This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God, highlighting the struggle to let go of troubles and hindrances, such as secret sins or idols in our hearts. It delves into the need to ask Jesus to reveal and search our hearts for full surrender to experience God's compassion and love.

Good evening, welcome to West Side Christian Fellowship. You know I just want to, I'm just really burdened on my heart tonight to just open in prayer and just pray for the valley and pray for some of the churches and then we can get into the message. But dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you tonight, Lord, and we just pray, Lord, that you would begin to break strongholds in this valley, Lord, that you would begin to restore marriages, reconcile relationships, Lord, bring the prodigal son home, the wayward daughter home, Lord. We pray that you would begin to pierce hearts, Lord, and we pray for the churches around our community, Lord, from Central Christian and Berean Fellowship, Lord, and the Vineyard, dear Heavenly Father, First Assembly of God. Lord, we pray for Calvary Chapel. We pray for Grace Chapel, Lord. We pray for all the churches out there, Lord, that are preaching your word. We pray that you would move mightily this weekend, Lord, and that lives would be changed, that your word would go forth and penetrate the heart, Lord, and we just pray so much for our families, Lord, that you would come against the enemy's attack and that you would put up strongholds that would keep him out. Lord, we pray this in Jesus' name, amen, amen. I spoke at a men's breakfast this morning, and it's been a long day, but I've been looking forward to this message, because what we're going to do is transition from the last two weeks we were talking about judging, you know, where Jesus' famous scripture, or the famous scripture that Jesus said was, judge not, and we talked about how our culture likes to use that scripture and say, you can't say anything wrong, you can't say anything negative, judge not, pretty much shut your mouth, is what they're saying. The problem is they don't read a little further when Jesus encourages us to judge with righteous judgment, to remove the plank from our eye first, to come with the spirit of humility and gentleness and meekness and to speak the truth in love. We are called to do that. So we talked about that. If you missed some of those messages, I encourage you to get the CD on the last two weeks, because we talked about when do you judge? Well you judge when a brother sins against you. You go to that person and you confront them and you talk to them, you judge gossip, you judge slander. We talked about last week judging when church discipline needs to take place, when we're called to judge leadership, and the leaders are called to judge. We are called to judge in these areas. But the final point that I didn't get to last week and we're going to get to tonight is judging false doctrine. We're called to judge false doctrine. And I'm going to kind of parallel into that why I believe, so it's kind of a dual message. We're going to go from judging into why I believe, because if we're judging sound doctrine, the question that inevitably comes up is, who's to say you're right? Who's to say the Bible's right? That's just your opinion. So I'm going to go right into why I believe. And this stands the test of time. This is God's revealed word. I'm as confident of that today as I was ten years ago. I mean, we are called to defend this gospel. And I'm going to get into the reasons why we do that. But first, let's talk about judging. We are called to judge, basically, doctrine that's in error. In other words, and a lot of people think, you know, you hear this word doctrine, well what are you talking about? Doctrine just reveals the heart of God. It's a good thing. It means the characteristics, the nature of God. So when you talk about sound doctrine, you're talking about things that correctly identify who God is. It's sound. It's based on the Word of God. It's sound doctrine. And there's so much wrong doctrine going on in our culture today, isn't there? I believe this, believe that, God is this. It's almost, it reminds me of a smorgasbord where you could choose, I like this, I don't like that hell stuff, I don't like that judgment stuff, I don't like that repentance, holiness, no way. Where's the grace and mercy plates and food? You know, we just pick and always lead to God and everybody just loves their neighbor. Can't we all just get along? So that's what it reminds me of. So we have to judge rightly. We have to judge the Word of Truth. And if you look at your notes, the two scriptures there I put from last week, the first one is found in Titus 1.9. Titus 1.9, he says, hold fast, or holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, here's that word again, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convict those who contradict. The Bible's saying that we're called to, by sound doctrine, with sound doctrine, with correct teaching, with the correct perception of God, we're to exhort, which is a lot of times to challenge, is to confront, and then as a result to convict those who contradict this. Isn't that amazing? We're called to do that in a spirit of love and meekness and gentleness, to contradict false doctrine. As a matter of fact, I believe it was in Philippians, Paul said that he's been called to defend the gospel. That's his calling. He says, I've been called to defend the gospel. This will be attacked, this will be mocked, this will be ridiculed, but we are called to defend it, to stand strong. This stands alone. We don't need to candy coat it. We don't need to redefine it. We just need to preach it. We need to proclaim it in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's how lives are radically changed. And then one of the scriptures I memorized years ago is Galatians 1.8. A lot of you know this scripture as well. Paul's saying, but even, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It's this group who's turned to legalism. You know, he says, are you going to finish in the flesh what began in the spirit? This church was wanting to, you have to follow these rules and you have to do this and you have to, no, no, no, it's Christ and Christ alone. So in this letter to the Galatians, he's saying, if we, if we or an angel from heaven preached to you any other gospel, let him be accursed. That's a strong word in the Greek, that's anathema. It's a curse. It's an accursed thing. It's things that directly oppose God. It's wickedness. He's saying, if we preach any other gospel, anything else, let him be accursed. Let him be anathema. We don't hear that too often, do we? I mean, those are hard, that's a hard warning and you might say, well Shane, who's to say you're right? Again, I'll get there. Trust me. I'm laying the foundation before we build the house. We're putting in the concrete and the steel and then we're going to build the house. But we're supposed to defend sound, by sound doctrine, defend the gospel and confront those in a spirit of love who contradict. Now we're not to go around saying you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, yeah, yeah, yeah. But when God, when the Holy Spirit gives us opportunity, we are called to challenge and to contend for the faith. That's why I believe it's so important to have an intimate relationship with Christ, spending time in His Word, filled with the Holy Spirit, because then you're directed by the Spirit of God. Those promptings you know, and you know when to say nothing. I mean, I took a guy out to lunch a couple of weeks ago, I think he was new age, I don't even know what he thought, but I didn't feel, you know, I challenged a few things, but I didn't feel, I just wanted to listen, okay, let's get lunch again. I invited him tonight, you know, in trying to build that relationship. I wasn't just going to drop the hammer right then, I wanted to listen to him a little bit. Now on that, when you look at Titus holding fast, and by sound doctrine exhort and convict those who contradict, and then Paul says, an angel, even an angel from heaven, because we have to remember that the Bible says that the devil comes sometimes as an angel of light. He transforms himself into an angel of light, deceiving people, and you say, oh my gosh, that's kind of scary. No it isn't. Does what he's saying line up with this? If somebody says they have a vision and this and that, and that's how a lot of religions are started, do you realize that? We can go down the list that this messenger of light came to this person such and such, but does it line up with this? So once we have those, there's five things I want to establish before we get into why I believe. The first thing, when we're talking about sound doctrine, number one, God takes sound doctrine very, very, very seriously. Why is that? Well, just think, if Joe's sitting here, and this is a fictitious person, so I don't think I'm pointing out anybody, but Joe's a gambler, a backbiter, Joe's a gossip, he's an adulterer, he's a drunkard. What about if he's sitting here going, no, no, I'm none of those things. I'm none of those things. You have identified me falsely. That's not me. God does the same thing. Listen, you need to have sound doctrine. He takes it very seriously. He's revealed His Word, but the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen. He wants people to have a correct understanding of Him and His nature. And that's why a lot of times we get off, you know, we hear about the love of God, but we forget about the holiness, the mercy, but not the judgment, all the grace, but not the repentance. We have to balance His total nature, so that it's very important to have a right understanding of God. No matter what you believe, you better just kind of get in your mind that it's important that God wants us to know who He is and what His attributes are. And that'd be a whole other teaching in itself, the attributes of God, who He is. So He takes sound doctrine very seriously. God isn't going, oh, believe whatever you want, choose whatever you want. No, He wants you to have a correct perception of Him. The next thing, this is why we all can't just get along. I hear this all the time. Why can't you guys just all get along? I mean, I'd love to. I'd love to. We can go to dinner, we can go to lunch, we can work together, but when you oppose this, I can't fellowship with you. When you oppose sound doctrine, I can't be a part of that. Because faith, when you talk about faith and unity in the Bible, it's unity of the Spirit, unity of faith, unity of sound doctrine, and from that flows unity with others. So you can be friends, you can do things, but when it comes to worshiping and fellowshipping, that's why we all can't get along. I wish we could. And you see these big ecumenical movements, well, all churches get together, it's not going to work. I mean, all religions, it's not going to work. It's not biblical, number one. Number two is it goes against what we're commanded to do and what the Holy Spirit, what we feel already in our spirit. So think about that. This is why we all can't get along. Next, don't confuse attacking with contending. See, a lot of people think what I'm about to speak about tonight is attacking. It's not attacking, it's contending. You see the difference? Attacking goes at someone, they attack them and they belittle them and they put them down. Contending says you put on the gloves and you hold, you're in the offensive position. You're contending for the faith, you're saying, that's not right, I need to challenge you on these areas. We're commanded to contend for the faith, and I hear that a lot, you guys are attacking other religions. No, we're just contending for the faith. They can attack me, they can say things about this all day long, they can challenge Christianity, but we can't say anything. We need to just do this, don't say a word. So we can't confuse attacking with contending. And a lot of what we do up here and a lot of times when we speak to people, we're contending for the faith. We're called to do that. But when you do it in a spirit of love and you speak the truth in love and humility, that's when it becomes contending. And you're truly trying to help, you're contending, you're not attacking somebody. And you know what attacking looks like, I don't have to show you, I mean you guys watch Bill O'Reilly, right? There's some attacking on that show. Next, truth invites scrutiny. Now I don't know if people are going to be listening to this later or you're here tonight, I want you to think about this for a minute. Truth, this, invites scrutiny. It invites questions. Come, let us reason together. I'll sit and debate truth for three hours. I'll convince and I'll admonish and I'll challenge because this invites scrutiny. You go and you go and you sit and talk to other, you know, you start to scrutinize other religions and you're like, no, no, no, you just have to believe that, we're not going to talk about the Bible, you're not going to challenge us. This invites scrutiny, this invites questions. You see the difference? A lot of other religions, they don't invite questioning. They don't like questioning. It's funny, I told my wife, what was it, about a month ago, and again, let me, I don't know even how to put a big disclaimer on this whole message, but when I talk about these groups, I'm in no way, shape, or form putting down or attacking. What I'm trying to do is show you what's out there. It's not that, you know, I'm mentioning a heart, making fun, it's sad. It's sad with these different groups. But I also, on the other hand, I can't remain silent. If they can go door to door, I should be able to contest what they're saying. So on that note, last month, Jehovah Witnesses came up, you know, down our front driveway and said, oh no, no thanks, you know, I'm not interested, and they go, can we just leave the information with you? And then, you know, look it over and we'll come back, and I said, sure, but keep in mind I'm a Christian pastor, so when you come back, I'm going to have a lot of questions for you. Oh no, that's okay, that's okay, thank you. And they just skidded out of it, and they don't want to leave me anything. But no, but think about, why not? Let's sit down and talk about it. Let me show you. No, no, no, no, no. See, this invites questioning. The other, they don't want to question anything, they don't want to challenge anything. Truth invites questioning. God says, come, let us reason together. It'll answer all your, and it's okay to have questions, don't get me wrong. If some of you are questioning the Bible, or having, I don't know how this, it's okay. It's okay to come with an open mind, saying, Lord, show me, show me, I don't understand some things. I don't understand everything in this. But truth welcomes questions. Truth invites questions, why? Because it's true. Because it's true. When my kids do something and they're not at fault, they don't mind talking to people, and they know they're guilty, they head for their room. They don't want to talk about it. So just think about that the next time you're out there in the workplace and you want to talk about the Bible, other people don't, because it's not true. The next point on this, I want you to remember this. All religions in the world can, all of them can be wrong. But they cannot all be right. Think about that. Every single religion on the planet can be wrong. But they cannot all be right. Because they contradict each other, and who's to say you're right, and who's to say you're wrong, who's to say, they cannot all be right, but they can all be wrong. So on that note, we are commanded, we are called to contend for the faith. We are called to judge rightly. I don't like to do it, I'd rather just, hey, you know, they're on the broad road to destruction, oh well, I don't know what to, you know, I mean, I don't like to challenge all the time, but we're called, I mean, a lot of times people are converted because they were challenged. Think about that. I was, I was challenged, challenged, and I finally said, okay, okay. I surrender, I give up. And so we have to think about that. Paul's saying, do not, but even if we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. So that tells me we must judge. We must judge rightly. We must judge sound doctrine. You guys, let me, let me give you an okay here. You can judge what I'm saying. You should be judging what I'm saying. Absolutely. Get the CD, listen again, take notes, go look up in the Bible, judge what I'm saying. Because we're, we're subject to the word of God. This is our standard. So it's okay to judge those things. So what really started this message, and I mentioned this last week, about probably two months ago, and it really just brought this whole point home. I was invited to, with a couple of guys here in a different church, to actually go to a Mormon bishop's house. It's like a pastor of a Mormon church. And again, I'm not, I'm not pointing these, pulling these groups down or attacking, I'm just, I'm just showing you the difference. We should be able to do that without offending anybody. I mean, show me where I'm wrong, let me show you where you're in error. I mean, that, but we, they don't like to, you know, it doesn't go both ways. So anyway, to make a long story short, I go over there, we're sitting there, and there's two young missionaries there, and they're giving their, their story and their spiel, and the, you know, the, for a lot of you that don't know, I don't, this probably isn't the, the best time to go into the whole, you know, backing and what the Mormon religion believes or Jehovah Witnesses, but I mentioned some, some books in there you might want to read in the notes down at the bottom to get further studies on this. But in a nutshell, we were sitting there, and for about an hour and a half, you know, they kept mentioning the Book of Mormon and Moroni and just burning in the bosom, and they gave their testimonies, and it wasn't, you know, they weren't really excited about it, it was just a testimony of Jesus Christ, and you know, and so about an hour and a half into this, hour and 40 minutes into this, I'm just sitting on the couch and listening, and they want to ask me if I want to read along, and I was like, no, it's okay. And finally, I thought, okay, if I give them an hour and a half, I mean, surely they'll give me 10 minutes, you know, 20 minutes, I mean, come on, let's, let's, let's reason together, let's discuss these things. And what happened was, I said, you know what, you put, you put Christians in an awkward position, and he goes, why, why is that, why is that, and I said, well, I said, either Joseph Smith is right, or Jesus Christ is right. They can't both be right. And the missionary's so innocent, look, oh, yes, sir, they can, I said, no, ma'am, they can't, they cannot both be right. When you say that God was once like us, God was once like me, and I will evolve into who God is, that's blasphemy. I told him, that's blasphemy. With all the love I can muster, that's blasphemy, that's heretical, that's wrong, that's wrong. Jesus was the brother of Lucifer, and they both submitted their plans for salvation. God chose Jesus's and rejected Satan's, that's why he rebelled, that's blasphemy, that's wrong, he's not a created being, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, he's not a brother to Satan. I can say those things in the spirit of love, that's wrong, sir. What you're saying contradicts the Bible, no, no, no, it doesn't, yes, it does, let me show you, let me show you, this is blasphemy, this is wrong, God was once like us, unbelievable, I hope not. I said, you're not going to rule planets and have celestial sex with your wife and have spirit children, that's heretical, that's their belief, and I just want to compare it with the Bible. He gets upset and he stands up and he goes, so what you're telling me, this Book of Mormons of the devil. I'm thinking in my mind, oh my goodness, how do you answer that question, exactly. So I said, yeah, I think it is, it is, and that just, it's not good, it's time to go, but my point is, and Ron, you remember, I said, sir, I can sit here for three hours and debate truth, I just gave you an hour and a half. Why can't you give me, because what about all the good things we do, and I said, you have to, you have to earn salvation, Christ paid the cross, and on the cross, we don't have to earn anything, but what about all these good in our good that we do in the families, I said, that's wonderful, that's great, it should be commended, but it will not lead you to salvation. We have, we have, you know, we follow the order of the Aaronic priesthood and the order of Melchizedek, and what that means is they think the priesthood still continues with Aaron and Melchizedek, and I said, no, when Christ said it's finished, the veil was rent from the top to the bottom, we have access to the Father, He's my high priest, the Bible says we do not have a high priest who has not been tempted, tested, like we are, but it was without sin, you go to Him through the throne room of grace, there's no priesthood, but we've got prophets, well, read Jeremiah, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran, I have not prophesied to them, but they spoke, but had they truly stood in my counsel, they would have led the people away from their wickedness, had they truly stood in my counsel, that's all the time I got, it was time to go, but think about how sad that is, see, I'm not attacking, I'm not making fun, I'm like, let's sit down, let me show you, you think Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ are saying the same thing, no, sir, they're not, I'll read your Doctrine and Covenants, it's your statement, Joseph Smith was visited by an angel who said all denominations and creeds are an abomination, start the right one, I'm paraphrasing, that's blasphemy, guard the word of God, Jude says it is once and for all delivered to the saints, with the strike of a pen, Joseph Smith just put down the error of Charles Spurgeon, D.O. Moody, and all, he said they're all wrong, but I'm going to start this right one, an angel of light appeared to him, let's go to Corinthians, they don't want to go to this, they didn't reference this once, so that's my point, it's not attacking, I couldn't sit there, I could not sit there and say, okay, thanks for that, I appreciate it, and look how upset he got, why does he get so upset, he was so mad I had to get out of his house, because the darkness does not like the light of the gospel, and pride gets in the way, and says, I can't be wrong all these years, we have great families, no, it's what Christ did in him alone, and I can get into a whole, they go really off on a lot of things, it's just, it's not biblical, but if you sit down and talk with them, they don't want you to get this out, they don't want you to challenge that, because you just have to trust that burning in your bosom, do you know you can open yourself up for deception? You can open yourself up for deception, open yourself up to witchcraft and sorcery, you can open yourself up to it, that's why we're called to reject these things and stand on sound doctrine, and you just have to ask four simple questions, who is Jesus Christ, who is God, how is a person saved, and is the bible the word of God? It will tell you if it lines up with sound doctrine, when Jesus Christ was a created being, there you go, who had a plan of salvation, the devil's his brother, well that's all you need to know, and God of the bible, God was once like us, it makes no sense, so that's why I'm saying when we're contending for the faith, it's okay to challenge in love, because people, I'm sure he thought about it, I'm sure he didn't sleep too well that night, I slept like a baby, but why? Because the truth, when you have the truth, and then you're saying, okay Shane, we keep saying the truth, who's to say you're right? Well I'm glad you asked, let's get to that. Why I believe, and this is a foundational verse, I would commit it to memory if I were you, but these things are written, this is written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. This is written so that we might have life in his name. And they say, well who's to say you're right? Well let's start, let me just tell you why I believe, just to be honest with you, let me put this down for a minute. Why do I believe in the bible? Let's start there, because that's where it all flows from. Number one, number one, look at the historical accuracy of the bible. Historical accuracy is unbelievable. Let me just read a quote, if I can find it here. English historian, English historian Sir William Ramsey said, you may press the words of Luke, the gospel of Luke, in a degree beyond any other historian, and they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment. And you might say, well Shane, anybody could write that. He set out to disprove the bible. He set out, going off of the gospel of Luke, as an atheist, to go out and disprove the bible. After a year, with an open mind. See here's the thing, you have to have an open mind. As you'll see in your notes, Ravi Zacharias said, the rejection of Christ has really nothing to do with facts. It really has to do with, they want to be God of their own life. It's my life, I enjoy my life, get out of it. It has nothing to do with facts. There's so many facts it would convert the hardest critic. It has to do with the heart. And he set out with an open mind. He said, okay, I'm going to prove this gospel wrong. He said, after checking everything, he said, you may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian, and they stand the keenest scrutiny. You see, because the bible just recorded, the bible is not even a history book. But it accurately records the cities. Think about that, Bethlehem, Judea, Samaria, all these cities, they exist. They're in the bible. Funny thing, Book of Mormon, you can't find anything. You can't find the cities, you can't find the weapons they used, you can't find any archaeological, not even a coin, nothing. The rivers, everything, nothing. Nothing. Everything in here, go to Jerusalem, you can see it in Israel. That in and of itself is amazing. Because it's absolutely without error historically. The kings, such and such, such and such, right on the money. The cities, the rivers, the Jordan, the layout of the land, everything matches. I say, well Shane, that's not enough. That just might be good, some accuracy there, but that still doesn't convince me. Okay, well, let's look at even, and there's so many of these examples, that's why I recommend those two books in your note, in the bottom of your notes, Evidence Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. I mean, it has a plethora of information, and then Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin. But in Joshua, we read about Jericho, and this is, you can, you know, you'll go online, you'll find just about anything, people, you know, denying this. So I don't trust online stuff that much, so you have to research it. But Jericho, remember in Joshua how the walls, the bible says that the wall fell down in Jericho? Well, starting in 1929, Dr. John Garstang excavated the ruins of ancient Jericho. His discoveries corresponded remarkably with the biblical account. Jericho, he found, had a double wall with houses built across the two walls. This explains how Rahab's house, you know, the harlot who put her scarlet thread down so her family wouldn't be destroyed, this explains how her house was built upon the wall. He learned that the wall was destroyed by some kind of violent convulsion, because see what happens when an enemy would attack a wall in those days, it would be the battering ram, it would be destroyed, you know, knocked down into little rocks every time. This wall they found actually fell down the hillside all around. It's just a flat wall. They've confirmed, archaeologically, they've confirmed all these things that base the history of the bible that matches today. It's amazing. What about archaeologically? Let's get into that next one. There's so many here as well, but the funny thing I found was no archaeological discovery. They've never discovered anything archaeologically that ever has proven wrong one bible reference. In other words, they've never found anything that says, oh, this is where the bible was wrong. Everything confirms, confirms, confirms. The biggest one I'm sure a lot of you have heard of is the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found earlier in the 1900s. You might say, what's the big deal about that? Well, this little boy was with his, I guess, tending sheep and a goat. He threw a rock down this cave and he heard it hit, like hit some pottery. And they went down there and they pulled out all these ancient scrolls. They call it the biggest discovery probably of the century. And when you open it, they find that they were dated back to 200, 300 BC. That's 2,200 years ago. When they open it up, Isaiah, the same Isaiah we read today, except for a little jot, a little tittle here, a little grammar error, you know, the same Isaiah we read in the bible, they found from 2,300 years ago. I mean, those discoveries confirm. They dig up and they go, oh, look at this king, look at this tomb, look at this city. Everything is confirmed archaeologically. Still not convinced. Okay, let's talk about why I believe scientifically. The bible talks about the air currents, the path of the seas, mountains under the seas. How am I supposed to know all this? Written before we even had, you know, submarines or cameras underneath the ocean, all these different things. There's springs underneath the seas, the dinosaurs, mathematics, man came from dust. Where's the seed of life? They talked about the seed of life, that all humanity is one blood, that the life of the flesh is in the blood. Everything it talked about, science confirms, sanitary practices, dietary guidelines, the universe, time and space, the beginning and initial void, an expanding universe, atoms, the earth as a sphere, the rotation of the earth, the orbit of the sun, it all talks about it and it confirms. If you read old ancient Egyptian stuff it says, you know, to cure this, get the hairs of a cat and boil it and dogs dung and all this crazy stuff. This is absolutely amazing, right on the money. I mean, that's one reason how they discover when they're working on people that were sick to wash their hands from reading the scripture, the cleansing process of water. I mean, scientifically it is, it's not even a scientific book, but it's perfect in these areas. How can you name the circle of the earth and the heavens and the stars and all these things, the seas under, everything, the beginning of life, that the life of the flesh is in the blood. Scientists are saying, well, it looks like the blood holds the life of the, exactly, it's all in here. Scientifically it proves it, it's not wrong. What about, I mean, think about this, let's just take a little quick rabbit trail. Oxygen level, here, 20%. The gravitational pull, just enough. The sun, one degree further we'd be an iceberg. One degree closer we'd be a volcano. What do you do with that? What do you do with the humidity, the gravitational pull, the weather? Everything, I'm reading this book, Case for a Creator, it's one of those you have to read the chapters three times because they talk about quantum physics and all these things. And if you get down to the molecular structure of the atom and the DNA, it's like this huge library that's pulling out information we can't even see with the eye and forming life. And who put all that together? Who did that? And the universe is just right? The sun, everything, two planets hit and here we are? No, sir. Come on. See, the problem is we don't want to open up our heart and say, Lord, show me. This is right on the money, scientifically, archeologically, prophetically. I remember I was reading in that book about the smallest motor, the smallest, most efficient motor that they just discovered. I don't want to pronounce the word because I might mess it up. I think it's F-E-L-L-U-M, flame or something. It has to do with bacteria. And this little thing we can't even see without a microscope. It's like an outboard motor on a boat, but far more efficient because it can spin 10,000 RPMs and then stop on a dime and go the other direction. It directs the bacteria. It's got a rotating ship. It's got everything, just like a motor. And scientists are baffled. And you read all these quotes from people. They're saying the scientific community is pretty much rejecting Darwinism. As you look at the beginning of life, there's no way. There's no way you can. It screams creator. That's why they call it intelligent design. There's got to be something out there. Because when they study life, they just get more confused. Where did all this come from? It's just operating. I mean, he talked about the DNA. There's so many. It could fill like 75,000 pages in the New York Times of all the information it has. And it sends it out to form life, to combine these proteins. All that just happened? My goodness. It made me think, boy, we serve a great God. We're worried about finances and this and that. He created the universe. He created all these things. So that's another reason why I believe. I also believe because prophetically, this Bible has made, if you were to even take, try to, I think it's like 10 to the 100th power of trying to get some of these prophecies to match, it would never. It's impossible. And the Bible talks about prophetically, I know, I believe it was in Daniel, but it said sometime before 500 BC, the prophet Daniel proclaimed that Israel's long awaited Messiah would begin his public ministry. This is 483 years after, or I mean, sorry, 483 years after issuing this decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. He further predicted that the Messiah would be cut off and killed and that this event would take prior to the second destruction of Jerusalem. And it did. And then approximately 700 BC, the prophet Micah named the tiny village of Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah. See, the problem is, you can't just, people didn't write these things when the events occurred because Jewish history, Jewish Josephus, all these different historians, the Septuagint, all the Hebrew manuscripts have all this in it way before Christ. They were studying this stuff way before Christ. They know what to look for. And what about the famous part about the crucifixion? Both King David and Zechariah talked about the Messiah's crucifixion 400 years before the crucifixion was even invented. That no bones would be broken, that it cast lots for his, it was all written 400 years. So when you start to weigh the scientific, the prophetic, the archeological, the historical accuracy of the Bible, you might want to trust the message. You might want to say there's something to it. This is valid. So that's why I believe in the Bible. And some of you might say, well, that still doesn't convince me. That's okay. That's why I believe in the Bible. Now I want to tell you why I believe in the God of the Bible and why I believe this message is without a doubt the revealed Word of God. Number one I put on there is consistency. It's consistent. When you pick up Genesis to Revelation, the consistency about redemption, the blood of Christ, Messiah, Redeemer, sinners, need for a Savior, the consistency is remarkable. Do you realize this was written over 1500 years? 1500 years, three different continents by 40 different authors. And it says the same thing, consistency. The nature of God is consistent. He's holy, He's righteous, and He's holy and righteous in Revelation. He's holy and righteous in Genesis. Judgment, our need for a Savior, the fall of man. Everything is so consistent that it had to be the work of divine intervention. The next reason, if you guys have your Bibles, you can turn to Romans 1.18. We covered this, I believe it was last week, but it's important again. Because I believe that the Spirit of God in God reveals Himself before a person is saved. You can see the invisible attributes of God. Let's look at that, Romans 1. And I'll read if you don't have your Bible. Romans 1.18. Think about this. This is for people who have never put their trust in Christ. They're wondering, they're doubting God. If He's really out there, why don't you show me? Like I've heard, why doesn't He just write something on the sky? Or bring a lightning bolt down or somehow. But the Bible is saying, listen, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth. See, what they do is they suppress the truth. In our sin and in our darkness, we suppress that truth. Because what may be known of God is manifested in them, for God has shown it to them. For here we go, for since the creation of the world, since He created the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen. Everything I just mentioned, you can see it screams Creator. It takes more faith to believe that there's not a God than there is a God. He says His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. See, a lot of people ask, what about the guy who's never heard about Jesus? Or what about this? This says that every man, every woman is without excuse. He's revealed it. His invisible attributes are clearly seen. Yes, I know about God's sovereignty, and I know about man's responsibility. I know about the debates where God is sovereign but man has responsibilities. Charles Spurgeon said that man's responsibility and sovereignty run like two lines. We won't know where they cross until eternity. So God is sovereign, but we have a responsibility. We're called to repent, we're called to believe, we're called to put our trust in, to put our faith in Christ. We are called to do that, and he's saying you're without excuse because His invisible attributes are clearly seen. And he goes on to say, because although they knew God, it's not the word know there, know intimately like believing, it's know about. You can see there's clearly a God out there. His invisible attributes are clearly seen. They knew God. They did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Right there, you want to know the element of why sin has occurred and why people reject God? It's right here. They suppress the truth. His invisible attributes are clearly seen. Life screams creator. Our heart, the Holy Spirit convicts of unrighteousness and judgment to come, the Bible says, but we suppress it. That's the truth. So people are convicted before they're saved. That's one reason I believe. That's why they don't like this. You can talk about every other religion. Oh, isn't that interesting? Oh, wow. Reincarnation, great. Okay, I hope I come back as an elephant. Okay, yeah. Our divine center is within us. Okay, but you start to say we are sinners in need of a Savior. We run for the door. Why? Because we know it. We know it. God has put that ability to put our trust in Him or to reject Him. The Bible says that he who believes on the only name that's saved will be saved. He who believes. I just began to write down a few scriptures probably three months ago on this whole thing about our responsibility. I just want to read a few of them to you. This isn't actually in my notes. I just thought of it. Jeremiah, we hear in Jeremiah that God said, but they would not hear me. He said that they would not turn from their sins. Ezekiel says, if a wicked turns from his sins and does what is right, he will live because of it. Luke says that they asked Jesus, what shall we do to inherit eternal life? Jesus didn't say, well, only the elect will be saved. He brought it back to the heart. He said, love God with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. All the Bible is full of these commands. When God says we ought to do something, it implies that we can do it. When he says repent and believe, it implies that we can repent and believe. When he calls us to believe on the only name that's saved, it leads us to believe we can do that. See what these invisible attributes are clearly seen. We can reject God or we can accept him. That's one reason why I believe, is because it's clearly revealed. It bears witness before salvation and it bears witness after salvation. Let's stay in Romans. I'll turn there real quick. Romans 8.16. This is important. Romans 8.16. This is after a person puts their faith and trust in Christ. It says the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. This is what a lot of people don't understand. This is a distinction with Christianity as well. When you are in right relationship with God, the spirit confirms that. It bears witness of that. You know that you're a child of God. You know that you're saved. You know that you're sealed. You know that you're delivered. You know that you're in right relationship. Yeah, you might be making mistakes, but it's all about falling forward, isn't it? It's not about perfection. It's about direction. We know when we are in right relationship with God and when we are not. So the Bible says the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. So that's another reason I believe. The Bible confirms it before salvation. It confirms it after salvation. Now let's get to some interesting parts. I also believe because of reason. Do you know what reason is? God said, come let us reason together. He said that let us reason together. This makes sense. It's not something that says, you know, it's out ridiculous that God is really oak trees and that Tupperware is divine, you know, this and all this crazy stuff that doesn't make any sense. He says, come let us reason together. It bears witness in your heart that these things are true. So reason, common sense, this makes perfect sense. The creation of the universe, the fall of man, sinful nature, turn to Christ, repent, new life, you become new creations. It makes sense. Not only that, it happens. We bear witness with our spirit. The next thing, the next thing is very compelling, very compelling. I mean it brings me to tears any time I read on church history. I would encourage you to get this book. Fox's Book of Martyrs. Now if the gospel, think about this for a minute. If the gospel message was a lie, if Jesus' body was stolen or it didn't happen, you think those people that followed him would be martyred? If they know it's a lie, oh we pulled that one over, didn't we? You think that they would be martyred? Let's just see what happened to these disciples who they're telling a lie, right? This didn't happen. What happened to these guys? Philip, he was scorched, thrown into prison and afterwards crucified. He never once said everything we said was wrong. There's no Christ. He died for him. He was crucified. The next disciple, Matthew. What happened to Matthew? He suffered martyrdom, being slain with a halberd, I don't know what that is, in the city of Nephia in AD 60. James the Less, at age of 94, he was beat and stoned by the Jews and finally had his brains dashed out with the Fuller's Club. Matthias, however you want to pronounce it, he was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded. Andrew, the two ends of which were, he was crucified on a cross but the two ends of which were fixed transversely in the ground so it was like a cross, where we get St. Andrew's Cross. St. Mark was dragged to pieces by the people of Alexandria as they worshipped their idol, Serapis. They did this for a lie. They knew, oh boy, we sure got it over. Jesus wasn't real. Everything we wrote about was false. All this happened to them. They allowed this to happen. If it was a lie, they would have been crying like babies saying, oh we're sorry, we're kidding, no, no, no, please don't. But they loved the Lord Jesus Christ so much. They saw it with their own eyes. It was in their hearts. He said, take me, take me. I'd rather spend eternity with him than bow to Caesar. And these guys were murdered. Martyrdom. Martyrdom. It's been said of Paul that he was also, he was beheaded. Jude, he was crucified. Bartholomew, he was crucified by idolaters in the city of Greece, I think it was, or India. Thomas, he preached a gospel where he was, where exciting, well, let me back up a little bit. He preached a gospel and pagan priests martyred him and they thrust through with him with a spear. And then Luke, what about Luke? He was hanged on an olive tree. What about John? I mean, it just goes down. It goes down the list. These guys, there's no way, there's no way, and even, not the Bible. The Bible doesn't record their death. Jewish historians, secular historians, this is all valid. These guys gave their life, not for a lie. They gave their life for the truth. So that's why I believe if you add up historically, archeologically, scientifically, prophetically, the consistency of the Bible, that it bears witness before salvation, it bears witness after salvation, reason and martyrdom, what are we left with? What are we left with? What are we left with? How could we say I don't believe it? Because here is, this is the final nail in the coffin, what I'm going to speak about right now. C.S. Lewis spoke about it probably 50, 60 years ago, and there's no truer statement has ever been said. You've got to remember this. I'm sure many of you have heard it. But if he's not Lord, see, these are the three choices. Jesus Christ is either a lunatic, he's a liar, or he's the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are your three options. He's not a good teacher. He's not just a good teacher. As a matter of fact, many say he was, if that's all he was, he was a terrible teacher. He taught in parables and riddles. Some people don't know what he's talking about. He only spoke to the chosen. You know, all these different things. Of course, we know he was a great teacher. But if all you're calling him is a good teacher, it doesn't carry any weight. He's either a liar. He said, kill this body, I'll be raised up. He said before Abraham was, I am, implying he's God. So he's either a liar, which we know he wasn't, or he's a lunatic. He said the most outrageous thing anybody has ever said about communion and about his body and about God. Or he's the Lord. You see, those are our three choices. People always say, oh, no, I know he's existed. He was a good teacher. No, no he wasn't. If that's all you're basing him off of. He said he is the Lord. He is God. He'll be killed and raised again. That's a good teacher. He narrowed his flock down to just 12. And he proclaimed the Beatitudes and many great things. But he's not just a good teacher. Those are the three options. Lunatic, liar, or Lord. Think about that. At the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves one of those three things. What is he? And that leads me right into the conclusion of this. Look at Robbie Zachariah's statement if you have your notes. It should be right on the top in yours. Because this is so relevant. This is the number one reason. Do you want to know the number one reason why people reject God? Why they reject the message? Why they don't like what I'm saying? The number one reason. This is it. The denial of Christ has less to do with facts and more to do with the bent of what a person is prejudiced to conclude. In other words, the denial of Christ doesn't have really anything to do with facts. It's because we want to be God. People don't want to give up their so-called good life. They want to be God. They don't want there to be a God. They don't want to be their Lord. They don't want to bow their knee to anybody. They don't want to be obedient to anybody. They want to be the master of their destiny, the captain of their own ship. There are so many facts that there's no excuse. There's no excuse. We have so many facts. It's a heart issue. So that's a lot of times when we preach and we speak to people, we've got to go to the heart. When you go to the heart, it uncovers our sinful nature. It uncovers who we are and that we need Him. But think about that. For those of you who've never, I don't know how many people in this room have put their trust in Christ who have never, but look at the reason why. It has nothing to do with facts. Stop saying, well, this or that. There's enough facts to support that. It has to do with our heart. And Ravi Zacharias, he hit the nail on the head, so I'd recommend those two books for sure. But I also want to, in talking about this subject, I want to let you guys know a lot of times we talk about God's judgment and His wrath and all these things, but let me tell you just for a minute about the love of God. I mean, think about that. Jesus said, I didn't even come to condemn you. I came to bring life. See, you realize something? We're already under condemnation. Do you realize that? We're already condemned. It's like a prisoner on death row. He's heading to the electric chair. He's heading there. He's already condemned. They're going to flip the switch and he's done. But Jesus said, I redeemed you. Accept me. Believe in me. We're already condemned. That's the bad news. The good news is that God gave His only Son, the famous scripture that people know too well because they don't think about it. Yeah, yeah, God loved His world so much He gave His only Son. He gave His only Son, the love of God. So don't think that God is some, you know, angry, you know, mean, you know, all this stuff, shame, judgment. Yeah, but He gave, there's a solution. We're under condemnation. We're under condemnation. But Christ came to save us from that. All we have to do is reach out and get it. It's a gift from God. It's not something we work towards. And that's what all other religions do. You'll find a works-based oriented religion. It's all works-based. It has nothing to do with just putting a trust in Christ. And as Jordan comes up in the end tonight, I just want us to take time and think about that. Think about that because I hear a lot of times from people saying, man, there's something missing from my life. There's something missing from my life. And a lot of times what it is is the right relationship with God. People, they don't truly know Him. They've never surrendered life or they've gone astray. I spoke at a men's breakfast this morning and so many men were coming up and they were just crying and eating prayer because they realized how far away they were from God. They're playing the game. It's like, what I talked about then was like, remember Samson in the Bible, in the Old Testament? And I quote it off and the Bible says that he knew not, he wist not that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him. He got up. Delilah, you know the story, shaved his hair, right? And his strength left. He didn't even know his strength left. He got up and the Bible says he knew not that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him. You see, his strength, people think, wasn't in his hair. It was in his consecration. His strength was in his consecration to God. And he gave that up. And the Bible says that Philistines overcame him. And he knew not that the Spirit of the Lord had departed. There might be many listening to this message later in here tonight that you're saying, yeah, the Spirit of the Lord I feel has departed. I need to return to my first love. But there's good news because the story, Samson, the Bible says that he put his hand on the pillar and the young lad came to him and showed him where the pillars were. And he said, oh Lord, strengthen me. Lord, strengthen me. Lord, remember me, I pray. Avenge me for my two eyes. And the Bible says he pushed with all his might and the whole Coliseum came down. And it says the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew at his life. Basically, he killed more people at his death than he did in his entire life. So it's not about, he finished strong. He said, Lord, remember me, strengthen me. And that's what we want to focus on at this church. We want to call those people. We don't want to just preach a message and go home and thanks and good. He's calling people. We want to have a time of prayer at the end to come forward and pray for restoration, pray for healing, pray for deliverance, pray for the prodigal son. Say, Shane, I don't know God. I don't know if I truly know Him. Pray for me. Let's get our lives right. There's nothing more important than this. You know how the old saying goes? We owe a debt we could not pay. We owe a debt, an owed a debt that we could not pay. He paid a debt that he did not owe. And we have to remember that. I think we get caught up in churchosity a lot. I mean, we just, what time is it? I've got to eat dinner. I've got to be here. But this is a time where we have people come forward and we pray for you. And I'll be the first up here, you know, getting my life right with Christ. I told them in this morning, I need Him as much on this side of the cross as I did on that side of the cross. I need Him daily. I need to be in His fellowship. I need to be repenting and putting my trust back in Him. D.L. Moody said we're leaky vessels. We're leaky vessels. We have to sit underneath the fountain of life every day. So if God is calling you, you have to humble yourself. See, pride will stop many from coming forward. Pride will stop many from accepting Christ. Pride will cause many people to turn away from Him. And Jesus is saying, you've left your first love. You've left your first love. So we're going to make this time as they end in worship, you guys come forward if you want prayer. They're going to hit the lights in the back, Chris. And we'll just have Mark, if you want to be up here too again, and Morgan and Yvette. And I'll be up here. Just have this a time of just prayer and reflection and just praying and petitioning God. And I know we get comfortable. It's like, oh, I don't want to come forward to this. Nobody cares. I mean, this is what we're here for. I'd be the first one up here. I told the guys this morning, if I knew then, 10, 12 years ago when I was snorting crystal meth and getting drunk and beating up people, if I knew then what I know now, I would have ran to this altar. I would have said, create in me a right heart. Renew in me, Lord, a right spirit. Lord, I need you. I want you. That desire. We don't petition after God anymore. The Bible says he is a rewarder of those who half-heartedly seek him. No, he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. It's that diligence, it's that perseverance, it's that wanting him. And even as a pastor, I would be up here, Lord, just praying and, Lord, needing your guidance. We need him daily. We need to become a church, a church of prayer, not a church of preaching. Remember what I said last week? He said, my house will be a house of prayer, not of preaching, not of teaching, not of worship. That's wonderful, that's great, but it's got to be a house of prayer. How bad do you want it? How bad do you want a relationship with God and to put your trust in him and have him truly direct your life? This is the most important part of the service, I can tell you that right now, without a shadow of a doubt. So if you guys want to begin worship, I'll just be up here, the prayer team will be up here, and we just want to make it a time of prayer and reflection. Lord, I just pray right now, dear Heavenly Father, Lord, as we stand and worship you and raise up holy hands, Lord, that you would just begin to move, Lord, in this congregation. You would begin to pierce hearts, Lord. Those who don't know you, who truly don't know you, Lord, will turn to you tonight. Those who need to get their life back on track, Lord, will lead them to the cross, dear Heavenly Father. I pray that you lead them directly to the cross, not me, not to the things I said, but to your word and to your drawing them by your Holy Spirit, Lord. I pray that you would restore marriages tonight, that humility would take over, that pride and arrogance would have no place in this room, that the prodigal son would come home, the wayward daughter, Lord, would come home. We pray we contend for our families, Lord, we contend for the nation as we're on the brink of destruction from a nation that has rejected you, Lord. We pray that you would begin to raise up more prophets, more voices to call our nation back, Lord, to call our community back to a state of repentance, Lord. We just give you tonight, Lord, your Holy Spirit is welcome here, Lord. Move on our lives. Lord, bring healing, bring restoration, Lord, now. Quicken the healing that needs to happen, the deliverance that needs to happen as we honor you and worship you. You are worthy. Worthy is the Lamb. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.