Convicting Sermon on False Religion

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Okay, you can open your bibles to Matthew gospel according to Matthew chapter 15 Gospel according to Matthew chapter 15

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Um, if you guys are new To apologia church. We've been in a study on the gospel according to Matthew Uh for a while now and we call it the kingdom of god series

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Uh, matthew calls, uh, the kingdom of god the kingdom of heaven, but they're synonymous in our new testament

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Kingdom of heaven kingdom of god same thing We're not to think of kingdom of heaven as something out there

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But something very much that has come into history Under christ himself entering into the world god becoming flesh to save us from our sins and to bring about redemption kingdom of god kingdom of heaven

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Probably one of if you were to take a handful of central themes throughout the entirety of the bible

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The kingdom of god is right in there central. So understanding the kingdom of god The kingdom of heaven is essential as believers in understanding god's purpose in the world

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Our purpose in the world and so we've been unpacking verse by verse and we're in matthew 15 now

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I just want to say as i've said a number of times before this is going to get more and more Interesting as we move forward because you might notice if you've been getting ahead of us and reading through the gospel according to matthew

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That right after chapter 15 getting in chapter 16 things start to get pretty intense

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We saw jesus actually engage in a lot of condemnation of false teachers and false prophets and false views in the sermon on the mount and Prior to matthew 15 you see john the baptist doing the same

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But as you get into matthew 16 and on it gets amplified What was in seed form before now is getting into the climax

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Now I want to say if you've been tracking with us for all these many years for this study

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You know that i've been trying to highlight what the old testament said had to take place In the coming of christ as he enters into the world to bring his reign into the world and his salvation and redemption

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As he's accomplishing the central thing that god is going to do in the world and that is bring salvation to the ends of the earth

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You've noticed that i've brought up several texts from the old testament that talk about soon coming judgment upon the covenant breakers

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As the messiah enters into the world There's going to be a forerunner first that forerunner comes before messiah and then messiah himself is going to come

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He's going to die for the sins of his people. He's going to rise from the dead But there's all kinds of constituent elements that flow

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Around that ministry and a lot of it has to do with god Finally judging the covenant breakers within israel the people of god

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In israel, there are covenant breakers and god is going to judge them And bring swift judgment and you start to see as you're getting now moving into matthew

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You're going to start to see those themes amplified and if you want to go ahead and read later on tonight matthew chapter 16

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You'll see jesus promising them before some of them die They will not all die before he comes ultimately in judgment with his kingdom

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And so this will actually help I believe i'm just sort of setting this up now it'll help in terms of putting away

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Really bad eschatologies i'm talking about 88 reasons why jesus will return in 1988

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That book sold a lot of books and that guy retired well, right he even tried to do a sequel

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I believe for 89 right 1989 89 reasons right? It just doesn't work out.

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So well if you go into the prophecy section of any bookstore Do those exist anymore? Bookstores, okay

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If you go into the prophecy section of any christian bookstore, you will see every year the cycle of new eschatological books and end times prophecy pundits and all these different things and I want to say

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That we ought to be much more settled on the on on the future Than many of these prophecy people have allowed us to be if we have jesus view of the end and paul's view of the end, we won't succumb to a lot of the um

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Prophetic madness that happens around us. So keep tracking with that theme and now let's go to the text matthew chapter 15

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I'm going to read through this and we're going to move through the text together today here now the words of the living and the true god

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Then pharisees and scribes came to jesus from jerusalem and said why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?

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For they do not wash their hands when they eat he answered them And why do you break the commandment of god for the sake of your tradition?

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For god commanded honor your father and your mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.

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But you say If anyone tells his father or his mother what you have gained from me is given to god

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He did not honor his father. So for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of god

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You hypocrites. Well did isaiah prophesy of you? When he said this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me in vain

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Do they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men? And he called the people to him and said to them hear and understand

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It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person but what comes out of the mouth this defiles a person then

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The disciples came and said to him do you know That the pharisees were offended when they heard this saying he answered every plant that my heavenly father is not planned to be up Will be rooted up let them alone

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They are blind guides and the blindly the blind both will fall into the pit But peter said to him explain the parable to us and he said are you still?

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Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?

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But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person for out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery sexual morality theft false witness slander

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These are what defile a person but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone

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As far as the reading of god's word, let's pray together father Lord, we come before you as your church

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Lord we confess our dependence upon you and your word and your instruction and your spirit

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God, we need to understand this lesson Lord so well god, we

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All your your people god we fall into error people who love jesus Fall into error the same kind of error as every religious tradition in the history of the world

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The same kind of error that these pharisees fell into here where they focus on the outside of the cup, but not the inside Lord, they create we create

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Traditions that violate what you actually say in your word We take things and we create new standards lord that actually void your word

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Lord we don't focus on the heart. We try to hide that one Central place where all of our sin resides

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We try to purify ourselves and to look good. We try to act like we have it together

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We we pretend to be righteous on the outside And we don't deal with the heart. So I do ask god that in this message by your spirit and not because of my words

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That you would challenge us and change us god. Let this be father transforming I do pray god that you get me out of the way

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I'm an unworthy servant I have no right to be before your people And standing lord with your word, but in christ we have

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Righteousness and I do pray that people lord forget me And that I would pass from their mind and lord

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They remember you and what they've learned from you today by your spirit in jesus name. Amen So let's catch up quickly matthew chapter 15 take that take that Chapter and put it side by side with mark chapter 7

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So if you're doing some deep study take mark 7 and matthew 15 and put them right next to each other mark gives more details

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An explanation than matthew does I do believe as some commentators have said matthew is trying to be very very cautious Because he has primarily a jewish audience in mind

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He if you read matthew, you can see so much of the old testament is if matthew is saturated with it

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It is full of old testament revelation. It is full of Jewish language that would have been unfamiliar to non -jews to gentiles

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There's so much in matthew where you begin to see that matthew is really writing this Trying to be winsome to the jewish people, but also tell the truth

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There's some harsh stuff in here to the jewish people in terms of the covenant breakers So for example,

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I said it at the beginning There are two phrases or two ways of talking about the kingdom of god.

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One is kingdom of god and one is what? Kingdom of heaven. So kingdom of god kingdom of heaven.

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Why? The difference why not just say kingdom of god the old testament says kingdom of god

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Why would matthew choose to say kingdom of heaven and not kingdom of god? Well kingdom of heaven was something they used to do in that day

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They so revered the name of god that they would actually replace god's name with heaven

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Because it was a softer way of saying it was a way of showing respect and reverence And so not that matthew has that superstition

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But he actually borrows from that tradition of saying kingdom of heaven rather than kingdom of god because he's trying to be sensitive

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To jewish sensitivities. And by the way, this is something that actually exists to our day. Have you ever seen?

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jewish people today or even some well Intentioned christians taking say the word lord and writing l and then they underscore underscore d or l

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Underscore r d they don't write the full name or g Underscore and d and that's a way jewish people believe by way of tradition

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That is a way of actually showing respect and reverence to god. I would argue that it actually represents ancient jewish superstition

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Because the old testament writers and new testament writers under divine inspiration Did not engage in that practice.

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It actually does represent ancient jewish superstition over the name of god however, you can tell that matthew is actually trying to show respect to the jewish audience he is writing to and so You do see that mark brings in more than matthew does in terms of actually direct

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Hard statements to the pharisees of his day very very important. So watch we talk about the synoptic gospels

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This is really really important. I'd never want to assume when i'm preaching a message that you just automatically understand it

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I don't want to be abusive in that way So you'll hear people talking about the synoptic gospels the synoptic gospels are matthew

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Mark and luke john is not included because john doesn't run along the same lines and same narrative as matthew mark and luke

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Matthew mark and luke actually have some of the same stuff in them Mark may include things that matthew doesn't matthew may actually change some language and luke especially

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Changes really some explicitly jewish terminology in matthew He changes it makes it more easy for a gentile to understand now synoptic means seeing together

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Seeing together so you can take matthew mark and luke You can literally run them side by side and some books do this and you can see the whole story playing out together

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With different details added or taken away in either one in terms of eyewitness testimony

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So matthew 15 mark 7 put them together do a deeper study. Here's the point in catching up What do we need to learn from this first?

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Portion that both mark and matthew talk about here it is jesus confronts religious leaders in his day

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Who had a revered tradition that they saw as divine Tradition consider this they knew that their their tradition was not the word of god

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If we know history here We know that in the first century the jews actually had laid up in the jewish temple in the first century

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All of the old testament books that they saw as scripture They were the same books that jesus quoted from John quoted from peter quoted from paul quoted from get this the apostles in the new testament quote from every

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Single book of the old testament revelation save esther, which is a really small book.

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They knew what their canon was Jesus knew what it was the jews knew what they were and they laid them up in the jewish temple now watch

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They knew what the bible was and they said this is the word of god. However as is

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The same today the jews in this day had traditions of the elders

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Passed down from a long time before that they saw as divine

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Tradition today people have the mishnah the jewish commentaries and the law of god and traditions

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We have the same things today. They had it then and these pharisees these experts on god's law and god's word

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Had running alongside the bible get this the bible They said that's the word of god and then they had divine tradition running alongside of it that they never would have said

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This is scripture. However They did think that that was divine tradition that had to be followed

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Now, what does jesus do when he has two? Standards running alongside one another he says to the jews of his day who are watch dogging and dissing

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His being a rabbi because they're essentially saying this you're not a good teacher you are

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Actually, not a very good rabbi because your disciples are not following the divine tradition of the elders

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You're up your disciples because you're a bad teacher because you're a bad rabbi

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Your disciples are failing in essential parts of religious practice and discipline

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They're not doing what they're supposed to be doing for spiritual discipline. You're a failure as a teacher

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This was a way of getting at jesus ministry. Hey guys, check it out. Jesus This guy you're saying is the messiah the king of the world the one who's going to bring redemption

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He can't even get his followers to live pious righteous lives

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No piety in these guys. And so this wasn't like a query where they were saying.

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Hey jesus Um, how come you guys don't follow the tradition of the elders they're confronting jesus as is their practice

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Trying to nail them And what jesus does is he he teaches us a lesson here and this is essential

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This will change your life. This will transform you you have to get it what god in the flesh does

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When he has two traditions running alongside one another two standards running alongside one another what he says is this

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The word of god is the ultimate standard and he says this your tradition

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Actually makes the word of god void So your divine tradition your piety this ritual you guys have actually erases

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What god's standards actually are and what he does is he points to their revelation?

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And the word of god and he says you say this God says this thus you invalidate the word of god for the sake of your tradition.

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What does this teach us? Well, it teaches us the same thing. God has always said and what is that that the word of god is the ultimate standard

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What does the bible say second simon 3 16 through 17? It says this all scripture is

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Breathed out by god. What does peter say about the revelation of god? He says this no

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Scripture no prophecy was given by private interpretation He says this holy men of god spoke as they were carried along by the holy spirit

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So the source of this revelation from god is the spirit of god himself That's the source and it says in this word.

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It says that all scripture is the greek word. What? theon ustas

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Theon ustas in the greek means Breathed out from god if you if you try this for a moment now put your hand in front of your face

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Just put your hand right here in front of your face Now, I want you just for a moment. Just speak into your hand.

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Just for a moment Just speak just say something into your hand for a moment Did you feel the breath hit your palm

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Okay, now theon ustas that greek word That greek word Expresses that very thing that feeling of breath that hot breath that breath hitting your palm

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That is how theon ustas describes the words of god. It is breathed out.

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You you can feel it. It's there It's breathed out by god All scripture is theon ustas and what jesus said is this in john 17 17.

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He says thy word is truth The greek word there behind truth is the standard the plumb line

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It's the thing that shows if something is right if it is true in construction We use levelers

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But in this day and even currently people use things as plumb lines to see if something was right

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If it was true if you wanted to see if something was actually true You drop that plumb line and you didn't move the wall

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You sorry you didn't move the plumb line to get in line with the wall You move the wall to get up with the plumb line because it was the standard and what jesus says about the word of god

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Is this? Thy word is truth your word is

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Truth and when jesus is confronted with a conflict with a conflict he says

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You take the word of the living god as the ultimate standard You don't take substandard extra biblical traditions and elevate them to the status of the word of the living god

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Now what's this sound like? There's a there's a there's a catch cry.

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There's a catch cry that happened hundreds of years ago when we had A moment in history where it became vividly clear

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That a major Historic christian church and tradition had departed from the word of god on essential matters

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How are we saved? How are we justified before god? How do we know god?

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How should we live our lives as believers when it became ultimately clear That that church had departed christians began pulling out and protesting

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What that church was saying and that's where you get Protestants and one of the catch cries of the protestant reformation the protestant reformation was sola

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What? Scriptura and what does it mean? Not that it's just me

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Under a tree with my bible and jesus I am the divine interpreter of the bible.

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That's not what sola scriptura meant It did not mean that the christian traditions aren't good.

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It did not mean the confessions aren't good It didn't mean that the creeds weren't good. It meant that watch the bible alone is the soul

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Infallible rule of faith and practice for the church. Here's the point you want to know what's true

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Go to the word You want to know what god says? Go to the word Everything else must be tested by the words of god one more example for you to show it in the old testament

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Well two one is isaiah 8 20. It says this to the law and to the testimony

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If they do not speak according to this word it is because they have no light in them

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One more test in the bible is deuteronomy chapter 13. Just read the first six verses what god says to his people is this if someone comes a prophet a dreamer of dreams

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And they have signs and wonders Or they have prophecy and and it actually looks like a legit ministry.

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This guy looks like a Pastor or preacher or a teacher that's from god and he's doing all kinds of amazing things in the name of god

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God says even if it appears to be from me the signs and wonders come to pass even it's a miraculous ministry god says this if He leads you after other gods

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What's that mean? If he contradicts how god has already revealed himself god has spoken in history

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He's entered in and broken into space and time and he's talked to his people about himself

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And god says this even if it looks legit if he contradicts what i've said about myself already

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He says the lord your god is testing you To see whether you love him and he says you are not to listen to that prophet or dreamer of dreams

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You're to reject them. So what was the standard the revelation of god? What has always been the standard the revelation of god?

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What does jesus point to in a conflict with the word of god and some divine tradition risen up among men?

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He says your tradition voids the word of god. You're broken not the word of god.

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How does the apostle paul? Convince people that this message is not a novelty

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How does he convince people that jesus is not a novelty that this isn't some new thing dropped out of the sky some private revelation?

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Like joseph smith brigham young, uh, david koresh

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Great show about that on right now, by the way How how how does paul do it? What does he do?

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He says this when he's telling something from the word of god. He says here's the truth. And how do we know?

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What does the what? Scripture say what does the scripture say?

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What does the scripture say? What does the scripture say? That's the standard It was a standard for the old the old testament prophets.

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It was a standard for jesus It was a standard for the apostles in our new testament. It has been a standard throughout the history of the church

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God's word is the final standard. Let me just say this I Am not the standard

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Your favorite bible teacher is not the standard your favorite christian in history is not the standard

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What what's one of the ways that you can tell? An orthodox christian communion from a cult

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What's one of the what's one of the dividing lines It's right here in this standard of what is the ultimate standard?

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Because you see cults and religions man -made religions will abuse spiritual authority by appealing to their own

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Inherent authority and saying you must follow my authority An orthodox christian communion a solid teacher or pastor will say this

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My words are only binding upon you And my words only need to be followed if they are consistent with the word of the living god

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If my word contradicts the word of god, you are not to listen to my words

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That's the standard the word of god is the ultimate standard. That's where we were sola scriptura

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Versus tradition. I'm going to say one more word to this tradition Confessions all those things are not bad things

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And this is where christians fail and i'm going to say particularly protestants today who don't know their history

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Don't know what we've been teaching what the bible teaches what history teaches us Will almost act like when we come to this bible.

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We're the first ones to get it We're so arrogant in the 21st century evangelical west

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We come to this bible and we honestly act like we're the first ones to take a stab at this thing

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Like we're the first ones to pour over it. There have been giants before us in the faith

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Giants that were on their knees before this book their entire lives Giants that god raised up men and women men and women to fight for the truth of the gospel and the biblical worldview against error

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And we fail if we do not learn from them and be humble to recognize

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That god has given his spirit to the church And the spirit of god through his word guides his people in history to accomplish

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Majestic feats for his glory And there have been times in history where god and his sovereignty has allowed

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People who deny the truth who are heretics who are unorthodox and unbiblical He has allowed them to invade the church so the church can recognize error for what it is

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Get into the word of god and develop on the basis of scripture creeds and confessions to guard the church and the truth

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What we're not saying when we say the word of god is the standard And no other tradition is we are not saying tradition is bad or inherently evil or dangerous

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We're saying this is the standard And if you have a tradition

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It had better be consistent with this word And if it isn't the tradition is wrong cast it away now watch

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This is where it gets intensely personal So When you're thinking about that right now as I was saying it you were thinking about well, okay

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Let me think about that. Do you got the nicaean creed? Chalcedon the athanasian creed good stuff.

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You've got the senate of dort. You've got the 1646 Westminster confession is 1689 london baptist confession faith.

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Okay, I get it pastor Jeff what you're saying is that we got to test those traditions and make sure that those traditions are in line.

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Got it I'll make sure that when i'm reading those traditions I make sure that they're consistent with god's word and I will only believe what's consistent with god's word however

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This is where we fail We fail because we don't recognize that each and every single one of us have traditions of our own

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You have traditions in your family. You have personal traditions that you have also erected

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As though they were true piety true godliness true righteousness true spiritual discipline

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And what I want to say is this if we don't allow ourselves to check Our own lives and our own traditions and our own selves

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Then we fail to learn from jesus lesson here because boy it is so easy and commonplace

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For us to read the failures in the new testament of the pharisees and the scribes and to say yeah jesus get those bad guys

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Get the pharisees jesus Get the pharisees paul get the pharisees.

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John make sure you condemn those guys because those are clearly the bad guys And so we see them and the things that jesus is saying to them and we always say well, obviously

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That's the bad guy I'd never want to do that. I'm not the kind of person that prays really amazing prayers

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Publicly that are very different than my private prayers I'm, not the kind of guy that prays on a street corner for attention

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No, I don't I don't go to bible studies and have really amazing Glorious conversations with god when more christians are listening

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I'm, not the kind of person that gives Anything so that other people see me give

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I wouldn't do that. I don't go bragging about my piety or personal I don't do any of that stuff That's for pharisees and I certainly haven't erected any kind of private tradition that actually voids the word of god

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We have to be introspective here and look at our lives I want to say that Traditions in history for christians are excellent guardrails for the faith, but they are substandard and not ultimate authorities sola scriptura is the way of God's prophets and apostles.

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It's the way of jesus Now this is where we get to something actually interesting reading your text.

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Matthew 15 go here It says in matthew chapter 15 verse 7 you hypocrites now.

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I want to say real quick. Uh, they didn't like that They didn't like that Yeah, jesus.

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Listen. Jesus is being harsh with false teachers He's being straightforward with him and I want to say this is so important to get it is vital in our day to get this right

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Yes, we are to speak the truth in love and I want to say this I have failed in this area And i'm confident to say so of you

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We're sinners. We're all a work in construction We're all being grown by god in his spirit

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We've all failed to speak the truth in love and we need to do better We need to submit to god and we need to be more like jesus in terms of trying to win people

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To the truth and so yes, we need to love one another but i'll tell you I think there's one dramatic failure in our day

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And that's the kind of failure that says something like this the gospel Is that jesus really wants you to be nice?

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Right, that's what we bought into today 21st century evangelicalism and it's been said i'm not i'm not this isn't my own thinking here

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It's just consistent thinking you guys have heard this before. It's important thinking And that's the idea that the gospel is that jesus wants you to be really nice to people

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And if you're not really nice to people all the time and you're failing jesus in some way I want to say that neglects the entire revelation of god it neglects jesus.

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It neglects the apostles Completely the idea That we ought not to confront false teaching in a very straightforward direct and even harsh way at times

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Is not something that is consistent with the scriptures We must confront error and false teaching watch when it is the blind

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Leading the blind and people's souls are at stake. We must tell the truth

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So for example when jesus talks to false teachers in his day that are leading people astray the blind leading the blind he says hypocrite

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You are fake You're faking you're lying.

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You're putting on a mask. You're pretending. This is a costume It's a mask You're not really the person that you say you are with the pretending the mask is just a shell

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It's not where it's really there. So he says to the religious leaders of his day watch which were highly esteemed

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These people are magnified. We see them as bad guys because we know the story in the new testament and all the covenant breaking and false teaching

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Yeah but when paul in philippians chapter 3 When he wants to brag about his resume when he wants to pull out the harvard resume to take down his detractors

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What does he say about himself in relation to the law of god? He says what to brag in the first century to make himself look big time and not

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Small he says as to the law pharisee

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What's that mean? He wants you want to know how committed I am to the law of god You want to know how much

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I wanted to have piety and obedience? He says I was a pharisee That's how committed

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I am to god's word and the law So jesus now in this moment is right there with those false teachers who are bringing these burdens upon the people of god

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What's he say to the respected religious elite? He says fake pretender

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You're lying You're lying to yourselves. You're lying to these people. You're destroying and disrupting the word of god god's revelation

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You're a hypocrite You understand watch this is why they wanted jesus dead

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And acts the book of acts you have the church gathered together, right? That's after jesus died. He was buried and he rose again.

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He's ascended now He's seated on his throne. The gospel is going out. It says what about jesus? It says the church prays

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It says gathered into the city against your holy servant. Jesus. He says pontius pilate herod

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He says the gentiles the peoples of israel to do whatever your hand predestined to occur

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The murder of jesus predestined by god peoples of israel watch why they want him dead because this

32:54

Jesus exposes their false teaching. He exposes their abuse and he says to them. You're a hypocrite.

33:00

You're pretending Your religion isn't true. It's not real. It's not from god All this stuff is sin.

33:06

It's not real and what jesus does is he quotes from Isaiah Isaiah 29 13 you can go read it later

33:14

This was the text this people honors me with their lips their heart is far from me in vain Do they worship me teaching and here it is as doctrines the commandments of men?

33:25

so jesus It's potent imagine for a second watch imagine for a second that there was a

33:32

Chapter in the bible that you knew was like the it was the meat

33:37

It was the it was the punch. It was the smack down. It was the hard one Let's do it as a christian.

33:44

What's a section from tell me if you know this what's a section from matthew Sorry, I won't give it to you.

33:50

So what's a section from matthew? That is the hardcore Condemnation of jesus to the religious leaders of his day.

33:59

I'm talking about where he says woe to you Woe to you whitewashed tombs.

34:05

Where is that? Where's that? What's that? Matthew 23 matthew 23. Jesus gives the smack down to the religious leaders of his day

34:14

He says woe to you. Woe to you. You're whitewashed tombs You look good on the outside, but you are full of stinking rotting carcasses now watch imagine in our day

34:28

Imagine our day. I said this to you. I said hey Um whitewashed tomb

34:36

Well, did god prophesy of you you're the whitewashed tomb Would you realize that I just pulled from like the epic moment and conflict where jesus condemns religious hypocrites and fakes

34:52

If if you take the meaty section of scripture, that is like the hardcore Smackdown, and then

34:58

I go. Hey, that's you What would you think would you be offended?

35:04

Yeah Be a little offended and that's what they that's what jesus does to them. He quotes from isaiah 29 13 and he says isaiah 2913 where god's condemning the religious fakes who create religious man -made religious customs that contradict god's word

35:20

He goes. Yeah, that's you That's you So this is a moment that's actually pretty epic and powerful.

35:28

We may not understand it But jesus right now is in their face. He's creating conflict and I want to say

35:34

And this is vital If we learn anything from this we have to learn That yes from scripture.

35:40

We know there's a balance of speaking the truth and love being gentle and respectful But when it comes to people's souls

35:46

When it comes to things that will lead people astray and destroy them Completely and utterly

35:52

We have to be direct We have to be direct with false teachers and false false prophets in our day And we have to recognize that the gospel is not god wants you to be nice to people

36:02

That's not the gospel. That's not the end of the gospel And that's the god's goal is that his people are really nice to people christians ought to have a balance of love for neighbor

36:13

And love for neighbor that is deep enough and strong enough that they actually are willing to tell the truth

36:21

Tell the truth and jesus does Now watch what jesus does here He says in chapter in verse 10 read it with me

36:27

And he called the people to him and said to them hear and understand It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person but what comes out of the mouth this defiles a person

36:37

Not what goes in It's what comes out of your mouth that defiles you now, this is really important Because it says that the disciples came to him and said to him

36:49

Do you know that the pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? That's critical they're like, um lord

36:57

Uh, did you know you're not making any friends? Right lord. Did you know you're offending the popular crowd?

37:05

Jesus, don't you know that you're not working well right now to like have a lot of fans on facebook

37:13

Right jesus you're losing twitter followers Jesus your subscription your subscribers on youtube are going down Right, I can't tell you how many times people have said that to me when we post something and we expose something and people come

37:26

On and they say hey i'm unsubscribing Or they say hey, I just unliked your page because you said that right like that's the kind of thing people's like We think we got you because now you're not going to have as many followers.

37:39

You're not with the in crowd And so jesus followers say jesus. Did you know? That you actually offended the popular crowd

37:47

The popular teachers. Did you know you offended them? And how did he offend him? he said

37:53

Hypocrite. Yes, that was you and isaiah, but another thing he says there he says it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person

38:01

But what comes out of the mouth this defiles a person now keep your finger there Keep your finger there now go with me.

38:07

Just move to the right and go to mark 7 mark 7 And now watch what mark says in mark 7 verse 19.

38:16

Well, i'll start in 18 and he said to them Then you also without understanding do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him

38:26

It cannot defile him Since it enters not his heart But his stomach and is expelled

38:35

What goes into your mouth goes into your belly and it becomes waste jesus doesn't touch your heart

38:42

And so gee it says here in matthew mark. This is not in matthew. It says thus he declared all foods clean

38:51

Just a little toss in just mark goes. Oh, and by the way, jesus declared everything clean Eat some bacon

38:59

Right, I but you don't realize that that for a jew he's not reading that like me and you

39:04

Well, we're eating everything anyways, right? Some of you guys it's probably like 10 pounds of bacon eaten in this room before like noon, right?

39:12

You don't pay attention to it But do you realize when mark's doing all this and he says and thus jesus declared all foods clean and he just keeps going that a jew goes

39:22

What? Right. Yeah Shrimp and bacon and kalua pork, right?

39:29

Right, you're like shrimp salad shrimp Potatoes shrimp sandwich shrimp just like it's the whole world has opened up now

39:38

Right to all these delicious foods and here's the point watch In god's revelation when god gave the jews the dietary restrictions

39:46

Right. He what this is so critical you get this you'll understand differences in terms of how the law comes to us today

39:53

And is still abiding and relevant today In the old testament god had dietary restrictions for his people to separate his people from the gentiles

40:03

To make them look different act different be separate in how they worshipped him

40:09

He gave them rituals and symbols and a temple and a priest he gave him all these things watch not

40:16

Get this not Not as the main thing. They were not the main thing example

40:24

You already know this When the priest went and he offered sacrifices in the old testament

40:30

And he gave an animal a bull for himself a goat for the people a scapegoat.

40:37

Can I ask you a question? Can the blood of bulls and goats take away anybody's sin? No, why?

40:44

Because it's an animal. It's not image of god. It can't represent you It can't stand before god in your place and offer anything.

40:52

It was a symbol It it was training wheels to do what? To teach the people of god about the greater the high priest was a sinner and he died and someone took his spot

41:04

Yom kippur yom kippurin the day of atonements was something that happened annually

41:11

Here's this high priest. He gets up early offers a sacrifice for himself because he's also a sinner And then he tries to go into the holiest place to offer a sacrifice for the people of god

41:20

And the blood is there from the last year. It's just a reminder continuous reminder. It isn't done.

41:26

It isn't done It isn't done. Why messiah is not here yet? The ultimate hasn't come yet You see the glory of the old testament revelation with the dietary restrictions and the ritual and the symbolism

41:38

Is that watch it wasn't that those things were making anybody? holy

41:44

It wasn't making you righteous and blameless. Only jesus can do that It was teaching them about holiness

41:52

If they were training wheels about being separate and distinct They were training wheels to teach people about what sacrifice was about god's holiness they needed training wheels and when the holy one shows up jesus and he lives a perfect and sinless life and Dies for his people and rises from the dead and is ascended and seated and intercedes for us daily

42:14

Now we know what it meant No more training wheels No more temporary temple.

42:21

No more temporary priest No more dietary restrictions that ephesians 2 says is the holiness code

42:29

That was only meant to be for a time to separate you from gentile, but watch Did god want them to think?

42:37

that bacon Bacon made you unholy because you put it into your body

42:44

No, it was to teach them to be separate and distinct. And so jesus says you got it wrong

42:50

All your ritual washings and trying to be externally clean you're neglecting the weight of your thing.

42:56

It's your hearts That's where it comes what defiles you and so just mark just tosses it in just for good measure

43:04

Oh, yeah, by the way, have some bacon I love it Just have some bacon.

43:10

He declares all foods clean The symbol the shadow the ritual is teaching something deeper

43:18

The blood of bulls and goats didn't take any sin away The rituals were meant to deal with the heart with the hearts

43:27

Now this is really a critical point In terms of go back to matthew 15 when jesus says

43:41

Verse 13 he answered every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be rooted up That goes back to isaiah 60 21

43:52

Isaiah 60 21 if you go back to read it later It's really about the new jerusalem the new people of god the new city of god inviting the world to salvation watch

44:02

Watch, this is huge big moments in matthew. It's actually huge The bible taught that the kingdom of god was going to break into the world

44:12

The covenant breakers are going to be judged and then all the families of the earth We're going to return to worship god the kingdom of god was going to expand throughout the entire world and bring redemption

44:22

God's people would broadcast his good news to the world and salvation would come to all tribes tongues

44:30

Languages and when jesus says every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be rooted up.

44:37

He's going back to isaiah Chapter 60 verse 21 and he's telling them

44:43

All these false teachers all this false doctrine. It's not part of god's plan for the world

44:49

It's not what god is building. It's not what he's doing and god's going to uproot them So by the way, that's also a call to judgment.

44:56

You're about to be judged and guess what? You're not actually part of god's kingdom. This isn't what god's kingdom is about God didn't plant this this isn't from god

45:05

This is of men It's not from god and god's going to uproot it That's what jesus is teaching here.

45:10

And so then he moves into talking about blind guides notice again. He has said to them

45:17

Doctrines of men like they're from god. You're a hypocrite god's going to uproot you

45:22

I want to say if we can learn anything today in 21st century Evangelicalism, it's that we need to confront false teaching the way that jesus did and do what tell them the truth

45:35

Call it what it is There have been times we've called out word of faith prosperity gospel preachers and we've been attacked as a church

45:43

There have been times where we call out false teaching Uh that lead people over a different christ in a different gospel and we are attacked as a church

45:51

We've even had christians attack us because we call out false teaching that is so obviously false

45:58

Any christian who knows their bible should know because we're not being what nice? Why is it in spirit?

46:05

I would hope not and we need to repent if our spirit is offensive and wrong and unkind but the mere the mere um

46:16

Allegation or claim is seen as unloving and unkind but jesus says hypocrite Uprooted doctrines of men like they're from god.

46:25

And so jesus does something very simple. He says Yes Let them alone. They are blind guides and if the blind lead the blind both will fall into a pit

46:35

Seems obvious enough, but I want to illustrate it especially for our children today So if I could can I have uh stellar and henry come on up stellar and henry you guys in here

46:44

Come on up guys how can

46:51

A blind person Lead another what's up dudes? How you doing? Good, you good

46:58

I'm gonna blindfold you guys. Okay And then you i'll do it for you henry. Don't worry and i'll make sure it's nice and tight

47:06

Thanks. Yeah, you're welcome. So stellar ready So i'm gonna blindfold you guys and you guys are gonna have to do something for me.

47:12

Okay I'll show you in just a second. So Can you see anything?

47:18

No, you can't see anything No No No Nothing. Okay.

47:24

Good. Stand right there. Okay. Henry you're next bud. Come on over here All right, henry turn around right this way and i'm gonna just blindfold you

47:33

Okay Henry, are you allergic to peanuts? No, okay good You're probably wondering why

47:41

I asked that um so when jesus says The blind leading the blind it's important for us to have a good image of what that means and why

47:49

It's so important in terms of how we deal with false teachers People leading other people astray the kind of damage that it causes.

47:57

Can you see anything? Nothing. Okay. So here you go guys what i'm doing right now Is go ahead and stay right there guys.

48:04

Don't touch anything. Not just yet You can put your hands on the table, but don't feel around too much Okay So what i'm going to do is i'm going to put

48:11

Some stuff on the table for you. Okay, i'm putting some bread And i'm putting some milk

48:18

And i'm putting um, yeah milk and i'm putting some mayonnaise, sorry and some peanut butter

48:24

And what i'd like you to do Is i'm going to ask you to um Stellar, I want you to help

48:31

I want you to help henry make a sandwich. Okay. I want you to make him A peanut butter sandwich and pour him a glass of milk

48:40

Okay So I got some cups here. I got some peanut butter

48:47

And one second and I got some some milk and some bread Can you see anything?

48:53

No, nothing. Okay, and I want you to go ahead and I want you to make henry A peanut butter sandwich and pour him a glass of milk

49:01

All right, and you can help too henry. Okay, so ready turtle henry go for it guys.

49:07

Make yourself a peanut butter sandwich and pour yourself a glass of milk, I didn't really expect you to do that, but Okay, let's try to reserve the eating for the end, okay

49:23

All right So let me help you real fast one second. So stellar. I want you to help henry to make a sandwich

49:31

Here you go. I'll help you out. There's the bread There's the bread so you feel around and There you go.

49:39

Here's a knife. I got a knife for you. You got cups Good, you got some cups. Okay, so go for it stellar

49:47

There you go, no, just go ahead just go ahead make a sandwich go ahead

49:55

There you go Good here. Let me help you out. Okay Huh? Go ahead. Just go ahead and make

50:01

Make a sandwich. There you go And you can just go ahead and pour a drink. Go ahead henry pour a drink. You got you got it good

50:10

Well, that's one way to hold the jug There you go. Yeah, good Good Your mom and dad taught you well

50:18

Good go ahead. Go ahead spread some spread some on there. Good. That looks delicious All right, henry.

50:25

You good, bud. Yeah Okay, you got your cup. Don't drink just yet. We'll wait to the end. Okay You good turtle here that's good go ahead and get another uh piece of bread and go ahead and make a make a sandwich out

50:36

Of it. Here you go. You put that in there. There you go. Go ahead Now go ahead and serve your friend a sandwich and a drink

50:44

Go ahead. Oh, that looks good. You did well. All right, and uh, go ahead and give that to henry

50:51

Henry enjoy your sandwich Oh, you're gonna cut it. Oh good. Yeah How's that sandwich henry?

51:09

How's that peanut butter sandwich, bud? You might want to wash it down go ahead and get some of that milk get some of that milk

51:21

How's that milk good, how's that milk is it good?

51:27

No, it's not good. No, it's not good You don't have to keep eating it. What's wrong with you? Okay, come here step up on stage guys

51:36

Step up on stage good. All right now, uh, Henry, I want you to go ahead and just kind of stand over here for a second like this now

51:44

Right here right there. Good right there. Okay, henry help stellar to uh, go outside Help him help him

51:55

Good good. Okay.

52:10

All right, you guys good? You're good. Okay. Let's give him a round of applause guys. Thank you guys All right now come on you guys you guys can go sit down now the milk what are you doing licking the mayonnaise okay, so the point is

52:27

It's a it's a catastrophe It's an utter mess. And of course, it's a simple thing the blind

52:33

Leading the blind Both of them are going to fall into a pit And if we care at all about people and the truth as christians

52:42

Will recognize the source if this person is a false teacher if they're leading people astray with doctrines from men that are as commandments of god who recognize that both of these people are going into the pit

52:55

And so jesus confronts that in his ministry in his life over and over and over again

53:00

It teaches us a pattern of how we're supposed to deal with false teaching. Let's follow up and finish now last thoughts

53:09

In jeremiah 23, I just want to call you to read that jeremiah 23 god has words to false teachers and I just want to I want to read a section of this for you in jeremiah 23.

53:22

It's a powerful section where god speaks directly to false teachers in verse 23 of chapter 23 of jeremiah

53:30

God says this am I a god at hand declares the lord and not a god far away.

53:36

Can a man? Can I Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him declares the lord

53:43

Do I not fill heaven and earth declares the lord. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name

53:51

Saying I have dreamed a dream How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies and who prophesy the deceit of their own hearts?

54:00

Catch it the deceit of their own Hearts Who think to make my people forget my name?

54:08

By their dreams that they tell one another even as their fathers forget my name for be all Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream but let him who has my word speak my word

54:17

Faithfully, are you catching it? Do you see the do you see the theme? The heart is the issue with the false teachers and god says let his people speak according to his word

54:30

He says what has straw in common with wheat Declares the lord is not my word like fire declares the lord and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces

54:39

Therefore behold i'm against the prophets declares the lord who steal my words from one another

54:45

Behold, i'm against the prophets declares the lord who use their tongues and declare declares the lord

54:51

Behold, i'm against those who prophesy lying dreams declares the lord and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies

54:58

And their recklessness when I did not send them Or charge them and here it is

55:05

So they do not profit this people at all Declares the lord.

55:11

That's the point They don't profit these people at all now final words here in matthew 15.

55:17

Jesus says this He says verse 16 Are you also still without understanding?

55:25

Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart?

55:32

And this defiles a person for out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery sexual morality theft false witness slander

55:40

These are what defile a person but not to eat with unwashed hands But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a person

55:49

Jesus teaches us the same thing. The old testament always taught us the source Is the seat within us?

55:57

It's our hearts jeremiah 17 9 says what about our hearts the heart is deceitful above all things

56:05

And sick beyond cure who can know it? Deceit the heart john owens says the heart is the seat of indwelling sin

56:14

As well as its subject it is from the heart that indwelling sin springs into a person's experience

56:22

Indeed sin has invaded as an enemy and now possesses the very throne of god himself

56:30

You remember that moment in jesus ministry? It's the it's a powerful section of scripture Don't forget it

56:37

It's the moment where jesus talks about a pharisee and a tax collector and the pharisee

56:43

Is actually confident to stand before god Not on the basis of god's mercy alone, but on the basis of his own piety in his life the things that he does

56:54

Right the pharisee says what he says god I thank you You see all religion does that it doesn't say god i'm doing it on my own.

57:02

It always gives a pass to god's grace There's very few truly pelagian religions around that say it's all me

57:11

Every religion says yes to god's grace, but My righteousness my work and the pharisee says god

57:20

I thank you And he's so confident. He says That i'm not like other people

57:26

He says I pray I tithe of all that I get I fast And he's just so confident to stand before god by saying god you did this in me

57:36

Look at me god. Look at my piety. Look at my discipline. Look at all my works we

57:43

Could do that as christians today people could say god I thank you for your grace and what you've accomplished in my life

57:51

I thank you god that I have a bible study twice a week God, I thank you that i've read a theological book every day god

58:02

I thank you that I tithe of all that I get god you did this in me Lord this is your doing and here's all that I am and i'm not like all these other failures

58:14

God i'm not like this sexually immoral person over here. Thank you god that you've preserved me like that god

58:20

I'm, not like this adulterer over there. Thank you god that you've made me like I am

58:25

I actually attend a reach group god and i'm not like this christian over here.

58:30

That's not even in church god Thank you that you haven't made me like this person over there not like this wicked tax collector

58:37

And then in the story jesus says what that the tax collector is a ways off And and it says

58:45

And it's so clear. It's so clear. It says that the tax collector watch Won't even lift his eyes

58:54

He won't even look up You see the pharisee is so confident to say before god. Look at all that.

58:59

I do god Look at my piety. Look at my discipline. Look and i'm not like all these people I'm, not like them and i'm not like them god and you did it in me god, but i'm not like them

59:09

And then the tax collector does what he can't even look up to god He recognizes his sin and this is the powerful part and we miss it

59:18

It says watch it's just thrown in it says he's beating his chest

59:24

He's beating his chest He won't look up and he's beating his chest And he says god have mercy on me a sinner

59:36

That's all he can say That's all he has before god and he's pounding and watch if you understand how jesus thought and the jews thought you know

59:45

That that wicked man Is trying to get at the very source of his sin

59:53

He's trying to get at it. It's there. It's his heart He's trying to get at the source of his sin and he's recognizing it god.

01:00:00

It's in me It's inside god and he's beating it And he won't even look up and all he knows is that god is holy and he's not and he's trying to say

01:00:09

God, it's in me. My sin is in me. And what's the pharisee doing? He's saying god

01:00:14

Thank you for your grace and that you make me look so dang good I look so good.

01:00:21

I look like I have it all together. I'm so pious god and god Thank you that i'm not like that failure over there

01:00:27

And i'm not like this failure over there You see christians who know their own hearts and have actually been confronted by the holiness of god

01:00:33

They know how truly wicked they are and they can't look at a person who's sinning and say

01:00:40

I'm nothing like that Because you see a person who's truly been confronted by the grace of god knows what's inside of them

01:00:49

They know their heart their passions the seat of this indwelling sin and they recognize the grace of god for what it is

01:00:57

And they recognize that the only thing that separates me from anybody is the grace of god Because if god didn't cover me in the righteousness of his son

01:01:05

Guess what? I am. I'm the liar. I'm the fornicator the sexually immoral the adulterer

01:01:12

I am the thief and the murderer. I'm the covetous in the eyes of god

01:01:18

You see the person who's truly come into contact with the grace of god and god's holiness Recognizes what's in them and they equally beat at their chest

01:01:29

Because they know the source of their sin is not merely external. It's not just a matter of piety

01:01:34

I'm not pious enough. I'm not disciplined enough. I don't do enough things. It's that this inside is off My heart is wrong

01:01:42

It's broken and jesus teaches us that and by the way if you're new to christ And if you are dragged in here today for the wedding

01:01:51

Welcome to apologia Let me tell you something about jesus The thing that separates jesus from the religious leaders and man -made religions of the world

01:02:00

Is that jesus demonstrates that he's real and the true and living god in that he is not satisfied with the external

01:02:07

And he says it's rubbish. It's garbage. It's hypocrisy He wants the heart

01:02:14

And we know it's amazing how you know that he's truly god watch only god would be concerned about the reality

01:02:21

Of your faith and what's true and real man -made religion is satisfied with the externals.

01:02:27

Why because it's all that we see That's all you need to do is polish yourself up for men Jesus says

01:02:34

I don't care I'm, not Limited by those things. I don't care about those things.

01:02:41

I want your heart. And so jesus tells the people of his day he says What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery

01:02:53

Sexual morality theft false witness slander. These are what defile a person the bible teaches in ecclesiastes 9 3

01:03:02

Genesis 6 5 Luke 6 45 that the heart is evil.

01:03:08

The heart is fallen The heart is broken religion cleans the outside of the cup

01:03:15

Proof that jesus believed that He said it to the pharisees And he called them in matthew 23 whitewashed tombs.

01:03:25

What's that mean? You're clean on the outside But inside you're full of death Now, how do we solve the problem and these are the final words legalists

01:03:38

Like jesus was dealing with Legalists will always focus on the external.

01:03:43

They'll always say get your behavior in line with what looks pious Get your behavior in line with what looks good before men

01:03:53

Legalists do that I'm sure many of you guys have you been? Within the church for any length of time in your life you've experienced this in your life

01:04:02

When I first came to faith One of the first churches I went to was an independent fundamental separated baptist church.

01:04:09

You have to say it like that Independent fundamental separated baptist church and in that church. We were told

01:04:15

I had to sign something. I will not go to movies I will wear button -up shirts.

01:04:21

I will cut my hair a certain way. I won't listen. I will only listen to hymns and godly christian music

01:04:29

I was told that elvis presley gospel hymns Were too seductive

01:04:38

We were told you must look like you are walking in obedience But you know what no one really ever confronted me on in terms of daily christian living and true righteous piety

01:04:51

Is what was happening inside me? You see my life on the outside then

01:04:57

Looked good. I was going out doing evangelism. I was reading my bible Profusely I was in the word constantly.

01:05:08

I never got caught going to the movies. No one ever saw it I wore the slacks.

01:05:14

I wore the button -up shirts. I wore the tie. I had my hair did right And you know what

01:05:20

I looked halfway decent but you know what I was struggling with then the same thing many people struggle with as young men sexual sin

01:05:29

Pornography all those things Lost the pattern of life was there. They never dealt with the heart.

01:05:35

How's your heart doing? How are you doing with lust jeff? How are you doing with love?

01:05:41

How are you doing with anger? How are you doing with true obedience and love for god's word?

01:05:46

How are you doing in your heart? It was always well, the pants look good. The shirt looks good. Tie looks pretty solid

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Shoes look good Gone to any movies lately You see as long as it looks good on the outside religion and legalists are fine

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They say pattern of life you go in enough bible studies, then you're right You leading this thing you're right you're doing evangelism then you look good

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How's your dress? Well, you look like a christian. What kind of books are on your shelf? What kind of movies are on your shelf? Well, you look fine

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But you see jesus says deal with the heart clean the inside of the cup and not merely the outside Legalists are only concerned with external behavior and what looks like spirituality

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But how do we change according to scripture? And if you're new again, I want to invite you just to listen to this last word on what

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Makes jesus so glorious and different the bible says that in christ god gives us a new birth

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He says in ezekiel 36 that he takes a heart of stone. That's hard To god it won't receive anything and he takes that heart of stone and he removes it and he puts a heart of flesh there

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That's malleable. It's moldable before god He says that he creates us

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A new that were new creations that he puts a spirit within us to cause us to observe his statutes and watch this

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This is the significant detail in the old testament the people of god still dealing with sin

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No, perfect sacrifice the messiah hasn't come god takes a list of commandments ten of them

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He puts them on stone tablets and writes with his own finger and moses comes down with these tablets and watch

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The people of god are there stone tablets with law It's law outside of them applying pressure to them outside them

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But in the new covenant god says this I will write my law On their hearts in their inward parts

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You see the new covenant in jesus is that christ is the perfect one He lived righteously you have not and never will he died a death that you deserve

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And he rose again from the dead so that if you turn from your sin and trust in him you have his righteousness as a gift

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And he takes away your sin and god indwells you and he gives you a new heart

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So as a christian, how do we change? It's not merely through patterns of external behavior.

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It's dealing with the sin that's indwelling so for example colossians chapter 3 is the answer

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Read it later. I'll summarize How does a person change according to scripture really only one way you need to be saved first and foremost?

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You need to have peace with god and that's only through faith in jesus as a gift Lay down your sin and your self -righteousness and come to the cross naked

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And trust in what he did and you're redeemed and reconciled to god The next thing is is you're united to jesus christ in his death and resurrection so that paul says

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You are in union with christ in christ and colossus 3 says this

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Therefore if you've been raised up with christ you are seated with him

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How is that possible? My answer is this I don't know

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I don't know how to comprehend that That the father sees me and you

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Union with jesus as though we are raised up and seated with him And then it says our life is hidden with christ in god.

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And so watch here's the answer. This is it Dealing with your heart and not merely the externals just beating your body into submission.

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He says this colossians 3 therefore put to death

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What is earthly winning within you? And he names sexual morality and he calls it idolatry

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So as a christian you examine your heart you get down there and recognize that if something came out of my mouth to my wife

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It's because it was in me It's present in my heart if you see

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Sin come out of your life The answer is it's because it was in you

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And you have to deal with what's inside and put it to death and put on christ and his graces

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I've given you this picture before I think it's powerful trip actually taught this and I think it's a powerful way to look at it if you take a glass of water and You're holding that glass room full of people for those of you guys that know this don't answer out loud

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If you take that glass of water And you hit it And water is on the floor

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Water's on the floor And I ask the question why Is water on the floor people generally say?

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Because you hit the cup You that's action reaction right cause and effect you hit the cup so water's on the floor

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That's why it's there. But listen to how I asked it Why is water on the floor?

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I didn't ask why milk is on the floor. I said why is water on the floor and the answer is there's water on the floor because Water is in the cup

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And in terms of dealing with our own heart and sin If lost comes out of my life and is expressed in my life

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If there's adultery and sexual immorality if there's lies if there's anger if there's bitterness if there's rivalries factions

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Conflicts watch the answer is not the external behavior It came out of me and is on the floor because it was already in me and so if you're in a conflict with your wife

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And anger and hostility spills out of your mouth You can't say it's because she hit my cup

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No Anger and hostility and bitterness came out of you because it was already in your cup

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It was already in your heart and if you get knocked you can't point to the person and say it wouldn't have came out if You wouldn't hit me the truth is is it was present there the whole time and you never acknowledged it

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So, how do we grow as christians? Well, if you're in christ and forgiven you deal with what's inside of you. So my question is this

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For those of us Who are struggling with personal sin? Can I ask you? How are you putting it to death as paul says to do put it to death?

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How do you how do you put your sin to death? First thing you have to do is be real with it and say that it's there And stop hiding

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So people who are struggling with pornography How do you conquer that sin?

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You can't beat yourself into submission. You'll find ways to sin if that lust is present. You'll find ways

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So you have to deal with your heart And what's there? If lust is present in my life, it's because lust is present in my heart

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So how do you put it to death? Put it to death repentance Confession accountability

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Put it to death accountability software so that you give no place to that lust to allow it to grow

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And to get larger and bigger Conflict with your marriage you have to ask yourself the question.

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Is it really her? Is it just her? Is it me you ask the deep questions like why is there so much conflict?

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Well, why is there so much anger and animosity in my marriage? Is it perhaps because anger and animosity and bitterness is present in your heart?

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Have you repented of your sin your bitterness your anger if there's conflict in relationships within the church?

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How do you deal with that if sexual sin becomes present in the church? How do you deal with it?

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You don't deal with it by changing external behavior and pretending you deal with the heart confess repent accountability love for god change your passions

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Jesus says deal with the hearts and I pray that we start that now.