1 00:00:02,456 --> 00:00:04,006 What is your life? 2 00:00:04,006 --> 00:00:05,497 It is a vapor. 3 00:00:05,497 --> 00:00:07,194 The Bible says your life 4 00:00:07,194 --> 00:00:09,471 is like a puff of steam. 5 00:00:09,471 --> 00:00:12,746 There for a moment, and then it's gone. 6 00:00:12,746 --> 00:00:14,182 My name is Kevin. 7 00:00:14,182 --> 00:00:17,173 I grew up in Manchester in England 8 00:00:17,173 --> 00:00:18,920 in the seventies, 9 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:20,858 into a background in those days, 10 00:00:20,858 --> 00:00:23,832 you were either considered a Roman Catholic, 11 00:00:23,832 --> 00:00:26,559 or like us, we were considered an Anglican 12 00:00:26,559 --> 00:00:28,729 which is Church of England now. 13 00:00:28,729 --> 00:00:30,308 We never went to church. 14 00:00:30,308 --> 00:00:33,830 All that means is I was christened as a child. 15 00:00:33,830 --> 00:00:37,023 Infant baptism is a big ritual there. 16 00:00:37,023 --> 00:00:39,037 It's a big superstition. 17 00:00:39,037 --> 00:00:41,789 People believe that you can't get into heaven 18 00:00:41,789 --> 00:00:44,909 without some sort of infant ritual. 19 00:00:44,909 --> 00:00:47,378 So the only times in my childhood 20 00:00:47,378 --> 00:00:48,795 I set foot in a church 21 00:00:48,795 --> 00:00:50,591 was at one of these christenings 22 00:00:50,591 --> 00:00:54,371 or was at somebody's wedding. 23 00:00:54,371 --> 00:00:57,737 And then, when I got to secondary school 24 00:00:57,737 --> 00:00:58,926 or high school 25 00:00:58,926 --> 00:01:00,887 I just professed to be an atheist 26 00:01:00,887 --> 00:01:02,783 back in those days. 27 00:01:02,783 --> 00:01:05,734 Really, even though I didn't know much 28 00:01:05,734 --> 00:01:07,225 about the Bible back then, 29 00:01:07,225 --> 00:01:10,020 and I didn't know much about Jesus Christ 30 00:01:10,020 --> 00:01:11,490 I did really know one thing. 31 00:01:11,490 --> 00:01:13,685 I knew deep down it was all true 32 00:01:13,685 --> 00:01:15,807 even in the days when I professed 33 00:01:15,807 --> 00:01:16,905 to be an atheist. 34 00:01:16,905 --> 00:01:18,942 There was just something inside of me - 35 00:01:18,942 --> 00:01:21,102 a nagging thought - my conscience 36 00:01:21,108 --> 00:01:24,142 which told me it was all true. 37 00:01:24,142 --> 00:01:25,637 And so as time went on, 38 00:01:25,637 --> 00:01:27,948 I left school and I just became 39 00:01:27,948 --> 00:01:29,090 a big sinner. 40 00:01:29,090 --> 00:01:31,444 I drank up as much sin as I could 41 00:01:31,444 --> 00:01:32,640 in various ways. 42 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:36,820 And I did things which are real shameful to speak about 43 00:01:36,820 --> 00:01:38,127 in that time. 44 00:01:38,127 --> 00:01:41,003 And so time went on and I became 45 00:01:41,003 --> 00:01:42,631 a worse and worse sinner. 46 00:01:42,631 --> 00:01:44,908 And I got to my mid-twenties, 47 00:01:44,908 --> 00:01:47,481 and I started asking those questions 48 00:01:47,481 --> 00:01:50,496 that everybody asks at some point in life. 49 00:01:50,496 --> 00:01:51,726 Why are we here 50 00:01:51,726 --> 00:01:54,585 and what happens when this life is over? 51 00:01:54,585 --> 00:01:56,584 And I would philosophize. 52 00:01:56,584 --> 00:01:57,750 I remember each day 53 00:01:57,750 --> 00:02:00,023 I would just philosophize more and more. 54 00:02:00,023 --> 00:02:05,908 And I'd come up with the silliest interpretations of things. 55 00:02:05,908 --> 00:02:08,299 This would keep on going. 56 00:02:08,299 --> 00:02:10,889 But I knew there was a God at this time. 57 00:02:10,889 --> 00:02:12,880 I just looked at the whole creation, 58 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:15,386 the Bible says, declares His handiwork. 59 00:02:15,386 --> 00:02:18,449 And my conscience again just keeps telling me 60 00:02:18,449 --> 00:02:19,617 this is true. 61 00:02:19,617 --> 00:02:22,772 At first, I would look at other religions. 62 00:02:22,772 --> 00:02:25,508 I wanted to become anything but a Christian. 63 00:02:25,508 --> 00:02:27,930 And I remember, I looked at things like Buddhism. 64 00:02:27,930 --> 00:02:32,670 But it was just all fairy tale stuff. 65 00:02:32,670 --> 00:02:34,305 It was just nonsense really. 66 00:02:34,305 --> 00:02:36,315 And then eventually, 67 00:02:36,315 --> 00:02:39,328 I started to open the Bible and look at it 68 00:02:39,328 --> 00:02:40,693 as like a history book. 69 00:02:40,693 --> 00:02:42,979 It was an old Bible that was passed down 70 00:02:42,979 --> 00:02:44,709 in the family from my granddad, 71 00:02:44,709 --> 00:02:47,514 and I just started in Genesis 1:1, 72 00:02:47,514 --> 00:02:49,615 "In the beginning, God created 73 00:02:49,615 --> 00:02:51,390 the heavens and the earth." 74 00:02:51,390 --> 00:02:53,346 And I just kept on reading 75 00:02:53,346 --> 00:02:55,538 and it seemed to make sense. 76 00:02:55,538 --> 00:03:00,229 Now, I didn't really understand it at that time, 77 00:03:00,229 --> 00:03:02,373 and I was trying to interpret it 78 00:03:02,373 --> 00:03:05,507 through my atheistic worldview I still had. 79 00:03:05,507 --> 00:03:07,048 Even though I wasn't an atheist, 80 00:03:07,048 --> 00:03:09,812 I still had a naturalistic worldview. 81 00:03:09,812 --> 00:03:11,093 I remember reading about 82 00:03:11,093 --> 00:03:12,476 the manna in the desert. 83 00:03:12,476 --> 00:03:14,562 I was thinking, well, that must be snow. 84 00:03:14,562 --> 00:03:16,549 These people must not really understand - 85 00:03:16,549 --> 00:03:18,648 these primitive people. 86 00:03:18,648 --> 00:03:21,385 But I still knew it was all true. 87 00:03:21,385 --> 00:03:22,876 And about the same time, 88 00:03:22,876 --> 00:03:26,850 I started to go to a high Anglican church, 89 00:03:26,850 --> 00:03:29,340 which is basically like Catholicism 90 00:03:29,340 --> 00:03:30,482 but without the Pope. 91 00:03:30,482 --> 00:03:32,385 It's all prayer book rituals. 92 00:03:32,385 --> 00:03:35,452 The sermons there were only 10 to 15 minutes. 93 00:03:35,452 --> 00:03:38,848 And there wasn't really the Gospel preached there - 94 00:03:38,848 --> 00:03:40,644 the message of how to get saved. 95 00:03:40,644 --> 00:03:42,626 And what truth I did hear there 96 00:03:42,626 --> 00:03:45,057 was all surrounded in hypocrisy. 97 00:03:45,057 --> 00:03:47,262 It was all filtered through that. 98 00:03:47,262 --> 00:03:50,669 Now, I was doing things in that time 99 00:03:50,669 --> 00:03:53,118 that I just become more and more religious. 100 00:03:53,118 --> 00:03:55,683 I thought I was a Christian for about six years. 101 00:03:55,683 --> 00:03:56,931 I went to that church, 102 00:03:56,931 --> 00:03:59,600 but I never knew Jesus Christ. 103 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,558 I never really knew Him. 104 00:04:02,558 --> 00:04:05,842 But there was so much hypocrisy going on. 105 00:04:05,842 --> 00:04:07,920 For instance, me myself, 106 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:09,105 you would have thought 107 00:04:09,105 --> 00:04:11,148 that for an hour and a half on a Sunday 108 00:04:11,148 --> 00:04:13,072 I was deeply religious. 109 00:04:13,072 --> 00:04:14,679 But for the rest of the week, 110 00:04:14,679 --> 00:04:16,789 I just lived like a complete hypocrite. 111 00:04:16,789 --> 00:04:19,377 You know, I'd go to nightclubs and things 112 00:04:19,377 --> 00:04:21,051 and do shameful things 113 00:04:21,051 --> 00:04:23,617 and then I'd be in church on a Sunday. 114 00:04:23,617 --> 00:04:25,580 Now, I knew that was wrong, 115 00:04:25,580 --> 00:04:28,353 but I'd look at other people in the church 116 00:04:28,353 --> 00:04:31,095 and they'd be getting blind drunk as well 117 00:04:31,095 --> 00:04:32,322 on a Saturday night. 118 00:04:32,322 --> 00:04:35,354 And I'd just think, well, they've been Christians 119 00:04:35,354 --> 00:04:37,026 longer than me. 120 00:04:37,026 --> 00:04:40,863 So this time just went on and on like this. 121 00:04:40,863 --> 00:04:43,721 Eventually, I always knew 122 00:04:43,721 --> 00:04:46,569 that there was something more to Christianity 123 00:04:46,569 --> 00:04:47,638 that I didn't have. 124 00:04:47,638 --> 00:04:49,475 Now, of course, it was Jesus Christ, 125 00:04:49,475 --> 00:04:50,769 because in this time, 126 00:04:50,769 --> 00:04:54,012 God was just always a distant deity to me. 127 00:04:54,012 --> 00:04:56,789 I didn't really know Him. 128 00:04:56,789 --> 00:04:58,731 I had a cliche - I would say, 129 00:04:58,731 --> 00:05:01,664 I've got a relationship with Jesus. 130 00:05:01,664 --> 00:05:03,754 Christianity is a relationship with Jesus, 131 00:05:03,754 --> 00:05:05,773 but I didn't really know Him. 132 00:05:05,773 --> 00:05:09,829 And so I started to listen to sermons 133 00:05:09,829 --> 00:05:11,828 and messages and look at teachings 134 00:05:11,828 --> 00:05:14,218 outside of the church I was in. 135 00:05:14,218 --> 00:05:16,232 And I was going through a series 136 00:05:16,232 --> 00:05:18,270 on the Sermon on the Mount, 137 00:05:18,270 --> 00:05:20,414 and then one day I sat in the garden 138 00:05:20,414 --> 00:05:21,920 listening to a sermon 139 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:23,659 and I heard the words of Jesus 140 00:05:23,659 --> 00:05:26,231 from Matthew 5:27-30 141 00:05:26,231 --> 00:05:27,926 where Jesus said, "You have heard 142 00:05:27,926 --> 00:05:29,364 that it was said of old, 143 00:05:29,364 --> 00:05:31,469 'you shall not commit adultery,' 144 00:05:31,469 --> 00:05:33,916 but I say unto you, if you look at a woman 145 00:05:33,916 --> 00:05:35,248 to lust after her, 146 00:05:35,248 --> 00:05:37,353 you've already committed adultery with her 147 00:05:37,353 --> 00:05:38,438 in your heart." 148 00:05:38,438 --> 00:05:39,985 And Jesus went on to say there, 149 00:05:39,985 --> 00:05:43,741 "cast your eye out, because it is better 150 00:05:43,741 --> 00:05:45,564 to enter heaven with one eye 151 00:05:45,564 --> 00:05:50,340 than to enter hell with both." 152 00:05:50,340 --> 00:05:54,155 Now, the context there is of course adultery. 153 00:05:54,155 --> 00:05:55,652 It's not saying it's a sin 154 00:05:55,652 --> 00:05:58,253 for a man to have sexual desire for his wife 155 00:05:58,253 --> 00:05:59,585 and vice versa, 156 00:05:59,585 --> 00:06:03,088 but Jesus does clearly say in those verses 157 00:06:03,088 --> 00:06:06,094 that to lust over someone you're not married to 158 00:06:06,094 --> 00:06:08,531 is a sin that will surely take you to hell 159 00:06:08,531 --> 00:06:09,940 if it's not repented of. 160 00:06:09,940 --> 00:06:13,169 Now, I had heard those verses many times before. 161 00:06:13,169 --> 00:06:15,159 And in fact, I remember discussing it 162 00:06:15,159 --> 00:06:17,799 only a few weeks earlier. 163 00:06:17,799 --> 00:06:20,187 I explained them away every time 164 00:06:20,187 --> 00:06:22,130 saying surely it doesn't mean 165 00:06:22,130 --> 00:06:23,648 what He says there 166 00:06:23,648 --> 00:06:25,458 because everybody does that. 167 00:06:25,458 --> 00:06:27,820 Everybody just lusts all the time. 168 00:06:27,820 --> 00:06:30,556 But that day, when I heard those words of Jesus, 169 00:06:30,556 --> 00:06:33,262 I knew He meant what He said. 170 00:06:33,262 --> 00:06:35,531 I knew for the first time, 171 00:06:35,531 --> 00:06:38,415 I realized that God was a holy God 172 00:06:38,415 --> 00:06:41,185 Who I could no longer play games with. 173 00:06:41,185 --> 00:06:44,370 And in all this, it just felt like 174 00:06:44,370 --> 00:06:47,059 the love of Jesus Christ 175 00:06:47,059 --> 00:06:50,426 because I realized that God could have 176 00:06:50,426 --> 00:06:51,464 killed me. 177 00:06:51,464 --> 00:06:53,388 I mean, my life is in His hands, 178 00:06:53,388 --> 00:06:54,698 and He could have killed me 179 00:06:54,698 --> 00:06:56,328 and put me in hell a week before, 180 00:06:56,328 --> 00:06:58,947 or a year before or two years before, 181 00:06:58,947 --> 00:07:01,088 knowing the shameful things I did. 182 00:07:01,088 --> 00:07:04,406 And He would have been perfectly just in doing so. 183 00:07:04,406 --> 00:07:07,115 But the kindness and the long-suffering of God 184 00:07:07,115 --> 00:07:10,106 which is meant to lead a person to repentance, 185 00:07:10,106 --> 00:07:11,863 led me to repentance, 186 00:07:11,863 --> 00:07:14,548 because I just saw the great love of God. 187 00:07:14,548 --> 00:07:16,720 And I'd been mocking Him for so long 188 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:18,535 and playing games with God. 189 00:07:18,535 --> 00:07:21,466 And He just loved me. 190 00:07:21,466 --> 00:07:23,723 And He just died for me. 191 00:07:23,723 --> 00:07:27,160 In 2 Corinthians 5:21, the Bible says, 192 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:29,921 "He Who knew no sin became sin for us 193 00:07:29,921 --> 00:07:31,445 that we might become 194 00:07:31,445 --> 00:07:34,441 the righteousness of God." 195 00:07:34,441 --> 00:07:38,002 Jesus Christ on a cross 2,000 years ago, 196 00:07:38,002 --> 00:07:41,609 He became a sin offering for us. 197 00:07:41,609 --> 00:07:43,685 He became a sin offering for me. 198 00:07:43,685 --> 00:07:45,582 He died in my place. 199 00:07:45,582 --> 00:07:48,651 And on that cross, 200 00:07:48,651 --> 00:07:50,392 all the guilt of my sin, 201 00:07:50,392 --> 00:07:53,748 the shame of my sin, 202 00:07:53,748 --> 00:07:56,530 just all my wrongdoings I ever did 203 00:07:56,530 --> 00:08:00,068 were placed upon Jesus on that cross. 204 00:08:00,068 --> 00:08:05,196 Not only did Jesus pay for that, 205 00:08:05,196 --> 00:08:07,345 and take away all my sin, 206 00:08:07,345 --> 00:08:09,369 so there is therefore now 207 00:08:09,369 --> 00:08:11,015 no condemnation left for me 208 00:08:11,015 --> 00:08:13,399 because Christ has already been condemned 209 00:08:13,399 --> 00:08:14,574 in my place. 210 00:08:14,574 --> 00:08:19,339 But He also lived a righteous and perfect life. 211 00:08:19,339 --> 00:08:22,793 You see, the greatest commandment 212 00:08:22,793 --> 00:08:24,552 in Scripture we are told 213 00:08:24,552 --> 00:08:26,894 is to love God the Father with all our heart, 214 00:08:26,894 --> 00:08:28,426 soul, mind, and strength 215 00:08:28,426 --> 00:08:30,958 and to love our neighbor as ourselves. 216 00:08:30,958 --> 00:08:33,092 Now, in the life of Jesus, 217 00:08:33,092 --> 00:08:36,843 He always perfectly loved God the Father 218 00:08:36,843 --> 00:08:39,211 with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength 219 00:08:39,211 --> 00:08:42,174 and He always perfectly loved His neighbor 220 00:08:42,174 --> 00:08:46,182 as Himself for every millisecond of His life. 221 00:08:46,182 --> 00:08:48,265 But since becoming a Christian, 222 00:08:48,265 --> 00:08:51,428 we never do that for even one second. 223 00:08:51,428 --> 00:08:53,765 We never perfectly love God. 224 00:08:53,765 --> 00:08:57,050 But from the moment I believed on Jesus Christ; 225 00:08:57,050 --> 00:09:00,695 from the moment I saw His great love for me, 226 00:09:00,695 --> 00:09:04,089 then not only was all my sin gone, 227 00:09:04,089 --> 00:09:06,063 gone forever, 228 00:09:06,063 --> 00:09:08,007 as far as the east is from the west 229 00:09:08,007 --> 00:09:09,652 the Bible says, 230 00:09:09,652 --> 00:09:11,747 He remembers our sin no more, 231 00:09:11,747 --> 00:09:13,624 but God now looks at me 232 00:09:13,624 --> 00:09:15,977 as if I have lived the perfect, 233 00:09:15,977 --> 00:09:19,661 righteous life of Jesus Christ. 234 00:09:19,661 --> 00:09:21,935 So, God now looks at me and says 235 00:09:21,935 --> 00:09:24,232 this is My beloved son, 236 00:09:24,232 --> 00:09:28,140 in whom I am well pleased. 237 00:09:28,140 --> 00:09:30,084 The cross of Jesus Christ 238 00:09:30,084 --> 00:09:32,126 is such a wonderful thing. 239 00:09:32,126 --> 00:09:34,694 There's an old hymn that goes, 240 00:09:34,694 --> 00:09:37,940 Oh my sin, oh the joy of this glorious thought; 241 00:09:37,940 --> 00:09:41,613 my sin, not in part, not just part of my sin, 242 00:09:41,613 --> 00:09:42,995 but the whole, 243 00:09:42,995 --> 00:09:44,612 is nailed to the cross 244 00:09:44,612 --> 00:09:46,475 and I bear it no more. 245 00:09:46,475 --> 00:09:47,616 Praise the Lord! 246 00:09:47,616 --> 00:09:50,865 Praise the Lord, O my soul! 247 00:09:50,865 --> 00:09:53,468 And if you don't know Jesus, 248 00:09:53,468 --> 00:09:55,160 if you were like me 249 00:09:55,160 --> 00:10:00,728 with just not knowing your sin's forgiven, 250 00:10:00,728 --> 00:10:02,689 not really knowing God, 251 00:10:02,689 --> 00:10:04,504 then I plead with you, 252 00:10:04,504 --> 00:10:08,329 Jesus really paid it all for you on that cross. 253 00:10:08,329 --> 00:10:14,112 He paid every drop of my wrath in hell. 254 00:10:14,112 --> 00:10:18,027 All of my hell Jesus paid for on the cross. 255 00:10:18,027 --> 00:10:21,366 That is what He did for us. 256 00:10:21,366 --> 00:10:22,635 If you will come to Him, 257 00:10:22,635 --> 00:10:24,556 if you will surrender to Him, 258 00:10:24,556 --> 00:10:25,869 I plead with you, 259 00:10:25,869 --> 00:10:28,177 Jesus - He doesn't want part of your life. 260 00:10:28,177 --> 00:10:29,840 He wants all of your life. 261 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:31,788 And He is so worthy. 262 00:10:31,788 --> 00:10:34,031 He is so good. He is so kind. 263 00:10:34,031 --> 00:10:36,175 All together lovely. 264 00:10:36,175 --> 00:10:37,868 I had no life. 265 00:10:37,868 --> 00:10:40,297 I just had a miserable, worthless, 266 00:10:40,297 --> 00:10:41,834 and pathetic life 267 00:10:41,834 --> 00:10:43,468 for so much of my life. 268 00:10:43,468 --> 00:10:45,833 I wasted so much of my life. 269 00:10:45,833 --> 00:10:48,315 But it was by coming to Jesus Christ 270 00:10:48,315 --> 00:10:49,953 that I now have true joy, 271 00:10:49,953 --> 00:10:51,672 true peace of the heart, 272 00:10:51,672 --> 00:10:54,065 and true life. 273 00:10:54,065 --> 00:10:55,662 He offers that to you 274 00:10:55,662 --> 00:10:57,118 if you'll come to Him. 275 00:10:57,118 --> 00:11:01,942 And He offers that to you this day. 276 00:11:01,942 --> 00:11:05,328 You see, the love Jesus has 277 00:11:05,328 --> 00:11:08,405 for the believer is just perfect. 278 00:11:08,405 --> 00:11:12,427 The Bible says - as Jesus said, 279 00:11:12,427 --> 00:11:13,855 "As the Father has loved Me, 280 00:11:13,855 --> 00:11:16,975 even so, I have loved you." 281 00:11:16,975 --> 00:11:18,702 You know, the Song of Solomon says 282 00:11:18,702 --> 00:11:21,302 that Jesus - He comes to the believer 283 00:11:21,302 --> 00:11:23,959 leaping across the mountains. 284 00:11:23,959 --> 00:11:29,347 After all my sin and all my shame before God, 285 00:11:29,347 --> 00:11:30,722 when I go to Him, 286 00:11:30,722 --> 00:11:32,381 Jesus comes running to me 287 00:11:32,381 --> 00:11:34,252 with His arms open wide, 288 00:11:34,252 --> 00:11:36,323 hands that were pierced for me, 289 00:11:36,323 --> 00:11:39,325 with holes in them for my sin. 290 00:11:39,325 --> 00:11:42,240 He just comes to us ready to embrace us 291 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:46,241 in His everlasting love for us. 292 00:11:46,241 --> 00:11:47,458 Eternity! 293 00:11:47,458 --> 00:11:49,611 The next life is forever. 294 00:11:49,611 --> 00:11:52,273 there is nothing more important 295 00:11:52,273 --> 00:11:53,938 than being right with God 296 00:11:53,938 --> 00:11:55,349 for eternity. 297 00:11:55,349 --> 00:11:56,809 The Bible says 298 00:11:56,809 --> 00:11:58,278 it is appointed unto men 299 00:11:58,278 --> 00:12:00,741 once to die, but after this, 300 00:12:00,741 --> 00:12:02,276 the judgment. 301 00:12:02,276 --> 00:12:05,491 After death, there are no second chances 302 00:12:05,491 --> 00:12:06,918 to get right with God. 303 00:12:06,918 --> 00:12:09,424 But you must make peace with God 304 00:12:09,424 --> 00:12:12,592 before you meet Him.