How to be a Schizophrenic Christian

All right.

We are going to keep going on our journey through 1 Corinthians, talking about grace glasses, how God's grace changes the way that we see our lives and everything.

And I just hope that today is going to be a really enlightening, maybe, maybe helpful in the way that you see God's the gospel of grace and how it how it transforms our lives.

So today the sermon is called How to Be How to Be a Schizophrenic Christian.

Or maybe how not to be a schizophrenic.

I couldn't decide if I want to do not or how to be, but I landed on how to be a schizophrenic, and it's sarcastic.

Okay, so let's pray.

Jesus, thank you for being the voice in our head, actually in our heart, in our spirit, that that speaks your love to us with that secret language we learned about last week.

And and Jesus, you are so good and kind to never leave us, never forsake us.

Even when we maybe have been walking a path that we know is wrong, walking a path that will not lead us to fulfillment, God, you you don't leave us.

You come after us.

You you desire to rescue us, you desire to fulfill us, you desire to meet the need that we are trying to fill with our own bad choices.

And God, we we want to look to you to be fully satisfied.

We want to drink from the well of your spring.

We want our hearts to know that we are loved, to taste and to see that you are good.

And that's what we desire, and that's what you are offering to us today.

So help us in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

All right, so Paul is really getting to the heart of this letter.

First Corinthians today.

He he's what he's taught so far in this letter, just to kind of recap, they he taught the the people here that they're saints.

They believe in Jesus, so they are saints.

That is their identity.

And identity is a real big key word for what we're we've been learning.

So he's taught them that their identity has to be in that, that you are a saint.

That's who you really are.

And if it's not in that, if your identity is something else, then you're gonna get distracted by other men, by other doctrine, by politics, by all kinds of stuff in this world is so distracting if you don't understand your identity as a child of God.

And it you gotta keep it real simple, is what Paul's been teaching to the people in Corinth.

He says, You gotta keep your eyes on Jesus and what he has done for you.

And that's really the smartest, or he calls it the wisest way that you can really live, is by keeping your eyes on Jesus.

And then he says, and actually, as you trust in Jesus and live by his grace, he teaches you this new language of love, and he teaches it to you in your hearts on the inside by the Holy Spirit who lives inside you.

And so it's really neat this this you dive into this relationship with Jesus and he just starts teaching you his love from the inside.

And then of you every day.

Okay, so now we continue to put on our grace glasses, but today Paul begins to correct the main thing in the life of this church that's that's they've been seeing wrong.

Okay, he begins to correct that in chapter three.

See, they haven't really accepted, or maybe they haven't believed it, but uh it's kind of like they haven't really accepted their new identity in Christ.

They've heard it, they've been taught it, but they haven't really accepted it.

They still think they're the old sinners that that struggle to do good and love to do evil.

They still think that part is inside them, like there's this battle going on inside them.

They don't know or believe all that Jesus has done for them, all that He has provided for them through this new covenant of grace that we're we've been learning about and talking about.

They're like children of a wealthy king, you know, princes and princesses sitting around the castle all day complaining that they're bored because they don't understand the whole kingdom is theirs, even that shadowy place over there where the hyenas.

You got my joke?

Sliding king, there you go.

Well done.

Someone had kids.

So pay attention to how Paul helps them put on their grace glasses.

Okay?

So look at verse one.

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

So we have these two different identities: spiritual and carnal.

Carnal is an English word that means fleshly or fleshy.

All right.

So the truth is we only have one identity.

But Paul says the problem is the great, when you put the grace glasses on, what you see is that you only have one identity.

But our problem is before that, we think we have two identities.

And I've heard this taught in churches.

I have taught this in churches.

You have two natures, you have the good nature and the bad nature, and they're at war and they're fighting with one another.

And as I as I read read the Bible and as I learned, the gospel of grace removes that and it helps you understand that you only have one nature, but we act like we have two.

And so, like all the evidence is stacked against us that that the gospel is really true.

Because if you look at my life, if you look at your life, I'd think, yeah, you probably have two natures.

Because you sometimes you act really awesome, you act like an idiot.

Amen.

Yes, come on, he says.

That's that that's what I've seen in my life.

So our our experience tells us we have two natures.

But if you read Romans chapter 5 and Romans, Romans chapter 6, it is a very clear, it is so simple.

Romans 5 · chapter mention Romans 6 · chapter mention

Your old nature on the cross.

What does that mean, my old nature?

That was called our faith.

So we don't have to kill it again.

That it is crucified with Christ.

We simply have to believe in what he's done.

We don't have to go around murdering our flesh all the time.

You've heard die to yourself.

There's a there's a sense in which that's true.

We did before, the way of believing, but we don't have to go around killing ourselves all the time.

He's making us new, he's made us alive, and we experience it by believing, and this is so important to understand.

It's believing that gets us through that door, like we talked about last week.

So the Bible's very clear we only have one nature, and our nature is the Holy Spirit inside us.

We may have other voices in our heads, but we only have one spirit and one nature.

There's no room for the Holy Spirit, a different spirit in us.

The Bible says, Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

So there is no room, you don't have two spirits inside you.

You can never a Christian can never be possessed by the devil.

Okay?

You are possessed by Jesus, and he doesn't allow any where there's light, there's no darkness.

If you turn on a switch, do you have to go fight and yell at the darkness?

No, you just turn on the light switch, the cockroaches get out of the way.

Not in our house, just kidding.

Um okay, we only have one nature.

I actually haven't seen a single cockroach in our house since we moved in.

Our agent was like, that never happens here.

Yeah, they were outside though.

I've seen them outside.

Gosh, there's nothing more creepy than creepy than a cockroach.

Guys, do you want to hear the story?

Um pause the Bible study.

This is free.

Last night, oh, last night was a very stressful night.

So I go, I have this new grill.

Oh, it's so nice.

So I go turn it on, and I'm like, the flame is kind of low.

So I like turn up the fire a little bit, try to, and I'm it's it's like going a little bit, and then all of a sudden, from like under the grill in the little cabinet thing, there's flames.

Fire.

My house is gonna burn down in five seconds.

I'm like, I run inside and get the dog's water bowl.

You got it.

Well, you I got a cup, you got the water bowl, and we're like trying to throw it.

And I'm like, what is going on?

And it's like big flames, it's like big flames, and I hear the propane, and I'm like, I'm gonna die, but I have to reach in there and I reached out the propane.

I turned it, I turned off the propane, and the the flames went up, but I had literally almost died last night.

It was so scary.

What was I talking about?

Oh, so even the cockroaches, like there were some cockroaches down there, and they like ran out.

That was more scary to me than the flames.

If hell had cockroaches, maybe people would be turning to Jesus.

Maybe that's what we should say.

Hell is full of cockroaches, turn to Jesus.

That's our new outreach strategy.

Okay.

I have no idea where I was at.

Okay.

So we only have one nature, the nature of light, the you are the light of the world, the book Jesus said.

He said, He said, I'm the light of the world, but then he also said you are the light of the world.

Why?

Because he's in you.

It's not that you're so bright, he's in you.

So we may have voices, other voices in our head, but we only have one nature.

We are holy and set apart for God.

Why do I keep telling you this?

Why do we because you don't believe it yet?

I've been following Jesus for 35 years, and I am still struggling to believe this: that I am holy and righteous, even though the Bible says it dozens of times, hundreds of times.

The Holy Spirit lives in us, so our nature is holy and righteous.

This changes everything when you really believe it.

Let me prove it to you, Galatians 2.20.

One of the most important verses in the Bible, I give you permission, tattoo it on your neck.

Right there.

I've been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, my body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

So who's living in that situation?

Jesus is living, and I live a life through him, he lives through me.

We died with Jesus.

How?

Because our old identity, which we call the flesh, was crucified with Jesus on the cross.

We were given this new identity, which we call the spirit, and that's how the gospel works.

Everyone knows that the gospel works.

I can get saved if I trust in Jesus.

But how does the gospel work?

The gospel works because Jesus died on the cross and Jesus rose from the dead.

And then Jesus takes you and puts him in you when he died, in him when he died on the cross, and in him when he rose from the dead, and now we can be saved through him.

And this changes our very nature from the inside out.

He doesn't have to give us this is the craziest thing, okay, guys?

He does not have to give us rules.

This is what sets us apart as a church who believes the gospel, okay?

Because the New Testament says we are not under the law.

He does not have to give us rules to change because he changes what we want from the spirit level, the inside, the deep inside part of us.

That's where the gospel does its work.

That's where grace changes us.

So he doesn't just change what we want, he changes what we most desire in our innermost desire, which we call the spirit.

That's how God changes you.

What does that mean practically?

It means all your sins have been forgiven.

Yay! Everyone shouts praise to God because yes, all our sins have been forgiven.

But God has also changed our hearts so that now we will never be truly happy living in a sinful way.

That's what is so crazy about grace.

That's how you can help people to be transformed in their lives without rules.

Rules, you invite people to live by the law.

There's nothing sinful about the law.

The law is good, the law is perfect, the law is amazing, but if I invite you to live by the law, I'm inviting you to live a life of sin.

Because the Bible says that if you try to live by the law, you are only increasing sin in your life.

Why?

Because you're trying to live by your own life, not by the life of Jesus inside you.

Because that can only be accessed by faith, not by law keeping.

You can't get saved by keeping the law.

You can't grow by keeping the law either.

So how do we change?

Do we just go around sinning as much as we want?

That's a complicated question.

Because yes, you will be forgiven as much as you sin.

You that is Jesus' grace, Jesus' blood is that good.

You will be forgiven no matter how much you sin.

Okay?

But you will never be happy living in sin.

You can't.

Why?

Because your very innermost soul, your spirit, is possessed by Jesus, and his spirit only wants to glorify his father.

And so if you live in a life that dishonors God, you will be unhappy.

So this is what we see very practically.

I see Christians all the time.

I'm depressed and I'm sad and I'm discouraged.

Why?

Almost every single time.

It's because they're choosing to participate in sin.

And I'm like, there's no rule that you shouldn't do that sin.

But there's a spirit.

You have a spirit inside you which will refuse to allow you to have the peace of God.

Now, guys, have you had that peace of God?

Isn't it the most glorious, amazing?

That's right, Nelani.

Double thumbs up for the peace of God.

That's what we get.

The peace of God is double thumbs up.

I love that.

It is it is so worth everything.

There's nothing that compares.

If you have the peace of God, you can go through anything, you can withstand anything.

It is it is more valuable than all the riches of this world.

What do all the rich people say?

I don't have peace, I'm not satisfied with all my riches, right?

It's because the peace of God is the only thing that ever really matters to our heart.

And that is your gift.

It's your birthright as a child of God.

You get the peace of God until the moment that you're like, I'm gonna participate in sin.

And what happens?

God says, I'm sorry, my child, but I must discipline you.

I must remove that peace so that you learn that my way is the only way you will ever be happy.

And I didn't do this to make your life miserable, I did this so that you can experience my peace and my joy and all the blessings that I have for you in grace.

I want to give it to you.

But there's one path.

You have to follow me.

You have to follow now what I have put in your heart, which is love God and love others.

That's the way, that's the path, that's the fruit that happens as we abide in Christ.

So can you sin?

Yes, you will be forgiven, but you're never gonna have that peace and joy living in sin.

Because why why?

Because you died to that sin and you can't live in it any longer.

You died to that sin when you believed in Jesus, you died with him on the cross to sin.

Why did Jesus die on the cross?

Because of sin.

So you can't now live in sin, participate in sin, and have the joy and peace of the Lord.

But you've been joined to him, so you're not gonna lose your salvation.

So here's the thing: once you're a Christian, sorry, you can't go live that sinful life anymore.

But it has nothing to do with rules.

I've never once said don't go sin.

I just said your identity now is that you hate sin and you don't even realize it.

You hate to dishonor your father, you hate to participate in things that dishonor him.

You hate it from the, and that's a good hatred.

You hate what's evil.

And because Jesus died to sin, so you have died with him, and Jesus is alive to God, it says, so you are alive to God.

Do you know what will make you the most happy in your life?

Yes, honoring your father, doing anything that honors your father.

Well, what does that look like?

Loving God and loving others?

That's what honors God in our behavior, in our actions, in our attitudes.

All those things they do honor God.

That's how God gets this done.

He puts you in Jesus and Jesus in you.

So what's a good illustration of that?

I like, since we're on the beach, the sea sponge.

Do they have sea sponges here?

No?

Okay.

Well, we'll pretend they do.

Out there in the ocean somewhere, there's sea sponges.

And if you if you sea sponges are in the ocean, right?

But if you pull out a sea sponge and squeeze them, what comes out?

Ocean, right?

So in the ocean, the ocean is in them.

That's the union that we're talking about that happens with us and Jesus.

We're in Christ, but Christ is also in us.

So it's the Spirit who lives in you, is your very life, and He's gonna direct you and guide you to that peace with peace in your heart.

And this may seem confusing, but as we as we learn about our new identity, by learning about his identity.

Okay, so the way you learn about who you are is by setting your eyes and your focus on Jesus.

Because it's Jesus who lives in you and you live in him.

So as you read about Jesus and you learn about his attitudes and his heart and his life, that's your life.

That's how you learn about him.

Because he lives in us.

So you don't have to try to figure out who am I?

What do I want?

It doesn't matter what you want ever.

Your life is hidden with Christ.

So just do what he wants and you will be happy.

You will find everything that you're looking for by living through him.

So if you want to be happy, learn what makes Jesus happy and walk the same path.

You will never find joy, you will never find peace contradicting the life Jesus walked.

They just can't coincide together.

Adopt the same priorities he did.

Look to him for everything because he is your life.

That's how this works.

Alright, back to our text.

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, that's their identity, but as to carnal, that's what they thought they were, as to babes in Christ.

I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able, for you are still carnal.

So he calls these people, again, he calls these people brethren.

That means we're talking to Christians here, we're talking to believers.

They have started a relationship with God based on grace.

So how does grace work?

It works by two things we call humility and faith, or faith and humility.

I like to shorten it by saying F and H.

Faith and humility.

But they drifted from this start, we'll talk a lot more about that as the years go on, but they drifted from this start that was pure, with the they just trusted in Jesus, humbled themselves before him, and they started to try to grow or live their life by their flesh.

So, what is the flesh that we're talking about here?

We have this weird internal desire to see what I can do to source my life.

So that's how we become kind of schizophrenic.

We have the voice of God inside us that says, I've done it all for you.

Live by Jesus.

Jesus is your life.

And then we have this other voice that says, Well, what can you do?

And so we call that the flesh.

Now the nature of the flesh is dead, so we don't have that anymore.

It's not like we really want to follow this, but we get distracted because the enemy can tempt us.

Did you guys know we have an enemy?

Yes.

I was gonna make a political joke, but I'm not gonna.

Okay.

We have an enemy, and he is really, really sneaky because he can plant thoughts in our mind.

Because your mind, your brain, is still part of your flesh that that lives in this world.

Is your flesh that you live in now evil?

Ooh, that's a tricky question.

No, it's not.

Okay, Jesus has cleansed your entire body, your mind, everything has been wholly set up set apart for God.

But it can be tempted.

So your brain can be tempted.

So you know what Satan does?

He plants thoughts in your mind.

It would be great if you did that.

Ooh, maybe I want that.

That sounds delicious right now.

That sounds fun right now.

That sounds satisfying right now, even though they're contrary to God's will.

So we he plants thoughts in our mind.

The second place he tempts us is in our will.

So your flesh is your mind, your will, and your emotions.

Those three things we combine to say flesh and your body.

Your mind, your will, and your emotions.

Okay?

So he tempts all three of these areas.

He says, in your mind, think this.

This gotta make sense.

Maybe you'll be satisfied by doing this.

And then in your will, your that's your efforts.

Well, what if I tried really super hard to be a good Christian?

Guess what?

You're gonna you're gonna suck at it.

Has anyone ever tried to be a good Christian?

Yeah, we suck at it.

I'm I'm terrible.

We are all bad now.

We're really good at faking, and you can go to a church where you put on nice clothes and you say the right words and you do the outward right things, but it's all fake.

Anyone ever been to a church like that?

Anyone had that experience?

Anyone been that type of Christian?

A hypocrite?

Because on the inside, we were full of cheating and death and lying, wickedness.

Okay?

So the flesh is our mind, which is our decisions, our will, which is our efforts.

Oh, you should try to please God.

And then our emotions are our feelings.

You know how most people live their lives based on just how they feel.

How do you like church?

Oh, I feel it.

I don't care.

Because who you are is not your feelings.

Now your feelings are important, and we can validate them, but your feelings are like the light gauge that we ignore on our dash that says check engine.

Remember that one that we ignore?

Sarah's laughing really hard at that.

Isaac's like, yeah.

So our emotions can tell us something is wrong in our maybe we don't have the peace, and that that's good that can be emotional for us if we're living without the peace of God.

But our mind, will, and emotions, these are all the ways Satan tempts us by putting thoughts in our minds, um, our will, making our own decisions, our own efforts, and then he can make you feel weird, but so can bad chicken.

So don't trust your emotions.

Trust you're righteous and holy, but I feel like sinning.

Don't trust your emotions.

Don't trust your emotions.

Trust wants to be holy.

Someone comes into counseling with me and they're like, I really want to do this, I'm really struggling with this.

I'm like, well, you don't want to.

Be true about them.

Well, how do you know that?

Because I know they're a believer.

Every believer has the same identity.

Believe it.

So the problem is not that you're weak, the problem is not that you're tempted.

And everyone's tempted.

The problem is we don't believe that we're truly holy, that we're righteous.

We believe that we want that the world has to offer.

And we don't.

And he says here that they were not able to take the solid food, the to move forward in their relationship with Jesus because they were still on milk.

They were still on this diet that was not the what they should have been on by now.

So it's like they were not able to receive it because they were full on spiritual junk food.

Okay, they didn't watch their diet, they had no appetite for the truth because they found a more appealing message to their feelings, their minds, and their egos.

That's what had happened here in this church.

This is what they got tricked into.

You can do it.

They went to the Nike church of Corinth.

They had a pastor who always wore Nikes and he was like, You can do it.

And that is the most contrary to the gospel idea.

There's a guy on TV.

I won't say his name.

He rhymes with Schmolstein.

That was funny, right?

So man, this guy, he he's like the you can do it from Waterboy.

He is that guy as a pastor.

Like he just he wants you to believe that if you just decide, if you just that you can just do it.

Okay, and that is teaching people to depend on their flesh.

It's it's about self-discipline.

If you had more discipline, you would be a good Christian.

Those movies, if you didn't say those words, if you didn't do, you would be a good Christian.

Paul's like, Paul's, he's like, put on the glasses.

You are a good Christian.

How do I know?

Because you believed.

That's all a Christian is a believer.

All these other things we're talking about are fruits that happen in our lives that come from being a believer.

Man, he the the world are bad preachers.

They want you to believe it all depends on you.

And that's what we start to feel like.

Man, it all depends on me.

I have failed if I'm a bad Christian.

They want you to think it all, what do you think?

What do you desire?

How hard are you gonna try?

How much do you want it?

Listen, nothing depends on you.

The gospel was completed outside of you, and you were invited into it.

And all you have to say is, Yes, I want to believe that.

It's that easy.

It's all a gift of grace, and it's already been given to you.

Everything about God's grace has already been given to you.

When I was 19, 18 years old, I was saved, but I was basically a Pharisee.

I I thought that I had to work as hard.

So I was teaching this Bible study when I was in high school.

So it was Greeley, Colorado.

Smells terrible, but we had a little Bible study in our basement.

A few people coming by, and and I was like, do this, don't do this, do this, don't do this.

And this one little girl raised her hand and she said, um, you know, she was in high school, but she was little, not like a little girl, but like a small girl.

And she she said, That all sounds great that we should do this and be this, but how do we do it?

And I had no idea how to answer her at 18 years old, even though I was studying the Bible and I was doing everything I could do to be a good Christian.

And so I said, I don't know, I think we're supposed to just try as hard as we can.

That's loud.

So that's that was my philosophy, and that's not the gospel.

That is completely wrong.

So I show up at Bible college six months later, and this pastor named Bob Hochstra discipled me, and his first thing he says, he's like, Welcome to the class, growing in grace.

And I'm like, What is this grace you speak of?

And he's like, The first thing you need to know, this is great news.

If you think being a Christian is about how hard you have to try, I have really super news for you.

It's all finished, it's all a free gift.

Would you like to not only get saved by grace, but to grow in grace too?

Grace is for growing, he would say.

And he had these big eyebrows, and he's like, growing, grace is for growing.

And I would just be like, So, I was so blown away.

And it was completely life-transforming, life-changing for me to hear that grace wasn't just what got you saved, and then you're on your own to grow, but it was every day was a gift that God would give you anything you need to live for him, honor him, live live the life that he wanted to live through you.

All you had to do was surrender, control.

Say, I'm not the boss of my own life.

I give my life to Jesus, I yield to his spirit.

Instead of me living by my flesh, the things I want, that part of me is dead, and I'm now believing it.

I want to live with what's really inside me, which is grace, the Holy Spirit.

So Paul does say the same thing in Galatians chapter 3, verses 1 through 3.

Galatians 3:1–3

He says this, oh, foolish Galatians.

I love how he starts out talking to his beloved family.

Oh, you idiots.

Who has bewitched you?

He's saying, Is there some witch inside your church?

Okay, who should not that you should not obey the truth?

He's saying, guys, the truth, there's a truth, and you're just ignoring it.

Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

Why did Jesus die, Paul is saying?

This only I want to learn from you.

Did you receive the Spirit?

So when you got saved, when you were born again, when you received the Holy Spirit, was it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

So he's saying, when you got saved, was it because you were like, I have followed all the Ten Commandments?

Now give me thine spirit.

Or were you on your knees broken because you knew you had broken all the commandments and you heard an offer of grace and forgiveness and said, I need that, I need to be forgiven by his grace.

Which one was it?

Well, it was obviously I was on my knees, and he is the same for every Christian.

That's how you become a Christian.

So we said, Are you so foolish?

Means are you so dumb?

Are you so stupid?

Any other English words that rhyme or that mean this?

That's what it means.

Having begun in the spirit, so started born again by the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

That means growing every other day of your life, from the day you get saved to the day you die, which is what we're all in this room, maybe.

If you are saved, that's the journey we're on.

We're changing, we're being made perfect in a practical sense.

We're living this grace out.

He says all of that is by the spirit.

You cannot change one thing about yourself, even as a Christian, by the flesh.

That means by your mind, will, and emotions, by your efforts, by your decisions.

It's not because you don't want Jesus enough.

It's not because you don't love Jesus enough.

It's not because you're bad, it's not because you have addictions or it's none of that.

It's the Holy Spirit that grows you.

Grace is for growing.

This is so life-changing.

So, Paul back in Colossians, he says, Brethren, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

I fed you with milk and not with solid food.

For until now you were not able to receive it.

And even now you're still not able, for you are still carnal.

So now we can understand what Paul's saying.

They didn't understand their identity, their true identity.

Do you know who you are?

They are spiritual people, Paul is saying, but they don't know what that means.

Just like a baby doesn't understand that they're a human being until they grow into it and believe it.

Paul poured milk into them in the beginning.

What is that?

Well, in Hebrews, I'll read it to you, chapter 5, verse 12, it says, For though this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God.

And you have come to need milk and not solid food.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

But solid food belongs to those who are full of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

And as you read the next chapter of Hebrews, it says that the next level of this life, the one that you really dig your teeth into, is what he's saying as a Christian, is fruitfulness.

That's what we're all going for.

A life of fruitfulness.

So milk is what we learn first.

That's justification or starting a relationship with God, saying, Jesus, save me, I need you.

Okay, you're saved.

Great.

That's milk.

That starts it out.

But then solid food is for growing our relationship with God or becoming fruitful.

What is fruit?

Well, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

I didn't have a memorize, they were written on my page right here.

Just in case you thought I was amazing.

Well, those all sound great.

That's what life is supposed to look like.

So how does that happen?

John 15 says, if you want fruit, you abide in me as a branch of vibes in the vine, and you will produce fruit by simply abiding in me.

So your job and my job is to abide in Jesus.

We start abiding by grace and we keep abiding by grace.

Grace is sufficient for both of those things.

We've never earned anything when it comes to being a Christian.

These are always a free gift of God.

It's always a free gift.

And we can be unskilled in the word of righteousness if we teach people or we believe that we can produce this stuff by our own efforts instead of by God's grace.

And man, I've read books, I've gone to churches where pastors are like, you could develop this type of life.

If you wore these type of clothes and did these type of things and had this type of discipline and read these type of books, you could be like me.

You could develop the fruit that God wants to see in your life.

And it's all a lie unless it's by God's grace.

Paul couldn't get them to the next stage of fruitfulness in Corinth because they were insisting on living by their flesh.

So he says at the beginning that they were flesh, the word for carnal is fleshy, but that's not their identity.

And then he says they were choosing to live.

And then the Greek word for carnal in the second part of verse 3 of 1 Corinthians chapter 3 says fleshly.

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

So he says, you're not fleshy, but you're acting fleshly.

So it's not the identity, it's not the noun of what you are, it's the ad adjective adverb?

Adverb, because it's le fleshly.

All right.

English 101.

Thanks for the confirmation, Brad.

So he says, brethren, I cannot speak to you as spiritual, but as to carnal, that means fleshy.

So he's like, you're not fleshy.

I'm not gonna talk to you that way.

You're not babe, you are babes in Christ, but you think it's your identity that you're in the flesh, but you're not.

I fed you with milk and not with and not with solid food, for until now you were not able to receive it.

Even now you're not able, but you're still carnal, which is the word fleshly.

That means depending on your flesh.

You're depending on something that's dead.

How smart is that?

We should not depend on dead things.

They're acting like their spiritual life depends uh depend on their flesh, even though they don't.

And as long as we depend on ourselves, we will fail.

So here's the the thing.

We must renounce self-dependency.

Now that goes against everything American.

Because in America, we're like, I am independent.

See me roar.

Look, my belt buckle even has my name on it.

We must renounce self-dependency in exchange for full dependence upon Christ for everything.

That's the life of the Holy Spirit.

Now, what is the evidence of bad fruit in someone's life?

Fleshly fruit.

He says, for where there are envy and strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal, fleshly, he's saying, and behaving like mere men?

He's not saying you are just mere men, you're behaving like mere men, you're just acting like mere men.

Do you know you're if you're a Christian, you're not just a mere man, you are a glorified man.

You have the Holy Spirit, God Himself, living inside you.

That means doesn't mean you're a God, it means you're in union with God.

You're in you're in relationship with God.

Unbroken relationship, like Adam was supposed to be in the garden, but it was broken by sin.

That sin has now been removed by Jesus, and you can have unbroken fellowship with God.

Okay, but he says you're acting like mere men.

What's the definition of hypocrisy?

Doing like it means putting on a mask, pretending to be something you're not.

That's not who you really are, Paul is saying.

You are not just mere men, and so when you're acting like mere men, you're acting like a hypocrite.

So as a Christian, pretending to be a good Christian is not hypocrisy.

That's what most people think hypocrisy is.

Hypocrisy is living a life of sin when you have the Holy Spirit inside you.

That's hypocrisy.

It's pretending to be something you're not.

For us, it's acting sinful when we're not.

We are holy and righteous because Jesus is holy and righteous and he's in us.

So I don't care what voices you have in your head, you have a voice of Jesus in you.

And he tells you, I love you, and you're holy and you're righteous, that's your identity.

You are a child of God.

Well, how do I know?

It's by faith you'll know.

When you believe it, you'll know.

When you'll believe, when you believe it, you'll know.

Now every week I try, I want to give the gospel in case someone is in here who has never believed and never had their sins forgiven.

Jesus offers to pay the price.

He has already paid the price for all sin in the world.

And he says, simply believe on me.

Believe that I am God, that I became a man, and I died on the cross for your sin.

And I rose from the dead for your life to be filled with resurrection life.

And he invites everyone that hears this message, everyone in the whole world, to come and believe upon Jesus and live, allow him to live through you.

Repenting of our sin and turning to him so that we can enjoy the peace and the blessings of fellowship with God, enjoying that relationship with him.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, next week we're gonna we made it through four whole verses.

Aren't you proud of me?

Yay.

Next week we're gonna talk, we're gonna go start in verse five.

How about that?

All right, we'll do that.