Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #16207 - God's Spiritual Soap - 1 John 1:9

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#16207 - God's Spiritual Soap - 1 John 1:9 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles to 1st John chapter one, first John chapter
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1. We're going to look today at
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verse 9 by itself and I've entitled the Bible study what my
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pastor would refer to this verse to as as all the time.
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He would call this God's spiritual soap, and he would
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often refer to this and remind us that in the dirtiness of life
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and the difficulty of sin, you could always apply God's
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spiritual soap to wash your life.
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This is the place in the Bible where all of us can go when
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we've blown it, when we've stumbled, when we've sinned in
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our lives. It's a reminder that there's
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forgiveness and peace and hope and cleansing available to us
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over and over and over again through the blood of Jesus
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Christ and our confession. There is our part to enjoy what
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God has given to us. We must agree with God about
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what He already sees in our lives.
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Someone once said this. We have a glorious gospel, but
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there's only one difficulty. To be effective, it has to be
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applied. Someone wants asked a minister
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if your gospel is so great, why isn't everyone a Christian?
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And the pastor responded, if soap is so good, then why isn't
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everyone clean? Does the fact of dirty people
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testify against the value of soap?
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No, it works, but you have to apply it.
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It's the same is true for the blood of Jesus Christ.
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It works, but you have to apply it.
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Why? Sin is so destructive and so
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devastating in your life and mine.
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You don't need a pastor to tell you that, but you have one.
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But you don't need that. You know it.
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You have your own testimony. You may not even use the word
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sin. You can use the word mistake and
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difficulty. You can use the word stumble.
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There's a lot of ways to describe it, but you know, you
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know the difficulty that sin brings in your life.
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You see it, you live with it, you battle against it.
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You might even be dealing with the consequences of sin of a
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past decision, or the consequences of sin of someone
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else's behavior, or the consequences of sin of your own
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internal wrestlings. The Bible says this in Galatians
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chapter 5 and verse 17. For the flesh lust against the
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Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.
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The two are contrary to one another.
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And what happens so that you do not do the things that you wish?
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In Romans Chapter 7, verse 18, it says reading from the NLT.
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And I know that nothing good lives in me.
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That isn't my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but
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I can't. I want to do what is good, but I
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don't. I don't want to do what is
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wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don't want to
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do, I'm not really the one doing wrong.
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It's sin living in me that does it.
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And again, later on in verse 24 of the same chapter, the NLT
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Paul comes to the conclusion. And how many times have we come
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to the same exact conclusion in our life?
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And I love how the NLT says, oh, what a miserable person I am.
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You know, when I'm not living in some unconfessed sin or
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something that is within my control that I can resolve, I'm
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not miserable. Misery comes when I wallow in
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sin, when I refuse to do what God has called me to do in His
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Word He says what a miserable person I am who will free me
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from this life that is dominated by sin and death.
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Thank God the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
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So you see how it is in my mind. I really want to obey God's law,
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but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
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Sin has wreaked havoc on humanity since the fall in the
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garden. And when you sinfully fail, you
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need to apply the blood. Notice what he says here in
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verse 9 says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
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forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
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unrighteousness. Notice the end caps though, and
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we studied this last time, but notice the end caps.
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Verse 8. If we say we have no sin, we
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deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US.
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And then verse 10, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a
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liar and his word is not in US. And those are the end caps of
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this beautiful picture of when we admit that we have sinned.
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Resolution comes so quickly when you admit that you've sinned it
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just some it's it's that fast that your conscience is clean.
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Situations are restored when I sinfully fail.
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I need to apply the blood. I get to come to the Lord dirty
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but leave clean. Now, if you're taking notes,
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there are different ways over the years that I've seen in my
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own life and others how to deal and respond to sin.
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If you want to jot them down, just a few popular ones, they
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won't surprise you. But it's good to be reminded and
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forewarned #1 when sin arises in our lives, we choose to sin
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number one. We can choose to camouflage our
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sin, or better put, we can try to hide it.
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In Proverbs chapter 28 verse 13, it says he who covers his sins
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will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will
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have mercy. This is where when we camouflage
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or hide, it's where we justify. We always have a good reason for
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our sinful behaviors. There's always a good reason.
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It's amazing when we sin how quickly we can have a good
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reason for our decisions. Often good reasons just turn
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into really bad excuses and we tend to be fast with excuses and
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slow on personal responsibility. Good reason so quickly turn into
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bad excuses. Oh it wasn't that bad.
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Oh I really didn't mean it. Oh it's not it's your fault.
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The blame game. We convince ourselves that we
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have a good reason for doing what we did, then we simply seek
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to deflect responsibility on to something or someone else.
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This is a real popular word within the culture today.
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This sense of deflection, not allowing ever to take personal
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responsibility. It says in Genesis chapter 3
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verse 12, it's nothing new. The man said to God, it's the
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woman you gave to be with me. She gave me of the tree and I
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ate. And in his blaming, he refused
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to take personal responsibility. It wasn't the woman that God
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gave him, it was him. Personal responsibility.
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Number 2, not only can we choose to camouflage, but secondly, we
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can choose to continue on in sin.
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We can choose to continue on in sin.
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This could be remembered as we could choose to live in sin.
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Why? Because sin is very attractive
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and addictive. It's enjoyable.
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I mean, think about it, why would temptation ever be in any
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way something that would would get your attention if it wasn't
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attractive, If the sin that you ended up committing wasn't
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something you wanted to do or something do you enjoy?
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And I know it's a little ironic because it's the sin that seems
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that you seem to enjoy that at the same time you don't enjoy,
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you don't enjoy the guilt and you don't enjoy the condemnation
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and you don't enjoy the broken relationships and you don't
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enjoy the frustration and on and on and on and on the list goes.
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But at the same time, you do enjoy it because you won't
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forsake it. You choose to live in it,
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continue on and ignore the pleadings of God, perhaps even
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the pleadings of people that are close to you.
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Jotted down in Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 24, Speaking of Moses,
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it says by faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be
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called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to
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suffer affliction with the people of God.
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And here's this phrase. You can jot it down in your
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notes, Hebrews Chapter 11, verses 24 through 26.
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You've heard this phrase before, but here's the address.
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He chose to suffer affliction with the people of God than to
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enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.
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Of course there are pleasures associated with sin, of course.
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But they're passing. They're temporary.
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They're unreal. Truly, one Bible teacher put it
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this way. People today minimize and
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redefine sin, often alleging that the failures of their lives
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and certain other disorders exist because of how others have
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treated them. The victim mentality reigns
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supreme as popular culture comforts itself in affirming
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that people are basically good and whatever may be wrong is not
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really wrong, but merely a preference of personal freedom.
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Instead of accepting responsibility for their
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behavior, people demand to be accepted as they are.
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The culture certainly does place a great value on this concept of
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people are basically good. You want to know how it works on
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the church? The church?
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Most believers admit that sin exists and that we were born
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with a sin nature and that sin is a part of our lives.
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Do you know how this gets applied among believers?
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Especially when they're in sin themselves?
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They claim to be themselves, basically.
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Good. They place it upon themselves.
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No, no, you don't understand. And if we just had greater
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understanding of who they were and how good they were, then we
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wouldn't see sin for what it is and how careful we need to be.
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Sin itself is a lie. When you and I choose sin in our
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lives, we're basically choosing a lie, choosing to live a lie.
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When we choose to continue on in sin, we're choosing to continue
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on in a lie. Sin always promises more than it
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delivers, takes you places you don't belong and don't desire.
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As someone once said, sin will take you farther than you want
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to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more
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than you want to pay. I mean, we don't need to aim in
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this. We have lived this.
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I don't know there's anyone listening to my voice right now
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that hasn't lived these principles.
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You don't have to continue to live in sin for months and
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years. You can just do it for a couple
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days or a couple hours. I think of any relationship, any
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marriage relationship, where it was just a petty fight, but you
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choose to disobey God. Disobey God by letting the sun
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go down on your wrath. I mean, it's just hours.
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And what does sin do? It makes something so petty.
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It's so petty. It's just where you put the dish
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in the dishwasher. He wants it this way and she
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wants it that way. And before you know it, World
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War 3 is broken out in your house and you wake up in the
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morning. And what happened?
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The dishes were clean because it really didn't matter.
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But because you let the sun go down on your wrath, you woke up
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in a worse condition than when you went to bed, and an even
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worse condition than when you started arguing about which side
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the dish should go on. And whether you're married and
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that happens in marriages or it's in some friendship
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relationship, a Co worker, a brother or sister in the church
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where you've been personally offended and now your heart's
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all messed up. And now it's so much more.
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Because every day you Stew on it, the worse it gets, the more
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innocent you are, and the more guilty they are.
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You can choose to continue in sin, but it'll be painful.
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And what's the result? Sin leaves an otherwise
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fruitful, vibrant man or woman of God.
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Sin will always leave that person empty, guilty, and under
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the oppression of the enemy. And this is where regret,
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condemnation and shame live because, you know, some people
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could read the Bible in Romans Chapter 7 and go, well, that
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sounds like shame language. Nothing good in me dwells.
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No, he's not talking about his lack of value before God.
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Paul knows that Jesus Christ died for his sins.
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He knows that he's not speaking in shame.
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He's speaking in reality of the battle that's going on inside of
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him, his desire to be the new man, but also his battle that's
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being pulled back to the old man.
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And he feels like he's caught in the middle.
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This is what I want in my life. But it's such a battle.
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And he's describing, I think, in Romans 7, what so many of us can
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describe at various times in our lives where I just don't see the
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Christian life the way I thought I'd see it in this time of my
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life. It's so hard.
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And I don't want to be in the middle.
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I want to be in the fruitfulness of the Lord, in regret and
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condemnation. We'll do the final blows
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instead. We instead of hiding it or
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living in it. The third way we can handle our
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sin is to confess it. To confess it, turn from it.
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God has provided the remedy for sin.
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The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
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Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21 For he made him who
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knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the
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righteousness of God in him. Anyone anywhere can access that
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remedy by repentance. Repentance in Mark chapter 1 and
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verse 15. Would you turn there with me?
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I just want you to mark this word so you know these two words
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are super important as they're related to sin in the Bible.
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Mark first one I want to show you is in Mark chapter 1.
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When you get there, go to verse 15 and get your pen ready
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because I want you to write this down.
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I want you to circle the word. So in Mark chapter one, verse
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15, it says the time is fulfilled.
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The Kingdom of God is at hand and this is the word.
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I want you to circle this, repent and believe in the
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gospel. So circle the word, repent and
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right next to it, change, change.
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You can write a lot if you have a lot of room.
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I'll give you some things to write this.
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This Greek word, meta neo meta, neo METANEO, means to change
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your mind. It can also refer to changing
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the direction. The idea that you could use with
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repentance is that you're going in One Direction, and repentance
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means you turn around and go the opposite direction.
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Like a skateboarder doing a 180, not a 360, but a 180 where
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you're going in One Direction and you flip a 180 and you go
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exactly the opposite direction. That's repentance.
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You know, repentance in your life when you go in the opposite
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direction of the sin you're repenting from.
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If you're not going in the opposite direction of the sin
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that you're repenting of, and you're only going a few
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percentage or a few percentage over here, you have not and I
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have not repented. Repentance means you stop what
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you're currently doing. You stop it.
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You stop Metaneo change of mind Romans chapter 10 verse 9.
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If you confess with the with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
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believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
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will be saved. For with the heart one believes
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on the righteousness, and with this confession the mouth
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confession is made unto salvation.
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Now, I did a study in in Corinthians on the topic of
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godly sorrow. It's very important to
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understand the difference between worldly sorrow and godly
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sorrow because there is sorrow When you're caught or busted for
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sin, there is sorrow. I was hosting the radio show
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today. Somebody called in with a, a
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brother, a real popular author. And in my mind, I thought he had
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passed away. So I just said it out loud.
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Oh, that brother's passed away. And the response from the
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brother on the on the other side of the phone made it sound like
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maybe I was wrong. And I'm like, wait a minute, let
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me look this up. So I click look it up and you
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know what? I was wrong.
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He's still alive. And so I don't want to declare
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someone that is alive, dead. So I corrected it and then I
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started reading the history of it.
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And then somebody just entered a line today and this is a brother
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that I really enjoyed. Some of his books really
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ministered to me and somebody just put one sentence today and
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it all happened today. So the timing of this is all
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amazing. Like, you know, God makes no
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mistakes. You know that, right?
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So the last line in the Wikipedia, because you never
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know if they're Wikipedia is true, right?
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So I'm reading the last line. I'm like, whoa.
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It says on today that he confessed to an 8 year
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adulterous relationship on in a particular news article.
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And so there was a link there of the footnote.
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So I hit the link, go down to the footnote, click it and
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wouldn't you know it absolutely true.
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Eight years. This man has been living a lie
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very prominent multi hundreds of thousands of books sold and for
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eight years. And so there's a little bit of
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article there, but then they had a a paragraph from his wife, I
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believe the number was after 50 something years of marriage.
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She said, I'm writing from a place of hurt and how hard it's
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going to be. But I made a covenant with my
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husband and we're going to work it out type of thing.
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Do you not think that eight years of adultery started
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somewhere? Do you not think it started
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somewhere? Eight years didn't begin as
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eight years. It began as a look and a
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thought. It began with a very prominent
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man of God who has a long history of walking with the
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Lord. A real relationship with them
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appears to be a true repentance and a confession.
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Do you think he really thought as he dabbled in sin, whatever
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it was, he doesn't share that. Do you think he knew how far it
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would take him? What kind of pain?
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I mean, he declares himself writing the article.
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I disqualify myself. It's a sign of maturity.
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When you look at your behavior and go, this is not consistent
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with what God desires in my life.
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I need to take His time off. Listen, sin is serious.
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The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin, but not
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necessarily all the consequences that come from sin, godly
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sorrow, and worldly sorrow. You need to know the difference
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because with sin and when you're found out and when you confess
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and when it all come, you're going to feel bad most likely.
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But if you don't have godly sorrow, it won't lead to
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repentance. Godly sorrow leads to
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repentance. Worldly sorrow leads to death,
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death of your relationships, death of your peace, that I
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mean, you name it. A worldly sorrow doesn't get you
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back to the place of whole. There are two actions with
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repentance, Methanoe, this change, number one, you turn
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from sin, you turn from sin. We stop the sin right away.
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Repentance, we stop it. We make the decision to
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acknowledge where we are and we stop it.
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And this is a danger. You have to be careful here
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because a vacuum starts to occur when we leave and forsake sin.
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It's easy to be overcome by another just to fill the gap.
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You have to be careful here. So number one, we turn from sin
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#2 we turn to God. That's repentance.
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Those two things happen simultaneously.
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We turn from sin, so we must turn to God.
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And the trap is, is that because we're saved and believers, we
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think we don't need to confess or repent anymore.
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There are even teachers out there that will tell you, Oh no,
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you're a believer now. You don't sin anymore, which is
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what the Gnostics believe and which first John chapter 1 is
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already destroyed. That view, that human invention.
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Oh, you don't sin anymore? Are you kidding me?
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If I spent an hour with you, I would see that you still sin.
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And if not an hour, 2 hours or three hour.
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Like if we had an X-ray of your mind and what you're thinking
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even right now, busted. We don't sin anymore and the the
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false teaching goes, we don't sin anymore.
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So you don't need to confess anymore.
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What are you talking about? The Bible says right here, we.
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If we confess our sins, who's we?
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If you say we, who does that include you?
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When I say we, I include myself. Who's writing the book?
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John, the apostle of love. Is he not a believer?
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Yes or no? He includes himself if we, if
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we. He makes a great distinction in
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this. It's important that you
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understand that believers still repent.
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Now you may repent in when you're born again, that
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repentance unto salvation. But your life is a life of
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repentance. Your life is a life of turning
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away from sin. Your life is a life of metanoia,
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going the opposite direction, turning in the right direction,
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turning from sin, turning to God.
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As believers, then why the need to confess?
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We'll come back to first John and let's circle that word.
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Confess so you can understand this word.
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It's a little different than the word repentance.
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So they go together. You could say they're the two
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sides of the same coin. In our healthiness of walking
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with the Lord, repentance, we turn away from sin, we turn
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toward God when we confess. Here's the Greek word homo
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legeo, HOMO LOGEO. Why do I like to share the Greek
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word sometimes? Because it's easy to remember
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Homo legeo. Yes, and this is what the word
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means. You ready to say the same thing
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when you confess? You say the same thing.
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When we have a shared confession.
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We say the same thing. When we confess.
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We agree here's other definitions when you this Greek
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word can also mean to concede does not sound like necessary
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when it comes to sin. I just need to wave the red
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flag. I need to concede and who are we
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conceding we're conceding to God.
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I waved the red flag. I white flag, I give up.
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I wave the white flag, I give up God.
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You're right and I'm wrong. I confess that to you in this
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area, this situation. Another word that this, another
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definition is to admit, concede, admit or to consent.
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I've always remembered as to say the same thing when I confess.
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I say the same thing about my sin as God does.
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That's what happens when I confess.
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If we're already forgiven past, present and future, then why the
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need to confess? Even as some today will teach,
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and some of the Gnostics did, that you never have to confess
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or repent again, which is so nonsensical.
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Nobody lives like that in a healthy relationship.
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Can you imagine That's your wedding day and you're there and
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the pastor's there overseeing your, you're officiating your
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wedding. I'm there saying, OK, you're
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husband and wife. And then the husband says, I
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never have to say I'm sorry ever again.
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I never have to ask for forgiveness because I'm doing it
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right now. So remember it.
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I mean, what kind of healthy? How long is that going to last?
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Probably until the end of the reception.
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And then in the car, in the limo, it's like, what are you
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talking about? Then we talk about this in
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premarital. Then we go through this
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together. Then we learn how to love and
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forgive one another. It's not what the bachelor share
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with us in his office. He's like, oh, nobody lives like
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that. A husband that says, you know, I
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don't have to say I love you. I said it on my wedding day.
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What do you need to keep saying? Like you need flowers for me?
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Didn't you have a flowers on your wedding day?
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Like it's just nonsense. Believers come to God as
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believers and confess their faults and failures and sins
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like David did as a God follower.
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David said the same thing in Psalm 51 verse 2.
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It's like the Old Testament version of first John 19.
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Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my
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sin. If we confess our sins, you
25:25
should memorize this. By the way, I know many of you
25:28
are taking me up on my challenge to you to memorize scripture.
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This is an easy one. If we confess our sins, He is
25:35
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
25:39
all unrighteousness when we fail.
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We want to make things right. We want to.
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David wanted to get this off his mind and off his back and off
25:49
his conscience. When you choose to take the
25:52
right path and apply the soap, God's spiritual soap, notice
25:56
what happens #1 when you apply God's spiritual soap, number
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one, you're received back into fellowship.
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You remember what that word fellowship means.
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It keeps coming back over and over again.
26:08
What is fellowship but Koinonia? You get to enjoy your
26:11
relationship again. He is faithful.
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This is an important part of his nature.
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Because He is faithful, God can be trusted to forgive you and
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keep His word. Forgive your iniquity.
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Jeremiah 31 In God's faithfulness, He won't bring it
26:27
up or use it against you. In His Son, you are forgiven,
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but it keeps coming up and keeps coming up because you won't
26:35
confess it. It keeps coming up and keeps
26:38
coming up because you won't repent from it.
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It keeps coming up because you haven't handled it in a way
26:44
where you're experiencing the washing and cleansing work of
26:48
the Spirit. Not only is he faithful, notice
26:50
He's also just, He's just. Jesus paid the penalty of our
26:55
sin, and God is not merely turning his head at our sin.
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They've been judged. He's not just overlooking it,
27:01
pretending it didn't happen, closing his eyes.
27:03
Your sins have been judged under the blood of Jesus Christ.
27:06
It's OK son, it's OK. It's OK daughter, let's go.
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You're back into fellowship number 2.
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When you confess your sins before the Lord, you're renewed
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and refreshed. You're forgiven and cleansed.
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God hears the prayer of a repentant and forgives and
27:24
cleanses. Forgiveness applies to the guilt
27:29
of your sin. Like if you never admit that
27:33
you're guilty, like you never. In our home, in forgiveness, we
27:37
tried to apply this throughout our like, try to teach our kids
27:40
this, that when there's some offense, some difficulty needs
27:43
to be resolved, the appropriate way to handle it is not to say
27:47
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Like, and you know how those can
27:52
go. I'm sorry that you're so upset
27:54
that I really didn't do anything.
27:55
It's all your fault. I'm sorry we didn't allow that.
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Instead, we wanted and learned as ourselves, Marie and I, to
28:05
apply the same thing. Instead of just saying I'm
28:07
sorry, the appropriate way is, will you forgive me?
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And then you fill in what the sin was because now you're
28:15
admitting full guilt. I need and want your
28:19
forgiveness. And this is the behavior.
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Would you please forgive me for punching you in the jaw while
28:26
you were asleep? That's appropriate.
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Oh, I'm so sorry you got up so mad.
28:30
Like, dude, you punched me. No, no, it's not.
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I'm sorry. It's.
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Will you forgive me? Because I acknowledge I am
28:37
seeing the situation the same way you do.
28:40
And I am admitting then I'm at fault.
28:43
And what does that do? That opens up the realm for
28:45
forgiveness. And let's just say, let's just
28:48
say that that scenario, you know, sibling punched someone
28:51
while they're asleep and they got up and cussed them out.
28:54
Well, now they can respond by saying, I forgive you.
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And you know what was wrong for me to cuss you out even though
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you hit me in the face while I was asleep.
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You're more valuable than you're my brother.
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You're my sister. I, I, I will you forgive me for
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using those words and cussing you out.
29:15
And there's forgiveness. And then we just make them sit
29:17
there and stare at each other for 10 minutes now just.
29:21
And then there's freedom that you can move on.
29:23
And then the story just becomes something funny and how, you
29:25
know, ha, ha, ha. That was funny.
29:26
Remember when you punched me? Yeah, I remember.
29:28
You cussed me out. And it's like, isn't God so good
29:30
that it's all over? And it becomes a testimony of
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the blood of Jesus Christ. It doesn't become a perpetuation
29:38
of excuse after excuse after excuse, which what, when you
29:41
don't deal with sin properly, it hardens your heart.
29:45
It makes you and I bitter. And then again, you established
29:50
in your own view. And you won't if you don't admit
29:52
it immediately. Do you think it's going to be
29:55
easier five days down the road, 5 months down the road?
29:59
I mean, you're going to have to keep building a case against the
30:03
conviction of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes you don't even
30:06
need the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
30:08
You don't need the Spirit to tell you it was wrong to punch
30:10
your sibling. You don't need the Holy Spirit
30:12
to tell you that. You just know it's intrinsically
30:14
wrong and your conscience can respond.
30:18
The Holy Spirit can quicken your conscience.
30:21
When we confess our sins, we're brought back into fellowship.
30:24
We're renewed and refreshed. Forgiveness applies to the
30:28
guilt, admitting you're guilty. Forgiveness means the definition
30:34
of forgiveness where it says here he'll forgive our sins is
30:37
he'll cancel the debt, he'll restore the debtor to the word
30:42
means to send away, to omit. So forgiveness deals with the
30:47
guilt and then back in first John 19, cleansing refers to the
30:52
heart and the emotion of it all, the destructive nature of sin.
30:56
The word cleanse means to purify, to concentrate,
31:00
consecrate, to clean up. And I know you found this to be
31:04
true, but it needs to be said out loud.
31:05
There's nothing greater than having the feeling of your guilt
31:09
removed and your conscience clean.
31:12
There's no softer pillow than the pillow of a clean
31:16
conscience. I have these memories growing up
31:20
before I was saved where I'd be in so much trouble and I do so
31:25
many things and hurt so many people that I would literally at
31:28
night stay up all night trying to think about something good
31:32
that I did and have a hard time finding something good.
31:36
Or at other times I'd lay down and be tired and I'd stay up
31:40
thinking, I wonder who I hurt today after I sobered up.
31:44
Or like I would be so troubled with a conscience that was
31:48
uneasy and I didn't know what to do.
31:50
I had no outlet. This verse had no meaning.
31:53
I didn't even know this truth existed because I didn't have a
31:57
Bible. I wasn't born again.
31:59
But to think of how many times I could have got a great night's
32:02
rest if I would just confess my sin, come to the God who's
32:05
faithful and just, and know that Jesus Christ has cleansed me
32:09
from all unrighteousness and be able to rebuild those
32:14
relationships. Or we cannot fix ourselves.
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The power to cleanse a conscience comes from the one
32:21
who created the conscience and died for its cleansing.
32:25
No forgiveness and wholeness is found at the foot of the cross.
32:30
God would put it this way in Isaiah chapter one, verse 18, He
32:34
said, come now, let us reason together.
32:37
Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white
32:42
as snow. Though they're red like Crimson,
32:45
they shall be as wool. And how careful we need to be
32:50
that the Bible doesn't speak shame into your life.
32:53
The Bible speaks freedom. The Bible doesn't speak
32:57
condemnation into your life. The Bible speaks.
33:00
Jesus himself speaks life. He speaks life.
33:05
I believe God knew that this would be a cultural issue
33:09
because when you begin to speak about your behavior, it's easy
33:11
to conclude, well, it's just me, I'm a bad person, I'm a bad
33:15
person. Well, look, however you define
33:19
yourself, bad person, good person.
33:20
We all need Jesus. We all need the forgiveness of
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Christ and he gives us a new identity.
33:27
Even what we've been carrying are the behaviors.
33:30
You know, you think of all the areas where the enemy just wants
33:33
to kill, steal and destroy you get your eyes off the truth.
33:36
Get your eyes onto someone else. This is, these are not language
33:39
of shame. Notice with me.
33:40
Come back to John three with me for a minute, just so you know,
33:43
so you hear not just the words of a pastor, but the words of a
33:46
Savior. This is the word.
33:48
These are the words of Jesus, and we often are encouraged by
33:53
what He says in John 316, one of, if not the most popular
33:58
verse in all the Bible. God so loved the world that he
34:01
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever would believe in him
34:05
would not perish, but have everlasting life.
34:08
But verse 17 is equally powerful.
34:11
God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
34:17
but that the world through Him might be saved.
34:21
And here's the way out. He who believes in him, verse
34:24
18, is not condemned. But he who does not believe, he
34:29
who does not believe in Christ, believes in something else, some
34:33
philosophy of man, some lie that's been told.
34:37
When you don't believe in Jesus Christ, then you are stuck with
34:40
your own beliefs. And notice what it says.
34:43
If you don't believe, you're condemned already.
34:47
Because he who is believed in the name, he is not, because he
34:51
is not. Verse 18, believed in the name
34:53
of the only begotten Son of God. And what is that condemnation?
34:57
That light has come into the world, and men love darkness
35:01
rather than light because their deeds were evil.
35:05
Everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to
35:08
the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
35:13
Friends, can we be reminded today that the death of Jesus
35:16
provides forgiveness for all sin, all of it.
35:20
Nothing is outside the forgiveness of God.
35:22
It doesn't matter what you've done, where you've been, what
35:25
you've been thinking, saying or doing, You can come to Jesus
35:29
today. And believers, you can come back
35:32
to Jesus today. That seems to be a theme this
35:35
year have been meeting a lot of people that have been away for a
35:37
while on her back. Welcome back.
35:40
It's a great decision to make. And we prayed for you tonight.
35:42
This whole room prayed for you with those new decisions you're
35:45
making, new year, new commitments.
35:47
We all prayed for you. Isn't that amazing?
35:49
Here you are coming back, maybe getting closer, clicking online
35:53
or listen to the Christian radio.
35:54
You're coming back, coming back, and then the whole church starts
35:57
praying for you now that you're back.
35:58
We don't know your name, we don't know your story, but we
36:01
love you nonetheless. Because when you come back to
36:03
Jesus and confess your sins, you know what happens.
36:06
He's faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you
36:09
from all unrighteousness. And the church perhaps might
36:12
help you work through the consequences and help through
36:15
those situations. The wisdom of the pastors and
36:18
the elders that God has given to us in this church, it's great,
36:21
it's wonderful. It might be hard and challenging
36:24
for sure, but it doesn't matter what you've done or where you've
36:27
been. God is the God of the second
36:29
chance or the 3rd or the 5th. What number can I get another
36:36
Amen? 15 so good.
36:41
It really is God. Sin is only begotten Son to this
36:44
world to take care of the sin issue once and for all.
36:48
I know sin is not popular and I know it makes you uncomfortable
36:52
because you you have to think we're talking about sin in
36:56
general, but how can you not personally apply it in your
36:59
life? I don't need to manipulate that.
37:03
Or hey, just want to let you know before you leave, there's a
37:05
few 100 people here. So I've got a few 100 sins here
37:08
to read off just so. And you'd raise your hand when
37:10
it's yours. And then you, some of you are
37:12
going to run out of hands. Like you know, that's mine.
37:14
That's my well, I don't my foot, you know, my toe like like that.
37:17
You don't need a pastor to do that.
37:20
If you're a believer, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you.
37:23
And if you're an unbeliever, you have the Holy Spirit that's
37:25
pursuing you to this very moment to bring conviction of sin
37:33
believers. We can come back to him
37:35
regularly, have our relationship renewed and restored, to be
37:40
cleansed from a guilty conscience, to come and be, as
37:44
my pastor would say, washed. He'll always say it that way.
37:47
I think he's from the Midwest washed.
37:49
You can hear it. He's still all, all of his tapes
37:52
and his MP threes. He's washed by the blood of
37:55
Jesus Christ. Our loving God offers a glorious
37:59
promise of mercy and grace. If you'll just confess tonight,
38:05
come back to the Lord, Amen. So, Lord, thank you for your
38:08
word. As if we're reminded of the
38:10
beautiful spiritual soap that is ours, that we get to come back
38:16
to you. How much sin have you held us
38:19
back from, delivered us from? How much have we already been
38:23
washed and cleansed? But as believers, we continue to
38:28
come back with John and the apostles of old in the disciples
38:33
of olden believers in every generation that would recognize
38:38
not only do we have a sin nature, but we also have the
38:41
action of sin. But if we confess our sin, we
38:44
say the same thing. We'll repent and turn away and
38:50
we'll have freshness and relationship is restored and
38:54
there's a renewal and a refreshing and there's Koinonia
38:57
again and there's no more grudges and there's there's no
39:01
more fear and there's no more shame and no more guilt and no
39:04
more condemnation if the enemy heaps on us, but rather there's
39:09
cleansing and newness of life. I pray tonight, too, for the man
39:17
and his wife that his name came up on the radio show today, that
39:21
you would work in their marriage.
39:24
Comfort his wife, Lord, I don't even know her name.
39:28
Comfort her and encourage her as she responds to the infidelity
39:33
and she responds to the herd of deceit.
39:38
And certainly I with the husband who's repentant.
39:42
God, the enemy's going to go after him.
39:45
And I pray God that you would just be there in the midst of
39:48
their marriage right now and that's them there.
39:52
But also there are many here now and different stories, different
39:57
situations. I just pray for the blood of
39:59
Jesus Christ to bring unity and closeness.
40:04
Homo Legeo, we're going to say the same thing.
40:08
We're going to be in agreement with one another.
40:10
Unity. Your word says how can two walk
40:12
together unless they're agreed? They can't.
40:16
We're to. Strive to maintain the unity of
40:19
the Spirit in the bond of peace. Forgive us, God, in those times
40:23
where we don't pour out Your Spirit afresh and anew on us.
40:28
Receive the confession. Our confession is first to You.
40:35
And then perhaps we need to confess to others so that
40:39
relationship can be restored first horizontally or vertically
40:43
and then horizontally. But for some, this is the night
40:47
that you draw people to the to you, Jesus.
40:50
You're, you're drawing them through your cords of love,
40:55
giving them the truth that whoever believes in you would
41:00
not perish, but have everlasting life.
41:03
And today, if that's you, you need and want everlasting life,
41:06
I invite you to receive the Lord Jesus Christ right now and
41:09
wherever you are, would you just stand to your feet?
41:11
I want to pray with you. Somebody will come alongside and
41:15
stand with you. A pastor or one of the prayer
41:16
team, one of the school ministry folks will come and stand right
41:22
there with you. But you have to come.
41:25
It's a public response from a public Savior who died publicly,
41:32
was buried publicly, and rose again the third day publicly,
41:38
and that today, if you'll confess with your mouth the Lord
41:40
Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
41:43
dead, you will be saved. God bless you.
41:46
Who else would say that's me? Today's the day.
41:50
I really sense too you guys on the radio, you're listening,
41:56
maybe on the stream. God's got your attention.
42:01
We just want to acknowledge you. Anyone else here say that to me,
42:07
Pastor, I need it's always a special thing on Wednesdays
42:10
because I got saved on a Wednesday just like this.
42:14
Wondering what am I doing in church?
42:16
And God said I'm going to show you because I'm going to reveal
42:19
my son to you. I'm going to change your life
42:21
forever. And how would we ever know what
42:24
God has in the future until we come.
42:27
So just come for some of you, you just need to confess
42:33
tonight. This is the beginning of
42:34
confession and repentance. No need to stand for that or
42:38
raise your hand. Just do it.
42:40
Just take it to the Lord. If we confess our sins, He is
42:45
faithful and just. You don't need to come to a man
42:47
pastor, a priest, a woman. You, you come right directly to
42:52
God. He's is, as we're going to learn
42:54
next time we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
42:57
the righteous. So those of you that responded,
43:01
pray with me, would you? I'm going to help you with the
43:03
confession part. You could say, God forgive me of
43:08
all of my sin because I believe in your Son Jesus Christ, who
43:18
died for me and rose again from the dead to save my life and my
43:27
soul. I choose to follow you from this
43:32
day forward and turn away from my sins.
43:39
God, I know anyone anywhere that comes to you.
43:42
You say you don't castaway, but we also know that there's a
43:45
battle for the seeds that are sown and the words that are said
43:50
and the commitments that are made.
43:52
And so I pray for those, especially this sweet new sister
43:55
right here in the front row, second row here.
43:59
I pray God that the seed would go down in good ground and bear
44:03
much fruit, that you would establish and protect and
44:07
strengthen her in her new desire to follow you.
44:10
And that's true for anyone listening, anyone connected to
44:14
us. God, may these be the days of
44:16
great harvest of the lives you want to change and the
44:19
generational change you want to bring into our homes and our
44:24
families and our friends. We pray all this in Jesus, holy
44:30
and righteous name. Amen.
44:32
Amen. Amen.
44:34
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
44:37
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
44:40
For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
44:50
To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
44:53
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
44:59
or download our free Calvary Church app.
45:02
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.