Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #16216 - Jesus Took Away Our Sins - 1 John 3:4-9

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#16216 - Jesus Took Away Our Sins - 1 John 3:4-9 · 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. All right, open your Bibles.
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First John chapter 3 is where we are.
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First John chapter 3 and we're going to pick up in verse 4 and
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I've entitled our Bible study. Jesus took away our sins.
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Jesus took away our sins, verse one.
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Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that
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we should be called the children of God.
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Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know
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Him. Beloved, now we are children of
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God and it has yet not been revealed what we shall be, but
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we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him,
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for we shall see Him as He is, and everyone who has this hope
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in Him purifies Himself just as He is pure.
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We spent some time last time soaking in how much God loves
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you and how important it is for you to know that that as a child
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of God you experience personally the love of God.
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And it's God's love that moves and motivates us to follow Him.
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The love of God is the greatest motivator on the planet earth.
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Not a set of religious guidelines or rote repetitions
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or a list of rules and regulations.
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It's His love that melts us and shapes us and molds us and moves
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us. Paul said that and 2nd
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Corinthians chapter 5 as he looks at his life, he says in
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verse 14, For the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus
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that if one died for all, then all died, and he died for all,
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that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but
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for him who died for them and rose again.
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If I had to summarize this in its basic simplicity, so much of
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our lives could be easily corrected.
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If we would get our eyes back on the cross and see the love of
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God. It would move us to remember not
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so much to dwell where we came from, but just to remember where
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we came from. The work that God did to remove
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us from where we came from. The change that's been ongoing
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in our lives after we were born again.
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That sanctification process becoming more and more like
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Christ. And you know, men and women, we
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can be motivated by a lot of different things as we seek to
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serve the Lord or live for God. Sometimes it's our pride or our
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ego or to make a name for ourself or to create a platform
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or to somehow draw attention. Money is a motivator, you know,
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to impress people's. There's so much secondary
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motivations, but love is at the center of everything when it
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comes to following Christ. It is the true motivation for
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serving the Lord, His sacrificial death, what He has
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done for us. And that's where John was in
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chapter 3. Look what manner of love the
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Father's bestowed upon us. Now in verse four, he says
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whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is
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lawlessness. Now in the Living Bible, the
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translation says this, but those who keep on sinning are against
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God, for every sin is done against the will of God.
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You can mark that word sin. It means to miss the mark, the
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miss the mark. It means that you and I have not
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arrived at the bull's eye. We missed it.
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Sin is that action that is imperfect, that breaks the heart
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of God. The Gnostics, the false teachers
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that John was writing as an audience to correct but also to
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instruct the church believed that the body, the physical
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body, and all that's material was evil, wrong, and not of God.
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And that took them to two primary false teachings.
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The first one that was popular is that they retreated from the
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world and lived as monks, kind of isolated themselves.
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But that wasn't the most popular version.
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The most popular version of their false teaching was the
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belief that you could do whatever you want.
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You can live sinful lives. It didn't matter.
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If the body didn't matter, then anything you did in the body
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didn't matter. And since the body wasn't
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important, then eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die
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and it doesn't affect the true you.
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They taught that the body wasn't the true you, so you can do
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whatever you want in this world. But John says in verse four that
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whoever commits sin is lawless and lawlessness is sin.
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Sin is breaking the law of God. It's a way of living your life
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without restraint, contrary to God's ideal for His creation.
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Making excuses for sin, dismissing sin, pretending it
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doesn't exist, minimizing it. You go, Well, pastor, how do you
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minimize sin? The world has a great way of
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minimizing sin by just replacing the sinful word with something
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that's not so threatening. Or I think lying.
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Lying is bad. Can I get an Amen on that?
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Lying is bad. Lying is a sin, but in the world
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now, it's what kind of lie is it a white lie?
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A blue lie? A purple lie?
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Like all these lies have colors now, as if the colors make a
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difference. Listen, lies break trust, and
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trust breaks relationship both with God and with others.
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Dishonesty is not from the Lord. I don't care how the world
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describes it. Well, you know, it's just a
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little white lie. What a what?
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What is it again? It's a little white lie.
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You know, they emphasize the color and not the sin.
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And you can see that over and over.
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Adultery. Adultery is just now an affair.
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Oh, an affair. That sounds so sweet.
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An affair. No, it's adultery.
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You've sinned against God. I think of fornication, sexual
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sin outside of marriage. Now it's just hooking up.
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Like you're going fishing now, like stealing away.
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You know, Jesus said you're going to be a Fisher of men.
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And what does the world do? Take something that Jesus uses
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and twist it around to cover up for sin.
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Now we're in the hookup culture. No, we're in the lawless sexual
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sin culture. That's what we're in.
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And when you choose to commit adultery on your spouse, you're
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not having an affair. That's not an affair.
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It's sexual sin that's breaking the covenant you made before God
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and man with your spouse. See, sin is lawlessness.
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And because sin brought lawlessness into the world,
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Jesus came to restore order through the law of love.
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And he gives us 2 reasons, verse 5, why Jesus came into the
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world. Notice reason #1 and you know
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that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there
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is no sin. Jesus came, He was manifested,
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or He was revealed or put on display.
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That's what the word manifested means.
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Jesus was put on display to all the world to take away our sin.
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The minute you surrendered your life to Jesus and asked for
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forgiveness, you were born again.
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You were saved. Your sins were judged past,
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present, and future. The penalty of sin.
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The consequences of sin were wiped away as it relates to God.
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Now here's what sometimes gets misunderstood.
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While the consequences of your sin eternally have been wiped
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away with God, the consequences with others don't get wiped away
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so quickly. There are consequences attached
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to our sinful behavior, especially as it relates to
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others. I think of 1 long lasting
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consequence that some of you may have is a criminal record.
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Now you may have committed crimes before you were born
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again, but they when they, you go to the courthouse and say, I
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just want to let you know I'm born again.
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Can you wipe away my record? They're going to laugh you out
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of the courthouse. Bailiff, please come and get so
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and so. Like there's a consequence
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that's attached to behavior. Another example when it comes to
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forgiveness, you know when you come to God and you, you apply
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God's spiritual soap in first John 19, immediately you're
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going to receive the forgiveness of God.
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God is very fast and quick to forgive you.
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People, not so much, maybe not so quick.
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They are reeling from the offense, wounded and hurt.
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I don't want you to be surprised that forgiveness doesn't come so
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quickly because you came to the revelation sooner than they did.
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But there's still a wound. God Forgives.
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But there's a lot of work to be done sometimes with those in our
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lives. Trust to be earned again.
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I always like to remind folks when you, when you lose trust
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and when someone loses trust in you, it's very, very difficult.
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Not impossible, but very, very difficult to get it back.
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That's why it's so precious. Trust is the currency of
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leadership. Trust is the currency of
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ministry. Trust is the currency of any
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relationship. That's why the more trust that's
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broken, the more painful it becomes.
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He says Jesus came to take away our sins and in him it says in
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verse 5 there is no sin. Jesus is sinless.
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Then in verse 6 we see whoever abides in him does not sin.
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Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him.
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Now we learned number 2. When we abide in Christ, we
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don't sin. This is a beautiful thing.
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Abiding in Christ keeps us from sin.
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Now, I'm not saying it's impossible to sin when you're
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reading your Bible, but it's really hard.
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It's really hard to sin when you're reading your Bible.
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I mean, you've oriented your life toward God.
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You perhaps even started in prayer.
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It's very hard to sin when you're praying because even if
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you're sin, you know, maybe you're like David in prayer and
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you're really hurting. You're like, oh Lord, break
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their teeth and it might feel good, but then the Holy Spirit
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says, I don't want to break their teeth.
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Why do you want to break their teeth?
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And all of a sudden now you have a conversation with God.
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This is, oh, you're so right, Lord, I've been praying for
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their teeth to be broken all this time.
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I really don't want their teeth to be broken, but I do want, and
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now you're drawing near to the Lord.
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And even if you did, you know, you sin, you step out and you
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come back in when you're abiding in Christ.
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I think of our gathering here, you know, with the men, with the
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men. Recently I had the opportunity
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in Oregon to teach 2 sessions at a men's conference.
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And inevitably when we gather men together, although it's not
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exclusively a man problem, it really is primarily a man
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problem. And that is this whole issue of
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the sin of Internet pornography. And so it came up in the Bible
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study and I reminded the men that were listening to me that
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they are there is I can't see every phone in the room and I'm
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not walking every aisle, but I can make a pretty strong
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educated guess that there weren't any men in the room
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listening to me and watching Internet pornography in the room
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at the same time. I can make a pretty strong and I
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think accurate assessment of the room.
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Why? Because they're orienting their
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life toward the Lord. They're not doing both.
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You don't abide in Christ and pull out your phone.
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Listen, if you pull out your phone and you succumb to a
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temptation that God has already given you the power over, you
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have chosen not to abide in Christ in that moment.
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And you have chosen sin over Jesus.
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And you can add any sin to that list.
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It doesn't. The sin is irrelevant in this
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case. The good news is that when we've
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obey Jesus, abide in me and I abide in you, you are not
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sinning to me is the greatest news.
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And well, how do I get victory? How do I get victory over this
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sin? I've had it forever.
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Abiding Christ. Pastor, that's too early.
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That's too easy. No, it's actually not too easy.
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Abiding Christ. When you're abiding in Christ
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and you're just staying, but well, how do I do that?
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What do you mean? How do you do that?
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Pray, read your Bible, think of God, walk with them, hang out
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with them. I think of our relationships on
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a smaller scale. Let's just say you have a good
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buddy, a good buddy, a good brother in the Lord, sister in
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the Lord, Maybe in your relationship, in marriage,
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you're just hanging out together.
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You're you're together when you abide in your friendship and you
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abide in your marriage and you abide in those connections.
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I'm going to tell you you're probably not going to send in
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that relationship either. You're not going to pull out
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your phone with your spouse and say, let's watch your
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pornography together. You're not going to do that.
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It's a sin of deceit and lying and it's in the darkness.
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You're probably not going to bring it out with your buddy
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either. That just came from church and
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said, hey, you know, I just had this great Bible study.
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I want to talk to you about it, bro.
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I got something to show you and you pull out your phone.
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Why? Because you're with someone that
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loves the Lord. And when you're in that
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friendship, you're in that relationship, they make you a
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better person. When you are hanging out with
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the brothers and the sisters and the Lord, they make us better
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people. How much more when we hang out
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with Jesus does He make us better women and better men in
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Him? You just hang out with Jesus.
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Truly, you're doing that right now.
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You guys that have just chosen to turn off the television and
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instead tune into a Bible study, you're doing that right now.
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You're not going off on the other weird rabbit holes on
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YouTube. You're listening to the word of
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God. You're abiding in Christ.
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You're making wise choices. You're sowing to the Spirit.
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You're going to reap everlasting life.
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You've decided that you want to be a slave to righteousness.
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So righteousness rules you and you follow.
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You're not going to be a slave to unrighteousness.
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Wise choices lead to great benefits in our lives.
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In Christ there is no sin. And if you're with a strong
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brother or strong sister that's abiding in Christ, then you're
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closer and closer to being in that place where you're not
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going to sin. You're not.
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And I'm not talking about getting into the flesh, but you
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don't understand. If I hang out long enough, we're
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going to argue about something. Stop it.
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Stop talking yourself out of being with the brothers and
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bring with the sisters and forsaking sin.
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This is what the Bible says. The Bible says that in Christ
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there is no sin and he says in verse 6, whoever abides in him
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does not sin. That's not merely a choice not
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to sin, but rather a choice to follow love.
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You're attracted to love, and when you're in love, you're not
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in sin. I can say that when we sin, we
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are not abiding in Jesus. When we sin, we are not abiding
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in Jesus. It's important that we stay put.
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And the danger of not abiding is seen in that last section of
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verse 6. The danger of living in sin
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apart from abiding in Christ is that whoever sends has neither
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seen him nor known him. It's almost as if you have
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forgotten what you've seen and what you've known.
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Now that could very literally apply to some that became a
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little religious and started hanging around church thinking
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that's how I'm going to approach God.
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I'm just going to become religious and a churchgoer.
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I'd rather have you moving toward God as a churchgoer then
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away from God, you know, living in the world.
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But being a churchgoer is not what Jesus is after.
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He doesn't want you to add church to your life.
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He wants you to surrender your life to Him.
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He died to take away your sins. He didn't invite you into
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church, into a church building, or to a church group so that
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your conscience could be appeased for a little while.
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He invites you to himself and the church, which is really just
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a group of people. The church is just something you
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get to enjoy. It's just an added benefit of
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being a part of the family. It's like, this is amazing what
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God's doing. I get to I get to grow with a
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group of people that also want to grow in Christ.
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And you know, the church isn't heaven.
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You guys know that, right? You're here right now
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worshipping. We're not in heaven.
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I mean, we're not this isn't heaven.
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So we're going to rub elbows with each other.
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We're going to be in the flesh. You're going to see the worst of
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me. I'll see the worst of you.
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And but, but what do we get to do in the church?
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We get to work things out. We get to apply Matthew 18.
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We get to humble ourselves. We get to practice on the
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Christian virtues of life, living out our life on other
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believers because it'll be much harder in the world because
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they're not interested in the Christianity or Jesus.
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But you're going to be able to be so well, I mean, hopefully
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not so well practiced, behave yourselves, but you could be so
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well practiced in the church that you'll be so in love in the
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world that that's what will get their attention.
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And you'll walk into work, perhaps even tomorrow.
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I'll go what manner of love, what manner of of love the
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Father is, I can't believe it, how much God loves me.
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And then your coworker says you're out of your mind.
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It's like, no, no, no, I'm not out of my mind.
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I'm more in my mind that I've ever been my whole life.
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I've been sober for this amount of years.
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I've been walking with God like you, you, you.
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We should have some. I want to go to lunch with you.
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You want to go to lunch because I want to talk to you just how
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much that's not true. I have never been more in my
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right mind in my entire life because of what God has done in
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my life. And you can see you're just so
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in love with God and it's very attractive.
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Notice verse 7 little children getting that, that that phrase
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that he's drawing together. It's almost like trust me kids,
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trust me. Let no one deceive you.
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He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is
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righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for
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the devil is sin from the beginning.
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For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested.
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Notice that He might destroy the works of the devil.
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So not only did He deal with the reality of taking away our sin,
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but now also He has destroyed the works of the devil.
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So don't be deceived. Don't be deceived righteousness.
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Think of the word just doing what is right, reflecting of
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God, doing what is right. You can use the word to help you
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define it. Doing what is right is defined
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by God's holy word. And as a believer, you and I can
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practice righteousness. We can practice righteousness.
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That's what he describes, the life of abiding.
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The life of abiding produces righteousness.
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And when you repetitively live a life of obedience.
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That's what practice means. It's the manner of your life.
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Not the episodes when you fail. Not the stumblings, not the
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thoughts that popped through your mind or maybe an outburst
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of wrath. You know, some work of the
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flesh, but the practicing of your life.
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The measure of the entirety of her life and how far you've
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come. The reality of where you are now
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abiding in Christ. Not all the failures you have in
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the past, but what is God doing now in your life?
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And I find it interesting in don't you in verse 8, we kind of
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take it for granted, but let's draw it out just for the sake of
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understanding. He who sins is of the devil
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because the devil sinned from the beginning.
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I find it interesting that John believed in a real personal
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devil. He believed in a real personal
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devil. So did Paul, so did Peter, and
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so did Jesus. Jesus knew of the devil because
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he created him before he fell as a righteous Angel.
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All these men and women in the scriptures believed in a real
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literal devil to be real active in the destruction of lives.
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And I believe it too as a brother, as a pastor.
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You see, Satan is behind the whole issue of sin because of
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his rebellion. He tempted Adam and Eve into
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bringing sin into into humanity and because of Adam's sin, all
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of you, you and I, we were all born in sin because two human
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beings that are sinners can only produce another little human
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being that is a Sinner. It's been replicated ever since.
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He is behind using the world and temptation, the world, the
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flesh. He is behind it all to try to
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draw us into destruction. I do believe we give Satan far
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too much credit. I don't believe he's behind
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every single thing. Personally, I believe that once
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he starts the temptation, we take over in the flesh and it's
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called it's all us. We, we can't blame the devil for
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everything. Like we, we have responsibility.
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We have personal responsibility in our lives.
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And as soon as we match that, the Lord meets us right there.
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So we can't go around playing, blaming the devil and blame like
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you. You look at it, you go man,
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listen. When Jesus died on the cross,
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the war is over. He has defeated the enemy
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Colossians, chapter 2, verse 14. He has wiped out the handwriting
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of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.
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He's taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross,
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having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public
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spectacle of them, triumphing over them.
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In it you have been delivered from the power of sin and death
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by the finished work of Christ. And so the question is, and it's
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a good question if you've ever asked it, if Satan has been
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defeated, then why? If Satan has been defeated, then
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why is he still allowed to destroy and disrupt the lives?
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You might be surprised at this answer, but I don't want you to
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be surprised. I want you to be grateful and
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that is because God in His grace and mercy is patiently waiting
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upon many, many more to place their faith and trust in Jesus
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Christ. That's why until that final,
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that final person in second Peter chapter 3 verse 9, it says
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the Lord. I'm reading from the NLT on this
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one. The Lord isn't really being slow
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about His promise to return as some people think.
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No, He is being patient for your sake.
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He does not want anyone to perish, so he's giving more time
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for everyone to repent. Isn't that great?
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Aren't you praying for someone right now?
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That's why the devil is active. I mean, don't your doesn't your
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heart just burn for, for your mom, your dad, your brother,
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your sister, your friend, your neighbor?
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Well, God is not slack concerning his promise.
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Some count slackness, the new King James says, But he's not
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willing that any should perish. And he has given us the strength
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to overcome. We've already learned that we
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are more than overcomers. He who is in US first.
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John 4/4 is what? Greater than he who is in the
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world. It's a truth to you.
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Just take it. Yeah, I have been delivered.
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I can walk in the newness of life.
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I have a new direction. I have a new life.
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I have new power. When the Bible says that I'm a
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new creation in Christ. You know what I am a new
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creation in Christ. Old things have passed away.
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Behold all things that become new.
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The only difference between that verse and you experience it's,
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it is faith. You got to believe it.
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When you believe it, it changes your life.
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There are still battles because we deal with the flesh.
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We deal with our old sinful habit patterns.
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We we deal with temptation. Notice what it says he says in
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verse 9. Whoever has been born again of
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God or born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him and
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he cannot sin because because he has been born of God.
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Now, I want you to not take this verse out of context in its own
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place. You can't do that with really
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any verse because if you just took it out by itself and sat
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there all by itself, no other verse in the Bible, then you
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would think, well, I mean, I guess there's sinless
25:43
perfectionism, but John hasn't even taught you that.
25:46
So he can't be saying that. Now John hasn't taught you that
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so far in our study in first John, and this is the benefit of
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going through the Bible verse by verse, we have already learned
25:57
some truths from John related to sin.
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For example, in chapter 1 verse six, he says it's false to say
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that you can walk in the light and in darkness.
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In chapter 1 verse 8, he said it's false to say you don't have
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a sin nature. In chapter 1 verse 10, John's
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already taught us it's false to say that you don't commit sins
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as a Christian. And in chapter 2 verse 4, it's
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false to say that you know him, but you don't obey him.
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And So what is John saying here? With that in mind, the seed that
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he mentions is in reference to you being a new creation, being
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a you have a new nature. The moment we were born again, a
26:37
radical change takes place. We receive a new nature.
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You may not experience it like experientially right away.
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You're born again. You pray a prayer and then you
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walk out there. You know, you walk into the
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doors of a church with 15 things wrong with you.
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You're born again. Guess how you walk out with 15
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things wrong and you're like, what happened?
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I don't even know what. You may not feel anything.
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You may not sense anything. You may not anything.
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You all it was was an act of obedience.
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You heard the gospel like some of you today.
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You heard that you have sinned against a holy and righteous God
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and that God sent his Son, Jesus Christ to die for you to rescue
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you from the penalty of sin. Do you know what the penalty of
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sin is? I mean, it's it's it's
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devastating. It's eternal life of separation
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from God or the wages of sin is death.
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But you have to define death not just as the ceasing to exist,
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because really, death in the Bible spiritually speaks of
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separation. It speaks of separation.
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We see that very sadly at a memorial service where we
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experienced the separation of the spirit and the soul from the
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body, and we refer to that as death.
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It's very sad. I know some of you are mourning
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the loss right now, and I'm sorry.
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It's very difficult. It's a result of sin.
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Sin brought death. And every time we were at a
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memorial service, we're reminded of the truth of God's Word.
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But separation also means eternally to be separate from
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God, to live separate from God. Not just like floating through
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the universe, but there's a place.
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There's a place known as, sometimes it's referred to as
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Gehenna. Sometimes in the Bible it's
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referred to as the lake of fire. But generally, as pastors and
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people, we generally refer to it as hell.
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Hell may not be a popular topic for you, but if you believe
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there's a heaven, then you have to believe there's a hell.
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They're both equally true, just as if you believe in a real
28:40
devil. Well, there's a real God, and
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the Bible says that Jesus Christ came to take away your sins and
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to give you eternal life. You probably even know, you've
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probably already heard that God so loved the world that he gave
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his only begotten Son, that whosoever will believe in him
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will not perish, but have everlasting life.
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Now you know that verse, you've heard that.
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I wonder if you even know. You know who said that Jesus
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did? The one that died for you was
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buried, and he rose again from the dead.
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They had eyewitnesses that saw Jesus Christ alive, that at one
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point the Bible says 500 people saw Him at the same time.
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Do you know what the power of 500 witnesses of one thing is?
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I mean, that's, that's amazing. Not only that, but those 500
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witnesses, they live with all the accusations, all the people
29:34
making fun of them, all the people saying it didn't happen
29:37
and they stood and they go, no, we saw it.
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We were there. We talked to him, we watched
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him, we heard him, we ate with him.
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Listen, Jesus Christ is alive today and he's inviting you to
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confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart
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that God raised him from the dead.
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Jesus is real. And so when a person is born
29:57
again, as you'll have a chance in just a moment, both in the
30:01
room and also out online and on the radio, like when you're born
30:04
again, you get a new nature, even if you don't realize it
30:07
yet, because you know you're born again.
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You listen to a pastor just share the gospel with you.
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That's what I want. I want to be with God.
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I want my sins forgiven. I mean, he's talking about
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things, but he doesn't even know how bad it really is.
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You're right. I don't know how bad it really
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is. And you don't quite know how bad
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it really is it yet either. As God begins to dig deep into
30:27
your life to make you the woman and man He really wants you to
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be, you think you have 15 problems.
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You have way more than 15 problems.
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And God loves you still in Christ.
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He doesn't hold them against you.
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He wants to move you and lead you and guide you away from that
30:46
life. A new creation, old things
30:49
passed away. So when you hear the seed,
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that's what happens. It happens whether you feel it
30:54
or not, whether you recognize it or not, that new nature will
30:59
never not allow you to habitually sin in your life ever
31:03
again. And you go, wait a minute, Ed,
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that's pretty powerful. I know.
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That's how people get miserable when they're backslidden.
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That's when they start looking at their life and they might
31:14
have go off a little bit here, a little bit there, but then, you
31:16
know, maybe a week into a two weeks, 5 weeks, things like this
31:19
is wrong or where do you think that came from?
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You didn't read that in a book. The Spirit of God is in you
31:25
telling you that's wrong and you go, it's not wrong, it's wrong,
31:28
it's not wrong. Then you harden your heart and
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it takes a little bit longer next time and a little bit
31:34
longer next time and a little bit longer next time.
31:37
But God passionately pursues you and as a born again believer, He
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won't let you get away with sin. You'll be back.
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You'll be back in a year. You'll be back in five years.
31:50
You'll be back in 10 years. You'll be back in 40 years.
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But you'll be back wounded and damaged.
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But nonetheless, God is ready to repair and restore and bring you
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back in a relationship like the prodigal son Luke chapter 15.
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He's going to throw a party for you.
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He's so happy you're back. We're so glad you're back.
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Like I think we'd run out of resources if we hit threw a
32:12
party for every backslider that comes back to this church.
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We don't have enough. And we welcome you back.
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We're glad you're here. I wish we could throw a party
32:19
for you, but your Father in heaven is going to throw one for
32:21
you. And the angels rejoice in heaven
32:23
when you repent. But we as a church, we just
32:25
walking you back with a hug. Hugs are free.
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We hugs are free and a welcome like we're here.
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We're glad you're back. Now get back on track and serve
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the Lord. So coming back to the text here,
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look, when you're born of God, when you're born of God, there
32:38
is a movement away from your flesh.
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You sin less, God leads you to a more the, the, the more wise you
32:48
get, the more the older you get, the more mature you get, the
32:50
less sin you see in your life. His seed, that seed like you
32:56
know, like he planted himself in you.
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You know how we have that phrase in the world?
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Like father, like son. Have you heard that phrase
33:03
before? Well, I want you to think of it
33:04
this way. Like father, like daughter, like
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father, like son. Spiritually you are like your
33:11
Father and you are progressively maturing, but you won't be
33:16
sinless. John has already said that we
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already know that you won't be sinless, but you will walk in
33:23
the newness of life. And when you feed your new
33:26
nature with generous amounts of spiritual food, the Word of God,
33:31
then you grow. And I believe every believer
33:34
should have quiet time devotions with the Lord using the Bible
33:37
app. It makes it so easy using the
33:40
resources we recommend you parents, there's resources that
33:43
we have through our children's ministry, all the the smaller
33:46
groups. We have so many resources that
33:49
you just take and receive. We just started with 100 day
33:53
devo at the beginning of the year.
33:55
I finished it already. I'm going through a second time.
33:57
It's so good. 100 days knocked it out.
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It took me a little bit more than 100 days, but let's start
34:02
over again. And just not like just some time
34:05
alone before everything starts, before everything crowds, before
34:09
the news, before social media, before to, before any of that.
34:13
Just get alone with the Lord. All that stuff's going to steal
34:17
your time anyway. How much time has been stolen
34:20
from us from a bunch of nonsense?
34:23
A lot of nonsense. You need time with the Lord.
34:26
You need to feed the new nature, feed that seed.
34:28
It's like the garden, right? You, you got to take care and
34:31
weed the garden, kill the weeds, the flesh, feed the spirit, so
34:37
important. Otherwise the weeds will
34:39
overtake everything and before you know it, the flowers will
34:42
die and it'll be a very difficult season.
34:46
And so have those quiet times of the Lord.
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I commend you. You know, midweek like this is,
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I know how hard it is midweek. I know we got halfway through
34:55
the week and who knows what that tomorrow's going to bring or
34:57
maybe it's the beginning. I know how hard it is, so much
35:00
so that many churches have stopped midweeks.
35:03
I am committed to being here for whoever wants to be here for
35:07
that midweek pep talk, you know, from the Lord.
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Like this word for you, it's going to pay.
35:14
It's going to pay dividends in your life.
35:17
Like every time you get a little nugget, it's like, Oh, yeah,
35:20
busted. Oh, yeah.
35:22
Encouraged. Oh, man, I never saw that
35:24
before. Or, wow, really hard question
35:26
answered. Or you know what?
35:28
This is the best 90 minutes of my life because I could be doing
35:31
something that has no spiritual value.
35:33
And yeah, the kids might be harder to get up in the morning,
35:36
but that's OK. They'll grow up.
35:38
And then you can look back and go, man, you were the hardest
35:40
kid to get up in the morning. But we went to church.
35:43
We went to church. That's why you're such a grouch.
35:46
But we went to church, you know, whatever.
35:48
And you can you have that testimony, you know, that that
35:51
sense of now you have one more thing to talk to your kids about
35:54
in the Lord. You have one more thing teaching
35:56
them. You know, mom and dad can't
35:58
believe I'm so tired in the morning.
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Yeah, but this is your offering to the Lord.
36:03
It's not, you know, so I'm kind of tired too.
36:05
And, you know, again, we have all our reasons, but all I'm
36:08
saying is this pressing into the Lord, you'll never regret it
36:12
every single time. Bible study, listening on your
36:15
app, watching something on YouTube, not to get distracted,
36:18
but watching a Bible study, a teacher you like, like you and
36:21
putting on music just to saturate your soul, praying
36:24
quiet time. When you feed that part of your,
36:28
that seed that God planted in you, it will grow, I assure you,
36:34
on the authority of God's word. It'll grow and it has, hasn't
36:37
it? Can't you see it in your life?
36:39
It's already grown so much growth in your life already.
36:42
So many victories. So much has been overcome.
36:45
So much has been left in your past.
36:47
Maybe you stumble, maybe you fell even.
36:49
Maybe you made a big error. But you know what?
36:51
You're back. You're back.
36:53
Welcome home. The Lord is ready to work.
36:55
He's throwing a party for you. We're glad you're back.
36:58
Amen. Amen.
36:59
Lord. Thank you for your word and the
37:00
beauty of the Scriptures. Just just thinking how much you
37:04
took away our sin. You defeated the enemy.
37:07
You have conquered sin and death and we are grateful.
37:10
We may not always fully appreciate it, sometimes we
37:13
don't even think about it, but you take us back to the love
37:16
that we first and God even just now I just, I remember that was
37:22
the hardest thing to believe in my life.
37:25
I just could not believe that you would love someone like me.
37:33
That even of what I did know about myself, it was very hard.
37:36
And living by my own life, I could see I didn't even love
37:39
myself as I destroyed my body and I destroyed relationships so
37:44
self-centered. But you delivered me.
37:47
You delivered us and you're still delivering today.
37:50
God, you're still drawing people to yourself.
37:53
You're still revealing your love.
37:55
And I'll just say to you as we pray as a church, I say to those
37:58
of you listening to me, listen. I know that you may not fully
38:02
believe that God could love you, but he does and you will.
38:07
And maybe you don't believe that you can get victory over this
38:09
part of your life because it's a problem you've had forever and
38:12
it's a problem your dad had and your grandfather had.
38:15
I don't know, maybe you're doubting right now because of
38:17
the behavior you've had. You've hurt so many people and
38:20
done so much damage, and you think there's just no hope for
38:23
me. There is hope for you and it's
38:26
found by faith in Jesus Christ. And today, if you'll confess
38:29
with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you'll believe in your heart
38:32
that God raised him from the dead, you'll turn away from your
38:35
sin. God will receive you through the
38:37
blood of Jesus. And so if that's you today, I
38:39
just want to ask you, you say that's me, pastor, would you
38:42
just stand to your feet? I want to pray with you today.
38:46
It's my desire to help you come into a right relationship with
38:51
God. And so today, right here in the
38:53
room, we want to extend that invitation to follow Jesus.
39:02
You've made it this far, but it's time to go all the way.
39:08
And today was that appointment. Today's that special day.
39:13
Wednesday night. Man, I love Wednesday night.
39:15
So important in my life. Wednesday night.
39:20
Never thought I'd have a favorite day, but the day that
39:24
God reached me was a Wednesday night and He gave chance after
39:30
chance after chance is not what God has done for you.
39:33
Chance after chance after chance.
39:35
And He's calling you to himself right now, including you guys
39:38
downstairs or on the radio right now on online listening,
39:43
wherever you are, God knows you. He sees you, He loves you, cares
39:50
for you. Even if you don't love him right
39:54
now, He loves you. Even if you're not born again,
40:01
He still loves you. And He wants you to experience
40:05
his love. Well, Father, I pray for those
40:19
that would turn to you tonight, that even where they are, they
40:24
can say, God forgive me and save me.
40:29
I want to follow you with my life.
40:32
I pray for the backsliders that have come home.
40:35
I pray for the backsliders that haven't come home yet.
40:38
Bring them home Lord, bring them to the end of themselves, that
40:41
we might have a strong unified church to reach our city, to
40:46
love our neighbor, to serve our family.
40:52
We're grateful tonight. Lord, pour out your Spirit upon
40:55
us in Jesus name, Amen, We. Pray that you've been encouraged
41:01
by this Bible study delivered live from the sanctuary of
41:04
Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
41:09
grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
41:16
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
41:20
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
41:25
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
41:28
this week.