WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:22.260 Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:25.880 This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons. 00:00:26.080 --> 00:00:30.400 We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:31.260 the latest message. 00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:32.460 Thanks for listening. 00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:49.180 So I just encourage you, go to PrayForPlanners.com. 00:00:49.260 --> 00:00:52.860 It's an opportunity for you to go through, and what's really cool is when you pull up 00:00:52.860 --> 00:00:57.640 the website, you can not only see the planner to pray for that day, but you can also see 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:02.600 all the different planners that are scattered all over North America, and all the work that's 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:04.020 happening, and what God is doing. 00:01:04.580 --> 00:01:09.920 And it's not just generically how you can pray for them, but each planner has shared specific 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:11.480 prayer requests for them. 00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:17.920 And so just a wonderful opportunity for us to continue to engage and pray for missionaries 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:22.360 all over the world, but especially when we think of planning churches in North America, 00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:26.700 we often think of, well, North America, I mean, that's where the church is thriving. 00:01:26.820 --> 00:01:27.740 That's where the church exists. 00:01:27.860 --> 00:01:31.480 Everybody in North America has an opportunity for the gospel, but we know that not to be 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:31.760 true. 00:01:32.060 --> 00:01:36.780 Like with us planted with, or partnered, I'm sorry, with the Stockmans at Hope Valley Church 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:40.820 outside of Salt Lake City in Utah to know that they're in an area where it's less than 00:01:40.820 --> 00:01:42.320 2% evangelical. 00:01:42.860 --> 00:01:45.980 And so we begin to see and understand the importance of doing that. 00:01:46.300 --> 00:01:49.620 And so in fact, we're going to take a moment before we dive into God's word this morning, 00:01:49.960 --> 00:01:51.420 and let's go to the Lord in prayer. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:58.980 And while I pray, I would like to ask that you join me in praying as we pray for all of 00:01:58.980 --> 00:02:01.080 our church planners, and we pray for all of our missionaries. 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:02.640 So would you go to the Lord with me? 00:02:03.360 --> 00:02:07.200 God, I thank you for today, and I thank you for this time that we could gather here together. 00:02:08.100 --> 00:02:12.080 Lord, I thank you for this church and for this congregation, Lord, and the work that you 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:19.420 are doing here in us, amongst us, and through us to reach those in our community, those in 00:02:19.420 --> 00:02:24.020 our state, those across this country, and those all over this world. 00:02:25.140 --> 00:02:30.240 Lord, I specifically pray for Dustin and Sarah Stockman and their girls this morning. 00:02:31.260 --> 00:02:37.620 I pray as they are waking up and preparing to gather in their church with their congregation 00:02:37.620 --> 00:02:39.800 to celebrate you and who you are. 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:45.340 Lord, I pray for those who may show up this morning who have never heard the gospel before. 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:50.620 And Lord, I pray through the power of your spirit, the gospel will be clear and presented 00:02:50.620 --> 00:02:51.280 to them. 00:02:51.980 --> 00:02:53.460 Lord, and I pray for their response. 00:02:54.660 --> 00:02:58.020 Lord, I pray for those who are planning all over North America. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:03.900 Lord, I pray for those who are planning in rural cities and those who are planning in urban 00:03:03.900 --> 00:03:05.760 cities as well. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:12.700 Lord, I pray that they would not find their value in how many people showed up on this day, 00:03:12.820 --> 00:03:16.700 but instead, Lord, in their faithfulness to the gospel as they proclaim it. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:22.780 Lord, give them confidence in who they are, who you've called them to be, and Lord, who you've 00:03:22.780 --> 00:03:23.940 equipped them to be. 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:27.940 Because who they are is found in Christ and in Christ alone. 00:03:29.040 --> 00:03:34.280 God, I pray that we would be a church of prayer, praying for those that we know, praying for 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:39.500 those that we don't, understanding that the battle that this world faces is a spiritual 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:42.280 battle and we need to attack it in the spiritual realm. 00:03:43.700 --> 00:03:45.920 And that, Lord, we would be those who do that. 00:03:47.540 --> 00:03:51.800 Lord, I thank you for the ministry of the North American Mission Board, and thank you for 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:56.320 the churches that are being planted, and Lord, I thank you for the privilege of what we have 00:03:56.320 --> 00:03:59.320 to have the opportunity to be a part of that. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:01.820 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:04:02.440 --> 00:04:02.760 Amen. 00:04:03.780 --> 00:04:05.140 Well, good morning again. 00:04:05.380 --> 00:04:09.320 I'd like to ask you if you've got your Bibles with you, and I hope you do, to open them up 00:04:09.320 --> 00:04:11.020 to 1 John chapter 2. 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:14.400 In just a moment, we're going to start looking in verse 28. 00:04:14.860 --> 00:04:20.000 As we get there, as you turn there, I want to just kind of recap a little bit that John's 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:23.920 been talking about this walk in the light, do not walk in darkness. 00:04:24.340 --> 00:04:28.300 And he says, we walk in the light as he is in the light, right? 00:04:28.420 --> 00:04:33.280 Talking about God, talking about Christ, that God is light is what he says. 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:38.020 And what we know from that is God is light, which means God is truth. 00:04:38.520 --> 00:04:45.020 And so for us to begin to understand and process this, what does it mean that God is truth? 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:52.140 It means this, that God doesn't simply know truth, God doesn't simply have truth, is that 00:04:52.140 --> 00:05:00.180 God is truth, and that truth is defined in who God is, just as God is love and just as 00:05:00.180 --> 00:05:01.820 God is holy. 00:05:01.820 --> 00:05:03.860 Now, we just sang the song, right? 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:06.660 I am who you say I am. 00:05:08.280 --> 00:05:17.800 Not I am who I feel like I am, or I am who I want to be, but I am in who you say I am. 00:05:18.920 --> 00:05:24.180 So the truth in who we are, the truth in what God has called us to, the truth in what God 00:05:24.180 --> 00:05:31.880 is doing us and demanding for our lives is found in him and in who he is. 00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:40.520 And this is what John is laying this foundation before the church that he writes to, in pleading 00:05:40.520 --> 00:05:42.140 with our hearts today. 00:05:43.140 --> 00:05:51.320 Rest, know, be confident in who Jesus is, and then you can rest and know and be confident 00:05:51.320 --> 00:05:52.520 in who you are. 00:05:53.640 --> 00:05:56.020 So with that in mind, let's look at verse 28 and 29. 00:05:57.640 --> 00:05:58.060 He says, 00:05:58.060 --> 00:06:08.520 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears, we may have confidence and 00:06:08.520 --> 00:06:12.580 not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 00:06:13.140 --> 00:06:21.920 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:24.920 has been born of him. 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:32.520 Now, these are two powerful verses that I want us to look at before we jump into chapter 3. 00:06:32.820 --> 00:06:38.200 And so what John is imploring for the people who are reading this and imploring for us who 00:06:38.200 --> 00:06:43.260 read this today is this, being confident in the return of Jesus. 00:06:43.860 --> 00:06:51.660 Now, all of us who are followers of Christ can say yes and amen to the fact that Jesus will 00:06:51.660 --> 00:06:52.380 return. 00:06:53.020 --> 00:06:56.880 And oftentimes, that's where it kind of leaves our brain. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:58.920 Do you think Jesus is going to come? 00:06:58.920 --> 00:07:04.980 We would all say, all followers of Christ, everyone who knows who he is, we know the story. 00:07:05.280 --> 00:07:07.400 We've seen it in Revelation. 00:07:07.820 --> 00:07:10.980 Yes, Jesus is going to return. 00:07:11.200 --> 00:07:14.080 I am confident in that truth. 00:07:14.320 --> 00:07:23.320 But the question of what John is appealing to is this, in who you are, are you confident 00:07:23.320 --> 00:07:26.380 in the return of Christ? 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:36.900 Not in the fact that Jesus is going to return, but that when he returns, you're like, oh yeah, 00:07:37.100 --> 00:07:40.920 here it comes, here it comes, here it comes. 00:07:41.140 --> 00:07:47.420 This may be a silly illustration, but I have no problem sharing those from time to time, 00:07:47.440 --> 00:07:47.620 right? 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:50.500 So I've talked about this before. 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:51.680 You guys know this. 00:07:52.180 --> 00:07:54.220 I was a difficult child, right? 00:07:54.220 --> 00:07:58.760 Are some of you difficult children or were difficult children, right? 00:07:58.980 --> 00:07:59.700 Yeah, I see some hands. 00:07:59.900 --> 00:08:03.280 I didn't even ask you to raise hands, but I really appreciate those of you who just raised 00:08:03.280 --> 00:08:05.480 your hand because you're like, yeah, I'm difficult, right? 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:06.880 Yeah, yeah, I still am. 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:07.760 There's still those parts of me. 00:08:07.960 --> 00:08:09.520 I was a difficult child, right? 00:08:09.760 --> 00:08:14.920 And so here's the illustration that came to my mind of being a difficult child, right? 00:08:15.420 --> 00:08:18.960 Against their better judgment from time to time, my parents, when I was growing up, would 00:08:18.960 --> 00:08:20.080 leave me home alone, right? 00:08:20.280 --> 00:08:24.960 Just they had more confidence in me than they should have in those moments, which by the 00:08:24.960 --> 00:08:27.080 way, my parents listen to the messages every week, right? 00:08:27.080 --> 00:08:29.700 So these are all things that we've confessed and worked through. 00:08:29.820 --> 00:08:32.020 No surprises as they listen, I hope, right? 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:33.940 And so here's what would happen. 00:08:34.160 --> 00:08:39.600 My parents would leave me home alone, and whether it was spoken to rules of this is what you're 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:45.760 to do or not to do while we're gone, or whether it was implied rules, like you know better than 00:08:45.760 --> 00:08:46.200 that, right? 00:08:46.220 --> 00:08:47.560 Did you ever hear that conversation, right? 00:08:47.640 --> 00:08:49.460 I didn't tell you, but you know better than that. 00:08:49.580 --> 00:08:51.560 There was a set of rules that were there. 00:08:51.780 --> 00:08:56.240 Now, oftentimes when my parents would leave, it would be like simple things like, do you 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:56.800 have homework? 00:08:57.040 --> 00:08:58.060 Yes, I have homework. 00:08:58.060 --> 00:08:59.860 Okay, we're going to be gone for two hours. 00:09:00.180 --> 00:09:02.800 While we're gone, make sure you get your homework done. 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:03.560 Well, here's the deal. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:06.860 Me and homework, we didn't really get along, you know, right? 00:09:06.940 --> 00:09:09.720 My kids are here, don't do this, right? 00:09:09.860 --> 00:09:12.600 Do as your mother did, not as your father did, all right? 00:09:12.740 --> 00:09:17.600 So me and homework didn't get along very well at all, and I didn't really like to do homework. 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:21.560 And so my parents would say, no TV, get your homework done. 00:09:21.700 --> 00:09:23.120 Now, here's what I would do. 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:25.660 I would cut on the TV, right? 00:09:26.560 --> 00:09:32.900 If my parents said, get your homework done, no one comes over, I'd call my buddy Joe. 00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:34.520 Hey, you want to come over, right? 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:35.520 Like, this is what we did. 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:41.320 Like, never anything super criminal, but never the right thing either. 00:09:42.280 --> 00:09:46.680 And then I would ask that question, hey, well, when are you guys going to be, when are you guys going to be home? 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:47.800 I'm just, just curious. 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:49.720 Just, you know, just want to be ready. 00:09:50.340 --> 00:09:52.240 We'll be home about 730. 00:09:53.280 --> 00:09:53.680 Okay. 00:09:54.560 --> 00:09:57.460 So at 7, Joe's got to go home. 00:09:58.380 --> 00:10:01.120 And at 7, the TV's got to get cut off. 00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:02.880 Because here's something about tube TVs. 00:10:03.660 --> 00:10:06.040 They got hot, right? 00:10:09.780 --> 00:10:15.100 And your parents could bust you if they walked in and just touched the TV, right? 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:16.700 Because the TV was hot. 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:19.920 So at 7, the TV had to be off. 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:22.200 At 7, Joe had to head home. 00:10:22.560 --> 00:10:27.220 And it's from 7 to 730, I'm sitting there and like, I hope I'm not in trouble. 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:28.120 I hope I'm not in trouble. 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:28.960 I hope I'm not in trouble. 00:10:29.060 --> 00:10:29.740 I hope I'm not in trouble. 00:10:29.920 --> 00:10:31.600 And then mostly I got caught, right? 00:10:31.800 --> 00:10:31.980 Right? 00:10:32.060 --> 00:10:32.600 That's it. 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:34.480 Here's the silly illustration. 00:10:36.260 --> 00:10:37.860 Or the point of the silly illustration. 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:42.460 I feel like that's how most of us are when it comes to the return of Jesus. 00:10:45.980 --> 00:10:46.900 I hope I'm not caught. 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:47.700 I hope I'm not caught. 00:10:47.800 --> 00:10:48.500 I hope I'm not caught. 00:10:48.580 --> 00:10:49.200 I hope I'm not caught. 00:10:50.760 --> 00:10:52.360 We're sitting there in those moments. 00:10:54.300 --> 00:10:56.760 We proclaim, I am who you say I am. 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:06.680 But yet there's in those moments in the return of Christ where we're sitting there because of the evidence and the fruit and the things that are in our lives. 00:11:07.740 --> 00:11:09.060 With saying, I hope I'm not caught. 00:11:09.140 --> 00:11:09.840 I hope I'm not caught. 00:11:09.920 --> 00:11:10.560 I hope I'm not caught. 00:11:10.640 --> 00:11:11.180 I hope I'm not caught. 00:11:13.820 --> 00:11:26.880 My first overseas mission trip that I took after Emma and Grayson were born, I didn't know this, but Aaron met me at the airport on my return. 00:11:28.660 --> 00:11:30.200 And they had signs made. 00:11:32.060 --> 00:11:37.680 And when they saw me, they came running up to me. 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:48.400 And what John wants is for us to be like that when Jesus comes home. 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:50.880 When Jesus returns. 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:55.300 Yes, you're here. 00:11:55.300 --> 00:11:58.540 Yes, we've been waiting for you. 00:11:59.220 --> 00:12:01.160 Yes, we're prepared for you. 00:12:02.020 --> 00:12:03.560 Yes, we can't wait. 00:12:03.860 --> 00:12:07.500 This is the best day because you are here. 00:12:07.820 --> 00:12:09.940 You've come for us. 00:12:11.260 --> 00:12:12.400 You've returned. 00:12:14.400 --> 00:12:26.080 So that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:33.080 And so as we look at what we're going to look at today, which I'm going to tell you, it's hard stuff for us today. 00:12:33.300 --> 00:12:34.180 It's always hard. 00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:39.220 But it just feels like this morning, this week, as we just journeyed through this together. 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:43.240 Man, it's some tough stuff that John's going to call us out on within this. 00:12:43.460 --> 00:12:44.940 I just want to ask this question. 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:47.260 Are you ready for Jesus? 00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:50.260 Are you ready for Jesus? 00:12:52.260 --> 00:13:04.020 If he returned today, are you standing in confidence or shrinking in shame? 00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:08.320 So let's look at what he says, starting, we're going to read verses 1 through 10. 00:13:11.380 --> 00:13:14.500 See what kind of love the Father has given to us. 00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:17.720 That we should be called children of God. 00:13:19.180 --> 00:13:20.280 And so we are. 00:13:22.260 --> 00:13:26.960 The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:30.420 Beloved, we are God's children now. 00:13:31.060 --> 00:13:33.780 And what will be has not yet appeared. 00:13:34.640 --> 00:13:38.680 But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him. 00:13:39.040 --> 00:13:42.080 Because we shall see him as he is. 00:13:43.040 --> 00:13:48.640 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 00:13:49.640 --> 00:13:56.180 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. 00:13:56.960 --> 00:13:58.780 Sin is lawlessness. 00:14:00.220 --> 00:14:03.880 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins. 00:14:04.280 --> 00:14:06.500 And in him there is no sin. 00:14:07.660 --> 00:14:11.780 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:18.440 No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:23.040 Little children, let no one deceive you. 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:29.840 Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. 00:14:30.800 --> 00:14:34.900 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. 00:14:35.240 --> 00:14:37.860 For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:44.460 The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:49.320 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.860 For God's seed abides in him. 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:58.320 And he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:06.720 By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. 00:15:07.740 --> 00:15:15.780 Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:18.120 There's a lot in this. 00:15:19.680 --> 00:15:22.340 There's a lot that's hard in this. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:33.980 And in these 10 verses, what we're going to get to that I feel like kind of help us unpack everything that's around is we're going to specifically look at verse 7 and we're going to look at verse 9. 00:15:34.920 --> 00:15:37.000 And we're going to pull these together. 00:15:37.780 --> 00:15:42.600 And what this passage is doing is it deals with a very difficult question. 00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:56.000 And it is this, as you read this this morning, as I hope that you'll take from this and go from here, there should begin to be a little bit of conflict that is working in your heart. 00:15:56.420 --> 00:16:05.820 There should be a little bit of conflict within you and your actions and your thoughts and your deeds, just like there was in me and for me. 00:16:06.680 --> 00:16:24.080 And it is this, how do people who have experienced the miracle of new birth, life with Christ, deal with their own sinfulness as they try to live in the full assurance of their salvation? 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:47.300 How do you and I, if we declare that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, what does it mean that we have identified in his death, the dying of our old self, and in the resurrection of Christ, the new birth or the new life that is found in him. 00:16:47.300 --> 00:16:58.260 But yet within us rages this battle of the old self trying to come back and overtake the new you of who we are in Christ. 00:16:59.280 --> 00:17:13.620 How do you and I work through, I am who you say I am, but there's still these parts and pieces of us that want to wander back to who we were before. 00:17:14.620 --> 00:17:17.320 And here's what John is dealing with. 00:17:17.320 --> 00:17:27.960 When this happens, it becomes very difficult to live in the assurance and the confidence of your salvation. 00:17:28.920 --> 00:17:33.680 It becomes a difficult journey to say, here I am. 00:17:34.120 --> 00:17:36.820 Yes, Jesus, come. 00:17:38.600 --> 00:17:55.900 And so how can you and I live and enjoy and thrive in the assurance of being born again and not take lightly the sinfulness of our lives? 00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:57.720 Right? 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:03.800 I've talked about this term before, and so the term is grace abuse. 00:18:04.340 --> 00:18:05.640 And so I just want to ask this question. 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:11.600 How can we live in grace and not abuse grace? 00:18:13.280 --> 00:18:15.880 How can we journey through this? 00:18:16.760 --> 00:18:21.680 And what I love of what John is pointing us to, it is this. 00:18:21.780 --> 00:18:30.940 It's what we see in James, it's what we see in the Gospels, it's what we see in the Epistles, it is this, that doing confirms being. 00:18:32.200 --> 00:18:39.560 Now, doing does not create being, but doing confirms being. 00:18:39.560 --> 00:18:40.660 And here's what I mean. 00:18:40.920 --> 00:18:46.640 Jesus doesn't say, hey, here's this list of rules, go do these, and you'll become part of the family. 00:18:46.780 --> 00:18:47.840 That's not how it works. 00:18:48.940 --> 00:19:00.320 But what does happen is when we become part of the family, what God does in his grace and his kindness is he gives us the person of the Holy Spirit who resides in us. 00:19:00.320 --> 00:19:06.080 And now who we are is saved, redeemed, purchased, bought children of God. 00:19:06.180 --> 00:19:09.440 What resides in us is the living spirit of God. 00:19:09.700 --> 00:19:13.500 And so what we do flows from who we are. 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:17.320 And that's what the work of the Gospel does. 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:19.940 And so look back at verse 7. 00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:22.000 He says, 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:37.400 So here's what's going on in John's audience. 00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:47.180 And this has been kind of a theme, I think, that we've almost hit every single week where we have the realization that things aren't that much different from first century as it is today. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:51.500 John's audience is dealing with false teachers. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:20:06.260 And one of the teachings that was shared amongst these false teachers was this disconnection between the spirit of a person and the physical being of a person. 00:20:06.700 --> 00:20:12.480 And we're not going to overly get into what all they were teaching, but here's how this would play out. 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:20.860 They would falsely teach that if your spirit was saved, that this was all God was concerned with. 00:20:21.820 --> 00:20:32.080 And then it didn't matter what their body did because the body and the spirit are separate, right? 00:20:32.120 --> 00:20:32.780 This is crazy. 00:20:33.780 --> 00:20:34.960 This is crazy talk. 00:20:36.040 --> 00:20:38.000 Nobody would ever believe this now, right? 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:40.360 No one would ever affirm this message, right? 00:20:40.780 --> 00:20:41.260 Wrong. 00:20:42.620 --> 00:20:43.140 Wrong. 00:20:47.280 --> 00:20:48.640 Here's how we say this. 00:20:51.040 --> 00:20:52.940 You know, the Bible says you shouldn't judge. 00:20:54.340 --> 00:20:55.940 Hey, hold your finger on 1 John. 00:20:56.040 --> 00:20:57.280 Let's flip over to Matthew 7. 00:21:01.660 --> 00:21:03.680 And this passage isn't on the screen. 00:21:06.260 --> 00:21:08.300 So I just encourage you, bring your Bible. 00:21:09.740 --> 00:21:09.900 All right. 00:21:11.420 --> 00:21:15.080 Have you ever heard someone say, don't judge me? 00:21:16.940 --> 00:21:17.800 They're in sin. 00:21:18.560 --> 00:21:19.640 They know it's sin. 00:21:20.060 --> 00:21:21.160 You know it's sin. 00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:22.860 They claim faith. 00:21:23.220 --> 00:21:23.780 Don't judge me. 00:21:23.840 --> 00:21:24.980 You ever heard somebody say that to you? 00:21:25.220 --> 00:21:26.380 Or maybe a better question. 00:21:27.120 --> 00:21:28.280 Have you ever said that? 00:21:29.740 --> 00:21:30.440 I have. 00:21:32.280 --> 00:21:32.920 I have. 00:21:34.060 --> 00:21:35.420 So let's deal with that with us. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:36.960 All right. 00:21:37.640 --> 00:21:38.560 Not a good moment. 00:21:39.040 --> 00:21:39.800 Matthew 7, 1. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:51.820 The words of Jesus, judge not that you be not judged. 00:21:54.060 --> 00:22:00.540 And what we like to do is say, see, Jesus said judge not. 00:22:01.740 --> 00:22:03.060 Yeah, but Jesus kept talking. 00:22:04.380 --> 00:22:05.500 So let's look at verse 2. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:11.640 For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. 00:22:13.060 --> 00:22:17.440 And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 00:22:18.380 --> 00:22:18.660 Okay. 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:20.300 So let's pause, not stop. 00:22:20.380 --> 00:22:21.720 Let's pause for a moment. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:29.100 So Jesus says judge not that you be not judged because he says for the judgment you pronounce. 00:22:29.100 --> 00:22:39.900 So for the standard of judgment that you pronounce, that will be the standard and the judgment pronounced onto you. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:40.220 Okay. 00:22:40.420 --> 00:22:40.640 Okay. 00:22:40.700 --> 00:22:40.900 All right. 00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:42.020 We can work with this now. 00:22:43.960 --> 00:22:44.700 Verse 3. 00:22:44.700 --> 00:22:59.660 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 00:23:01.020 --> 00:23:10.080 Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is the log in your own eye? 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:11.020 Well, let's pause there. 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:12.080 So here's what Jesus says. 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:20.240 They have a small piece of dust in their eye. 00:23:21.800 --> 00:23:24.420 And you got a two by four hanging out of there. 00:23:26.800 --> 00:23:35.920 How can you go, hey, let me help you get that out of here while this is protruding from here? 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:41.240 Verse 5. 00:23:43.320 --> 00:23:44.200 You hypocrite. 00:23:46.740 --> 00:23:56.660 First, take the log out of your own eye, and then ignore the speck out of your brother's. 00:23:57.240 --> 00:23:57.600 Nope. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:23:59.880 You hypocrite. 00:24:00.320 --> 00:24:10.420 First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:14.200 So a hypocrite is this. 00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:19.800 I'm going to ignore this that's here because I'm only going to focus on you. 00:24:20.780 --> 00:24:23.540 And Jesus says you don't do that. 00:24:23.840 --> 00:24:31.440 Jesus says what you do is you go through the process of what you need to do to remove this out of your eye, 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:35.800 and then your approach moving forward is, no, no, no, you know, I used to struggle with that, 00:24:35.980 --> 00:24:37.460 so I'm just going to pray it away for him. 00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:38.100 Nope, nope, nope. 00:24:38.100 --> 00:24:39.120 That's not it either. 00:24:39.420 --> 00:24:46.100 You remove that, and then in kindness, then in grace, then in love, then in truth, 00:24:46.300 --> 00:24:51.900 you go to them, and you say, hey, I've got this out. 00:24:52.120 --> 00:24:53.820 I know what this is. 00:24:53.980 --> 00:24:55.800 I know what this feels like. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:57.460 I know what this causes. 00:24:57.800 --> 00:25:03.760 I know the destruction that this is, and what I see in you is what I saw in me. 00:25:03.760 --> 00:25:09.200 And let me tell you about what God did in me as he pulled that big two-by-four out of my eye, 00:25:09.320 --> 00:25:11.680 and I give him all the praise and honor and glory for it. 00:25:11.760 --> 00:25:18.240 And what I'm here to do, brother, what I'm here to do, sister, is help you get this tiny little speck out of your eye 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:20.940 before it becomes a log that's protruding from yours. 00:25:23.660 --> 00:25:41.780 And so when we look back in this, we see this dynamic of what is there that John is pushing toward. 00:25:41.780 --> 00:25:45.760 John, little children, let no one deceive you. 00:25:47.100 --> 00:25:53.900 Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. 00:25:54.260 --> 00:25:57.640 John's saying, like, look, it matters. 00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:06.840 Who you are in the spirit does play out in who you are in the physical. 00:26:08.220 --> 00:26:12.260 And this matters, and we're here to address it. 00:26:12.860 --> 00:26:13.900 Look at verse 9. 00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:24.660 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning. 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:39.180 For God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 00:26:40.780 --> 00:26:48.360 And so John presses into no one, no one who's born of God. 00:26:49.380 --> 00:26:51.700 We've said this so many times. 00:26:52.260 --> 00:26:53.300 We'll say it again. 00:26:53.880 --> 00:26:56.660 You either believe all of it or none of it. 00:26:58.500 --> 00:27:08.140 But no one, no one born of God makes a practice of sinning. 00:27:09.760 --> 00:27:10.440 Why? 00:27:12.120 --> 00:27:12.760 Why? 00:27:12.760 --> 00:27:19.900 Because God's seed and who he is abides in him. 00:27:20.900 --> 00:27:27.020 And he cannot keep on sinning because of who he is. 00:27:28.460 --> 00:27:31.220 Because he has been born of God. 00:27:33.220 --> 00:27:37.320 John doesn't say that there is no sin. 00:27:38.920 --> 00:27:47.040 John doesn't say that there is no practice of pursuing the process of sanctification in your life. 00:27:47.580 --> 00:28:01.140 But he says what is evident in the life of someone who knows who Jesus is, that there's this battle that's raging of who they are and what they are doing. 00:28:01.140 --> 00:28:03.300 And there's not this practice. 00:28:03.660 --> 00:28:05.080 There's not this pattern. 00:28:05.340 --> 00:28:06.640 There's not this pursuant. 00:28:06.820 --> 00:28:08.700 There's not this not willing to listen. 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:11.900 There's not this pattern of not being willing to repent. 00:28:12.140 --> 00:28:14.820 That there's not this practice of, nah, I'm just good enough. 00:28:14.980 --> 00:28:18.000 There's not this practice of, nope, this is just who I am. 00:28:18.120 --> 00:28:19.400 You're going to have to love me anyways. 00:28:19.560 --> 00:28:21.480 There's not this practice of, nope, nope, nope. 00:28:21.580 --> 00:28:24.300 I disagree with God's word, and this is who I want to be. 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:26.740 No, no, no, there's not that at all. 00:28:26.740 --> 00:28:31.220 If the spirit of God abides in him, do we sin? 00:28:31.600 --> 00:28:31.960 Yes. 00:28:32.120 --> 00:28:36.900 But what we see, what is evident, what is here, is we need to begin to see victory. 00:28:37.220 --> 00:28:38.180 We see change. 00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:39.360 We see growth. 00:28:39.620 --> 00:28:40.740 We see conviction. 00:28:41.100 --> 00:28:42.060 We see repentance. 00:28:42.220 --> 00:28:46.760 Because this is what the goodness of God draws us to and brings us to. 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:57.780 And in his holiness, as he loves us and welcomes us and receives us. 00:29:01.080 --> 00:29:06.360 I've heard it from a thousand places and bring it as a reminder again. 00:29:07.620 --> 00:29:14.060 God loves you too much to save you where you were and then simply leave you there. 00:29:15.220 --> 00:29:23.040 And in the glory and the goodness of God, he brings us along, and he brings us along, and he brings us along. 00:29:24.040 --> 00:29:41.540 And the goodness of God is found not in ignoring the two by four that sticks out of our eye, but the goodness of God is found in the removal of it for his name and for his glory. 00:29:42.980 --> 00:29:43.120 All right? 00:29:46.360 --> 00:29:48.440 And John's going to point to some evidence of this. 00:29:49.840 --> 00:29:51.300 Look at verse, start looking at verse 11. 00:29:54.040 --> 00:29:59.720 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning. 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:02.420 We should love one another. 00:30:04.080 --> 00:30:09.500 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. 00:30:10.680 --> 00:30:12.080 And why did he murder him? 00:30:13.300 --> 00:30:17.040 Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. 00:30:18.620 --> 00:30:21.600 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 00:30:22.560 --> 00:30:29.000 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. 00:30:30.040 --> 00:30:32.740 Whoever does not love abides in death. 00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:36.960 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. 00:30:38.220 --> 00:30:43.180 And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:46.020 By this we know love. 00:30:46.020 --> 00:30:50.000 But he laid down his life for us. 00:30:50.880 --> 00:30:53.500 And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:31:03.680 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:06.500 how does God's love abide in him? 00:31:07.820 --> 00:31:15.960 Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. 00:31:17.300 --> 00:31:24.360 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before him. 00:31:24.360 --> 00:31:30.300 For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart. 00:31:30.820 --> 00:31:32.280 And he knows everything. 00:31:33.320 --> 00:31:38.180 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. 00:31:38.920 --> 00:31:41.580 And whatever we ask, we receive from him. 00:31:42.120 --> 00:31:46.780 Because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 00:31:47.780 --> 00:32:01.560 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us. 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:08.900 And so, John's going to draw this back to an example for us. 00:32:09.620 --> 00:32:16.100 He says, he begins by saying, you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another. 00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:18.780 Now, this is what we've seen. 00:32:19.320 --> 00:32:21.520 This is what God's standard has been. 00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:23.940 This isn't a New Testament thought. 00:32:24.040 --> 00:32:25.540 We see this in the Old Testament. 00:32:25.740 --> 00:32:27.140 We see this in the New Testament. 00:32:27.400 --> 00:32:29.160 We understand that God is love. 00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:31.060 We understand what this looks like. 00:32:31.060 --> 00:32:35.320 But then what John does for us is he defines that for us. 00:32:35.780 --> 00:32:37.060 He says, don't be like Cain. 00:32:37.140 --> 00:32:39.460 The story of Cain and Abel found in Genesis 4. 00:32:39.980 --> 00:32:47.960 He murders his brother and who, what resided in him was hatred and not love. 00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:51.640 What resided in him was evil and not love. 00:32:51.860 --> 00:32:56.840 Who he was was a child of the devil and not a child of God. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:32:59.300 He says, don't be like that. 00:32:59.380 --> 00:33:06.500 And don't be surprised when you are found in me and who you are when others hate you. 00:33:08.040 --> 00:33:10.180 Don't be surprised by this. 00:33:10.840 --> 00:33:14.060 Don't be surprised by the standard of the world. 00:33:14.260 --> 00:33:17.420 And then, don't let that be your standard. 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:21.780 We're to be different. 00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:24.540 We're to be born of God. 00:33:26.300 --> 00:33:38.020 And here, a question that gets asked a lot, a question that I wrestle with a lot, is how do we love? 00:33:39.380 --> 00:33:40.500 How do we love? 00:33:41.860 --> 00:33:43.800 How do we love the people that we love? 00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:45.860 How do we love the people that we don't love? 00:33:46.580 --> 00:33:48.180 How do we love the people that we like? 00:33:50.100 --> 00:33:51.420 How do we love the people we don't like? 00:33:52.600 --> 00:33:53.740 How do we love the people that we know? 00:33:53.880 --> 00:33:57.020 How do we not love the people that we, how do we love the people we don't know? 00:33:58.060 --> 00:34:00.380 How do we love the people that wish good for us? 00:34:00.520 --> 00:34:02.240 How do we love people that wish bad for us? 00:34:03.060 --> 00:34:04.520 How do we love people that support us? 00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:06.760 How do we love people who persecute us? 00:34:06.760 --> 00:34:13.800 And what John does here is he holds no punches back and he gives us the standard of love. 00:34:14.520 --> 00:34:15.980 This is what it's going to be. 00:34:16.700 --> 00:34:18.880 This is the filter that we're going to run this through. 00:34:19.320 --> 00:34:26.420 If God is truth and God is love, then we're going to apply the truth of the love of God 00:34:26.420 --> 00:34:30.620 and allow that to be our truth of what it means like to love others. 00:34:31.620 --> 00:34:46.320 So he says in verse 16, by this we know love, we know love, that he laid down his life for us. 00:34:46.720 --> 00:34:53.760 And it would be so okay to our flesh if there was a period there, but there's not. 00:34:55.360 --> 00:35:01.520 And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 00:35:08.340 --> 00:35:09.320 That's love. 00:35:12.280 --> 00:35:13.120 That's it. 00:35:15.320 --> 00:35:17.240 It's a model of sacrifice. 00:35:18.920 --> 00:35:25.560 It's a model of thinking lesser of yourself to think of for more or for others. 00:35:27.200 --> 00:35:35.160 It's a model for saying, I can take, but I choose not so that others. 00:35:36.840 --> 00:35:51.760 It's that Jesus laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 00:35:54.220 --> 00:35:58.880 And so there's some things that we can draw from this definition of love. 00:36:04.640 --> 00:36:06.360 I've got that song in my head. 00:36:07.420 --> 00:36:09.740 I'm hooked on a feeling, right? 00:36:10.980 --> 00:36:13.420 I'm believing that you're in love with me. 00:36:14.100 --> 00:36:15.300 Y'all just heard me kind of sing, right? 00:36:15.540 --> 00:36:16.200 Who sang that? 00:36:17.820 --> 00:36:18.660 That's not love. 00:36:20.920 --> 00:36:24.260 He didn't say by this we know love, that Jesus really felt like it every day. 00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:30.000 He says, here's what he did. 00:36:31.360 --> 00:36:33.280 So love is not a feeling. 00:36:34.720 --> 00:36:36.200 Love is an action. 00:36:37.180 --> 00:36:38.920 And it's an action that costs. 00:36:40.340 --> 00:36:41.180 That's love. 00:36:42.640 --> 00:36:46.280 Love is not figuring out who deserves it and who doesn't. 00:36:47.140 --> 00:36:49.540 Love is not a rationale of the mind. 00:36:50.180 --> 00:36:52.300 But love is an action toward. 00:36:53.200 --> 00:36:57.980 Love is the denial of yourself for an other's gain. 00:36:58.200 --> 00:36:59.480 That's what Jesus did. 00:36:59.480 --> 00:37:05.460 Jesus came in obedience to the Father for the recipients of his action to be us. 00:37:05.640 --> 00:37:11.820 So he came for the glory of the Father so that he can make a way for those who were in rebellion from him. 00:37:12.020 --> 00:37:13.240 This is what Jesus did. 00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:14.680 So how do we do this? 00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:16.220 How do we have this love? 00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:18.040 How does this permeate from us? 00:37:18.200 --> 00:37:19.180 We'll look at verse 18. 00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:20.020 We'll close on this. 00:37:20.260 --> 00:37:20.480 He says, 00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:28.620 He says this. 00:37:28.640 --> 00:37:36.140 So what we get here is we get word and talk and deed and truth. 00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:39.760 And if you do an original study of the language, here's what you find. 00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:42.860 That word and deed are opposites. 00:37:43.800 --> 00:37:46.640 Talk and truth are opposites. 00:37:48.260 --> 00:37:52.000 So in word means to talk about it. 00:37:53.900 --> 00:37:57.360 John says don't just be someone who talks about love. 00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:02.740 He says, but be the type of love that's in deed. 00:38:03.100 --> 00:38:03.640 Meaning this. 00:38:03.960 --> 00:38:05.300 Do something about it. 00:38:06.640 --> 00:38:07.960 Do something about it. 00:38:10.420 --> 00:38:13.000 Jesus didn't just walk around and say, I love you. 00:38:13.040 --> 00:38:13.580 I love you. 00:38:13.640 --> 00:38:14.180 I love you. 00:38:14.240 --> 00:38:14.800 I love you. 00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:15.440 I love you. 00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:17.880 But you're all going to die for your sins. 00:38:20.220 --> 00:38:23.280 He said, I'm going to do something about it. 00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:24.720 Indeed. 00:38:27.100 --> 00:38:33.300 In talk means to speak about what you've heard. 00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:34.940 Right? 00:38:36.940 --> 00:38:42.100 To talk is like this piece of information has been given to me. 00:38:42.440 --> 00:38:43.940 And that sounds really good. 00:38:43.940 --> 00:38:49.600 Let me relay the piece of information that was given to me. 00:38:50.220 --> 00:39:00.500 But in truth means to speak about what you know and what you've experienced. 00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:08.560 So in order to speak in truth about the love of Jesus, 00:39:09.780 --> 00:39:15.420 you've got to experience the love of Jesus. 00:39:16.720 --> 00:39:19.040 You've got to experience grace. 00:39:20.040 --> 00:39:22.400 You've got to experience forgiveness. 00:39:22.940 --> 00:39:26.600 You've got to experience the goodness of God. 00:39:26.980 --> 00:39:30.040 And this is what John is pleading. 00:39:30.420 --> 00:39:31.480 This is what it's like. 00:39:35.080 --> 00:39:43.660 To speak in deed and to speak in truth says this. 00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:46.880 Man, I love you. 00:39:48.640 --> 00:39:50.200 And here's how much I love you. 00:39:52.760 --> 00:40:01.160 A long time ago, or yesterday, I noticed this sin that's in my life. 00:40:03.160 --> 00:40:15.680 And man, through the power of God in prayer and in opening up his word, in the beauty of community and accountability, 00:40:15.680 --> 00:40:25.160 man, I took this sin that's in my life and I surrendered it before the Lord. 00:40:26.600 --> 00:40:27.880 And it's been hard. 00:40:27.880 --> 00:40:27.980 And it's been hard. 00:40:27.980 --> 00:40:30.480 It's been a battle. 00:40:31.480 --> 00:40:32.820 It's been difficult. 00:40:33.160 --> 00:40:42.360 And man, there's times when I want to run over to that sin and I want to put it back in my eye. 00:40:43.080 --> 00:40:46.920 Because it's all I know and it's all I feel. 00:40:48.540 --> 00:40:50.700 And it's what I was comfortable with. 00:40:51.700 --> 00:40:59.240 But God, in his grace, in his kindness, in his compassion, removed it. 00:41:00.060 --> 00:41:01.540 And he cast it aside. 00:41:03.120 --> 00:41:05.940 And now, I'm not allowed to tell you, I struggle. 00:41:07.380 --> 00:41:08.680 I have these times. 00:41:09.800 --> 00:41:11.160 I face temptation. 00:41:12.240 --> 00:41:18.120 But I live in the victory of new life with Christ every single day. 00:41:20.080 --> 00:41:22.000 And this is what it means to be loved. 00:41:24.960 --> 00:41:30.220 And brother, sister, here's what I notice in you. 00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:37.340 What started out as a speck for me grew and grew and grew. 00:41:38.620 --> 00:41:42.020 And I see in your life that as well. 00:41:43.340 --> 00:41:55.500 And I love you too much to sit back idly and watch you pursue that which will destroy you. 00:41:57.180 --> 00:42:03.700 So can I come alongside you and help take that out? 00:42:05.800 --> 00:42:17.120 And brother, we can stand there in confidence and in the assurance of our salvation as Jesus returns. 00:42:18.120 --> 00:42:22.880 Because we stand in victory. 00:42:26.840 --> 00:42:28.580 And that's love. 00:42:30.820 --> 00:42:32.260 It's willing to come along. 00:42:34.320 --> 00:42:35.640 It's willing to deny. 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:38.460 It's willing to be vulnerable. 00:42:40.060 --> 00:42:46.100 And this willing to stand for truth in a world that hates it. 00:42:47.320 --> 00:42:49.920 I want to ask you a few questions as we wrap up this morning. 00:42:51.080 --> 00:42:54.200 Number one, are you confident? 00:42:55.820 --> 00:42:58.400 Are you confident in the return of Christ? 00:43:00.620 --> 00:43:03.340 Not in are you confident that he will return? 00:43:04.600 --> 00:43:08.320 But are you confident in who you are in his returning? 00:43:09.940 --> 00:43:14.320 Is the pursuit of your heart the practice of sin? 00:43:15.320 --> 00:43:17.080 Or the practice of righteousness? 00:43:19.440 --> 00:43:24.540 Are you loving as the world says? 00:43:25.820 --> 00:43:29.260 Or are you loving as Christ loves us? 00:43:30.420 --> 00:43:31.280 Would you pray with me? 00:43:37.460 --> 00:43:40.000 God, we echo the words of your truth. 00:43:41.920 --> 00:43:48.120 That may every day be less of me and more of you. 00:43:49.440 --> 00:43:59.380 God, your call and your demand from your word is not light and it's not shallow. 00:44:01.020 --> 00:44:14.440 And God, it's incapable, incapable of being done in our own power, in our own ability, and in our own nature. 00:44:16.900 --> 00:44:23.560 And so, God, we thank you that we can be people who live in victory. 00:44:24.640 --> 00:44:27.320 We can be people who stand in confidence. 00:44:28.520 --> 00:44:34.400 We can be those who say that there is a battle, an attack on sin. 00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:42.640 And that what abides in me is the seed of God and not the seed of sin. 00:44:43.940 --> 00:44:45.080 People of truth. 00:44:46.680 --> 00:44:53.600 People who are working through the process, through the power of the Holy Spirit and with one another. 00:44:55.200 --> 00:44:58.620 People who say, I am who you say I am. 00:45:00.460 --> 00:45:01.720 I am chosen. 00:45:01.720 --> 00:45:03.200 I am redeemed. 00:45:03.420 --> 00:45:04.560 I am forgiven. 00:45:04.960 --> 00:45:06.200 I am loved. 00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:07.460 I am bought. 00:45:07.680 --> 00:45:08.800 I am been purchased. 00:45:09.200 --> 00:45:12.040 This is who I am in Christ. 00:45:12.340 --> 00:45:14.640 My sin does not define me. 00:45:14.880 --> 00:45:19.760 My sin is the battle that rages between the spirit and you, Lord. 00:45:19.900 --> 00:45:21.860 The spirit and the sin, Lord. 00:45:22.040 --> 00:45:24.120 And you are the victor in that. 00:45:25.420 --> 00:45:33.640 And that the pursuit of who I am is the righteousness of the Lord. 00:45:37.500 --> 00:45:40.980 May we not just be okay with being okay. 00:45:43.780 --> 00:45:46.200 But may we desire, Lord, more of you. 00:45:47.380 --> 00:45:48.240 More of you. 00:45:49.220 --> 00:45:49.840 More of you. 00:45:50.840 --> 00:46:03.000 God, I ask that in those corners and areas of our heart, Lord, that your spirit would speak to us. 00:46:04.820 --> 00:46:08.700 And show us the sin that is there. 00:46:10.100 --> 00:46:20.100 And may we understand, Lord, that at the foot of the cross, it's not a place where we are made to feel shame. 00:46:21.720 --> 00:46:24.860 But at the foot of the cross is where we lay down our shame. 00:46:27.100 --> 00:46:32.120 And we find the hope of Christ and Christ alone. 00:46:33.120 --> 00:46:34.660 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:46:35.380 --> 00:46:35.680 Amen. 00:46:35.680 --> 00:46:35.780 Amen. 00:46:49.700 --> 00:46:53.040 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:46:53.460 --> 00:46:55.660 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:46:56.280 --> 00:47:04.740 If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources, visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com 00:47:04.740 --> 00:47:08.260 or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:08.260 --> 00:47:11.120 Thank you for listening to this week's message. 00:47:11.120 --> 00:47:11.820 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:11.820 --> 00:47:12.600 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:12.600 --> 00:47:14.440 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:14.440 --> 00:47:15.440 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:17.440 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:17.440 --> 00:47:19.380 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:19.380 --> 00:47:19.500 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:19.500 --> 00:47:19.560 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:19.560 --> 00:47:19.660 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:19.660 --> 00:47:19.880 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:47:19.880 --> 00:47:19.960 Thank you for listening to the Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram.