VICTORY & VICES | PASTOR LUKE LEZON

Welcome to Key Church, everybody. Y'all

can take a seat. Man, it is so great to

see you and to be here with you all this

morning. I am so grateful that we are

gathered together in this house. And I'm

grateful because today we are continuing

in our collection of conversations that

we've been in since the earth cooled

called Node Rivals. Uh no rivals is a

collection. It's a discussion where we

are living and lingering in the book of

Colossians. And we see that there's this

really heavy focus and fixation on

Jesus, on Christ's lordship and really a

strong declaration of his sufficiency

and supremacy and what it looks like for

you and I, we as a redeemed people to

participate in the death, the

resurrection, and the fullness of life

that can only be found in him. And so we

see that Paul is writing this letter,

this epistle under unique circumstances.

He's in prison, but more than that, he's

neither planted nor visited this church.

And in the midst of that uh we see that

there was a man named Epris who would

hear Paul preach the gospel in Ephesus

take the gospel message all the way back

inland to a city called Colassi where

under his preaching and teaching and

love and leadership we see this

beautiful community of Jesus followers

starts to sprout forth and in that Epris

would become a friend and a collaborer

of Paul's. And so even while Paul is in

prison, Epifris is bringing a report as

to how the church in Colossia is doing.

And we see that the report is overall

very positive. And yet at the same time,

we recognize that there are cultural

pressures in their day that they are

facing. And there are false teachers

that are kind of swarming and swirling

around the church and even trying to

infiltrate it. And so Paul is going to

challenge them. Hey, address the issues

of your day and also make sure that you

are being encouraged into greater

devotion to the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we're going to be in Colossians

3:es 1-1. We have made it to Colossians

3, folks. That's where we're going to

be. Don't everybody flip there at once.

Colossians 3 verse 1 through 11. Last

Colossians 3:1–11

week, uh, we ended up talking about how

Jesus Christ has been victorious for us.

Anybody grateful for that? That Jesus

has triumphed. Um, and we really talked

about, and um, many people on the

internet have disagreed with me. uh that

that we see that uh Romans would say

there are debatable issues and there are

things that are not debatable and among

those debatable issues you don't need to

fight about those but rather you need to

recognize kind of where you stand on

certain things that are not salvific

amazing uh but I told you guys that

really we shouldn't be judging one

another last week but those of you that

love to judge people you're going to

love today uh and so uh raise your hand

if that's you like you're just excited

uh we're going to walk through a couple

of vice lists here that Paul will list.

And so the question that I really just

want to put at the forefront of your

mind as we enter into this text is Jesus

Christ has been victorious.

So why do I still have these vices? What

do I do with those? So let's read

Colossians 3:1. Y'all ready for the

Colossians 3:1

word?

>> It says, "So if you've been raised with

Christ, seek the things above where

Christ is seated at the right hand of

God. Set your minds on things above, not

on earthly things. For you died and your

life is hidden with Christ in God. When

Christ who is your life, I love that.

Who is your life appears, then you will

also appear with him in glory.

Therefore, uh just shout amen when you

hear your vice listed here. Um

therefore, put to death what belongs to

your earthly nature. Uh sexual

immorality. All right. Impurity.

Hey, listen. There's healing in

confession, folks. All right.

Hey, she might be the only person here

that's actually getting healed today.

Some of y'all are like, "Not me." We'll

talk about it. Don't worry. Impurity.

Any takers? Lust, evil desire, greed,

which is idolatry. Because of these,

God's wrath is coming upon the

disobedient. And you once walked in

these things when you were living in

them. But now, put away all the

following. All right, we got another

list for those of you that were

dishonest with the first one. anger,

wrath, malice, slander, and filthy

language from your mouth. Do not lie to

one another. Since you've put off the

old self with its practices, and have

put on the new self, you are being

renewed in knowledge according to the

image of your creator. In Christ, there

is not Greek and Jews, circumcision and

uncircumcision, barbarian, cyian, slave,

and free, but Christ is all and in all.

Praise God. Uh let's pray together this

morning and just go before our father

who we've enthroned upon the praises of

his people and say Lord um you're high

and lifted up in this place. Uh and

there's not a single person in here that

could try to take your seat. There's not

a single idolatrous thing that we're

dealing with in our life that could

supersede where it is that you sit,

which is at the right hand of the

father. And so, Lord, we're we're here

and we're grateful beyond belief for the

truth of this gospel message. And Lord,

at the same time, uh I know that we've

got people in here that are dealing with

things

uh Lord, many of which have been listed.

The truth of the matter is if we were

all as honest as my sister who shouted

at the very first turn, the fact of the

matter is um we we all could have

shouted for for one of those, maybe all

of them. Uh and so Lord, would you bring

healing in this place? But God, more

than that, would you put steel in our

spines for the fight that ensues? Uh

Lord, we're believing that after today,

we'll look even just a little bit more

like you. Lord, we love you. We praise

you. We ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

Well, on June the 6th, 1944, it was a

day that would later on effectively

become known as D-Day. And we see that

it was the day that Allied forces during

World War II would invade Normandy. Uh

that Allied forces would land on and

storm the beaches of Normandy and would

win a decisive victory that would be a

shadow of a doubt determine the outcome

of World War II. But it wasn't without

brutality and casualties. In fact,

somewhere between 8,500 and 13,500 total

troops ended up perishing. 4,400 of

which were Allied soldiers, 2,5001

of which were US troops. And we see that

they won this victory that would

determine the outcome of the war because

we were able to get a foothold in

France, which meant the inevitable

defeat of Nazi Germany. But you know

what's fascinating is that after

securing that victory on June the 6th,

1944, it was not then declared on June

the 7th that there was no longer any

fighting that was going to have to

happen in association with the war that

had been won. Uh it's actually

interesting. There had been a

fundamental change in the outcome of the

war. Uh but at the same time, the

fighting wasn't declared as done on June

the 7th. Wasn't declared done in June.

Wasn't declared done that summer. It

would continue on for well over a year.

that troops did not pack up and go home.

But for well over a year there would be

the clearing out of this Nazi regime.

That we see that while victory was

inevitable, total liberation wasn't

immediate. That the war had been won,

but there were still battles that needed

to be fought. That the soldiers didn't

pack up and go home. They stayed there.

They knew that fighting was required for

the liberating of certain individuals in

different towns all throughout Europe in

places like Belgium and France, Germany

itself and the Netherlands that there

were enemy strongholds that needed to be

eliminated. Ultimate victory had been

secured and yet at the same time there

was enemy territory that was occupied

that still needed to be eliminated and

liberated. And I say that to you today

because that's the Christian life.

That's the Christian life. Allied

soldiers secure the victory with D-Day.

But there's a mop-up operation that

would continue after that. And can I

tell anyone that's in here today that's

going, "Man, I just feel so defeated."

You are not fighting for victory. You're

fighting from victory in Christ Jesus.

But that doesn't mean you won't face

resistance. Uh for some of us, the

greatest frustration for us is that you

come into this place and you just feel

like maybe if I show up here enough, one

day Jesus is just going to sprinkle

Jesus dust on all of my struggles and I

will float out of here. And you're

going, "What is going on? Why can't this

just be over for me? I'm still battling

all of these sins in my life that just

feel like they've got some strongholds."

And the thing that you need to

understand is that for the believer in

Jesus, D-Day is essentially the day that

Jesus Christ stepped out of the tomb

over sin and over death. The war has

been won, but there's still a mop-up

operation in the life of the believer

that we see that we still have some

occupied territory in our lives where we

can fight from victory knowing that

those besetting sins in our life that we

struggle so much with, we are not

powerless to them. But because of the

spirit of God who now resides on the

inside of us, we're not slaves to them

and we can fight them. And so some of

us, you just need to suit up again. You

just need to suit up again. Uh it's

amazing. Uh if you recall whenever we

entered into Colossians which again

feels kind of like eons ago uh we

entered into Colossians and I tried to

be upfront with the fact that uh we see

a clear pattern and presentation in

Colossians, right? We see that there is

in the first two chapters a lot of

doctrinal and theological language

that's going to be listed out. Uh and

then we saw that in chapters 3 and four

there was going to be a lot of practical

and reassuring language. And it was

essential that we didn't just move

through chapters 1 and two as quick as

humanly possible, but rather we needed

to make sure that we had that

theological foundation, a doctrinal

foundation, particularly around who

Jesus is and the christoologgical

realities of him laid out for us in

scripture that we then as believers

could go, okay, how do we build upon

this theological foundation that we have

primarily that we've discussed in

Christ? What are the practical

applications and implications of

building on him? And can I tell you,

we've gone through chapters 1 and two,

and it's been pivotal for us because you

have to start with a theological

foundation. If you start with practical

application and just kind of tips and

tricks, then you're going to think that

in and of your own strength, you can

make a way for yourself that you cannot.

We started with a theological foundation

as to who Jesus is. And just by way of a

brief review, if you recall, we talked

about the fact that Jesus Christ is the

creator and sustainer of the universe.

More so than that, we see that he's also

the redeemer of all broken things as a

result of sin entering the world. That

he's the one that would take that

certificate of debt that was levied

against you and would be able to say,

"Hey, I'm erasing everything that's on

that certificate of debt and its

obligations." How? By the cross, by his

own blood, he would mark out, erase

everything that was on that certificate

of debt. And furthermore, he would

triumph after seizing all weapons from

the enemy. And it's important for us to

understand that we have clearly laid out

here that Jesus Christ is Lord. But we

have to start with that theological

foundation because the truth of the

matter is there are a lot of us that we

will sing and we will say Jesus Christ

is King and Jesus Christ is Lord, but we

treat him like a consultant and a life

coach more than King and Lord. Uh that

for many of us, we're like, "Hey, I I'm

down with Jesus giving me spiritual

advice. I'm even down with a little bit

of guidance. I could use it." But the

second that there's something that Jesus

says that we disagree with, we will do

whatever theological or mental

gymnastics that are necessary in order

to kind of work around that and fit

Jesus into our own image rather than

being conformed into his. We all of a

sudden say, "I want to make you fit my

own personal preferences." But the issue

with that is that we've acknowledged him

as Lord. And there are way too many

Christians that are praying an oxymoron.

And that oxymoron goes like this. No

Lord.

No Lord. No Lord is an oxymoron.

If he's Lord of your life, he gets to

define your life. You don't get to

redefine your life based upon what you

wish he said. He's Lord of your life.

And we do what he said. But we do it all

the time. We'll say, "Lord, I want you

to be forgiving toward me, but you don't

get to tell me what I do with my

finances. I want you to be loving

towards me, but I don't want to have to

be loving towards my enemies. I want you

to say that my sins are forgiven, but I

don't think you should have a say in my

sex life. No Lord is an oxymoron.

To quote a good pastoral friend of mine

in Dallas, uh, who I would

affectionately refer to as Papa

Chandler, he would say it like this.

Jesus is not the top priority on your

list of priorities. He's the piece of

paper your priorities are written upon.

He's so much more than what it is that

we make him out to be. He's everything.

He's our life. And so you see as you

enter in to Colossians chapter 3,

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

beginning in verse one, it would say

here, so if you've been raised with

Christ, seek the things above where

Christ is seated at the right hand of

God. Uh now, it's interesting. Remember,

as we enter into chapter 3, Paul has

been confronting and exposing all of

this deception and frustration that are

being caused by all of these false

teachers in the city of Colassi.

Specifically, he's spent considerable

time making sure that we are killing the

idea that you can achieve some level of

spiritual elitism by ritualism or

legalism. He's been killing the idea

that you can just experience more or

that you can just end up performing

better in order to earn better standing

before God. And so, we see that after he

does that here, he makes it clear that

it's by Christ alone that we are even in

a position to where we can come to God

and say, "You are our father. we've been

reconciled to you through the blood of

your son. We see that he would make that

clear to us that it's our Lord Jesus

Christ who triumphed that we can come to

the father through him. And now he says,

"So if you've been raised, which if

you're like me, you don't like the word

if." You like can I just like what if is

like half of what goes on right here.

You know what I'm saying? We got any

what if people that are in this place?

If is the worst word ever. There's so

many things on the other side of if. And

I'm here to tell you most of them are

bad in my mind. Uh I don't go if and

then think good things. I go if and

they're all bad. And so when I see So if

you've been raised with Christ, there

are probably some of you that overthink

professionally that are going, "Have I

been raised with Christ? Am I saved? I

don't know. Is this good? I think I'm

going to hell. I don't know what the

deal is. I thought I've done it. Do I

need to pray the prayer again? I saw

Justin baptizing people. Do I need to

get baptized? Does it matter who I get

baptized by? Luke, can you baptize me?

Can someone do something like actually

Luke's a mess? Can can man baptize me?

LIKE WE DO ALL THESE things

and the if there's not supposed to make

us doubting or questioning if you've

been raised with Christ. He's saying

more so in light of the fact that you've

been raised with Christ because you've

been raised with Christ. Now what? Now

what what does that mean? What do we do

from there? Uh Charles Spurgeon, who I

think I've quoted more than anybody else

from this pulpit, uh he he was born in

1834. or he died in 1892. He began

preaching in 1851. So, you do the math

there. Uh, but you see, Charles Spurgeon

is called the prince of preachers for

good reason. I mean, I oftentimes I will

write a message and then I'll read

whatever Spurgeon had to say about it

and if there's something I'm off on, I

know I'm wrong. He's definitely right.

And what we see though is that with this

particular passage, he would lay out

just beautifully a metaphor that I think

could help us in the way that we think

about what it is that Paul is saying

here. Um, and he would lay out the

metaphor for for resurrection,

co-resurrection with Christ here in the

form of a seed. And he says this, the

buried seed rises from the ground, but

but not as a seed, for it puts forth a

green leaf and bud and stem and

gradually develops expanding flower and

fruit. And even so, we wear new form,

for we are renewed after the image of

him that created us in righteousness and

holiness. There was corruption in our

mind and it was working irresistibly

toward every evil and offensive thing.

In many the corruption did not appear on

the surface but it worked within. In

others it was conspicuous and fearful to

look upon. How great the change. For now

the power of corruption within us is

broken. Anybody grateful. And the new

life has overcome it. For it is a living

and incorruptible seed which liveth and

abideth forever. That corruption is upon

the old nature, but it cannot touch the

new, which is our true and real self.

If you've been because you've been

raised with Christ, beautiful things are

sprouting forth. Now, because you've

been raised with Christ, we have been

made alive in him. We were not just bad.

We were dead in our sin, but we've ma

been made alive in Jesus Christ. How? We

see that Paul would say, "It's not by

striving. It's not by anything that

you've done, but it's by grace alone

through faith alone on the foundation of

the finished work of Jesus Christ alone

that you have been saved. That you were

outside of the house and you've been

brought into the family of God. That you

were standing in opposition to God as a

result of your own sin. But through the

finished work of Jesus, we've

experienced adoption into God's family.

And so, we as a people can come together

and go, there was an old nature that I

had on, but now I'm a new creation.

those old clothes don't fit anymore,

that I'm walking in the new. And so he

says, "So if you've been raised with

Christ, seek the things above where

Christ is seated at the right hand of

God. Set your minds on things above, not

on earthly things." So you see that Paul

kind of doubles down here. He says, uh,

so if you've been raised with Christ,

seek things above. And then you see that

he would say, "Set your mind on things

above, not on earthly things." Uh so to

kind of continue the metaphor of seed,

if you think about it, we have a new

positional foundation in Jesus Christ.

And there are practical implications to

what that will look like in our life

that the positional foundation we

experience is that we've been planted in

the soil of the gospel. And the gospel's

gotten into us. And so there are

practical implications for what it looks

like to be planted in the soil of the

gospel. It matters where you're planted.

Do we understand this? You cannot be

planted in the world and expect to

experience the same things if you're

planted in the gospel. That we see

actually you cannot bear heavenly fruit

if you're planted in earthly soil.

There's got to be a different change in

where it is that you're planted. Paul

says if because you've been raised with

Christ, you're planted in that soil.

You're planted in the soil of the

gospel. Seek the things above. It's not

like you're just saved and then it's

like I can think about whatever I want.

He said, "No, it it matters what you're

doing with your minds. In fact, he would

go on to say, "So, if you've been raised

with Christ, seek the things above."

Why? Because it's where Christ is

seated. It's where he is at the right

hand of God. We've submitted our lives

to Jesus Christ. Yes, we acknowledge

that he's ruling and reigning, that he

is Lord. And so, we are not setting our

minds on all of the things that are

trending below, but the one who's

reigning above. And I think we

understand that the attention of our

mind will determine the direction of our

life. Another uh pastor friend uh who

often will will preach on the attention

of our minds would say it like this that

what you think about you care about.

What you care about you chase. That we

move in the direction of our strongest

thoughts often in our lives. And so we

see here that Paul would say in verses

1-4 in total here. So if you've been

raised with Christ, seek the things

above where Christ is seated at the

right hand of God. Set your mind on

things above, not on earthly things. for

you died and your life is hidden with

Christ in God. When Christ who is your

life appears, then you also will appear

with him in glory. It says that you're

hidden. Uh the idea is not necessarily

concealed but secured. Uh that we've

died and we're hidden in Christ, that

we're eternally secure in him. And you

see that there's this beautiful flow

throughout the passage so far. Even in

just the first four verses where you see

that there's direction that we're given.

Uh there's an identification for that

journey and even a destination that's

given transformation that's happening

along the way. Do you notice that he

says set your mind on things above? Be

seeking those things because that's

where Christ is seated. He he says

you're seeking those things that you

have direction from heaven while living

your life on earth and you also have

identification for that journey that

you've died. you're hidden in Christ,

that he is your very life. And it says,

"And you'll appear with him in glory."

That when all things are said and done,

you know that you're not just becoming

like him, you will be with him and like

him. Uh and so we see here that we have

to behold Christ, seek him. We see that

we also belong to him. We're hidden in

him. He's our life. And at the same

time, we're becoming like him. That

there's a transformation that's

happening in the believer. That we're

these seeds planted in the soil of the

gospel. be beautiful things are are

sprouting forth. And in that process, we

see that it all culminates with us being

with him. And so up until this point,

Paul has made a really strong case for

Jesus not being another guy, but for

being God. And what does he say? He says

Jesus Christ is the creator and

sustainer of the universe. That he is

sufficiency and supremacy. That he's

ruling and he's reigning. It says that

he is our rescuer and our redeemer. And

after going through all of these

indicatives as to who Jesus is, now we

see that he'll move to the imperatives

of what must we do with what it is that

is true. Does that make sense? All

right, Dr. Seuss, move on. Uh, and look

at what it says here

in verse 5 through 7 again. Uh, we see

that Paul is going to lay out a list of

vices. Uh, but what's interesting is

that in these two lists, um, he'll he'll

swap how he moves through things. We see

that on this first list of vices, he'll

move from external action to internal

motivation. And then when we swap that

list of vices, he'll end up moving from

internal motivation to external action.

And so he's saying, hey, this is this is

a battle that you might have to fight on

multiple fronts. Okay? And so you see

that he would list out what those things

are here for us when he says,

"Therefore, put to death what belongs to

your earthly nature."

sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil

desire, and greed, which is idolatry.

Because of these, God's wrath is coming

upon the disobedient.

And you once walked in these things when

you were living in them.

It's interesting. Um, from 1990 to 2003,

the most popular show in Las Vegas was

um, Sig Freed and Roy. Anybody familiar

with Sig Freeden Roy? Any of you guys

big big frequenters in here?

like you know so there will be an alter

call you're good like um so so it it's

interesting

between that time from 1990 to 2003 Sig

Freed and Roy was the most popular show

in Las Vegas and to put it in a sentence

the show was popular because Sig Freed

Fishbacher and Roy Horn had somehow

created a show where they were telling

apex predators what to do uh so they had

lions and tigers and bears oh my that

they would get into a cage with and they

would tell them to do stuff that you

would tell your puppy to do. So they'd

be like, "Fetch." And that Bengal tiger

would go fetching something. They would

say, "Jump through this flaming hoop."

And at the snap of a finger, it would

happen. And people were mind blown by

how they could make this happen. Why is

it that these fierce predators would end

up obeying them? And they did until they

didn't.

In October of 2003, Roy Horn was in the

midst of a show performing like usual

with a white tiger that he was very

familiar with. And while he was doing

what he always did, telling an apex

predator what to do, the apex predator

decided that he didn't feel like being

told what to do. And he lunged at Roy

Horn. He grabbed him with his jaws by

the back of Royy's neck. And Roy found

out the hard way that punching a Bengal

tiger isn't really effective. It dragged

him off of the stage, much to the horror

of everybody that was a part of that

show. And somehow miraculously, the

trainer was able to help set Roy free.

He was rushed to the hospital,

miraculously escaped with his life, but

in the process he would be paralyzed for

the rest of his life, and his career was

effectively over. And I got to tell you,

it it was amazing listening to

interviews from people that were a part

of the show and listening to what they

had to say about what they thought had

happened and what's kind of running

through their mind in the aftermath. And

I want to read some of them to you just

so that I can see kind of where we all

land on this. Uh, one of the individuals

interviewed said, "We are just stunned.

There's no explanation for it. The tiger

must have been playing. He definitely

wasn't attacking."

When asked why they thought the tiger

wasn't attacking after the attack,

he said, "Because he's close with the

tiger."

Okay.

Another said, "We don't understand.

The tiger was acting outside of his

character."

when asked why they would say that, he

said,

"He's usually quite under control."

And um

you know, at this point, like my jaw is

on the floor

cuz I've never heard dumber statements

in my life.

And I feel comfortable saying that

before you. That's the dumbest thing

I've ever heard in my life.

You think the tiger, you know, do you

guys know what a tiger is? You you think

that a tiger

was acting outside of its character,

misbehaving?

Like, are we talk like like strong, fast

claws, fangs, built-in camouflage

designed to end life with ease? You

think that it was out of character that

that tiger just one day was like, "I'm

kind of sick of this tiny little guy

telling me what to do.

I I must be missing something.

And here's the issue. And and by the

way, there there are several. Uh but

issue number one, getting into the ring

with a full-grown tiger. Bad idea. Issue

number two, feeling comfortable with a

tiger. But the issue that prevails above

them all is that you thought you could

control a tiger.

And there are some of you that are in

here and you are raising pet sins that

you think you can control and it will

eat you alive if you don't shoot it

today.

And there's a popular phrase that the

Puritans made really known at one point

that I think needs to make its way back

into our church and it's mortification.

The putting to death of sin. Put it to

death. I think there are a lot of us

right now that are raising these little

kittens that we think are not that big

of a deal. That we think it's just kind

of fine. We think that we have it under

control, but one day that kitten's going

to be full grown and when it's a tiger,

it will kill you. And you think that

it's unthreatening right now, but it

will be the eventual undoing of you if

you do not put it to death. But what we

start doing is we start rationalizing,

redefining, repressing sin. We make it

something else even though we know we

should be putting it to death. And so

you end up rationalizing your sin and

going, "I'm not lying. I'm just not

telling the whole truth." Uh you end up

finding yourself in a place where you're

redefining it. I'm not gossiping. I'm

just I'm venting. You start repressing

it. I know that uh the the two become

one flesh and and I really shouldn't

have anything that's off limits to my

spouse, but I just feel like it's kind

of weird to not have some privacy,

right? Like they shouldn't have access

to all the things on my phone. At least

let me delete some things before you

take a look at it. Uh like we start to

try to make sense of all of these

things, but we're not called to manage

our sin, make excuses for our sin, but

for the mortification of our sin to put

it to death. And so Paul says, "Kill it.

Kill it. don't care what you think about

the analogy of kittens being killed.

Kill it. He says, "Take it serious

because the second you don't take it

serious, you're going to really wish

that that thing wasn't alive when your

head's in the back of its mouth."

And so he talks about this list and it

goes from external action to internal

motivation. And he says, "Put to death

what?" Sexual immorality.

Sexual immorality comes from the Greek

word porna. It's where we get our word

pornography. It means sexual excess and

indulgence. Uh and really there's a

broad uh amount of things that would fit

underneath that. It's a broad umbrella

that sexual immorality ends up

encompassing. Uh in fact, it would

include anything any sexual activity or

relationship that is outside of the one

that God designed for your flourishing.

So that would include things like

adultery, incest, homosexuality,

prostitution, premarital sex, anything

that is outside of God's design for sex.

And by the way, just so we're clear,

God's design for sex is one man, one

woman within the context and the

covenant of marriage. And I think it's

important, especially uh and let me just

say, I think it's important this month

to say something about that. I I think

often times

[applause]

I think often times

first off we don't understand the

scriptures

but you see a lot of people will be like

well Jesus didn't say anything about sex

that's weird that you would say that um

because in Matthew 19:4-6

Matthew 19:4–6

Jesus said haven't you heard that he who

created them in the beginning made the

male and female. Then he also said, "For

this reason, a man will leave his father

and mother and be joined to his wife,

and the two will become one flesh." So

they're no longer two, but one flesh.

Therefore, what God has joined together,

let no one separate. That feels pretty

clear to me. God's super pro- sex. Stop

emailing me about Song of Songs. We

can't do it again. Like, like I'm I'm

serious, y'all. Stop. Seriously, driving

me crazy. And

>> yeah, see you in February. We're He's

anti the distortion of sex. Super pro

sex. Anti the distortion of it. Now, now

let me say something is I I realized we

clap and and like listen, anything

that's being talked about around the

water cooler, I'm going to talk about

it. Um but but I think we also need to

understand there's something about

sexual sin, man, it it gets in your

bones.

And I just want to say for any of you

that feel like, man, I I I'm I'm on that

list of things that you just said. I I

don't know that God can do anything with

me. That's not the gospel. That's not

the gospel. Any of you that feel like,

hey, well, I'm struggling in one of

those or other sexual sins that you

didn't list. If you feel like God can't

redeem you, you don't hear the gospel

clearly. Listen to me. One of the

earliest church fathers, Augustine, who

is one of the most influential church

fathers, uh he was a sex addict. And and

it's very widely known that Augustine

was a sex addict. And there's a story

that he would tell where he wandered

into one of the towns that he had once

been in where he had frequented the

company of women. I'll say it like that.

Uh and as he did, one of the women that

he had been with at one point came up to

him and whispered into his ear,

"Augustine, it is I." And he looked back

at her and he said, "Yes, ma'am, but it

is not I, for I am a new creation." And

so for many of you, you just need to

know that the Lord is not beyond

redeeming you.

If he could do it for me, he can do it

for you. promise you. Promise you. But

Paul does continue. He says sexual

immorality and he keeps working

backwards into the heart and he says

impurity which here that word just means

dirtiness or filthiness in the context

here obviously of sexual activity. It's

interesting that word for impurity would

often be used uh in Greek medical

literature to talk about infected

wounds. So if immorality is the action

that then impurity is really uh the

environment or the atmosphere in which

that happens. He he continues on and he

moves from sexual immorality to impurity

to then lusting and evil desire. This

hitting home for anyone? Uh he moves

into lusting, which I know nobody in

here does, but hypothetically speaking

for your friends that go to other

churches, this is what it means.

There's often something that is

observable externally that awakens evil

desire internally.

Um, guys, let me say it like this and

then ladies, don't worry. I got

something for you, too. Um,

guys, it's it's that thing in you

where you got excited when you opened up

a new show on Netflix and you saw in

that top left corner why it's rated R

and nudity was one of the things it's

listed for

and you were looking forward to the

nudity in that show. Uh, let me let me

just put my hands in the air. Uh my wife

and I were watching a show a couple of

months ago and it was totally fine and

then all of a sudden it was just like

all of this unnecessary nudity and I was

like Lindsay why did you insist on us

watching this? And um

no that didn't happen.

This is what you wanted. Uh

but actually she would she would

actually promise you you can go talk to

her after except at this point. Can I

stay at someone's house tonight? Does

anyone like God? Um um

I I actually I actually said to her,

"Hey, I um I don't I don't want to watch

this anymore. It's It's just It's not

good for me. I don't need that. I don't

need that." Uh and and I think ladies, I

know you're all like, "Men are pigs. Can

I get a witness?" Um

let's talk about the books you read. Oh.

Oh.

Oh, he knows.

See, cuz what you like is it it doesn't

feel as bad cuz it's not visual, but it

paints the same images. It's it's just

pornography in book form.

And you love reading about these things

that your loser husband doesn't do. And

why isn't he look chiseled? And like,

you know, why isn't he 6'8 and look like

an angel? And like, you know, all these

all this stuff.

All of it

awakens evil desires which is just what

are those proclivities that you have?

Those things that get awakened in you.

Do you know what you can tolerate and

not tolerate?

Do you know the snares that so easily

bring you into sin? Hebrews chapter 12

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

would say, "What is that for you?" And

so it's interesting Paul would continue

and he would say greed.

sexual immorality and then greed.

But if you think about it,

what insight

greed is? I want more of what's

forbidden from me and I could not care

less what it means for you.

I want for me, even if it's at your

expense, I want whatever I want,

whenever I want, however I want,

and I want it right now.

And by the way, that that can be

something that happens with sex

certainly, but it can also happen with

money and success. It can happen with

how you handle social media. It can hand

it can be in a lot of different things.

But greed is idolatry. It is the proof

that you can have extreme devotion to

something and it's dividing you in the

Lord rather than you having devotion to

the Lord himself. And so Paul would say

because of these God's wrath is coming

upon the disobedient. And you once

walked in these things when you were

living in them. I love that. Paul's

like, "Oh, did you think did you think

you weren't in the first list? Let me

let me just clarify for you. You once

walked in these things when you were

living in them." And it says that God's

wrath is coming upon the disobedient. Uh

wrath there, the word means that there's

something swelling and breaking with

God. It's talking about settled

indignation,

controlled passion, you could call it.

Uh and I think what we see here is that

uh we see that God and and wrath are

being discussed, and we don't like that.

God, God should just love me. Can I tell

you, God's wrath is as much a part of

God's character as God's love is. You

cannot have adequate love without wrath.

I'll tell you,

it would be a bad idea if someone tried

to harm my wife.

It would be bizarre if I was just like,

I just don't want to hurt him. I I I

just want him I I just want him to know

that I love him, so I'm going to let him

abuse my wife. Like, what are we talking

about? you will die tonight. Do you know

the Lord? You're about to go meet him.

Like,

uh, the problem is we just don't like

that God gets to define where wrath

goes. We want to define it. Now,

we all have wrath and we all think wrath

is just in certain scenarios. Promise

you, we have wrath towards the

individuals that are sexually abusing

children, do we not?

>> Yeah. You shouldn't be okay with that.

We have wrath towards racism. You should

not be okay with that. We have wrath

towards things that are objectively evil

things.

And God's wrath is coming upon those

that are walking in sin, not repentant

of it, and don't care.

And so you see that he would list a

second vice list. So again, if this is

your list, go for it.

But now

put away all the following: anger,

wrath, malice, slander, and filthy

language from your mouth. Don't lie to

one another since you've put off the old

self with its practices and have put on

the new self. You're being renewed in

knowledge according to the image of your

creator. In Jesus Christ, there is not

Greek and Jew, circumcision, and

uncircumcision, barbarian, cyian, slave,

and free. But Christ is all in all. He

moves from internal motivation to

external action. And he says, anger, put

away all anger. Anger is a basic human

emotion. There's nothing inherently uh

sinful about anger itself, but it can

easily become that way. Anybody, anybody

know what I'm talking about? Thank you.

Um I love the way that one theologian

said it. He said, "Anger is the wind

that blows out the lamp of the mind

and it leads you to what?" Wrath, but

not like God's wrath. The word there's

thumos. It's the idea of a thermometer

that continues to rise in temperature

and then it becomes rage,

which becomes malice. That now I've got

some brokenness in me that I'm indulging

and I want to do you harm. And how do we

do harm to one another? Slander. I I'll

vilify you. I'll blaspheme your name.

It says in filthy language, which isn't

just whatever would immediately come to

our mind. It's actually a broader term

than that. It's anything that would be

destructive rather than constructive.

Doesn't mean that you can't be

corrective towards someone, but are you

doing it so that you can build someone

up or are you just constantly with your

words breaking people down? And so we

see here that he would continue and he

he would say we're being renewed

in the creator's image that Christ is

all and in all. There's a continual

renewal and putting on of the new self.

Your old clothes don't fit. Thank God.

Are kings compassionate overcritical?

And so are we that way? So there's no

longer

Greek and Jews, circumcision,

uncircumcision, barbarian, cyian, slave,

free Christ is all in all. I don't have

time to get into all of those different

things, but it's amazing here. Greeks

and Jews didn't necessarily get along.

The Greeks were like significantly more

educated in their minds and better. But

the Jews had a covenant with God. And so

there was division there. Greeks also

were the ideal gentile uh in their own

minds. They were the ones that were

sophisticated and educated and so they

didn't like barbarians and cythians.

Barbarians uh were called barbarians

because they didn't speak Greek and

Greeks were like, "If you don't speak

Greek, then all you sound like is bar."

And so they called them barbarians,

which it's funny to be like, "We're

really sophisticated bar. You're a

barbarian." Um

Cytheians were these nomadic tribes of

people that were seen as savages. Paul

says, "Away with the divisions.

Christ is all and in all."

Uh, let me say this. Um, I'm overtime

and I always am. And so, um,

it's a lot. Um, Christ victory and

you've still got vices. What do I do

with that? Uh, tell just a brief story.

Uh, Lindsay and I were in Miami this

week. Uh, and we were staying at this

hotel and as you went across the street,

there's this really great bagel spot in

Miami called El Bagel. And so, uh, we

would go to this spot that was right

across from our hotel, go and get

coffee, uh, pretty much every morning

and do that. Uh, one morning there was

like this sewage truck

and I mean it smelled horrific right

next to the bagel spot. I was like like

this is nasty. But that was just like

the first morning and I was like I

literally am walking out the next

morning and I was like, "Thank God that

sewage truck is not going to be here

this morning." Walk out. There it is.

And I I walked to go get coffee first

instead of uh walking to the bagel spot

first. So I saw the back of this truck.

And my literal thought was, who in the

world would want to do this job? Clean

up sewage. It's disgusting.

Get my coffee. I'm headed to El Bagel. I

kid you not. I took a picture of it and

I forgot to put it up here. Uh but I kid

you not. I walk back and on the front of

this truck it says familyowned and

operated. John 3:16, Jesus saves. And I

John 3:16

thought,

who wants to clean up your sewage?

The Lord Jesus Christ

>> will take all of it upon himself. He's

given you ultimate victory and the war

has been won. But can I also tell you,

it's not just that the war has been won,

but there are battles that you have to

continue. But you're not doing it for

victory. You're doing it from victory.

And the Lord will put steel in your

spine for the battles that you have to

continue to fight if you would let him.

And often times, like Paul said earlier

in Colossians, it takes a community. And

so I want to pray for you. If you're

like, I haven't even won D-Day. I don't

have a relationship with the Lord Jesus.

God's wrath is coming upon me. I want to

pray that you would receive the Lord for

the first time. if you've never made

that decision. But for the rest of us,

we're going to open up the altar even as

I pray and as we get into worship and

let us as a community come beside you

and strengthen you and say, "Hey, the

battle is hard, but you're not fighting

alone. Christ has won the war and we're

right beside you." And so Lord, would

you just right now um

um

speak to the heart

of the person that

does not know you, but they're going,

"Man, I don't want to be in these fights

alone. I'm tired of all of these things

that have even been listed that I've

gone to as a vice that I thought was

going to bring some kind of

peace.

And if you're in here and you've never

put your faith in Jesus and you're

going, I want to eternally be with him.

I need this family.

I'm getting whooped up and down in this

life and I need a rescuer and a savior.

Would you just pray with me and say,

"Father, I'm a sinner in need of a

savior. I believe that Jesus Christ came

to this earth and lived a perfect

sinless life. that he willingly went to

the cross and shed perfect innocent

blood that not only covers my sins, it

takes my sins away, past, present, and

future. Believe that Jesus Christ was

buried in a tomb for three days and he

rose to life again. And because Jesus

Christ has risen and ascended and is

seated at the right hand of God, I can

have life in his name. Romans would say

that if you believe in your heart and

confess with your mouth that Jesus

Christ is Lord, you will be saved. And

praise God if that's your story today.

Old nature gone, new creation.

Lord, for the rest of us that feel like,

man, I'm just these besetting sins feel

like I'm losing the battle constantly.

Lord, would you be with us? Would we

meet with one another down front? It's

not embarrassing. It's not

It's powerful.

Say, Lord, we need one another as we're

fighting the good fight. We're running

our race.

Lord, thank you for the cross that we

might be a people that can say we're not

fighting for victory, but from it. Lord,

would you do a work in here that only

you can do in Jesus name. Amen.