WEBVTT 00:00:00.639 --> 00:00:04.608 Just this week, 00:00:04.608 --> 00:00:08.947 I received a phone call from a man. 00:00:08.947 --> 00:00:14.266 Professing Christian for a long time. 00:00:14.266 --> 00:00:22.045 Even in the ministry. 00:00:22.045 --> 00:00:27.229 Living in all manner of immorality. 00:00:27.229 --> 00:00:30.647 Do you know what happened? 00:00:30.647 --> 00:00:35.017 A friend of his turned on 00:00:35.017 --> 00:00:37.388 Paul Washer's message - 00:00:37.388 --> 00:00:39.787 I think it's the same one that was preached here: 00:00:39.787 --> 00:00:41.332 "Examine Yourself" 00:00:41.332 --> 00:00:45.751 Maybe the very same message. 00:00:45.751 --> 00:00:51.463 This man was laid bare, 00:00:51.463 --> 00:00:54.371 and he recognized, 00:00:54.371 --> 00:00:56.067 I don't measure up. 00:00:56.067 --> 00:00:58.544 And do you know what he fears now? 00:00:58.544 --> 00:01:01.447 Is being in the ministry, having so much light, 00:01:01.447 --> 00:01:03.594 having this false profession for so long, 00:01:03.594 --> 00:01:07.027 living in this immorality. 00:01:07.027 --> 00:01:09.411 You know what he's afraid of now? 00:01:09.411 --> 00:01:12.098 That he's Esau. 00:01:12.098 --> 00:01:14.430 He's afraid he's committed the unpardonable sin. 00:01:14.430 --> 00:01:15.882 He's afraid he's gone too far 00:01:15.882 --> 00:01:18.362 and there's no way back. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:18.362 --> 00:01:19.618 Now, I'll tell you this - 00:01:19.618 --> 00:01:21.567 I'll tell you what I told him. 00:01:21.567 --> 00:01:27.606 I can't tell you that there is a way back. 00:01:27.606 --> 00:01:29.876 The truth is there is a line in Scripture 00:01:29.876 --> 00:01:33.263 that when men cross it, there's no way back. 00:01:33.263 --> 00:01:37.583 There is a Hebrews 6 reality. 00:01:37.583 --> 00:01:39.134 There is a place men come to 00:01:39.134 --> 00:01:42.361 that there is no more repentance. 00:01:42.361 --> 00:01:46.676 He told me that his friends and counselors 00:01:46.676 --> 00:01:49.456 had sent him to the Word of God. 00:01:49.456 --> 00:01:51.985 That's good. 00:01:51.985 --> 00:01:57.098 To look at passages that dealt with the cross. 00:01:57.098 --> 00:02:01.210 I told him that's good. 00:02:01.210 --> 00:02:04.208 But you see what he could tell me: 00:02:04.208 --> 00:02:06.934 "Well, I believe He went to the cross. 00:02:06.934 --> 00:02:08.064 I believe He died. 00:02:08.064 --> 00:02:10.711 I believe everything I'm reading. 00:02:10.711 --> 00:02:13.572 I just don't know if it's for me." 00:02:13.572 --> 00:02:14.993 I told him, "exactly." 00:02:14.993 --> 00:02:18.598 That is exactly the issue. 00:02:18.598 --> 00:02:21.324 I said, "What you need to do 00:02:21.324 --> 00:02:26.405 is you need to find that one verse..." 00:02:26.405 --> 00:02:31.873 that he can sink his faith into; 00:02:31.873 --> 00:02:34.529 that he can say, "That's for me." NOTE Paragraph 00:02:34.529 --> 00:02:36.195 You see, that's where faith is. 00:02:36.195 --> 00:02:37.969 Saving faith isn't saying: 00:02:37.969 --> 00:02:40.920 "I believe Jesus was a true historical figure." 00:02:40.920 --> 00:02:44.931 It's not saying, "I believe Jesus went to the cross." 00:02:44.931 --> 00:02:46.429 It's got to be personalized. 00:02:46.429 --> 00:02:48.478 There's got to be something you can hang on 00:02:48.478 --> 00:02:49.706 that you know is for you, 00:02:49.706 --> 00:02:52.418 because you know what the devil's going to do to him? 00:02:52.418 --> 00:02:54.438 The devil's already doing it to him. 00:02:54.438 --> 00:02:56.705 He's there whispering in his ear: 00:02:56.705 --> 00:02:58.451 "After what you've done, 00:02:58.451 --> 00:02:59.711 there's no hope for you. 00:02:59.711 --> 00:03:00.616 You are Esau." 00:03:00.616 --> 00:03:02.431 He just keeps hearing that in his ear 00:03:02.431 --> 00:03:04.084 over and over and over. 00:03:04.084 --> 00:03:05.487 You know how you answer that? 00:03:05.487 --> 00:03:10.675 You answer that with the kind of promise 00:03:10.675 --> 00:03:12.783 that resists the devil; 00:03:12.783 --> 00:03:17.499 that the devil simply cannot answer. 00:03:17.499 --> 00:03:19.958 What do you tell him? 00:03:19.958 --> 00:03:24.066 I told him, "You may have crossed that line." 00:03:24.066 --> 00:03:26.074 But I know this, that if he can find 00:03:26.074 --> 00:03:27.950 any promise in this book 00:03:27.950 --> 00:03:32.599 that he can lay his faith onto, 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:34.618 he will not be disappointed. 00:03:34.618 --> 00:03:37.174 He will not be confounded. He will not be cast away. 00:03:37.174 --> 00:03:40.483 Because that's what saving faith is. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:40.483 --> 00:03:42.126 And you know as I was thinking 00:03:42.126 --> 00:03:43.817 after I got off the phone with him, 00:03:43.817 --> 00:03:45.263 I start thinking about, 00:03:45.263 --> 00:03:48.671 what sort of verses are they 00:03:48.671 --> 00:03:51.230 that a man in that condition might find? 00:03:51.230 --> 00:03:53.431 I mean, if he was going through Scripture, 00:03:53.431 --> 00:03:55.643 what might be one verse? 00:03:55.643 --> 00:03:59.931 I'll tell you one that jumped out at me. 00:03:59.931 --> 00:04:02.492 And sometimes they can be obscure verses, 00:04:02.492 --> 00:04:04.817 and sometimes you may think 00:04:04.817 --> 00:04:06.549 that they're not even dealing with 00:04:06.549 --> 00:04:11.818 the very thing that you take it in faith to mean. 00:04:11.818 --> 00:04:16.011 But if you take it in faith to mean it; 00:04:16.011 --> 00:04:19.860 if you take it in faith that you're trusting 00:04:19.860 --> 00:04:23.523 the God behind these things... 00:04:23.523 --> 00:04:25.452 I mean, we could just look at that - 00:04:25.452 --> 00:04:29.026 the broadness of some of God's promises. 00:04:29.026 --> 00:04:31.023 I mean, you know what? 00:04:31.023 --> 00:04:36.280 You think about how in Isaiah 53, 00:04:36.280 --> 00:04:40.455 how by His stripes we're healed. 00:04:40.455 --> 00:04:42.626 Does it blow anybody away that Matthew 00:04:42.626 --> 00:04:45.105 basically in Matthew 9 says 00:04:45.105 --> 00:04:48.138 He's healing the people, thus fulfilling that? 00:04:48.138 --> 00:04:50.280 You're like wait a second, 00:04:50.280 --> 00:04:53.864 I thought that was spiritual healing back there. 00:04:53.864 --> 00:04:55.994 And Jesus is physically healing. 00:04:55.994 --> 00:04:58.109 We might just talk about the broadness 00:04:58.109 --> 00:05:02.751 of some of God's promises. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:02.751 --> 00:05:05.368 But I got to thinking about this. 00:05:05.368 --> 00:05:08.566 Jesus Himself says, 00:05:08.566 --> 00:05:13.446 "If somebody strikes you on one cheek, 00:05:13.446 --> 00:05:17.778 turn to him the other also." 00:05:17.778 --> 00:05:24.083 If a man could just find hope there. 00:05:24.083 --> 00:05:28.521 I've struck Him in the cheek 00:05:28.521 --> 00:05:30.854 by my actions, 00:05:30.854 --> 00:05:33.004 but He is such a God 00:05:33.004 --> 00:05:34.626 who sends His Son 00:05:34.626 --> 00:05:37.104 who is the radiance of the glory of God, 00:05:37.104 --> 00:05:39.580 and He is the kind that teaches us 00:05:39.580 --> 00:05:42.707 that if we're struck, turn the other also. 00:05:42.707 --> 00:05:44.998 I mean, if He's teaching that to us, 00:05:44.998 --> 00:05:53.204 is He not also a God who takes many blows, 00:05:53.204 --> 00:05:57.233 many dishonorings and yet is still willing 00:05:57.233 --> 00:06:00.650 to turn the other cheek? NOTE Paragraph 00:06:00.650 --> 00:06:03.951 Or, how about this? 00:06:03.951 --> 00:06:08.962 In Joel 2, God says, 00:06:08.962 --> 00:06:11.714 "Yet even now..." Those three words 00:06:11.714 --> 00:06:13.973 could be something that somebody's faith 00:06:13.973 --> 00:06:14.977 could cling to. 00:06:14.977 --> 00:06:16.693 "Yet even now..." 00:06:16.693 --> 00:06:18.810 Wait, what's that? 00:06:18.810 --> 00:06:21.092 "Yet even now, declares the Lord, 00:06:21.092 --> 00:06:24.120 return to Me with all your heart." 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:25.887 You know when you say that - 00:06:25.887 --> 00:06:27.108 "yet even now" - 00:06:27.108 --> 00:06:29.534 it's after people have done a lot of bad. 00:06:29.534 --> 00:06:32.430 Yet even now after all you've done, 00:06:32.430 --> 00:06:36.507 "if anyone will turn to Me with all their heart 00:06:36.507 --> 00:06:38.516 with fasting, with weeping, with mourning, 00:06:38.516 --> 00:06:40.472 rend your hearts and not your garments, 00:06:40.472 --> 00:06:42.029 return to the Lord your God, 00:06:42.029 --> 00:06:43.753 for He is gracious and merciful..." 00:06:43.753 --> 00:06:45.871 How about these three words? 00:06:45.871 --> 00:06:48.137 "...slow to anger." 00:06:48.137 --> 00:06:50.145 I mean if a man's faith can get into that. 00:06:50.145 --> 00:06:52.572 God is slow to anger. 00:06:52.572 --> 00:06:54.775 I can put my weight on that promise, 00:06:54.775 --> 00:06:57.364 because I've provoked Him for a long time, 00:06:57.364 --> 00:06:59.668 but He's slow to anger. 00:06:59.668 --> 00:07:02.645 Oh, certainly the God of Scripture 00:07:02.645 --> 00:07:05.561 in all of His infinite mercies, 00:07:05.561 --> 00:07:09.030 certainly I could not wear out His kindness 00:07:09.030 --> 00:07:11.590 just in these years I've done this. 00:07:11.590 --> 00:07:14.403 Certainly God is greater than that. 00:07:14.403 --> 00:07:17.996 Those words, "yet even now." NOTE Paragraph 00:07:17.996 --> 00:07:19.019 Or how about this? 00:07:19.019 --> 00:07:22.568 God's kindness is meant to lead to repentance. 00:07:22.568 --> 00:07:25.667 Because one of the things I told him, 00:07:25.667 --> 00:07:30.055 I told him one of the things that tells me 00:07:30.055 --> 00:07:32.583 God is not done with you, 00:07:32.583 --> 00:07:36.084 is He led you to that Paul Washer sermon. 00:07:36.084 --> 00:07:39.293 And He convicted you. 00:07:39.293 --> 00:07:45.172 And you came clean! 00:07:45.172 --> 00:07:46.639 He confessed. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:47.960 He confessed to his wife. 00:07:47.960 --> 00:07:51.008 He confessed to his church. 00:07:51.008 --> 00:07:53.580 That is a kindness. 00:07:53.580 --> 00:07:55.499 And what would you say? 00:07:55.499 --> 00:07:57.428 God's kindnesses are not meant 00:07:57.428 --> 00:08:00.734 to lead him to repentance? 00:08:00.734 --> 00:08:03.473 You see, that isn't the indication 00:08:03.473 --> 00:08:05.098 in my estimation of somebody 00:08:05.098 --> 00:08:07.636 that God is done with. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:07.636 --> 00:08:10.347 Or how about this? 00:08:10.347 --> 00:08:12.776 To Sardis - Oh, when I preached 00:08:12.776 --> 00:08:15.342 about those seven churches in Asia Minor, 00:08:15.342 --> 00:08:18.669 Sardis jumped out at me. 00:08:18.669 --> 00:08:22.034 "You have a name 00:08:22.034 --> 00:08:24.372 that you are alive, 00:08:24.372 --> 00:08:27.513 but you are dead." 00:08:27.513 --> 00:08:30.615 This is a church. 00:08:30.615 --> 00:08:33.991 You talk about people exposed to light. 00:08:33.991 --> 00:08:35.840 But, you're dead. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:37.270 What did He say? No hope? 00:08:37.270 --> 00:08:38.677 You've crossed the line? 00:08:38.677 --> 00:08:40.250 He doesn't. 00:08:40.250 --> 00:08:43.693 He says, "Wake up." 00:08:43.693 --> 00:08:46.222 You see if our faith can just grab words like that: 00:08:46.222 --> 00:08:50.204 "Wake up." NOTE Paragraph 00:08:50.204 --> 00:08:52.193 Of course, there's these words. 00:08:52.193 --> 00:08:54.327 John 6:37 00:08:54.327 --> 00:08:55.560 Our Lord says, 00:08:55.560 --> 00:08:57.408 "Whoever comes to Me, 00:08:57.408 --> 00:09:00.062 I will never cast out." 00:09:00.062 --> 00:09:01.259 Whoever! 00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:03.460 It doesn't matter what you say you've done. 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:06.607 If you go to Christ, He won't cast you out. 00:09:06.607 --> 00:09:08.886 Period. 00:09:08.886 --> 00:09:10.809 It's amazing when I come across people 00:09:10.809 --> 00:09:13.025 who are struggling with the unpardonable sin 00:09:13.025 --> 00:09:15.047 and I bring up this text, 00:09:15.047 --> 00:09:18.890 immediately, "Yeah, but..." 00:09:18.890 --> 00:09:21.688 Look, if you want to find every reason 00:09:21.688 --> 00:09:24.008 not to believe a text, 00:09:24.008 --> 00:09:26.449 that's classic unbeliever. 00:09:26.449 --> 00:09:28.155 And you will perish. 00:09:28.155 --> 00:09:30.585 See, the only hope is 00:09:30.585 --> 00:09:35.627 that our faith can find a place to stay. 00:09:35.627 --> 00:09:38.271 This except was taken from the full sermon: 00:09:38.271 --> 00:09:40.367 "People of Promise"