Revelation 1
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning it's not just said we're in the Book of Revelation the last book of the Bible so if you flip to the end you're going to find it you can follow along with us we're going to be in chapter one today uh we're doing Revelation three parts the part one is uh the letters which we'll get to uh in a little bit uh but this is also just a disclaimer this is my first sermon back since being back from sabatical and I just we have we have a teaching that we uh was the.
First opportunity to preach this and and work on this together and I was amped like I just was so excited to be back so I don't know what's going to happen I'm I'm excited about the Book of Revelation but uh but also I might we'll see what this goes I just this is a this F for what happens next um I Heard a about a poll that was done that asked uh preachers what is the book that you are least excited about to preach and it was the Book of Revelation and they also asked members what is the book you most want to hear preached and it was the Book of Revelation.
So why why the discrepancy why the why is that response uh this is one of the most difficult books in the Bible to interpret uh because it is apocalyptic literature okay so we'll get to more of that in a moment on what that means for this book but that makes this more uh welcome back is that bad all right we'll do this like rat battle style which fits with how amped I am all right so it's one of the most difficult books in the Bible to interpret.
Because it is apocalyptic in nature in fact GK Chesterton once said he said St John saw many strange monsters in his vision he saw no creature as wild as one of its own commentators and it's like yeah you you read a lot of different commentaries a lot of different takes on this book you can get some pretty wild takes Martin Luther once said uh in the most blunt fashion which is that is Martin Luther what he would do uh he said many people have brewed stupid things in their heads in trying to understand this book.
So there are a lot of opinions on this book and I would say some strong ones out there and and what happens is is that this book and the content in it also kind of shows up in in popular culture so when I grew up uh in the 90s Left Behind was the book series I mean like it transcended culture I mean it was just a really popular book series so popular that they made a movie out of it so popular that years later they made another movie with Nick Cage in it.
So if you didn't know that Nick Cage is in a Christian film that deals with some of the things that is in the Book of Revelation and what happened was is that kind of seeped into a lot of our thought like I my brother one time he went to uh he showed up to youth group and there were like two or three kids it was a big youth group it two or three kids and he said what happened and the kids looked at him and said dude you missed it man the Rapture happened.
For a moment they had him like he just because there's just like oh that was the that was the the the air of the day was just like oh no it's it's happening right and some of you like okay I that's fine you obviously grew up hearing about these things I don't really know anything about the Book of Revelation and I'd say well actually I think you know more than you think uh it shows up a lot in uh references all over the English language the imagery of the Pearly Gates of Heaven which shows up in a lot of bad jokes that that comes from the Book of Revelation you ever heard of the number.
666 And some of the evil mystery that surrounds that number that comes from the Book of Revelation if you've heard the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that comes from the Book of Revelation in fact the popular use of apocalypse actually comes from The Book of Revelation so there's a lot going on there and some of you are excited to be in this book maybe a little too excited all right so when you get a group tone it down a little bit you might scare some.
Okay so some of you are nervous and you're nervous because you have a fear of the future and and uncertainty some of you are nervous because you maybe have been a part of churches or small groups or Community groups where this became a divisive subject which is as Matt just prayed it's not going to be for our Church uh we're going to be unified in this but before we really jump into all the details that are going to be in this book in chapter one I want to give a little bit of an overview and I want to help us.
See the big picture because there's a lot of debate as we're going to get into this in the series a lot of debate and and discussion over some of the finer details that are throughout this book but while some of that is debated and some of that may be less clear there's one thing that is abundantly clear there's a main big picture that we cannot miss that we're going to see in chapter one that's going to guide us throughout the rest of our time in Revelation we're going to.
See four things that make up this big picture of the whole book so let me pray for us and then uh we'll walk This Together heavenly father I pray that you might help us have hearts to receive your word that it might mold us and shape us and conform us into your image in a way that helps us behold you for who you are in Jesus name amen all right so uh verse one the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place all right.
So a few things out the gate it's Revelation not Revelations it's a common mistake just the one not a plural set of Visions just one Revelation I had a a professor in college who got super annoyed when people would put S at the end of it so we like just emphatically would say Revelations we like just draw it out you could just see it was fun uh for people who are in a Bible class but that it's just the one so Revelation singular in the Greek word.
For that word uh Revelation in the original language was apocalypsis apocalypsis which you can guess that's where we got the word apocalypse from apocalypsis in the Greek just means revealing that's why we call it Revelation so next time uh if you want to fund Jesus Juke at work right in the office or the shop wherever you work if someone starts especially if it's about the election they start talking about oh this person gets elected the apocalypse is happening just kind of Juke on in and say.
Well actually I just learned that apocalypse comes from the Greek word apocalypsis which just means revealing it's actually the revealing of Jesus Christ you have a few minutes where I can share you the Gospel of Jesus Christ you will you will be a big hit at work that's just that's bonus content y'all that's for free all right so it's a revealing of Christ the main figure in this book it's about Christ and his revealing and specifically what's going to happen in the end of this age.
So it's going to be talking about things that are present but also things that are to come some of you may be familiar with that language of eschatology which you might hear throughout this series and that is the the uh study of the last things in the end of this page and that's what Revelation is going to be a lot focusing on so Jesus is the main figure of this Revelation and then I want us to focus on the first part which I think is the.
First part of this big picture that is crucial to understanding this book and that is that this is an apocalyptic book this is an apocalyptic book which means it's it's apocalyptic genre the style of writing is apocalyptic and that's important because that's different sometimes uh you may have an approach that thinks the Bible is just all this you know it's all the same literature but it's not actually they're different styles of writing W in the gospels are a biography of sorts really a theological biography that focuses on the last three years of Jesus's life and communicating bigger theological points The Book of Proverbs is wisdom literature.
So you would read the gospels different than you would the pro Book of Proverbs and other wisdom literature in the same way you read apocalyptic writings different so the Book of Revelation the last part of of Daniel the book of Daniel 7 onward parts of the Book of Ezekiel these are apocalyptic writings which means you have to approach them differently and in apocalyptic writings there's a lot of symbols a lot of symbols that point towards a very real fulfillment a very real future and that statement in and of itself that it's symbolic that points to a real future that's going to be examined over and over and over again throughout this series.
So when we study this book when we read this book together you're going to see a lot of images a lot of symbols you're going to see the scroll and the lamb some of the things we just sang about you going to read about the Seven Seals the 144,000 the seven Trumpets the seven bowls and there's a lot of debate over what each of these symbols mean and that's a part that really drives a lot of Christians crazy because I mean some people just like can I just have like a straightforward Narrative of how this is how.
Jesus is coming like can we just get that maybe you're the kind of person that in English class you know yall were reading animal farm and Animal Farm is you know it's it's a it's just points to a bigger story and the other kids in class were like yeah and like you know the pigs represent communism and they get all into it you're just like I could it could oral have just written a straightforward paper on how communism was bad you're the kind of person just give me just tell tell me what it tell me what it is right.
If that's your posture then parts of this series May annoying but I I want to ask you and invite you to really have a a humble posture that God has chosen to reveal this to us that God has chosen to uh speak in a way that shows how he's going to make all things new like this and that maybe we should just have a humble posture that says okay there's some mystery here I'm trying to figure this out but we should have a posture of humility as we approach some of these symbols and what you're going to.
See is that in apocalyptic literature like this a lot of these symbols are going to repeat themselves like you're going to see similarities between them over and over again they're kind of repeating making a bigger picture of what is actually how God is going to make all things new it's similar to a mosaic a mosaic is a is a big picture that's made up of a lot of smaller pictures and so if if there was a mosaic of Nick Cage it would be Nick Cage's face with a bunch of pictures of him in from all his movies and all the crazy stuff he's done and it makes up this bigger picture.
So a lot of ways that's what apocalyptic writing is like and that's what the Book of Revelation is like it's a lot of individual pictures and what happens is is that we might focus on those little pictures that are fuzzy and get lost when we what what we need to do is to to step back and see the bigger picture of what's happening so as we walk through a lot of the symbols in this book in this apocalyptic book we need to keep that in mind and we're going to spend some more time in this actually even going we're going to have a training weekend on September 13th which you want to mark your calendar.
You can sign up for that but we're going to have a night that we will do things a little bit different than we do on Sunday morning to to dive further into this so we can understand this book correctly so this is apocalyptic genre it's crucial for us understanding everything that follows all right I've just been the first verse and we got to keep going because we got a whole chapter to go through all right so he made it known it continues by sending his Angel to his servant John who verse two bore witness to the word of.
God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ even to all that he saw all right so who is this John uh there's some debate on this uh but Church history has largely agreed on this this is the same John the Apostle John who wrote the Gospel of John first second and third John he probably wrote this at the end of his life when he was exiled on the Ireland of Patmos around 85 to 95 uh ad under the reign of Dom Mission.
So that's some background on who this Revelation is being revealed to first so we're going to see that John is recording this and Jesus and an angel throughout this book are revealing this to him all right verse three blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near all right pause if you were like me and you're not excited about this book.
For fill in the blank reason we we're wrong what it just said blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy you are blessed to read this book you are blessed to sit under uh this word we so we get to repent and change and have a better attitude otherwise the fall is going to be super long you guys verse four John to the seven churches that are in Asia all right here comes the curveball this book is not just apocalyptic it is also a letter that's the.
Second big thing you need to see this is an apocalyptic book and a letter it's a letter so why it's part one is called the letters Revelation Chapter 2 and chap three are seven letters that are written to seven different churches we're going to sit in each one of those letters to to see what uh John has to say to those churches but also what it means for us as well so in typical New Testament letter fashion John starts with a greeting he says grace to you in peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.
So fairly normal start very similar to language in the rest of the New Testament in the letters that are written and from the seven spirits who are Before the Throne and it begins a lot of this coming up all right and it says and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of Kings on Earth okay seven what seven Spirits what is John talking about I'm going to tell you something three words that you're going to hear l in this series I don't know I don't know.
For sure now is is it seven angels who are in the presence of God is that what's happening here or is this language for the Holy Spirit because seven as we're going to see throughout this book is a number for completion and this is the fullness of the Holy Spirit I lean that way I think that makes the most sense especially because in a lot of letters there's you see trinitarian language father Son and Holy Spirit and that's all right here.
So it makes sense that it is but I'm not sure and there's a lot of debate over that and you're going to hear that a lot this series I don't know some people interpret it this way some people interpret it this way so there'll be a lot of this as we walk through this book and I'll just say this if you come across anyone that is like really really sure of themselves B Revelation like you you're on YouTube like deep in YouTube and all of a sudden someone just says like I I have the secrets of this book I'm going to show you how it's going to happen how it's going to go down like.
And subscribe or whatever book you may have came across where there's such certainty and how they understood the Book of Revelation may I suggest that you keep scrolling because they have an arrogance that 2,000 years of Church history doesn't have brothers and sisters for 2,000 years have just had Parts just gone I don't know and that's okay it's it's a difficult book to interpret so I would suggest that as we study this together to be careful about what you watch and be careful about what you read.
Because there are a lot of wild takes and I bet you that person also has a YouTube channel on the Illuminati and chemtrails like that there some of that goes hand in hand so just Revelation is not that simple as we're going to see so then we get this beautiful Declaration of the Gospel continues say to him who loves us and that is the love of Christ and has freed us from our sins by his blood that's the atoning work of Christ's blood that covers our sin and made us verse six a kingdom priests to his.
God and Father the Church is a kingdom of priests a holy nation declaring the Gospel and the glory of God to him be glory and Dominion forever and ever amen that's a pretty good start to the letter and he's not done like he just exalted that's the gopel right there he spent a whole sermon on that right there and he's like I that's not I I need one more amen then he goes in verse 7 behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will.
See him even those who pierced him and all tribes of the earth will whail on account of him even so amen what we kind of see here is that first Declaration of the Gospel is a celebration of what Christ has done for his Church but the second amen is a declaration of what God is going to do when judgment comes to those who don't believe he this is Christ coming on the clouds that's Daniel 7 apocalyptic language Jesus coming on the clouds Judgment Day language here every I will.
See even those who murdered and pierced Christ that judgment comes to all unbelievers from every tribe nation and tongues out the gate we see it's also a warning for those who do not believe those you do not need the warnings that are found in this book then we get this quote from Jesus in verse 8 that shows up later in the Book of Revelation I am the Alpha and the Omega says the Lord God who is and who was and who is to come the almighty and that language there Alpha and Omega is the.
First and last letter of the Greek alphabet and it just is is a statement it says I'm I'm the beginning I created all things and I am the end bring this to its conclusion Christ is God verse n i John is John's appear here I John your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus the.
Third thing I want us to see this is an apocalyptic book and a letter written to A persecuted people written to A persecuted people so John says your partner in the tribulation that is the trials sufferings and persecution of himself and those seven churches in that time onward that that's what he means by tribulation here he's talking about the present real sufferings and persecution that they are enduring that's going to be important for us to remember they were enduring heavy persecution.
When the Church began shortly after there was persecution in Jerusalem and the Church spread all across uh Asia and uh uh Europe and then Emperor like Nero came along around 65 665 May and absolutely persecuted Christians in some absolutely Insidious ways the kind of persecution that arrested tortured and then burnt Christians at the stake at night as literal human torches for the streets that's the kind of persecution the Church was enduring all the way to do Mission which is what we think is the time that John is writing in the Church is enduring heavy persecution I mean John is on Patmos and we know from we can uh tell from Church history that he's there.
Because he was exiled it's part of his persecution after there's some debate on this but some Church historians uh will read sources and say that he was actually Bo he's the only disciple that wasn't martyred but he was actually uh boiled in oil and then in Patos Exile so this is written to A persecuted people that context is going to be incredibly important for understanding a lot of the language that is in this in fact I would argue that there are churches all across the world that are currently being persecuted in ways that are that are heavy and severe they actually love the Book of Revelation they love it they.
Because it is a comfort to them to know that Christ will come to judge all those who have opposed him and to know that Christ is coming back so it's important context all right verse 10 it says I was in the spirit on the Lord's day this is John talking which again you could post up we're not going to be in Revelation for a full year but you can do a whole sermon on that right there because this is the only reference from the New Testament to the Lord's day and it's kind of beautiful.
Because the Lord's day is this that's the day it's Sunday it's the tradition where uh the Church chose to uh worship Christ on Sunday it's kind of our Sabbath where we get to worship Christ and we see the early parts of this tradition beginning here and that's the reason we meet here even now but again got to keep going I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying write what you.
See in a book and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus these are the seven churches Ephesus and to smea and to pergamum and to thyra and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and leoda so we're going to see that this is written to a bunch of persecuted churches over the next seven weeks as you sit in each of these letters so while worshiping the Lord he gets this prophetic Vision he hears a voice sounds like a trumpet it's booming write this to the seven churches.
And then he turns around and seas verse 12 then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man clothed with a long robed with a golden sash around his chest the hairs of his head were white like white wool like snow his eyes were like a flame of fire his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace and his voice was like the Roar of many Waters and his right hand he held Seven Stars from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
Wo welcome to apocalyptic writings I mean there's a lot going on there John receives this Vision he starts writing it down and he sees Christ the glorified ascended on high Christ and all of his majesty and it's a terrifying beautiful picture his clothes are white his hair is white his eyes are like fire his voice is like a roar of a r raging River it's a powerful picture and then he talks about the seven lampstands and the Seven Stars and it's like.
Okay what does that mean and once we get past chapter 2 and three we're going to see lots of pictures like this and that's kind of the difficult part of interpreting these book is what what what does that mean however we get thrown a bone here because Jesus just tells us what it means early on so verse 17 when I saw him I fell at his feet though dead which catch that he just so overwhelmed he falls on his face before the glorified Christ.
But he laid his right hand on me saying fear not I am the first and the last and the living one it's just just the the so terrifying so Wonder and then puts his right hand on says fear not that's our savior right there he says I I died and behold I am alive forever more and I have the keys of death and Hast write therefore the things that you have seen those that are and those uh those that are and those that are to take place after this as.
For the mystery of the Seven Stars that you saw in my right hand and the Seven golden lampstands the Seven Stars are the angels of the seven churches and the Seven lampstands are the seven churches so we get some interpretive help there Christ seven lampstands are the seven churches that we're going to read about over the next seven weeks and the Seven Stars the seven angels that reside over those churches which we'll get to that in the coming weeks as well.
So when you look at the images here from chapter four onward they paint a picture of the Revelation of Christ and how he's going to bring an end to all things before he makes all things new and there's a lot of symbols there's a lot of there a lot of content in it can make your head spin a little bit and as we read the rest of the letter what what the danger of what can happen is that we can get lost in some of those details I heard one pastor like people forget this is the Revelation of.
Jesus Christ not the Revelation of the War of the Worlds and that is right it's a Revelation of Jesus Christ and I think what Left Behind did in really a lot of of writings like that is it put so much focus on some of those fuzzy details that have been debated for over 2,000 years of Church history that it really made the American Church lose thread of what this is all about so as we go through the Book of Revelation here is the big picture this is an apocalyptic book and a letter written to A persecuted people telling them to endure.
Because Jesus is coming that's the big picture it is an apocalyptic book and a letter written to A persecuted people telling them to endure because Jesus is coming back that's the big picture of Revelation that is Crystal Clear we may have some differences of opinion on some of the Minor Details of this book but there is no debate on how that is the big picture what's happening and I love that I'm so thankful I'm so thankful you go back a few verses and says fear not Christ puts his hand on him says fear not I'm the.
First and the last and the living one that's that Alpha and Omega language he says I'm it I'm the first and last he I I died and behold I'm alive forever more and I have the keys of death in Hades right therefore the things that you have seen those that are and those that are to take place after this to a people who are suffering deeply the effects of tribulation and trials to hear that Christ is coming back is incredible news it is incredible to hear he is coming back that that is what's going to help them endure that knowledge that certainty that Christ will come and he will make all things new and he.
Will judge the wicked that is good news to a people who are suffering so deeply and so we're going to walk through a lot of this vision and we're going to see all the different parts and then we're going to see at the end how Christ comes and how he comes to make all things new and if he flip the final chapter of the Bible in Revelation 22 you get these pictures of the Church of Jesus Christ and just we've we've.
So clung to these in the hope that is bound in verse 12 chapter 22 says Jesus says behold I am coming soon bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done I am the Alpha and the Omega the first and the last the beginning and the end in a time of suffering to know that the God who rules sovereignly over all things is I am coming and and and and weay for recompense it's going judgment will come.
But I'm also going to make all things new and the final verses of the Bible this verse 20 says he testifies to these things saying surely I am com soon and John says amen come Lord Jesus the refrain of the Church for 2,000 years come Lord Jesus the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all amen there is certainty Christ is coming and we we may have some some disagreements I'm sure on how all that's going to unfold but he is coming which means that this present moment though painful at times this present life though filled with suffering at times it pales in comparison to what awaits that the present suffering that is very real.
That we feel right now that feels so long it is going to end and there is a day coming where there is no more pain where there is no more death where there is no more suffering where there are no more trials Christ will make all things new and the Church of Jesus Christ for 2,000 years has collectively rejoiced saying come Lord Jesus make all things new come that's the hope that we have and some of you are are feeling the effects of suffering right.
Now some of you are physically suffering you're physically feeling the effects of your body decaying and wearing away and the physical loss maybe chronic pain you if you feel that suffering some of you are suffering emotionally there is deep sadness and maybe even depression that you are living in right now some of you are suffering spiritually maybe it's doubt maybe it is spiritual warfare that you are just you feel on a very everpresent basis some of you are suffering relationally that following Christ has cost you relationally with friends with family.
And while we're not being burned in the streets like the New Testament Church we feel it we feel the very physical and emotional spiritual we feel the reality of suffering now and I want to help us see so clearly in this series that Christ is coming the resurrection that awaits us is a reality that is what awaits us there is a day coming where there is only endless joy and all the pain of this present life is dist that what awaits us.
Because that is true we can't endure we can't hold on a little longer we can struggle and strive because we know that while the pain that we feel now in this present life is real it is but a moment and what awaits us is eternal and the Church for 2,000 years has held on to this letter with that hope in and that's what we're going to do in this series we're going to get into a lot of the details but we're going to keep the main thing the main thing Christ is coming and that is incredible news.
For the Church of Jesus Christ band's going to come up and we're going to behold God and His glory for who he is and worshiping y'all I brought joy to my soul to hear our Church sing this morning rejoicing in what Christ is going to do but the reality is this letter is not just for the Church it's not just for the Church to be told of how Christ is going to come back it's also a warning the reality is is that some of you may not know Christ you may not belong to him you have not tasted and seen that he's good and surrendered your life completely to him you don't belong to him.
And this wonderful mysterious Incredible Book is a warning to wake up and see the truth of the Gospel that Christ loves you so much that it came to rescue you and give you life with him for eternity that offer is for you to be spared of all the warnings all the things that are warned about later on in this letter that is offered to you and there's no better thing that you could do than right now to lay down your life and surrender to that savior a savior who is fearful and wonderful.
But also will put his right hand on you and invite you in the faith of him my hope is you would not leave today you would not leave this series without placing your hope in him so that you might experience the joy of Christ's Church worshiping and dividing in him for eternity let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you for the good news of the Gospel that saves we thank you that you're not leaving us here in our sin but you came to rescue us through faith alone in your life death and Resurrection.
But you are coming back help us right now believe that if there are Christians here that are suffering May that truth be so but it may Pierce through whatever is in their life that they may so behold you in your glory for who you are and for what you're going to do if there's anyone here that has not placed their faith in you Lord may you do it may you pierce their heart maybe you win them over to Faith and use they May Delight in you.
For eternity we ask this in Jesus name amen.
Three Enemies: Stand Firm
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here uh grab a Bible and go to Matthew chapter 6 we are finishing up our series three enemies today um we have been taking some time to consider that as Christians as those who are trying to follow Jesus and be uh conformed to his image that we have enemies that are at work against us to keep us from doing that and the the three enemies that we've talked about are the World the Flesh and the devil that the Bible is going to tell us that all three of these in different forms and different Fashions and in different ways are at work against us.
Our hope in this series is to try to help develop a radar for these enemies that we would be aware of them we would be looking for them we would begin to notice where they're at work in our lives it's it's like when you went to buy a vehicle and you found one that you were like this is this is one I'm going to I'm going to drive and as soon as you got it you realized you started seeing them everywhere you're like everybody's driving a black Saturn what the heck.
But you started noticing them all the time because you now had found one and saw it on the road and now you see it everywhere and that's kind of what we're hoping is that we would begin to have some sort of uh awareness of these enemies so that we might not be caught unaware or offguard but that we might be able to respond to them so here's what we've said I'm going to we're going to take a minute we're going to get to Matthew 6.
But but we're going to uh catch ourselves up a little bit on what we've been talking about so we said we have three enemies and they work this way together deceitful ideas that play to disordered Desires normalized in a sinful Society so that Satan lies one of the primary ways that he works is that he lies he puts deceitful ideas out there and that he's working against God's truth because all truth is God's truth and all truth ultimately is going to lead us to Christ as we find what is real in the world we're going to be led to God's glory his creation and the work of.
Jesus so the enemy is anywhere but home he's trying to work us anywhere uh but Jesus he's lying and that we have disorder desires that you and I want to sin that there's part of us that wants to pursue sin and so we want to believe some of these lies and the problem with lies that we believe is that we think they're true you the thing about blind spots is that you can't see them and so sometimes you're like no that's not a lie that's true and it's like right.
But you believe it but it's not true and so the enem is lying there's part of us that wants to believe it and then it gets normalized in a sinful society that collectively were surrounded by other Sinners who also believe lies it's a little bit like uh when you're running late for class and you're hustling and then you see someone else who's in that class and y'all laugh and immediately slow down because now you're not late by yourself you got a teammate and it changes the whole thing and that's the way this gets normalized in a sinle society is that we we.
Look around and go well they're doing that and they're doing that and I'm not treating my money the way that person treats their money and I'm not treating my spouse the way they treat their spouse so I'm doing okay and we normalize sinful patterns that's the way the enemy works and so what we've said is we've spent a lot of time talking about the way these enemies work what they do how they show up and then we've given some responses some practices uh in a way that we would respond against these things and our hope.
Today is to spend more time time on the practices to be a little more practical today so here's what we've said we' said we've got deceitful ideas disordered Desires in a sinle society and so as we've talked about this we said we have deceitful ideas which means that we need truth and then we said okay so if we need to fight against deceitful ideas and we need truth then we need to read the Bible specifically the way we talked about was that we need to live in the Bible you need to know your Bible you need to know what's there it needs to be uh familiar to you.
And so that we want to be people who read our Bibles know our Bibles memorize our Bibles this is honestly this series is a little bit odd for us we're still studying the Scriptures but most of the time as a Church we just work straight through a book of the Bible because we want to know our Bibles and as soon as this week's over next week we pick up with another book of the Bible we're just going to work through it.
Because we want to be people who know and believe our Bibles we want to fight the lies with truth we have disordered desires and we want to respond with faith trusting that Jesus really is better than everything else that he really is better than the thing that I'm wanting and so that we would be people who confess and repent practice self-control follow the lord in obedience so that we would be people who know our Bibles and that respond with self-control and obedience and confession and repentance that we would practice these things that have been a part of the Church forever.
And then we said we live in a sinful Society we need a counterculture we need to be particularly here what we've said is join a community group belong to a people who are trying to follow Jesus together that you need good peer pressure you need people who uh believe that you should be reading the Bible and following Jesus and expect that from you so if the enemy works this way deceitful ideas uh show the whole sentence deceitful ideas that play to disordered desires that are normalized in a sinful Society what we want is biblical truth that leads to Faith that is normalized in a.
Jesus loving Community that's what we want biblical truth that leads us to to respond in faith that's normalized in a Jesus loving Community now if you've been here for a while if it's your first day we're glad you're here welcome also I'm running through a whole bunch of stuff we've been talking about for a long time and I'm going really fast you're like what is going on a recap of like five weeks just so that we're all tracking but if you've been here a.
While and you read that you go wait a second that's what y'all say all the time yeah that's what the Church has been doing forever y'all this is from the book of Acts this is Acts 2:42 it's the Church has just been the Holy Spirit has just gone to work and it says this and they that's the new Christians devoted themselves to the apostles teaching what's the apostles teaching that's the word that's turns into eventually becomes the gospels and the letters and it's it's the teaching of the Old Testament in Light of Christ.
So they devoted themselves to the word they devoted themselves to the Bible and being devoted to it meant they practiced it that these were people who had just repented and were now practicing what it meant to follow Jesus they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellow Fellowship what's that that's each other the other people who are following and practicing and following Jesus and some of you were like I like my Bible but I don't like people yeah but your Bible that you say you like is going to tell you that you have to love those people it thankfully tells them to love you too and you need to belong you need to be.
A part of following Jesus together you're like well people are difficult yeah and you're being a little difficult in this conversation if I'm being honest welcome to the club you need to belong you need to participate in what it's like to belong to people we need to walk this out together and then it says to the breaking of bread and the prayers the breaking of bread would have been sharing meals in homes it also would have been the intentional meals gathered around communion this idea of Jesus's broken body.
For us this was a Gospel people that shared life together and the prayers and so that's what we're talking about today practices and prayer because that's where I had you turn in Matthew 6 we're going to look at a prayer and we're going to see that as we've talked through these enemies that we ought to be mindful of them on a regular basis in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid one of the Best Westerns ever Butch and Sundance are hired to defend somebody who's going to pick up payroll he runs a mining company he's got to go pick up payroll got to return it and he needs protection.
When he has all this money so they he they're going with him to go pick up the payroll and they're riding down the mountain and Butch and Sundance are back there behind him talking and Sundance says I'm telling you they're hiding in the trees and Butch says no no no they're behind the Rocks sudden he says no it's the trees he says no it's the Rocks they said well you watch the trees I'll watch the Rocks finally the the guy who's hired him stops and turns around and says morons I got morons on my team which I heard my dad quote to me like a thousand times in my life whenever me and my brothers.
Were doing something stupid this just came out of his mouth I got morons on my team and then he says they ain't going to rob us going down the mountain cuz we ain't got no money going down the mountain they're going to rob us when we're coming back up the mountain and they're morons because they were looking for enemies that weren't there I would like to submit to you that we might be morons of a different fashion we are not looking.
For enemies that are there that we're Trucking along not being aware of these enemies at play in our lives and I want you to see as we look at the model prayer that Jesus teaches that he's aware of them and he intends for us to be aware of them in our normal everyday life as we follow him that we ought to be Christians who are mindful of our enemies as we seek to follow Jesus so we're going to talk this morning about practices and prayer let's pray pray.
And then we'll jump into Matthew 6 Lord we ask for your help we pray that you would uh multiply the effectiveness and helpfulness of us studying this together that we would be people who are aware and watchful of our enemies but not fearful that we would be people who understand the victory in you but then get to apply it and live it out as we practice what it looks like to follow you and Lord we specifically today ask that you'd help us to wrap our minds around this more personally in the situations that we're facing and to learn to pray as you've taught in.
Jesus name amen so what Jesus teaches in the model prayer is not a magic formula of something to repeat it is not a mantra to say over and over again it is a model he specifically says right before this don't just say empty phrases but he gives them a way to pray that would teach us how to pray and if you're learning how to pray it's an excellent pattern to follow so I'm going to read it all the way through.
Then we'll go through it in pieces he says pray then like this this is Matthew 6 starting in verse 9 we're going to go through verse 13 pray then like this Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil so go back to verse n he says this is how you ought to pray and he starts with our.
Father in heaven Hallowed be your name both acknowledging the connection that we have to God that he's our father that he loves us that he cherishes us that he cares for us that we can approach him and that he's holy that he ought to be honored revered and respected and then he says your kingdom come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven that we are to be mindful that he's the king of all things and that we want his kingdom to advance and we want more people to follow.
Jesus and we want his will to be done in the world around us and and in US many of our prayers should be let your will be done in me that I might look the way I'm supposed to and that the the relationships I'm in and the world I'm in might look more and more like heaven as we follow you and he says give us this day our daily bread that we might pray about the needs we have and be aware of the provision that he provides daily to be thankful.
For it but expectant on it and dependent on him and this also means that this is a normal daily prayer that he expects this to be a regular way that we pray and then he says this and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil y'all that's our three enemies he says that we're supposed to ask for forgiveness of sins our debt to him is sin other places will say forgive us our trespasses or forgive us our sins as we forgiven those who've sinned against us that's what that is that we would repent of sin we be aware that we're Sinners.
Lead us not into temptation we're to be aware that there's a world around us both filled with people that tempt us and situations that tempt us that are calling us into sin that we'd be mindful of that and Deliver Us from Evil some of the versions will say evil one or have an as they say this can be translated evil one it's this personification of evil it's Satan it's the enemy that we would be delivered from the enemy that Jesus says your normal daily way to pray is to be mindful of your three enemies I I have found in my relationships with people and talking with people that a lot of times we're aware of.
Some of these some of you may not pray like this at all ever about any of them a lot of us are aware of some of them so that you're may be aware that you're a sinner you like I'm messing everything up and I'm I'm the one who causes so much trouble and I'm the reason everything's wrong and you might might be able to clearly sometimes see your sin some of you that one doesn't show up on your radar at all you're great everyone else around you is the worst.
If they would just listen to you when you talk their problems would be solved and it's like hey yeah you might want to start praying that you could see your sin and that you would be forgiven and that you'd be forgiving that you'd see your sin some people notice Temptation you're aware of it you see patterns and situations that you get in that cause you problems you talk to parents sometimes they see this one for their kids my kids great but they just they've been hanging out with a badg crowd my precious little perfect little gold-hearted angel just hanging out with some bad people it's like I think they're like.
Second in command to that team like I yeah there's some Temptation yeah you need to be aware of it but it's not the only thing there are other things as well but some of us are completely blind to this you don't you you maybe know that you're a sinner but you don't think at all about patterns and systems that you have set up and things that tempt you some of you do most of your sinning after 10 p.m. go to sleep some of you need to.
Look and realize hey I I hang out with a bunch of morons and I act like a kiss some new friends change some of your patterns change some of your habits be aware of some of the Temptations around you some of us are mindful that we have an enemy you'll talk to some people sometimes that are aware that there's an enemy they'll be mindful of that a lot of us aren't a lot of us because we're westerners Americans we maybe have a place.
For the enemy because the Bible says it but no real functional process for how we would think about that or pray about that and so it's like yeah the devil exists and he does things but there's no he doesn't lie to me and there's no way that I'd be have to be worried about that there are some people who overthink it I've talked to people before and they're like yeah Satan was in my toaster what was he how why what maybe you just need a new toaster like I don't even know how you're processing through this.
But for most of us we're not thinking about that at all we're not watchful and sober minded as Peter says that we would look out for an enemy who wouldn't want us to follow Jesus wouldn't want us to have joy wouldn't want us to raise our kids to love Jesus wouldn't want us to read our Bibles wouldn't want us to fight through for what is good would actively try to keep us from belonging to people and repenting of sin that we have an actual enemy and we're blind to that.
Jesus says no this is how we ought to pray this is what normal should look like and what's beautiful about this one of my favorite things that I find so encouraging about it is we just get to pray like that all the time we don't have to be investigators all the time figuring out exactly which one it is we just get to be aware that all of those enemies are usually at work in most situations they're all there helping if you'd say this is 100% me it's like maybe I mean you're a sinner you're 100% involved.
But I would say enem is probably at work I'd say there's probably some the world at work if you say no this is 100% the world like if if I wasn't tempted at all I'd never SE a yeah but you were there and you sin so I would think you're involved the enemies involved like they're all involved there was a movie I watched when I was probably 11 I maybe watched this I don't know 450 times it's the movie major pain.
So that maybe tells you a little bit about my my life growing up in the movie major pain uh it's a it's a guy who is like a very good military leader person killed a lot of folks at the beginning of the movie he gets told that he there's nobody left to kill and he's got to go run an ROTC program with children he actually looks at him and says there's got to be somebody needs some killing they say no you got to go run this.
For children at one point one of the kids comes to him in the middle of the night scared says there's a bad man in his closet there's a monster in the closet he walks over and says that closet he says yes he pulls his gun out and just shoots into the closet pow pow pow pow pow pow pow puts his gun up looks at the little kid and says if he's still in there he ain't happy and that's the way I feel about this a little bit we we got three closets we got three enemies we don't have to open them all up all the time and figure out exactly what's going on we can.
Trust the work of the spirit to help us see some of that but we also get to just shoot into every closet we get to say Lord please forgive me I know I'm a sinner I know I'm wrong I know specifically I sinned here forgive me of that but I also know that I don't always think about things right so help me help me turn from my sin help me run from my sin please forgive me help me to be gracious.
And then you get to say Lord help me keep me far from Temptation I don't know exactly know all the ways that I'm in the middle of this and I'm trying to figure that out but help me guard me and then Lord I don't know where the enemies at work here but I know he's a liar and I know he hates me and I know he hates you and so for protect me deliver me from the work of the enemy here.
Let me not listen to him let me listen to your spirit and we just get to pray all three and we don't have to go well I don't know if that's involved or that just just normal prayer is all of them so here here's what we're going to do with the time we have left we're going to do two case studies for lack of a better way to put it we're going to take two topics and consider them and we're going to consider how the practices how the enemies would be at work how the practices and praying will help us fight against them.
So how's the enemy at work here how are the enemies at work here and how does following these practices and praying in this way help we're going to take two they may or may not perfectly apply to you but we're trying to walk through this thought process so that in the situations that you're facing in the struggle that you're facing you can see a little bit of okay I can see how this works together and I can see how we would pray.
So that's what we're going to do the first one we're going to talk about is sexual sin or sexual Temptation now we talk about this topic a good bit and part of the reason we do that is because our culture never shuts the heck up about it it's not like it's our favorite thing to talk about it's just that we're we're going to talk about it some when we gather together and then you're going to go hear a thousand messages on this topic during this week there are some things that we can just tell you the Bible says and nobody else is arguing we can teach you about David and what he did we don't.
Need to tell you that over and over again because nobody else is trying to tell you David did something different they don't care but when we tell you what the Bible says about this you're going to go out and every ad you watch and every show you watch is going to preach a different message and so we talk about this some so we're going to talk about this this morning so first how are the enemies working together well Satan's lying and he's put some things out there that are culturally accepted some of the lies are in order to be a full happy human you have to be sexually satisfied otherwise you're deficient as a person.
Uh sexual desire is just it's like an appetite it's like hunger you get hungry you eat you get thirsty you drink we have desires fulfill them this should just be something that just happen s it should be cheap and easy and free that's one of the lies then on the other side you have this is so supremely important to real genuine relationships in love it's the Bedrock of all healthy relationships and it's essential to existence cheap easy free essential to love and existence and fulfillment which both of those can't really be true that's not how stuff works it's either special or it's not it's either everywhere or it's like you.
But this is what's put out in front of us and then we have disordered desires so you have your own desires some of our desires aren't even physical or sexual they're I want to be liked I want this relationship to work I I want to be normal I want to participate in what life is supposed to be like so you not even really your own desires but just what the world told you you're supposed to chase after I want to have uh this relationship continue I want I want I want this to be special I want to be loved I want to be desired and we participate with our own disordered desires.
And then our culture co-signs all of this non-stop it leads to misery added into that is now the belief that these desires actually Define who you are whatever you feel here is actually essential to your soul so free easy like hunger also the core of your identity we hear those so much we hadn't even considered the fact that those can't coexist so how do the practices help us well if we're reading our Bibles we're going to see a few things one sexual immorality is sin sin is destructive.
So the idea that this will help you in some way be fulfilled complete help your relationship help your uh dating help your whatever make you feel happy make you feel full fix your identity no it can't because misplaced it's sin now we're told that it's not gross or evil it's a gift given to marriage it's a covenantal gift meaning that you're supposed to participate in it fully and Covenant you're saying all of me belongs to all of you and whether you know John Legend is playing in the background or not I don't know.
But that's what you're saying like I'm fully yours All of Me belongs to all of you it's a covenantal ceremony but if that's not true it's destructive this is where Paul says that you're you've got you're becoming one flesh that there's a union that's taking place and so it's meant to be something that only happens inside of a marriage so you're reading through this and you're starting to see the Bible's in forming a picture of something you know what else it says it's not essential to being a human Paul says I wish everybody were Lov like me didn't need this weren't burning with passion and could just focus on.
Jesus not have to get married and just be missionaries and get after it and tell people about Christ and not worried about what their husband wanted their wife wanted not be caught up in domestic duties and raising children that's what Paul says so it's not a essential to you existing and being healthy or happy so you're studying the word this is changing you you're waking up in the morning and reading your Bible we're supposed to live in the Bible so you're reading this at night before you go to bed you're writing verses down and putting them in your pocket and memorizing them you're listening to this as you go to work.
Because you've got to get this in your head and you're studying the Scriptures all the time and it's not all the stuff the Scriptures talk about but you keep running into these things that are helping you that are helping reframe and change you start realizing wait if the Bible says this and the Bible's true then that can't be true you start repenting you you gather with your group and you actually start confessing things to them start telling them what's going on you tell them the lies you've been believing you tell them the frustrations you've been feeling you tell them the sins and you get to confess not.
Because you've got to get all that out to get fixed but because Jesus is so good that when we bring these things to him he heals us he redeems that we've got to turn away from sin in a way that rescues us and so we're confessing not just to them but to Jesus we're walking out in Repentance what it means to follow Christ and then we have a group of people who start asking us questions we don't want to answer somebody in your group says.
Okay you want me to start texting you at 10: all right you want us to all start going on your dates and you never get to see this person alone again and you're like no and they're like well do you want to keep sinning and you're like No And it's like well I'm your new third wheel I really like putt putt we don't want you to to pursue sin we don't want things to fall apart for you so we're invested we're coming we want to be a part of this with you we're going to start praying.
For you and pleading for you and expecting that you would love Jesus more than you love this sin and so that's what starts happening and then you start praying asking for forgiveness specifically confessing to the Lord what's going on praying against patterns and temptations and understanding that there are situations you get yourself in asking the Lord to help and you start praying hey Lord I know that the enemy lies to me and I know that he doesn't want me to love you more than I love this and in the name of.
Jesus I want to listen to you not him so he doesn't get to mess with me he doesn't get to mess with my thoughts he doesn't get to claim parts of my soul I don't get if I don't belong to him I belong to you so Deliver Me From Evil and you start praying that regularly the second one I want to talk about as a case study is marriage again one of the reasons is that our culture does not help us here.
Because if you are married you have married a sinner they have too but it's way more obvious to you that they are but that's how it works it's difficult it hurts it's hard at sometimes extremely hard and the enemy lies if you were really supposed to be married it wouldn't be this difficult you've made a mistake divorce will fix this and it's actually your only route to happiness you can't live your whole life this way you're going to be miserable forever this is the only way to fix this they've changed they're not the person you married they'll never change.
Jesus can't fix this which often those Lies come in at the same time and they can't both be true that this person's changed but will never change if Jesus is going to stand over you and make you stay in this marriage then he's more like a prison Warden than a savior and do we really trust him should you really trust him is he really good which is as old as the garden we have disordered desires I'm so angry I'm so hurt I don't want to have to do all the work to fix this I don't think it's fixable I anything that cosign my desire to get out feels.
So true so good so helpful and we're surrounded by a world that makes divorce easy as easy as it can be it's it's extremely difficult you're supposed to be happy as defined by you at this moment and anything that stands in the way of that is the enemy should be removed so how do the practices help us and how is praying help us well for reading our Bibles we will first be confronted by how absolutely good Jesus is how kind and merciful helpful and forgiving how Sovereign and trustworthy that he loves us.
So much that he would come and die to make us his and that he hates sin and everything that tears us apart and that he loves us so that he's with us mercifully and graciously in the midst of this difficulty that he can be trusted we'll also see that marriage is a covenant not a contract and that it's based off of Christ's love for the Church which means that even in the middle of difficult marriages we can still display his goodness.
Because our world understands why you would stay in a good marriage and our world understands why you would leave a bad one Christians get to point to Jesus as we stay in by what is by all worldly standards bad and say I'm holding on to something that's more true I'm holding on to something that's more good and I'm TR trusting that Jesus can go to work here and I'm trusting that he's good enough for me in the middle of this difficulty and I'm trusting that he can work in this person's heart and I can stay and grow to be faithful.
So you begin to repent knowing that you're not 100% right in the situation and that even if you're the one who primarily has been sinned against that there are things where you need the Lord to work in your heart and how you're responding to that and anger and frustration and bitterness and is asking the Lord for help and mercy and Grace you're confessing but you're also asking for his work in you to be faithful and to trust him and love him more and you have your Church family around you every person in our Church.
When you come to them to talk about marriage difficulty should be heartbroken with you and should say stay in every person say you you need to you need to let's lament but let's keep fighting let's keep pressing in towards what is good because that's how the Church is meant to work now these may not have applied to you it might have applied too much to you but this is how we want to walk out what it looks like to follow Jesus we want to be people who practice these things things who are in our Bibles who live in them abide in them y'all my my group comes to my house I I host a community.
Group every week I move my trash can from my pantry to a spot where it's easy for everybody to know where it is and then like a I walk into my P Pantry 37 times while my group is at the house holding trash I I kid you not I have carried my trash can set it down grabbed a piece of trash walked to my pantry because I know where it is and I live here this is where it is all the time that's the way we ought to be with our Bibles we ought to know where things are it ought to be.
Second nature for us to be able to walk and just be a part of what the Scripture says we ought to know it we ought to live and abide in the Bible that's what we're going for we want to be that kind of people we want to be people who are genuinely repenting who love Jesus and see that he's good he's calling us into hope that he loves us so much he would die for us so that he's trustworthy with everything and we ought to not trust ourselves.
So much and know that Lord there's stuff that's wrong with me and I need your help and I know that you're actually more trustworthy than I am because I'm not willing to put up with pain to pull me away from what's broken but you were willing to die to do it Lord I need your help and then we need our Church family you remember in middle school when two people if you went to a home school this may not have happened this way.
But if you're in public school uh two people said they were going to fight well usually it was one person that said something but there was like a runner you know uh middle schoolers aren't the best at communication until there's going to be a fight and then communication lines are crystal clear so somebody would go to one and say hey Mark said he's going to beat you up and they you look you know they say oh are you scared well I'm not scared all right you walk back Mark he said he ain't scared you back and forth Mark say there going to be two hits he going to hit you and you going to hit.
The ground you got a group of people around well uh you go back hey Mark he said why don't you go outside and practice falling down he'll be out in a minute and at the end of the day wherever it was playground behind the gym whatever there was a circle of middle schoolers and Mark and the other guy were inside the circle and you might think that this circle is just sinful and we you've made promises you've confessed you following Jesus don't don't get out of this you want to stay in you want to keep fighting you want to keep pressing towards what's good we're meant to gather around each other.
When you try to leave say no no no no no no no no no stay don't run after something stupid Jesus is so much better I know you can't see that right now but he's so much better don't don't go any don't go anywhere that's our hope that we would be people who believe biblical truth that leads to Faith that is normalized and Jesus Ling Community that's what we want and y'all we have three enemies but we have one savior who has defeated all of those enemies who has redeemed us from sin who judges and rules over the world that he has a kingdom that is coming and that his his will will be done.
On Earth as it is in heaven he will fully consummate this at some point it will fully belong to him and that we get to follow after him trusting him to go to work in us and go to work in our Church family and get to pursue after the work that he's already accomplished on the cross and getting to participate in it and so our hope is that we would stand firm in our one savior as we Face Off against three very real enemies that we need to be mindful of.
But not fearful of because we have a king let's pray Lord we need the work of your spirit we need your help Lord we thank you that there's forgiveness through the work of Christ this is not about us earning anything but it is about us getting to participate in the Glorious Redemption of Jesus to the praise of his glorious Grace Lord we're tempted tempted to believe lies tempted to pursue things that will harm us tempted to chase after things that will destroy our souls and lead us away from you tempted to believe in.
So many ways so many times that something else is better than you and we ask that you would lead us away from Temptation and help us to see how gloriously good you are and father we have an enemy who lies to us who tells us you don't really love us that this situation won't get better that we are broken and it'll never get fixed that that our Church family doesn't want us around that we're a burden that nobody cares about us that all these things things on repeat that this would satisfy me this will fill me up.
If I could just have this I'd be happy and we pray in the name of Jesus that you would shut his mouth you would strike him on the cheek and break the teeth of the enemy and that we would be people who would pray mindful of our enemies but oh so much more mindful of you our glorious King that our eyes will be set on you and that we would not fall prey to anything else we submit this to you in your grace and your sovereignty in.
Jesus name amen this morning we get to celebrate baptism baptism is a public profession of Faith it's a outward sign a representation of something that has already happened inwardly this is displayed in the way we go about baptism the person doesn't get in announce to you hey I used to be messed up but I'm fixing that now and then bathe themselves in front of you there's actually people who are in there with them representing the Church representing Christ they are baptized backwards.
Because they're buried in their sin buried with Christ y'all if they don't they're dead they were dead in their sin and they're buried with their sin if they don't come back up they actually die that's what it's representing so we bury them and then we raise them again washed and risen to New Life In Christ that when he was buried they were buried when when he died for their sin their sin died and they get to walk in newness of life.
Because of the resurrection of Jesus and they have a hope of Resurrection that is what baptism is proclaiming and we praise Christ for his salvation and we praise Christ for his hope and we praise him specifically for Two Souls today that get to join us in following Jesus in faith and baptism proclaiming that their hope is in Christ.
The World
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning uh it is great to be here for this time of worship with you all on the Sunday morning that's a little bit muggy outside but nice and comfortable inside and uh if you're new here I want to welcome you my name is Isaac I'm one of the pastors here at mil City Church we're glad that you decided to join us this morning uh if you haven't been with us for the past several weeks we have been working our way through a series called three enemies and we have been focusing on how the script Scriptures uh specifically highlight three enemies that are Waging War against the kingdom of.
God and Waging War against our formation as people into the image of Christ and so uh we're towards the end of the series and so I want to quickly recap what we have talked about thus far to make sure uh that we are all on the same page so Chad started us off in week one to help us understand that the things that we do do things to us that the regular rhythms and habits of our life are forming us into something and that we have to be careful.
Because we might think that there's neutral ground but there's not neutral ground either the things we're doing are helping form us into the image of Christ or deform us away from the image of Christ and then in week two we spent some time outlining how uh the the three enemies themselves the devil the Flesh and the world work together in a unified strategy that it's not Randomness it's calculated and we have this phrasing um that we have been using to be helpful from uh a pastor and a Christian thinker who's on the west coast he says uh that the strategy of these enemies is deceitful ideas that play to disordered desires that are normalized in.
A sinful society and so those are the three enemies at work that first it's the deceitful ideas that we have a real spiritual enemy a real spiritual being with agency is at war against us and his main mode of operation is through sewing lies that he lies to us and that then we talked about that we accept the lies because we have disordered desires that the Bible calls this the Flesh in us that we want it to be true because there's a part of us that really wants it to be true.
And then you get a bunch of people that are believing these lies and then they become this becomes accepted as the Baseline truth in our cultures and in our societies and this is what Scripture calls the world and this is our Focus this morning so let me pray and then we'll Dive In Father we thank you very much for this opportunity that we get to open up your word and we get to admit that we don't don't get it on our own that we need help.
And so this morning through your spirit would you be teaching us your truth and instructing us in your ways that we might find the freedom that you provide Jesus name amen we are going to be spending most of our time this morning in 1 John Chapter 2 verses 15-1 17 so if you want to go ahead and turn there uh if you don't have Bible with you uh you can grab one that's in the seat racks and if you're in one of those blue Bibles it's going to be on page 592 uh several years ago we worked through a series in.
First John and so if you haven't had the opportunity to go back through our archives and listen to that I would encourage you to uh to get a fuller uh explanation of this whole letter um but just for this morning we're just going to be in chapter 2: 15 to 17 and uh before we begin I want to give a quick little bit of context for this passage as we begin and so this book of the Bible is written by John it's written by the Apostle John and he's writing a letter to a local Church and the tone of the book is not really negative he's very encouraging to the Believers who are there.
But he does highlight in Chapter 2 a little bit later than where we're going to be at this morning that there is seemingly a group of people who have left this local Church and that by chasing the things that are against Christ chasing after the things of this world they've revealed their true colors that they never really belong to Christ and the first place and then John goes on to say that not only that that they're also seeming to be putting pressure on this Church.
For the members to come and follow them in their teaching rather than to follow Jesus and so this is the situation in which John finds himself writing this letter to the local Church so let's dive in into verse 15 do not love the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not not in him now I don't know about you but when I come across a verse with this level of intensity it forces me to self-reflect that.
If you thought that Raz is blunt have you met John John just said that if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him this forces me to ask myself some questions and so that's what we get to do this morning and there are two specific questions that we're going to be asking ourself first is what is the world that's important to know it's important to understand that and second what does it look like to love it what does John mean to love the world.
So first let's start with what is the world now it's important whenever we uh are reading Scripture that we have an understanding that we're all coming in with our own contextual understanding we're all coming from different places whatever our history is at maybe you've got a lot of Bible teaching maybe you don't whatever it is it doesn't matter where we come from maybe you've never even heard of the idea that the world could be an enemy and maybe you've only ever heard of the world as an enemy it doesn't matter either way we're going to come to Scripture to define the word and the idea.
For us we're not going to import our own understanding and so a couple weeks ago as we were doing a bird's eye view approach to these three enemies and their strategy um I referenced Strong's exhaustive Bible concordance which is basically just a big concordance of definitions of ideas and words that are in Scripture and he used this definition he said the present condition of human Affairs an alienation from and opposition to God they when talking about the world and the context that John is speaking of In this passage he says the present condition of human Affairs an alienation from an opposition to.
God so even though there is a way to talk about the world in which it's the physical world the things that we see in touch like trees and rocks and sticks and stuff like that specifically what John is talking about here is not the physical things we can see but something deeper than that something beyond that and this is why some translations will translate this word age or as Paul says in Ephesians 2 he says the course of this world and Paul in Colossians 2 as he's been building this understanding and this idea of the world he says this he says.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ so the way that Scripture defines this enemy me the world is that it's helping us understand that it's the agreed upon or underlying assumptions or philosophies which inform a way of life that is based on empty deceit and human tradition and not according to Christ that this is what the world is as John is referring to it.
So in our framework of the strategy of how these enemies work together the world of Scripture talks about it as the enemy of God is what happens when you have a whole society that is putting lies on repeat repeating lies to itself over and over again that first it starts on the individual level with lies that you and I believe to be true and that part of us wants to be true because we have that flesh remember these are the first two enemies we talked about the lies.
And then us accepting it but it starts with me on the individual level then you get enough people that are believing these lies and then a whole Community or Society then begins to believe it and it becomes the accepted Baseline truth and then what happens is that then Cycles back to us to reinforce in us the lie that we started to believe in the first place this is how this idea of the enemy of the World plays back to us that it starts with an individual fleshly desire that's.
Then formed into a collective societal worldview of apart from Scripture that Fe then feeds back into our fleshly desires and it's this cycle that goes and continues on for those of you that don't know me I grew up uh on a summer Campground and bethl Christian Camp that's about 15 minutes from here great Pace to grow up when you're a little kid you get to run around and have fun uh but one of the opportunities that you get is that during the summertime you get to work on staff.
And so for several years I got the great opportunity to work as a counselor uh when when kids would come for week of Camp I got to work with a cabin of kids each week and one of the things that I loved especially with the younger kids that are like seven years old is that us as staff we talk to them about the legends of the lake ninja and so we had the legends of the lake Ninja at bethl and all the staff they'd all be in on it you know we'd come up with silly stories lives under the dock eats turtles.
For breakfast you know all sorts of crazy things and uh believe it or not it doesn't take much when you get a bunch of adults communicating to seven-year-olds that there's a lake ninja that exists 24 hours in they're totally sold out a lake ninja exists they're start they're having their own side conversations about a lake ninja we we weren't even instigating them they come up and ask us questions Mr Isaac Mr Isaac you know Lake ninja does he do this does he do that where is he am I going to be.
Okay I you know there might be some 25-year-old kid that thinks there's a lake ninja still I don't I don't know but it's funny it's funny to think about some seven yearolds um being convinced of this lie um but the reality is is that there were enough people around them especially those that they looked up to that were kind of perpetuating this lie it was harmless and it was fun and we laugh at a seven-year-old but the reality is is that we're all in the same camp that we're all in the same boat.
When it comes to the way of this world we fall prey to this and are impacted by this way more than we would like to admit that we don't want to admit it but we are way more affective Ed and influenced by the way of this world then we would dare to admit and so that's what we get to look at today and this is also why in that sermon a couple of weeks ago when we talked about the specific weapon that this enemy the world uses against us is that it's the ability to cosign belief and practices and the ability allows us the ability to hide that we can just throw up our hands.
And saywell if everybody else is doing it this is why Adam gets to say it was Eve's fault and why Eve gets to say it was the Serpent's fault do we just get to try to sh the blame onto somebody else and hide and mask ourselves so with this understanding of the world we come to our second question what does it look like to love the world we're going to continue on in the passage 1 John chap 2 verse 16 for all that is in the world the desires of the Flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the.
Father but is from the world so John is going to categorize what our love of the world looks like in three umbrella terms he's going to say that what the love of the world looks like is the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes and the pride of life and so what we're going to do is we're just going to work our way through one by one so first desires of the flesh so last week if you were with us you know that Raz spent some time talking about what is the Flesh and we talked about this idea that it's that part of us that is naturally drawn towards the things that are.
Part from God and I think John has some of that in in view here um but I also think he's also talking about our physical flesh that you and I are made as real people that we have bodies and I think what's helpful in tying into this is that he says this Greek word here for desire is epithumia and it can also be translated other other places in Scripture as passions or lusts even different translations of the Bible as they're trying to help us understand this idea uh going to read a couple different translations of this word this phrase desires of the flesh.
So the NIV is going to say the bels of sinful man the new English Bible is going to say all that panders to the appetites the New Living Translation is translated the lust for physical pleasure or as one commentator put it and translated it what the body hankers for and so this is this idea that's being built up and for me personally I think that the word lust is the most helpful translation that really sets the tone of what he's trying to work and get at.
Because lust is the Twisted form of love lust is just the Twisted form of love desire is just the Baseline thing that we feel but lust is then what we begin to do with it and so lust is this desire that's turned toward myself for satisfying my physical senses especially at the expense of someone or something else that it's us wanting to satisfy our natural bodily Cravings specifically the way in which we pursue our own ends and self self-sufficient independence of.
God As One commentator put it so what does this look like then for us if John is saying that this is what the love of the world looks like what does that actually mean for us what are some of the things that John has in mind here well one very sure way that I think one very sure thing that I think John has in mind here is our approach to sex that we're physical creatures and sex involves physicalness and the way in which we engage in sex is going to help us understand whether or not we have a love.
For the world Scripture teaches that all sexual encounter outside the Covenant of marriage falls in the category of sin or Falls in this category of Love of the world and the reality is even once you get married it's not like it's some magic trick that makes your sex life all pure all of a sudden you still have to work at it you have to learn with your partner how to honor and love each other so the way Scripture talks about the world's approach to sex is that it's us taking advantage of someone else.
For the sake of our own pleasure that's this idea of lust it's me and my desires taking advantage of you or something someone else something else for the sake of my own pleasure I think that this the clearest simplest example of this in our culture is hookup culture so hookup culture is pounding this line to our heads over and over and over again that sex doesn't really mean anything sex might as well be like a piece of bubblegum you unwrap it chew it spit it out just instant little moment of pleasure that's all it is I mean.
If you haven't already just pay attention to whatever current TV series you're watching through whatever movies you like to go watch at the theaters just pay attention to the way they talk about sex is that the truth or is that a lie so here's what I think has happened we as people we have a natural drive for sex it's an eight to being a human and Scripture teaches that it has a proper place that is beautiful but at the individual level the lie that's been believed is that sex is just a physical interaction with somebody a transaction.
If you will that's all that it is and then you get a whole community of people that are believing that lie that that's all that sex is and you have a culture whose world view removes any sanctity from sex any depth to what it actually is between two people and then this culturally accepted lie then reinforces for the individual that they can participate in sex in whatever they way they want cuz I mean it's just physical interaction that's it and then you track that over the past Century over the past 150 years.
And then you land us where we're at now in our modern Western culture totally confused no Baseline whether it be sex in a dating relationship whether it be hookup culture whether it be adultery pornography whatever it does it doesn't take long in Reading Scripture to come to an understanding that God's way for sex is very different than what our culture teaches so I think heal question for us in understanding do we love the world is are we shaped more by our culture's approach to sex sex or by Scriptures are we shaped more by our cultures approach to sex or by Scriptures of course we have more than just bodily desires.
For sex so under this umbrella that John is talking about he also uh has other things in mind like the consumption of food so whether it be related to our body image or just pure Indulgence it's also very easy for us in our day and age to have a very unhealthy approach to food we understand that food is good how we actually understand that it's very good it's great at sustaining us it gives us energy it's great at creating spaces around the table.
For Fellowship it's wonderful but it's also so easy for us to just binge out on a row of Oreos just to scratch the itch our approach to alcohol fits into the same category substance use fits into the same category we live in an overstimulated world and we could talk for a long time about all the possible ways in which the world is a could be a Temptation for us to just give into our bodily desires but I think we get the picture that the individual level we've been believing lies about the way in which we're supposed to engage with our physical desires.
And then that's manifested itself into a culture into a moment and that it says that's what you pursue that's what you live for is to satisfy your physical pleasures and then that reinforces for us and it becomes the Baseline the accepted Truth for us this is what is at war against our formation into the image of Christ so that's the desires of the flesh John also talks about the desires of the eyes now obviously our eyeballs don't have desires in and of themselves.
But our eyes are the way in which we observe the world around us and if you were to sum up this idea into one word I think John is trying to talk about greed or covetousness this idea that whatever we see we believe that we need it and that I have the right to have it for my own I think the grocery store is a prime example of this just to help us understand the layout of a grocery store is specifically designed.
For you to see stuff so you can spend the money on it you know where all the name brand stuff is it's not on the bottom right hand corner of the Shelf tucked away you know in that spot of the store where the lights a little flickery so it's hard to see anyways no right on the eye Lev shelf right there for you to see well maybe most of y'all's eyes the level shelf if it's me I'm like one shelf above Craig he's all the way at the top they haven't they don't have anything.
For Craig but we get it what they understand that whatever we see we're going to want I read a short study done by the University of Southern California that stated most mascots for cereals marketed to children look down at an average angle of 9.6 de somebody in some Kellogg's meeting was sitting at the table they were asking the question how can we sell more Frosted Flakes and a guy was like well you know when mom takes the kids into the grocery store and they're walking down the aisle I really think we need Tony the Tiger to just lock eyes with little Johnny that's just what we need I know some of you next time you're.
In the Cal aisle you're going to look around and try to see if it's true I mean heck you make it all the way through your grocery shopping Adventure which is an adventure for sure and you finally make it to the checkout line no it's not done whole plethora of little candy bars soda pop magazines whatever it is anything that our eyes can latch on to just so that we can take it and I mean could our current age of technological advancement reveal any more of our propensity to be drawn to the things by our eyes we're all carrying around in our pockets at all times this little device that shoots flashy little eyes lights.
At our eyes just to get us to pay attention to it there are whole marketing departments that are predicated upon the fact that you have a desire of the eyes I mean if you have the Amazon mobile app I think one of the recent updates there's a whole section of the app that literally is just short form video content of people having other things just to see if you want to buy it you can sit there and scroll on the Amazon app video after video of just people owning different things just to.
See if you want to buy it at the individual level we believe the lie that what we see with our eyes can ultimately satisfy us and we should pursue to go get it I just need that next thing and you get a whole community of people believing this lie and you have a cultural worldview that's built an economic green machine that panders to our Covetous nature rather than instilling the character of contentment so John is highlighting that the way of this world entices us to want more and more and more all I need I just need that next thing.
And then it'll be and I'll be Satisfied we should be careful and ask ourselves the question what are we looking at what are we drawn to by the things of our eyes so that's the desires of the eyes lastly John talks about pride of life the word life here is the same uh word that's used in Mark 12 uh the story where Jesus is with his disciples in the temple uh and the poor lady comes to drop her two coins in the offering.
And when she goes to put the coins in Jesus gets his disciples attention he says see that right there she has given all she had to live on that's that same word live on it's that same word as life here in the Greek but the point is the stuff that we have it's our our stuff whatever's yours and this idea of Pride here is it's the arrogance and the things that I have as being s sufficient to sustain me and then I boast in them.
If the lust of the eyes is worshiping what you don't have the pride of life is worshiping what you do have and we live in a culture of abundance we know this I mean for most of us that are here today we're living like the kings of old we got fridges that are stocked with the finest of foods we got entertainment available at our whim privacy fences as castle walls to defend any enemy Invasion on my perfectly manicured lawn all at 2.75 in just beautiful and this is what is sold to us as the good life and not only that that we should take pride in it the fleshly part of us believes that I.
Have the right to be prideful and to boast in what I've got CU after all I've worked for it haven't I well you get a whole community of people that believe that and you come up with something to the effect of the American dream which is predicated on my backbreaking work to accomplish for myself a kingdom in which I can boast to the world to show that I'm capable and I made it and that in turn just fuels in us this desire to work toward Independence we just celebrated Independence Day I love being in a country in which we can gather without fear of harm to worship it's fantastic.
But on an individual level Independence that's not in the vocabulary of Scripture Scripture says that every good and perfect gift comes from above everything that we have is simply a gift to us it has nothing to do with the fact that you work for it your paycheck has nothing to do with the fact that you work for it it is a good and perfect gift to you the house you have the lawn you have I don't whatever it is it's not.
Because of your work it is a good and perfect gift to you it's on loan for us to us for the time that we have here and this lie that's been perpetuated to the point of full acceptance and belief that what I have is mine wages war against the idea of dependence upon our creator in all things even in the smallest of things like the shirts that are on our backs so this is the cultural moment that we're in this is the world that we're influenced by and we're way more influenced by it than we would dare to admit and maybe you feel The Angst the pressure of John's statement that.
If you love the world the love of the father is not in you you have to ask the question what do we do what could we do against this well as John finishes his thought in chapter 2 verse 17 he says this and the world is passing away along with its desires all that we just talked about it's all going to fade away but whoever does the will of God abides forever what God is working to build is going to last forever what.
God is working to build in your life and in my life that's forever that right now what he's doing in you to form you into the image of Christ that lasts forever I'm not saying when you die I'm saying forever for all eternity and one day there's going to be a new world a new heavens and a new Earth that's created and the way of this world will be no more there will be no more desires of the flesh there will be no more desires of the eyes there will be no more pride of of Life there will just be satisfaction and contentment and the love and goodness of our.
God and this is why Jesus came to set us free from the bondage of sin because it's real bondage that he's wanting to point us to the one who actually satisfies and fulfills our deep need and is one who is worth boasting in so this is why in Romans 12 Paul can say do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind it's not worth conforming to this world it's not worth believing the lies that are accepted by our culture we should reflect and consider in our own lives in what ways are we loving the world rather what Paul says is worth it is that we need to let.
Transformation in our life take place by the renewal of our minds and in this section of Romans Paul just spent 11 chapters detailing the most he he gives the most detailed picture of of what God is doing of who Jesus is and what he's done in the Gospel the renewal of our minds is directly tied to who Jesus is and what he's done Paul is encouraging the Church that the daily rhythm of reminding ourselves and rehearsing the Gospel is the power by which there is transformation.
If you feel the weight of this in your life if you're considering ways in which maybe you fallen prey to the love of the world and you want transformation how does it take place the daily rhythm of reminding ourselves and rehearsing the Gospel what a gift that we would be able to remind ourselves of the love and the truth of the Gospel of Jesus so this is why here we have Community groups this is why we exist as Church Church family together in order that inside of that Community we might constantly remind ourselves of the truth that we're called to engage in regular rhythms of what we would call as life on life with other.
People that we're sharing in everything whether it be the good stuff the bad stuff the ugly stuff it doesn't matter because in all of it we want to be pointed back to Jesus as being better than everything else that this world has to offer cuz he is because remember all the stuff of this world Fades away but he lasts forever in our group one of our members was uh encouraging their friend to come out and hang with us hang out with us and you know she was pastoring her a lot wearing her down most effective tactic there is and eventually her friend decided to try it out she was hesitant at.
First didn't stick right away but as she continued to be more and more involved in what we were doing she began to express to us that she's never been a part of a community that's loved her in this way and in this way she was experiencing the Gospel of Jesus in a whole new light she never had before that simply by the daily rhythm of being around people people that are trying to regularly remind ourselves of the truth of the Gospel that there was change this is the power of regularly committing ourselves to a group of people that are set on pointing each other to the truth and goodness and love of.
Jesus this is why we do it this is why it matters so as we close I want I want to end with a couple questions to leave you that I hope you consider so that wherever you're at specifically in your life right now this can start to take root so if you're here this morning and you're you're already committed to a group here which Church family that's all of you if you didn't know that I want you to ask yourself this question in what way do I need to be more connected to my community group in what way do I need to be more connected to my community group.
If this is a space where we're going to remind ourselves of the Gospel don't we want to be there don't we want to be as connected as we possibly can so I don't know what the step is for you I don't know if it's in your willingness to confess sin I don't know if it's signing up to bring something other than just drinks to events I maybe it's reaching out to someone to learn how you can time of discussion maybe it's just showing up more regular L to the rhythm of the group meeting time I don't know what it is.
For you I don't but I know you can ask yourself that question and I know that the spirit of God can work to equip you and encourage you and strengthen you in fighting against this enemy of the world that would love nothing less than to convince us that the desires of the Flesh and the desires of light dies and the pride of life is worth something maybe you're here this morning and you've been around with us a little while on Sunday morning.
But you haven't gotten connected to a group yet if that's the case for you I want you to ask yourself this question what is keeping me from taking the next step of connecting to a community group here at m city what is keeping me from taking the next step of connecting to a community group here at Mill City maybe you've come by and you've never stopped by the connect Corner maybe you have stopped by the connect corner but you never showed up to a group I don't know what it is.
For you and I don't know what's kept you back I don't know if it's fear I don't know if it's apathy but ask yourself the question what's kept me from being connected to this group of people that is seeking to remind themselves of the Gospel of Jesus day in and day out whatever it is it's not worth it so the band's going to come back up and as you're reflecting on your question if you you get an answer this morning if you feel like you have a response don't wait.
If you're in a group and you feel like you know this is the next step you need to take grab one of your group members and just say hey this is what I'm going to do don't wait cuz by the time Wednesday night rolls around there's a whole bunch of time that's going to happen between now and then there's a whole bunch of world that's going to happen between now and then maybe for you the next step is just stopping by the connect corner.
So you can figure out which community group meets close to you so that you can show up you should go stop by take that step this morning our volunteers don't bite you don't have to be afraid of them but let's not miss any opportunities that could be given to us to be more connected to Church family as God is working to redeem a people from this world let's participate in the things Everlasting not the things that are going to fade.
The Flesh
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning it's good to be with you this morning my name is Raz U if you've been with us the last few weeks you'll know we're working our way through a series called the three enemies this is an old theological Paradigm used to illust whoa don't do that this is an old theological Paradigm used to uh illustrate the various ways that we as Christians have to combat certain elements that are at war against us and so we have these three enemies we have the world which represents external forces everything which is outside of us and uh kind of influences us we have the flesh that which is the internal sort of carnal desires that we.
Have and we have the devil who represents spiritual forces so we have a war and we have these three different battlefields that the war is being fought on simultaneously today we're going to be focused on the internal war that is the enemy of the flesh but before we get too far into that I kind of want to sidestep a minute and give a pretty good-sized illustration to help us think through a lot of the stuff we're going to be talking about.
Today but before we get to that I want to define a couple of terms be before we get into all so this kind of an intro to an intro to an intro to the point today yall just going to have to bear with me um there's a couple of words that we need to uh Define before we can move on on and one of those the first one is sanctification in Christianity uh the theological word sanctification refers to the process by which a Christian becomes holy uh literally the word sanctify means to make holy and there's plenty of references to this in the Old Testament you you would have heard uh times where the they're.
Commanded to sanctify the altar or sanctify the temple those kinds of things before they get into ritualistic practices and that is to make something holy so that it is presentable to God when you apply that word to Christians though it refers to a process a process by which Christians throughout the course of their entire life become more and more like Jesus in the first week uh when Chad was introducing the I guess the whole series uh he talked about the idea that you are being conformed into something you're being conformed into something what is it.
Well sanctification refers to the process where Christians are being conformed into the image of Christ there's another big important word and that word is justification justification is a legal word and it refers to an act of God to declare a person as righteous in contrast this is not a process this is a transaction it's a moment in time it happens immediately upon the time when a person places faith in Jesus legally we believe that Jesus Takes our guilt and our punishment.
For us that we are washed clean and that we are accredited with righteousness that's justification and it's separate and distinct from sanctification we believe as a Church that we are justified through faith alone in Christ alone and not by works legally our guilt is taken by Jesus at the moment we place faith in him boom saved forever sanctification however refers to a process a lifelong process it takes time the fight against the flesh that's the the second enemy that we're talking about is one where Christians wage war against their own desires and it's integrated with that idea of sanctification becoming more and more like Christ over time.
Now historically there are three umbrella category views of sanctification that's three different ways that uh people have read the Bible and thought I I think I fig can figure out how this is going to work um and inside of each of those categories there are subcategories we're not going to worry about subcategories today we're going to stay high level I'm G to borrow an illustration that I learned from a former CIU president named Robson mcquilkin um he died a few years ago I've read a bunch of his books I don't.
Remember ever reading this illustration in his books uh but he delivered a a sermon this one time and the illustration is stuck with me ever since um so this is borrowed it's from him but I don't know where for you to find it if you have want to go look for it here here's the idea suppose you're on a skiing trip you pack up your snow skis and you get to the mountain and you look up the mountain and you know some way somehow.
If I'm going to enjoy my skiing I have to get to the top of the mountain now in the early days you didn't have much choice you were going to strap those skis to your back just like this and you're going to have to hike your way all the way up that mountain this is the first view of sanctification this view is rought with effort It Is by Blood Sweat and Tears that you're going to suffer each and every one of those steps struggling the entire way that you try to climb that mountain this is the Christian Life as it is most commonly misunderstood by most people four steps up slide down five steps up.
Face plan fall back down it's all up to me I'm on my own I've got to climb this mountain it's all my effort now to my knowledge there is no Evangelical Church that officially takes this position but it is a common misunderstanding amongst Christians and non-Christians alike about what it looks like to be a Christian do better try harder more effort everything is up to you don't fail in the Christian Life though as you know there is no reaching the top by effort no matter how hard you try you are not going to be perfect.
But in 1935 thanks to some American Ingenuity of course everything changed go to any ski resort in the world and this is no longer the option go anywhere in the world and you're going to arrive and you're going to see a giant steel pole a massive police system a steel cable and this magic chair in the sky that does all of the work work for you this is the second view of sanctification I don't have to do anything it's all up to.
God in this view I have no autonomy I have none of the control I could actually try if I wanted to but it wouldn't do anything I can't steer this thing I can't make it go faster I can't make it go slower just straight to the top that's how it works God does it all for me now just for the record this is also an incorrect uh view of sanctification but at this point we have two views we have one view where it's all up to me and we have one view where it's all up to.
God effectively these are two ditches on either side of the road that represent the big mistakes we can make in understanding sanctification I want to introduce you to a lady who tried that first option she tried to do it all on her own realized she couldn't and so she switched strategies she decided she was going to let God do it instead her name is Carrie Underwood she sings a song it's called Jesus Take the Wheel the chorus goes like this Jesus Take the Wheel take it from my hands cuz I can't do this on my own I'm Letting Go she tried doing it all on her own she realized that wasn't working.
And so she switched she said I've had enough of that give me the chairlift I don't want to do this anyway now we shouldn't be too surprised that if there's two ditches on either side of the road you could crash into one and then crash all the way into the other if you refuse to put your hands on the steering wheel we'll call these the carry mistakes well luckily there is a third view of sanctification a more accurate view uh installed in the US.
For the first time uh in 1958 just before the 60s Winter Olympics is a new kind of lift called the pommer lift now if you've never been skiing a pommer lift looks like a frisbee on a stick and uh it it's a little bit harder to use in a chairlift you you arrive and uh you get handed this Rod you've got to grab onto it and kind of stick it between your legs and it's going to tow you all the way up the mountain.
But you've got a little bit of work to do with a pomel lift you're going to have to hang on you're going to have to dodge obstacles you can see that it just kind of goes up this up the side of the mountain and there's nothing stopping skiers from coming in between there's nothing stopping you from just dropping off you can hit potholes I've been on ones where you've got to navigate over Bridges and stuff in this in this scenario you have a great deal of individual responsibility.
If you want to make it all the way to the top of the mountain the lift the machine is the part that is providing power you don't provide Power but if you were to let go you would not find yourself at the top of the mountain you would find yourself back down at the bottom but if you're committed to Hanging On Tight you'll be dragged all the way up the mountain closer and closer in the analogy sense to the likeness of.
Jesus over time now it's not a Perfect Analogy they never are but it is kind of like that and the point here is that the first two views are incorrect when we talk about Christian Living being conformed into Christ likeness it's not all about you it's not all about your effort and it's not all up to God either but instead there is this third option where you are an active participant but it's God's power that provides the mechanism for you to make the journey possible at all this is the correct way to think about sanctification this is how you should think about the lifelong journey the lifelong process of what it looks like.
For you starting where you are now to be conformed more and more into christlikeness for the rest of your life so as we turn today to the second enemy The Flesh we're going to keep this in mind and the reason for doing so is that when it comes to making application points later on we run the risk of functionally viewing the Christian Life functionally making the mistake of believing that first option that it's all up to me that I have to do better that it's on me I've got to go away and do better try harder and I can't make any mistakes and that would be a misunderstanding.
But we do have an enemy we are fighting a war and effort is required but the trick we have up our sleeves is that we don't have to win on our own the power doesn't come from us much like the PFT the power comes from the spirit and we are just an active participant so with that in mind let's talk more about this second enemy The Flesh uh couple weeks ago Isaac introduced a key phrase it comes from John Mark comr and it says the deceitful ideas play to disorted design desires that are normalized in a sinful society that kind of encapsulates all three those deceitful ideas we talked about them last week that is.
Satan and his lies they play to disordered desires that's what's inside of us the Flesh and that is normalized in a sinful Society we'll talk more about that next week that's primarily coming from the world so last week Chad delved into the idea that the devil is involved in all of this we're fighting a spiritual war and his primary role in that is as the deceiver the one who SWS lies but those lies appeal to us because we have disordered desires.
When he lies to us and he says this is the thing that will make you happy you deserve it everyone else has it the only reason it appeals to something is that there's already something inside of us something internal we're going to look at two places where the Apostle Paul talks about this today both of them in letters that he wrote to churches and we're going to start in Galatians 5 if you go to Bible that'll be the place to stick to.
Today I'm going to go to Romans 8 later but for for your purposes just stick to Galatians 5 now Paul uh has a very distinct theology when it comes to those who are saved and those who are not saved frequently in his writings he he splits everyone into two camps and he has a number of different ways of labeling those two camps so we're going to start a little kind of not even a scoreboard it's just a checklist of each of those sometimes he'll refer to the old self versus the new self sometimes he'll refers refers to those who are in Adam and those who are in Christ sometimes it's those who are under the.
Law and sometimes it's those who are under grace but there's a line in the middle and that line is either side of when someone places faith in Jesus uh in Galatians 5 it talks about the conduct of the people who fall into each of those categories uh it's distinct from each other because the conduct of the Believers is not like the conduct of the non-believers now I'm hoping that as we read this some of it at least will be kind of familiar we had this OB section of this as a memory verse I don't know two two months ago or.
So but we're going to start reading from verse 16 and as we do I want you to pay attention to the spirit and the Flesh and how he kind of puts them in opposition to each other they're highlighted on the screen in yellow and green I was going to use a different color but it's kind of hard to see so just bear with that um but attention to those two words he says but I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law now the works of the flesh are evident that is the observable Behavior associated with the second enemy The Flesh that Associated behavior is evident we can see them sexual immorality impurity sensuality idolatry sorcery enmity Strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions divisions Envy drunkenness orgies and things like these I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit.
The Kingdom of God and now the next section we have a little song for in kid city to make it easier to remember it says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control hey it's pretty nifty against such things there is no law and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires if we live by the spirit let us also keep in step with the spirit.
Let us not become conceited provoking one another envying one another you know as I was originally writing this um just in like sermon construction mode you have to provide some brain breaks for people you have to make jokes every now and then and I I really wanted to make a joke here at this point in time but it kind of hurt a little bit um I wanted to make a joke about you know in kids City we have this song fruit of the spirit love joy peace patience kindness good and faithful hey and the whole idea is that we get to teach kids Scripture and in this case the fruits of the spirit and my.
Whole joke was going to be about we had another song and it was called The Works of the Flesh and we would teach the kids The Works of the flesh The Works of the flesh are sexual immorality impurity and sensuality idolatry and sorcery enmity and strife hey yall know it jealousy fit of anger rivalries dissensions and divisions and envy and drunkenness and orgies it wasn't going to be a good joke and I'm not going to make it but the reality set in and it kind of made me sad.
Because the whole point of the joke was to say we were're going to teach that song but it wasn't going to be popular and then I realized something about popular music and it's that every popular song these days is about one of those things pluck one out of the list write a song about it and you're going to be on the Billboard 100 and it just kind of made me think how pervasive this stuff is and how even though we wouldn't in theory joke about kids knowing those songs they already do.
Because we're already there so anyway what is Paul saying here we have an internal sin nature in us we believe lies and they manifest in ways that seek gratification to the self Paul calls us to participate in fighting against that so let's bring back up our table that we had we're going to add a couple things we see that those who are in Adam in the old self and under the law are characterized as living by the Flesh and they have the works of the Flesh and that big old list.
And then on this side we have those who are the new self in Christ under grace in the spirit and they have the fruit of the spirit and they're characterized their conduct is characterized by these things now in case you were inclined to defend Carrie Underwood's honor earlier I think it might do well to check in on her how is she doing she released Jesus Take the Wheel in 2005 uh 10 months later she released another hit single and I wonder was letting go of the wheel such a good idea in her next song she sings I dug my key into the ins side of his pretty little souped up four-wheel drive I carve my.
Name into his leather seat she has a long name by the way she took a Louisville Slugger to both headlights slashed a hole in all four tires but it's his fault maybe next time he'll think before he cheats girl I don't know if letting go of the wheel did much good for you Paul tells us that the works of the flesh are evident there's a scoreboard for these things how's your enmity how's your Strife how's your jealousy fits of anger much have we been practicing much peace patience kindness gentleness self-control as it turns out letting go of the wheel bad strategy.
For sanctification so if the flesh if the flesh is this internal sin nature we have the propensity within ourself to seek after self-gratifying things and we know the signs of the flesh the various list of things that show evidence of f fleshly living then what kinds of things can we do to combat them I'm going to put Romans 8 on the screen starting in verse one there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus that's justification we talked about this earlier.
If you're in Jesus legally the transaction has happened boom you no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus you have been credited with his righteousness verse Two for the law of the spirit of life has has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death you see this ju the position again the old and the new the law of sin and death and the law of life and the spirit of life for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likness of sinful flesh.
For sin he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit this is the important part for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit for to set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God it does not submit to God's law indeed it cannot for those who are in the flesh cannot please God and he keeps going on so let's bring up our scorecard table thing again we can add a few things on the left those who are in the flesh have set their minds on the Flesh and that leads to death and is hostile to God and on the right we have those who are in Christ they set their minds are set on things of the spirit and that leads to life and peace as they are indwelled by the spirit.
Notice that it is your mind that is set on either the things of the flesh or the things of the spirit it is the things that our minds are set on that drive us to do one thing over the other that's why we made such a big Point that's why Chad made such a big point last week of why we have to know what we believe because that helps you combat the lies that the enemy feeds so much of this is a mind game Satan's lies are Mind Games the fight with the flesh is a mind game worldly influences and temptations are Mind Games.
If you consistently flood your mind with sexual immorality that will lend itself towards works of the flesh if you consistently flood your mind with idolatry envy gousy your actions will become self-gratifying fighting against the flesh begins with controlling your mind what kinds of things do you let in what are you consuming on the internet what kind of books are you reading what kind of shows are you watching on TV what kind of music influences you who are you surrounding yourself with and what is the content of those conversations.
If you can control what your mind is set on based on the inputs that you're feeding it that will in turn control the kinds of outputs you get now in contrast if you consistently flood your mind with love goodness patience kindness the kinds of things that benefit others that will also affect your actions these are also influenced by the kinds of things that you allow into your mind in the first place what you consume on the internet in songs on TV and from others more we talk about this the more we stray into what we're going to be talking about next week which is the world and the external influences.
But my point here is that you have control over what you allow into your own mind and in doing so you have some control on the way and the format in which you are being conformed into Christ likeness now as I said at the very beginning there's a false application that can come in somewhere around this point there's an application that says of all of this that if I want to be a good Christian I have to go away and I have to do all the things I have to be loving I have to be joyful peaceful patient kind good faithful gentle and self-controlled I have to do all of these things and not do.
All of these things and that if I fall short if I give into something if I get drunk if I have a fit of rage if if I'm envious if I'm impure if I'm not doing all the good things and I suddenly do something bad then I'm a bad Christian and God's not going to have me that would be a false application that believes something like that first view of sanctification that it's all up to me that I'm on my own I provide all the power and I have to work really hard.
For this thing instead how we should be thinking about this is is much more like the third view of sanctification um a little bit further down in Romans 8 and verse 13 says the following for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the Deeds of the body you will live let me read that with e with emphasis but if by the spirit you put to death the Deeds of the body you will live the spirit is that Palmer lift and you putting to death the Deeds of the body is hanging on to that pel lift and staying Vigilant and not letting go like.
The pomt rider I must contribute something to this uphill climb lest I lose grip of the power that actually gets me there and I end up falling to the bottom so then what does it look like to be an an active participant and what does it look like to combat the enemy of the flesh there are two practices that are as old as they come in the Christian Life uh the first one of those two is one of the fruits of the spirit it's self-control manifests itself in a bunch of different ways I think that more of this stuff than we realize more of this stuff than we give credit to is inside of our.
Control it takes focus it takes controlling our mind just like we talked about but being an active participant is filling our mind with these things and not filling our mind with these things it's no surprise then in this mental game that in the sermon of the mount Jesus says if your eye causes you to lust rip it out if your hand causes you to sin cut it off uh Paul says it differently he says crucify the Flesh and put to death what is Earthly in you doesn't matter how you take it they're all pretty violent they don't sound fun it's not supposed to be pleasant.
Because there's things in us that we love and don't want to let go of there's things in US these pervasive disordered desires that are very hard to let go of it's not likely to be easy but we are called to find the in inputs in our life that drag us back into these works of the Flesh and eradicate them uh maybe for you that is eliminating social media maybe it's moving the computer out of the office and into the living room maybe it's ending a Netflix subscription maybe it's limiting your involvement with certain friendship crowds some of us should delete Facebook Instagram snap Snapchat or Worse Tinder and Bumble.
If you don't know don't look it up some of us should not own a smartphone some of you should stop talking to that guy or that girl some of you should probably stop drinking and you probably want to argue with me in the same way that I want to argue with me because a lot of those things are not on the list their neutral territory there is nothing wrong with Facebook sure there is nothing wrong with a beer there's nothing wrong with a glass of wine at dinner there is nothing wrong with Netflix no.
But are they consuming your mind or is the part of it that consumes your mind the wrong part do you have control over this them or do they control you part of following Jesus is being con and being conformed into his likeness involves crucifying the fleshly desires that we have that is the not fun part of this but we are told it leads to life there's a second practice in the Christian Life that is as old as time and that is confession and repentance it sounds like two things they're very closely linked on I'm just going to treat them as one we read earlier in Galatians 5 that was the whole part about the works.
Of the Flesh and the fruit of the spirit here's a whole bunch of things that are of the flesh here's a whole bunch of things that are on the Spirit uh and the very next sentence in our modern Bibles it split up into chapter six but when he wrote this letter there was no chapters he was just continuing his single thought uh he continues in the very next sentence he says Brothers if anyone is caught in any transgression then you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted bear one another's burdens.
And so fulfill the law of Christ we talk about bearing each other's burdens at mil City a lot so often when we do that we talk about tangible things nothing wrong with that someone's having car trouble someone needs babysitting someone needs financial assistance someone is sick those count those are bearing each other's burdens but look at this context he's just said don't do the works of the flesh do the works of the spirit if you see someone caught in transgression The Works of the flesh.
Then you who are spiritual go and restore them bear one another's burdens part of being an active participant in our sanctification part of clinging onto that pomt as we're being dragged up a mountain is having an attitude and a self-awareness and a self-control and an attitude that confesses and repents when we fall to these works of the flesh that is how we combat them that's how they lose their power it's how we can be conquering them by not hiding them anymore it's also the responsibility not just the thing that they could choose to do it is the responsibility of those we surround ourselves with to call us out of these patterns.
When they see it that's where Paul says you who are spiritual restore your brothers in a spirit of gentleness if you see your buddy he's on a pomt a metaphorical pomt and there is an obstacle in front of him and he's not paying attention you say hey wake up there's an obstacle in front of you I see you are about to hit it two hands on the palm lift Dodge that thing do not fall back into that we believe it so much we wrote it into the mil City membership Commitment.
If you've ever been to a m city class we have a one-page document that says here's all the things we believe and as a Church here's the way we apply them and point 10 reads the following confession and repentance will noticeably mark my life it's the self-awareness part I fully expect to be confronted and corrected as God allows by other members of the family and my community group to see sin in my life we need that self-discipline the self-control but we are going to stumble and we need those around us those who we've surrounded ourselves with to call us to repentance and bring us back to the Gospel the war against the flesh is not.
An easy one Satan is on the other side and he is going to tempt you over and over again with lies provoking you to giving into your own fleshly desires and they're different for each of us but by the power of the spirit we are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus away from the works of the Flesh and towards the fruits of the spirit so there's elements in there of self-control but also through the restoration of our brothers and sisters and the power of confession and repentance we gain ground on that internal war against our own flesh I am not telling you do better try harder I am also not telling you do nothing.
As if God is going to do it all for you and that you have no responsibility to fight sin I am telling you that effort to fight sin is not in vain so as a Church we are going to wage that war against our own sinful flesh by pursuing the age-old practices of self-control and confession and repentance and in doing so we are conformed day by day year by year more and more into christlikeness we push away the old self and we put on the new self let's pray.
God we pray that you would continue day by day to strengthen us to empower Us by your spirit so that we may walk in the fruits of the spirit in self-control and in confession and repentance continue to build us up more and more to be like Christ each day it's in his name we pray amen uh Matt's going to make his way back up and we're going to have an opportunity this morning to take commun communion communion is a practice of the Church reserved.
For Christians for believers if you're not a Christian or you're not a Believer you're not a Believer yet I would encourage you to just stay where you are and consider what your next step towards Jesus might be if you are a Believer for the Christians in the room we're going to tape the bread we're going to dip it in the juice we're going to confess sin and repent we're going to pray that God would continue to empower Us in the fight against the flesh the stations in the front the stations in the back.
If you're like me and you're gluten-free we're headed to that corner um but everyone else go ahead and take communion.