Pastor Jeff on the Radio

Guest (Male): You're listening to Jeff Schreve, senior pastor of Brave Church. At Brave, we believe God has called his church to stand boldly for truth, not on defense, but to advance, proclaiming his word with clarity and without compromise. If you're looking for a church where scripture is preached with conviction and Jesus Christ is exalted, we'd love to have you. Join us on Sundays at our Englewood or Westminster locations at 8:30 or 10:30 a.m. Learn more at brave.org. Once again, that's brave.org. Now, here's Pastor Jeff with today's message.

Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub: It was like in the summer of, you know, 1972 or it was, you know, the fall of 1989 or whatever it was. I I don't remember an exact moment, but here's the truth. I don't remember being born on December 8th of 1970. I don't remember. Don't have a good recollection of that moment, but there's evidence in my life to show that I'm alive. Right? So, while you may not remember the exact moment time, I I I'll concede that, but there should be a change where it wasn't like I started gradually growing with Christ. No, there was a time where I was here and I was dead.

Now, I'm alive. I had a hunger for his word. I started living for God better. So, let me just spell out some of these myths cuz you're going to see people get baptized here next week. Let me spell out some of the myths. Some of the myths go like this. Well, I was kind of always a Christian. I was born into a Christian home. Aunt, wrong. And um I I trusted Christ at 5:00, but I never really followed him. Aunt, wrong. And um you know, to the best of my ability, I tried to live for God, but you know, I never could do it, wrong.

And uh I went out to college and I slept around and I got drunk all the time, but I know I was a Christian, wrong. And then one when I started coming to Brave, it was like something clicked. And it was like for the first time I started seeing who God was. I started living for him. Friends, that's called salvation. Salvation. Because if Christ is on the inside of you, you will no longer continue to sin. Now, I know what you're saying. Oh, yes, you will. All Christians sin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you won't continue in it.

Because for a true believer, what happens when you sin, you start feeling conviction of sin. And even if you haven't repented or confessed that sin yet, guess what? The conviction doesn't go away. The conviction just remains heavy on you and God doesn't leave you or forsake you and he he stays right there and you feel the weight like David felt the weight and said my bones felt like they were decaying. I mean, until I got to the place where I confessed my sin and then the joy of my salvation was restored. If that's not happening to you, here's what you're not.

You're not a Christian. How can the God of all truth be in you and you not abide in the truth and yet you still think for some reason you're a Christian? Cuz some people think Christianity is like I felt God. God's always been there in my life. Of course, he's always been there in your life. He's a loving God. Of course, you felt God from time to time. He's drawing you to himself. It's not what God's done outside in. It's when did you personally confess Jesus Christ and know that he came in on the inside and that he's with you and that he'll never leave you and he'll never forsake you.

And oh, by the way, it doesn't happen by chance. It's an act of your will confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. So, when was that for you? Cuz if I asked you Christians, when was that for you? You would say, totally no, I can point to it. I got it. It's not a trick question. It's not a hard question. It's not a Baptist question. Uh it's not a Pentecostal question. It's not a charismatic question. It's a biblical question. When did Jesus Christ become the Lord of your life? It's not a trick question. And if you can't answer that question, it's probably because you're not a Christian.

Right? So, why not make today your day? I mean, Jesus goes into painstaking links in Matthew chapter 7 just to spell that out and I I felt like, you know, it was important for us to do this cuz some of you might be saying, hey, you you you're taking an awful lot of time. Like why are why are you doing this? On Thursday when we were flying down to Houston, I I went through the the security check at DIA. And have you ever noticed they have like a a Labrador retriever or some sort of dog and he constantly is walking up and down the aisle like sniffing bags and doing stuff.

I've been there hundreds of times. But for whatever reason on this Thursday, the dog started sniffing me. And he wasn't walking up and he's kept following me and he got really personal with where he's putting his nose and he was kind of sniffing me all out. And all of a sudden like five security agents come walking up to me. And they're like, yeah, we noticed the dog was getting a little friendly with you. And I said he was getting too friendly with me. And they said, well, step over here. And um then they bring this other guy and say, hey, we need to explain to you what we're going to do.

We're going to do this. We're going to do this. He asked me, I mean, check this out. Do you want to get a private room? I'm thinking, well, what are we going to do? Like No, just let's let's go ahead and just get this done. And so, you know, full body search and they search all my stuff out of my bag. And I knew I had done nothing wrong, so I wasn't nervous. I was just kind of thinking, I hope nobody shoved anything in my bag that I'm not aware of, right? And sure enough, it was fine and like, hey, you're clear to go now.

Like it was no big deal. Like that was it. They were just going to send me off. I'm like, uh-uh-uh. I said, what in the world was that all about? Well, sometimes he just gets friendly with people. I'm like, and you go through all that? I was like, it was because my dad's a veterinarian or what? Right? So, it was uncomfortable and it's uncomfortable to get checked when you think everything's okay. But I think that it's important if our entire eternity depends upon how we're going to answer this question that we've given it some time to think about.

And don't really say, well, I felt this at a camp and I thought this and I thought that I know that I know that I know that the by the time I leave the church today, I'm one of Jesus Christ's sons or daughters. Amen? Would that be worth it? So, look at Matthew chapter 7 in your Bible and see how Jesus spells this out in the Sermon on the Mount. I mean, when Jesus is talking in the Sermon on the Mount, I won't read the entire Sermon on the Mount. I won't even read this entire section of this Sermon on the Mount, but in Matthew chapter 7, he starts spelling this out for people to understand that there's two different ways and there's only two different ways you can go.

In Matthew chapter 7 verse 13, he says this. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are a few who find it. So, what we see is two gates and two roads. He's spelling it out like this. In life, most people are on the life road. They're going the life way. There's a wide gate. Everybody's going through it. That's how you're born.

You're born dead. You're following your father, the devil. You're feeding your flesh. You're living for this world and doing all that, but there's a narrow gate that leads to a narrow road and Jesus Christ is the gate that opens the road so that you can walk on that. You are either walking in this direction towards the enemy or you're walking in this direction towards Christ. There's only two roads and only two gates. Have you entered the narrow gate? Right? That what he says. Then he goes on and he talks about a tree and its fruit, two different kinds of trees.

He says, beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. In other words, there are false prophets. They look like sheep. They smell like sheep. They talk like sheep, but they're not sheep. They look like Christians. They preach like Christians. They talk like Christians, but let me tell you what they're not. They're not Christians. How will we know? Uh you'll know them by the fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

Why? Cuz a good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So, then you will know them by their fruits. What are you saying, Jesus? Hey, you'll know a Christian by what gets produced in them. Christians produce Christian things over time. That what happens. I mean, but yeah, but he he says he's a Christian, but he 's been a drunk and beats his wife ever since he said that. That's cuz he's not a Christian. Christians don't do that.

Christians may act in a selfish behavior like that, but they don't continue that pattern of behavior. Why? Because the spirit of God lives inside of them and restrains them from a continual pattern of sinning. Right? So, Pastor Jeff, wait wait wait wait wait. I'm a Christian, but I've struggled with this same sin over and over. Here's probably why. Cuz you've never confessed it and called it what it is and you've never been honest and dragging it into the light. But if you did, God's light would shine upon it. His grace would forgive you. His blood would cover it and you could be new, brand new right now.

Amen? That's what the gospel's saying. So, when I listen to people talk about and it always happens at funerals. I mean, I've yet to be to a funeral like and I know he's in hell. I know she's in hell. Why? Because hell's eternal. It's a real place where real people go by the hundreds of thousands every single day. But nobody will stand up and proclaim that at a funeral because we talk about the good that we saw in them. Even if we have to search high and low to find it. I was at a funeral one time with a guy was clearly not a Christian.

They were having me do the funeral and as I was getting up to speak, I forget the guy's name. He said, well, I know Joe's up in heaven having a martini with Jesus right now. As I was walking to the pulpit, I'm thinking, nope, he ain't doing that cuz Jesus ain't having a martini and Joe ain't with him. So, I stood at the front and I said, hey, if Joe were here, there's two things he would tell you right now. Number one, heaven and hell are real places. And number two, that Jesus Christ is the only way to experience heaven.

He knows. That's true. That wasn't me saying where Joe is. That's me telling the truth. Do you see the difference? Do you know Jesus Christ? Cuz you're going to meet him. He's the first one you're going to see. Bam. If you if we're raptured, he's the first one you'll see. If you die, he's the first one you see. Are you ready to see him? Don't make the mistake. Well, I can live however I want, but I know I 'm a Christian. No, you're not. If you're a Christian, God will produce fruit in and through you where other people will be able to say, totally Christian.

And it doesn't mean right away. I mean, fruit takes time and there's seasons and there's growing. But if you say I've been a Christian for 40 years and there's no fruit in your life, it's cuz you're not a Christian. Good soil always produces fruit. So, now we got two roads, two gates, two kinds of trees. Notice what he says. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter. You see that? Not who says Lord, Lord, but who does the will of the Lord.

I mean, it's not enough just to say Jesus Christ is Lord. No. Cuz if you really are saying Jesus Christ is Lord, you're going to live out the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord. If I'm taking vows with my wife and saying you're my wife, there's going to be evidence in my life that shows that she's my wife. If the only time I ever saw her was say, I'm married. We we said vows. Well, where is she? I never saw her after that. I I just made the vows, left the church, and never have seen her.

Don't care. Right? Silliness. To confess Jesus Christ as Lord is a union. Not everyone who says Jesus Christ is Lord is really of the Lord. That means there'll be people who preach that aren't of the Lord. That means people will heal that aren't of the Lord. People will cast out demons that aren't of the Lord. And what's Jesus going to say when he meets them? Uh depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. You never did my will. We we were never related. You just did your own religious thing. Right? Scary, isn't it?

Scary. Totally scary in our generation. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name? Do we not cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare from them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Get away. We we're not related. We never have been. He says, therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock and and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house and yet it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house and it fell and great was its fall. Now, we are talking about two foundations, sand and rock. Who's the rock? Jesus Christ is the rock. You have to build your house on that foundation. So, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, let me just ask you, when was the time that you professed Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior?

Do you know? I mean, do you know? Do you know? You need to know. You need to know. And and the spirit of Antichrist will come across a congregation like this and and move and say, you don't need to know that. You've always been good. Who does he think? That's the spirit of Antichrist keeping you away, trying to get you to depart the truth when Jesus Christ is in heaven saying, I 'm calling you home. I 'm calling you to myself. Will you confess me as Lord? I'll forgive all your sins. I'll enter your life.

I'll be with you forever. That's always been my desire. Come. Come. Come. I love you. And on this side of heaven, you must come. Now, here's the truth. The Holy Spirit always works from the inside out except in non-believers. You know how it works? He works on from the outside in, conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Which means even if you leave this place and you're ready to get up and leave, but you 're not going to cuz I told you that you would. Even if you don't and you walk out of this place, I'm never coming back here again.

I got good news for you cuz here's what you're going to hear. You're going to hear that voice that's calling you home from now until you accept him. Cuz he loves you. You may be taking a shower and you're going to realize you're unsaved. You be driving your car and you're going to realize that you're unsaved. You be talking to a friend that you think you're going to party with and all you're going to hear about is how how you're unsaved and you need to give your life to Christ and you need to give your life to Christ now.

So, for those of you who are here, why not make it now? Like by the end of the service, I'm going to give you an opportunity to trust Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior. He's calling you home. Don't let your insecurities or your pride keep you from the greatest gift that's ever been given to mankind. John Sounds is a warning bell and he says, hey, there there'll be a denial of confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. Yeah, you don't need to do that. The fact is yes, you do.