The Ninth Commandment (Exodus 20:16)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Wisdom and Integrity (Proverbs 4:20-24)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bibles and go to Proverbs chapter 4. We'll move around the Proverbs a little bit today, but we're going to start in chapter 4 in verse 20. I talk about them often.
I have two sons, a six-year-old and a three-year-old. When my three-year-old turned two, he and his brother started playing together a lot more. He was able to keep up a little better. They were able to run. They were able to play. They were able to do things together.
They go full speed. I've told people before that my kids have two switches, high and off. That's it. Those are their two settings. It wasn't uncommon at all to hear them playing and laughing. Then all of a sudden, the younger one just to be crying.
His older brother is very articulate. He's been articulate since he was little. The younger one is not very articulate at all, although he makes up for it by being aggressive in the way he talks. Not only can you not understand him, but he's very frustrated about it. I would come in the room and I would say, Archer is the older one. I'd say, what happened?
Why is Ellis crying? He'd go, oh, I jumped from here to there. He tried to and slammed his face into that. Or he was climbing on this and he fell. I think that landed up under his back. That seems to be the trouble.
There'll be times where I'll come in and I'll say, Archer, why is Ellis crying? And Archer will go, well, so we were playing. He starts like way further back five minutes ago and I can tell what's happened is he knows the truth. He's just not a huge fan of it. He knows what's real, but he was fine with that being real until I showed up. And then when I showed up, that being real doesn't seem as good anymore.
And so he's trying to figure out how do I put this? I don't really want to lie, but I got to give myself some time here. The best one was I kicked my feet in the air and then Ellis fell over and maybe hurt himself when he fell. It's like, I feel like we left some things out here. I feel like we skipped some steps, but I talked to my son and I realized how often I feel the same way about reality. I don't really like who I chose to be.
I don't really like what I chose to do. I don't really like what I said. I don't really like what I did. And there are times where maybe I'm okay with it if it's just me having to sit with it, but I certainly don't want you to know that. And so you ask me questions or we get in a conversation and my soul goes, well, and I have a desire to recreate reality in a way that defends me, that protects me, that guards me. And the Proverbs talk about this.
They talk about integrity and lying. And so let's pray the Lord would help us see all the places in us that go well and try to recreate what's real to defend ourselves. Now we ask for your help this morning. We ask for the work of your spirit to help us to see your word, to understand your word, to respond to your word that we might find healing. I pray Lord that as we look at our words, you would help us to see our hearts, to see them clearly and to respond to your grace. We love you and we praise you in Jesus name.
We pray. Amen. Proverbs chapter four, verse 20 says, my son, be attentive to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight. Keep them within your heart for they are life to those who find them in healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life.
There's this idea that your heart is, is your identity. It's the seat of your personhood. It's also, uh, the, it displays your desires, what you most love, what you most want. And then he says this, put away from you crooked speech and put devious talk far from you. This is not the only place in the Proverbs or in the scriptures where we see the, the idea of your heart being paired with your words, that what comes out of your mouth helps display what is inside of you, that your heart and your words are tied together. So that if we're going to keep a vigilant watch over our hearts, we are going to keep a vigilant watch over our mouths.
And if we're going to know what's in our heart, we're going to see what comes out of our mouth. That we're going to keep an eye on our speech and that we're going to put crooked speech far from us. I want to, uh, in Proverbs 6, 14 and Proverbs 26, 24 and Proverbs 28, 14, these parallels are drawn as well. This idea of your heart being connected to your words or your words being connected to your heart that they go hand in hand. It's not just in the Proverbs. Jeremiah 17, nine says this, the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately sick.
Who can understand it? You ever watch a horror movie and something bad's happening and you're wanting to yell at the characters? Don't, don't do that. Well, we should also do that in every little Disney movie. When a cartoon comes out and tells you to follow your heart, you should yell, no, don't do it. It's sick.
It's going to trick you. Doom lies that way. Cartoon character. But there's this reality that our hearts breed lies and they lie to us and they help us lie to others. Matthew 15, 19 says for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness. That's lying and slander.
Luke 6, 45 says the good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good. And the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil for out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth speaks. So if we're going to keep a vigilant watch on our hearts, we're going to keep a vigilant watch on our mouths and we are to put crooked speech far from us. This idea of crooked speech is there are certain types of speech that is in line with reality. Speech that is truthful, that is honest, that is real. And truth is truth whether you like it or not, whether you believe in it or not.
If you deny that gravity exists, it will still assert itself when you jump off of a building. The truth is truth. And there's speech that lines up with that. And then there's speech that tends to desire to bend reality, to remake reality, to guard against reality, to create unreality. That's the way Pastor Brandon Clements, who's in, we plant churches together in a church planning network, and he's one of the pastors and he talks about lying as creating unreality. That God in the beginning speaks and creates order.
That he speaks and out of chaos. He creates everything that is good and beautiful and true. And that we in our speech can line up in that or he in our speech can work to create unreality, to create chaos, to defend ourselves against reality. And this is sin. And this is evil. Lying is a rejection of God's good order.
Lying is working to sow chaos into the world. That's what Jesus says in John chapter 8 to the Pharisees. He says, you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. The first sin that happens in the garden in Adam and Eve, it's the enemy coming along and lying and twisting what the Lord said.
And then Adam and Eve follow him in his lies. And when we speak lies, we line up with the character of Satan. And we seek to destroy God's good order in the world. And lying is wicked and evil and God hates it. So Proverbs 12, 22 says, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.
That word abomination means he is loathsome to him. But those who act faithfully are his delight. This is said multiple times in the Proverbs. It said in Proverbs 3, Proverbs 6 says it twice. Six times falsehood and deceit are called an abomination. It's disgust and hatred that God stands opposed to deceit.
But there are some pictures in the scriptures that clearly draw the line between God and Satan. There's this idea of life and death, of light and darkness, of truth and lies. Also, it ultimately fails. It works short term. That's why we do it. But it ultimately fails.
Proverbs 10, 9 says, whoever walks in integrity, walks securely. But he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. Integrity means wholeness, integrated. It's solid. If you walk in integrity, you walk securely that nothing can assail you. But if you make your way crooked, if you make your speech crooked, you will be found out.
Proverbs 12, 19 says, truthful lips endure forever. But a lying tongue is but for a moment. It's one of the things that they say is that if you're honest, you don't have to have a good memory. You don't have to be that smart. If you'll just be honest about what happened, you don't have to try to remember who you said what to and when you said it and how you put it and what the story was like last time. And you can just be honest.
And that endures forever that it puts you in line with God's good work in the world. But a lying tongue is but for a moment. It falls apart. Proverbs 6, 12 goes a little bit further in this. It says a worthless person, a wicked man goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger. It's that idea that crooked speech is aiming towards something.
It's trying to manipulate people. It's trying to gain something that we lie that we might have something we don't have or to defend something or to point someone in the wrong direction so that this crooked speech is is this manipulative control. It says with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord. It's the idea that lying again comes from our heart and puts our hearts on display. It says, therefore, calamity will come upon him suddenly. In a moment, he will be broken beyond healing.
We've seen this. You've seen this happen in relationships. You've seen this happen in friendships and marriages. You've seen this happen with leaders, politicians, Christian leaders, where all of a sudden it just crumbles. And the reason it crumbles and the reason the calamity comes upon them so suddenly is because it wasn't real in the first place. It was smoke.
And so a gust of wind from the truth was able to blow it clear. That's what lying does. God hates it and it ultimately fails. Lying is bad. Don't lie. My granddad had a cousin who lied all the time, all the time.
His little kid lied about everything, would lie about things that weren't even, it's like, who's this lie helping? What is wrong with you? Like this lie doesn't even defend. What are you doing? Like he just lied all the time. And so his parents were getting kind of at their wits end with him.
And so the parents told him about Ananias and Sapphira from Acts chapter five. And in Acts chapter five, the church is born. People are, are worked. Uh, the Holy Spirit's at work. People are giving, people are being charitable. Ananias and Sapphira sell this piece of property.
And then they show up like other people had sold this property and given to the church. They show up and announce, Hey, we sold this property for this amount and we want to give the full amount to the church. That's what they do. Problem was that wasn't the actual amount. So it wasn't the full amount.
They had kept some to themselves. The Holy Spirit works and Peter says, why are you lying? And Ananias dies. And Sapphira shows up and he asked her, how much did you sell this for? She lies also and she dies. Now this is a bold move to tell your child who's lying.
Son, sit down, open your Bible. Do you want God to kill you? That's what they did. I read it to him and he goes, I know mama. And I was there and they just rolled him right out the church and kept going. Boulder move.
Insert yourself into scripture. The truth is we need to know that lying is evil. We need to know it is bad. We need to know that it works to show disharmony. We need to know that God hates it and we need to not lie. But one of the questions we need to ask is that if lying exposes our heart, why are we lying?
Not just don't lie, but we need to begin to see in our speech. What is our, what are our words trying to gain? What are we winking at? Tapping our foot? What are we doing to try to manipulate and to maneuver? What are we protecting?
What are we guarding? What are we hoping to keep safe? What are we hoping to gain? What is it that our hearts tell us about our identity? What it is our hearts tell us that we love? What are our hearts pursuing in our dishonesty?
In Jordan Peterson, who's a professor and a clinical psychologist in his book, 12 rules for life, he says this in his chapter talking about honesty. He says, so I began paying much closer attention to what I was doing and saying. I soon came to realize that almost everything I said was untrue. I had motives for saying these things. I wanted to win arguments and gain status, impress people and get what I wanted. I was using language to bend and twist the world into delivering what I thought was necessary.
So we lie because it so often it works and we become good at it to where we lie to ourselves enough that we don't even see where we're lying. We avoid topics that make us seem foolish or ignorant. We don't bring up things or answer questions honestly about things that make us seem less likable or meaner. That we use our words to bend and twist reality, to guard ourselves, to gain what we want, to pursue what we want. And in our words, we display our hearts. What is it that I really love?
What is it that I really value? Augustine, who was one of the church leaders in Africa, he talks about that much of our sin is disordered love. That we don't love God enough, that we love something else too much, that the things we ought to love, we love less. The things we shouldn't love, we love more. And our hearts chase after things that they shouldn't. And our words show us what it is that we truly want to gain.
So the question is, what am I using my words to accomplish? What are you using your words to get? What are you using your words to defend? What is it that you are doing in your speech? You trying to look smarter or less selfish, more put together? You trying to control the behavior of others?
My grandmother was a godly lady. She was very sweet. She was a missionary in Nigeria. But she wanted you to show up on time. So she'd lie to you about what time something started.
You'd show up at 830 and you'd be like, yeah, yeah. You know your church starts at nine, right? They didn't just change it this week. My dad used to talk to her and say, don't lie to me. I'm going to be on time. Tell me the real time.
I won't tell the rest of the family. But what are you doing? What are you doing with your speech? Who are you trying to manipulate? How are you trying to gain control or power or comfort? What are you willing to lie about?
The reality is I might be willing to lie and you might be willing to lie, but probably about different things. I like to think I'm smart. One of the ways I lie is that I tell myself that I am quite often. I also want you to think I'm smart, but I forget stuff a lot. I'm going to have to retire when I'm like 60 because if it's this bad right now, the older I get, it's going to get real bad. I forget stuff.
I wish I was smart enough to know I forget stuff and then to write it down. Sometimes I write it down and forget where I wrote it. So I'm a slip of paper somewhere. Well, to do this every once in a while is embarrassing. To do this all the time is shameful. And so there'll be times where someone will come to me and they'll say, hey, did you do that thing you said you were going to do?
And I'll respond with, I'm going to do that today. I am going to do that today. Now that you mentioned it because I should have done it two days ago and I completely forgot it existed. But I was just about to do that. I start using language to try to bend and to defend and to make myself seem smarter because constantly having to look at people and say, you remember I'm a moron, right? Is it fun?
So that I'm tempted and often don't even realize I'm doing it. But in my language, I defend myself. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew that. Oh, yeah, that's right. That makes sense.
Oh, yeah, I was I was absolutely about to get and I don't even realize I'm doing this, but I'm I'm building a disguise. That's one of the ways that the Proverbs puts it. It says this in Proverbs 26, 24, it says whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart. Now, specifically, this is talking about someone who's absolutely out to get somebody. But that idea of that we're able to disguise ourselves with our lips, we're able to make ourselves seem a little better, look a little better, portray ourselves a little smarter, a little kinder, that there's these times that we're really tempted to to just make sure that we kind of control the story.
I am I got in a fight, a fistfight at a middle school dance because I like to live dangerously. And when I had to recount how this went, I realized as my parents were asking questions about it, there was part of the story that that didn't paint me in the best light because it was bad and I shouldn't have done it. My parents were OK with me fighting, but there were some things that precipitated the fight that I had aided and abetted in. This guy had done some things that were wrong, but I had also done some things to make it worse. And so they just got the edited version of the story. I told them only true things.
I just left out one piece of truth that did affect how the story played out. Did I lie? Well, does that make sense? See how you can craft a story, how you can bear false witness? That you can give a story, but not the whole story. You can tell a half truth that makes you seem nicer.
Certainly those people did say that. Certainly they did do that. And the stuff that I said and did doesn't matter because that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about them. That's why I came to talk to you person in my group. I need you to help me think about how terrible this person is.
So we've shifted things around. We're using our language to build a disguise. We're using our language to hide just a bit. Your spouse asked if you've done that chore. You should have known they were going to ask because they've asked you this every four days for the past two months. And you don't say that I had time.
You don't look at them and say, well, you know, I had time to do that chore, but I chose to spend that amount of time messing with my phone or watching TV or what you do is you say, well, I did this and you give the three things that you did do. And then you paint it up a little bit, give it a little bit of flourish. So it seems like you were busier than you were. Did you do that chore? Do you even know what our children are like? You do a chore with these kids running around your feet while you watch TV.
You don't want to hurt someone's feelings. You don't want to make things awkward. Most of the time before we lie to other people, we begin to lie to ourselves. This isn't that big a deal. I'm really not that offended. I'm not that hurt over this.
If I told them it would just make things worse. That's actually one of the most acceptable Christian lies that you'll, you'll talk yourself into. You're hurt by someone in your group or you've hurt someone in your group. You've sinned against them and you'll convince yourself that telling them will just make it worse or that going and talking to them will just make it worse. And that it really isn't that big a deal. And you really aren't that offended and, and you'll be fine.
You don't really have to talk about this. And if that were true and you could forbear and you could overlook an offense, that would be beautiful because the Proverbs tells us to do that, that it's wise to overlook an offense. But if we actually aren't overlooking the offense, we're just letting something grow up between us and someone else. And so what you say is, I don't want to make things awkward. So I'll just break this relationship with them, grow further and distance from them, lie to them when they ask me if I'm okay, I'll say I'm fine.
And then about a year from now, I won't feel like I belong anymore. And I'll completely no longer be a part of this church. And that'll be the better route because I don't want to make things weird. So I'll just cease to have a relationship with this person. That's the loving thing to do. It's what Jesus would want.
No. In case you were confused. No, it's not. That we're supposed to talk about what's going on and be honest about it and say what's real. Someone asked you in your group, are you okay? Maybe in that moment, you don't just blurt out, I'm really mad at you.
Maybe you do. My wife, she would be upset about something. I'd say, are you okay? And she'd say, I'm fine. She'd say, I'm fine. And two days later, it turns out she wasn't fine.
Caught me completely off guard. So I learned to say, do you mean to tell me that there will not be a time in the future when you and I discuss a thing that has happened up until the moment of this sentence? And then she would say, maybe I'm not fine. It's very terrifying. But what we learned, what she learned, she would say to me, I'm upset by something, but I'm not sure I should be.
Give me some time to think about it. I'd love to grant that request. I would love for her to figure out that she was wrong and sinful, that I was right all along, for her to repent and us to move on. It's absolutely my favorite. That happened twice. It was wonderful.
So sometimes you need to be able to say, I'm working through some stuff. I'm upset by something. I'm trying to think about it. Don't be fake, but give yourself some time to sort some things out. You're complicated. Don't just lie to yourself.
Don't just lie to them, but think. And then come back and have the conversation you need to have. I was hurt by this. It made me sad when this happened. But we're tempted to do this all the time.
You're leaving work. All of your co-workers, the good ones, are planning on going somewhere. One of the annoying ones comes over and says, Hey, where did you say y'all were going? And you think, if you come, I no longer want to be there because you actively ruin everything. Maybe that's their fault. Maybe that's your fault.
That's not the point of this sermon. The point of this sermon is that you're about to lie. That you're suddenly really tempted to say, Oh, no, we don't. I don't even know who those people are. We never hang out. I fill up.
Oh, my stomach hurts. Like, whatever. That happened to you in middle school. It happened to you in high school. It happens now. And we're tempted to lie.
Well, I don't want to hurt their feelings. I just want to create some unreality to make things a little smoother, to make my life move a little bit easier. And it's sin. I want to control how you're perceived. I want to control what other people think about you. They told Spurgeon one time, they said, Do you know what those people said about you?
And he was like, They don't know the half of it. I'm way worse than that. But we're so tempted to try to control the story, to control perception, to control what people know, what people share, what people think, how we're seen, that we're liars. So what do we do? See, I don't know how you lie. I don't know why you lie.
But you need to figure that out. I don't know exactly what it is you're protecting. I don't know exactly what it is you're trying to gain. I don't know where you're fake, where you're pretending, where you're disguised. The Lord does. It's possible you don't even know where you lie and why you lie.
It's possible that you've grown really comfortable with it and you've convinced yourself of some lies and you're just continuing to carry those out. So what do we do? Well, you watch your mouth. First thing you need to do is listen to yourself. Actually pay attention to how you respond to people. Actually pay attention to the words that you use.
Pay attention to the way you feel when you talk. You know that little strike of lightning you get when someone asks you a question you have no desire to answer. Start paying attention to how you respond. Correct yourself. This is something that Spencer does. Spencer Carey does pretty well.
He overstates things so that everything is the best or the worst. This was the greatest thing that ever happened. I 100% guarantee that this will never happen. This is the worst thing. That person is absolutely garbage. If you hate this, you're going to die.
Like whatever. He just overstates things. And when he tells stories, he overstates them. But he does. He's learning. He does this.
And so he'll come back and go, okay, well, hold on. That's not exactly how that worked. And that takes some serious self-awareness because I tell stories and fill in details and don't even realize I'm doing that. I realize as I'm talking, sometimes I don't have this detail, so I just stick a detail in so the story can move forward. My wife says that this is fabrication and that I shouldn't do that in sermon illustrations. But sometimes it's just a sermon illustration.
It needs to make a point. It just needs to be close to true. Okay, I'm sorry. But anyway, listen to yourself and correct yourself. When you realize that what you just said wasn't accurate, go back to the person and say, hold on a second. I actually am upset.
I just need time to think about it. Go back to the person and go, no, actually, no, no, no. You did hurt me. So when you asked me, when our group was together on Wednesday and I said I was fine, I was lying and I need you to forgive me. But now I need to talk to you about the thing I'm going to have to forgive you about.
But we're going to work towards being honest. So listen to yourself and then correct yourself when you realize that you're misspeaking or that you're making yourself sound smarter or more put together or you're leaving out details because you just don't want to get into that part of the story. Yes, the lady at Walmart was aggressive. But were you that innocent? So he brings us to our next one.
Stop talking. Proverbs 10, 19 says, When words are many, transgression is not lacking. But whoever restrains his lips is prudent. You can shut your mouth. It's a beautiful option. You can sit and think for a little while.
You can say to someone, I don't think it's my place to answer that question. I think you just asked me a question about someone else's motives and I don't think, even though I have a really good guess as to their motives, that it's helpful for me to state that because it's just a guess. It's not true. And I think you need to go talk to them. I think you can look at someone and say, that's not really any of your business. Sometimes it is their business.
And then you have to go back to the first part where you just have to speak honestly. But you do have the ability to not talk, to not tell stories, to not talk about things that have happened, to say, I need to think more about this because I'm not quite sure what's true and how I feel about it. So instead of just spurting out opinions based off of what I think you most want to hear, I'm actually going to go think a little bit about what my actual opinions are and then come back and I can say those to you. But I have not known enough about this to formulate opinions. I'm really happy to listen to yours though.
Oh, we'd do so much better if we'd learn how to do that one. What do you think about this? I haven't thought enough about it to have thoughts. Instead of just like, well, you asked me, let me spew words out. Be able to just say, let me think for a little bit. I'll listen to what you think.
The reason you ask is you have thoughts. So listen to yourself. Correct yourself. Stop talking. Confess. Proverbs 28, 13 says, whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper.
But he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Some of you are lying and have been carrying a lie because you sinned and you don't want to tell anybody. You sinned and it's going to hurt people. You sinned and it's going to affect you. And you wish you hadn't sinned and you told yourself you won't do it again. But you all know that mold grows in the dark and fungus grows in the dark and cancer grows and grows and grows until you see it. and that some of you are lying and lying to yourself and telling yourself, you can't share this.
You can't tell anyone. If they found out, it would all fall apart. And there are consequences to sin, but there is mercy for those who confess. See the back? The next verse says, blessed is the one who fears the Lord always. That your fear would be more of Jesus and his glory and the king of the universe than the consequences temporarily of the people that you have sinned against and the people you have lied to.
See, the reason why we hold on to lies is that I more fear you than I fear him. Blessed is the one who fears him more than he fears you. Blessed is the one that loves Jesus more than they love you. Blessed is your marriage if that is true for you and your spouse. Blessed is your friendship if that is true for you and your friends. That you love and fear the Lord more than you fear each other because that leads to honesty and confession.
And guess what? In Christ there is mercy. The goal of us following Jesus is that we would get Jesus the one who forgives sin. The one who cleanses sinners. That's why Jesus is called friend of sinners. That those who confess and run for their sin find mercy in him.
And we know this because he came and he died and shed his blood that we might have him. But if we harden our hearts we go to calamity. And some of you can feel the Lord pressing on you. He's bringing to your mind through the power of the Spirit lies that need to be confessed. And you have a choice. You can confess and obtain mercy.
Or you can fight and harden your heart and take another step down the road towards calamity. that you can reject the call to mercy. There's a song I sing to my boys softly and tenderly. It says softly and tenderly Jesus is calling. One of the lines that it is why should we linger and heed not his mercy? The song says he's calling for you oh sinner come home. That if we turn from our sin if we confess our sin he forgives our sin and we find mercy.
But if we hold on to our sin we head towards destruction. I don't know why you lie. I don't know what you're defending. I don't know what you're after. I don't know what lies you've been carrying for years and years and have convinced yourself that this one just has to go to the grave with you. But I do know that if you confess you receive mercy. mercy.
So the band's going to come back up. Holding on to sin and holding on to lies only makes things worse. And I will tell you that confession is painful but often it gets worse before it gets better. If you have a bad tooth going to the dentist is first painful before it's helpful. If you have sin and lies and deceit confession is painful but then you obtain mercy and you're free. Some of you have been lying and guarding yourself against everybody and you're disguised and therefore when they tell you that they love you you tell yourself no they just love the disguise.
You undercut your ability to belong. you undercut your ability to be loved. You undercut your ability to believe that Jesus Christ forgives sinners because you've convinced yourself that if you confess this sin you will not be forgiven. Church Jesus forgives sinners so we forgive sinners. You are welcome here as a sinner and the day that sinners are not welcome here this ceases to be a church that belongs to Jesus. It's something else but it's not his because those who confess and forsake sin receive mercy. They receive the blood of the lamb that cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
They are made holy and blameless and above reproach. They are spotless like a bride on her wedding day where there is no wrinkle or blemish or any such thing. Confess and receive mercy. Do not harden your heart and run into calamity convincing yourself that you will not be forgiven. sin. Because the king of kings loves and redeems and dies to forgive. And there is grace and there is mercy by him through his people that you might belong and you might be welcomed.
And yes there are consequences to sin. But oh there is mercy at the cross. And there is a king who reigns forever amongst the redeemed. Those who confess sin were made new. He doesn't reign forever amongst the flawless that became flawless on their own. He reigns forever among the flawless that he made flawless through his work that he would get praise and glory for his grace.
So watch your mouth. Listen to your words. Correct yourself. Some of you just need to stop talking. Some of us need to confess. We are about to take communion where we celebrate the tangible reality of Jesus' broken body and his shed blood.
Where we celebrate that he actually came. That he was touchable. And that he is accessible. And that for those of us who have placed our faith in him we proclaim his death until he comes. Communion is for those who believe. For those who have repented.
For those who have placed their faith in Christ. If you are not a Christian we want Christ for you. And when you are ready to place your faith in Christ you are invited to communion. But if you have not placed your faith in Christ we ask you to remain seated. But in a moment we are going to take a minute to pray and to ask the Lord to help us see our sin and to hear our words and we are going to confess.
And some of us are going to have to confess to some people. I lied to you. I have been lying to you. We are going to get mercy from the Lord and we are going to pray that he works mercy from those who love and follow him. And then we are going to take communion.