A Courageous Warrior

Sermon Transcript

Would you pray with me? Father in heaven, we give you glory, honor and praise. We thank you so much for the gift of your son, Jesus Christ, who we believe died on the cross for all who would repent and believe in him. We also believe in your Holy Spirit who indwells all of us who believe. And we pray today that you would have your way among us. We believe, Lord, that every time that your Word is opened and faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you have a word directly for us. So our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear you. And so now, Lord, for what you're going to do, for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Word of the Lord, who will believe what Jesus is saying directly to you and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen? Amen.

The greatest gift that we have to offer anybody is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The greatest gift. The fact that God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. That God through his Son was willing to pay for all of our sin. That Jesus not only died, but that he rose from the dead. And anyone who through repentance and faith would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God could have life both now and for all eternity.

It takes courage to respond to the gospel because you have to leave the life of sin that you're so accustomed to behind. That's called repentance. That's a turning from your sin, and there is a turning to God, which is faith, and that takes courage to do. It also takes courage to share the gospel. Did you realize that? To call people to a repentant lifestyle, to call people to turn from their sin and turn to Christ is difficult because most people, while they may admit that they've done some wrong, don't realize that they're dead in their trespasses and sins. They don't see themselves as a bad person. They see themselves as an okay person compared to everybody else. And yeah, maybe there's a God out there, but when you're sharing the gospel, you're telling people you're dead, and that the wrath of God is on you, and that you need to repent from the way in which you're living, and you need to turn to the living Christ.

And so we understand how challenging as believers it is to come to Christ. We also understand how challenging it is to share that gospel with people who are unrepentant. And today, as we continue our study in the Book of Exodus, as we begin in Exodus chapter 9 and start looking at plagues 5 through 9, out of those 10 plagues, we're going to see Moses confront Pharaoh in his sin and call him to repentance.

And I want two things for you to think about today as we're doing this. Just how hard it is to be a courageous warrior of Christ, to call people to a life of faith. And for some of you sitting here, I want you to consider whether you've actually truly repented and trusted Jesus. Because I think it's really easy in church, especially in the American church, if you're a regular attender to think, "Well, I'm repentant. I believe. I'm better than most people." But has there ever been a time in your life where you've truly understood that you're dead in your sin and responded to the gospel of Jesus?

So I thought even before we get into the message, just to give you a little commercial here on what is repentance, because it's so infrequently talked about in church today. And there's even many Christians who will say, "Eh, repentance, that's not for salvation. Just trust Jesus." To which I would respond, like the half-brother of Jesus responded, James, "Even the demons believe that and shudder." Satan believes Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. Satan believes Jesus ascended into heaven, and Satan believes that Jesus Christ is coming back. But Satan has never turned and will never turn from his iniquity. He doesn't even have a chance to do so. So just because you say I believe facts about the Bible, it's not enough to save you. There's a turning from your sin. So let's just talk about what repentance truly is, and then we'll get into the message. We have a lot to cover today.

But we need to understand what repentance is. Repentance is turning from sin and turning to God. Repentance is turning from your sin which results in faith. That's what repentance is. Now let me tell you five truths that accompany genuine repentance. And the first is this. It's understanding that God is my authority. He is right, then I am wrong. When we truly understand God is our authority and we read the Bible or we hear someone talk about the authority of Christ and we see the truth of the scriptures, we'll realize God's right, he's perfect, he's holy, and I'm a sinner and I'm wrong. It's true when we come to faith in Christ. It is also true after we have trusted Christ.

Repentance is not a one-time thing for the believer. Repentance is ongoing for the rest of your life. Repentance is the belief that even when I come to Christ, although I'm declared righteous and declared holy and given the righteousness of Christ, that in practice, I'm still growing in it, so there's still ways God's going to point things out to me. So repentance is the attitude that God's my authority. He's right, then I'm wrong.

Two is this, I welcome discipline because I know I'm wrong and I need to change. Whether it's God's discipline on my life for something I've done wrong or it's an authority in my life like a parent or it's church discipline like a pastor, I recognize I'm wrong, the authority's right, and I need to change. So I welcome discipline into my life.

When you're truly repentant, number three is this. I don't care about my reputation. I want Christlike character. People that are genuinely repentant don't care about what other people think or what other people say. They're not concerned about reputation. They're concerned about what's true on the inside of their life.

Number four is this. The attitude is I was wrong and I need to make things right. I'm not half-blaming somebody else. Well yeah, I did that, but you should meet my spouse. Yeah, I did that but my parent this. I did that, but my coach. Yeah, I did that, but you don't understand how my small group leader. There's no involving anybody else. I did what was wrong. Circumstances don't matter. I was wrong. I need to make it right. That's a heart of repentance.

And then finally you'll see this. I'm transparent and I have nothing to hide. You can know the whole story. You can know the whole truth. It was me. I was wrong. I'm not talking about anybody else. I did wrong, and I'm making it right. That's what genuine repentance looks like. It looks like that when we come to Christ. It looks like that after we come to Christ. There is this idea, God's right, I'm wrong. I welcome discipline. I want my character to be right. I'll do anything to make it right and I don't care who knows. It makes no difference to me. That's repentance.

Here is a question for you. When did you repent and turn to Christ? When did you admit, it's not that I did some wrong things, it's that I am a wrong thing. That my whole life has been built on the wrong things, that Jesus is Lord and I have not been serving him wholeheartedly, and I'm wrong about that, and I'm turning to Christ, and I don't care who knows, and I don't care what people say, and I'm not worried about my reputation. I want my character with Christ to be right. I don't care who knows about my past. There's nothing to hide. I'm coming clean with everything. That's repentance. That's in the heart of the believer every single time they respond to Christ.

Now let's talk about what unrepentance is. If that's repentance, then here's unrepentance. Unrepentance is remaining in your sin which results in blaming others. It's remaining in your sin and you blame others. So if God is really your authority, showing that he's right and you're wrong, unrepentance looks like this. This authority is too dogmatic. This authority is way too harsh, and this authority handled things wrong. God's handled things wrong. Or you'll see it, parents, with your kids. My parents are being too harsh. This authority's too harsh. This school teacher's too harsh. You don't understand. I'm not as bad as people are saying that I am. That's what you'll see in unrepentance.

Secondly, it'll be marked by this. This discipline is too harsh, and I want to modify it. In other words, when you are in a position of authority and you're bringing discipline to someone who is unrepentant, they will inevitably always want to change the discipline. If someone is caught in adultery and they're wrong and the discipline from the church is you need to move out and you need to gain trust back from your spouse for this period of time and get right with God, somebody who's unrepentant will always say, "Nah, that's too harsh. I don't need to move out. I don't need to do that. I don't need to be that. You're making it too hard for me." Somebody who's repentant is like, "I'll do whatever. I was wrong. I just want to make it right."

The third thing you'll notice is this. My reputation is being maligned, and I need to save face. People that are unrepentant care more about how they appear to other people than they do about how they appear to God. They're always trying to save face, which leads to number four. Here's what you'll notice about unrepentant people. They will do this. They will gossip and slander others for their advantage. I'm wrong, but I don't want you to know how wrong I am. This authority's way too harsh, so let me tell you what really happened. Let me tell you what's really going on. That pastor this, that coach that, that politician this, that educator that. And we malign and slander other people when we're unrepentant, which leads to number five.

We will create a new narrative that falsely makes me look good. You don't know the real story. Let me tell you what really happened. That's unrepentance. True repentance is this. You can bring anybody here. They'll tell you the same story I'm going to tell you. I'm not changing it. I'm not modifying it. I was wrong. They're right in what they're bringing. I'm just getting right. Do you see the difference? I want you to understand this difference because there are so many people that fill chairs and pews in churches month after month and week after week that are living an unrepentant lifestyle, thinking that they're repentant.

That God is pressing on them, showing them I'm holy and you're not, and you need to change every part about yourself. And we're like, no, I'm not changing every part. I'm just going to believe you died in rose for me. That's enough and don't ask me to do anything more than that. And if people start pushing me to do that, I'm changing churches. I'm going to go somewhere else. Don't tell me that my lifestyle's wrong. You can't speak about my marriage. You can't speak about my money. You can't speak about that. Who do you think you are? I think I'm God's representative to tell you what God says.

So think about your own heart and then think about your heart if you are truly repentant as you share the gospel with others when you know somebody's repentant. I could tell you as a pastor for the last 12 years, as we've sat down with people and encouraged them or coached them and brought discipline to them, which is rare, but when it happens at such a level that we're telling somebody you can't keep living this lifestyle, this is so habitual, you're hurting yourself and all those around you, inevitably when someone's repentant, here's what they'll do. I'll do whatever you say, Pastor. It doesn't matter. I just want to get right. How do I get right with the Lord? That's all they'll say.

When they're unrepentant, they'll go through all five stages of what I just showed you. They will say stuff like this. It's not as bad as you're making it sound. And oh, by the way, you should meet my spouse. And oh, by the way. Oh, by the way. And oh, by the way. And then they start to go into face-saving mode where they start calling all their friends and talking bad about us, and then they create a new narrative as they leave the church as to what actually really happened. Happens all the time. I've watched it over and over and over again.

The question I'm talking about today is, do you truly realize what repentance is? God is attracted to repentance because repentance takes humility. The Bible says in James chapter 4 and verse 6 that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. It takes humility to recognize that I'm the one here that's the problem. I'm the one here that needs to change. And if we would realize that more frequently and realize that it's impossible to change other people. But you know what? With God's help, he can change me if I'm willing to let him. That all change, true lasting change that happens in the world, happens when we individually and collectively tell God we're wrong. You're right. What do we need to change to align our lives with you? That's when change really happens.

If you're married, you can't change your spouse. That's free of charge. I just saved you thousands of dollars. But you can allow God to change you. Kids, you can't change your parents, but you can allow God to change you. Parents, you can't change your kids, but you can allow God to change you. Employees, you can't change your employer, but you can allow God to change you. Employers, you can't change your employees, but you can allow God to change you. Where is it that God's calling you to a place of repentance? Because even if you are a genuine born-again believer and you say, "Yeah, I repented. Last time, I think it was eight years ago. There was something going on," then you're not walking in the holiness of God. Because if God saved you, keep in mind salvation is not salvation so he can indwell you with his Spirit just to get you to heaven someday.

Salvation is because you are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that you'd walk in them. In other words, God didn't save you to sit around and say I'm saved. God saved you to be a courageous warrior that's on the advancement of the kingdom to let other people know that they need to repent too. That's why you're still alive. That's the gospel, to go into all the world. It's a international ministry that God made us a part of, and you need to know that as an introduction to today's message. Otherwise, as we get into these plagues, you're going to say, "Here we go again. What's taking Pharaoh so long? Why drag out all these long, boring chapters with 10 plagues? Why didn't Pharaoh repent?" For the same reason that you don't either, because you don't think you're wrong. You don't realize how holy God is. Your heart's not tender enough before him to allow him to change you.

And so what we're seeing in Pharaoh is what sometimes we see in our own hearts, and what we're seeing in Moses is what we need to be aware of as we continually confront and the challenges of confronting people to repent. You say, where do you get this repentance stuff? I'll repeat what I said last week. John the Baptist's first sermon was what? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then a chapter later, we see Jesus' first sermon. What does he preach? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then after Jesus rises from the dead and Peter's preaching, what does he preach? Repent and be baptized, and you'll receive the Holy Spirit. What does Paul preach in Acts chapter 17 or 20? 17, verse 20, I think. I now command all men everywhere to repent. There's this understanding you need to repent. It's the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance. That's what Romans 2 and verse 4 says.

Now listen to this. 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 10 says this, "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret leading to salvation. But the sorrow of the world produces death." When there's genuinely Godly sorrow, it's his kindness and his gift to you to bring you to repentance. Repentance leads to what? Salvation, according to the Word of God. Ongoing, progressive, in your heart, with the Lord. That's what it produces. But worldly sorrow, man, I'm sorry I got caught. I wish God didn't see this. I wish my friends didn't see this. I've got to save face about this. My marriage isn't perfect. My kids aren't perfect. My life's not perfect. I can't let anybody see that. Well, we all see it anyway. But my reputation's too important. That leads to what? Death.

The tragedy in the church today is that there are many church attenders in churches attending all throughout the world that believe that they're Christians that will end up in hell because they've never turned from their sin and turned to Christ. They think just being a Christian is just, I'm a pretty good person, and I go to church, and I guess I believe Jesus has died and rose. The devil believes Jesus died and rose. What difference has the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ made in your life? That's the question. Now, this is just the introduction. We haven't even started. We're going through two chapters today, so that's opening.

But let's talk about why it takes courage to be a warrior for Christ, why it takes courage to live this life, respond to the gospel and call other people to it. I'm going to be in Exodus chapter 8. We're going to try to make it through 8 and 9 today as we work through five more plagues. And the first is this. One of the challenges of being a courageous warrior is that a courageous warrior warns the unrepentant repeatedly. They warn the unrepentant repeatedly.

Now, there's already been several plagues that have taken place. You'll remember last week we talked about the Nile becoming blood and the frogs all over the land and gnats or lice and then the flies that are everywhere. And you would think, even though Pharaoh's not repenting, maybe he would just get this right. And God's given him enough signs already. I'm done with this guy. And yet that's not the heart of the Lord nor the heart of Moses.

Because notice, I'm sorry, I'm in chapter 9. Notice verse chapter 9, verse 1. We're going to be in 9 and 10, not 8 and 9, I'm sorry, 9 and 10. It says this, "Then the Lord said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh and speak to him. 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me.'" Have we not heard this before? We're repeating it over and over and over and over and over. Why? Because God is patient with all people, not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

If I were Moses, I would be thinking, I've already been telling him this. He's got plagues all over the land, and he's still not responding. God, he's a lost cause. Let him go. God's like, "No, I'm going to continue to do this. I'm going to make my power known." He tells them to let his people go, for if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them, behold the hand of the Lord will come with a severe pestilence on your livestock which are in the field. Take note of that, which are in the field. We'll talk about that in a second. On the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, on the flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel.

The Lord set a definite time saying, "Tomorrow, the Lord will do this thing in the land. So the Lord did this thing on the next day and all the livestock of Egypt died, but the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died. Pharaoh sent and behold, there was not even one livestock of Israel dead, but the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people go." This is exhausting, isn't it? How long does Moses have to go back and do the same thing over and over when nobody's listening? Noah preached for 120 years, and the only people that got saved were his wife, his three sons and their three wives. That was it. 120 years of preaching, eight people saved.

How long? Jeremiah complains all throughout the book of Jeremiah how painful it is that every time he opens his mouth, he's just telling people terror and violence are coming. But if I hold it in, I'm weary of holding it in. Indeed, I cannot. I don't want to speak for you, Lord, but I can't help speak for you. If you truly know the gospel and you truly love people the way God loves people, you can't help but tell them about the realities of heaven and hell. If you don't, you don't love them. Can you imagine if you were on your way to hell and nobody told you because they were fearful you might get mad at them, they were fearful you might talk bad about them, they were fearful you might break relationship with them? If you love them, you would be on a rescue mission for them. You warn people repeatedly over and over.

Parents, do you not do this with your kids? Do you just tell your kids once, and if they don't get it, like ah, oh well, they're not going to grow up very well? Or do you warn them and tell them, "Hey, if this continues, here's some of the consequences and here's what's going to happen, not only in our family, but if you continue to age and grow, this is what's going to happen in your life." Am I the only parent that does this? Isn't that true? When we love people, we care about them. We're painting a picture for their future. That's what Moses is doing, God is doing through Moses to Pharaoh.

Jeremiah was exhausted. John the Baptist was exhausted. Every time he opened his mouth, he kept telling King Herod, "You're living in adultery. You're doing it wrong. God's going to punish you. You're going to end up in hell. Don't do this." It cost him his life. It doesn't mean that we don't pray for the lost. It means we pray and we never give up. So why warn people? Do you remember when we went through the book of Hebrews in chapter 10 and verse 31? Because it's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. You warn people repeatedly.

Moses is warning Pharaoh again. This is time number five. Now we've got all the livestock in the field that are going to die. Now this is why it's important that you study your Bibles, and you see in verse three, all the livestock which are in the field. So we got horses, donkeys, camels, et cetera in the field. All of them died. Not all of them died because you're going to see some of these animals show up later, but the ones that were in the field all are dead. And God made a distinction between Egypt and Israel. So Pharaoh's like, "Is that really true?" Because maybe there was just anthrax or some sort of deadly disease that was spreading throughout all the livestock.

So he goes to Goshen to see, and not one livestock in Israel is dead, but every single one in Egypt is dead. Now can you imagine what was going on in Egypt right now if you were just a run-of-the-mill Egyptian? You've had lice and gnats. You've had dead frogs all over the place. You've got dead flies all over the place. You've got the Nile turning to blood, and now all the livestock in the field croak and rotting. If I'm an Egyptian, I'm thinking I'm going to the border. I'm out of here. This is not good. And yet what does Pharaoh do? He hardens his heart.

The heart you present to the Lord is what God will do with your heart. If you present a hard heart to the Lord, it will only get harder. If you present a tender heart to the Lord saying, "What do I do?" God is the one who can make it softer. Make no mistake about it. People that end up in hell end up in hell by their own volition and their own choice. They want to go there. They've hardened their heart. Romans 1:20 says, "They will be without excuse." And what do the unrepentant do? They blame others. They'll blame God. They'll gnash their teeth at him for all eternity saying. "God did this to me. I never chose to be born," when all God wanted to do was be in a loving relationship with them and draw them to himself and they rejected him.

Now God, as we've talked about, was making fun and mocking all the other gods that they had. We've talked about that, the god of commerce, the god of fertility, the god of nature and order, the protector god. Listen to this one. This one, when they killed the livestock, there was a god in Egypt named Apis that was the bull God. Initially, he was assigned a significant role in the worship of Hathor, which was one of the primary deities. Later, it was said that he was being sacrificed and reborn, and he also served as an intermediary between humans and other powerful deities.

Now, what does the Bible say? The Bible says that when Jesus Christ come, what is he? He's our sacrificial intermediary. There is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. Egypt had made up this bull god. That's the way they get to talk to all the deities. Some of us think that there's other ways that we can get to God, certain saints we can talk to or certain ways. No, the only way to get to the Father is through Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him. Amen? God was saying this sacrificial intermediary, your way of thinking that you need to get to God, is not the way you're going. It's through my son, Jesus Christ. He was making a mockery of that.

Here's what you see when we're truly trying to be courageous warriors. We have to warn the repentant or the unrepentant repeatedly. Why? Because we love them. We love them. Well, I already told them once. How many times did you have to hear the gospel before you came to Christ? I grew up in church. I don't know how many times I heard the gospel. I don't know how many people told me about it. I don't know how many of my high school friends were saying what I needed to do. And I don't know how clear it was. It wasn't clear to me. But I know when it became clear to me, and then I was upset that nobody had ever told me the gospel. Why didn't you tell me? I had my 10-year reunion at my high school. I was asking people that were Christians, "Why didn't you ever tell me?" Like, "Well, we were kind of scared of you." And I'm like, "I'm tender and loving like a teddy bear. Why didn't you tell me?"

We warn the unrepentant repeatedly. That takes courage. It takes real courage to do that, doesn't it? Sharing the gospel is not for the faint of heart. It requires the Lord in us. You say, "Well, I'm an introvert." That's great. Introverts sometimes have the deepest depth of relationships with all sorts of people. There's nowhere that mandates here you have to go stand on the street corner and preach, but there is a command that we all go to all the nations in the world and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen? A courageous warrior warns the unrepentant repeatedly.

A second challenge is a courageous warrior watches the unrepentant suffer needlessly. If you're truly sharing the gospel with the unrepentant, you will see them in their life suffer needlessly. There'll be part of you that will say, "Just change. Just give your life to ... You'll be okay. This is a consequence of your action." And that's exactly what happens here. Because we're going to see the sixth plague, which is boils. Now, it's going to get personal. Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Take for yourself handfuls of soot from a kiln and let Moses throw it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt and will become boils breaking out with sores on man and beast through all the land of Egypt. So they took soot from a kiln and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses threw it towards the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast."

Now watch what happens with these magicians, the ones that were saying, "We can do that. We can do that. Oh, we can't do that." Now the magicians are saying this in verse 11. "The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians." Now it's one thing when you see pain out there. It's another thing when you're experiencing pain right here. Now it's getting personal. Now they've got boils, these oozing painful sores that look disgusting, that feel disgusting. And the reason is because God is judging Egypt for not releasing his people. God's saying, "Let my people go so that they may come worship me. If you don't, I'm going to continue to send pestilence and pain your way."

Now the magicians that are basically saying, "We can do everything you can do," have backed off and said, "Well, we can't do that." And now they're standing in front of Pharaoh saying, "We can't even present ourselves anymore because we're too busy dealing with all the sores and pain over our whole body." You think that would be enough, but notice verse 12. "And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses." Why does Pharaoh's heart keep getting harder? Because Pharaoh's got a hard heart, and when you bring a hard heart towards the God of the universe, it only gets harder.

There's a call to soften your heart. There's a call to repent. There is a call to say, "Enough. I'm wrong, God. You're right. Enough of this." No, he's bringing a harder heart to the Lord like, "I'm going to stand up against him even more. God wants to fight me, I'll fight him. He can't have my life." God said that's what was going to happen. Now notice this, verse 13. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Rise up early in the morning. Stand before Pharaoh and say to him, thus says the Lord, the God of Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me.'"

I love Moses because he's got one point for every sermon, and it's short, and it's repetitive. Let my people go, so that they may serve me. Let my people go, so that they may serve me. Has Pharaoh heard this sermon before? He's heard it over and over and over. "For if by now I have put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would have then been cut off from the earth. But indeed, for this reason, I have allowed you to remain in order to show my power and in order to proclaim my name through all the earth. Still you exalt yourself against my people by not letting them go."

Here's what God is saying through Moses. Had I wanted to, I could have killed you and your whole nation a long time ago. I'm doing this because I'm going to make my power known, and I'm going to do this because my people are going to come out and serve me. In other words, I think God was saying this. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either way, I'm going to be glorified as the God of the universe. Either way, my people are coming out. I could have brought them out a long time ago and killed you, but I'm doing this in hopes that you will repent. I'm doing this in hopes that my glory will be put on display through your repentance, through you as the king of Egypt, the most powerful nation in the world, declaring that I'm the God of the universe. I'll get my glory that way. I'm taking my time here, but making no mistake about it, my will will be done. That's what he's saying.

Now God says that to each one of us too. God's will will be done. You can do things the easy way or the hard way. You can do things the easy way, which takes courage by saying, "I'm wrong. I admit I'm a sinner. God is right. He's holy. I need to turn from my sinful lifestyle, leave it all behind, turn to Christ and let him be Lord of my life." Or I can say, "God, you stay over there. This is my life. I'll do whatever I want, however I want to do it in whatever way. If people praise me or curse me, it doesn't matter. I'm about me in this life." God says, "I'm still going to get my glory through you either way. Make no mistake about it. There is punishment for your sin in an eternal hell. I will get my glory that way. But that's not my desire. My desire is that you would turn to me. My desire is that you'd come to me because you're missing out on the very life that I'm offering, the very reason you were created."

See, when we watch the unrepentant suffer needlessly, it's really hard. Remember the story of the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15? He comes to his father, asks for all of his inheritance, takes the inheritance, goes out, spends it all in wild living. And then what happens? Broke. Guess what happens after he is broke? Famine. Guess what happens after the famine? He has to feed pigs. Pigs would be the worst job for a young Jewish boy because pigs were considered unclean. Now guess what happens? He was wishing he was a pig because the pigs are eating better than him. Then he comes to his senses and says, "What am I doing out here starving death? At least my father's hired hands are getting three square meals a day. I'll go back to my dad. I'll say I've sin against heaven against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me a slave."

But while he is at a distance coming back in true repentance, what's his dad do? His dad sees him and starts sprinting towards him. And before he can get out his three-part sermon, his dad's hugging him and kissing him and saying, "Quick, get the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet. Kill the fattened calf. This son of mine was dead. He's alive. He was lost. He's found. Let's have a feast. Let's celebrate." What does God do when the most rebellious repent? He brings you home. It's hard.

And some of you, because I know when we did prayer for the prodigals, you wept here at this altar and at our altar in Westminster because you have kids that are suffering needlessly because they refuse to repent and come to Christ. Even though you schooled them in the truths of the gospel, even though they know the truth of the gospel, and they're suffering because of the refusal to go all in with Jesus, and it's painful. It takes great courage to continue to pray for and witness to a group of people that are suffering needlessly.

Here's a question I have for you. What's falling apart in your life? Sometimes that just happens. We live in a broken, sinful, fallen world. Sometimes life just falls apart. Did you know that? If you didn't, that's free of charge too. I'm giving you a lot of freebies today. But there's other times where things consistently fall apart no matter what you do that God's kind of, "I'm trying to get your attention here. The constant variable in every equation in your life is you. You're the broken one. You're the one I'm trying to get you to look up and see me. The reason your life is a mess is because you think you're saved, but you're really not saved. Would you turn from your sin and turn to me?"

It's hard to watch people suffer, isn't it? You read the book of Job, and we talk about Job, Job, Job and all that Job suffered, and he suffered massively. But Mrs. Job may have suffered even more because Mrs. Job comes to him and is like, "Just curse God and die." It's so hard to watch a loved one suffer, but that's what God calls us to do. If we're going to be courageous sometimes we have to watch the unrepentant suffer needlessly, and that's what God uses.

Now when you think about this plague of the boils, here's what you need to be aware of. There was an Egyptian god, his name was Sekhmet. She was actually the warrior goddess as well as the goddess of healing, and she's depicted as a lioness. She's the warrior who heals. What does our Bible tell us? It tells us that Jesus is the Lion of Judah and Jesus is the Warrior God who is our healer. What was he making fun of? Your god can't heal you from boils. I can. I'm the warrior God that heals. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. He was showing that only he had the power to heal.

Let me give you a third challenge of being a courageous warrior, and it's this. A courageous warrior witnesses the unrepentant reject God willingly. They witness it. The more I walk with the Lord, the harder it is to watch people who are rebellious towards God. I used to see the world a little more like this, that they're not quite there yet. They're a good person, but they're not quite there yet. The more I study scripture and I see the lost, the more I'm like God's wrath is all over them, and they're on their way to hell, and they don't even know it, and it breaks my heart. It's painful.

I grew up in a world where I was taught this. Everybody's a good person. Some are just better than others, and there's a few out there that are bad. The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Bible teaches not that every person does bad things. The Bible teaches that every person is a bad person. You are a bad thing because sin's infected every part of your life. Everybody you meet, the problem that they have is that sin has infected every single part of their life, and the only hope they have is the Lord Jesus Christ. And apart from that, they have no hope.

We can see people and say, "They're a pretty good person." That's not how Jesus sees them. Jesus sees them as someone he created and loves, but sees them steeped in their sin and being completely rebellious, which is why he came and offered his life on a cross, died for them and rose from the dead. And it is incredibly arrogant to reject that truth. God the Father loved the world so much he sent his son to be the Savior of the world. And the unrepentant have said, "We don't care about that. We don't care about you, God, and we don't care about your son. And we don't care that he was slaughtered, and we don't care that he rose from the dead. We love our gods. We love our lives. We love this world."

That's arrogant. And to be courageous as a warrior for Christ, you have to witness the unrepentant reject God willingly. Friends, we talked about this when we went through the Book of Revelation, how there's going to be a massive apostasy from the faith, a massive falling out. I'm preparing you for what's coming, so that when you see it, you won't be shocked. Apostasy is a willful rejection of the fullness of Christ's lordship from people that you would say, "I know they're a Christian because they accepted Christ. We've been in Bible study together. They're all this." But that's not what the Bible teaches. When you see someone walk away, here's what the Bible would say.

1 John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out from us so that it would be shown that they are not really of us." 1 John 3 says this, "No one who abides in him sins." That's consistent sin. You don't continue to sin the same sins if you're in Christ. No one who sins has seen him or knows him. No one consistently sins that knows Jesus in the same way. Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous just as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil of sin. From the beginning, the Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who was born of God practices sin because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin because he's born of God."

Listen to this. "By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." We say, "Well, how do you know who a Christian is? It's tough to tell." It's obvious to tell, according to the Bible. Jesus said in Matthew 7, "You'll know them by the fruits." In John 15, it says, "It is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit." People are going to produce fruit, more fruit or much fruit, according to John 15.

According to the parable of the soils, any good soil that the seed falls on produces 30, 60 or 100 fold. Ones that fall on hard soil, no fruit. Rocky soil, it springs up, looks good for a while, no fruit. Weeds, grows up, choked out, no fruit. No fruit, no root. No root, no salvation. The Bible makes it clear. So Pastor Jeff, you're teaching works, you're teaching works, you're teaching that people have to have good works in order to be saved. No, I'm not. It's all grace to be saved. But if you are saved, it will be evidenced by your good works. And if there is no good works to evidence your salvation, you are not saved. Period. End of story.

Well wait, I thought I could just believe Jesus died and rose from the dead, live my same sinful lifestyle and be a Christian. No, you can be more on your way to hell and more stubborn doing that. But a true repentant person wants the fullness of the lordship of Christ. It teaches that throughout the Old and the New Testaments both. There is nobody who is saved by the Lord Jesus whose life is not changed. If there's no change, there's no salvation. Well, I got saved 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago. I still sin all the same sins, but praise the Lord I'm going to heaven. No you're not.

And it will be an incredibly rude awakening when you know all the facts, but you've never applied them to your life, to hear our glorious Lord say, "Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew. You gave me lip service, but your heart was far from me. I tried to get into your life and show you how to live. I warned you like I warned all those in Hebrews 6 to not fall away to go all the way across the line, but you refused. You got close enough so that you were religious and close enough so you built your own false understanding of what the gospel was, that Jesus could be your Savior but not your Lord. And as long as you trusted some facts, that would be enough. But you never trusted me as the person."

Friends, this is serious because there is false gospel being taught throughout the entire globe, where there are people that even that attend church that don't realize that the lordship of Christ is primary to your salvation and primary to your ongoing growth in Christ. If that's offensive to you, ask yourself why. I'm just teaching the Word. Are you offended at Christ? The one who loves you, who gave his life to you, the one who wants to be in relationship with you, the one who wants you to turn from your sin and turn completely to him. It's not about you getting good or having good behavior so God will like you. It's about giving your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ so that he can work in and through you because you desire his life in you. Amen? That's a challenge.

And so many people in the church have been inoculated. They've got just enough of the false gospel that when the real gospel comes, they get angry at it. They reject it. That's why Jesus said, "You must be born again. You must truly understand that Jesus is the Lord of your life." And it's so hard to witness the unrepentant reject God willingly time and time again.

Notice what Exodus chapter 9, starting in verse 18, we're going to see the seventh plague. It's a plague of hail. "Behold about this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail such has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now." In other words, God's saying "I control the weather. I'm going to be the weather man here, and you've never seen hail like this." "Now, therefore send, bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home when the hail comes down on them will die. The one among the servants of Pharaoh who feared the Word of the Lord made his servants and livestock flee into the houses."

So Pharaoh's got some people in his inner circle like, "Dude, I don't care what Pharaoh's saying. This dude is for real." You know what it means? It means even in a context of unbelief, even in a pagan world of unbelief, God can recognize the one that says, "I want to believe." You see Rahab, the prostitute, in Jericho. Her and her family get saved in the middle of all this paganism because she believed. Don't make excuses and say, "Well, I didn't have the opportunity." You have the opportunity. Nobody is without excuse. Even one of Pharaoh's court's like, "He can say whatever he wants. I'm getting my people out of the field because I've watched what's happened the first six times. I'm not dumb. This is going to happen.""So the one among Pharaoh's servants who feared the Word of the Lord made his servants and livestock flee into the houses, but he who paid no regard to the Word of the Lord left his servants and livestock in the field. Now, the Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand toward the sky that hail may fall on the land of Egypt, on man and on beast, on every plant of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.' So Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down on the earth and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt." This is overwhelming.

Look at verse 24. "So there was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very severe, such has not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation." Now sometimes we watch the weather channel when we're watching what's going to happen in Florida with a hurricane or what's going to happen with a snow bomb here in Colorado. And we wonder how bad is it going to be? This is pretty bad. This wouldn't be one where they would send the weather station down there where somebody'd be outside like, "Hey, you'll never believe what's going ..." Boom. They'd be dead. If you were outside, you're done. Look at this. "The hail struck all that was in the field through the land of Egypt, both man and beast. The hail also struck every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field." All the trees are down. Only, check this out, in the land of Goshen where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail.

Now some people read all these plagues and like, "Oh, I can explain these. They're just natural disasters." Explain how there's this dividing line every time God does it. Total hail and fire here. Nothing here. Pestilence and death here. Nothing here. What is God saying? I control life and death. I'm the God that's worthy of being worshiped. Will you please pay attention to me? It's so bad. Notice verse 27. "Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, 'I have sinned this time. The Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones.'" He's repenting, isn't he? Isn't he? He said it.

Just because you say you're repentant doesn't mean you're repentant. Jesus called the Pharisees to bear fruits in keeping with repentance. When somebody's caught in adultery and they say they're repentant, give them six months and see if they are. Just because they say it doesn't mean they are. Sometimes we say it just because we want the storm to stop. True repentance bears fruit in keeping with repentance a week later, two weeks later, a month later, a year late, you're still repentant. And somebody that's genuinely repentant won't bother that you say that. "Hey, I just want to see that you are repentant." "No problem. Come back in a month. I'll still be saying the same thing." Somebody that's not repentant will be offended. "I said I was repentant, and you're still treating me like this." That's unrepentance.

Because Pharaoh's saying, "God's righteous. He's the righteous one. My people are the wicked ones." He's seemingly is repenting, but let's see if he is. He says, "Make supplication to the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail, and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer." God's righteous. I'm not. We're wrong. He's right. Relent. We'll let you go. This is over. Moses said to him, "As soon as I go out of the city, I'll spread my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no hail any longer that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God." Now it tells us about the damage here. It says, "Now the flax and barley were completely ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in the bud. But the wheat and the spelt, those are the ones that sprouted later, were not ruined for they ripened late.""So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and rain no longer poured on the earth." So you would think, okay, now we're going to see Pharaoh do his thing. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, what did he do? He sinned again and hardened his hearts, he and his servants. "Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses." So just because he spoke he was repentant, was he repentant? Lip service means nothing when it comes to repentance. Behavior over time describes whether your words mean anything. I trusted Jesus. What difference has it made? I trusted Jesus. What difference? You're still an alcoholic. You're still a drunk. You still beat your wife. You still sleep around. You're not a Christian. If you're truly born again, life will change. The Holy Spirit will come upon you.

Let me give you a fourth challenge. A fourth challenge of being a courageous warrior for Christ is this. A courageous warrior wishes the unrepentant would respond immediately. You can hear it in Moses' voice like, "Let my people go that they may serve me." Now. Today. Can we be done with this? I don't want to keep coming to you. You don't want to keep experiencing this. That's what he wants, but knows there's going to be an eighth plague. It's a plague of the locusts. It says, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Go to Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants that I may perform these signs of mine among them and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your grandson how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.'"

Why does God do the things he does in a generation? So we can tell our kids and our grandkids about them? Do you have stories that you can tell about the goodness of God? Do you share those stories with your children? Do you tell them what it is? My kids know that the only reason we moved to Denver, Colorado was to plant a church. And we tell story after story after story of look what God has done, and look at what he's doing, and this is why we're here. Do you see how real our God is? That's what we're called to do with our children. Tell them stories about the goodness of God. When you see them, tell them. That's what he's saying. So that's it.

Verse 3, "Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, here's the question. How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?'" How long's this going to go on Pharaoh? That's my question to you. Let my people go that they may serve me. Eighth verse, same as the first. "For if you refuse to let my people go, behold tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory." Now we're going to have locusts. "They shall cover the surface of the land so that no one will be able to see the land. They will also eat the rest of what has escaped, what is left to you from the hail, and they will eat every tree which sprouts for you out of the field. Then your houses shall be filled, and the houses of your servants, and the house of all the Egyptians, something which neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen from the day they came upon the earth until this day.' And he turned and went out from Pharaoh."

He said, "You think it's been bad? It's only going to get worse. I'm going to send locusts. Locusts are going to eat the remaining things that the hail didn't damage. They're going to be all over your house, and they're going to eat everything." Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long will this man be a snare to us?" Do you see what's going on here? Moses is asking the question, "How long will you refuse to humble yourself and repent?" They're asking the question, "How long is this person going to be a pain in our backside? Can't stand this." Why? Because they're not repentant. They're not seeing the gift that Moses was being to them."Let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not realize that Egypt is destroyed?" Even Pharaoh's people are like, "We think he's an idiot too, but let him go. Our whole nation has completely crumbled. Just get him out of here." Do you not see what's going on? Come on, Pharaoh. His advisors are telling him to do this. "So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh and he said to them, 'Go serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?'" Has Moses been clear who's going? Moses has been clear that everybody's going and all of our animals are going. We're taking a three-day journey into the wilderness. But what do unrepentant people do? They want to change the plan. They want to change it. No, we're not going to do it your way. We're going to do it my way."Moses said, 'We shall go out with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we shall go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.' Then he said to them, 'Thus, may the Lord be with you if I ever let you and your little ones go. Take heed for evil is in your mind. Not so. Go now, the men among you and serve the Lord for that is what you desire.' So they were driven out of Pharaoh's presence." He says, "We've got to take everybody, the men, women, boys and girls. We've got to take all the livestock." He's like, "No, you're evil. I know what you're planning on doing. You're going to plot against me. You can take the men. No women and children, no animals. Now get out of my sight. I'm doing what you've asked me to do." That's not what God's asking him to do.

Verse 12, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the land, even all that the hail has left.' So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord directed an east wind on the land that day, all that night. And when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. The locusts came up all over the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt. They were very numerous." That means they're everywhere. There have never been so many locusts, nor would there ever be so many again, for they covered the surface of the whole land." Can you imagine what that would be like? Everywhere you stepped, it was crunch, buzz. Everywhere."And they ate every plant of the land and the fruit of the trees that had hail left. Thus nothing green was left on the tree or the plant on the field over all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron." Now he's in panic. "I have sinned against the Lord and sinned against you." So now he's repentant because he's saying he is. No. "'Now, therefore, please forgive my sin only this once and makes supplication to the Lord your God, that he would only remove this death from me.' He went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord. So the Lord shifted the wind to a very strong west wind, which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left in the territory."

But notice verse 20. "But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go." Why? Because he's unrepentant. He's giving lip service to the Lord. He's hardening his heart. He's giving lip service to the Lord. He's hardening his heart. No matter how bad it gets, he's hardening his heart. Think about all this. Now we talked about the hail that came. I didn't explain to you that God. That God, his name was Nut, N-U-T. How'd you like to have a name Nut? Also known by various other names. She was the goddess of the sky, the cosmos, the god of mothers, astronomy and the universe.

Jesus was saying, when he sent the hail, "I'm the God of the universe. I'm the one that causes all the natural disasters to occur. It's me. Look to me." Do you remember what happened during 9/11 for those of you that were alive? I remember when 9/11 occurred. I was a youth pastor at church down in Dallas. That weekend, that church service we had three times as many people show up in church, because everybody was like, "What in the world is going on?" Three weeks later, we were the exact same size as we were before 9/11. It's called unrepentance.

Now what about this? This locust. God was mocking this Osiris. Osiris was the god of the afterlife, the dead, the resurrection, life, vegetation in ancient Egypt religion. And what God was saying is, "I'm the resurrection God. I'm the only one that can give life. I'm the only one that can do this." Pharaoh's hardening his heart.

Now we're going to get to the ninth plague before it gets really bad. We're going to spend time on the 10th next week. But check out this ninth plague. This ninth plague is darkness over the land. And when you see this, here's what you can understand, that the final challenge of being a courageous warrior for Christ is this, a courageous warrior withdraws from the unrepentant reluctantly. When you withdraw from the unrepentant reluctantly. You don't want to stop sharing the gospel, but there's a comes a time where you have to.

Check this out. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand toward the sky that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt. Even a darkness which may be felt.' So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings. Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, 'Go serve the Lord. Only let your flocks and your herds be detained. Even your little ones may go with you.'"

Is he repentant yet? No. He said, "You can go. Just don't take your flocks and herds." He's not repentant, even though it's dark. He says, "'Therefore our livestock, too, shall go with us. Not a hoof shall be left behind, Moses said, 'For we shall take some of them to serve the Lord our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we will serve the Lord.' But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him."

Now listen what Pharaoh says. He says to Moses, "Get away from me. Beware. Do not see my face again, for in the day you see my face, you shall die." What's Pharaoh's prophecy? Get away from me. Get out. I never want to see your face again. You look at me again, I'm going to make sure you die. Moses said, "You're right. I shall never see your face again." Now he's going to see Moses' face again, but Moses is saying, "You're right. I'm not coming back to you on my own volition ever again. You're right. You're telling me to get out, get lost. I've done everything I can. I'm not coming back to you. You made a word to get away. I'm going away." There comes a time sometimes in people's lives where they'll tell you, "Get away from me. I don't want to hear about your God anymore. I don't want to hear about this. Stay away from me."

Here is what I've learned. You can't bully people into the kingdom. You can't beat them over the head with a Bible enough to get them saved. There comes a time where you're loving God and you're loving people and you're challenging them. If people get to a place where they're like, "Get away. I've heard enough. Stay away from me. Stay away from my family. Get out of my ..." Okay. If that's what you want, but I'm telling you I'm still going to pray for you. It's painful to watch the unrepentant harden their heart, isn't it? When you have to withdraw from them and you see the arrogance in them.

Now this darkness, this final plague before the taking of the firstborn was significant because one of the gods in Egypt, his name was Re or Ra, R-E. He was god of the sun, become one of the most important gods in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the noonday sun. He ruled in all parts of the creative world, the sky, the earth, and the underworld. He was god of the sun. He was the god of all order. He was the god of the kings and of the sky. And here's what God was saying. "I'm the God of all in all, even your sun god that you serve, he has no power with me. In the beginning I created light. I turned on all the lights. In Revelation, I'm going to turn them all off before I come back. I can turn the lights on and off whenever I want. I control all power in the universe." That's what he was telling Egypt.

My wife called me about an hour ago and said in Castle Rock there was a power outage. She was in complete blackness, and the garage couldn't open. And I was saying, "My God's more powerful than that." Can you imagine what it would be like for three full days to be in total darkness? You couldn't even see the hand in front of your face for three days. What's going to happen to you? What's going to happen to your house? What are looters going to do? Terror in darkness. And God's saying, "I am the light of the world. I control everything." You see it over and over and over and over again where God was showing I'm greater than any of your made-up gods that you have. I'm in control of all the things that you are doing. And even when you're rejecting my servant, what are you doing? You're rejecting me.

When Saul was traveling around murdering and hauling off Christians into prisons, and he comes to the Lord, who he recognized on his way to Damascus, what does he hear? "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" What is it? Who are you, Lord? I'm not persecuting you. It's just all these weird Christians out there. When you persecute God's people, you're persecuting God. When you attack the church of Jesus, you attack Jesus. When you attack servants of Jesus, you attack Jesus. Now it's really easy to hear this teaching and be like, what an idiot Pharaoh is. How much more did he need? If I would have seen all that, I would have repented. Have you repented? Because from the time that you were conceived and came out, God has been engineering all sorts of circumstances in your life to get you to turn from your life of sin and turn to him, to leave the sin behind. This is what you were. This is what you're leaving. Now you're going this way.

It means this. If as a Christian I still suffer a sin that way, that's no longer me. That's sin living in me. I'm confessing it. I'm repenting. I'm moving on. I'm not desiring that. I don't want that. I hate that. I'm going towards Jesus. When did that happen for you? When did you turn from your sinful lifestyle and turn to Christ? There must be a moment. There must be a time. If you can't think of one, make the time right now, right in this place that you say, "I don't want to be dead in my sins anymore. I want the life of Christ in me." And if you have the life of Christ in you, will you be a courageous warrior for Christ? And will you live the gospel in such a way that when you're around the unrepentant, they'll feel their need to repent and that you can let God do a work in their heart to draw them to himself?

Because the Bible says God takes no delight in the death of the wicked. God loves all people. We're called to love all people. I love you. That's why I preached this message because I love you, because it would pain my heart to know that somebody goes to Brave Church and was thinking that they were going to heaven and never got to hear the truth of the gospel. Today, if you hear the Lord's voice, do not harden your heart. Amen? Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise.

If you're listening today and you've never trusted Jesus by repenting and by faith in Christ, would you pray with me? Dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I know I've never repented. Lord, right now I want to repent, and I want to place all my faith and trust in you, in the lordship of Jesus who died for me and rose. Lord Jesus, come into my life. Wash all my sin away. Change who I am. Let everybody know what you've done, and let me walk in newness of life with you. Be my cornerstone. Be my rock. Be my salvation. Lord, I give you and you alone all the praise. God, be glorified and honored in my life. And Lord, use us who have been called by your name, who have turned from our sin and turned to you to be courageous warriors, to share the gospel with the unrepentant. God, would you glorify your name? Would you glorify yourself? We give you all the praise. In the mighty and in the matchless name of Jesus, amen and amen. Can we give God some praise?