The Only Road To Life

Sermon Transcript

 Well, good morning to all of you.

Happy Easter to everybody here.

Would you help me welcome all our campuses?

It's so great to have you.

Whether you know it or not, one of our campuses is actually inside the Buena Vista Correctional Facility, and the men there always hear the message a week later.

So what I preach on Sunday, they hear the following Saturday.

They're joining us today, and I just wonder if we could give them a great, big, brave welcome.

Let them know how great it is that they're with us.

Love you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

 Thank you.

Amen.

With that, let's continue our worship as we go before the Lord and get ready to hear his living active word.

We believe that when the word of God is preached faithfully and accurately, that it is God who is speaking.

So if you came here today, you wanted to hear the Lord speak directly to you.

You said, I've never heard God speak.

He will speak to you this morning if you want to hear him.

And so I'm going to pray.

Then we're going to spend some time in his word and we're going to trust that God's going to do a great work among us.

Amen.

 So Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are.

What a privilege it is to gather in your house with your people to worship your name.

Lord, we thank you for the gift of this body of people and all that you have done.

We thank you for coming and dying on the cross for our sins and rising from the dead.

Lord, right now we're very encouraged to hear your living and active word because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully heard,

 and accurately proclaim that it is you who are speaking.

So our prayer this morning is, speak Lord, for we are ready to hear.

And so now for everyone here who has gathered, who desires to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells 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.

If Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then everything he said is true.

 Jesus Christ came, he told his disciples before he went to the cross that he was gonna go to Jerusalem, he was gonna be betrayed by the leaders and the elders, and he would be put on a cross, he would die.

But he also said three days later, he would rise from the dead.

It is the most miraculous event in human history.

And it's the most historically verifiable fact.

I mean, even if you just look at his disciples, the apostles, most of them were martyred because they saw Jesus after he rose from the dead.

 In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul says, I want to tell you what's of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised according to the scriptures.

I've gone to a lot of funerals.

Nobody's ever gotten up out of a casket.

Nobody's ever started walking around.

Jesus Christ was dead three days later.

He was up walking around.

And if he's alive, then everything he said is true.

 He said he was the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one came to the Father except through him.

He said that the gospel was exclusive to those who would believe in Jesus.

It didn't matter where they were from, their background, their ethnicity, or how much money they made, that Jesus was the only way.

So if he rose from the dead, I think it's important for us to listen to what he said.

I mean, it's really interesting because when Jesus talks about salvation, he talked about it, that it was a choice that people were gonna make to either choose him or reject him.

 And he talked about this road in Matthew chapter seven.

He said this, he said, enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction.

And there are many who enter through it for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life.

And there are few who find it.

So Jesus said, even when it came to him and the belief in him, that many people are on a broad road heading in the exact opposite direction.

He said, many people, like most people are going that way.

 And yet there's a small gate and a narrow road.

And he says this, very few find it.

So according to Jesus, the majority of the people are not following after him.

According to Jesus, the majority of people are going to hell.

And according to Jesus, very few people actually know him.

 according to Jesus, the one who rose from the dead.

Now, if that's true, it's really interesting because I find that in our culture, most people, unless they were raised Muslim or Hindu, which is a minority of our population, if you were to probe them or ask them, are you a Christian?

They would tell you yes.

 They would say, of course I'm a Christian.

As a pastor, I've officiated many funerals.

Most people will tell you, oh, the person in the, they were Christian, they knew the Lord, they were Catholic, they were Lutheran, they were Baptist, they were this, they were that, they went to camp.

Most people say stuff like that.

And I put together a little video, I had our team put together a little video of just some people to show you what they say.

Now, this video is not to affirm that they're Christians, it's not to say that they're not Christians, it's just to give you a slice of our culture to see what it is that some faces you're familiar with

 say when it comes to Jesus.

So watch this.

It's about a minute long.

Jesus is Jesus and anybody can have a relationship with him.

I love you, Lord.

My Christian faith then has been a sustaining force for me over these last few years.

I love Jesus.

I've always loved Jesus.

I grew up a Baptist and the church has always been a part of my life.

 I live in Tennessee.

I am Christian.

That's not what we stand for.

God is real.

God loves you.

Christ is about, you know, he's dying on the cross with a heroic act.

And I stand by

 my declaring christ to be king as i have done you have really shown people in this country what christianity should be and what it means to to actually live out the teachings of jesus even in a talk show i love jesus christ i love christianity i fear and love god i believe in god i believe in in catholicism what it stands for i was born into a catholic family i'm very christian in my beliefs

 So as you see that, you see a majority of people will say, yeah, I'm Christian, I'm Christian, I'm Christian, I'm Christian.

And the Lord knows those who are his.

So this is not to show you a video and make judgment.

It's to show you that a majority of people say, I'm Christian.

Now, Jesus said a majority of people that say they're Christian aren't Christian.

As a matter of fact, he goes on in Matthew 7 and says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom.

 For on that day, many will say, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

Did we not perform miracles?

Did we not do healings?

And then I will tell them, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.

I never knew you.

So if that's true, who cares about the people on the screen?

God cares about you.

 Where are you at?

Because if Jesus is the only road to life, where are you on that road?

Now, most of us have GPS when we're in our car, the global positioning system, and it tells us when we're going the wrong way.

It starts recalibrating.

It tells us to turn around, all those different things.

 But this morning, I want to talk about it from God's positioning system.

Like, where are you?

Wouldn't it be good to know like where you are on the road, like where you are?

Because the Bible makes it clear that the second that you breathe your last breath, you're going to stand before the glorious resurrected Jesus Christ to give an account for your life.

And wouldn't you like to be prepared for that moment?

 Wouldn't you like to know where you are right now?

Wouldn't you like to know where God puts you on that road right now?

Not what Pastor Jeff says, but what God's word says so that you can make an informed decision as to how you need to lead and live your life and what road you need to be on.

So to do that this morning, we're going to look at a variety of scriptures, mostly from the book of Romans.

And I'm going to talk about the only road to life.

I'm going to give you three points that are true and we'll highlight those as we go through.

A lot of these scriptures will show up on the

 screen in case you don't have a copy of God's word with you today.

But I want to tell you the first thing that you need to know if you're going to know where you are in on the road and in God's positioning system.

And it's this, you're a sinner and that has consequences.

 You need to know that.

You're a sinner and that has consequences.

Now, I know what some of you are saying.

Doggone it, I tried to come to church and I knew as soon as I came to church, he was going to talk about sin.

I didn't want to come.

I didn't want to hear about this.

A good pastor talks about sin the same way a good doctor, when you go see a doctor, talks about your illness.

 A good doctor doesn't just pat you on the back and say you're totally healthy when he hasn't even taken time to examine you.

Or if you take your car to an auto mechanic, you expect the auto mechanic to check it all out and do a 21-point check or whatever it is that they do to let you know these are the things that need to get fixed.

The Bible wants to make crystal clear that no matter who you are, whether you're male or female, no matter your ethnicity, background, or what location in the world you come from, your number one problem is that you're a sinner and that has consequences.

 Romans chapter three and verse 23 says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

All would include you.

You've sinned and you've fallen short of the glory of God.

The Bible makes clear no one is righteous, not even one.

Every single person that's ever taken a breath has missed God's standard.

What the Bible says is you're not basically good.

You're not good.

You're thoroughly depraved.

You're thoroughly sinful.

And the reason for that is when God created the world,

 And he made man in his image.

He made male and female.

He created Adam first on that sixth day.

And he gave Adam the instruction, you can eat off any tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.

For the day you eat off it, you will surely die.

They make it about eight verses.

Eve's tempted by the serpent.

 She sees that the food is delightful to the eyes and she's gonna be like a God.

So she eats some and gives some to Adam who's standing right there with her and sin enters into the world.

So sin is not only what you do wrong, that's a symptom of what is fundamentally wrong with you.

You have an identity of sin.

Adam and Eve are no longer with us.

You know why?

Because they died.

Do you know what the death rate is per person?

One.

 Every one of you is dying.

You're closer to death right now than you've ever been in your entire life.

And you don't even think about it.

We know when we hold a newborn and it's precious life and we're like, this is incredible.

We know that that baby's terminal even if that baby lives to be 100 years old.

 We know that baby's not gonna live forever.

We have it in our DNA and because we have sin in our DNA, we have a whole resume of how we've lived out our sinful life.

Some of us have done it in explicit ways with drugs and alcohol and abuse and sex, sexual immorality and all sorts of things.

 Others of us have kind of covered up and pretended that it's really not there.

And we hide in pride and judgment and slander and gossip and all sorts of other things that we do to other people behind their back.

But every single one of us is guilty of sin.

And that sin has consequences.

And the reason that sin is, is God set a standard.

His standard is perfection.

It's holiness.

And we constantly miss the mark.

 God's asking us, hey, when you shoot as an archer, you need to hit a bullseye every time.

We have not hit the bullseye every single time.

And the problem with our sin is it's kind of like a dirty mirror.

We don't get a true picture of who we are.

We're blinded to ourself.

And so a lot of times what we'll say is, well, yeah, I mean, I get it.

I mean, I've sinned, everybody sins, but I don't sin as bad as they do.

 I'm better than they are.

Well, the Bible says if you're guilty of breaking one law, you're guilty of breaking it all.

So it doesn't matter whether you're kind of guilty, you're guilty.

It's like pregnancy.

You're not kind of pregnant.

You're either pregnant or you're not.

And every single one of us has been said that we're guilty before the holy standard of God because he's perfect.

And God does not grade on a curve.

Do you ever have a class where a teacher graded on the curve?

I used to love those classes.

 Like physics in high school, for instance.

And I knew who the smartest kid in our physics class was.

And you know, you'd talk to that kid after the test and they would say something like this, oh, I think I failed it.

I'm like, well, I know I failed it.

 And so the teacher would come in and he'd start writing the scores and he'd write them from the lowest to the highest.

And if it was like 75, I mean, my friend and I were like high-fiving in the back, like 75, that's us, right?

And then it would go all the way up and I'm like, okay, it's gonna be great on the curve anyway, so this is okay.

And then there'd be one person that would get like a 99.

And I would look over at that kid.

 And I said, you told me you failed.

He's like, well, I guess I did better than I thought.

He set the whole curve.

See, that's what Jesus did when he came to this earth.

He set the curve.

He's the perfect standard of holiness.

Holiness isn't just what he does.

It's who he is.

When you read about the angels and angelic beings worshiping him in heaven, they say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.

 They don't say what you do is holy.

Your whole character is holy.

Your whole character is otherness.

Your whole character is perfection.

And what happened is that God sent his son Jesus to this world, the eternal, holy second person of the Trinity who put on flesh, who was born of a virgin so that he wouldn't have sin, who came into this world and he did for us what we could never do.

He lived perfectly.

He did nothing wrong.

 We've done wrong and our sin has a consequence.

Notice what Romans chapter six, verse 23 says.

The first part of that verse says the wages of sin is death.

 Like what you're gonna get for your sin is death.

The fact that you're gonna die and you know you're gonna die, that's a result of your sin.

Now there may be symptoms that take you out.

Car crash, cancer, liver challenge, whatever it is, lung capacity.

I mean, there'll be some symptom they lay on it, but here's why.

If you didn't have sin, you wouldn't have any of those problems.

 All those are a result of the fall.

And the Bible says the wages of sin is death.

In other words, you earn something.

What you earn, your wage for your sin, what you earn for your sin is death.

And the way the Bible describes death is different than the way we think of death.

We think of death as finality.

I need you to know something.

Ecclesiastes says that God has set eternity in your hearts.

 you're gonna live forever somewhere.

You're not gonna just go back into the ground and be done.

I mean, even your conscience and creation tell you that there's an eternal God.

Even there's something inside of you where you know, I'm gonna live forever.

And the reality is that you will.

But here's the way that the Bible talks about death for those who die in their sin.

 separation from God forever, eternal darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Hell is not a place of community.

It's not where you go to hell with a bunch of other people and you're like, yeah, it's good to be here.

Hell is by yourself.

Hell is isolation.

Every good thing that God ever does, the fact that you can breathe and see and do all the goodness of God is removed.

And every desire you still have to fulfill your sinful desire is still there, but you can't fulfill it because there's nothing there to fulfill it.

 And it goes on and on and on and on.

You need to understand something else.

God did not intend any human being to go to hell.

Matthew 25, 46 says that God created hell for the devil and his angels.

 But if you are born a sinner, which all of us are, and you have a lifestyle of sin, and you die in your sin, the second you stand before Jesus, you will hear these words, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.

And you will be cast out into hell.

And once you cross over that chasm, there is no coming back.

 There is no hope because your sin has a consequence.

You say, well, why would God do that?

Because he's holy and righteous and good.

Yes, he's loving, but if he can't bring sin into his presence, because if he brought sin into his presence and he embraced sin, then he would be sinful too.

He can't do that.

 And you need to understand, we don't hold God in nearly high enough standard.

We have earthly standards we think are high, but they're not high enough.

I was thinking this week about some great athletes, and you may remember, and for those of you that are a little older, or even if you've done your history in basketball, that in the 1961-62 season that Wilt Chamberlain scored a record 4,029 points in one season.

He made 50.6% of his shots that he took.

 I mean, 4,000 plus points, huge record.

We're like, what a great athlete.

Or in 2001, Barry Bonds, the baseball player, hit 73 home runs, batted 328, right?

We're like, that's incredible, 73 home runs.

And then how about in 2013, our own Peyton Manning, 55 touchdowns.

 55 touchdowns, set the NFL record for that.

And we're like, that's the standard of excellence.

That's the GOAT.

Like, no, because perfection is the standard of excellence.

Barry Bonds that year had 476 at bats.

If Barry Bonds would have hit 476 home runs that year, that would have been perfect.

Peyton Manning had 55 touchdown passes, but he attempted 659.

If he would have had 659 touchdown passes, that would have been perfect.

 Wilt Chamberlain took 3,159 shots and he only made half of them.

I mean, he would have had over 8,000 points.

And we look at that standard and be like, well, that's impossible.

Nobody could ever do that.

And you're like, that's right.

But God's standard is even higher than that.

God's standard is even higher.

Like, no, to be a perfect quarterback, I need you to throw 5,000 touchdowns a season.

And you say, well, I'm not going to get that many attempts.

Well, that's what I would do.

I mean, Jesus' standard is so high that we can't even understand it.

 The Bible says, don't lie.

All of us have lied.

All of us have slandered somebody else.

All of us have talked behind somebody's back.

The Bible says, honor your father and mother.

From the time we come out of the womb, we prove that we have the sin virus, right?

Bible says, you should not commit adultery.

And some of you are like, oh, got by on that one.

But the Bible says, if you lust after somebody that's not your spouse, you've committed adultery in your heart.

So if you hit puberty, you're guilty, right?

 Bible says, do not murder.

Some of you said, well, I didn't do that.

But it says, if you call your brother an idiot, you've committed murder in your heart.

So if you have siblings, you're guilty, right?

I mean, the fact is you walk through all the 10 commandments and we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And there's a consequence for that.

And the consequence is that we're going to hell forever and there's nothing we can do about it.

 And here's how you know you're caught in sin.

It's like a fisherman, and I'm not a great fisherman.

I've only been fishing a few times, but I've watched shows.

And when people go fishing, great fishermen know how to set great bait.

They know how to make it shine, sparkle, and look alive.

They know how to make it look appetizing.

And when the fish comes along and clamps down, it realizes very quickly, oh no.

 And then it starts to get dragged in a certain way and there's nothing it can do.

But good anglers, from what I understand, sometimes let out a little bit of the line so that the fish will swim and get even more tired and then crank it in.

And some of us that have been steeped in our sin are just like that fish that's been caught and we bought down on the sin bait.

And yeah, we can hide it sometimes and sometimes it feels okay.

And sometimes we get a reprieve, but we know at some point in time, we're going to be yanked right back to what we were doing before.

And there's no hope in it.

 And here's what I want you to see.

This is why it's your biggest problem.

Because if you die in that state, you will see Jesus and he will tell you to get away from him because he can only have holy people.

And you need to understand that.

But if you do understand that, then I have some good news for you this morning.

And I only have good news if you understand that.

If you reject that truth, that would be like a person with stage four cancer telling the doctor, I'm just not going to believe you.

Well, you don't have to believe the doctor, but you're going to die anyway.

 right?

You don't have to believe what I'm saying, but you are going to die.

And you don't have to believe what I'm saying, but you will stand before the glorified, resurrected Christ that got out of the grave to give an account for your life.

You will.

I'm telling you because I love you and I want you to be ready.

And a majority of our world's not ready.

Now, if you know that and you're desperate, you're like, well, then what do I do?

Then I have good news.

Jesus died in your place and he rose so you could live.

 Jesus Christ died in your place and he rose so you could live.

Romans 5.8 says this, but God demonstrates his own love toward us and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus did not wait for you to get better.

Knowing Jesus is not a self-improvement plan from going from bad to good or good to better.

Jesus came because you were dead and he wanted to make you alive.

 Jesus as the God man came to this earth without sin, lived the perfect life, didn't break any of the commandments.

And then before he left the earth, willingly in obedience to his father, went to the cross and stood in the gap and took your place for what you deserved on that cross.

When Jesus was dying, when Jesus was bleeding out, he was taking the wrath of God for you.

 He loved you so much.

He said, I don't want you to have the wrath of God.

I didn't create you for this.

I didn't want you to have this.

So I'm allowing myself to be the perfect sacrifice for your sin.

This will make it just, this will make it right.

This will satisfy the wrath of God.

So when Jesus was going to the cross, it wasn't just the physical pain.

It wasn't just the emotional torment.

It was the fact that the God of the universe was pouring out all his wrath on his son.

And Jesus willingly took it.

He took your place.

 for the punishment that you deserve.

It would be like if you were on death row and somebody came in or I came in and I said, listen, you can go.

The punishment has to be paid.

I know you're scheduled to die later this month.

I'll die instead of you.

 You go.

That's what Jesus did.

Now, if Jesus is perfect and Jesus doesn't have sin, would he have ever died?

He wouldn't have died.

Why did he die?

Because he willingly gave up his life by taking on the sin of humanity.

God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

He stepped in and took the punishment.

He took the penalty for all your sin.

But I want you to know something.

I want you to know something.

He's not dead.

He's not dead.

He's alive.

Amen.

 If Jesus were dead, this isn't good news.

How do you call out to a dead man to do something for you?

How can you have a relationship with a dead one?

No, see three days later, he did exactly what he said he was going to do.

He got up out of the grave.

He's been alive for over 2000 years.

He's still ruling and reigning the universe and friends.

He's coming back soon.

 And we're gonna see him, amen?

That's what the Bible teaches.

And so the question is, will you be ready if you die or when he returns?

And the truth of the matter is, Romans chapter one and verse four says that he was declared the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The resurrection is God's public declaration of who Jesus is.

It validated he was indeed God's one and only son.

It's the receipt that your sin has been paid for.

 Romans 4.25 says this, he was delivered over because of our transgressions, that's our sin, and he was raised because of our justification.

He was raised to make us right with God.

Justified means paid in full.

It's a legal term that means everything's been taken care of.

You don't have to worry about it anymore.

When Jesus rose from the dead, he was holding the receipt that all your sin has been paid for.

And if it's already been paid for, you don't have to pay.

 My wife and I were out to dinner on a date within the last month and we were just hanging out talking.

We saw some people we knew from church and we talked to them and their kids for a while and they left and we were sitting there talking and hanging out and then it came time to pay the bill and I'm like, hey, we're ready.

And he's like, well, sir, your bill's already been taken care of.

And I said, well, what about you?

Did they take care of you?

They took care of me too.

You're free to go anytime you want.

It felt really good.

 And it would have been ridiculous if I would have said, yeah, but we want to pay too.

Can you just write another invoice for us and we'll pay double.

 Nobody would do that.

If Jesus has paid for sins, there's nothing you can do to pay for yours.

Did you know a lot of people leave church with more burden and more guilt and feel a more level of commitment?

Friends, if you couldn't pay for your sin before, you can't pay for your sin now.

There is nothing you can do to make yourself righteous.

Jesus Christ, the righteous one, is the only one that can do that for you.

 Right?

Religion doesn't do anything for you.

Joining a church doesn't do anything for you.

Denominations don't do anything for you.

Jesus Christ is the only one who does.

 And if you have Jesus Christ, everything changes.

Romans 6 verses 4 and 5 says, Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we become united with him in the likeness of his death, we certainly shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

Now think about this.

 I mean, Jesus Christ not only died, but he rose.

That's what makes his claim so exclusive.

When Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.

The claim is, you're all sinners.

It doesn't matter whether you're Hindu, whether you're Muslim, whether you're Mormon, whether you grew up Christian.

It doesn't matter what you grew up.

You're steeped in sin, and there's nothing you can do about it.

And Jesus is the only one that can take away your sin.

He's the only one that can do anything about it.

 You can't do anything about it.

No one else can do anything about it.

And if you ask most people, are you a Christian?

A lot of people will start with their denomination.

Well, yeah, I mean, I'm Lutheran.

Yeah, I'm Baptist.

You heard some of that on the screen.

Yeah, I'm this.

Yeah, I'm that.

Friends, when you stand before the resurrected Christ, please don't tell him your denomination.

It will not go well for you.

Don't tell him you went to brave.

I mean, you could tell him you went to brave, but that's not going to get you into heaven.

 He already knows you go to brave, right?

I mean, here's the deal.

It's a gift that he offered.

We looked at Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death.

But notice the back half of this verse.

But the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

What you earn for your sin is death.

But, but God loved you so much.

He gave you a free gift.

And the free gift that he doesn't bring with an invoice is eternal life.

 It's not like you accept Christ and like four days later you get an invoice in the mail like you owe me a million dollars.

I mean, nothing like that.

It's free.

He left heaven, became human forever for free.

He died in your place for free.

He's offering a gift to you for free.

It's yours for the taking.

Anybody, anywhere, at any time can call on the name of the Lord and be saved.

They can.

 You can.

And when he does, he changes everything.

Romans 8, 1 says it like this.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

No condemnation is part of the gift.

See, when Jesus Christ forgives you, guess what he forgives?

Everything.

 He forgives your entire past.

He forgives your present.

He forgives the sins that you had in the car on the way to church.

He forgives what's happening this afternoon.

He forgives everything in your future.

It's all done.

It's all washed away.

You don't need to go do all these other things.

Every religion in the world is all do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this.

More, more, more, more, more.

Try harder, try harder.

Commit, commit, commit, commit.

Religion, it doesn't do anything for you.

Oh, it doesn't make you miserable.

 Here's what Jesus said.

It's done.

D-O-N-E.

It is finished.

It is paid in full.

And if you have me, you have my spirit, you have my life, you're on the right road, you're going the right way, and you can be assured that when you see Jesus face to face, you'll hear the words, well done, good and faithful servant.

Amen?

That's the gospel.

While you're welcome at our church anytime, we are not having this service today to grow membership.

 We're having this service today to introduce you to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has been on a search and rescue mission from the day that you were conceived in utero, and he loves you, he loves you, he loves you.

 He wants to forgive all your sins.

He wants to give you a new name and a new identity.

You're not what you used to be.

The old has passed away and behold, all things will be made new.

He's not asking you to jump through religious hoops.

He's not asking you to get emotional.

He's not asking you to do any of those things, but I'm gonna give you point number three.

Because if you know that you're a sinner and there's consequences and you realize that Jesus died on the cross and rose and he's the only way to heaven, let me give you the third and most important point.

You must call on the Lord Jesus to be saved.

 you must call on the Lord Jesus to be saved.

If you don't call on the Lord Jesus, you won't be saved.

If you need help from the police and you don't call 911, they're not coming.

If you do not call on the Lord, you will not be saved.

Romans chapter 10 verses nine and 10 says it this way, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

See that?

 confessing that Jesus is what?

Not just a good guy, not just a good teacher.

He's the Lord.

He is who he says he is.

And I believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead and he's alive.

You will be saved.

For with a heart, a person believes resulting in righteousness.

And with the mouth, he confesses resulting in salvation.

 And notice what it says in verse 13.

For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

See, true salvation requires a response and that response is twofold.

One is repentance and one is faith.

Now, I'm asking you the question this morning.

I'm not asking you if you're a Christian.

 I'm not asking if you go to church.

I'm not asking you whether you're a moral or immoral, religious or irreligious person.

I'm asking you if you were born a sinner, at what time in your life did you call on the name of the Lord to save you?

And if you're thinking, I don't know that I've ever done that, then you haven't.

 right?

Well, I don't know if I've ever been saved or not.

Then make today the day you call on the name of the Lord, because he's been searching for you.

He's been looking for you.

He desires to have a relationship to you, but he won't come and invest himself in you till you call on him to come.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice, I will come in to eat with him and he with me.

 In other words, here's what Jesus is saying to some of you today.

He's saying, I've been showing you that I'm God.

You see it in nature.

You know it in your conscience.

You've been trying to figure out who the real God is or what the right denomination is or what religion you need to join or why your life's so out of whack or how can God put my marriage back together or how can I get my finances put together?

Those are all secondary problems to the fact you're a sinner and you need Jesus Christ to save you for all eternity right now.

So here's my question.

 When did you personally call on the name of the Lord?

The testimonies you heard up there today that said, well, I live in this state, so I'm a Christian, or I grew up in this home, so I'm a Christian, or I'm Baptist, so I'm a Christian, or I'm Catholic.

None of that means anything.

 I'm not saying they're not Christian.

I'm just saying it doesn't mean anything.

That's not what they wanna take with them when they meet Jesus.

Here's what you wanna take.

Lord, I did two things.

I repented of my sin.

That means I changed my mind.

I realized that I was a sinner.

I was going this way.

I don't wanna go this way anymore.

I know if I keep going this way, it's dead end highway and dead is forever and I don't want that.

So I'm turning around and coming to you.

That's number one.

And second is I'm placing my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 I'm objectively believing he died and rose from the grave, and I'm believing that he will forgive all my sin.

That's what it means to call upon the name of the Lord.

Here's my question.

Have you done that?

Have you done that?

If you haven't done that, can I just urge you, do it now.

Do not delay.

Because here's the reality.

You don't know when your time's going to be.

You just don't.

I mean, I was on the way to church this morning at 5.15, and there was an accident on I-25.

 I think everybody was okay.

There was somebody supposed to sing up here today.

Couldn't make it because they were in an accident.

They're okay.

They're doing okay.

But you just don't know.

I mean, I don't know.

I don't know if today's my day.

You get a one day contract with life.

I hope I live a long time, but I don't know.

 And here's the reality.

Sometimes you just have to trust the Lord is talking to you.

And for some of you this morning, he's been talking to you this whole time.

That's you.

That's why I brought you here.

You know this is you.

Call to me and call to me.

And we're fond of saying here at Brave that the hardest step you'll ever take is the next one.

 The most difficult step of faith you'll ever take is the next one.

If you've never called on the Lord, that's the most difficult step of faith that you have before you right now.

And to leap and trust someone, whether it's a baby step or a big step, always takes bigger steps of faith.

Whether you're a little kid standing at the side of the pool and one of your parents is like, jump, and you're nervous as can be before you leap.

 Or whether you're part of Thunderstorm that comes in the Broncos games on parachutes where you leave a perfectly good airplane right before the start of the game and come zooming in on a parachute.

That takes faith too.

I mean, anytime you're gonna take a step of faith and trust, it takes something.

And here's the greatest thing.

It takes faith to call upon the name of the Lord, but it is so worth it.

Because we're not talking about today.

We're not talking about just this moment.

We're talking about your entire eternity.

 That's why in a minute, I'm gonna give you all a chance to call out on the name of the Lord.

Do you know everybody Jesus called, he always called publicly?

And I believe the reason he called them publicly is he understood if people wouldn't stand for Jesus in front of Jesus, they'd never stand for him outside of Jesus.

 I mean, in a minute, I'm gonna give you a chance to stand.

If God's been talking to your heart today, nobody's gonna ask you to do anything, but just in response to him, it's my gift to you so that you'll remember this day forever that if God's been talking to you, hey, stand and receive him.

Call on his name.

Tell him you wanna know that you know that you know that he's your king.

And if you're here today and you 100% know, there's no doubt in your mind, stay seated.

But if you're like 99 and 9 10 sure, like I'm kind of sure, be 100% sure today.

 Call on his name.

Tell him, join the hundreds of others that have been doing it all weekend because this is the moment that God is talking to you, especially for those that said, God, I wanna hear you.

I wanna do what you say.

For some of you right now, it's standing to your feet saying, I heard you and I want you to be the Lord of my life.

So if you're here today, and here's the reality, if you won't stand for Jesus in here with a bunch of people that love Jesus that will applaud God's work in your life, you will not stand for him outside these doors.

 You will not.

So this is my gift to you to be encouraged.

If you're hearing the Lord today and you know today is the day of your salvation, could you please stand right now so we could applaud the work of the Lord in your life for all he's doing?

Amen.

Thank you, brother.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Praise the Lord.

 Praise the Lord.

Thank you.

You may be seated.

I want to tell you this in the Bible.

The Bible says there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents than over 99 that don't need to repent.

 We celebrate with you because of all that God has done.

We celebrate with you because of all that God is doing.

And my goal is not that you stood to your feet, but it was a gift to those of you who did to be reminded this day.

But if you're here today and you're like, I should have stood and I was stupid and I don't know what, maybe I should stand now.

Don't worry about it.

God can save you while you're seated.

Did you know that?

 And I want you to know whether you were seated or whether you were standing, we have gift bags for you if you trusted Christ today that have a Bible in it, that has a devotion in it, has a 30-day reading plan in it.

Our desire is not just that you would know Jesus, but you'd grow with Jesus.

 Because the Bible says if he's really in your life, you'll have a hunger and desire to change your worship from yourself and the other things of this world to worship him.

And we would love to help you grow in that.

We would love to help you mature in that.

We have a group of people here that are not better people.

Just have a group of people here that were once dead and are now alive and are on a journey until we meet Jesus together.

Amen.

That's what it's all about.

Amen.

Can I have everybody stand, please?

Would you pray with me?

 Our Father in heaven, we do give you glory.

We give you honor.

We give you praise.

Lord, we praise you for the salvations that took place here this morning and across all our campuses.

Lord, if there were just one, it would be worthy of rejoicing.

Lord, when it was us, it was worthy of rejoicing.

And Lord, we celebrate the work of your Holy Spirit this morning.

If that was you, here's how you can pray.

Lord Jesus, save me.

 I know I'm a sinner and I want your grace.

Forgive all my sin.

God, for those of us who know you, we celebrate your work, what your spirit accomplished this morning.

We thank you for dying for our sins and getting up out of the grave.

And Lord, we tell you this without reservation.

We love you, we bless you, and we praise you for all you're doing.

We sing to you now.

We give you all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise.

In Jesus' name, amen and amen.

Can we give God praise for his word and his work among us?