WEBVTT 00:00:01.539 --> 00:00:06.940 Well, howdy! Now, I have to tell you that today 00:00:06.940 --> 00:00:10.039 we're going to be looking at something that sort 00:00:10.039 --> 00:00:14.699 of balances out our sermon from last week. Last 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:17.059 week we were talking quite a bit about how we 00:00:17.059 --> 00:00:20.239 are no longer under the law, but this week we're 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:23.260 going to understand how it is that being out 00:00:23.260 --> 00:00:26.440 from under the law does not mean that we are 00:00:26.440 --> 00:00:30.399 lawless. It does not mean that anything goes. 00:00:31.240 --> 00:00:33.960 When I was in high school there was this one 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:37.079 point in time where my mom had to try to drive 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:40.200 both my sister and I to school and after a little 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:43.179 while she realized it was just too difficult 00:00:43.179 --> 00:00:45.719 we're in two very different parts of town with 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:49.479 our school and so she asked one of our Friends 00:00:49.479 --> 00:00:51.740 that we'd known since I was in elementary school 00:00:51.740 --> 00:00:55.740 to go ahead and drive me to school Well, what 00:00:55.740 --> 00:00:58.840 I realized is that she was going to have to leave 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:03.250 with my sister before my driver was going to 00:01:03.250 --> 00:01:08.090 get there. Oh, man. I was free. I could be by 00:01:08.090 --> 00:01:10.390 myself, do whatever I wanted, and I'm thinking, 00:01:11.030 --> 00:01:13.010 oh, goodness, what am I going to do with all 00:01:13.010 --> 00:01:15.530 this freedom? And I'm thinking to myself, I could 00:01:15.530 --> 00:01:17.950 jump back into bed. Oh, man, I could just go 00:01:17.950 --> 00:01:19.950 sleep a little bit longer. That'd be great. And 00:01:19.950 --> 00:01:22.109 then I'm like, well, we never turn on the TV 00:01:22.109 --> 00:01:24.569 in the mornings. I'm going to go turn on cartoons. 00:01:24.849 --> 00:01:26.530 And so I was like, oh, I'm going to go watch 00:01:26.530 --> 00:01:28.650 some cartoons and everything else. And then I'm 00:01:28.650 --> 00:01:31.359 thinking, Oh man, if I wanted a second bowl of 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:33.019 cereal, let's go do that. And so I'm thinking 00:01:33.019 --> 00:01:36.359 to myself, all of these things that I could do 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:39.760 now that I was free. And I had the whole morning 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:43.019 to myself. Except then I started kind of realizing, 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:46.579 wait a minute, I'm already up. And I try to go 00:01:46.579 --> 00:01:49.060 back to bed, I'm not really sleeping any longer. 00:01:49.379 --> 00:01:51.620 That's not really gonna help very much. Maybe 00:01:51.620 --> 00:01:53.840 an extra five or 10 minutes. And then I'm thinking, 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:56.760 wait a minute, I've already full. I don't really 00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:59.480 want another bowl of cereal. And then even more 00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:02.780 than that, wait a minute, I could turn on the 00:02:02.780 --> 00:02:05.079 cartoons, but I still gotta get dressed, I've 00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:06.719 still gotta do all this other stuff, and I'm 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:11.580 like, if I'm late, oh man, this family is gonna 00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:14.060 be upset at me. And so what I realized is that 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:18.080 while I didn't have my mom standing there just 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:20.599 saying, get ready, you've gotta go, push me out 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:24.229 of bed, I was like, oh. I've got to be responsible. 00:02:24.789 --> 00:02:27.310 Oh, this is terrible. I mean, I was a high schooler. 00:02:27.330 --> 00:02:30.569 Who wants to be responsible at that time? But 00:02:30.569 --> 00:02:32.669 what I realized is that while the freedom was 00:02:32.669 --> 00:02:37.150 real, I could maybe take my time or relax a little 00:02:37.150 --> 00:02:39.050 bit. I didn't have to worry about being ready 00:02:39.050 --> 00:02:42.169 when everybody else was ready. I also realized 00:02:42.169 --> 00:02:45.669 that I had to be using it responsibly and respectfully. 00:02:46.689 --> 00:02:51.129 We see in places like Romans 6, And it says, 00:02:51.349 --> 00:02:54.210 what shall we say then are we to continue in 00:02:54.210 --> 00:02:59.509 sin that grace may abound by no means? As much 00:02:59.509 --> 00:03:02.710 as we may be joyful and glad that we can get 00:03:02.710 --> 00:03:06.009 out from underneath the law and everything it 00:03:06.009 --> 00:03:09.550 condemns us to and holds us to standards that 00:03:09.550 --> 00:03:12.909 may not always be fair, at the same time, that 00:03:12.909 --> 00:03:16.969 doesn't mean that anything goes. You see, Christian 00:03:16.969 --> 00:03:19.879 freedom It's not about trying to see how far 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:23.539 we can go technically without thinking that we're 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:27.680 sinning. It's about choosing to love others over 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:31.219 indulging ourselves. The thing is, is that in 00:03:31.219 --> 00:03:35.159 many ways, being out from the law actually holds 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:39.080 us to a higher standard. Because instead of trying 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:42.520 to look to say, did I do all the things that 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:45.740 something said for me to do, instead is to ask, 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:48.039 What is it that I know that God would actually 00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:51.979 want at this time? You see, we're pivoting this 00:03:51.979 --> 00:03:55.520 week, where we're looking to see that the warning 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:59.740 doesn't mean about not sinning, but rather is 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:03.460 to realize that we no longer take things lightly. 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:08.419 And in many ways, we take it even more seriously 00:04:08.419 --> 00:04:13.280 than before. See, Paul, he warns us that while 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:16.439 we are free, We're not supposed to use freedom 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:20.360 as an opportunity for the flesh, as an opportunity 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:23.639 to whatever just strikes us at the moment, just 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:27.120 do whatever we feel like at that point. But rather 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:30.699 is to ask how it is that we serve one another. 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:34.199 See, loving one another is what fulfills the 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:38.379 law. But you see, going past the rigid rule keeping, 00:04:39.180 --> 00:04:42.300 the spirit is actually teaching us how to respect 00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:46.670 others. how to love the world and to care for 00:04:46.670 --> 00:04:49.310 them, how to do what's right whenever it's not 00:04:49.310 --> 00:04:52.709 expected of us. You see, last week we were talking 00:04:52.709 --> 00:04:55.889 about how we're trying to get away from letting 00:04:55.889 --> 00:04:58.589 the rules end up determining everything for us. 00:04:59.230 --> 00:05:02.389 I remember when I was younger and the discussion 00:05:02.389 --> 00:05:05.689 would come about the Ten Commandments. And we'd 00:05:05.689 --> 00:05:07.509 always get to the part that says, you shall not 00:05:07.509 --> 00:05:09.930 bear false witness. You know, it's like, oh, 00:05:09.970 --> 00:05:13.029 well, don't lie. Someone would always come up 00:05:13.029 --> 00:05:16.089 with, well, what about Nazi Germany? There was 00:05:16.089 --> 00:05:19.470 always something. What about if someone came 00:05:19.470 --> 00:05:22.149 to the house of Anne Frank and they're supposed 00:05:22.149 --> 00:05:25.610 to say, oh, well, do you have any Jewish people 00:05:25.610 --> 00:05:27.769 in your home? And if you're telling the truth, 00:05:28.329 --> 00:05:31.509 well, then you'd give away who it is that's inside 00:05:31.509 --> 00:05:33.790 of there. And every time, someone would always 00:05:33.790 --> 00:05:39.110 have trouble. Well, I mean, you really shouldn't. 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:42.360 But maybe you could kind of say it a certain 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:46.500 way to try to not answer them but also not give 00:05:46.500 --> 00:05:49.939 them away. No, the answer is lie. Tell them that 00:05:49.939 --> 00:05:53.379 they're not in there. Come on, it's not difficult. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:56.620 But the funny part was that people were trying 00:05:56.620 --> 00:05:59.680 so hard to go back and spell it out instead of 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:02.259 just looking and saying, wait a minute, what's 00:06:02.259 --> 00:06:05.660 actually the right thing to do right now? And 00:06:05.660 --> 00:06:08.100 of course, bearing false witness actually just 00:06:08.100 --> 00:06:11.110 really means don't do things that harm someone's 00:06:11.110 --> 00:06:14.310 reputation by telling something falsely. But 00:06:14.310 --> 00:06:17.610 people were so focused on what they saw written 00:06:17.610 --> 00:06:20.350 that they couldn't get past enough just to say, 00:06:21.009 --> 00:06:24.709 the answer's pretty clear. Love your neighbor. 00:06:25.670 --> 00:06:29.750 See, Christian liberty, it's not about removing 00:06:29.750 --> 00:06:33.689 our moral boundaries. It's about re -centering 00:06:33.689 --> 00:06:37.230 them in love and in the Spirit's leading rather 00:06:37.230 --> 00:06:40.800 than in the laws that we see in front of us. 00:06:41.139 --> 00:06:45.579 You see, there is still a struggle that's going 00:06:45.579 --> 00:06:49.920 on. But not because of people and the law, but 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:54.459 rather a struggle, a battle between flesh and 00:06:54.459 --> 00:06:58.279 the spirit. See, the battle between flesh and 00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:01.199 the spirit, that's the place where we really 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:05.920 have the biggest difficulty. See, what we end 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:09.079 up seeing is this internal conflict It actually 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:11.600 shows what's really happening because as much 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:15.879 as we may say, well, just do the right thing 00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:24.040 at all times. Yeah. How easy is that? How often 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:28.579 is it that we are sitting there or maybe lying 00:07:28.579 --> 00:07:31.819 in bed and we know that there's plenty to do 00:07:31.819 --> 00:07:35.360 and out comes the phone and all the scrolling. 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:39.439 and all of the social media or even just wanting 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:42.860 to sit there and text a bunch of people that's 00:07:42.860 --> 00:07:46.680 on your mind or you're like I'll just go ahead 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:49.519 and call so and so and talk for a bit and then 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:51.899 it's an hour and a half later and you realize 00:07:51.899 --> 00:07:54.839 that everything was getting completely missed 00:07:54.839 --> 00:07:59.680 and not done or how we might be looking at someone's 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:03.779 pictures and In our mind we know that we're supposed 00:08:03.779 --> 00:08:05.660 to be happy for them, but in our heart we're 00:08:05.660 --> 00:08:09.379 saying, oh, I can't believe that so -and -so 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:15.220 is off doing this and I don't get to do it. Or 00:08:15.220 --> 00:08:18.920 how many times that we may be seeing someone's 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:22.060 cutting us off in traffic and we know that they 00:08:22.060 --> 00:08:25.920 can't hear us. We know we're supposed to stay 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:30.470 calm and those words just come out. Although 00:08:30.470 --> 00:08:33.029 I was really grateful that growing up, all that 00:08:33.029 --> 00:08:36.090 my dad would come up with was dead gummit and 00:08:36.090 --> 00:08:40.330 stupid head. So my cussing was not something 00:08:40.330 --> 00:08:44.289 that developed as a child. But you see, as much 00:08:44.289 --> 00:08:49.330 as we know how we're supposed to live, but we 00:08:49.330 --> 00:08:53.909 still fall into it. We still do it. Because we 00:08:53.909 --> 00:08:57.970 live in this body. We aren't just some spirit 00:08:57.970 --> 00:09:01.789 floating around in this flesh. This flesh is 00:09:01.789 --> 00:09:05.370 a part of us. And we still give in time and time 00:09:05.370 --> 00:09:08.169 again, even though we know we shouldn't. And 00:09:08.169 --> 00:09:12.710 even at times when we don't want to. Because 00:09:12.710 --> 00:09:15.809 the thing is, is that we know that God is speaking 00:09:15.809 --> 00:09:18.389 to us not because He's trying to get us to follow 00:09:18.389 --> 00:09:20.929 the law, but because He's trying to get us to 00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:25.029 follow His Spirit and to reject what our flesh 00:09:25.149 --> 00:09:28.490 keeps leading us into. See, walking by the Spirit, 00:09:29.269 --> 00:09:32.269 it's meant to lead us away from gratifying all 00:09:32.269 --> 00:09:35.590 those desires. See, legalism, getting to a point 00:09:35.590 --> 00:09:37.870 of just saying, well, you didn't do what the 00:09:37.870 --> 00:09:39.690 rules said you're supposed to do. Yeah, that's 00:09:39.690 --> 00:09:42.610 not going to go very far, because then we'll 00:09:42.610 --> 00:09:45.149 always find a way to get around them, or a way 00:09:45.149 --> 00:09:49.419 to avoid anybody seeing it. But you see, being 00:09:49.419 --> 00:09:52.620 led by the Spirit, as we continue to ask God, 00:09:52.700 --> 00:09:55.120 what is it that You desire of me? What is Your 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:58.620 Word teaching me? What is it that You are convicting 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:03.919 me of? It actually points us toward where we're 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:06.720 supposed to live, and what we're supposed to 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:10.000 do. See, we're supposed to live in the Kingdom, 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:14.399 seeing that what God has in mind is always what 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:17.669 is best. See, the point is that the law could 00:10:17.669 --> 00:10:20.990 never produce the righteousness that the Spirit 00:10:20.990 --> 00:10:25.590 can. But now that the Spirit is there, He's actually 00:10:25.590 --> 00:10:29.590 calling you to something even higher. See, even 00:10:29.590 --> 00:10:34.350 as it speaks in Romans 8 about not living according 00:10:34.350 --> 00:10:37.850 to the flesh, or realizing that 1 Corinthians 00:10:37.850 --> 00:10:41.929 2 is making sure that we know that living according 00:10:41.929 --> 00:10:45.549 to what the natural person would want makes it 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:49.220 harder. to follow after the Spirit. It's remembering 00:10:49.220 --> 00:10:54.279 that this is not determining that when you fail 00:10:54.279 --> 00:10:57.720 and when you stumble, now all of a sudden you 00:10:57.720 --> 00:11:01.779 have no love from God, but rather is saying which 00:11:01.779 --> 00:11:05.279 direction is God calling you to. You see, the 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:08.399 presence of that struggle, that tension inside 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:11.440 of us, we know that it's there, but it doesn't 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:14.429 mean that we've now failed. and that there is 00:11:14.429 --> 00:11:17.710 now no grace for us. See, that's an easy part 00:11:17.710 --> 00:11:20.470 that we may misunderstand when we're looking 00:11:20.470 --> 00:11:24.509 at our Galatians passage for today. See, what 00:11:24.509 --> 00:11:27.129 we're seeing is that the struggle is actually 00:11:27.129 --> 00:11:33.669 a sign that we are alive in the Spirit. Because 00:11:33.669 --> 00:11:37.090 if you truly didn't feel any struggle inside 00:11:37.090 --> 00:11:40.210 of you, that doesn't mean that you've now conquered 00:11:40.210 --> 00:11:44.470 the sin in the world. It means that you've stopped 00:11:44.470 --> 00:11:49.529 accepting what a sinner you truly are. If you 00:11:49.529 --> 00:11:51.669 no longer feel the struggle inside of you, it 00:11:51.669 --> 00:11:54.350 doesn't mean you've conquered the sin. It just 00:11:54.350 --> 00:11:56.990 means you're numb to it, and you're no longer 00:11:56.990 --> 00:11:59.889 paying attention anymore. See, Martin Luther 00:11:59.889 --> 00:12:02.970 one time said, sin boldly, and lots of times 00:12:02.970 --> 00:12:05.730 people love to just stop there, put it on the 00:12:05.730 --> 00:12:09.330 t -shirt, sin boldly. All right, let's go. But 00:12:09.330 --> 00:12:13.320 you see, the rest of the quote, but believe and 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:17.100 rejoice in Christ even more boldly. It's trying 00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:19.879 to help us remember how we're supposed to face 00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:23.059 the issues of the flesh. It's not to encourage 00:12:23.059 --> 00:12:25.820 sinning, but rather being honest about the struggles 00:12:25.820 --> 00:12:29.919 that are within. Trusting that God's grace is 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:34.080 even stronger. His forgiveness is not there to 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:38.700 condemn you, but to move you further. To walk 00:12:38.700 --> 00:12:42.240 you to where it is that He truly wants. We try 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:45.200 harder in the future to grow in his spirit and 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:48.799 to walk in his ways See being spirit led does 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:53.720 not mean that we are perfect Means being sensitive 00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:59.600 to God Especially when we fall and we're willing 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:03.519 to admit it but the question is are we actually 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:07.700 listening or are we resisting and see that's 00:13:07.700 --> 00:13:10.809 what we actually need to ask because Let's be 00:13:10.809 --> 00:13:14.070 honest, the works of the flesh, they're often 00:13:14.070 --> 00:13:18.210 pretty obvious. See, knowing these things, the 00:13:18.210 --> 00:13:20.610 works of the flesh, they can be pretty clear 00:13:20.610 --> 00:13:25.269 cut. It's just that often we look for ways to 00:13:25.269 --> 00:13:30.429 avoid being convicted about what we see. The 00:13:30.429 --> 00:13:33.409 issue though is that when we stop listening to 00:13:33.409 --> 00:13:37.870 the Spirit, and we let the flesh take over, and 00:13:37.870 --> 00:13:43.139 it shows. See, the flesh being unchecked, it 00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:46.559 can lead to very visible, very harmful outcomes. 00:13:46.940 --> 00:13:50.559 You see, when we see the list that Paul puts 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:53.639 on there, notice all these things that he's saying, 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:56.539 that these are the ones that are not a part of 00:13:56.539 --> 00:13:59.159 the kingdom of God. This is not an exhaustive 00:13:59.159 --> 00:14:01.879 list. This is not something for now for you to 00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:05.500 look in and say, oh good, my sin doesn't fit 00:14:05.500 --> 00:14:09.399 there, so I'm okay. This isn't something where 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:13.500 now we've picked apart which ones are the condemning 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:16.360 sins and which ones are the ones that we can 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:20.620 try to just avoid. But rather, it's trying to 00:14:20.620 --> 00:14:23.340 point out that the works of the flesh, they're 00:14:23.340 --> 00:14:27.120 obvious. There's something for us to look and 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:30.059 say, those who do such things will not inherit 00:14:30.059 --> 00:14:33.720 the kingdom. But since you're the one inheriting 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:41.419 the kingdom, don't do them. These sins are things 00:14:41.419 --> 00:14:44.080 that are meant to diagnose what's happening in 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:47.539 us. It's not something where now all of a sudden 00:14:47.539 --> 00:14:50.559 we're now saying, okay, now this is the sort 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:53.320 of person that I need to make sure knows that 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:55.980 they are condemned. I mean, it's like whenever 00:14:55.980 --> 00:14:58.279 you're going to see the doctor and you're letting 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:01.399 them know the symptoms that you have, the thing 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:04.139 is that it's not like the doctor's going to be 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:07.240 coming up there and be like, wow. What kind of 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:11.679 a terrible lifestyle do you have that you've 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:15.100 gotten sick today? Oh My goodness, what sort 00:15:15.100 --> 00:15:17.919 of a terrible person are you that you managed 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:21.059 to catch a cold? That you managed to have the 00:15:21.059 --> 00:15:25.059 flu. What sort of a terrible person? No They're 00:15:25.059 --> 00:15:28.220 supposed to help to diagnose what's really happening 00:15:28.220 --> 00:15:33.360 so you can get through it and past it and that's 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.429 the same thing that we see here because These 00:15:36.429 --> 00:15:38.889 sins, these struggles, what they do is that the 00:15:38.889 --> 00:15:41.870 more that we stay within them, the more they 00:15:41.870 --> 00:15:45.289 pull us away from the Spirit of God. The more 00:15:45.289 --> 00:15:48.730 that we continue to revel in them and to ignore 00:15:48.730 --> 00:15:52.009 them, to let them be these unrepentant patterns, 00:15:53.690 --> 00:15:56.169 the less likely we are to be convicted and to 00:15:56.169 --> 00:16:00.590 listen to the Spirit speaking to us. See, what 00:16:00.590 --> 00:16:04.049 we're asking here is not about whether you have 00:16:04.049 --> 00:16:07.049 a struggle. It's about whether or not this is 00:16:07.049 --> 00:16:11.970 your identity. Do you identify with this list? 00:16:12.750 --> 00:16:15.309 Is this where your identity is? Are these the 00:16:15.309 --> 00:16:17.509 things where you're saying, this is who I want 00:16:17.509 --> 00:16:20.769 to be, this is who I am and nothing's going to 00:16:20.769 --> 00:16:23.309 change it? Or is this where you're saying, I 00:16:23.309 --> 00:16:26.450 have a struggle and I don't want to be like this? 00:16:27.570 --> 00:16:29.889 It's not whether or not you've ever sinned, it's 00:16:29.889 --> 00:16:32.090 whether or not you're being defined by the sin 00:16:32.090 --> 00:16:36.169 or by the Savior. Are you being defined by the 00:16:36.169 --> 00:16:39.950 sins that you can see so obviously in your life? 00:16:40.029 --> 00:16:43.370 Or are you being defined by the Savior who knows 00:16:43.370 --> 00:16:48.250 them just as well as you do? See, we're asking 00:16:48.250 --> 00:16:50.669 about making sure we don't blaspheme the Holy 00:16:50.669 --> 00:16:55.649 Spirit, where we reject hearing God who says, 00:16:55.830 --> 00:16:59.210 you are a sinner in need of My grace. It means 00:16:59.210 --> 00:17:02.190 making sure that we don't resist what that Spirit 00:17:02.190 --> 00:17:06.230 is laying on our hearts. See, it's not to excuse 00:17:06.230 --> 00:17:10.970 the sin. It's that without the distinction, see, 00:17:11.430 --> 00:17:14.349 none of us would actually be able to come into 00:17:14.349 --> 00:17:18.410 God's kingdom. If we are being honest, we fit 00:17:18.410 --> 00:17:23.710 within all of that. Have you ever sinned? You're 00:17:23.710 --> 00:17:26.509 a sinner. Have you ever lied? You're a liar. 00:17:27.589 --> 00:17:31.130 Have you ever been jealous? Have you ever been 00:17:31.130 --> 00:17:34.859 rageful? Have you ever had something in your 00:17:34.859 --> 00:17:38.140 heart? That God would not be pleased with yeah, 00:17:38.299 --> 00:17:41.619 guess what we're all in that category Not just 00:17:41.619 --> 00:17:45.740 those people that you have in your mind This 00:17:45.740 --> 00:17:48.720 doesn't mean that we ignore it doesn't mean that 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:51.940 as we're scrolling through We say well, that's 00:17:51.940 --> 00:17:54.640 just my day. I guess I didn't not gonna get anything 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:58.839 else done today find something just break it 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:02.509 up somehow or thinking about the way in which 00:18:02.509 --> 00:18:05.930 we are angry at our workplace. Don't just say, 00:18:06.049 --> 00:18:08.289 well, that's just how it is, but rather is to 00:18:08.289 --> 00:18:11.970 say, no, I want to be different. I mean, I've 00:18:11.970 --> 00:18:15.450 been there. I can know the times whenever I've 00:18:15.450 --> 00:18:18.390 been impatient. I know the times whenever I want 00:18:18.390 --> 00:18:22.109 things on my time schedule. And then I have to 00:18:22.109 --> 00:18:25.250 have someone look me in the eye and say, Jason, 00:18:25.910 --> 00:18:31.480 we love you. You could be more patient. Because 00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:35.039 not that it's somehow going to make me unloved, 00:18:35.500 --> 00:18:39.720 but rather because I need to grow. See, the thing 00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:42.279 is that as we look at this, we're meant to be 00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:46.099 able to stop deceiving ourselves and to realize 00:18:46.099 --> 00:18:48.480 the need to pull away from those. Not because 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:51.539 the struggle goes away, but because we want the 00:18:51.539 --> 00:18:55.059 struggle. We want to make sure the flesh doesn't 00:18:55.059 --> 00:18:57.680 win, because without the struggle, that's always 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:02.589 the winner in our lives. But you see, the end 00:19:02.589 --> 00:19:05.130 of it doesn't just stop with, okay, now stop 00:19:05.130 --> 00:19:09.109 sinning. It's rather, what is it that you're 00:19:09.109 --> 00:19:12.150 having in your life instead? And that's why it 00:19:12.150 --> 00:19:14.250 is that the fruit of the Spirit is so important, 00:19:14.369 --> 00:19:17.289 even though the fruit of the Spirit is not always 00:19:17.289 --> 00:19:20.970 as obvious. Isn't it amazing we can easily look 00:19:20.970 --> 00:19:24.730 at the sins, but looking at the fruits? How often 00:19:24.730 --> 00:19:27.589 do we just ignore those? And how important they 00:19:27.589 --> 00:19:32.470 really are? Do you know though, when you think 00:19:32.470 --> 00:19:35.089 about the people that you respect and the ones 00:19:35.089 --> 00:19:38.410 that you actually want to be like, aren't they 00:19:38.410 --> 00:19:41.589 the ones who sound like this? The ones who have 00:19:41.589 --> 00:19:47.170 joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:52.289 faithfulness, gentleness, self -control? During 00:19:52.289 --> 00:19:55.009 small group, somebody said, yeah, but how technically 00:19:55.009 --> 00:19:58.750 do you define goodness? Which I understood what 00:19:58.750 --> 00:20:00.329 they meant. They just wanted to understand what 00:20:00.329 --> 00:20:03.490 the original Greek word meant But isn't that 00:20:03.490 --> 00:20:06.930 funny? That we have to somehow define goodness 00:20:06.930 --> 00:20:09.950 In order to decide whether or not we actually 00:20:09.950 --> 00:20:13.750 want to follow it See these are not rules to 00:20:13.750 --> 00:20:17.130 perform but rather qualities that form in us 00:20:17.130 --> 00:20:20.509 because of our relationship with Christ there 00:20:20.980 --> 00:20:23.059 They're a test to see when something is wrong, 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:26.000 not something to condemn us. It's not about trying 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.539 to look whether or not we have salvation. It's 00:20:29.539 --> 00:20:32.359 about looking to say, I want to follow the Spirit, 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:35.019 and if I don't have one of these, then that means 00:20:35.019 --> 00:20:37.759 that something in my life is getting in the way. 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:41.720 See, seeing a lack of fruit, it's not about shame. 00:20:42.140 --> 00:20:44.240 But every time that we see one of those fruits 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:48.039 is not in our life, it means I need to go closer 00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:52.099 to hear God's Word. to pray and ask for His Spirit 00:20:52.099 --> 00:20:54.799 to lead me and guide me. It's a chance to diagnose 00:20:54.799 --> 00:21:00.579 that there is an issue in order that we may bear 00:21:00.579 --> 00:21:04.539 fruit for God. See, that's the thing about this. 00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:07.980 You and I both know that you can probably think 00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:10.799 of people that don't have all of these fruits. 00:21:11.859 --> 00:21:14.980 But what does that mean then? That we sit there 00:21:14.980 --> 00:21:17.039 and condemn them and judge them and decide, well 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:19.680 then apparently there's no hope for them. But 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:24.940 does it also mean that we accept it? No. It means 00:21:24.940 --> 00:21:27.740 that we look for ways to lead them and guide 00:21:27.740 --> 00:21:31.240 them by God's Spirit, that they would change. 00:21:32.220 --> 00:21:36.019 The thing is that we don't accept the sin, but 00:21:36.019 --> 00:21:42.039 we still go to the Spirit for real change. See, 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:44.839 that's what we look for when we say that it's 00:21:44.839 --> 00:21:49.059 time to crucify the flesh and to live. by the 00:21:49.059 --> 00:21:53.079 Spirit. Does that flesh pop up again time and 00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:59.259 time again? Yeah. Repeatedly. Even sometimes 00:21:59.259 --> 00:22:03.980 to a point where people may think of us in light 00:22:03.980 --> 00:22:08.819 of the sins. They may think of us and think of 00:22:08.819 --> 00:22:12.579 impatience. They may think of us and think of 00:22:12.579 --> 00:22:15.960 a lack of self -control. They may think of us 00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:21.130 and think of someone who has no joy. But what 00:22:21.130 --> 00:22:25.569 that means is that we no longer let that become 00:22:25.569 --> 00:22:30.430 our story for ourselves. Because the crucified 00:22:30.430 --> 00:22:34.529 of the flesh, that's in the past. It's already 00:22:34.529 --> 00:22:39.289 been done. It's already been accomplished. The 00:22:39.289 --> 00:22:42.210 fact that we even allow it to still define us 00:22:42.210 --> 00:22:44.990 in our minds, the fact that we act as if it may 00:22:44.990 --> 00:22:49.119 even still be okay, the idea of reveling in it, 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:55.200 in front of the world, that's not of God. But 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:58.240 God has already conquered it. And He's asking 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:02.519 us to die to it. See, that's what we're called 00:23:02.519 --> 00:23:07.160 to today. Not to daily condemn ourselves, but 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:10.799 to daily kill it and come back to the Spirit. 00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:15.039 Bless you. So I want you to think about this 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:21.349 right now. What's that sin that you're really 00:23:21.349 --> 00:23:24.890 struggling with right now? I don't want to know. 00:23:25.150 --> 00:23:29.549 I don't need to know. But you know. And right 00:23:29.549 --> 00:23:32.789 now, have you been spending your time trying 00:23:32.789 --> 00:23:38.430 to avoid it? Trying to excuse it? And instead, 00:23:39.369 --> 00:23:42.650 I'm calling you to say, yep, that is exactly 00:23:42.650 --> 00:23:48.069 what I am doing. But it doesn't define me. Because 00:23:48.069 --> 00:23:52.589 I have God's Spirit, I don't have to fall into 00:23:52.589 --> 00:23:57.029 it the same way I did before. But when I do, 00:23:58.089 --> 00:24:00.890 I will come back to God time and time again to 00:24:00.890 --> 00:24:05.170 confess and to continue to ask for His strength. 00:24:05.869 --> 00:24:08.670 Because His strength is perfect in our weakness. 00:24:09.890 --> 00:24:14.269 And He is the only one to make us perfect. Not 00:24:14.269 --> 00:24:18.200 because we have conquered sin and death, but 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:21.599 because He has already done it for us. May His 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:24.680 Spirit continue to lead and guide us this morning 00:24:24.680 --> 00:24:26.759 and always. Amen.