my power and the might of my hand has given me this wealth." Look. Look what we have done. Look what we as a people have done. Look at the wealth that we've built. We, when we say that, and we don't give glory to God, danger. Like... Danger. Danger. Danger. When you say, my power and the might of my hand has given me this wealth, and you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth. Who gives you strength? Who gives you a brain? Who gives you the ability to get up in the morning? Where did you get these ideas from that have blessed America? From the Bible. So the ideas, the power, the strength, the blessing is all from God. And he gives it that he may establish his covenant, which he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if by any means you forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, because that's what it is, and serve them and worship them, I testify you against you this day, you shall surely perish. We are not entitled to God's blessing. Consider the image of a tree. Here's a big tree. You see it? Put a big tree right there. Oh, look, there's a clock up there. Just saw the clock. Got my stopwatch. Oh, I didn't turn my stopwatch on. How convenient. There's a big tree. If you're on the big tree, how does a tree function? What supports what? What is on the bottom? Roots? Then what? Then as you go up? The foliage, right? What supports the branches? The roots, okay. So in Romans 11, Paul uses this illustration. Because the gospel is going to the Gentiles. And the Gentiles are, which is like most all of us here, right? Ethnically, most of, I don't, unless you're Jewish, right? You're Jew, and there could be some Jewish people here, I'm not sure. But, unless, you're either Jew or Gentile, right? So most of us, like my, are Gentiles. So as the Gospel is going to the Gentiles, Paul brings out this image of a tree. Because he knows the Gentiles, like everyone, will be tempted to have an entitlement mentality to say, see? We're better. See? We own this. We deserve this. So in Romans 11, he opens it up like this. Even so, at the present time, there's a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace. Otherwise, work is no longer work. So it opens it up by saying, you know what? This is God's choice. It's His election by grace. Then he moves into this tree analogy and he says, do not boast against the branches. Romans 11 18. If you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but that the root supports you. The covenants God made with Israel are the foundation of the tree. God's grace. worked out through the historic covenants of God that he made, and now you Gentiles are being grafted into the tree. As you're grafted in, you're grafted in up here. Look down guys! Who's supporting you? The roots are supporting you. And he's using this as an analogy for you Gentiles, not to be cocky. Not to have an entitlement mentality. Not to think somehow, oh look, I'm in the tree. I'm in God's kingdom. And I deserve this. We are not autonomous. We are dependent upon God. We are dependent upon His grace that He chose to give us by His mercy. Not because we deserved it, but by the election of His grace. that you will say, well, branches were broken off that I may be grafted in. Well said. Because of unbelief, they were broken off. And you stand in faith. Do not be haughty, but fear." Verse 20. Don't be haughty, but fear. America? American churches? Us? Don't be haughty. Don't be proud. because of the position, because of the blessing, because of the wealth that God has given you. Because of your independence, that you can live more independent than most people throughout history. Young people can go out and be independent. You have cars that you can fly all over the universe. effortlessly. I mean, we didn't have, people didn't have those before. They weren't so autonomous and independent. Okay? We have all that now. And so we can do and go and be all these things. And we have endless entertainment. We have all this stuff. Don't be haughty. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. In other words, all God has to do is pull the plug and it's all gone. Spiritually. But also, economically, because he's Lord over all. All he has to do is pull the plug. All he has to do is pull the branches out. All he has to do is remove the lamp stand. We look at the depressing statistics in America and the lampstand is not as bright as it used to be. Christianity is diminishing in America. This is a problem. He may not spare you either. Wake up. Listen, wake up. You take for granted, you think God's always going to be there? Wake up. We don't deserve His love. We deserve His judgment. And if you want to take His love for granted, and not walk out and receive the purpose of His grace, He may not spare you either. How many people do you know that said that they were Christians, that walked among us, and now have fallen away? How many? I mean, we just heard a big blow this weekend of a godly man who fell. Another one! You've got to be kidding me! Another one! It's happening. Therefore, Romans 11, 22. Therefore, listen, consider the goodness and the severity of God. Consider the goodness, yes, because God in His grace and His mercy and His love does save sinners. And He does call people, and He does graft them in, and He gives them His love, and He gives them His grace, and He makes you a believer, and He puts you in part of the covenant, so you have a relationship with God. God is good! There's nothing better than God. There's nothing higher than His grace. There's nothing more rewarding than to be loved by God. But you, with that, also have to consider the severity of God. That if you refuse His love, if you bank on it, but don't use it. If you say, I'll put the money in the bank, but you never do anything with it. That inflation is going to eat the value of your dollars. It's going to be worth nothing in 20 years. You have to take His love. You have to abide in His love. You have to receive His love. And you have to work out His love. You have to seek Him. So heed the warning. If you forget God and the blessing God has given you, God will remove the blessing. If God corrects you, tells you no, and does not meet your wants and expectations that you have for Him, it does not mean that God does not love you. The truth is He's getting your attention. He's trying to get your attention. The truth is it may be that God actually is loving you when He says no and shuts doors in your life. The truth is that may be God's way of getting your attention. Don't forget the exhortation which speaks to you as sons. My son do not despise the chasing of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him." So what are you saying? I'm going to lose my salvation? God's going to just cut me out? I'm saying you've got to listen to Paul's warning. Don't be haughty. Don't be proud. Don't rest in God's love so that it makes you complacent. Seek God so that you can draw near to Him. The process of drawing near to God involves God's discipline. And this is because He loves you. So often it's just the opposite. Some of the things in my life, some of the most important lessons that I have learned have been through the most painful times of my life. And sure, I've asked God to remove those circumstances or to remove that pain or to make it better, but the truth is that it's in the pain that God really gets our attention and really grows us up. It's coming from the heart of a loving father when he brings chastening. It's coming from the heart of a God who can see the bigger picture. If you endure discipline, God deals with you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? If you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. So when God is saying no to your wants, it could be because he's loving you. As God is rebuking America, as we are falling into inflation and the prices of goods are rising because we've inflated our money system, because of unjust weights and measures, because of unethical dealings, because of lying and cheating and stealing and all these things that go into this. It's a chastening. It's a judgment. It's a chastening. God is wanting to get our attention. To say, God, we repent. God, we acknowledge you. God, you are the source of blessing. God, every good and perfect gift comes from above. God, have mercy on us. That's what we need to do here. That's what we need to do in our homes. And that's what we need to do nationally if we're gonna, if we're gonna avert what God's bringing upon our nation. God is the only answer that will save our country. God is the only one in the person of Jesus Christ. I am all for voting in this election year. You need to make your vote count. I believe in voting. But God is the only one that's going to save our country because God is the only one that can save your soul. So, What makes God's love so amazing is that God chooses to show mercy to a rebellious people. And that's the black backdrop. Remember the diamonds? They're put against the black felt paper, right? It makes those diamonds shine. Well, the black backdrop of God's love is the rebellious sinful actions of humans, and the curse of God, and the judgment of God. So in light of that, what do we deserve? Judgment and hell. What do we get? We get, in God's love, forgiveness of sins. We get, in God's love, blessing. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have, that's amazing grace, eternal life! That is how you keep yourself in the love of God, by remembering who God is, by remembering not just 200 years of earth history, but 6,000 years of earth history, of what God has done from the beginning, what God has done through the Old Testament, where we are right now with what Jesus Christ came for, and that He came to save sinners, and Jesus Christ came to meet your number one deepest need. And that is the need for salvation. That is the need to have your sins forgiven. Your biggest problem was the wrath of God. Your biggest problem is not how to make ends meet. That's a problem. Your biggest problem isn't that you need more money. That might be a problem. But that's not a problem that's, it's so, not even in comparison to how am I gonna, what am I gonna do when I stand before a holy God in my sin? There's a much bigger problem. I am not in a right relationship with God. How can I be in a right relationship with others? How can I be in a right relationship with my economy if I'm not in a right relationship with God? I can't! Man's biggest problem is the wrath of God. And that is exactly what God did in his love, and in his grace, and in his mercy. He sent Jesus Christ. to take the wrath of God and bore God's wrath on the cross, so that in God's love, because of His mercy, we can be forgiven, because the wrath of God was perfectly satisfied in Jesus Christ, for He is the propitiation of our sins. And that is God's amazing grace. That is God's amazing love. And when you think of God's love that way, it's a never-ending, Never, never, you never get tired of embracing and loving God because you know the sin that you've committed, and you know that sin is forgiven. You know that He made you alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2. When you once walked in the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air, among whom also conducted yourselves in the lusts of your flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love in which he loved us, even when we are dead in trespasses, what did he do? Made us alive. He made us alive together in Christ. He made us alive together in Christ, for by grace you have been saved, and has been raised up and is seated together in the heavenly places in Christ, that in ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus, for by grace you've been saved through faith. that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared before him, that we should walk in them. This is the amazing grace of God, that he made him who knew no sin, so that we could become the righteousness of God in Christ. In Christ our sins are forgiven. In Christ we are made new. In Christ we are accepted. In Christ We belong to God. We belong to the family of God in the church. To the intent that now, Ephesians 3.10, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God may be known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. For this reason, I don't cease to bow my knees and pray for all of you, that he would grant you according to his riches to be strengthened in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. that you being rooted and grounded in His love, that you would get a grip on the love of God, and that the love of God would get a grip in you, that you would let go of God not meeting all your wants, and God not being the cosmic teddy bear that you thought He was, and God letting you down because He didn't answer your prayers in a way that you thought would be beneficial for you, and let go of that. Can you let go of that? And can you let go of that and then grab hold of The love of God that has forgiven you of your sin. That has caused you to be born again. That Jesus Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice. And here is love. Jesus died for you. Here is love. The perfect one. There's one perfect one. We're all sinners. The perfect one came and he died for your sin. And He rose again from the dead so that you could have eternal life. Let go of the things and embrace the love of God as Paul is praying and he's laboring. And we have to labor in this, brothers and sisters. We got to labor in prayer to keep ourselves in the love of God. It just doesn't happen. We have to labor, Paul is saying, for this reason, I am on my face, I am praying that God would grant you, through His Spirit, in your inner man, to displace the stupid lies that you believe. To displace the lust that you get yourself into. To displace that somehow you get more enamored with the world than the things of God. You get more enamored with the pretty lights than the love of God. To displace that stuff so you can keep yourself and the love of God in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. That you are rooted and grounded in love. That you may be able to comprehend then with all the saints What is the width, and the length, and the depth, and the height? That means when we go up there, over there, down there, over here, under there, through this, all the directions of life, all the relays in which we are called to relate, all the way, you know, how we're stretched and pulled and we got work and we got this and we got kids and we got problems, right? That all the height and the depth and the breadth, all the dimensions of life, what grounds us and what roots us all together is the love of God! God's love, God's mercy. God wins. To know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. I don't even understand it. It's beyond my ability to understand how God, how did God just work all that stuff out? And I'm still like, God, your love's amazing. How do we go through all these trials and we're just like blown away by the love of God? Because that's what guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That no matter what God calls the church to go through, trials, persecutions, death, We end up growing deeper in love with God. And we end up growing deeper in love with one another because the love of Christ is what is binding and guarding. And we know the love of Christ that passes knowledge that you may be filled, filled with all the fullness of God. When you're full of God's love, you're full of God. Full of God, full of his grace, full of his presence. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly, above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory." To Him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus. To all generations, forever and ever. And God's people said, so where are you? Where are you? There's nothing better in all the world than to be loved by God. And as a result of God's love, to love God and love others in return. Where are you? Do you know God? Are you born again? Are you saved? Do you know God's love? If you say, no, and the Spirit of God has convicted you, you need to be saved. The Bible says, today is the day of salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Don't put it off one minute. Tonight, call upon the name of the Lord and you'll be saved. Nothing more important than to know Christ. Where are you? Maybe you're growing in God's love. So you know what? I really am growing in God's love. God has given me ears to hear and I'm thankful. I resonate with this. Amen. Keep growing. Amen. Keep growing. Amen. Don't give up. Amen. Keep growing. Don't be weary in doing good. Keep loving. Keep growing in the grace and the knowledge of Christ. Keep on loving and growing. Where are you? You disillusioned with God's love. If you've grown disillusioned with the love of God, may I encourage you to humble yourself. Humble yourself and receive God's love. But this time, receive God's love on his terms, not your terms. Let Him define love, not you. He is a better lover than you. Let Him define love and come to God and receive His love on His terms and come and return to your first love. Let's stand.