This transcript was generated automatically and may contain minor errors.

Would you take out your bible, please? And turn with me to first Corinthians. First Corinthians. We're gonna look there in chapter two and verse nine here in just a moment. First Corinthians chapter two and verse nine.

I'll put another passage on the screen behind me before we get there, but that will be the first passage that we read this morning. First Corinthians chapter two starting in verse nine. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much for your presence this morning. So grateful that you've chosen to be here this morning, and I join with Ty in welcoming those who are visiting, welcoming those who are joining us online.

We're grateful that you've chosen to be a part of what it is that we're doing here this morning as we strive to be pleasing to the Lord. Our theme for the year is built on the foundation. And, particularly, in this third of the year through the end of the month of August, we're talking about that laid foundation, the message of Christ that was given by the apostles and prophets as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write those things down. And so we've been thinking about the Holy Spirit, inspiring the apostles and prophets to have this continued message of Jesus Christ, of what we're supposed to be doing as Christians, as those who wear his name, what we're supposed to be doing now that we found salvation in Jesus Christ, and what we're supposed to be doing as a local church, but which we'll get into more as we think about the third third of the year here in just a little bit. And so we've been talking about this idea of a firm foundation of why and answering some of those ideas and concepts.

Why do we do the things that we do? Can we have good solid answers where we understand those things and are able to communicate those things with others? And so a few weeks ago, we talked about those approved apostolic examples that if they did it in the New Testament and the apostles approved of that as they were inspired by the holy spirit, then we know that we can do those same things today, and we had a test case for that. What I'd like to do this morning is think about this in a different way that I think has been very, very helpful to me. In fact, I would say that this has kind of been the dominant thing over the last decade or so in regard to how I try and go about understanding the message of the apostles and applying the that message to the apostles in my life in really practical ways.

And it comes back to this question, does this please God? That's the question that I'm asking myself all the time about things that I do and things that we practice collectively, does this please God? And it goes back to this concept that's found a ton in our New Testaments, but maybe Colossians chapter one in verse 10 is the best example, That you may walk that's our life. That's the way we live. Right?

That you may walk worthy of the Now I know in one sense, we could never be worthy of God and all of the things that he's done for us, but in another sense, I wanna strive to be the best that I can be in his service, that I wanna walk worthy of the calling at which I was called. This is a high and noble calling that I get to walk as Jesus has called me to walk, and so I wanna do my very best in that. And the goal of walking worthy of the Lord is to be fully pleasing to him. Not mostly pleasing him, not pleasing him some of the time and pleasing myself some of the time. My goal is to be fully pleasing to him in my walk.

And if the point of our lives is to please and glorify God because we love God and we see all that God has done for us, then when it comes to everything that we think, everything that we say, everything that we do, we should be asking the question, does this please God? Now as we think about that question, I wanna begin this way. I want us to see if we agree or disagree with this particular statement. Now I'm gonna ask you to do thumbs up or thumbs down here in just a second. I was preaching in Pensacola this past week.

It took till Wednesday night before they finally got the thumbs up, thumbs down thing, but you're on it. You're you're used to that. So agree or disagree, not yet. Wait. Hold.

Hold. No matter how well we know someone, we don't know them better than they know themselves. I want you to think whether you agree or disagree with that statement. No. Not yet.

Not yet, Monty. Not yet. Now I know that there are some cases where maybe somebody has a blind spot. They don't see something about themselves. And so from the outside, we can see more clearly something about someone than even what they can see in themselves.

I know that there are those exceptions. But what I'm talking about is, overall overall, do we know someone? No matter how well we know them, do we know them better than they know themselves? So agree or disagree, no matter how well we know someone, we don't know them better than they know themselves. Now you can answer.

Oh, I've got some disagrees, but I've got mostly agrees on that. Well, let me express it this way. For those of you who said thumbs down, let me express it this way. Stephanie is probably the person that I know best in this world besides myself. I know her really, really well.

Well, here late, she's been getting these Instagram reels where it says, ask your partner all of these questions and see how they do, if they how well they know you. Raise your hand if you've seen any of those reels. So okay. Lots of you have seen that. And so we're we're laying in bed, and it's like test time.

Right? This is a great way to wind down at the end of the day When your wife asks you all these questions about how well you know her or not, this is gonna determine how well we sleep tonight. Right? And so she's asking me these questions. I'm doing pretty well, y'all.

Like like, 90%? Is that fair? 90 86% of the time, I'm getting these questions right. I feel like I'm doing pretty well. But even if I were getting a 100% of the questions right, every time she asks the question, oh, is it this or this about me?

And I got the answer right. If I know her that well, even then, where am I going to confirm whether the answer is right or not? I'm still going to her because she knows what's in her heart, and she knows what's in her mind. And that from that perspective, as to what's in her heart and mind, she knows herself better than even I could ever know her. From that perspective, I believe that we would agree to that idea, that someone knows what's in their heart and mind even better than we know them.

And after eighteen years of marriage, Stephanie still surprises me sometimes. Really? That? That's what's in your mind? That's what's in your heart?

That's what you think about this? So that's the principle. But I want to apply that principle to God this morning. Turn to first Corinthians chapter two. How do we know the mind of God?

Raise your hand if you think you know God pretty well this morning. Well, I think we do. We know God pretty well. But do we know God better than he knows himself? Do we know God the father better than the holy spirit knows God the father?

Do we know the son better than the holy spirit knows the son? Well, this is what Paul says in first Corinthians chapter two and verse nine. But as it is written, eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. God has things in mind for us that we did not see and could not imagine. But even though there's things that we don't know and don't see and can't imagine, but God has revealed them a lot of these things to us through his spirit.

For the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. Now which spirit is being used here? Wait. Wait. No.

That's Wednesday night. Right? Well, we're gonna we're gonna get there. We're gonna see what spirit he's talking about. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him?

What's in your heart, what's in your mind, what's in your spirit, you know what's in there, and the only way I know it is if you tell me, if you reveal that to me. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. Now we, and I think he's talking about the apostles here, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the holy spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So as we've been talking about in this third of the year, the holy spirit reveals the mind, the heart, the spirit of God.

The holy spirit told the apostles and prophets what was in God's mind, what he wanted revealed, and they spoke those things. And they wrote those things down so that we might know what's in God's heart and God's mind too. And when God has revealed what pleases him on a when he says, this is my heart. This is my mind. This is my desire.

This is what I want. This is what pleases me. Who are we decide to do something different? Stephanie loves it when I use her for examples and sermons. She just that's her favorite thing in the world.

So let me give you another example. This has been oh, I don't know. We've just moved to Lufkin fairly recently, and so, I don't know, maybe fourteen, fifteen years ago. It was Stephanie's birthday, and her mother had called and said, what do you want for your birthday? And so there was this very specific Vera Bradley purse.

Raise your hand if you know what Vera Bradley is. That was very popular back then, and it was a specific kind of purse, specific pattern that she said she wanted for her birthday. And so I forget the occasion or reason, but we were together with her parents on her birthday. And so her mother gives her this present, and she opens it up, and it's a Vera Bradley purse, not at all the purse that she had asked for. And she said, oh, thank you.

And then later on, as she had a moment, she she asked her mother. She said, well, this is lovely. Why why did you not get the one that I asked you to get? Thinking maybe, you know, the store didn't have it, whatever the case might be. And her mom said, well, I just thought you would like this one better, which worked out great for me as the husband because I got online, I ordered that sucker, and a week later, I was the hero.

Right? I got her I got her the purse that she wanted, and I didn't have to guess because she had said exactly what she wanted. Now what was wrong with the purse that Stephanie's mother got for her? Was it nice? Thumbs up, thumbs down.

Was it nice? Yeah. It was nice. Did it cost her something in order to buy that? Of course.

It wasn't for free. Was it sincerely given? Did Sue really have in her heart this is a present for Stephanie, and I think Stephanie is gonna like that. Was it sincerely given? Absolutely.

So what was wrong with the present? It wasn't what Stephanie asked for. It wasn't what she really wanted. And if someone reveals what they want, what they desire, who are we to say, no. That's not really what you want.

And where does that apply in any greater magnitude than with God? If God says this is what pleases me, who are we to say something different about that? So may I suggest, if the point of our lives is to please God out of our love for him, then when it comes to all that we say, think, and do, we need to ask the question, does this please God? And if he reveals it through his holy spirit who inspired the apostles and prophets to write it down, we can know that this pleases God. As he says in second Peter chapter one verses twenty and twenty one, knowing this first, out of all the things that are revealed, knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private origin.

Maybe yours says private interpretation. What God wants is not just up to us. It's not coming from these men themselves. It's not up to, you know, what we think on these matters. It's not of any private origin, but for prophecy never came by the will of man, not true prophecy.

But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who knows and searches the mind of God is the one who reveals that thing. And that concept, again, directly relates to our theme for this second third of the year. We should ask the question, does this please God in every aspect of our life? From establishing authority for what we believe and practice, does this please God?

To what I wear, does this outfit please God? To what I watch, does this show or movie please God? To how I speak, Does this language or joke or story or rumor, please God, to how I behave on social media? Does this post, please God? Does this like, please God?

Does this group chat, please God? To what I choose to do for a living, can I please God and still do this for a living to who it is that I date and marry? Does this relationship help me to please God? It all comes back to that same question. Right?

Does this please God or not? And asking that question and only doing those things to which we can answer, yes. This does please God proves our love for him and allows us to be fully pleasing to the Lord. So does this please God? Now, obviously, there are some things in life where we can ask that question and maybe it doesn't.

We've got some people about to go off to college. You make gotta make a choice between Chick fil A and Taco Bell. You ask yourself, does this please God? Which one of these pleases God? Well, maybe there's some basic principles about health and so forth.

I don't think God cares if you choose Chick fil A or Taco Bell. You think about the kind of car you drive. Does God care what kind of car you drive? I don't think he does. Now he cares.

Are you a good steward of the things that he's given? Are you using that car in service to others, or are you using it in anger to run people off the road? He cares about those sorts of things, but he doesn't care what kind of car you drive. He's not revealed anything regarding those things. But when it comes to what God has revealed, revealed something of himself, the Holy Spirit has inspired these people to write it down.

In regard to those things, I need to ask the question, does this please God? And I would suggest there are three ways we might answer that question. Does this please God? The first answer would be what? Yes.

It does please God. I can say, yes. This does please God. We might call that authorized things, things that are authorized. Now I saw the way some people are thinking because most of you said yes.

A few of you said, well, the first answer is no. Well, both of those things are true. Right? Does this please God? Well, if I say yes, then he's authorized that.

I have permission from him in order to do that. And there are lots of ways that we might establish that yes answer. Sometimes it's really easy. It's an explicit command, and God says, thou shalt do this. And I know that pleases God.

I need to do it. But there are some times where we have to draw that conclusion that, yes, this does please God, and maybe it's because there's a statement that is made, and it's not an explicit command. It doesn't say, do this, but I can draw the conclusion from the statement that's made that that's something I need to do. For example, now this is a simple one. Mark sixteen sixteen, he who believes and is baptized will be saved.

Is that a command? No. Just a statement. This is reality. You believe and you're baptized, you need to be saved.

But can I draw the conclusion of what pleases God? Yeah. I need to believe and be baptized to be saved because that's what pleases God. Sometimes it's just statements like that, and I have to draw the conclusion. Other times, we have what we might call approved examples.

Pat read from these scriptures this morning for the Lord's Supper, first Corinthians eleven twenty three through 26. Boy, Pat looked up here quick when I said his name. That's an approved example. This is what Jesus did, and Paul, as he's writing to the church in Corinth there, says, this is what Jesus did. This is what you need to do as well.

And so we know that pleases God because it's what Jesus did, and it's what Paul said is pleasing to God by using that example. That makes sense? But what's the second answer? Well, some of you have already said it. Does this please God?

No. It doesn't please God. We might call those things condemned. Right? God says, no.

These are not what I want. And, again, we establish that answer in much the same way. There are explicit prohibitions. Thou shalt not do this. And if that's the case, we better not do it.

God said not to do it. But sometimes we have to draw conclusions in order to reach that conclusion that, no, this does not please God. And those drawn conclusions, again, can come from just statements that are made. For example, you wanna turn over a few pages to first Corinthians chapter six. First Corinthians chapter six and verse nine.

In fact, this is a question, a question that he asked us to answer, but it's not a command neither is it a explicit prohibition. It's just the question. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. It goes on to say, and such were some of you, but you've been washed and sanctified and purified, justified in the name of Jesus from those things.

It's interesting. This is not an explicit prohibition saying, do not commit adultery. Instead, he just says, the kinds of people who do these things are not gonna inherit the kingdom of God. So can I draw the conclusion rightly from that statement, from that question? I wanna inherit the kingdom of God.

So these things don't please God. I'm not gonna do those things. And then sometimes we have what are called disapproved examples, and I think first Corinthians 11 is another example of that. We have in verses 23 through 26, this is what you're supposed to do. But earlier, going all the way to verse 17, he says, this is what you shouldn't do.

Verse 20, therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. That's what you're supposed to be doing. And at the end, he says, but you're not. Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you, Paul says.

And so this is a disapproved example. Whatever else I know about the Lord's Supper, I know that I shouldn't be doing what they were doing there in Corinth. Why? It doesn't please God, and it's clear that it doesn't please God even though it's not what we would call an explicit prohibition. So I think to this point, everybody would agree on all that.

I need to do the things that are authorized. I don't need to do the things that are condemned. Here's my question. What's the third answer to that question? Does this please God?

Yes. Does this please God? No. Third answer, we might say, maybe. We might say, I don't know.

Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know. What do we do with this third category that we might just call unauthorized? It's not condemned.

God doesn't say, thou shalt not, or we have an example that says, don't do this. But it's something that's just unauthorized. What do we do with that category? And when we're talking about where God has spoken, where he has revealed something on the matter, he's expressed his desire, and so we have things that are authorized and approved, but then we have a whole laundry list of things that are just unauthorized that he has not spoken saying, don't do this. I don't have permission to do it, but he hasn't condemned it.

What do I do with that third category? Well, lots of people say, as long as something isn't specifically condemned, we have authority. We have the right to do it. That's that whole argument. Well, God didn't say not to do this, so I can.

But I don't think we really believe that. Not in real life. Not when it comes to the things that we authorize, the things that we say that we want and that we desire. The Five Guys burgers and fries that was here in Lufkin was short lived in part because I think it was way too expensive. Brooklyn and I went and ate there while we were in Florida.

All of the burgers started with a one, meaning they're all $10 or more, even the little burgers. I mean, it's expensive. So this is an old menu. If this were still the prices, I think the Five Guys would still be in business here in Lufkin. My order when I go to Five Guys is I order a little bacon cheeseburger down here with pickles and jalapeno peppers, and I always emphasize this.

I want it dry. Dry with pickles and jalapeno peppers. So I've authorized some things, haven't I? I've explicitly said I want a little bacon cheeseburger. Now that authorizes them to have a bun, have some bacon on there, have some cheese on there, have some, a burger patty on there, and then to add pickles and fresh jalapenos.

That's what I love about Five Guys. They've got the fresh ones, not the pickled ones. So I've authorized those things. Now I've also implied I said dry. So what does that mean?

I've condemned some things by that. Right? I don't want mayonnaise. I hate mayonnaise. I don't want mayonnaise.

I don't want ketchup. I don't want mustard. I don't want a one sauce or barbecue or hot. Sauce. I don't want any of that.

I want it dry. I don't want any sauces on there. I've condemned those things. What about everything else on the menu? All of these things in green are just unauthorized.

I've spoken about what I want, but I haven't addressed all those other things. Do you see that? So let's imagine for a moment that the guy who's making the burgers, he gets this order and he looks at it and say, oh, that's a pretty good order, but you know what would be really great? I love some sauteed onions. I don't, but this guy does.

He says, I'm gonna put some onions on there because this would make this burger really great if I put some onions on there. And Ty Thorpe is with me, and we see it come out and we open it up and we smell it. Oh, oh, I hate I hate onions. The only person in the world that hates them more than me is Ty. Well, what if he was sincere in putting that on there?

What if he really thought that that was better and that was gonna please me? Would I still be happy with that? Had I authorized him to do that? Was that in this context, was that what I ordered? No.

And maybe there's some people that would grin and bear it and eat it anyway, but for me, I'm gonna have to take it back. It's got onions on it. I can't eat it. And what if I took it up there to the counter and the guy said, well, you didn't say that you didn't want onions on it, so I thought that I could. Would that be good enough of an answer for me?

Of course not. And yet, loved ones, often, that's what people wanna do with God. God has said what pleases him, what he desires, the way he wants things done. And we say, well, God didn't say not to do it this way, so I think I'll go ahead and do it in a in a different way than what he has revealed. Let's look at a Old Testament example of this.

This is a classic illustration, and I think it's classic for a reason because of the specific terminology, the way it's worded by the holy spirit, which I think is coincidence. I think this is by design. Here we find the children of Israel in the very shadow of Mount Sinai, and they're they're instituting all of these things in the old law regarding worship in the tabernacle. And they've offered a bunch of sacrifices already, and fire from the Lord has come out and consumed the sacrifice on the altar, and now the fire is still burning there on the altar, and they're supposed to keep that fire burning in perpetuality. That's the fire that they're supposed to use for everything.

But in chapter 10 and verse one, here's what happens next. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it. Supposed to get the fire there off the altar that God had made themselves. It says they put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord. Old King James says strange fire.

Who's reading from the English Standard Version this morning? ESV people. It says unauthorized fire, and that's really the concept that's being talked about here. Before the Lord, listen, which he had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.

And Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke saying, by those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy, as sanctified. And before all the people, I must be glorified. I'm holy. You need to glorify me. You need to you need to see me as being holy, and that means doing what I tell you to do, not changing it to do what you wanna do.

What was the issue here with these two men? They did what was unauthorized. And there are lots of ways that we might think about this in terms of our three answers to that question. Does this please God? Were there things that God had told them to do in regarding the sacrifice?

Yes. Regarding the fire and the way they're supposed to what they what fire they're supposed to use? Yes. And in fact, all of these things had just taken place in Leviticus chapters one through nine. In fact, something that maybe we don't see is that this was basically the first time they were doing this, seemingly on the same day where they had offered those first set of offerings there in chapter nine.

And God struck them dead in the same manner he accepted the earlier sacrifices. No excuses, no do overs. And it doesn't seem from the text that this was just a sin by accident. This wasn't the result of, well, I was unsure and we just kinda messed up the first time nor was it the innovation of years of doing something the same way. They chose to do something that God had not commanded them.

And maybe the consequences were by accident, not what they were expecting, but the proper procedures for their fire were laid out in Leviticus one through seven, and they chose to do something different than what God had authorized, what he had commanded. But what's interesting to me is that God, nowhere in the text, told them, do not offer any other fire. He did not say, do not offer unauthorized fire. The closest we find there is in Exodus chapter 30 regarding incense, and he says, don't offer unauthorized incense. In other words, there's a specific kind of mixture of incense that you're supposed to use.

That's the only incense you're supposed to use. And maybe they could have drawn the conclusion, I think rightly, well, if that's true of the incense, it's probably true of the fire also. And yet, we don't find specifically condemned using other fire besides what God had prescribed. This is what we would call unauthorized. They offered unauthorized fire, listen, which he had not commanded him.

They commanded something else, didn't command you that, but also didn't condemn what it was that they were offering. And what was God's reaction to that? He was not pleased because they did not do what had pleased him. And God had not specifically and explicitly condemned what they were doing, but he shouldn't have to. He had told them his will.

He told them what he wanted. And for the one who is seeking to please God, this idea is vitally important, and we need to learn it. We need to teach our children this concept as well. If God has specifically revealed what pleases him on a matter, we should not presume to do something that he has not authorized. Presume to do something else.

As we said earlier, no matter how well we know someone, we don't know them better than they know themselves. No matter how well we know God, we don't know him better than the holy spirit. So when God has revealed what pleases him, who are we to decide to do something different? God commanded what he wanted, and he didn't have to condemn everything else that he doesn't want. My question is, were they disobedient to God, Nadab and Abihu?

The answer is yes. And that's not just an old testament phenomenon. If you're here today and you're not a member of a church of Christ of the church of Christ, or if you are, and yet you wonder why we do so many of the things that we do that other groups don't do. I mean, I suggest so many of the those come back to this very question. Does this please God?

Yes, no, I don't know. And our position is, well, if I say I don't know, I probably shouldn't do those things. If God has revealed, yes, things that I can say yes to on that question, I need to do those things, not these things that I don't know about. Why do we worship in song without instruments, for example? Because we know that pleases God.

He commanded it. We have lots of examples of them doing it, and we don't know we don't know if worshiping with instruments pleases him. There are no commands to do so, but, also, there's the there's no thou shalt not worship me with instruments in the New Testament. We'll talk about that a little bit more tonight. But we know what pleases him, and so that's why we do it.

Why do we partake of the Lord's Supper on every first day of the week? Because we know that pleases God. We have lots of examples of it. And we don't know if for taking less frequently does please God. We don't know.

And so we choose not to do that because we wanna be pleasing to God. When it comes to the pooled financial resources of the church, why do we hear, which is different from many other groups, why do we only provide financially out of out of the local church's money, why do we only provide financially to assemble to worship and support the teaching, preaching of the gospel, and very limited benevolence to only Christians and only under certain circumstances? Why do we only do those three things with the Lord's money? Because we know that pleases God. Why is it when we baptize someone unlike some other groups?

Why do we fully immerse them in the water? Why do we put them all the way down instead of pouring or sprinkling? Because we know that pleases God. Those are the examples that we have. That's what we can see clearly in the New Testament that they did.

And nowhere does God say, thou shalt not sprinkle to baptize, but we know we know this pleases God, and that's why we do it. Why do we hold any pattern like we talked about a few weeks ago? Any apostolic tradition, any New Testament example? Sometimes we even say, well, we're just trying to be a New Testament church in the twenty first century. Why are we trying to do that?

Because we know that those things please God. They did them in the New Testament. It pleased God in the New Testament. Look. We can point to it right here.

This is what they're doing, and the apostles approved of that, which means we know we can do it today and please God as well. And so when it comes to doing anything else other than what we know pleases God, what we can point to and say, yes, he commanded this, or we can draw that conclusion because statements that are made, questions that are asked, examples that are given in the New Testament, we can rightly draw that conclusion that this pleases God. When it comes to doing anything other than that, the burden of proof is on the one who wants to do something other than what God has revealed pleases him. Do you understand burden of proof? We think about in our legal system, what's the burden of proof?

You are presumed, what? Innocent until proven guilty. So the burden of proof is on the one who says this is gonna be guilty. Right? The prosecution has to prove their case in civil court and in criminal court.

It's different, but we'll say prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. They have the burden of proof to say, no. They are guilty. And when it comes to these matters, the burden of proof is on the one who says, well, we know something pleases God. We have an example of it.

They have to be able to make the argument that says, well, this is scripturally, we ought to be able to do something else when it comes to this particular belief or practice or way we're gonna walk, way we're gonna live personally or as a local church. And if somebody can make a good bible argument from that, well, what do we do? We move it over into that other category, and we say, I know this pleases God, and here are the reasons why that I can do that. And as soon as I say, maybe, that's what some of you said for that third question. Well, maybe.

Maybe this pleases God or, you know, I think this pleases God or maybe worse, I hope this pleases God. I have moved from the realm of knowing what is revealed by God to trying to read God's mind if I can't prove it by scripture. And it is presumptuous at best to the approved practice from God and choose to do something else. At worst, it is placing our own desires, what we want, what pleases us ahead of God's desires. And here's the reality.

Maybe in the judgment day, God will accept some of those things by his grace. That's God's pro pro that's god's right, his prerogative. I used to be able to say that word. God has the right to show grace to whomever he wills. Right?

But maybe he won't. And when I stand before him in judgment, I wanna be say when he says, why did you do this? Lord, I saw in my scriptures that this was pleasing to you, and that's why I did it. And I know that Reagan McClenny is not the one who's figured everything out over the course of all Christian history, And it is my prayer and my hope and my confidence that God will be forgiving on those things that I've messed up somehow. But when I stand before him in judgment, I want to say, Lord, to the best of my knowledge, to the best of my ability, I have striven to be fully pleasing to you, to do those things that are right in your sight, not in mine.

Lord, over and over, I've asked the question, does this please you? And my goal has been to only do those things where I can say, yes. I know this is pleasing to God. And I am not guessing this because it's the safe route, quote, unquote. I had a good friend of mine.

We've we're talking about some of these things, and he said that, you know, Reagan, you wanna take the safe route? That's great. You do that, but I'm gonna do this other over here. That's summarizing our conversation. You wanna take the safe route?

That's fine. I'm gonna do this over here. May I suggest that this is not well, maybe it is the safe route, but that's not the reason why I do it. I do this because I believe it is the only route that fully acknowledges and respects God's holiness and his sovereignty and his authority and that he must be glorified by all who would come before him. But, also, because this is the only route that fully acknowledges and respects his love for me and his desire to show me the paths of life, the way to walk worthy of the calling by which I've been called, that he knows how to live this life better than me.

And if he has shown me a path that leads to him being pleased, I should take that path in gratitude that he showed it to me to begin with, not choose another where I am uncertain of whether it is pleasing to him or not. Does that sound restricting to you? May I suggest it's liberating once you have established the path of seeking to walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to him. I live my life with peace and come because I don't have to constantly worry whether God approves of something I'm doing or not. I worship with freedom and joy because I can point in my Bible, and I can say, here is where God desires this kind of worship.

I can act with confidence knowing that I am acting in the name of and under the authority of the king of kings, And I can be content to operate within the roles God has given me knowing that he has equipped me to thrive within the borders of those roles. I can say with confidence, I'm living my life to please God, not myself. And there are times where I fall short. There are times where I stumble, but my heart is set. And over and over, I come back to him, and I ask for forgiveness when I fall short.

But I ask the question, does this please God? And if you're here this morning and you're seeking to please God, may I simply ask you, what's the next step in your walk? What is it that you need to do next to walk worthy of the Lord? Maybe you're here this morning and you love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You love Jesus Christ and believe that he is that promised Messiah, the son of God who came to take away your sins, but you have not yet put Christ on in baptism to rise to walk in newness of life.

That's the next step that you need to take. Or maybe you're here this morning, you've already done that, and you've been walking with the Lord, and yet you see this creeping in self, myself and my desires competing with the desires of God, and you have started following down the path of does this please me rather than does this please God. If we can help you in any way this morning to know God more closely or to follow him more closely, you're seeking to please him and we can help. Won't you come while together we stand and while we sing?