Episode Transcript
[00:02:18] Speaker A: Good morning, Westgate Chapel.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: Won't you stand and join us?
[00:02:23] Speaker A: I praise in the valley praise on the mountain I praise when I'm sure Praise when I'm doubting I praise when when I'm number Praise when surrounding cause Praise is the water my enemies drowning as long as I'm breathing I've got a reason to Praise the Lord oh my soul Praise the Lord oh my soul I praise when I feel it and I praise when I don't I praise God I know you're still in control My praise is a weapon it's more than a sound My praise is a shout every Jericho down Long as I breathe it I've got a reason to Praise the Lord oh my soul Praise the Lord, oh my soul I won't be quiet My God is alive how could I keep it inside?
Praise the Lord, oh my soul.
I praise cause you're sovereign Praise cause you reign Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave I praise cause you're faithful Praise cause you're true Praise cause there's nobody greater than you I praise cause you're sovereign Praise cause you reign Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave I praise cause you're faithful Praise cause you're true Praise cause there's nobody greater than you Praise the Lord of my soul Praise the Lord O my soul Praise the Lord of my soul Praise the Lord of my soul I won't be quiet My God is alive how could I keep it inside Oh I won't be quiet My God is alive how could I keep it inside?
Oh I won't be quiet My God is alive life how could I keep it inside?
Praise the Lord oh my soul oh my go.
[00:06:24] Speaker C: Amen. God is good. Amen.
Amen. You may be seated.
It is good to be here and worshiping together this morning if we haven't had the opportunity to meet, My name is Rob Zimmerman, lead pastor here at Westgate and I want to say a happy Mother's Day to all the mothers that are here this morning. We are thankful for you and I would just love to say for all of you children out there, this is your last minute reminder.
So we are thankful for you this morning. Hopefully on the way in you saw that either in the middle of the atrium or at our other two entrances we have these cards and we would love for you to grab one of these cards. You can do it on your way out today as well and use it just to write a special note of thanks to your mom or the moms in your life that you can just Encourage and love on the people that have fulfilled that role for you.
And so we would love for you to grab those as well. Following our service today, we're gonna have still, I believe, donuts and drink that are provided out in the atrium as an opportunity just to connect with each other. And so we would encourage you to do that as we celebrate our moms today.
There are a number of things going on here around the church, but before I jump to those, I just want to remind you and again welcome you if you are new here at Westgate, we are thankful that you have come and are worshiping with us today. We recognize that when you're checking out a church, sometimes it takes a little bit of time before you want to get connected. But when you're ready to take that step, the best way to do that is to fill out the connection card that you'll find in the pew in front of you. And so if today is the day for you, I'd encourage you to take it. You can fill it out, and at the close of our service, I would love for you to take it out to our guest center that is in the main lobby.
We have some hosts that are there that'll take the connection card, answer any questions you have about our church. But also they have a small gift to give you. And I believe that gift. We don't, you know, we say there's a gift. People are like, what's the gift? Is it a pencil? Is it, you know, I believe it is a Westgate coffee tumbler. And so if you're new, we would love to give that to you as a gift just to say thank you for worshiping with us today.
Also, if you're looking to get connected at different things happening around the church, the best way to do so is to download the Westgate Chapel app. And on that app, you will find tons of information about ways to get involved. One of those ways is with our summer serve. With summer fast approaching, there are a number of ways that you can get involved serving with our various partners in the area serving here at Westgate, and the ways that you can do that is either as an individual with your family or friends, you can do that with your life groups. If you are looking for a way to serve this summer, we would love for you to check that out. There is a table that is set up over in the cafe today where you can stop and get information about opportunities to serve. But as well, one of the best ways to do that is to go to the Westgate Chapel app where there is an event that will give you all the information that you need about how to get connected into those opportunities. Now, another awesome opportunity that we have coming up quick is our vacation Bible school, which we're very excited about. So I'm going to invite Marlena Burrow, our kids ministry director, to come out and share a little bit more.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Thank you.
Good morning, guys. Again, if you have not met me yet, my name is Marlena, and I love the kids at our church, and I know you guys do, too. And so we're going to share a little bit about VBS this morning and why you should a help and invite everyone you know to it. But before we do that, I want you to just take a short look about what we did last year.
Watch this.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: When the world gets to knocking me down and the storms keep blowing me
[00:10:21] Speaker C: around
[00:10:23] Speaker A: oh, I want to be rooted.
I just don't understand when the world is telling me where to land Where I should be rooted that's right.
How high, how wide, how deep is his love for me?
How high, how wide, how deep is his love for me?
Oh, How high, how wide, how deep is his love for me?
How high, how wide, how deep is
[00:11:29] Speaker C: his is his love for you?
[00:11:34] Speaker A: Sing it.
How high, how wide, how deep is his love for me?
How high, how wide, how deep is his love for me?
Y.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: Doesn't that look amazing?
And we're gonna do it again, and we're so excited because not only do we get to have so much fun and the toilet paper gets going and the balloons and all the things, but most importantly, kids get to hear the good news about Jesus. And that's why we do it, and that's why we spend our resources and our time and our energy doing it. So we're going to continue to talk about it and invite you guys to join us. There's several ways to do that. One of the ways is we have these awesome VBS rooted yard signs. I think there's still a few. First service, I think, was very excited about them. So at all the entrances, they were there, but this might be one of, like, 10 last. So if you're interested in these signs. Anybody want. Want one for their yard right now? Anybody? Come on.
Nobody? Oh, okay. Right here. Come grab it. Come grab it.
I got one more. Who else wants One? Okay, Ms. Lana, give one. Can you give one, Ms. Lana? Okay, so thank you, everybody. Give it up for our awesome ladies.
So we are super excited. Again, they're at the exit, so if you want one, make sure you grab one. And it's again, VBS is June 8th through the 11th. So that's one of the ways is you can invite friends. There's Facebook groups you can send out.
There's invit, there's card invitations out in the atrium. And so invite your neighbors, your grandkids, your cousins, whoever you want to invite, invite them. Because especially if they don't have a church home. Because we want kids to know that church is an amazing place to be and that you can feel loved and cared for in a safe place. And you can have fun in church, right? Can we have fun in church?
[00:14:00] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:14:02] Speaker B: Yes. So, vbs, the other way that you can help is by donating to our giving tree, which I will say that you guys have been extremely generous. Our Amazon wish list was completely bought out.
Yes. Amazing. And we even added a whole bunch of extra stuff that was again, purchased. So thank you so much. There are still a few out in the main lobby. There's a tree out there with about five or six leaves still of things we need. But you guys have been. Been so, so generous. So thank you for your generosity. You can also, if you are free during the day June 8th through the 11th, guess what? Where could you be in this building? There's so many ways to serve. We need. We still need about 20 small group leaders. So even if you're like, I'm not a teacher, that's okay. Not everybody has to teach anyone. You do. We give it all to you. And it's so easy. So pray about helping. Pray about signing up. You can go on westgatechapel.org events or onto the app and sign up to serve. And the best way, one of the best ways is to pray. Can you guys pray for us that week?
Can you guys pray for us that week?
I need. I need some. Come on. Can you guys pray for us that week?
Thank you. We need your prayers because again, kids are coming into this building for the very first time. Some of them hearing about the name of Jesus and the story of him dying and rising again just for each one of them. And so that's the best news that we could ever share with them. So we covet your prayers and thank you so much for all that you do for our kids ministry and keep praying because it's a few weeks away and we're getting ready. If you have any questions, you can talk to us about that. Grab a yard sign. And right now it is time for you guys to stand up. And if you went to a VBS or I grew up going to VBS's I would love for you to share maybe about a camping experience that you went to as a kid or a VBS and what that was like.
Go.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: It's.
[00:17:09] Speaker C: I know.
Well, I could try.
It's mother's day. If I stop you, I'll get in trouble.
All right.
You know, before we head into our worship together, we're gonna take our. We're gonna take Communion, Lord's Supper together. If you have your elements, I'd invite you to pull those out this morning. And our ushers are gonna be coming up the aisles. If you weren't able to grab your elements on the way in this morning, just slip up your hand and they hold it up there. They'll bring those to you.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: You.
[00:18:00] Speaker C: You know, as we come to a time of taking the Lord's Supper together. As I was preparing for the sermon this week, I was thinking about, and you'll see later, kind of how this connects in with the message. But sometimes there are things that we do in church that can very quickly lose their meaning and just become like rote traditions.
And I find that it can be very easy in the church for the Lord's Supper to become one of those things. It's something that we do. We take communion, we go through the motions, we sing some songs and go through our service. And if we're not careful, it's very easy for a very significant moment of remembrance to turn into a tradition.
But the truth is, is that when we come to a time of the Lord's Supper, Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper to be a very significant reminder of the depth of God's love for us in hopes that it would daily and continually draw our hearts to a place of surrender to God.
Remembering the truth that when we think of the body and the blood of Jesus that was broken, his blood that was shed on a cross, that it was done so to pay the penalty for our sin, a sin that separates us from God, a sin that demanded punishment and payment for that sin.
Yet God loved us so much, he sent his Son into the world to pay that penalty for us so that we wouldn't have to experience an eternity separated from God. But if we would put our faith in Jesus and his sacrifice for our sin, putting him first in our lives, that we would be able to experience reconciliation with God and reign with him forever.
Never let the beauty of this moment be lost on you.
May it be a thing that draws your heart into deeper worship and fellowship and surrender because of all that God has done for you.
I want to take Just a moment before we take the Lord's Supper together to in quiet prayer, just worship God. Would you turn your heart to him as you bow your head, close your eyes, would you just thank God quietly remembering what he has done. But even more, I want you to think about the number of ways that he has shown you his grace, the many times that he has forgiven sin, that you thought, I don't deserve your forgiveness, and yet he gives you it and he loves you.
And use that moment with him to allow your heart to be drawn closer to Him.
Let's take a few moments to pray.
The APostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 11, when he recounted that night where Jesus gathered his disciples in the upper room, said these words.
The night on which Jesus was betrayed. He took bread, and when he gave thanks, he broke it. And he said, this is my body which is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me. And as we take together this morning, remember the significance of Jesus allowing his body to be broken for you and let his love pour over you. Let's take together, Paul continues, and he says in the same way that Jesus also took the cup after supper. And he said, this cup is a new covenant in my blood.
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
The blood was a reminder that Jesus gave everything.
And blood, as we'll hear this morning in our message, was such a significant thing in the Old Testament, symbolized sacrifices, symbolized atonement for sin.
Jesus gave all of his one time for all for you.
Let's remember that love and sacrifice together.
Father, thank you so much for the way that you have loved us.
Would you draw our hearts closer to you?
That Lord, this Lord's Supper that we celebrate together every single month, that it would never become a tradition, something that's rote, that we just go through the motions, but every time that it would be special and significant and a reminder that not just did you forgive us on that God cross when you died to pay the penalty for our sin. But day by day you walk with us and you shower your love and your grace and your mercy on us.
And Lord, draw us to worship in such a way that we surrender the authority of our lives to you in Jesus name. Amen. Would you stand in worship with us?
[00:23:43] Speaker A: Who am I that the highest king will welcome me?
I was lost but he brought me know his love for me oh, his love for me who the Son sets free oh, is free indeed I'm a child of God Yes, I am
[00:24:20] Speaker C: free
[00:24:21] Speaker A: at last he has ransomed his grace Runs while I was a slave to sin. Jesus died for me.
Yes, he died for me.
Who the sun sets free? Free, always free in me.
I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.
In my Father's house there's a place for me.
I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.
I'm.
I am who you say I am.
You are for me, not against me.
I am who you say I am.
I am chosen, not forsaken.
I am who you say I am.
You are for me, not against me.
I am who you say I am.
Oh, I am who you say I am.
Who the sun sets free, Always free in me.
I'm a child of God.
Yes, I am.
In my Father's house there's a place for me.
I'm a child of my God. Yes, I am.
In my Father's house there's a place for me.
I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.
I am who you say I am.
You are for me, not against me.
I hear who you say I am.
You are for me, not against me.
I hear who you say I am.
You are for me, not against me.
I am who you say I am.
I am chosen, not forsaken.
I am who you say I am.
You are for me, not against me.
I am who you say I am.
I am chosen, not forsaken.
I am who you say I am.
You are for me, not against me.
I am who you say I am.
Oh, I am who you say I am.
Yes, I am who you say I am.
Who the sun says free.
Oh, is free in me.
I'm a child of.
Yes, I am.
My father's house is a place for me.
I'm a child of God.
Yes. I am.
[00:28:54] Speaker C: Going to introduce a new one to you this morning.
Title of the song is one word, Abide.
I heard it said once that to abide in God is to replace everything that this world throws at you. The insecurities, the fear, the lies with remembrance what he has done and who he is and who you are in him that we fully depend on Him.
Amen.
[00:29:20] Speaker A: Sing it together.
For my waking breath, for my daily breath.
I depend on my you.
I depend on you.
For the sun to rise.
For my sleep at night.
I depend on you.
Yes, I depend on you.
You're the way, the truth and the you're the well that never runs dry.
I'm the branch and you are the vine.
Draw me close and teach me to abide.
May the spirit leaves as I follow.
I depend on you.
Oh, I depend on you.
For the victories still in front of me I depend on you oh, I depend on you the way, the truth and the L.
You're the well that never runs TR.
I'm the branch and you are the vine Draw me close and teach me to light be my strength, my song in the night Be my own, my stretcher, my prize I am yours forever your Draw me close and teach me to.
When I pass through death as I enter rest I depend on you I depend on you for eternal life to be raised with Christ I depend on oh, I depend on you.
You're the way, the truth and the.
You're the well that never runs dry I'm the branching, you are divine Draw me close and teach me to be my strength, my song in the night Be my all, my treasure, my pr.
I am yours forever you Draw me close and teach me.
Draw me close know.
Depend on you.
I depend on you Yes, I depend on you Every moment I depend on.
Oh, I depend on Crown I depend on you.
I depend on you.
[00:34:58] Speaker C: Father. May that truly be the prayer of our hearts this morning, that we depend wholly and fully on you.
Father. We.
We are so blessed to have a God that loves us so much that not only would you give your son to pay the penalty for our sin, but even as we struggle through this life to honor you wrestling with sin and a sinful nature, Lord, you continue in your patience and in your love and your mercy to pursue us and to call us to that place to fully depend on. Depend on you for all things.
It's a reminder to us, God, that we don't have to live this life in our own strength. We can't.
We need God is to have a full dependence on you because you will provide the strength that we need, energy that we need. Everything that we need God to overcome in this life and to persevere and to bring glory and honor to you, Father. Thank you, Father.
Part of our dependence on you as our worship, as we gather here together as a church family, as we sing songs of praise, as we allow our hearts to be shaped and changed by your word, so move into our time of offering together again. It's another expression of our dependence upon you.
And even more, Father, it's an expression of our desire to be a part of what you're doing in this world so that more people would come to a place of dependence on you.
Father, I pray that you would take our offering and our gifts this morning.
And Father, I ask that it would be a glorious offering that rises before you, that it would bring glory to you first and foremost that your people are depending on you, but more importantly, God too. We pray that you would multiply it so that more people in this community and throughout the world would know your son.
And so, Father, take this offering, this act of worship and be glorified this morning as we give back to you. We pray this together in Jesus name. Amen.
You may be seated. And we're going to take our morning offering. So if you're here on the center aisles, you can grab those offering buckets and we'll pass them out to the sides and they're in the corner and the balcony and we'll just continue to worship the Lord with the taking of our offering together for the next few moments.
Well, we, we began a new series together last Sunday, and you'll see that series slide here on the screen. But the series is entitled first things first, Making Jesus the Lord of your life. And over the next many weeks, we're going to be talking about what it means to make Jesus Lord, but even more to look specifically at areas of our life where we struggle with that. And we're going to be diving into scripture, understanding how it is that we make Jesus Lord. And we were able to kick off this series last week pretty excitedly, I think the best way we possibly can with 22 people declaring that Jesus is first through baptism. Was that not awesome last week to share in their stories, to share in their testimonies and what I love found out this week that at the end of the service, someone came forward and said, I want to put my faith in Jesus. So another person came to Jesus for the first time last Sunday and we are thankful.
We're thankful for how God is moving in people's hearts. And I'm telling you guys, there is something happening in our world today where people are recognizing their need for God. We have seen 46 people already this year make that first time commitment to follow Jesus. And I would tell you, keep talking to people about the hope that you have in Jesus and that they can find as well. I'm excited for us to dive into this series because I want us to really have a deep understanding of what it means to truly follow Jesus. And the way that scripture describes that and defines that is that we make him Lord of our lives. If you have your sermon notes, I'd invite you to pull them out. You can use them to follow along this morning, take notes.
We're gonna be in a number of different places in scripture, so I'll kinda walk you in that this morning. As we go through. But I wanna remind you as we begin, a couple of things that we said to kick off this series last week. So following along in your notes, when we talk about making Jesus Lord or first in our lives, letter A, it isn't about spiritual practices per se. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not giving like this, like carte blanche. You don't have to worry about doing Christian things. That's not what I'm saying. Don't misinterpret. I want you to hear, though, this morning the point of emphasis. Because there are people in this world that they think that the Christian life is. I prayed this prayer. I said that I would follow Jesus. And now that I'm a Christian, there are things that I have to do. I gotta be a. I gotta go to church. I need to read my Bible, I need to pray, pray. I need to do acts of kindness. And I basically need to try really hard to be a good person.
And there is this misunderstanding that happens. And it happens even many churches that we think being a Christian is just about doing good things and trying to please God. But I want you to hear what King David says in Psalm 51 this morning. This is going to be part of our passage later in the service. But in Psalm 51, verses 16 through 17, listen to what David, David says. He says, for you, God will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it.
You will not be pleased with a burned offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God, you will not despise.
What's interesting about this statement is it would have been shocking for David to even make it because in the Old Testament, sacrifices were every.
It was actually sacrifices were prescribed by God for his people to make atonement for their sin. There had to be a punishment for sin. And so they would sacrifice animals for this purpose. It was what God had set up. But what does David mean then when he says God doesn't delight in sacrifice? I mean, he set the whole thing up.
The truth is, is that what David is emphasizing is this point is that people had lost sight of. Of the importance of sacrifice.
They had lost sight of it. It had become kind of a rote tradition, if you will. What was meant to be highly symbolic of the death that was necessary because of sin. It was meant to drive people's hearts to God. They had turned it into something that became just a rote practice where you could offer a sacrifice, but there would be no change to the inner person or to the heart, hearts. And that is the point that David makes. You're not going to delight and sacrifice God. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart.
But see letter B, it isn't. Making Jesus, Lord of our lives isn't about spiritual practices per se, but letter B. It is about taking on a new identity. And all throughout the New Testament, this is how we see that making Jesus the Lord of our lives is destroyed.
One of those key passages is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17, where the apostle Paul says these words. He says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come. You know, one of the things I loved to do as a kid is growing up in Southern California. We had this really big front porch that spanned the front of our our house. And every spring, summer, we would begin to see these black little caterpillars show up on the porch and go kind of crawling across. We never wanted to truly touch them because they were like black and hairy looking and kind of freaked us out. But as young kids, we would find sticks and we would play with them and it was a lot of fun. So much so I'm choking.
And they would go, and these caterpillars, pillars would go up to the house. They would climb up the front wall of the house and then onto the window sills that hung on the front of our porch.
And there they would hang themselves. And over a couple of day period, they would spin themselves into these cocoons. And my sister and I would sit there and we would watch intently, waiting, because we knew that in a few days that what would emerge from that would be something totally different and totally beautiful. As a butterfly would emerge from it.
You see, a caterpillar undergoes a total transformation.
It goes from where it begins as a crawling earthly caterpillar. It seemingly dies in what is called the poopa stage, where it's in this cocoon. But then it emerges from the cocoon not just a cleaner caterpillar, but an entirely new creature. It looks, it eats and it looks, lives completely differently. And in the same way Paul says in Christ we are a new creation. The old has passed away and we are made completely new. Paul emphasizes this to a greater degree on a very personal level in his Life in Galatians 2:20, where he says, I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
You see, as he describes what it means to make Jesus lord of our life, it isn't about just spiritual practices that we do. It's about a new identity that God makes and creates us new.
So, number one, following Jesus isn't about what we do.
It's not about just the actions that we do. We do following Jesus. Number two is about a shift in authority within our lives.
Where I once saw myself as the king of my life, directing the orders and affairs of what would bring me the most pleasure, now I surrender to Jesus as my king.
My desires become his desires, my priorities become his priorities. And the surrender of authority is what we call making dreams. Jesus, Lord, in other words, he becomes first before all other things in our lives.
But because this is true, we also understand this truth is at play. Letter C. That there is a spiritual battle that is being waged every single day to keep us from making Jesus the Lord of our life. And there's no doubt that we feel this on a daily basis. The struggle to keep Jesus in that position of love lordship the place where he is first, where he is the King seated at the center of our lives.
In Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 12, the apostle Paul describes the battle this way. He says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. What Paul understands is that there is a spiritual battle taking place between good and evil, between Satan and God, a battle for our very souls. And Satan wants nothing more than to drag us away from God and having him in that center place of lordship in our lives, forcing us to take back control.
You see, the apostle Paul also describes it on a very personal level, this way. In Romans, chapter 7, verse 15, and then verses 21 to 25, he says, for I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want.
But I actually am doing the things that I hate.
So I find it to be a law that when I want, that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind, mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. When I read those words of Paul, by a raise of hands how many people here fuel Paul's sentiment deeply in their own life? I do the things I don't want.
I don't do the things that I want to do. There is this constant battle and struggle where the natural sinful self constantly tries to pull us back into taking control of our lives. But what does Paul say? We're not left hopeless. He says, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul says, it is through Jesus that we find victory over sin. Thus, letter D, making Jesus lord of my life begins with repentance.
If Jesus is going to be lord of my life and have my heart, it must begin with repentance.
I would ask you this question, though. What is repentance when we talk about it in the Bible, what is it? Some people like to illustrate, illustrate repentance this way. They would say that as you're going through the journey of life, you're without God, you're kind of doing your own thing, making your own decisions, doing sinful things, whatever would bring pleasure to you. And some people would say that repentance is coming to an understanding that the things that you are doing is wrong, so you're going to stop doing bad things and start trying to do good things. And they will call that repentance. It's a horrible way to describe it. Other people will say that it's that journey through life where you're walking and you recognize that you are taking control of your own life and you're living in sin against God and that repentance is a 180 degree turn where you turn from that way and you start doing other things. I would actually still argue that that is not a very strong illustration of what repentance is, because here's why it is so much deeper than that. The emphasis in that point is still on what you do.
But when I read the Scripture, repentance is a profound change. Not of just action, it goes deeper.
Repentance is a profound change of the mind and of the heart.
It is a yielding of authority to God in our lives.
Let me explain it to you differently.
If I were to think about it, what we often do, whether before we come to Christ, and even sometimes while after we have come to Christ, we sit on the throne of our lives and I put this crown on my very large fat head, that doesn't fit.
And we sit and we direct the course of our life.
I'm the king, king of my castle. I want this, and I will do this because this will bring Me joy. And I think this will bring me fulfillment.
And that is how we live our lives before Christ, but even at times after we have decided to make him Lord.
What is repentance is removing the crown of authority and giving God the rightful place, place of king, where we sit as his servant and say, God, your purposes are my purposes.
God, your plans for my life. I want to be my plans. You are the one who directs the course of my life.
Have the center place.
Do you understand that when we talk about repentance, what we're talking about as again is a yielding of authority to God in our lives.
And here's the interesting thing. Repentance is often linked to our conversion. Like it's just a one time activity. Like there comes that time in my life where I say I'm gonna follow Jesus.
And then I say, Jesus, you can be Lord of my life and have the center place. And then I just try to be a good person and struggle with sin. But here's the deal.
Repentance in the Bible is not just a one time activity. Have you ever notice that when you read your Bible, what does it tell you? It tells you that it's not just linked to conversion. The truth is the Bible describes repentance as an ongoing daily practice of surrender to God.
What did Jesus say in Luke chapter 9, verse 23? He said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow.
You see, this thing of making him Lord of our lives, of putting him at the center place, of giving him authority to guide the course of our hearts and our lives, is not just a one time decision.
Repentance and continuing to give him that center place is a daily activity on the part of us.
And one of the things that I find is true is that repentance at times is so much easier when we don't know Christ.
It's so much easier to make that initial decision to say, yeah, I've been a screw up. But there's something strange that happens after we've given ourselves to God. Because all of a sudden repentance becomes one of the hardest things that we've ever had to do.
There's this resistance as Christians that we will have to admitting that we don't have it all together in our lives.
I find that far more people will come to Christ for the first time and admit their sin and confess, confess it. Then people that have been Christians will admit that they need to repent and place God first in their lives. And I want us to unpack this together today. And here is why. Repentance is the key that unlocks making Jesus Lord of our hearts and our lives.
And I want us to look at a case study on repentance this morning, answering three important questions. Why do we struggle with repentance? Repentance? Why is it essential? And what does true repentance look like?
We're going to do this by looking at King David in the Old Old Testament. And so again, if you're following along in your notes, one of the things we're going to look at is that David, where we're going to pick up this morning, has sinned greatly against God, putting himself first. Now a little background. David was chosen by God to become king over Judah and Israel. He. He replaced Saul who had sinned against God. He was selected by God. The Bible says that David was considered to be a man after God's own heart. In other words, he was putting God first in his life, but yet he was not. That doesn't mean that he wasn't susceptible to temptation and to sin.
And we see in the book of Second Samuel that what David actually does in his kingship letter A is that he sleeps with another man, man's wife.
The passage tells us in second Samuel that a time when kings go to war, David was supposed to be at war with his troops, with his commanders. David stayed back. He stayed back in Jerusalem and he stayed in his palace. And we see a picture of him walking on the roof of his palace as it is described. And you'll see this picture on the screen. This is what David's Jerusalem would have looked like.
And you'll see at the very top, at the top of the hill, if you will, this palace structure that sits with all of the houses that go out from it and they go down the hill. This gives you a little bit more context to understand what's happening in this passage when it says that David, when kings go out to war, stayed back, was walking around on the roof of his palace and he looked and he saw Bathsheba bathing. He looks down on the house rooftops, he sees Bathsheba.
He feels temptation. He calls one of his people to find out who she is, asks for her to be brought to him. And you know the story. He lies with her. She becomes pregnant, and then he does everything he possibly can to cover over his sin letter B. He has her husband killed in order to hide his sin.
What does he do? He calls Uriah the Hittite back from war, tries to get him to sleep with his wife. So that he can hide his sin. But Uriah is an honorable man. He won't do it knowing that the troops and the commanders are still out on the front lines. And so David, as he recognizes that he's not going to be able to cover over his sin this way, calls and he sends out to Joab and he says, put Uriah on the front lines. And when he's out there and everybody's in battle and it's getting hot, instruct everyone to fall back, leaving him exposed.
And as the story goes, this very thing happens and you're Zechariah is killed. And what does David do? He takes Bathsheba as his wife, the child is born, and he goes on living as though nothing ever occurred, covering and hiding over his sin.
And you'll see as you follow along that David's covering up of his sin blinds him to his need for God.
Now look at what happens. Second Samuel, chapter 12, verses 1 through 6. It says this that the Lord sent Nathan to to David. He came to him, and he said to him, there were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb which he had bought. And he brought it up and it grew up with him and his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there was a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him. But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. And then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, as sure as the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.
Now this passage begins with nature, Nathan being introduced into the story. Nathan was a trusted advisor and a prophet in King David's court. King David and him had a very close and tight relationship that spanned many, many years.
And Nathan, it says, came to David. The Lord had given him a word to speak to David, and he began telling him about a great injustice that happened in the kingdom. And he describes this power imbalance that existed between a Roman and a poor man, a poor man who had this tiny little lamb that had been a part of his family. It was stolen by the Rich man who didn't want to treat his guest to a meal with one of his own, so he stole it from the poor man. And as David hears this, of the power imbalance of the struggle that was taking place, David's anger burns in fury over this incredible injustice.
Here's what astounds me, how David so easily forgets about his own injustice that he has perpetrated against Uriah the Hittite.
You know what I find? Letter A is this, is that one of our most basic human instincts is to cover over our blemishes.
To cover over our sin. When I was in junior high, one of the things I used to always wear was white vans. Totally white vans, all the time. Loved them. One of the things I noticed about wearing white vans, canvas shoes.
[00:59:06] Speaker A: Sweet.
[00:59:06] Speaker C: Specifically as they got dirty really, really fast and it didn't look good and I wanted to cover that over so they continued to look perfect. So what did I do all the way?
Long time ago, I went to the store and bought one of those little bottles of what we called shoe whiteout. And some of you know what I'm talking about because you're old like me, right? It's this bottle of, like white, I don't know, paint. And it had a sponge on the end and you could take it on your canvas shoes and make it look white again. And I was obsessed with this stuff because I wanted my shoes to look perfect. I didn't want there to be blemishes.
Isn't it true about how we are in our culture today?
Is that all we want is to keep this perfect image, that there's nothing wrong? Think about it. We use makeup to cover over wrinkles or pimples so that we can look flawless.
We use hair dye to appear younger and cover over the. The gray.
Brian Harbauer took my staff picture for my new badge that I wear around the church and I compared it to the old one. Guys, I turned 50 Tuesday. I went straight into a midlife crisis.
I saw the gray in my beard and in my hair. I'm telling you, I had that thought. Should. Should I die? No, no, not doing that.
But think about it. We use filters and photo editing to smooth our skin, to whiten our teeth, to have that tan look. We wear shapewear or strategic clothing to hide areas that we feel insecure about. We craft only the best social media posts so people only see the best. We put on our best face at church or in public, no matter what. Fight broke out in the car on the way to church.
There's an instinct within us to control what people see.
David. Here's David acting like nothing ever happened.
Just living life, keeping that perfect face and that mask on. Even expressing fiery anger over the injustice that has occurred while turning a blind eye to his own sin. And the truth is that we do the same thing with our own sin in our own life.
We hide it.
We pretend that it doesn't exist.
We put on our mask of perfection and we put on our best face and lie to ourselves about how good we are, all the while so easily pointing out the flaws that there are in other people.
Why is it that we do this?
I find that there are typically four reasons. One, because our blemishes our sin. Our wrestling exposes our own imperfections. Number one, all of a sudden, the image we've been trying to uphold is shattered by our own sin.
And so, number two, that brings shame because in our mind we no longer match up to everybody else's perfect image. Never mind that everybody else is wearing the same exact mask.
Number three, that causes us to believe that somehow we are less than we think. That if somebody finds out about my sin or I admit that I don't have it all altogether, people will pity me. They'll look down on me for being broken and not as perfect as everybody else.
And there's a fourth thing that I think is also at play, which is we also want to avoid consequences.
And so we keep our sin hidden and it keeps us in bondage to it.
And we lie to ourselves, we attempt to lie to God, we lie to other people, and we can't find our way out. But I want you to know, notice all of this is really about keeping control of what we have created. A false image of perfection.
And that's dangerous because I want you to note this in your notes. When avoidance of embarrassment or punishment becomes Lord or first in your life, we blind ourselves to our sin.
And when this happens, letter B.
Covering over our sin has many, many consequences.
Here's what those consequences are.
Number one, I find that when we try, when we lie and we try to cover over our sin, it will break trust and relationships that we have with other people.
I have watched people in my my life try desperately to hide their sin, to excuse their sin, to ignore their sin, to pretend like it doesn't exist, or to pretend like it doesn't matter. And what do they do? They fool themselves into thinking that somehow they're preserving their image when in reality all they are doing is destroying it and destroying trust with other people.
You see, when we cover over sin, especially when it's already seen and known. It breaks trust in relationships. But number two, it also actively removes God from being first in our life.
When we sin, we've already taken that step of reclaiming the authority in our life, of not following God's plans and purposes, and we attempt to put the crown back on. But when we cover over it, we actually sit down and we start to get comfortable with that place that we have just taken up.
And then what happens is we fight even harder to keep control.
Number three, when we do this, it silences the Holy Spirit's voice in our lives.
We literally stop listening to the voice of conviction that is there. One of the important roles of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives is to be the one who convicts the world of sin to help us to recognize our need for God.
And when we just try to cover over, what we're doing is we're shutting off our ear and saying, I'm not listening, I'm not listening. I'm pretending that God does not see this and I'm doing my own thing.
And what does that do? Number four, it stunts any and all spiritual growth.
A lack of repentance keeps us from being honest with God, but all honest with ourselves.
And I will say as well, guilt and shame that we feel because of our sin keeps us often from turning to God as well, because we think to ourselves, what I've done, I've gone too far, and God couldn't possibly forgive me, I've done too much, or I'm just so ashamed of myself. And Satan tells us, you're no good, you're despicable. You might as well keep doing what you're doing. And so it keeps us distant from God.
And when this happens, spiritual growth is completely stunted in our lives.
But here's what happens with David. David is confronted with his sin, and a choice sits before him. Second Samuel, chapter 12, verses 7 through 12.
Nathan says to David, david, you are the man, man.
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel. I anointed you king over Israel. I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms. And I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this were too little, I would have given you way much more.
Why have you despised the word of the Lord? To do what is evil in him? Sight you have struck down Uriah the Hittite with a sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord. Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this Son, for you did it secretly. But I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Son.
What a message Nathan delivered, huh?
Confrontation, friends, comes in many different forms. Though sometimes it comes in the form of a Nathan, a friend, a person who sees our wrestling with sin and who points it out to to us. And in that moment, we have a choice to make.
Will I just continue to cover it up and push it to the side, or will I push into it with the Lord?
Sometimes confrontation comes in the form of a friend.
Sometimes it comes through the reading of God's word.
Sometimes it comes through the Holy Spirit, whose voice creeps through the walls that we have erected.
Sometimes it comes because of the consequences we face of our time choices.
Sometimes it comes in the form of a sermon.
And in that moment, we have a choice.
David had a choice. Letter A, to keep himself first in his life, sitting on the throne and face the consequences, or letter B, to repent and experience the fullness of God's mercy and grace.
[01:08:22] Speaker A: Grace.
[01:08:22] Speaker C: And again, when we say repent, it's not just, sorry, God, I'll do better next time.
It's removing yourself from the throne and giving God his rightful place of authority in your life.
Because when you do that, he changes your heart.
He changes the actions he can repent and experience the fullness of God's mercy and grace. Mercy is the withholding of punishment that is deserved to us, and grace is God providing his blessing that is not deserved. And what we see is that David chooses what is best and provides for us a model of God honoring repentance.
I want us to close and look at this model together this morning. Church.
This is important for us.
If you're here today and you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, this will give you a clear picture of what it means to walk with God and to make him Lord and put him first.
But if you are here this morning and you put your faith in Jesus a long time ago and you have been struggling with sin and wrestling with it, trying to pretend that it's not there, trying to push it aside as though it's not important, you've been taking the center place back from him and not putting God first. This is essential for you to hear. Repentance is not a one time activity. It is a daily part of our walk with God.
David chooses what is best and provides a model of God honoring repentance. His immediate response to Nathan in 2nd Samuel, chapter 12, verse 13 is this. David says to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.
And Nathan said to David, the Lord has put away your sin and you shall not die. Letter A. David was honest when he was confronted. He was honest with Nathan, he was honest with himself, and he was honest with God. I have sinned not against Uriah the Hittite.
I have sinned not against Nathan, not against Joab, not against Bathsheba, not against the servant that I sent to inquire.
I have sinned against one person, God, because I took his place of authority in my life.
And he recognizes that important truth and is honest in that moment with Nathan, with himself and with God. And this is the first step of repentance in each of our lives is that when we are confronted with the choice of whether or not we will move towards repentance or continue to bury ourselves and hide in our sin, the choice is, will we just simply be honest with ourselves and with God?
And how does David continue? One of the most beautiful psalms in all of scripture is Psalm 51. I'm going to go through it quickly with you to see this picture of Roman Psalm 51, verses 1 through 2. David, following this sin and being confronted by Nathan, writes, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
What does he do? Let her be, David, trusted in the full mercy and love of God.
There are times that we think that our sin is too great. How could God possibly ever love me? But the truth is, is that here's a man, David, who is considered a man after God's own heart, who not only committed adultery, but then had this woman's husband killed and then sought to cover it over all of it and live as though nothing ever happened. But because he trusted in the goodness of God and his mercy and his love, he received that mercy and love from God.
It continues in Psalm 51, verses 3 through 6. David says, For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against you, God, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may Be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in my sin, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold you, God, delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
You see letter C and humility. What does David do? He takes full ownership and confessed his sin. There was no blame on anyone else. There was no qualifiers. He knew I am responsible for my choices and my choices alone. And and he confesses it boldly before the Lord. And I just want to say, church followers of Jesus, we need more of this in our lives.
We need more of this to come to that moment of confrontation with sin in our life and simply to say, yes, Lord, I'm taking off the mask. I don't have it together. I confess my sin and I need you to take that place of lordship back in in my life.
Psalm 51, verses 7 through 12 David continues, Purge me with hyssop and I will be clean. Wash me, I'll be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins. Blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence.
Take not your holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. What did he do? Letter D. He asked for forgiveness and for God to change his heart.
It wasn't, I'm sorry, I'll do better. It was, lord, forgive me as I surrender, I give it all back to you.
Please make me new.
And he continues in Psalm 51:13 15 then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God, of my salvation. And my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness, O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise.
Letter E. He saw his failure as an opportunity, an opportunity to testify of the goodness of God, of the grace and the mercy of God. Not something to be hidden away in shame, but to recognize that every single person in this world, in this room, wrestles with sin, of taking God's place back from him and taking the throne back for ourselves. We all wrestle with it. He recognized not as a thing to hide so that he would hide shame, but to testify and tell of the goodness of God so that more people would be drawn to him and and surrender and worship.
And he finishes with these words in Psalm 51, 16 and 17.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it.
You will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
But the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God you will not despise.
What David chooses, letter F, is to restore God as the Lord of his life, to put him first.
Because he knows when he gives that authority back, after he has received the forgiveness and the grace of God, he knows that it is God who is making his a new creation.
I want to invite you to just bow your heads and close your eyes with me this morning.
I'm going to talk over you for a minute. Just as your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, I just want you to meditate on the Lord in this moment before we pray.
There are some that are here today that have never put their faith in Jesus before.
And maybe today, for the first time, you've recognized just how incredibly good and gracious God is, that no matter what your sin is, it doesn't matter what you've done or how long you've done it, that God extends His grace and love and mercy to you. And he did so by sending His Son Jesus into this world to die on a cross, paying the penalty for your sin.
That if you would put your faith in him, you would not only be reconciled to God, but as you follow him, allowing him to be the authority in your life, not just following rules, but allow him to have that place of authority.
By following him and putting your faith in him, you'll be reconciled to God and reign with him forever. Maybe today is the day that you decide to make that decision, to put Jesus first for the very first time.
But I also recognize that there are people in this room today that have been walking with God for years.
And as you have your heads bowed and your eyes closed and you think about this, there's sin that you've been wrestling with.
There are ways that you have been struggling to put God first and to keep him on the throne of your life as the authority that guides you.
And today you need to move to that place of repentance, which is confession of sin, asking for forgiveness. But ultimately it is stepping aside from that throne and allowing him to again have that place of authority.
I'm going to do something different as your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed.
But I'm going to ask you to take a bold and courageous step this morning as a response to the voice of God.
If you want to put your faith in Jesus for the first time today, or if you recognize there is stuff that I have been trying to hide over and wash over and not deal with and I need to give authority back to the Lord.
I'm simply going to ask you in this moment to just stand where you are.
You don't have to say a word, you don't have to share anything with anyone, but just simply to declare God, I hear you this morning and I'm not going to ignore your Holy Spirit. I'm going to allow you to speak into my heart, into my life. And so I want you this morning, wherever you are. Just stand right now and stay standing. Acknowledge it.
Maybe you've been struggling with sin in your life. It's been wrestling in your marriage ways that you've been treating your spouse. Maybe it has to do with a relationship you have with someone else where you have had nothing but anger and hatred built up in your heart.
Maybe you've struggled with alcohol addiction, drug addiction, pornography.
Maybe simply you just recognize that what you've been doing is living your life for yourself and kind of keeping God is like this thing that you do on the weekends, but you really haven't allowed him to be Lord. And today you hear the Lord saying, I want to have that first place. Would you stand all across this room? It's beautiful.
Don't leave this moment. Because just like David, we're confronted with a moment where God says, will you respond? Will you hear me? And today you can stand and say, lord, I hear you and I make that choice to put you first and always.
Father, I pray over these people that are here this morning making this acknowledgement. I ask God that you would draw so close to them.
I thank you Father for their courage to say, today I choose repentance.
I choose to hear the voice of God. And I choose to allow you God to again, again have the center place in my life.
Lord, I pray that you would remind them and that you would continually be reminding us that this is not just a one time thing, a one day thing. It is a daily walk with you as we wrestle with sin and struggle with sin and do the things that we don't want to do. We are constantly coming back and saying, no, Lord, today I give you everything.
You are the authority. You guide my life. May your purposes might be my purposes, your plans be my plans. Give me the strength to honor you Father, and to move away from sin. And thank you God for the promise that as we confess our sin, you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We love you Lord.
We worship you.
And so God, I just pray that your Holy Spirit would move in these individuals lives and that from this moment today it would would begin something new. Where each and every day they are taking that step to put you first and to trust you with all things. And to you and to you alone, God we give the glory in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. Would you stand with us as we worship together?
[01:22:04] Speaker A: Are you hurting and broken within Overwhelmed by the way you said Jesus is calling have you come to the end of yourself?
Do you thirst for a drink from the well?
Jesus is calling.
The more comes to the altar the Father's arms are open wide Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Leave behind your regrets and mistakes Come today there's no reason to wait Jesus is calling Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy from the ashes a new life is born Jesus is calling yes.
Oh come to the altar the Father's arms are open wide Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ oh come to the altar the Father's arms they are open wide Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ Christ.
Thank you Jesus.
Oh what a sa.
Isn't he wonderful?
Sing alone. Christ is risen.
Bow down before him for he is Lord of all Sing allel Christ is risen.
Oh what a savior Isn't he wonderful?
Sing hallelujah Christ is risen.
Bow down before.
He is.
Sing hallelujah Christ is risen.
Oh come to the altar yes, the Father.
Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of my Jesus Christ oh come to the altar the Father was on the open eye Forgiveness was bought with her precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Bear your cross as you wait for the crown Tell the world of the treasure you found.
Amen.
[01:27:26] Speaker C: Give a shout of praise to the Lord this morning. He is good.
As we close, I just want to invite you two things this morning. One first, our prayer team is here at the front. If there are any prayer needs that you have, we would love for you to come forward at the close of our service. And our team would love the opportunity to minister to you. If you said, I want to make that decision to put Jesus first for the first time in my life and receive him as my Savior. They would love to talk to you, but also give you a Bible this morning as a way to just jumpstart you on that journey with the Lord.
