In this sermon, the preacher addresses the issue of believers being lukewarm and having a love for the world. He emphasizes that when our hearts are lukewarm and focused on worldly things, we cannot truly understand and fellowship with unbelievers. The preacher quotes James 4:4, which states that friendship with the world is enmity with God. He explains that sin is a transgression of God's commandments, while worldliness refers to being attached to things that belong to this world. The preacher highlights the importance of recognizing that everything we love in this world will eventually be gone, but Jesus Christ died on the cross for us, offering eternal life.

You may be seated. Go ahead and open the Bibles to John chapter 3. Now we're going to open in prayer. Lord, we just pray this morning, Lord God, that as we open up your Word, that you would open up our hearts and our minds, Lord. We just pray, Lord God, by the grace and the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord God, that you would reveal your Word to us, Lord God, that you would write your Word on our hearts, Lord God, that you would, Lord God, imprint, Lord, your truth, Lord, on our souls, Lord God, that we would be changed, Lord God, by your Word, Lord God, help us to be not hearers only of your Word, but doers also, God. I pray, Lord God, that today, Lord, that you would get our attention completely and fully, Lord God, and that you would, Lord, cause all the things that distract us away from you, Lord God, that you would distract us, that you would get our attention, Lord God, that you would turn us to you, Lord, and you wouldn't do it just for a few moments this morning, Lord God, but that you would do it deeply in our hearts so that we're truly yours, that we're truly and completely and fully yours, Lord God. Please, Lord God, whichever situation each person is in this morning, Lord God, reach them with your Word, Lord God. Lord God, whether you need to terrify them, whether you need to edify them, whether you need to challenge them, Lord God, whether you need to comfort them, Lord God, we pray that your Word, Lord God, would equip us for everything that we need, Lord, this morning, Lord God. I just pray, Lord God, your grace to help me. Lord God, I'm incapable, Lord God, of speaking your Word rightly, Lord God. I just pray that by your Holy Spirit, Lord God, that you would bring it into our ears and into our hearts in the right way, Lord God. We just humble ourselves before you, Lord God, and we, Lord God, receive with meekness, Lord God, the Word of God that can save our souls, Lord. Help us this morning. I pray for those, Lord God, that are in rebellion to you, Lord God, that you would crush through every hardness of their heart, Lord, and break them down, Lord. I pray for those that are lukewarm, Lord God, and straddling the fence, and lukewarmness, and love with the world, and trying to love you at the same time. I pray, Lord God, bring shame upon their hearts, Lord, and turn them to you. And I pray those, Lord God, that love you this morning, I pray that their hearts would be more purified, Lord God, and more devoted to you, Lord God, through your Word, Lord God. We trust you for it this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well, I was with you guys a couple weeks ago. Thank you. So, the last two times, the time before I was with you guys, I spoke on the fact of hell. Last time, I spoke about the fact of you're going to die. Okay? It's been two weeks, and you're still going to die. You think, oh, it's still got time. You don't know that. You're still going to die. That's just a fact. So, that's still coming. That's a prophecy that's very sure. Somebody can tell you you're going to get blessings. Somebody can tell you you're going to get a husband. Somebody can tell you you're going to get another thing. And it might come to pass, and it might not. They might be wrong. They might be right. But I'm telling you, you will die. That's a fact, and it's a prophecy you can be sure of. So, we talked also about hell. We talked about judgment. But today, we want to talk about something much weightier than eternal punishment in hell. Something more devastating for people in here that are unrepentant. If you're living in sin, and you haven't repented, there's something much worse to hear about than eternal lake of fire. And we're going to talk about that today. It's in John chapter 3, verse 16. For those of you that are in here that are unrepentant, this verse is more terrible than Matthew chapter 25, where Jesus talks about eternal punishment for those who didn't obey Him. This verse is worse, because this is saying that the Son of God died so that you could have eternal life if you would only believe. That is very weighty matter. Eternal punishment, when we think of eternal fire, we can't exaggerate that. But Christ dying on a cross, God Himself becoming flesh and dying on a cross so that you could be forgiven and have eternal life is something infinitely more weighty, infinitely more powerful, infinitely more important than even a lake of eternal fire. So, loved you. I'm talking right now, I'm talking to those that are unrepentant, that are wicked, that are hostile to God. God loved you so much that He gave His Son to die on a cross for you. And on that day, that is going to be the most horrible news for you when you stand before that God who gave His Son before you, who made a way that you could freely have eternal life, and you rejected it and ignored it and wasted it away for all eternity, this verse will torment you. I was talking to a pastor, I was saying, you know, I want to preach good news, but when you preach good news to people and their hearts are not right, they'll abuse it. And so, if you're unrepentant in here, I wanted to be really clear, this is horrible news for you. God loves you. He gave His eternal Son to die a bloody, shameful death for you. That's horrible news for you if you remain unrepentant. There's nothing worse than that. That's the eternal Son of God. That's a very terrible, terrible thing. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 9. I want to look at the death of Christ today. And talk about three aspects of it if we get the time to get to it. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 9. It says that Jesus Christ tasted death for all men. That means everyone, every person. Jesus Christ tasted death for all. This means that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son for everybody. Jesus Christ died to prepare eternal life for you. To make a way so that you would not perish, but that you would have everlasting life. And it's a free gift that you cannot earn, that you cannot get by doing anything, by having any right emotion, you cannot get it. God already paid for it, already prepared it, already set the table. He paid for it with a high price of His Son. Dying on a cross, bloody and beaten, shamed and mocked and ridiculed. The living God that created the heavens and the earth, that gives you breath every day, died for you. He prepared life for you. He prepared life for everyone. For everyone. James chapter 4, verse 4. Let's go there. James chapter 4, starting in verse 4. Please, when I'm speaking this, understand I'm talking to you. I'm not talking to somebody else. I'm talking to you. Because this is God's Word and He is speaking to you. So don't rationalize, put it on someone else, don't think, yeah, this is the Word of God. James chapter 4, starting in verse 4. You adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. This was written to believers. This was written to people that had already been saved, but now were still hanging on and clinging to the things of the world. This isn't even talking about sin. This is talking about worldliness. Do you know what the difference is? Sin is a breaking of a commandment. It's a transgression to disobey something God commanded. Do not do this or you should do this. And disobeying it, that is sin. The Bible tells us that's transgression, that's sin, that's disobedience. Worldliness is going in the flow of the culture around you and the ways and the thinking around you and the ways of this world. See, Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He died on the cross for you. But that doesn't excite you and it doesn't fill your conversation. But Star Wars does. Hear me clearly. That is worldliness. It was made by a wicked man to entertain wicked people and you could talk about it at every conversation you have. That makes you an adulterer, an adulteress to God. It makes you an idolater. It makes you worldly. It makes you an enemy. You're being an enemy to God. God's not your enemy. You're an enemy to Him. Because you don't even know. See, it's kind of funny. But that's just kind of normal life. That's kind of extreme. You don't understand the Bible. You don't understand that God sent His Son to die on the cross. You don't understand that. If you think that that means nothing, if you think that it's just a movie, if you think that it's just the normal way we do... No, that's a normal world way to do things. In this world, that's normal. It's totally normal. Everybody at your workplace will understand the conversation you have about Star Wars. How is it that they can understand? How is it that you can sit there in fellowship excited with an unbeliever about something and both of you are excited and pumped up about the same thing? How could that be? It's because your heart is lukewarm. It's because your heart is in love with this world and flowing with the ways of this world. Don't you know that? Aren't you aware? Aren't you aware that the little things, it's the little things that show what you are, that what's in your heart? The darkness is so strong that when you hear it, you think, yeah, well, that's kind of an extreme example. It's not an extreme example. It's just the way it is. You can easily fellowship with everything that the world throws your way. You can talk for hours about video games. But you couldn't even come and talk with God in the prayer room. I'm not trying to bash you for not being in the prayer room while I had to do this, I had to do this. That's fine. I'm talking about, I'm pointing out the fact that what excites your heart? What has your heart? See, you know, you might say, well, I don't commit adultery on my wife. I just chat with ladies online. We just send pictures back and forth. But I don't meet with them. I'm not an adulterer. And so you say, well, I don't commit disobedience. I don't sin against God. But in your heart, it's given to something that is not your God. It's given to things that belong to this world. And guess what? When the prophecy is fulfilled and you die, you're never going to see Star Wars. You're never going to watch another movie. You're never going to play another video game. You're never going to be involved in any of that again. It's going to be gone forever because the angels will not understand how exciting Star Wars is. And you will not be able to talk with them about it and discuss it. Everything that you love so dear will be ripped away from you. And you'll never have it because it's of this world. But Jesus Christ died on the cross for you. And that's just kind of a song. God help us. We're blind. We're really blind. Jesus told the church in the book of Revelation, you're blind. You think that you see, but you're really blind. So you think that you're rich, but you're really poor. That's where we are. We don't see this stuff. When you just listen to the Bible, just plain and simple. And you talk about the plain things that it's saying. I mean, I didn't write this, you adulterers and adulteress. Go on verse 5. Do you think that the scripture says, in vain he yearns jealously for the spirit that lives in us, but he gives more grace? For this is what it says. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. And purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to dejection. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up. That would make a good song, maybe. That's the word of God written to Christians who were double-minded. Who were worldly with one foot and with the other. They could come and sing songs to God. And then they could go enjoy what the world is entertained by. How can it be? How can it be that the Son of God died for us, and we can do that? That's why the scripture calls us adulterers and adulteresses. If there was stronger language about covenant breaking, and rebellion, and treachery, and evil, and wickedness, it would use it. But this is what it could come up with. Rebellion against a covenant you made with your wife or your husband. Treachery against God. This is where we're at. We need God to help us. We need to humble ourselves before God so that he'll lift us up. That he'll cleanse our minds. We're confused. We're in darkness. We're lost. Think about it. Are you really as excited? Can you really talk as long as about the fact that God, the eternal God. If you're on your phone right now, please put it down. Please put your phone down. I don't care if your Bible's on it. Please put it down. Can you talk as passionately and excitedly about Jesus Christ, the eternal son, dying on a cross for you. As you can about the new movie that's out. About the series that you're watching on TV. I mean, ask yourself. If you say, I mean, I try. I try to read my Bible every day. I try to do this. I try, but it doesn't capture my heart the same way that things of the world do. This verse is talking about you. Your heart is captured by something else. Now, if you're unrepentant and unsaved in here, you're not an adulterer. You're just lost. You're an enemy of God. You're totally lost. And this doesn't affect you at all. But if you're listening to me, and you have to be honest. Don't just feel bad about it. That's called worldly sorrow, but it doesn't lead to repentance. You actually start feeling good about the fact that you feel bad. You feel comforted by the fact that, oh yeah, well that's true. Well, yeah, I'm convicted by that. Yeah, that's true. But will you change? Or will you be a deceiver of yourself? Hearing the word, but not a doer of it. Do you see how deceitful we are? We're liars to ourselves. God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. His destruction and terror to those that are unrepentant. To those that are lukewarm and half-hearted. It's shame and disgrace. Christ dying on the cross is a disgrace. It's a disgrace to your soul. Because it shows you how much of an adulterer and how unfaithful you are. This is the word of God that we have to let it cut us. But not just cut us so that we go out feeling bad. Cut us so deeply that we go out and change. I mean, to hear such truth spoken so clearly, so plainly. And to walk away from it just feeling bad. And going back to talk about the same things when we eat lunch together. God has got to help us. I can't communicate this to you. I'm in the word every day trying to communicate it to myself. Trying to remind myself. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In there, let it transform so that I know what is the good and pleasing and perfect will of God. Let my mind be changed so that my life can be changed. I can't communicate this. If God doesn't help you, I can't help you. If this doesn't break your heart, I can't break your heart. If this doesn't change you, I cannot change you. Guess what? You can't change yourself either. If you're blind and He doesn't open your eyes, you're going to stay blind. But if you feel, oh no, oh no. I didn't want to walk into heaven possibly with utter shame and contempt. But Jesus, see you're in the middle. It's not yet decided where you're going. Because it's not yet decided, at least from our standpoint. Whether you're going to be spewed out of His mouth because you're lukewarm. Or He's going to touch your heart, you're going to weep and wail. And He's going to lift you up because He gives you grace because you humbled yourself. So what are you going to do with the Word of God? What are you going to do with Christ dying on the cross for you? What are you going to do with that? God so loved the world. If I preached about the fires of hell. If I preached about the torments that are coming forever. That would not be nearly as condemning to you if I preached God so loved the world. That He gave His only begotten Son. That whoever would believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. These teenagers back here that are talking and care less about things. It's condemning to them. It destroys them. It's going to bring them everlasting shame and humiliation. God so loved the world. That He gave His Son to die bloody and naked on a cross for you. There's the good news. If you repent, if you believe. It's amazing news. If you don't, it's destruction. It's eternal shame for you. And for me. God is justified when He judges. You know on the day of judgment, nobody is going to say. Nobody is going to say, well, eternal fire. That's a little extreme. No. Everybody is going to recognize Christ died for them. And God made the way at a high cost. And they ignored it. They neglected such a great salvation. And everybody is going to glorify God. Everybody says, yes. Send me to hell. Send me to hell forever. It's the right place for me. You did everything. There's nothing. You were not willing that I should perish. But you wanted me to come to repentance. You didn't take pleasure in my death. But instead you sent your son to die for me. So that I could have life. But I rejected it. And I wasted it away. And I walked in all the ways of the world. And I love this world. And the things of the world. And when I die, all that's taken from me. And now I don't have eternity with you either. Because I didn't have you on earth. If you're unsaved, repent. Get right. If you think that you're saved. But you're walking in worldliness. Fear and tremble. And turn to him. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Fall before him and say, oh God. Have mercy and change my heart. Open my eyes. I'm blind but I want to see clearly. Put ISAB on my eyes so that I can see. Heal me. Not in my body. Heal my soul. Turn me back to the overseer of my soul. The shepherd of my soul. Turn me away from sin. Do something in my heart to get a hold of me, oh God. Have mercy on me. My heart's deceitfully wicked above all things. Who can know it? But Lord, you search the heart. You know the heart. Help me, oh God. That's what it means to call upon a savior. It doesn't mean coming up here and just making a decision. It means getting overwhelmed with the fact that you have been treacherous to God. Who sent his son for you. And saying, oh my God. Have mercy on me. Change my heart. I cannot do it. I'll do whatever my must do. But unless you help me. Unless you open my eyes. Unless you help me to see. I'll be blind by lunchtime. By lunchtime. We'll dismiss. You'll be eating lunch. And you'll be blind again. So when you can see. When there's a little glimmer. When the word of God comes. When there's some sense of alarm. When there's some sense of, oh wait a second. I guess this is a serious matter. When you see that. Jump on your face. And cry out to God. That he won't let you be blinded again. This is the mercy of God. This is the mercy of God. Jesus said to his church. Those that I love. I rebuke. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Not be zealous for the world. Not be zealous for the entertainment. Not be zealous for the new things. And the new fashions. Be zealous for the God who gave his son for you. Many of you teenagers. You don't know. How dangerous your situation is. You don't know. And this is like strange missionary guy. From wherever. Speaking loud. And saying all these exaggerated things. And all this kind of stuff. And it's the word of the living God. Jesus said those things. And they hung him on a cross. If I was right now speaking these things in the same manner. To you with your group of friends. They would be threatening to beat me up. But they're your friends. And you've made yourself an enemy of God. Because you love the world. And the things of the world. The lust of the fresh. The pride of life. The lust of the eyes. Oh, but that has. Well, there was really good graphics in that. Well, that was HD. And that was. And you see how they did that. And the alien came. Oh, yeah. And Jesus died on the cross for your sin. First Timothy chapter 4 verse 10. It says, Jesus is the savior of the world. Especially of those who believe. See, Jesus died for all. But not all will be saved. Peter says that God has chosen a people. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. But guess what? Not all of you are members of the church. You say, but I've been a member here for a long time. I'm not talking about this church. I'm talking about Jesus' church. I'm talking about Jesus' holy people. Because Jesus said, I lay my life down for my friends. And you are my friends if you do what I command. He said it just that way. John chapter 15. I lay my life down for my friends. And you are my friend. Please put your phone down. I don't care if your Bible is on it. That's an excuse for many of you. You don't need to tweet anything. You need to listen. Or maybe just go ahead. Keep going. Just keep on your phone. Just keep going and doing those things. And soon you will understand. And you will never forget what I'm saying right now. Forever. For all eternity. You'll say, I was on my phone. I was on my phone. He was pleading for me to be reconciled to God. God was pleading through him. Be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ was crucified to me. And I was tweeting and texting my friend. And now I'm here. Forever lost. Second Peter. If I'm right, they'll put it up on the screen, right? I think. Okay. So you don't need to look on your phone. Second Peter. Chapter 1. Verse 4. Our verses start in verse 3. He is divine power. Has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Through the knowledge of him who has called us. Called us. As his people called us. By his own glory and excellence. By which he has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises. So that through these things you might be partakers of the divine nature. And escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Exceedingly great and precious promises. This book is filled with so many promises for his people. You realize when you go to the Old Testament people are like. Why in the Old Testament was it so brutal? And they came in and killed all the Canaanites. And all those people they came in and slaughtered them. Why was it like that? Because God had a chosen people. And the rest were devoted to destruction. Now we step into the New Testament. And God has a remnant of people. He has a chosen people. The church of God. The body of Jesus Christ. And he knows. It says God knows the who's are his. So therefore let him who calls upon the name of the Lord turn from iniquity. God has a chosen people. And guess what? If you're not among that chosen people. You are doomed to destruction. You're set apart as a filthy thing. That's going to be destroyed by God. So it's real important to ask yourself. Not am I a member of Praise Chapel Dallas. But am I a member of the body of Jesus Christ? Would Jesus die for everybody? Yeah. But in another way he died only for his people. Because only his people are going to benefit from what he did. Are you one that's going to benefit? Are you among that chosen people? Are you among his people? It says there's exceeding precious promises. Great promises. You're claiming promises from this world. Word. Why not obeying the commands of this word? Do you think that God will be mocked? Do you think that God is a fool? Do you think that God can be played with? He cannot. Those promises are not for you. If you're unrepentant. If you're living in sin. If you're loving the world. If you're lukewarm. There's only two promises in this word for you. If you repent. Trust in Christ. God will give you mercy. The second promise is. If you do not repent and do not trust in Christ. God will destroy you forever. Those are the only two promises in this book. For you if you are living lukewarm. He will spew you out of his mouth. Or that if you are unrepentant. He will bring everlasting shame on you. So you got to know. Is this book written to you or not? So you got to ask. Am I among God's holy people? He says. I am holy therefore be holy. You're a holy people. A chosen people. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. Those that are called out of darkness. To be zealous for good works. To put away unrighteousness. And to live righteous godly lives in this present life. Do you know what the difference between righteousness and godliness is? Righteousness is that you are doing right. Righteousness means it's the opposite of disobedience and transgression and sin. Righteousness means you're doing what he commands. You're living in obedience to his ways. You're living in right way with him. You know what godliness means? It's the opposite of worldliness. It means that you're living in obedience to him because your heart is devoted to him. Because you give yourself and devote yourself to prayer. Because you devote yourself to the reading of his word. Because you devote yourself to offering up your life as a living sacrifice. That's godliness. Godliness leads to righteousness. There's a lot of people in the world that live more righteous lives than you. And they're going straight to hell because they're ungodly. They're atheist. They're Muslim. They're whatever. And they live honest lives. But they are ungodly. And if you're living worldly, you are ungodly. But if you are meek, poor in spirit, pure in heart, the kingdom of God belongs to you. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? What does it mean to be pure in heart? Jesus said it. We better know what it means. It doesn't mean you never fail. That you're always perfect. It means that your heart is always bowed. You're always at the throne of grace saying, God, give me mercy. Give me help. God, it's a new day. I commit myself to you. It's evening time. I commit myself to you. God, have mercy on me. There's nothing I have in myself. I can't keep myself saved. I can't get myself saved. There's nothing I can do to wash myself clean, to keep my heart pure. There's nothing I can do. But there's exceedingly great and exceedingly precious promises for you, child of God. Things that have to do with mercy. Things that have to do with patience and kindness. God is so gentle. So gracious. So tender. Let's go to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. This is to you who are living godly lives. Not perfect lives. Godly lives. Not worldly lives. If you're still committed to be entertained by the things that entertain the world, this is not for you. Because you're an adulteress and an adulterer. And the promise for you is, and the command to you is, weep, wail, mourn. Humble yourself. Throw yourself down. Do you think we're going to watch movies in heaven? Do you think the angels go in any of the theaters and watch the movies and line up outside? Do you really think that they're playing video games? Do you really think that? That is reality. What we're living in is a complete fantasy, and it's a dangerous fantasy created by the devil, that we entertain ourselves because we will not worship God. We will not worship the one who died for us. Why do you keep talking about entertainment? Because that's our sin. That's our ungodliness. That's our love for the world. It's a perfect idol set up in almost all of our houses. It's even set up on our phone now. We've got entertainment even when we're driving in our car. We are a devoted, religious people. But not to the living God. We're worshiping Baal. We're worshiping all the gods and the idols of the nations. You have an altar at home that you spend hours in front of. You've given your life to it. You've given your life to it. Entertainment, video games, your series on TV, the movies that come out. You've given yourself to it. And you think that means nothing to God that poured His life out for you? Do you think that means nothing? Do you think the angels are not utterly shocked? Do the angels of heaven do not look at what you watch and say you are a child of God and are scandalized and say, this is a scandal. How can this be? But if your heart is saying, oh God, I don't want to be an idolater. I don't want to be an adulteress. I don't want to be an adulterer against God. I don't want to commit treachery against the one who poured His blood out for me. And your heart's broken and you're willing to do whatever you've got to do and change whatever you've got to change. You know why some of you get so annoyed that I talk about movies and video games and TV series? Because that is what you cannot give up. That's why I talk about it. That's why God is speaking to you about it. That's why if you're a child of God, you will not enjoy it. You'll enjoy it and then it'll be done and you'll need another one and you've got to watch the next part of the series and you've got to watch the next thing. But you walk away empty. You walk away empty. And you know you can't rationalize watching that scene. Even if you fast forward, you know that why am I even sitting and watching something that was created filth for the world? And so right now, it's so annoying. The Spirit of God just won't stop. But then He will. And you'll go to lunch. And it'll be gone. You'll grieve the Spirit of God. You'll justify it another day. And you'll put yourself in great danger. As a child of God, you'll put yourself in danger. That's why, see I can talk about a lot of things, but when I touch on that, that's our life. That is our life. That's why we can't even put our phones down for 30 minutes. It's our life. We can't do it. It's our God. Oh yeah, that's how missionaries talk. That's how missionaries talk. He died for His people. Let me read this for the people of God. Those that are humble and trite in heart and that turn from their sins. Oh, you can read it later. Psalm chapter 103. Let me go to the last point. Galatians chapter 2. If you're a child of God, poor in spirit, pure in heart, mourning over your condition, so much that you're willing to change, today read Psalm 103 and take it to heart. I now go to Galatians chapter 3, verse 20. Oops, 2 verse 20. Starting verse 19. Through the law, I am dead to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Jesus died for the world to prepare a way. Jesus died for His church and gave them exceedingly precious promises. But the question for you is, did He die for you? Can you say, the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Not that He gave Himself for the world, not that He gave Himself for the church, He gave Himself for me. And you say, oh yeah, I can say that. If you say it too easily, then it is not for you and you're self-deceived and you're condemned. Everybody in this city, 90% of the people in this city would say, yes, He died for me. And they're going to perish. Only until you can't imagine that Jesus would die for you, can you come to true faith in Christ. If it's so easy for you, yeah, Jesus died for the world, Jesus died for His church, I'm sure I'm in the church, I'm there every Sunday. And yes, He loved me and He gave Himself for me. And that's easy for you to say, and you haven't wrestled through a dark night of the soul where you say, how could it be that I would be part of God's people? How would it be that the Son of God would die for me? Is it true? Is it possible that I could be saved? Is it possible that God, the living God, could He send His Son to die for me? Ungodly me? Unrighteous me? Totally corrupt me? And when it's the most difficult and impossible thing for you to possibly believe, and you bow before God and say, oh God, would you please have mercy on me? Please open my heart to see. Please give me eyes to believe on the Son of God. Then God will lead you to faith in His Son. Apart from Him, you can do nothing. And no one can come to the Son unless the Father draws Him. That should cause you to go, oh, well is He drawing me? Is He drawing me? You should be terrified with that question. Is He drawing me? Am I one? Am I one that He's going to give mercy? Am I one that He's going to call His own? Am I one that He gave Himself for? That He loved? And that should drive you to your knees to say, oh God, please. This is what it means to call upon the name of the Lord. It doesn't mean come and say this prayer sincerely. It means be devastated by the fact that you are an adulterer, an adulteress against God who created eternal hell for wicked people like you. And to top it all off, to make it all worse, He gave His Son to die a horrible death so that you could have free, eternal life and forgiveness and mercy and exceedingly great and precious promises and be called His child. And then when that is all overwhelming for you, you bow and you say, oh Lord, could it be that God Himself would die for me? Please let it be. And you wouldn't be able to think about anything else until the God pours His love into your heart by the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God testifies to your spirit that you are a child of God until the Spirit of God makes it clear to you that you have been born again. Because Jesus said, unless you are born again, you shall not see the kingdom of God. The Bible says, if you are in Christ, you're a new creature. You're a new creation. You're something brand new. You've been changed and transformed. Ezekiel chapter 36 says that God will take away the stony heart that loves the world and the things of the world and will remove it and give you a heart of flesh that is committed and devoted to obeying the commands of God and then you will not live in disobedience. You will live a life devoted to God. Not because hell is there. Not even because heaven is there. But because Jesus died on a cross for you and you will say, I will now live for you. And whenever sin is tempting you, the fear of God will be there to guide you but the strongest motive of your heart will be, I don't want to displease Him. I don't want to displease God. Displease everybody else. Get rid of all your friends. Offend your family. Do whatever, but don't defend God. Don't defend the one that died on the cross saying, Lord, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. He was praying for you. If you're walking in worldliness, if you're unrepentant, He was praying for you. He was dying for you because of your sin and He was praying for you. And when you're born again, that will take your heart and it will transform it. And you'll live your life and bow before Him in your heart. Even when you're driving a hot car, your heart will say, Oh God, lead me not to temptation but deliver me from evil. Forgive me as I forgive others. Have mercy on me.