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Amen, so the title of the sermon this morning is low-key quitters low-key quitters and i'm going to talk this morning about people that kind of just quit on god and not just the people that we would probably typically think of of What it looks like when they quit on god, obviously, there's always going to be people that just Quit on the christian life just get out of church. Stop bible reading stop soul winning You know, they just completely get out of the christian life and go back to the world They're the demises of this world, you know, and those are real obvious You know, they love the things of this present world and they have no interest in any longer serving christ. They are quitters Okay, but there's also I think a group of people That maybe are a little less obvious and that's people who are low-key quitters And what i'm talking about are people who you know, they're going through the motions, you know They're coming to church. They're they might even do a little bit of bible reading They may even show up to soul winning but in their hearts and in their minds They've already given up on the things of god. They've already quit on on god They want to get out and so on and so forth Now you say who would ever quit on god, but here's the thing christians quit on god all the time And if you stick around long enough if you're in church long enough, you're going to see people just quit on god They're just going to get out of the christian life and you say well not me. No, never me Look, it could even be one of us, you know self included the bible says, you know to him that thinketh He stand and take heed lest he fall When we start to think i'm never going to quit on god, that's probably when we're on the most dangerous ground of doing so So, you know this might not apply to anybody in the room But it could at least apply in the sense that you know We need to be on guard against this in our own hearts not to be these low-key quitters That just want to get out of the christian life Even if we're just going to do what go through the motions, you know And then you know We often think of the people who are real obvious when we talk about people who are quitting on god, right the people who rage quit And we see a lot of that where people they quit on church and it's not enough for them Just go back to the world. They have to turn on the man of god. They have to turn on their church They have to start getting really vindictive and they start attacking, you know people that had even put their trust in them Okay, I don't want to talk about that group because that's pretty obvious The less obvious group are the people that are more low-key when it comes to quitting on god And this is something that we might even go through in a phase in our christian life It might be that we never get out of church But it could be that in our hearts and in our minds we've kind of you know At least gotten backslidden or to some degree have quit on god when it comes to serving him or our hearts Just not in it anymore. We're going through the motions, okay And this is something that christians often do, you know, I talked about last week about aaron When he made the golden calf, right? This is something we see throughout all scripture is that when people get to know god when they see god, they often quit on him And you would think how could anyone do that? But like I said last week we saw that the children of israel did that in the presence of god They saw god in the mount and they just were like so aaron. How about that calf, right? They just totally from one moment to the next they're quitting on god This is what old testament israel's history is just filled with it's basically just one long story of an entire nation Quitting on god getting right and then quitting on god again, and then jesus comes and they've already quit on god again So there's just always this this pattern of people who quit on god throughout scripture So we should never think that you know, this isn't something that could happen in our own life This isn't something that could happen in our own church because of the fact that it is And again often we think of the people who are real obvious people who just rage quit People who are just you know vindictive But really what we need to be on guard about in our own hearts is being a low-key quitter Someone who's going to go through the motions, but their heart's not in it And this is something that happened even in jesus state there in john 6 look at verse 65 After and he said therefore I said unto you that no man can come unto me except who were given to him Of my father from that time forward many of his what disciples? I mean, these are people that are following christ I mean, these are people that are seeing the miracles of god They're they're watching jesus feed thousands They're watching him raise the dead give sight to the blind causing the lame to walk preaching these powerful sermons I mean if anyone you would think would stick through it through thick and thin it would have been these people People are following the the living christ at the present time like seeing him in the flesh But it says from that time many of his disciples what went back and walked no more with him Look, if there's people they're going to quit on jesus christ himself. It should come as no surprise to us when there's people that quit Nowadays, they're going to quit on a christ that they haven't seen in the flesh They're going to quit on on the lord when he's not here physically present with us This type, you know, this shouldn't surprise us. I mean we see it here right in jesus day even people Uh, you know like we might not even suspect I mean who would have suspected peter of being a quitter or that peter would have gotten backsliding look Peter we know went on to be a great man of god But the fact is we have these stories for a reason and not to just make peter look bad But to be a warning to us To show us that you know, these are all men of like passions That if peter could slip up so could we if peter could backslide and quit on god, so can we? He said in verse 67 and then said jesus under the 12. Will he also go away? So he gets down to 12 people right in this great multitude goes down to 12 Then simon peter answered and said lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life And we believe and are sure that thou art the christ the son of the living god So you think wow, at least peter he's faithful. He's there, you know, and and peter, you know when he said these things You know, i'm sure he had every intent in his heart that he was going to follow christ even unto death, right? And we'll we'll read about that here in a minute But look even peter ends up quitting and people often quit that's what we see throughout scripture And sometimes it's real obvious, but sometimes it's not so obvious. Sometimes it's something that they're doing in their heart. It's low key It's under the surface And why do they quit you would say? Well, why would people quit? Why would people quit on jesus? Why do these people here in john 6 turn their back on christ himself to his face? Why would they do that? Well, it's because of the things that jesus said, wasn't it? That's often what sends people packing is the things that the preacher says the things that are preached from the word of god They read something they hear something from the bible And that's why they quit on god Look at verse 59 these things said he in the synagogue and he taught in capernaum Many therefore of his disciples when they had heard this Said this is a hard saying Who can hear it? And when jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it He said unto them does this offend you? You know that's preceding versus six verse 65 when they finally turn and and leave, right? They get offended at what the hard saying And let me just break it to you right now. Okay. It's only a matter of time until you hear a hard saying It's only a matter of time until the preacher steps on your toes Until you read something in the word of god that offends you Because no one's perfect. We've all got sin in our lives You know, we've all got issues. We got to deal with we've all got to things that we got to work out None of us is ever going to be perfect And it's only a matter of time until there's some hard saying that comes down the pike and steps on your toes The question is doth this offend you? You know, and here's the thing. It's okay to be offended It's just one thing to stay offended right i'm offended and now you know The difference is are you going to also go away? Are you going to be like these disciples and say well, that's too hard for me I'm out of here And look we see this type of thing all the time in churches You know you preach on some specific topic you get on some specific sin and then it's people say well, that's it That's where I draw the line And look, there's all we could talk you say which ones there's there's it's a myriad number of topics You know all these sensitive things that people don't want to hear about that cause them to To quit on god why because they get offended because it applies to them, okay? And i'm not going to go over all those things that's not really the point of the sermon The point of the sermon is that you know, we don't want to be people who maybe we're not going to quit on the church Maybe we're not going to you know, uh, we're going to still stick around we're going to we're going to we're going to you know Put on the show, but our we have low low-key quit in our hearts I mean, it's pretty obvious who's quitting here, right? I mean, they're literally turning away and say well, never mind. Jesus. We're out here. That's too hard. No, thanks No, thanks But there's other people, you know what i'm talking about people who are going to stick around And are going to be low-key quitters. They're they're they've already kind of quit in their heart. They're just going through the motions Look, this is something that young people could need to watch out for You know teenagers who are being just drug to church every sunday being made to sit down and listen to the preacher They have no desire to be there. Look they've already quit in their hearts They're just they're just how when is he done? When is he's going to be over with? How long until i'm an adult and I can just go do my own thing Look, you've already low-key quit in your own heart before you've even gotten out the door And it's only a matter of time until you just go full You know john six on us and they're just gone. Okay Don't let that be you And look i'm just breaking to you now. It's only a matter of time until you are offended like peter, you know, peter eventually You know did get offended. He got taken to a point where he also denied christ We know the story after he's vehemently just reassuring christ that he's not going to you know Even though all men forsake thee, you know yet not I that i'm gonna go I will be with you until death Right and jesus has said well, you know, we'll see about that You know before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice, right? That's what he said. Look at john 13 john chapter 13 John 13 and verse 36 simon peter said to the lord where there goest thou jesus answered him Wherever I go thou canst not follow me, but thou shalt follow me afterwards peter said unto him lord Why can I not follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake look when peter said that I believe he meant it I mean he wasn't I don't think he was just trying to be some hyper spiritual guy I believe in his own heart. He thought yeah, I would lay down my life And look we can say i'm never going to quit on god I'm always going to be faithful to church I'm always going to be faithful to soul and am and always going to read my bible I'm always going to be faithful in all these areas, but look You won't really know that until you're put to the test until you're actually put in a position where you have to make that decision Of whether or not you are willing to you know in a in a way lay down your life chances are we're never going to be called to this degree of You know faithfulness or are we going to have to actually lay down our lives literally for christ? But you know in a sense we always are you know, do we want our own way or do we want christ's way? You know, do we want to live our lives for god with with him as our you know With our priorities aligned with the things of god or we just want to do what we want to do And he said here look I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered will thou lay down my life for thy For my sake verily verily I say unto you the croc shall the croc shall not crow till thou hast denied me Thrice and we know the story that's exactly what happened You know, it's and it's these days and it wasn't like, you know A band of centurions surrounded peter with a bunch of staves and swords and torches like they did. Jesus saying hey Weren't you with him weren't you one of them? It wasn't like this fearful position It was a it was a damsel twice that came to him a young maid a little basically a girl came up and made peter This great apostle cower and say I know not the man To the point where he did what where he began to curse and to swear Saying I know not the man So look we can say we're going to be faithful we can say we're never going to quit but until we're offended We never really know how we're going to react, you know, and that's really you know, as they say the proof is in the pudding Until you're offended until you're put in that position You really don't know whether or not you're going to stay faithful or how you're going to react It says i'll just read to you from matthew 26. He says and peter remembered the words of jesus Which he said unto him before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice And he went out and he wept bitterly, you know, at least peter here he felt bad about it You know, he kind of quit he proved himself unfaithful and it smote him to the core. He was heartbroken over what he had done You know and a lot of that, you know, hopefully that's what everyone feels if they quit on god You know, even if they're low-key quitting on god, hopefully it should bother, you know Hopefully this sermon if that's you this morning will bother you in that way And hopefully it'll get to you It'll make you want to you know get right But here's the thing, you know people are going to this is the great thing about I don't want to say it's a great thing But one of the one of the encouraging things I guess I should say is that even when people quit on god God doesn't quit on them say why should I be faithful to lord because he's faithful to you You know, god loved us, you know, even before we loved him, you know God gave his life for us and he's not going to just cast this aside as as easily as we so often do him You know we get after peter like oh man, I wouldn't deny him. Well one you don't know But you know what if we're honest, we probably deny him in in our own personal lives almost on a daily basis Sometimes we might go through whole seasons in our life where we're just denying him by not reading by not doing those things Which he has commanded by not taking the things of god seriously, you know, that is a form of denying christ But you know if you love me keep my commandments He said, you know, if you if you you know, if you shall do those things which I have commanded you and i'm paraphrasing Then you shall be my disciples indeed Right if what if we do those things which he has commanded So you say well i'm in church, you know, I show up i'm at church But in our hearts we might be in our personal lives low-key low-key quitting on god But here's the thing about that if that's us just need to understand that, you know God hasn't quit on you and god never will quit on us Even after peter just you know, just vehemently denies the lord You know in his presence and in the presence of all those people after he had made this huge vow You know, it wasn't like jesus came to him later and said see I told you and say oh you quitter You know, he he reacts to peter's denial when he was resurrected and he went to the disciples in mark 16 He tells them go your way and tell his disciples, right? And I love these two words and he says and peter He said go tell the disciples and peter Because here's the thing He said go and tell peter That he goeth before you into galley there. You shall see him as he said unto you And there's you know, these two words and peter we can learn a lot from these things from these two words We can learn a lot from what jesus is doing here. That's one of those things you just kind of read over, isn't it? I mean, why did he single out peter here? Why does he I mean isn't peter a disciple? Isn't that enough for him to say just go and tell his disciples? He says go tell his disciples and make sure you tell peter You know peter who what who just got done denying christ who just you know You know put himself out of the ministry who quit in in a sense on god And god's saying look I haven't given up on peter. I want peter back Don't let peter get so down in the dumps that he thinks i'm done with him because he goes we might quit on god But god's not going to quit on us Don't count yourself out like peter did and also what you can learn from this is don't count other people out You know, maybe he had to tell these people look you had to tell these ladies and peter because they're me And i'm not saying this this is all speculation. It's all just for application's sake Maybe they're thinking in their mind. Well his disciples, but surely you can't meet peter I mean he couldn't even tell that damsel. He was you know, a galilean. I mean he denied christ So, I mean we know he wants his disciples told but we all know what peter's like Let's not bother we don't have to bother telling him look I don't think that's what's going on here But that is a tendency that some people i've noticed have You know They see some other church member getting sinned or they do something wrong or they some make some some mistake And then it's just they turn it's just like this i've even seen people plot Like how they're going to get this person out of church how they're going to get them in their cross hairs and nail them You know, they're going to matthew 18 them You know and they just and it's it's foolish and it says more about the person that's doing that than You know the person that they're targeting And we might see somebody get into sin. We might even see somebody quit on god, you know quit on the church quits living for the lord Quit soul winning whatever. They're just out. They're done. Where have they been? They've been gone for months year, whatever I look i've seen people been gone for years But eventually they come back So don't ever count other people out, you know If you see somebody whether they're low-key quitting which you probably won't notice or if they're just flat out quitting on god Don't count them out because god hasn't counted them out And who are we to sit there and say well there god will never use them again That you know, that's not our place to to make that decision, you know, and god is the god of second third fourth fifth chances, okay Don't count peter out And don't count yourself out, you know The reality of this passage is that he's saying and peter because he knows peter who just yeah, he denied christ But it's not like he walked away with his chin in the air saying well, I guess that's you know, that's well he had it coming You know, that's what you get for preaching those kind of things. Jesus You go around talking like that. It's bound to happen Right, that's not his attitude. No, he realized what he'd done. He wept bitterly, you know, he had a tender heart So here's the thing if you if you're either ever quit on god or you're low-key quitting on god already Don't count yourself out, you know, the first message is hey don't count other people out But more more importantly don't count yourself out because people do this in their own minds all the time They start to think to themselves, you know, well i'm just not good enough or they make some mistake They get into some sin and they just say well i'm just not good enough to serve god You know and all I had to say that is welcome to the club No one's good enough to serve god Well, you know, I wasn't raised in a christian home and I didn't have godly parents and I got saved later in life and You know, I didn't start, you know, I haven't done all the bible reading. I wasn't taught all this stuff I don't know all these things You know, i'm just not good enough. Look nobody's good enough You know and there's plenty of people who weren't raised in christian homes Who didn't get who did get saved later in life who learned a lot of things about the things of god later in life That are doing great things for god That are you know, you know preaching soul-winning living for the lord raising families and look they they have just a rough a past As anybody else So don't ever count yourself out As As as not good enough You know, the irony is the person that thinks that they're they're the least likely to be used That they're the the most useless is the most likely to be used because they have humility It's the guy that's full of pride. It's like well, it's about time somebody Recognized my finer attributes. It's about time someone realized how what a great asset I am to the lord You know, here's the thing. None of us are are good enough. Welcome to the club Bible says go over to uh, john 21 john 21 if any man thinketh he know anything he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know You know, we might be tempted to look at some great bible preacher We might know some other fellow christian who knows their bible really well And say well i'll never be as good as them, you know, I just i'm not good enough But you know the people that know those that know the bible well That preach well That you know could go soul winning. Well, you know those people just know things as they ought to know And the truth is that there's a lot of hard work that went into that It's not like they they you know, just woke up one day with all that knowledge, you know There's there's years of reading and studying and practicing and all of that, you know that goes into that It wasn't just because there's some you know, god has a you know, they're just some special talent for the lord or something You know, they're the mvps they're the you know god's first string and we're just second string look it's all first string, okay It's all probably third string if we're being honest, right? But the point is is that look we can all do great things for god God's not going to quit on us and we should never think that we're not good enough to be used by god in some way He said in first corinthians 4 for who maketh theta differ from another or what hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive it, why does thou glory as thou has not received it? Look anything that anyone accomplishes for god is because god gave it to them god gave them that ability They they did the reading they did the study. They they got worth god. They lived the life that's available to anybody Look at john chapter, uh, john chapter 21 verse one this is of course after you know, he told them to uh, Then he told them hey you guys need to stay in jerusalem until the day of pentecost After he's been resurrected in john 21 verse 1 it says after these things jesus himself Showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of tiberius And on this wise he showed himself There were together simon peter and thomas called didymus and ethaniel of cana and galley the sons of zebedee And two other of his disciples simon and zebedee and two other of his disciples And two other of his disciples simon peter saith unto them I go of fishing Now you have you know people debate about this, but I think it's pretty clear what's going on here Is that peter despite the fact that that the resurrected christ has come back? And specifically asked for him and showed himself to him and said look I haven't quit on you Terry in jerusalem until the holy spirit come upon you And you know and he's trying to reassure peter i'm still going to use you peter, you know, he's not he's not You know getting after him about why'd you quit on why'd you deny me when you can't stand up to a little girl You know, he wasn't he's not what he did. Okay But despite all that the fact that jesus didn't quit on him or didn't you know get after him for that Is that peter decides to quit anyway? Because peter still thinks you know, this is my opinion peter still thinks he's not good enough He's not you know, the lord's over it lord's like hey, let's just move on here He's like look when you said that that night in the garden when you said, uh, you know Though all men forsake me and I will never leave the he said I already knew you were going to I'm the one who told you. Hey, the cock's gonna crow and you're gonna deny me thrice before that I saw it coming peter You know, it's just I didn't take me by surprise. Let's just move on Let's just get over that and let's go serve god. Let me use you Let me make you uh, you know a light to the gentiles and we and we know that peter later did go on to do Great things. I mean he's got he wrote two books in the new testament But before that, you know, he still quit again Because it says there that he said what I go a-fishing Right, and that was something that if we remember when jesus found him he told him to quit doing it He said, you know thou shalt no more Uh thou shalt from here henceforth thou shalt, uh be a catcher thou shalt be a fisher of men Right. He said you're gonna lay leave your nets forsake this boat. Let's go catch men. Let's go save souls. Let's go preach Let's go save souls, let's go preach That's what he called them to so peter here is still quitting He's still thinking well, you know, I know the lord came back and he Is forgiving me, but i'm just i'm just not good enough. He's feel it's a pity party. He's feeling bad for himself They say to him we also go with you, you know, that's the sad thing about when you when people quit Sometimes a lot of times they'll take people with them Or they'll at least try, you know, this is this is a lot more prevalent with your rage quitters And i'm not saying that's what peter is doing here But people who want to quit and then you know cause a big ruckus, you know Go make their youtube videos and get in the comment sections and get a mob together And try to you know, see how many other people they can take with them try to split a church You know go around and do all that And a lot of times that works, you know, and sometimes people just you know, if you get discouraged and quit Maybe somebody was looking to you Maybe somebody was was encouraged by you. You didn't even know about it and then you quit and it's like well i'm gonna go with peter You know if he's going back hey if peter can't do it then There's no way i'm gonna make it and they say i'm gonna go I go we go with you They went therefore and entered the ship and that night and I love this This is the point I want to draw attention to is that they caught nothing They caught nothing When peter, you know, he keeps failing and he goes when he goes back to his old life Look if you quit on god, and if you quit serving god Don't I mean it's not like your old life's going to be any different It's still going to be the way it was. In fact, it's probably going to be harder You know, and i'm just being honest up here. I'll just be perfectly frank there have been times when i've thought about in the christian life in the 20 almost 20 years that i've been living for the lord and going to church and all that What I thought about man, I just I'm, just going to go back I'm, just going to quit, you know, this is too hard Thankfully never did by the grace of god, but i'm i'd be lying if I said never thought that But you know what always kind of kept me from doing that it wasn't just my fervent love of god It was also the fact that you know I knew that all that was back there was a bunch of empty nets It was just more failure Just just vanity just nothing there because that's exactly what the case This was exactly the case when jesus found peter remember in luke five Where he finds peter when he goes to him, he says now when he left speaking, you know He told him hey, you know pushed me out of it so I could preach He goes out in peter's boat a distance from the shore and preaches the people It says when he left speaking He said unto peter unto simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a drought and simon answering him said master We have toiled all night and have taken nothing So that's his old life. Is this his life of toiling and catching nothing having no spiritual fruit having nothing to show to god Having nothing of any eternal value except these empty nets And then he quits on god and back back here in john and he goes back to that old life and guess what? The old life hasn't changed. It's still the same It's still the you know, the christian life might be hard. It might have its difficulties It might be a battle there might be disappointments But at least you can you know earn rewards at least you can have fruit unto eternal life At least you can have something to show for it at the end of your life besides a bunch of stinky fish That you toil all night to get Man, that sounds like a hard life, too If you go back to the old life, look there's nothing there for you, but more of the same You know, and that's a good lesson that made me you say well i've never lived that life, you know I've grown up i've grown up in the christian home. You might be getting curious about what it's like, you know out there the big bad world Let me tell you this is it right here. It's a lot of toiling in the dark and catching nothing And having nothing to show for it And it's a wasted life. That's that's what it is And you think that's what the world's gonna that's not gonna paint it up That's how they're gonna doll that up to try and sell that to you Hey, come, you know, the way of the transgressor is hard. Come on. This is great You know He that being often approved and hardened to this next shall suddenly be destroyed in that without remedy. Come on That's not what they say say. Oh, it's great. It's so much fun All the fornicating and the drinking and the drugs and everything else that they do They they you know, they put the lipstick on that and they they doll it up and they put it out there make it look Good, but what is it really? When you peel all that back It's hardship it's trials it's it's disease it's cirrhosis of the liver it's the std It's the unwanted pregnancy. It's the abortion. It's the divorce. It's all the hardships that come with sin That's all that's waiting there so there, you know, I'm sorry I ruined it for you If you've been wondering what it's like out in the big bad world because you never lived it That's what it is. Take my word for it And if you don't believe me and you think oh, I gotta go prove that for myself. You're an idiot That's that's the way a fool thinks You know, oh, I don't know maybe a tractor-trailer would smash my head like a melon I wouldn't know because I've never done it No, it's so I'm gonna go lay out I'm gonna go down to the 60 here and just lay down in the middle of traffic and see if that's what happens because you Know I've never done it myself Look, it'd be better just to look at the guys, you know squished brains all over the pavement go That's what happens when you do that You know, that's kind of a graphic analogy, but you know spiritually that's what happens to people They go out in the world. They get out of church they quit on God and they want to go run and play in Satan's traffic and They can't just look at all the other tragedies around them and go Well, that's exactly what that leads to that the wages of sin is death that what's over man. So it that she'll he also reap Why don't we just it'd be some smarter Just look at the example the bad examples and learn from them and not have to go experience them ourselves You know look at Peter look what happened to Peter when he quit on God when he got all down the mouth started feeling bad For himself and thinking I'm not good enough. It's gonna go back to my old life You know what? He got it wasn't a bunch of success. It was toiling all night and catching nothing He wasn't any more successful than when Christ called him into the ministry It was just more in the same But again, the point is this is that even though Peter, you know, he's quitting and not so low-key at this point He's pretty blatant about it. I go fishing. See ya is That you know, Jesus still pursued him Jesus still went after him. He didn't quit on the quitter, you know, and we shouldn't do that either Where did I have you go? You're still in John 21. I think this is where I'm at verse 3 He says Simon Peter saith on him I go a-fishing they say unto him We also go with thee they went forth and entered to a ship immediately and that night they caught nothing But when the morning was now come Jesus stood on the shore But disciples knew not it was Jesus and Jesus saith unto them told you so Hey you losers What are you wasting your time out there That's why I told you to do a bunch of quitters. That's not what he did He said children have you any meat? I mean, it's kind of doing that Hey, did you get anything? He kind of know, you know, it's like we haven't caught anything He's just kind of pointing out the fact, you know, hey you didn't catch anything did you there's nothing there for you Have you any meat the answer to no You know, we've been working hard all night We haven't got anything for it And he said of them cast you the net on the right side of the ship and you shall find therefore they cast now and they Were not able to draw it in for the multitude of fishes. And of course, this is what happened back in Luke You know, he tells him hey let down the nets for a draft and he lets down the net, you know There's a whole nother sermon right there and it's more than they can even bring in the net begins to break He has to call it get his buddies over there from the other boat and halt make that haul Look when you do what Jesus wants you to do there is there is fruit When you are obeying the Lord when you are gonna follow his commandments when you do go ahead and do what he tells you to Do you know then you do have success? You do the things that he wants And he's doing this again to kind of prove a point verse 7 therefore that disciple whom Jesus loves sayeth unto Peter It is the Lord Seeing well, that's that's the Lord this, you know, he just shows up and tells us to do that. He sees the miracle Now when Simon Peter heard that That it was the Lord. He grabbed the oars and started, you know Paddling as hard as he could in the opposite direction, right? No, it says he girt his fisher's coat unto him for he was naked and he did cast himself into the sea I mean, that's the thing about Peter when he quit on God is that even When people are feeling bad and saying well, I'm not good enough it's it's because they wish they were good enough and the fact is none of us is and When we realize that you know that God still isn't gonna quit on you that God still wants to use you no matter what There's always a plan B a plan C a plan D a plan E a plan F for your life No matter what you've done, you know, this should be your reaction Well, let me just cast myself into the sea and just and get close to God Let me just get as close as I can. Let me get on the shore with him and hear what he has to say Don't quit on the quitter. Why because Jesus doesn't quit on the quitter. He pursued Peter. He went after him said come back Even after Peter has denied him and then even after that after he's given him another chance and he quits again Jesus is still there saying hey, I'm right here all you need to do is come back and This shows the heart of Peter that even he's as despondent as he was as as Depressed as he was about the whole situation There was nothing he wanted more than to be close to God and to be used by God and the good news is that's what God Wants God's right there, too And we need to just what sometimes we just need to get over ourselves And just put on that Fisher's coat and just just go for it, you know and get back in Get back in the game with the Lord But here's the thing, you know people are going to quit Despite all that despite the fact that God would never quit on us God will pursue them people are still going to quit on the Lord for several reasons you know one reason we looked at real quick was just You know because they think they're not good enough and that's you know that it is the case But nobody is and that's not a deterrent for the Lord If it look if God said I'm only gonna use people that are good enough. Nothing would get done Because there's nobody good enough Some people will quit because of what the cares of this life can go over to Luke chapter 8 Luke chapter number 8 They will quit because of the cares of this life It's not just that they might feel you know depressed that I might just feel that they're not good enough they might think that You know, whatever some people are just gonna quit because the cares of this life and look this is this is a real danger for People otherwise, why does the Bible spend so much time warning us about it? That the cares of this life can creep in and choke the Word of God and Take us out of the fight for the Lord because it's a real possibility. Look at Luke verse 11 8 verse 11 Now the parable is this the seed is the Word of God and I know we know this And I know we've probably all read it, but I'm gonna go ahead and read it again Those by the wayside are they that here then cometh the devil and taketh away the word of their hearts as they should believed And be saved right? That's that hard ground the seed can't penetrate the heart That's that person we knock at the door and they're they're kind of half listening and then they get distracted and you know The phone rings or whatever and we never chance we even do preach the gospel But they just don't get it and a few days later. They've just forgotten, you know They get distracted by life and they never get saved they and the rock are they which when they hear receive the word You know the first group the first ground the hard ground. They're the ones that don't get saved I believe every other ground after this is talking about saved people. Okay? They are in the rock which when they hear receive the word with joy why because they receive the word they receive it They believe it with joy and these have no root for a while They for a while believe in a time of temptation fall away, you know, they get saved they get in church They get baptized they start growing the Lord and then what they get offended the time of temptation comes Right, then they have to make a decision for the Lord and then they fall away Why because they have no root in themselves and they fall away I want to look at verse 14 You could we could spend a whole sermon on every one of these grounds but 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 now are the all these things necessarily sin Look, you can't even say that this is sin that's doing it You know riches aren't necessarily sin they now they that will be rich fall into temptation and snare the Bible says But having riches having wealth is not in and of itself inherently sinful You know, the Bible says that he giveth gives us power and strength to get wealth, right? But the danger is that the riches and the pleasures of this life are things that can choke us choke the word in us and would Be me cease to be fruitful now are the pleasures of this life necessarily sinful now We understand that there's play there is pleasure and sin for a season But does that mean everything that brings you pleasure and enjoyment in life is this is a sin? No There's plenty of innocent things that you know, we take pleasure and in that God has ordained that God has given us to enjoy That are not sinful But look even things that aren't sinful things that are just the riches The cares the pleasures of this life can creep in and choke out fruitful Christians people who otherwise would go on and do great things and Be very fruitful the Lord get choked out by these things and they bring no fruit to perfection. Nothing ripens It dies on the vine But on the good ground are they which with an honest and good heart having heard the word keep it and bring forth fruit with Patience and really that's the key, isn't it with patience? You know something if sometimes a Christian life is just we have to just one day at a time and we just say well Where's the fruit? Where's the fruit? When am I gonna and then in time it will come right again? That's another sermon And I know I've mentioned this before but I'm gonna I'm gonna touch on it again Look the the problem with that thorny ground when you understand this parable is that it's not the soil. That's the problem Right because it's very it's supporting life, right? It's got the thorns that are there. What's the problem? Is it the fact that the it's it's hard the soil is hard. It's full of rocks Nothing can take root. Nothing can grow. No, there's plenty growing there. It's just the wrong things are growing It's the riches. It's the cares. It's the pleasures Those are the thorns that are being supported by the earth that is there the problem is the heart You know there needs to be you know, a weeding of the heart there needs to the the soil needs to get tilled You know, they got to break up that follow ground. They need to get the rocks out They need to you know, they need to make sure they get all the the weeds out of there That's the problem here. This ground is more than capable of supporting life And in fact it can support a lot of life and they can bring forth multiple, you know A whole garden of what whatever you plant there The problem is is that it's often with with us is that we plant the wrong thing We're sowing to the riches. We're sowing to the pleasures We're sowing to all these worldly things that might not even be inherently sinful But the problem is is that chokes out everything that we could be bearing for God It Brings no fruit fruit to perfection It's what's left to grow in place of the seed that's the problem and like this is something that the Bible warns us about About getting entangled with the thorns the cares the riches the pleasures that choke out the word in our life when we get the wrong priorities in life And we put things like like jobs and money and whatever else in front of the things of God That's that's a you know, that's That's that's you putting the cares and pressures of this life in front of You know the the fruit that God could bear in your life and look that's gonna choke out the fruit of eternal life That's you know, really that's an empty net that you're working with there 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 4 he says no man that warth and the Christian life is warfare, right? That's where we're called to a fight a spiritual battle We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in high places Right against the rulers of the darkness of this world. That's what we're fight We have a spiritual armor to fight No, man that warth entangle it themselves with what the affairs of this life getting didn't say since I mean, that's it That's a no-brainer. I mean, that's that's the quickest sermon. I'll ever preach don't sin Amen It's closing prayer, you know, right no It's the affairs of this life people get caught up and so many other things that have no eternal value whatsoever Get caught up and just making money just get caught up in politics Caught up and running for some office or caught up and debating this or arguing that or just going just All number of things that are out there. It's he compasses it all by what the affairs of this life No, man gets that worth and tangle it themselves with these things that he may please him who have chosen him to be a soldier You know, the fact is there's just too many soldiers today that are all tangled up and Satan's barbed wire You know That was the image that I got when I was reading that passage in 2nd Timothy is that if this is a warfare and you? Think about in war, you know the enemies, you know to barricade your enemy. You'll put out barbed wire now I don't know if they do that anymore. I mean they do it the bases and stuff like that. They got the razor wire But in other words, they would just string out huge lines of barbed wire and if you were one of those unfortunate people that happened to stumble through it and you know through the fog or didn't see it or Whatever or fall into some pit I mean you could literally get tangled in it or somebody has to come along and cut it off and then pull it off of You and but in the meantime every move you make is painful. You struggle the more entangled you get Look Satan is out there just in this world they just stringing out barbed wire all around us Let me get him tangled up in this. Let me get him tangled up in that Let me get him, you know caught up in some, you know, conspiracy theory Let me get it caught up in some you know in his career Let me get caught up in in the pleasures and the cares and the rich you name it you fill in the blank there Whatever that barbed wire is. I don't know. There's so many things the affairs of this life Satan's just stringing it out and stringing it out stringing it out and too many of God's people are getting entangled in that and All I'm trying to do this morning And if this is you is I'm just trying to take those The shears of God's Word and just clip away some of that barbed wire and say let's let's get out of that Let's get in the fight. Let's get in the warfare that God has called us to of Raising our families for God of preaching the gospel of being faithful the church of serving the Lord with our lives You know, I thought of an illustration about this is when I was coming back from Houston we were we were flying back on Friday and there was this gal ahead of me and my daughter going in line and And she lives here in Tucson because it was the incoming flight. So I'll just hear this If she does what she's not here But she's probably I'm looking at her. I'm guessing the range I'm like she's got to be you know, late 20s early 30s somewhere in there and She's got you know a to carry on bags and she's all balled up and She's got her skateboard with her This is I'm like a little old for a skateboard And she's got her bike her skating helmet hanging off her back and I thought how old are you? You know, it just kind of struck me as odd I was like, this is the world we live in people just don't ever want to grow up You know, we were talking about skateboarding this morning. Look, I Quit skateboarding a long time ago. Okay, and it wasn't just because I grew up And it's cuz I grew up I grew this way, right if we that was the joke if I start skateboarding either it's gonna snap or I'm gonna One of the two is happening Well, look she was like I'm like you're too old for this You know, what are you doing? And she's carrying all this weight and it was a small plane You know just a little two-seater was one of those ones you had to walk out on the tarmac and go up the ladder and get in and that's how small it was and she's got her bags and she's got this board and and She's trying to get on her phone everything else and she's got that hate that helmet just dangling and Then it got caught on one of the arms in the aisle and I'm watching her the whole time I'm keeping Linda back like give her room and she's like narrowly missing people with the skateboard I'm just like what are you doing? And she got that helmet caught on one of those chairs and I said, oh I got you And I had to let her go and then when we were leaving she sat in front of me I said can I carry that for you? Can I help you? Oh, thank you and that helmet gets caught again just like you did before I have to let her go and I thought you know That's that's the perfect illustration of the of some people's Christian lives They're hanging on to all these things that they just need to let go of They've got some childish thing some hobbies some just vain pursuit. That's just it's tangling them. It's getting them caught They can't get down the aisle. Everybody else is like just try not to lose an eye You know, everybody else is just trying not to you know, they're just wreaking havoc on the airplane of life Until and I'm just the preacher come along going let me can I take that helmet and just help you a little bit That's all I'm trying to do this morning Just unhook that helmet for you and say maybe you maybe you should either draw the pull the drawstrings a little tighter on that Or just give up skateboarding, you know There's a lot of other things in life that that are not gonna sprain your elbows and snap limbs or whatever You know what I mean? But that's it wasn't that a perfect illustration I thought it's like that's how so many people live their Christian lives Hanging on to all this stuff. They're trying to navigate this narrow pathway and Wondering why they keep getting caught up where they can't get ahead It's because you need to just let some stuff go and quit getting so entangled with the affairs of this life careers politics You know just you know, maybe it's even you know Family members relatives. There's all kinds of things that people get snared by in life You Know what I love about Luke 8 8 this is this this parable this explanation of the parable at the parable of the sower is That he ends this parable with another parable. I don't know if you ever noticed that So he explains this parable or he gets into verse 15 But that on good ground are they which with an honest and good heart having heard the word keep it bring forth fruit with patience And so that's the explanation and then he's like, okay since you love parables so much verse 16 No, man when you have light at the candle cover it with a vessel or put a fit under a bed But said if it on a candlestick that they which enter in may see the light and yeah, you know, this wasn't just random You know, this is related to what he's explaining here He's saying look, you know, you need to make sure you're the type of person who's got the good ground You're sewing on good ground. You know, you need to get the weeds out. You got to get the rocks out You got to be sewing on good ground. You got to have patience And he uses this illustration at this parable here to kind of make that point Like God is expecting us to be this light to be fruitful to be that good ground I mean that's kind of what he's saying. He's like look no man light at the candle and cover with a vessel You know, God didn't save us and put the light of his spirit within us So that we could cover it up and be on fruitful ground. You see I'm saying I mean Let me bring it into the modern vernacular. Let me use it more of a modern parable, you know It would be like you going home tonight, you know after church. Okay, that's right. You're going home tonight or whenever You turn on the floor lamp, so you turn on the floor light You're gonna sit down, you know, and you're gonna read a book So you turn on the floor lamp by the couch and then immediately throw a blanket over it And your spouse is like, what are you doing? I'm reading. Well, why'd you throw a blanket over that? Why not that would make any sense wouldn't it? I mean you're lighting that light for a purpose, you know, so you could see what you're reading could see what you're doing I mean, that's that's kind of what Jesus saying No one's gonna light a candle and then immediately cover it or put it under a bed under a bushel and cover it up No, they light that candle so that it can what shine So that they which enter in may see the light Okay, and this is what God wants us to do with our lives. He wants us to be that light You know, God has lit that light in us we are that lamp And God doesn't want us to cover that up go over to uh You know, I've got a lot and I just got to hurry up here go over to Matthew chapter 25, Matthew chapter 25 You know, we wouldn't turn that lamp on at home and throw a blanket over it, but you know what that's exactly what quitters do That's this is a picture of somebody who would quit That's what they do God lights the candle and they go. Oh, thanks. Let me just put that in a cupboard God lights the candle and they just start, you know, frantically licking their fingers trying to get the bulb out That's what that's the picture and you say that doesn't make any sense I know but that's what it doesn't make any sense when people quit on God quit serving the Lord either He said in Matthew 5 here the light of the world a city that is set on hill cannot be hid Who is the light of the world you are we are? You know, we are the light of the world neither do men light a candle and put under a bushel There's that illustration again. Say look you're the light don't hide it But on a candlestick and again light to all that in the house Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, you know It's the life that we're living our priorities our works the things that we do that are gonna be that light shining to other people And glorify your father which is in heaven, you know If we don't serve God if we don't have the work if we're not putting in the effort, there's no light there That's like you covering up the lamp. That's you quitting and covering up the lamp and what you know, you might be fine You know to some degree But what about all the people that would enter in? what about the other people that were supposed to see that light that's set on a hill and Say, oh, what's this about and hear the gospel and get saved? You know, really that's the that's the thing. It's it's the other people that suffer the most You know Peter still went back to an empty net, you know, what about what if he just stayed there? You know, what if he had just taken the oars and gone the other direction and so I'm done Think about all the people that would never heard his preaching think about all the you know, no day of Pentecost no acts to You know, maybe you know, someone else could have done it You know God God could probably found somebody else to do it You know, but God wants to use us and if we quit on him, it's really the other people that suffer the most All the souls that will go and save all the all the all of that That's why it says in second Corinthians 4 if our gospel be hit is hit to them that are lost and whom the God of This world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not there's plenty of people out there that are just groping in the darkness today They're just wandering around in some dark room and they need us that that lamp that candle to come along and shine unto them And help them You know and you say well, I don't know about that that that's not what I signed up for Oh, yes, you did Well, you look God's God's army is not a conscription, you know, or it's not a it's not a volunteer It is a conscription you got drafted Right, you didn't have to go into the post office or nothing When you got saved you got signed up automatically you put your name on that dotted line Because he redeemed you and the Bible says you're not your own but your life is hidden Christ And look, there's all kinds of verses we can talk about how we are called out of darkness unto his murmur of light We are the children of light. We are the children of the day. We are not of night. We are the darkness We are that light we need to let that light shine not cover it We need to get those thorns those briars out of his life so we can what bear fruit We were darkness, but now you're light in the Lord walk as children of light and there's so many other Chat verses on this but I got to move along for sake of time In fact, if you would just go over to 1st Corinthians 3 I got to wrap it up I had a polar page but You know What am I preaching about this morning? It's not being a quitter, right? And it's you know, of course, none of us is just gonna be that person that just you know At least we don't think no one sets out to do this in the Christian life I'm gonna go to church and get involved in the things of God and then one day I'm just gonna quit Right, that's not really the crowd I'm trying to preach to it's people that may or may not I don't know The very least is a warning to those that are low-key quitting in their hearts You know, they're not as obvious as the rage quitter that you see And all I'm saying is this, you know, you might disagree you might say well no the cares of this life It's worth it. You will regret it eventually maybe not on this side of eternity But people who quit eventually will regret it. I mean it'll take about two seconds looking to the face of Christ To make you you'll come to that realization real fast I've wasted my life I Mean we can get all involved in the cares of this life. We can make all kinds of money We can do it we can do whatever we want But as soon as we're in heaven and we're looking Christ Face and that's a reality that that I think some people just need to get in touch with You are going to see God and give an account one day I mean the Bible, you know, I skipped a bunch of passages on this where he say hey my reward is with me You know, I'm going to render every man according to his works, you know, we're all in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 Is that where I had you go is is a is a great example of this He said in Revelation 22 behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according to his works You know, it's and it's not it's not I'm not gonna be standing there there to go through your account and dole out your What you got coming or what you don't, you know, it's not Pastor Anderson. It's not some other it's no it's you know who it is It's God He says I'm got my real works. I'm the one that's going to give to every man You know, it's easy to disappoint man You know, but disappointing the Lord that's gonna be that's gonna be a real heartache for people In eternity look in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 verse 13 every man's work shall be made manifest For the day shall declare it Because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's sword of what's work about what sort it is If any man's work Which he build there upon shall Shall excuse me every man's work abide which he hath built there upon he shall receive a reward Look, it's our labor is not in vain here. You know, it might look like that to the world They might say why do you spend your your your Saturday afternoon out soul-winning telling people about you know, you're just out spreading your religion You're gonna go out on say why do you go to church on Sunday? Why do you go to church on Sunday twice? Are you telling me go to church three times a week? Yeah Well, what have you got to show for it? Well, you know, I don't I'm not it's not making me any money It's not you know, it's not it's not putting anything in the bank account for me. It's not why why do you do that? The world would say there's no value in that but you know what? There's eternal value in serving God and look folks. It's beyond just going to church. That's like step one. Okay You know getting our carcass in church at least once a week is like Christian life 101 It's the Bible rate, you know the soul-winning the prayer the raising our families for bringing up the next generation There's so many more things that we do the world will look at say it's all vain It's not profiting you. There's no pleasure in that You know, but that's what they would say. We know that there is pleasure in serving the Lord. There is peace and contentment there's the fruit of the Spirit and Eventually, there is a reward right? It's just it's a delayed reward Right and so many so many some Christians we just need to get off this this instant gratification kick that that the world's got us on You know, I can just scroll through a feed and get a dopamine burst right now You know, I can just pull out my phone and the food will be brought to my door right now Right, it's just you know people, you know, they were doing these I was reading this book where they're doing the studies about delayed gratification and And they did the study with these kids and they had these kids and said look you can have this cookie now or you can Wait 15 minutes and have two cookies. I can't remember the stats, but there was a certain group of kids You know, I don't know how it all worked out but there was a certain group of kids who Who would you know opt for the 15 minutes later some kids just say well I can't wait that long and they just bam they eat the one cookie That you know, you got the one cookie, but you could have had two if you just you know held out Aren't two cookies better than one Yeah, amen Everyone knows that Right, but hey what in order to get that they had to put some other things off They had to deny themselves that first cookie They had to wait for the reward right and they did this study found that the kids that could put off You know that could put off the second cookie that could wait they had to delayed Gratification they did better they tracked them. They did better in life their SATs. They had their income They just they were more successful in life because they learned something early on that it's better to wait for something That's better and look we could quit on God and go have a very nice life. I mean we live in America I mean we could have all kinds of things that we want and we could spend our times we could look none of you has To be here this morning. You could be on the lake wherever there is one Maybe the golf course. I don't know you could be wherever everybody else is You could be on some nice hike you could be at home watching the game You could be doing a lot of other things that would bring you a lot of pleasure right now You know what being here and hearing the Word of God and serving God and doing and doing the soloing and all that That's you putting off That first cookie and waiting look I might not receive all the the rewards now, but you know what you will receive that second cookie Look, there's another cookie in your future You're gonna have to die And It's not 15 minutes. You know it's like 15 decades or something. No, it's not it's not that long, but It's it's it's a long delayed gratification right for the judgment day But look that kid those kids that put off that second for that wait if that second cookie I You know they probably didn't regret that 15 minutes. I went by I Guarantee the kids that are watching kids eat two cookies so man. I wish I would have wait 15 minutes Look we might have to go without a lot of the cares and the pleasures and the riches of this life But when we get there and we see the Lord and our works abide and he get and he rewards us When Christ himself has says well done thou good and faithful servant. I mean what earthly reward is gonna compare to that There's no cookie on earth. That's gonna compare to that There's just nothing there to hear those words from our Lord himself say well done I mean don't you like being told well done Don't you like when somebody says hey good job? You know well, I don't say that to anybody cuz I don't want to give him a big head You know some people need to hear that some people need to be encouraged say I'm proud of you. Good job Well done, that's exactly what the Lord's gonna. Do is you can say hey, you know if we serve him You know if we decide to be that light if we decide to get those thorns and thistles out of our life if we decide to avoid that barbed wire That Satan's got everywhere trying to entangle us in the affairs of this life And we serve him and we're faithful and we're patient You know there will come that day where Jesus comes in the room with that second cookie called well done now good and faithful servant Be thou ruler over ten cities or whatever You know that's gonna be worth it No one at that point is gonna. Go. That's it. That's all I got Man, I could have spent my time so much better down on earth. This is no one's gonna feel gypped on that day And say boy, what a letdown So you know that's that's what we have to keep in mind look if we don't want to quit on God You know we have to understand some things one. You are going to be offended. It's only a matter of time the you know the Bible is an offensive book because you know our carnal nature is opposed to The statutes the commandments of God you know we you know we're at odds And we need to get that right so it's only a matter of time that we're gonna be offended It's how we're gonna react and we shouldn't get this attitude of I'm not good enough God can't use me or that's too hard of a saying you know we need to stick in the battle stay by the stuff and Serve God and wait for that reward. That's coming in Eternity you know there that's spiritual reality. That's what we need to get in touch with that's a spiritual reality That people need to get ahold of that there is a reward that can be earned But you know what it requires some things of us on this side If not quitting sticking by the stuff and doing the work of God. Let's go ahead pray