Thinking Doctrinally About Sin

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Amen.

Amen.

You can be seated.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, thank you.

Holy Spirit, you lit the flame on this thing called the church a long time ago.

And so we ask you to come and fan into a raging inferno that which you started.

You're not done.

You started this and you will bring it to completion.

The Bible says that he who began a good work in you will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus.

So today is a purposeful day in the life of everybody in this room believer, unbeliever, and everything in between.

And so, Holy Spirit, we ask you to fan into a flame the gift of God that is within us.

Give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and the opportunity to experience.

Lord, illuminate your word today.

We believe it is the truth, it is the life-giving reality we were created for.

It's not rules and regulations that bind us up.

That's what we do.

It is the truth that sets us free.

And so, Holy Spirit, set us free today from your word and by your spirit.

We ask for these things, God, in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You could have a seat.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to uh we're already seated.

Thank you.

You told us that already.

Uh if you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to 1 John chapter 3.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

First John chapter 3.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

If you're a guest, uh, we're preaching through the book of 1 John.

We preach the books of the Bible.

In the first service, we baptized.

Well, I'm pointing over here because our baptistry is in the floor over here.

It's kind of like the bat cave.

We got it hidden down there.

We baptized the husband and wife.

And both of them said the same thing, especially the wife.

She said, I've never been to a church that taught the Bible word for word.

And so when the Bible was taught, things just begin to come alive in them.

And so we're going to the book of 1 John, uh, and we're up to chapter 3, verse 4.

Uh, and I want to talk to you this morning about thinking doctrinally about sin.

Thinking doctrinally about sin.

Now, relax.

I'm not an egg-headed preacher.

I didn't, you didn't come to church today to be made to feel stupid because you're not stupid.

You're capable people that can understand what the Bible says.

And so I'm going to read it and I'm going to go back and explain to you exactly what it means.

Now, if I was in the eighth grade, looking at my phone, playing a soccer game, I would set it down right now and think, you know what?

This could change my life.

I could be 40 years old telling my kids about things that I learned here today.

Okay?

And so last week we saw how the Bible challenges us to get ready in light of Christ's second coming.

Now, today it's going to challenge us to think differently about sin in light of his first coming.

It's called the incarnation, baby Jesus, incarnation, God taking on flesh, baby Jesus being born in the manger.

Now, before I go any further, let me just say this there's a preacher named Thabidi Anyabwili, and he was a Muslim.

He converted to Christianity, and now he pastors a church in the Washington, D.C.

area.

And he says that there's four people, four groups of people that John's talking to in this in this letter.

First of all, there's fully assured Christians.

People are like, man, I'm a Christian.

I know that.

Secondly, there's Christians that kind of struggle with assurance.

You know, I don't know sometimes.

Thirdly, he says there's falsely assured non-Christians.

In other words, people that think they're Christians but deep but they're really not.

Okay.

They've got their own set of rules that it doesn't line up with the Bible.

And then fourthly, there's people that know that they're non-Christians.

In this section, John is writing to people who have this false sense of assurance.

They're not Christians, but they think they are.

Okay?

Now you may be thinking, why do you tell us that?

Look at me.

Because in this room, there's all four kinds of those people.

Now, if you're new to our church, what will not happen today is I won't yell at you.

I won't try to make you feel guilty.

I won't tell you you're doing bad things or whatever.

I'll just say, here's what the Bible says.

And at the end, some questions come up on the screen, and we'll spend some time thinking.

Christianity is not an emotion you try to sustain, it is a reality that you experience.

Does that make sense?

Say yes.

And so I just want to read from 1 John chapter 3 and then tell you what it means and why.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

First John chapter 3, verse 4.

1 John 3:4

The Bible says this everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness.

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

Little children, let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.

For the devil's been sinning from the beginning.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him.

He cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Now, there's four things in the text that help us think rightly or doctrinally about sin.

The first one is simply right there in verse four it's the nature of sin.

The nature of sin.

Look at verse four again.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness.

Now, the Bible says anybody that makes a practice of sin is also engaging in what the Bible calls lawlessness.

Now, I say it like this you never just simply sin.

When you anytime you disobey God's commands, the teaching of the Bible, you're not just sinning, you're making a statement about how you feel about God's law.

That's why it's called lawlessness.

It's a Greek word, anomia, and it refers to this contempt for and a violation of the law.

It's to disdain the very law to which you were created to submit to.

It's why in counseling I ask people all the time, tell me who or what do you submit to?

And everyone's in a while they'll say, Why do you ask me that question?

That's kind of a weird question.

Because if you don't submit to the teachings of the Bible, then this will not be helpful for you.

It'll just be some ideas and some free counseling, but it will not be a reality that you experience.

Uh again, we never just sin.

When you sin, you engage in lawlessness.

Uh, let me give you a definition for lawlessness.

Lawlessness is the rejection of God's authority and the exaltation of the autonomy of the self.

Look at me, a visual.

It is the rejection of God's authority.

You reject God's authority.

You're not the boss of me.

You can't tell me what to do.

It's my body.

We're consenting adults.

We're gonna get married one day.

It's legal in 21 states.

All those things fallen.

You are rejecting God's authority, and what you are doing, or you're you're exalting, you're lifting up the autonomy or the freedom of self.

And so it's never just sin, it's always lawlessness.

Let me give you a picture, okay?

Back when George Floyd was killed by that cop.

Now, just because one cop does something that's that's dumb doesn't mean all cops are bad, okay?

Let's don't go there.

But it was murder.

God put his knee on the guy's neck and he died, all right?

I don't want to get into that.

But after that, people started going looting stores.

Like I'd be watching TV.

You never do this, you probably never do this.

This is just me and my sin.

I was watching people destroy a target, and I just thought, why are you doing that?

You're not really, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, that's not doing anything.

And then I had this self-righteous thought.

I would never do that.

Ever watch TV and see people acting like fools and think, yeah, Lord, I think I'm not like those people.

I'm so much better than that.

I saw one guy with a hammer just wailing on a cash restaurant, and I was like, I don't think there's anything in there.

I would grab some shoes and leave.

A guy ran by with an armload of shoes running out the door, and I'm just like, and I'm kind of feeling good about myself because I would never go smash a uh a target and loot and take everything and act like I didn't.

Now, my favorite part was one guy owned a liquor store.

He was standing in the doorway with a shotgun.

He had two friends up on the second level and they all had guns.

No one touched his door.

I believe in the Second Amendment, amen.

We're gonna bust a cap in some fools, we're gonna shoot you sideways like on bad boys.

But I'm gonna watch these people loot this target, and I'm like, yeah, don't they know?

Don't they know?

And feeling good about myself until the Holy Spirit says, by the way, when you sin, you engage in lawlessness.

This is what it looks like from God's perspective.

So the last time you sinned, you looted a target in God's eyes.

Yeah.

See, you got to understand the nature of sin, and when you understand the nature of sin, all of a sudden it becomes a whole different story.

Here's the second thing from the text that helps us think rightly about sin.

It's the person and work of Jesus.

The person and work of Jesus.

Now, I know you could hear that and kind of go, I have no idea what that means.

Pay attention.

Look at verse 5.

He says this in verse 5.

He says, uh, you know that he appeared in order to take away sins.

And in him there is no sin.

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

Little children, let no one deceive you.

Why does John write that?

Because these false teachers had infiltrated this church he's writing to, and they had said, Hey, by the way, we're this, it's an early form of what's called Gnosticism.

They not knowledge.

Hey, we're in these enlightened people, okay?

We know better, the rules don't apply to us, and so we can be as immoral as we want.

Whatever we do in our flesh with our bodies doesn't matter because we're spiritual beings.

And so he says, Let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous.

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil's been sinning from the beginning.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

So, verse five, six, seven, and eight, they begin, they're kind of sandwiched in between these two statements about the incarnation.

But when I say the person and work of Jesus, I want to just say this: never underestimate the necessity of sound biblical doctrine.

Let me say it again.

Never underestimate.

I'll define the word in just a minute.

You're like doctrine.

What do you mean?

Never underestimate the necessity of sound biblical doctrine.

We are in a famine of doctrinal preaching in America.

Uh, and it's why we have a cultural definition of Christianity and not a biblical one.

Have you noticed everyone in America is a Christian?

This is a statistic that was 18 months ago.

94% of people surveyed in America said they were Christians.

Have you been to them all?

I rest my case.

See, we have a cultural because we don't preach doctrinally, we preach experientially, or we preach behavior modification, how to this and how to this, and how to be a good spouse and raise cool, cool kids and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But we we don't preach what the Bible teaches.

That's what doctrine is.

Let me give you a definition for doctrine.

Bobby Jameson said this in his book.

He says sound doctrine is a summary of the Bible's teaching that is both faithful to the Bible and useful for life.

Let me say it again.

Sound doctrine is a summary of the Bible's teaching that is faithful to the Bible.

If it's not faithful to the Bible, it's not going to really be useful to your life.

It might feel good in the moment, it might feel like a little pep talk, like, yeah, oh, that's awesome.

Okay, here we go.

Now, let me draw your attention to what I mean by the simple word in verse five that that redounds to the necessity of good doctrine.

Look at verse five.

He says, you know.

Stop right there.

Before he goes on to tell you what you know, that word know is kind of winks at us and says, Hey, this is the necessity of good biblical doctrine.

It's telling us that doctrine matters because without this doctrinal bedrock, we're left with these unfounded moral suggestions that people can take or leave based on their preference.

And this is what these false teachers did.

And they taught people, they would say, Hey, but that doesn't matter.

You don't got to believe that.

You don't have to submit to that.

You're a grown person.

No one should tell you what to do, it's your body.

But along comes the Bible, and here in verse five, we've got these two deep wells of biblical doctrine to drink from.

The first one is the incarnation, the second one is the sinlessness of God.

Now let me unpack why this matters for us, okay?

Look at verse five.

The incarnation.

Again, incarnation, God taking on flesh, becoming human being, walking here on the earth, lived a sinless life, died on the cross in our place for our sin.

This is why the incarnation is a big deal.

But here's why the incarnation, see, if you ever notice, um, if you've had something in your life that becomes a bad habit and you've tried to stop and you haven't been able to stop, say amen.

That was kind of subdued.

Did you hear that?

That was kind of like, here's my amen.

What are you gonna do with this?

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna turn it back on you, but just uh here's the thing.

God did not create you to go through your whole life trying to manage your sin and increase your determination.

What God created you to do was to increase your understanding, and then your relationship with sin will change.

Look at verse five.

This is what I mean, the incarnation.

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins.

That remember I say it's book-ended statements about the incarnation.

That's the first statement.

In verse five, he says, he appeared to take away sins.

That phrase, take away, it means to take by force.

The reason Jesus incarnated was to take away sin.

And then he gets down to verse eight, and it says, the reason the God, the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Destroy means to loosen or set free from.

And so the reason this Jesus comes to take away sins and to destroy the works of the devil, you should get a different word on your Christmas stocking besides joy or noel, you should get destruction on your on your Christmas stocking.

Because the reason baby Jesus comes into the manger is to destroy, to set you and I free from the works of the devil.

And so the incarnation, you say, What's the big deal?

Why is this doctrinal?

Why is this intended to shape the way I think about sin?

Here's why.

Because to sin as a practice, as a habit, as a lifestyle, is to say that Jesus didn't do what he came to do.

That is, take away sins, not cover sins, but take them away.

And if Jesus doesn't take away our sins, he's like all the other priests at the temple that the Bible talks about in Hebrews 10, where it says they stand daily offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

But in reality, Jesus does take away sins.

This is what the Bible says right there in verse 5.

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins.

Here's what it comes down to: the person who keeps on sinning as a habit, as a lifestyle, is nullifying the purposes of the incarnation.

You're saying Jesus might as well not even come because my life negates every bit of that.

Secondly, the sinlessness of God.

This is why you should go to a church that teaches you what the Bible actually says and what it means and why it matters.

The sinlessness of God.

You say, What do you mean?

He says, You know.

In other words, you got these two doctrinal bedrocks in you, right?

You know these things, right?

You know two things.

He appeared in order to take away sins.

This is the purpose of the incarnation.

And secondly, in him there is no sin.

The sinlessness of God, in him, there is no sin.

There never has been, there never will be.

So for you and I to live in sin as a lifestyle, is to alter the nature of God, which is impossible to do.

So to keep on sinning is not in keeping with who God is.

You say, I I'm still a little foggy on that.

If you're still a little foggy on this, say amen.

That's okay.

Absolutely.

The Bible helps us.

Look at verses six, seven, and eight because there's this correlation.

There's this, there's this is here because this is here, and this is here because this is here.

Look at it in verse six.

After he says verse five, you know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

Why is that a big deal?

Well, he says, in him there is no sin.

Verse six, no one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

Look at me.

In him there is no sin, no one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

If you're gonna be in him, in God in whom there is no sin, how can you keep on sinning?

You can't.

See, it's what I call doctrinal displacement.

What does the Bible teach that displaces that makes it impossible for me to continue to hold on to this thing that I've held on to for so long?

In him, in him.

It's not about your effort, it's about God's nature.

Okay?

He he goes on.

Look at verse 7.

Little children, let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous.

This person who practices righteous is righteous.

How did they get righteous?

Because Jesus is righteous.

If God were not righteous, you couldn't be.

It's why 2 Corinthians 5 21 says that God made Jesus who knew no sin to become sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

If God were not righteous, there's no way you and I could be righteous.

But again, you see the correlation.

He's righteous.

Why?

Because God is righteous.

Lastly, in verse 8, look what he says.

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil's been sinning from the beginning.

Look, makes a practice of sinning, has been sinning from the beginning, has been practicing.

It's why Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and he said to them, You guys are of your father, the devil.

He's been lying from the beginning.

In matter of fact, when he speaks, it's his native tongue, it's his native language because he's the father of lies.

Now you say, wait a minute, I'm I'm a little disheveled here, I'm a little undone.

Look at me, okay?

Hear this very carefully.

The Bible does not say that a Christian will live in sinless perfection.

It's not what the Bible says.

Notice the phrase, it's the same phrase repeated, keeps on sinning.

Now, that's not saying you won't sin, but you will not keep on sinning.

There's something inside of you that just that consistently and constantly says to you, this is not.

If we're gonna be in him, and in him there is no sin, how can we live in sin?

Like, let me give you an example happened in my wife, my life last week.

It's sitting in my truck right now.

Our dishwasher, we've been joking at our house because stuff keeps breaking and going wrong, and oh, that's gonna cost money, that's gonna cost money.

Our dishwasher went out, our refrigerator was going out, so we had to get new ones.

They came, they unboxed the dishwasher, had a big dent in the front of it.

The guy said, Oh, I'm so sorry, I've taken this back.

He left on the counter the nice metal-looking, flexible uh hose and some kind of a plug because they nickel and dime me to death at the Home Depot.

Like, you get the dishwasher, but it doesn't come with a plug.

How's it gonna work?

Oh, you gotta pay for that.

And so they put it, and I just incense when I'm like, Are you kidding me?

And so they left them on the counter, took the dishwasher back, sent another dishwasher with a hose and a plug.

And my redneck self who hates injustice, my first thought was, I'm sticking it to the man, that's right.

Forgot all about it, stuck it in my garage.

A week later, I walk out of my garage, and the Holy Spirit says, By the way, that's not yours, take it back.

Yeah, but you know, they they brought me a dented up dishwasher, I had to wait another week to get a new one and take it back.

And so I just took it and set it in my in my truck.

And this week I gotta go back to Home Depot and say, Hey, by the way, this isn't mine.

I don't want to steal because I make God look like He's not generous to me, and He is.

Why?

That by the way, that's not my nature.

There's a person inside of me that says to me, Hey, if you're gonna live in me, we're not gonna do this.

We're just not.

We're not gonna.

You are making me look bad.

I'm better than this.

The reason you sin is because you don't know enough about the Spirit of God inside of you to trust Him and entrust yourself to Him.

Because when you do, guess what?

Sin just gets naturally displaced out of your life.

Here's the third thing the text tells us that helps us think rightly, or what I would say doctrinally about sin is the agency of the Holy Spirit.

The agency of the Holy Spirit.

Now, verse five to eight, that's it, it begins with these two little begins and ends with two bookend statements about the incarnation.

Okay?

This is why this is not possible, okay?

Now, in verse nine, look at what he says.

He says, No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of God.

Now, if you're not careful, now you'll hear that first part.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, and you'll just think, ah, man, there's no way.

Are you kidding me?

Those are big words.

Absolutely.

Look at the rest of the sentence.

For God's seed abides in him, bigger reality.

First part, big words.

Second part, bigger reality.

Notice again that not just what the text says, but why it says it.

What is it based on?

It's never based on us, it's always based on God.

And that is the case here in verse 9.

It's not like you better increase your efforts, you better try harder, hate yourself, get another accountability partner, but Lord, I've got 47.

Get 50, that'll make it work.

No, no, no, no.

Ask yourself this question.

See, the reason some people keep on sinning, look at me, they've never been born of God.

They prayed a prayer, but they've never been born of God.

They were born of man, they were born of mama and daddy or grandma, but they were never born of God.

Because the Bible said no one born of God makes a practice of sinning.

Why?

Because God's seed abides in him.

Now, you want to be grossed out on a Sunday morning?

Say yes.

All right, you asked for it.

The word seed there in the great is the Greek word sperma.

Someone over here got it.

She went, oh gosh.

Oh gosh.

Let me just reach over and cover my kids' ears.

Yeah, it's the word sperma.

Here's what it refers to.

Here's what it means: whatever possesses vital force or life-giving power of divine energy of the Holy Spirit operating within the soul by which we are regenerated.

Now, by the way, the Holy Spirit, God doesn't send his spirit to regenerate us and then leave us alone.

He involves us in what God is doing to change the world.

You understand that, okay?

God doesn't send his spirit to regenerate you, to convert you, to save you, whatever language you're used to, and then go.

Now I'm gonna go sit over here.

And you call me when you need forgiveness, and I'll come running and I'll forgive you again, and then I'll leave you alone and let you do what you want.

Oh, you need me, you need some more forgiveness.

Here we go.

No, no, no.

God's seed, the ability to reproduce God's life, lives inside of you.

It's called the Holy Spirit, and He is always producing this life in you.

It's why the Bible, if you don't understand this, most of the Bible will not make sense.

Like, don't turn there, but just in Galatians chapter 5, it says crazy things like this in verse 16.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

It says, Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

We don't believe that in the American church because we always teach people how to not sin.

I'm not going to waste my life trying to teach you not to sin.

Instead, I'd rather teach you how to enjoy the Holy Spirit.

Because when you enjoy the Holy Spirit, sin doesn't appeal to you anymore.

Mom and Dad, the reason sin still appeals to your kids is because they don't walk in the Spirit.

And they don't walk in the Spirit because many of them have never been born of God.

They were born of you.

You took them to enough church to say, okay, they prayed the prayer, now live like everybody else.

But the Bible says, hey, anyone, no one born of God makes a practice of sinning.

Why?

Because God's seed, this ability to reproduce the life of God is inside of them.

And if you walk in that spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

He goes on and says, Hey, the desires of the flesh are obvious.

They're this and that and this and that.

Get down to verse 25, and he says, Since we live by the spirit, see, the Bible assumes this is how you live.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Keep in step with the Spirit.

Why?

Because God left his spirit not just in you, but here at work on the earth to continue what God is doing.

And if you're a Christian and the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, and by the way, you don't get one without the other.

Then what happens is that you get to be a part of what God is doing to change the world.

Listen to how the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit.

And in a chapter of the Bible that we don't really think about in reference to the Holy Spirit, this is Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Look at what the Bible says.

Starting verse 1.

There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin.

He condemns 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.

See, the Bible assumes that you do not walk according to the flesh.

You walk according to the spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the 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.

If you want, students, this is free.

If you want to see where your mind is, what you set your mind on, look at your social media platforms.

Don't tell me, oh, Pastor, look at what you post and put out there.

Look at the pictures you put out there of yourself.

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.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Hear that.

Receiving the Holy Spirit is not a secondary experience.

The Bible says right here in Romans 8 that you don't belong to God.

You don't get a relationship with God without getting the Holy Spirit inside of you.

Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, hear this last part.

The spirit is life because of righteousness.

Now it would stand a reason if it says, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive, but it doesn't.

It says the spirit is life because of righteousness.

Righteousness, being right with God and living in that brings a life to you that you could never find on your own.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

Let me just say this: the life that the Holy Spirit gives your mortal body is better than anything you could come up with on your own.

Okay?

Allow me to demonstrate.

Remember our disciple now students?

There was a guy pre-leading worship named Brett Land.

Remember him?

Say amen.

He led on a Sunday morning.

Brett Land, kind of hippie looking guy from Austin.

He led on a Sunday morning.

He texted me on Wednesday that we said, Hey, can we go to the Waffle House on Friday night?

I need to talk.

I said, Sure.

So we're at the Waffle House right here on Highway 6.

It's after everything.

He's late, it's like 11:30 at night.

We're down there in a corner in the end booth talking.

We've been there about an hour and a half.

I told our waitress, hey, I'll take care of you on the tip.

We're gonna visit.

She goes, Ah, I love that.

Thank you.

And we're about an hour and a half in, a lady from the other end down there walks down there, looks at me, and says, You got to preach in history.

And Brett Lamb puts his coffee cup down and goes, Oh my gosh.

And I said, relax.

And I said, What do you what do you say?

And she goes, You got to preach in history.

And I said, What make you say that?

She said, My spirit.

I said, I read a book one time and said, Test the spirits and see if they be of the Lord.

What spirit are you talking about?

She goes, the Holy Spirit.

Brett's like, what's happening right now?

And I said, Yeah, I got to preach in history.

She said, I can feel it.

My spirit is bearing witness in your spirit.

I just want to come down here and encourage you.

And I said, I receive it.

Thank you so much.

She walked off, and Brett looked at me and he goes, What was that?

I said, That's confirmation.

When you walk in the spirit, you experience it.

When he says the spirit gives life to your mortal bodies, I was talking to the staff about walking in the spirit.

It's happening this week.

I remember years ago, I had a friend that was sick and was dying, actually.

And we were going to Pensacola for Christmas where my in-laws live.

I took a suit, forgot my tie.

I got there, I got the word that my friend David died.

So I said to my in-laws after dinner, hey, I got to go to the mall.

And they said, Go to Gay first.

They got they got ties.

And they got the ties in these glass cases, you know, like they're rare diamonds or something.

I'm on the side over here, picking out a tie.

I'm about here in that front row, right over there, is a lady with two ties in her hand, and clear as a bell, the Holy Spirit said, Go over and tell her this.

And I'm like, Ay, ay, aye.

I don't even know who she is.

I do.

Just shut up and obey.

So I walked over there and I said, Excuse me, ma'am, you're worth loving.

And this woman burst into tears.

I don't mean like, I mean, oh, why did you say that?

Why did you say that?

And I'm like, yeah, why did you say that?

Huh?

Bring your brother off a crumb here.

And she said, I said, ma'am, I honestly, I just I know that the Lord wanted me to share that.

Well, you I thought she's gonna pass out.

Her knees buckled.

I was like, oh, easy, easy.

We need spotters.

Get in here.

The woman behind the counter saw, glow, glow.

I'm like, shut it down, sister.

What's going on?

You don't understand.

You don't know what you don't understand.

Okay, I don't understand.

You're right.

I don't understand.

I look over, the guy in the shoe department is up on a display, looking over there.

People like security is coming over.

I'm like, ma'am, what's going on?

She goes, My husband divorced me.

By this point, she's snotting herself.

I mean, it's just letting go.

And I said, Whop it on the tie, wip it on the one you're not gonna buy.

Uh she said, My husband left me seven years ago.

And before he left, he told me I was so fat and ugly.

He gotta be glad that I put up, that he put up with me.

No man would ever want me.

And she goes, I was a stay-at-home mom.

I was a housewife.

I had no marketable skills.

I had to go back to school.

She goes, I got on a diet, I lost some weight.

I went back to school, became a paralegal.

I got my kids through college by the grace of God.

And six months ago, I met a man online.

He lives in New York.

And I'm going tomorrow.

I'm flying to New York to see him for the holidays.

And I was walking in here to get a tie.

When I got out of my car and walked in, was walking into the mall tonight.

I heard my husband's voice in my mind going, You're so fat and so ugly.

No man's ever gonna want you.

You ought to be glad I put up with you all this time.

And I just thought, just what about who am I kidding?

Just cancel this trip and stay home.

No man's ever gonna love you.

And then a total stranger says you're worth loving.

Oh, and yeah.

Oh, don't start that again.

Please don't start that again.

Lady behind the counter, full on, hands up.

Glory! Glory, Jesus, glory.

Don't jump, don't jump.

I said, What color is the suit?

She goes, It's navy.

I said, get that tie.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I walked out in the guy in the shoe department.

Amen.

That's dope.

What?

That's dope.

That's dope.

You get high just watching that.

That's dope.

What's going on over there?

I said, God sitting here to get a tie and have me deliver a message.

That's all.

That's just walking in the spirit.

All right.

See, you want the stimulation.

You don't want the experience.

It's not about stimulation.

This is just about this, ought to be no big deal.

Why?

Because when you walk in the spirit, look at me.

The spirit involves you in what he's doing.

Hell on earth is to be left alone to live your life in the flesh the rest of your life and try to make it look satisfying.

If I was in the eighth grade, I'd be thinking, oh, Holy Spirit, I don't want to miss out.

Again, the life that the Spirit gives you, uh gives your mortal bodies is better than anything you come up with on your own.

Here's the fundamental problem in American Christianity.

You think God did everything He did just to come and give you forgiveness and leave you alone.

That's not Christianity according to the Bible.

He came and did everything he did to come live inside of you by his spirit to involve you in what he's doing in the world.

And when you walk in the spirit, you do not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

You stop lying, you stop fooling around, you stop, or to say it right, you stop sinning sexually.

Because you just walk in the spirit.

And all this stuff over here doesn't interest you anymore.

You should ask yourself today, why does sin still interest you as much as it does?

The last thing the Bible tells us it helps us think rightly doctrinally about sin is that biblical doctrine provides clarity.

You sit with me, say yes.

Biblical doctrine provides clarity.

This is why you should find a church that teaches you the Bible and says this is what the Bible says.

And by the way, sometimes that means you should walk out of church mad.

I had a lady walk by me one Sunday and growl at me.

It was awesome.

We were in the old sanctuary.

She walked by.

I said, Hey, good morning.

She went, Well, kitty likes to scratch.

Yes.

Now I saw her like three days later, she was there at the office doing something.

She stopped by and she goes, Hey, I wasn't mad on Sunday, I was just convicted.

I said, Yeah, put your big girl pants on.

Get after it.

And look at me.

If you avoid being convicted, you'll be the same person you are right now the rest of your life.

That is that is the third layer of hell.

No hope, no progress, no maturity in the faith.

And deep inside, and no one tells you at the thirsty Thursday wine party you go to, you're not enjoyable.

You're not.

My God, you're miserable.

You think it's everybody else's fault?

No, it's you.

But if you just start walking in the spirit, you'd become a more joyful, you'd experience more things.

And look at me, you'd experience more over here, and you wouldn't want to experience this anymore.

You just wouldn't.

Biblical doctrine provides clearly.

Look at verse 10.

I know we live in a day and age, people, oh, you can't really know who's a Christian.

That's a lie from hell.

That's what they want you to say.

So, oh, everybody gets treated.

Look at verse 10.

How do you explain this?

By this, it is evident who are the children of God.

Hello.

Your mind ought to be like, what?

What's evident about you these days?

By this.

Not by what you said when you were 10 at vacation Bible school or Pine Cove or wherever you went.

By this, it is evident who are the children of God.

And not only can you know who are the children of God, you can know who are the children of the devil.

Because he says, and who are the children of the devil?

Some of your moms are like, I think I got one of those in my house.

And who are the children of the devil?

Look at whoever does whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

So biblical doctrine provides clarity.

By this is it of it.

What is this?

Here's how you know who knows God.

They practice righteousness and they love people.

Yeah.

It's not up here in the sky, it's not intellect.

It brings it right down with you, and you love people.

Are you a loving person that loves people?

Or you have a list of people you love and a list of people you can't stand, and you feel justified in both.

And say, What do you mean?

Practicing righteousness is easy until it involves people.

Isn't it?

Oh, I read books.

I read some books by John Paper.

I love John Paper.

So what?

Do you love your neighbor who drives on your grass on your driveway?

Parks at the end of your driveway like they own it.

You love that person?

I don't care what books you read, I don't care how many times you go to some weekend getaway.

Do you love other people?

Love is righteousness in relation to others.

So let me get up in your business here before we're done this morning.

How about that?

As you sit here in this room, who is the hardest person for you to love right now?

Mm-hmm.

There's a lady that understands it.

Really?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'll give you some questions to consider in loving, hard to love people.

Here's the first one.

These are for you, not for them.

Don't go find them and kind of go, my pastor gave me some questions for you.

No.

I know how you are.

You know, I was praying for you in church the other day, and this I got some questions.

No, these are for you.

Because your righteousness is all ethereal.

It's up in the cloud, it's not down on the earth.

First question: Do I want to forgive this person?

Yeah, speak, baby.

Yeah.

Do I want to forgive this person?

Or do you just want them to always be whatever you think they are, whatever last thing they did to sin against you?

Secondly, do I believe things about them that aren't true but are preferred?

Let me unpack that one for some of you.

Because some of a lot of you, that's you.

You believe things about them you know aren't true, but they're preferred.

Here's why you prefer them.

Because if these things aren't true about that person, you have a lot of repenting to do.

That's why you hold on to it.

You're like, no, no, no, no, he's not.

That's not true about him.

He's what I believe him to be.

Because if he's not, you gotta repent and ask that person's forgiveness.

And that would kill most of you in this room.

Can you imagine?

When's the last time you looked at somebody and said, you know what?

I just think I'm dead wrong about you.

And I have savored my opinion about you for so long.

Here's another question.

Do I really know them?

I see a lady for counseling.

Relax.

She didn't go to church here.

I love how y'all are all so defensive of people you don't know.

Many of you come to me and go, Oh, I would come see you, but I'm afraid you're talking about me on Sunday.

No, this lady, God is so worked in heart, she says, Please tell women not to be like me.

She came to me because she hates somebody at her country club.

She goes, We don't even go to dinner there.

I call and ask the Matre D, is she there?

Because I don't want to eat in the same room with her.

And I said, This is awesome.

How old are you?

She goes, I'm 51.

You're 51 years old and you act like a 13-year-old.

She said, I just can't stand her.

I mean, she's like she's like the bell of the ball.

She comes sacheting in, like everyone, look at me.

And I said, Are you jealous?

Let's get down there and put the axe down on the root of the trees.

She said, What do you mean?

I said, It sounds like you're used to being the bell of the ball yourself, and now someone's coming taking your position.

She said, Well, I was the homecoming queen.

Oh, oh, now we're getting down there where we live.

And I said, So you don't like her.

The issue is not that you don't like her, you don't like being the center of attention at your club anymore.

Well, that might be a possibility.

Now, by the way, I said to this woman, I said, by the way, I'm not mad at you, but let's talk about what's really going on.

And I said, let me ask you a question to help clarify.

You say, is it's like a lot.

Is it like that or is it actually that?

Because I'm beginning to feel like you don't really know this woman.

You just envy her and want to tear her down.

What makes you say that?

Because you say it's like, well, it's like, it's like that's not reality, that's opinion.

Is is reality.

What if you just called her up and said, you know what?

I don't think I know enough about you to really like you.

We should get some time together.

Oh, why would I do that?

So you could stop being wrong.

You could repent and ask her forgiveness.

And she's like, You're being serious right now.

I said, I'm being biblical right now.

So if you've got anybody in your life that's hard for you to love, here are three questions just to ask yourself.

Why?

Because love is righteousness in relation to others.

And the Bible says, hey, by the way, biblical doctrine provides clarity.

If you want to know who knows Jesus, it's the people that practice righteousness and they love other people.

You have this agency, this capacity that God gave you when you became a believer and the Holy Spirit came to live inside of you.

The person and the work of Jesus in the incarnation, it gives you a perspective on sin that you by nature don't have.

You have to embrace the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

He came to take away sins.

What am I doing living in sin?

Do I not believe why Jesus came?

And then finally, if you don't think rightly about sin, you got to just understand the nature of sin.

You're never just sinning, you're practicing lawlessness.

You're saying to God, your law has no authority, and my opinion is what's going to rule my life.

Now ask yourself this question.

I'm done.

Look at me.

Do you really want to live in that world?

Because if you live in that world, look at me.

You have to save yourself, forgive yourself, and provide for yourself.

It sounds awesome.

It's terrible.

It's small.

And it's getting smaller every day.

It's closing in on you.

You don't have anxiety.

You live in a really small world.

The walls are closing in, the friendships aren't as satisfying as they used to be.

The wine doesn't taste as good as it once did.

Why?

Because your world's just shrinking down to the size of your sin.

Jonathan Edwards said this.

He said, sin acts as a powerful astringent upon the soul.

It shrinks it down to the size of the individual.

That's what it'll do.

But God seed, if you're a Christian, God's seed.

Sperma lives inside of you.

The capacity, the willingness, the ability to reproduce the life of God in you.

That's what is yours in Christ.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest today, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and then give you some space to think about it.

So I'll voice a prayer, some questions come up on the screen, and you can just take a minute or so and just kind of marinate in these juices.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for the Bible.

We never take it for granted.

We love what it says, even when it kind of gets at us, we love that because you're inviting us to change, you're inviting us to be different.

You're inviting us to stop sinning against people just because we don't like them or they rub us the wrong way.

Righteousness is easy, God, until it involves people.

But the Bible's so practical, it goes along there flying at 40,000 feet, and all of a sudden it drops down to the runway and says, Hey, you want to know who loves God?

It's the people that practice righteousness and they love people.

So, Holy Spirit, brood over us while we think about these things.

God, thank you that the Bible is like a hot bubble bath.

We just soak ourselves in it.

The longer we soak in it, light some candles and pour up something good, and just let ourselves just kind of be overwhelmed by the goodness of it.

The baked-on particles of our depravity begin to slough off.

The hardness of our heart begins to go away, and the sensitivity of the spirit begins to manifest itself in us.

And we are capable of more and we accomplish more.

God, we're tired of being hard, stingy, small, petulant people.

We want to practice righteousness and love people.

Those two things are so beautiful and simple and so complementary.

We're able to love people because a perfect God loves.

Imperfect people like us.

Don't let us gag on our own hypocrisy today, Jesus.

Don't let us take the unconditional love of God and not give it to those around us.

Rescue us from our hypocrisy, please, Jesus.

Otherwise, we'll just be rolling little morsels around in our mouth when people walk by that we don't love.

That's not life in the Spirit.

So Holy Spirit, reproduce the life of Jesus in us.

We pray.

We ask for it in Christ's name, and everyone said.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, I want to say thanks for being here.

Look at me.

You're always welcome.

You're always welcome.

You may be sitting there thinking, man, I don't believe a thing you said today.

That's okay.

I'll see you next Sunday, okay?

We'll think about it some more then.

I'm serious.

I'm serious.

You should put yourself in somewhere that teaches the Bible, and this happens to be a church like that.

If you have any questions about anything you heard today, some of us will be available down front as soon as we're done.

Also, somebody stopped me recently and said, Hey, you guys don't take up an offering.

We do every Sunday.

It's these wooden boxes by the door.

So if today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity, that's where you can take care of that.

We have things going on in the life of our church we want you to know about, one in particular.

So give your attention to the screens this morning.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's some things we want you to know.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with our church.

Saturday, May 14th, we will head to First Baptist Church of East Bernard to help tear down a wall and paint some rooms to accommodate their growing church, which is reaching young families in the area.

Many of you will remember James Perry, who was a member of our church before he accepted the call to Pastor East Bernard.

We will start at 9 a.m.

and stop in the afternoon.

Lunch will be provided, and we'll enjoy some of the fine culinary delights of pecan smoked barbecue from Vency's Smokehouse.

To sign up, head to Grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions about what you heard today or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Now, by the way, on that Saturday, May 14th, going to East Bernard, our desire, our prayer, our hope is that we have enough people sign up that we can take care of the project of the church.

But also, James and his wife bought a fixer upper out there, and they're trying to, he's trying to pastor a church and work on his house after hours and on the weekends.

I'd love to have some people that know carpentry and stuff, and we can go kind of knock out some stuff at his house as well.

One of our core values is the church is blessing.

So we're not gonna just sit down here and be all about ourselves.

We're gonna go out to East Pinard, we're gonna sweat to the glory of God on that Saturday, and we're gonna help advance the kingdom in their church and hopefully at the pastor's house.

And then proof that miracles still exist, the preacher's gonna pay for lunch.

Amen.

You undeserving wretches.

One guy's like, Well, what are you gonna do if a bunch of people show up?

A bunch of work's gonna get done.

I'm just gonna pay for more food.

You can't get up on me.

No, I want that to happen.

I want there to be so many people that are like, oh my gosh, man, we love you.

James used to be a part of our church.

He now pastors at church.

And so May 14th, men, get your son by the ear and go, hey, let's go, let's go set the kingdom down.

Yeah.

My wife and women.

Yes, but seriously, women, you're welcome too.

Bring your daughter.

I got two daughters.

Yes, we need women.

I'm gonna get talked till I get home.

It's not a men-only thing.

Oh, yeah.

See what happens when you give them technology?

They get funny.

Men and women who want to do manual labor to the glory of God, you can sign off online.

All right?

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing, so stand to your feet.

Hold your hands out.

The Bible says that Christ in you is the hope of glory.

That's your only hope.

You don't have another one.

Stop trusting in yourself.

You've seen what you're capable of.

Christ in you.

The seed of God in you.

It's a reminder that you were destined for glory.

Depart now.

Live in glory.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.