WWUTT 1745 Q&A Is Sadie Robertson Huff Biblically Sound?

Sometimes a teacher can give you just enough Christian words to make you think you are listening to a biblical message, but are they actually calling out sin and pointing to Jesus Christ when we understand the text?

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of God that we may comprehend with all the saints how wide, how high, and how deep is the love of Christ.

Tell all your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, who is not in studio with me this week, although she is with me.

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On Friday, we take questions from the listeners, and you can send those questions to WhenWeUnderstandTheText at gmail .com.

I have one question here because I'm only going to have time for this one question. This is from Alex, who says,

Dear Pastor Gabe, have you ever listened to Sadie Robertson Huff before? I've largely ignored her.

I was never a fan of Duck Dynasty. I figured she was a part of the big evangelical machine like a young Priscilla Shire or Christine Kane.

I know she's hugely popular among teenagers, which I have not been for a little while now. But recently,

John Cooper of Skillet was on her podcast. John Cooper has been popular with guys like James White and with the

Just Thinking podcast. So have I misjudged Sadie Robertson Huff? I was just curious if you know much about her theology.

Thank you for the podcast. I did happen to notice that John Cooper was on Sadie Huff's podcast recently, although I did not listen to that particular episode.

I've been meaning to. It's interesting, though, that you ask this question or that I got this question at this particular time.

I recently preached through Psalm 139 and in preparation for that psalm,

I listened to several sermons about identity and it didn't matter who it was I was listening to, whether they were a sound teacher or a false teacher.

I just listened to a lot of different sermons about what teachers are presently preaching or presenting about identity.

And one of those preachers that I listened to was Sadie Robertson Huff. Now, she's 25 years old.

In case you don't know who this is, she's one of the daughters of the Robertsons in the program

Duck Dynasty, which isn't on anymore. Is that right? It's only in syndication. She was the

I think the most popular teenage face that you would see in that show.

Now, she was popular when that program was going on. She was publishing books and getting her own name out there, even while Duck Dynasty was on the air.

Right now, I would say that Sadie Huff is more popular than Beth Moore. Beth probably has the benefit of being out there for a long time.

So a lot of people know her because her name has been around for a while. But Sadie Huff has more followers on social media than Beth does.

She has nearly two million on Twitter and five million on Instagram.

Her books are selling better through Lifeway and some of those Christian bookstores like Mardell's.

There aren't many brick and mortar Christian bookstores anymore. But online, Sadie Robertson, Sadie Robertson Huff's stuff.

That's hard to say. Sadie Robertson Huff's stuff is outselling even

Beth Moore. She has greater popularity through an online market. Her theology is not much better than Beth Moore's, though.

I have called Beth Moore an egalitarian mystic, meaning that Beth Moore believes women can be preachers as well as men, contrary to what

First Timothy 2, 11 through 12 says. And she claims that she is getting messages from God apart from scripture.

So that's the egalitarian and the mystic aspect of it. Sadie Robertson Huff may not claim those things, but she functions that way.

So she's preaching to a mixed audience, men and women together. And she'll say things you'll notice even here at the beginning of the message that I'm going to play.

She'll say things where it's like she's getting vision or guidance from the

Holy Spirit that is apart from scripture. Like God is telling her he's doing certain things, and she communicates that to the audience.

Now, she's very, very young. You're going to pick that up from even what you're going to hear. She's about 24, 25 years.

I know she's currently 25. She may have been 24 when she taught this, but she's not a novice at this.

She's been doing it for a long time. She's been platformed way too young. She received the superstardom as a teenager and then has turned that into a teaching ministry.

And if we haven't learned from Joshua Harris, you know, a teen Christian heartthrob that was platformed at too young an age was made a pastor too young, and now he's apostate.

He's completely left the faith. And we didn't learn from that. And so now you have somebody like Sadie Robertson Huff, who even has greater popularity than Joshua Harris did.

The Apostle Paul told the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians chapter five to test everything, hold fast to what is good, abhor what is evil.

And so we're going to test the words that Sadie Robertson is preaching here, for lack of a better term, in this message that she delivered at the

Passion Conference at the beginning of this year. Now, if memory serves, I remember reading something in the news about this.

Sadie got COVID and could not be in the arena, the Mercedes -Benz arena, where Passion was being held.

She had to preach this at a different site, and then it was live streamed in.

So you're not going to hear any audience interaction here from her, but this is the message that everybody heard at Passion 22.

So here's Sadie Robertson Huff with a message entitled, Who is God? The text that she's going to be teaching from is out of Matthew 16.

It takes her a while to get there, but that's going to be the text that she uses. And I'm going to break in periodically here and offer commentary to her teaching.

I am in Atlanta, and I could not be more with you tonight. Y 'all, I know

God is already moving in such absolutely incredible ways. And I know he's going to continue to move in such incredible ways.

And what I know more than anything is that the enemy does not want you to hear this message that I'm about to share.

I know that the enemy does not want you to be reminded of who you are and what you're called to do, but the enemy cannot stop the move of God.

He cannot stop what God is about to do in this place. And so y 'all, I want to remind you of who you are tonight.

Yeah, I want to talk about identity, which should be a great conversation, right? As a culture, we love to talk about identity.

We're obsessed with our identity. We love to talk about the Enneagram or Myers -Briggs test.

We love any kind of online quiz we could take. We even like to talk about our childhood self, to talk about how we became the person that we are.

We love to talk about who we are. But also, it's kind of strange because although we're kind of obsessed with talking about who we are, nobody actually really likes to be hit with the question, who are you?

I personally don't have any problem with anyone asking me, who are you? But I digress.

So this is the beginning of the message. You hear her kind of drawing people in with these attention getters, like the enemy does not want you to listen to this tonight, but he can't stop what

God is going to do in this place. And so, like I said earlier, she functions in that mystic sense as though she's been privy to certain information about what

God is doing here. You don't find it in the Bible. It's just something she senses or picks up or even

God has communicated to her. Now, what she does not do is say something like God told me to tell you this tonight.

That's what Beth Moore does. Stephen Furtick does that. A lot of these other mystic teachers. Sadie doesn't go that far, but it's still, you know, there are still hints of what

I'm telling you tonight is what God wants me to say. So let's continue on again.

She's asked this question, who are you and why people don't like to be asked that question. Like if you've ever been in a group setting, maybe it's the first day of school or you're at a camp and you're with all these new people and someone says, all right, let's go around the room and let's tell a little bit about who we are.

That's not like the most awkward moment ever. Like all of a sudden you're hit with so much insecurity, so much awkwardness.

And you're like, wait a second, who am I? What have I ever done in my life? What can I say that makes me look super cool, but not cocky?

What can I say that makes me look not too weird, but I'm kind of funny? You know, like you're all of a sudden thinking of all of these anxious thoughts and insecurity with who am

I? And that's kind of a funny moment and that's kind of silly insecurity and silly anxiety.

But then for some of us, the reality is there is true anxiety and insecurity around the thought of who am

I? Because truthfully, you're sitting here right now and I know there are thousands of you in this room thinking the same thing.

I have no clue who I am. And not only do I have no clue who

I am, I don't know what my purpose is. I don't know what I'm called to do. And that is a hard place to be friends, but you're not alone.

And then there's a lot of you who are just confused as to who you are. You identify with all types of things, but none of them are really fulfilling.

And I know there are a lot of you in the room. Now, how do I know this? Well, because we've all been there. But also a few weeks ago,

I asked on my Instagram, I said, friends, what do you identify yourself with? And I had thousands and thousands of answers.

I had things like my looks, my sorority, where I go to school, my grades.

I had things like my gender, my sexuality, my race, my family, my background.

I had things like my disability. A lot of them said, I identify with who other people say that I am.

And then tons of people who said, I don't know. So it's evident by a lot of the answers that Sadie received on her

Instagram that many young people identify themselves by their sin.

Will Sadie ever confront that? Will she ever tell her audience, this is who

God says you are? She's talking a lot about identity here. She's talked about identity or teased that out earlier in the message.

So will she ever come back to saying, here is what God says about you, according to his word, according to what the

Bible says? I'm asking that question to put your antenna up. So you're listening for that as we continue in this.

But then there was another group of people, and they were definitely on my Instagram, and I know they are definitely in this room tonight at Passion 22.

2022. I know you're sitting here and you're thinking, oh, I know the answer to this question. I know who

I am. You're almost excited that I even asked you. You don't even have to say it. You can just sing it.

Yes, I am who he says I am. And you are confident to answer that question.

Who are you? I am who he says I am. And to you, I want to say that's awesome.

That's a line from a Hillsong tune, by the way. That's what she was singing there. And, of course, because she's part of that crowd.

She's part of the big evangelical machine, which we refer to as Big Eva, all the same group doing the same conferences, boosting each other up, same faces that you see pushing the same kind of doctrine, which is actually pretty bad.

And we get that it's just this bubble gum doctrine that is about a mile wide and an inch deep.

There are aspects of it that are certainly true, but she's not going to want to offend anybody because she wants people flowing into her

Twitter and her Instagram. She wants to continue selling books. She wants to continue to be platformed on big stages that have thousands of people in the audience.

And who is going to pay 120 bucks, which I think is what a ticket to passion is, who's going to pay that to come to a conference and hear somebody say to them, you're a sinner who's headed for hell.

So will Sadie ever confront the sin aspects so that her audience understands their need for a savior?

Let's continue. That's awesome that you know the answer to that question that you would want to say,

I am who he says I am. But to you, I also want to ask you a follow -up question. Has that actually changed who you are?

Has who he says that you are actually changed the nature of who you are?

Because we can say it all day long and we can even say it with confidence, but that doesn't mean we're a confident person. You see, there is a time in my life where I could tell you everything about who he says that I am.

I could say he hasn't given me a spirit of fear. I could say that he's made me fearfully and wonderfully.

I could say that, man, I've been set free from the bindings of sin and death. I could say all of that. I know who he says that I am, but yeah,

I'm still insecure. I'm still afraid. I'm still living in shame. And so what he said about me didn't actually change me.

Friends, you can know everything he says about you, but what ultimately matters is who he is to you.

See, if he's not on the throne of your life, then what he says about you isn't actually going to change who you are.

Now, you may have said amen to all of that, but she did not say anything of real substance there.

She said a lot of Christian -ese things. I have not been given a spirit of fear. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I've been set free from the bonds of sin and death. Never explains any of that. Even that last statement she said there, if he is not on the throne of your life, then what he says about you is not going to change anything.

My friends, God is on the throne, whether you acknowledge he's there or not. You don't put him on the throne of your life.

He is on his throne. Are you going to humble yourself before him and worship him, or will you continue and persist in your sin unto judgment?

Consider what the Bible says about you. Romans 3, beginning in verse 10, as it is written, none is righteous, no, not one.

No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside.

Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.

Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips.

Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. Consider also what

Paul said about our condition before we come to Christ. OK, because I'm going to assume most of the people that I'm talking to are

Christians. So you can say, well, I once was that, but I'm not that anymore. Amen. But here is what

Paul says about who every one of us was before we came to Jesus. Ephesians chapter two, beginning in verse one, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

That's who we all were before coming to Christ. Everybody who is not in Christ is in that place.

We were among the sons of disobedience. We were under the wrath of God. John three thirty six.

He who has the son has life. He who does not obey the son shall not see life.

But the wrath of God remains on him. That's who we are before we come to Christ.

Ephesians two, four, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace.

You have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ.

That's who you are now. So in Christ Jesus, you have been made fellow heirs of his eternal kingdom.

But before Christ, you are a sinner under the judgment of God and will be destroyed unless you repent and come to Jesus, who died on a cross as an atoning sacrifice for sins.

He rose again from the grave so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life with God.

You have fellowship with God now as an adopted son or daughter of God, and you have everlasting life with him as a fellow heir of his eternal kingdom.

That's what the Bible says about us. Does Sadie ever say that to the young people she is speaking to about identity?

And so we are going to talk about identity tonight, and I do want us to be confident in being able to answer the question, who are we?

But there is another question that is much more important that we ask ourselves, because the answer to that question is actually going to tell us who we are and what we're going to do with our life.

I'm going to read from Matthew chapter 16 tonight, verse 13. But before I get there, I just want to kind of paint a backstory of where we are at tonight, where Jesus is having this conversation with his disciples.

This is a huge conversation between Peter and Jesus, and they're having it in a really interesting place.

See, they're having this conversation in Caesarea Philippi. And Caesarea Philippi was literally known as the gates of hell.

Y 'all, that's not a joke. That is literally what it is called. The gates of hell is the place that Jesus decides to have this conversation at.

Caesarea Philippi does not literally mean gates of hell. It means Philip's Caesarea, and Caesarea is derived from Caesar.

That's what the name means. It's not literally the gates of hell. There's going to be some pseudo history that's going to come up here, which

I'll attempt to correct. And the reason why it was so bad is this place was literally the central place at the time for false worship.

You say, what does that even mean? Like there's a central place for false worship? Yes. If you went to Caesarea Philippi, you would see temples lined up all around, and all of these temples were to worship and to serve a different God.

None of them was the same. It was all a different God. There was a God of pan that was birthed in Caesarea Philippi, and that was kind of like the

God of all. It was a very lustful God. There was a God, there was the fertility gods that people would go and they would pray to.

There was literally dancing goats. People would go worship. There was a temple for Caesar that people would go worship

Caesar at. I mean, all these different gods in this place, and all of these gods being worshipped in very different ways and in different aspects.

And this is where Jesus goes to ask his disciples this super important question. And I think Jesus went there on purpose.

I don't think I know because he does everything with intention. And he's going to this place where all these other gods are, and he's forcing them to answer this question as to who he is.

Now, it is true that there was a lot of idol worship that was going on there at Caesarea Philippi, but knowing that doesn't really help to understand this text.

It wasn't like the main central hub of idol worship. There was idol worship going on there for a long time, even before it was called

Caesarea Philippi. The Jews who were in rebellion against God would worship the

Baals there. But there's nothing significant about that particular place as it pertains to Jesus' question.

You understand what's going on according to the context when you understand the text, not when you understand what

Caesarea Philippi is. Because Jesus had just warned the disciples about the leaven of the

Pharisees and Sadducees. He's about to tell them about his death and resurrection.

And so in between there, he says, who do people say that the Son of Man is?

And the fact that they're in the district of Caesarea Philippi, it's just following where they've been traveling over the course of chapter 16.

And now they come to the district of Caesarea Philippi. By the way, it's the district, not the city.

Sadie is claiming that they're right there at this place where there's all kinds of idol worship going on.

No, they were in the district, not the actual city itself. That's what it says. Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, so that really kind of crumbles the history that she's building up there.

And she's doing that to kind of establish a kind of authority. She may not be aware that this is the reason that she's doing that.

She's just following the pattern of other teachers that she is surrounded herself by, including

Priscilla Shire, someone that she will mention later on in this message and the other teachers that are there at Passion 22.

This is her atmosphere. This is the her click or her bubble. These are the people that she is with.

So the way they teach is the way she teaches what they teach is what she teaches, even when they have these wrong historical facts.

There's nothing wrong with putting history into a sermon. I put history into my sermons all the time.

Rarely do I ever do a sermon where I don't have some sort of historical context explained, but she's doing it in such a way as though, you know, kind of to present that she has more knowledge about this than she really does.

Paul warned Timothy and first Timothy one three. He says, charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

So what is she doing here? Is she promoting speculation or is she actually trying to direct her audience toward the stewardship of God, the true gospel of God that is by faith in Jesus Christ?

Let's continue. And this is how the conversation goes. It says now when

Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples this question. Who do people say that the son of man is?

So right here where all these other gods are, who do people say that the son of man is?

And they said, well, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

And then he said to them, he asked them the question I think is the most important question that you could be able to answer for yourself tonight.

He said, but who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter replied, you are the

Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you Simon Bar -Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven.

And get this, he said, and I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock,

I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Y 'all see how big of a moment this is. Here in this place where all these other gods are, the gates of hell, this is where Jesus said,

Peter, I'm going to use you as a rock. And this rock, this big rock, this rock of my church, it is going to be so massive.

This mission is going to be so big that the gates of hell, all this darkness around us will not be able to prevail past what we are going to build.

What I'm going to do through you, who I am in you. And so notice when

Peter recognized who Jesus was, Jesus in return told

Peter who he was. You see, Peter's identity was not found and who

Peter found himself to be. Peter's identity was not found and who other people told

Peter that he was or what they thought of him. Peter's identity was found in who Jesus said he was after first establishing that Jesus is

God. Is that what that passage is about? Finding Peter's identity?

No, that passage is about Jesus Christ building his church and the gates of hell.

Will not prevail against it. It's this little pseudo history thing going on here. The Caesarea Philippi was literally the gates of hell.

No, no, it wasn't. That has nothing to do with understanding what it was that Jesus was saying.

He's asking his disciples, who do you say that I am? You are the

Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered him. Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven.

Peter would not even know that answer if it had not been revealed to him by the father.

So this is not about finding out who Peter is. This is about Christ who is going to build his church.

And he has chosen these disciples to do it through by his choosing, not because of who their identity is.

And when he says you are Peter, he's saying that Peter is going to be a rock that will be the foundation of the church.

We have that stated several places in scripture. Ephesians chapter three in first Peter, chapter two, that the apostles are the foundation of the church with Christ Jesus himself, the cornerstone.

The apostles were the first that were appointed that were to go out with the gospel of Christ.

They were the first to preach it. So therefore, they become the foundation of the church. But then we are like living stones that's later on in first Peter two.

So we have been built on this foundation and the stones keep getting added to every

Christian that comes into the body of Christ into his church is another stone that is added until we are built up as a house of worship unto the

Lord. And so Jesus says to Peter on this rock, I will build my church.

I, I will build my church, not Peter. Christ is going to build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

In other words, the church is going to storm the gates of hell. We are going to be rescuing people out of the flames when we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, that's in the book of Jude, snatch them from the fire.

So when we preach the gospel, we're storming the gates of hell. We are advancing the kingdom of God and hell can't keep it back all by God's power and his plan, not ours, nothing to do with our identity.

That is not what this passage is about at all. It is about who Jesus is and what he is doing through his church.

Let's continue. That's the most important question you can answer tonight. Friends, who is God to you?

Who is God? Now, see, I agree with that. I agree that it needs to be put before you.

Who do you say that the son of man is? Do you understand that he is the Christ, the son of the living God? Do you know that Jesus is

God? Do you know that he is judge sitting on his throne, that he is searching minds and hearts and he will render to each person according to their works, as he says in Revelation two.

Do you know that about Christ? But Sadie has spun that into finding out who you are and your identity, not knowing

Christ, but finding out about you. This is Narcissus. This is what

Chris Roseboro has termed Narcissus, taking the term narcissism and Isis and putting those things together, reading yourself into the text where it's not about you.

It's not even about finding out Peter's identity. It's knowing who Christ is and the work that he is doing to build his church, which incidentally is still going on to this day.

So 2000 years later, it is still proved that Jesus was correct.

If there was not a church of Jesus Christ on the earth today, then you could say the guy was a fraud and the gates of hell clearly prevailed against the church.

But the fact that there is still a church today on the earth, and I hope you're a part of one. A good gospel preaching church is further testimony to the truth of these words that Jesus proclaimed to his disciples.

And he chose these men and through them, the Holy Spirit did this work and is still doing that work to this day.

And every person who comes into faith in Christ is another living stone that is added to that building, a house of worship unto the

Lord. Let's continue on. Because whoever's on the throne of your life is going to be the one telling you who you are.

So if God is God to you and what God says about you is true, then that will change everything about who you are.

And why it's so important that we know our identity is because who we believe we are will directly impact us to do the things that we choose to do in life.

You see, after Peter was given his identity, he then was given his mission to build the church.

So we have to understand who God is to understand who we are, to understand what we are called to do.

And what we're trying to do as a culture is we're wanting the world to tell us who we are, trying to establish ourselves in the world, and then trying to have purpose and go live with intention for the gospel of Jesus.

And those two things contradict each other because who the world tells you you are and what God calls you to do is typically not going to be a match.

They're not going to go hand in hand. You see, what we're trying to do is we're trying to study the Enneagram to tell us about who we are more than we're studying the word of God to find out who we are.

We're trying to take all these personality tests to lead us and guide us through our life. Instead of leaning on the

Holy Spirit, we're scrolling through social media, trying to figure out answers to these massive questions about who we are, looking at TikTok, looking at Snapchat articles, trying to figure out who am

I instead of really leaning into the voice of God. Now, the voice of God is in the

Bible. She's never established that. Who does God say that you are? Well, first of all, how do you know what

God has said? It's right here in the pages of Scripture, but she's never directed the young people there. So we could just be left to, well,

I believe that I am this. And so that's what that must be what God is telling me about myself. Therefore, I am who

God says that I am. You know, she's never given an objective basis through which to test any of these claims.

And that objective basis is the Bible. It is the word of God. Now, it's neat here that she has kind of dogged on all of these personality tests, right?

The Myers -Briggs and knowing your horoscope or doing the

Enneagram. Yeah, we should not be finding our identity in any of that stuff. So you might be hearing her say that and going,

Amen, sister. Thank you for warning young people about how dangerous that stuff can be. Hold that thought.

And here's the thing. I'm a big fan of those things. I'm a six wing seven on the

Enneagram. I can tell you everything there is to know about it. I am an ENFP. I know there's some proud

ENFPs out there on the Myers -Briggs. I know my zodiac sign. I know all these things.

I love social media, but none of that can tell me more about who I am than the one who knit me together in my mother's womb.

Uh, what? So she went from saying that all of this stuff is illegitimate to finding out who you are to suddenly saying,

Hey, I love all of that stuff, but nothing else can tell you more about who you are than Jesus.

So see, Jesus is just one of many things that can tell you about who you are. He needs to be the biggest one, but those other things are still pretty cool.

The Enneagram, which has its roots in the occult, the Myers -Briggs. I don't even know this stuff, right?

I've never, I've never taken any of these personality tests. I don't even know what my zodiac is, what my, what my sign is.

There's a comic. I don't know if you've seen this meme before. It's pretty good where there's this girl that asked this guy, what's your zodiac?

And he responds dinosaur. And she says, that's made up. And he said, they're all made up.

It's so nonsensical. It cannot tell you anything significant about who you are.

Our identity is in Christ. But knowing, first of all, that we have sinned and what we deserve is the judgment of God.

And it's only in Christ Jesus that we are forgiven those sins.

See, we've been made in the image of God. Every single human being is made in God's image.

Genesis 127, he made man in his image. Male and female, he created them. So we all have the image of God, meaning that God's intention for us when he made us was to worship and glorify him, to image

God, to give him glory. But we took the body and the mind that he gave us and the breath that he put in our lungs.

And instead of glorifying him with those things, we blasphemed him and glorified ourselves instead.

And it is an incredible blasphemy, the great blasphemy of the universe. Do you really ever stop and consider just how stupid your sin is?

That we, these puny finite creatures made on earth, would say to the

God of the universe that we know better than he knows or that we could do his job better than he does it.

Just how ridiculous is sin? Folks, we so deserve to be destroyed and cast into hell.

That's exactly what we deserve. But God is gracious to us and doesn't destroy us in our sin, but gave his son

Jesus to die for sin so that who believes in him, whoever believes, whoever knows he is the

Christ, the son of the living God, and has by faith been justified before him.

That person has been restored back to fellowship with God. Our sin had separated us from God.

It is in Jesus Christ, the great divide has been crossed. And now we have fellowship with God once again.

Once enemies of his kingdom, now we've become fellow heirs of his kingdom through his son,

Jesus Christ. Once we were children of Satan, by faith in Jesus, we've been adopted as sons and daughters of God.

That's who we are. That's how we find our identity. You don't inherently have this identity in Christ.

It is by faith in Christ that we are made the children of God. And incidentally, things that you don't hear from Sadie Robertson Huff at all.

In fact, she just gave all of the people she's talking to permission to go back to all those worldly things as long as you make

Jesus the most important thing. Well, Jesus is really not the most important thing in that equation. As we've been talking about going through the book of Galatians on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, if it's

Christ plus blank equals my happiness or whatever else, what you put in the blank is really what you worship.

It's not Jesus. It's this thing that you have that your life feels empty without. You see, because what happens is when

I say that those things are what I identify with is what it does is it excuses me to not have to be who

I'm called to be. Because when I say, yeah, I'm a six on the Enneagram, that just means that I have a very fearful personality.

And so, you know what? I'm just going to be afraid because that's who I am. That's how I was created. I'm a six. This is my identity.

But the word of God says that you've not been given a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and self -control.

And so I have to ask myself, what do I identify more with what the Enneagram says about me or what

God says about me? What do I identify more with? See, she says that again.

So you can identify yourself by all these worldly things as long as you give 51 % of your identity to Jesus, 49 % these other things, but 51 % to Christ.

Now, this is the second time that she's made that statement. God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self -control.

Where does she get that from? Second time she's mentioned it, but she's never given a reference. It's 2 Timothy 1 7.

This is Paul talking to Timothy. Where is Paul in this letter? He's in prison.

Why? For preaching the gospel. What is he telling Timothy? Timothy, they have put me here in prison and they are going to kill me because I preach the gospel.

You go out and preach the gospel until they kill you too. That's what the letter is about.

And the courage that Timothy has to do this comes not from himself, but from God.

It's not some inherent thing that Timothy has. That's the way Sadie keeps talking about it.

Like I have a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self -control as though God has already given that to every single person.

That's not the context of this at all. The spirit of power that we have been given is the

Holy Spirit through the gospel, which according to Romans 1 16 is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes

God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power to continue to persevere in him.

Even though the rest of the world hates us for it and love, even though the world hates us, we continue in love, extending the gospel because it is only by the gospel that they can be saved from the wrath of God and self -control that we not walk in our sins and the passions of our flesh or to turn the world's way when they start bearing down on us.

But we persevere in Christ, in all things, pursuing holiness, pursuing

Jesus, not frolicking around and all this other worldly stuff, but desiring lives of holiness.

What is Sadie going to say about that? Does she ever explain these words she uses, or does she just throw in enough

Christian ease to sell a few more books and gain a few more followers on Twitter and Instagram?

You don't even have to give up your worldly stuff. She still wants to be the cool chick, so doesn't want to say anything too offensive that might cost followers on Instagram or Twitter.

It's just enough bubblegum Christianity to make you feel like God is on your side.

It's the K -love mentality, positive and encouraging, never confronting any sin or calling to holiness just to give you the feels.

See, I was at a friend's wedding recently, and there was this powerful moment at the rehearsal dinner. Okay, I forgot that's where she goes next, so I'm going to skip all of this.

We've listened to the first third. I'm going to skip the middle third, which is a lot of stories and analogies to further the point.

Let's get to the last third. Here we go, the closing 10 minutes of the message.

I want to declare this message over you tonight of who your God is. Maybe you're sitting in the room, and you've been trying to figure out who you are, and that path has led you to confusion.

That path has led you to extreme anxiety. That path has even led you to depression. You're sitting here, and you have no clue who you are.

Tonight, you're actually understanding that. Wait a second. My God is

God, and He is my Father, and that's who I belong to. If you're starting to realize that tonight, and you want to agree with who

God is, then as I read who God is, and as I declare who

God is, I want you to stand up in this Mercedes Benz. Tonight, you're answering the question for yourself,

Jesus, you are God, and God, you are my Father. This is who you are, and if this is who you are,

I know who I am, and I will do what I'm called to do. So as I declare this, friends,

I just ask that you would stand, and I'm standing with you here in Atlanta, and this is not only going to touch

Atlanta, but this is going to touch the world if we can get this revelation tonight. So this is a name it and claim it sort of a thing.

I'm going to declare this over you, and so I'm going to name it, and you're going to claim it. And she says in there that as I'm naming these things about God, you're going to say, wait,

God is my Father, and so I know who I am. Has she ever explained how you know

God is your Father? Just because she says it, and you agree with it?

We become the children of God by faith in Jesus. You are children of the devil before you come to faith in Christ, and it's only by faith in Jesus that you become the children of God, adopted into his family as sons and daughters of God.

No understanding of that has ever been stated. She's just declaring. She's claiming that everybody there is already a son or a daughter of God.

Priscilla said that as she's sitting alone, and she looks herself in the mirror, she says sometimes she asks herself, girl, who's your daddy?

Sorry, she's talking about Priscilla Shire and a message that she listened to from Priscilla called Who's Your Daddy?

And that's kind of led her into this closing where she's going to claim this over the people in the Mercedes -Benz arena.

And then she says to herself, she says, he is the first and the last. He's the beginning and the end.

He's the keeper of creation and the creator of all. He's the architect of the universe and the manager of all time.

He always was, always is, always will be, unmoved, unchanged, undefeated, and never undone.

He was bruised but brought healing. He was pierced but eased pain. He was persecuted but brought freedom. He is risen to bring power, and he reigns to bring peace.

You remind yourself that he is light, he is love, he is longevity, and he is the Lord. He is goodness and power and faithfulness, and he is

God. He is holy and righteous and powerful and pure. His ways are right, his will eternal, his mind unchanging, and his mind is on us.

He's our savior, our God, our peace, our Lord, our comfort, our joy, and he rules our life.

He's the wisdom of the wise, the power of the powerful, the leader of all leaders, the ancient of days, the ruler of all rulers.

His goal was a relationship with me. He'll never leave you, never forsake you, never mislead you, never forget you, never overlook you, and never cancel your appointment in his appointment book.

When you fall, he will lift you up. When you fail, he will forgive you. When you are weak, he is strong.

When you're afraid, he is your courage. When you are broken, he will mend you. When you are blind, he will lead you.

When you're hungry, he will feed you. Get this, when you face trials, he is with you. Now that is true if you're a

Christian, but Sadie is just declaring this over everybody in the Mercedes -Benz arena as though it is true of all of them, and it's not.

Now, I don't have a problem with a preacher standing up in front of people and doing this very sort of a thing. Jesus is this,

Jesus is this, proclaiming those things that the Bible says about Christ. That is beautiful and wonderful.

I love doing that in sermons myself, but Sadie is doing this in a different way. She is proclaiming this over everybody that is there as though everyone in the room has that relationship with Jesus, and they don't.

There are people that are in the room that have not heard anything about their sin or the judgment of God that is coming against them if they don't repent and turn to Christ.

She is proclaiming everyone in the room is a child of God when they're not. Everyone in that room, thousands of people in that room, not everyone in that room is a child of God.

There are plenty of people just based on what she said about comments she got on her Instagram, plenty of people in that room still identifying themselves by their sexual immorality and have not repented of anything to come to know

Christ and therefore be made into a son or a daughter of God. Now, everything that she said there is true.

There is one exception or one critique that I would give there where she said his ultimate goal was a relationship with me.

Now, that's not God's ultimate goal. His ultimate goal is his glory. Jesus did even all that he did to the glory of God, the father

Philippians to 11. Even when you read about the love and affection that God has for us, according to Psalm 23, the

Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.

He lays me down in green pastures. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.

So even there, all of these wonderful things that God lovingly does for us, he does for his namesake.

And it says in 1 John, your sins are forgiven for his namesake.

God's ultimate goal is his glory. Yes, he loves us with a deep love and affection.

Amen. I don't deserve it. It is by God's grace. But that's not his ultimate goal.

His love for me is even for his glory and I am to glorify him.

Let's continue on with these proclamations Sadie makes here. When I face persecution, he shields me.

When I face problems, he will comfort me. When I face loss, he will provide for me. When we face death, he will carry us all home to meet him.

He is everything to everyone, every time, everywhere and in every way.

He is your God and that is who you belong to. I expect there are people standing up all over this room declaring who

God is to him. And if you believe that that is who your God is, you will not be confused by who you are because he's not confused by who he is.

And he is not confused on the purpose of your life. We're going to talk about so many things over the next day, about the things that we're called to do, to go and to tell the nations about who

God is. And friends, you can't do that unless you get this tonight. That God is

God to you. That the gates of hell shall not prevail past his kingdom.

And that that God in you can do more than you could ever think of, ask for, dream of or imagine.

I'm gonna pray for you tonight that you truly believe that. I guess there was something else

I was looking for in there. I didn't realize I was so close to the end of that. But anyway, whatever.

We'll go ahead and stop there. Now, she made this statement about the kingdom of God will not prevail past the gates of hell.

No, it was the other way. She said the gates of hell will not prevail past the kingdom of God. The gates of hell are not advancing.

The kingdom of God is. And so we are to go out to the world with the gospel, showing people their sin, that they may understand that the heart is deceptively sick.

Who can understand it? As it says in Jeremiah 17. And as it says in the book of Proverbs, a person who trusts in his own heart is a fool.

And so we're not telling people, follow your heart. And then it will lead you to the answer.

We need to show them that their heart is sick and wicked and is inclined towards sin. According to what

Jesus said, if you lust after another person, it's the same as if you've committed adultery. If you have hated someone else in your heart, it's the same as if you have murdered them in your heart and you are deserving of the fires of hell, is what

Jesus says there in Matthew chapter five. We are blasphemers and we are liars at heart.

This is who we are. And it is for this sin that we will perish unless we repent and turn to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.

A message you will not hear, at least in this sermon. Sermon.

Well, at least in this message from Sadie Robertson Huff, she never says anything like that. Never leads anybody to a knowledge of their sin and need for repentance and therefore knowing

Christ is savior. My friends, if you don't know what Christ is saving you from, then you don't know he's a savior.

You don't know him as savior and Lord, unless you know that you are under the wrath of God and it is only

Christ that can save you from the judgment that is to come. Repent of your sin to Jesus Christ and live.

And when we go out to the world with the gospel, which she talked about there, it grieves me to think about what kind of gospel message was being told to the students in the

Mercedes Benz arena when it doesn't seem like anybody there can confront these students in their sin.

Will warn them about their sexual immorality or finding their identity in their gender or thinking you're a girl when you're actually a boy.

You know, any of these things, all of this wickedness that the world is filling their minds with. Did anyone at Passion 22 even confront any of that?

Or did they just try to affirm everybody like God loves your beautiful face? Why in the world are you so down on yourself when

God loves you just the way you are? Was that the kind of bubblegum message that was presented to all those students there?

Then I cannot believe that they were equipped with any kind of gospel to go out to the world with, as Sadie talked about there in the very end.

No, we need to use the law using the law of God to show a person their sin so that looking into the mirror of God's word, they understand who they are before God.

They are unholy and worthy of judgment. But God is holy and he will save us if we turn to his son.

So as it says of the law in Romans 3, 19 and 20, we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

So we show them the law. God's law says do not murder, but you're a murderer at heart.

It says do not commit adultery, but you lust after other people. It says not to take the

Lord's name in vain, but you use God's name as a swear word. And so we have all sinned.

Romans 3, 23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins.

It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, not the one who found their identity in Christ, the one who knows

Jesus, who is the son of God. And when you put your faith and your trust in him alone for your salvation, you will be forgiven your sins and you will have everlasting life with God.

And my friends, your search for your identity can end there. Let me finish with prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have according to your word. Any meaning and purpose we are looking for, we find it only in Christ who said in John 14, six,

I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, but by me.

And so teach us to not only grow in our faith and our knowledge of Jesus Christ, but that it changes our lives to live in holiness unto the

Lord. We turn from sin and the temptations of this world and the former person that we were before we came to Christ, the old earthly ways, the sinfulness is put to death and we walk in righteousness in Jesus Christ.

Teach us to do those things, to hate our sin and love Christ, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And all the things we need will be added to us as well. Father, I pray for Sadie Huff.

I pray that she does have a genuine desire to honor God and share the message of Christ with other people.

But teach her to do that in a biblical way and keep her from the temptations that she no doubt faces as a young person and even the ego that she is building as somebody who has been in front of the camera and has had popularity almost all of her life.

May it not be a pride that leads to a fall, but guard her from the same sorts of things that came against Joshua Harris, the apostasy that he eventually fell into.

May that not happen to this young lady, but that she comes to understand the truth and walks in it and really leaves this celebrity lifestyle and focuses on those things, those gifts that Christ has given her in a husband and now that she's a mother and she has children and she focuses on those things and can continue to teach

Christ to her children, to her family, to people that are in her church, without having to have these major platforms, at least at this point in life.

Father, may we all humble ourselves before you, never thinking too highly of ourselves, but casting all our cares on you because you care for us, as it says in 1

Peter 5. Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake and give us the courage to stand on the truth in this wicked and perverse generation.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web, and we thank you for selecting ours. But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family.

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