Sexual Immorality; Such were or such are? - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (Pastor Josiah Shipley)

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Now, I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military size.
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It wasn't the type of people. Would you please turn in your
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Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
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It would be excellent if everyone had a handout. I know half of them are half color, half of them don't. The toner ran out this morning.
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But, if everyone could have a handout. We're going to start in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. And every other text that I cite, for the most part,
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I have put on your paper. So, you can stay there for the duration of the sermon. This sermon will probably not be very popular.
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And that is okay. It's something we all need to hear. So, I'm going to read 1
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Corinthians chapter 6, 9 through 11. Hear the word of the Lord. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
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Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
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And such were some of you. But you were washed.
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You were sanctified. You were justified. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the
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Spirit of our God. What am I doing wrong, Mike? Alright.
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Sexual immorality, that is the topic of today's sermon. And I titled this, such were or such are.
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Now, of course, it is true. That a true, genuine
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Christian can be tempted by sexual immorality, and even fall in that regard.
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I would argue that at some level, every person in this room, including myself, can say just that.
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Including myself. But that's not the question. That's not the question. The question is, what defines your life?
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The question is, and always boils down to have sinned, the true definition of struggle.
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And I don't know how many times we've gone over this, but we'll do it again. If you were to pull out your phone right now, and Google the word struggle, it means to violently resist.
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That's what it means. To violently resist. Now, the problem is, that word is probably the most misused word in the
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Christian vernacular. Mike, man, what am I doing wrong? Alright, sounds good, man.
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You ready, Jimmy? Alright, now look. That word struggle is probably the most misused word in the
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Christian language. And I've said this before. The word struggle means to violently resist.
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How often do you, or someone you know, use that word to simply mean
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I sin? That's not a struggle. That's not a struggle.
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Do you understand that one of the signs of a true
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Christian is that they struggle against sin? Not that they're perfected in their state.
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Not that they don't sin, but they actually put up a fight. That's one of the signs of being a Christian. If someone tells me they're struggling with a sin,
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I celebrate. Because that means they're putting up a fight. Here's the problem. Most of the time, that's not what they mean. They simply mean they're doing, or worse, wallowing, or living in.
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This sermon is not about the question of can a true Christian fall into sexual immorality, because the answer to that is yes.
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The question is, does that define you? Can you commit sin,
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Christian? Can you commit sin of any kind, but particularly this one, with no remorse, no conviction, and worst of all, no repentance?
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If you can, I want you to seriously consider the words that we just read. Because this
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Bible right here says such were some of you, not such are some of you.
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You understand? Now, as we confront this today, some of you are going to be upset with what you hear.
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And I want you to recognize, as best as I can, I am simply trying to present to you what the
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Bible says. So when you encounter those feelings, make sure you understand that the one who you're actually going to be upset with is the
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Almighty God. But let me encourage you in this regard.
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If that be you today, whether of your own doing, or maybe for some of us in this room, by diminishing it in the lives of others, by making less of a deal about it than God does to other people around you, when you encounter that, as everyone in this room, including myself, has, repent.
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That's the call today. Not all sins are equal. Show of hands, how many of you have ever heard someone say all sins are equal?
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God doesn't do half hands. Yes or no? Okay. How many of you have ever said that? Yes. Okay.
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That is not true. That is not true. That is not true.
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And quite frankly, I know you don't intend this, when you say stuff like that, you are accidentally making
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God look like an idiot. Because when God set up the law, He had varying degrees of punishment.
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There were roughly 613 commandments that He gave the Israelites. Yes? Some of those commandments, when they were broken, called for the death penalty.
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Some of them for a fine. Some of them for exile. You understand? There were varying degrees of punishment.
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You know why there were varying degrees of punishment? Because there were varying degrees of the seriousness of the sin committed.
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Does that not make sense? Does everyone follow me on this? So when you say all sins are equal, you're making
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God look like a hypocrite. Because He did not punish them all equally. Now, here's what you can say, and probably what you mean.
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Not all sins are equal. All sinners are equally destitute and without hope before a sovereign and just God.
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So let me say that back. Not all sins are equal. Let that never come out of the mouth of anyone else in this room ever again.
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But yes, all sinners... We good, Landon? Thank you.
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All sinners are equally in need of a savior. Josiah Shipley is not one inch closer to the gates of heaven than anyone else in the history of the planet saved the blood of Jesus.
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Everyone hear that? That is not the same thing as saying all sins are equal.
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They are not. They are not. To give you an idea of some...
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So of the 613 laws in the Old Covenant, and I'm choosing that one because we have a justice system that God set up directly, yes?
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So it's a good measuring rod for us, yeah? Only roughly, depending on how you count them, 30 or 40 called for the death penalty.
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Just to give you one, and this is a good apologetical tidbit for you. Apologetics is where you defend the faith and the reason for the hope that is in you, yes?
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Exodus 21 .16, you don't have to turn there, says, Whoever steals a man, sells him, or anyone found in possession of him shall be put to death.
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By the way, a common theme of the unbeliever today, of basically any common podcast you listen to, is that the
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Bible does not forbid slavery. I'm going to read that again.
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Anyone who steals a man, sells him, or is found in possession of him shall be put to death.
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I'll do it again. I'll do it again. Anyone who steals a man, that's kidnapping, sells him, or is found in possession of him shall be put to death.
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I'm going to tell you a story. I was talking with a, he referred to himself as a liberal.
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He was an unbeliever, that's the point. When I talked to him,
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I said, why don't you believe the Bible? The number one answer he gave me was, because it doesn't forbid slavery. Now, remember, just as a side note for your apologetical tidbit, when you talk to a young, normally white person from Collierville, Germantown, when they hear the word slavery, they think of one type of slavery from one country, from one time period, because they don't know anything else.
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But at any rate, that's a fact, by the way. At any rate, I showed them this, and I said, the type of slavery you're talking about, like the transatlantic slave trade, would have called for the death penalty if the law of God was applied.
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The person who kidnapped them, and brought them to the shoreline, and brought them on a boat over, the person who sold them at the auction, and the person who bought them, under the law of God, would all have been put to death.
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You know what his answer to that was? Well, that's too harsh. Now, I want you to watch this.
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Just think for a minute. God is unjust for not stopping slavery. Here's an instance where he stopped it, and it's too harsh.
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You know why? They don't want an answer. They don't want an answer. They want an excuse not to submit to a sovereign
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God. That's the reality of it. That's the reality of it. And then they will say, well, why didn't he just make them not do it?
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And when I show them instances where that happens in the Bible, they say, well, how could he violate their free will? They don't want an answer.
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They want an excuse not to submit to a sovereign God. That's the answer. There are only a handful of sins that require death penalty.
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Not very many. Almost all of the sexual sins called for the death penalty.
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Adultery. Fornication. Homosexuality.
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Incest. Almost all of them called for the death penalty. Now, I know that's shocking for some of you to hear because you live in a culture where that's the norm.
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Do not be deceived. Do you understand one of the problems that Israelites had is wherever they moved in the wilderness, they started adopting the lifestyle of those around them so that what would have appalled them like child sacrifice in a generation or two was just another thing.
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And in another generation or two was something they participated in. The reason why sexual immorality does not shock you,
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Christian, is because our culture is ingrained in it. In every aspect.
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In every aspect. So it doesn't shock you anymore. It just doesn't shock you anymore.
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Do you understand there are Muslim countries on this planet that make it illegal to watch pornography?
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You can't get access to it. I'm not lobbying for that.
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What I'm trying to show you is the double standard of what we consider righteous is appalling.
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Absolutely appalling. We can have unbelieving nations of 99 % is not a high enough percentage of non -Christ followers who recognize how pagan that is.
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And that's something. And yet some of us, yeah, in this room, we live in it, we listen to it, we watch it so often that it no longer shocks us.
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That's a problem. Guys, the book of James 1 .27
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says this. This is James 1 .27 for the three of you writing this down for later. This is James 1 .27.
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It's the only time the word religion is used in a positive light in the entire
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Bible. James 1 .27. You don't hear that word spoken from this pulpit very often in a positive light.
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That's because the Bible doesn't either. But there is one time. James 1 .27. And the writer says,
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Pure and undefiled religion before our God is this, to care for or to look after widows and orphans in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
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I would argue that this church does pretty good at the first one. And I have a pretty excellent track record that I could show you of the widows and orphans.
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Maybe not so well the second one. To keep oneself unstained by the world.
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Every day, I'm sorry, every week, when I go to the SOG gym, in fact, two of my fighters are here, they could vouch for this.
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Every week, there's probably 15 or 20 guys in there. I ask everyone who's a
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Christian raise their hand. Normally about eight or nine of the 20 will raise their hand. By the way, that's just how many claim.
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Do not be deceived. And I always say the same thing. Those of you that raised your hand, if your life looks the same in every aspect, in the way you talk, the way you walk, the way you live, in every aspect as the ones who didn't raise their hand, you cannot be a
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Christian. Do I not? If it looks the same in every aspect,
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I want you to find that model for me anywhere in this book. Find it.
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That model. It's not there. This book says, come out from among them and be separate, says the
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Lord. Touch not the unclean thing. This book says, He has made you a holy nation, a purified people, zealous for good works.
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See, we're not talking about perfection, ladies and gentlemen. We're talking about a heart that longs to please
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God. Do you have that? Do you have a heart that longs to please God? And do your actions show it?
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Or does it stop with your words only? Because every one of us in this room can think of someone in our life who told us they loved us, but their actions showed different.
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Yes or no? That person did not love you. I don't care what the word said. Right or wrong?
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This is why I say so often, there will be more people in hell, I bargain, who think they love
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God than there will be any amount of atheists. Because words are so meaningless if there's no action to back them up.
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Yes? Do you have a heart that longs to please God? That's the question. Jesus taught there are varying degrees of punishment in hell.
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Now, the Bible does not say, this has always been intriguing to me. The Bible says there are varying levels of punishment in hell, but does not describe what those levels are.
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Not levels of hell, levels of punishment. Okay? The Bible doesn't say what those are. But, and I wrote it down for you, it's
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Matthew 11. Jesus clearly teaches that it will be, especially for those who have received more revelation.
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Let me put that in perspective for you. Those who have heard the word more. Those who have had more opportunities to turn.
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Maybe like those who sit in a church every Sunday where the Bible's read. Something like that. All sinners without Christ are equally hopeless, lost, and condemned to hell.
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No one is one inch closer to communion with the Father on his own merit. In summary, it is not all sins that are equal, but all sinners that are equally in need of a
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Savior. This, however, does not remove the fact that some sins will be rightly judged by God more severely than others.
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If, maybe, you are deceived in thinking, well, yes, that was the stance
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God took in the Old Covenant, in the Old Testament, against sexual immorality.
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But that is not the stance he takes now in our day. That is not the stance he takes in the
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New Testament. I want you to consider the following passages. And these are actually all on your paper.
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If you have a colored sheet, it's in red. And these are all on your paper on the bottom of page 1. This is
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Galatians 5, 19 -21. Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
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I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things, those who practice such things, those who habitually walk in such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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Now, a couple verses later, Paul mentions what is often called the fruit of the Spirit. Maybe some of you have this passage memorized.
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What are the fruit of the Spirit? Love? It's like so much louder. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self -control.
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That's the fruit of the Spirit. In other words, those are the things that a genuine Christian will produce.
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Not all the same measure. Jesus said what? Some 30 -fold, some 60 -fold, some 100 -fold, whatever.
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But all to some degree. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self -control.
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And in the same manner, right before that, the part that everyone skips are the works of the flesh.
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These are the ones that the unbeliever will produce. Would everyone please look at the very first one mentioned?
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Sexual immorality. So when Paul is describing and comparing believer to unbeliever, the number one marker, the first thing that comes to his mind, the first thing that leaves his pen and is on the paper is sexual immorality.
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Wow, not as many amens on that one. Do you all see this? Number one, the
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Greek word pornea, P -O -R -N -E -I -A, gives you an indication that we're referring to all types of sexual sin.
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And let me repeat, something that everyone in this room to some degree or another, myself included, have committed.
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That's not the question. The question is, is that something you practice? Because these are the marks of an unbeliever.
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Number two, Ephesians 5, 3. But sexual immorality and all impurity and covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper for the saints.
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Number three, Colossians 3, 5, and 7. Put to death what is earthly before you.
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I wonder what the first one on this list is. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
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Listen, church. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming.
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On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these, you too once walked.
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Does everyone see that little E -D at the end of walk? Right there? You once walked. Does everyone see that? See, in English, we use that to refer to the what?
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The... Does it say, in these you are walking now? Is that what it says? In these, you once walked.
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When you were living in them. And there's the emphasis, ladies and gentlemen.
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All of these sins, but particularly sexual immorality, is our topic today. Is that something you are walking in?
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Living in? Because so far, in the three passages we read, the number one indicator of an unbeliever is walking and living in that sin.
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Do you understand? I am not trying to put any higher emphasis on this than what the
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Bible puts on it. That's what I'm trying to do. See, ladies and gentlemen, all of us, myself included, have fallen here.
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That is not the question. And some of you are going to choose to hear it that way and walk out of here hearing something you didn't hear.
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The question is, what's it say right here? Walking in. Living in.
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And here's the next point. Or maybe, you are not. But someone very close to you is, and you have kept your mouth shut about it.
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Silent. Boys will be boys, girls will be girls. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a very unloving thing to do.
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On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. If I love someone, that would be something I would want to warn them about.
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Yes or no? The wrath of God. 1 Thessalonians 4.
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For this is the will of God. Stop right there. If you have ever asked yourself, what is
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God's will for my life? The Bible has the answer right here. 1 Thessalonians 4. Wait, no more.
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1 Thessalonians 4. This is the will of God. Your sanctification. Someone tell me what that means.
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The being set apart. The process of looking more and more like Jesus every day.
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Do your actions conform to the actions of the Son of God more today than they did a year ago?
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That's the question. That's the question. More today than they did six months ago. If not, that would be time to repent.
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Right? That would be the time. This is the will of God. Your sanctification. God's purpose for Josiah Shipley's life and every believer in this room is to be more sanctified, more set apart, more holy.
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Not on my own terms. More loving the things God loves and hating the things
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God hates tomorrow than it was today. That's his goal for my life. That's his goal for my life.
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And I wonder what the first marker is going to be of my sanctification. Let's keep reading.
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Your sanctification. That you abstain from sexual immorality.
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You know that feeling you just got in your heart? Like how many times he's going to say this? Please notice the emphasis.
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Not Josiah. The Bible is putting on this. That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor.
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Not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who don't know God. Do you hear that?
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If you can't, you are walking like those who don't even know God. That no one transgressed and wronged his brother in this manner because the
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Lord is an avenger in all these things. As we told you before him and solemnly warned you.
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Can you say that you do that for other people in this regard? Solemnly warned them? Solemnly warned you.
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For God has not called us to impurity, but in holiness. Now here's the key.
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Read this last line with me. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man, but God who gives the
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Holy Spirit to you. Whoever disregards this, disregards who? God.
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Whoever makes light of this, it's not that big of a deal. Disregards, what's it say?
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Not man, but God. I want to stress one more time.
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The things you are appalled by when you watch the news or read something, especially, let's say, another part of the world, you see that and you say,
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I can't believe they act that way and they do that. You know, maybe for some of them they didn't always.
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But they lived in a culture so long, they started conforming to it. You understand?
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And looking more like it. Do you understand the Muslim today looks at us and says, how can they be so sexually immoral?
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They're appalled by it. Because we, ladies and gentlemen, have lived in a culture so long that instead of coming out from among them being separate, being salt of the earth, being a light, being a city on a hill, we started looking like the world.
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When the church is most powerful and submissive to God, the culture starts conforming to the church, not the church to the culture.
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That's what happens. That's what happens. When the church has an authority higher than God's word, the church will always conform to what's going on in the world.
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If you don't believe me, I want you to just think about what used to appall your grandparents. Now it's an everyday thing, yes?
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If we do not repent, what appalls you right now will be an everyday thing. It'll just be another thing a generation or two from now.
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When it comes to this and the emphasis the
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Bible puts on it, every one of us have a choice. I use this analogy often because I've had to ask myself this.
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When you're confronted, when the Bible hits you square in the teeth with something that you need to repent of, you always have two options, ladies and gentlemen.
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Option one, you can leave here before the snow comes, you can drive over or walk over to Walgreens, you can walk down the aisle where the school supplies are, you can grab some whiteout, you can go in the
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Bible and mentally erase that which offends you, and then tonight in your prayer inform
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God that He is really bad at writing the Bible and you can do it better. He needs to step off the throne and get where He belongs in second place to where you are.
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Or with a spirit of humility like every one of us, myself included, must do, bow before the will of the
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Creator who knows what's best for me whether I see it or not, bend the knee of my heart to His will, repent and conform to Him, not
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Him conform to me. Now, that may sound extreme to you, but that is exactly what we do when we put our thoughts, our intentions, our culture in priority over God's Word.
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That's what we're doing. Are you able, ladies and gentlemen, to use the past tense here in this passage?
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I want to read it again in 1 Corinthians 6 and maybe give some hope.
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That's all right, man. You can get it. And maybe give some hope to those of us either who are not struggling yet in this area, who have not started putting up a fight but want to.
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As Brother Jeff says often, you have the desire to have the desire. Yeah?
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I've been there. Maybe give some hope to those in that category or give some hope maybe to those who are actually struggling.
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Or maybe give some hope to some of us who maybe, by maybe I mean definitely, lack the courage to tell others about this.
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Let me give some hope in that, yeah? Is that all right with you? That's what we're going to do anyway, so. Chapter 6, verse 9.
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Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived.
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Neither am I sexually immoral nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
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And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified.
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In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God. This question is often asked of me.
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And it's amazing that we can read this passage and this is the only one we hear. Josiah, is there such a thing as a gay
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Christian? Can someone who is gay be a Christian? Can they go to heaven?
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It depends on what you mean by gay. And that's not funny. I'm not trying to be any type of way.
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I mean that genuinely. If you mean, can a true Christian struggle with homosexual desires and even fall in that area?
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Yes. Of course. Yes. But that is not normally what someone means.
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If someone is proud of their sin, flaunts their sin, feels no need to repent, no conviction, no remorse, and chooses an identity counter to what
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God's Word says, with no intention, plan, or purpose in changing the parts of them that are less holy, and demands that God must conform to their way of life, my answer to that would be, of course not.
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Which is also true of every other sin on this list. Which is amazing that we would all agree with that.
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In other words, I want you to imagine this. Let's just look at this list for a minute. Let's say, idolatry. Just imagine this sentence for a minute.
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Yeah, I'm an idolatrous Christian. Yeah, I have idols, and I have no intention of getting rid of them.
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That's just part of who I am, and God has to accept that. Let's keep looking at the list right here.
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Revilers, swindlers, adulterers, thieves, greedy.
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See, that's the whole point of it. That's the crux of it.
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Habitual practice, something you do, something that even defines you, is different from removing the works of the flesh and fighting against it.
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You see that? Does everyone see that? Don't be deceived.
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But may I just point out very quickly that homosexuality is the fifth one on the list. Number one is sexual immorality, ladies and gentlemen.
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Idolatry, adulterers, all of them are first. Of course, a true believer can give in to sexual sin and still be a
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Christian. But is sexual immorality a lifestyle for you? Are you broken when you commit it?
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Or do you do something about it? Or is it just the same thing over and over again? Let's put this to the test.
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Let's try it this way. Your attitude towards your sin with God.
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The Bible often compares that. Any of you who have read the Bible of any variety know this.
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To what? A wife cheating on her husband. Yes, the church is the bride of Christ.
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This is an analogy. If you want a real stark look at this, I want you to go read
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Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. Let me warn you.
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You need to get ready to have your teeth kicked in. It is brutal. Ezekiel chapter 16.
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The analogy is often this, that we are the bride of Christ and when we choose to love another, we are betraying
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Him and giving our loyalty and ourselves to another. That's the analogy often used, yes? That again includes every one of us of every type of sin, myself included.
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See, no one's going to be able to leave here today saying, I said something that didn't apply to me. I'm right here with you, yeah? But are you broken?
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Because the Bible says what? Me and Bill always talk about this verse. In Psalm 51, it is a broken and contrite heart, but Lord will never despise or turn away.
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Let me say it again, Psalm 51. A broken and contrite heart.
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He never turns away. But some of us in this room have no broken and contrite heart to our sin, and we demand that God conform
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His ways to ours. That's a different matter entirely. I remember making a not -so -fun pastoral visit, let's call it, a couple years ago to a young man's house.
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Pastor Jermiah and Pastor Christian were there. Pastor Jeff was there. I remember sitting on his couch.
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He was caught. He was in some very grotesque sin.
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Let's just word it that way. And I remember sitting there as he's telling me what he's been doing with a straight -faced, monotone voice, no care in the world, and I am weeping.
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After about 10 minutes, I said, Stop. Do you not see that I am more broken over your sin than you are?
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And he just did this. He goes, Yeah. And I told him,
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That should terrify you. That I'm sitting over here and I am more broken over your sin than you are.
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That's crazy. That's insane. If your mindset right now, especially with sexual morality, is this, and I know it is because some of you, because you've told me, well, it's just something everyone does.
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Everybody does. It couldn't be better. Apply that to your loved one, to your husband, to your wife.
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Let's say in the same analogy that God used of his church that you cheated on your spouse.
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All right, let's just go with that. Cool? You cheat on your spouse and it is found out and your response to him or her is,
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Well, yeah, but everyone does it. It's not a big deal. Now, I want you to look at the disgust on your faces right now and I want you to think about,
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Is that your attitude with God? Well, yeah, everybody sins. The silence means yes, it is.
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Then we are more disgusted with that on a human level than on a divine level. A broken and contrite heart he will never despise.
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Ladies and gentlemen, here's the good news. There has never been a single person, whether for the first time or the thousands, who has ever humbly submitted and repented to an almighty
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God and found Him to be anything other than a perfect, loving
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Savior. The Bible says right here, and such were some of you.
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Such were. Now, for those of you that want to argue such are, I want you to look at that passage one more time.
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These are things that still define you. I leave you with nothing more than the past tense.
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It says such were. You can plead with Him that it should say such are, but it says such were.
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Is everyone reading what I'm reading? Make it say something it doesn't. I'll wait. Last call.
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Such were some of you. But, it really is the most beautiful word in the
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Bible, isn't it? Except, but. On the other hand, you were washed.
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You were sanctified. You were justified. In the name of the
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Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Just a couple more things, and,
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Brother Mike, I'm actually not going to ask them to come up, because you're going to play it on that, right? Okay. Just a couple more things and we're done.
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You were washed, regenerated, made spiritually alive.
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Does anybody know John 5, 24 by heart? That is one worth memorizing.
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It's on the bottom of your page right there. It's one worth memorizing. It's highlighted. It says this.
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Truly I say to you, anyone who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life and will not come into judgment, but has already passed from death to life.
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For those of us in this room who say,
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Josiah, I really, honestly, have submitted to God. Not a one -time thing ten years ago, but daily.
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I'm struggling in this area. I'm falling in this area. Well, I have news for you.
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If that's you. I'm not referring to the one who was defined by their sin and God must conform to you.
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I'm not referring to somebody who thinks the Bible to be archaic standards that don't apply to today's world.
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I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about the genuine believer in this room who's actually struggling with this. Who's fallen and needs help binding their limbs and getting back up.
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For you, the sovereign God has already placed you out of the realm of darkness and into the realm of light.
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And you have passed from death to life. You were washed.
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You were sanctified. And you were justified. And let me just one more time go over that beautiful word.
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We've been over this on Wednesday nights. Justification means what? To be rendered innocent or declared righteous.
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Our court system can't even do that. Our court system says guilty or not guilty.
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They won't say innocent, will they? Because you're not. That just means they can't prove that you did what the dude claimed you did.
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Right? Innocent. Righteous. And do you know why?
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Because of double imputation. Maybe the most beautiful teaching, the most beautiful doctrine in the whole
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Bible. Imputation. To charge to someone else's account. Do you not understand?
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Oh my goodness. That is not the act of you asking for forgiveness that brought about your salvation.
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For if it was, you would have to re -ask for forgiveness every time you sinned in hopes that before you died, you understand, that you said that so that that sin would be forgiven of for when you died you'd go to heaven.
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That used to be how I thought. That's not what double imputation is. Here's what double imputation is.
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That all my sin, past, present, and future, because the Bible says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, is placed on the head of Jesus and he gets credit for my sin and I get credit for his perfect, obedient life.
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You understand, in a sense, and let me finish this, it is good works to get you to heaven.
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Now listen to what I'm about to say. Listen. It is. It's just not your good works. It's the good works of another.
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God never changed His standard. God didn't say, ooh, Adam and Eve didn't even hit the slow pitch.
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He didn't change His standard. The standard still had to be met, but it was met by another.
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And His perfect life, His perfect obedience, is applied to your account by submissive faith and repentance to a sovereign king.
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That's it. You can't buy it. You can't work for it. You can't earn it. You already tried and your perfect righteous deeds are like filthy minstrel rags before God.
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That's what the Bible says. But in a moment, you were declared innocent because He took on the credit for your sin and you took on the credit for His obedience.
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And you were washed. You were sanctified and you were justified. For the true
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Christian in this room that's struggling with this, when our world is inundated with someone's death,
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Jesus says that you must remove it from yourself if your right hand offends you, right?
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Maybe you'll have to change what you listen to sometimes or what you watch or who you talk with.
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Whatever it takes. Gentlemen, maybe some of you don't have the Christian maturity at this point to have a smartphone.
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Then don't. Whatever it takes. Ladies, maybe some of you don't currently have the
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Christian maturity to have some of the social media apps you do. Then get rid of it. If it offends you, cut it off.
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Maybe some of us need a more straightforward approach and accountability.
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Maybe some of us need to first get on our face before a sovereign
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God. And when you pray for forgiveness, I want you to change this notion in your head.
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You're not praying for forgiveness so you can be re -justified. When I wrong my wife, she doesn't threaten me with divorce.
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I apologize to her not to avoid divorce but to renew a right relationship.
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That's what you're doing with God. You are renewing a right relationship. Every one of us in this room, myself included, have something to repent of.
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Maybe in this area, maybe not. Or maybe have a message to lovingly share with somebody else.
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We've kind of been mum about this for long enough. Let me give you the courage to do this.
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The sovereign word of God does not return void. It accomplishes what it means to accomplish every single time it comes out of someone's mouth.
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And here, the message that we're preaching is not one of damnation, is not one of gloom and doom, but of joyful hope in the only sovereign of the planet who can wash, sanctify, and justify any sinner who calls on his name.
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Amen? I'm going to ask the pastors to come forward as we get ready for our time of invitation.
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We're going to do something different. It's going to be over the loud speaker. That was Melanie's idea so that the music folks can participate.
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Probably a good idea. We'll see. If it works out well, it was my idea.
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If it doesn't, it was Mel's idea. Let's do it that way. Now would be the time to get to work, to go pray with somebody else, to go pray with somebody else, to go encourage somebody else, to go love on somebody else.