a devil.
And then even amongst them, how many of them were willing to forsake all
and go even under the Gentiles and preach the gospel?
It was kind of like Paul, wasn't it?
I mean, it was almost nobody virtually that won.
Go to Second Timothy, chapter number four.
You know, sometimes serving God is going to be lonely.
Sometimes doing the right thing is going to be lonely.
Sometimes being godly is going to be lonely.
Because even those of us that are saved, even those of us that are in church,
many people are not willing to go to the extremity that Jesus really wants us to go to.
To be as godly as he really wants us to be.
To be as dedicated and faithful as he wants us to be.
And we see this illustrated with a lot of different people.
Moses at times felt lonely in the ministry.
Elijah felt lonely at times in the ministry.
We have here the Apostle Paul feeling very lonely in times in the ministry.
And verse 16 says this, at my first answer, no man stood with me.
Now that's crazy.
Think about like Romans chapter 16.
And I believe it's pretty clear that Romans chapter 16 is written before Second Timothy chapter number four.
But think about all the names that we read on Wednesday night that are listed in Romans chapter number 16.
I mean you have tons and tons of people.
You have Phoebe, and you have Aquila and Priscilla, and you have Mary, and you have Adronikus, and Junia, and you have,
I mean you just have like name after name after name.
And he's saying there was even times in Paul's own ministry
where at his first answer, what does the Bible say?
No man stood with me.
But all men forsook me.
All men forsook me.
Now what was his response?
I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
Now that's a pretty gracious attitude.
Like hey you forsook me, but I realize you really screwed up.
So I'm going to pray that God doesn't like do something to you that's negative.
He kind of really embodies the personality of Christ here.
Just like Christ being hung on the cross and saying,
Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
It's kind of similar attitude that the Apostle Paul even took upon himself at times in his ministry
where he's saying hey I was doing right. No one else wanted to do it with me.
But instead of just getting mad at everybody, I kind of said like you know what?
Just God be merciful to them.
You see Moses do this.
Moses had a couple times in his ministry where everybody just was really bad
and God even said like I want to kill them.
Think about it. God's like I'm ready to kill them
and Moses was like no you know Lord don't kill them.
You know that's kind of crazy to think about right?
I mean obviously I'm never going to have a personal communication with God
but I can't imagine if God came and he's like hey I'm going to kill all the steadfast Baptist church.
Even if you did something bad or whatever.
Even if you did something really bad to me, it would be the right attitude for me to say you know what?
God be merciful to those people.
And you know that should be how you treat people in your life right?
Even if your spouse or your family or friends or people in this church,
even if they did you wrong, you would say you know what Lord?
Please be gracious to them anyways.
Because you decided you know what?
I'm going to do the right thing.
Verse 17, not withstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me
that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear
and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
Now here's the reality.
Even though Christianity can feel lonely at times,
you'll never actually ever be alone
because Christ will always be with you.
And so the reality of free will is this.
Almost no one's going to get saved.
That's the reality.
Almost no one's going to be the disciples
of the people of Christ.
That's the reality.
But you know what?
The only person that gets to decide where you fall on this equation is you.
You already decided to get saved.
Why not decide to serve Jesus with your life too?
And you don't say well I'll do it if brother Als does it.
I'll do it if Pastor Shelley does it.
I'll do it if the other people at steadfast do it.
No, no, no.
Why don't you just say I'm going to do it no matter what anybody else does.
I'm going to serve God because I want to make that choice.
I mean we sing the song and everybody likes it.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
It doesn't say because of Pastor Shelley or other people.
No, no, no.
I have decided to follow.
Who decided?
It wasn't God forced me to follow Jesus no matter what I want to do.
I don't even know if I'm here right now.
Every word I sing He's making me sing.
What an amazing song I just sang.
Now some of you are tone deaf and you think like why is God making me sing?
No, I'm just kidding.
But at the end of the day it's like look you have a free will
and you get to decide whatever you want to do.
You decided to be here today.
You could have gone anywhere else in the world.
You could do anything you want.
This week you get to do whatever you want.
You can be a good father tonight.
You can be a bad father.
You can be a good husband this week.
You can be a bad husband this week.
You can be a good worker this week.
You can be a bad worker this week.
You can read your Bible this week.
You can not read your Bible this week.
You can get faithful in the church.
You can get all capability to do whatever you want.
But you know what God wants you to do is to choose to serve Him.
Is to lay your all on the altar.
To decide to follow Jesus.
To decide you know what I've got a free will but I want to serve Him.
And it doesn't matter what it costs me.
It doesn't matter what road I go down.
And I realize that it may be a pretty lonely road.
But at the same time you know what that's the right thing for me to do.
And you think well what if Jesus were here?
Well it really wouldn't change free will that much.
And this is kind of crazy.
And I didn't go there for the sake of time.
But think about in Jude when it talks about the angels.
They were in heaven.
And they were seeing God.
And even a third of them still left heaven and sinned against God.
Think about the reality of free will even in the present.
And you know the Bible is telling us that there's going to be a day and time when Christ is going to literally be on the earth.
And a large percentage of humans are still going to reject Him, aren't they?
They're still going to gather against Him.
They're still going to fight against Him.
Because the reality of free will is that many people are not going to choose to believe in Jesus, take the free gift, and many are not going to choose to serve Him.
But let it not be said of Steadfast Baptist Church that we're the vast majority that don't want to serve Christ.
Let it be said that, hey, we want to be the few that want to serve Him faithfully and are willing to count the cost and to be His disciple.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for giving us these examples in the Bible and helping us to have the right mentality so that we wouldn't be offended.
That when we see the vast majority not getting saved, it wouldn't stop us from preaching the gospel.
When we see the vast majority of saved people not going to church, it wouldn't stop us from going to church.
When we see the vast majority of people not evangelizing and not doing anything with their lives, it wouldn't stop us from evangelizing.
When we see even those who are soul winning give up or get burnt out or quit or get into sin, that it wouldn't cause us to get into sin or to slow down.
And I pray that we would just keep our eyes on Jesus and not focus on those things that are going on around us.
That we wouldn't let others discourage us. That we would be faithful and we realize that you're never going to leave us or forsake us.
And I pray that you would help motivate many people in this room to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ and to not live selfishly in this life.
And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Alright, for our final song, we're going to sing 110 All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
110 All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
110 What have I to ask beside?
110 Can I doubt His tender mercy?
110 He who through life has been my guide.
110 Heavenly, pleased, divine, has comfort here by faith in Him to dwell.
110 For I know what e'er befall me, Jesus, doeth all things well.
110 All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
110 Cheers each winding path I tread,
110 Gives me grace for every trial,
110 Feeds me with a living bread,
110 Though my weary steps may falter,
110 And my soul a thirst may heed,
110 Gushing from the rock before me,
110 Love a spring of joy I see,
110 Gushing from the rock before me,
110 Love a spring of joy I see,
110 All the Way My Savior Leads Me,
110 Oh, the fullness of His love,
110 Perfect presence to me is promised,
110 In my Father's house above,
110 When my spirit, clothed in port of things,
110 It's by two realms of day,
110 This my soul through endless ages,
110 Jesus, lend me all the way,
110 This my soul through endless ages,
110 Jesus, lend me all the way.
Alright everyone, we're gonna have barbecue now.
Go ahead and go out those back doors and help yourself.
There'll be people to help you serve.
Drinks, chips, condiments, sides.
And so let's have a great night.
God bless, you are dismissed.