So, I'm Wade. I'm the worship pastor, discipleship pastor here. Turn to Malachi three with me. If you can, if you're able, if you don't have a Bible, if you're new here, you just don't have a Bible for whatever reason, that blue Bible in front of you is yours. Take it. If you have a Bible, don't take it unless it's like the message or something, the passion translation, in which case, get rid of that and take the blue one.

Malachi three. I don't often introduce myself. But I know we've got some newer folks here, so I'll just real quick. I'm the guy who normally leads worship. I was a bivocational church planter for a long time. Michael was always my spiritual order, brother and someone who meant the world to me and coached me from a distance on all things.

Being a husband, being a father, being an employee, everything and my wife and I came to be church members here in 2021. And then in 2022 you guys, the church and pastor Michael and leadership graciously gave me a job here. So, I no longer work in a cubicle. I work here every day because you all pay me to work here and I'm very grateful for it to serve the Lord.

So normally I lead worship. Today I'm going to preach. I'm going to preach Malachi 3, 16 through 18. Let's read it together. I'm going to go ahead and tell you now: I've got two goals after we're done. One, that you will fear Yahweh, the Lord. That you will fear the triune God. And really, everybody likes to think they fear the God, that they fear God.

But I mean that you will feel in your bones, in your soul, that He is big and glorious and that you'll tremble in a holy way at His presence and at His gospel. Two, that you will have clear in your mind the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. Those are my goals for you because I think those are Malachi's goals for his audience.

And God inspired this word, amen? So, let's read it. Malachi 3:16-18. And then we'll hear the word preached. Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them. And a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord. and esteemed his name.

They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts in the day when I make up my treasured possession and I will spare them. As a man spares his son who serves him, and then once more, you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and the one who does not serve Him.

Just a brief prayer. Lord, help us to hear what You have. Help me to speak what You have faithfully in this text for us. In Christ's name, Amen. The people of God in Malachi's day, they have heard right now, Amen. Amen. Three chapters, there weren't chapter divisions obviously, we all know that, but they had heard the contents of Malachi up until now, just like you have, for the past seven weeks.

And what happened at the end of that, at the end of hearing Malachi 1 through 3? They did not just retain that head knowledge for a theological midterm they were going to take. And they did not also just sit still, proud of themselves that they had listened to it all. I don't know what you did for summer break, but I listened to Malachi, the prophet.

That's not the point. They heard God's word and then in fear and estimation of His name, in worship, in reverence, they spoke with one another. Those who feared Yahweh heard His word through Malachi and spoke with one another. And that's what we do when we actually feel something deeply, when it's significant.

Did you see that? Did you see that? Did you hear that? Have you seen that movie yet? It'll change the way you think about fill in the blank. This reality is why last weekend, however many days ago it was, nine days ago when Jake and Tia got married, at the end of it when Pastor Michael said, I now present to you for the first time Mr. and Mrs. Jake Reichwein. And everybody clapped and my wife had a tear coming down her cheek. I did not turn to her and go, Did you hear that sound the van was making on the way up here? I was moved at what I saw because what I saw was significant. And we all talked about it. We talked about what it's like to be a husband and wife.

We talked about what it's like to see two people at the beginning of their marital journey. Because when you see something significant and weighty, you talk about it with the other people who saw it the same way you did. As significant and as weighty. That's what people do when they love something. And it's what we should do with Yahweh.

Do you fear the Lord right now? If you fear Him, talk to one another about it. Amen. There is no better medicine for the end of 2024 when the whole world is anxious about November. Anxious about who's gonna win. And they're not both equal, right? We know that. I'm not about to do some third way thing where I'm about to say they're both bad.

The Democratic Party is wicked, and we know it. And yet, at the same time, at the same time, I do not want to be panicky and fretful about November. Because being fretful is fearing a created thing more than the Creator. I want to fear Yahweh so much that I will fight for what is good and I will fight against what is evil.

But I won't panic. Here's what you should do. If you find yourself anxious about that or about anything else, you should find someone in this room who you know fears the Lord. He probably doesn't want attention anymore because he's not an elder after today. But I already started this sentence, so whatever.

Eric Tuff and Sam. Alex Costa. Dan Monahan. Those are people I know. Those are men I know in this room. Just a few. There's more. Who fear the Lord. Pastor Michael has done this for me a million times. Where I have been anxious. or fretful about something. And I'm talking to somebody who is in love with the triune God, who reveres him, who worships him.

And all of a sudden, my anxiety and my panic goes down a little bit. There's no better medicine. Here's what I would tell you. If you came to me today after this sermon and you're like, okay, I'm one of those people. I'm anxious about November. Help me. Here's what I would tell you. This is what I was thinking before service started.

I was back in my office and just praying and thinking. And the story came to my mind in second Kings of Hezekiah and Sennacherib. You may not know this story. You may know it. I'm going to tell it to you anyways. So, Hezekiah was worried. All of Israel was worried. All of Judah was worried because the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, was outside of Jerusalem and was mocking Yahweh and was mocking Yahweh's people.

And so, he goes to the Lord in prayer with Isaiah the prophet's blessing. And that night, the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who were camped outside Jerusalem. Guys, God has an army of those angels around him right now, singing holy. My God, your God, has at his disposal an army of those angels, one of which slayed 185,000 people.

Do you know what 185,000 dead bad men sounds like? Like that. One angel did it. We don't have to panic or be fretful. Let them do that. Our God runs the world. Let's talk to each other about it and stoke and billow each other's fires of reverence for him. Prayer is essential for the Christian life. And I do think it's something we need to improve in at a church, but as a church, but this discipline is equally important.

Talking to other people who fear God. Silas needed Paul in that dungeon. Do you remember that story? They're singing late at night, chained up by pagans in a dungeon. They don't deserve it. And he hears his buddies’ hymns. What does that do for your heart when you hear your friend, your brother in Christ, who sings or prays or talks about the Lord?

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in his human nature, in Gethsemane. What did he take with him into the garden? It wasn't a good luck charm. Three friends. His human nature longing for those brothers who fear God. Elijah craved that, 1 Kings 19:14. He craved brothers who feared Yahweh. You have fantasy football buddies, right?

You've got friends in your cul-de-sac or your neighborhood who you talk about raising kids with. Some of you have friends on Facebook that you talk with. My kids, they all have imaginary friends. We have all kinds of friends. All kinds of friends. And that's great. But man, do we need friends who fear God.

Christians in isolation wither. One of the implications of Genesis 1 and 2 where God makes Eve for Adam is not merely that men need a wife, although we do. The typical man does need a wife. But it's not merely that. It's that it's not good for us to be what? Alone. There's a reason why the local church is an eternal institute or an institution for all of human history, I should say, and that the Bride of Christ is an eternal institution.

We are bonded together with other people, flesh and blood people. We need each other. We are not made to be alone. Those of us who fear the Lord should speak with one another. My life should look different because Pastor Michael speaks to me about God. Eric Tuffendsam's life should look different because Jake Sauer speaks with him.

That's another man who fears the Lord. If you want to talk to Jake, fear of God should be the basis of friendships. I know you're not going to click with everybody in this room. I don't click with everybody in this room, and I guarantee not everybody in this room clicks with me, but if you cannot form friendships with those who fear God, then your basis for friendships might be too shallow.

Speak with one another as the people who fear God, not merely as subsets of the people who fear God, who happen to be in the same life stage and have the same favorite TV shows. That they, in verse 17, that they refers to a collective people, a group of people who are not merely bonded by shared interests, but by a shared king.

That they of Malachi 3:16-18, I know did not click together on the level of personality any more than all of us click together on the level of personality. I guarantee you there was at least one really socially awkward guy in that group of people right there that God calls they, and yet he doesn't leave them out.

We are a people. We are a kingdom of priests being adopted from every tribe and tongue and nation, adopted sons and daughters who got the same invitation to the same wedding banquet. Amen. It's a narrow road that we're on, and so there's gonna be a lot of bumping into each other, and so we should be able to get to know each other fairly well.

We're bearing fruit from the same spirit. We're hated by the same ancient serpent who wants to gobble us up because he hates our shared father. We can sing the same songs. We can have the same old heroes because we have the same God. So, let's talk to each other about it. Verse 17. Actually, second half of verse 16 first.

Let me read it again. A book of remembrance was written before him. A book of remembrance was written before him. Of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. Then 17. They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I wake up my treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

The Lord hearkens to those who fear his name. He remembers those who fear him, who esteem his name. The Lord notices all of creation. Nothing out there escapes his notice. But he doesn't pay it all the same gracious attention. This book of remembrance, it's not if you opened it up, it would just say everyone.

It's got specific names in it. Nothing is hidden from God. He knows right now what's in Joe Biden's left pocket. He knows the cause and time of death of every sparrow, but you matter more than those sparrows. Not everything receives equal attention from God. The Lord knows what every last human being on earth right now is doing or thinking or hiding or dreaming about, but he gives his attention.

He listens to those who fear him. When I was working on this a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting outside that door. The one that always stays locked, that faces Flora Street, because I wanted to get some sunlight, because I heard that helps you get vitamin D. All it gave me was a sunburn.

But, as I was sitting out there, on the ground, like an idiot, Zach came out, Zach Frick, our operations guy he came out, heated, like with authority, and he was ready to throw down. And I was confused. And then he looked at me and he laughed, and he told me, he thought I was like an intruder. He had been watching on the security cam and he had seen downstairs, this guy, like walking slowly, carrying a book and then walk out that door and sit down on the ground like a drug addict.

And he was, so he was ready to take me out. And once he like settled, he's not here. He would be really mad if he were here, but so nobody tell him that. But once like we were cool and he realized it was me, I was like, what would you have said if I were a bad guy? And he was like, just totally businesslike, like Zach always is.

He was like, I saw you on the cameras. You're not welcome here. Get out.

And he is always packing. But then, so now that he saw it was me, I was like, all right, that's funny. And he walked back inside, and I just kept working. And then I, like a two minutes later, he came out and brought a chair. For me to sit in and he brought it over to me and then that door always locks. And I was just going to walk around the front whenever I was done or whatever, but he left it propped open for me to get back in.

And I thought, as I was like, I was working on this part and I'm like, that's a pretty good illustration. So, I'm going to use it and not tell him he noticed me regardless. He noticed who I was on the cameras regardless, but his love for me, his care for me was contingent on who I was to him. God notices everybody.

But he does not give everybody the same gracious attention. Not everybody is in that book of remembrance. Not everybody is a part of his treasured possession or spared as his son. The Lord owns everyone. Everyone. He owns everything that exists. Period. There's no human being he doesn't have authority over.

No draftsman, no lawyer, no politician, no mom raising her three kids, no fifth grader pretending to be Steph Curry, nobody on planet earth that he doesn't own. But not everybody is his child. Let me show you three scriptures to illustrate this reality from Malachi 3. Galatians 4, 4 through 7. If you're able, turn to these three with me as I give them to you.

Galatians 4, 4 through 7. I want you to see that I'm not. Pulling this out of some hat. This is a central truth of God's word. Galatians 4:4-7, Paul tells us, tells Christians, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son born of woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.

And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying Abba Father. So, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. Is everyone a son? Hebrews 12, 3 through 8.

Hebrews 12, 3 through 8. The author of Hebrews says this, again, to believers, to the believers he's writing to. This was not an ad in the paper that he just put out. But world at large. Hebrews 12:3-8, he writes to believers, consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, that's Christ, so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted.

In your struggle against sin, you've not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son don't regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him for the Lord disciplines the one, he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.

It's for discipline that you have to endure for God is treating you as sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. One more. 1 John 3:9-10.

Our city groups went through 1 John not too long ago. Everything in the Bible is important. I was going to say it's an incredibly important book, but everything in the Bible is important. But it was an incredibly important book for us, I think, because much of what's in here explains the world. In 1 John, it explains the world we're currently in.

Where light and dark seem there's such a chasm of difference between them. 1 John 3:9-10. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning. For God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning. Because he's a sweet guy. He's an EFNJ on the Myers Briggs. That's the best kind of personality.

Because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God. And what's the other option? Who are children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. The implication of that second half of that sentence is, if you don't practice righteousness or love your brother, you are a child of the devil.

John's not saying that because he's a meanie. This is incredibly important. This might be for us, for mortal human beings, whose eternity hangs in the balance on the other side of that last breath you'll take. This is about as important a thing as you could ever get into your skull. There are two options.

Righteous or wicked. Heaven or hell. Son or rebel. That's it. There's no purgatory. There's no third way.

Not everyone has been adopted by God or born again. Not everyone is a part of God's treasured possession. So why do I care? Why am I making such a big deal about this? I'm making a big deal about it because God is, I promise you that I don't have a bee in my bonnet about this. It wasn't like when Mike, the preaching calendar gets made and you get given a passage.

Okay. And it's not like I, I'm like, all right, I was waiting to talk about the righteous and the wicked, but you read the passage over and over again and you ask God to help you understand it. This is what pastor Michael does every week. You ask God to help you understand what's there. And he's faithful and he does, and his word doesn't come back void and all of a sudden lights start going off in my mind where I’m like this explains 2024 America It's righteous and wicked

Earlier this I guess it was last week. I don't know at some point in the last month or so the country that Sarah and I are going to be flying to get our little girl the Islamic terrorists killed 200 civilians who were digging ditches for the army. The army made them dig ditches, made them dig these trenches.

And Islamic terrorists came in and machine gunned all of them. 200 people. Men, women, children. Dead.

I need to know what that means. When we drive to Pastor Michael's house, we drive by Planned Parenthood. And you know what my five-year-old prays every single time? He asks, Daddy, can I pray? And he prays for the whole family. Please close the building where they kill babies.

I need to understand why the world is filled with bloodshed, and hatred, and malice, and God hating, and sexual immorality, and hypocrisy. I need to understand it, and my kids need to understand it, and your kids need to understand it. And the Bible is saying, I have the answer here. We're not Hindus. We're not pantheists.

It's not all just some giant maelstrom. Where in the end, God is everything. The angels around his throne don't sing everything. They sing holy. God is one thing, and sin is another. Righteousness is one thing. It tastes one way, it smells one way, and wickedness smells like another.

I need my kids to understand that building where they kill babies, it's just, the world's complicated. And they mean well. They mean well. No, they poison little people made by God. They poison them. They chop them up. It's wicked. It's evil. And I need to understand why such evil exists. It exists because there is a rebellion against the righteous king who made the world.

Jesus did not blur the distinction between righteousness and wickedness. He forgave wicked people. He didn't come and say listen, everybody's got problems. We're all messed up. Really, it doesn't matter. The Sermon on the Mount is, Get shroud. That's not what our Lord came into the world to speak and do and save and heal and forgive.

He shed blood because you and I have done awful, wicked things. I have been a fornicator and a liar. I've dishonored my parents. I've rebelled against the God who puts breath in my lungs. Right now, he's making my tongue move. And for a good chunk of my life, I use that tongue to curse people and gossip about them.

That's real. And either Jesus died to pay for it, and I can be saved from it, or he didn't, and I can't. But in no universe is that stuff just okay.

God. Knows the distinction between the wicked and the righteous. And we're supposed to know it. So, if there's wicked people out there and there were wicked people out there yesterday and there will be wicked people out there next week, then what do we do? What's the point? Throwing this out? The world's always been this way.

So that's awful, but there's nothing to do. That's not the whatever. I don't care. I'm just going to keep talking. If that happens again. God is the one governing the world. God wins. Your kids need to know that. You need to know that. Your wife needs to know that. Your husband needs to know that. Your unbelieving boss needs to know that.

Your Muslim neighbor needs to know that. The superintendent at your public school down the street needs to know that. Everybody needs to know that God wins. So, the choice is lay down your arms in your rebellion, and be adopted by him freely by his grace, or keep being wicked and you lose. And the devil, his chief enemy, that ancient serpent, that dragon, he doesn't run anything.

He's not in charge. So, Jesus, God, the triune God, can say. Here's who I'll spare. I'll spare the one who serves me. I won't spare the one who doesn't. The devil can't say anything about sparing anybody. Because it's not his story. It's not his world. It was bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. Everything in it.

There's not one leaf on one oak tree out there that Satan's in charge of. Nothing. He doesn't run anything. He will be cast into the lake of fire. God's not going to usher in him in politely. Hey, here's a door. Would you like to walk through that ancient dragon who's been seeking my people's blood since the beginning of the world?

He's gonna kick him in it! God runs everything. He's in charge. And so, when I look out there at this world that's filled with evildoers, many of whom I pray will repent and become my brothers and sisters and be forgiven, I can understand this is a temporary rebellion. It's awful. I don't know what's going to happen.

Listen, if you don't know what's going to happen in 2024 November election, guess what? I don't either. Nobody does. But what is the worst they can do to me? Jay Williams, the fourth says this all the time, and it's very good and you should believe it because it's good medicine. The worst they can do is kill me.

You remember saying that to me? The worst they can do is kill me. And he says it with a smile on his face. And that's exactly how we should say it. Because that is the worst they can do.

So, God runs the world, and the distinction therefore is not between equal and opposing forces. The yin and the yang thing is garbage. The coming day of the Lord is not the day when we finally find out who wins this war, whose outcome is up in the air. We're like, I don't know, man, the allies might win, but it looks really tight.

John the Baptist is about to be prophesied in chapter four of Malachi. Jesus Christ was prophesied throughout the major and minor prophets hundreds of years before he was born. What's one implication of that? The story's already written. It's already down at the presses. There's no revisions. It's edited, it's bound, it's done.

God wins. Creation and the history that's playing out on the stage of creation are authored by God, not Satan, and not the wicked. And this distinction between the righteous and the wicked that you're reading there is the cast of characters. And the Bible gives us the whole plot line. Act 1 to Act 5. He says then, a book of remembrance.

A book of remembrance. Was read before him. I want to show you an important picture. It's a scary picture. It's from Revelation 20 I don't mean scary in like some horror movie way. Scary in that it's real and everything hangs in the balance All I want you to hear Revelation 20:11-15 or read it with me but do one of those two either listen to me or look down and read it Because this is God's word, and it's exposing how this whole thing wraps up human history.

The Apostle John saw this, and wrote it down, inspired by the Holy Spirit. It's inerrant, it's infallible, and it says this. In verse 11, then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it and from his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened.

And then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books. According to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

And then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. The lake of fire.

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, He was thrown into the lake of fire.

I'm a man. You can take or leave most of what I have to say. That was God's word. And if you don't know him, I am pleading with you. Believe it. And if you do know him, I am pleading with you. Live like it's true, because it is. Among other things, these books, the book of remembrance and the book of life, they teach us that history is not irrelevant.

Actual history, where you and I do real things, and we speak real things, and we think real things. God is not a forgetter. He doesn't just rip it all up. What we do matters. Nobody's life is a video game. You're not gonna get a hard reset or a do over. Some of you might be thinking I thought my sins were forgiven when I come to Christ.

1,000%. That's true. Listen to me. If you were a murderer, or a rapist, or a terrorist, or a gossip, or you defied your parents, or you beat your children, any manner of all sins, if you repent and trust in Jesus Christ, you will not go to hell and face His wrath for those sins. He will wash you completely from them.

That's a period. Next sentence. Those sins were still sins. David's repentance did not bring Uriah the Hittite back to life.

So, if I sin against somebody and God forgives me for that sin, the full force of that eternal weight of that sin is no longer going to fall on me in God's wrath. And yet that sin does not now become fictional. Forgiveness does not make your past sins fictional. What we do matters for good or for ill.

What we do matters. God's life, God's book of life and his book of remembrance are listing and recounting real people who did real things. And in the end, when everything is exposed, the distinction between righteous and wickedness is going to be as obvious as the distinction between February and August.

I want to encourage the ordinary Christian here for a second, because the world has a stupid way of remembering things. The world remembers things that it shouldn't remember. It honors things it shouldn't honor. It enshrines people it shouldn't enshrine. That Chinese theater in Hollywood, where there's footprints of famous people, that thing's gonna be burned up.

It's not gonna be on the new heavens and new earth. So, I want you to feel, ordinary Christian, the full weight of your life. Your little righteous deeds that you do by faith. I knew there was a guy this is the illustration I’m going to give you because it matches a good number of your lives very few people in here There's practically nobody in here.

Who's some super famous influential person. I guess pastor Michael He's written a book the rest of us ordinary folk I want to encourage you. There's a man who was a part of a church my dad pastored for about 10 years. And I love this guy. He had a drunk for a father. A less than ideal childhood.

He had three boys. One of whom, at least one of whom, was special needs. My wife reminded me that maybe all three were special needs. But one of them was really pronounced special needs. His wife, supposedly Christian wife, made a ton of money. And left him. And so, you would expect a guy with this kind of biography to be in a perpetually bad mood.

And he wasn't, he loved Jesus Christ. He loved the Lord. And he came to church every Sunday with this sort of Cheshire cat grin on his face. Not like the creepy kind, but like just a kind that makes you be like, why am I not happy? This guy's happy. I should be happy. And that's right. I should. It was a nice rebuke every Sunday to see him and be like, I should be happy.

Jesus saved me to the world. This guy who managed a gas station and had been left by his wife and did not make a ton of money. He's utterly forgettable. Just a regular guy. He's the middle-aged dude with the thinning hair who manages the speedway that the world stops at on its way to more important things with more important people.

But the world's Book of Remembrance is stupid. The world's Book of Remembrance has a 10-page entry on Beyoncé and a 20-page entry on Taylor Swift. That's dumb. They're not worth remembering. Not for eternity, anyways.

God remembers those who esteem his name, who fear him. If you're an ordinary mom, just raising your kids to fear the Lord, to love him, God sees and remembers that. And if the world doesn't see and remember it, cares. The world honors stupid, trivial, flash in the pan, shiny garbage. That will be burned up and forgotten 1 trillion years from now, nobody will care how many number one hits Beyonce had.

I promise you they will not care, but every good deed that you did by grace, through faith, ordinary mom, ordinary dad, ordinary single guy, ordinary single lady. Ordinary Christian, everything you did by grace through faith will be remembered for eternity.

There's not gonna be an obituary in the New York Times or a televised concert, a memorial concert for that guy I just described. But you know what God remembers? There was that little widow. She dropped in two copper coins, right? That's in the Bible. Mary of Bethany anointed Before his crucifixion and he said everywhere the gospel is preached people will talk about Mary and they do I don't know anybody else from the first century outside of who's in the Bible But I know Mary of Bethany and so do you this God notices and remembers ordinary Christians who do ordinary things you remember Hannah Baron Hannah she goes to Shiloh and she prays I love the little detail that she's praying silently, because one of the implications of that is that Eli, the high priest, did not hear her, but guess who did?

God hears the silent prayers of barren women. This is a God who remembers different things from the world. Ordinary people, meek people, who live quietly and mind their own affairs and work with their hands. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 And everything in those quiet, God-fearing lives is observed by this God.

Everything you do matters. Everything you do matters. The crowns He gives out do not ever fade. They're imperishable. Crowns of the world gives out.

the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. I'm winding down here. I want to give a reminder for parents as regards to this distinction between the righteous and the wicked, I would not give this reminder out if this were a talk to America because most American Christians don't take raising their kids seriously enough.

Okay. But almost everybody in this room, I'm looking around and I know almost all of you and I know what this church values. We take raising our children incredibly seriously. And so, I'm going to give you a reminder that I think you need and that I need, but that the world at large doesn't. And that is this.

You should love, pray, teach, care for discipline your children. Okay. Constantly in fear of the Lord, and yet you cannot make your son or daughter serve God.

This is really important, even if you don't have kids yet. You cannot cause your son or daughter to love God. Only God can make someone love God. You should, I should, do everything possible, but we are not the decisive factor in our children's regenerations. And the reason why that matters, there's a lot of reasons, but here's one of the reasons, and one of the reasons why it occurred to me.

If five or 10 or 20 years from now, I'm 38 years old. I've been in the church my whole life. So, I have seen this happen and it's going to happen to some of us. I don't want it to, I don't want it to, I would love every single little guy or girl in this room to come to faith in Christ, but there are going to be faithful parents, imperfect, I know, but faithful parents who have a son or daughter.

Far from the cross five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. And if and when that happens, I want you to apply this medicine to that wound. The distinction that we just read about is between the righteous and the wicked, not between the good parents and the bad. It's not between those who had good parents and those who had bad parents.

God uses means and I want you, I want me, I want all of us to be the means of salvation for everybody in our households. But in the end, he is the one who grants eternal life. He is the one who causes someone to see Christ for who he is. We water, we plant, who gives the growth? Jesus said, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me, what, draws him.

I want to show you Jesus saying much more authoritatively and much more beautifully and inerrantly, much more everything than I'm saying it, which is in Matthew 10:34-37. Don't worry, I'm winding down.

Some of you already, this applies, okay? Some of you are 50, 60 years old, and this already applies. But some of you need to file this away for the future. If not for yourself, then for the faithful parent in your small group. Because they're gonna need to hear this from you. And you're gonna need to slay your pride, right?

Because some of us are gonna raise children, and we're gonna see them all come to the Lord, and we're gonna see this other couple over here, and they didn't have all their children come to the Lord, and we're gonna, in our pride, proud, hypocritical hearts, we're gonna, there's them iPads. The iPads they let them kids have, that's what did it.

All that gluten they let them eat, sinful.

We can make mistakes, but I have seen faithful mom and dads, moms and dads have children far from the cross, and this right here, Matthew 10:34-37, explains it eloquently. I know you know it but hear it. Jesus says, do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have come to bring not to bring peace, but to bring a sword for, I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter in law against her mother-in-law and a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. In other words, this distinction between the righteous and the wicked is sometimes going to cut through family trees. It's going to cut through last names and family crests.

And there is a decent chance that we have done something wrong as moms and dads. And we should repent if it's sinful. And we should seek to do better. But at the same time, you are not your child's savior. And I am not my children's savior. And neither is my wife. Mom, Dad, you have a vital job. Probably more important than any other earthly person in your children's lives.

At least until they marry. But you're not the Holy Spirit, and neither am I.

Jesus’ brothers, yes, he had brothers, sorry Roman Catholics. They were not cousins, they were brothers. Jesus’ brothers did not believe in him. James did later, Jude did later, but in the time of his, of the Gospels, they did not believe in him. And at no point does Jesus point the finger at Mary and Joseph.

Hearts of stone can be turned by hearts of flesh by one person, and that is God. Lastly, I'm gonna close out with this. He says, you'll see the distinction. You'll see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. You'll see that distinction. All of human history is a prelude to this final moment.

There are not simply two flavors of humanity, and you can just pick spicy or mild ketchup or mustard, strawberry or vanilla. There are sons and rebels. There is an opposing army that will be put down and everyone who is in it loses. And that opposition, that distinction, that chasm between God and righteousness and those who hate him and wickedness that is telling us something about God.

God is love. He cannot lie. He creates life. He's glorious. The rebellion against him is malice. It's conducted and led and bred by the father of lies, who was a what from the beginning? A murderer from the beginning. And it leads to death and corruption. That's why James 4:4 says that friendship with the world is enmity with God.

You have the way things ought to be and were in Genesis one through two and will be someday again. And then you have the temporary oil slick that's on the surface of the way things ought to be. And that oil slick is being drained away. Or if you prefer, you've got this cosmos, this universe, this world that was created to be a pasture for sheep.

And in it right now, running amok a little bit, are some goats. But there will be no more goats on the other side of this final day. None. This pasture will be free from them. Human history is a prelude to the moment when Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says, those who are cast out will say, we knew about you.

We heard you. Teach in our streets. I went to church. I did the flannel graph thing. I sang them songs. I know how great thou art. I know all of them. Please let me in. I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. The distinction on that day will be final. There's no more crossing over from one side to the other.

I want to leave with, end it with this. There are people in this room almost certainly who don't yet know Jesus Christ. Not everyone in this room is born again, I think. If they are, great. But if you have not yet been born again to a living hope in Jesus Christ, hear me. Serving him Conducting these works of righteousness does not make you a child of God.

I'm not calling you to do something. 18 is not calling you to do something that will make you a child of God. It's describing the children of God. Confirming your election, 2 Peter 1:10, doesn't cause your election. If you have not been born again, I'm calling you to do one thing. Trust in Jesus Christ.

Despair of your own righteousness. You have none. You have never done anything that impressed God, neither have I. Ever! But he will lovingly, graciously, cover you in his son's blood and wash away every wicked thing you've ever done if you will just trust in him. Repent of your sins and trust in Christ.

And then at that point, on the other side of that faith, you will start doing works of righteousness that Ephesians says he what? Prepared beforehand, he will walk with you as you serve him. And that serving will not have been the cause of your being where you are, but it will display. You're on the side of the door where the wedding banquet occurs.

And it never ends. And the singing is loud and it's great. Repent and trust in Christ if you haven't. If you haven't heard anything else I've said and you don't know Jesus, hear that. I don't know how long any of us have trust in Jesus Christ. He will save you. He loves to save sinners and turn them into something else.

Pray with me. Our great God and father, we thank you for writing the Bible, for giving us an inspired, inerrant, infallible, Authoritative, powerful word, which gives life to those who will bend their knees under it, who will serve you and love you and trust you help us to know that this word is for our good and for your glory.

It will, you will through it conform us to the image of your son. We'll stop being what we were born as. We'll shed all of our sins, all of our rebellion, all of our idolatry, all of our anxiety, all of our fretfulness. We'll shed it day by day, year by year, because your word will not come back to you void.

It will sanctify us. I beg of you, Father, Son, Spirit, if there is anybody here, which there almost certainly is. Any people here, multiple human souls, who have not been born again, to actual faith in you, please grant them repentance and faith unto eternal life. Grant them to see that you are a good and gracious God who loves, delights in, washing and cleansing wicked men and women.

And adopting them into your family. Please save any of us who do not yet know you. Those of us who do help us to fear you and to remember this great distinction between the righteous and the wicked. We love you. Help us to love you more. It's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.