July 2nd, 1776, Congress voted to approve a complete separation from Great Britain, and thank the Lord they did. Sounded like World War III at my house last night. I'm telling you what, people decided since municipalities weren't doing fireworks, baby, we were doing them, and I'm telling you, it lasted at my house from about 9.30 to 12.30. I fell asleep to the sounds of war. That's what I fell asleep to. It is what it is. Really bright outside every once in a while. Two days afterwards, July 4th, the early draft of the Declaration of Independence was signed, albeit by only two individuals at that time, John Hancock, President of Congress, and Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress. Four days later, on July 8th, members of Congress took that document and read it aloud from the steps of Independence Hall, proclaiming it to be the city of Philadelphia after which the Liberty Bell was rung. The inscription around the top of that bell, Leviticus 25.10, was most appropriate for the occasion. Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof. John Adams asked this question, what was the basis of American independence? And he said, the general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. And he said this to his wife in two letters that he wrote her. He said this, this day will be the most memorable epic in the history of America. I'm apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. He also said later, it ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. So that's the weekend we are in. I'm thankful to be free. I'm thankful to have independence. And I'm thankful that my neighbors can spend thousands of dollars on fireworks. And we just looked out the windows and enjoyed them. I'm going to preach to you this morning on frustrated performance. Even if you're a first-generation Christian, you will struggle with this. Let's go to Romans 7, shall we? You're going to struggle here, because we have a hard time, and we know that we have a hard time, because we're going to look at two men that did, and that's Paul and Peter. We have a hard time switching from spiritual things to fleshly things, from fleshly things to spiritual things. Even this morning, when you came in here, it's really hard not to be fleshly. Because that's where we live. And there's a battle, especially in younger people's minds, there's a battle that rages. There's guilt that comes in, there's all kinds of things that come into a young person's mind as they're trying to figure out how does this battle work. If you were in the world and saved out of the world, this is a struggle, but at least in your mind there's a major difference between the two. Someone that's raised in church, everything started here. And so those battles began to rage. Romans chapter 7, this has to be one of my favorite passages that the Apostle Paul wrote. It is the most confusing one that he wrote. And when I read it, I read it like four times just to make sure that I don't stumble over it. Let's go to verse 14 of Romans chapter 7. He said, For we know that the law is what? Spiritual. But I am what? Carnal. And then notice the next phrase. Sold under sin. By the way of introduction, notice first that there's some knowledge issues. Don't you know some things about yourself? Don't you know some things about this book that you're reading? Then why do we struggle? Because it's not in the knowing. There are intellectual people in this world. I happen not to be one of them. There are the people that they love the intellectual side of things. I'm more of a hands-on, get out of my way, you're in my way, I'll do it myself. That's my personality. But the intellectual side loves to know, loves to know, loves to know, and Paul is saying that we know some things and yet we're still terrible. So there are some knowledge issues. Notice verse 15. For that which I do Here's a weird... I allow not. For what I would, that I do not, that do I not. See, I already messed it up. But what I hate, that do I. There's not only knowledge issues, but there's some allowance issues. There's some things that you and I both know that we allow in, that they shouldn't be allowed in. And I would say this, your phone and your television and your computer is probably a major component no pun intended, of allowing things in that we shouldn't allow. And we know it. I was told years ago about movies and the things that are in movies by a Christian brother that, well, if it's in there, I'm watching it because they put it in there. Oh, that's stupid. You realize people say really stupid things cloaked in spirituality? That's just a really stupid thing to say. Because you can't handle it and I can't handle it. Eventually, You'll bear that fruit, and we'll talk about that a little bit later. Verses 16 and 17. He said, If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Notice the involuntary consent. And that's either way. But generally, it's towards the sinful way. Did you ever just find yourself in the middle of the day in a spot and you're like, how in the world did I get here? Why did my mind just go there? There are some things that are just, for the sin nature, you just drift. And if you're not, it's like, it's like the world we live in. And you're driving down the road. Every time we go on a trip, when I leave the house, I'm like, Lord, keep me away from stupid people. I mean, it used to be that people already were distracted. And now it is at a whole new level. You could ask all the guys that drive truck in here. I bet you they see amazing things from their rigs. I just love watching. Any time I'm watching, I had a guy pass me the other day on the interstate. And I was doing 75, and he passed me. And I'm watching him drift here, and drift there, and drift there. And then he slowed down, he got behind somebody, and I was catching up, and I noticed that he's, you know. I'm like, you're doing that at 80 miles an hour, bud. That ain't going to work out real well. But there are some things that are just involuntary that you find yourself, but then as Paul is saying here, I can't use that as an excuse. There's a phrase that's popular today, you do you and I do me. You doing you and me doing, that's bad. I am supposed to be inclined to spiritual things. Even though it may be involuntary, that's not an excuse. Even though I may be prone to that, that's not an excuse. That just means this. I want to be wicked today. I just want to do my sinful things today. And there's no excuse for that. Verse 18 is where we're going to preach from today. He said, So Paul just took all of the excuses that you wanted, Paul has now taken from your grasp. Because the will to do it is there. The desire to do right, the desire to walk with God, the desire to be spiritual is there. But a lot of times that spiritual man is drowned in so much of this world that he no longer has a voice. He can't speak. We have muted him. Notice the last phrase, but... How to perform that which is good, I find not. Frustrated performance. Father, we pray that you'd help us this morning. Help us to be focused on your word and what it says to us. God, that is what will change us. There's no message that man can put together, God, that will do it, but your word will. We pray, God, as we get into it this morning, that you'd help us be drawn to you if you're the one that did change us. If there is anyone here this morning, God, that is not saved, God, I pray they'd see their need of salvation. God, help Christians in this room to walk with you. God, we just ask you to meet with us. Holy Spirit of God, be here amongst us in Jesus' name. Amen. Frustrated performance. You ever get frustrated? And that's a fun word, frustrated, because everybody says that one different. Some people put an L in there. Some people take the R out. They say it all kinds of fun different ways. My wife and I have several words that we'd like to pay attention to to see how people say them. That's one of them. Have I laughed at you? Maybe. I don't know. It depends on how you say that word. But how to perform this? Paul said that that will to do it is there. So that spiritual man inside is screaming to get out and do right. except I'm stuck here. And this is where Paul says, Paul said, how to perform it. I find not. And ladies and gentlemen, if Paul says that, I feel like I'm in a sinking ship. If Paul is willing to step out and say, Being spiritual is something that I want. Walking with God is something that I desire. But how to do it? I don't know how to do that. But that's not an excuse. Let's go to 2 Peter chapter 2 this morning. 2 Peter chapter 2, and keep Romans there. We're going to be back to 6, 7, and 8 several different times. But 2 Peter chapter 2, let's look at some things that will hinder my performance Look at some things that Peter said and some things that Paul said that shouldn't be a part of our lives. They shouldn't be a part of our existence. 2 Peter chapter 2, here we have warnings about the last days and those that are saved but have drifted from the Lord. That's what Peter is covering in chapter 2. Let's jump down to verse number 20. 2 Peter 2 verse number 20. Here's what he says, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, and the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. Number one this morning, notice this, my frustrated performance can be because of some of the pollutions that I escaped. If you're saved this morning, God saved you from some of those pollutions that Peter is talking about. He took them from your life. Now here's where we make it bad, when we bring them back in. And there's where, mom and dad, if you're raising kids in church, this is where this gets tough. Because the sin that is in my life happened after I was saved. Does that make sense? I was saved at six years old. I wasn't robbing banks, dealing drugs in downtown Lupton. It didn't happen. Wasn't there. So the sin that is in my life, the sin that is in Ben's life and Caleb's life, maybe not you. Yes, in Hudson's life as well. That sin that is in their life right now has happened, the majority, has happened after they've been saved. And this is tough. Because it's hard for us, and I'll say us, it's hard for us to put a difference there where that pollution came in. Because I'd already asked Jesus Christ into my life and all of a sudden I'm in pollution and it's confusing. And if we're not careful, we don't help our kids step over those things. And teaching them that 1 John 1.9 is not salvation, but it is keeping a relationship right with God. So those pollutions that I've escaped, what are they? Let's go back up to verse 4 in this chapter. He's going to give us some examples of some things that God spared people from. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into the chains of darkness to be revealed unto judgment, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live First of all, notice these pollutions, number one, is just the conversation of the wicked. Church, we shouldn't be included in the conversation of the wicked. And know this, the word conversation in your Bible is not always speaking of a conversation. But the conversation is your way of life. It's how you live. You shouldn't be pegged as a lost person. No one should ever think that you're lost. No one should ever think that you're not saved. What was Lot's issue? Lot's issue was this. He looked the same. And his children proved it. Because when dad came and said, hey, God's going to do this, they laughed. He seemed as one that mocked. It didn't make sense to them that dad was talking about God. It didn't make sense to them that them and dad were having a spiritual conversation. Why? Because Lot had allowed those pollutions back into the home. And he had checked off on a bunch of things that I bet you 20 years before he said this, that's never going to happen. But those things slowly, slowly crept in, and before Lot knew it, the conversation of the wicked was what he was known for. Those pollutions, church, is what we've escaped that. Verse 9 says, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly. That is God's job! It is what he does! It's what he does! How do we get back there? We go back to the old life and we bring that stuff back in. I can handle it now, I've got Jesus. No, you can't. You were never able to handle it. It handled you. It told you what to do every day. Notice verse 12 in this chapter. He said, but these, speaking of these false prophets, are natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption. Or you could just put news media underneath that. I think that verse does that very well. And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime. That's just really ironic, isn't it? "...spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery that cannot..." Here's the phrase we want. What? "...cease from sin." Notice the next word, beguiling. Anybody know where that word appears for the first time? Genesis 3, verse 13. "...beguiling unstable souls. In heart they have exercised with covetous practice, cursed children." Not only the pollutions we escaped or those conversations from the wicked, but it's people that cannot cease from sin. If you hang around, my dad used to say, and I'm sure it's way well before him, I'm positive, but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's probably a goose. Nope, it's a duck. Evil communications corrupt good manners. So this is real simple pastor Dave. Yeah, but don't we fail at it? Aren't we just terrible at it? We have this idea that we can live. I've got this No, you don't got it and give it enough time. You'll prove to everybody that you don't have it Because in your mind you think well, I can handle that and we can't do it Let's go back to Romans chapter 6 and look at verses 12 and 13. Let's let's see what Paul says about this Romans 6 12 and 13 He says this, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should, what? Obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield yourselves members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. It's not God's fault. It's my fault. I'm the guy at the roundabout who ignores the yield sign. Yeah. And I'm telling you what, that 02 Chevy Express, that dude don't stop on a dime. And we live our lives ignoring yield signs and blow through things and pretend, Dad, maybe you can handle it, but your kids can't. And you can't just do what you want to do and live the life that you want to live and expect them to come out spotless Christian young people. They're gonna peg you and at about 16, 17, 18 years old, they're gonna tell you exactly what they think of you and out the door they go. You can't do it. God is the only one that is able to remove the sin and he's able to deliver us from that. Notice verse 17. He said, these are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest, to whom the mist of destruction is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness. Those that were clean escape from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption. For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage." Notice, third thing in this pollution is the clouds of corruption. Isn't it interesting, our whole world, and save the planet, and all this kind of stuff? But there is some truth to it. I mean, there is. I'm not hugging trees or anything like that, and there's plenty of polar bears to go around. Say, how do you know? Tell you what, I'll give you a snowmobile, but you've got to take about three GoPros. One of them attached to your helmet, the other two on the snowmobile, and just go drive around the tundra, pulling some freshly killed whale. And I bet you, I just bet you, you'll find yourself a few polar bears. Pollution in our world. If pollution is very heavy, the sheer numbers of particles in the sky blocks incoming light. Who's the light in our life? Jesus Christ. So if we have pollution in our life, you know who we're blocking according to the world's definition of what pollution is? The world says our pollution blocks the sun from getting through. I don't know. My arms are pretty red from yesterday. I didn't feel like there was much pollution. But I know this. If I bring in the pollution from the world, I will block Jesus Christ from getting in. He will not penetrate through that. And you know what they say about those particles, and I'm not a scientist, but they say those particles are dark air particles that block it. Clouds not only deliver water around the globe, they help regulate how much of the sun's warmth the planet holds. You ever feel cold against church? Cold against other Christians? And cold against the things of God? Why? Too much pollution. Too much pollution. Too much of the world and not enough of God. I just don't think they like me over there at Hope Baptist Church. You think that's it? Or do you think you've taken a step to the left, and you've invited in some pollution that's pushing out Jesus Christ? Maybe, I mean just maybe, this doesn't fit our society at all, but maybe, could be, I don't know, possibly, it's your fault. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe when I'm not walking with God, it's my fault. Maybe when I feel distant from God. Maybe. I mean, could be. It could be my fault. So you're being sarcastic? Actually, no I'm not. I'm being dead serious. It is my fault. It absolutely is my fault. I don't blame my wife when I feel distant from God. Let's go back to Romans chapter 8. There's some pollutions that we need to keep out. We've escaped them. God has been wonderful to us and allowed us to escape them. But notice what Paul says in Romans 8, let's go to verse 35. He said, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Not only is there some pollutions that are escaped, but there's a persuasion established. Maybe you're frustrated in your performance because you haven't established in your life some things. Paul says to us in verse 35, he asks this question, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And then he lists a bunch of things. You know what that is? Verse 35. And it's basically in children they use this thing. It's called separation anxiety. If the kid isn't around mom or dad, they start freaking out. This isn't correct. This isn't right. You know what Paul is talking about in verse 35? Separation anxiety. I just feel like God's not here and I just feel like God's not there and I just feel... No, no. No, no. What can separate you from the love of Christ? Nothing. So what are we doing? We're internalizing everything. And we're basing our relationship with our God, who is eternal in the heavens. We're basing that on what we feel like today. And Paul is telling us, listen, there isn't anything. But the separation anxiety, you know where it comes from? We are prone to this in times of stress. It typically develops after traumatic events. Going through something bad? Listen, when people go through something bad, they go one of two ways, don't they? It either draws them closer to the Lord, or God is just so far from me. God hasn't moved. God is in the same spot. Complications include this, depression, personality disorders, and general anxiety. Those are all exact of that separation anxiety. That just dovetails right into our spiritual walk with the Lord. I just feel far from the Lord. I just don't think this is right. I just don't think this is right. Wait, hold on. Did God move his residence? Did he change how he talks to us? Or did our busyness and our stress, and maybe something bad that just happened, maybe all of those things combined together makes it feel like God's not there? But he is still there. And he is still real. And he is still listening. And he is still ready to answer. But he bases our relationship on communication. It's like being married and not speaking to your spouse. And then wondering why there's issues. But maybe that's norm for you. I don't know. It's not for me. There has to be communication. If you are not personally communicating with your God, there's going to be issues. There's going to be problems. You are going to feel like God has abandoned you. Verses 36 and 37, notice the slaughter assumed. He just assumes this is what we're for. But what's the first word in verse 37? God isn't out to get us. God isn't ready to punish us. How do we know? Go to Isaiah chapter 53. Paul says, it seems like we're sheep for the slaughter, but then he says, nay, we're not. Isaiah chapter 53, how do we know this? Isaiah 53, and let's look at verse 4. Speaking of Jesus Christ, it says, Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him, Jesus Christ, the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. God is not ready to slay us. God is not ready just to pour judgment down upon us. There isn't anything, as Paul has already established, there isn't anything that can separate us from the love of God. But I have to be persuaded of that fact. It has to be something in me. Listen, I don't walk around after 20 years of marriage just wondering if my wife loves me enough to stay with me another day. There's just some stuff you've got to be established in. I hope that's not too hard. Does God love us? Yes! Plant that firm and live off of that foundation. Because if you don't live off of that foundation, you are going to be tossed with the winds and the storms of this life and you will be doubting everything and you will never connect with God. That's why some people live off of special meetings. Because there has to be something exciting and big, big songs and special preachers. No! God uses that stuff. Yes! But God wants to work with you every day. God's not waiting for Bible conference or a camp meeting to come along. What does He want to do? He wants to talk to you today. He wants to speak to you today. Notice verse 37. He says, Nay, in all these things we are more than what? What are we? We're conquerors through Him that loved us. There's success attained. Listen, you're successful. If you've been saved for 40 years, or you've been saved for 4 days, you are just as successful in that. You are a conqueror in the eyes of God. Why? Because of His Son. I didn't do anything special, and you didn't do anything special. We just put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, that the blood that he shed was what was going to satisfy God. And I'm standing on that foundation. You will not move me from that foundation. Pastor Caleb, did you start the King James conversation? Or was that you and Dan that started that? I hopped into it, and then Pastor Matt hopped in, and I popped in, and we were philosophizing in the office this week, and talking around, and blah, blah, blah. And at the end of the day, here's what we came to. All that stuff's fun. And you can argue it from 87 different directions. But you know what it comes down to? Just faith. Faith that's saying, Todd, right here, that's the very words of God. God didn't want to say anything different to me than what he wrote right there. I don't need a manuscript. I don't need a Greek lexicon. I don't need all that kind of stuff. And if you want to talk about it, let's talk about it. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. Because I don't use a Greek lexicon in any other area of my life. I don't sit down with my wife at night and say, okay, let's just talk about the household here, get out the Greek lexicon and see what it has. No, we don't do that. What do we do? We get the very English words that God gave us and we live off of that. Guys, you have to be established that God is who He is and that He loves you just as much as the day that you got saved and that love will never change. There's nothing that will separate it. The only thing that separates it is when I botch it. That's it. So we talked about the separation anxiety in verse 35, now let's talk about the separation absurdity in verses 38 and 39. He said, for I am what? I am persuaded that neither death nor life, did you get that? that neither death, so physically I'm not here, and Paul says, still got the love of God. Or life, me living right now, still have the love of God. Nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, or any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. A frustrated performance does this. Someone who is frustrated in their performance Serving God or living for God or being separated from the world struggles because they're not persuaded in the fact That listen doesn't you think God knows that we're human? You think he knows that we're faulty Do you don't you think he knows that most of us have wiring in our head that didn't do all day long we walk around and we twitch God knows that and That's why he made this such a surety and a foundation. Because he knew we would be tossed here and tossed there. And God said, I gotta put something in there that will hold them concrete in a location. You frustrated? Okay, I get it. Why? We're human. But listen, Christian, God loves you. You! You say, what if I was the only person? He still loves you. The love of God, and it is in, notice that last phrase, it is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What's the difference in religion? That's about a six year study. But you know what it is? Christ Jesus our Lord. That's what separates us out. I'm a Baptist for a bunch of other reasons, but I'm saved because of Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's go to Philippians chapter 1 and 6 and put a nice bow on the top of this. I would say whip-topping, but I have weird children. My children don't like whip-topping. You believe that? I don't even know what happened. It's weird. I mock them at every occasion that I can, so that's why I'm doing it now. Pollution's escaped in this frustrated performance, and then there's some persuasion established. But notice, in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6, we have a performance guarantee. I have the date next to this, May 21st, 1998. You know what that date is? You want to feel old with John? Okay, you're going to feel old anyway. I graduated from high school that day. And this was the verse that was preached on. Being what? Confident of this very thing. That if you'll go to church, you'll be a great person, you'll give to charity, No. That he, who's the he? That he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. You know what God just did for you? He took all the pressure off you. There is no pressure from God. None. Why? It's his job. It's his job to perform it. You're trying to live at a high level of Christianity? Stop. What are you doing? You think you're going to do something extra special that's going to impress God? No. He will perform it. Notice what Paul says in verse 9. This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. Where did we get our love? From the Lord. The world struggles with love. Why? They don't have God's love. Young people don't be enamored by the world. They don't know how to love. When they use the word love, they're not using the word love. They're using the word lust. And lust, when it is conceived, bring it forth death. Divorce rates through the roof. Why? Lust. Christian, when you begin to take the world's definitions and begin to apply them in your life, You will make a mess. Marriage isn't about lust. Marriage is about love. In good, in bad, and in weird, and in awkward, and in conversations that I don't want to have, but I have to have them. Why? Because the love that I'm basing my life and my marriage on is the love of God. It is not the world's definition of love. Go to Ephesians chapter 3, a couple pages over, and look at verse 17. Ephesians 3.17 says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be what? Filled with all the what? Fullness of God. Let God perform in your life the thing that he promised to perform. Base it on the love of Christ. I Don't I don't have to get up in the morning and find the secret formula to walk with God today. I Get up in the morning and I get on my knees and I get in this book and I just walk with God through the day and That whole time I'm fending off this and I'm pushing off this and I'm making sure I'm not there and But even in that, God is the one who is performing it. Notice, go down to back to Philippians chapter 1. Back to verse number 10, after he said, Notice verse 10. That ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of what? righteousness which are by Jesus Christ under the glory and praise of God this performance guarantee here's what I'm supposed to do I'm supposed to have those fruits of righteousness in verse 11 says I'm supposed to be filled with them God has expectations for us The expectation is to be in this book and to be around other Christians that will help me grow. Then I will be filled with that righteousness. I will let that grow, Ephesians chapter 3. That love will abound more and more in me the more I'm in the Bible and the more I'm on my knees before Him, the more I'm talking with Him. See, God didn't make it really complicated. We make it really complicated. Because we do this most times, we try to find out how it is that we can fit God into our life. And instead of God just being our life, and God being my direction, I have my life and I have my direction and I have where I'm going, and then I've got God and I don't, man, I don't, I don't, I don't know. It's like that thing that you give to your kids to go put away, and you find it on the steps. You're like, what went wrong? I mean, I didn't know what to do. And that's a lot of times how we are with God. We're walking around with God. We've got our life and we've got our plan. We've got our things we're going to do and we've got God. And we're like, do you want Him? I don't know what to do with Him. I don't really know what to do. And then we get frustrated because we don't know why we're not walking with God because we have God. It's like having a Bible at home that you don't read. Well, I just don't get anything out of my Bible reading. How consistent are you at it? And how much prayer is going into it as you're going into it? What are you looking to get? You'll be frustrated. Daily frustration will lead to just quitting. It will. Go down to verses 21 and 22 in Philippians chapter 1. Here's a verse we all know from Paul. He said, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, what's the next phrase? I want not. You can take that right back to Romans chapter 7. First, we have the fruit of righteousness in verse 11 that's supposed to be a part of that performance. But here's what Paul says to us. If I just go ahead and do what I want to do, I get the fruit of my labor. Either way, Christian, we're going to bear some fruit. And you either bear the fruit that God wants you to bear, and that takes digging and dunging and pruning. It takes work. Or, you want people to leave church and leave God behind? Because it's easy. I mean, seriously. It is easy. And if anybody ever says to you, well, you know, I used to be in church, but it was just hard to leave. No, it wasn't. That was the easier thing to do than either stay and have the conversation or figure out the problem or whatever it is, whatever the difficulty is, instead of having that conversation and wanting to walk with God and doing the hard thing, whatever, it doesn't matter. And Paul said, I'll get the fruit of my labor. I either live for God or I just do whatever I want. And that does not mean deep, dirty, nasty sin that none of us will ever talk about. But you know what it does mean? Frustration. Just frustration. You'll be frustrated in your marriage. You'll be frustrated at your kids. You'll be frustrated at your job. And then you begin to take all the world's definitions for money and success and everything else, and that will begin to lead and guide your life. Why? Because as a Christian, you got frustrated, so you just gave up and thought you could make something work. We are in the world, but we are not of the world. And you can't go and live there and be successful. It won't work. You'll be successful maybe in the world's eyes, Everybody will think that all the things that you're doing is successful. But you will stand before God someday. And that won't be fun. The performance guarantee does come with some work. Let's go to Romans chapter 8. It does come with some work on my part. I have to choose where I'm going to rest and what's going to be my foundation. Romans chapter 8 Let's look at verse 8. If I'm going to choose the world and that's the fruit I want, notice what Paul says in Romans 8. So then they that are in the flesh, what's the next three words? Cannot please God. You can't do it. It is an impossibility. You may want those things and those things may be easier. Wouldn't it be easier just to tell your kids they could do whatever they want? How many other floor layers in here, have you been at houses where the man lived in the garage during the day and the evening? Ever been in those? It just, I don't know. That bugs me. Yeah, I'm not going to sit in my garage on a 99 degree day and watch TV. You know what that comes from? Yeah, well, whatever. You know, she just does what she wants and the kids do what they want. No, no, no, you're a lazy puke. That's all it is. You're just a lazy puke. You don't want to stand up and tell anybody anything or do anything. I go to work, I make the money, she spends it, blah, blah, blah. You know what that is? That's the world's definition of home and marriage. That's not what God intends. That's not what God wants. He's not desirous of that. Go back to Romans 6. Let's look at verses 20 and 21. Paul says this, for when ye were servants of sin, ye were free from what? Righteousness. See, when I'm living, when I'm a lost person, the things of righteousness I just mock and make fun at. But here is for all the young people, if you want the things of the world and you're saved and you've been in church and then you go, that stuff over there will haunt you the rest of your life. You may be a servant of sin, But righteousness will haunt you. You may try to ignore it. You may become a person on all the media platforms that makes fun and mocks everything. Congratulations. Righteousness is still haunting you. And it will haunt you to the day you die. And then when you die, guess who you're going to wake up in front of? God, the righteous judge. And you'll never get away from it. See, being sarcastic? Yes, I am. I had too many friends growing up that thought they could choose the world and live a happy life and multiple marriages and rehabs later. Righteousness still chases them. My dad sits and has conversations with them and they tell him all the nice things that dad wants to hear and then go do what they want to do still. And they're miserable. Why? Because they're just frustrated. Every day they get up and they're frustrated and they're angry. you're a child of God and you're angry there's a sin problem big-time shouldn't be angry you can be hangry because that's different that's when you're hungry and that's this one I understand let's go to Romans chapter 4 Romans chapter 4 let's look at verse 19 here we're talking about Abraham and And his example to us. He says, "...and being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old." See? That should be encouragement to you. Yeah. I don't know how you feel at your age, but hey, at a hundred he was still doing good. "...neither yet the deadness of Sarah's room." There's an awkward phrase. He staggered not... Isn't it? You ever read those things and just say, really, Lord? Did you have to say it that way? I mean, couldn't have phrased it, you know, when Sarah was barren or something like that? I mean, that's a nice way to say it, but the deadness of her womb. It's a really weird mental picture. Verse 20, he staggered not at the promise of God through what? Unbelief. There's her issue. but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being what? Fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Your issue is, if you're my personality, I'll do it. Move, get out of the way. That doesn't work with God. God will give you how you're supposed to live and the things you're supposed to do, but that walk with Him, that closeness to Him, your spiritual growth, it's His job to perform that. You getting to heaven, that's His job to perform. All you did, and all I did, was accept Jesus Christ's payment so that I could get to heaven. And if we're not careful, we live a very frustrated existence. trying to do a bunch of things. If you were saved out of Catholicism or any other religions, you know what you struggle with? Doing. Because that's what was ingrained in you, that you have to do, I have to do, I have to do, I have to do. You don't. It's his job. And Abraham fully persuaded, verse 21, he was able also to perform. Abraham was counting. I can't even imagine taking my son up onto a mountain to sacrifice him, but Abraham did it. Why? Because God, Abraham believed that God was able to perform. You see, because Isaac was a miracle anyway. Why? The deadness of Sarah's womb. And so for Abraham, I'm not saying it wasn't a big deal, but it was believable for him. It was believable for him that God gave him to me the first time and he believed God would give him to him again. He was fully persuaded that God would do it. Verse 23 says, now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him. What's the next phrase? but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have what? Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace comes from Jesus Christ. Peace comes when I understand that he took my place A person that is full of peace is not a person that is frustrated at their performance. They're not. I'm understanding this, that whatever God is doing, He is doing. And I'm here trying to be involved. I just want to be involved. I want to do something. But God is behind the scenes doing it all. Matthew Henry said this, If the same God who begins the good work did not undertake the carrying on and finishing of it, it would lie forever unfinished. He must perform it. We may be confident, or well persuaded, that God not only will not forsake, but that He will finish and crown the work of His own hands. And you understand that that's a literal statement? That your God, who sent His Son to die for you, desires to give you crowns? Does that blow your mind? Lord, I didn't do anything to be here. I haven't done anything today to be here and he wants to crown literally crown you for a work that he did For a performance that he's finishing and we're gonna walk into heaven and he's gonna crown us for it Hard to grasp isn't it? That's why it's hard to live for God. I Because as human beings, that's why religion works in our world. Because religion puts it back in my hands. It puts it back in my flesh. And it makes me feel like I'm actually doing something. When I live the spiritual life with God, it pulls all that stuff out. It makes me just stand here and by faith alone trusting that He's going to do this work that He said He would do. Are you frustrated this morning? Are you saved this morning? If you're not saved this morning, that could be why you're frustrated. You're looking for a peace that only Jesus Christ can bring. The emptiness inside of you is Jesus Christ. Christian, are you frustrated? You're trying to just gain speed and momentum in your Christian walk? Stop. Being confident of this very thing that He, which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Let's bow our heads this morning. If the Lord's talked to you, you come and talk to Him. You let him do the work, church, that he promised to do. You let him do the work that he said that he would finish and that he would perform. Father, I pray that you'd speak to us now. God, I pray that you'd work in our hearts, help us to be drawn to you, help us to be pictures of you. God, if anyone in here this morning is not saved, God, I pray they see their need for salvation and that peace they're looking for, it comes from you. Let's stand to our feet this morning, 306, a good song, a good song, a good reminder, it's called Complete in Thee. Complete in thee. We don't have any hope of doing anything in this life without Jesus Christ. Young people, as you grow, you need him. You better cultivate that relationship. Pastor Caleb, as we sing, page 306, complete in thee.