Shane Idleman passionately pleads for full surrender to Christ, emphasizing that true freedom comes from fearing God rather than man. He warns against the deceptive nature of sin, which grows if not actively dealt with, and encourages believers to repent and believe in the gospel. Idleman highlights the urgency of responding to God's call today, as many in the American church have hardened their hearts to the truth. He contrasts the vibrant faith seen in other countries with the complacency in the U.S. church, urging a return to genuine worship and reliance on God's grace. Ultimately, he calls for a radical commitment to Christ, reminding listeners that grace abounds even in the face of sin.

Why would Jesus, this person, right, who the world has given this, oh he's a nice teacher, he's a good teacher, he said don't fear man who can kill your body. That's why Christians should have theoretically no fear of man. No fear of man. Now, it's not possible sometimes because sin comes in sometimes and we get discouraged, but we should have no fear of man. Jesus said, but fear him who can cast both body and soul in hell. Fear him. Jesus, not me. Don't get mad at me. All I'm doing is reading the Bible. All I'm doing is quoting the words of Christ. So what blows my mind is you present this case against man. And then you say, but guess what, here's the solution. You don't have to work 30 years at Lockheed and get retirement. There's a solution. You don't have to pastor for 40 years. You don't have to do all this checklist. You don't have to go to Mecca 20,000 times. You just have to look to the cross and look to Christ and repent and believe. My goodness, even a child on his knees can do that at 6 years old. Here's the thing too with sin. You think you're hiding it, but it's growing. You think it's contained, but it's not. Sin doesn't hide. It grows. And we are either killing sin or sin is killing us. I think that was John Owen again. Be killing sin or sin be killing you. I don't know about the English on that, but it's true. See, if I can just contain it, right? This issue I have, nobody will need to know. Lord, just me and you. Well, as you're containing it, this little child now is a 16 year old monster who's going to jump over your back and beat you up. Because it can't be contained. It's either growing or it's withering. Sin is either growing or it's withering. That's why we call the church, those who are interested, to the corporate fast. To fast from time to time, because that more than anything will starve the flesh. If you mix it with prayer and fasting, it will starve the source of sin. Because you can't pray and seek God and hold on to a little clause of sin back here you enjoy. Lord, I'm going to seek you with all of my heart, but I'm sure like this back here. I know it's wrong. It's called plan B, you know? If my spouse ever gives up on me, I've got this other person just in case, right? Are you okay with that, Lord? You'd be amazed that when sin blinds and deceives, you'll have people come and say, God's called me to divorce. I met this other person. We clicked. This is who I should have married. I knew I made a mistake back there. Blinded. Deceived. Well, your 10 year old kid's crying about it. He sure doesn't agree. But Shane, you don't understand. No, you don't understand. You've been blinded. You've been deceived by the work of the enemy. Open your eyes. Repent and believe the gospel. Be encouraged in that. And then four, the echoing voice of conviction becomes harder to hear when sin increases. Have you ever noticed that? Those who need to hear it the most are often the most closed off. Their heart is so hard. And that's one of my concerns for the church in America is, if you go to different countries and they hear the gospel, I mean, I'm just going to start recommending some books sometime, because you guys, we judge by God how God is moving around us. I can take you to Africa where they have altar calls of 100,000 people. Did you catch that? The Rose Bowl. Big stadiums. Third world countries. China. They thought they might have, I think they estimated that when they went back into China, they'd have 700,000 believers. Now there's something like 80 million. Don't quote me on numbers. It's amazing what God is doing. You just go into a place in Sudan, and you preach the gospel, the translator, right? Like, what's going on? Everybody's on their face before God. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. And the tribe leader will come back and say, all these people have decided to follow that Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Wait, hold on. The whole village? We can't get one person to come to salvation in the churches in America over the course of a year. You think God's moving based on what we see? You better open your eyes. There's a bigger picture there. The hard heart of American church. The hard heart of the gospel. So many people hear the gospel all of their lives, and their hearts have become hard. They don't hear the voice of conviction. They say, oh, I was raised in a Christian home. I went to a Christian school. My favorite. Well, shame, my parents were Christians. Oh, well then, I stand corrected. Are you? Do you know Christ? Do you truly know Him? Hard hearts. Three times in the book of Hebrews, in one book, when God says something once, I listen. When He says it twice, I get on my face and I pray. When He says it three times, today, today, if you hear my voice, harken your hearts not against me. Today, if you hear my voice, do not harden your heart against me. A couple chapters later, today. Today. Tomorrow. Today. Shame, tomorrow, I'm going to schooners tonight. No, today. You'll get that on your way home. Today, harden your heart. Today, turn to me. Today. Today's the day of salvation. Maybe it's me, but the reason I get passion is that we call Westside the treadmill church. So many people come and visit. We've had a couple thousands of people visiting, right? But it doesn't stay. Moving, going, doesn't want to hear the message anymore. They got sick, found a different church. Whatever it is, I've got one opportunity sometimes, one opportunity, I'm going to speak something to you that's going to impact you for the rest of your life. Hardness of heart sets in. They don't want to hear the Gospel. That's why I want to change our slogan at some point too. If you don't like what I'm saying, it's what you need to hear. You need to hear what I'm saying. Isn't that true? If you don't like what I'm saying, if you're convicted, it's because you need to hear what I'm saying. God loves you. This is not coming from a condemning, judging heart. I could sit in that pew just the same as you. If I had time to tell you my life story, you'd go, why is he a pastor? That's a question I ask myself just about every month. What? Is this a cruel joke? Of course, I don't mean that, right? But meaning, how did that happen? How did you take this country boy from a small town and preach the Gospel? What is that? And people say, oh, people are in it for the money. I ran from this for years. There's no way. So I'm not here judging and condemning. I'm here inviting you to a relationship with Christ. Full surrender, turning over everything. Listen, why don't we get excited about what God has done? How many of you screamed for the Eagles? Come on. Oh, I see guys here at church. I see them. They're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. They've got their beers, popcorn everywhere. They're cheering for three hours, and you can't get them on their face before God for 30 minutes. What's wrong with the picture? A refocus of priorities. What's wrong with that picture? You tell me. You tell me. Shane, I'm upset over that statement. Good. You need to hear that statement. Listen, I made a deal with God many, many years ago. I don't know if you should do this or not. But I don't care if there's 50 or 500 or 5,000. I'm preaching what you called me to preach. If I can't do that, if I can't preach what God calls us to preach, I don't even want to show up. I don't have time for social clubs. I don't have time. Now, fellowship's good. Social clubs are good. Don't get me wrong. But who comes to church to play church? Listen, it's cute when your kids play with their little dollhouses and stuff. But when you come to church, we can't play church. We've got business to do. We've got to strengthen the believers to equip the saints to encourage them to go and fight the good fight. Everybody thinks that church is it. No, church is the pep rally. Church is when we come and we remember what Christ has done. We are strengthened. We worship. And then we go out and fight the enemy. We take down those strongholds. We pull back our children. I know kids right now, teenagers addicted on everything from Xanax to heroin to alcohol to every crystal myth to crack, crank, whatever. And we're going to come to church and play church? Are you kidding me? The enemy just laughs. He laughs. Go to church. You're not doing nothing. Oh, wait a minute. You're worshiping. You're on the altar. You're fasting. You're praying. Now you've created havoc in this kingdom. And then number five, only the truth will set you free. Only the truth will set you free. Romans 5, therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. That scripture, you're not going to ever hear Joel Steen read. Ever. Ever. I hope you send me a clip ever if it happens. I'm not bashing. I'm just saying most TV, you're not going to hear that. Because what happens with the remote? You know they engage how many viewers? I'd be in trouble if you have, okay, 12 million viewers. 100,000 viewers. What happened? What happened? Because we don't want to hear this. But this is the truth. If this is the truth, wouldn't we want to hear it? Adam and Eve aren't a fairy tale. It's true. So through what the theologians call the Adamic nature, through Adam's fall, that condemnation has rested on us all. Even through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men. So this free gift came to all men through Christ. So you have Adam condemning the Adamic nature in us. Christ comes and frees us from that condemnation. So that's why you have the old man, the new man, this metaphor that sometimes people use. Then the law entered. Oh goodness, here we go. The Ten Commandments. Because I think everybody's doing fine, right? They don't know what bad really is bad and good. I mean conviction you have. But then now there's a Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not. And now you have the law coming. Is the law bringing freedom and joy? Or is the law bringing condemnation? If you read those things, right? Does it bring, oh look at that, that's wonderful. No, it brings condemnation and conviction. Why in the world do you think what used to be in every single courthouse in America is now being removed? The Ten Commandments. Used to walk into schools. Ten Commandments. Public buildings. God's Word. Conviction. Conviction. People say get rid of the conviction. And they say Shane, but we need to be politically correct. No we don't. We need to be biblically correct. I don't care. People, you know, I better not say it. I'm just going to get to the next point. If people don't like the fact that there was Christianity and Ten Commandments and all these things. Separation of church and state is bogus. You move to a different country. And you allow those who want to honor God, who built the nation on God, the court system on God. Everything on God, you allow them to worship God freely. If you don't like it, you don't try to change it, you leave. And that's what happened. If you think we're safer removing God from everything, then talk to me after the service. If you think it's wise. If you think God is honored by that. Actually what happens when a nation does that, God judges them. And people walk around, I don't see any, there's no big earthquakes. There's no big things. It's funny, one of the prophets wrote, there's famine in the land. Not a famine of drink and of food. But a famine of hearing from the Lord. Has anyone stopped to consider that there might be a judgment already underway? Judgment from here. You can look at the prophets, Judah and Israel, when they split up, they were financially successful. But they're under the judgment of God. Jeremiah even rebuked the priests. He said, they speak, but it's not in my name. They have dreams, but I don't give them these dreams. They do different things, but it's not in my name. According to what I've done, according to the counsel I've given them. Who sent these false prophets? They ran, I didn't send them. God says, who sent them? I didn't send these false prophets. I didn't send these people. They spoke, but not in my name, not under my authority. So when God judges, sometimes He removes His spiritual influence. And you have teachers then that come in and tell people what they want to hear. And there's a famine of the Word of God. Do you know the number one email we get, you will not believe this, from all over the United States. The number one email, bar none, there's nothing even second. Is, where can we find a church like we're watching? Where can we, I'm in Pennsylvania, I'm in Texas. Is there a church that preaches the whole Word of God? San Diego, I mean there are, of course there are, I'm not silly. There's tons out there, I can name a few, but very few. That's the number one request. I'm in North Dakota, I'm in Alaska, I'm in here, I'm here. I can't find a church. Now you can find a church, right? But has the Spirit of the Lord departed? There's a famine for the Word of God? There's no famine of food and drink, but there's a famine of hearing from the Word of God? See again, I don't come to play church, guys, we can't come to play church. We've got to hear from God. As a matter of fact, if we don't hear from God, why are we here? Now, this is really encouraging. The law entered, offense increased. Verse 20, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. So where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here's the key. The love of God will always supersede and go beyond our sin. See, sometimes the sin and God and all, it's not equal. That's why there's sin, grace abounds more. Grace abounds more. The more the sin, the more the grace. But Paul would say, but don't sin more. And this is a funny argument for me because people say, oh Shane, you're just giving permission to sin. No, I'm not. When you draw closer to Christ, you love the Lord with all your heart. You don't want to sin. You live under a higher standard, not a lower standard. You don't have to tell me to obey the Ten Commandments and force it in my face. My heart cries out, but Father, Father, help me. I want to serve you. I want to love you. I want to follow you. How are you giving somebody a license? You give people a license who don't know the Lord. Or they're very carnal in their nature. Those you will give a license to because they're already looking for an opportunity. James, I think it is, says, or Peter, one of them, that we actually use license as a cloak for our vice. A cloak, a covering. So we continue in a sin, but we say, I have a license, I have liberty, and we cover it. Those kind of people don't understand grace. Anybody that would take away from this the thought that I can sin more so grace would abound more has a perverted view of the gospel. They don't have a deep, think about, come on, shake your heads yes if you agree with this. If you're following the Lord, you're loving Him, you're filled with the Spirit, do you go and just say, I just want to sin some more so grace can abound? I mean, well, it doesn't even make sense. It doesn't even make sense. So grace abounds, basically grace wins, grace pursues, grace covers. Do you know grace pursues you? I would just take it without pursuing me, but grace pursues you. Did the father of the prodigal son, did he see when he saw his son coming, did he see the sinful, disgusting failure of his son? Think about it, when the father saw the son coming, the prodigal son coming home, was he sitting at home? And going, oh, I can't believe, you look like a pig, you smell like a pig too. You smell like a pig. I knew it, you blew all of our inheritance. I know, dad, if you would just let me live in that side house, I guess so, go on, go live in that side house. No, the father actually came running to the son. He was waiting for the son, he was watching for the son. Grace pursued him, it grabbed him, it held him, and it pulled him back. He said, you are my son. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. He pulled that prodigal son home. God's faithfulness, think about this. You name one person, one person, come up and tell me after the service, who can fit even one of these qualities. God is faithful, his faithfulness, his steadfastness, his unwaveringness, if that's a word. He's constant, he's dependable, he's enduring, he's unfaltering, he's relentless. That is the God you serve. So why is sin going to keep beating you up? Be encouraged, the God you serve is faithful. He's steadfast, he never lets us down. Steadfast, he holds the ground. He's not going, well, this is good this week. Well, next week though, here's what I want you to do. People do that to you, don't they? Oh, come on, come on. Hosanna, one day crucifying the next. It always concerns me, people go, oh, we just left the church and stuff, we've been coming a month. Okay, give it another month, we'll see if you're still here. Right, oh, praise, and then the next thing you hear it's a gossiping outside. Oh, that guy yells too much. Is it yelling or is it passion? Because I can tell you yelling, there's a dare, I can yell, right? Yelling is you're upset, passion is you're excited. Many of you don't know this, but there are people that come here, I leave with that burden. I leave with that burden knowing they're on their way to hell. You live with that. I know I can't work it up, I know I can't hit it into them. But my God, if that doesn't touch your heart, something's wrong. I also believe we've lost our heart of compassion. Nothing bugs us anymore, we're not broken over anything. Heck, we'll run a homeless person almost over and think it's no big deal. Abortion, whatever. Why don't you go listen to silent screams for a week? Oh, you'll change, you'll become an intercessor, you'll have compassion. God wants to give us that compassionate heart. Unwavering, is anybody you know unwavering? Are they constant, are they dependable? Are they enduring, are they unfaltering, are they relentless? Think about this, God is relentless. He's convicting you. I mean, can you imagine, God, this blew my mind this weekend. Can you imagine God convicting you at 12 years old? You say no, and he says goodbye. And you're done. But you won't relent. You pull, and you pull, and you convict, and you convict. You bring sermons, you bring articles, you bring friends. You do whatever you can. In the word of God, he's relentless, but he's not a puppet master. You have to make a decision. You have to make a decision. Do you repent and believe or ignore the Gospel? He's relentless, he's unfaltering. And then grace, of course, abounds, it redeems, it sets free. One of the most powerful words in the New Testament is a Greek word. In Greek, it's tetelestai, it is finished. Jesus said, after 4,000 years of sin, from Adam to Jesus. 4,000 years, that's a lot of sin. How many people can sin? How many people? Billions? I don't have time to figure it out. But, you know, 4,000 years, all the sin, and all the sin that's coming. I mean, that's a weighty, I don't even know how that much that would weigh. All of that, this point in history, everything groans for this point in history, right? The enemy is cheering, 4,000 years, he comes to this point in history. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus says, it is finished. It's done. Just one sacrificial act, one act of taking the wrath of God, it's finished, it's over, it's been paid. It's amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. If you sin, you have an advocate. If you sin, you have an advocate. And one of God's names is victory. His name is victory. And that's why there's a song, I love the lyrics, it says, my resurrected king is resurrecting me. So you get encouraged. When you, if, or when, or whatever, how you, when you sin, if you sin is the Bible term. If you sin, you have an advocate to go to the Father. So I'm talking in two groups, I'm going to conclude with this. If you don't know him, this morning. If you don't know him, I want to encourage you to repent and believe. That's all the Bible says, repent and believe. Basically you're saying, God, I need you. I need you, I repent and believe. And if you're a believer, but you've been struggling in this area, I'm going to have the worship team come up right now. And we're just going to worship. We're not going to be in a hurry, we're going to worship, we're going to pray. And just take it to the cross. And I'm serious when I say this. Five minutes at the altar or ten minutes back there with prayer will do more for you. More for you than a year's worth of prayers next door. It will do more for you than driving and going home and going to eat. Right, okay, I got my worship in. Here's what most people do. I got my worship in. I got my church in message. I checked it off, now what's next? Costco, Target, what's next on my list? See, that will get us nowhere. That's why we come in dead to the things of God. The walking dead. Right, we go to church. I'm going to church and now I got to go do my other thing. No, it's supposed to be a living, vibrant fellowship of people repenting. And getting their hearts right with God and being encouraged. Oh, how He loves us. Right, can you really see? I mean, I wonder how many people are really singing and worshiping and their hearts are breaking. Oh, how He loves us. We'll love the Eagles, we'll love the sports, we'll love all of our things. But oh, do you realize how He loves us? He's pursuing you even right now. What in the world do you think I'm doing? What in the world do you think I'm doing? Do you think I'm coming here just to show up? Or is God using the Word of God to go and pierce and divide and break and shatter our hardness? So with that said, you can go ahead and stand. If you need prayer, you can make your way over to the prayer room. There's prayer teams that would love to pray with you. Or just stay in worship. We're not in a hurry. If you need to exit, you can exit out the back exit. But I would encourage you, the more you press in, the more you seek Him, the more you find Him. Did you know that? The more you seek God, the more you find Him. And I keep joking about the Super Bowl, but this impacted me greatly. I'm not saying don't watch. I'm just saying this. We have three hours. We scheduled that bad boy in a year ago. Right? That three hours, maybe four, it's been on the calendar. Right? It's been on the calendar. I've got to see this. Justin Timberlake, are you kidding me? Oh, my God. I would die for that. I've been seeing people post that on Facebook who don't even go to church. They'll have time to sit down and watch this. But when it comes to serving and worshiping the living God, they're too busy. Well, I'm tired. I'm coming to wreck it, Ralph. I'm wrecking it, Shane. I'm telling you. We've got to wreck it. We've got to wreck our lives. It's a beautiful mess when we humble ourselves and we repent and we seek God. That would fix half of our problems. Marriage counseling, let's take them off the calendar. Division in the church, it's over. All these silly stuff, it would be over if we're at the foot of the cross worshiping. Can you imagine everybody at the altar who has offenses against each other? They would be gone. They would be gone. But we allow that sin to come in and harden our hearts. And we think just coming and sitting in a pew is going to fight, going to win this battle? Lord, as we seek you this morning, God, as we seek you, I pray you just open hearts. People have come with hard, rigid hearts, don't even want to worship, that you would show them that you are worthy to be worshiped, you are worthy to be praised. Your name will be exalted. The name of Christ will be exalted. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. So, Lord, give us a passion for loving you. Show us what you did on that cross. How you endured temptation. How you endured the cross. You were mocked by your creation. Lord, your creation beat you. They spit in your face. They nailed you to a cross. And you said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. God, give us a passion for you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.