Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes God's deep desire for a personal relationship with each individual, highlighting that He searches for hearts that are fully committed to Him. He warns against the snares of misguided trust, particularly in our own abilities and appearances, which can lead to spiritual decline. Beach encourages listeners to be vulnerable and honest with God, recognizing that true trust must be placed in Christ alone rather than in personal performance or material possessions. He reminds the congregation that Jesus sees beyond outward appearances and loves us despite our flaws, urging them to embrace the freedom found in trusting His finished work on the cross. The sermon culminates in a call for healing and deliverance from the burdens of performance-based faith, inviting all to celebrate communion as a reminder of Christ's sacrifice.

Desire this morning in his heart. And do you know what that desire is? It's for you. He has great desire and longing in his heart this morning. There's a part of the heart of God that is described in Scripture as searching. Tonight or this afternoon, this morning, the heart of God is searching. There's a number of things that the Holy Scriptures speak of that God searches for. He searches, John chapter 4, for those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. Second Chronicles, the Bible says God searches to and fro throughout the whole earth, seeking and looking for a heart that is fully committed to Him that He might show Himself mighty and powerful on behalf of that soul. He's searching this morning in our midst. He's not looking at what you have on. We need to stop looking at what people have on. We need to stop looking at how people dress. The Lord's not looking at that this morning. We shouldn't either. But He's searching for something that physical eyes can't see. He's searching for hearts that are crying out to Him and recognizing who He is. He walks in our midst this morning, beloved. He walks in our midst right here. He's here. He's here. He doesn't want us to miss Him. He's here. He comes when we're gathered in His name. A little earlier, He was walking in our midst, longing and seeking and searching to touch, to reveal Himself, to speak a healing word, to encourage, to uplift, perhaps to gently correct. He's here. Are you listening for Him? Are you looking to Him? Are you searching for Him? He's searching for you. Now listen for the next few moments and then we're going to celebrate our communion together that we have with Him and that we have with one another. But I'd like to point out something this morning. You know that for a number of months, as the Lord has been enabling, I have been preaching on snares. A snare is an instrument that is used to entrap an animal. And once the animal is ensnared, if that animal is not set free, inevitable death will occur. And there are snares that are before us every day. And unless we are enabled by God's grace and God's Word and God's power to be alerted to these snares, one of them could lay hold of us and bring spiritual ruin, spiritual decline in our life. This morning, we're going to talk about a particular snare that each and every one of us need to be very, very alerted over. And I believe that the Lord is going to use His Word and He's going to use the power of the Holy Spirit and He's going to alert us to this snare. Always remember when the Lord walks in our midst and when He comes to visit us, whether it's here or in our homes or in our cars, He not only wants us to feel His presence, He not only wants us to sense it and to be able to say, oh, isn't it wonderful to feel His presence? That's part of the experience of being a Christian. But we must understand the purpose of the Holy Spirit in manifesting the manifest presence of Jesus in our lives is not simply to make us feel good, but it is always to impart to us something of the Lord's heart, something of the Lord's character, something of the very life of the Lord, and thereby enable us to die a little more thoroughly to ourself. There's never been an example in the Scriptures where someone has touched the Lord in a real way and it has not resulted in something that they had to let go of, something that had to die in them, a little more pride, a little more rebellion. We can't touch the Lord and court darkness at the same time, can we? God is light and in Him there is no darkness. And so while it's so wonderful and we are so thankful that Jesus visits us with the manifest presence of His glory and the radiance of His person, and everyone senses it, don't we? We sense it. Our emotions are aware of it. Our feelings are aware of it. We must, though, allow the Lord to go deeper into the depths of our being and give us something that lasts, because that feeling is not going to be there in a few hours, is it? We might end up in a very tumultuous situation in a few hours. But if we get something from the Lord that lasts, then we'll bring that in even when our feelings disappear and vanish. Mark chapter 10. The snare of misguided trust. The snare of misguided trust. One of the attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ, or one of the characters of Jesus, and this makes Him different than any other person in the world, both in heaven and on earth. Listen carefully. When He looks at you, He looks right beyond your appearance. Now, let me tell you something. We are experts in this day that we live in, in wearing masks. We're experts. We have learned how to dress up the outward. We've learned how to look good. We've learned how to appear. We've learned how to make people think something that we want them to think about us. We're masters at it. But when we come to Jesus, we come to an entirely different kind of person, a person who is not for one moment, not even a half a second, fooled by what we appear to be or what we think we are or what others think we are or who we want others to think we are or who we want ourself to be. He's not the slightest bit fooled. He immediately, upon looking at us, can look into the very depths of our being, into the very depths of our soul, going beyond the veneer of pretense and appearance and the masks and right to the center of the truth about who we are and what we're all about. And the beautiful thing is he does it loving us. Now, see, the reason why you and I are afraid to be that vulnerable is because we're afraid that in being that vulnerable, we won't be loved. There's some of you right now this morning, you are so insecure, so insecure. You are so afraid of people really getting to know who you are. And so you live all your life trying to wear a mask. You're afraid. You've got fear. You're afraid of being rejected. You're afraid of people seeing you maybe the way you really are. And we live our lives this way. And that's a terrible burden to bear, isn't it? Who can bear such a burden? Who can bear such a burden? This morning, beloved, Jesus wants to come into our midst and set us free from this dreadful, dreadful burden. And I'm praying that no one here says, well, that's not me. That's not me. God has a word for us this morning in these next few moments. Let's listen carefully and let's not be afraid because the Lord wants to, the Lord wants to heal us from this. Let me tell you something. Very families are in terrible state because of this condition of fear of being vulnerable and being transparent and being open one with another. We're afraid, we're fearful. We don't have to be afraid when we understand this story. Now let's begin to read. And remember, we're going to look into the snare of misguided trust. Here's the question I want to ask you. Who are you trusting in this morning? Now, most of you will quickly say, well, I'm trusting in Christ as my Savior. Well, we'll just see. I'm sure you are. But you know, to say I trust in Christ goes much deeper than just an initial trust in Christ as Savior. We're going to see that this morning. Has everybody prepared to put on the cloak of honesty? Everybody prepared to put on the cloak of honesty? Okay. Mark chapter 10. We're going to begin reading in verse number 13. We're going to begin reading in verse number 13. Who are you trusting in this morning? And they brought young children to Him that He should touch them, and His disciples rebuked those that brought them. And when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them. Jesus just taught His disciples that the qualities that are in little children are the qualities that has to be in us. And now He's going to contrast those qualities with the next story. Listen carefully. And when He was gone forth in the way, there came one running and kneeled to Him and asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. And He answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus, beholding Him, loved Him and said unto Him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And come, take up the cross and follow me. And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around about and said unto His disciples, How hardly they shall that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said unto them, Children, how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus, looking upon them, saith, With men it is impossible, for with God all things are possible. Misguided trust. What is Jesus searching for this morning in your heart and in my heart? He is searching for a heart that is trusting Him alone. Now watch this story and see what misguided trust does to us. Watch this. And when He was gone forth into the way, there came one running. This guy came running to Jesus. You know that we can have a heart full of misguided trust, and yet we're running after Jesus. You would think that someone running after Jesus had his heart in the right place, but he didn't. Let me tell you something, beloved. You might be running after Jesus. You may have been running after Jesus, but sooner or later, running after Jesus is not going to be good enough. Let's see what else this young man did. He came running and kneeled to Him. So here, not only do we have a runner for Jesus, but we have a kneeler for Jesus. Someone bowing down to the Lord. Seems like some pretty good humility there, huh? He's running, he's kneeling, and now he's asking, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? The very first words out of his mouth reveal the condition of his heart. Misguided trust is rooted in supposing that there's something you can do. Not only does misguided trust, that is trusting in something I can do, become a snare to the soul, but it affects our words. Listen to what Jesus says in response to what this young man said, good master. Listen, Jesus says in verse 18, why callest thou me good? Beloved, listen, do you think Jesus is good? Of course he is. Do you think it was wrong for this young man to acknowledge that Jesus was good? No. Then why did Jesus say, hey, what are you calling me good for? Misguided trust in self produces flattering words. He was flattering Jesus. Oh yes, he was. Because his whole life revolved around himself and what he can do. And when your trust is in you, you seek to flatter other people to gain their approval or to impress them. Good master, spiritual brother. Jesus saw right through it and rebuked him. Why callest thou me good? There's none good but God. We know Jesus was God. We know Jesus called himself the what? Good Shepherd, didn't he? One of the results of trusting in yourself, trusting in what you can do, is you are continuously caught in the snare of worrying about what people think about you. Worrying continuously about what people think, what people don't think. Will this person like me? I've got to say this in a way so that I win their approval or I win their friendship or I get on their good side. And our whole life gets clouded. Our words become murky, cloudy, muddy, and they're tainted all because we're still under the law of performance. The law of what shall I do? How can I impress God? How can I impress you? How can I impress you? What can I say to leave a good impression on you? Why callest thou me good? Stop flattering me. That's what Jesus was saying. Stop flattering me. Don't try and impress me. I know who you are, young man. I see right down into the center of your being and I see that you are still hung up on yourself. You still think there's something you can do that's going to cause God to say, oh now because you've done that, I'm going to love you and I'm going to give you eternal life and I'm going to bless you and I'm going to embrace you. Jesus said, I see that you still have not come to see that there's no good thing that dwells in you, no matter how intense the magnifying glass is, no matter where you have a microscope that can search into the depths of your being, there's no good thing that dwells in you, beloved. So don't call me good, even though I am good. Don't call me good because you're trying to impress me. And Jesus said, you know the commandments. Now Jesus knew that a man cannot be saved by keeping the commandments. He was the author of grace. He came in order to deliver us from the failure of trying to keep the commandments through coming to Him and asking for mercy. So why did Jesus say, thou knowest the commandments? He was trying to get this young man to acknowledge the truth about himself and stop living a lie of hypocrisy. He was trying to get this young man to the place where he would cry out and say, have mercy on me, Jesus. There's no good thing in me. I can't make it to heaven trying. Some of you are trying too hard. You're trying and trying and trying. You're trying to get people's approval. You're trying to get love. You're trying to do this. And it's a bondage that you can't bear. It's killing you. You feel the weight of it. You don't know what it is. This is what it is. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Don't lie. Don't take advantage of another person. Honor your father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Not only does misguided trust, thinking that it is what I do that merits God's favor, not only does it cause our words to be tainted with flattery, but it also causes the greatest deception known to man, and that is self-deception. All of these I have observed from my youth. Now, do you really think that this young man from his youth observed those commandments without breaking them? Turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 3, beginning in verse 9. What then? Are we better than they? That is, are Gentiles better than Jews? Are our Jews better than Gentiles? No, for we have proved before both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. Watch Romans 3.10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. Oh, Master, good Master, from my youth I've kept all of these commandments. Are you impressed with my performance? Are you impressed with what I have done, Lord? Master, good Master, aren't you going to stand me up and use me as an example to the multitudes of a young man that has kept the commandments from his youth? Aren't you going to take me as your right-hand man and show the multitudes that I have kept them? Is that what was in his heart? I think so. I think so. Lord, aren't you impressed with what I'm doing? There's none that understands. There's none that seeketh after God. They are all, all. That's an inclusive word. That means there's nothing outside. All. They've all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit, and poison of asps is under their lips. That asp was a viper that was known in the days of Jesus, whose deadly bite was immediate. It was a deadly, deadly snake. I saw recently a documentary on the Discovery Channel where they talked about these vipers and asps in this part of the land. They're just small little snakes. They're not real huge, two, three foot long snakes, but they have such a deadly bite, one snap, and you shake, you twitch, and you're gone. Oh, I have kept the commandments from my youth. Jesus was saying, no, you're full of the poison of asps, but you don't know it. What are the meditations of your mind on regularly? What you have done, what you want to do, or do you find yourself weeping when you see what Jesus has done? Do you find joy when you think about how faithful you were in reading your Bible this week, or how you witnessed to four people, or do you find joy when you see your Savior there crucified on the cross, knowing that it's your sins that put Him there, and you realize He has done it all? What are you trusting in this morning? What makes you happy today? How well you perceive your doing, or how much you're growing in a recognition of what Jesus has done? Verse 14, whose mouth is full of bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law says, it says to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, listen, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, that is by trying to obey the commandments, listen to what Jesus says here through the Apostle Paul, therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. No one is going to be declared righteous in the eyes of God, because they have kept the commandments, and on the basis of their works, God says, you are just. No one. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. The purpose of God's law is not to give us a proud heart so that we think we can keep it, but the purpose of God's law is to reveal what's in our heart. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not lie. Oh, God, the purpose of that commandment is to show us what is in our own hearts, not, oh, I have, I have kept these, Lord. No, Lord, I am guilty. I am guilty. Verse 21, Mark chapter 10. Here's one of the most beautiful qualities of the Lord Jesus Christ when he reveals the depths of our heart, when he shows us how awful it is, how deeply we are yet trusting in ourselves and in things other than him, how that has affected our speech with people that has affected our own perception of ourself. It has gotten us so often in such an awful place. Yet Jesus in verse 21, then Jesus beholding him, loved him. Jesus loves us even when he confronts us and exposes us. He still loves us. Aren't you glad this morning he loves you? Even though the word of God is cutting us deep because we realize how much we still trust in our works and how much we're still concerned about outward appearance and how much we're still judging ourselves and others after outward appearances. Yet Jesus loves us. And here's what he said. One thing thou lackest sell whatever thou hast and give to the poor and thou shall have treasure in heaven. Come take up the cross and follow me. And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions. When we have an encounter with Christ beloved, he always forces us to get right to the heart of the matter. He always forces us to get to the heart of the matter. This young man had to face who was he going to trust in. Now let me ask you a question. Do you think that just because this young man had great possessions and that he wasn't willing to give him up at that moment that that disqualified him from coming to Jesus? No, not at all. See but because he was so hung up on what shall I do, Jesus had to bring him to the place where he realized he couldn't do it. And at that moment of crisis he could have cried out, Lord have mercy on me I am a sinner. You're right Lord you've shown me that my heart is full of trusting in wealth and trusting in riches and trusting in what I can do. If he would have at that moment just cried out Lord have mercy he would have been free. And likewise this morning as the Lord deals with us and as the Lord shines his light all we have to do is say yes Lord yes Lord you're right I am trusting in something other than you. Yes I've trusted you as Savior but I see that this tendency to trust in something other than you goes so deeply it goes so deeply into my being. I'm still finding a tendency to trust in what I do and what people think and my performance. And I know Lord that it's not about that but it's about you and trusting in your love and trusting in the power of your Holy Spirit and trusting in the work that you did on Calvary. Christianity is not about what you do it's what Christ has done and through faith receiving it and being transformed and made righteous not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saves us by the washing of regeneration by the renewal of the Holy Spirit by the gift of righteousness it comes by the power of the Holy Spirit it comes. God doesn't ask us to reach into the resources of our own being and our own strength and our own wisdom and try and pull out some kind of good performance that'll please him. He's pleased because of what Christ has done and it's by faith that we enter into the pleasure of God through Christ not by works. And so this snare of what can I do is a snare and we must be continuously guarded against. In Galatians chapter 3 Paul actually said that the Galatians had been bewitched. That means to have a spell cast upon him. This idea of going from trusting in Christ alone to trusting in something else is such an awful thing. Paul said it was like a spell being cast upon us. And isn't it true that all of a sudden when God starts dealing in our life we realize how subtle this thing is and how subtly we've begun to trust in something other than Christ and his finished work. And it becomes a snare. It puts us into a kind of Christianity where it's performance and me trying and then our emotions go up and down. When we feel good about ourself we think God feels good about us but when we feel bad about ourselves because we haven't performed the way we thought we should then we feel God feels bad about us and we get it actually into another gospel. That's another spirit. That's another Jesus. That's a pervert. Paul said it's a perverted gospel. You cannot have the gospel of grace and then the gospel of performance at the same time. And that's a subtle snare. And many believers are ensnared by it. And they've lost the joy of their salvation. They've lost the sense of singing. They've lost the sense of being able to glory in God. They've lost that first love because their eyes have gotten off of the victorious Christ and it's on what shall I do? What can I do? How am I doing? What do you think of me? People are too concerned about what others think of them and they lose sight of well I know what God thinks of me. This is our society. It's a spell. And may I ask you as we close, has this spell been cast upon you? Is it working in your family? I'm here to say by the grace of God the power of Jesus Christ is present right now to break that spell and to set you free so that your heart can be delivered from misguided trust and so you can be able to sing the song on Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. I dare not trust the sweetest spring but wholly lean on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. You say well I do stand on Christ the solid rock. Then why are you so concerned about what you do? And as if that is somehow going to merit favor with God. Why are you so concerned about what people think? Why do you try and flatter people? That's trust. I sense from the Lord the faith to pray a prayer of faith now. And I'm going to ask everybody to respond this morning. Anybody who has sensed that God has spoke to you and you have seen in some way you've been bewitched by trusting in something other than Christ. Somehow God has shown you through this word this morning and you've seen that it's destroyed it's hurt you and you want to be free this morning. I want to invite you as I pray to respond. Respond and receive a healing, a deliverance this morning. Let's bow our hearts. If you want to come forward for prayer I want to pray for you. Others may feel led of God to pray for you. You want to be free from this dreadful spirit. You've seen misguided trust in your own heart this morning. And you've seen the effects of it. It has brought a lot of pain. But now you believe Jesus is here. Father I thank you for your presence. I thank you for the power of your Holy Spirit. And Lord we stand against this bewitching spell that comes from the devil himself seeking to place our hearts in a position of misguided trust. Father in the name of Jesus we break this power, this spell of misguided trust and ask that the Holy Spirit would heal and restore and bring back our hearts to a posture where we're looking to Christ alone and his finished work as the basis of our acceptance and the basis of our love and the basis of our joy and not what we can or can't do. Father in Jesus' name we thank you and bring us into an ever-increasing growing heart cry that says Dear Lord, thank you for what you have done on Calvary. Thank you for your blood. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your power. Thank you for your enabling. Thank you for your righteousness. Thank you that I stand in your presence justified because of your blood. Oh God, free us and give us a revelation, a renewed revelation of the words of Jesus. It is finished. Payment in full. We pray in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord. And our Savior. Some have been tormented with this performance work thing for years and it has depressed you. It has frustrated your family. It has frustrated your Christianity. It has caused problems in your family. It has caused problems because you're so concerned about performance and insecurities and fears. Today God is speaking a word of healing to you and if you will ask Him to turn your heart from trusting in something other than Christ and you will ask Him to see the completeness of Christ's work for you, not your work for Christ, Christ's work for you and you'll receive that love. God will heal you this morning. Now the tormenting fear that's been in your life. You've looked for love. You've looked for it in all the wrong places. You've looked for acceptance in all the wrong places. People have let you down and you've said oh what can I do? What can I do? Now say Lord, thank you for what you have done. Thank you Lord. Just hold steady for a few moments. Let God's word go deep. If you want special prayer, come please. Special prayer. Then we're going to celebrate communion. We're going to celebrate communion now.