Clean House - Week 4

Amen, Amen, and amen, thank you guys so much.

Our usher is going to continue to come.

But uh, we're we're gonna move into uh listen, we're

gonna close out our series today clean house.

And I want to tell you that today is.

Uh today is not the easiest message to preach, amen, uh,

because uh you know we're going to uh we're gonna

talk about the state of uh the church. And I

don't mean this building. I don't mean somebody else's building.

I mean the people who make up the church because

throughout history we have always been a group of broken,

hurting people. Let me say that again, a broken hurting people.

And just like other people, we uh, we lean into

other means rather than Jesus to have those needs met

to find that place of peace. And I think that

displeases the Lord.

So if you.

Got a Bible, go to Second Timothy chapter three, Second

Timothy chapter three. We're gonna start in verse one, Second

Timothy to three, verse one. If you're there, say amen,

and there's lots of old mis already happened. That's all right, y'all.

Follow along on the screen. Second Timothy chapter three, verse one.

But know this that in the last days perilous times

will come. Now let me, but let's let me just

this is all free. You didn't give the offer. This,

this is free. This is just a little just a

little prop up from what we're talking about. He didn't

say in the end times. He said in the last days.

There are the last days. The end times began when

Jesus ascended to heaven. That's when the end time began.

We've been waiting for end times to start, but the

end times began then there was nothing else that had

to be fulfilled. From that moment on, he was ready

to come back the next day if the Father chose,

we've been living an end time tis the last days

are the very end of the end times.

Come on, somebody.

It's when we begin to see a lot of those

prophecies fulfilled. It's when we begin to wait with bated

breath for the return of the Lord, to hear that

trumpet call and that shout and the eastern sky part

and Jesus stepped from the supernatural into the natural and

call his children home. And it's a day that I

look for every single day.

Amen. And if you don't look for it, you should.

And really the reason is because Maybe you're holding on

to some things you shouldn't hold on to, and I

don't even mean sin. Maybe you're holding on to some guilt.

Maybe you're holding on to some shame. Maybe you're holding

on to things that the Lord has already forgiven you

of and forgotten about, and you just don't think you're ready.

But I want you to know that if you have repented,

the blood of Jesus has washed you clean.

But know this and nice days.

Perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves,

lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. Oh

I just felt, somebody just felt that.

It's my daughter in here. I'm just kid, I'm just kidding.

I'm just yeah, I'm just kidding.

Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving slanderers without self control,

brutal despisers of good, traders, headstrong, hot, haughty, lovers of

pleasure rather than lovers of God Verse five, having a

form of godliness but denying its power, and from such

people turn away. For of this sort, or though those

who creep into households and make captives of gullible women,

loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always

learning and never able to come to the knowledge of

the truth. Now, as Janus and Johnbras resisted Moses, so

do these people also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds,

disapproved concerning the faith. But they will progress no further,

for their folly will be manifest to all as theirs

also was.

And I don't want to read March.

Sixteen to you, and we're gonna put We're gonna we're

gonna preach these things together in context and just kind

of just lay some things out for you and then

give you an opportunity to respond however you want to respond.

Mark Chapter sixteen. It says, and he said to them.

Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to

every creature.

He who believes in.

His baptized will be saved, but he who does not

believe will be condemned. Father, we thank you for your word.

It's the only change agent on the face of the planet.

And I pray that today that your word pierces through selfishness, ambition,

and pride and fear and insecurity, shame and guilt. Lord,

that it pierces through those things. Takes residence at the

very fabric of our being, that we would see exactly

who you're calling.

Us to be in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, when we

read this.

In second Timothy, I want you to understand that he's

writing to the church. When we read that whole list

of terrible things, and you all were.

Going ooh, ooh ah, ooh ooh.

When we were reading that list, he wasn't talking about

the world. He was talking about the church. He was

saying that the church, that inside the church, all of

these things are happening. And because all of these things

are happening, people have a form of godliness. But deny

the power thereof. I want you to know that God

does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Let me say that again.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever. And we

serve a God who we have countless chapters of modern history,

not scriptural history, but modern history written where he heals

and he delivers, and miracles happen and all of those things.

And it seems like the more we progress in time,

the less we hear about and read about those things.

Amen. But God doesn't change.

And if God, God doesn't change, and those things have

slown down. It's not God's fault, it's our fault. Calvin

said it was my fault. But I know what he means.

He said, he said, it's your fault, Pastor, And yeah,

I mean it is. It is.

It is my fault. I'm right in there with you.

I'm not separate then. I'm with you, Amen. I'm part

of the body. And it is our fault that we

don't see those mighty things of God because we have

so relaxed the standards of holiness. We've so relaxed the

standards of basic Christian faith that we've allowed all of

those things to creep in. And it looks like godliness

because we compare ourselves to the worst possible thing, and

we compare the best of us to the worst of that,

and we come.

Out smelling like roses. Amen.

But the only mode of comparison is not us against them,

it's us against.

The holiness of God.

And when I compare myself against the holiness of God,

I come up wanting every single time. But if we

really want to be the powerful church that God is

calling us to be, then we must understand what Scripture says,

and it says now as Jonas and John Brash resisted Moses.

So do these people resist the truth? Men have corrupt minds,

disapprove concerning the faith, but they progress no further, for

their folly will be manifest. We must separate ourselves from

those things. Scripture says, we must separate ourselves from those things.

So it says that when this corruption is happening in

the church, there's a distance.

But then in March.

Chapter sixteen, when it comes to the world, he doesn't

say separate yourself.

He says, go let me say it again. I think

you miss what I'm trying to say. There.

He says, listen, there needs to be accountability and separateness when.

There is corruption in the church, when there's sin in

the church.

But when it comes to the sin in the world,

he doesn't say, come apart.

He says, go into.

Because there's a higher standard for us who are already

in the kingdom. There's a higher standard. We're no longer

looking for a grace collision. We're actively pursuing holiness within

the Covenant of righteousness. So He's already given us a

contract that allows us to achieve it, but we have

to put some work behind it in order to get

there and turn ourselves away from the wicked things that

we ideate, those wicked things that we think about, those

things that we act upon, those secret lusts that we

have in our heart, those castles that we've built in

the imagination where we love to retreat to and satisfy

those fleshly desires.

We have to separate ourselves from those things.

In Jude, chapter in Jude, in Jude, verse twelve, there's

only one chapter in Jude, in Jude verse twelve that says,

these are spots in your love feasts. Now this is

this is a church dinner, Okay, this is a gathering

of believers. And he says, there's spots in your love feasts.

While they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves.

There are clouds without water, carried about by the winds,

laid autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by

the roots, raging ways of the sea, foaming up their

own shame, wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness

of darkness forever, It says, these are these are people

that operate inside out. Now, first of all, I want

to go ahead. I knew I was going to start

getting those sideways looks. I ain't talking about nobody like

none of y'all made me mad.

And I'm preaching this message.

Amen, y'all are the greatest bunch of people in the

entire world. But the reality is, we must understand the

standard that God sets for us. It's not love if

we always get and screamed destiny, purpose, destiny, purpose, and.

We achieve the physical.

Part of purpose but not the spiritual part of purpose.

We don't want to just be empty shells of humanity

that look successful on the outside but are empty on

the inside because we're not growing closer to God. And

Paul says that our Jude says, Hey, here's the thing.

There's people there. They look the part, they're even taking communion,

but they're twice dead, pulled up by the roots. Now,

let's talk about this whole concept of twice dead.

I want you to know.

I want to show my theological cards here. If it

wasn't for this one verse of Scripture, for this one

passage in Jude, I would completely ascribe.

To eternal security.

But I can't get past this one passage of scripture.

This one passage keeps me from jumping wholeheartedly into once

you get saved, you can do anything you want to do.

But we have to take every word. Scripture says, amen,

and it says that there are people here that are

operating in the church, but they're twice.

Dead, pulled up by the roots.

So that means they were made alive or they were dead,

they were made alive, and now they're dead again. So

I just want to tell you for sure that they're not.

Dead.

That's not what they that's not what it's talking about, right,

because they're there and they're eating dinner, and this is

not the walking dead. They're there and they're eating dinner,

so it's something else. So I want you to know

that when we are born, we are born spiritually dead

from original sin. We are born spiritually dead in need

of a savior and redemption. That beautiful baby with that

beautiful pink bowl right back there still needs Jesus.

Amen.

It's just the way we're born. And listen, when you

get to heaven, take it up with Adam and Eve.

I feel confident it's their fault because I'm sure I

would not have I would have not eaten the apple.

If I had been there, we would.

Have been okay, because I would have probably been laying

into shade somewhere not paying attention anyway, Amen, because that's

just kind of the way I roll, and I would

have And if a snake starts talking to me, I

guarantee you I'm running.

Amen.

And we're broken. We all sin and fall short of

the glory of God, every single one of us.

And these people.

Are twice dead, so that means they have withdrawn themselves.

It's important to understand they have withdrawn themselves from the

salvation Covenant of Christ. He didn't lose them, the enemy

didn't steal them. They withdrew their selves from the Covenant

of Christ. And they're operating as if they as if

though they are still saved. They're operating as if they

are still a functioning part of the Church of Jesus Christ,

and they're going through the activities.

Of the church.

But they do not have the Covenant in place, or

they do not have the power of.

God working in their lives. So I just.

Want to ask you a simple question right now, When

is the last time you have pursued Jesus with the

same fervency you did when you were first saved. Have

you lost your first love or do you still have

a white hot passion for Jesus.

Or is he the last thing that comes to mind?

And here's how we gauge that we look at our

lives and what's going on, and if our last resort

is to carry it.

To Jesus, Come on, somebody. If our last.

Resort is to carry it to Jesus, that means we're

not in a close relationship. We may not be unsaved,

but we're definitely not in a close, thriving relationship with Jesus.

When something happens in my life, the first thing I

think of is God help me. Driving down the road,

somebody pulls out in front of me, I swerve, I say,

oh Jesus. Never once, not one time, have I ever

been driving down the road pastor Gary pulls out in

front of me.

And I swerve.

Never once have I thought to myself, Oh Buddha. Never

once have I screamed out of the abutance of my heart.

Oh Allah.

It's oh Jesus, because he's who I have a relationship with,

because he is the true living God, and his desire

is the best for me is to protect me. It's

to provide for me, but it's also to discipline me

and to guide me and take me from glory to glory,

deeper and more mature in the things of God, so

that I operate in peace no matter.

What comes my way.

When we face the toughest adversities, we'll navigate in the

peace of God. When there's not enough love and the

love offering every month, I don't panic.

I know God's got it.

If God decides that somebody else is better to do

this than me, I'm okay, because God's got me.

God's got you. Like I tell the board once here,

I'm looking for a job when I found this one. Amen.

So I just I'm good with it.

I just want what Jesus wants.

Because I talk to him every single day and I

spend time with him every single day.

And that's what a relationship is.

It's not a get out of jail free, it's not

a bail me out card. It is a thriving relationship.

And that's what the people in Jude were missing. They

did not have that sacred, intimate individual experience and encounter

the true power of God.

We sang about it today.

The greatest miracle is not the things we see in

our eyes. The greatest miracle is that our names are

written in heaven. The greatest, most powerful move is when

somebody experiences God for the very first time. And at

no time in history have we been more positioned as

the Church to see a mighty outpouring and a people

coming to the faith than we are right now.

Because people are scared.

Every time they turn on the television and they see

the news, They're afraid of whatever's coming next.

And I want you to understand, it's not because of

a person. It's not because of a people.

It's because we battle principalities and powers. It's because the

enemy is working hard because he knows the days are

getting short. He knows that we're living in that time

frame where Jesus is going to elevate the church and

set us as a city on a hill, because now

is the day for the kingdom to move.

Now is the time for God to receive glory.

We've waited and now we are perfectly positioned in space

and time to see one of the greatest outpourings we've

ever seen on the face of the earth.

Because Jesus is ready to come for his bride.

Y'all have made me sweat today. In first John chapter one.

It says, if we say that we have fellowship with

him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not

practice the truth. But if we walk in the light

as he is in the light, we have fellowship with

one another.

Let me just he says.

Listen, if we're walking in the light as he is

in the light, here's how you're gonna know it.

We have fellowship with each other.

Did you know fellowship is just as spiritual a principle as.

Anything else we do.

That fellowship and connectivity and the body is just as

important as singing, as preaching, as all of those other things,

because it all works together to make us the family

of God, so.

We can walk in the power of God.

He says, if we have fellowship with him and walk

in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as he's in

the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the

blood of Christ, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son,

cleanses us.

From all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,

and the truth is not in us.

He says.

If we pretend like everything is okay. If we just

pretend like everything is good, and we just smile through it,

and we just hope nobody just hope nobody checks our

browser history. We hope nobody follows us there. We hope

we don't talk in our sleep, and we say, y'all

feel me. That's why everybody's looking at me like a

caffet at you gate, because here's the reality is that

we all struggle. We all struggle, and the point of

this message is not to make you feel bad. The

point of this message is to say that the blood

of Jesus Christ covers the sins of those who are

in the world and those who have messed up and

fallen in the church. And just like we celebrate someone

who is just getting saved for the very first time,

we also celebrate those people who have gone through a

season of brokenness, a series of badness visions, and they

repent and they come back to the Lord and they say,

restore my relationship because I want your power, I want

to feel you, I want to express who you are

through my actions so that I live loud in the world.

This is not a country club that excludes it's one

who calls each other up that we're there for one

another and we're a support system to help each other

walk in the trueness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now,

I just I know that the last couple of three weeks,

this is I want to assure you. Next week, next week,

you're gonna shout more. Next week, you're gonna shout more.

We're gonna get right today. Next week, we're gonna shout more. Amen,

we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, If we confess our sins.

He is faithful and he is just.

He is faithful and he is just to forgive us

our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Not mine. I've messed up too many times. You don't

know what I've done.

It just says all. It says all. Doesn't matter how

bad you've messed up. It doesn't matter where you've been,

It doesn't matter how you've doubted, It doesn't.

Matter what you're afraid of. It says all.

Every single sin, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If

we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar,

and his word is not in us. If we say

we haven't sinned, we make him a liar because he

tells us that all is sin and falls short of

the glory of God.

You know. Uh, I got.

Several several calls in several conversations about this last week

because there was that whole thing going around that the

rapture was going to happen.

Y'all are laughing, but listen, I'm trying to be serious.

Don't get me tickle while I'm trying to do this, this.

Whole thing that with the rapture. And somebody called me like, hey,

I've been seeing these roads. I say, the rapture's going

to happen. What do you think?

And I'm like, well, explain it a little bit to it.

I had not I actually hadn't heard about it. I

don't really hang out with a lot of preachers because

they're weird, so I don't really hang out with them,

and so so I said, no, tell me about it,

and uh, they say, oh, well, this guy, this guy,

I think they said, this guy in Africa had a

vision that the Lord showed him that the rapture was

going to happen. I said, oh, yeah, well, then it's not.

And they said, well, how do you say that. I said, well,

because the Bible is clear that nobody knows the day

or the hour. So if he says nobody's going to know,

why is he then going to go tell somebody? That

makes him a lie. Listen, and this is my reasoning

beyond that that makes God a liar. And if God

is a liar, there is no rapture because he's not God,

because God is only God if everything he says is true,

because he can't lie. I said, so either way, there's

no rapture coming. It either can't because he lied, or

it can't because he told the truth. Either if he's lying,

it's not coming. If he's telling the truth, it's not coming.

Just logically, it's not coming. But you might should take

care of anything that made.

You want to call me and ask.

Right, because I'm telling you, listen, if a song comes.

On the radio, there's this song. I listen to oldies,

and there's this song.

Because it's always got like a saxophone introter, even though

the name of the song. But every time, I say,

just in case that's the trump and I want to be.

Ready to outrun y'all.

I want to be at the top looking back seeing

y'all get there, because I'm gonna have my glorified body,

so I won't be fast. I'll be fast, gonna be

fast like LEXI used to say, look how fast I am, daddy,

And I just never had the heart to tell her, baby,

you just like me.

You shlow, listen.

She used to get to I know that I'm digressing here,

but I got seven minutes, only got about four more

minutes worth of preaching, So we're good. I coached her

high school team of softball. She would get to first

base and she would look at me. She'd say, not,

was I fast?

Not? Did I hit it good?

Not? She'd say did I look fast? I say, yeah,

maybe you look fast. You look fast.

But here's the reality.

We live in such a relationship with God that we

think we can hide from him the same things we

hide from people. The man can come and get ready.

But God doesn't look on the outside. God doesn't look

on the outside where things are hidden. God looks at

the heart of a man, and at the very heart

of a man, everything is revealed. So you're not sitting

here fooling God, making him think you're something you're not.

As a matter of fact, he looks at you, and

he with tears running down his face. He's saying, there's more.

There's more to your experience with me, There's more to

your relationship with me. There is more taste, and see

that I am good. I'm not a hateful God who's

looking to punish you. I'm a blessing God who is

wanting to bless you. Just come to me. In Matthew eleven,

verse twenty eight, it says, come to me, all you.

Who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give

you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for

I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will

find rest for your soul, not your flesh, your soul.

Your mind's, your will, and your emotions. Because sin keeps

you tangled up.

Sin keeps you anxious and nervous on the inside. You're

always afraid that something's going to be found, that something's

going to be knowing you, and that sin weighs you

down and it causes you to make bad decision after

bad decision because you're always trying to cover something up

and create space and distance away. But the only way

to get away from sin is to repent and just

simply ask the blood.

Of Jesus to wash you clean. He says, my yoke

is easy and my burden is light. Quit carrying that for.

Which you were never meant to carry. Everybody's staying with me.

You know, God didn't desire you to carry the weight

of sin. He created Adam and Eve in an innocent

state to operate in perfect relationship with him, And when

sin entered the world, it mixed everything up, and suddenly

humanity began to carry the weight of sin. At about

two thousand years ago, Jesus sent his son, the Father Sin,

his son Jesus. Okay, let me go ahead and just

retract that somebody Jesus had no son.

Okay, now, I don't want to get that started. The

Father sent his son.

To carry the weight of sin of all humanity.

That when he was suspended on the cross.

Hanging between Earth and Heaven, your sin was placed on him,

and he desires to carry that weight because.

He's the only one that can.

So, if you're here and listen, it doesn't matter if

you're a teen captain, it doesn't matter if you're a

group leader. It doesn't matter if you're a board member.

It doesn't matter if you're here for the very first time.

None of that matters. All that matters is that you

realize that you are carrying sin in your life and

you're not meant.

To carry it, and the blood of Jesus.

Will wash you clean and set you free from that

weight and that pain and that struggle.

And it's time that we stop creating this scenario.

If I can't let anybody know that I've messed up,

I can't let anybody know that I have situations and

circumstances in my life and realize that repentance needs to

be a daily process in the life of the believer.

It's not something dirty to be hidden, it's something to

be done. And the like as He is in the light,

we should be in the light. I'm going to ask

our alter team to come one more time.

And if you're here.

Today, maybe you've never maybe you've never asked Jesus to

forgive you of your sin and be the lord of

your life. Ever, I want to invite you to do

that today. But maybe you're here and you just you're

carrying guilt and shame, You're carrying unrepented sin. You know

that if you stood before God right now, he would

not see you as clean. But today you want to

make that right, we want to pray for you. There's

no judgment, there's only celebration. There's no harsh criticism, there's

only joy.

So if you're here.

And you want to just come to the Lord and say,

I'm giving you everything.

All that stuff I've held back, all that stuff that

I've hidden.

Turning it over to you. Jesus given it to you.

On the count of three, I want you to step

out and move one, two, three, step out and come

right now. If you would say, I just need you, Lord,

I need you to forgive me and wash me clean.

I need you to store that close fervent relationship.

Listen, the band's gonna sing.

And as you sit there and you ponder in your heart,

the altars are open.

We're waiting to pray for you. Clean less worship,