WEBVTT 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:08.320 I think one of the worst situations we're facing 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:13.279 in the church today is the reality of dualistic 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:15.800 Christians. And you might be wondering, well 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:20.699 what is a dualistic Christian? It's someone who 00:00:20.699 --> 00:00:25.399 proclaims to be a Christian and acts like a Christian 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:31.019 when he's at church. But then as soon as he leaves 00:00:31.019 --> 00:00:34.270 these doors, and goes home, he's someone entirely 00:00:34.270 --> 00:00:36.310 different. Have you encountered something like 00:00:36.310 --> 00:00:39.270 this before? You might call them dualistic Christians. 00:00:39.329 --> 00:00:42.450 You might call them part -time Christians. You 00:00:42.450 --> 00:00:44.189 could also just call them hypocrites because 00:00:44.189 --> 00:00:46.789 that's ultimately what that's describing there. 00:00:47.509 --> 00:00:50.729 There's a well -known pastor who's pretty well 00:00:50.729 --> 00:00:53.090 known in the independent fundamentalist Baptist 00:00:53.090 --> 00:00:57.020 Church. He's kind of famous. And he has a lot 00:00:57.020 --> 00:00:59.380 of clips on YouTube and people sharing his stuff. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:02.100 And people really love him if you're in that 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:04.719 camp. And they look to him and his church loves 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:07.140 him especially. They eat up everything he says. 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:10.500 They admire him. They revere him. They thought, 00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:13.099 here is the man of God. Here's someone that we 00:01:13.099 --> 00:01:15.480 can trust. Here's someone that we can seek to 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:18.000 emulate in our own lives. Here's someone who 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.680 is clearly walking with the Lord. And we should 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:24.409 follow him as he is following Jesus. But it recently 00:01:24.409 --> 00:01:26.730 came out within the past few months, thanks to 00:01:26.730 --> 00:01:30.250 interviews with his children, that this man was 00:01:30.250 --> 00:01:33.450 living a completely different life. Now, he appeared 00:01:33.450 --> 00:01:35.689 to be one way while he was at church, and he 00:01:35.689 --> 00:01:39.049 was someone entirely different when he got home. 00:01:39.569 --> 00:01:41.730 According to his children, he was physically, 00:01:42.090 --> 00:01:44.870 verbally, and emotionally abusing his wife and 00:01:44.870 --> 00:01:48.870 kids. His kids said that their dad used to whip 00:01:48.870 --> 00:01:51.650 their mom with a belt sometimes across the face. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:56.180 He would then throw dishes and glasses against 00:01:56.180 --> 00:01:59.060 the walls and windows to shatter them. He would 00:01:59.060 --> 00:02:02.060 even throw bar stools at their mother and at 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:05.260 them, which would result in having to go to the 00:02:05.260 --> 00:02:10.139 ER. This is what happens when you live a fragmented 00:02:10.139 --> 00:02:14.259 Christian life. This is what happens when you're 00:02:14.259 --> 00:02:17.699 one person around the church and you're someone 00:02:17.699 --> 00:02:22.060 else around your work and when you get home. 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:25.139 This is what happens when you try to compartmentalize 00:02:25.139 --> 00:02:29.719 your faith and make Jesus just part of your life. 00:02:30.580 --> 00:02:33.120 You say, well, I'll be the gentle, nice, mild 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:35.719 -mannered Christian on Sundays and Wednesdays. 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:39.080 I'll pray and I'll read my Bible on Sundays and 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:41.939 Wednesdays. I'll care about the loss and the 00:02:41.939 --> 00:02:44.060 things of God on Sundays and Wednesdays. But 00:02:44.060 --> 00:02:46.379 the rest of the week, those are my days, God. 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.860 That is my time. and I'm gonna do what I want 00:02:49.860 --> 00:02:52.120 on those days, I'm gonna act however I want on 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:54.599 those days, and I will live however I want on 00:02:54.599 --> 00:02:57.699 those days, but don't worry, on Sundays and Wednesdays, 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:02.479 I'll be a good Christian boy or girl. This is 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:05.280 not what the Bible says a Christian should be. 00:03:05.479 --> 00:03:09.020 The Bible never recognizes the existence of people 00:03:09.020 --> 00:03:13.030 who are Christians just two days a week. Who 00:03:13.030 --> 00:03:15.530 you are at the church should be exactly who you 00:03:15.530 --> 00:03:18.270 are when you walk out of these doors, because 00:03:18.270 --> 00:03:20.569 at the end of the day, if God has brought you 00:03:20.569 --> 00:03:23.650 out of death and into life, then you can't keep 00:03:23.650 --> 00:03:26.770 living like a dead person anymore. You actually 00:03:26.770 --> 00:03:28.909 have to embrace the new life that God has given 00:03:28.909 --> 00:03:33.349 us in Christ. And no, listen now, God knows that 00:03:33.349 --> 00:03:35.069 you're not going to be perfect. We all know that, 00:03:35.189 --> 00:03:37.930 right? Nobody in here is perfect. God knows you're 00:03:37.930 --> 00:03:40.430 not going to be perfect, but he does expect us 00:03:40.430 --> 00:03:43.969 to be consistent. He expects us to have a level 00:03:43.969 --> 00:03:47.349 of consistency in our lives that says the person 00:03:47.349 --> 00:03:50.030 I am here is going to be the person I am out 00:03:50.030 --> 00:03:52.330 there. I think the point that the Bible is making 00:03:52.330 --> 00:03:57.150 here is because God has raised us up with Christ, 00:03:57.689 --> 00:04:01.330 we must live out our faith in Christ at all times. 00:04:02.189 --> 00:04:06.169 Because God has raised us up with Christ, we 00:04:06.169 --> 00:04:10.330 must live out our faith in Christ at all times. 00:04:11.219 --> 00:04:12.879 So notice how the Bible is kind of playing on 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:15.520 these directions here. You've been raised up, 00:04:15.620 --> 00:04:18.439 now it's time to live it out. So because God's 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:20.720 raised you up, you must now live out your faith 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:23.379 in Jesus. And really, the simplest question is, 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:26.500 well, pastor, what does that look like? What 00:04:26.500 --> 00:04:28.779 does it look like to be a consistent Christian? 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:32.879 What does it look like to live an unfragmented 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.279 Christian life? What does it look like to actually 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:40.399 live out our faith in Jesus at all times? Well, 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:43.060 the Bible is going to address that in these verses 00:04:43.060 --> 00:04:47.879 if you'll start with me look at verse 1 The Bible 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:51.500 says then if then you have been raised with Christ 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:56.000 seek the things that are above where Christ is 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.620 Seated at the right hand of God Set your mind 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:02.639 on things that are above not on the things that 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:05.180 are on the earth For you have died and your life 00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:08.329 is hidden with Christ in God When Christ, who 00:05:08.329 --> 00:05:10.689 is your life, appears, then you also will appear 00:05:10.689 --> 00:05:14.670 with Him in glory. Now, here's what Paul does 00:05:14.670 --> 00:05:16.529 with his letters. If you're a careful reader 00:05:16.529 --> 00:05:18.610 of Scripture, you've probably noticed it before. 00:05:19.149 --> 00:05:23.029 Paul typically spends the first half of his letters 00:05:23.029 --> 00:05:26.860 explaining heavy doctrine. Paul says, all right, 00:05:26.899 --> 00:05:28.920 you're gonna sit there, and I'm gonna teach you, 00:05:28.939 --> 00:05:31.160 and this is gonna be a lecture. Here's all the 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:32.680 heavy doctrine, all right? And that's what he's 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:35.459 done with Colossians. Here's the supremacy of 00:05:35.459 --> 00:05:38.279 Christ. Here's the sovereignty of Christ in all 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:40.779 things. Here's how Jesus holds all things together. 00:05:41.079 --> 00:05:43.180 Here's how he made peace between you and God. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:45.839 Here's the reconciliation Jesus has brought about 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:48.120 by the blood of his cross. Here's the atonement 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:51.819 of Jesus. Here's salvation in Jesus. Here's doctrine. 00:05:52.409 --> 00:05:54.189 And then as soon as he starts the second half 00:05:54.189 --> 00:05:55.709 of his letter, he goes, all right, now this is 00:05:55.709 --> 00:05:59.110 why this matters on Monday. Pay attention. So 00:05:59.110 --> 00:06:00.829 here's what you need to know. And here's how 00:06:00.829 --> 00:06:02.750 you're going to live it out. Here's what you 00:06:02.750 --> 00:06:05.050 need to know. Here's why this matters. And that's 00:06:05.050 --> 00:06:07.889 exactly what he does here. He's saying, in light 00:06:07.889 --> 00:06:09.610 of all that I've said to you in the first two 00:06:09.610 --> 00:06:11.750 chapters, here's what it's going to look like 00:06:11.750 --> 00:06:14.149 to live this out in your day -to -day lives. 00:06:14.170 --> 00:06:17.009 And he gives us two commands here. He says we 00:06:17.009 --> 00:06:20.170 need to seek the things that are above and set 00:06:20.170 --> 00:06:23.949 our minds. on the things that are above. You've 00:06:23.949 --> 00:06:27.449 probably heard an old saying that says, a person 00:06:27.449 --> 00:06:30.449 is too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. 00:06:30.569 --> 00:06:33.209 Y 'all heard that one before? I don't like that. 00:06:34.029 --> 00:06:37.850 It's just patently not true, okay? I think the 00:06:37.850 --> 00:06:40.310 opposite is true. I think the more heavenly minded 00:06:40.310 --> 00:06:43.209 someone is, the more earthly good a person is 00:06:43.209 --> 00:06:45.670 gonna be. Like if you care about the things that 00:06:45.670 --> 00:06:48.670 Jesus cares about, if you pursue the things that 00:06:48.670 --> 00:06:50.879 Jesus pursues, Well, then you're going to bring 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:53.939 about a whole bunch of good on the earth more 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:55.939 so than people who don't care about Christ and 00:06:55.939 --> 00:06:58.480 his kingdom at all. And so here's what's really 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:01.240 interesting is that the Bible is saying here, 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:04.240 here's this thing that's good for you. Seek the 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:06.959 things that are above. Set your mind on the things 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:09.180 above. This is what you should focus on. This 00:07:09.180 --> 00:07:11.839 is what's good for you. Pursue these things. 00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:15.839 And you know what our problem is? We get distracted. 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:20.569 A lot. And we get distracted by trivial things 00:07:20.569 --> 00:07:23.230 and things that do not matter at all and they 00:07:23.230 --> 00:07:25.449 take our attention away from pursuing the things 00:07:25.449 --> 00:07:28.050 of God. That actually kind of reminds me of one 00:07:28.050 --> 00:07:34.189 of our dogs, Roscoe. God bless his heart. That 00:07:34.189 --> 00:07:37.189 dog. I love Luna. Roscoe, we let him live with 00:07:37.189 --> 00:07:41.680 us. Roscoe is a he's half Bernie's Mountain Dog 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:44.040 and he is half golden retriever but let me tell 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:46.759 you the golden retriever in him is strong okay 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:50.060 it overtakes anything else if you give Roscoe 00:07:50.060 --> 00:07:53.959 a a ball or a stick that is his only focus nothing 00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:56.199 else matters at that point you can say here Roscoe 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:58.860 I've got a steak and I've got a stick and he's 00:07:58.860 --> 00:08:00.959 focused on the stick okay that's his attention 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:04.629 span so I we have this problem right Before I 00:08:04.629 --> 00:08:06.889 built a new pen for our dogs, we had the smaller 00:08:06.889 --> 00:08:10.069 pen and Hurricane Helene kind of damaged that 00:08:10.069 --> 00:08:13.230 severely so it was not a very stable pen. And 00:08:13.230 --> 00:08:15.649 so every time I'd go out to feed the dogs or 00:08:15.649 --> 00:08:18.310 water them, I would get to the gate and both 00:08:18.310 --> 00:08:21.370 dogs were sitting right at the gate. And if I 00:08:21.370 --> 00:08:23.689 opened it even a little bit, they squeeze their 00:08:23.689 --> 00:08:26.550 ginormous bodies through the smallest crack, 00:08:26.610 --> 00:08:29.189 cartoon style. Just squeeze right through, and 00:08:29.189 --> 00:08:30.790 they take off running. Because that's what they 00:08:30.790 --> 00:08:32.309 wanted. They wanted freedom, they wanted to be 00:08:32.309 --> 00:08:34.870 able to run around. And so I was trying to get 00:08:34.870 --> 00:08:36.509 in, and they would squeeze out, and now I've 00:08:36.509 --> 00:08:38.610 got to chase a Bernie's Mountain Dog across a 00:08:38.610 --> 00:08:40.649 70 -acre property for the next hour and a half, 00:08:40.649 --> 00:08:43.070 and that's fun. But that was my problem. Every 00:08:43.070 --> 00:08:45.230 time I went to this gate, if I opened it a little 00:08:45.230 --> 00:08:47.129 bit, they're going to squeeze right through. 00:08:47.129 --> 00:08:48.789 And I thought, I've got to do something about 00:08:48.789 --> 00:08:51.899 this. So here's what I did every time I'd go 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:54.299 to the gate to give them food I just pick up 00:08:54.299 --> 00:08:56.919 a random stick and Roscoe went from I want out 00:08:56.919 --> 00:08:58.740 of this I want out of this to oh you've got a 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:01.860 stick and I would take that stick and I throw 00:09:01.860 --> 00:09:03.919 it and there goes Roscoe and he chases it and 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:05.919 I open the gate and I get in and Luna doesn't 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:07.700 get out because she's a good girl as every dog 00:09:07.700 --> 00:09:10.980 should be But anyways, so I start doing this 00:09:10.980 --> 00:09:13.879 process right and I did this for months and months 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:17.480 and months and I thought to myself one day surely 00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:21.019 to goodness There is enough intelligence in this 00:09:21.019 --> 00:09:23.960 dog where he is going to realize that every time 00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:26.700 I come to this gate, I'm gonna pick up a stick, 00:09:27.019 --> 00:09:29.320 I'm gonna throw it, and as soon as I throw it 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:31.860 and he walks away, I'm going to open the gate 00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:34.220 and he's not gonna be able to get out. I thought 00:09:34.220 --> 00:09:36.759 surely he's gonna figure this out. Do you think 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:39.940 he did? Did you guess no? Because you'd be right. 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:42.809 He did not figure it out. There was something 00:09:42.809 --> 00:09:44.970 that he wanted that was good for him, but then 00:09:44.970 --> 00:09:47.210 he was easily distracted by something that was 00:09:47.210 --> 00:09:49.990 very trivial and did not matter. And I really 00:09:49.990 --> 00:09:52.110 thought about that situation with my dog as I 00:09:52.110 --> 00:09:54.629 was studying this passage, because I thought, 00:09:55.429 --> 00:09:58.450 that's kind of like how we are with God. God 00:09:58.450 --> 00:10:00.470 says, here's this good thing. I want you to seek 00:10:00.470 --> 00:10:02.730 the things above. I want you to set your mind 00:10:02.730 --> 00:10:07.909 on the things above. But like Rosca, we get distracted. 00:10:08.870 --> 00:10:11.309 And for us, it's not a stick or a ball, at least 00:10:11.309 --> 00:10:13.830 I hope not, if it is for you, that's embarrassing, 00:10:13.950 --> 00:10:17.149 I will laugh at you. But it's not, it's not a 00:10:17.149 --> 00:10:19.710 stick or a ball, but it's all sorts of other 00:10:19.710 --> 00:10:22.929 things in our lives. I mean, we encounter things 00:10:22.929 --> 00:10:25.610 all the time that take up our attention and take 00:10:25.610 --> 00:10:27.470 our mind away from things that are ultimately 00:10:27.470 --> 00:10:29.929 good for us, do they not? I mean, just think 00:10:29.929 --> 00:10:31.490 about the fact that in our world today, we've 00:10:31.490 --> 00:10:34.009 got people who are completely consumed by sports. 00:10:34.299 --> 00:10:37.019 Whether they're playing sports or watching sports, 00:10:37.419 --> 00:10:39.539 sports consumes their lives, their schedules, 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:42.879 their money, their focus, their energy. We've 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:44.860 got other people who are entirely focused on 00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:47.679 their jobs. And all they want to do is just rise 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:49.539 through the ranks of their jobs so they can make 00:10:49.539 --> 00:10:52.600 more money. And we've got people who are consumed 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:56.139 with their stuff. They love their stuff. It's 00:10:56.139 --> 00:10:58.120 their stuff. And you know what? They want more 00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:01.879 stuff. Give me a new car. Give me a bigger house. 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:04.759 Give me the newest smartphone. Give me the newest 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:07.600 gaming system. Give me the every single streaming 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:10.159 service ever made on earth, even though you can 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:12.580 never watch them all at the same time. I love 00:11:12.580 --> 00:11:16.019 stuff, and I just want more stuff. And so stuff 00:11:16.019 --> 00:11:19.480 consumes them. And here's my thing with this. 00:11:19.940 --> 00:11:21.980 None of these things in and of themselves are 00:11:21.980 --> 00:11:23.840 bad, but they become a problem when they take 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:25.820 our attention and focus away from Christ and 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:29.190 his kingdom. Do we see that? Because here's my 00:11:29.190 --> 00:11:31.289 question, everything that I just mentioned, whether 00:11:31.289 --> 00:11:34.809 it's sports or your job or money or leisure or 00:11:34.809 --> 00:11:38.309 stuff, are these heavenly things or are they 00:11:38.309 --> 00:11:42.210 earthly things? They're earthly, right? Here's 00:11:42.210 --> 00:11:43.690 what that means. It means that it's not going 00:11:43.690 --> 00:11:47.870 to matter in eternity at all. I mean, this could 00:11:47.870 --> 00:11:49.889 be encouraging for you or it might break your 00:11:49.889 --> 00:11:53.190 heart, but when we get to heaven, God is not 00:11:53.190 --> 00:11:55.929 going to check our bank accounts, folks. Praise 00:11:55.929 --> 00:11:58.659 the Lord. Amen. For most of us in here, we're 00:11:58.659 --> 00:12:00.899 saying, praise God for that. That's not a barrier 00:12:00.899 --> 00:12:03.360 to entrance. God's not gonna check your bank 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:04.720 account and go, all right, how much money did 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:07.659 you make on earth? When we get to heaven, God's 00:12:07.659 --> 00:12:09.720 not gonna see how many touchdowns we scored. 00:12:10.019 --> 00:12:12.059 He's not gonna see how many free throws we made. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:14.240 And God's not gonna check what our batting average 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:18.539 was. You wanna know why? God doesn't care. Doesn't 00:12:18.539 --> 00:12:21.580 matter in eternity. He's not gonna ask which 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:23.600 neighborhood we lived in or what kind of car 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:27.460 we drove. Because none of these things, are going 00:12:27.460 --> 00:12:33.220 to matter one iota in eternity and yet how sad 00:12:33.220 --> 00:12:36.299 is it that we give our lives to them to these 00:12:36.299 --> 00:12:39.279 things that don't ultimately matter you see the 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.399 point that i think the first few verses are making 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:45.259 here is that you can't pursue jesus and something 00:12:45.259 --> 00:12:50.590 else at the same time You have to seek the things 00:12:50.590 --> 00:12:52.889 above, set your mind on the things above, not 00:12:52.889 --> 00:12:55.450 on the things of earth. Why? Because you can't 00:12:55.450 --> 00:12:58.750 pursue Jesus and something else at the same time. 00:13:01.429 --> 00:13:03.649 The Bible says no man can serve two masters. 00:13:03.830 --> 00:13:04.970 You're either going to love one, you're going 00:13:04.970 --> 00:13:06.710 to hate the other, you're going to love the other, 00:13:06.809 --> 00:13:10.330 you're going to hate the one. So you can't actually 00:13:10.330 --> 00:13:14.480 serve God and sports. You can't serve God and 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.580 money. You can't serve God and leisure. And here's 00:13:17.580 --> 00:13:19.440 what the Bible would say. The Bible would say 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:21.899 that whatever consumes our hearts is going to 00:13:21.899 --> 00:13:24.600 consume our minds. And whatever consumes our 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:27.440 hearts and our minds, it's going to consume our 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:31.419 lives. You can tell what someone actually loves 00:13:31.419 --> 00:13:34.840 by the way they live. And here's what I think 00:13:34.840 --> 00:13:37.759 everybody knows. The Bible says that as Christians 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:40.960 we are to be in the world, but not what? But 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:45.379 not... the world right Christians are supposed 00:13:45.379 --> 00:13:48.679 to be distinct from the rest of the world now 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:51.580 if that is true and it's true yes church yeah 00:13:51.580 --> 00:13:56.759 okay so if that is true then why is it that the 00:13:56.759 --> 00:14:00.139 lives of so many Christians look exactly like 00:14:00.139 --> 00:14:05.460 the lives of those who do not love Jesus if we're 00:14:05.460 --> 00:14:07.519 called to be different if we're called to be 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:10.659 distinct then why do our lives look just like 00:14:10.659 --> 00:14:12.919 the lives of those who don't even believe in 00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:15.320 God? I mean, if it looks like a dog and acts 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:17.860 like a dog and barks like a dog, it's probably 00:14:17.860 --> 00:14:21.559 a dog. And if it looks like the world, if it 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:24.720 acts like the world, thinks like the world, and 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:27.679 lives like the world, it's probably a citizen 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:32.259 of the world and not a citizen of heaven. You 00:14:32.259 --> 00:14:35.899 see, Jesus doesn't just want part of your life. 00:14:36.580 --> 00:14:39.500 Jesus doesn't just want some of your life. He 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:41.620 doesn't just want you to think about Him occasionally. 00:14:41.740 --> 00:14:45.179 He doesn't just want your 10%. He doesn't just 00:14:45.179 --> 00:14:47.480 want your love and attention on Sundays. Listen 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:51.039 to me church, Jesus wants it all. He wants everything. 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:54.620 That's why the Bible says here, Jesus is all 00:14:54.620 --> 00:15:00.289 and He is in all. God wants all of it. As Christians, 00:15:00.450 --> 00:15:03.429 our lives are meant to be Christo -centric, meaning 00:15:03.429 --> 00:15:06.629 centered on Christ, consumed with Christ, all 00:15:06.629 --> 00:15:08.929 about Christ. Because here's the only alternative. 00:15:09.190 --> 00:15:11.509 If our lives are not Christo -centric, they're 00:15:11.509 --> 00:15:14.590 going to be ego -centric. And I'm only going 00:15:14.590 --> 00:15:17.629 to think about myself and what I want, what makes 00:15:17.629 --> 00:15:21.129 me happy, what makes me comfortable, what I want 00:15:21.129 --> 00:15:24.190 to agree with. And here's the problem. If I'm 00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:28.019 living for myself, then I'm gonna miss out on 00:15:28.019 --> 00:15:30.039 all the heavenly opportunities that God gives 00:15:30.039 --> 00:15:35.440 me. I had a seminary professor, he was my evangelism 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:38.259 professor in seminary, and he told us a story 00:15:38.259 --> 00:15:40.799 about how he missed out on one of these opportunities 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:44.000 one time. He had just finished giving a lecture, 00:15:44.259 --> 00:15:46.460 he said it went. terribly. So he was very upset 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:48.639 about that. Gets in the car. As soon as he gets 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:50.399 in the car, his wife starts telling him about 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.779 how bad his lecture was. So then they get in 00:15:52.779 --> 00:15:54.500 a fight, and he's feeling bad about the lecture, 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.360 and then they're fighting about him doing bad 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:59.080 at the lecture. So it just ends up being this 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:01.419 big fight. And he was tired and just wanted to 00:16:01.419 --> 00:16:03.360 go home. So he stops at a gas station to get 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:06.559 gas. And he goes inside to buy snacks while he's 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:09.440 pumping gas. He said as soon as he walked into 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:12.860 that gas station, he felt the Holy Spirit urging 00:16:12.860 --> 00:16:16.740 him. to share the gospel with a cashier. And 00:16:16.740 --> 00:16:20.559 my professor said, no, I don't want to. I don't 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:22.799 feel like it right now. God, I'm upset about 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:24.879 how the lecture went. I've got to go back to 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:27.220 the car to a pointless fight with my wife. I'm 00:16:27.220 --> 00:16:30.200 tired. I just want to go home. So no, God, you 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:32.580 can find someone else. I do not feel like sharing 00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:35.620 the gospel right now. And so he bought his snacks, 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:38.960 went back to his car. As he's pumping, he sees 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:42.110 a biker pull up. And the guy looks like a typical 00:16:42.110 --> 00:16:44.470 biker covered in tattoos, piercings, everything. 00:16:44.730 --> 00:16:47.730 He goes into the gas station and my professor 00:16:47.730 --> 00:16:50.350 started feeling even more convicted. He's like, 00:16:50.389 --> 00:16:51.769 man, I really should have shared the gospel with 00:16:51.769 --> 00:16:55.129 that guy. And so he said, I'm gonna go back in 00:16:55.129 --> 00:16:59.529 after the biker leaves. He admitted that the 00:16:59.529 --> 00:17:01.029 biker made him nervous so he didn't want to go 00:17:01.029 --> 00:17:03.289 in there while the biker was in there. And so 00:17:03.289 --> 00:17:06.430 the biker leaves and my professor goes back in 00:17:06.430 --> 00:17:09.890 and he goes up to the cashier and he goes, hey, 00:17:10.029 --> 00:17:11.930 This might be weird for you, but I just want 00:17:11.930 --> 00:17:14.910 to tell you my name is Tim I'm a follower of 00:17:14.910 --> 00:17:17.589 Jesus, and I'd love the opportunity to just talk 00:17:17.589 --> 00:17:20.190 to you about Jesus and the cashier looked at 00:17:20.190 --> 00:17:22.369 him and said well Tim you're a little too late 00:17:22.369 --> 00:17:24.650 Because that biker who just left told me all 00:17:24.650 --> 00:17:29.829 about Jesus, and I just gave my life to him My 00:17:29.829 --> 00:17:33.089 professor said that that experience taught him 00:17:33.089 --> 00:17:36.730 never to be so focused on himself and on trivial 00:17:36.730 --> 00:17:39.329 matters that he does not get to take part in 00:17:39.329 --> 00:17:42.069 the work that God allows us to take part in. 00:17:42.630 --> 00:17:44.849 He said it also taught him that God's work is 00:17:44.849 --> 00:17:48.329 going to be done, and we have the opportunity 00:17:48.329 --> 00:17:52.109 to be invited into it. But make no mistake, God's 00:17:52.109 --> 00:17:55.569 work is not dependent on us. God will accomplish 00:17:55.569 --> 00:17:58.250 His will, but He has invited you to take part 00:17:58.250 --> 00:18:00.809 in it. You see, I want the same thing for us, 00:18:01.009 --> 00:18:04.049 church. I know that it's easy for us to get tired 00:18:04.049 --> 00:18:06.670 and distracted, and I know the things of the 00:18:06.670 --> 00:18:08.690 world consume us, but I don't ever want this 00:18:08.690 --> 00:18:12.450 church to be so focused on earthly issues that 00:18:12.450 --> 00:18:14.890 don't matter that we miss out on all the heavenly 00:18:14.890 --> 00:18:18.809 opportunities God gives us. Don't waste your 00:18:18.809 --> 00:18:21.210 life giving yourself to things that aren't going 00:18:21.210 --> 00:18:24.369 to matter one lick in eternity. Because here's 00:18:24.369 --> 00:18:27.190 the thing, church, if you're not living for Jesus 00:18:27.190 --> 00:18:29.430 now, then you have no reason to believe that 00:18:29.430 --> 00:18:33.109 you're going to be living with Jesus later. If 00:18:33.109 --> 00:18:34.390 you're not living for Him now, you're not going 00:18:34.390 --> 00:18:36.630 to be living with Him later. And He doesn't want 00:18:36.630 --> 00:18:39.569 us to live these fragmented lives with divided 00:18:39.569 --> 00:18:42.549 hearts and loyalties. He wants us to pursue the 00:18:42.549 --> 00:18:45.410 things above, which means we have to kill the 00:18:45.410 --> 00:18:47.869 desires of the flesh. Look at verse five. He 00:18:47.869 --> 00:18:54.359 says, Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil 00:18:54.359 --> 00:18:57.980 desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. On account 00:18:57.980 --> 00:19:01.180 of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these 00:19:01.180 --> 00:19:03.460 you too once walked when you were living in them. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:05.880 Now here's the thing about this list. We read 00:19:05.880 --> 00:19:08.940 this list. Let's all get in agreement. Everything 00:19:08.940 --> 00:19:13.119 on this list is sin. Yes? Yes. Everything on 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:16.619 this list is bad. Yes? Okay, the fact that we've 00:19:16.619 --> 00:19:19.440 got 7 % of our church saying that right now. 00:19:19.849 --> 00:19:22.329 I mean, I can make a whole sermon on this verse. 00:19:22.690 --> 00:19:28.690 I can do that. Okay, thank you. We know these 00:19:28.690 --> 00:19:33.210 things are bad. The problem is that we are living 00:19:33.210 --> 00:19:39.150 in a world that constantly redefines sin. We're 00:19:39.150 --> 00:19:42.430 living in a world that constantly redefines sin 00:19:42.430 --> 00:19:45.869 and repackages sin and then represents it to 00:19:45.869 --> 00:19:49.509 us. and makes it something nice and palatable. 00:19:50.269 --> 00:19:52.690 For instance, I saw an article this week as I 00:19:52.690 --> 00:19:56.130 was writing this sermon and it said, a new study 00:19:56.130 --> 00:19:59.710 shows that inviting a third person into your 00:19:59.710 --> 00:20:02.230 marriage bed might actually be beneficial for 00:20:02.230 --> 00:20:06.849 some couples. I read that headline and I literally 00:20:06.849 --> 00:20:10.009 said to myself, well good job article, you literally 00:20:10.009 --> 00:20:14.029 just went five for five on the Bible's list here. 00:20:14.730 --> 00:20:17.150 You managed to hit them all, because if you followed 00:20:17.150 --> 00:20:20.049 the advice of the study, you'd be guilty of sexual 00:20:20.049 --> 00:20:23.230 immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and 00:20:23.230 --> 00:20:28.109 covetousness. The Bible calls it sin, but our 00:20:28.109 --> 00:20:30.730 world wants to redefine it and give it a new 00:20:30.730 --> 00:20:33.789 name to make it more palatable. Those who reject 00:20:33.789 --> 00:20:37.710 monogamy, they're now to be called polyamorous. 00:20:38.470 --> 00:20:41.049 Polyamorous just means multiple loves or many 00:20:41.049 --> 00:20:45.380 loves. Now the Bible would call them adulterers, 00:20:46.019 --> 00:20:49.880 but polyamorous sounds nicer. And so it entices 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:52.900 people more. You see it with practically every 00:20:52.900 --> 00:20:55.559 sin. It used to be if an adult was attracted 00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:58.119 to children and wanted to engage with them sexually, 00:20:58.900 --> 00:21:02.440 we used to call them pedophiles. But now the 00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:04.640 world has said we have to refer to these people 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:10.599 as minor attracted persons. Now here's the thing 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:13.980 about that. You can give it a new name all you 00:21:13.980 --> 00:21:18.660 want. But simply by putting a new label on sin, 00:21:18.740 --> 00:21:21.039 you understand that that doesn't actually make 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:24.220 the sin any less dangerous or heinous, right? 00:21:24.740 --> 00:21:28.599 We all get that, yes? I mean there's a famous 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:32.180 story of a pastor who was preaching on sin one 00:21:32.180 --> 00:21:35.480 time. I mean he was coming down hard on sin. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:38.339 And he had some church members come up to him 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:41.059 after the sermon. And they said, Pastor, we don't 00:21:41.059 --> 00:21:44.500 want you to preach like that anymore. They said, 00:21:44.740 --> 00:21:47.720 you can't call it sin. You mentioned too many 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:50.299 things by name. If you continue to preach on 00:21:50.299 --> 00:21:52.059 sin like that, you're going to hurt people's 00:21:52.059 --> 00:21:54.880 feelings. And they're going to be offended. And 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:57.180 they might not come back here. And we want this 00:21:57.180 --> 00:21:59.680 church to grow. So we can't afford to offend 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:02.160 people. So call it something else in the future, 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:05.720 but you've got to stop calling it sin. And the 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:09.250 pastor, who is wiser than I am, had anticipated 00:22:09.250 --> 00:22:11.829 that something like this would happen. And so 00:22:11.829 --> 00:22:14.990 he pulled out a little vial from his jacket pocket 00:22:14.990 --> 00:22:18.390 and it said poison on it. And he said to his 00:22:18.390 --> 00:22:20.289 church members, I see what you want me to do. 00:22:20.910 --> 00:22:24.430 You would like me to remove this hurtful mean 00:22:24.430 --> 00:22:28.630 label and replace it with something nicer, maybe 00:22:28.630 --> 00:22:33.390 essence of lilac or something like that. And 00:22:33.390 --> 00:22:35.069 he said, do you not understand that if I were 00:22:35.069 --> 00:22:37.849 to do that, this bottle of poison has just become 00:22:38.009 --> 00:22:42.329 even more dangerous than it was before. You see, 00:22:42.529 --> 00:22:46.890 you can try to redefine sin, relabel sin, re 00:22:46.890 --> 00:22:49.990 -present sin all you want. It doesn't change 00:22:49.990 --> 00:22:53.230 the fact that it is sin and sin will kill you. 00:22:53.910 --> 00:22:56.410 That's why the Bible is calling on us to do something 00:22:56.410 --> 00:22:58.809 here. The Bible is saying you can't be light 00:22:58.809 --> 00:23:01.230 on sin. You can't play around with sin. If you 00:23:01.230 --> 00:23:04.170 play with the fire of sin, church, you're going 00:23:04.170 --> 00:23:07.140 to get burned. And so the Bible says what we 00:23:07.140 --> 00:23:10.299 need to do, if we don't put sin to death, sin 00:23:10.299 --> 00:23:13.980 will put us to death. Those are your only two 00:23:13.980 --> 00:23:19.160 options right there. If we don't put sin to death, 00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:27.640 sin will put us to death. It's just as the great 00:23:27.640 --> 00:23:29.960 theologian, and my favorite theologian of all 00:23:29.960 --> 00:23:35.329 time, John Owen once said, or sin will be killing 00:23:35.329 --> 00:23:40.470 you. Sin is like a disease that slowly eats away 00:23:40.470 --> 00:23:43.769 at you. It slowly corrupts your soul. And if 00:23:43.769 --> 00:23:45.609 we all know this, then here's my question to 00:23:45.609 --> 00:23:48.369 you, church. If we all know that sin will kill 00:23:48.369 --> 00:23:52.049 us, if we all know that sin will damn our souls, 00:23:52.470 --> 00:23:55.789 then why would we continue to allow it to be 00:23:55.789 --> 00:23:59.470 part of our lives? Why would we not just be done 00:23:59.470 --> 00:24:03.750 with it and put the desires of the flesh to death. 00:24:05.109 --> 00:24:06.849 And the reason I think so many people don't do 00:24:06.849 --> 00:24:09.930 this, and the reason they see no problem with 00:24:09.930 --> 00:24:14.390 this, is because they say, Pastor, I'm good on 00:24:14.390 --> 00:24:15.890 sin. Well, what do you mean by that? I'm good 00:24:15.890 --> 00:24:21.470 on the big sins. I don't cheat on my wife. I 00:24:21.470 --> 00:24:25.529 don't do drugs. I've never murdered anyone. So 00:24:25.529 --> 00:24:30.349 I'm good. And because people think they're good 00:24:30.349 --> 00:24:33.250 on the quote unquote big sins, that somehow gives 00:24:33.250 --> 00:24:36.470 them a right to overlook the small sins in their 00:24:36.470 --> 00:24:40.349 life. And so they say, well, a little gossip's 00:24:40.349 --> 00:24:43.710 not that bad. Never hurt anyone. I'm not really 00:24:43.710 --> 00:24:46.349 gossiping. I'm just trying to tell my friend 00:24:46.349 --> 00:24:47.890 about something that happened today. That's not 00:24:47.890 --> 00:24:51.009 gossip, that's just sharing a story. So it's 00:24:51.009 --> 00:24:54.450 not really that bad. Or a little gluttony, we 00:24:54.450 --> 00:24:57.569 say, a little gluttony's not that bad, right? 00:24:58.100 --> 00:25:01.339 eat a little bit more than I should have. I mean, 00:25:01.339 --> 00:25:02.799 even though the Bible says that we're temples 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:05.259 of the living God, that we should care for our 00:25:05.259 --> 00:25:06.660 bodies, that we should be good stewards of the 00:25:06.660 --> 00:25:08.640 bodies, that God has given us, that we should 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:10.759 actually take care of them. The Bible also says 00:25:10.759 --> 00:25:13.240 that we're to be self -controlled and self -disciplined. 00:25:13.319 --> 00:25:15.539 And so even if you lack self -control with regard 00:25:15.539 --> 00:25:17.819 to food, turns out that's still sin. But we won't 00:25:17.819 --> 00:25:19.420 look at that. We won't talk about that. It's 00:25:19.420 --> 00:25:21.099 just a little gluttony, pastor. I didn't kill 00:25:21.099 --> 00:25:24.579 anybody. It's not that big of a deal. A little 00:25:24.579 --> 00:25:27.009 bit of sloth, a little bit of judgment. A little 00:25:27.009 --> 00:25:29.390 resentment, a little grudge, refusing to forgive 00:25:29.390 --> 00:25:31.869 people, a little white lie here and there. No 00:25:31.869 --> 00:25:34.910 big deal, pastor, right? These are little sins 00:25:34.910 --> 00:25:36.609 in the grand scheme of things. Have you ever 00:25:36.609 --> 00:25:39.170 noticed how little sins have a way of piling 00:25:39.170 --> 00:25:42.970 up in your life? And here's the thing about Christians. 00:25:43.049 --> 00:25:45.190 We're all on guard against the big ones, right? 00:25:45.730 --> 00:25:48.549 We say, no matter what, I will never cheat on 00:25:48.549 --> 00:25:51.769 my spouse. I will never murder someone. I'm on 00:25:51.769 --> 00:25:54.180 guard against that. And because you're on guard 00:25:54.180 --> 00:25:55.940 against that, you tend to let your guard down 00:25:55.940 --> 00:25:58.380 with the little ones. And something I want to 00:25:58.380 --> 00:25:59.640 tell you this morning, church, that you need 00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:03.720 to understand is that the enemy will not waste 00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:06.619 his time killing you with a big sin when he knows 00:26:06.619 --> 00:26:08.720 a few little ones will do the trick just as nicely. 00:26:11.140 --> 00:26:13.180 He doesn't need to get you to murder someone 00:26:13.180 --> 00:26:15.779 if he can get you to hold a grudge and refuse 00:26:15.779 --> 00:26:18.819 to forgive someone in your heart. A few little 00:26:18.819 --> 00:26:21.400 ones will do the trick just as nicely. as a big 00:26:21.400 --> 00:26:23.420 one. That's why the Bible is saying that Jesus, 00:26:23.420 --> 00:26:25.660 He's never going to settle for just being part 00:26:25.660 --> 00:26:29.039 of your life. He's never going to be satisfied 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:31.000 with just having you be good on the big sins. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:34.220 Listen to me, church, God wants more for you 00:26:34.220 --> 00:26:37.420 than that. Don't you think there's more for the 00:26:37.420 --> 00:26:39.799 Christian life than to just not murder someone? 00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:42.559 I hope so. I mean, if that's our end goal, it's 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:44.079 like, hey, when I get to heaven, at least I'll 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:46.779 be able to say that. Obviously, God wants more 00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:49.440 for you than that. God wants you to be good on 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:51.740 the big sins and the little sins. He wants your 00:26:51.740 --> 00:26:55.160 life free of all sins. That's why he is imploring 00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:59.319 you as a father, a good father, put sin to death 00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:03.579 now. Stop playing around with it. Be done with 00:27:03.579 --> 00:27:06.140 it. Because if you don't put it to death, it 00:27:06.140 --> 00:27:11.000 is going to put you to death. I want to remind 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:13.359 you that the only reason we are even able to 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:16.430 live These new lives in the first place is because 00:27:16.430 --> 00:27:19.269 of the work of God in Christ whereby He made 00:27:19.269 --> 00:27:23.150 us new creations in Christ. Notice what these 00:27:23.150 --> 00:27:27.089 final verses say here in verse 8. Now you must 00:27:27.089 --> 00:27:30.990 put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander 00:27:30.990 --> 00:27:34.099 and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie 00:27:34.099 --> 00:27:36.160 to one another seeing that you have put off the 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:38.880 old self with its practices and have put on the 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:41.660 new self Which is being renewed in knowledge 00:27:41.660 --> 00:27:45.240 after the image of its creator Here there's not 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:48.059 Greek and Jews circumcised and uncircumcised 00:27:48.059 --> 00:27:53.440 barbarian Scythian slave free but Christ is all 00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:57.680 and in all Now you've probably at some point 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:02.859 heard the phrase the best offense is a good Defense. 00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:06.660 I think the reverse is also true. The best defense 00:28:06.660 --> 00:28:10.079 is often a good offense. And I want you to notice 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:12.660 how the Bible's making this pivot here. Because 00:28:12.660 --> 00:28:14.980 the Bible has been saying you need to be on your 00:28:14.980 --> 00:28:17.599 guard. Put up a defensive front. You need to 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:20.059 be defensive against all these sins that are 00:28:20.059 --> 00:28:22.019 present in the world that used to be part of 00:28:22.019 --> 00:28:24.960 your life. Be on your guard against them. But 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:26.660 now the Bible says we need to take an offensive 00:28:26.660 --> 00:28:31.470 approach as well. Put off the old self. and put 00:28:31.470 --> 00:28:35.730 on the new self and start living for Christ. 00:28:35.950 --> 00:28:38.130 So it's an offensive measure that needs to be 00:28:38.130 --> 00:28:41.930 done here. So rather than just constantly defending 00:28:41.930 --> 00:28:44.609 against all these sins that are vying for our 00:28:44.609 --> 00:28:47.730 love and attention, actually the best way you 00:28:47.730 --> 00:28:51.289 can fight against sin is by actively pursuing 00:28:51.289 --> 00:28:54.390 the things of God. It's significantly better 00:28:54.390 --> 00:28:56.269 that way. I want you to think about it like this. 00:28:56.450 --> 00:29:00.339 Let's say there's a man who He's addicted to 00:29:00.339 --> 00:29:03.279 alcohol. And he says, God, I know it's a sin. 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:06.140 I don't want to be a drunk anymore. Help me with 00:29:06.140 --> 00:29:09.160 this. And so he says, I want to put it to death. 00:29:09.299 --> 00:29:11.579 I'm going to stop drinking alcohol. And so he's 00:29:11.579 --> 00:29:13.599 on his guard against it, right? And let's imagine, 00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:15.619 this is what this man's day looks like. He wakes 00:29:15.619 --> 00:29:17.299 up in the morning. From the time he wakes up, 00:29:17.299 --> 00:29:19.299 he says, I will not drink alcohol today. I will 00:29:19.299 --> 00:29:21.480 not drink alcohol today. I will not drink alcohol 00:29:21.480 --> 00:29:23.900 today. He does it all day. Looks at his watch 00:29:23.900 --> 00:29:26.319 and he goes, oh, praise the Lord. It's bedtime. 00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:27.960 I can go to bed. I made it through another day. 00:29:28.620 --> 00:29:30.279 He's going to wake up tomorrow and he's going 00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:32.759 to do the exact same thing. He's going to sit 00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:35.319 around all day trying his best not to grab a 00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:37.859 bottle. He's going to live a pretty miserable 00:29:37.859 --> 00:29:41.680 life, is he not? Because all he's doing is trying 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:45.880 to resist something. But what if he were to take 00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:49.400 an active offensive approach, right? What if 00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:53.059 instead, what if every single time he felt the 00:29:53.059 --> 00:29:59.259 urge to drink alcohol, he prayed? What if every 00:29:59.259 --> 00:30:01.220 single time throughout the day where he normally 00:30:01.220 --> 00:30:05.160 would be drinking, he was reading his Bible instead? 00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:10.140 What if instead of sitting alone at his house, 00:30:10.140 --> 00:30:13.019 completely in isolation, trying his best not 00:30:13.019 --> 00:30:15.759 to do this thing, what if he actually got involved 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:18.339 in the ministries of the church and distracted 00:30:18.339 --> 00:30:21.059 himself with the works of God? Do you think his 00:30:21.059 --> 00:30:23.599 life would look different? Yeah, of course it 00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:27.069 would, right? Because it's about not just resisting 00:30:27.069 --> 00:30:29.490 something bad, it's about pursuing something 00:30:29.490 --> 00:30:32.609 greater. It's about investing in something more. 00:30:32.650 --> 00:30:35.549 It's about taking your next steps with Christ 00:30:35.549 --> 00:30:38.349 and going deeper into your relationship with 00:30:38.349 --> 00:30:40.529 Jesus. That's what God wants for His people. 00:30:41.390 --> 00:30:44.170 I mean, I heard a story this past week of a little 00:30:44.170 --> 00:30:45.890 boy who fell out of bed in the middle of the 00:30:45.890 --> 00:30:49.490 night. His mom had come and tucked him into bed, 00:30:49.970 --> 00:30:51.349 and at some point in the middle of the night, 00:30:51.609 --> 00:30:53.950 he fell out of bed, hit his head, started crying. 00:30:54.589 --> 00:30:56.890 And so his mom came up to his room, picked him 00:30:56.890 --> 00:30:59.930 up, held him for a moment. And she asked him, 00:30:59.930 --> 00:31:04.410 she said, what happened? Why did you fall? And 00:31:04.410 --> 00:31:06.329 he said, well, I think I just stayed a little 00:31:06.329 --> 00:31:11.269 too close to where I got in at. And I heard that 00:31:11.269 --> 00:31:13.609 story and I thought, man, that sounds like so 00:31:13.609 --> 00:31:17.970 many Christians I know. We've stepped into God's 00:31:17.970 --> 00:31:21.670 kingdom. We've stepped into new life in Christ. 00:31:21.710 --> 00:31:24.630 We've stepped into salvation. And we've stayed 00:31:24.630 --> 00:31:27.230 there right on the threshold of the kingdom. 00:31:28.170 --> 00:31:31.450 Never moving any further, never going any deeper, 00:31:32.009 --> 00:31:35.190 keeping everything entirely surface level and 00:31:35.190 --> 00:31:38.250 superficial. We stayed too close to where we 00:31:38.250 --> 00:31:40.809 got in at. And you know, the problem about that 00:31:40.809 --> 00:31:43.109 is that we can still see our old lives from the 00:31:43.109 --> 00:31:46.849 threshold. We can still hear all our old sins 00:31:46.849 --> 00:31:50.089 calling to us. We can still see all our old affiliations 00:31:50.089 --> 00:31:52.609 begging us to come back. What you need to do 00:31:52.609 --> 00:31:55.579 is move further. You've got to take deeper steps 00:31:55.579 --> 00:31:57.880 into the kingdom. You've got to take deeper steps 00:31:57.880 --> 00:32:00.859 in your walk with Christ. You can't just stay 00:32:00.859 --> 00:32:03.920 at the threshold forever. You've got to move. 00:32:04.660 --> 00:32:06.799 God doesn't just invite you into his kingdom 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:09.660 just so you can live life at the threshold of 00:32:09.660 --> 00:32:12.519 the kingdom. God wants more for you than that, 00:32:12.599 --> 00:32:15.559 church. So the point that he's making here in 00:32:15.559 --> 00:32:17.880 these final few verses is that if we're going 00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:21.559 to claim to have new life, then we actually have 00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:27.660 to live new lives. If we're going to claim to 00:32:27.660 --> 00:32:32.720 have new life, we actually have to live new lives. 00:32:34.299 --> 00:32:36.279 Does every Christian in here understand that 00:32:36.279 --> 00:32:39.579 this morning? You can't go around telling people 00:32:39.579 --> 00:32:44.099 you love Jesus and you follow Jesus if you don't 00:32:44.099 --> 00:32:49.720 actually live like it. I mean, think about when 00:32:49.720 --> 00:32:52.279 Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, right? 00:32:53.059 --> 00:32:55.259 There was something different about Lazarus. 00:32:55.480 --> 00:32:59.700 Yes, he was dead. Jesus said, Lazarus, come out 00:32:59.700 --> 00:33:02.380 of there. Lazarus came forward and he was dead, 00:33:02.380 --> 00:33:05.039 but now he's alive. You know what Lazarus couldn't 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:07.180 do at that point? He couldn't turn around and 00:33:07.180 --> 00:33:11.339 go back into the grave. He had to leave the grave 00:33:11.339 --> 00:33:14.779 behind. And in the same way, church, when Jesus 00:33:14.779 --> 00:33:18.640 calls us out of death and into new life in Christ, 00:33:18.779 --> 00:33:22.259 we can't go back in the grave. We can't go back 00:33:22.259 --> 00:33:25.839 to the tombs. We can't keep living like a dead 00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:30.819 person. We actually have to live a new life for 00:33:30.819 --> 00:33:35.420 Jesus. And when you do that, the important thing 00:33:35.420 --> 00:33:39.000 to understand is that none of our old affiliations 00:33:39.000 --> 00:33:41.640 have any bearing on us anymore. That's one of 00:33:41.640 --> 00:33:43.700 the most beautiful things about becoming a Christian, 00:33:44.440 --> 00:33:46.319 is that when you come to faith in Christ, when 00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:48.380 he's called you out of death and into life, guess 00:33:48.380 --> 00:33:51.000 what? None of your old affiliations, none of 00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:53.380 your old identities, they have no bearing on 00:33:53.380 --> 00:33:57.359 you anymore. So in fact, even if someone knows 00:33:57.359 --> 00:34:00.259 you from your past, and they're like, oh, I know 00:34:00.259 --> 00:34:02.700 who you are. You're the person who used to do 00:34:02.700 --> 00:34:06.299 this in high school. I know who you are. The 00:34:06.299 --> 00:34:08.460 whole town knows about what you used to get up 00:34:08.460 --> 00:34:11.659 to. Or I know you. I've heard stories about you. 00:34:11.679 --> 00:34:14.300 I've heard about the things you've done. None 00:34:14.300 --> 00:34:17.000 of those things matter anymore. None of those 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:19.920 things identify me anymore. Why? Because that's 00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:22.019 who I was when I was a dead person. But the Bible 00:34:22.019 --> 00:34:25.460 says I'm alive in Christ. That old name doesn't 00:34:25.460 --> 00:34:28.639 describe me anymore. The only identity that matters 00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:32.280 for me is that I am a child of God through faith 00:34:32.280 --> 00:34:36.079 in Christ. Which is exactly why the Bible says 00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:39.800 here there is not Greek, Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:42.539 barbarian, Scythian, slave, free. You could add 00:34:42.539 --> 00:34:45.579 to that list educated, uneducated, rich, poor. 00:34:46.179 --> 00:34:49.139 None of it matters. The only thing that matters 00:34:49.139 --> 00:34:53.360 is Jesus. That's why the Bible says Christ is 00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:58.840 all and Christ is in all. It's always only ever 00:34:58.840 --> 00:35:03.539 about Jesus. So because He's raised us up with 00:35:03.539 --> 00:35:06.059 Christ, we need to actually live out our faith 00:35:06.059 --> 00:35:09.539 in Christ at all times. So here's what I would 00:35:09.539 --> 00:35:11.920 love our church to do this morning. And everybody 00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:13.400 in here, even if you're visiting, here's what 00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:15.239 I would love for you to do. If you would call 00:35:15.239 --> 00:35:17.360 yourself a Christian this morning, I would love 00:35:17.360 --> 00:35:20.880 for us to commit today to stop trying to pursue 00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:24.639 Jesus and something else at the same time. I 00:35:24.639 --> 00:35:26.980 would love for us to commit ourselves to pursuing 00:35:26.980 --> 00:35:30.829 Christ and Christ alone. I would love to see 00:35:30.829 --> 00:35:33.809 us commit today to put sin to death in our lives 00:35:33.809 --> 00:35:36.590 before it puts us to death. And here's the thing 00:35:36.590 --> 00:35:39.849 about sin, folks. It will always find you out. 00:35:40.829 --> 00:35:44.070 God will bring every sin to light. And I would 00:35:44.070 --> 00:35:47.090 love to see us today commit ourselves to embracing 00:35:47.090 --> 00:35:50.570 the new life that we have in Christ and living 00:35:50.570 --> 00:35:52.389 out that faith in Christ. Because here's the 00:35:52.389 --> 00:35:53.610 thing you're not going to hear in a lot of other 00:35:53.610 --> 00:35:58.809 churches. God actually does want you to enjoy 00:35:58.860 --> 00:36:02.780 Life in Christ. Jesus has set you free. You have 00:36:02.780 --> 00:36:05.320 new life in Him. God wants you to embrace it 00:36:05.320 --> 00:36:08.159 and enjoy it and live your life for the glory 00:36:08.159 --> 00:36:10.739 of God. And you'll get to enjoy Him forever. 00:36:10.980 --> 00:36:13.679 There is nothing greater than that. So the Bible 00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:17.440 says earlier, whom have I in heaven but you? 00:36:18.039 --> 00:36:20.500 And on earth, there's nothing I desire. When 00:36:20.500 --> 00:36:23.780 God is your greatest desire, you will have the 00:36:23.780 --> 00:36:27.460 greatest joy you've ever known. And it is all 00:36:27.460 --> 00:36:31.139 because of what Jesus has done for us. That's 00:36:31.139 --> 00:36:33.139 what I want the testimony of this church to be. 00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:38.820 Always only Jesus. Amen? Let's pray.