Sermon: Putting Our Sin to Death

Apologia Studios iconApologia Studios

3 views

This is a challenging and powerful message delivered by Pastor Jeff Durbin at Apologia Church. It is part of our Kingdom of God Series which is an exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew. The text is from Matthew 18:1-9. Get more at http://Apologia Studios.com.

0 comments

00:00
Hey everybody, I'm pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel
00:07
What you're about to watch is a sermon a message from Apologia Church's worship service
00:12
And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching for liking for commenting for sharing the sermon itself
00:18
We truly believe that it's important for the Christian Church to have an engagement in the public square with the
00:23
Word of God So we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this and that is that I'm not your pastor
00:33
Though I'd love to be I am NOT your pastor and it's very important as you're watching this
00:39
You know that it's God's design for individual Christians to be part of a local
00:45
Christian Church under the care of qualified faithful biblical elders And so as much as we love all of you watching these sermons and we're thankful to God that God uses them to bless you to Encourage you
00:56
I do want to encourage you as a minister of the gospel to get plugged into a local Body of believers particularly
01:03
I think important a reformed church would be would be best But we want to encourage you to get plugged into a solid biblical church where you can fellowship where you can worship
01:14
Where you can serve where you can be connected That is vitally important and actually a biblical command
01:19
And so as much as again as we love for your participation your partnership And we are so thankful to God that he's using these in your lives
01:27
We want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church You can though actually partner with apologia church as we proclaim the gospel
01:34
And provide a defense of the biblical gospel all around the world You can do that by going to apologia studios .com.
01:40
You can partner with us by becoming all access when you do you help to make all of this possible and You get all of our tv shows our after shows and apologia
01:50
Academy all of that and you're a part of all that. God is doing with us In the world to proclaim herald the gospel of the kingdom
01:57
You can partner with us and I want to say one last word about that Do make sure that none of your giving and partnership towards apologia chirp church interferes with your giving your worship your tithes your offerings to a
02:12
Local body of believers in your area. So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them.
02:17
God bless you Matthew 18. So this of course i've been saying it since we started the
02:23
Service today worship today. This is a scandalous message. It is scandalous And I think it's scandalous not because it is scandalous not because in truth
02:34
It's scandalous. It's or it's out of character for jesus or the biblical prophets and apostles.
02:40
It's scandalous in our day This is scandalous message in our day. It's a normative message for faithful churches throughout history
02:50
This is something that faithful men and women of god have been Understanding and taking in and being changed by for 2 000 years
02:59
As a matter of fact preaching on this message. There would be no real reason to give sort of the things that i've been giving today the
03:08
Introduction to the whole story if we were during the time of the puritans early on in the history of this nation
03:15
You're all familiar. Of course with the great awakening and the words of the greatest american theologian in history
03:23
Jonathan edwards if you don't know him get to know jonathan edwards, you know, of course you're familiar with His sermon that he preached
03:31
Sort of off the cuff. He just wrote it down quickly on something sinners in the hands what
03:38
We don't like to think about an angry god today god isn't angry what's he mad about i'm i'm fine
03:45
As I am right i'm good as it goes It was actually interesting this uh last week or so Uh, the famous actor chris pratt, you know chris pratt from all of his films
03:57
It's not an advertisement for chris bat pratt It's just something that I found interesting and striking actually when he received his award
04:03
At the mtv awards one of the things he said in terms of his nine tips of life for him being
04:09
You know telling the next generation what they need to understand Interesting thought that he had he said essentially that people are going to tell you you're perfect just as you are he says you're not
04:19
Perfect just as you are now. I I think it's interesting because that's so Countercultural to be telling people in our generation that you are not fine
04:29
So far as it goes you are actually broken you are not righteous as you are you're not good you need healing
04:35
Something is wrong We're told constantly through media and at every level that you are fine as good as it goes god loves you
04:45
Just as you are. There's no need to be changed whatever your Identity is whether you're a an adulterer a liar whether you are somebody confused about your gender you are
04:56
Fine so far as it goes you are perfect as you are it's countercultural today To actually say no something is actually wrong
05:04
But that was of course the message of jesus the prophets the apostles the entire world view world and life view
05:11
They had was that god is the creator. He is holy. He is good. He is righteous and blameless and we are not
05:20
Something's wrong Something went wrong Awry at the beginning of the story god created us upright, but the bible says we sought out many devices
05:30
We've plunged ourselves into sin and depravity It says in the bible and jeremiah 17 9 the heart is deceitful
05:37
Above all things and desperately wicked who can know it some translations say sick beyond cure
05:44
Something is wrong with us and the story here from jesus Isn't different than the story throughout the rest of the bible
05:52
It's not different than we see in faithful preaching throughout history You have stories in history of christians going into nations and preaching to pagan societies that did not know god
06:03
They were lost without hope and without god in the world And these christians lay their lives down to preach hard messages.
06:10
You have messages or or parts of our history. This is amazing Uh, my son sage he loves this he's a big history buff loves the history of christianity.
06:19
He used to share stories with me He was learning um from george grant about history of christianity and bold men and women of god who would go into pagan societies where they worshipped gods
06:30
That were so strong and mighty and the christians looked for ways To actually oppose the will and power of that god, right?
06:40
What does this god have power over and the people would say over this thing Right over this item over here and the christians would go and chop it down Right, like come on to the mat.
06:50
Let's go bring your gods to the mat Let's see which god has the power and the might when the hawaiian kingdom
06:58
Was converted to christ and the queen of hawaii was converted to christ
07:04
She actually went to the top of a volcano And threw into the volcano the identity of their idols and their gods like that's the kind of resistance righteous resistance
07:15
That believers have had throughout history. They have laid their lives down sacrificially They've said the hard and tough things to their culture all around them
07:24
But we don't live in those days anymore brothers and sisters. I believe that we have days ahead of us coming
07:30
Where jesus will put his enemies under his feet. He is going to win the world This is not a message of pessimism.
07:37
Everyone hear me on that This is not a message of pessimism This is a message of ultimate optimism, but we have to face what's in front of us today
07:45
And that is this matthew 18 is scandalous Today why because we abide today in evangelicalism by the gospel of nice That's the gospel.
07:57
Jesus wants you to be nice He wants you to be sweet Jesus loves you just like you are
08:06
No transformation necessary We even have believers who will actually preach the gospel today that jesus is righteous and blameless and lived perfectly and obeyed the law of god
08:16
Died for sins and he rose again from the dead, but it is possible for you to be a carnal christian
08:23
We have that message propagated today even by believers who faithfully proclaim the life death and resurrection of jesus
08:30
They teach that you need to turn to christ in faith and trust in him for salvation, but they say
08:36
If you just pray this magic prayer Then that means that your ticket is punched. You are quote unquote saved for heaven one day
08:43
Nothing matters after that god isn't concerned with any transformation in your life Nothing has to happen in your life because you prayed that magic prayer.
08:51
That is false It is not the gospel And if you've bought into that gospel,
08:57
I want to encourage you today with this this message is god's grace in your life It is the grace of god in your life for you to receive his words that challenge you and convict you and change you jesus says harsh things today
09:13
Jesus is the one who distributes candy chocolate milk and precious moments dolls That's jesus today.
09:19
He's the jesus who wears a dress. He is the original hippie Jesus would never confront you.
09:25
Jesus doesn't want to challenge you or to change you. Jesus loves you so much He will love you to death
09:32
Literally, that's the jesus of today we have a great sin in the church today, and that is that we have the evangelical sin of the gospel of nice Now don't get me wrong.
09:47
This is very important. I am not advocating in any way and this needs to be said I'm not advocating in any way that we be unnaturally or unrighteously mean -spirited or unkind as a matter of fact
10:00
I think that if you're the kind of person that is just so sharp and unkind that you are constantly trying to wound people
10:06
Then you are in fact in sin Jesus calls us to love our enemies love our neighbors
10:13
The bible says to be gentle and patient and to love people into the truth But sometimes love has to actually say the hard Thing to get through that heart of stone to change it from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh all god's work
10:29
There's a famous story. I love this story of um Of a church that was part of a denomination and uh, they had lost their pastor
10:40
They had let him go and they called the head of the denomination and they said hey
10:45
We want a fire and brimstone preacher send us the fire and brimstone preacher, please and so the head of the denomination says great i'm gonna find the fire and brimstone preacher and He sends the first preacher a couple weeks go by they fire that guy
10:59
They call the denomination again, and they say send us a fire and brimstone preacher, please fire and brimstone
11:06
Give us the cutting messages And so he says, okay, let me find that preacher and he sends that preacher out and a couple months later
11:12
He's gone they call again send us a fire and brimstone preacher and they say he's oh fine
11:17
I sent you several already, but i'll give you another one. They send the guy years goes by And this guy finally years later goes, you know, this is weird i'm just this is bothering me now
11:28
He stayed there forever and they asked for one. I sent him they asked for another I sent him They sent this guy and he says
11:34
I want to know why like why they keep this guy the hellfire and brimstone guy So the guy calls the church he says
11:41
I just gotta ask you, you know I you asked for hellfire and brimstone and I sent you one and I sent you another and then
11:46
I sent you one You know, you kept him but you you can the other ones like what's the deal? Like they were all fire and brimstone and they said oh no.
11:54
No. Yes, they were all fire and brimstone But the last one you sent, uh, he acted like he didn't want us to go there
12:02
Do you see? There's a there's a there's a means and a way of faithfulness to the truth
12:09
That does not get excited about the fact that there is an actual place called hell
12:17
There's a way to preach faithfully on hell That doesn't act like you want people to go there that you're relishing in the fact that people are perishing and dying and going to Go to a place called gehenna
12:29
So there is a message like this matthew chapter 18 that I would categorize as a church shrinkage message
12:38
It's the kind of message that jesus preached Please understand this it's the kind of message that jesus preached that did in fact shrink his movement
12:48
You see jesus preached messages not to fill the pews or to expand the audience
12:53
He preached messages to glorify god and to love people and sometimes that resulted in the church actually shrinking or nearly disappearing
13:05
Jesus did this a number of times But you see one of the things one of my brothers and heroes said is there's a difference between being a faithful church and a successful church
13:15
You can be a quote -unquote successful church that has large amounts of people lots of programs lots of capital lots of means
13:25
But not in fact be a faithful church You can in fact be a faithful church that is considerably small
13:33
But devastating in your work because you are in fact faithful As a matter of fact,
13:38
I will take as a pastor the faithful church of 50 Over the unfaithful successful church of 50 000.
13:46
I will do it any day Because that faithful church of 50 will punch a bigger hole in the kingdom of darkness than the successful church of 50 000 ever will
13:57
And that's the truth This is in fact one of those moments in jesus life and ministry
14:03
We have to be honest with ourselves and say jesus said it. He taught it. He said it he meant it
14:09
Jesus is either as c .s. Lewis says lord liar or lunatic If he is in fact lord if he is curious if he is yahweh come in the flesh
14:18
Then we ought to be hanging on every word and we ought to let every word of jesus actually impact us and transform us
14:26
Do you believe brothers and sisters that when jesus says something hard to you? He says it because he loves you
14:32
Do you believe that when he says something hard to you? It's because he is trying to shape you into his image
14:38
Then we need to hear him. Jesus does this often i'll give you an example Keep your finger at matthew chapter 18 so you can see the consistency here go from matthew to luke luke 13
14:50
Luke 13 1 just as an example to see this isn't an offhand unusual comment for jesus
14:56
I just want you to see sort of a pattern of jesus not of mean -spiritedness But of faithfulness and of saying hard things luke 13
15:06
Verse 1 There was some present at the very time who told him about the galileans whose blood
15:14
Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices and he answered them Do you think that these galileans were worse sinners than all the other galileans?
15:22
Because they suffered in this way No, I tell you but unless you repent
15:29
You will all likewise perish Or those 18 on whom the tower in siloam fell and killed them
15:36
Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in jerusalem? No, I tell you but unless you repent
15:42
You will all likewise perish And he told this parable a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and found none
15:51
And he said to the vine dressers look for three years Now i've come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none cut it down Why should it use up the ground?
16:02
And he answered him sir Let it alone this year also until I dig around it and put on manure
16:08
Then if it should bear fruit next year well and good, but if not you can cut it down Another text just look over one section luke 14 25
16:20
Another example of jesus preaching church shrinkage Messages this one.
16:26
We often talk about an apology of church luke 14 25 Now great crowds accompanied him and turned and he turned and said to them great crowds huge movements great crowds sometimes listen thousands thousands upon thousands upon thousands when jesus jesus fed the quote 5 000 that was only counting a portion of who he fed we're talking about 20 000 people were there before jesus
16:51
This is massive You hear stories about george whitfield, right? George whitfield people used to go for like days to travel to go hear george whitfield preach the man preached over 18 000 sermons in his life they used to when he was crossing the pond from the united states to england
17:06
They used to bring boats together on sunday just to hear george whitfield preach on the way to america or back to england
17:14
He would preach at times to crowds of 15 000 18 000 people and they rushed
17:19
In throngs to get to hear whitfield jesus This was same sort of situation kind of normative to have thousands of people and jesus turns
17:30
Here's an opportunity for massive growth in the church, right? I mean if he was watch if he was a charlatan or a con artist
17:37
This is the moment to just say what needs to be said to keep these numbers
17:46
Jesus turns and says to them if anyone comes to me And does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters
17:56
Yes, and even his own life He cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple
18:04
For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost whether he has enough to complete it
18:11
Otherwise when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish all who see it begin to mock him Saying this man began to build and was not able to finish or what king going out to encounter another
18:21
King in war will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with 10 000 to meet him who comes against him with 20 000
18:31
And if not while the other is yet a great way off. He sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace
18:37
So therefore any one of you who does not renounce all that he has Cannot be my disciple
18:44
Did you hear that? Yeah, like we have to just stop for a second and like really consider have
18:49
I ever thought about the gospel call in that way Like if you have anybody in your life that you love more above jesus
18:58
He says this with love to you love strong serrated edge He says you love them more than me.
19:05
You're not worthy to be my disciple. Don't come Don't come Jesus says if you love anybody in comparison more to me
19:14
Then do not come to me If you do not come to die Then do not come to me if you don't contemplate and count the cost of what it means to follow me then do
19:22
Not come to me. You see jesus stands up before crowds of people and watch he actually
19:29
Loves people enough to try and talk them out of coming to him
19:36
Right Like we just want to get as many people as possible to check the box to sign the card to raise the hand to pray
19:42
The prayer we just want the numbers because that to us is success. But jesus actually says it's not about the numbers
19:48
It's about faithfulness. It's about truth. And he says this let me tell you why you should not follow me
19:57
How do you know that jesus Is not a charlatan i'd say that's one of the indicators He's not a charlatan the fact that he's trying to talk people out of coming to him do not come to me
20:06
Don't do it If you haven't counted the cost if you love anybody in comparison more jesus preaches the church shrinkage messages go back to matthew
20:14
I'll show you one more text to show you. This isn't out of character for jesus I want you to see matthew chapter 22 another example
20:21
We are going to unpack this in the future, but I want you to hear the kinds of things that jesus says Matthew chapter 22 verse 1 and again
20:28
Jesus spoke to them in parables saying the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son
20:35
And sent his servants to call those who are invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come Again, he sent other servants saying tell those who are invited see
20:44
I prepared my dinner my oxen My fat calves have been slaughtered. Everything is ready.
20:49
Come come to the wedding feast But they paid no attention and went off One to his farm another to his business and while the rest seized his servants treated them shamefully and killed them
21:00
The king was angry And he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city
21:08
Then he said to his servants the wedding feast is ready But those invited were not worthy go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find
21:16
And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found both bad and good So the wedding hall was filled with guests
21:23
But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment And he said to him friend.
21:28
How'd you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless then the king said to the attendants
21:34
Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many are called but few are chosen
21:45
Make a decision as a christian To believe this jesus to follow this christ
21:54
To follow the christ who tells the truth about the world about god about you about me about the future
22:02
To believe jesus here or do not this is one of those church shrinkage moments ready if you don't accept this christ
22:10
Who talks about binding people unbelievers and casting them into the lake of fire
22:15
If you don't believe in this christ, then I say this abandon this whole thing altogether
22:22
Because it is not worth being almost christian. It is not worth being a pseudo believer
22:29
What is it worth to live a life believing in a false christ having a false gospel?
22:36
And dying a death that you stay Dead and separated from god because you followed a christ that was not the true christ
22:44
This is jesus take him at his word or walk away like the great crowds
22:52
You see what's interesting is when jesus turned away the great crowds with these kinds of statements His disciples actually say to him when the church has now shrunk from thousands to 12
23:03
Right thousands to 12 they leave And jesus would turn to the disciples left that god had transformed that god had illuminated and he says do you also want to go?
23:17
Do you also want to go and they said what they said Where are we going to go?
23:24
You have the words of what eternal life? Is life You see god had done something listen in them
23:33
That they understood what this all meant, right? This is fleeting this This moment my body my flesh.
23:40
My life is fleeting all that matters ultimately at the end is god He's the center of it all my walk my relationship with him
23:49
The disciples had been transformed by god's grace chosen by god to understand that jesus was the centerpiece of it all
23:56
He was the source of all life. He was the ultimate end of all things the ultimate treasure the ultimate satisfaction
24:02
Their eyes were open. They saw it And that's why they could receive the hard statements where are we going to go jesus you have the words of eternal life
24:11
You're all I want You're all I want And when we stand brothers and sisters on the last day before the throne of jesus covered in his love sung over by him we will fully understand
24:24
The beauty of this salvation that he is the centerpiece of everything the foundation of it all
24:30
So there is a couple examples of jesus speaking like this so we can see that it is not out of character for jesus
24:38
I want to say that as we get to this text here Before we open it where jesus talks about Cutting out
24:46
Your eye cutting off your hand cutting off the foot and casting it from you
24:51
It is better to enter into life maimed than to be thrown Into the hell of fire when he talks about gehenna.
24:58
I just want to say at the beginning of this Because it's true. You've probably heard it before and that's that jesus spoke more on the details of hell
25:08
Than he ever did about heaven Do you know what's interesting is I love the questions about heaven?
25:14
Somebody asked a question, uh yesterday on facebook I don't usually interact a lot on facebook as a kind of a general rule, but I saw someone answer ask a question
25:22
I thought I gotta answer that because I think it's important and they asked a question They were like, do you think that we're going to eat in heaven? Which I thought was such an interesting question because Isn't it obvious that when we're on the new heavens and new earth fully renewed in resurrected bodies that we're going to eat?
25:37
Isn't it obvious like what are you going to do with your intestines for all eternity? Like god gave it to you for a reason.
25:43
Don't you believe in a final resurrection? Yes, we're gonna eat and that means watch I believe that people that are really bad at cooking will one day in glory be great
25:53
Because there's a lot of time That goes by but here's the point. I'm only bringing it up to say this.
25:59
This is interesting The reason we have so many questions about what ultimately heaven will be like one day
26:05
And the new heavens and new earth all renewed and everything the reason we have so many questions Do you know this is because god does not give us a lot of details
26:16
Except to say this to get you excited. Let me whet your appetite for heaven one day. No eye has seen
26:22
No ear has heard. It's never entered into the mind of man what god has prepared for those who love him
26:29
So try your best to imagine what life will be like with god on this earth here and resurrected bodies for all eternity saved
26:37
No sin, no sorrow. No depravity. No brokenness. No conflict. No gossip. No bitterness
26:42
No discontentment try to imagine ready do it Imagine the best thing riding lions and giraffes and swimming with sharks joy
26:51
Like we know all that you want to do and you're not even close. You haven't touched it
26:56
Jesus says it you haven't even touched it. You don't have it yet but the reason we have to have these questions about what will we do in heaven one day in the eternal state is because Jesus doesn't give us a lot of details.
27:06
We have some but not a lot You know, we do have details of you know, we do have details of hell
27:13
We actually have some pretty vivid details About the experience of hell jesus did speak more about hell than he ever did about heaven.
27:22
That is the truth Now as we get to the text, we already went through the first portion
27:28
I'll just say quickly when jesus talks about the little children. We've already done this last week Little children there is synonymous for christians for believers
27:37
We're not to read this and think this is literally jesus talking simply About little children don't cause little children to stumble into sin.
27:45
Some of your moms are like, oh, thank god Okay had some moments this week. Um It's not that's not the point here.
27:52
Jesus is using the child here as a metaphor He brings the child to him receive the child receive me and don't cause these little ones to stumble
27:59
This is a beautiful intimate moment where jesus actually relates his relationship to us
28:05
Like children What do you do with your kids? You love them You protect them smile at them
28:14
Right, they make you laugh like you're in awe of kids Kids are beautiful and cute and we recognize there's sort of like a lowliness
28:23
To us when we get around a baby or a small child, right? It's all of a sudden the human being no matter how hard they are they melt
28:30
With a child because you recognize the need to protect this child to love this child To be there for this child you treat the child like a weaker thing, right?
28:40
And you protect that child you guard that child That's why we get so angry as p as as adults when we see these videos come out online like secret videos hidden videos of some babysitter or some
28:52
Nursery abusing a child we get indignant, right? Because that child deserves our love and protection not that kind of abuse and jesus says this is how you relate to me
29:02
This you're like a child in the kingdom when you receive a child you receive me and then jesus relates sin and leading people into sin to the issue of children little children here are believers
29:16
And in verse 5 jesus says whoever receives one such child in my name receives me You receive jesus saying this you receive my people you're receiving me
29:26
When you receive believers and love them and you bring them in you're receiving jesus
29:31
Jesus even says that in matthew 25 the picture of the last day the judgment jesus actually gives us a story people who
29:38
Um you I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, right? I was hungry You gave me something to eat. I was in prison and you visited me and the believers are like when when
29:47
I don't when did I? Give you something to drink and to eat and visit you and jesus says when you did it to the least of these you did
29:53
It unto me. Jesus says when you receive these little ones you receive me, but whoever causes
29:59
One of these little ones who believe in me to sin. That's the issue Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin
30:08
It'd be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck And to be drowned in the sea so Foundationally jesus is speaking here now about his children you if you love them
30:23
If you belong to them, this is what jesus says To people that would cause you to go into sin
30:30
He says it'd be better for the person that causes my children to sin To be fastened with a millstone around their neck and be cast into the depth of the sea
30:39
It's watch. This is what just is mind -boggling. Listen to this. It would be better Better Than a millstone around your neck and being cast into the sea
30:51
What's a millstone? Well doesn't mean much to us today. It did then They caught it
30:57
Instantly you've got to be kidding me a millstone a millstone is what they would use in this day to actually grind
31:03
Things for food and the only way you can get a millstone to turn To grind was to take a beast of burden a strong beast that would work for you to pull this thing
31:15
So that it would grind it was huge heavy and it ground things kyle Here's a picture of an ancient millstone.
31:23
This thing could not be picked up by a human being It was something that you needed to have an animal that was strong to actually pull and to move
31:31
And so jesus says in the context where they could understand how heavy this was
31:37
And what a dramatic statement that this is he says if you cause a believer to Sin if you are the source of the temptation to go into sin
31:46
It would be better Better For you to have one of these heavy millstones fastened around your neck and you to be drowned in the depth of the sea
31:58
Because listen It would be better to have a quick painful inescapable death
32:07
Than what I have in store for you in judgment If you lead one of my little ones
32:13
Into sin, this is how passionately committed the lord. Jesus is to the welfare To the spiritual well -being of his children
32:19
He says it would be better for this thing to be put around your neck and cast in depth to see I've said to you guys many times before that one of my
32:27
Fears, I don't i'm not really a person ruled by fear. Um at all But one of my fears that does cause anxiety is the ocean
32:36
Not not the not the beach like that doesn't it does it does me a little bit right like sharks and stuff
32:43
That that'll get me a little bit. Um When uh zach and I were
32:49
On our missions trip. We were so busy the entire time. We didn't really have time. We're in kawaii We didn't really have time to do anything except uh ministry eat and then that's it
32:59
But I thought okay. Well, we're in kawaii like we're here for a week It'd be a shame if we didn't get a chance to at least stand on the beach for a minute and like put our feet
33:07
In or go on the water. So we like committed like one day We've got like 20 minutes to try to get into the water and uh, we like fought to make this happen
33:14
So we get there and we only have like 20 minutes and so zach and I go into the water
33:19
He's ahead of me and we go into the water and i'm swimming There's fish everywhere and all of a sudden all the fish scatter from me
33:28
Now usually they kind of hang out like these fish don't even they chill around humans. They're like you probably have food.
33:33
I'm good Or you are food and they kind of hang out well at this moment the water got kind of murky and all the fish just just went away my first response was and Turn the other way get back to the shore
33:48
So my tells you how much I love zach I go back to the shore and I'm just I was in there for 30 seconds And I see him just swimming out just going around.
33:55
I was like He'll be fine and uh He was fine he's here now, so don't judge me um
34:05
But okay, so that little bit of fear over the ocean But for me like the ocean if you wanted to truly torture me and terrify me
34:12
Bring me out to the middle of the ocean and just drop me off and drive away That is a terrifying thing because there's stuff under there.
34:19
Let's be honest We've never seen before and it's terrifying right the depth of the sea. Jesus says it's better For you to have a millstone around your neck
34:28
You need to be to cast into the depth of that sea It'd be better that that happened to you than for you to lead one of my little ones believers into sin
34:37
Jesus says here. He says woe verse 7 to the world for temptations to sin
34:43
Woe to the world verse 7 for temptations to sin For it is better and necessary that temptations come but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes
34:54
Um, I just want to say this that is not normative for the word woe
35:01
To come out of the mouth of a prophet It does come Out of the mouth of prophets you see in the old testament.
35:09
You see the prophets declaring woe upon a pagan nation That god was about to judge them.
35:15
Woe was a pronouncement of cursing and judgment and condemnation It's sort of the height of the word you want to use to pronounce pronounce judgment on somebody
35:25
So in other words when it was very serious and it meant sincere Severe judgment the prophets would say woe woe to egypt
35:34
Woe to this place that place and you know in isaiah chapter 6 when the prophet isaiah gets a glimpse of god's holiness
35:40
He says what woe is Me i'm a man of unclean lips. I'm coming apart at the seams
35:46
He recognizes his own sin and unrighteousness and he actually as a biblical prophet declares woe on himself
35:52
Here in matthew in matthew 23. Who else does jesus declare woes on?
35:59
On the religious leadership of the day leading people astray into sin. He says woe to you scribes pharisees hypocrites
36:07
Woe means judgment curse upon you. Jesus says in light of that remember that it means severe judgment.
36:14
Jesus says woe To the world for temptations to sin for it is necessary that temptations come but woe to the one
36:21
By whom the temptation comes jesus says woe judgment curse
36:29
Condemnation upon the person that would lead god's child into sin I've tried to think through like, okay, how do we
36:38
Unpack it because we get the point that jesus is talking about believers Their little children jesus emphasis right now is not the person who is sinning
36:48
They are guilty They will be held accountable, but he's talking about the one that actually leads the person into sin
36:54
Now watch I think that what we like to do often is we try to get ourselves away from the condemnation
37:01
And I want to say if you're a believer God has no more wrath for you Amen Can we just highlight that for a second if you're in christ there is therefore now know what
37:13
Condemnation for those who are in christ. There's no wrath for you God says in christ you have his righteousness.
37:19
You're counted righteous apart from works He'll never count your sins against you. We know that that's the truth in christ.
37:24
Amen But when we see as believers who are being sanctified listen closely we see let's be honest with it
37:32
When we see harsh judgments in scripture, sometimes we try to avoid it We don't want to think about me
37:39
That's not me Does that apply to me? Can I find some way to make an excuse for it or get around it?
37:45
We often try to avoid So maybe we think about dramatic sins right like maybe leading somebody into sexual sin
37:56
That's condemnation So gee, okay, so if I i'm not doing that i'm not i'm not leading somebody into sexual sin.
38:01
Maybe it doesn't apply to me But I I want to just say I love you So i'm going to get you what about the fact that The warning here is about leading people into sin but there are more sins within the body of christ within the company of believers
38:26
Than just the big sins we consider right like sexual sin or obscene displays of idolatry in some sense
38:36
How about of course let's go through a list here seducing a believer into sexual sin Seducing a believer into sexual sin.
38:46
What could that look like? Well Let's start with the men Let's say that you're a man and you know that a sister in christ within the body is struggling in her marriage
39:00
And you just want to be the shoulder to cry on You just want to be there for that sister in christ and just to be there to support her emotionally right to listen to her
39:09
Talk about all the conflict she's having with her husband Right to be there to show concern
39:16
Well, you know that of course if you go down that road as a believing brother in christ with another sister in christ
39:22
Who's struggling in her marriage you realize of course that if you try to be the spiritual head to that woman pouring into her life
39:28
Biblical wisdom that she will ultimately see you as a spiritual
39:34
Leader as a spiritual head you will be leading that sister in christ into temptation because she'll be seeing maybe in you
39:41
Qualities godly qualities. She's not seeing in her husband. You'll be leading that sister in christ into sin
39:48
We know of course that women are emotionally connected like for example Women can often struggle and i'm making some generalizations here, but they are
39:57
I think Connecting Women struggle oftentimes not with the pictures
40:03
Right. They don't struggle with the adult entertainment Venues as much as say the men do what they're visually stimulated for sexual sin.
40:13
The women are generally Stimulated through the story through the emotion, right?
40:19
They're stimulated emotionally. It's a whole different world That's why you have ultimately pornography pornography for women.
40:26
Sometimes it's what's sold in the grocery store It's the stories of intimacy, right? It's the hero man those sorts of things
40:33
You can lead a sister in christ to sexual sin by trying to be there for her during a struggle in her marriage seducing a believer into sexual sin
40:43
Or how about the woman? leading a believing brother Into sexual sin by the way that she dresses
40:51
We don't like to talk about that today We like to say what the world says today. Hey how I dress and what
40:57
I show is not my fault but the truth is is if a woman dresses in a way that exposes
41:04
Her body unnaturally to a man. She does in fact lead that man into sin.
41:10
It's possible to do so We can seduce a believer into sexual sin By having our guards down or bringing their guards down, right?
41:18
Like for example, if you have two people who are believers And they're seeing each other and they don't have strict
41:25
Guards around their relationship and their life. You could have a seduction taking place where you say hey
41:32
It's saturday night It's 11 at night. Why don't we go to my place? to watch netflix
41:40
Netflix and chill That's what it is No guards around your relationship with the lord or theirs and so you entice the believer into sin
41:50
By not providing accountability and protection for one another not considering So of course we can seduce a believer into sexual sin or how about this?
42:00
being a person in the body of christ Who brings someone into the spirit of division
42:09
You know what that looks like you're with a Body or a group of believers say at apologia
42:16
And you know that person that is constantly complaining Discontent upset about the way things are
42:24
What they bring with them constantly is complacency discontentment Always upset always seeming to bring disunity disharmony
42:33
Rather than prayerful working together Rather than working patiently rather than working the right way as believers through struggles
42:41
There is a person who always has that spirit of division Pulling someone into discontentment.
42:47
You can lead a believer into sin Just consider this for a moment if you are an older believer and maybe you're having a moment now where you're kind of jaded
42:56
Right, you're kind of indifferent and you find a new young believer who is who is in christ and passionate now
43:02
But their walk with jesus. They're just glad to be saved. They're just experiencing the joy of their salvation and you have sort of the older jaded indifferent cavalier believer who then begins to Walk with that person
43:16
And they're just discontented. They're always complaining about things you can lead that young believer
43:21
Into a life of discontentment by being a person that's always complaining Always griping that is in fact leading a believer into sin into stumbling
43:32
You can be the person that leads a believer into sin by pulling them into gossip
43:41
Just i'm just praying For this person i'm just praying for their situation. Can you all pray with me over this person's
43:49
Problem right now and you actually are leading other believers into sin through bringing a spirit of gossip
43:55
You know when god talks about the things that he hates there are actually things that he says I hate these things
44:02
One of the things he says that he hates Is the person that sows discord among brethren
44:08
A person who brings discord it's possible to lead a little one a child of god into sin by being a person that's constantly
44:18
Pulling people into gossip and to disunity being a source of disunity
44:24
Now I want to just say this we can also be a person that leads somebody in a sense say for example When you use your liberty to cause another person to sin
44:33
So for example, if you have a person that say just come to christ out of an addiction to alcohol
44:39
They're drinking 20 beers a day And they've turned from that they recognize it as abuse and idolatry and sin
44:45
And they're fresh out of that now. They're they're walking with jesus now experiencing his salvation And you take them out to dinner now, you know that they've just come out of this this struggle
44:56
And while they're sitting in front of you, you maybe you get a beer because you're not addicted to it It's not an idol for you
45:02
And then while they're there in front of you, you not only drink it in front of them But you also try to encourage them. Don't worry.
45:08
It was just idolatry before you could probably have a beer now You can lead another person into stumbling who struggles with a particular sin
45:15
You can throw things in front of them that actually cause them to sin now Don't get me wrong on this This is very important to see this the right way because we often get this wrong within the christian communion
45:24
It's so important. We are not to be ruled by another person's conscience So if there is a person that struggles with wine or beer they couldn't drink it or say cigars or whatever
45:36
It doesn't mean that i'm to be ruled by their conscience paul addresses that in first corinthians chapter eight
45:42
What we ought to do with differences with christian liberty is this don't condemn each other just shut up Don't make it a source of conflict
45:50
However, it is possible to lead somebody in christ into sin
45:55
Through presenting things to them that cause them to stumble and jesus says woe to you
46:01
If you're the stumbling block if you're the source of it It would be better for you to have a millstone around your neck and you to be drowned in the depth of the sea
46:09
Than to cause one of my little children to sin We can cause someone to sin by normalizing sin
46:20
That could be what we watch What we wear It could be the woman who exposes her body
46:30
To catch the eyes of another The woman who exposes her body to catch the eyes of another that is causing
46:38
People to sin. We don't like to talk about that today We don't like to use that As an example, but I want to say
46:46
That it is in fact sin to cause someone to stumble It could be again the man who is the emotional support for a woman in a struggling marriage
46:57
Jesus says woe to you now here we are verse 8 everyone And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin
47:04
Cut it off and throw it away It's better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire
47:11
And if your eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away It's better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire
47:19
So when jesus uses this terminology the hell of fire the word behind that If you want to write it down is
47:28
Gehenna Gehenna Gehenna was in jesus day a trash heap that existed outside of jerusalem.
47:38
It was burning Trash, that's what it was doing and it was constantly burning So when jesus talks about hell and the eternal state of separation from god
47:49
He uses the word gehenna Now there's a different word that's used in scripture called hades and it's the place of temporary holding
47:58
Before ultimately the final judgment hades and gehenna are two different places
48:04
Gehenna is the final state at the judgment hades is the temporary state of the unbeliever in this context
48:13
So jesus refers to this trash heap outside of jerusalem as gehenna as a real place of judgment
48:22
It was a burning trash heap the place where the worm doesn't die the place where there was weeping
48:28
And gnashing of teeth now just for reference. I want you all to see this go to mark chapter 9 matthew mark
48:37
Luke mark chapter 9 Let's explore this just for a minute here mark chapter 9 verses 44 through 48
48:48
I'm going to actually read and start at verse 42 Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin
48:55
It would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck And he were thrown into the sea
49:00
If your hand caused you to sin cut it off It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to thee here it is unquenchable fire
49:10
And if your foot causes you to sin cut it off It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell
49:17
And if your eye causes you to sin tear it out It is better for you to enter the kingdom of god with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell where This is where mark explains a little more
49:29
Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched For everyone will be salted with fire
49:38
Now there's jesus talking about gehenna the eternal fire one more reference on Eternal fire go to revelation chapter 20.
49:47
That's the end of your bible It's revelation not revelations revelation 20
49:53
Start at verse 7 end of your bible revelation 7 I want you to know where these references are so you can explore it later.
50:01
I'm going to go ahead and read Starting in verse 7 revelation 20 verse 7. Here it is keep in mind
50:09
The Depth of the metaphor and symbolism in this book needs to be understood in the context of the old testament
50:17
But for now, let me just read it And when the thousand years are ended satan will be released from his prison And he will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth gog and magog
50:27
To gather them for battle their number is like the sand of the sea and they marched up over the broad plane of the earth
50:33
And surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city But fire came down from heaven and consumed them
50:38
And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur Where the beast and the false prophet were and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever
50:51
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it From his presence earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them
50:59
And I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened Then another book was opened which is the book of life
51:07
And the dead were judged by what was written in the books According to what they had done and the sea gave up the dead who were in it
51:13
Death and hades gave up the dead and were in them and they were judged each one of them according to what they had done
51:19
Then death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire This is the second death the lake of fire and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life
51:30
He was thrown into the lake of fire. Oh, I gotta stop here. Are you in that book of life?
51:36
Are you in it? How do you know that you're in that book of life, how do you know that you are in the book of life
51:43
Here's how you know Your heart has been changed by god You've turned from your sin to trust in jesus
51:53
Here's here's the identifying mark of those who are in the book of life It's not how many good works and good deeds and how much righteousness you have you have none.
52:03
It's filthy rags before god's throne It's whether you trust in christ the one who lived and died and rose again.
52:10
Do you love him? Do you believe in him? Yes If you trust in christ if you confess him as lord you are in that book of life
52:21
You have eternal life and the bible says if you are not in that book of life It clearly says that you will be cast into the lake of fire
52:32
And we like to minimize this today we have books written today by false teachers like rob bell Books like love wins
52:40
That say things like there is no Eternal judgment in the end love wins. Everybody's going to be saved
52:48
We even have people believe in a version of annihilationism. You even have good men like john stott powerful exegete.
52:56
He Tampered with annihilationism for at least some time And annihilationism is just another version of universalism.
53:03
It just goes the other direction in universalism. It says there is no hell Everybody goes to heaven
53:09
But there's another version of universalism that says there is no hell Most people go to heaven.
53:15
The rest are just annihilated. It's another version of universalism There's all kinds of attempts to deny what the scriptures clearly teach about an eternal state of torment
53:26
Judgment and punishment brothers and sisters. This isn't popular It's not the kind of thing people want to go to church for But to be faithful to the message of jesus
53:35
We have to hear this the bible does teach that there is a place of eternal torment and is described with terms of fire anguish gnashing of teeth wailing
53:48
Now here's what I want to say Some of this language may be metaphoric and hyperbolic
53:55
I grant that some of the descriptions might be that way however, it's a metaphor that describes maybe a state or We could listen to jesus when he actually describes
54:08
What happened to somebody who did go? To hades and that's what I want you to see right now We're going to wrap the message up here after we read luke 16 go there quickly.
54:17
I want you to see it Because this is jesus describing When someone died
54:22
What did it look like? Luke 16 You're familiar with this i'm sure Verse 19 luke 16 19
54:31
Okay, here we go brothers and sisters. Let's do this. Let's let's read the text Jesus doesn't say here that he's speaking in symbol.
54:40
He doesn't say this is a parable Jesus actually tells this as a story there was
54:46
A rich man verse 19 who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day
54:52
And at his gate was laid a poor man named lazarus covered with sores Who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table?
55:00
Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores The poor man died and was carried by the angels to abraham's side
55:08
Side note God Pastor luke's going to do a message on the angels and our angels in heaven
55:15
Uh, there's so much to learn from scripture about angels and angeology It's actually kind of cool in terms of angels bringing us into the presence of god
55:23
God sending angels to guard us to protect us to be a present presence in our lives I don't know if you should be fearful of talking to those things
55:30
You gotta be careful of idolatry and being obsessed with them, but this is kind of cool It says watch the angel brings him into abraham's bosom
55:37
So what's that's kind of cool like maybe when you die the moment your eyes close all of a sudden you're alert and angels they're like Come with me it's yeah, you gotta
55:50
I mean it's got to be nuts right like it's like yes. Yes This is awesome.
55:55
Like this just gotta be incredible. Now, you know what i'll be doing. I'm just gonna be freaking out But so it says the angel
56:04
Brings him To abraham's side the rich man also died and was buried and in hades being in torment
56:12
Highlight it being in torment He lifted up his eyes and saw abraham far off and lazarus at his side and he called out father abraham
56:21
Have mercy on me and send lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue for i'm in anguish in this what flame
56:31
But abraham said child remember that you and your life received your good things and lazarus and like man are bad things
56:38
But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish and besides all this between you between us and youth
56:45
Is a great chasm has been fixed In order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able and none may cross from there to us
56:53
And he said then I beg you father send him to my father's house for I have Five brothers so that he may warn them lest they also come into this place of torments
57:07
Do you catch that that? it really It really does kind of make me wonder
57:14
The description that jesus gives of the rich man and lazarus is this is consciousness. This is consciousness.
57:20
This is aware. This is conscious Torments to the degree that the rich man says this if you could just have him not with a glass of water not pour water over my head not
57:38
Cover me in water to relieve me of this torment if you could just have him put his finger in water
57:43
And then touch my tongue That's how much anguish and torment there is in this state
57:52
Of punishment and separation from god. I'm not asking for a cup a glass I'm not asking for a mouthful.
57:59
All I want is him to touch something with his finger and just put it on my tongue That's how much anguish there is in this eternal state of judgment separation from god.
58:08
So how much of it is hyperbolic? How much of it is metaphor? Don't really know but the descriptions we have
58:16
For the unbeliever is it is conscious torment. It is flames. It is eternal.
58:22
It is unstoppable It is inescapable and the question for those That actually say well, this is all metaphor is well, that's not how jesus related but metaphor
58:33
Here's my first question pastor asked this question. I think it's a great one. Um, are you sure?
58:41
Just a metaphor. I would say are you sure? And number two, I would say
58:47
What does the metaphor represent? Because every time we have a symbol the symbol relates to Something what?
58:56
Real and generally the symbol isn't the thing is it? The symbol can only express
59:02
Something about the reality of the real thing, right? Like when we call jesus the lamb of god
59:08
There's a symbol and isn't the reality of jesus as a lamb even better doesn't it pull out more?
59:15
Than just simple lambs, right? We don't mean like he's a lamb of god How cute he's white and fluffy and little right?
59:21
We mean it means something Dramatic and amazing that he's a lamb of god So if jesus is using metaphor and hyperbole if it's a symbol if it's torment worms never dying
59:33
Weeping wailing gnashing of teeth torment cool. Just my tongue
59:38
Here's the question if it's a metaphor and symbol then what is the reality? And so when jesus speaks here in matthew 18
59:51
And he says if your hand or your foot caused you to sin cut it off and throw it away It's better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands
59:58
Or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire And if your eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away
01:00:03
It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire I want to say this watch this isn't something unusual for jesus.
01:00:11
He's already said it in matthew He already said it in matthew. So this is the second time in matthew.
01:00:16
Jesus has said this He says it in matthew chapter 5 verse 27 anybody remember the context of that Anyone remember?
01:00:26
Matthew 5 27 when he uses it there About plucking the eye cutting off the hands. Where does he use it there?
01:00:34
Adultery and if you lust in your hearts So he uses it there for personal sin
01:00:42
If you are dealing with personal sin Then what you do is pluck your eye cut off your hand cut off your foot
01:00:47
It's better for you to enter life maimed all that in this case He actually applies it to the person who is sinning and leading another believer into sin.
01:00:57
It works watch both ways It works both ways personal sin deal with it by plucking and throwing here's the point
01:01:07
Jesus teaches us Who have been transformed by him who know his truth in gospel who have been saved through faith alone
01:01:14
He teaches us to take radical steps He said it before As a matter of fact, this is common in scripture in hebrews chapter 12 verse 14.
01:01:25
It says pursue peace and holiness without which
01:01:31
Nobody will see the lord pursue peace and holiness without which
01:01:38
Nobody will see the lord you see here's the truth if you've been raised up with jesus christ and you're forgiven If you know jesus you've been given the gift of eternal life.
01:01:46
God says he changed your heart It says that he lives within you and he's causing you to pursue his
01:01:52
Statutes it means believers are going to have this inescapable desire To love god and to hate their past and their sin and their idols brothers and sisters
01:02:00
I'm not suggesting to you as believers that you are not going to struggle with sin I'm saying the identity that you the the way to identify that you are in crisis that you struggle
01:02:10
With what sin the bible teaches that believers take radical steps to deal with their sins
01:02:16
Like plucking your eye cutting off your hand your foot. I want to say this is so important This is not literal
01:02:24
Please don't do this I talked to a doctor before i'm more than one doctor actually who told me that they have had people come into the er
01:02:32
They read the statement from jesus and they literally cut their hand off I want to just suggest this very humbly if you cut your legs off arms off and eyeballs out you would still sin
01:02:47
Because watch the source of your sin is an eyeball Jesus is speaking
01:02:53
Hyperbolic here. He's speaking in a way that's dramatic You have to take painful steps often
01:03:00
As necessary to deal with sin find it at its source and deal with it
01:03:06
Cast it and throw it. Do you notice that jesus says pluck out your eye and throw it from you?
01:03:12
I love that. He says that because I think our habit often is to scratch our eyeballs
01:03:19
To use a butter knife against our wrist, right? Our repentance is often just clawing at our eyes
01:03:27
Pretending to mourn over our sin or taking a butter knife and rubbing it against our wrist or our foot
01:03:33
We don't actually do the painful thing That's necessary to rid ourselves of our sin or we often pluck our eyeball out and we hate it and we curse it and then we go get out eye and then we
01:03:44
Put it in our pockets So we get access to it later You know when
01:03:50
I came out of my Addiction to drugs and alcohol. It wasn't just drugs and alcohol. That was my problem
01:03:57
It was these texts that converted me I bought into the popular lie that I prayed a magic prayer
01:04:06
And I was saved I was going to heaven And then I began to read the gospels again for the first time And god began to challenge me with texts just like this one and I asked myself the question
01:04:16
Does that even look like my life? Does it even look like me? Because I remember a time when
01:04:21
I was using ecstasy um I was using it all the time, which is actually kind of difficult to do because it zaps
01:04:29
All the serotonin out of your brain It works on the serotonin the pleasure stuff in your brain and it just dumps it all onto your brain
01:04:37
So you have euphoria and ecstasy. It's all fake. It's all a lie. It's all Pseudo pleasure and joy.
01:04:44
It's all just deception and counterfeit for what god can give But I was just using it constantly
01:04:50
I went from taking one pill that would last All the way into the next day to taking two pills and then three pills and I was up even to six pills
01:04:59
Which you can cook yourself from the inside out doing that The grace of god that i'm standing before you today, but one time
01:05:05
I actually took um something called superman One of the marketing genius things in ecstasy is they actually name particular pills after something in the culture
01:05:16
So I used mitsubishi's um Marshmallows, I used superman's
01:05:23
I used BMW like they just sort of tagged the pill. Well one night a guy my dealer sold me something called superman's
01:05:33
Well, that sounds fun, right if you're using that it sounds great superman I'll take that so I bought a bunch from him
01:05:40
And I went home Candy was actually away in kentucky and I took this thing called superman and I did not feel like superman it was
01:05:52
Not ecstasy And it made me feel awful. I didn't feel good
01:05:58
It ruined me. It kept me awake all night, but I did not feel good at all. I did not feel well and the next morning
01:06:05
I had this moment this false repentance before god. I knew that I was sinning.
01:06:10
I knew that I was abandoning god I knew I was running from god. I knew the source of this. It wasn't addiction. It wasn't a brain disease of addiction
01:06:17
This was sin against my creator I knew that but I would not do what was necessary to rid myself of this sin
01:06:24
So I remember that I was talking to god. I was like lord. I know that i'm sinning against you now I know I I shouldn't be doing this
01:06:30
So I grabbed that bag of pills and I cursed him and I was just like lord i'm giving this up I'm, i'm giving all this over to you.
01:06:37
And so I was done with this I'm over i'm finished and I went to my closet and I put it in a shoe in my closet and I closed the door
01:06:43
I said i'm done And walked away that was me clawing
01:06:49
At my eye that was me rubbing the butter knife against my wrist It wasn't taking radical steps with my sin and the source of it
01:06:57
So when god truly converted me when I saw myself for who I was a horrible father a horrible husband
01:07:03
Not a man of god a sinner worthy of condemnation and the wretch that I was and when god exposed my sin
01:07:10
And I turned to christ in faith and I said you're the lord of my life you take over my life from that Moment god gave me the desire the desire to turn away from all this sin
01:07:20
So what happened was I saw a text like this pluck and throw cut and throw I realized radical steps were necessary So what
01:07:28
I did was when my friends who were still using came to the door They saw I was home. They saw my car outside.
01:07:34
They can hear me inside They were banging on my door to go hang out with them. I didn't answer the door When they called me for months,
01:07:41
I didn't even answer the phone I took a different route through town when I would drive I would drive
01:07:46
An extra 25 minutes if necessary not to drive by the places that I used to use that I used to make sure that as I drove
01:07:54
I plotted my course Don't drive by the places that will lead me to temptation why because if I pass by them
01:08:01
There's a potential that my heart may still kind of long for this and I might have that temptation Meet the heart that longs for it and then it conceives james says and it brings forth sin
01:08:12
So what did I do? I plucked and threw I cut and threw We need as believers to recognize that jesus says when you deal with sin you deal with it radically
01:08:22
What's everybody's first response when they say jesus saying pluck and throw we say what that hurts it hurts and my answer to that very humbly is
01:08:37
Yes That's right It hurts There are consequences when you turn to christ in faith and your life has changed and you belong to god
01:08:48
You're a child of god and you deal with sin the way that jesus calls you to it looks like plucking and throwing cutting and throwing
01:08:55
Which means pain? temporary Pain, it looks like what paul says in colossians 3 if you've been raised up with christ
01:09:03
Keep seeking what is above where christ is seated at the right hand of the father Your life is hidden with christ in god and he says what therefore?
01:09:13
put to Death what is earthly within you and he names a bunch of things sexual morality says which is idolatry
01:09:21
I'm convinced as believers all of us struggle with this That it's not that we don't have the desire to pursue holiness and to love god
01:09:29
It's that we're not oftentimes willing to take the steps painful steps necessary for god to heal us
01:09:37
We would rather have Pseudo pleasure and pseudo joy than true pleasure and joy in god
01:09:43
God says this in your presence is fullness of joy in your right hand. There are pleasures what? forever
01:09:50
We want the substitute savior the false god that can never truly satisfy.
01:09:55
Here's my question As we end this thinking about leading believers in the sin plucking and throwing.
01:10:01
What are you struggling with? Let's be real for a second as believers What have you struggled with since you came to christ it's just been there
01:10:11
God's made you more peaceable. He's increased your love for the brethren. He's increased your love for the world
01:10:19
He's made you a more patient person He's made you a servant He's made you gracious He's made you so loving
01:10:31
But all the while you've been walking with jesus You've had tucked away in a place that only really you and the lord know
01:10:39
This secret sin And maybe it's a sin that you're convinced. It's just going to be there until you're going to be with the lord
01:10:46
It's just you're just not going to have victory over it You hate that sin God loves you.
01:10:53
He's exposed in your life hundreds of times It's something maybe your husband doesn't know about Your wife doesn't know about Your friends don't know about it's a sin.
01:11:04
That's a secret sin. It's your sin. It's a pet sin And it's there because ultimately you love it
01:11:13
You enjoy it You find pleasure in it You allow it to deceive you at times and you hate it
01:11:22
When you sin in this way, you're grieved you fall to your knees you plead to god to forgive you
01:11:29
You do hate it god created it within you to hate that sin you do hate that sin
01:11:36
But it's a love -hate relationship When you're angry with god Or things aren't going well in your life you return to this sin
01:11:45
It feels like home And yet you hate it It's a sin that you return to in the dark
01:11:52
It's a sin that you return to when you're lonely. It's a sin that you return to when there's no accountability
01:11:58
It's your pet sin Now here's my question As much as you hate this sin as much as god causes you to desire to be free from it
01:12:10
Be honest All of us have to be honest with ourselves. Have you truly plucked and thrown?
01:12:18
Or did you Rub Rub And wipe
01:12:27
Is it that you know that it would actually hurt to have this exposed and to have to cast it from you
01:12:35
Because you see Jesus says radical step painful step for a reason because that's how you deal with the source of your sin
01:12:43
Can I give you one example? And this is not the same for everybody just one example Say it's pornography addiction
01:12:52
Say it's pornography addiction You hate it You hate it you despise it
01:13:01
When you fall into this sin, you're broken for days You're pleading with god. God.
01:13:06
Free me from this god. Save me from this. Can I just Alert you to something the fact that you feel that way is god saving you from it
01:13:16
The fact that you hate it and you're grieved over it is god saving you from it
01:13:24
If you're enslaved to some sexual sin with another believer or somebody else the fact that you hate it so much
01:13:31
Is god saving you from it? But here's the thing. It doesn't exist in a vacuum.
01:13:37
God says here's this divine hatred for this sin and my response has to be cut and throw
01:13:45
So are you taking the dramatic steps necessary to kill this sin in your life to put it to death not slap it
01:13:50
Not choke it not to bite its ankle Not to box it. Are you putting it to death and cutting and throwing what's it look like to get free from a pornography addiction?
01:14:00
It looks like honesty It looks like accountability. It looks like you know what if I can't be trusted with this device.
01:14:08
I don't use it It looks like accountability software with your brothers and sisters and pastors on that software
01:14:16
So they see what you see And you leave yourself no outlet no way out
01:14:21
No way to get this tool to have access to this sin Or how about this if you're struggling in a relationship with sexual sin with somebody now?
01:14:30
And you're saying we keep falling into this sin. We just can't seem to get free from it. I would say this Either get married or get out of that relationship
01:14:40
But I really love this person you intend to marry them Well, no not really then you need to cast them off because it'd be better For you to be without that relationship for me then for you both to be cast into gehenna
01:14:53
Are you taking radical steps to deal with your sin or are you just clawing and rubbing? That's the call that jesus gives to us as believers
01:15:03
And here's the hope If you hate your sin, that's because god's there he's in you
01:15:09
Jesus says in john 5 24. He says truly truly I say to you he who hears my voice and believes him who sent me has
01:15:17
Eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life the difference
01:15:23
For believers who are saved who know god is they hate their sin. It's a life of war with their sin
01:15:32
For people who don't know god, there's no war There's just love for the sin
01:15:40
And a laying down to it So this is this is the question i've been trying to ask myself this week as well
01:15:50
Am I leading anybody? Who's a child of god into sin? And do
01:15:58
I have any sins that I have not plucked and thrown? So that's my question to you that's the so what of the message you heard it we know what jesus says so here's the question
01:16:07
Do you want to be free Then you need to be forgiven and saved that's only through faith in jesus
01:16:14
Do you want to be free then you need to cast away from you and to throw so what are you struggling with? What have you struggled with since you came to christ?
01:16:24
Now is the day To cast it from you. What do you have to do? To pluck and throw to cut off and throw away