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All right, I'm going to read to you from the book of Psalms. This is Psalm 8. To the choir master, according to the Gitteth, the Psalm of David. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him? and the Son of Man that you care for him. Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. There was a psalm written almost 3,000 years ago. And in it, in the word of God, it's declared that you've given man dominion over the works of your hands. That's speaking to God. you put all things under man's feet, sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field. And an interesting corollary to our weekly news, that includes lions.

So we had a big hubbub this week because of a lion that died in Africa, something that probably happens pretty frequently, maybe not. I don't really know how often lions die now I think about it, But I can tell you this, the human race makes a business of killing themselves. But the human race doesn't go out of their way to murder humans who are strong, to murder humans who can fight back or defend themselves.

The human race, especially the United States of America, makes a business out of murdering the most helpless humans that exist, the unborn. And at a pace of thousands per day, babies are being aborted around the world. Hundreds a day at clinics in our state here of Ohio. And many people here don't take that into account when they make their decisions every day.

Many people here, instead of defending the poor and the helpless, turn a blind eye. Our brother Joshua read from the book of James earlier. And in the book of James, God gives us a definition of sin. He says, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. Now I realize we've been talking about God's law. some of you are just walking by for the first time, you wouldn't know this.

We've been talking about when you break God's law and how that's called sin. But sin is also defined as knowing what to do and then not doing it. For you, that's sin. So if you know that there are people that are murdering the unborn daily and you're doing nothing about it, or maybe you're even promoting it and defending the practice, that is sin. And in God's eyes, you are a murderer for being a party in an abortion.

You're a murderer for even being pro-abortion. And God will judge you like He will judge the most hardened criminal in this world. Because God is a righteous judge and He knows the thoughts and intentions of our heart. His Word is able to divide our soul from our spirit. It's able to discern the thoughts and intentions of our heart. God will judge you for even what you are thinking.

One day you will stand before God and everything you've ever thought, said, or done will be laid bare in front of Him. Everything you've ever looked at or set your gaze upon, everything you've ever lusted after, whether it was another a human being or whether it was an object that you coveted or whether it was something in this world that you chose to worship instead of your creator. God knows every one of those things and there's nothing that you can do to overcome the great chasm between you and God's holiness.

There's nothing I could do either. I stand here today a sinner condemned unclean but for the grace of Jesus Christ. Now let me tell you about Jesus Christ. According to Jesus Christ, He is the way, the truth, and the life. That is what He said. He said, no man comes to the Father but through Him.

So for you to be entered into the Kingdom of Heaven, the only way for you to have that access is to go through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ said, I am the Alpha and the Omega. Those are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet It would be like saying I am the A and the Z He followed up I am the Alpha and the Omega by saying I am the beginning and the end I am the bright and morning star.

He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall not perish. He said, I am the light of the world. He said, I am the bread of life. Jesus Christ also said I and the Father are one in John chapter 10 do you know why Jesus Christ was killed? that's true amen but Jesus Christ was killed thank you for being out here thank you my man, God bless you Jesus Christ was killed because the people who he was around knew that he claimed to be equal with God.

He was a man who is also God. And he died on the cross and suffered a criminal's death that you and I deserve, sir. And he commands you to repent of your sins and to trust him for salvation today. Full of kindness and mercy, he even preaches the gospel, the good news that Jesus saves you from your sin. He sent that message to even His own enemies. While Jesus was hanging on the cross, He said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

And then they cast lots for His clothing as was predicted in the Old Testament. While Jesus walked the earth, He suffered the very same sufferings that we suffer. He suffered temptation, yet He sinned not. He did not sin even one time. Jesus Christ withstood the temptation of Satan himself in order to be a perfect sacrifice for sin. In the Old Testament, God commanded the nation of Israel, the Hebrews, the Israelites, the Jews, He commanded them to sacrifice a perfect lamb, a spotless lamb. and He accepted that sacrifice in the Old Testament for the atonement for sins.

That He may overlook the sins of the people because there is no remission of sins without blood. God requires a blood sacrifice for sin because sin is that bad. God requires a blood sacrifice for sin because sin brings death. And that sacrifice shows us His holiness. but the death of an animal, the death of bulls and goats or a lamb was not sufficient to pay for the sins of people.

It required a human sacrifice, but no human ever lived who was qualified to pay God. You can continue to mock and scoff like a coward, and you will stand before God and be cast into a lake of fire for mocking His preaching. I command you to repent of your blasphemy and your sin, sir. I care about your soul. It's too bad you don't. We want you to know of the forgiveness of God, and you don't seem to care about the forgiveness of God unless you have a clue that you need it.

So we talk about God's laws. We talk about the evil of coveting things that are not yours. It causes us to steal. We covet other people's wives. we covet other people's husbands and we lust after people who are not our spouse we've become so perverted in the United States that people don't even commit adultery in a heterosexual way anymore we're falling way down because of our abandonment of Jesus Christ and his gospel and our abandonment of the love for God's righteous laws laws that were given to us to help us.

You think about the number of times in your life that you've lied. Just think about the number of times this week that you lied. And then think about God who's never lied. Think about Jesus Christ walking the earth for 33 years and never once telling a lie, never once stealing, never once lusting after a woman or a man for that matter. never once putting anything in this world before His Father in Heaven, before God.

And then think about what you worship instead of God Himself. And think about how foolish that is. Why would you worship anything that's less than the best? And yet we do it all the time because, quite frankly, most of you hate God more than you love yourself. You would rather have second best for yourself because you hate God so much you won't give Him His due worship.

But we're here today to tell you that you can worship God, the Creator, the Giver of life, according to spirit and truth. You can worship Him because Jesus Christ has made a way that we can have access to the Father. Jesus Christ, when He died on the cross, paid the penalty for sinners like you and me. Three days later, gloriously rose again. and then he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

His work is finished. It's done. A lot of people say Christianity is a religion of done. Every other religion is a religion of do. Stop doing and trust Jesus Christ. And as a result of your love for Jesus Christ and your gratitude for his goodness in your life, as a result of thanking him for his great love towards you, a sinner condemned unclean, who He redeemed, if you believe, then you live a life of obedience to His commands.

Amen. We want you to know the glorious grace and mercy of Christ We want you to know that God is kind He meek so humble that even though He was God, He came into the world and suffered like a man. He was actually a little boy. And He held His mommy's hand and all that stuff, but He never disobeyed His parents. He obeyed His parents perfectly because He was sinless.

And he died so that sinners like us could be forgiven of the times that we've done the wrong thing, from the times that we've disobeyed God. I'm not here to preach morality. I'm not here to tell you to do better. I'm here to tell you you can't do better. All you can do is trust the one who did do it already. You can trust the only one who you can trust, God himself, who never lies, who never fails, who has all power to do anything that is within His will and who has all wisdom and goodness and holiness that His will would be perfect so that everything He does is righteous and good and perfect and for that He should be praised.

But because of our innate sinfulness, because of our inborn hatred for righteousness, we hate that God is righteous. We hate that He is good. and therefore we rebel against Him and we suppress the truth we know about Him because when we acknowledge God we must acknowledge our sin and our condemnation before Him and our need for someone else to substitute for us in order to be forgiven. But when we deny God then we can live however we want and we don't think there's going to be a consequence.

Some of you have been living a long time and you've treated God really poorly and you've denied Him a lot and you've gotten to the point where you've decided He doesn't really exist because He hasn't struck you dead yet. Or your consequences haven't been as bad as somebody promised you they would be. But we're here to tell you that sometimes God bears a long time with wicked people like you and me.

God lets a lot of people live a long time because of His patience that you would repent. You are alive today by His grace. and He has kept you alive to this very moment that you are hearing about Jesus Christ, His Son. You are hearing about the Righteous One who suffered and died for sinners. And you are hearing the words that say, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

There is no other name under heaven whereby men must be saved but the name of Jesus Christ. Call on the name of God today. Be forgiven of your sins. Be born again. Trust Jesus Christ's righteousness instead of your own righteousness. Turn to God and admit your bankruptcy spiritually.

Admit the fact that you cannot please Him with all the works of your flesh and ask Jesus Christ to have mercy on you today, a sinner. I am here to tell you that Jesus Christ is a good God. And He's loving and righteous and gentle. and he cares about his people and his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He's full of power, wisdom, and might. There's no name more beautiful than the name of Jesus Christ and yet some of you, that's your favorite swear word.

There's no person more beautiful than Jesus Christ and some of you, that's someone to be mocked. ask yourself when you stub your toe why do you say Jesus Christ and not Allah it's because you know in your heart Jesus Christ is God and you hate him and you know that Allah is a myth that is why the reason that you hate God's word so much and you want to oppose it is because you know it's true because it convicts you and it condemns you and so we deny it so that we can continue in sin. But I'm here to tell you that you can be free. You can be free from the bondage of sin.

You can be free from the consequences and the penalty of sin eternally. You can be free from the wretchedness of it. And you can be forgiven and you can walk knowing that God has paid the penalty for your sins in the person of Jesus Christ on that cross almost 2,000 years ago. And that after Jesus Christ died, the consequence for sin is death. After He died because He became sin, He rose again showing that He has power over sin, power over death, and therefore power over your sin and death because He is God Almighty.

No one has ever lived who was righteous but Jesus Christ. but what is important is that Jesus Christ also just like you and me was a man he suffered temptation he suffered tiredness and fatigue and hunger and yet he suffered all the same things that we suffer and he never once disobeyed God he never once violated God's law he showed how the law could be fulfilled in a man and by doing it perfectly he became a substitute for all those who will believe on him and what he offers you today is if you will repent of your sin and trust in his death burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins Jesus Christ will give you his righteousness to be seen as your own righteousness before God and he will take on your sin he suffered on the cross as if he had committed every sin that I've ever committed and ever will commit and I want that for you too Amen brother God bless you I want you to know that you been forgiven of your sins in 1st John he says these things I write to you so that you may know that you have eternal life I want you to know of the glory of Jesus Christ. I want you to hear His name. And I want you to hear it used in worship and not as a swear word.

I want you to hear of His grace and His mercy and His love. His love that caused Him to die for sinners. Jesus Christ died for sinners like you and me. I want you to know about His love. His great love. That's what real love is.

His greater love has nobody. Then He would lay down His life for His friends. Scarcely would anyone die for another man, even a righteous man. But Jesus Christ, while we were yet sinners, He died for us. but if you are not in Christ if you have not turned to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins then you are standing alone before God and you will stand before God and God will judge you based on the works that you've done in this world and even one sin makes you imperfect before a holy God a holy God demands perfection and that is why he sent his perfect son into the world.

Jesus Christ, perfect, righteous, never once sinned and then he suffered and died as if he had sinned, as if he'd committed all the sins of all the people who would believe on him and he paid the penalty fully. It wasn't a potential thing he did. Jesus Christ actually satisfied his father's wrath in heaven for sin. so that His people, His sheep who hear His voice when they call on Him, that they would be forgiven.

And so if you hear my voice today, I am telling you what God's Word says. I'm telling you what you are to do that you can be forgiven of your sins. It says in the book of Proverbs, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. there is no fear of God in our country there's no fear of God here tonight I don't fear God enough this is something that's a problem for all of us we see God as a genie like Santa Claus or someone who we ask for stuff when we want it and then when we don't get it we curse him we see God like an old grandfather sitting in his rocking chair winking at all the bad things we do but what God is is he's a holy and righteous judge who sits on a throne looking at the people that he created who are turning their backs on him or they're shaking their fist at him cursing him mocking him, spitting at him sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally and God may not react immediately to these blasphemies He may not react immediately to your violations of His holiness and His laws but He is storing up His wrath for the day of judgment and what I want you to know is that the wrath that God has harbored for you can all be placed upon Jesus Christ His Son.

Oh thank you brother have a good night I want you to know that there is forgiveness for all the things that we've done to offend God. That God is so gracious and so good that He is willing to forgive His very enemies for the things that they do against Him. There was a song written several hundred years ago called Amazing Grace. And the writer, John Newton, he was a slave trader. he was a man who intentionally traded other people as slaves and then after he became a slave himself temporarily continued to do that because of his great hatred for the people that God had created and yet one day God awoke him to the truth of the gospel and John Newton was saved and he wrote amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now am found was blind but now I see we want you to have your spiritual blinders removed by God Jesus told a story of two men who were praying one man was considered a righteous man a Pharisee, he was a religious man and he prayed and he thanked God that he wasn't like other men extortioners and stealers and the other man was a publican they called him he was a tax collector he was an evil man and he was so ashamed of himself he would not even look up to heaven to talk to god but he beat his own chest and he said god be merciful to me a sinner I hope so.

Hope he does. But the attitude of the man who said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, is what Jesus was trying to teach about. He said, that man went back to his house justified that day. That's a fancy word that means that God considers that man righteous. Not because of anything that man had done, but because he turned to God for mercy. he turned to the only source of righteousness and said be merciful to me for I'm not righteous Jesus Christ is the only righteous man who ever lived and he offers his righteousness to each one of us that you can stand before God and you can be seen as righteous as Jesus Christ but that only happens through faith in Jesus Christ by grace we are saved through faith It's not of works, but it's of faith that you can be saved.

It is by trusting in the person of Jesus Christ and in His work on the cross for your behalf and in His resurrection from the dead that you can be forgiven of your sins. But you must believe in the right Jesus. You can't just believe in random Jesus. You must believe in the Jesus who is the second person of the Trinity, The three in one God. Three persons, one God.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit. All co-equal with one another. Eternally co-existent and self-sufficient. You cannot believe in the Jesus of Mormonism or the Jesus of Jehovah's Witness. You cannot believe in the Jesus of Catholicism. There are religions that want to tell you things about Jesus that are not true.

We are here to tell you of the real Jesus, that Jesus revealed in the Word of God, the Bible, who died for sinners like you and me, whose great love for sinners was manifested in Him laying down His life for His friends. God has made it so that you, His very enemy today, can be called His friend if you will trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. Repent of your sins today.

Be forgiven. This is a free gift of God. A free gift of God of eternal life.