Sharing the Gospel at UFC

All right, so my name is Keith, and I'm with Conversations with a Calvinist, it's a podcast, and I also pastor a local church.

All right, so you guys are here for UFC? Yes, of course.

Who are you here to see? You already told me, but I don't want to see you on camera.

His name is Loic.

He is a fighter from my country, from Tajikistan.

Awesome.

Do you think he's going to win? He will.

He will win.

100%.

Maximum, in the second round, he will finish it.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Yes, yes, that's cool.

I'm going to get off the subject of the fight real quick, ask you this, do you consider yourself to be a conspiracy theorist? Is there any conspiracy theory you've ever heard that you would say, I think that's true? What conspiracy theory do you think, the most wildest one that you can think of, that you think is most likely true? Okay, so what would you say is the conspiracy theory that you think is most likely to be correct? What conspiracy theory do you think is most likely to be true? Is there any conspiracy theory that you think might be true? Let me ask this, are you a conspiracy theorist? Of course, we never went to the moon.

Okay, you got another one? Aliens.

Aliens are for sure real.

Aliens are for real.

What about you? UFOs.

UFOs.

Okay, so you believe that UFOs are real? 100%.

Or do you think that could be real? 100% they're real.

Probably aliens.

Aliens, okay.

Aliens.

You're like the third or fourth guy that said aliens.

Aliens, yeah.

Probably that Black Rock runs the entire country.

That the world is ran by satanic pedophiles.

Some of that Hollywood elite stuff.

Hollywood elite? Yeah, all that stuff.

Controlling everything? Yeah.

And you said the thing that most likely is a conspiracy theory is that the world is run by crazy people that are doing bad stuff.

Yeah, in a nutshell, yeah.

In a nutshell? Yeah.

Like they're moving and shaking, making sure things go to design.

Alright, so aliens are real and we never went to the moon? 100%.

Okay, alright.

So what do you think is the biggest lie that people tell themselves? What do you think is the most common lie that people tell themselves? What lie do you think is the most common lie men tell themselves? What lie does the Bible say every man tells himself? What do you think is the greatest lie that people tell themselves? Because what do you think is the greatest lie people tell themselves? The Bible tells us that we tell ourselves one very important lie.

Do you know what that lie is? That they're good.

That's exactly right.

That was the one I was going to talk about.

The Bible tells us that almost every man will proclaim his own righteousness.

That I'm not a sinner.

The one lie that the Bible says that we all tell ourselves is that we're good.

The Bible says the lie people tell themselves the most is that they are righteous.

So the lie that we tell ourselves is that we are good.

Like if I asked you, if I said, are you a good person? What would you say? By default, yes.

You think you're a good person? Yes.

So if I asked you, do you think you're a good person? What would you say? Yeah.

So almost every man will say, I'm good.

In fact, if I asked you, are you a good person? Yes.

See, you just lied.

Yes.

Because you know you're not.

Well, I am a good person.

Okay, you are a good person.

And a sinner as well.

Okay, so you're a good person and a sinner? Yes.

How does that work? I have no idea.

None of you say it that way.

Are you a good person? Yes, sir.

Try to be.

Try to be.

Try to be.

By what standard would you say you're a good person? The answer is that if we think that we're good people, if we think that in and of ourselves, that we are going to find favor in God's sight, then we're wrong because we are sinful.

And the Bible says that we're sinners.

And do you know what sin is? Yeah.

How do you define sin? Sin is anything you say, think, or do that breaks God's heart and makes him sad.

That's a wanna answer.

A what answer? An I wanna answer.

An I wanna answer.

You are an I wanna.

Yeah.

My man.

Have you ever told a lie? Of course.

Everybody does.

Only one lie? I love it.

God knows how many, but it depends.

It's either a white lie or a black lie.

Okay.

But have you only told white lies? Right.

Because the Bible says don't tell a lie.

You ever told a lie? What do we call people who lie? Yeah.

What do we call them? Well, lie.

Right? Yeah.

And we ever stole anything? Yeah.

Ever.

Yeah.

Like a chicken gum or something.

Yeah.

But that's stealing.

Yeah.

And Jesus said if any man looked at a woman to lust after her, he commits adultery in his heart.

Oh, man.

I did that.

I walked over her.

What you're saying is that we all face God having broken his law.

Yeah.

Do you know what God did so that we would be able to be saved from our sin? He died on the cross.

But how did that work? How did the death of a first century Palestinian carpenter affect you? All right.

So justice demands punishment for wrongdoing.

Yeah.

And you've already admitted to being a wrongdoer.

Yeah.

You're gonna face God one day.

If he gives you justice, you said you're gonna be in hell.

All right.

Do you know what God did so that you wouldn't have to go to hell? The Jesus thing? The Jesus thing.

Yeah.

Now, you say it kind of flippantly, and I'm not calling you out on that, but seriously, what is the Jesus thing? He died for our sins.

But what does that mean? He died so we can live on and all that stuff.

But why? How? How does the death of a first century Palestinian carpenter have anything to do with you? The biggest lie people tell themselves is that they're good.

Yeah.

And there is one good person in history, and that's Jesus.

Yes, absolutely.

And the way that we can be saved is by placing our trust in him because he and his goodness took our sin and gives us his goodness as a gift.

He is good.

And that's why I'm here to talk to you because I want to tell you about what Jesus did to take our punishment.

The Bible says Jesus never sinned.

That's hard to believe.

It's hard to believe anybody would never sin.

Yeah.

But he never sinned.

And the reason why he went to the cross was not because of his sin.

He went to the cross because of my sin.

My sin is given to him.

And when he died, he took God's wrath on my behalf.

Yes.

And he says everyone who believes in him will receive his forgiveness because he's taken the punishment.

See, if you stand before God under your righteousness, it's not going to be enough.

Yeah.

Even if you try your hardest, even if you're a good daddy, even if you care for your kids, it's not enough.

But Jesus is enough.

He provides the righteousness that we need.

And he gives it to us if we believe.

If you were to go through, let's just say, a few of the commandments.

Like, have you ever told a lie? Yes.

Just one? More than one.

More than one.

What do you call people who tell a bunch of lies? A liar.

All right.

What about stealing? You ever stole anything? Yes.

All right.

What do you call people who steal stuff? A stealer.

A thief? A thief, yes.

Okay.

All right.

So you're a lying thief? Yes.

Now, you said it, not me.

Don't beat me up.

We're outside of UFC.

I don't want you to throw down.

That's Elijah, yes.

All right.

Elijah said you're a lying thief.

All right.

Now, here's one that gets me.

Jesus said if a man looks at a woman to lust after her, he commits adultery in his heart.

Elijah? Yes.

Have you ever looked at a woman with lust in your heart? Yes.

All right.

So you've told me just now, and I'm putting my hand on your shoulder.

Yes, sir.

You've told me that you're a lying thief and an adulterer at heart.

Yes, sir.

Now, are you a good person? Yes.

Okay.

We got to start over.

I can admit it, though.

I mean, everybody is.

Well, here's the point.

When we judge ourselves by other people, we can find our own goodness.

Yeah.

But when we judge ourselves by God, we realize how much we lack goodness and how much we need God's grace.

Yes.

Do you know what God did so that sinners could be made right with him? He gave his only son to us.

That's right.

The Bible says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him will not perish.

Do you know why that matters? Why the death of a first century Palestinian carpenter matters to you? Because the Bible says Jesus never sinned.

From the moment he was born to the moment he died on the cross, he never committed one sin.

So when he died, he didn't die for his sin.

He died for the sins of those who would believe.

The Bible says our sin deserves God's punishment.

Jesus didn't sin.

That's the amazing thing about his life is he never sinned, not once.

So that when he died, he didn't die for his own sin, but he died to take the punishment that we deserve.

That way, God can be righteous in giving us forgiveness.

Because if you deserve to be punished and God is a good judge, he would punish you.

But Jesus says, I'll take the punishment.

And he took the punishment for those who believe in him.

And that's the gospel.

The good news is even though you have offended God with your sin, you can be forgiven, not because of what you've done, but because of what Christ did in your place.

The Bible says if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be saved.

The Bible says though our sins are like scarlet, they can be washed as white as snow.

How? Because of his righteousness, not ours.

So that's the message of the gospel that I wanted to share with you.

That's why we're here.