Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Sin doesn't go over well with most people in 2022. So how should we approach the topic?
At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Hey. Thanks so much for listening to Sandals Church. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Hey, Sandals Church. What is going on? Hey. I wanna start off with some great news because I know you all care about my marriage. Right?
Pastor Jeff Whye:You care about my marriage. Hey. My wife and I recently had a date night, and we finally got to see Maverick, Top Gun Maverick. And I'm telling you guys, it was actually pretty cool. It was actually pretty cool, and and and this movie was a great compromise movie.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And when I say compromise, it's because usually the movies that my wife likes is not the movies that I like, and the movies that I like are not the movies that she likes. I mean, who can relate? My wife likes romance movies and romantic comedies and movies where where the story can actually happen in real life, you know, like Downton Abbey, which for a brother is a horror film. That's a horror film for a brother. I, on the other hand, enjoy stupid comedy movies like like like Nacho Libre, Anchorman, Soul Plane.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Who remembers Soul Plane? I mean, come on now. Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, well, basically, any movie that Jim Carrey does or or Coming to America. In fact, I remember I remember when I was dating my wife, she had never seen Coming to America before. I'm like, oh, you gotta see Coming to America.
Pastor Jeff Whye:So I sat her down, we watched Coming to America, and about halfway through, she looked at me like, can we can we please turn this off? Are you kidding me? So I I thought about breaking up with her, but she was too hot, so we we kept it going. But I also enjoy action movies, and I loved the Marvel films. I mean, the Marvel film I I just think they did a really great job, and I've seen all the ones that they've done in the last 20 years.
Pastor Jeff Whye:They're pretty good, and and the superheroes, I mean, come on. Gamora, Thor, Ironman, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Spiderman, Captain America, they are all pretty cool, but but listen, listen, listen. They are no Superman. Superman is the greatest superhero of all time. Stop.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You know it's true. You know it's true. It's true. And and I'm not even like a big DC Comics, like, fanatic. I I mean, Batman, the Batmans were pretty awesome.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Wonder Woman, yeah, she was she was doing some pretty cool things. Flash, yeah, yeah. You may be quick, you may be rich, but but you have never moved planets. I mean, come on. That that just shuts down the conversation.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You've never moved a planet. I don't care what superhero you are. My love for Superman actually started with the 1978 movie Superman starring Christopher Reeve. Come on now. And and and I've seen every Superman movie since, but I remember when Man of Steel came out with Henry Cavill about 10 years ago, and and and I got the Blu ray DVD, and I watched it.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I watched the extras. I watched interviews. I watched commentaries, with with with the actors, and and Amy Adams Amy Adams, who plays Lois Lane in the movie. Amy talks about the story of Superman, and and she says, I love the story of Superman and how he saves everyone. I mean, I mean, who wouldn't wanna be saved from themselves?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Who wouldn't wanna be saved from themselves? This is what she said. My sister, Amy, you are speaking some truth. You may not even know it, but you're speaking truth. How many of us need to be saved from ourselves?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Because here is the truth, you are not good. I, you, we're not good. You and I, you know how you think, you know how you really are, you know the evil thoughts that you have, you know the bad things that you do, say, I mean the stuff you do. I mean you try to hide it but you can't. The secrets that you keep, listen, you are not good.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And listen, you're not alone. None of us are alone. All of us are like this. We are all bad in some kind of way. All of us.
Pastor Jeff Whye:From the 2 year old little toddler who keeps on biting his his 4 year old brother, Charlie bit my finger. No, I mean I mean to to the 82 year old 82 year old guy, old man who's grumpy and hates the whole world and self righteous. I mean, there's a reason why they came out with movie, Old Grumpy Men. They saw them everywhere. When you look at the world, down the street, in your home, at your coworkers, kids at school, on the news, yourself, everywhere, we are a mess.
Pastor Jeff Whye:The world is pretty crazy. And listen, I'm actually an optimistic person. I'm generally thinking about the positive. But people, all of us, at some point in our everyday, in our life, do bad things. It's actually the nature of actually being human.
Pastor Jeff Whye:When you think of all the difficult, horrible, tough, and divisive things we do as people, and it's you, it's me, it's in all of us, we are a mess. We do a lot of bad things and and some more, some less, but this is who we are. I actually read an article, this week and and and it's an article by a psychologist and, he's also a neuroscientist. And and he said he discovered 10 findings from psychological studies dating back to 1979, that human nature is bad. This is not the he's not a church guy.
Pastor Jeff Whye:He's not someone of faith. He says that human nature is bad. I mean, some of these some of these findings are downright evil, evil thoughts. The article was actually titled rotten to the core. That's who we are.
Pastor Jeff Whye:This is why Amy Adams and her probably unknowing enlightened theologian self said something that was 100% true. We need to be saved from ourselves. And she is right. But you can take out ourselves and replace it with our sin. You see, the ourselves problem that we have is not a self problem, it is a sin problem.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And it is at our core. But don't worry, because Jesus provides us with a way out from ourself and from our sins. Somebody say amen. And this is what we're going to be talking about today. Jesus wants to save us and forgive us of our sins.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Come on, let's pray. Well Father God, thank you so much that you are God and God alone. You are holy, holy, holy. And Father, our prayer, dear God, is that what's going on up there would happen down here, Lord. And one of the ways that happens, dear God, is through us.
Pastor Jeff Whye:So, Father, help us to be little agents of you here on this earth. Father, whatever we need today, whatever we need from this message, dear God, would you give it to us? And, Lord, forgive us of the things we do because only you can. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Each week within our series how to pray, we have been we have been going line by line looking at the Lord's prayer, and and and and this is the prayer that Jesus modeled for us on how we should pray to his, our father. And and and these are the red letters, friends, and so I'm gonna tell you, I I lean in just a little bit more when it comes to the red letters. I I love the Bible. The Bible is awesome. It's it's a wonderful beautiful tapestry of what is going on and what God is doing all throughout the world and through you, but but I'm telling you, when I read the words of Jesus, man, I I I lean in.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And that's what's happening right here in Matthew 69, it says therefore, it says therefore, this is how you should pray, this is Jesus, this is how you should pray, our father, our father in heaven, may your name be kept holy, And if you're saying His name and it's not holy, keep His name out your mouth. May your kingdom come. May your will be done, not yours, may His. May your will, Lord, be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us, and never bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And today, we will be talking through this idea and what he's talking about when he says, and forgive us our sins. Jesus is telling us to ask for forgiveness of our debts, our sins, our trespasses, because you you don't notice, but you're trespassing when you sin. You're trespassing on who God is. You you you see the first thing you need to recognize is that you are a sinner. You are a sinner.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You are not good. 1st John 1st John 1:8 says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And listen to me, it's it's normal for you to deceive yourself because you are yourself, because your heart is actually bad. Your heart is bad. Mark 7:21 says, for it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Man, I operate in folly all the time. I don't even know what it is, but that sound like me. All these evils come from inside and defile a person. They come from inside and defile a person. In this prayer, Jesus is empathizing and recognizing that he knows we need help.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Come come on come on right now. Come come on. How many of you need help? Come on. You need help in your marriage?
Pastor Jeff Whye:You need help? Come on. All across all campuses. Come on right now. Raise your hand.
Pastor Jeff Whye:San Jose don't search anywhere, online. Raise your hand if you're in the chat, put in the hands emoji, yes me, we all need, come on, raise your hand, raise your hand, we all need help. And for those of you not raising hands, well that's all right, you're sinning now. We all sin, we all need help, but listen, Jesus wants to save us and forgive us of our sins. Now, now one of the questions I know we have is, well why is there sin?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Well why is there sin? Well there is sin because love is paramount. Love is paramount. In order for there to be love, and for you to love, there has to be the option to choose. The option to choose to love God and really for you to choose to love others.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And within this option to choose to love, comes the possibility to do what is wrong. It just comes with the option to love. It's the beauty and the power of love. And that option to love can and has caused brokenness. We all have brokenness and and our nature is the opposite of good.
Pastor Jeff Whye:We all saw this in the beginning, right, with Adam and Eve choosing themselves over God. Choosing, trusting, loving themselves rather than loving God. And we still do this today. We choose ourselves rather than choosing God. And listen, Choosing God is the best thing for you.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Even the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Romans. He says he says, as it is written, there is no righteous person. That means someone who's in the right way, like like you're right with God. There is no righteous person, not even one. There is no one who understands.
Pastor Jeff Whye:There is no one who seeks out God. They're they all have turned aside. Together, they have been they have become corrupt. There is no one who does good. There is not even one.
Pastor Jeff Whye:No one. And look, this is what the apostle Paul is saying. It's about him and everyone. He's this apostle Paul who planted more churches than anybody. Anybody.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And literally saw Jesus, and who says follow me as I follow Christ. In fact, this is what the great apostle Paul said even about himself. Philippians 34, it says, although I might be able to put trust in myself, I do not. I don't. If anyone thinks that that he has reason to trust himself, he should know that I have greater reason for trusting in myself.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I was circumcised 8 days after my birth. I I I am from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. I I I I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. My my parents were Hebrews, and and I had a strict view of the law, which is why I became a Pharisee. I was so enthusiastic.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I tried to hurt the church. No one could find any fault with me in the way that I obeyed the law of Moses. Those things were important to me, but now I think they are worth nothing because of Christ. Listen to me, the apostle Paul had all the PhDs. He went to seminary, he knew the Torah, he had the bar mitzvahs and the catechism.
Pastor Jeff Whye:He did it all. He did it all, but here, like 8, verse 8 says, not only those things, but I think that all things are worth nothing compared with the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. Because of him, I have lost all those things. What? If you only knew what he was saying, that that that's what helps him to to to even be who he is.
Pastor Jeff Whye:That that that's what gives him the credibility. He says they're all gone. Goodbye, PhDs. He says they're all lost, and I and and now I know that they are worthless trash. Come on, worthless trash.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Paul, how can you say that? How can you say that? This allows me to have Christ. Isn't it amazing when you recognize Christ, all those things don't matter. Look, it doesn't matter what you've done, how good you think you are, you are not good because you're not God.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Listen to me, there is only one who is good, and that is Jesus Christ, who is God. He's the only one. And if you think you are good or that you have any ounce of good in you, that that that you're not a sinner, trust me, as soon as you meet Jesus, as soon as you see Jesus, as soon as you read about Jesus and really kinda get a glimpse, you will find out that only he is good and you are not. Why? Because of our sin.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But, hey, hey, Jesus wants to save us from our sins and forgive us of our sins. He wants to save us and forgive us of our sins. But let's just take a minute and and let's just define what sin is. Let's define sin. I think one of the things that comes to my mind, like the overarching theme, is sin is the opposite of God.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Sin is the opposite of God. Also, sin is allowing you or someone else or something else to hold first place in your life. In Exodus 23, we read, you shall have no other gods before me. I'm not talking about big g gods, I'm talking about little g gods. I'm talking about your wife, your kids, your job, your car, your money, like none of that, none of that can be before God.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It's actually the very first commandment in the 10 commandments. You should have no other gods before me. The other one, sin is is you thinking of the wrong thing in your heart. Oh, watch out now. Matthew 528, but I tell you, this is Jesus, Jesus, but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery within his heart.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Notice he said his heart. Listen to me, right now, for a lot of you, Jesus just messed up your whole fantasy life. You you thought you were clean and clear, like, well, I'm not doing it externally. I'm doing it internally, but that's alright. No.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You cannot do that. Listen to me. And I get I have lusted. I have yelled at my kids out of anger. I have lied to my wife.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I have been selfish. Are you kidding me? Selfish? Man, I I have told white lies, black lies, blue lies, orange lies, news flash. They're all lies.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Man, I have stolen paper from employers, but not here at Sandals. No. I haven't I haven't done that. I haven't I haven't stolen any paper, pastor Matt. Sin is your selfishness.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Are you selfish? That's sin. James 3 16 says this, for wherever there is jealousy, are you jealous, and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every kind of evil. You will find sin. Sin is you knowing what to do, is you knowing what is right and not doing it.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Sin is you knowing what is right to do and not doing it. James 4:17 says, therefore, to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is sin. What? It is sin. Listen to me.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Jesus wants to save us and forgive us of our sins. But if there's something you know is right and you don't do Christians, I wanna just challenge us today. We, what do we know we should be doing, but we don't do it? Are you, I, someone that sees someone in need, but you do nothing? That's sin.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Are we ever people that that can do something financially for someone else easily, and we sense the spirit of God telling us to do, move, and do something, and we don't do it? That's a sin. When you see a kid getting bullied at school, online, and and and you don't and and you don't care for that kid or speak up for him, that's called a sin. And and how about when you see a woman? A woman, maybe a woman, faced with a tough decision that could affect her, someone around her, or someone within her, and you choose to lash out verbally or stay quiet, and you read about being loved and sensing God telling you to be a person of love and to care for her, and you don't, Christians, that is a sin.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You are in sin. You see, this is the problem with sin. This is one of the major problems with sin. Sin pulls us away from God. Sin pulls us in the opposite direction of the relationship God wants to have with us.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And listen, we we we just read the line above that that that said this is a a daily prayer. So so every day maybe we need to ask God for forgiveness. For those of us who are followers of Jesus, it's good for us to pray that our sin go away every single day. I mean, we sin all the time. I mean, look at that list, and there's a whole lot more.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Come on. There's a whole lot more to this sin list. I mean, unless you're better than me, you may be you may be better than me. You may be better than me. But for me, I know I need to pray this prayer every single day.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And at the end of the day, your sin this is what sin does. Your sin hurts you, God, and others. Your sin hurts you, God, and others. Your sin doesn't just affect you. It has ripple effects.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I I I discover as the older the older I get that that the sins that I did in my twenties, before I got married, they end up hurting my marriage. They did. And there were sins that I committed in my teens that that did not pave a good path for my kids that I have right now. I had no idea. I had no you may I had no idea, but but but God did, and this is why he wants to help us.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And no matter if you are a Christian or not, your sins catch up to you, and you know it hurt others. It doesn't matter if you're a follower of Jesus or not. You know that sin you know that the wrong things you do, you know it hurts you and others. But Jesus, come on, but Jesus wants to save us and forgive us of our sins. Jesus actually told his disciples and us in Matthew 22:37 that that we are to love the lord our God with all our hearts, our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Pastor Jeff Whye:He said this is the greatest requirement of being in a right relationship with him. He placed, get this now, he placed right next to a relationship we should have with him, God, a loving relationship we should have with others. You see, let me tell you right now. You can't have the vertical relationship intact if your horizontal relationships are out of whack. It goes against the love of God and the love of others.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It is a sin. Sin against others corrupts our relationship with him. So what you did or what you do to other people in your life that hurts them, in some way, is a breach of your faithfulness to God. Jesus in the gospels even told us, if we have an offering to the Lord, if we have something against our brother or sister, but if we want to offer something to the Lord and we try to come to the church, we try to come to that place of worship, we try to, you know, we try to offer our gift, our sacrifice, whatever it is to God, like, hey, God, this is, you know, this is what makes right between me and you, and then you have an issue or if you have an offense with with with your brother or sister, he actually says leave your gift there. Go figure it out, go fix it, go reconcile, and then come back to God.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Our sin against other against other people is an offense to God, and Paul continues with this this fact that he tries, but yet he still fails. Oh, man. Paul tells it like this and listen to me, I'm about to read Romans 7, and there's a whole lot of of I do not do's and I do wanna do and I how I wanna do it. A whole lot of do what it do's, but but but we're gonna get through this. Alright?
Pastor Jeff Whye:We're gonna get through it. We're gonna get through this. Paul says, I do not understand what I do. Come on, how many right now? Come on.
Pastor Jeff Whye:That's me. That's me. That's me all day long. I do not understand what I do, for what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good, and the law is basically just back then what made you in right relationship with God. He said, but as it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. It is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Pastor Jeff Whye:For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, I keep on doing it. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is a sin living in me that doesn't. So I find this law at work. Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
Pastor Jeff Whye:What a wretched man. What a wretched woman. What a wretched people we are. Who will rescue us? Who will rescue him?
Pastor Jeff Whye:He says, who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God. Come on. He finally he finally gets positive because of who he's talking about. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Pastor Jeff Whye:So pathetic. I heard like 1, maybe 2 amens out there. Let me read it again. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. Come on, you forgot for a second who's right here preaching.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Friends, praise the Lord. This is our way out. This is our way out. And the way is Jesus. The way out is Jesus who told us that he is the way.
Pastor Jeff Whye:John 14:6 he actually says, he is the Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No one comes to the father. We're trying to get to the father except through me. Don't get it twisted. Ain't no way to get to God the father except through Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Your only escape from you is Jesus. We need to do what Jesus said and ask and ask my daddy. Ask his daddy. This is what he says. Ask my daddy for help.
Pastor Jeff Whye:This is how we stop sinning. We ask him in because Jesus wants to save us and forgive us of our sins. Listen to me. To be freed from sin, we must ask him in. To be freed from our sin, we must ask him in.
Pastor Jeff Whye:If you have never asked him in, have you ever asked have you ever asked him, Jesus, to come in? Have you ever done that? Well, this is what you need to do. Romans 10 actually tells us exactly what we need to do. It says if you openly, if you openly declare that Jesus is lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And then he places the core of you with the core of him. He takes the core of you out and he puts the core of him in. So now the inside of you becomes filled with him and he sends his holy spirit inside of you, and now you are right and good with God. Oh, we got there. You are now right and good with God internally.
Pastor Jeff Whye:However, however, however, externally, we still got issues. Becoming a follower of Jesus means you are freed from the power of sin and its hold on you, where where its results are death and separation from God. Yes. Yes. There is freedom, but but you still commit offenses of sin all the time.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Think of it like this. Think of it like this. You are locked in a prison cell, and you can't get out. I come and I set you free from the prison cell, and the chains are gone and and and the cell is open wide. It's open wide, and you can you can you can get out.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You can yeah. You're actually released forever. You're released. And even though you are released from that prison cell and the chains are gone, you continue to do things that would have sent you back to that prison, but I have already destroyed the prison cell. So even though you mess up, you are not going back in.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You you may and you will keep doing prison like things that would have got you locked back up again, but but I have forever secured your freedom. But stop doing prison like stuff. Friends, Jesus did this. He freed us. If you have accepted him as your savior, he permanently freed us from death, separation, and the power hold of sin in your life, in our life.
Pastor Jeff Whye:He provides a way out ultimately and a way out every single day. But but what about those of us who are already followers of Jesus? How can you continue to get rid of the sin in your life? We need to ask for forgiveness and use a sin detangler. You're like, well, what did you talk about?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Pastor Jeff, you went too far. Well, okay. Let's go to Hebrews. This is what Hebrews says. Hebrews chapter 12 says what we we read, it says, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith.
Pastor Jeff Whye:So getting rid of sin and this life of Christ can be equated to, like, running a race. In fact, let me actually visually show you what I'm talking about. Can Kyle come up here? Where's Kyle? Kyle, come on up here.
Pastor Jeff Whye:We're gonna have Kyle come up here, and and listen to me. I I I think, hopefully, this is gonna work out. So so Kyle tells me that he is a runner. He is a runner, and so I I I don't run. The only thing I run is my mouth.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You know, that that that's my ministry. But Kyle, come on over here. So so, Kyle, are are you a runner?
Kyle:I'm a runner.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Okay. Good job. And and, what what kind of running do you do?
Kyle:I like to do long distance.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Long distance. Okay. So have you done, like, a marathon or anything like that?
Kyle:Yeah. I've done some half marathons.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Wow. Alright. I haven't done a piece of a marathon. Okay. That's awesome.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Okay. Yeah, okay. I got a question for you. Let let's say, in order to run somewhere, in order to to run to a certain destination, what what what do you need to do? What's, like, the one of the number one things you need to do, or have or whatever in order to get to that destination you need to get to?
Kyle:Well, to go from point a to point b, yeah, it's usually locking in your target, looking past your target, not looking down, not looking to the side, but eyes straightforward.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Eyes straightforward. Okay. Awesome. Okay. That's pretty good.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Oh, okay. Let's kinda let let's let's kinda see if we we can okay. Come on over here. Come on over here. Okay.
Pastor Jeff Whye:That's what you need to do on earth to run. Okay. There wait. We have a if you can see that, we have a target right there. It's an arrow.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Look at that. It's pointing up. Come on. Come on, somebody. Get on up.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Alright. That's where we're trying to go. We're trying to get up. So so can you run? Come over here.
Pastor Jeff Whye:So can you run from here to there without knocking it over? I mean, you seem like you're pretty, you know, agile and pretty quick. Okay. Run from here to there. Okay.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Go. Come on. Look at that. That was pretty easy. No.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Okay. Okay. What's interesting, he also did not, listen to instructions. Okay. Can you run to the target?
Kyle:Oh, stop there.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Yeah. Because that's where, you know, you're trying to run to. So go to the target, but don't knock it down. Okay. Great.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Okay. Come back here. Come back here. So, man, you did that pretty easily. We're we're let's let's try something else.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Let's let me just kinda wrap this around you. Okay? I know you're like, what in the world is he doing? Hold on. Wait for it.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Wait for it. You know, wait for it. We're just gonna wrap that around you as so. Alright. Look at that.
Pastor Jeff Whye:This is good. This is great. Alright. Now this is what can you hold that right there? Yeah.
Kyle:Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Whye:K. Let's do that. Okay. And now what I want you to do is try to run to that target. Good.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Come on back. And so you're like, wow. I kinda got it off a little bit, but let's let's do this. Let's do this. Let's see.
Pastor Jeff Whye:No. Don't take it off. Don't take it off, brother. We're gonna see what happens if it becomes just a little bit tighter. Because with it loose, you're like, okay, I kinda can do this.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Well, let's let's do it again. Hold this here. K. Now try to run. You see, this is funny and it's just example, but this is what we're doing.
Pastor Jeff Whye:This rope is your lying, is your cheating, is your stealing, is your lust, is your drunkenness. And you can't get to your target because you got all this sin wrapped up in and around you. This rope represents the sin in your life and how it so easily, sin easily entangles around you. And then you're wondering why you can't get to where you need to get to. You can't get there.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You see here's the interesting thing. What's great about this verse, it says let us fix our eyes on Jesus. Jesus is the target. And you can't get to Jesus, yeah you're probably hobbling but but you're not in you're not in a good stride because of all the sin that so easily has wrapped up in and around you. This is what we do.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Doesn't matter who you are. And we're wondering why we keep on tripping. We wonder why we keep on falling. We wonder trying to hobble to Jesus. We wonder why some of us are actually on the floor crawling because we fell and we literally, all we can do is just kinda inch our way.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And you're wondering why we're wondering why this life with Christ is not working out. And listen to me, I named some of the big sins, but in the church we have the silent sins. We got envy. Oh, I want that. Oh, I want that.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Oh, I wish I had that. I wish I had that. Envy, we got gossip. Oh my word. I think I listened to more gossip inside of the church than outside of the church.
Pastor Jeff Whye:We got pride. Listen to me. I know more prideful pastors, and we also have unforgiveness. The very thing that you think that we should have the most because of what he did. Unforgiveness.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But this is what God wants to do. He wants us to get detangled. And can I tell you just personally, kind of my own story? For about, I don't know, in my teens to my 20s, I actually had the entanglement sin of pornography. Pornography had a hold on my And I was a follower of Jesus Christ, but it had a hold on my life for years.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Starting in my teens all the way to my 20s, and you know how it got detangled? I started reading God's word. I mean, I I mean really reading it, and then, you know, the biggest thing, that was the biggest thing, but the next biggest thing was I had some brothers to come alongside me. I had accountability partners, and and and slowly, it started becoming detangled. And then now I think it's 20 years, I'm 20 years sober from pornography.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I mean, I I mean, not looked at it. Isn't that amazing? And you might be like, well, how pastor, well, how can I do it? I'm a father, how can I do that? Well, you need to start praying.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You need to start worshiping, going to church. You need to get in a community group. You need to stop cheating, stop lying. You also need to, you also need to maybe need a tithe. Come on somebody.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And when you do this, you find yourself being able to run to the Lord. Listen to me. For us followers of Jesus Christ, this is what it takes for us to get detangled. And we all need to get detangled in some way as followers of Jesus. It's what we need to do to stop tripping up.
Pastor Jeff Whye:What sin do you keep falling into? Come on, followers of Jesus Christ. What sin do you keep on falling into? What sin do you keep on hurting you, others, or God? What do you need to ask God for forgiveness for and then turn from and then start unwrapping and detangling sin in your life?
Pastor Jeff Whye:And then there are so many of you whose hearts are entangled. Your hearts are entangled. You can't detangle what's external until you detangle what is internal. Your heart. Jesus, did you know Jesus says, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off?
Pastor Jeff Whye:If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out? Oh my God, he wasn't actually talking about gouging out your eye, gouging out. Because here's the thing, your hand doesn't have the problem. Your eye doesn't have the problem. See see what you, you don't need a hand transplant.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You don't need a eye transplant. You need a heart transplant. Because from your heart, you will do these horrible and sinful and evil things. This is the entanglement of sin that is in your life. Your internal, your your your internal issues.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And it will give you eternal life. You need it unraveled. And a person, a book, a church service, a therapist can not unravel these cords. Only Jesus can. Come on.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I say it again. Only Jesus can. And he made a way for you to do that. This is the gospel. The good news is that there was no way out, and we deserve death and forever separation.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But god, come on now, but god sent his son to die for us and rose again, and now he got the keys. He got the keys. All you have to do is believe, have faith. Come on now. Isn't it amazing?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Today, I was reading Romans, and you know, in in my time, word with God today popped up Romans. Reading Romans 3, 4, 5, and 6. Listen to me, read Romans. Come on. Read the Bible for yourself.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Don't take my word for it. Read the Bible. Read Romans. All you have to do is ask him to come into your life and admit that you are a sinner and that you need help. Recognize that he is the son of God and that he rose again for you so that you could be set free and share life, real life, eternal life with him.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But it takes you saying, I believe, I trust, believing in your heart. And and, yeah, I know you don't know everything. I know you don't have all the ins and outs of it. That's okay. Just because you doubt doesn't count you out.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It's about trusting him. When I said those vows with my wife, I I I really, all of that was trust. I I hope and trust that you will be there in sickness and health. It's about trusting him and seeing where this goes. Yes.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You will sin, but but you are free from the slavery of sin and spiritual death. And then like the rest of us, we follow Jesus so we can be better for ourselves and others, and be the people that he has called us to be. You see, Jesus is the real Superman. I think it's interesting that in in the movie man of steel, Superman reveals what the s is on his chest. I never knew what it meant.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It doesn't mean super. It stands for hope. And his name, Clark Kent, Superman's name, his real name, Khal El. Do you know that's Hebrew words? He Khal El stands for voice of God.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Spider man, iron man, are you kidding me? This is why that superhero is the best superhero friends, Jesus is our hope. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and he is hope itself. He is the voice of God. Listen to Him.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Friends, Amy Adams, if you are listening, there is a real Superman and a real and only superhero. His name is Jesus. And He does want to save you from yourself. Daily saving and eternal saving. Amen?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Come on, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much Lord for who you are. Father, thank you so much dear God that you came and you did it for us. You did the real work, the true work, the internal work for us. Father, we thank you, Lord, that that we can look to you to live this life of Christ, Lord.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Thank you that you are the real superman. Father, for those of us, dear God, who have never let you in, who have never let you in, Man, if you're listening to me right now, I just want you to repeat after me. If you're listening and you never got your heart detangled, I want you to repeat after me. Lord, I am a sinner. Lord, thank you so much for sending your son, Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Jesus, thank you so much for dying for my sins. I believe that you rose from the dead. And you now have the keys to eternal life. Help me to live this life with you. Save me from myself, in Jesus' name.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And then for the rest of us who are already followers of Jesus, who we need help with with kind of what we're doing and and and all this sin that we're doing that's not right with you, lord, help us to shed it off. Help us to get in your word. Help us to pray more, dear God. Help us to be in community, dear God. Help us to tithe, dear God.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Help us to have an accountability partner. Help us to worship and I mean really worship you, dear God. Help us to live for you. We thank you, dear God, that you are the real superman. That that wanna that you want to save us and You forgive us of our sins.
Pastor Jeff Whye:In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hey. For my online family, my online community, our Stable Church Anywhere family, listen to me. If you prayed that prayer for the first time, first of all, praise God.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Praise God. I I I want you to know that that I wanna connect with you. If you're if you're already a follower of Jesus and you also said, man, I want to I want to get detangled from all the sin in my life, listen to me. You can at any time, you can email me personally at pastor jeff@sandalschurch.com, or this is also we have created tons of resources just for you. Get on our Sandals Church app.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Get on the growth path. Maybe you need to be baptized. Maybe you need to, you know, to read the word more. Maybe you need to be in community group. It is all right there, and it's there so that we can help you follow Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Hey. I want you to know that I love you and I'm praying for you. We'll see you next week.