Choose Holiness

Father, you know how easy it is for us to be confused about what is right and what is wrong.

You know, Father, how our consciences can be troubled by things that you don't think are wrong.

And how we can be completely untroubled by things that you think are deeply wrong.

And, Father, you know how we can be confused about this.

And, Father, you know how easy it is for us to see faults in other people that we have worse and we don't even see.

And, Father, you know how easy it is for us to give ourselves a pass while we're very hard on other people.

Father, you know.

You know.

You know at the same time, Father, how sometimes we do so strive to do that which is right and then we fail.

Father, we give you thanks and praise that you know us perfectly, you see us perfectly, and that you love us perfectly and unfailingly.

We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would gently but deeply come into our minds and our hearts and our wills, our very body.

And, Father, so still us and make us pliable that we might hear your word and receive your word.

And that we might hear and receive your word to our good health and our good benefit and your great glory.

And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Amen.

So, Andrew, if you could put up the very first scripture text.

The sermon title is called Choose Holiness.

But in terms of the flow of the text, we're going to, this is sort of the heart of what we're talking about today.

And could you just say it with me?

Abstain from every form of evil.

Now, we have lots of problems with this text in many, many different ways.

First of all, you could almost see that a hipster would wear a t-shirt saying something like that, making an ironic statement.

In other words, they'd have a t-shirt like that, meaning that, yeah, definitely, like, I'm going to do that, you know.

On the other hand, here's another problem with this text.

A problem with this text is that for many people in our culture, when they hear abstain from every form of evil,

what they hear is that we're asking them to abstain from freedom.

That we're asking them to abstain from freedom.

And here's another problem with this text in our culture,

is that for many people in our culture, and maybe for us at a certain degree,

those of us who were here this morning,

we're just very conscious of the fact that different people see evil in different places,

and that many, many different people have very different views on evil.

And so, if basically good and evil is fairly relative,

then how could we even begin to put this verse into practice?

And for many people, when they hear talk of abstaining from evil,

they hear it as a type of talk about having power.

If I can convince you that something is evil, then I'm getting power over you.

And that's just the beginning of a whole host of problems that we have with this text in our culture when we hear it.

And so, you know, we have to try to think about that a little bit,

and try to be able to hear the scripture as the scripture wants to speak to us.

So, here's the first thing which I'm going to say, okay?

So, here's the first thing that I think I want to say.

If you could put the first point up, Andrew.

The knowledge of good and evil is present in every culture and confused in every culture.

I mean, even when people say that good and evil is relative,

and I'm not going to try to bash what's sort of called, in some circles, moral relativism,

and in the majority of Canada would just be understood as common sense.

It just is the fact of the matter is that people live as if there are certain things which are right and wrong,

and whether they think that's transferable or how transferable they think it is,

it's in fact just the case that people,

if you meet somebody who doesn't believe there's such a thing as right and wrong,

you're meeting a sociopath if they don't act as if there's any type of right and wrong,

and hopefully you'll never run into a sociopath.

But the fact of the matter is that what the Bible teaches

is that the knowledge of good and evil is present in every culture

and confused in every culture.

And that explains,

well, actually, you see, one of the problems for atheism

is to explain

why it is

that in every culture there's a strong sense of right and wrong.

Like, why does that even exist

if there is no God?

And if we're just created

that we just happen to exist

by random processes?

Why should there be an understanding of right and wrong?

That's actually sort of a,

the fact that people differ over right and wrong

isn't as big a problem

for Christians

as the mere existence of right and wrong,

and the persistence of right and wrong

is for atheists.

But for Christians, what we would say,

and I'm going to explain it more later on,

is that the knowledge of good and evil

is present in every culture

and confused in every culture.

And that means that for Christians,

there's always going to be a particular dilemma

about how to understand evil,

which is sort of different than some of the things

which I said at the very, very beginning of the sermon.

Could you put up the Venn diagram?

By the way, this caused a lot of laughter in my family.

Last night when I was sending these notes to Andrew,

I confessed to my family

that I didn't know how to do that on a computer.

I'm confessing that to you now.

And that caused some laughter

amongst the younger members of my family.

And in fact, I was trying to describe it

and then they said,

oh, you mean a Venn diagram.

I've forgotten the name of it.

And then I said,

I don't know how to,

not only do I know how to draw it,

I don't know how to send it on an email to Andrew,

which caused other laughter.

And eventually,

one of my kids just did it for me very quickly.

And so I still actually don't know how to do it.

So maybe one of my summer holiday plans

is to figure out how to do a simple drawing like that

on the computer.

But here's the thing.

Remember I said that the first point of the sermon

is that the knowledge of good and evil

is present in every culture

and confused in every culture.

That in a sense,

what the Bible would say

is that something like this picture exists.

That there's our culture's view of evil

and that would be the circle that has A and B in it.

And then there's the Bible's view of evil,

which is what is the circle that has B and C in it.

And even the worst imaginable culture,

there will be some intersection

between the biblical view of evil

and the culture's view of evil.

It might be a very, very tiny sliver,

but it will still be there.

And of course, in some cultures,

the B section might be quite large.

But here's the problem that we have

when our text is abstain from every form of evil.

The problem we have as Canadian Christians,

to put it very bluntly,

is that our culture is the primary way

that we learn what good and evil is.

And our culture tries to maintain

a basic view of good and evil.

There's been an interesting thing in the paper

the last few days about sex education

in Edmonton public schools.

And it made a big splash.

At least in the two papers that I read,

it made a big splash.

And if you read some of the op-ed pieces

which were written about it,

it's very obvious that the paper,

both the reporter and the op-ed pieces,

are trying to maintain a cultural view

of right and wrong.

And they use very highly emotional language

and shaming type of language

to try to shame people

who are going to dissent

or disagree with this cultural view of evil,

our culture's view of evil.

In other words,

they're trying to maintain all of A and B.

So here's the problem for us as Christians.

The problem is in many mainline churches

where they see themselves

as the chaplains to the culture,

they basically,

their understanding of evil

is the same as the culture's view of evil

and of good.

It's A and B.

That's the constant challenge

for mainline churches.

In an interesting way,

because one of the dynamics

that's going on in Canada

is that evangelical and charismatic churches

in some ways want to become

the new chaplains to the culture

as mainline churches die.

But the thing to beware of

is if you become the chaplain

to the culture,

the culture will demand

that you teach A and B.

And the problem for us as Christians

is that when we're very conscious

of the cultural pressure

to teach A and B,

that before we know it,

what we want to do

is only talk about B.

because, in fact,

if we're only talking about

that part of the Christian revelation,

the biblical revelation

that matches with what the culture

says is right and wrong,

we won't get into trouble.

So that would mean that

in our churches,

let's say today,

it would be very simple

for me to talk about,

probably in many places

it would be easy for me

to talk about pornography.

It would be easy for me

to talk about sex trafficking.

It would be easy for me

to talk about racism.

And I probably wouldn't be causing

a lot of ruffled feathers.

And that's always a great pressure

on churches

to only talk about

that which is in B.

But the Bible here,

when it's telling us

to abstain from every form of evil,

it's actually challenging us

to talk about B and C.

And also to talk about A

in a particular way.

A?

Sorry, I had to do that Canadian,

you know, eh?

And so, you see,

in our culture,

and this is like a very,

very telling thing for us,

if those of you

who haven't been part

of the congregation

for longer than three years,

for this act,

on one level,

our congregation started in 1865,

and in another way,

our congregation started in 2011

when we walked away

from our building.

and our congregation

virtually unanimously

believed that

if the Anglican Church of Canada

wanted to bless

same-sex marriages,

it was doing something

which the Bible doesn't allow.

And ultimately,

we thought it was

an important enough issue

that we would risk

losing all of our property

and that the legal leadership

of the congregation

would risk being sued,

which is what happened to us.

The legal representatives

of the congregation

were sued.

And eventually,

we settled out of court

and walked away

from our property.

But in our culture,

to talk about certain issues

around sexuality

is to talk about

that part of the circle

which is in C,

and it gets many people

in our culture

very, very upset.

And if you're a guest here

this morning,

I might have made you

very, very uncomfortable.

Because in our culture today,

C would be such things

as abortion

and that the taking

of a human,

that what is in the womb

is human,

it's human life,

and to take that

is to do something wrong.

And in C

is a whole range

of teaching

around sexual ethics

which our culture views,

I mean,

in fact,

our culture views

certain things

that the Bible

views as wrong,

our culture views

them as very,

very good.

And we get shouted down

by the culture

if we try to maintain

the teaching on C.

So it's very,

very common

in Christian circles

for there to be pressure

for churches

to never mention

anything which is in C.

But if we're going

to talk about things

to only talk about B.

But the Bible

also teaches us

that not only

should we be trying

to explain

what is in B and C,

that we need to also

try to explain

to the world

why things that are

in the A part

of the circle

aren't in fact

sins at all.

So for instance,

and it's a bit hard

in our culture

because we have

lots of different

moralities in our culture

right now,

but it could very well

be the case

that if I was to be

in a certain type

of a classroom

at a university,

I might have to tell

the room

that it's not a sin

to eat meat.

You shouldn't feel guilty

if you like eating steak.

And maybe if I'm

in another part

of the university,

maybe the business faculty,

I'd have to say

it's not a sin

to be poor.

It's not a sin

to have low income.

It's not a sin

to not want to make

a lot of money.

And maybe

in another part

of the university,

I would say,

have to say,

it's not a sin

to be overweight.

It's not a sin

to not be athletic

and slim.

Because the fact

of the matter is,

is that often

what troubles

many people

in our culture

are things

that the Bible

doesn't view

as sins at all.

Completely

and utterly

silent.

And so part

of the challenge

when we hear

a text like

abstain from

every form

of evil

is,

and many people

in our culture

will think

that we're instantly

going to go

to make a whole list

of rules

that we have

to follow,

but the first thing

that we have

to understand

is that when

the Bible

is calling us

to abstain

from every form

or every kind

of evil,

it's opening

a door

on this basic

teaching of the Bible

in terms of

what is right

and wrong.

And it means

that sometimes

we're going to

agree with our

culture,

and we shouldn't

fall into the trap

that sometimes

maybe the Christian

right has fallen

into,

that you don't

want to talk

about racism

or something

like that,

because that's

what the culture,

the secular people

talk about,

and you want to

show somehow

that you're more

Christian by not

talking about it,

and that's

nonsense.

The Bible

is calling us

to hold

all of that

B and C,

which means

that sometimes

we have to

say things

in our culture

which are going

to get us

in trouble.

In the 1930s

in Germany,

the confessing

church,

which we now,

virtually everybody

views the confessing

church as having

done the right

thing,

and the very

early thing

which they upheld

is that it's

not a sin

to be Jewish,

and the initial

thing which

caused the

confessing church

to exist

was a question

over ordination,

because the state

said that if you

had Jewish blood

in you,

even if you

had become

a Christian,

if you had

Jewish blood

in you,

you could not

be a Lutheran

pastor,

and Bonhoeffer

and the German

and others

said,

that is wrong,

that is wrong

to say that,

it is not

a sin,

it is not

a barrier

to ordination

to have

Jewish blood,

and that got

them in lots

of trouble,

meant they

eventually had

to have

underground

seminaries,

and so

sometimes into

our culture,

saying that

A is not a

sin is going

to get us

in a lot

of trouble,

and sometimes

in our culture

talking about

C is going

to get us

into lots

of trouble,

and so we

have to resist

the temptation

to only talk

about B,

and when we're

trying to hear

the text as a

community,

and as an

individual,

to understand

that the Bible

is calling us

to prayerfully,

carefully read,

and study the

scriptures,

so that the

scriptures can

reform and

change our

consciences,

and our

understanding of

good and evil,

and so one of

the benefits of

the gospel is

that for some

of us,

we will realize

that we are

feeling guilty

about things

that we don't

have to feel

guilty about.

If you were in

India, you don't

have to feel

guilty about being

an untouchable

because the Bible

doesn't recognize

such a category.

It's not a sin

to be born into

a certain type

of family,

and at the

same time,

things that we

have maybe taken

for granted

that the Bible

will start to

tell us that

these things

are wrong,

and the church

is to be the

place where we

study the Bible

together and

pray through

the Bible

together and

pray for each

other as God

the Holy Spirit

begins to move

and work in our

hearts and bring

parts of the

Bible home to

us.

So if you could

put the Bible

passage up again,

Andrew, say it

with me,

abstain from

every form of

evil.

Say it again,

abstain from

every form of

evil.

Very simple

but powerful

text.

Now, some of

you might say,

George, but

isn't morality

relative?

And isn't

this, in

fact, just a

type of you

maintaining,

like, isn't

just talking

about evil an

attempt to

get, to

have power

over others?

A couple of

months ago, I've

been waiting to

use this as a

sermon illustration.

This is the

first time I

can use it.

I was in a

Starbucks, no

surprise, and

working on my

sermon, no

surprise, working

on my sermon

at Starbucks.

And there was

this woman, maybe

around 30, she

had a really cute

little girl, who

was probably about

three, and the

mom had bought

the girl a

cookie or

something like

that, milk or

something like

that, the mom

had a coffee, and

the little girl was

sitting there at

the table, and the

mom was spending

her whole time

texting, ignoring

the little girl.

And the little

girl was eating

her cookie and

drank her milk,

and she had a

little tummy, because

she's just a cute

little girl, and

so at some point

in time, she has

no longer any

interest in eating

any more of her

cookie or any

more of her

milk.

And this particular

Starbucks was

part of the

chapters.

So she's sitting

at a table like

this, and right

behind her are

rows and rows of

books.

Mom, looking at

her phone, not

paying any

attention to her,

books.

books.

So what would a

little three-year-old

girl do?

She'd get off the

chair and go to

the books to take

them down, right?

It's very easy for me

to say, because I'm

just sitting there by

myself, not having to

look with her, and

the moms look very

frazzled.

But here's the

interesting thing about

this.

The mom and the

little girl had

about a 20-minute

battle over the

control of whether

the mom would text

or whether the

little girl would

play with the

books.

And eventually

the mom, in

great exasperation,

picked up the

little girl and

walked out.

But every time the

little girl wandered

away from the

chair, what the

mom said, she

didn't say, it's

wrong to take

books down.

It's wrong to

damage books.

She said, you're

making me unhappy.

You're making me

unhappy.

happy.

In a very, very odd

way, in our

culture, as we

believe that all

things are relative,

and as we believe

that how you

understand right and

wrong is really a

matter of, at the

same time that we

say that things are

relative, we also say

that what's wrong is

actually hurting

anybody.

And so that means

you sort of have to

balance, if you do

something, how much

you're hurting somebody

and how much you're

doing things which are

neutral and how much

you're just yourself.

And in that whole

dynamic, what happens

is, as the gospel

text tells us today,

what we don't realize

is that we always

weight ourselves more

than other people.

people.

And so it's very, very

hard for us to

actually, we end up

actually always

wanting to have

power and always

want to be the

center.

And that mom was

teaching her kid, not

that there was this

type of right and

wrong, which is

outside of both the

little girl and the

mother, and that both

of them had to listen

to.

The mother was

teaching the little

girl that she, the

mother, was the

center of what was

right and wrong and

the center of the

universe, and the

little girl shouldn't

make the mother

unhappy.

In an odd way, in a

culture where you

talk about relativism,

what you end up

doing is actually

giving power to the

loudest voice.

But what the Bible

teaches is, if you

put up the next

point, is this.

Evil is not a mere

opinion.

It is a power

power, and it has

dominion.

You see, here's the

problem with

relativism.

On one hand, it

ends up giving power

to whoever has the

loudest voice, which

is the mom in this

particular story.

But on the other

hand, what relativism

ends up just doing is

it just ends up

thinking that right and

wrong is just my

opinion.

opinion.

And if I'm able to

sort of, you know,

certain things I don't

care about, I have no

opinion on.

But when I have a really

strong opinion on it, I try

to convince you of it.

But this whole thing of

right and wrong just being

an opinion, it doesn't

actually match up with our

real experience of right and

wrong.

wrong.

Those of you, those of us,

who have a problem telling

the truth, we understand

that when we try to tell the

truth, but lies look so

attractive that telling lies

has a power over us.

Those of us who have problems

with anger know that it's not

just having an opinion about

anger being wrong that matters,

but that anger has a type of

power over us.

It has a hold in us.

It has dominion in us.

Those of us who struggle with

feelings of jealousy know that

it's not just us saying that

jealousy is wrong, but that

jealousy has a type of power and

dominion over us.

And so in our culture, when we

tell people that right and

wrong is just an opinion, that

it's just, you know, whether

it's relative, that, you know,

whether we use the language of

it's a social construct or

whatever, it's doing two types

of things, it's actually giving

power to human beings and

saying that really it is just a

matter of a power struggle,

whether it's between a mother

and a daughter, but ironically,

it's ignoring the real power of

evil.

That evil is not just having an

opinion about something, but that

there's an actual power of evil

and that that power of evil has a

hold, has dominion over us.

And so the language of relativism

ends up making it hard for us to

understand our own experience of

right and wrong, our own experience

of trying to change when we can't

change.

It makes it hard for us to

understand even things in the

culture where certain things in the

culture seem to be intractable in

terms of something which is wrong,

having a powerful hold in our

culture.

And if it's just a matter of

opinion, then why is that that it

has such a hold in our culture?

But the Bible doesn't understand

right and wrong as just being a

matter of opinions.

The Bible, one of the ways that the

Bible understands evil is that evil

has a power and it has dominion.

And that's one of the ways, that's a

fundamental way for us to understand

what evil is, what sin is.

And so the question is, let's put up

the Bible text again for us, let's

say it together.

Abstain from every form of evil.

Let's say it together again.

Abstain from every form of evil.

On one hand, it sounds as if the

Bible is just telling us that we have

to have certain opinions about right

and wrong and we have to make sure we

have the right opinions about right

and wrong and we have to understand

that there's the B and C in that

circle and that those are the right

opinions to have about right and

wrong and then we just have to do

that which is right and stop doing

that which is wrong.

But the Bible, and I'm going to show

you from this text, talks about evil

not just as having an opinion, not

just about knowing a matter of rules,

but there's in fact a type of power of

evil and that evil then not only has

power but it has a type of dominion

so that those who start to come

underneath the spell or the sphere or

the realm of that which is wrong

understand it has a power and a hold

within us.

So the question might be then, and the

question might be then is, well, how does

the Bible going to deal with this or how

do we start to deal with it?

Here's the third point.

If you put it up, Andrew.

God is good and his very nature is the

source of all goodness in the physical,

spiritual, intellectual, emotional and

moral realms.

God is good and his very nature is the

source of all goodness in the physical,

spiritual, intellectual, emotional and

moral realms.

realms. From the Bible, evil is a negation or an emptiness. Where there should be the good,

evil is trying to get rid of it altogether to create an emptiness where there should be this

positive presence of God. Where evil is a bending of that positive presence of the good and bending

it so that it's no longer the way that God intended. And there's often an interplay behind that.

And you see, that's why evil, there's a type of power to evil. Because it's an attempt to remove

that which is the good and which really exists, or bend that which is good and the good really

exists. And so evil, by either, you know, it's like, you know, since water really exists,

and if you try to have, like, I don't know, like a ball that has air in it, and you push

it down into the water, that if you, you're having to push it down in the water and you're

having to hold the ball in, and if you let the ball go, it jumps out. There's this, there's

this real existence and reality of God. And the God who really does exist is good. He is the good.

And he is good in his very nature. And he's created all things, and he sustains all things.

And he's always present. He's never absent. And so if by evil we try to make where God is not there,

it's like trying to push this balloon or this ball with air into water, and there's a power which is

there, because it keeps wanting to be pushed away. And you have to, you can only maintain that ball

there by force, by power. And if you're trying to bend it, different analogy from water, there's,

you're bending something which is real. So to understand evil as just merely an opinion,

will never understand our moral experience, because God exists, and he's real, and he's created

all things. And he's created the physical things, and the intellectual matters, and he's created

moral, the moral universe, and he's created a spiritual universe, and he's created the entire

inside of human beings, which is imagination, and emotion, and will, and heart, and everything

which is inside a human being that God creates and God sustains. And when any part of his creation,

we try to push him away and make it like it's a vacuum, or bend it or break it, there's going

to be a type of a power there, not a power that comes from God. And so to try to abstain

from evil, merely thinking it means that we just do something by our will, or by our rules,

or by our knowledge, is always going to be insufficient. Because evil is a power that has dominion.

And it comes because of the very, very nature of God, which, let's say the, let's say the,

the scripture text, well actually we're going to switch to another one. Here's what I'm going

to show you how the whole text helps us to understand how abstain from every form of evil.

We have to hear it in the scripture which surrounds it to understand what it is that the Bible is

asking us to do when it says to abstain from evil. So if you could say this with me, that would

be very helpful. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast what is good.

Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.

Here's what the Bible is teaching us. The Bible is not teaching us that we should just have more

rules. In fact, the hard part consistently for Christians is that on one hand, people want to say,

you know, all, if we, they understand that there's this power of evil and that there's evil in the

world. And so the, the very, very first thing that pops into their mind is that we need to have more

rules. That's how we're going to deal with evil. Have more rules. Have, you know, if, if the Bible only

gives you a couple of things on a page, let's, let's turn that into a massive book filled with rules

and we'll teach everybody all of the rules. And if they learn all of the rules, then they'll be able

to abstain from every form of evil. And many people reacting against that says, let's get rid of the

rules. Not only get rid of all of these other rules that people have added, but even get rid of the

biblical rules. And that's the place of freedom. And the Bible is doing something completely and utterly

different. It's going to tell us this, if you could put up point number four, Andrew, only God can break

the power and dominion of evil. He did this in the death of Jesus Messiah for us. Only God can break

the power and dominion of evil. He did this in the death of Jesus Messiah for us. If you have your

Bibles, the way this whole text, the reading which I began with this morning, it begins in verses nine

and 10. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him. This whole language

of being destined to be separate from God is the language of power. That we are under the power and

dominion of a type of evil, which will continue by the force of the current to keep us going far away from God.

But in the face of this powerful current of rejection against God that will keep us completely and utterly

going away from God, God says, I am going to come in such a way so that that power is broken in such a way that

people can be redeemed, they can be rescued, they can be saved, they can be delivered from this power which

will continue to keep them away from God. Excuse me. And he does it by the sending of his son into the

current, so to speak, into the very power of the river. And he does it to, in a sense, take upon himself

in the person of his son, the full power of the river, the full power of that which separates us from God.

And he takes it upon himself in his very person, and in his death upon the cross, he, in a sense,

allows all of that to come and fall upon him. And he takes all that there is to taste of it,

and then on the third day he rises triumphant over that river, over sin, over death, over hostile

spiritual powers, over anything which has a power which pushes us away from God. Jesus enters it,

tastes it fully, and triumphs it over it in his death and in his resurrection. And then offers to share it

to a person who merely calls out for him, that he would be, that he would share that great triumph

and victory which he has won on the cross, that he would share it with him. And that's why in the text,

can you put the scripture text back up, Andrew? It's a very, very, like last week we talked about,

do not despise prophecies. That means continue to listen to God. God's calling you all the time.

He calls you to become his own through the person of Jesus when you put your faith and trust in him,

and he's always calling you. He knows that even after you've come to Jesus, that there's still

going to be parts of you which are very, very prone to different types of evil, and Jesus is always

calling us and speaking to us. And so the text says, don't stop listening for Jesus. Don't stop

listening for God. But when you hear what he says, test it. And test it means, one of the best examples

is in the book of Malachi, where God says to the people of Israel, listen, I want you to tithe.

Test my word. Tithe for a while and see if your needs will be met or if you will be completely

and utterly impoverished. Test me. The Bible speaks countercultural things about sexuality. Test it.

Will it make you repressed, anxious, lonely? Far more repressed and anxious and lonely than those

around us? Test my word. To reject the lie and believe in the truth? To reject death and believe

in life? Test my word. Listen to God. Test it. And in the original language, it's not grammatical,

but there should be the word the before good. It says, hold fast. What is the good? So as you learn

and hear from God, what is the good? Hold fast to it. And as you're holding fast to the good,

it's in that context that you abstain from evil because you're holding fast to that which is good.

You're desiring to come under the dominion and the power of Jesus. It's not just a matter of running

from bad things, but of running to Jesus. And then the text reminds us that you're not just doing

this by yourself. Why? The God of peace himself sanctifies you. God is in it. That's why it's,

if you could put up the next point, Andrew, that would be great. When I become Christ's own,

I come under the power and dominion of the good. So I seek to draw closer to Jesus and abstain from evil.

When I become Christ's own, I come under the power and dominion of the good. So I seek to draw closer

to Jesus and abstain from evil. So abstaining from evil isn't just to be understood in a religious sense

as an invitation to write lots of rules and lots of regulations. And to have a grim-faced person

standing there over the congregation making a note of all of the ways that you break and don't keep

all of the different tiny little rules ever more tiny. It's not like that at all. There is an abstaining,

a fleeing, a running from evil, but it's never a mere running from evil. I mean, for many of us in our

culture, all they know is that there's certain things that they have to flee. When I was in

university, one day I was saying to this friend of mine, and I said to her, I love the dusk.

I love the dusk. I love that time when the shadows are lengthening and you can tell the evening is

about to come. And I love the quiet and the stillness of it. And she gave a shudder and said,

I hate the dusk. That's when the scary things come out. I discovered that she'd been deeply involved

in witchcraft. She'd had a very powerful experience of something that so deeply frightened her that she

stopped doing it. She ran from that, but she didn't know that the Bible doesn't call us just merely to

run from something, but to run to someone. Not a new set of rules, but to a person, a person who is

conquered, a person who's ultimately the one who wrote the scriptures. And so that even when we

read the Bible and we come face to face upon things that the Bible says are wrong that we did,

the Bible's not saying that to us to silence us, to hurt us, to condemn us, to belittle us,

to shut us up forever. It's saying that so that we can understand that we can turn to Jesus

and receive forgiveness and receive forgiveness and freedom because Jesus dies for us to break

the oppressive power of the flow of evil so that we might live with him.

That in fact, evil brings bondage to us because it has a power and a dominion. And that when we give

our lives to the person of Jesus, we're giving our lives to the one who died for us out of love for us,

who desires that we will live in freedom and in wholeness, that we will live in keeping with how God

created us as human beings to be, that we will be in a covenant with the living God who loves us,

to be in a covenant with the living God who loves us, changes everything.

And so it is that the mission of this church is to make disciples of Jesus

gripped by the gospel, living for his glory, and we could add in freedom.

In freedom.

I just want to say two things in closing. The first thing is this, what is faith in Jesus?

If you could put that up, Andrew, please.

Very simple.

Sometimes you might want to remember it as TIP, T-I-P.

Faith in Jesus is turning to him, the T, inviting him into your life as the Savior and Lord,

and then giving him permission.

That would be the P, not the G, giving, but the P, permission.

Giving him permission to be the Savior and Lord of every nook and cranny of who you are.

That's what faith is. It's not an emotion, although often emotion comes with such a turning.

Comes with such an invitation.

And it's not just an opinion.

Faith in Jesus.

God does everything that has to be done for us in the person with his son.

And God, on one hand, of course, delights when we turn and we flee from evil and we abstain from evil,

but it brings him no pleasure if we merely abstain from maybe a greater evil by giving ourselves to a lesser evil.

He wants us to turn from evil and turn to his son.

And so faith in Jesus is first turning to Jesus.

And then as we turn to Jesus, we invite him into our life as the Savior and as the Lord.

Not in any other role, but just Jesus come in and do what only you can do.

And it's involved permission, giving him permission to come into every nook and cranny of our lives.

I'll just close with an analogy.

Maybe it's a bit of a guy-centered analogy, but just bear with me.

Some of you have heard a form of it before.

You know, you see those movies of those old medieval castles with a fortress and a moat and a drawbridge.

And in some ways, the human condition is I stand on the ramparts of my fortress.

And I have the armor on with which I trust.

And I have my sword and my shield.

And the drawbridge is up and the gate is closed.

And originally I thought I was just the lord of my own fortress.

But over time, evil has come into my life.

And at some times, evil is my master.

I master over evil and I seem to have some type of power over it.

But over time, there's evil which is there in my fortress with me.

And sometimes I can only do its bidding.

I don't want to say that unkind word to my friend.

I don't want to lie needlessly to my boss.

I don't want to take that thing in the store which doesn't belong to me.

I don't want to do these types of things.

But I can't stop doing it.

But I stand in my fortress.

And in my fortress are now other fell things.

And I still have my armor and my sword and my shield.

And the gate is up.

And the drawbridge is up.

And across the moat, I see Jesus.

And sometimes when I look at Jesus, I just see a man standing there.

Sometimes I see a lamb that looks as if it was slain.

Sometimes I see a man who was upon the cross.

Sometimes I see a humble man merely on a donkey.

But I know that it's Jesus.

And sometimes I call to him from my ramparts, wearing my armor,

having my sword and my shield, and I talk to him.

But Jesus keeps saying to me in his humility,

let me in.

And the Christian life begins

when despite the fact that all sorts of things within my fortress say,

don't put down your armor.

Don't put down your sword and shield.

Don't open the gate.

Don't let down the drawbridge.

He's only going to hurt you.

And with those voices in your ear, you silence them.

And you walk down from the rampart.

And you let down the drawbridge.

And you open the gates.

And you lay down your sword and shield.

And you take off your armor.

And you kneel and look at Jesus and say,

Jesus, please come into my fortress.

And be my savior and be my lord.

Be my sword and be my shield.

Be my armor.

Be my deliverance.

And not only come into my fortress,

but it's all yours with nothing held back.

And the Christian life begins

when we lay down our sword and shield

and take off the armor and open that gate

and ask the Savior and the Lord to come in.

The whole Christian life is never just

about abstaining from evil,

but turning to Jesus

and allowing his power and dominion

to come into your life.

Please stand.

I don't have them printed up on the screen,

but if to maybe recommit your life to Jesus

or maybe for the first time

you would like to ask Jesus

to come into the fortress that is you,

I will say a prayer short,

a prayer with pauses.

And if that speaks to your heart,

the Holy Spirit is putting pressure on you,

not just to merely run from evil,

but to turn to Jesus,

then in the silence,

please make the prayer your own.

And do it silently.

There's no way not to impress people

who are around you.

And I'm just going to use the words

of that image which I just shared.

Jesus,

I turn to you.

I lay down my sword

and my shield.

I take off my armor.

I open the door to my life.

I kneel before you.

Please come into my life

as the Savior and the Lord.

I hold nothing back.

Thank you.

Thank you for entering.

Thank you that you will never leave me

or forsake me.

Amen.