What Do You See in the Mirror?

Well, we're very thankful for, Steve McCullough putting that video together and getting us to where all those. Incredibly ridiculous costumes. Well, I'll tell you the story sometime later, how that I was accosted in my monk outfit by a gang banger who thought I was really a monk and wanted to take me down. That's for another time.

Hey, we wanna, we're just really glad that you guys are here. We're glad that all the children are here for the special Cornerstone Kids Day. while we are focusing on the kids, it's for everybody as we, talk about who is in the mirror. Yeah, if we could go ahead and separate you guys, that'd be great.

Thanks so much. What we wanna do real quick though, before we get into the message is I'm gonna be doing a lot of interaction here with the children, and if you kids pay attention, there's gonna be the opportunity for 10 kids to get a sucker, OK? But any child that wants to participate can come up here and sit in the front row with Mr. Jeff, Mr.

Carlos, and Ms. Matrice. So, if any children wanna come up, you can do that. If, if you don't wanna come to the front, you can still sit out there and I will come to you if you want to answer some questions later.

I've got a mic here, but if anybody wants to come sit up front, you can come on up and it might get you a little closer to the goods. So, you just never know. So, great. It's good to have you guys up here.

The title of this morning's message is, What do you see in the mirror? And what we're going to do is we're going to take two tests. We're going to take a test. First of all, it has to do with the 10 Commandments, and then later, we're going to ask, why did God even give us the 10 Commandments?

Raise your hand if you've heard of the 10 Commandments. OK, great. And raise your hand if you were here, if you're a child, and you were here for service. OK.

All you first service people, we're gonna ask you to leave a lot of the questions to the 2nd service kids, OK? So, first service kids, you can listen, but we're, I'm gonna be going after 2nd, 2nd service kids almost entirely. So, what we're gonna do is we're gonna go through, I'm gonna teach you guys each of the 10 Commandments, and then if you can remember them all, I'm gonna have different children come on up here and see if you can remember all 10 Commandments. And there's a method to this madness.

And if you're an adult here, you're gonna benefit as well. But let's talk about the first commandment. The first of God's 10 commandments, if you have a Bible with you or at home, you could look at Exodus 20, you could look at Deuteronomy 5, you have the 10 Commandments in both of those places. But the first commandment, notice who can point out the little number 1.

Where do we find a number 1 up on the screen? Everybody look on the screen. Where do we find a number 1? And what is your name?

Joni, where's the number one on the ribbon, on the ribbon, and that is a first place ribbon, right? OK, so everybody got the idea. It's a first place ribbon, and it says, you shall have no other gods before me. The idea here is, is that God should be number one in your life.

Number one, he's first place. That has the 10 Commandments in it too. In fact, we'll, we'll talk about that. Thanks for reminding me about that.

We'll talk about that a little later. First place in your life, can anybody think of something that you have allowed to be first place in your life other than God? Sometimes we let other things be first place in our lives. Let's go for second service kids.

If you were here in the first service, keep your hand down and let's go for anybody who's here for the just for this service. Friends, Friends could be 1st place instead of God. What else? What else could be 1st place instead of God?

Anybody out here? You can be an adult too. We'll, we'll even do adults. What could be first place instead of God?

Maybe a trophy. A trophy could be first place instead of God, right? You could, you could love trophies and sports. What else?

What else could be first place instead of God? Yes, Mr. Disney, a car, a car could be first place. You could love cars.

I've seen adults that love cars, and, and it's a temptation for us to put them above Jesus, right? Like racing, a what racing, racing sports like baseball, angels. Money Money could be first place. A dog, a dog could be first place.

Myself, yourself, could you hand that to your brother over there? Here you can take it. Go ahead and give it that microphone to him. video games.

Oh yeah, video games could be first place in our lives. OK, so what is the first commandment? What is the first commandment? It is.

You shall have no other gods before me. Good. What is your name again? Joni.

Everybody give Joni a hand. You shall have no other gods. So when you think of the first place ribbon, you shall have no other gods. God is 1st place, right?

OK, so all the kids, remember that? If you're gonna come up later, you gotta remember, we need somebody to remember 1st place ribbon, no other gods before me. Let's look at the second commandment. Who can, who knows this, can see the secret little 2 up there?

Where do we have the secret little 2? And why don't you shout it out? Yeah, it's that guy bowing down. What's he bowing down to?

An idol, an idol, the statue. So he's got a statue that he's bound down to. So you shall not make for yourself any idols. Do not bow down to anything but God.

there's religions, these, even today that bow down to other things, they, they worship these statues, they can't speak, they can't hear, they can't smell, they have to pick up their little statue and carry it places. But we also will worship and bow down to other things. What are some other things that we might bow down to, at least in our hearts, other than Jesus? And we'll What are some things we might bow down to, huh, like you carry a statue somewhere you'd like to have it.

Oh, good. You see something that you want, you wanna have it, and so you bow down to it. Here, we'll go to some first service people. Candy, candy, you might bow down to candy.

It could be you're bowing down in your heart to one of the one of your friends because it's like the the best friend in the neighborhood for everyone because everyone likes it the most. Oh, that's a good one. So everybody's got this one popular person. Excellent.

I don't think to another person, to another person. Excellent job. OK, so what is the second commandment? What is it?

Who said that? Did, did the second commandment? OK, that's a good, good try, man. That's a good.

Oh, let me, I'll get back to you, care group leader. You shall never bow down to any idols. Good. What is your name?

Christian. Christian. Everybody give it up for Christian. OK.

Never bow down to any idols. OK, so you got the first two. What is the first picture? It's a go ahead and shout it out.

Go ahead and shout it. A ribbon, first place ribbon. What is the second picture? Yeah.

That's right. Some weird two-looking person bowing down. Right. OK, let's talk about 3.

Where's the secret 3? Where is the secret 3? Right there when you go like this. Oh man, go like that right there.

That's awesome. You saw it. So it's right in the lip there, and this says, You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. Don't use your lips to dishonor God.

We shouldn't use our lips or our mouth to dishonor God. Have you ever seen somebody get angry and they go, Oh, Hitler? See anybody do that? Oh, Allah.

Anybody ever do that? No, we don't do that. We, we don't use Hitler's name as a cuss word. But what, we'll take the name of Jesus, we'll take the name of God, and we'll use that name as a cuss word.

That's part of what it means. the other, the bigger idea of what it means to not take the name of the Lord in vain, is when your mommy and daddy come before a pastor, and they give their vows, what they're doing? They're making an oath, they're making a promise before God, they're taking God's name upon their lips, saying, I will be faithful to this man or woman. Till death do us.

Part in richer in riches and in what was it, was it? In sickness and in health, for better or for, right? And riches, what's the other one? Richer for poorer.

OK. So you make that vow before God. And when people just say, oh, that didn't mean anything, my vow didn't really mean anything. I'm gonna be unfaithful to my wife or husband now, that's taken the name of the Lord in vain, because you took God's name on your lips, you made a promise before God and other people, and then you decided that vow didn't mean anything.

OK? So that's a third one. OK, what is the 3rd commandment? Let's go out here.

3rd commandment. Who do I see? Who do I see? 3rd commandment.

See some yawning people. You shall not make for yourself any idols. That is not the 3rd 1. That's the 2nd 1.

That's good. Who knows the 3rd 1? Shout it out. Don't take the name of the Lord in vain.

What is your first name? Date, they say it right? Date everybody give it up for date. All right.

Awesome. Good job. OK. Who can tell me the secret for here?

Where's this mysterious for, Mr. Disney? Shout it out. Good, it's right there on that book, right?

It's right there in the Bible. Good job. And what this does is, this reminds us, it says, remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. When we get together with God's people, one of the big things we do is we open up God's word together, we preach God's word, we try to obey God's word.

And so this is the fourth commandment. The big idea for us is to worship God with His people when they meet. Now, if you were to read the first several 100 pages of the Bible called the Old Testament, You'll realize that God's people met on Saturday to sacrifice, to worship God, to pray, and so on. But when you get to the last half of the Bible, the Lord seems to allow for freedom on the exact day that you meet.

But we meet on Sundays. For most of church history, the church has met on Sundays to worship God with his people. The big idea is that the 4th commandment for us today is to worship God with His people when they meet. what that means?

I got 2 children who are here for service. what, Joshua and Anna, they don't have to make their beds on Sunday. They, they don't even have to worry about, they don't have to do any dishes on Sunday. They don't have to do any homework on Sunday.

They don't have to do any piano lessons on Sunday. what's the only thing that we require of Josh and Nana? We say, today is the Lord's day. We're just gonna go to church and be with God's people and have fun with God's people.

We're gonna worship God with God's people, and we're gonna let the dishes pile high and the beds stay unmade, and we're not gonna do anything else. That's the 4th commandment for us today, OK? Fourth commandments, we make God's day to be with God's people, right? What is the 4th commandment?

Fourth commandment, Megan. Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy. Give it up for Megan.

She did it OK, that's the 4th commandment. Here's the 5th commandment. Who can spy the secret number 5? Date.

Yeah, who is that woman and man together? Who are those guys? It's parents. I wonder why dad's hiding behind mom there.

But, so there's the 5 represents mother and father, so honor your father and mother. Everybody say it, honor your father and mother. So that's the 5th commandment. Have you guys ever disobeyed your parents ever?

Really? What, what have you done? Well, I lied. Wow, you flew, you flew.

No, you mean you, you lied. Oh, OK. That's disobeying your parents. OK.

Anybody else ever disobey your mom or dad? Follow directions to mom and dad. You didn't follow your mom and dad's directions. That's, that's, that's tough, man.

I've done that too. Yes, sir. You lied? OK.

OK, great. No, not great, but. We're with you, bro. OK, what is, what is the fifth commandment?

Who can tell me? Anybody, any new person, any new one? Anybody want to get in on this action? OK.

Honor your father and mother. Honor your father and mother. Telllebrate your name, Terran. Tier Terran, Tyeran.

I'm sorry, Terry, I ever for Tyan. OK, what is the, where's, what is the sixth commandment? What is the 6th commandment? Meredith, you shall not murder.

You shall not murder. And you guys see who sees the secret little 6. Where's the secret 6? The, the bomb.

What happens when bombs go off and around people explode. They explode. What happens to people if they, if they're by a bomb? Poof, poof, they disappear.

OK, so this is remind us of murder. Has, have you guys ever murdered anybody? Kids? Any, any murdering kids here?

OK, yes. In your hearts, has anybody ever been angry? Have you ever been angry? Raise your hand if you've been angry.

You killed a bug. What, what bug was it? Black widow, a pinch of bug, a pincher bug, murderer, OK. Confessed.

All right. OK, we got Let's see, we got a little comment back here. I feel like Phil Hartman or whatever. What have you done?

I don't remember. How have you disobeyed? You're not sure. Say, are we there yet, Daddy?

That's OK. It's all right, it's all. OK, so you shall not murder. Who can tell me what the sixth commandment is?

6th commandment OK, we'll come up here again. You shall not murder. You shall not murder. Tell me your name again, Emily.

Emily. Everybody give it for Emily again. OK, 7th commandment, who can see the secret number 7? And if you guys OK, let's go back to date again.

Can you shout it out? It's in the heart right there. Good. Excellent Dave.

So what you have here is, you shall not commit adultery. What does that mean? Adultery leaves a heart broken. What this means is when mommies and daddies are not faithful to love each other, it breaks hearts.

It breaks hearts. We're, we're commanded not to be faithful to one another. When mommy and daddy are not faithful to each other, they break hearts. OK?

When you guys get older, you understand more of what that means. But Jesus says, if you even look at someone else other than your husband or wife, and long after them, you've committed adultery already. OK? So that's what we're talking about here.

So what is the seventh commandment, children? Let's go back in. Or Keegan, sorry. That's, you almost got it.

He almost got it. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not commit adultery, OK? And that's breaking somebody's heart.

Let's do a couple more here. Do you guys, now this is tricky. Where's the secret 8, Timmy, can you see it? Where's it at, bud?

Oh, give it up for Timmy. Oh man. It's right there. You shall not steal.

See that thief? He's mean looking. But what, are there any other thieves in this room? Raise your hand if you've stolen something little like just a piece of candy.

Have you ever stolen something? Well, you don't wanna, is your mom, is you don't wanna admit with her mom here. OK. Have you ever stolen anything?

Yes, what? As you name it, a what? You name it. You name it, he stole it.

OK, we got another thief. We just got a church full of thieves here. OK, let's go over here. Is it Kimberly?

I'm forgetting. Emily. I stole my dad's cell phone, but I give it back to him. OK, I stole a cell phone.

Wow. OK. Yeah, Warren getting hooked up with free food when the manager's not aware of it. It's stealing free food when the manager's not aware of it.

what? one of the biggies with teenagers these days is, oh hey, I got, you want, I just bought this great new album here. I'll burn you a CD and you can have a copy. That's stealing.

That's, that's breaking the law, OK? So, what is the 8th commandment? Let's see, 8th commandment. Yes.

Tell, tell me your first name again. Jason, you shall not steal. You shall not steal. Everybody give it up for Jason.

It's the 8th commandment. 9th commandment, I think most of you guys can see the 9 up there, but what is that 9 doing? What is it doing? Let's see if I can.

Everybody just shout it out. What's it doing? Lying. It's lying down.

So the number 9 is lying down. The number 9 is lying. Raise your hand if you've never told a lie. OK.

All of us have lied probably in some way or fashion, even when we shade the truth just a little bit to make ourselves look a little better, make people think that we're better than we really are. Thou shalt not lie. What is the What is the 9th commandment? OK, we got a little hand here.

You shall not lie. You shall not lie. Everybody give it up for Benjamin. OK, last one.

Now, this is hard. This is pretty tough. Where do we see the 10? Where do we see the 10?

OK, date's brother. Or is that your brother? What's your name? What is it?

Say it again. Dayway. Where do you see the tent up there in the place and the ring? Yeah, isn't that a big ring?

How much money do you think that's worth? Boy, I can see why you're spying it, right? What, so it's, you shall not covet. The 10 helps us remember you shall not covet.

This, the idea here is, you shall not long for something that's not yours or be greedy. Hey, children, have you guys ever gotten at Christmas time, you open up your present, you're like, wow, this is great. And then your sister opens up her present, you're like, Man, I want that. And you put your, have you ever done that?

Raise your hand if you've ever done that. Ray Jane, if you've never wanted something that your brother or sister had, Ray Jane, if you've never wanted something your brother or sister had. A few people here and we'll see. you get a new car and all of a sudden you want a better car.

you get an MP3 player, all of a sudden, the, a new, a more updated MP3 player comes out, and all of a sudden yours isn't satisfactory anymore. What is the 10th commandment? Am I missing anybody here? OK, who do we got over here?

Thou shall not. OK, hold on. What do we got here? Dylan, Dylan, you shall not covet.

You shall not covet. Awesome, Dylan. Everybody go up for Dylan. OK.

Now, we're gonna do a test, and I'd really like To do this with second service kids, if at all possible. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna see who actually remembers all 10 commandments. Actually, you only need to know one, is, but the one I'm asking for. And each person that comes up, I'm gonna give you a wonderful lollipop, but the agreement is, is that you won't eat this in the church and you'll throw the wrapper and the stick in the trash, and you won't make Mr.

Ron or any of us run around picking up after you. OK? OK, so here's the deal. I need to know The first commandment.

I want you to give me the picture and then the commandment. If you don't know the picture, that's fine. The commandments what you gotta give me to get the lollipop. OK, so let's start over here.

Tell me your name first, Joni. Jony, what is the picture? A ribbon. And what is the commandment?

You shall not put anyone first besides God. All right, everybody give it up. And Joanna, you can come on. Do you mind, would you mind coming up here?

You're gonna be with 10 other friends here in a second. Awesome. OK, Johnny, you just stand right here. And you can just kinda take a look at that lollipop and smell it and all that.

OK, #2. OK, so we already got the first one. OK, I need to know the second one. Who of the 2nd cert date?

Dave, can you shout out, what is the picture for 2? OK, and the commandment? All right, everybody give it up for date. You wanna come on down?

Awesome. See, what, are you a Bulls fan here or? That's OK. It's all right.

OK, Dave, this is Jony. Whoops, sorry. All right, great job. OK.

So that's the 2nd commandment. Now, we need to go for the 3rd commandment. Again, I'm looking for 2nd service kids, OK. Meredith, I know your name.

What is the, what is the picture? do you remember? A person bowing down to a statue. OK, that's this picture, but what is the third commandment?

Mm. If you don't get it, we'll come back to you on another one. No helps. I forget.

Why don't you think about it, and we'll come back to you on a different one, OK? No, no harm, no foul. No harm, no foul. OK, we got, someone back here.

Is this a hand back here, I see. Is your hand up? OK, OK. It was a person lives.

What's your name, Johnny. And what is the commandment? What do you do with your lips that could be sin? Don't take the Lord's name in vain.

Awesome. Give it up for Johnny. Would you mind coming on out? All right.

Give it up for Johnny. OK, so we got Johnny, is that right? Date and Johnny. All right.

OK, now we need the 4th commandment. OK, let's, let me tell you, let me tell you a joke here. What do you call a grizzly with no teeth? Are you.

A gummy bear. OK? All right. So, Here's one for the adults to get the kids' mind off of this commandment.

This is, this is more of an adult joke. there's two vultures in the desert eating a dead clown. This is a far side thing. OK, two vultures that sink far side in the desert eating a dead clown.

One of the vultures turns to the other and says, Does this taste funny to you? Anyway, OK, back on more important things. Now the kids hopefully have totally forgotten. OK, what is the 4th Commandment.

OK, tell me the picture. Tell me your name, then the picture. Terran. Terran, it's a book with like a, little like roller thing.

OK. And what's the commandment? Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy.

All right, everybody give it up for Terran. That's yours? Johnny, Dave, Johnny, and Taryn. OK.

Let's try this again. OK. 5th commandment. Huh?

Yeah, I think they all have their lollipops. Do you guys all have them? Yeah, they've got them. They just, they know how to stash them.

OK, let's go for the 5th commandment. Let's go back here. Fifth commandment. Tell me your name, picture, and commandment.

Devin. Devin, and, it's a mom and a dad. Honor your mom and father. All right, come on down.

Awesome. Johnny, Dave, Johnny, Tiran, and Devin. All right. OK.

The 2nd half here, we're in the 2nd half. OK, 6th commandment. 6th commandment. You think it?

Tell me your name. my name is Roberto. Roberto, what's the picture? the, the bomb.

What is the commandment. It was blowing on you so much it's time to blow. Yeah, and what happens happens if you explode people? OK, so thou shalt not, should not, you should not what perish.

You should not perish. OK, thou shall not perish. Perish people? No.

Should you kill people? No. OK, good job. All right, everybody, come on up.

OK, come on, Roberto. We're gonna put you right here. You're gonna be over here in the, the other side of the fifty-yard line. Great job.

OK. thou shalt not murder. Good job, Roberto. Let's, OK, so, I think I'm out.

How do you get a one-armed monkey out of a tree? Wave to him. OK. Here we go.

7th commandment. OK, I need kids. Here we go, here we go. Again, all you first service kids are just wasting your time.

OK, 7th, 7th commandment. What's the pic of what name, Jason, a picture. A broken heart. Good.

What's the commitment? You shall not commit adultery. All right, give it up for Jason. Come on up, Jason.

Good job, Jason. You can come on over here by Roberto. And Devin, and Tyen, and Johnny, and Dave, and Joni, right? OK.

Let's go. Let's get this right here. OK. 8th commandment.

OK. Name, picture, and commandment. Ethan Ethan. Do not murder.

OK, close, but no, yeah, this is the 8th 1. Do the picture of the 8? What did you see? steal.

Good job. What is the picture? a robber. A robber.

Come on down, Ethan. You're awesome. Go stand over there by Jason. OK, we got Jason, Ethan, Roberto, Devin, Kieran, Johnny, Dave, and Johnny, right?

OK. OK, we got Can I go forward? Yeah. There we go.

OK, 9th commandment. Let's see. Do we have someone back here? Let's, oh wait, I see somebody who I've never seen before.

I've, I don't know if I've got anything from you yet. What is your name? Christian. Christian, maybe I did get something from you.

What is the picture? The picture is, I don't know. You're not sure, but I know, OK, OK. What's the commandment?

You shall not convict. Close but no cigar, Christian. That's tough. Think about it.

That's tough. But you, yeah, that was a valiant effort. And let's give it up for Christian. That was a valiant effort.

Incredible. Did you want to try it? It's up to you. OK.

OK. Hands up in the air for the 9th commandment. OK, I'm looking for first. OK, let's go back here.

Going for Name Dylan, Dylan, commandment. You shall not lie. Good. What's the picture?

The 99 lying down. Come on down. OK, that was Dylan. And Dylan is next to Ethan, Jason, Roberto, Devin, Kieran, Johnny, Dave, and Joy.

We got one more. And then we're gonna make a lot of covetous kids in this room. OK. One more.

Let's see. OK, let's try. OK, what is the, what is your name? Emily, Emily.

What's the commandment or what's the picture? The picture is a man in, in the door and there's a ring. OK, good. What's the commandment?

You shall not covet. Good job, everybody. Give it up for Emily. Awesome.

You can stand right here. Everybody give it up for Emily, Devin, Ethan, Jason, Roberto, no, no, Dylan, Devin, Kieran, Johnny, Dave, and Jony, everybody give it up. You guys can go on back. Going back with your moms and dads.

You guys did a great job. Awesome. You guys are incredible. These are representatives of our geniuses.

And who can tell me again, what is that last commandment? You shall not covet. Now notice not everybody got a sucker. How does that make you feel?

Not Say it again. She said she's like, no, everyone got a sucker. Not everyone got a sucker. OK.

Anybody else have any feelings about this? Say it again. People are coveting over the sucker. People are coveting over a sucker.

This is by design, yes. God always help us to be good and, and save us. OK, God, He does help us, doesn't he, Roberto? And that's what we're gonna talk about next.

Roberto, that's a great lead-in to our next test, and that is this. We've talked about the 10 Commandments. Now we're gonna ask this question. What are the 10 Commandments for?

What are the 10 Commandments for? You think about it. Look at all these commandments that you guys got right. But we want to ask, why did God give us the 10 commandments?

Now, there's two possible answers. We're gonna see how you guys do. A, as a way to get to heaven, God gave us 10 commandments so we can be good and go to heaven, or B, as a mirror to look at. Raise your hand if, if you believe God gave us the commandments as a way to go to heaven, high up in here.

God gave us the commandments so we can go to heaven. OK. Keep it high in the air. Keep it up.

Yeah. High in the air. OK, some people are trying to influence others. OK.

Raise your hand if you think we have the 10 Commandments as a mirror to look at. A lot of smart adults and kids. Awesome, you guys. That is That's it.

The wrong answer is A. The right answer is as a mirror to look at. OK, it's, it's OK, cool. We're, we're OK.

people get right and wrong answers, we're, we're cool. Guys, eyes up here though. Guys, keep your eyes up here. Thanks, you guys.

Now here's the deal, folks, we want to talk about this whole question, this whole question of to make. Look, it's Mr. I'm OK. I need to make an important announcement.

I want everybody to, to listen. Guys, guys, you really need to listen to this announcement, OK? What, what's so funny? I don't get it.

My what? I've got what? Oh, I'm I'm sorry guys. thank you, thank you for Showing me excuse me.

Mr. Ammo is Not OK Thank you, Michaela. did, did I get it? Let me see.

You have someone on the side of your face. Did I, did I get it all? I Is it, is it gone? 00.

You tell me. OK Wow, thank, thanks guys. Everybody give it up for Mr. I'm OK.

It's amazing. I wonder what he had to share that was so important. The kids, thanks for helping out. what was it that helped Mr.

I'm OK figure out that he was not OK? The mirror, good, shout it out. OK, so the mirror, he looked in the mirror, and he realized he was not OK, right? He had stuff all over his face.

He had this nice suit on, ready for this important announcement at church. And he realized, you guys helped him out. He had people. Miss Mala came up and showed him the mirror of God's law, and he looked at, whoa, I'm not OK.

And then, we had to give him this red towel to wipe off the sin, wipe off the stuff off of his face. And you guys, this is very similar to our situation in life. In the same way, we don't realize what bad state we are in until we look into the mirror of the 10 Commandments. When we look at God's law, then all of a sudden, we think, we think we're OK, but then we look into God's law, we realize we're not OK.

do you remember what is the what the ninth commandment is? Who remembers the ninth commandment? Just raise your hand and shout it out. You shall not lie.

Every one of us in this room, if we really understand ourselves, we've lied, even little white lies. Every one of us in this room have disobeyed our parents at some point. Every one of us in this room have broken the sixth commandment by either literally murdering or hating people in our hearts. Ask yourself this question, have you always loved God?

Have you always made him first? Raise your hand if you've always made God number one in your life, always. Yeah, none of us. Have you been greedy?

Have you ever stolen anything? OK. So you can see that the 10 Commandments are like this mirror. They show us how bad we are and how we need to be clean before the Day of Judgment.

The Bible says, now listen to this, you guys, the Bible says, it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, the judgment. It is appointed for a man to die once and a woman, and after this, the judgment. After this, the what? The judgment.

Everybody put your hand on your cheek. Everybody put your hand on your cheek. OK. A lot of you guys, you put your hands, OK, now put your hand on your cheek.

OK. OK, kids, I got your attention. After this, the what? After this, the judgment, you can take your hand off your cheek if you want.

God has appointed, every man shall die. And after this, the what? Judgment That, that is the day that God will punish people who have broken the 10 Commandments, and they will be sent to a place called hell, a place that God doesn't want people to go. God doesn't want to punish you.

He loves you so much that he made a way for you to be clean before the judgment day. God made a way for you to be clean before judgment. God is a good God, so he will punish sin, but he's made a way for you, boy, man, woman, and child to be clean before the judgment. And I want to end and close by telling you guys a little story that will help you understand this.

OK, right up on the screen here, this is a bad. A young man And this could represent any one of us in this room. And this young man lived in a faraway country where they had a different system of government, different laws, but they had laws. This is a faraway place.

And there's something unique I want you to know about this young man, and that is, is that he did not know who his mother and father were. He was an orphan. He had no idea. He was told that his parents had died.

In fact, they did die when he was really young, so he had no parents. He had no relatives to speak of that he knew of, and yet he was a bad young man. He went around lying. He went around stealing.

He went around committing adultery in his heart. He went around breaking the Sabbath. These were the laws of the land. The laws of the land were just like the 10 Commandments.

He went around taking the name of the Lord in vain. All these 10 things we've talked about, this young man violated all of them. He just stomped on the commandments. Without a father, without a mother, without any relatives to speak of.

And what happened to this guy? One day, He got arrested One day he got caught in his sin, and he was thrown away into prison. He was thrown away to be punished. He was chains were put onto his hands.

He was shackled in his feet. And the judge said, That you Cannot get out of prison unless you have $50,000. Unless you have some relative that can come and pay your fine and get you out, you will stay here forever. Now, in the United States, we, people don't normally go to prison like that.

They get thrown into jail and a few years go by and then they're out free on parole. In this country, this guy was thrown into prison and the key was thrown away unless he could pay his own fine, or somebody could come and pay that fine for him. He was going to live for the rest of his life in prison with no hope. Absolutely no hope Something happened, very important though, in this young man's life.

There was a distant, very distant relative that found out about the plight of this young man, and came and, and traveled to where he was, to the prison where he was enchained by his feet and by his, by his hands. And this traveler, this distant relative came and found out that the fine was $50,000. He found out that the only way that he could be released is if the fine was paid. And so, this man, this distant relative, went into a back room and negotiated the conditions with The judge and the police.

And when he came out, the officer came into this young man's cell and said, You are free to leave this prison. On one condition, the young man said, what? He says one condition and you can walk away free today. He's a what?

He goes, well, let me tell you something else before I answer that question. Somebody has paid the $50,000 that you owe for your crime. Somebody you don't even know And that somebody is a close relative or a distant relative of yours, you've never met them. But here's the condition.

The young man said, What, what do I got to do to get out of here? He goes, this man will take you as his own son, if you agree to be adopted by him, and if you will agree to be his servant. If you will agree to be his servant son. be adopted.

All you got to do is just walk out, sign the papers, and you're free. The young man said, Man, that's great. That's awesome. The judge said, hold on.

If you walk out of this prison, You are no longer enslaved to this prison, but now you will be owned by this man, by this distant relative. You will now be his. She's like, wow. Well, anything would be much better than this prison.

My sin has got me in darkness and chains, and, and I'm eating slop and, and this is the rest of my life. I would much rather be adopted by some relative I've never met than to be stuck in this prison. And so what this man did is he decided to run out, and he was adopted by this distant relative and became a son to this father. And he became a servant to this master.

The only thing he did to contribute to his freedom as he walked out of the prison. Agreeing to the terms. I will be adopted by this man, and I will be his servant. The man paid the fine, paid everything for him, and released him, and now he had a family.

And when they got home, he took them away out of that country, and he found out that he had many brothers and sisters who had also been adopted. And he began to work as a servant for his master and realized that the burden was easy, and it was light, and it fulfilled his soul to be doing work for this man. In fact, he later found out that this man was indeed the king and the judge of the whole country. The king and the judge of the whole country had paid his fine.

The king and the judge of the whole country had let him go. And folks, that is what has happened for us in the gospel is that you and I are like that young man. We've broken all the 10 Commandments. We've been thrown into prison, we don't even realize it, but everybody who does not know Jesus Christ is imprisoned.

Everybody is chained. They think that their sin is freedom, but sin is not freedom, sin is bondage, and they're chained. And Jesus Christ came 2000 years ago, and he paid the fine. So that you could be released.

And all you need to do is to turn and believe in Him, and he will adopt you into his family, and make you his servant. If we would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we would be saved. Turn to the cross. What should you do?

Children, adults, anybody here today who has not understood. The Lord Jesus Christ and His death for you. Here's what we're talking about. All of us in this room are lawbreakers.

All of us in this room are hopeless in and of ourselves. All of us in this room are imprisoned, or were imprisoned, until we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's what the Lord calls upon you to do this morning, if you do not know him. The first thing is, is to turn away from sin and run to Jesus, just like that young man.

You look into the mirror of God's law, somebody comes and gives you the gospel, and you look and you're, I'm a sinner. And you, this burden develops on your back, and you realize, oh, what must I do to be saved? The soul that sins must die. I'm gonna die.

Judgment is coming. So you look at your sin, and you say, I'm gonna turn away from that. I want to go the other way. God gives you the, he grants you the ability to turn away from your sin.

The second thing that you need to do is believe that Jesus died to take your punishment. He died to take your punishment and rose from the dead to guarantee you freedom. That's what's represented by this red towel. You turn away from sin, and you turn to Jesus, realizing that he died for you.

There's nothing you can do to save yourself. And his blood covers up your sin. His blood wipes, wipes you clean. You believe that he died.

And not just that, but he rose from the dead to guarantee that you are now free from sin and guilt. You no longer have to pay the fine yourself. You're now free because the fine has already been paid. Everybody say turn.

Everybody say believe. That's it. Turn from sin, believe in Jesus, and you will be saved. There's nothing you can do to save yourself.

The Bible says by grace alone through faith, that young man in prison had no ability to get out of the prison by himself. He was stuck. He could not pay the fine. He had nobody that would come to his aid.

He was totally dependent upon a stranger to come and pay his fine and adopt him and bring him out of that prison. And that's exactly what happened. If you will turn away from sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today that he died and rose from the dead, you this day can be saved, and we would call you to be saved this morning. And let me just lastly say that after you have turned and believed.

There are some things. That are very important. For you to consider After you have turned and believed Christianity, or becoming a father, or becoming a son to this new father, God doesn't adopt you, and then just leave you off by yourself. He adopts you into a family.

You become part of the body of Christ, you become adopted into a family. And so Jesus calls upon you to get baptized, which represents your death, burial, and resurrection in Christ, and also it, it represents your entrance into this new family, and then join a church where you can live for Jesus with his family. Peter says, repent, let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Do you want to know the Lord Jesus Christ today?

We've talked about what the Bible says, as far as the law, these 10 commandments over here, this mirror, we've talked about how that Jesus Christ can wipe away our sin. If we will turn and believe, you can be saved today. I want everybody to close your eyes for a moment. If everybody could close your eyes, we're about ready to finish here.

And I just want you to think for a moment about the 10 Commandments. Have you loved God first above all things? Have you made him your only? Thing of worship, person of worship.

Have you always honored his name? Have you always worshiped with God's people on God's day? Have you always honored your mother and father? Have you always been kind and never hated anyone in your heart?

Have you always been faithful to your husband or wife in your heart? Have you never, ever, ever stolen anything? Have you never, ever, ever lied? Have you never longed to have something else and be greedy for other things?

If you can say yes to those questions, then you may enter into heaven based upon your own works because you are a perfect person. But Ladies and gentlemen and children, there is nobody in this room that can say that. Lord, we pray that your spirit would fall upon these men, women, and children. Lord, we can have these fun times together.

We can talk to your word in a fun way, and walk away totally unchanged and let your Holy Spirit visits us. We pray that your spirit would fall upon children, upon men and women, to help them see their desperate need for the gospel. Because they are sinners, all of us in this room are sinners. I pray that Your Holy Spirit would fall in such a way to where we would see boys and girls, and perhaps men and women this morning, call upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

Lord, heaven and hell hangs in the balance. There are souls in this room that will be somewhere forever. And what they do with this question of their sin in the Lord Jesus Christ has everything to do with that. Lord, I pray, Lord, that every soul in this room would find their way to heaven.

And not into judgment We thank you for this time for us to consider your word. Lord, we pray that your spirit would move. And as your spirit grants repentance that there would be salvation, we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.