Father, speak to us. Speak to me. Convict me. Change


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1 The COMEBACK Series Pt. 8: Comeback to God Metrocitychurch.tv │ J. Schossau 05.26.18 Hey Everybody…we are so glad that you are here…at both campuses…so excited that you are here. I think you are here on the RIGHT DAY. You may not think that when we are done but I think you are. It’s Memorial Day weekend… this is the weekend we remember those who have served our Nation in the armed services and especially those who have given their lives to defending our Constitution and Freedom. So, if you have served — we are in debt to you. Thank you. We’re wrapping up this series called THE COMEBACK SERIES. I hope you’ve been encouraged by it because we’ve been talking about a little secret that really isn’t a secret at all…every one of us needs a COMEBACK. In one area or another…we need a comeback. You might be rocking it in this area or that area…but every one of us has something somewhere in our life that has gotten off track and if we’re honest…we are not where we want to be, and we need a COMEBACK. YOU WITH ME? Come on…TRUE? So, here’s what I’d like to do to begin today. I know this might seem a little strange. But at both campuses, no matter who you are or what you believe… I’d love for you to get out of you seats and bow on your knees before God. Come on…just do this with me. Just want to be humble before God. Bowing your knee says to God…you are the creator and I am the created. You are the king and I am not. It is saying…GOD, I NEED SOMETHING MORE FROM YOU. And friends…look at me for a moment. We are going to talk about the most important comeback we could ever talk about. We’re going to talk about a COMEBACK TO GOD HIMSELF. This is going to be personal. This is going to be real and intense. But please hear me friends…this is what the Scripture says. Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. I want to talk about the narrow road a little bit today and my hope, no my prayer is that you will just have an open heart.

Father, speak to us. Speak to me. Convict me. Change me. Grow me. Speak oh God, for your child is listening. AMEN. I’d like to tell you exactly my gameplay today. I know that I shouldn’t do this. If I was really a top-notch communicator I would just, try to sneak this up on you but I want to just tell you exactly where we are heading today. First, I’m going to read to you three stories that Jesus told. I’ll make some comments on them. And then I want to tell you a quick story. Then I’m going to ask you to repent and comeback to God. And I know already when I say that, some of you are crossing your arms and saying…you’re not going to tell me what I’m going to do. I’m not going to tell you. I’m going to beg you. It might not go over to well but that is where I think the Lord is leading us so here are the three stories.

2 Three stories…back to back to back. They come from the writer Luke. Luke was a doctor and scholar. He wanted to make a historical narrative about the life of Jesus, so he wrote down some of the key stories he heard about Jesus and what Jesus taught. And so, three

stories, each with a similar theme about something being lost and someone looking for that thing which is lost. So, this must be important because it’s not one story, not two stories, but three stories in a row about this theme in Luke 15. Luke records that all these people…including these pharisees and teachers of religion had gathered around Jesus. And they were accusing him of hanging out with the wrong type of people. You know, the kind of people who were not too interested in the whole God thing. Jesus tended to do this. And they were accusing him, trying to make him look bad and so that’s when Jesus says…maybe you don’t understand something about the heart of God. Let me tell you a story. Jesus would do this crazy thing…instead of getting all book smart on people he’d tell them stories that would memorable and mind bending. Instead of a lecture he’d often paint a picture about how life works and who God is. They were called PARABLES…and remember how we described a parable? A parable is an earthy story with a heavenly meaning. An everyday story that carried the weight of eternity with it. So, listen to what Jesus says. Luke 15 starting in verse three. 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? (they are sheep herders. They understand this. Sheep are valuable to them. Any sheep herder who is worth anything is not going to lose a single sheep. They are to valuable. They mean too much to the family.) 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. (they’re going…that’s right. That’s how we roll. That’s how we do it.) Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents (What’s that word? Hate that word. We don’t like that word.) than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to (Say this…) repent.

So, this is a story about SOMETHING that was LOST. SOMEONE who did the LOOKING and SOMEBODY who needed to do be different. 8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. (A silver coin was a Roman Drachma…Say DRACHMA…it’s about a day’s wage to a common laborer. And so, this lady loses this coin and everybody’s going…THIS AINT GOOD. And they’re wondering what she is going to do. And so, Jesus senses this and he answers the question for them…) Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says,

3 ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who (uh oh…say this word…) repents.” So, this is the second story but it’s really the same as the first fight? This is a story about SOMETHING that was LOST. SOMEONE who did the LOOKING and SOMEBODY who needed to do be different. Third story. Probably one of the most famous stories ever told in human literature. And Jesus says…maybe you didn’t quite get it the first two times so I’m going to tell you it a third time. But this time he dials it up because it’s not about an animal being lost or an object being lost…it’s about ‘YOU’ being lost. About somebody just like you. 11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. (How many sons?) 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So, he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. (We’re going to learn in a little bit that his wild living is good ole fashion skirt chasing. If you don’t know what that means, ask somebody older then you. He was partying in every sense of the word. And these people are going…yep…seen people do that. Seen plenty of people just ruin their lives by partying just a little too hard? Anybody in this room ever seen anybody ruin their life by this? How about it at Riverview…ANY PARTY HARDY types…you’ve seen that?) 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. (He was out of his old man’s money. And had to get a job. This might be a biblical defense for not giving your kids everything. Make them work…amen!) 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. (And when these people heard this they were like…oh…this guy has hit the bottom of the bottom. This literally made them sick because does anybody know what Jewish people do not eat? BACON! HAM! They don’t eat pig. They consider pigs dirty and unholy. Unsacred. Me…I LOVE BACON. MORE BACON THE BETTER - Glory to God… but to these guys…JESUS JUST TOOK THIS STORY INTO THE GUTTER. This kid couldn’t get any worse. So, these guys are hanging on this story. They are like…where is he going with this. Because to good religious Jews they were like, this boy is getting exactly what he deserves.) 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.19 I

4 am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. ANYBODY CATCHING SOMETHING HERE? HIS DADDY WAS OUT LOOKING FOR HIM. He had shamed his daddy. He had stolen from his family. He had broken the law of God. He has mocked their great faith. And Jesus says…something crazy…this daddy went out and threw his arms around his boy and kissed him and said…I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve been looking every day for you. And he’s just tearing up and slobbering over his boy. Listen… 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, (YOU CRAZY BOY…of course you’re my son…) ’Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So, they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So, his father went out and pleaded with him. (Notice this… jealousy…envy sets in. This son was perfectly happy being at home but notice something. YOUR CONTENTMENT ENDS WHERE JEALOUSY BEGINS. But his father sees this…and look at this…this father goes out to this son to. This father loves all his children. AMEN. He goes to this son.) 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat, so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. (You never asked for a goat. You want a goat…I’d give you a goat.) 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

So, this is a story about SOMETHING that was LOST. SOMEONE who did the LOOKING and SOMEBODY who needed to do be different.

5 But this story isn’t like the other two exactly. It has a different ending. Jesus doesn’t say anything about rejoicing in heaven because somebody repents. And he doesn’t say it

because he doesn’t have to.

He shows what repentance is. This is the other two stories with human skin on it. And just in case you missed it the something that was LOST was us. It’s you. Either you’re the brother who has obvious struggles caught up in lust and greed and perversion and rebellion against God. Or you are the son that is smug and self-righteous. Maybe you’re the guy or gal that somehow, in some way, thinks you don’t even need God because you’re good enough. You’re tough enough. You can manage it all on your own. A spiritual pride fills your soul. You think you’re ok with God because you’re just not that bad. But you’re in this story somewhere.

And someone was looking and who is doing the looking. OUR HEAVENLY FATHER. God. He’s looking for us. He’s wanting us to come home. You might think that God has given up on you, but He hasn’t. He doesn’t, and He won’t. There is nothing you’ve ever done or thought or become that can separate you from His love towards you. The only thing that can separate you from God is you. Your resistance towards him. And this is a story of somebody who needed to be different, but this time Jesus doesn’t say anything about REPENTANCE…he shows you what repentance is. He shows us what it looks like. He shows the brokenness of soul…Father, I have sinned against you and all of heaven. I’m lost and need you to forgive me. He shows us what it looks like to turn to God. And this story begins to tackle the greatest problem in all the bible. I want you to think about this…it’s the greatest problem in all the Bible. IF GOD IS GOOD HOW CAN GOD FORGIVE YOU. Follow me…If God is GOOD and HOLY and RIGHTEOUS…if he hates sin, if he hates evil and wrong doing in every form HE CANNOT FORGIVE YOU. You say, WHAT, Pastor. I don’t get it. No, really, that is the greatest problem in all the bible. It’s all the way through the bible, from beginning to end. You see this with the tension between the older son and the younger brother. HOW CAN YOU JUST FORGIVE HIM? He’s messed it all up. IF GOD IS JUST, how can he simply turn his back on your sin? How can he cast your sin away from you as far as the East is from the West? Literally, the bible says that God covers up your sin!

What do we think about a judge who sweeps crimes under the rug? Do we call him a good judge? A righteous judge? NO…we call him corrupt. Is he maintaining the law? No, he’s mocking the law. And he is mocking all those who live right by the law.

6 And therein lies the problem. GOD IS RIGHTEOUS. God is Holy. And because he is Holy and because he is Love…HE HATES. He hates evil. You say, but God is love and you’re right…because God is love he must hate. He hates sin. He hates what is evil. He just can’t turn his back on it. He can’t turn his back on your evil or my evil or anyone else evil. God is a righteous judge and wont the righteous judge over all the earth do right by judging? I heard some very godly people say that if they had only one verse in the Bible to hold onto it would be Romans 3:23 because this one little passage holds the very salvation of man. First, it says… FOR ALL HAVE SINNED… for all have sinned.

We hear that and go yeah, ok. No biggie. WHY DON’T WE TREMBLE? Why don’t we know how terrible this is? We don’t know how much we’ve sinned and how big our sin is much in the same way that a fish does not know how wet it is! WE WERE BORN INTO SIN. We were conceived into sin. Our first breath was taken in a world fallen by sin. The Bible says that, and you can see it…you know this is true…our society drinks down wrong doing like it was water. It baths in immorality. Here’s what you need to understand. Hitler was not an anomaly. Hitler was what everyone in this room has the potential to be. And not only that…even in all the evil of Hitler, Hitler was still restrained by the common grace of God in our world.

And you need to know that if it wasn’t for the grace of God over you in your unconverted state, in your natural state, you would make Hitler look like a choir boy because you and me, we are just one wrong decision from the worst person you know. What we do not understand is what Scripture teaches so clearly about men and that is that MEN ARE EVIL. HUMANITY WITHOUT GOD IS DEPRAVED. You say, Pastor J, come on…I don’t believe that. That is because you’ve grabbed on to enough of Christianity to know that God is love but you forget that God is also HOLY and JUST. And that LOVE without TRUTH is not love at all. Love without JUSTICE is not love at all. The Bible teaches us that the LOVE of God requires God be a righteous Judge. We think that humanity is basically good. But it’s not. Just look at the news. We see the ship sinking further and further every day. Humanity is steeped in evil. I am, and you are. And this starts at birth. Do you have to teach a child to lie? Do you have to teach a child to be self-centered. Do you have to teach a child to be brutal to other children? NO…they learn it on their own. Set a child free. DON’T DISCIPLINE THEM and see what you have in TEN YEARS. YOU WILL HAVE A MONSTER!

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Why? BECAUSE WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS IS TRUE. We are lost without God. And you hold your ears and you say, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT in the same way that a person dying of cancer is in denial and says to the doctor, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT. BUT by cupping your hands over your ears you close yourself off from any remedy. Why is sin so terrible? Because it’s not just committed against people or yourself…but it’s because it’s committed against God. Why don’t we tremble?

Because we don’t know what that means. And why don’t we know what that means? Because we do not know who God is. God is so glorious. God is so beautiful. God is so holy. He is the creator. He is the maker. He is the sustainer. Imagine this for a moment…GOD STANDS THERE ON THE DAY OF CREATION and HE TELLS PLANETS to put themselves in a certain orbit in space and they all say amen and the bow down to him and obey him. He tells STARS find their place in the sky and to follow his decrees to the letter and they all bow down and obey him. He tells MOUNTAINS to be lifted and valleys to be cast down AND THEY BOW DOWN IN WORSHIP. He tells the BRAVE SEAS you will COME TO THIS POINT AND YOU WILL COME NO FURTHER and the Sea ADORES. BUT GOD SAYS TO YOU TO COME and you go, ‘NO.’ He tells me to OBEY and I say…YOU CAN’T MAKE ME. How wicked is our sin before a righteous God?

You see, friends, we are always getting a ONE-SIDED STORY. I’m going to talk about the LOVE of the FATHER in possibly a way that you have never known it but for you to appreciate the Father that goes to the farthest edge of his field to find his lost son, if you are going to appreciate the love of God tonight YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND SOMETHING… HIS LOVE IS EXALTED IN THE SAME WAY THE STARS ARE EXALTED AGAINST A PITCH-BLACK SKY. God’s love stands in stark contrast to our sin! Let me ask you something…where did the STARTS all go today? Did someone gather them from the heavens and put them in a basket and carry them away? How come you looked up but did not see them? BECAUSE THERE WAS SO MUCH LIGHT! You could not marvel at their beauty. You could not even see them…in the same way you could not even see the stars of God’s GRACE and HIS LOVE WITH SO MUCH LIGHT. When preachers like me spend all our time telling you that God is so good, and he loves you and wants to prosper you and that he has nothing but good for you…THE ONLY WAY TO

8 SEE THE LOVE OF GOD and THE GRACE OF GOD IS TO SEE THE PITCH-DARK BLACKNESS OF MAN. THE ONLY WAY TO REALIZE YOUR NEED FOR A SAVIOR IS TO REALIZE THE DEPTH OF YOUR WAYWARDNESS. THE ONLY WAY TO SEE YOUR NEED FOR FORGIVENESS from a God who is the perfect judge is to realize just how far you have fallen.

One sin separates you from God. Anybody ever lie? Just once? What does that make you? A liar. How many times does it take for you to lie to make you a deceitful liar. Anybody ever stolen something? Just once. Maybe cheated a little on a test. Stole an answer. Stole a little extra time from your employer? What does that make you? A thief! Well, I’m not a thief, how many times do you have to take what not rightfully yours to become a thief. EVER LOOK at a woman lustfully? Or a man lustfully. Jesus says, if you’ve looked a woman lustfully it’s like committing adultery with her in your heart. Anybody ever do that? What does that make you? All of this makes you a lying thieving adulterer. Friends…the only way to see THE GLORIOUS GRACE OF GOD IS TO SEE THE PITCH DARK BLACKNESS OF MAN because when you finally see the pitch dark blackness of your own heart you begin to realize that GOD moved in love for you and towards you - just like in the story of the lost son and when you realize that it CAUSES YOU TO KNEES WITH THE GREATEST ESTEEM AND WORSHIP GOD. To repent literally means to CHANGE YOUR MIND. You change your mind about who you are and what you are doing and where you are getting your fulfillment and you TURN TOWARDS GOD. You repent. You come to him like the LOST SON and you say, Father, I have sinned against you and against all your ways. I AM SORRY. I can’t say myself. I can’t earn it myself. I need you and your mercy and grace. Here’s the story that I promised. Very simple. I read about this single mom who had a daughter. She had a tough time with her girl. Her girl was just one of those kids that just wanted to do it her way all the time. TRUE STORY. This kid got mixed up in the world of drugs. She ran away from home and eventually that led her to a life of prostitution. It was just terrible. But this mother did not give up. True story… This mother just kept looking and looking for her girl. She had no idea where she was. One day this mother thought…my girl must be scared. She must be embarrassed. She probably thinks she can never come home again…that she’s gone too far. So, this mother has this idea. She goes and finds a picture of her girl. It was a picture of her when she was in high school. And she was happy and beautiful. And she made a bunch of copies of the picture and she started hanging them all over town. All the worst places in town. And on every one of them she simply wrote…JUST COME HOME. She didn’t put her name. She didn’t put her number…if you’ve seen my girl call me…she wrote…JUST COME HOME.

9 God is saying to you…JUST COME HOME. Repent. Turn from your sin. Be honest about the condition of your soul. Some of you have wandered far. You’re separated from God…just come home. Confess your sin to him and he will forgive you. JUST COME HOME. Salvation does not come from going to church. Salvation does not come from singing a few songs or praying some sort of prayer when you were a child. Salvation comes when you are completely empty of yourself. And you realize your sin and you the rest of faith and trust alone in JESUS to forgive you and restore you to God. When Christ went to the cross he went there to carry your sin. To forgive you sin. To become your sin for you. He went there to SATISFY the decree of a RIGHTEOUS JUDGE who must judge sin. On the cross Jesus said, don’t hold their sin against them. Hold it against me. And the son of God, the holy one of God, the only sinless one became what are to take what we could not bear. He absorbed the judgement and wrath of God so that you and I would no longer be counted as enemies of God but that we would become CHILDREN OF GOD…not objects of His wrath but objects of his mercy. COMEBACK TO GOD…JUST COME HOME. Lead into prayer, repent. Communion.