There is just something about Jesus

So, I'm going to talk about gratefulness. Gratefulness to me is inspiration to give, or something that has been done for me that inspires me to do the same for others. Gratefulness could also be defined as full of grace—a person that is filled with grace to be gracious to others. The grace that they receive from God will be reflected in their kindness, their patience, their forgiveness, their tenderness to others. It's a service, like the gracious service of Jesus towards us when we were his enemies, when we were sinners, when we were rebellious and idolatrous. That same gracious service that we did not deserve inspires us to graciously serve others that maybe we feel don't deserve it. Maybe they're lazy. Maybe they're unthankful. Maybe they don't recognize how much has been given to them and how much they have. That same gracious service of Jesus our Lord—we've truly received that grace—will inspire us to do the same thing for others, to just serve with that same zeal, that same capacity. You know, it says that zeal for thine house has eaten me up. And a vivid picture of what this looked like was when Jesus was at the whipping post. You see his zeal as he's just getting whipped, as he's getting flogged, and that skin's coming off his back, and blood is just pouring out from his body. You see how the zeal for his house, for us, he says, I will build my house, I will build my church, my dwelling place, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against me. Zeal for thine house has eaten me up, it's consumed me. See that on the cross, there's just this blood and spittle was dripping from his body. You know, men were hawking loogies, just like clearing their throats with disdain and spitting in the face. He's the creator of all things, who upholds all things by his very word, who has the power to crush them like a cockroach. So zeal for thine house has eaten me up. In another prophecy it says, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this. Jesus was zealous to be gracious, to pour himself out in loving service to heathen, rebellious sinners, his enemies, his mockers, his persecutors. Zeal for thine house has eaten me up. He was zealous because he knew that this service, the fruit that it would produce in us and those who would believe. Zeal for thine house has eaten me up. A lot of the times, you know, what's eating us up? Whatever's eating us up, does it produce the same life, the same selfless, sacrificial giving of oneself, emptying of oneself as you see in Jesus? Or are we eaten up with defense? Are we eaten up with bitterness? Something's just eating me up. It's just bothering me, making me frustrated. What's eating you up? Zeal for the house of God is what ate up Jesus. He's a selfless sacrificing creator for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory both now and forever. Amen. I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that you offer your bodies a living sacrifice fully and acceptable unto God. This is our reasonable service on the basis that Jesus is the creator of all things. On that basis alone, we ought to offer our bodies a living sacrifice. He was not a living sacrifice. He was killed. He was a sacrifice that was killed and slaughtered. He chose that before the foundation of the world. You see the testimony in Leviticus chapter 16 with the scapegoat and the sin offering, the goat that was a sin offering, the Lord's lot fell upon the sin offering. He was telling us, I'm going to offer myself as a sacrifice for your sin. Zeal for thine house has eaten me up. He wasn't eaten up with our offenses, with our bitterness and our hatred and our love for the things that he abhors. In fact, it says death has been swallowed up in victory. He ate up the death. He ate up all the covetousness in our hearts through his zeal that consumed him on the cross. That's what was eating him up. Wasn't his carnal thoughts and desires, his fleshy attitudes. He was full of grace. And if we are filled with grace, our lives will look like Jesus. We will live like Jesus, not from the head, but from the heart. It will be just literally him living his life through us. If our hearts are truly filled with grace, it will be him living his life through us. His thoughts, his desires, his feelings will become our own. Has grace gained the ascendancy over your soul, over your thoughts, feelings, and desires? What has the ascendancy? What sits on the throne of your heart? What influences you to do the things that you do throughout the day, the things that you speak? What captivates you? What are you dreaming about? What are you thinking upon? What's eating you up? Is it zeal for the house of God or is it carnal, selfish, fleshy thoughts and feelings about those around you? About what they're doing or what they're not doing? What's eating you up on a daily basis? Zeal for thine house has eaten me up and it's led me to the cross to be crucified, to pour myself out in selfless service for you. This is what Jesus did. Gratefulness. Gratefulness. It's a heart that's full of grace. A heart full of grace will produce the life of Jesus. The other day I was working and I had these thoughts go through my mind as I got, I was just taking notes on the phone here and I just thought about this. Imagine if somebody said, thank you for dinner, but I don't feel like washing the dishes. Thank you for the garden fresh salad, but I don't want to work in the garden. Imagine saying to Jesus, thank you for washing my feet, but I really don't want to wash the feet of others. I don't want to get my hands dirty washing the filthy feet of men. Thank you for dying for me, but I don't want to live for you. Thank you for saving my soul, but I don't want you to use me to save the souls of others. Thank you for being hated without a cause for my sake, but I want to be liked by everyone. And when we hear that, we think there's no way anybody that would ever say those things, they would ever be a Christian. We would never say that is a heart filled with grace. That is a picture of grace. We would never say that if somebody was speaking such things, right? Amen. Amen. But we don't have to say it with our mouths. What do our lives declare? Are our lives saying that? Thank you for saving my soul, but I don't want you to use me to save other souls. I might look like a fool. I might not know what to say and look stupid. My mind might go blank as I go there, you know, to making myself available for you to use me, just to speak a word of life to this soul that's dead in their trespasses and sins. My mind might just draw a blank and I'd look really stupid. Christ was crucified. He was beaten. It says strikes there for the backs of fools. There were more strikes laid upon his body than any man that ever moved. He was beaten beyond recognition. He looked like the biggest fool on that cross. Paul said, we are fools for Christ's sake. Thank you for dinner, but I don't want to do the dishes. Something else I want to do. I don't want to be a servant. You can just serve me all day long, but I don't want to serve. I don't mind doing other things, perhaps. I don't have much fun doing the dishes. Kind of boring. Thank you for this garden fresh salad. I really appreciate it. It tastes really good. But I don't want to go labor out there. I don't want to sweat. I don't want to get my hands dirty. I want to crawl on my knees, tearing out little weeds. But thank you for this garden fresh salad. Thank you for these nice juicy tomatoes. Fresh pluck lettuce tastes really good. And I really appreciate all your labor in doing that. It's really kind of you. Thank you for dying for me, Jesus, but I don't want to live for you. That would be absurd to call yourself a Christian and talk this way. But there's such a thing as sign language or body language, and that communicates a lot more than what we say with our lips. Is your heart filled with grace? What is eating you up? Is it offense, bitterness, resentment? Is it complaining and murmuring? Are you thankful that you have people in your life that you can serve? Are you thankful for brothers and sisters and family and Jesus Christ that you have in your life that are willing to lay down their lives for you? And are you just happy to serve them regardless of how thankful or unthankful they are? What is eating you up? Is it frustration? And that toilet needed to be cleaned again. They keep leaving the toilet there. Would your life be better off without them? Would you be happier if they were removed from your life? How would you feel if they just said, I'm tired of this? I may be unthankful, but you're frustrated. I'm thankful that I have people in my life that I can sacrifice for, that I can give myself to you. I'm thankful. And like Jesus, his grace did not depend upon our thankfulness. He would have been gracious and poured himself out just as much. If nobody ever believed in him, he would have done it because he is gracious. If everybody that ever walked the face of this earth would have given him the finger and said, you're the biggest fool that ever walked the face of this earth. You were crucified for your foolishness. Every person said that to him, he still would have done it. And he still would have loved every single person that said that to him perfectly. And he wouldn't have resented the fact that he gave himself for them because he's that much full of grace. He's that much full of grace. He would not resented the fact that he gave himself on the cross and was beaten and crowned with thorns and spit upon and mocked and hated and despised and crucified and healed for people that would never say thank you or never be thankful. He would not have resented that. He would have been satisfied still because he's that much full of grace. And there are millions of people today that will still think he's the biggest fool that ever walked the face of this earth and that will never, ever, ever surrender their lives to him. But he still gave himself for them. Are we grieved by having to give ourselves to others that we feel maybe unthankful that they don't recognize what we've done for them? Does it still make us happy to give ourselves in service to them? Are our hearts filled with grace? What is eating us up on the inside? Somebody that wasn't even a Christian who was influenced by Jesus said, be the change you want to see in the world. There are so many people complaining about the world, about how evil it is, how corrupt it is, but they're not being a light to this darkness. They're not shining. They're just complaining and murmuring and adding more darkness and grief to it. Be the change you want to see in the world and be the change you want to see in the church. You have no right to even speak about it if you're not being that change. What is eating you up on the inside? Anybody with a carnal mind and two eyes can look at the way things are in the world and the way things are in the church and talk about it and seem really holy to another carnal mind. But what are you doing about it? What are we doing about it? Psalm has said in 116th Psalm, he said, what shall I render unto the Lord for all of his benefits towards me? Psalm 86 says in verse 13, verse 12, he says, I will praise the old Lord, my God, with all my heart, with all my thoughts, all my desires, all my feelings. It's the deepest thing within me is to praise you and give you glory. And he says, and I will glorify thy name forevermore. For great is thy mercy towards me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest hell. You have delivered my soul from the lowest hell. What shall I render to the Lord for all of his benefits, for all of his kindness towards me? What can I do for him? Psalm 103 says the Lord is merciful and gracious, low to anger and plenteous in mercy. He will not always try it either. Will he keep his anger forever? He has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. What is eating you up? Is this the zeal that Jesus had for his people that led him to the cross to go prepare a place for us, for them and his kingdom? Forever will one day he will wipe away every tear from our eye. There will be no more sorrow, no more crying, no more dying, no more confusion, no more shame, just fullness of joy forevermore. I deserve Jesus to treat me as a sinner. That's how I deserve Jesus. That's the kind of treatment I deserve from Jesus. It's for him to treat me as a sinner. But he has valued this sinner, David Valderrama, more than his own life. He thought that you, you, you, you and you and me and all watching, he thought of us more than his own life. But we deserve to be treated like sinners. And yet we have such a difficult time treating others as though they're worth more than our own life. Oftentimes the attitude is, well, Jesus had to give his life for me and I don't have to give my life for others. Or if I do and they're not really thankful or recognize what I'm doing for them, then I have the right to be offended. I have the right to be frustrated. I have the right to be resentful about it. That's not the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus is to just give, give and give. And don't think much else about the results. Because it's your nature to give. God is love, right? Love. You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. Love will require something from you. And we need to give with a cheerful heart. Jesus gave himself on the cross with a cheerful heart. I can't imagine the joy unspeakable and full of glory that bubbled up out of the inside of him whenever that thief on the cross just broke there on the cross and confessed his sins and rebuked the sinner that was crucified next to Jesus saying, We deserve this. We're guilty. We are guilty. This man's done nothing wrong. And then he says, Lord, Lord, when you enter into your kingdom, remember me. There was something about Jesus where he felt the invitation to even ask that request. Jesus is so holy, so set apart from carnal human nature, so exalted, so high, so worthy, so different, so radical, so loving, so kind. And yet he felt invited. He just got there saying, We're guilty, man. This guy's done nothing wrong. We're guilty. But he's done nothing wrong. Lord, when you enter in your kingdom, can you remember me? Can you imagine that? The presence of Jesus. There's something about the presence of Jesus that says in Luke 15 that the sinner drew near for to hear him. And the religious people over there mumbled and grumbled saying, Hey, he receives sinners and eats with them. The sinners drew near to hear him. The Pharisees drew near to condemn him. The religious leaders drew near to find fault with him. Why do we draw near to Jesus? Why do sinners draw near to him? What is it about Jesus that welcomes them where they don't feel shunned and condemned? They are condemned unless they repent. But what about Jesus? What is it about him? Where the woman that was a sinner could just fall at his feet weeping and wash his feet, his dusty, dirty feet with her tears and dry them with the hairs of her head. What was it about Jesus that drew her, compelled her to go forward? She didn't think she'd feel condemned for it. If you thought you were going to be shunned and condemned and despised for doing that to Jesus, you just wouldn't do it. But she did it. The woman with the issue of blood, she just pressed through the crowds as she just touched the hem of his garment. People were always reaching out to Jesus. Why? He came full of grace and truth. Truth is a sharp two-edged sword. And grace is what we need in order for that sword to pierce like the deepest part of who we are without injuring us. It just lets that sword slide right in to like the deepest, most intimate and secret place within us. Just cut away everything that needs to be cut away. The covetousness, the lust, the idolatry. Jesus came full of grace and truth. That's how we need to be. Full of grace and truth. We can't compromise the one without compromising the other. Because Jesus came full of both. And we'll never walk as he walked without both. I deserved for Jesus to treat me as a sinner, but he valued me more than his own health. His own comfort. His own, I would say interest, but really he had no other interest than the souls of men. He wasn't wanting to party. He wasn't wanting to go to the fair. Unless there were souls there that needed to hear the word. It's the only reason why he'd be interested in going. He wasn't laboring for the wind. He wasn't laboring for his own selfish, carnal interest or just to have a good time. He was satisfied and fulfilled by healing, delivering, saving, and because he was full of grace. It was his own nature compelling him to leave his throne in glory. To come as a little baby born in a manger. In a feeding trough where cows and swine or whatever animals were there would drool in it. It doesn't say Mary pulled out some bath and tub and tile cleaner. Some infecticide or whatever and sprayed it down. He was laid in that feeding trough. He was lowly. He was humble. Matthew chapter 15, I'm going to talk about two different types of people. There's those that thank Jesus with their lips, but their hearts are far from them. And then there's those people that just work really hard and really hard, but they're not really thankful. And it's reflected in the relationship with Jesus. And you wonder to yourself, what's compelling them to work so hard? Is it the grace they receive from Jesus? What is it? I want to talk briefly about these two types of people. Matthew 15, verse 8. He's saying this to the scribes and to the Pharisees, to the religious leaders. Those that were held in a high regard for their religious education, for their degrees, their diplomas, and their credentials. Jesus says this people, the scribes and Pharisees. They draw nigh unto me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. How do we know if Jesus really has our hearts? Any ideas? How do we know if the Lord Jesus really has our hearts? What's the first thing that comes to your mind? Loving one another? Joy? Joy? Yeah, that's a good one. It's a big one. Contentment in His will. Contentment in His will. Esteeming others above ourselves. Esteeming others above ourselves. I would say a lot of people, if I asked them that question, they would answer one of these two probably. Obedience, right? If Jesus really has our hearts, we're going to do whatever He's commanded, right? It's true. But it's possible. You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. That's really good. The Church of Ephesus, they gave. They worked really hard. Jesus acknowledged it. He pointed out, man, you've labored for my namesake and have not grown weary. They were working so hard. He was like, look at these people. They're working so hard for my namesake and they're not even weary. But what power was compelling them to work so hard? Was it a heart full of grace? Was it gratefulness? What was it? Maybe a sense of duty. Maybe a sense of duty. Maybe a sense of trying to pay Jesus back for what He did for us. Maybe a sense of prestige, seeing the esteem such high and lofty things as you mentioned. Yeah, right, right. So, there are those that merely thank Jesus with their lips but not with their deeds. Then others thank with their deeds but not with their words. There are people that thank Jesus with their deeds, but they don't really ever enter into a real authentic relationship with Him. What's compelling them, I think a lot of the times what compels people is their self-righteousness. It's their desire to be righteous based upon their own merits. I'm going to forsake everything. I'm going to abandon everything. Whatever Jesus said, I'm going to do it. So, I'm going to be righteous. These people out here, they're not righteous. It's the church. It's an us and them mentality. I'm not like them. God, I thank you that I'm not like them. I'm not an adulterer, an extortioner, covetous. I fast twice in the week. I pay tithes of all that I possess. Thank you that I'm not like these other churches out there. It's an us and them mentality. It's a self-righteous, proud, arrogant, repugnant, odious, savage Jesus compelling them to labor for His namesake. That's what I think is moving them to do all that they're being and doing. I don't think it's a love for Jesus because they have no relationship with Him. They don't feel what He feels when they're around sinners. They don't feel what He feels when they're looking at somebody dying on their deathbed or somebody's hurting and in a lot of pain. They don't see things through His eyes because they have no relationship with Him. But then there's those that claim to have all that, but they're not obeying Him. And yet Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. He that has my words and keeps them, He it is that loves me. It's interesting that the most predominant commandment in John's gospel is to love as he loved. Amen. Not a bunch of other things that are contained in that. Oftentimes, I'm totally hijacking what you're saying, but it was interesting because oftentimes people take that verse and then go to commandments in other gospels or other epistles. But there's a whole lot of Jesus' character that they don't embody in the gospel of John. I want to embody that. I know I don't. And I want to. I'm not claiming to either. I'm just saying that I can see it for what it is. It doesn't mean I do it. I know. I'm with you. I'm poor and needy, brother. I want Jesus to live His life through me. I want Him to truly get all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. I really do. I'm so far from that at times. God have mercy on me, a sinner. I really think, like Job, he was righteous. The Lord said he's righteous and he's perfect. But when he saw Jesus as he really was in Job 42, he said, oh, I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Wherefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. I think the Pharisees, if they saw Jesus as he really was, they saw what God was like in Jesus Christ. They weren't repenting in dust and ashes. The drunkards, the harlots, the publicans were running to Him. They saw something in Jesus that the Pharisees could not. I don't want to be like those Pharisees. But it's like there's these two camps here, and Christ is missing out of both of them. And I kind of lean more towards the one than the other, but it's like if Jesus really has our heart, we will obey Him. He says, he that has my words and keeps them, he it is that loves me. He that hears my words and does not keep them does not love me, Jesus said, John 14, 21 and 23. But at the same time, if we're just working and laboring really hard, like a church of Ephesus who fell from their first love, and you grow into this self-righteous, stuck-up, arrogant, high-minded Pharisee, where others feel condemned in your presence because you see yourself above them. We've fallen far. If that's the case, Jesus never compromised holiness. He is holiness embodied. People drew near to hear Him. They were sinners. The others didn't feel the need. The others knew what they were. They knew they were sinners. Pharisees didn't. That's the most dangerous place to be, Jesus said in John chapter 9. You would have no sin at all. Or if you were blind, you should have no sin at all. But now you say, we see. Therefore, your sin remains. And I don't know how many times I've been around people, you know, and just I've seen it in myself where I see sin in their life and I've seen sin in my life. I've usually admitted it, you know, whenever there was one. I could see it anyways. It's a dangerous place to be when you can't see your sin. And you're saying, I see. It's a dangerous place to be. Jesus said, these people draw near to me with their mouths, with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Jesus went to the cross to bring our hearts near. He's saying, come here. I really want you. I'm trying to show you how much I want you, so I'm going to this cross to die for your sins. Only recognize that you're a sinner and how much you need me because I have so much I want to give you. I came to give life and life more abundantly than abundant life, where you can just have victory over your carnal thoughts and desires and your feelings about your brothers that seem unthankful or ungrateful or that are lazy or just self-centered or self-focused or self-absorbed or whatever it is. I came to set you free from that because I am love. I am holiness and just I want to live my life through you. He came to give us life abundantly so much so that we too can go to the cross and be crucified and sing on that cross the praises of the Lamb of God who took away our sins and opened up heaven and opened us up. Where he could come and live through us and take us home to be with him forever. An abundant life that just swallows up death and victory and all the works that produce death in victory. That's that abundant life. He came to kill us where we turn the other cheek. We do good to those that hate us. We love those who don't love us. We give to those who cannot or will never repay. That's what Jesus came to give us. That's the life that he offers. In Matthew chapter 18 there was a man for giving us an enormous debt. He could never pay it all. He just fell to the ground before his master and said have patience with me and I will pay thee all. It wasn't just have patience with me. That's the problem. He's saying have patience with me. Have mercy on me. Give me what I do not deserve is what he should have said. He owed such an enormous debt. Apparently he must have been blindsided to the fact that he probably would never be able to pay it anyway. Right, but that's the deception about human nature or just the fallen nature. Whatever you want to call it. There's something within man that wants to merit his salvation. That wants to own it. Doesn't want somebody else to own it. It's the pride of man's heart. Have patience with me instead of have mercy on me. I don't deserve it, but please release me from this debt. He said have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And the king, even though it was an imperfect request, so full of grace that he said I forgive you everything. I forgive you everything. But what was the servant trying to do? He went and took the fellow servant by his throat and said pay me what you owe me. His servant fell to the ground and said have patience with me and I'll pay thee all. But that man would not forgive him and cast him into the prison. And when his master found out about it, he says he was angry, he was rough, furious. And he found him and said you wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you desired me to do it. And you won't even forgive this man that owes you like $20. And he gets thrown into the prison for that. And to the tormentors until every last penny is paid. See this man was self-righteous. He had to have his satisfaction or at least the idea that he's going to pay it all. Even though I can never pay it all and I never can. Like it says in Obadiah 3 that the pride of your heart has deceived you. People are deceived. They think that somehow they can recompense Jesus for all that he's done. And this servant thought that he could recompense his king, his master for all that he forgave him. And he was just working really hard to do it regardless of how unrighteous or righteous he had to be. To pay him back. He was so self-righteous. The power that was working in him was self-righteousness, arrogance, and pride. He received the grace of God in vain. It says in 2 Corinthians 6, Paul says to the church, I beseech you do not receive the grace of God in vain. This man received the grace of God in vain. He was forgiven. But he wasn't changed by that forgiveness. He was still working to pay back his master instead of just having a heart full of grace. Instead of just being thankful and grateful for that forgiveness and for what his master did for him. See, grace changes us. Grace will change us. That's why we're saved by grace through faith. If we're faithless, we're not going to be changed regardless of how gracious God is to us. That's why Jesus says be not faithless but believing. If we don't believe, if our understanding isn't open to what we deserve and where we were going after we die, and what we've been saved from through Christ and his sacrifice on the cross, we're going to be an unthankful servant. But grace changes us. Why did I stop using methamphetamine? Everybody here knows that I was a meth addict. That I gave my body to be abused by men because I was so horribly addicted to that drug. I contracted the AIDS virus through all that. But Jesus set me free. 20 years ago, Jesus set me free. And I mean free. Why have I stopped fornicating? Why have I stopped pornography? Why have I stopped covetousness like other people's possessions? Why have I stopped lying? Because Jesus was crucified for every one of those things. He was crucified for it. He died for it. He suffered for it. He was rejected and despised and hated without a cause for it. That grace that I received ought to change me and produce a heart full of gratefulness, of gratitude. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for saving a wretch like me. Thank you for delivering me from that horrible bondage and that slavery. Thank you for the holy calling you've placed in my life. Thank you for the people in my life that I get to serve. Thank you that I have people in my life that I get to give to, labor with, work with, fight with sometimes. But they still love me and I still love them. And because your grace is in our hearts, we work it out. And our bond is even stronger than it ever was before. That's why we should never give up on a relationship. Because Jesus is greater than the evil that tears those relationships apart. Jesus is greater. His love is stronger than anything that we could ever do to separate ourselves from each other. We just let him live through us. But in order for him to live through us, we've got to die. To that rejection and that pain that wants to control our lives and treat others the way we didn't want them to treat us. Why am I striving to offer my body's living sacrifice? Because Jesus, his body was sacrificed for me. Gratefulness. What is on the inside of our hearts? What is on the inside of our hearts? This isn't supposed to condemn anybody. It's not supposed to make anybody feel like they're just way down here. It's just so we can reckon with what we are in the sight of God. Because all that we are is what we are in his sight. Nothing more, nothing less. It's not about what these people think or what measure of grace they think I have or don't have or whatever. It's about me and Jesus. It's about you and Jesus. What are we in his sight? And if we find ourselves poor and needy, just be broken by that. If you find yourself falling short, be broken by it. And run to Jesus. He's waiting for us. He's waiting for our brokenness to just be laid at his nail-pierced feet. He's waiting to embrace us with his nail-pierced hands. He's waiting for us to lay our heavy heart upon his bosom. Gratefulness. Amen.