Well, good morning.

It’s good to see you. I used to say that, but now I really mean it more. It’s good to see you. I was thinking about Psalm 122 last night. I was glad when they said to me, let’s go to the house of the Lord.

What does that mean? It means that not one of us have been accepted by God, but we’ve all together been brought into the house of God to be the family of God. So what a blessed thing it is to be together as God’s family.

I don’t know, about a month ago,

we were just making up things for the kids to do, make up things to do at the house. And I was at the store and I saw The Wizard of Oz on sale for like three bucks or something. I thought, well, that would be fun to watch. The kids have never seen The Wizard of Oz. I don’t think I’ve seen it since I was a kid. So, you know, we all get together and we’re like, we’re watching this movie, it’s great. But I couldn’t enjoy it. And let me tell you why. Because I’ve grown up. And I see with adult eyes. And you know what I noticed, I never noticed before, is when they’re like on the farm in the beginning scene or they’re in the forest, wherever they are, they’re not even shooting this movie in real places. They’re all cut out. So this giant fake boards with paintings on them, like you can see the actor’s shadows like almost like on the walls. And I couldn’t like get into the movie because I’m like, they could have worked a little harder. And they could have done more. It’s fake. It’s not real. And so my adult eyes, I couldn’t enjoy it. It was false, you know. I was thinking the last couple of weeks, you know, when we come back together, I really need to preach something encouraging, something maybe lighthearted. And so I’ve landed on Judas Iscariot.

I know that sounds like the opposite. But here’s what I think. I think that, I think that, the whole of the scriptures have been given for our encouragement. And when we consider every passage right, we do walk away encouraged. Our hearts are lifted. And so we left off in our little mini-series in Matthew on the disciples. I was going through each one, character profile. And so the last one was Judas, and I was dreading preaching Judas. So I got a two-month break. Now I got to preach Judas, okay? So we’re going to do Judas. And we’re going to do Judas because

if we’re, if we’re real disciples of Jesus, if we mean that, we’re true disciples, it means that we have the right eyes to see what’s real and to see what’s fake. To not be fooled into thinking that everything in our life is right all the time and we can put ourselves under the microscope and we can see one another under that microscope and we can know by God’s Word that He’s given to us what does it really mean to follow Jesus and what does it look like when we’re living in falsehood. And so again, I admit Judas is a weighty, sobering thing to consider. But because we love the Lord Jesus Christ and we want to be true disciples, we must consider Judas this morning. And I want us to learn what does false discipleship look like? Can we discern maybe bits of that in us and how to repent and change from it? Okay? So, we were in Matthew 10. The name’s Judas there. That’s what we’re considering. So I’m going to pop up here. I’m going to pop around in two different places. I want you to go with me first to John 12. John 12, verses 1-8.

John 12.

And here’s what John says. He says, Six days before the Passover,

Jesus therefore came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom He had raised from the dead. So, they gave a dinner for Him there. And Martha served. And Lazarus was one of those reclining with Jesus at table. And Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, he who was about to betray Jesus, said, Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. And having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. And Jesus said, Leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you have always have with you, but you do not always have me. So this is about a week before Passover. This is like the passion week before Jesus goes, triumphal entry, and He’s crucified. So this is the beginning of the end. All right? And Jesus had been in Ephraim, a little town. He was in Bethany, went to Ephraim. People were trying to kill Him, hiding out in Ephraim. He’s back in Bethany. Okay? He’s back in Bethany, and that’s significant because of what He did there the last time He was there. He raised Lazarus from the dead. Right? Pretty significant event. And the religious leaders weren’t just wanting to kill Jesus. They wanted to kill Jesus. They wanted to kill Jesus. They wanted to kill Lazarus, too. Just snuff out this story. So He’s back in Bethany, and Jesus is at this dinner party. And this is one dinner party. Think about it. Here’s the man that just raised Lazarus from the dead, and there’s the proof. It says Lazarus is reclining at table with Jesus. How amazing is this? But also there, not surprising, are Martha and Mary. Now, Jesus, the Word tells us, He had a special relationship with this family. But what’s special about this? What’s special about this as well is Martha and Mary, they were the two sisters that came up to Jesus after their brother had died and said, Jesus, you know, if you had been here, this wouldn’t have happened. If you had been here, my brother Lazarus wouldn’t have died. And Jesus, they don’t know this, is getting ready to amaze them, isn’t He? He’s getting ready to do what they can’t believe is possible. He says, I am the resurrection and life, and Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Wow!

So does Martha and Mary, do they understand completely who Jesus is at this point? No, the disciples don’t even understand who Jesus fully is until after the resurrection. But we know by Martha’s confession, they believe He is the Son of God. Martha says that. So Martha and Mary, they believe enough to know that Jesus is God. Jesus isn’t just some prophet. He’s not just someone special.

And that brings us to Mary. And Mary does something at this dinner party that makes her devotion, her devotion to Christ unmistakable, her sincere allegiance to Christ just clear and obvious. And here’s what she does. It’s amazing if you think about it for a second. She does not open a bottle of perfume. She doesn’t uncork it. They didn’t have that luxury. It wasn’t how it worked. Mary cracked open an expensive bottle of perfume. She busted open the head of it. So you can’t undo it. She cracked it open and it says she poured out. Now Matthew and Mark emphasize the head and John emphasizes the feet. She poured this entire bottle, this one pound bottle of perfume all over Jesus’ body and she anoints Him. And it’s undeniable because the smell filled the room. You ever smell someone with perfume across the room? You think, well, how much do they have on? You’ve never smelled someone with a pound of perfume on their body, have you? No. And this isn’t like cheap Old Spice. This was made from a plant called Spikenard and the amount she poured, it was the amount of a year’s wages. Now think about whatever you make in a year. In one blow, you pour that on someone’s body. It would have been, I think, a really kind gesture would it not have if she was like, I’m going to pour out like a month’s supply. I’m going to pour out a week’s supply and everybody’s going to be really impressed at this dinner party that I would give up. Like, you know, a few hundred dollars worth of perfume. That’s not what she does. She holds nothing back from Jesus.

But Judas is not happy about it. And Judas, I want to remind you now who Judas is. Judas has walked with Jesus for three whole years. Jesus has been in his face teaching him. Jesus has seen people raised from the dead. This isn’t his first time seeing it. Jesus has himself been employed in doing miracles on Jesus’ behalf with the disciples. Think about that. If there’s anybody who should be hooping and hollering and saying, yes, Mary, that’s right. This dude, he deserves a year’s supply of perfume all over his body. Yes. Would it not be Judas? But that’s the furthest thing from it. He’s very upset about it. Now here’s what Judas wants you and I to think. He wants you and I to think. Oh, I just can’t stop thinking about those poor people out there. If only, if only this money could have been sold and the proceeds could have gone to the poor and she’s wasted it, pouring it out. But John lets us in on this really big secret, right? And here’s the big secret. Judas, those three years that Jesus was teaching and preaching and loving him and doing miracles and showing himself to be this extravagant person from heaven. Judas is ripping Jesus off. He’s stealing. He’s stealing from Jesus behind his back. So Judas doesn’t really care about the perfume. What’s he care about? He cares about the fact that he has just had a personal loss because he can no longer thieve from Christ. So you see, Mary has the one thing in her discipleship that Judas doesn’t have. Sincerity. That one, I want you to hold on to that word. I think it’s a very precious word. It’s become so to me the more I’ve studied this passage. Mary has sincere discipleship. What do you call someone that can fool everyone else into thinking there’s something when they’re not that thing? A fraud, right? Or a hypocrite. But what I want us to learn from this passage is this. True discipleship is always accompanied by sincere godliness. False discipleship is characterized by a godliness. A great lack of it. So let me make clear. You and I, we’re not going to show up next week and you bring your expensive perfume and I’m going to bring my expensive perfume and we’re going to have a perfume service and we’re just going to pour it all out in the name of Jesus. Don’t do that. That would be unauthorized. That would be unbiblical worship. Why was it okay for her to do it? It was okay for her to do it because it was a unique time. Christ was in his incarnate state. He was getting ready to be crucified. The Spirit led her to do that as a sign. Sign of the significance of what Jesus was getting ready to do. And Christ approved of it, right? He said, that’s a beautiful thing that she just did to me, okay? So we’re not going to pour out perfume. But here’s what you and I are going to do. Here’s what you and I must do. We must have the same level of utter sincerity in our devotion, in our Christian discipleship, just like Mary. That’s what we’ve got to have.

Sincerity. It means I don’t have more. It means I don’t have more than one motive. It means I’m pure in my intentions. It means I’m single-minded in my commitment to a person or to a thing. It is as critical to healthy discipleship as breathing. And again, I want to say to you, this isn’t a novel idea. You know how many times the New Testament talks about sincerity in relation to healthy Christian discipleship? Twelve times. Twelve times the Bible teaches us we must be sincere in our commitment. To Christ. So why is sincerity so important for you to love? Why is sincerity so important for healthy discipleship? I’ll give you a few reasons. Sincere discipleship, number one, has little to no thought of itself. Sincere disciples think little to nothing of themselves. And we sang about it. We sang about God’s grace. We sang about God’s love. And what does God’s grace and love reveal? It reveals this person, Jesus. Jesus is worthy of my thoughts. He’s worthy of the attitudes and intentions of my heart. He’s worthy of what I do with my body. He’s worthy with my obedience. Jesus deserves everything, period. Right? He deserves it because He deserves it. There’s no qualifier. Let me tell you why. No, Jesus has always deserved it because He’s God. He just is God. But now there’s this second great reason why Jesus deserves your sincerity. Because Jesus has been sincerely devoted to you. That perfume that she busted on Jesus’ body, it was a preparatory act for what Jesus was getting ready to do. And what was He getting ready to do? He was getting ready to fully go the distance, the last bit of obeying the Father’s will. And the Father’s will was that Jesus would win a people for His own possession. That Jesus would give up His whole life so that you and I could live. He was going to give Him Himself to death so that you and I could have eternal life. Jesus was going to carry all our sin and shame so we could be called the righteousness of God. Christ become the curse. We become and receive the blessing from God. A great thing Christ did. He was sincere in His commitment to you. The second thing I want to say to you is that godly sincerity is always accompanied by costly worship. Sincerity is always accompanied by costly worship. Very popular verse, Romans 12 1, Paul says, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as what? A living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. So worship that costs you nothing is not worship. Worship necessarily means you have surrendered to someone else’s wishes. You have surrendered to someone else’s cause. You’re giving yourself up for something greater and better. So I think when we consider the modern definition of worship in America, it’s wanting. I think the highest ideals a lot of people have about what worship is in the church, it’s pretty skinny. I think if we’re thinking about worship and it’s getting in a room with a bunch of other Christians and we’re just like cue the ambience, cue the smoke machine, cue the lights, and I’m just looking for this feeling, I want to feel this spiritual high, and if we get this feeling, this spiritual rush, we must have worshipped. In the same way, I think it’s a mockery of Old Testament prescription for worship in the way that the Catholic Church or certain denominations burn incense. It’s unnecessary. It’s not what God has prescribed.

Real, true, costly worship begins with you sacrificing your passions. Your desires, your dreams in exchange for God’s will, God’s passion, God’s truth for your life. And let me say, it hurts. If worship doesn’t hurt, we’re not doing it right. The flesh says, I don’t want to do that. The flesh says, I’d like to keep my hand in the money bag when Jesus isn’t looking. That’s what I would like to do actually, because this job don’t pay enough.

The flesh says, I don’t want to stop thinking lustful thought. I don’t want to give up gluttony. I don’t want to stop frivolously spending money. I don’t want to stop being a workaholic. I don’t want to deal with my issues of anger and pride. I don’t want to go on a mission trip. I don’t want to be an evangelist.

But if we can’t die, then our discipleship to Christ isn’t sincere. And if our discipleship isn’t sincere, it means our worship is flawed and costs us nothing, so it is worthless to God. We are called to give up, to pay the small cost of the glory of the moment of this life for the eternal glory that comes with being a follower of Jesus. And Judas could not do this. Judas could not identify with Mary because Judas chose what? Self-worship. Judas chose self-adoration. Judas chose self-devotion. He could not identify with Mary’s deep affection for Christ. And I want to point that out. I think that’s very important. Sincerity, godly sincerity, is always accompanied by a deep affection for Christ. Mary’s perfuming, it was an unashamed statement, right? I mean, if you’re in the room, you can’t go, I wonder where this perfume smell has come from. Like, you can’t not know something. Somebody just did an act of extreme, like, love to someone else. And it was obvious. Remember, Jesus says, this was a beautiful thing. So, let me say, this is where the feeling comes in. This is where the experience comes in. Those aren’t bad things. Having the knowledge, ascending to that place that God has loved me in Christ Jesus, and Jesus has done away with my sin, and Jesus teaches me the truth about who He is and who I am, and I’m taught about the love of God. Now I’ve got something to feel good about. Now I’ve got something to experience joy and happiness and love with the church. So, that’s when I want to come and worship with the church, is when I’ve ascended to that place of understanding who God is. And He’s calling me, yes, to give up my life, but He’s calling me to a life of so much more. That’s worship. No smoke machine needed. No incense needed. No lights needed. Just ascending to the knowledge of who Christ is. And what He has done. That should stir up a deep affection for worship in you. And I want to say this last thing on godly sincerity. Godly sincerity is accompanied by evangelism. So, Jesus says this about Mary in Mark 14.9. This is an alternate account of the same story. He says in Mark 14.9, And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, think about this, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of me.

And here we are 2,000 years later talking about her sincere devotion to Christ. And you know what that does? That sincere devotion, it preaches. It preaches a better gospel. It preaches a better word. It preaches love. It preaches salvation. It preaches God. The Spirit will use a life sincerely devoted to God for His name’s sake. Are we sincerely devoted? People don’t notice people who juggle. And religion is just one of the things. I got this part and that part. Religion is just one of them. And my sacrifices, I wake up a little earlier on Sundays. Alright? Put a little money in the basket. I’m a Christian now. Right? It’s not the way it works. But the Spirit uses the devoted person. And everybody else is saying, can you believe what He just did? Can you believe the devotion? Can you believe she spent that? Can you believe that she would have done that? That’s the kind of devotion God is calling us to. 2 Corinthians 2 14, I think it’s such a powerful way to say it. Paul writes, but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us, listen to this, through us, He spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. So we spread the goodness of the Gospel, the love of God when you and I are tuned into that love ourselves.

Have you ever had undercooked chicken? Steak’s different. I prefer it undercooked. But we all know, you don’t undercook chicken, do you? It’s disgusting. Chicken undercooked, it’s a little slimy, and it has that crunch in it, doesn’t it? Like, your teeth went through it in a way it shouldn’t have. And you just, you know it didn’t stay in there long enough. It’s very gross. It’s very gross. Half-baked chicken. Have you ever bought those pre-cooked chicken nuggets like kids and you like eat one and you’re like, that doesn’t quite taste like chicken, it doesn’t quite look like chicken, but the bag says chicken, but I’m not, I’m not believing that it’s chicken.

It’s gross, she knows.

I want us to be on guard about two things. Half-baked discipleship. That’s committed when it’s convenient, because you know what God says in Revelation? He says when you’re lukewarm and you’re so-so about your sincerity, I’d really just not have it at all. And so also, friend, I want you to know and believe affiliation is false security. Just because you say, well, I’ve grown up in the church or I call myself a Christian or even I’ve been baptized, doesn’t that make me one? It doesn’t make you anything. Only in the sincerity of your heart and soul are you the real thing. Are you in your heart and your soul, in the deep core of your person, are you sincere in your affection for Christ? You want to tell people about Him. You want to give costly worship. You want your discipleship to mean something. You want your discipleship to make a difference. See what in Mary we can learn and see what great lack there was in Judas.

I’m going to go to Matthew 27 now. If you go to Matthew 27, 3-10.

And it says, When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us? See to it yourself. And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed and he went and he hanged himself.

I

had this artist growing up that I loved to listen to, a Christian artist. And wonderful songs, I would say songs that shaped my faith even. And a couple years ago, he apostatized. And he just said, nope, it’s all bunk. And I was listening to him just riff off all these reasons why. And one of the things he said, man, it was poor Judas. It was poor Judas. He says, the devil entered Judas. The devil possessed Judas and Judas did what Judas did. And I think that’s such a flat,

unbiblical reality. It’s not fair to the whole testament of Scripture. So let’s retrace it, if we could, please. Judas, for three years, three years with literally God in his face teaching him. You know, if you’re with like a good friend, a good friend just makes you feel special and lets you put their hand on your back. You can’t tell me Jesus didn’t do that more than a hundred times to Judas. There’s no way you can be in Christ’s presence and not be loved. Judas sees the miracles. Judas sees this love. Judas sees so much. And the whole time without flinching, Judas is already betraying Jesus by stealing from him. So he’s put himself in a three-year training program for betraying Jesus, if we can be fair about what he’s doing. Before we read that Satan possesses Judas, we read that Satan put the idea in his heart, it says. He incited him to it.

Well, I’m pretty sure Satan incites me to do a lot of things too, and I have a choice to let that fester and like, oh, alright. Or I have a chance to say, no, Lord, I’m running to, like, Lord, I had this horrible thought. Lead me from that lustful thought. Lead me away from that terrible hate. We don’t read that. We can only assume Judas’ three-year training has come to fruition as this festers.

And then all we can say about Judas is he got what he asked for. Three years Jesus ministered to Judas, while those three years Judas courted Satan. He asked for it. He prepared. Himself for it. So don’t say, poor Judas, he just was one of the guys, man, he was excited to be a disciple, man, he was committed. That’s not true at all, is it? It’s not true in the least bit. Say, poor Judas, because he wasted and he squandered three years of God saying, come to me. Have life in me. Be changed by me. That’s why we should say, poor Judas.

The prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 55, 6, to this very thing, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.

I want you to think about this question, alright, before you give yourself your answer. Think about this question, okay? It’s a difficult one. Is God obligated to give every person that lives and dies a clear gospel presentation? Think about it. Secondly, does God give every human being that lives and dies a clear gospel presentation?

No. No. Millions of people will die this year. I think 55 million people died last year. People die all the time. They live their life, they grow old, they never hear about the name of Jesus. Why does God allow that to happen? I don’t know in the wisdom of God why He does that, but it’s true, which means what? It means if you were to hear the gospel one time in your life, what a grace that would be to you. What a favor it would be to you. Much more would it be a grace if God allowed you, as we do, as Judas did, to hear and see the gospel time and time and time again. What a great grace and favor that is. That’s why it’s so stupid when we, oh, the guy was a murderer and a convict, and he found Jesus, and isn’t that amazing? I think it’s more amazing when God lets people be born into Christian homes, to be honest with you. Like, God, why did you let me from birth like hear the gospel a hundred times before I was even ten? That’s a grace.

So what is Isaiah saying? Don’t waste when God calls you to repentance because He is not obligated to do it at all. He’s certainly not obligated to do it more than once. The Hebrew writer says about Esau the way he squandered his inheritance. See to it that not one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. That no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single mil. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. Will it be at the moment of death that some people go into eternity? Will it be at the moment of death that some people go into eternity? And repentance is no longer possible? Will it be that someone resists the Lord too many times in this life? And the Lord says, okay. I don’t know, but I know this, until we are safe in the kingdom of God by faith in Christ, we are dangerously lost in the kingdom of Satan. Don’t take that lightly. And you say, well, I’m a Christian. If you’re a Christian, that means there should be zero latency between your sinning and your repenting. So you should let it scare you when you’re able to sin. Like, yeah, of course I have that issue. Yeah, of course I looked at that. Of course I said that. Everybody knows that’s my flaw. It’s not your flaw. You better be getting on your face and surrendering that if you’re truly a follower of Christ.

Don’t squander the invitation to surrender. That’s what Judas did. And when we come to Judas’ suicide, we think, wrongly if you think it, aha, well now he’s repenting. Now we see a real change in the man. And that would be, my friends, I’m sorry to say, mistaking worldly sorrow for godly grief. Here’s what Paul says in 2 Corinthians. He says, for godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. Without regret. Whereas worldly grief, what does it do? It produces death. Judas was swallowed up in despair. He turned inward to himself to deal with his problems. And where did it lead him? To death. Saul, King Saul was sorry, but he didn’t change. Pharaoh multiple times said, I have sinned against God when he went and released the people. But he didn’t change. So see, godly repentance doesn’t just expose an error. It also leads us towards Christ. It amends our souls for the better. It leads us to a place of rest and forgiveness to see I can’t deal with my mistakes. All I can do is turn to Christ and lay it at Him. Peter betrayed Jesus maybe worse than Judas did. Three times. But Peter turned to Christ where Judas turned inward. And it led Judas to death. Friends, I want to say to you, repentance is a gift. When the Spirit pricks your heart, don’t say, ah, don’t say nah, don’t say tomorrow, don’t say not a big deal. You are playing with your eternal soul.

So what do we do with the tragic and it is a very tragic case of Judas Iscariot? I think we heed the lesson. We don’t just hear the condemnation of the law. We hear the better word of Jesus that whatever sins we commit, God is willing to forgive us when we come to Christ and we ask for the forgiveness and we’re sincere in our repentance. Christ is not calling you to do something different. Christ is calling you to be someone else. He’s calling you to be like Him, connected to Him, united in Him in the Spirit. Don’t wait to turn.

I have a I have a very dear friend and um I love him and he did so much to disciple me when I was when I was younger and to be honest with you, his wife did a lot to disciple Jessica and um he called me a couple months ago to say that they were separated and I have spent I don’t know how many hours and I don’t, I’m not saying that lightly hours and hours on the phone, prayer, hours and hours talking, hours and hours listening and I’m having to watch this man from a distance experience the anguish and the suffering of being cut off from his wife and just listening and watching him look back and just make those what if statements I should have, why didn’t I value, I did this, why did I do that and so I think a broken marriage like that, it is the smallest picture of what it looks like when we realize we’ve been cut off from Christ and we can’t get back can’t get back

so I’m not here to bless you I’m just not going to come here and preach a happy clappy sermon and give you some moral platitudes and some self helps and preach you right into hell, because I think a lot of pastors do that given a pandemic, I think the best thing I could say to you is, is your discipleship sincere have you repented unto God alone, have you not just recognized you’re wrong, but you’ve forsaken it, to be changed by the power of the Spirit to the image of Christ that’s what you need, that’s life for you, that’s hope for you that’s freely offered to you I just want to ask you some basic probing questions this morning okay do you cherish the gospel if I were to walk in on you at work or drive into the car at any given moment, I’m not saying all day every day, but would it be a normal thing for you just to be thanking God for the truth of the gospel, or do you just like oh yeah, I’m reminded of it on Sunday morning do you experience conviction daily is it a normal thing for you to sin and then recognize it and repent of it soon after are you bothered by sin do you ask God for victory in your life, is it normal for you to kind of loathe that sinful man do you seek to figure out what Christian growth is and see it borne out in your own life do you court sinful influences in the people you hang out the entertainment you let in your head do you have a conscious desire for holiness are you quick to take things to Jesus again, again, I want to point that one out because Judas was not Judas ran inward in his sin I think the godly reaction is yes, I’m going to feel a very deep sense of wrongness for what I’ve done, but what does the saved person do takes it to the cross and finds forgiveness and healing would you say that’s a pattern of your life so again you’re not like, you can fool me you can fool yourself, and you’re saying do you not think any of us are Christians, I hope you are and you know what I pray on a regular basis, is I pray Lord if we have any false converts at Providence, save them it happens I mean it happens, people fool themselves all the time so just don’t fool yourself was it some great mystery then like maybe I’m like Judas, and I don’t know Satan’s going to come at me one day, like oh sorry you weren’t the guy, you were the guy that’s not how it goes there doesn’t need to be some weird mystery about it the Bible’s very plain, if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you confess with your mouth that he’s Lord, you’re going to be saved when you say that sincerely you believe it, and you look to Christ, you’re saved and you can have that peace, and that rest so I want to say to you, because I have a sensitive conscience, and I’m not preparing this sermon, I’m like, what if I’m not saved? I’m not a preacher or something, wouldn’t that be weird it’s like, okay, that’s my flesh, and that’s the devil I’ve got to go back to the promises of God, it’s not even about the strength of my faith, the perfections of my faith, it’s just about, no, I do believe that, that is my hope, I’m looking to Christ, it’s not about how well I can believe it’s about the substance of what I believe and that’s Christ, and that’s good, so are you throwing yourself there, are you 100% there, like, don’t, I’m like 84%, I’ve sat down and thought about it, and in terms of being lost or saved I’m at 93, maybe I can keep going up, like, don’t do that, like, Jesus that’s misery to do that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ repent, Peter said at Pentecost, then you’re gonna be saved, so it’s just a free, it’s a gift it costs you the present, but friends together we get so much more in the eternity of the beauty and the holiness and the pleasures of God of God

so I just want to say this, I want to say false discipleship is the byproduct of having a false relationship with God and that’s what Judas had for three years but at the very same time true disciples marked by what? knowing God, and God wants to know you, He doesn’t want to be a mystery to you, He wants you to experience His love, He wants you to experience His grace He wants you to know how sincere He is about you, and He wants you to be sincere about Him, that’s the great call for us as the church, is true

discipleship, true discipleship, and that’s our business, that’s Providence Fellowship isn’t it, and we get back to normal hopefully soon that’s our business, it’s being disciples in all sincerity repenting in all sincerity and pointing others to that same beautiful precious life Amen