Excuse me. Hi. Yes, sir. I just seen your sign. I just wanted to say hi. Oh, how you doing? I'm Tony. Doing a good job, doing good things. Well, thanks. My name's Tony, and you are? John. John. How are you, John? So you're a believer, John? I am. Yeah? How'd you come to faith in Christ? A long time ago. Yeah? I mean, I'd love to hear it. I'd love to hear Christian testimonies. Huh? I said I'd love to hear Christian testimonies, so. I'm not really a Christian, but. Oh, OK. I mean, I am. I don't know. I've done drugs my whole life. I just quit not too long ago. I quit drinking, quit smoking, quit drinking, everything. How long ago was that? Not long ago, about a week ago. Oh, about a week ago, OK. Have you heard about a program called 180 here in town? Are you in Davenport? Yeah, I live right up the road. I started going to that Vineyard Church. OK, yeah, I know a man named Ken. who works at the, is it Golden Corral? I think it's the Golden Corral up on Elmore. He goes there and I know him fairly well. Our church isn't far from there. How long have you been in this area? Okay, remember a place that used to be called Club Mocan out on West Kimberly Yeah, our church bought that property about six years ago. Grace Grace Fellowship Church. So that's that's where I'm a that's where I'm a member but Our former building which was at 6th and Marquette big old Catholic used to be a Catholic Church in the beginning is now owned by a group called 180 Okay, okay My pastor's leading a study, a Bible study down there right now on Monday nights in addiction and recovery. My thing is now I don't have anything my whole life since I was eight years old. I've been running the streets of Davenport, messing around. How long have you been struggling with addiction? I started smoking, doing drugs since I was nine years old. Nine. How old are you now? 59. And so am I, 59. I'm sorry, your first name again? John. John. So, 50 years. Do you understand how much grace God has shown you in that 50 years later, 50 years later, you're alive, you and I are having this conversation today, when you probably could have been, maybe even should have been, dead a thousand times over. God saved my life so many times. On my 25th birthday, I lived in Arkansas. I went cliff diving one day. Nobody was in the water, and it's my birthday, and it's hot. My birthday's in July. I go to the cliff. Everybody says, don't jump. I jump. right into a pit of water moccasins. I mean, thousands of rolling cottonmouths. Somewhere in this area? No. Arkansas. Arkansas, okay. Because I don't think there are a lot of cottonmouths up here. I mean, I jumped in the middle of just rolling mating water moccasins. Did you get bit? Not once. Not once. I got shot at. One time the bullet went right here. I mean, my head's here and the bullet's here. God has saved my life so many times, but I was stubborn. I didn't want to ever give up my life because that's all I ever knew. So you say you've been sober for about a week. Well, thereabouts. I quit smoking cigarettes about nine months ago. That's an addiction too. It killed both my parents. Cigarettes killed both my parents. I smoked cigarettes and weed since I was nine years old. My dad was a three to four pack a day smoker from the age of 12. I threw away all my paraphernalia, my phones, my pipes, my weed. What happened a week ago that would make you do that, if anything? Nothing, I just... I want to be... I want to go to heaven. Okay, alright. So John... So if you were to die today, Let's say you jumped into a... If I would have died a year ago, I'd probably go to heaven because I'd pray. I mean, God's been with me my whole life. I can't deny that. One day, you know how people speak in tongues and whatever. Or they think they do. Yeah. He just told me I was stubborn. I don't know if he was talking to me, but I felt it like it was me. But, uh, Well, voice or no voice, John, you know you have been stubborn. Oh, yeah. All my life. Because what you've done with the grace of God for the last 50 years is you've actually trampled it under your feet. That's actually what you've done with the grace of God. So by definition, whether you heard a voice or not, you know in your heart that you've been stubborn all your life. See, John, you and me, look, we're the same age, but we have different backgrounds, different upbringings, different parents, different experience. We're different men. But what you and I both have in common is you and I both know God exists. There are no atheists. The Bible says, the man who says there is no God is a fool. There are no atheists. Every human being knows that God exists. So you and I both know that. The other thing, John, is that God has given you a conscience. You know the difference between right and wrong, same way I do, the same way every other human being does. Not because of how, when, where, or by whom we have been raised, but being created in the image of God, he's written his law in our heart. We know it's wrong to lie because the God who created us isn't a liar. We know it's wrong to steal because the God who created us isn't a thief. We know it's wrong to hate because the God who created us isn't a murderer. We know it's wrong to be a drunkard or an addict because the God who created us is perfectly sober-minded, right? Yet, Even though that law is written on our heart, we make decisions every day to break that law. The Bible says it's appointed once for a person to die and then the judgment. Each and every one of us are one day going to stand before God, our creator, to give an account for our lives. He is not going to judge John based on what he thinks or sees in Tony. He's not going to judge Tony based on what he sees or thinks about John. He's going to judge us according to that law that he's written on our heart, a law that we violated every day. If not by our actions and our thoughts, with our mouth, we've sinned against him every day of our lives. We're without excuse. And if he finds us guilty, and he will, because the Bible says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, as a righteous judge who created everything, he's going to do what's right, and he's going to punish our sin. And that punishment is eternity in hell for all eternity. Okay? So let's say, have you ever been in a courtroom before? 50 years of addiction. I've been locked up more times than you can count. Okay, alright, okay. So you've seen the inside of a courtroom, you know what it's like to stand before a judge. Alright, so let's say, let's say John, instead of today having a sober conversation with this guy named Tony on the corner, you decide instead, high as a kite, that you're going to rob the Big Ten mart. This is all hypothetical, I don't think you would do that, okay? But let's say you made that decision to do it, and you're not good at it, and you get caught, right? And it's not a case of mistaken identity, it's not a corrupt judge. In fact, you wrote out your confession. No one coerced you, no cop made you promises he wasn't gonna keep. But because you felt guilty, you had remorse, I confess. I'm gonna write out my confession, sign it. No one's promised me anything, but this is what happened. That confession doesn't make you innocent. It only proves your guilt, right? Best evidence a cop could ever have is an uncoerced, freely given confession, right? So they find you guilty, rightly so. When you're standing before the judge on the day of sentencing, the judge says, John, what do you have to say for yourself? Your Honor, I screwed up. I wrote out my confession. I'm sorry. I want to clean up my act. I want to try to do the right thing. I want to try to live right. And I think you ought to just forgive me and let me go. And of course, of course not. It's ridiculous to even think it. And you, having been in and out of the system more times than I could count, maybe, you know that no judge is going to accept that, not only from a first-time offender, but from a repeat offender. He's going to do what's right according to the law. And in this case, John, he says, I'm tired of seeing you come back to my courtroom. I'm going to sentence you to death. Unlike our system today, which then would give you 10 to 20 years of appeals, three hots and a cot, they're going to take you into the next room immediately. They're going to strap you to a gurney. They're going to shove a needle into your arm and they're going to put you to sleep like a stray dog as the just punishment for your crime. But before that happens, the judge who found you guilty, the judge who alone had the authority to sentence you to die, stands up from behind his bench, he takes off those black robes of authority, he steps down, he comes over to you and he says, John, you are guilty, John, you do deserve to die, and John, I'm gonna take your place. and the judge goes into the next room. He allows himself to be strapped to a gurney with John's name on it. He allows a needle to be driven into his arm with John's name on it. And he dies the death that John deserves. Not because you're innocent, not because you're good, not because you earned it or deserved it, but because the judge chose to love you in such a way that he would die in your place. John 3? 316. I know my Bible. I know everything. I mean, I know everything you're telling me. Then listen, OK? Because it's not enough, John, to know it in your head. The Bible says the demons believe and tremble. Demons. Satan knows. Let me tell you about demons. When I was 10 years old, I lived in a house where I got beat, raped. One day, I was laying in my bed. I was like 9, 10 years old. I was so scared. You get that feeling that somebody's watching you. Yeah. I get these goosebumps and my head's under the covers. I knew somebody had lifted my head up, and all I see was this giant demon sitting next to my bed. But it was my brother, my brother-in-law, our brother, stepbrother, who used to molest me a lot. But all of a sudden, there was like five or six demons floating in front of me, just all wearing in my chest. And that was while your, you say your brother or brother-in-law or who was it? He was standing in the room when this happened. Yeah. So John, I want you to, I want you to hear this, John. I don't want you to just write it off as, you know, I've heard this a million times. I know my Bible. John, I want you to hear this and I want you to think about it in the context of that courtroom I just put you in. God the Father sent a son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, truly God, truly man, without sin. He lived a life of perfection for some 33 years that neither John nor Tony can live for 33 seconds. Yet even though he was God in the flesh and never sinned in any way whatsoever, he voluntarily went to that Roman cross. He suffered and died a horrific bloody death he did not deserve. to take upon himself, John, the punishment you and every other human being, including the guy talking to you, rightly deserves for our sins against God. And then he forever defeated sin and death when he rose from the grave. He's alive today, and he will return at a time that no man knows. But when he returns, he's not returning as a baby in a manger. He's returning as a lion of the tribe of Judah to judge both the living and the dead. And what God commands of you, John, commands of you, not suggests, not begs, not pleads, but what He commands of you, John, is the same thing He's commanded of me and everyone else. That you turn from your sin and you put your faith and your trust in Christ alone for your salvation. And John, if God causes you to be born again, He will not only free you from the penalty of sin, which is hell, He will free you from the power of sin in your life through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He will cause you to be born again to a living hope. And the things you once loved, you will hate, namely your own sin. Yeah. And I know you've heard it before. I could tell you've heard it before. You've said you've heard it before. But John, you've never believed it before, or we wouldn't be in your head. In your head. In my heart, in my head. But not to the point where you've given your life to Christ and to him alone, John. You just don't know. Look, I don't know your heart. I don't know you any more than the 10 minutes we've spent together. But what I do know, John, is the Bible. You've spent 50 years hiding. You know what, John? You've spent 50 years thinking you were hiding. But the God who created you is omniscient, He knows everything, is omnipresent, He is everywhere all the time, and He is omnipotent, He is all-powerful. There is nothing hidden from the eyes of God. Yet, John, even though nothing has been hidden from His sight, yet again today He is extending His grace to you by allowing you to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has given you yet one more opportunity today as you suck up His air. to turn from your sin and put your trust in Christ alone for your salvation. John, you don't have a disease. Your addiction is not a disease, John. It's a sin issue. It's a heart issue, John. Everybody's born in sin. Everyone. You're right. You're absolutely right. We can't hide from sin. You're absolutely right. But we can be freed from it. Jesus came to set people free. And you can be free indeed, John. not by getting yourself sober and trying to make yourself right with God. Because, look, if you want to make yourself right with God, you or anyone else, all you have to do is live a perfect life and thoughtward indeed from cradle to grave. That's all you got to do. Absolutely, yet Jesus said you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And John, that's why we need a savior, because we can't. God asked you to live the best you can for him, not to be perfect. Okay, but even in that, think about this. Look, we're both 59 years old, so obviously you're not old enough to be, or young enough to be my son. But let's say you were a kid, and you lived next door to me, and you came knocking on my door, and you said, hey Tony, it's hot today, I'm gonna mow your lawn for you so that I could be your son. So, alright, so a couple of things. One, I'm going to thank you for wanting to do my lawn and I'm going to let you do it. And I'm going to say, hey John, you know what, I'm honestly touched that you would want to be my son. But I'm going to be honest with you and say, John, mowing my lawn is not going to make you my son. You're not going to be my son because you mow my lawn. But what if though you were my son and I come home one day and I see John mowing the lawn And I haven't told him to do it. He drug his butt out of the basement, away from his video games and away from his pipe, and he's actually mowing the lawn. So I'm skeptical, because I know my son. I'm skeptical. What does he want? He either wants the money in my wallet if he hasn't already stolen it, or he needs bail money, or he needs an attorney, or he's got a girl to tell me about. Something's up. You see me, you come running over, and you say, hey, Dad, yeah, I'm mowing the lawn. No, I don't want anything from you. I'm mowing the lawn because I love you and I'm thankful that you're my dad. That would make most grown men cry. Many people think, you know what, if I just mow the lawn, if I just get sober, if I just start treating my wife better, if I just stop stealing, if I could just do these things, when I stand before God, he'll adopt me as his son. That's not it. The Bible says that if he does adopt you, through faith in his son, Jesus Christ. You will not only want to live a life pleasing to him, but you'll be able to, not to earn or to keep his love, not to work your way into his family, but because you're so thankful for the free gift that he's given you, for the adoption that he gave you, not because you're good, but because he is. Don't put the cart before the horse. Put your faith and trust in Christ and in Him alone, and He will change your heart. He will change your mind. He will change your habits. He will change your desires. See, them are things He'll have to do. I can't do that. Yes, absolutely. I could quit. I could sacrifice all my sins for Him, but what's inside of me is... Beyond my control, I can't. That's something he has to do. So, this is interesting too. So, the person who's not in Christ, the person who doesn't know Christ, the person who's rejected Christ, it's all beyond their control. Recovery is beyond their control. They may be able to change their behavior for a while. Exactly, you could change your behavior. Change your behavior for a while. Right. But the person who is in Christ, they can be changed. They can be renewed. They can be transformed. In 1 Corinthians 6, the apostle Paul writes this litany of sins, liars, thieves, drunkards, homosexuals, and so on, just this long list of sins. And he says, none of these are going to enter into the kingdom of God. And then the next verse, though, says, John, but some were. But such were some of you, but now you've been washed, you've been cleansed, you've been transformed. See, the homosexual who comes to Christ isn't a homosexual anymore. The thief who comes to Christ isn't a thief anymore. The addict that comes to Christ isn't an addict anymore. That doesn't mean it's not going to be hard. It doesn't mean that sobriety isn't going to be a challenge. It doesn't mean that you're going to have to struggle with temptation and thoughts and what have you. But if you're in Christ, you are then indwelt, empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, whom Jesus sent to his people as a helper. And everything you need to be sober, to be victorious, is in Christ. It's not in a program, it's not in education, legislation, or medication. It's in reconciliation to God through faith in Jesus Christ. But God, John, is opposed to the proud but He gives grace to the humble. There are no proud people in heaven because God humbled Himself by sending His Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. The Son... That's right, and the Son humbled Himself to take on human flesh and then to die at the hands of His own creation on a wooden cross. There are no proud people in heaven. So, John, humble yourself. Turn to Christ and live while God has given you time. And quit, John, quit playing around with God's grace as if it's assured to you tomorrow. Put your faith and your trust in Christ, John, while God's given you time. Your life, the life you've lived for the last 50 years, testifies to the common grace of God that He extends in one form or another, for one time or another, to every human being. But that grace, that common grace, is not without limits. At some point, He's going to call you to account. And unless you're clothed in the eternal, irrevocable, unremovable grace of God, which is promised to His children through faith in Jesus Christ, And that grace is going to be gone. And it's only going to be wrath. It's only going to be judgment. But you have the opportunity now. You have the time now because you are living and breathing and moving and you have your being and God has allowed that by his grace. Don't trample His grace under your feet any longer. Don't play with a wrathful, just God. Humble yourself. Put your faith and your trust in Christ alone, and He will save you, and He will change you, and He will keep you, and He will love you for all eternity as a Son. Turn to Christ and live, John. You got a Bible? Can I give you one? I'll write down my name and my number for you. When was the last time you read the Bible? It's not a test, it's just a question. How long ago was that? A couple years ago. So, I want to encourage you in light of the conversation we've had, read whatever you want, wherever you want, but a good place to start is the Gospel of John. Yeah, I like John. That's my name and my number. If you ever want to grab a cup of coffee, talk more, and our doors are open to you. No salesman will come to your door, but our doors are open to you. If there's anything we could do to help you and to keep pointing you to Christ, we love you as our neighbor and we're willing to do that. Yeah, but I gotta go take care of my dog. He's been locked up in the house all day. Okay, I'm glad you stopped. I'll be praying for you. Thank you.