My Hope is Not in Myself but in Christ - Paul Washer

Now let me share something with you
for Christians who struggle

with sadness and looking
at yourself

and always really feeling down.

The more you know God,

the more you're going to see
His holiness.

The more you see His holiness,

the more you're going
to see your sin,

which leads you to deeper
depths of conviction,

contrition and mourning.

But if that's all you see,

you're in trouble.

But with that greater
revelation of God's holiness,

and that greater
revelation of your sin

also comes a greater revelation

of what God has done
for you in Christ,

and that unconditional love,

and that grace abounding
to the chief of sinners.

So although, you're almost
like a paradox,

the more you walk with Christ,

the deeper is your contrition
and mourning over sin,

and yet greater your joy,

and there's a transmission
that goes on.

No longer is your joy

found in your own performance,

but it's found in the
finished work of Christ.

So, if the devil walks in

and starts pointing out all
kinds of things about you,

you yawn.

And you go,

you don't even know
the half of it.

This has never been about me.

Have I ever said this was about me?

This is not about me.

I don't hope in me.

If I hope was in me,

you could kill my hope with
a dagger right now;

the smallest pin knife
would take down my hope.

But my hope's not in me.

It's in my older Brother,

and if you don't leave,

I'm going to call Him.

You don't want me to call Him.

Oh, believers, I want
you to know something.

People sometimes - young men,
will come and they'll go,

they look at guys who preach

in a lot of places
around the world,

and all these young guys think,

man, this guy, he reached
some spiritual level,

and because he reached
that spiritual level,

God really uses him.

No.

No.

The older you get, the more
needy you become of grace.

And the more happy you
are in Christ alone.

The older you get, the
more of your sin you see.

And you trust not in the flesh,

you glory in Christ Jesus.

And when all your everything

is based upon His perfect work,

as weak as you might be,

you're as solid as a rock.

Because the devil can't touch Him.

The devil can't touch Him.

A young guy one time,

he calls me up,

he was a seminary student.

He was just saying,

Brother Paul, he wrote me,

I'm so ungodly, I'm so unrighteous,

I'm so this and that.

I knew the young man.

He was a fine, sincere Christian.

And he was just so struggling.

He said I'm just so ungodly and ignorant.

And I wrote him back and I said,

"Dear brother, you
are much more ungodly

and much more ignorant
than you now know.

Love, your brother, Paul."

I have the gift of
mercy and encouragement.

And so he calls me up on the phone,

and he goes,

"Thanks?"

And I said, look, I've watched your life.

In many ways

you seem to have
made greater progress

than I have.

But I'm happier than you.

And he said why?

I've given up on trying to find hope

in my performance.

And all, everything for me, is in

the unconditional love of my Savior.

If you know anything about the ministry

that the Lord's given me.

If you've heard anything,

you go, man, that
man just talks about sin,

he nails people, he's
the meanest preacher

that ever walked the planet.

Let me tell you something.

When it comes to unbelievers who

are professing faith in Christ

and they are
asleep in their sin

and they are going
to die and go to hell,

yes, I am going to rip, rip, rip,

because it doesn't appear to me

that hardly anyone else
is doing that.

I am not going to let them go to hell

except over my cries that they wake up

and see their destruction.

But,

when I pastor,

sometimes people come to church

if I'm preaching and they go,

are you the same guy on YouTube?

Because all you do is talk about love,
love, love, love? Why?

Here's the reason.

If the person truly becomes converted,

I don't have to do anything.

They're sheep.

They're going to follow Him.

As a shepherd, you know

what my greatest worry is,

for the people who
are truly converted?

I don't want them coming
under false condemnation.

And I don't want them doubting
the love of God.

You see, the whole deal

depends on conversion.

Do you see that?

You get them converted,

and you talk to them about

the unconditional love of God,

and you know what they'll do?

I'll tell you what they won't do,
they won't stand there and go

well, if it's like this,

let's just sin.

No, you tell a true sheep

about the unconditional love of God

and that it doesn't matter what they do

or how far they fail,

Christ loves them and
is going to restore them

and work in them,

and a bruised reed
He will not break

and a smoldering wick He will
not put out.

You tell them that,

they say, well, if it be like that

then I want to love Him more.
I want to serve Him more.

I want to follow Him.

If I'm really free,

you see?

So, all you have to do

is get converted, and I'll be nice to you.

But here's another thing,

if I'm preaching on the streets

in a place where everybody's

just wild and wicked as
Sodom and Gomorrah,

on this present day planet,

I stand up and I preach the love of God.

The time for preaching hard

is when people have become deceived

by religion.

And when they think
they're something they're not.

And when most of the religious authorities

in the world are affirming them

in their false conversion.

And for self-preservation,

those preachers are saying
"peace, peace,"

when there is no peace.

And people, they are building

their huge churches on the bones

of carnal, dead church members.