You are invited to trust that God's kindness, not His wrath, is what draws you to Him. As you walk in faith, let your life demonstrate that same goodness to others so they too may be led to repentance. Share His grace freely, knowing that your witness can change a heart just as Jesus changed Zacchaeus.
Welcome to the Real Church podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
Welcome to Real Church online. If you're just not plugging in, guarantee you're gonna walk away, number 1, encouraged, and number 2, with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. Real Church, we're just a bunch of real people who really love Jesus and are having a really good time as we follow him, and you're invited to be a part of that. As a matter of fact, we're getting together for the first time in months inviting our whole church family and everybody else who wants to join us. August 23, 6PM, it's gonna be a night of worship and testimonies, encouraging word.
You don't wanna miss out. And you can check out our Facebook page at realchurch.us for more details. Sign up for the event. It's gonna be a a showing of unity too. We're meeting at a good friend of mine's church, Mission City Church.
They've opened up their doors to us for this monthly celebration. So we're so thankful for that. Now, today today, I am excited because my father is gonna be preaching. And my father is the pastor of River of Life Church in Winsboro, Louisiana. He and that church is actually the church that sent my family here to plant or to start real church.
This man is full of Jesus. He knows him, and it's just real. A a lot of who I am today is from my dad and and my my mom daily pouring Jesus into me as I grew up. I I pray the way that I pray because I saw my dad pray this way. I I minister the way that I minister with authenticity because my dad ministered and brought me along with, and I just saw Jesus pour out of him.
I know the message that he's preaching today, and it's going to be powerful and it's gonna help you to see the the the clear grace and love of God, maybe in a way like you've maybe in a way that you've never seen before. So please, over the next little bit, ask God to speak to you because he will. He uses people to speak to people. Ask God to speak to you. Lean in a little bit, and and I know that this is gonna be life changing.
Let's listen.
Hello, Real Church. So glad to be with you today. I'm pastor David Phillips, David John's father, and, I'm happy to be able to share this message with you. The title of this message we're gonna call the goodness of God, and the first scripture comes from *Romans-2* and verse 4. It says, it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.
Another version says it this way, the kindness of God is what causes us to turn and repent. Praise the Lord. It's not necessarily the fear or the wrath or the coming judgment, but it's God's goods goodness, his kindness that turns our heart towards him. Another way, it's said in James-2:13, is mercy triumphs over judgment. Man, how many of you are glad that mercy triumphs over judgment?
I like a simple definition I like to give that *mercy* is not getting the punishment we deserve for our law breaking or sin, and grace is getting the goodness that we do not deserve. Man, I'm so glad when the Holy Spirit drew me to the knowledge and the truth of the gospel of Jesus, that praise God mercy kissed me on 1 cheek and grace on the other, and I've never been the same since. Let's look at a practical application story of God's *kindness* leading people to *repentance* as seen in the life of Jesus Christ walking the earth. We're gonna start with a short story in *Luke-5* beginning in verse 1, the calling of the first disciples. 1 day, as Jesus was standing by the Lake Of Gennesaret, same thing as the Sea Of Galilee, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw by the water's edge 2 boats.
They were left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into 1 of the boats, the 1 belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and he taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything.
But because you say so, I will let down the nets. There's something that Simon saw in Jesus to be willing to take his advice and go let down the nets 1 more time. Now, grew up as a fisherman. This was his trade. This is what he did for a living, and he knew the fish and he knew that lake, that Sea Of Galilee.
He had worked all night and caught nothing. He just didn't think it was the right time for the fish to be biting. But he saw something in Jesus and he listened to him and he went out and he put down the nets 1 more time. Then the Bible says, when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners from the other boat to come and help them and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
Now let's just don't read over this. Let's stop and think a minute. Imagine if you were a fisherman and this was your livelihood and you work hard to catch a few fish to sell to be able to have enough food to provide for your families and take care of you and your needs. And there he was, catch working all night and there's no fish. And this Jesus comes, uses his boat to teach the people on the side, then he goes and lets down the nets, and now there's so many fish in the first time they're letting down their net again that he has to call his partners, and there's so many so many fish, it almost sinks both boats.
I'm talking about if this is your livelihood, it's like catching enough fish for maybe a whole year of income. This was an amazing blessing, overwhelming, and you can imagine their astonishment. The Bible goes on to say, when Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and he said, go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man. Let's stop.
He recognizes through the word Jesus was speaking, through the miracle that just happened, that this Jesus is a holy man from God and he recognizes through seeing Jesus' holiness and his goodness, he sees his own *sinfulness* and he falls to his knees in *repentance* and says, Lord, I don't need to be near near you. I can see you are holy and I'm sinful, you know. So let's look at this and how did our Lord respond? It says, for he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John, the sons of Zephaniah, Simon's partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid. From now on, you will catch men. And in verse 11, says, so they pulled their boats onshore, left everything and followed him. I want to point out something here from the first verse of the message, *Romans-2:4. It's the kindness or goodness of God that leads a man or leads us to repentance*.
Now, Peter admits his sinfulness in the boat and says, go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man. Did Jesus from the boat looking at Peter say, Peter, yes, you are a sinful man. I know these are the following sins you've been committing and you know you better turn or you're going to burn. You better change your ways.
No. Let's stop and look at the story. What did Jesus, who is the living breathing God in the flesh as a man walking among us, what did he do for Peter, knowing that he was a sinful man? Jesus knew it. What did he do?
He blessed this sinful man with the greatest catch of fish of his entire life. He blessed him. He knew Peter was a sinful man, but instead of scolding him or talking about his sin, he gave an act of kindness from heaven and blessed him with a boatload of fish, the biggest catch of fish he's ever had in his whole life. It was a miracle. And then he calls this sinful man and says, come, follow me.
I'm gonna make you a fisher of men. Man, Peter was, so astonished, so overwhelmed by the goodness of God. It caused him to turn from his life, turn from everything, his sin, and he left everything and followed him. So we see a practical example of the word becoming true that says the goodness leads people to repentance. Now, let's look at 2 other stories that I believe Luke put back to back side by side in *Luke-18* to compare and to contrast with the story of Luke-19.
Let's turn there together and we'll start in Luke-18 verse 18. It's a short story that the Bible entitles the rich ruler. It says, a certain ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus answered, no 1 is good except God alone.
Now why would Jesus say this? We know that Jesus is good. We know that everything he did was from God. Everything he did was good. He was trying to portray to this man the idea of what is good and what is bad because everyone has this idea in their own mind about good and bad, right and wrong.
And so to this ruler, he saw Jesus as good, and he said, what must I do? So Jesus said, you know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, and to honor your father and mother. Now here, Jesus gives this rich ruler who believes that he is good also and he gives them the commandments. This is rare in seeing in Jesus' ministry how he's opening up and showing them the commandments to point them and he has a reason for it. It goes on to say, this rich ruler said, all these I have kept since I was a boy, he said.
Wow. So in this rich ruler's eyes, he also thinks that he is good. He said, I have obeyed all these commands you have just listed. Look what I have done. I have kept them since I was a boy.
Therefore, I want you to know I am good also. How does Jesus respond to this? Let's look at it. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, you still lack 1 thing. Yeah.
You've done pretty good with these. You think you're good, but I wanna show you something deeper. You lack 1 thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, then come and follow me. The Bible says in verse 23, when he heard this, he became very sad because he was a man of great wealth.
He became very sad when he heard this word. Jesus looked at him and said, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now what's the point here? It is not that Jesus is telling everyone who has any sort of wealth in this world to sell everything you have to come follow me.
He wasn't really focused on the rich man's wealth. He's focused on the rich man's heart. You see, this ruler thought he had obeyed all of the commands and that he was good, but what Jesus was pointing out through the law is he had disobeyed the first command. The first command is love God with all your heart, put to put him first. And Jesus was pointing out, you still lack 1 thing.
You put your identity in being a ruler, your good name in the community, your wealth that you have created in your business, you're putting this all ahead of God. So I'm using the law for the purpose of the law to show you that you're lacking. You see, the law's purpose is not that we try so hard to obey it and follow it all to become righteous, for the word shows us that no 1 can be declared righteous by observing the law. No. The purpose of the law is to show us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
So even this man's pride that I have obeyed all these laws, Jesus had to show him that he still lacked the most important 1. See, you have to know and humble yourself to recognize you're a sinner in order to be saved. So it's a rarity, but I see sometimes there is the example of having to show someone the law of where they've missed it in order to cause them to realize they need to be saved. So we're gonna see the difference. Here in in Luke-5, Peter knew he was a sinner.
Jesus never mentioned the commandments or his sin. He just blessed him with the goodness. Now in the rich young ruler story, he thinks he's righteous and Jesus had to show him his sin. Now let's compare that story to a short story in Luke-19. And then, *Luke-19*, we're gonna look at the story of Zechariah or Zacchaeus, the tax collector.
Zacchaeus, the tax collector, Luke-19 verse 1. It says, Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zechariah. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man, he could not because of the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him since Jesus was coming that way. Now let's stop and point out that this Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. In those days, in the time of Jesus, the whole area of Israel, Judah, Galilee was controlled by the Roman Empire. So we can see that Rome used some of the citizens of the Jews to become their tax collectors. So here you have a Jew collecting the taxes from his own people to give to Rome.
And some of these tax collectors could become wealthy because the Romans didn't care how they collected the taxes. They could threaten their brothers with jail time from the Romans. They could threaten their life. They could collect more taxes than was owed and keep the rest for themselves. So this chief tax collector had become wealthy off his own people, giving to the Roman Empire that was oppressing them.
So he was hated by his own people and he was used by the Romans, yet he had become wealthy, but something in his heart was longing for truth and righteousness. He heard about this man Jesus. He heard about the miracles and the teaching he had done. And now here he is coming through his own town. There was such a crowd following Jesus that Zechariah thought to himself, man, I wanna see him, but I can't.
So he ran ahead. He climbed a tree up in the branch of this tree just to get a glimpse of Jesus Christ. He had a longing in his heart. Let's see what happens next. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately.
I'm gonna go to your house today. So Zacchaeus came down at once and welcomed him gladly. First of all, I wanna point out that Jesus knew Zacchaeus by name, and he knows you, each and every 1 of you, your family members, those who are in Christ, and those who are still wondering out there outside of Christ who haven't received him. He knows you all by name, and just like he stopped to point to Zacchaeus and to call him and to welcome him and say, want to be your friend, I'm willing to come to your home, I'm willing to enter your home, to be with you, to sup with you, to be a partaker with you. I'm willing for you to be with me.
He's saying that to each and every 1 of us. So this Zechariah, who was a chief tax collector who had stolen and done evil, Jesus is saying, I'm coming to your house. I long and want to be with you. Now watch this. All the people saw this and began to mutter, he has gone to be the guest of a sinner.
They had their own religious mindset. They were looking at this tax collector that they hated. They said, what? And they were mumbling in the background talking to 1 another. If this Jesus is really the Messiah, if he's really from God, why would he want to go to that man's house?
That man's been stealing from us and robbing us for a long time. He's a cheat and a liar. He works for the Romans. Why does Jesus wanna go to him? And they began to wonder about Jesus.
Could he really be a man from God? Why is he going hang out with the sinner? I'm glad Jesus did. He's a friend of sinners. Hallelujah.
So he said, all the people began to mutter. He's gone to be the guest of a sinner. Verse 8, but Zechariah stood up and said, Lord, look, here and now, I give "half my possessions" to the poor and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will **"pay back 4 times"** the amount. Imagine this, there's a crowd walking down the road. Jesus stops when he sees Zechariah said, come on down from the tree.
I'm going to your house today. And then the crowds begin to mutter, begin to wonder what's going on. They follow him. They go all the way to Zechariah's house. They open the doors.
Jesus comes in. A crowd comes in with him. There's people standing outside the house listening to see what's happening. And there, as Jesus blesses him with his presence, what does Zacchaeus do? Zacchaeus repents from his heart and says, look here, Lord, if I've cheated anyone, I'm going to pay that them back, and today, I'm gonna give half my possessions to the poor.
Remind yourself, what did he say to the rich young ruler? The rich young ruler who was rich, who didn't want to give to the poor, Jesus said, I want you to give your possessions to the poor and come follow me. He never said that to Zechariah. He didn't say, Zacchaeus, you're a sinner. You've been cheating people.
I want you to give your possessions to the poor and pay them back. No. No. No. All he did was bless Zacchaeus with goodness.
He blessed Zacchaeus with his *presence* in his home. He went to the center and blessed him to know that Zacchaeus, I want you. I want a relationship with you. I'm willing to come to your home. And what touched Zacchaeus' heart?
Was it the threat of judgment? Was it fear? Was it Jesus calling him out? No. The goodness of God, the love of God led him to repentance, and Zacchaeus stands up and does what the rich young ruler wouldn't do.
He says, today, I give half my possessions to the poor. Jesus didn't ask him to. His heart was changed. And then he says he says this, and if I've cheated anybody, I will pay back 4 times. Wow.
Imagine that. He knew he had cheated people. He knew he had lied and stolen, and he's saying, I'm gonna pay them back 4 times over. So the goodness of God touched Zacchaeus in such a way, now his heart is changed. He has repented from his heart, and now the goodness of God in him wants to flow out and bless others.
What did Jesus say to this? This is amazing. In verse 9, Jesus said to him, today, *salvation* has come to this house. Jesus didn't call him to the altar and have to say some sort of prayer. Jesus' presence was there, and the goodness caused the man to repent, and right there, he believed in Christ.
So Jesus acknowledged it, you know, and said, now, today, **salvation has come** to this house because this man too is a "son of Abraham". Verse 10, for the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. This an amazing story, how practically we see Romans-2:4, it is the goodness or the kindness of God that leads a man to repentance, and we see it happen in Jesus' life. He blessed Peter, who said he was a sinner, with a boatload of fish. It changed his life forever.
He talked to the rich young ruler who thought he was good and showed him where he fell short. The man turned and walked away. And then Zechariah, who also knew he was a sinner, was blessed by the goodness of God coming to his home and he repented right away without Jesus even asking him to. This message of the good news of the gospel is so good. We have received his love while we were yet sinners.
Let's go and "give the same to others". We, the Christians, the body of Christ, are **friends to sinners** and we reach out to them and give them the goodness of God, and it is God's kindness revealed through your life that will lead others to salvation. God bless you all. It's been great to be with you today.
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