Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP211023S
|
00:01 ♪♪
00:11 ♪♪ 05:26 >> Please stand with us as we sing this next song. 05:29 It's called "Never Lost." It might be newer to some of 05:32 you, so please join us in singing the chorus. 05:35 ♪♪ 13:26 >> "Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, 13:30 let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates 13:34 body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for 13:39 God. Make room for us in your hearts. 13:42 We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have 13:46 exploited no one. I do not say this to condemn 13:49 you. I have said before that you have 13:52 such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. 13:56 I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all 14:01 our troubles my joy knows no bounds. 14:05 ♪♪ 14:20 >> I hold in my hands probably the greatest influencer on the 14:25 planet right now. I don't know if you can 14:29 recognize his face -- the C.E.O. of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. 14:33 This is the latest issue of Time magazine. 14:36 You see there's a little bar across his face, and it says 14:39 "Delete 'Facebook'? Delete or cancel?" 14:42 What's the big deal? Well, Facebook has been in the 14:46 news, as you well know. Some secret documents released. 14:50 A whistleblower shows up in front of a congressional 14:53 committee. And, lo and behold, they're 14:55 finding out that Facebook has been having a field day, and 14:58 nobody knew about it. To the place Instagram, which 15:02 Facebook owns, by the way, a private internal study found out 15:07 that 32% of teen girls feel worse about their bodies because 15:12 they're on Instagram. 15:14 Go figure. Well, why didn't you get rid of it then? 15:17 Well, because it's making a big profit, that's why. And then they find out, oh, my, 15:21 Facebook, with great fanfare, releases this News Feed ranking algorithm, touting it as a way 15:27 to increase meaningful social interaction, when, in fact, the algorithm is actually 15:32 incentivizing divisive posts and misinformation. Well, why didn't you change the 15:38 algorithm? Because controversy engenders more terrific, that's why. 15:44 This year, Facebook went over $1 trillion of worth. Now, with all this hullabaloo, 15:51 they've dropped down to $918 billion. Poor Facebook. 15:56 Social influencers, huh? How to become one? New York Times ran a piece -- 16:02 Speaking of Instagram, New York Times ran a piece by a young woman writer and 16:08 influencer, Leigh Stein. And the editorial team gave her piece the title, "The Empty 16:16 Religions of Instagram." She goes after the super-influencers on Instagram. 16:20 These are women. She calls them "Instavengelists" and bemoans their shallow appeal 16:26 to their followers. So, we'll put Leigh Stein on the screen. 16:30 "I have --" A rather amazing confession, by the way, to make in the New York Times. 16:35 "I have hardly prayed to God since I was a teenager, but the pandemic has cracked open inside 16:41 of me a profound yearning for reverence, humility, and awe. I have an overdraft on my 16:48 outrage account. I want moral authority from someone who isn't shilling a 16:54 memoir or calling out her enemies on social media for clout." 16:59 And then she opens up her heart. And we listen. "I find myself craving role 17:07 models my age who are not only righteous crusaders, but also humble and merciful, and I'm not 17:14 finding them where I live (online)." Her words. 17:20 Did you catch those two nouns and those three adjectives? What were those nouns? 17:26 Crusader, role model. Three adjectives -- righteous, humble, merciful. 17:32 And what was the verb? "I find myself craving..." Craving. 17:37 "And I'm longing for somebody my own age who has the moral authority to be a righteous, 17:45 humble, merciful influencer. I'll follow her. I'll follow him. 17:51 But I can't find anybody." How to become an influencer. Today's installment -- "An 18:01 influencer people are hungry --" I guess we could change the word. 18:05 "An influencer people are craving for." Let's pray. 18:13 O God, could they be here right now? Right here, these righteous, 18:21 humble, merciful role models this world is hungry for? Please raise up a bold new band 18:32 of influencers in this place, at this time. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 18:40 Amen. >> Amen. >> I suppose if there were one 18:43 church plant that broke the heart of Paul more than any other church he planted, it 18:50 would have to be the church plant in Corinth. Decadent Corinth. 18:54 Fractured-congregation Corinthians. Welcome to Paul's world. 19:01 I want you to step into it with me right now. Go to 1 Corinthians, the first 19:05 letter to the church in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 1. Come on, let's just get the 19:09 opening salvo. I'll be in the NIV. 1 Corinthians 1:1. 19:14 "Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother 19:19 Sosthenes --" his psychic admission -- "To the church of God in Corinth, to those 19:24 sanctified --" Now, I put it in brackets, because the Greek word "sanctified" really is 19:31 "holyized." "To the church in Corinth, those who are sanctified --" who are 19:37 holyized -- "in Christ Jesus and called to be His holy people." NIV. 19:41 A lot of your translations say, "Called to be his saints." "Together with all those 19:48 everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ -- their Lord and ours: Grace and 19:53 peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Can you believe that? 20:00 "To those who have been holyized --" That's the word "holy." 20:03 "To those who are holy people, saints..." Holy, holy, holy. 20:07 We are used to that language being used of God. Are you serious? 20:10 You are using that language for the church in Corinth? Give me a break. 20:16 Let's just take a moment to let our fingers do the walking through the white pages of the 20:20 little letter to the Corinthians. Chapter 1 -- Church fracture. 20:24 Chapter 2 -- Carnal members. Chapter 5 -- A major case of incest. 20:31 The son has married his dad's second wife. And they know it's going on, and 20:36 the church says nothing. [ Chuckles ] Chapter 6 -- Lawsuits between 20:39 the church members. Oh, the second half of Chapter 6 -- Every manner of 20:43 sexual deviancy in the history of this new church plant. Chapter 7 -- On marriage. 20:47 Chapter 8 -- Squabbling over eating food offered to idols. Chapter 11 -- The abuse of the 20:52 Lord's Supper. Chapter 14 -- Chaos in worship. Chapter 15 -- Confusion about 20:58 the Resurrection. Chapter 16 -- "Adios, I love you, I'm out of here." 21:02 I tell you what, I wouldn't have lasted 16 chapters with that church. 21:07 Paul hangs in till the very last line, and he says, "I'm gone." And, by the way, this motley 21:16 bunch of immoral new Christians, who will eventually reject Paul as their pastor -- "Adios to 21:22 you" -- they'll make up, eventually. This church, this congregation 21:27 of sinners -- Paul says, "You've been holyized? Give me a break. 21:32 You've been holyized? You are the holy people of God? The ones upon whom He pours His 21:39 peace and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ." Now, either God is an eternal 21:45 optimist -- and He'd have to be that with a ragtag bunch like that church plant -- or the 21:52 Gospel is the good news about actual, demonstrable transforming, life-changing 21:58 grace and peace in Christ Jesus our Lord. In fact, wouldn't you know it? 22:03 Right here, we find out it's Jesus all the way through. I got to show you this. 22:09 We just read the first three verses of 1 Corinthians 1. Let's go to the last three 22:13 vers-- Last two verses, alright? Drop down to Verse 30. So, Paul summarizes the chapter. 22:19 "It is because of Him --" the Father -- "that you --" Corinthians -- "are in 22:24 Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God -- that is, our righteousness, our holiness, 22:32 and our redemption. Therefore, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts boast in 22:37 the Lord.'" Now, Paul is making two points here. 22:40 One point is absolutely clear. The other is very subtly inserted. 22:45 Let's get the two points. What's the first point? Well, it's unmistakable. 22:51 What Paul is saying is, really, it's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. 22:57 The Gospel is all about Jesus. Holy Scripture is all about Jesus. 23:01 Calvary and the cross are all about Jesus. Holiness is all about Jesus. 23:05 Righteousness and redemption are all about Jesus. That's the point. 23:09 It's all about Jesus. "Listen, you're a mess. If you're gonna boast, don't you 23:14 dare boast about yourself. Boast in Jesus, 'cause it's all about Jesus." 23:19 But the subtle, underlying second point -- oh, we can't miss it. 23:24 It's not only all about Jesus, but guess what. No matter how messed up you are, 23:29 in Jesus, you can become holy. My, my, my, my, my. In Jesus, no matter how messed 23:39 up you are, you can become holy. Wow! Come on, church. 23:47 You've been holyized in Christ Jesus. Come on, church. 23:51 You are the holy people of God. "You talking about us? Yo, Paul, you talking about us?" 23:58 "I am." "Holy, holy, holy." Three times in Chapter 1, he 24:04 will use the word "holy." Three times. Why? Because Paul is making a point. 24:10 Holiness is a big deal. But guess what. It's not only a big deal to 24:14 Paul, it's a big deal to the Roman Empire. You're not gonna believe this. 24:18 I got to share this with you. N.T. Wright, in that beautiful book of his, 24:22 "Paul: A Biography," points out the big deal holiness is in the pagan empire of Rome. 24:28 You ready for this? Here we go. "(The powerful appeal of holiness) --" Which Wright has 24:32 been talking about. "(The powerful appeal of holiness) is counterintuitive 24:37 for modern Westerners --" that would be you and me -- "who generally resent, from an early 24:43 age, the fussy moralisms of home, school, and church." "Rules, rules, rules, rules. 24:49 That's all my mommy and daddy talk about -- rules, rules. Rules, rules. 24:53 That's all that school is about. Rules, rules. Rules, rules. 24:56 The church -- 'Thou shall not, thou shall, thou shall not.' Make up your mind. 25:00 What should we?" Yeah. He nailed it. "Our Western resentment, from an 25:10 early age, the fussy moralisms." Let's read it again. "(The powerful appeal of 25:15 holiness) is counterintuitive for modern Westerners, who generally resent, from an early 25:20 age --" oh, we got to admit it -- "the fussy moralisms of home, school, and church." 25:25 Now, keep reading. "How --" And this is what we're thinking. 25:28 "How could a new and demanding standard of behavior (like holiness) ever be attractive" to 25:33 the Roman Empire? Listen up. This may tell us about the 25:39 empire of the United States. "In the ancient world, however, this was good news --" this 25:47 business of holiness -- "this was good news for many, especially for those -- women, 25:52 the poor, ethnic minorities, slaves, and children -- who were the most vulnerable to the 25:58 normal patterns of pagan behavior." We're talking about sexual 26:02 behavior, social behavior, ethical or nonethical, moral behavior. 26:07 Those were all vulnerable to an empire gone wild. Whoa! 26:14 I never thought of it that way. "This perception seems to lie --" Oh, this good. 26:19 "Seems to lie behind the sneaking admiration that came from the famous second-century 26:24 doctor Galen." Have you ever heard of Dr. Galen? 26:27 You have now. He wrote a book on the anatomy of the human body that remained 26:31 in force until 1100 A.D. 1,000 years, his book was the numero uno textbook for 26:38 medicine. So, this physician -- he makes a comment about Christians. 26:43 Watch this. Dr. Galen. "In his only mention of the 26:47 Christian movement --" in the Roman Empire -- "he comments on two points... 26:51 (1) they believed in the resurrection of the body, and (2) they didn't sleep around." 27:00 Amazing! What's going on here? "Hey, have you noticed these strange counter-cultural people? 27:06 They believe that after they die and they go into this hole in the ground, they're gonna come 27:10 up again one day, and they'll be alive. Can you believe that? 27:13 And -- oh, by the way -- they don't sleep around. In other words, they live by a 27:17 moral code of purity, of honesty, and integrity. An ethical, moral behavior that 27:22 distinguishes them from the rest of this bankrupted culture and empire. 27:28 Mercy! I just heard that a few moments ago, only it was Leigh Stein. 27:33 She's making the identical point as Galen. "I can't find, in this bankrupt 27:39 culture, anybody my age that could become a righteous, with-moral-authority role model 27:45 for me." Whoa! What's going on here? 27:54 This holiness business isn't just about you and me and rules, rules, rules, rules. 27:58 No, no, no, no. Something else is going on here. "I find myself craving role 28:05 models my age who are righteous, humble, and merciful." She may as well have simply 28:11 said, "I wish I had a holy role model." You know, I wish that she knew 28:17 you. I wish that you knew her. Because you could be an 28:21 influencer who could change her mind and change her life, given half a chance. 28:27 Turns out that this business of this body coming out of a hole in the ground, this Resurrection 28:33 business has everything to do with holiness and the moral -- high moral code the followers of 28:39 Jesus choose to live by. In fact, take a look at Paul's call to holiness. 28:44 In this book, you're not gonna believe it, but it's embedded in a chapter on sex. 28:48 Let's go to the chapter on sex. Come on. It's just five pages over. 28:52 1 Corinthians 6. Watch this. This will surprise you. 28:58 1 Corinthians 6. Let's pick it up in Verse 12. "'I have the right --'" Now, 29:05 what's going on here? Paul is quoting the people in this church plant. 29:09 So, he's heard all this stuff. So he's setting up this little dialogue as he's writing. 29:13 He said, "Okay, I know what you guys are saying. You say, 'I have the right to do 29:17 anything.'" But Paul is responding. "Yo, yo. 29:21 Not everything is beneficial. Why would I want to do anything when not everything is 29:26 beneficial? Oh, I hear what you're saying. 'I have the right to do 29:29 anything.' But guess what. I'm not gonna be mastered by 29:32 anything." And neither would you. Think about what you're saying. 29:35 Keep reading. "You say, 'Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and 29:41 God will destroy them both.'" In other words, gratify, gratify, gratify, gratify, 29:46 gratify. If it feels good, do it. If it tastes good, eat it. 29:50 Gratify, gratify. Paul says, "You're crazy. You can't live by that." 29:54 "The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the 30:01 body." He goes on. "By His po--" Good night. 30:03 In the middle of sex, he's gonna introduce the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. 30:08 Watch this. "By His power, God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will 30:13 raise us also." My, my, my, my, my. What's going in here? 30:18 Paul's call to holiness is clearly based -- This much we can agree on. 30:22 It's clearly based on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. But what's the big deal about 30:26 the Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Well, come on. 30:29 We know the answer. It's that God is able to unleash power that took the body of 30:34 Jesus out of the grave, and He's gonna be able to do the same with our dead bodies one day. 30:39 Yay! Yahoo! But the problem is -- listen -- we limit God. 30:44 We have only half of resurrection power when we limit God to what's gonna happen one 30:50 day after we all die. We think that the power of God unleased to resurrect our 30:54 Lord Jesus is a power to be unleashed one day, mañana. One day, He'll raise us all. 31:00 And we miss the truth -- that the resurrection of God -- the resurrection power of God is not 31:06 only one day yet to come, it is today, right-now power. Power for you. 31:14 Power for me. Right now. That's what Paul is saying. 31:20 "There is no sin --" That's what Paul is referring to. There is no sin that can hold us 31:25 captive, that can hold us in the dead end of sins. Can't hold us in that dead 31:31 place. Christ Jesus has resurrecting power that can pull us out of 31:36 that deep hole we've sunk into. How about sexual sin? Yep. 31:44 Well, I suppose if Paul's call to holiness covers sexual sin, it must cover everybody else's 31:51 sins. Come on. Paul goes on. 31:56 "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ Himself? 32:00 Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? 32:06 Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute 32:11 is one with her in body? For it is said, 'The two will become one flesh.'" 32:15 Doesn't matter who you hook up with. You're one flesh now. 32:18 If you have multiple hook-up partners, you're one flesh with a lot of people. 32:23 No. "But whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit. 32:29 Flee --" therefore -- "from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits 32:33 are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 32:38 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit --" Here it comes. 32:42 Holyizing all over again. "...temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have 32:46 received from God? You are not your own." Come on! 32:49 "You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies." 32:55 I got a call from the church office one day while I was working on my sermon. 33:01 There's a college student here crying his eyes out. He needs to talk. 33:07 I was glad to come in. I sat down with that young man. 33:12 Oh, what a sexual mess he had gotten himself into through a 33:17 sexual affair with a married woman, and it looked hopelessly 33:23 muddled. Paul is writing to the 33:27 Corinthians, and he says, "Yo, guys, some of you are just like 33:32 that." You see, we forgot to read a 33:35 verse. It's the one that comes before 33:37 12. We started with 12, but let's go 33:39 back to 11. 33:41 "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed --" 33:46 "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. 33:49 Wash me, and I'll shall be whiter than snow." "You were washed, you were 33:53 sanctified --" There it is again. "You were holyized, you were 33:57 justified --" you were pardoned and forgiven -- "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the 34:02 Spirit of our God." By the way, that young man? I'm happy to tell you, that 34:07 young man came to Jesus and got his life completely turned around. 34:11 We have Bible studies together with him and his fiancée. And I was at their wedding. 34:18 Oh, my. "Such were some of you," Paul writes to the Corinthians. 34:24 But because of Jesus' sacrifice on Calvary and His Resurrection three days later -- don't 34:30 separate these -- you got holyized. Divine power was unleashed in 34:34 your heart, unleashed in your life, and you found the victory over your sexual sins, which, 34:39 by the way, is good news for every sinner sitting here right now, and that's pretty much 34:44 everybody. You got the victory. Wow! 34:51 You see, Jesus' death -- I got to tell you this, 'cause some people think Jesus' death is 34:55 only about pardon. And they really emphasize the pardon. 34:57 The pardon, the pardon, the pardon, the pardon. Okay. That's okay, but that's 35:01 only half the Gospel. It's not just pardon. Oh, yes, in crimson colors, God 35:06 signed his name to the emancipation papers of the human race. 35:11 "I have forgiven, I have pardoned every human being who ever lived or will live until I 35:16 return. Everybody's been forgiven." "Father, forgive them. 35:19 They know not what they do." Jesus' prayer covers every sinner who ever lives. 35:24 I get that part. Pardon -- let's not forget the pardon. 35:29 But we miss the profound second half of the Gospel. It's not pardon now. 35:34 It's power. You can't have pardon without power if you're gonna live the 35:42 life that you and Jesus will live together. Wow. The power of Almighty God 35:53 to holyize His friends. To holyize the likes of you and me sinners to the core. 36:01 "I can holyize you. I'll call you 'Holy One.' No, no. 36:08 I got resurrecting power. Don't wait for me down here. I can do it right now." 36:13 Power. "Any sin?" Yep. 36:18 The power God offers to keep His friends from sinning. That's why Joseph can cry out, 36:24 "How can I do this great wickedness --" Mrs. Potiphar -- "and sin 36:29 against God?" Power to say "no," because you know what? 36:35 Sin is relational. That's the truth about sin. Sin is anything I let into my 36:40 life. Sin is any behavior, sin is any thought, sin is anything that 36:44 cuts me off from God. Catches my eye, turns my heart, severs my relationship with God. 36:51 Any sin will have that same result. Not just sexual sin. 36:55 Any sin. 37:01 What I'm gonna read you right now, I'll just warn you, is uncomfortable. 37:09 But you and I need to hear it. Jerry Bridges, in his book "The Pursuit of Holiness," he 37:15 writes, "We often say --" I've heard this so many times. I've said it so many times. 37:22 "We often say, 'God hates the sin but loves the sinner. Oh, this is blessedly true. 37:28 Well, I'm glad we got that quickly stated. This is true. 37:32 God hates the sin and loves the sinner. But keep reading. 37:35 "But too often --" you and me -- "we quickly rush over the first half of this sentence to get to 37:42 the second." God hates the sin, but God lo-o-o-ves the sinner. 37:45 That's how we read that sentence. Bridges says, "Come on. 37:50 Come on." "We cannot escape the fact that God hates our sins. 37:58 We may trifle with our sins or excuse" our sins, but guess what. 38:03 God hates them. He hates them. Isn't that true? 38:11 I mean, if your lover were turning her heart to another man, not only would you have a 38:17 broken heart, you would have an enraged heart. "Do you know what you did when 38:24 you let that other person into our relationship? Do you know what you did? 38:29 You just broke what we had." Of course you would be mad. Don't you go grumping around 38:36 here about, "Oh, God hates sin. What kind of a grump is He?" You hate sin. 38:41 You hate sin, and you know it. So let's not have a hard time with this very bold, simple 38:51 declaration -- God hates my sins. Anything that turns me, anything 38:59 that gets me looking, anything that takes me away from Him. 39:09 "Therefore, every time we sin, we are doing something God hates." 39:15 And, listen, Bridges didn't invent this. He's just has quoted 39:18 Zechariah 8:17. God has listed the sins of Israel, and He says, "'For all 39:23 these things are what I hate.'" You hate sin. So let God be God. 39:34 "He hates our lustful thoughts, He hates our pride and jealousy, He hates our outbursts of 39:39 temper, He hates our rationalization that the end justifies the means. 39:44 We need to be gripped by the fact that God hates all these things. 39:50 We become so accustomed to our sins, we sometimes lapse into a state of peaceful coexistence 39:56 with them, but God never ceases to hate them." Boy, that sentence got me right 40:01 there. "I know what sin is. I know what I live with. 40:04 It's not a big deal, God. I'll get over it someday." "No, it's a big deal. 40:08 I hate it because it's cutting you off from me. It's cutting you off from me." 40:18 Wow. 40:23 Then he draws a moral based on what he's just taught us. "We need to cultivate in our own 40:31 hearts the same hatred of sin God has." Now, come on, come on, come on. 40:35 Listen carefully now. "We need to cultivate in our own hearts the same hatred of sin 40:40 God has. Hatred of sin as sin, not just something disquieting or 40:44 defeating to ourselves, but as displeasing to God -- hatred of sin lies at root of all 40:50 holiness." Did you get that? "Hatred of sin lies at the root 40:55 of all holiness." And you're saying, "Whew! I'm so glad that holiness is 41:03 really not that big a deal to me so I don't have to worry about it. 41:06 Oh, you don't mean that. You do not mean that. Do you know what? 41:11 Apparently, you've never read this line in Holy Scripture. Hebrews 12:14 -- "Make every 41:17 effort to be holy; for without holiness, no one will see the Lord." 41:23 You will never see the face of Jesus -- ever -- without holiness. 41:31 In the Old Testament, that's why. In the New Testament, that's 41:35 why. God will cry out. "'Be holy --'" 1 Peter 1:15 -- 41:40 "'because I am holy.'" "Be holy, please. Father and son, Father and 41:48 daughter -- let's be like each other. Be holy." 41:53 By the way, when God says "I am holy," He really -- He certainly is declaring "I am wholly 42:00 yours." Now, it's awfully quiet in here right now, and I understand why. 42:08 The Holy Spirit is speaking to all of us right now. But I have some good news about 42:12 this word "holy." It's not the bad four-letter word that you think it is. 42:17 In fact, if you will misspell the word "holy," you'll get it right. 42:21 Here's "holy." Here's "wholly." Just spell "wholly" this way, 42:28 and you'll get that "holy" right, because God looks at you and me. 42:33 And do you know what He says? "I am wholly yours. And I'm asking for you to be 42:41 wholly mine." Fair enough? There's no wedding that takes 42:47 place in this church ever where the man up front says, "Yes, yes, yes, Preacher. 42:51 I got those vows. Now, I've revised them, 'cause I've written my own, and that 42:56 is, I will be 50% faithful to her." There's nobody that writes it 43:00 that way. Every young person up here that I oversee repeating their vows 43:08 is declaring, "I am wholly yours, so you be wholly mine. You belong to me. 43:17 I belong to you. Wholly, wholly, wholly." That's not bad news at all. 43:28 Whatever might come between God and me, whatever might threaten or sever our relationship, you 43:33 know what? God, I just want to go on record publicly. 43:36 I want to remove it. When Jesus walks into the temple at the end -- And they'll kill 43:40 Him for this. When He walks into the temple, you know what He cries out? 43:44 "Take this stuff out." When Jesus walks into the temple of my heart, the holy temple of 43:49 my heart, and He sees what's in it and He cries out, "Take these things hence," He needs somebody 43:55 to pick the stuff and walk it out. He didn't walk it out. 44:02 He said, "You take this out." 44:09 "I am wholly yours, and I want you to be wholly mine." Whew! 44:19 As Jerry Bridges put it, "We need to cultivate in our own hearts the same hatred of sin 44:24 God has. Hatred of sin as sin, not just as something disquieting or 44:28 defeating to ourselves, but as displeasing to God -- hatred of sin lies at root of all 44:34 holiness." And without holiness, you won't see the Lord. 44:39 I won't see the Lord. I wish there were some nice little story I could tell now 44:46 that would blunt the force of this very blunt reminder. Holy, holy, holy. 44:53 "We need to cultivate in our own hearts the same hatred of sin God has." 44:56 How do you blunt that? But maybe -- Could it be that you and I -- There's something 45:01 you and I could do. What if we pray to Jesus to give us a hatred for sin? 45:10 We ask Him. He already knows the sins in your life. 45:13 It's not like you have to tiptoe around. You can be very, totally 45:17 authentic and transparent with Christ. He already knows. 45:20 So, we ask Him, "Could you give me a hatred for sin like yours? I want that kind of hatred." 45:28 My mother taught me, as I was growing up, "You can't keep the birds from flying over your 45:32 head, but you can prevent them from making nests in your hair." Did your mother ever tell you 45:37 that? She said, "You can't stop temptations coming, flying by 45:43 you. Phew-phew-phew! But you can keep the temptation 45:46 from landing in your hair and moving that all aside and making a nest in your life." 45:51 That's sin. It's not a sin to be tempted. The sin comes when I let the 45:59 bird build a nest in my hair. I tell you what, my own little struggle did I go through of 46:12 late. It seems like the devil has hired a flock of birds to keep 46:19 flying over my head. And I have to remind myself, "That's not a sin, Dwight, if 46:25 they only fly over." There's some times when I wish I had a shotgun. 46:30 [ Imitating gun cocking, firing ] Keep your flock to yourself! 46:40 There is no shotgun. But there can be a prayer. God is not gonna remove 46:48 temptation. Temptation is what grows you. It grows you into who you are. 46:54 The birds flying overhead are not a sin. O, God, help me, please. 47:02 "Help me to hate the sin you hate." This is a prayer I'm gonna -- 47:07 You just memorized it. If you just read it, you already got it memorized. 47:10 This is the prayer to pray. "O, God, help me to hate the sin you hate -- through the 47:14 resurrection power of my Lord Jesus Christ." That's it. 47:18 Help me to hate the sin you hate. I believe that when we pray that 47:24 prayer, the more we pray that prayer, the more we will hate that sin. 47:30 It doesn't happen overnight. Nobody said it has to. It doesn't have to. 47:37 But why do we ask for that hatred that He has? I want to end with something 47:45 from this wonderful little book that I keep close to me. It's called "Steps to Christ." 47:53 This is so beautiful. I'll end with these words. I'm not putting them on the 47:56 screen. No. I want you to listen to them. 47:58 You won't listen to them if they're on the screen. Page 64, "Steps to Christ." 48:05 "There are those who have known the pardoning love of Christ --" Oh, that's you. 48:09 That's me. "And who really desire to be children of God --" I know 48:13 that's you, that's me. "Yet they realize that their character is imperfect, their 48:18 life faulty, and they are ready to doubt whether their hearts have been renewed by the 48:23 Holy Spirit." That's you and me, too. Is it really getting through? 48:28 Do I talk about it up front but not experience it privately? 48:36 "To such I would say --" Oh, this is beautiful. "To such I would say, Do not 48:41 draw back in despair." Oh, listen to this. "We shall often have to bow down 48:50 and weep at the feet of Jesus because of our shortcomings and mistakes --" often -- "but we 48:57 are not to be discouraged. Even if we are --" Listen. "Even if we are overcome by the 49:03 enemy, we are not cast off --" Hallelujah! "We are not forsaken." 49:09 Hallelujah! "We are not rejected of God." Praise be to Him. 49:14 Listen. "God desires to restore you to Himself, to see His own purity 49:20 and holiness --" There's the word. "He longs to see His own purity 49:25 and holiness reflected in you. And --" good news -- "if you will but yield yourself to Him, 49:31 He that has begun a good work in you will carry it forward until that work is done at the return 49:36 of Jesus. So pray more fervently; believe more fully. 49:40 As we come to distrust our own power, let us trust the power --" the resurrection 49:46 power -- "of our Redeemer, and we shall praise Him who is the health of our countenance." 49:51 Amen and amen. What do you say? Amen, folks. This is not bad news. 49:56 This is the best news we've heard, because it will kill us, sin will kill us... 50:06 if we ignore it or say "mañana." No, no. Today. 50:13 Resurrection power right now. 50:16 It's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. 50:20 "I am wholly yours. Please be wholly mine." 50:32 Want to sing, but before we do, I want to give you an 50:35 opportunity to get this quotation. 50:39 Let's go to our Connect Moment, if you'll just take your device 50:44 out and text "Paul4" -- This is where we're at. 50:47 Text "Paul4" to the familiar number, 269-281-2345. I got it as speed dial in my 50:55 cellphone now. Just text "Paul4" to that number. 50:58 And I did it last night. Bingo! A half a second, I'm telling you, suddenly, there's a 51:03 link. You click on the link, you get these next steps. 51:07 "My next step today is, I want to be holy as God is holy." I can't imagine any of us 51:12 saying, "No, no, I don't want to be holy." Of course we do. 51:15 "I want to ask Jesus to give me a hatred for the sins I committed." 51:20 If you text -- If you check that, I'll send you that sample prayer. 51:26 "I love the promise embedded in that 'Steps to Christ' quotation -- please send me a 51:31 copy." I will. I'll send you the page. Oh, read it every day. 51:36 "We shall often have to fall at Jesus' feet in tears." It's okay. 51:43 We're all in this together. But if we fall at His feet... we can stand in His holiness. 51:54 And number 4, "I'd like to follow Jesus and be baptized." If you haven't been baptized 51:59 yet, there's no more powerful way to unite your life to the holiness of Christ, the love of 52:06 God, than through baptism. Put a check mark there, we'll be in touch with you, 52:10 electronically. O God, thank you for the Good News. 52:16 It's blunt, yeah. Very direct, You are. Life is at stake, Father. 52:23 Don't let us blow this off. Some of us are gonna try to forget, as fast as we can, what 52:28 we just heard. May the third person who heard us hear it keep it alive. 52:37 Don't give that boy any rest, don't give that girl any rest, that aged one -- don't give them 52:43 rest until we act and pray until You show us how we can hate the sin You hate and love the Lord 52:55 we love. In Jesus' name. Amen. 53:05 ♪♪ >> Please stand for our last 53:11 song. 57:09 >> Think of the last time someone said, "I'm praying for 57:12 you." Didn't it give you a sense of 57:14 peace and reassurance that "somebody cares for me"? 57:16 I know how I feel when I get an e-mail from one of our viewers 57:19 saying, "Yo, Dwight, I've been praying for you lately." 57:22 There's nothing like knowing someone is praying for you. 57:24 So I want to offer you an opportunity to partner. 57:26 Let me, let us partner with you in prayer. 57:29 If you have a special prayer request or a praise of 57:31 thanksgiving you'd like to share with us, I'm inviting you to 57:34 contact one of our friendly chaplains. 57:36 It's simple to do. You can call our toll-free 57:38 number, 877-HIS-WILL. 877-HIS-WILL. 57:43 That friendly voice that answers? 57:45 You tell him, you tell her what your prayer need is. 57:48 We'll join with you in that petition. 57:50 And may the God who answers this prayer journey with you these 57:53 next few days, until we're right back here together again next 57:56 time. 57:59 ♪♪ |
Revised 2021-11-02