WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:21.900 Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:00:22.400 --> 00:00:25.500 This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons. 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:30.040 We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear 00:00:30.040 --> 00:00:30.880 the latest message. 00:00:31.300 --> 00:00:32.080 Thanks for listening. 00:00:44.340 --> 00:00:45.400 Well, good morning. 00:00:46.300 --> 00:00:49.480 Glad that you guys are here with us today on this holiday weekend. 00:00:49.820 --> 00:00:53.280 If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:59.800 This is where we're going to be this morning, as we continue to work through this letter 00:00:59.800 --> 00:01:00.420 together. 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:03.940 Now, we're going to kind of look at chapter 6 in a little bit different format. 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:07.860 We're going to kind of take some highlight of some different verses and kind of see how 00:01:07.860 --> 00:01:11.760 they all fit together here just in one second. 00:01:11.900 --> 00:01:16.500 I do want to emphasize our marriage conference that we're going to be doing here at Willow 00:01:16.500 --> 00:01:19.520 Ridge Church on March 25th and 26th. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:21.620 I want to encourage you to be a part of that. 00:01:21.620 --> 00:01:24.100 We're excited to be able to do this here. 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:29.700 We're going to be using some resources from Right Now Media, so we'll have some guest speakers 00:01:29.700 --> 00:01:31.380 that will be with us on screen. 00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:37.600 At the same time, building in some small group discussions that can happen around tables. 00:01:37.960 --> 00:01:43.980 And just a wonderful, wonderful couple times together of couples working on their marriages 00:01:43.980 --> 00:01:47.020 together to see how God is going to use that. 00:01:47.020 --> 00:01:52.480 I know Aaron and I have had the opportunity to do marriage retreats, and those have been 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.320 real huge blessings in our life. 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:59.680 But what I know that we feel in our life, which is what a lot of you as couples feel as well, 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:00.940 which is we're busy. 00:02:01.380 --> 00:02:05.300 You know, and so to think, to pick up and to go somewhere is a little bit difficult. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:11.780 So that's why we're trying to bring the elements of a marriage retreat to you here in Lexington 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:13.020 for our marriage conference. 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:18.000 So I would love for you, we'll be selling tickets back here to my left after the service 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:18.740 is over with. 00:02:19.140 --> 00:02:22.900 And so please, please, please stop by and get those. 00:02:23.180 --> 00:02:27.860 Also, I want to remind you, encourage you to be praying for our student ministry that are 00:02:27.860 --> 00:02:29.800 up in West Virginia skiing right now. 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:32.080 I just got a picture from my wife. 00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:35.600 So yesterday and Friday, it did not get above freezing. 00:02:36.020 --> 00:02:38.260 Today, it's supposed to hit 55 degrees. 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:44.340 And so right now, she already sent me a picture that people are shredding, losing gloves, losing 00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:46.720 sweatshirts, right, because it's getting so hot. 00:02:46.860 --> 00:02:50.760 And somehow, Brent Hawkins has become the recipient of all of those. 00:02:50.860 --> 00:02:55.520 And so kids are tying them around his waist, around his neck, and he's having to deal with 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:55.840 it, right? 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:01.940 But pray for them as they're skiing today and as they're traveling back tomorrow. 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:04.460 Now, I did a kind of moment of confession. 00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:09.300 I had several of y'all maybe saw my Facebook post, I was able to go up with Aaron and the 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:09.520 kids. 00:03:09.660 --> 00:03:14.480 We went up early on Thursday and skied Friday, and then I skied yesterday and then drove back 00:03:14.480 --> 00:03:16.540 so I could be here with you guys this morning. 00:03:16.860 --> 00:03:18.440 Now, here's what I learned, all right? 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:20.780 Now, I'm a seasoned youth pastor. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:22.400 I grew up in student ministry. 00:03:22.540 --> 00:03:23.660 I was in college ministry. 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:24.800 I interned. 00:03:24.860 --> 00:03:28.560 And so I've done, my daughter asked me how many ski trips I've been on. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:34.000 And I calculated, I've been on somewhere close to 25 different ski trips in the course of 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:35.300 my ministry career. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:40.180 And only one of those trips I thought about this morning was not related to student ministry. 00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:42.040 So 25 ski trips. 00:03:42.200 --> 00:03:44.100 But I haven't been in 10 years. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:51.020 So getting there on Friday was a little nervous how I was going to hold up. 00:03:51.820 --> 00:03:56.220 And I just want to tell you, my ability had not lessened, all right? 00:03:56.620 --> 00:04:00.600 I impressed myself, all right? 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:09.420 But while my ability stayed the same, the recovery, however, not so much, all right? 00:04:09.820 --> 00:04:11.760 So yesterday, I had to leave. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:12.760 I left about 3.30. 00:04:13.540 --> 00:04:18.720 And I had to drive back from West Virginia to our home here in Lexington. 00:04:19.180 --> 00:04:20.260 And it was by myself. 00:04:20.260 --> 00:04:22.180 And I was like, man, I just need company for the ride. 00:04:22.340 --> 00:04:24.780 So company was podcast and Taco Bell, right? 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:29.600 I hit the first Taco Bell, loaded up a sack of tacos, and just headed on with some Mountain 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:29.840 Dew. 00:04:30.340 --> 00:04:31.700 And I got to South Carolina. 00:04:31.840 --> 00:04:34.800 And I was like, I need to pull over, stop here at a gas station to get some gas. 00:04:34.960 --> 00:04:38.140 And I hadn't moved in three and a half hours. 00:04:39.860 --> 00:04:41.220 And I opened that door. 00:04:42.020 --> 00:04:48.260 And I just want to tell you, like, the noises that came out of that car were not good. 00:04:48.580 --> 00:04:54.460 I said, I was telling Shane, I set my alarm for 5.45 this morning, and I got out of bed promptly 00:04:54.460 --> 00:04:55.160 at 6.30. 00:04:55.280 --> 00:04:55.600 All right. 00:04:55.780 --> 00:04:58.140 So here we go. 00:04:58.380 --> 00:04:59.840 I might not move as much this morning. 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:00.320 All right. 00:05:00.580 --> 00:05:04.700 Quick little recap of where we are to kind of pull us up to speed for chapter six. 00:05:04.840 --> 00:05:07.360 So Paul was writing this letter to the church at Corinth. 00:05:07.500 --> 00:05:12.680 And he's gotten such a not great report about what is going on in the conditions of the church. 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:18.500 And so what Paul was doing throughout this letter is he is addressing the matters at hand. 00:05:18.880 --> 00:05:22.520 He spent the first couple of chapters doing some encouragement, some reminder. 00:05:22.960 --> 00:05:31.600 But largely what we see in 1 Corinthians is a reminder, if not a firm letter of discipline. 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:36.200 And a couple of areas that he's already kind of worked through with the church that are going 00:05:36.200 --> 00:05:42.480 to continue to overlap in all that we see is he talks about the lack of unity that's within 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:47.760 the church, that the church is divided amongst itself, that the church is working against 00:05:47.760 --> 00:05:52.780 itself, and that in that, they're not functioning as the body, as the bride of Christ, as one 00:05:52.780 --> 00:05:53.200 family. 00:05:53.340 --> 00:05:54.280 And we're going to see this. 00:05:54.620 --> 00:05:55.920 And think about all of these. 00:05:55.960 --> 00:05:58.060 When we talk about the family, think about your family. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.620 Think what happens when there becomes division amongst family. 00:06:01.760 --> 00:06:02.580 It's hard. 00:06:02.880 --> 00:06:03.500 It's complicated. 00:06:03.820 --> 00:06:04.640 It's messy. 00:06:04.820 --> 00:06:09.500 And the family can't be what the family wants to, or needs to be, or is even designed to 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:10.900 be because of the division. 00:06:10.900 --> 00:06:17.280 And while that happens in our earthly families, amongst husbands and wives and kids and aunts 00:06:17.280 --> 00:06:20.500 and uncles and cousins, even more so with the church. 00:06:21.300 --> 00:06:22.720 And so Paul calls them to unity. 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:28.560 He points out what we looked at last week is the church with a lack of church discipline 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:31.040 and a lack of accountability within the church. 00:06:31.200 --> 00:06:35.840 And he talks about this dynamic where there's this blatant sin that's in the church. 00:06:36.080 --> 00:06:38.300 And he says, hey, you've got to deal with this. 00:06:39.140 --> 00:06:40.560 Every church has sinners. 00:06:40.780 --> 00:06:41.800 Like, we got them. 00:06:42.460 --> 00:06:44.660 I mess up, fall short all the time. 00:06:45.180 --> 00:06:51.320 But when there becomes this blatant, unrepentant sin within the church, that the church cannot 00:06:51.320 --> 00:06:55.260 just look blindly at it because it will begin to spread. 00:06:55.500 --> 00:07:00.880 He uses the illustration of how yeast will spread through dough. 00:07:00.880 --> 00:07:02.760 I like to think of cancer, right? 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:07.720 How cancer gets in the body and you've got to remove it before it spreads all through and 00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:10.880 brings decay and destruction and death. 00:07:11.020 --> 00:07:12.760 So you've got to deal with it. 00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:17.340 But then also kind of at the tail end of chapter five last week, and this is going to be really 00:07:17.340 --> 00:07:23.240 important for what we look at today as Paul's letters work in a wonderful way, moving from 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:28.440 sentence to sentence as he writes, is that the standard that we're called to hold one another 00:07:28.440 --> 00:07:35.320 to is different than the standard that we're going to hold outside lost people to. 00:07:36.260 --> 00:07:43.460 Those of us that identify in the body of Christ as followers of Jesus, we are different than 00:07:43.460 --> 00:07:44.280 those who do not. 00:07:45.300 --> 00:07:51.120 And so for us, Jesus is our standard, not society, not culture. 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:54.060 Jesus is our standard. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.140 And so in that, Jesus determines for us our ethic. 00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:01.240 And I would argue that this ethic has never changed, right? 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:02.440 God doesn't change. 00:08:02.520 --> 00:08:03.940 God's word doesn't change. 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:06.540 God's standard doesn't change. 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:11.400 And so you and I, we understand that and that's what we apply to our life. 00:08:11.400 --> 00:08:13.200 But for those outside, right? 00:08:14.100 --> 00:08:25.700 If Jesus is irrelevant to them in their beliefs and in their thoughts, then his standard should 00:08:25.700 --> 00:08:27.800 be irrelevant to them also, right? 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:29.460 That's how this works. 00:08:30.640 --> 00:08:35.960 We understand who he is, the Savior and Messiah, and we submit and surrender to him. 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:38.160 But a lot of people haven't, right? 00:08:38.160 --> 00:08:43.080 And so Paul says we understand that's why we hold ourself to a standard that what we see 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:43.540 is different. 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:47.140 But what we see happening in the church at Corinth, right? 00:08:47.340 --> 00:08:54.960 And what we'll continue to see happen is that society and culture will oftentimes determine 00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:01.560 the behavior and the actions in those outside of the church and unfortunately those inside 00:09:01.560 --> 00:09:02.420 of the church as well. 00:09:02.680 --> 00:09:05.780 And that's what we see happening and taking place at the church at Corinth. 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:10.380 And as we look through this, now remember, because it's going to be easy for us, last week 00:09:10.380 --> 00:09:13.680 was one of those to say, no, we don't suffer with that. 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:18.280 And so it's going to be easy for those of us in here to look at the problems at the church 00:09:18.280 --> 00:09:20.020 at Corinth and say, well, no, no, no. 00:09:20.100 --> 00:09:22.240 Those aren't what we struggle with either. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:29.080 But what we find is a lot of those same behaviors manifest themselves in different situations 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:30.520 in our lives. 00:09:31.620 --> 00:09:37.240 Maybe not necessarily identical to Corinth, but the same heart issues, the same struggles 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:38.460 are there. 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:42.900 And so in chapter six, kind of the first half, chapter six, we're going to look at kind of 00:09:42.900 --> 00:09:45.460 in two separate halves, even though they relate together. 00:09:45.680 --> 00:09:52.340 In the first half, Paul's going to speak against one of these, and it's about lawsuits between 00:09:52.340 --> 00:09:54.000 those in the church. 00:09:54.140 --> 00:09:56.460 And so look down at verse seven and eight. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:03.680 He says this, he says, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for 00:10:03.680 --> 00:10:03.900 you. 00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:06.560 Why not rather suffer wrong? 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:09.200 Why not rather be defrauded? 00:10:10.620 --> 00:10:16.540 But you yourselves wrong and defraud even your own bodies. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:21.500 And so a couple of things I just want to kind of draw out of this, of what we're going to 00:10:21.500 --> 00:10:29.040 see is what Paul's pouring into is this greater concept of unity amongst the body, God's standard 00:10:29.040 --> 00:10:34.060 amongst the body, and the body being separate from the standards of the church. 00:10:34.060 --> 00:10:41.100 And so lawsuits amongst believers, what was happening is a member of Corinthian church A and member 00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:43.600 of Corinthian church B have a dispute. 00:10:44.020 --> 00:10:48.860 And what we can kind of draw from these passages of scripture is that they're both probably ripping 00:10:48.860 --> 00:10:49.720 each other off. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:52.280 They're both probably in sin. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:59.520 And so instead of dealing with it amongst each other, they're taking it out into the courts 00:10:59.520 --> 00:11:00.800 and into the community. 00:11:01.100 --> 00:11:06.380 It's not that laws have been broken and so a crime must be reported, right? 00:11:06.520 --> 00:11:09.160 What we have here to take everybody back. 00:11:09.400 --> 00:11:11.260 Let me try to find middle ground here, okay? 00:11:11.460 --> 00:11:14.640 So we might not go, Wapner, let's land on Judge Judy, all right? 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:18.080 And this is what we see happening in the Corinthian church. 00:11:18.920 --> 00:11:22.480 Let's take it before the courts, which were public. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:30.200 And what people see are brothers and sisters in Christ fighting in the display of what's there. 00:11:30.740 --> 00:11:37.660 And so Paul, at his core, lawsuits amongst believers show a break in community and family, right? 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:40.700 And when we understand, like think about it this way, all right? 00:11:42.160 --> 00:11:45.280 Let's say maybe this randomly happens from time to time. 00:11:46.300 --> 00:11:49.920 Maybe my daughter doesn't clean up her room, all right? 00:11:50.780 --> 00:11:57.200 And all of a sudden, you head down to the court there, and you see Emma and I standing in court 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:58.760 line waiting to be heard. 00:11:58.840 --> 00:11:59.900 And you're like, what's going on? 00:11:59.980 --> 00:12:02.960 And they're like, I'm suing somebody for destruction of property. 00:12:05.420 --> 00:12:07.280 And you're like, oh, what happened? 00:12:07.800 --> 00:12:09.720 Oh, Emma didn't clean her room, right? 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:13.120 And if you've had a teenager's, you know that's destruction of property, right? 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:14.640 Like, that's what it can get to, right? 00:12:14.760 --> 00:12:15.640 You're like, that's foolish. 00:12:15.820 --> 00:12:17.080 Why would you do that? 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:18.420 It's your daughter. 00:12:19.400 --> 00:12:20.480 And it's the same thing for Paul. 00:12:21.560 --> 00:12:22.200 We're the family. 00:12:22.920 --> 00:12:24.200 We're an eternal family. 00:12:24.800 --> 00:12:26.520 We're the family that reflects the gospel. 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:28.580 And the same thing that's there. 00:12:29.040 --> 00:12:31.720 Lawsuits amongst believers show the break in community. 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:39.920 But also, what it does is, instead of dealing with the dispute amongst the family, the church 00:12:39.920 --> 00:12:45.920 are turning to those outside of the family to not just determine what needs to be done, 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:50.280 but in essence is saying, help us understand what's right. 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:55.960 And so in that, God's word isn't the standard, but the outside is. 00:12:57.280 --> 00:13:01.480 So it'd be like, again, the situation with me and Emma, right? 00:13:02.400 --> 00:13:04.720 And I go to someone that's not from the faith. 00:13:05.300 --> 00:13:11.820 I go to someone that's broken from, that doesn't want to submit to the Lord and say, hey, help 00:13:11.820 --> 00:13:19.160 solve this conflict of sin that rages amongst us with the standard that you deem is right. 00:13:19.160 --> 00:13:20.540 And I'll be honest with you guys. 00:13:20.800 --> 00:13:35.180 Like, Corinthian culture, right, is a broken, backwards, hedonistic, pagan culture beyond what a lot of our places can even begin to fathom. 00:13:36.940 --> 00:13:38.300 And that's what they're saying, though. 00:13:38.300 --> 00:13:42.140 Y'all help us work through these things. 00:13:43.040 --> 00:13:46.300 Instead of believers sitting down with the leaders in the church, 00:13:47.160 --> 00:13:52.480 instead of believers sitting down amongst one another and saying, hey, let's work through this. 00:13:52.540 --> 00:13:53.300 They're saying, no, no, no, no. 00:13:53.540 --> 00:13:57.760 Bring what is pagan, bring what is lost, and let's set that in the standard amongst us. 00:13:58.800 --> 00:14:02.360 Also in here, and I think this is important. 00:14:04.040 --> 00:14:13.240 Paul says, if you feel like you've been wronged, I'm just telling you like this, get your shin guards on because this is what got me. 00:14:15.180 --> 00:14:21.920 Paul says, if you feel like you've been wronged, it's better for you to suffer wrong and be defrauded than let this spill out. 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:23.780 Count your losses. 00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:26.020 That's better for the gospel. 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:28.920 Now, that takes a depth of maturity. 00:14:30.280 --> 00:14:33.040 That takes a depth of setting pride to the side. 00:14:34.260 --> 00:14:35.260 But Paul's like, no, no, no, no. 00:14:35.520 --> 00:14:36.700 Be wronged. 00:14:37.280 --> 00:14:38.620 Be wronged. 00:14:41.400 --> 00:14:42.860 Because it's better for the name of the Lord. 00:14:43.880 --> 00:14:45.580 I've shared this story a thousand times again. 00:14:45.680 --> 00:14:48.860 I picked on my daughter just then because, and she keeps her room great, but I'll use this. 00:14:48.880 --> 00:14:50.100 This is a true story about Emma, right? 00:14:50.220 --> 00:14:51.080 I'm not suing her. 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:51.620 Not at all. 00:14:51.680 --> 00:14:52.800 But here's the true story about Emma. 00:14:54.040 --> 00:15:02.780 Years ago, she was young, elementary school age, I think like third grade, and we were headed to her dance class and we had to get off the interstate, right? 00:15:03.700 --> 00:15:12.300 And the area that we had to get off the interstate to go to her dance class, it is known for men and women who are homeless there to stand and hold up one of their signs. 00:15:12.580 --> 00:15:16.100 And I don't know about you, but that's one of the most uncomfortable feelings that I have, right? 00:15:16.100 --> 00:15:22.620 Like I turn into the seventh grade students that doesn't want to be called on by the teacher and just, if I don't look at them, they will not see me, right? 00:15:23.060 --> 00:15:25.320 It's just stare down, just stare down, just stare down. 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:33.840 And we pull up beside and there's a homeless person and we're right there and there's sitting in my truck is a whole, the ashtray that they used to put in there, right? 00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:37.680 I had my F-150 and I had that there and it's filled with quarters and change, other change. 00:15:38.340 --> 00:15:45.040 And they're standing there and we drove off and Emma said to me, why didn't you give them any money? 00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:49.680 And I said, well, sweetie, you don't know what they would have done with it. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:51.960 And she said, you're right, you don't. 00:15:55.180 --> 00:15:57.800 My heart went negative, her heart went positive. 00:15:59.880 --> 00:16:01.280 What if they wronged me? 00:16:02.060 --> 00:16:04.780 That's okay, that's okay, that's okay. 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:07.780 And the generosity of the Lord, right? 00:16:08.560 --> 00:16:12.420 Paul says it's better to suffer wrong and be defrauded than let it spill out. 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:16.760 But then another thing is he says, like, it's a matter of the heart. 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:18.380 Like, look back at verse eight. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:23.240 But you yourselves wrong and defraud even your own brothers, right? 00:16:24.140 --> 00:16:25.260 Sin is just rampant. 00:16:26.300 --> 00:16:32.060 Sin is rampant in the church and it's not being dealt with in the way that brings glory to the Lord. 00:16:33.140 --> 00:16:35.700 It's not being addressed what we saw from last week. 00:16:36.160 --> 00:16:37.560 It's being brought in by fights. 00:16:37.640 --> 00:16:39.740 There's not church leadership that's stepping in. 00:16:39.940 --> 00:16:43.240 There's not those that are rising above all of this, right? 00:16:43.400 --> 00:16:47.360 And Paul says, you should be freed from this. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:50.480 You should be different from this. 00:16:50.920 --> 00:16:56.480 And Paul gives them a list of behaviors and sins in chapter six. 00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:57.380 And then he says this. 00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:58.900 Look down at verse 11. 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:02.140 And he says, and such were some of you. 00:17:03.500 --> 00:17:15.700 But you were washed and you were sanctified and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 00:17:15.700 --> 00:17:21.200 Paul says, you were the people who did these things, but you're not them anymore. 00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:23.980 You're not them anymore. 00:17:24.600 --> 00:17:27.900 And he says, here's who you are. 00:17:28.180 --> 00:17:33.440 I had a pastor one time preach a message and I'll never forget the title of his message. 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:35.840 The title of his message was, but God. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:38.020 It was, but God. 00:17:38.940 --> 00:17:40.480 And he says, here's who you were. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:44.420 And then the greatest line in your testimony is, but God. 00:17:45.320 --> 00:17:50.400 And in that, he stepped in and he saved me and he changed me. 00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:58.280 And what Paul does here is he steps in and begins to say, this is what God did. 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:00.180 He says, you were washed. 00:18:01.460 --> 00:18:02.600 God washed you. 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:09.000 Spiritually speaking, we have been cleansed by God, covered by the blood of Christ. 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:15.740 What was old, what was dirty, what was filthy has been made new by the blood of the Lamb. 00:18:16.940 --> 00:18:17.920 Paul says, you were washed. 00:18:18.860 --> 00:18:21.160 Paul says, you were sanctified, all right? 00:18:21.760 --> 00:18:25.660 And then the sanctified, it's this essence of being set apart. 00:18:25.860 --> 00:18:31.160 So important, as marked as different, when we go all the way back to the Old Testament, 00:18:31.220 --> 00:18:34.580 when we think about what God did with the Jewish people. 00:18:34.800 --> 00:18:35.580 What did he do? 00:18:35.780 --> 00:18:41.820 He chose for himself a people to set them apart so that the world would know that they were his 00:18:41.820 --> 00:18:44.640 and they would be a living example within there. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:51.000 And that we in the new covenant in Christ, what Christ has done is it's not about an ethnic group, 00:18:51.100 --> 00:18:52.220 but it's about a savior. 00:18:52.600 --> 00:18:55.320 And we've been set apart in this. 00:18:55.580 --> 00:18:57.580 We've been marked as different. 00:18:58.820 --> 00:19:03.380 And then Paul says, you've been justified, which is a legal term. 00:19:04.080 --> 00:19:12.660 A legal term that was used in the courts, but takes on a theological meaning that legally declared righteous, 00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:14.300 declared innocent. 00:19:15.080 --> 00:19:16.960 And here's what's beautiful about it. 00:19:17.500 --> 00:19:18.760 We weren't innocent. 00:19:20.300 --> 00:19:21.360 We did it all. 00:19:23.300 --> 00:19:28.480 Every commandment shattered and broken, guilty. 00:19:28.540 --> 00:19:34.960 And what was imparted to us was not just the death of Christ on the cross, 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:40.580 but the life that Jesus lived, who broke none of them, not even one, 00:19:41.320 --> 00:19:49.400 and his perfection imparted to us so that God, the righteous judge, says this is who we are. 00:19:49.700 --> 00:19:55.260 And so Paul says, if this is who you are, if you've been washed, if you've been sanctified, 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:57.880 if you've been justified, then be different. 00:19:58.460 --> 00:20:02.300 You've been washed by the blood of the Lamb, sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit, 00:20:02.300 --> 00:20:09.300 and declared justified and innocent, not by an earthly judge, but by God, the righteous judge, 00:20:09.980 --> 00:20:13.320 who knows all wrong and still imparts that to us. 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:15.100 So now this is who we're to go and to be. 00:20:15.780 --> 00:20:18.500 This is what we are to go and reflect, right? 00:20:19.540 --> 00:20:23.920 And then there's going to be a little change as we see the second half of chapter 6. 00:20:24.760 --> 00:20:26.160 Look at verses 12 and 13. 00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:29.920 Paul writes, 00:20:30.340 --> 00:20:37.300 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:44.680 All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:50.320 Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food. 00:20:51.360 --> 00:20:54.680 And God will destroy both one and the other. 00:20:55.760 --> 00:21:03.040 The body is not meant for sexual morality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:09.660 Now, this last week, I've poured hard over these two verses. 00:21:10.840 --> 00:21:16.260 In an effort to understand what Paul is saying, so that it can be taught, 00:21:16.980 --> 00:21:20.260 but I think even more importantly, so that it can be applied to my life. 00:21:21.040 --> 00:21:24.080 Now, I've heard this passage taught on often. 00:21:25.240 --> 00:21:27.280 In this passage, when it says things like, 00:21:27.540 --> 00:21:32.360 all things are lawful for me, and Paul says it twice here, 00:21:32.780 --> 00:21:38.980 that there's this teaching that those of us who were in Christ have been set free from the law. 00:21:38.980 --> 00:21:40.540 Now, let me say this really quick. 00:21:41.260 --> 00:21:42.060 That is true. 00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:44.040 That is true. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:46.580 For a different time and a different lesson. 00:21:47.620 --> 00:21:50.400 Because I don't think that's what Paul's trying to get to here. 00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:53.880 I don't think that's what Paul's trying to point out. 00:21:54.840 --> 00:21:55.000 Okay? 00:21:55.800 --> 00:21:59.020 And so, just bear with me, and I want us to follow the quotes. 00:22:00.180 --> 00:22:04.500 Because in these two verses, there are three quotes, and I want us to look at them. 00:22:05.100 --> 00:22:09.820 And Paul's going to give a quote, and then Paul's going to give a rebuttal. 00:22:10.840 --> 00:22:11.620 Give a standard. 00:22:12.940 --> 00:22:13.820 So, let's look at them. 00:22:14.040 --> 00:22:15.400 Two of them are in verse 12. 00:22:15.500 --> 00:22:18.120 The first one, all things are lawful. 00:22:18.760 --> 00:22:22.580 And then Paul follows it with, but not all things are helpful. 00:22:24.180 --> 00:22:31.400 Then a little bit later, he says, all things are lawful, again, but I will not be dominated by anything. 00:22:32.600 --> 00:22:34.200 And then verse 13. 00:22:36.700 --> 00:22:39.740 Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food. 00:22:41.120 --> 00:22:43.840 And God will destroy both one and the other. 00:22:45.280 --> 00:22:52.840 And here's what I think Paul is doing as he speaks his largely Gentile audience who's trying to embrace Jesus in the world. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:23:09.420 He's attacking an area of the culture of the Corinthian church, of what they're doing as the Corinthian body, the Corinthian people, the Corinthian culture, would say that the body is morally irrelevant. 00:23:10.280 --> 00:23:17.700 So that the body, it doesn't matter, because the body in and of itself is morally neutral. 00:23:19.280 --> 00:23:27.400 And so, the only thing that matters is what I know, and the only thing that matters is what I believe. 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:36.680 So, when we look back, and when we see the listings of sins and the things that Paul says, he says, these are the things that affect the body. 00:23:36.900 --> 00:23:38.180 There's the sexually immoral. 00:23:38.740 --> 00:23:39.940 There's the idolaters. 00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:41.440 There's the adulterers. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:43.700 There's the men who practice homosexuality. 00:23:43.940 --> 00:23:44.740 There's the thieves. 00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:45.820 There's the greedies. 00:23:46.060 --> 00:23:46.520 The greedy. 00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:47.580 There's the drunkards. 00:23:47.840 --> 00:23:48.740 There's the revilers. 00:23:48.980 --> 00:23:49.780 There's the swindlers. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:51.800 They won't inherit the kingdom of God. 00:23:51.800 --> 00:23:56.660 And it's not just solely based in their actions. 00:23:56.800 --> 00:23:59.700 It's because it's who they, it's because whose they are. 00:24:00.660 --> 00:24:11.000 But in the Corinthian church, in the Corinthian culture, you could have a break, and they would say, no, no, no, the body is morally irrelevant. 00:24:11.320 --> 00:24:12.760 It doesn't matter what I do. 00:24:12.760 --> 00:24:20.280 It only matters what I know, and it only matters what I believe. 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:28.280 And in this, their belief and their action is completely separated. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:37.140 In church, all too often, this is where we find the brokenness in so much of the American church. 00:24:38.100 --> 00:24:40.540 So much of the American church. 00:24:41.100 --> 00:24:42.200 Let me give you some examples. 00:24:44.120 --> 00:24:55.820 You talk to someone whose life is a wreck, addicted to many different behaviors, drunk all the time, living in sexual sin, practicing shady business dealings. 00:24:55.940 --> 00:25:00.720 And you share the gospel with them, and their response is, oh, well, I believe in Jesus. 00:25:01.560 --> 00:25:02.120 Well, do you? 00:25:03.360 --> 00:25:04.280 Well, do you? 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:06.440 Do you believe? 00:25:06.560 --> 00:25:12.600 Because what you're listing out is all the feelings of all of the things that are there. 00:25:12.900 --> 00:25:18.740 Do you believe that there's this more of what it cuts down to at the heart of this? 00:25:19.420 --> 00:25:31.860 What it cuts down to is the heart of what's going on here, and what we see happening in the church at Corinth, and what we see happening in the church in the United States so many times, 00:25:31.980 --> 00:25:41.440 is we say we believe in Jesus, but does our life reflect what we say we believe? 00:25:43.280 --> 00:25:46.520 A couple of things studied for this is to be able to see. 00:25:47.580 --> 00:25:50.960 One of those that we would call this is called practical atheism. 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:53.420 Practical atheism. 00:25:55.460 --> 00:26:01.580 Atheism is the belief, and it's the lack of belief, I'm sorry, in the existence of God, that God doesn't exist. 00:26:02.740 --> 00:26:10.480 And practical atheism says, while I believe in God, I choose to live my life in such a manner that he doesn't exist. 00:26:11.260 --> 00:26:13.600 So it's not that I don't believe in God. 00:26:13.700 --> 00:26:15.360 I'll tell you I believe in God. 00:26:15.740 --> 00:26:22.440 But when it comes to what I do, when it comes to who I am, there's a break in that. 00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:26.700 And Paul says, that's not faith at all. 00:26:27.840 --> 00:26:31.980 The second is called practical hedonism, right? 00:26:32.360 --> 00:26:39.800 Hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure, and oftentimes mostly sexual, but not always, above all other pursuits in life. 00:26:41.540 --> 00:26:48.740 And practical hedonism says, while I believe in God, I choose to live my life by what makes me feel good, 00:26:48.900 --> 00:26:51.580 even if this goes against God's standard for my life. 00:26:51.800 --> 00:26:54.000 And these are the behaviors that Paul's addressing. 00:26:54.660 --> 00:26:59.740 You can't claim belief in God and then live sexually immoral. 00:27:00.800 --> 00:27:05.540 You can't claim belief in God and then be the drunkard. 00:27:06.220 --> 00:27:09.200 You can't claim belief in God. 00:27:09.560 --> 00:27:13.080 These two aren't separated from themselves. 00:27:13.080 --> 00:27:17.640 And when we live our lives in these manners, that's what we do. 00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:21.780 Is it lawful in Corinth to indulge in sexual morality? 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:23.660 Yes, it's lawful. 00:27:24.580 --> 00:27:25.920 Paul says, is it godly? 00:27:26.820 --> 00:27:32.320 Is it lawful in the Corinthian culture to indulge in the desires of the flesh? 00:27:33.040 --> 00:27:35.040 Yes, but is it godly? 00:27:35.080 --> 00:27:43.280 Is it lawful in Corinthian culture to partake in sketchy business practices and stretch the lines? 00:27:43.520 --> 00:27:44.480 Is it lawful? 00:27:44.820 --> 00:27:46.400 Yes, but is it godly? 00:27:47.600 --> 00:27:51.020 Is it lawful to partake in gossip? 00:27:51.480 --> 00:27:54.280 Yes, but is it godly? 00:27:55.300 --> 00:28:00.000 Paul says we've got to stop letting the culture determine who we are. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:03.440 We've got to stop letting the culture determine what we do. 00:28:03.760 --> 00:28:11.040 And we see this in so many ways infiltrating into the church then and into the church today. 00:28:12.300 --> 00:28:16.300 Over and over and over again. 00:28:17.620 --> 00:28:22.320 God taught me this lesson and reminded me of this lesson yesterday. 00:28:23.360 --> 00:28:24.260 So I was out skiing. 00:28:25.460 --> 00:28:29.540 And I don't know if you've ever been skiing or been to Winter Place specifically, 00:28:29.540 --> 00:28:30.380 which is where we were. 00:28:30.760 --> 00:28:34.660 But when you ski down to the lodge, there's kind of this code. 00:28:35.320 --> 00:28:37.240 There's this ethic that's there, right? 00:28:37.860 --> 00:28:44.180 And it's before you go in, you have an area where you lay your ski poles and you lay your skis 00:28:44.180 --> 00:28:45.700 and then you go inside to eat. 00:28:45.780 --> 00:28:48.340 And that way people aren't tripping over ski poles. 00:28:48.460 --> 00:28:49.500 They're not tripping over skis. 00:28:49.600 --> 00:28:50.400 They're all out there. 00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:55.480 And then in the 25 times that I've been there, right, until yesterday, that was fun. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:59.880 And then my family and I, we go walking out after going inside to eat lunch. 00:29:00.220 --> 00:29:01.600 We walk outside. 00:29:01.980 --> 00:29:03.840 We go to grab our stuff. 00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:06.900 And my son comes up to me and he's like, Dad, my ski poles are gone. 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:08.720 I said, what do you mean? 00:29:09.500 --> 00:29:10.600 He said, my ski poles are gone. 00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:13.440 I set them right here, right beside my skis. 00:29:13.560 --> 00:29:14.940 And I came back out here to get them. 00:29:15.120 --> 00:29:16.540 And they're gone. 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:18.520 And so let's look around. 00:29:19.380 --> 00:29:20.240 Maybe they fell. 00:29:20.320 --> 00:29:21.220 Maybe they're somewhere else. 00:29:21.540 --> 00:29:21.980 And so I don't know. 00:29:22.060 --> 00:29:25.560 Like those times where you're not looking for something and then when you begin to look for 00:29:25.560 --> 00:29:26.780 something, that's all you see, you know. 00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:32.440 And so as we're looking, it felt like there was way more ski poles out there than there 00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:32.900 was skis. 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:33.800 You know, kind of those things. 00:29:34.220 --> 00:29:36.200 And walking around and we're looking and we're looking and we're looking. 00:29:36.580 --> 00:29:37.820 But we can't find yours. 00:29:38.800 --> 00:29:42.560 So we head down to the place for the rentals. 00:29:43.380 --> 00:29:46.620 And they told us, if you lose anything, if something happens, just come let us know. 00:29:46.620 --> 00:29:52.580 And so we go down there and we walk in and they're there and we say, hey, here's what's 00:29:52.580 --> 00:29:53.180 kind of happened. 00:29:53.640 --> 00:29:54.740 Somebody's taking the ski poles. 00:29:54.820 --> 00:29:55.800 We can't find the ski poles. 00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:58.520 And so we wanted to just kind of get him another pair of ski poles. 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:03.060 And the guy just looked at me and he said, well, what's happening this weekend is a lot 00:30:03.060 --> 00:30:06.300 of people were taking ski poles that aren't theirs and we're out of them. 00:30:06.360 --> 00:30:07.460 So that's just kind of your problem. 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:11.240 Okay. 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:15.840 I've got a choice to make. 00:30:16.620 --> 00:30:18.720 Do I believe in God? 00:30:20.300 --> 00:30:24.140 And is he going to dictate who I am in those moments? 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:33.900 Could I have gone out and justified to myself an action and found another set of ski poles 00:30:33.900 --> 00:30:38.380 and said to my son, well, there's probably an extra set here. 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:40.240 So why don't you just take those? 00:30:40.900 --> 00:30:42.440 Could I have done that? 00:30:43.380 --> 00:30:45.060 Yeah, I could have. 00:30:46.580 --> 00:30:48.460 Could I have done that and no one would have noticed? 00:30:49.820 --> 00:30:50.040 Yeah. 00:30:51.300 --> 00:30:57.440 But God and my belief in him and I know that he's ever present and that he's with me. 00:30:57.920 --> 00:30:59.960 I can't live my life as a practical atheist. 00:31:00.840 --> 00:31:08.920 Whether I'm searching on Google or doing taxes or standing there at the ski slope, 00:31:09.460 --> 00:31:10.740 I am not alone. 00:31:10.740 --> 00:31:12.840 I am not alone and God is with me. 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:17.280 Number two, practical hedonism. 00:31:19.280 --> 00:31:21.200 When that guy said that to me, 00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:34.520 I wanted to respond. 00:31:34.520 --> 00:31:41.780 I didn't want to get physical, but I wanted to let him have it. 00:31:43.060 --> 00:31:51.940 And I acknowledge in that moment, it would have satisfied one thing in me, my flesh. 00:31:53.320 --> 00:31:54.100 My flesh. 00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:57.020 Satan would have been glorified. 00:31:57.180 --> 00:31:59.580 The flesh would have been satisfied. 00:31:59.840 --> 00:32:03.740 And I'd have chosen in that moment a pursuit that wasn't the Lord. 00:32:04.860 --> 00:32:05.340 Right? 00:32:06.780 --> 00:32:08.440 And so I said, I understand. 00:32:09.660 --> 00:32:12.500 Put a smile on my face and walked out. 00:32:13.620 --> 00:32:20.840 And my family and I, we came up with a situation that in our life taught us some lessons, 00:32:21.520 --> 00:32:25.420 made much of the Lord to help us rise above this. 00:32:26.100 --> 00:32:26.220 Right? 00:32:27.500 --> 00:32:31.360 Paul says, when we're facing these things, when we're facing these choices, 00:32:31.540 --> 00:32:34.700 when this is what it is, the question that we have. 00:32:34.940 --> 00:32:35.220 Right? 00:32:36.280 --> 00:32:39.400 The battle that we face, Paul presses on two things. 00:32:39.800 --> 00:32:43.120 He says, make sure you're choosing the things that are helpful 00:32:43.120 --> 00:32:47.160 and make sure you're choosing the things that won't dominate you. 00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:48.040 Right? 00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:50.480 So what does he mean by what is helpful? 00:32:51.340 --> 00:32:51.900 What is helpful? 00:32:53.340 --> 00:32:55.800 Is it in this particular choice or action? 00:32:57.320 --> 00:32:59.600 Is it helping you grow in your faith? 00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:03.140 Is it helping you grow in loving God? 00:33:04.040 --> 00:33:06.520 Is it helping you grow in loving others well? 00:33:06.620 --> 00:33:09.340 Is it helping you grow in glorifying him? 00:33:09.600 --> 00:33:13.280 Is it helping you grow in making his name known? 00:33:13.560 --> 00:33:15.180 Is it helping you in these things? 00:33:15.400 --> 00:33:18.800 Or is it retracting from these things? 00:33:19.220 --> 00:33:21.260 The question isn't, can I? 00:33:22.120 --> 00:33:23.440 What comes from this? 00:33:24.040 --> 00:33:27.180 The question is, should I? 00:33:27.620 --> 00:33:29.160 Does it glorify the Lord? 00:33:29.420 --> 00:33:31.120 Is it in the leading of his spirit? 00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:34.400 It's not if the world will allow it. 00:33:34.620 --> 00:33:35.700 The world will allow anything. 00:33:36.940 --> 00:33:39.240 We can find anything that will have us there. 00:33:39.420 --> 00:33:41.740 But the problem is, is we as believers, 00:33:41.900 --> 00:33:45.280 we fall into a pattern of justifying actions 00:33:45.280 --> 00:33:47.080 instead of evaluating hearts. 00:33:48.040 --> 00:33:50.820 Psalm 139, 23 and 24 says, 00:33:51.120 --> 00:33:52.920 Search me, O God, and know my heart. 00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:55.500 Try me and know my thoughts. 00:33:56.040 --> 00:33:59.200 And see if there be any grievous way in me 00:33:59.200 --> 00:34:02.520 and lead me in the way everlasting. 00:34:03.960 --> 00:34:05.520 Is what the psalmist says. 00:34:06.460 --> 00:34:06.580 Right? 00:34:06.860 --> 00:34:08.020 Search my heart. 00:34:08.680 --> 00:34:09.780 Find who I am. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:12.100 And if there is anything. 00:34:12.100 --> 00:34:14.780 Because this is who I was. 00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:17.660 This is what I did. 00:34:18.680 --> 00:34:20.940 This is what we were a part of. 00:34:21.880 --> 00:34:23.380 But we've been washed. 00:34:24.120 --> 00:34:25.360 We've been sanctified. 00:34:25.980 --> 00:34:27.220 And we've been justified. 00:34:28.460 --> 00:34:28.580 Right? 00:34:29.160 --> 00:34:31.040 But Paul also follows it with, 00:34:31.860 --> 00:34:32.920 What will dominate you? 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:34.340 What will dominate you? 00:34:36.160 --> 00:34:38.080 We serve one master, Jesus. 00:34:39.540 --> 00:34:40.960 And this is what he says. 00:34:42.080 --> 00:34:43.940 These are Jesus' words in Matthew 6, 24. 00:34:45.240 --> 00:34:47.080 No one can serve two masters. 00:34:48.380 --> 00:34:51.120 For either he will hate the one and love the other. 00:34:51.120 --> 00:34:55.320 Or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. 00:34:56.080 --> 00:34:59.600 You cannot serve God and money. 00:35:00.280 --> 00:35:04.280 And in the context of what Jesus is talking about there. 00:35:04.420 --> 00:35:06.800 He's not talking about money that is evil. 00:35:07.020 --> 00:35:08.220 It's the love of money. 00:35:08.440 --> 00:35:09.460 The pursuit of money. 00:35:09.560 --> 00:35:10.740 As the ultimate what's there. 00:35:10.900 --> 00:35:14.260 And we can't let anything dominate us. 00:35:14.460 --> 00:35:16.340 We cannot serve two masters. 00:35:16.660 --> 00:35:18.620 And we're to be drawn. 00:35:18.860 --> 00:35:19.840 We're to be brought in. 00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:20.800 We're to be guided. 00:35:21.200 --> 00:35:21.980 Not by the world. 00:35:22.360 --> 00:35:23.180 Not by the standard. 00:35:23.460 --> 00:35:24.440 But by the Holy Spirit. 00:35:25.860 --> 00:35:26.940 Not by the flesh. 00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:28.480 Right? 00:35:29.720 --> 00:35:32.420 And so Paul, in verse 18, 00:35:34.180 --> 00:35:37.400 he says, flee from sexual immorality. 00:35:39.020 --> 00:35:41.820 Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. 00:35:42.580 --> 00:35:46.020 But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 00:35:46.660 --> 00:35:48.680 And this is so big because in this context, 00:35:48.680 --> 00:35:52.280 what Paul is talking about is that the body is the temple of God. 00:35:52.380 --> 00:35:54.580 And that God dwells within us. 00:35:54.640 --> 00:35:57.540 And this is what we're, who to be and who we're to model within this. 00:35:57.600 --> 00:36:01.160 And so in the context of the sexually immoral person with what they're doing, 00:36:01.240 --> 00:36:02.640 it's the infection within the body. 00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:05.400 And so Paul says, in these moments, 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:07.880 in these moments, what we do, 00:36:08.440 --> 00:36:09.980 in these moments where we go, 00:36:10.520 --> 00:36:14.560 in these moments when this begins to rare its ugly head up in our life, 00:36:14.680 --> 00:36:15.500 is what do we do? 00:36:16.180 --> 00:36:16.640 We flee. 00:36:16.640 --> 00:36:16.920 We flee. 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:18.660 We flee. 00:36:18.660 --> 00:36:18.700 We flee. 00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:20.260 We flee. 00:36:21.140 --> 00:36:25.300 I find that oftentimes with us in the church, 00:36:25.300 --> 00:36:30.720 we try to be cautious optimists about sin. 00:36:32.140 --> 00:36:33.360 That's not that bad. 00:36:34.140 --> 00:36:35.040 No, it is. 00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:37.520 Oh, I can handle it. 00:36:38.200 --> 00:36:39.120 No, you can't. 00:36:40.220 --> 00:36:41.980 Oh, it's not going to take over. 00:36:42.920 --> 00:36:43.720 Oh, but it is. 00:36:45.040 --> 00:36:49.960 And Paul says, what we're to do is to flee. 00:36:50.760 --> 00:36:51.720 We're to flee. 00:36:52.600 --> 00:36:53.860 We're to flee from it. 00:36:54.520 --> 00:36:54.660 Right? 00:36:55.160 --> 00:37:00.940 I heard a story someone was telling me this morning about a news report or picture. 00:37:01.040 --> 00:37:02.460 I forget exactly what it was, 00:37:02.540 --> 00:37:05.660 but we were talking about skiing and just gotten back from skiing, 00:37:05.880 --> 00:37:08.660 and they said that there was a person who was skiing down a mountain, 00:37:09.460 --> 00:37:12.740 and there's people on the chairlifts where we're watching him ski. 00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:15.140 And I don't know if you've ever been skiing, 00:37:15.340 --> 00:37:18.520 but it's fun to watch people ski when you're on the chairlift, right? 00:37:18.520 --> 00:37:19.820 There's nothing else that you can really do 00:37:19.820 --> 00:37:22.560 other than hope that you don't plunge down to your death or something right there, right? 00:37:23.760 --> 00:37:29.320 And as they're watching, what they notice is that a bear has come out. 00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:34.940 And as the person is skiing, the bear is coming at them. 00:37:36.180 --> 00:37:37.460 Now, the person got away. 00:37:37.540 --> 00:37:39.520 I don't know if the person ever turned around and saw, 00:37:39.660 --> 00:37:43.020 but what if the person saw the bear, right? 00:37:43.700 --> 00:37:44.980 Oh, it's not a big deal. 00:37:45.040 --> 00:37:46.660 Let me slow down a little bit. 00:37:47.140 --> 00:37:48.460 Good time for a selfie, right? 00:37:51.400 --> 00:37:52.400 No, no, no, no, no. 00:37:53.600 --> 00:37:54.180 No, no, no. 00:37:55.020 --> 00:37:56.460 You flee. 00:37:57.620 --> 00:37:58.260 You flee. 00:37:59.260 --> 00:37:59.800 You flee. 00:38:00.560 --> 00:38:05.560 Church, can we be people that stop being comfortable with the sin? 00:38:06.800 --> 00:38:10.880 To stop being comfortable with the ways of the world. 00:38:11.500 --> 00:38:18.880 To stop being comfortable with who we were and understand who we are. 00:38:19.660 --> 00:38:23.100 And to set the standard of holiness in our life. 00:38:23.880 --> 00:38:24.600 Would you pray with me? 00:38:36.940 --> 00:38:38.480 God, I come to you this morning. 00:38:41.480 --> 00:38:46.460 And thank you, Lord, for the call that you've placed on our life. 00:38:48.620 --> 00:38:49.620 To be different. 00:38:49.620 --> 00:38:49.680 To be different. 00:38:49.680 --> 00:38:53.780 To shine a light. 00:38:55.640 --> 00:38:58.940 To not reflect who we were, but to reflect who we are. 00:39:01.300 --> 00:39:09.780 To be different as men and women who are slaves to righteousness, not slaves to sin. 00:39:11.880 --> 00:39:16.600 God, in these areas of our life, I pray that you would just capture our hearts. 00:39:19.300 --> 00:39:42.160 Lord, bring us before your throne of grace, may the sins of society, may the sins of society, the things that are sexually immoral, the idolatry of this world, the adultery that is rampant. 00:39:44.300 --> 00:39:53.260 Lord, the attack on your union of marriage between a husband and a wife. 00:39:57.060 --> 00:39:59.880 Lord, the desire to take what is not ours. 00:40:02.100 --> 00:40:07.120 The desire to consume without care for others. 00:40:10.200 --> 00:40:16.460 The desire to be controlled by anything other than your spirit. 00:40:18.500 --> 00:40:24.560 Lord, we understand that the people who are this, they don't inherit the kingdom of God. 00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:27.560 We've been washed. 00:40:28.460 --> 00:40:29.700 We've been sanctified. 00:40:30.300 --> 00:40:31.520 We've been justified. 00:40:32.820 --> 00:40:34.220 We've been made new. 00:40:35.760 --> 00:40:38.380 And that's now, Lord, who we are in you. 00:40:40.200 --> 00:40:54.100 Lord, show us in our own life, specific areas in our life where we're allowing culture to dictate our belief and our actions. 00:40:55.460 --> 00:41:04.560 Lord, show us the areas of our life where while we believe in you, there's a sense of practical atheism in our life. 00:41:06.140 --> 00:41:10.000 Lord, while we believe in you, there's an area of practical hedonism. 00:41:11.060 --> 00:41:18.420 Lord, we're making other choices other than you and other than your will. 00:41:20.100 --> 00:41:24.280 Lord, we fight against the flesh and pursue you. 00:41:25.500 --> 00:41:26.760 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:41:27.340 --> 00:41:27.620 Amen. 00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:31.460 We've got prayer encouragers on the inside of our auditorium. 00:41:33.060 --> 00:41:38.060 Maybe this morning it's an opportunity for you to come before and to pray. 00:41:38.800 --> 00:41:42.280 Maybe we'll talk to someone about a relationship with Christ. 00:41:43.040 --> 00:41:44.160 They'd love to talk with you. 00:41:44.240 --> 00:41:45.620 They'd love to pray with you. 00:41:46.780 --> 00:41:49.820 Just ask that you respond and how God's leading you this morning. 00:41:49.820 --> 00:41:51.080 Just stay in peace. 00:41:51.700 --> 00:42:06.500 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:09.300 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:42:09.800 --> 00:42:13.300 If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources, 00:42:13.900 --> 00:42:18.360 visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com 00:42:18.360 --> 00:42:21.920 or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram.