The Way of Escape Matthew 18:7-9

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There are many dangers in this world. We have natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes, and earthquakes.
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We have wildlife that humans tremble at like rhinos, a pack of wolves, crocodiles, and large snakes.
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We have a fear of dangerous people who wish to do harm to other humans. People also fear death and public speaking, but all of these fears pale in comparison to what humans should be afraid of the most.
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What humans should be afraid of is falling into sin and the consequences that come with it.
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God created a place of punishment, and this place of punishment is known as the
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Lake of Fire. Revelation 20 15 says if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the
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Lake of Fire. Now the Lake of Fire is an eternal prison, and what we know about prisons is that these are holding places for those who committed serious crimes.
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People spend time in prison based on how serious the crime is. The most serious crimes that anyone commits are sins against the
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Holy God. Romans 3 23 says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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What does it mean to fall short of the glory of God as we look at that verse? As one author has said, it means to belittle
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God, to belittle him. It means to continually choose idols, false gods over the one who is worthy of all praise, all honor, all glory.
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What Romans 6 23 says is the wages of sin is death, and what we know from the context of that passage is the death that it's focusing on.
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It's not just focusing on physical death, it's focusing on spiritual death, eternal death.
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All sins are ultimately against God, and to sin against the Holy God means only one thing.
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The result is hell for the one who will not receive God's solution. To commit a crime means that there must be justice.
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We see this in our world. A crime is committed. People want justice, and all of us are sinners, and so we all deserve justice, and this is where the cross of Jesus Christ comes in.
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He faced justice for you. He faced hell for you at the cross so that you never have to go to this eternal prison.
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What is sad about the world we live in is that most humans do not consider the danger that they are in.
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Most humans do not consider the consequences that are there because of sin.
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What humans should fear more than anything is the temptation to sin, the opportunity to go down this dangerous path.
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God is holy, and we are not. So this morning, as we continue our sermon series through Matthew, Jesus warns of temptations to sin and the consequences for the one who will not heed that warning.
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So this time, I encourage you to turn in the Bible with me to Matthew chapter 18. We will be looking at verses seven through nine, and if you're using a red
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Bible, it's on page 978. The sermon is titled Finding the
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Way of Escape, and I will begin by reading the text.
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Matthew 18 verses seven through nine. Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come.
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But woe to the one by whom the temptation comes. And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
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It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.
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And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
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Here's our big idea. What this sermon is calling you to do. Turn away from the dangerous temptations in your life.
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Turn away from the dangerous temptations in your life. And we will see two ways how as we go through this text, but before we do that, let me give you a little recap of where we were one
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Sunday ago. We looked at the first six verses of Matthew 18. In that passage, the disciples were talking about who is the greatest.
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As they said this, they were thinking in earthly ways like people do all the time.
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Each of the disciples wanted to be considered the best, but Jesus told the disciples who are truly the greatest in God's eyes.
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To be considered great in God's eyes, one must be like a child. Children trust their parents to take care of them.
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Children are dependent on their parents for everything. In the same way, Christians are to be this way with God.
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To enter God's kingdom, a person must understand that he or she brings nothing to the table. It is only the finished work of Christ that makes one makes one right with God.
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So coming to faith in Christ means saying, Lord, will you save me even though I can offer you nothing?
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This is also how a believer should live the rest of his or her life. It is a life of complete reliance upon God to help every step of the way through the journey of the life of faith.
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This leads us once again to our text that we've already read, but now we will zero in on. I want to first look at the beginning of verse seven where Jesus says,
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Woe to the world for temptations to sin. Now as we read this verse, we are reminded of the previous passage that I just explained.
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Jesus said how serious it is to tempt a believer to fall into sin. So he said that he continues on the topic about temptation.
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It is very bad when someone leads another into sin, and it's also very bad for one to give in to temptation.
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As we talk about temptation, it's good to remember where it all started. Where did the first temptation take place?
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The first temptation, of course, took place in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter three, and we know how the story goes.
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Adam and Eve are perfect at this point. They had never sinned, walked in righteousness with God.
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They enjoyed sweet fellowship with him, but then Satan approached them and told them to eat from the forbidden tree.
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Satan tempted them. What Jesus is saying here is, Woe to the one who tempts.
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As we saw last week, he takes it personally. To tempt one of his followers is to sin against him.
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Even to tempt one of his image bearers, even if the person isn't a Christian, is a great sin because God takes it personally.
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These are people he created. When someone is tempted, he or she is tempted to move away from God's blessing.
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God is the God of all blessing, and if you just follow his ways, you'll be blessed.
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If you just stay within the boundaries, you will experience God's blessing. In order to truly experience joy and avoid the pain that sin causes, it means staying within the boundaries that God has assigned.
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It means resisting those temptations. We know this from our experience. When we go outside those boundaries, has it ever gone well for you?
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I know in my life it hasn't. Adam and Eve did not stay within those boundaries.
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All the trees they could eat from in the garden, all those trees, and they said, you know what?
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God is being a killjoy. God is being stingy. He should be able to eat from this tree too.
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And look what happens. They're removed from God's fellowship. What great consequences.
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And Jesus went to the cross to reconcile those who had fallen into sin with the
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Holy God. Every sinful human needs to be redeemed. And without that redemption, one is in great danger.
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This is why Jesus talks about the seriousness of temptation in verse 7. He says, woe to the world for temptations to sin.
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One reality about living in this fallen world is that you will be tempted to sin. And this is what
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Jesus says in the second half of verse 7. He says, for it is necessary that temptations come.
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You cannot escape temptation. You are a sinner by nature and by choice.
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And you live in a world full of opportunities to sin. And as we have seen, there are plenty of people who will gladly lead you down the sinful path.
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What we must understand about every human is that your desires when you come into this world are not to go God's way.
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It's to go your own way. The reason temptations are so successful, you think about these industries that are out there that are just built on sin.
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They're money makers. Why are they so successful? It's because of the human heart.
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The human heart is more than glad to follow the one who tempts.
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The temptation to go one's own way is always there. And people are glad to satisfy one's sinful desires.
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It is a very negative thing for one to be tempted. So Jesus says to the tempter in verse 7, woe to the one by who the temptation comes.
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You're causing harm by tempting. Woe to the one who tempts.
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The temptation that leads people to sin puts people in a very bad place. To give in to sin displeases
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God. It is woe to the one who tempts and a woe to the one who gives in.
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In Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah stood before the throne of the Lord and he saw the holiness of God and he realized how dirty he is.
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And this leads him to say in verse 5 of that chapter, woe is me for I am lost. For I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips.
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For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah realized how sinful he was as he had given in to temptations many times in his life.
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And to give in to temptations brings one under the holy judgment of God. He knew his sins needed to be atoned for to escape the fearful reality of God's holy wrath.
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But an angel touched his lips, making him clean, and the angel said in verse 7, behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.
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Without that atoning work, the atoning work found in Christ, the only other outcome is judgment.
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This is why Jesus says, woe to the world for temptations to sin and woe to the one by whom the temptation comes.
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To be the tempter is egregious as it puts one in a horrible place, in a dangerous place.
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Everyone on planet earth is a slave. And please do not take this out of context as I say that.
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You are either a slave to your sin or a slave to Jesus Christ. Whatever you are a slave to, that you obey.
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As 2 Peter 2 .19 says, this is such a sobering verse, they themselves are slaves of corruption.
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It's talking about false teachers in this chapter. For whatever overcomes a person to that, he is enslaved.
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People think they are free when they give in to temptation. Just to live a nice free lifestyle doing whatever you want, when you want.
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People think they are free. But in reality, there is no freedom. There is only slavery.
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Sometimes people want to be someone famous. The person who everybody knows. The person who is worth millions and millions of dollars.
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The person who gets invited to all the fancy dinners. Who is in the in crowd of society.
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But these people are miserable. How many stories do we need to hear before anyone desiring wanting to be like that?
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Let me describe to you the life of a famous person who lives for temptations to sin.
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Most do not have the blessing of family. What family they have is dysfunctional.
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Their romantic life is predictable. They are with a new person every year before inevitably a breakup happens.
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When you look at Aaron Rodgers, for example, most of them are on multiple pills with the goal of hiding the deep pain that they feel.
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They are unhappy. So they try to medicate themselves to help them feel better. They are like prisoners in their mansions.
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They own multiple homes and just about everyone knows who they are, but they are lonely. They have very few, if any, real friends.
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The friends they think they have would not be their friends if their fame went away. All the pleasures in the world cannot fill the empty void that is in their heart.
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Ask Solomon that. He wrote Ecclesiastes. Do not desire to have the world in the palm of your hands, but in reality be a miserable person.
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And as I say this, I realize this is not a desire of many in this room. We tend to be more simple people here, but there's a lot of people who have this desire.
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And in the world we live in, the Bible always tells the truth. And what the
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Bible says about those who try to have it all apart from God is that they are slaves. As the verse
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I just read says from 2 Peter, they themselves are slaves of corruption.
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For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. To cut off your creator from your life is to cut yourself off from all blessing and to instead become enslaved to idols that never satisfy.
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We live in a world full of deconstruction stories. You see these on the internet. What is deconstruction?
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It is undoing the faith that you once had. You know how people give testimonies about their coming to faith in Christ? People give testimonies about leaving
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Christ. We live in a period of great apostasy.
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Is this one of the marks of the end times? Which I think we're barreling towards it seems.
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As the society becomes more secular, so -called Christians are jumping ship. And I call them so -called
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Christians because anyone who walks away from the faith never was a Christian in the first place.
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Because once the Holy Spirit is given to you, the Holy Spirit can never leave. Philippians 1 .6
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says, he who's God, he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.
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But people who deconstruct when they tell their stories talk about how free they feel, how free they are now.
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It's like Adam desiring to leave the garden away from God, listening to the lies of the devil who treats
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God like a killjoy. This is who tempters are.
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They say that God's way is no fun, so try it this way. He's so restrictive.
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He doesn't have your best in mind. This is how sin happens. People believe the lie that they will be happier leaving
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God and going their own way instead. But in reality, they find only misery.
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They are not free. They're a slave. And they are slaves to masters that will only leave them miserable in the end.
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The temptation to sin promises happiness, but it leads to pain. And ultimately, it leads to judgment.
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So woe from whom the temptation comes, as it puts the one who is tempted in a horrible place.
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The sin looks good, but truly death is put before one's eyes.
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Jesus wants you and I to understand the seriousness of this. To give in to temptations will lead to a world of hurt.
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This is why he's so angry at the tempters in this world and so protective of those who have the path of death put before their eyes.
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To turn away from the dangerous temptations in your life, and the first way how is through understanding the seriousness of sinful traps.
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The second way how you are to turn away from the dangerous temptations in your life is through doing whatever it takes to avoid falling.
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We'll see this in verses 8 and 9. In the first point, Jesus talked about the danger of temptation.
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We live in a world full of land mines, and to fall into those land mines means great consequences, which is why it is so serious for people to lead others into sin.
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Because of the damage that sin causes, Jesus' call is for you to do whatever it takes to avoid the strong temptation to sin.
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Verses 8 and 9, I'll read these again. As Jesus says here, and if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
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It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown in the lake into the eternal fire.
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And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell or fire.
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People ask, was Jesus a fire and brimstone preacher? Answer, yes. Right here, you see it.
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Very much so. I was listening to a pastor this week, and he said, the call to pastors in this age that we live in is to be judgmental preachers.
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Why? Because you see so much evil, you've got to call it out. That's the responsibility of the preacher. And Jesus certainly did that in his day.
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But yeah, he's fire and brimstone, as you see here. Now as he says this, it sounds similar to another passage we've already read.
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And that's from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, verses 27 through 30. And let me read that again.
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We had a sermon on that probably a year and a half ago. But Jesus said, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery.
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But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
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If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
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And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
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In that passage from Matthew 5, Jesus talks about doing whatever it takes to flee the sin of lust.
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In the Old Testament, of course, you see Joseph, when he was tempted by Potiphar's wife. What did he do?
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He fled. This is the call that Jesus gives.
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Fighting against the sin of lust. Jesus applies in this chapter, chapter 18, to fighting every sin.
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Just as sexual sin is enticing, so every sin is enticing. And Jesus calls each of you and I to take the necessary steps to fight the sin in our lives.
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What you'll notice is that Jesus, of course, does not want you to take this literally. That's obvious. This is figurative.
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We know that you should not cut off your hand or foot or gouge out your eye.
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That's graphic. He's on a roll here with graphic illustrations. Last week he talked about tying a millstone around someone's neck and them drowning it in the depths of the sea.
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He's like, put it down, Jesus! But he doesn't.
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He wants these vivid pictures to be in your mind. He wants to scare people.
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Because sometimes putting fear in people is a good thing. Just like a parent does with a child.
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If you cross that road, you will get hit by that car. You don't talk about it in a happy voice, right?
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You're very serious about it. And Jesus is serious about this. He's saying, if sin, if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.
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He's saying it would be better for you to be dead than for you to lead one of these little ones to sin.
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He's talking in a very serious tone here. But of course he's figurative here.
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He's not saying gouge out your eye or cut off your hand or cut off your foot. He is saying, do whatever it takes to fight this thing in your life.
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What he says at the end of verse 9 is that giving into temptations is what sends people to hell.
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In the first point I explained, that is why Jesus says, Woe to the world for temptations to sin.
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Sin leads to grave consequences and Jesus explains in verses 8 and 9, that the one who does not belong to him who is bound by sin will be thrown into hell.
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He describes hell in two different ways in these verses. He describes it as the eternal hell and the hell of fire.
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It's interesting that Jesus talks about hell more than he talks about heaven.
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He wants people to be in heaven and he knows that most of the world is on its way to hell.
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So he has to talk about it. He has to warn people, if you want to go here, you need to do what the
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Bible tells you to do to avoid going here so that you end up here in paradise.
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People wonder if these images of hell, the eternal fire and the hell of fire should be taken literally.
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We don't know for sure if there is fire in hell where people are being burned all the time, but at minimum the fire description indicates that hell is a place of enormous suffering.
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It is a place that no one would ever want to go to. It's a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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People are sorrowful, people are angry that they are there. And what
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Jesus says here is that hell is a place of suffering that will never end for the one who goes there.
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How do we know that? The fire is what? Eternal.
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Eternal. I was troubled a month or so ago as I sat around a pastor's table and one of the pastors said that the
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Bible is not clear as to the duration of hell. But there is a problem in evangelicalism with the softening of what the
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Bible said. People either deny hell or say it is not as bad as people say.
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It's interesting, we were reading something in the Old Testament today from 1 Kings and Barb made the comment, man, that's pretty intense.
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And she's right, because we tend to, we're often just too nice.
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And the prophets of the Old Testament just went right after it. We read these passages and it's like, wow, that's pretty graphic.
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And Jesus does the same thing here. Now, some people say though that hell is not forever, as I just mentioned.
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Those who say that the suffering of hell is temporary are known as annihilationists. That's the theological term.
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Annihilationists. In other words, after a while, those in hell cease to exist.
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But this is not biblical. According to verse 8, the suffering of hell is eternal, as Jesus calls it the eternal fire.
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In Mark 9, verse 48, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah concerning hell. He says it is a place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
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I don't say this because I really want to be a fire and brimstone preacher. I say this because this is what the
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Bible teaches and we need to warn people about this horrible place. That they would turn from sin and find refuge in Jesus.
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There is a semi -truck coming towards you. And we are the ones who are there to push the person out of the way.
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We don't say, you know what, that truck, it's really not that bad. No, we say it's going to kill you.
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We're going to push you out of the way. Because that's what love does. There are lots of problems in the world.
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But the greatest problem that anyone has is that he or she is a sinner in need of saving.
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And Jesus is the only one who can save the sinner. He is the only way. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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No one comes to the Father except through me. In these verses,
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Jesus is warning that to continue in sin without repentance will lead one to this horrible place.
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It is a reminder to every Christian that we have been set free from the bondage of sin.
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And we've also been freed from the consequences of sin. The judgment of sin. And in an eternal sense, we are free from hell.
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With this in mind, it is foolish to continue in sin. In Romans 6 .1, the Apostle Paul writes, Shall we go on sinning that grace may abound?
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By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it?
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What Paul is saying is that you have been set free from the bondage to sin. You are free to no longer offend
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God. And you are free to avoid the pain sin brings. So no longer live in it.
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This passage is a call for unbelievers to find their refuge in Christ and stop sinning. But this passage is not for unbelievers only.
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It is also a call for believers to live in the power they now have to avoid the pain that sin causes.
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Even if hell does not await the believer, sin still always brings harmful consequences.
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And so believers are called to do whatever it takes to fight sin. If I am not a good husband, if I am not a good father, my wife experiences the consequences.
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My kids experience the consequences. I experience the consequences. That is how sin works.
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There are always consequences to sin. When you get angry at someone, there are consequences that come out from that.
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We want to avoid those. We want to live in the blessing of sin. If you do things right, you don't have to apologize, right?
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You can live freely. This illustration that Jesus gives helps you fight the temptations that come your way.
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When Jesus says that you are to cut off your hand or foot and cut out your eye, He is stressing to you and I to do whatever it takes to prevent the sinful desires in your heart from leading you away from God.
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From leading you into this dangerous place. Consequences of sin which are harmful, which are painful.
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This means that you need to be willing to give up whatever might lead you to sin. The most important thing in your life is to pursue
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God and His righteousness. And if anything causes you to sin, you need to be aware of this and act accordingly.
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Earlier I read the passage from the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus said that every person needs to turn from the lustful desires in his or her own heart.
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And I just want to talk about that sin right now. Number one, do not be alone with someone from the opposite sex who is not your spouse.
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And I'm not saying that anything would happen, but you do not want to even put yourself in that position. This is a good rule to follow.
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President Harry Truman, by the way, had this rule as a politician. If a woman walked into the room and wasn't glad to be invited, she'd walk away.
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Billy Graham had this rule. It was called the Billy Graham Rule. A good rule to follow. Second, if being on certain internet sites causes you to lust, then avoid going to those sites.
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Even if the site is not in itself bad. For example, you might go to a news site to read the news.
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Or what is at least described as news, right? And there might be inappropriate links on there.
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Go to those sites with a careful eye so that you do not put yourself in a position where you might stumble. If thinking of a certain person makes you have lustful thoughts, then replace those thoughts with holy thoughts and pray for that person.
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God wants you and I to think of those who are not your spouse as brothers and sisters.
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The Lord wants you to think this way, especially in the body of Christ. In 1 Peter 5, 2 Paul told
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Timothy to treat younger women as sisters in all purity. You would not look at your sibling in this way.
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So, of course, it should be egregious in your mind to even think about looking at anyone that way who is not your spouse.
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So now what I just mentioned is the sin of lust, but what about other sins? Lust is just one of many sins.
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There are certain conversation topics that make one prone to gossip. Avoid those topics.
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There are certain people where you might tend to gossip with. Beware of that and make sure you have gone on during conversations.
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You might have temptations to shop and buy things you don't need. This is called impulse buying.
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Don't go to those stores that are going to tempt you or go with someone who will hold you accountable. Food and drink are great gifts of God that are to be enjoyed, but what if there is a certain food or drink that becomes excess?
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There is a time for feasting, but sometimes something can have a hold on us. You do not want to be held in bondage by anything, so you have to draw some lines.
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If watching too many sports or too many TV shows has a hold on you, take a break and limit your intake.
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If work keeps you from worshipping the Lord with His people and family and friend time, then something needs to go in your life.
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Work is good, but workaholism is not. This person needs to do whatever it takes to not neglect that which is most important.
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So here are some examples, but there are many more sins that you and I can be tempted with.
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We need to do whatever it takes to put these sins to death, to not put ourselves in positions where we let them fall.
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What Jesus is telling you is do whatever it takes to avoid these temptations. It is imperative to stop the temptation before it is seriously entertained.
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Do not put yourself in harm's way. If a small temptation comes, do not let the temptation grow.
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Flee the scene, whether it is a location or whether it is in your mind. 2
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Timothy 2 says, What a believer finds over time is that as one grows in faith, the temptations to sin will not be as strong as they once were.
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Because the sin will not be as attractive. You are to sever those sinful impulses that arise within you.
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As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9, verses 25 -27, They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we do it to receive an imperishable.
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So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control.
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Lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. He is talking about self -discipline in the walk with the
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Lord. Then he writes in another place, in Romans 6, verses 12 -14, And your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
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For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace. If you know
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Jesus Christ as your Lord, Savior, and Treasure, you have the Holy Spirit, and you are able to kill the sin in your life.
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You do not have to go sinning. As Paul said, Shall we go on sinning that grace may abound?
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You do not have to go on sinning. You do not have to experience the pain that sin brings.
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You can live in the freedom that is in Christ Jesus. As Jesus said, If you believe in me, the truth will set you free, and you will be free indeed.
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Do not let sin control you, but control sin with the
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Spirit's help. You are the master with the Spirit, not the other way around.
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Temptations will lie to you, saying, You have to sin. But as a Christian, you can say, No, I don't.
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I choose the path of blessing. 1 Corinthians 10 -13, as I read earlier,
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No temptation has seized you which is not common to man. And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but always will provide the way of escape.
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The key to fighting sin is this, The desire to please God and have joy in Him supersedes the superficial pleasure of sin.
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Let me say that again. The key to fighting sin is this, The desire to please
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God and have joy in Him supersedes the superficial pleasure. The goal is to discipline yourself, where you are strong in your fight against sin, and also to get to the point where the sin becomes more and more unattractive, and following God's way is more and more appealing.
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Then the temptation won't have as much hold. And if there is a temptation that has a really strong hold, be extra careful not to put yourself in harm's way.
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There might come a day where you can put yourself more out there, where you're saying, You know what, this isn't really a threat anymore.
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The less mature you are in your walk with the Lord, the more sin will have a hold on you. What is interesting is that we are all wired differently.
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Some sins have a hold on one person, but someone else does not feel this temptation to sin.
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Someone might be susceptible to impulse buying. That's not my temptation.
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But one thing I noticed in my life, I started to have some tips of anger in the last couple of years. Where is this coming from?
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And I'm like, I've got to deal with that. I don't know if the world has gotten so bad, I don't believe it. But we need to know where we are prone to sin.
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My wife will tell you, I hate shopping. It's not a temptation, right? But there are other things that are temptations to me.
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And we need to know ourselves. We need to be students of our own weaknesses and fight the fight.
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The fight against sin will be there for the believer until the day of death or Christ's return. But it is a fight that believers can make great progress with God's help.
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Isn't that the great news? One day you won't sin in heaven. Sin won't be allowed there. You won't have a sinful nature.
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You won't sin. But in the meantime, the goal is to sin less.
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The old quote that I shared with you, it's not that we're sinless. But you do sin less.
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So turn away from the dangerous temptations in your life. We have seen two ways how in this text.
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The first way how is through understanding the seriousness of sinful traps. The second way how is through doing whatever it takes to avoid falling.
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This world is full of landmines. And the casualties down through history who did not heed the words of Jesus to turn from sin are far too many to count.
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But that does not have to be anyone who hears me right now. For anyone here who does not know
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Christ, find your refuge in Him today. For anybody who is listening on our audio, anybody who hears me, turn from your sins, put your trust in Christ, so that you will never have to go to this eternal prison.
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He went for the cross. He was raised from the dead for your sins. And by believing in Him, you have eternal life.
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To the Christian, you still have many temptations to sin, as we talked about. Do not believe the lies of sin.
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Do what it takes to avoid temptations. And do what it takes, with God's help, to grow a distaste for sin and a strong desire to please
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God in your life. And those things that you used to do, and you want to keep moving in that direction.
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The Christian life is a life of progress. Moving in the right direction. Moving away from sin. Moving away from the devil.
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Moving away from the world. And looking more like Christ. To the point where you're just a complete misfit in this world.
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That's the goal of the Christian life. Where the world is behind you, the cross before you.
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Now next Sunday, we are going to see the heart of Jesus for believers. His children are forever
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His and will never be lost. And we're going to see how much Heaven cares about the saints on earth as we go through our journey.
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But this time, let's bow our heads in prayer. Father in Heaven, what a wonderful God You are.
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Your Word, Lord, tells us everything we need to hear. Everything we need to hear to live the life of faith is in this book.
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You want us to turn from our sins that cause so much harm. You love us. You want us to be free.
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You want us to be with You forever, and we will be. But as we are here in this journey, Lord, help us to indeed sin less.
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Help us to please You more. Help us to be useful to You. Help us to have this sweet fellowship with You eternally.