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Hey everybody, this is Pastor 
John Ewart from Inglewood 

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Baptist Church here in Rocky 
Mountain, North Carolina. 

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Thank you for tuning into the 
podcast today. 

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Today we're going to continue in
our series called Help Searching

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for God's peace with him, with 
one another, and with ourselves.

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Listen closely to what God has 
to say to you today. 

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Well, hello, everyone. 
Thank you for those who are 

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joining me live here for this 
episode and for those who are 

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listening on the podcast, we are
so welcome and thankful that 

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you're listening. 
We I've heard testimonies of 

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people who are listening as 
they're walking. 

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I heard one story just today 
about folks who were were 

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sharing this on a job site. 
And because of that, some of the

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work crews promised to be here 
in a worship service. 

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So we'll see what happens and 
pray that that'll come true. 

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Hope that everybody is able to 
listen along. 

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And I have heard that some are 
going back and listening because

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I talk too fast, things like 
that. 

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So thank you so much. 
And if you are listening online 

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and perhaps you're listening and
you you don't attend Englewood, 

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we would love to have you here. 
God's blessing. 

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We're going to baptize again 
Sunday and just continue to see 

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God bless in powerful ways this 
lesson tonight. 

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It may seem a little unusual, 
but this lesson tonight will 

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actually be perhaps one of the 
most freeing lessons for some 

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people that from the whole 
series. 

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And so I'm looking forward to 
sharing from God's Word an old 

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story about a woman who bought a
parrot. 

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You've probably heard this 
before. 

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It's an old story, but I'm old 
so I'll share it. 

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So a woman purchased a parrot 
who's who's previous owner. 

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You know parrots, you know what 
they do. 

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My brother had a parrot one 
time. 

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I, I, I didn't like that bird. 
I've known missionaries who had 

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parrots. 
I didn't like those either. 

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So if you have a parrot, I'm, I 
apologize. 

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I'm sure it's your lifelong 
friend because they'll live to 

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be 3000 years old and you'll 
have to leave them in your 

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estate to your children. 
I've seen that story, too. 

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But my brother had a parrot or 
some bird like that, and Teresa 

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and I were actually staying over
at his house one night and this 

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bird made the sound of a phone 
ringing, I mean, perfectly, you 

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know, mimicking a phone. 
So about 3:00 and we're up. 

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I'm trying to answer the hello, 
I'm trying to answer the phone. 

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It's a stupid bird. 
In Africa, the missionaries had 

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a bird, and that bird would 
just, you know, yell at you. 

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And I was just offended by it so
hurt my feelings. 

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But this this woman had a parrot
and the previous owner had 

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taught that parrot profanity. 
And no, I know, see, I know 

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horrible these birds, nasty 
things. 

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And she was trying to reform it.
And so she caught him cursing 

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one day and grabbed him and 
said, I'll teach you to never 

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talk that way again. 
And she put him in the deep 

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freeze and shut the door. 
And a few minutes later, she 

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took him out and said, have you 
learned your lesson? 

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And the bird shivered and said, 
yes, ma'am. 

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And then a few days later, she 
caught him cursing again. 

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And she put him back in that 
freezer again, but she forgot 

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about him and he almost froze to
death. 

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And she she got him out just in 
time and kind of leaned him in 

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his cage to thaw out. 
And she said, did you learn your

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lesson this time? 
And he says, yes ma'am. 

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He says, but may I ask you a 
question? 

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I thought I knew all the bad 
words, but what did that poor 

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Turkey in there do? 
I see that story so old y'all 

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don't even know it. 
That's funny. 

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Somebody's laughing online right
now. 

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They're walking down the road 
laughing, people staring at 

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them. 
So the bird paid the price for 

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being guilty. 
But at least the bird learned 

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his lesson. 
And we have lessons we need to 

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learn as well. 
And one of the lessons will have

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to do with the proper balance of
guilt. 

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That may sound like a weird 
thing to talk about, but I 

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promise it's not now. 
The next episode we do, the next

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lesson, the next session we do 
is going to be about trapping 

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time. 
I'll talk about it some in the 

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live service on Sunday too. 
But we're actually going to talk

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next time about how, what do we 
do about time that they 

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recognize that it's a part of 
the creation. 

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I'm actually going to explain 
predestination and election in 

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about 2 1/2 minutes in our next 
time together. 

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So I know volumes have been 
written and hundreds and 

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thousands of years of 
scholarship has tried to explain

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this. 
I'm going to give it to you in 

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about 2 1/2 minutes. 
So you all TuneIn next time. 

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But for tonight we're going to 
talk about guilt and, and, and 

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we need to learn lessons. 
We want to find peace that God 

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has for us. 
We've been using the Hebrew word

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Shalom because it means more 
than just peace. 

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It really does mean a wholeness.
The idea is complete 

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satisfaction. 
We just don't really have an 

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English equivalent of this and 
this idea of how do I have that 

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with God? 
How do I have that with others 

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and especially with myself? 
And tonight there's going to be 

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a lot of self talk, I think 
probably. 

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And so we want to learn how to 
do that. 

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And as I say, in every single 
time we're together, I'm very 

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thankful for biblical 
counselors. 

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I'm thankful for professionals. 
I'm thankful for recovery 

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ministries and and in extreme 
cases, I'm thankful for medical 

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experts and even law enforcement
in cases of abuse. 

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And you might find yourself in a
life situation to where your 

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yourself doubt yourself. 
Guilt is so strong. 

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You need to talk to someone on a
long term, deep level. 

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But all of us, regardless of 
where we are, need to know what 

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God's Word says and what God's 
will is about these things. 

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And that's what we're going to 
talk about tonight. 

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So this is an important message 
for somebody here. 

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It might be a message that you 
want to share with somebody 

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who's really struggling a little
bit with guilt and with doubt. 

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So I want you to turn to two 
passages. 1 is familiar, 

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probably Psalm 51, and then the 
backdrop, Second Samuel chapter 

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12. 
So we'll be in the Old Testament

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for the most part. 
There'll be some other verses 

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that we'll throw in here as 
well. 

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You may recognize the context of
these two passages. 

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The context is that King David 
has sinned with Bathsheba, and 

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not only did he do that, but he 
had her husband killed in 

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battle. 
It was a horrible thing that he 

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did. 
You know, it's interesting that 

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we'll call people, but this is 
also worth noting, and it's a 

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testimony of the incredible 
grace of God that we also call 

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David a man after God's own 
heart, and he's in fact an 

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adulterer and a murderer. 
And so you can just see the 

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extent of grace and how far 
grace can go to cover us. 

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And so he has sinned against God
and he has yet to acknowledge 

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that. 
He has yet to confess that to 

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God. 
So God sends the prophet Nathan 

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to confront him, which was kind 
of a gutsy thing to do, to be 

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honest with you, to confront the
king who could very easily have 

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you killed in battle too. 
But Nathan goes in obedience. 

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And so in that process, David 
recognizes his sin. 

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He he doesn't fight this. 
It was just one of the 

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remarkable parts of the story 
that we'll see. 

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He acknowledges and confesses 
his sin and he calls upon the 

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Lord for forgiveness. 
And so we want to listen in 

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Psalm 51, first Psalm 51, verse 
one, and let's listen to the 

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king pray. 
This is David praying as he's 

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responding in this episode. 
So Psalm 51 has the context of 

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this other passage, and it says 
this. 

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Have mercy on me, O God, 
according to your steadfast 

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love, according to your abundant
mercy, blot out my 

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transgressions. 
Wash me thoroughly from my 

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iniquity and cleanse me from my 
sin, for I know my 

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transgressions and my sin is 
ever before me against you. 

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You only have I sinned and done 
what is evil in your sight, so 

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that you may be justified in 
your words and blameless in your

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judgment. 
Behold, I was brought forth in 

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iniquity and in sin did my 
mother conceive me. 

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We got a lot of theology here, 
but the first thing, the first 

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point, we're not going to be too
creative with our outline in in 

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this time together. 
It's just the reality of guilt. 

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Guilt is real and we need to 
acknowledge that. 

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And there's a reason why we need
to acknowledge it, especially 

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today in our culture, because 
our culture might argue about 

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that. 
If you watch television enough, 

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see enough TV commercials, 
you're supposed to be guilt 

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free. 
You deserve everything and 

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should buy four of them, right? 
And so here was a guilty man 

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freely admitting his guilt and 
seeking to do something about 

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it. 
So let's just start right there.

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He he's not fighting God. 
He's not arguing about whether 

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he's guilty or not. 
And that's a key part of this 

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passage. 
He understands it. 

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Now, guilt is defined legally as
basically violating the law, 

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right? 
But we live in this society that

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sends a message, a pretty strong
message at times that that we 

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should be guilt free, that 
somehow we deserve not to 

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experience guilt. 
And that's one part of our 

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society. 
Now there's going to be almost 

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an opposite side we'll talk 
about later. 

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But there's this side that that 
almost says you, you don't 

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deserve to feel guilty. 
Nothing should make you feel 

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guilty in a sense. 
And and that's part of the the 

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reason we have sin in our 
society is because there's no 

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reason to feel guilty about it 
or conviction about it. 

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But the fact of guilt, 
regardless of that message, the 

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fact of guilt still exists and 
exists whenever we violate God's

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word and God's will, we call 
that what? 

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What do we call that? 
Sin? 

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Yeah, we call that sin. 
And that's a, that's a word 

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that's normal to us, but it's 
not a word that's that normal to

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this culture anymore. 
And it's certainly a word that 

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gets self defined. 
Does that make sense or 

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culturally defined to where they
can define it any way they want?

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And so whenever we do something.
So here's the biblical 

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definition of sin, the ewardized
biblical definition of sin. 

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Whenever we do something, 
whenever we say something, or 

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whenever we even think something
that is contrary to the word and

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will of God, we have sinned. 
And so we have all sinned. 

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And David even points out that 
that I was born in iniquity for 

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my mother's womb. 
I am this way. 

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So we are born with what we call
a sinful nature. 

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And so we are born with this 
propensity, with this tendency 

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to sin that goes all the way 
back to Adam and Eve, right? 

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One of the reasons, and I don't 
have time for this tonight, but 

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we'll certainly talk about this 
later, one of the reasons the 

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doctrine of the virgin birth is 
so important is because Jesus is

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different. 
He does not have that sinful 

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nature in the same way that we 
do. 

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And So what we recognize is that
we're born with this tendency. 

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You don't have to teach your 
children to sin. 

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They're going to do that on 
their own, even at a very young 

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age. 
And so that's why Paul can write

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very confidently to the church 
at Rome and say of of one of the

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most well known verses for a lot
of Christians that we have all 

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sinned and we have hamartiyed, 
we have fallen short. 

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You, you all might know that 
Greek word. 

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It's the idea of an Archer 
shooting at the target and the 

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arrow falls short. 
We're we're just falling short 

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of what God wants. 
There's multiple, there are 

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multiple words for sin. 
That's one of them to where 

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we're just not reaching where 
God wants us to be. 

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And so we all fall short of 
that. 

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We're all guilty. 
So guilt is a reality. 

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So we sometimes feel guilty. 
You ready? 

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Don't. 
Are you sitting down and and are

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y'all, whoever's listening right
now, you might need to stop 

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walking because we sometimes 
feel guilty because we are 

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guilty. 
See, we're sinners and so we're 

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going to be convicted. 
We're going to have conviction 

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in our life and our sin 
separates us from God. 

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Now later I want to talk about 
the difference between this 

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healthy convicting guilt and 
what we're going to call toxic 

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guilt, which is not healthy. 
We're going to talk about the 

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difference later, but our sin 
separates us from from God. 

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So James chapter 2 verse 10 says
this for whoever keeps the whole

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law but fails in one point has 
become guilty of all of it. 

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So we all are going to fall 
short. 

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We're all going to have a sin 
penalty. 

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We have broken God's law. 
Now there was an old 

233
00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:17,840
illustration that made was made 
famous by evangelism explosion, 

234
00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,240
which was a personal evangelism 
outline. 

235
00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:23,240
You learned to show the gospel 
with people. 

236
00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:25,400
That's where I probably first 
saw it. 

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It's been used multiple times 
since then. 

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But let's just think about sin 
for a minute. 

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Let's say that you only sinned 3
times a day. 

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OK, now you got to remember what
the definition of sin is. 

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Sin is everything that I do or I
say, but it's also what it's 

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00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,480
also what I think. 
Now you think about this. 

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Maybe all you ever did was think
something wrong so the people 

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around you would think you're 
perfect. 

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00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,920
I mean, you would seem like an 
ideal angelic human being to 

246
00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:01,000
them, but in your heart you're 
sinning 3 times a day thinking 

247
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,360
something because you know 
you're dealing with all those 

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00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:05,960
other wretched people or 
something, maybe on a parrot. 

249
00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,320
So you're thinking things all 
day long. 

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00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,360
Now in a year's time, three 
times a day. 

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In a year's time, you've broken 
God's law over 1000 times. 

252
00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:24,000
Now let's say you live to be 70,
so over 70,000 plus times you've

253
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broken God's law. 
So this misunderstanding of how 

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can God punish a quote UN quote 
good person? 

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00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,720
How could a how could God send a
quote UN quote good person to 

256
00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:35,720
hell? 
Well, you got to realize there's

257
00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:40,040
no such thing. 
We're all sinners and if God is 

258
00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,480
holy and he's perfect, think 
about this. 

259
00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:48,520
A man breaks the law 70,000 
times and he's taken before a 

260
00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:52,080
judge and the judge says, oh, 
never mind, don't worry about 

261
00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:54,120
it, just forget about it. 
You're go free. 

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00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:56,960
Well, you know, we'd be in an 
uproar. 

263
00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,000
We'd want to impeach the judge. 
It's a horrible judge. 

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00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:02,960
That's not just, that's not, 
that's not right. 

265
00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:05,160
And yet that's the same 
position. 

266
00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:10,320
Even the best of us, whatever 
that means, that's the best of 

267
00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:11,440
us. 
Put God in that. 

268
00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,800
God has to punish sin or he 
can't maintain His Holiness. 

269
00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,160
They go against one another. 
They're different natures, 

270
00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,840
they're different characters. 
So God has to punish sin. 

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00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:26,000
So that old illustration helps 
us here. 

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00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,760
We've all broken God's law. 
Now David isn't struggling with 

273
00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:33,160
that. 
And this is where his, his walk 

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00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:36,280
with God is probably helping him
in the sense of he has a strong 

275
00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:39,360
awareness. 
I, I have sinned. 

276
00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,840
He admits that he sinned in 
verse 5, that he's born that 

277
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:44,360
way. 
It's a part of who we are. 

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00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:50,560
And the reality of guilt exists,
however, and it exists whether a

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00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,120
person feels guilty or not. 
By the way, you don't have to 

280
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:57,000
feel guilty for guilt to exist. 
It's there, you're, you're 

281
00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:58,920
guilty whether you feel that way
or not. 

282
00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:02,520
I mean, think about it. 
A hardened sociopath feels no 

283
00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:06,280
guilt, but that doesn't mean 
they're not guilty, right? 

284
00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:11,480
And so it's there. 
So David had no doubt about 

285
00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,040
this. 
It reminds me of a time at the 

286
00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:15,920
close of a church service one 
Sunday. 

287
00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:19,920
A man came forward during the 
invitation and he was really 

288
00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,200
disturbed. 
You could tell he was agitated. 

289
00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:26,200
In fact, he's being moved by 
his, by the conviction of sin in

290
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:28,000
his life. 
The Holy Spirit's all over him 

291
00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:31,120
and with tears flowing down his 
face. 

292
00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:34,600
He meant to say that his life 
was full of sin. 

293
00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:41,360
But what he said was, is my sin 
is full of life and I and though

294
00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:48,320
his mistake was corrected, maybe
he was really correct that maybe

295
00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:52,320
that's a better way to say it. 
His sin was full of life, and 

296
00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:56,480
that's why his life was full of 
sin. 

297
00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:01,800
And so we give life to this, but
before our guilt can be dealt 

298
00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:07,520
with, we must admit to its real 
presence in our lives. 

299
00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,480
It must be confessed. 
And you've heard me say this 

300
00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,240
word multiple times. 
I'll say it multiple more times 

301
00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:16,599
because it just has to appear so
often in our conversations. 

302
00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:21,240
And that is the fact that we 
must homo Legia our sin homo, 

303
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:24,680
same loggia Lagos word, same 
words. 

304
00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:29,000
So confess simply means I'm 
saying the same thing. 

305
00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:34,360
I think the same thing. 
I feel the same way about my sin

306
00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:37,640
that God does. 
And so I'm not fighting this. 

307
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,400
I'm actually embracing the 
guilt. 

308
00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:44,280
I'm embracing the conviction. 
We use the word conviction 

309
00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:48,120
because it's probably softer 
than guilt, but it's as that's 

310
00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:50,040
what it is. 
I'm being convicted. 

311
00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:53,040
Think about the word in a legal 
court, you're being convicted. 

312
00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:59,480
You are found what, guilty. 
So, so I'm being convicted, but 

313
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:04,280
I'm embracing that because 
you're right, Holy Spirit, I 

314
00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:08,360
agree with you. 
Confession is an agreement where

315
00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:11,120
I'm agreeing with God. 
All right, I pushed that hard 

316
00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:13,440
enough probably. 
So it must be confessed. 

317
00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:18,760
It must be acknowledged. 
Then then we can move on to some

318
00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,440
some other thoughts. 
So then we have to understand. 

319
00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:25,440
So what's the purpose? 
What's the purpose of guilt? 

320
00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,040
Why? 
Why do I need to feel this way? 

321
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:34,880
Verse 6 Behold, you delight in 
truth in the inward being, and 

322
00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:38,960
you teach me wisdom in the 
secret heart. 

323
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:44,080
So you're teaching me these 
things and you delight in truth 

324
00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:48,080
in my inward being. 
God is going to use conviction 

325
00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:54,880
or guilt in a healthy way in our
lives to teach us to obviously 

326
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:59,480
point out to us our sin because 
we're, we're, we're sinners. 

327
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:01,640
We're, we're imperfect. 
We're going to sin. 

328
00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:04,880
God's helping us by saying no, 
no, just like you'd help a 

329
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,280
child, just like you'd keep that
child from walking into the 

330
00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:11,320
street touching the hot stove. 
You correct. 

331
00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:14,600
No, no, no, no. 
In the same way, healthy 

332
00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,840
conviction, healthy guilt is 
steering us in the right 

333
00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:20,640
direction and hopefully we're 
learning. 

334
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,840
So OK, next time I don't walk in
the street, next time I don't 

335
00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:27,960
touch the stove, next time I 
don't say cuss words didn't get 

336
00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:29,640
thrown in the freezer. 
So I'm learning. 

337
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,920
So he does this to protect us. 
You can understand that, that, 

338
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,120
that, that, that we could, we 
could get involved in so much 

339
00:19:38,120 --> 00:19:44,520
greater moral, emotional, 
physical and spiritual harm if 

340
00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,240
if we don't acknowledge what 
he's doing right. 

341
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:52,320
There was a time in my life and,
and someday I'll share more of 

342
00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,000
my testimony. 
It's a little scary. 

343
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:58,280
So I was sharing this at a in 
fact, I had this conversation 

344
00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:02,000
today with somebody. 
I was sharing that my sort of 

345
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,280
full testimony. 
I'm, I'm beating around the Bush

346
00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,560
here on purpose at a, at a wild 
game dinner at a church in the 

347
00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:09,080
area. 
Some of you were there. 

348
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:11,240
I don't know if you're here 
tonight, but some of you were 

349
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,040
there and I really didn't do a 
very good job because I was to 

350
00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:15,560
be honest with you. 
And this is my fault. 

351
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:19,080
Totally my fault. 
I was moving, I was kind of 

352
00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:22,840
distracted and I thought this 
was an all man thing. 

353
00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,920
I did one of these a few months 
ago and it was like 1000 men, 

354
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:29,720
right? 
And 500 of the men were lost and

355
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,560
a lot of them were cadets. 
I've mentioned it before from 

356
00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:34,880
the Citadel. 
Well, the other night, this was 

357
00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:37,680
a mixed crowd, little bitty kids
and ladies and stuff. 

358
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:44,080
And my testimony, you got to 
edit my testimony a little bit. 

359
00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:46,880
It's just a little scary. 
I'm that probably makes you want

360
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,040
to hear it more, but shame on 
you. 

361
00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:53,800
But anyway, so and so I was kind
of trying to work through this. 

362
00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,560
And part of my testimony is a 
massive prodigal experience, 

363
00:20:57,840 --> 00:20:59,840
which is not something I'm proud
of at all. 

364
00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:05,080
But part of the misery of that 
experience for me was the 

365
00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:10,440
conviction. 
I knew I knew better and, and I 

366
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:15,040
found myself in the pig pen, so 
to speak, knowing better and, 

367
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:17,320
and God had to Get Me Out of 
that mess. 

368
00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,360
And I love him for him. 
But, but, but God does this to 

369
00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:23,640
protect us from even greater 
harm. 

370
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:28,240
And so God brings Nathan to 
David, right? 

371
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:33,160
And he reveals his sin to him in
second Samuel chapter 12. 

372
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:34,480
So let's look at it for a 
moment. 

373
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:38,000
I'm sorry about flipping back 
and forth a little, but let me 

374
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:40,520
just share with you that story 
for a few minutes. 

375
00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:44,560
It's worth hearing and I'll, 
I'll move through it quickly. 

376
00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,600
It's a, it's about 13 verses. 
So hang in there. 

377
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:51,440
And the Lord sent Nathan to 
David. 

378
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,720
He came to him and said to him, 
there were two men in a certain 

379
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,440
city, the one rich and the other
poor. 

380
00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:01,240
The rich man had very many 
flocks and herds, but the poor 

381
00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,640
man had nothing but one little 
you lamb which he had, which he 

382
00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:07,880
had bought. 
And he brought it up, and it 

383
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:12,120
grew up with him and with his 
children, and it used to eat of 

384
00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:15,800
his morsel and drink from his 
cup, and lie in his arms, and it

385
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:19,360
was like a daughter to him. 
And now there came a traveller 

386
00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:22,360
to the rich man, and he was 
unwilling to take one of his own

387
00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:25,760
flock or herd to prepare for the
guest who had come to him. 

388
00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:29,160
But he took the poor man's lamb 
and prepared it for the man who 

389
00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,160
had come to him. 
Then David's anger was greatly 

390
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,080
kindled against the man, and 
said to Nathan, As the Lord 

391
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:38,800
lives, the man who has done this
deserves to die, and he shall 

392
00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:42,320
restore the lamb fourfold, 
because he did this thing, and 

393
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:45,760
because he had no pity. 
And Nathan said to David, What's

394
00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:49,200
the great line? 
You are the man. 

395
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,640
Thus says the Lord, the God of 
Israel. 

396
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,160
I anointed you king over Israel,
and I delivered you out of the 

397
00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,560
hand of Saul, and I gave you 
your master's house, and your 

398
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,920
master's wives into your arms, 
and gave you the House of Israel

399
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,240
and of Judah. 
And if this were too little, I 

400
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:07,560
would add to you as as much 
more. 

401
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,160
Why have you despised the word 
of the Lord, to do what is evil 

402
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:13,280
in his sight? 
You have struck down your eye of

403
00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,520
the Hittite with the sword, and 
if taken his wife to be your 

404
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,520
wife, and if killed him with the
sword of the Ammonites. 

405
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,400
Now therefore the sword shall 
never depart from your house, 

406
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,880
because you've despised me, and 
have taken the wife of Uriah the

407
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:29,400
Hittite to be your wife. 
Thus says the Lord, Behold, I 

408
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,800
will raise up evil against you 
out of your own house, and I 

409
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,320
will take your wives before your
eyes, and give them to your 

410
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:37,760
neighbor, and he shall lie with 
your wives in the sight of his 

411
00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:40,040
the sun. 
For you did it secretly. 

412
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:43,080
But I will do this thing before 
all Israel before the sun. 

413
00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:47,600
And David said to Nathan, no, 
don't do that. 

414
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:50,160
That's not right. 
I don't deserve that. 

415
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:54,880
I deserve a new car. 
That's not what he said. 

416
00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:01,000
He said I've sinned. 
I can imagine the emotion of 

417
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,200
that moment. 
I've sinned against the Lord, 

418
00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:07,880
full admission. 
And Nathan said to David, the 

419
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,800
Lord has also put away your sin.
You shall not die nevertheless, 

420
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,920
because by this deed you have 
utterly scorned the Lord. 

421
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:16,960
The child who is born to you 
shall die. 

422
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:23,160
Then Nathan went to his house. 
And then verse 13 again David 

423
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,640
said to Nathan, I have sinned 
against the Lord. 

424
00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:28,960
And Nathan said to David, the 
Lord has also put away your sin.

425
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,840
You shall not die. 
Horrible story. 

426
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:36,880
And remember, what was David's 
background as a child? 

427
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:40,040
What was it? 
He was a shepherd. 

428
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:44,400
So a story about a lamb. 
It wasn't just a the story. 

429
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:47,160
This was would also have hit 
home with his entire life, 

430
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:49,160
something he would completely 
relate to. 

431
00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:52,720
He grew up raising lambs and 
sheep and goats. 

432
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,760
So it hit home. 
But healthy guilt or conviction,

433
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:03,840
the, the, it's, it creates the 
uncomfortable awareness in us 

434
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:09,800
that we violated God's law. 
We need that while we're still 

435
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:11,280
here. 
We need that now. 

436
00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:15,040
God, God has saved many of us. 
But listen to this, and you've 

437
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,840
heard this before, probably he 
is saving us still. 

438
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:20,440
He sanctifies and he will save 
us. 

439
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:23,600
And what he'll eventually save 
us from is the presence of sin. 

440
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:26,600
He saved us from the penalty of 
sin. 

441
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:30,960
And eventually he'll save us 
from the power and the presence 

442
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,040
of sin where we won't have to do
this anymore. 

443
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:37,320
We won't have to have conviction
in heaven. 

444
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,640
We'll we'll be perfected. 
But for now, this healthy guilt 

445
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,800
is produced by the conviction of
the Holy Spirit and by the 

446
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:49,560
conscience that God has also 
designed in each of us. 

447
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:56,240
It's a part of us and God uses 
that awareness to remind us not 

448
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:58,320
only of our sin. 
Don't, don't, don't look at this

449
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,920
just on the negative side. 
Look at that on the positive 

450
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:02,600
side. 
It's not just so that we'll see 

451
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,320
the wrong, it's so that we'll 
understand the right. 

452
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,400
It's so that we understand his 
purpose, that we understand his 

453
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,840
will. 
I need to be convicted. 

454
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,120
I need somebody to say don't do 
that. 

455
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:16,640
That's wrong. 
This is what you ought to be 

456
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:20,600
doing so that I have an 
awareness of that. 

457
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:25,440
And then what we also see in 
this passage is, is that only 

458
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,680
God can really forget sin. 
It it's going to be etched into 

459
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,440
our brains and memories. 
And we'll talk more about this. 

460
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:37,760
But in Isaiah 43 verse 25, it 
says I, I am he who blots out 

461
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,880
your transgressions for my own 
sake. 

462
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:47,240
I will not remember your sin. 
I mean, what a gracious thing. 

463
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:50,360
I mean, he ought to keep a 
scoreboard. 

464
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,760
I mean, you know, humanity, we 
keep score tabs and score 

465
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:55,720
sheets. 
I remember what you did to me 

466
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,200
back when, you know, and I'm 
going to get you. 

467
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:05,720
You know, God allows us to 
remember our mistakes to remind 

468
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:11,320
us to teach us to help us to get
to to keep us on track, to 

469
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:18,800
remind us of how vulnerable we 
are that and how much we need 

470
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:23,760
him. 
But there are lessons that we 

471
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,800
can learn to help others avoid 
those pitfalls as well. 

472
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:29,560
And that's part of what we need 
to talk about too. 

473
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:34,680
So God uses healthy guilt to get
our attention, to refine us. 

474
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:37,760
In fact, an illustration that's 
often used, and it's a good one 

475
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,720
if you can kind of relate to it,
it's, it's, it's not something 

476
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:44,360
as familiar to us as it probably
once was, but that's the idea of

477
00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:48,840
the engravers acid. 
So people who engrave metal, 

478
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:54,680
especially artisans who do this 
will use a small amount of acid 

479
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:59,000
to help etch designs into the 
polished metal. 

480
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,440
And the acid will, will smooth 
out the rough edges and it will 

481
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,360
help define the delicate line 
that they're engraving in there 

482
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:10,920
and that they're very measured. 
So the master engraver uses 

483
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:13,720
these small doses of acid to do 
that. 

484
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:19,080
In the same way the master 
engraver, the Lord uses guilt in

485
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:24,240
this, in these measured doses. 
He shapes, he molds, he 

486
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:28,400
convicts, he teaches, and, and, 
and we are his work of art. 

487
00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:30,960
That's part of what Ephesians 
would call us. 

488
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:33,200
Where is workmanship? 
Where is poetry? 

489
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,840
Where is works of art? 
And guilt is just one of the 

490
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:41,520
tools that he uses to shape us. 
So the Holy Spirit brings our 

491
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:45,280
sin to our attention so that we 
might repent, so we might be 

492
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:49,080
purified. 
Just like, just like acid, guilt

493
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,440
burns. 
Conviction hurts. 

494
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:56,280
It's not something we enjoy, but
it's also helping us. 

495
00:28:56,280 --> 00:29:00,000
We don't like it. 
But if we're pliable, if if 

496
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,400
we're like David and and we're, 
we're pliable and submissive. 

497
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,720
If we learn to listen to 
convicting guilt and respond to 

498
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:11,800
what God is trying to tell us, 
we can learn lessons and we can 

499
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:16,320
avoid the same mistake again and
and we can avoid that sin again.

500
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:21,280
The acid like guilt we 
experienced helps us to make us 

501
00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:25,200
what we need to be and will 
equip us to help others. 

502
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,440
I want you to listen to an 
actual letter written by a death

503
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:34,000
row inmate. 
He wrote it to his girlfriend 

504
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:38,200
just before his execution. 
And it says, it seems that I 

505
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:41,200
know evil more intimately than I
know goodness. 

506
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:47,560
I want to get even, to be made, 
even to be made whole, my debts 

507
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:52,240
paid, whatever it may take, to 
have no blemish, no reason to 

508
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,840
feel guilt or fear. 
I'd like to stand in the sight 

509
00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:00,880
of God, to know that I'm just 
and right and clean. 

510
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:06,240
When you're this way, you know 
it, and when you're not, you 

511
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:10,400
know that too. 
It's all inside of us, each of 

512
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:15,600
us. 
So what do we do with guilt? 

513
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,720
So we need to find point #3 we 
need to find this. 

514
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,880
We'll spend most of our time the
forgiveness from guilt. 

515
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:28,480
Again, verse 13, David said to 
Nathan, I have sinned against 

516
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:32,400
the Lord. 
And Nathan said to David, the 

517
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,480
Lord has put away your sin. 
You shall not die. 

518
00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:40,800
David understood that he was 
really, truly guilty. 

519
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,440
He also knew that only God had 
the answer and was the only 

520
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,760
place to find it. 
So back in Psalm 51, let me 

521
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:51,120
reread some of that and read on 
a little further, starting in 

522
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:56,000
verse 7. 
Purge me from with hyssop and I 

523
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,760
shall be clean. 
Wash me and I shall be whiter 

524
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:03,760
than snow. 
Let me hear joy and gladness, 

525
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,920
let let the bones that you have 
broken rejoice. 

526
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:12,800
Hide your face from my sins and 
bought out all my iniquities. 

527
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:17,400
Create in me a clean heart, O 
God, and renew a right spirit 

528
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,200
within me. 
Cast me not away from Your 

529
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:23,600
presence and take not Your Holy 
Spirit for me. 

530
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:29,680
Restore to me the joy of Your 
salvation and uphold me with a 

531
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,360
willing spirit. 
Now listen to this. 

532
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:37,200
Then I will teach transgressors 
your ways, and sinners will 

533
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,240
return to you. 
Deliver me from blood 

534
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:42,640
guiltiness, oh God, oh God, of 
my salvation. 

535
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:45,720
And my tongue will sing aloud of
your righteousness. 

536
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,720
Oh Lord, open my lips, and my 
mouth will declare your praise. 

537
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,160
For you will not delight in 
sacrifice or I'd give it. 

538
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:55,560
You will not be pleased with a 
burnt offering. 

539
00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:00,640
The sacrifices of God are a 
broken spirit, a broken and 

540
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:04,240
contrite heart. 
Oh God, you will not despise. 

541
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,720
So the actions of religious 
ritual, going through the 

542
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:14,880
motions aren't enough. 
Something has to happen inside, 

543
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,600
something real, something 
authentic, something true, 

544
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:21,480
something honest has to happen 
in your heart. 

545
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:27,360
And we see David accepting this.
Some will not accept, some will 

546
00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:34,360
not receive God or His answers 
ever, and some would just always

547
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:36,480
reject the idea that they're 
even sinful. 

548
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,960
Part of what we'll do later this
year, believe it or not, and 

549
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:45,800
don't run out the door in panic,
but part of what I'm going to do

550
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,240
later this year is I'm going to 
share with you and teach some 

551
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:52,640
personal evangelism training. 
Now don't let that sound weird 

552
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,520
or boring to you. 
Be excited about it. 

553
00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:56,280
Here's how I'm going to teach 
it. 

554
00:32:56,840 --> 00:32:59,760
I'm going to teach it as if 
you've never, ever shared your 

555
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,480
faith before. 
You've wanted to do this, you've

556
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,440
been scared to do this. 
You've wanted to do this. 

557
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,000
You didn't know how to do this. 
You've always wanted to be able 

558
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,320
to do this. 
But you, it seemed awkward to 

559
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:10,960
you. 
It seemed weird to you, and you 

560
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:13,080
don't know how to do it. 
And I'm going to show you from 

561
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:16,200
point A all the way to point Z, 
step by step by step. 

562
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:17,840
How do I develop that 
relationship? 

563
00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:20,600
How do I guide a conversation? 
How do I pray? 

564
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,280
How do I get to move talking 
from the weather to talking 

565
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:25,040
about Jesus? 
We're going to take it step by 

566
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,760
step all the way through because
one of the things that we have 

567
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:32,040
to do in our culture today, 
believe it or not, in the old 

568
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:34,200
days, you could start with what 
was called the Roman Rd. 

569
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,000
You know, you could just start 
in the book of Romans or the 

570
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,640
book of John and start writing 
the gospels and go forward 

571
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,600
because people had a common 
knowledge of scripture and a 

572
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:44,520
common knowledge of certain 
verses. 

573
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:46,520
Today we have to start in 
Genesis. 

574
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:49,600
Today we have to say this is who
God is. 

575
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,440
This is the God I'm speaking. 
This is the God I'm talking 

576
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:54,800
about because they might say 
which God? 

577
00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:59,000
And the reason I'm saying that 
is just we're going to have to 

578
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:03,040
define sin. 
We just can't assume that 

579
00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,080
there'll be any kind of common 
understanding of. 

580
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,159
So we're going to walk through 
all that piece by piece by piece

581
00:34:08,159 --> 00:34:10,360
later this year. 
So you got you got time to 

582
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,400
panic, but it'll be good. 
You'll enjoy it. 

583
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:15,600
It's what I teach at the 
seminary as well. 

584
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:17,440
So so some are going to reject 
this. 

585
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,440
They're going to reject 
conviction because they reject 

586
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:24,600
the very notion that I could do 
anything wrong or that there is 

587
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,600
anything wrong. 
You understand, I get to define 

588
00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:30,639
wrong. 
No one else defines wrong. 

589
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,320
There's there's the Bible 
doesn't define it God, I get to 

590
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:37,400
define it right. 
So let me tell you a funny 

591
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:41,159
story. 
You'll remember this is almost 

592
00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:42,560
as good as the Filipino fairy 
story. 

593
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:46,840
So here you go. 
So, so there was when I pastored

594
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,040
in Arizona, we were the hub of 
church planting in Northern 

595
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:53,199
Arizona and we had a huge 
Community College there. 

596
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:57,120
And there were people at the 
Community College who are 

597
00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:58,800
members of the church, the 
basketball coach. 

598
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:00,720
So I was chaplain of the 
basketball team, all kinds of 

599
00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:03,200
stuff. 
Anyway, there was a Christian in

600
00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:07,040
a comparative religions class 
and they needed a Christian. 

601
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,640
They needed a token Christian to
come talk to the comparative 

602
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:16,840
religions class. 
So so basically, here's what 

603
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:18,800
they said. 
We got 150 students in this 

604
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,560
Amphitheatre type of room, 
undergrad students, we need you 

605
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,760
to come and talk about the basic
characteristics of Christianity.

606
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,720
So I said, so you want me to 
share the gospel with 150 lost 

607
00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:30,880
people? 
Gotcha. 

608
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:33,960
I'll be there. 
So I show up. 

609
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,800
Big amphitheater room has a big 
lab table at the front. 

610
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:39,840
I set my Bible down. 
I'm supposed to talk for 20 

611
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:42,360
minutes about Christianity. 
Then I'm supposed to take 

612
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,200
questions for about 20 minutes. 
That's what I'm supposed to do, 

613
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:47,880
lay my Bible there. 
I'm standing over here on the 

614
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:51,680
side and the professor comes up.
Here's my introduction. 

615
00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:58,120
Well, such and such is here from
such and such and it says I 

616
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:02,120
can't wait to hear this guy. 
He actually believes this 

617
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:07,320
ancient document is the literal 
word of God and this ancient 

618
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:10,120
document defines truth instead 
of our culture. 

619
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:15,000
I can't wait to hear this. 
And he walks off. 

620
00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:24,280
Howdy, right, That's my intro. 
So I know that I need to start 

621
00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:29,560
at a different place. 
Here's why I believe the Bible 

622
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:32,960
is the word of God. 
I had to start at the point of 

623
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:37,000
authority to say This is why I 
believe, and I'm going to share 

624
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,760
a whole thing with you all about
how do I articulate why I 

625
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:42,520
believe the Bible is the word of
God? 

626
00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:44,160
We'll do that later too. 
That's coming. 

627
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:46,760
Why I believe Jesus is who he 
says is. 

628
00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:51,600
I'm going to give you apologetic
Bible doctrine and Christology. 

629
00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:54,440
We're going to cover all these 
things, but I'd explained to him

630
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,360
from the beginning. 
So I'm, you know, 20 minutes 

631
00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,120
ticking, then I go get OK, so 
now I'm in the grand meta 

632
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:00,600
narrative. 
So in other words, and this 

633
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,080
whole book work tells a story 
from Genesis to Revelation about

634
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:06,560
a person, right? 
Share the gospel. 

635
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:09,920
I've shared the gospel. 
Time for Q&A. 

636
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:12,520
First question, little girl in 
the back. 

637
00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:16,480
Now you got to understand, and 
I'm not knocking a place. 

638
00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,400
I get in trouble every time I 
talk about a place because 

639
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:20,720
somebody here is from that 
place. 

640
00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:23,480
God bless you. 
I'm from, I'm from a place too. 

641
00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:26,280
I'm from the Ozarks. 
I'm a hillbilly from the Cookson

642
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:30,560
Hills where Bonnie and Clyde, 
Pretty Boy Floyd and and used to

643
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:32,760
be moonshine. 
Now some of the best marijuana 

644
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:34,600
in the world has grown. 
So that's where I'm from. 

645
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:38,360
So there you go. 
Throw what you want. 

646
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:44,200
Northern Arizona is a Mecca for 
New Age movement. 

647
00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:49,400
It's a, it's Mormon dominated 
and a lot of new Ages because of

648
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:52,000
Sedona and the Canyon and 
whatnot people. 

649
00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:55,040
We had tree huggers, crystal 
liquors, you name it, we had it.

650
00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,480
People getting in touch with the
vortex of the red rocks, right? 

651
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:03,520
Witches, warlocks, Wiccans, 
every shape tribe you can 

652
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:04,960
imagine. 
We also had some brilliant 

653
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:06,880
Christians. 
It's a beautiful, beautiful 

654
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:09,120
place, wonderful place for 
ministry. 

655
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:11,080
We were seeing so many people 
saved. 

656
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:14,080
We had to baptize on Wednesday 
nights to keep up with the 

657
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,280
baptisms. 
A lot of Latter Day Saints come 

658
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:23,920
into Christ, but this room is 
filled with a new Age cult. 

659
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,600
Most of these students are part 
of a new age cult, and the high 

660
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:32,920
priestess is also in the room. 
So this young girl stands up and

661
00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:36,400
this is her question. 
Why do you Baptist believe Jesus

662
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:40,640
hated women? 
Now, I hadn't said anything 

663
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:44,000
about, you know, but I knew she 
was getting it. 

664
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,320
There was some stuff in the news
about some of our Baptist faith 

665
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,120
and message stuff. 
And so I said, I know what 

666
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:51,320
you're talking. 
This is what you're talking 

667
00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:52,720
about. 
But then I actually talk about, 

668
00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:54,640
I say, listen, you need to 
understand something the New 

669
00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:56,320
Testament. 
Don't then don't walk out of it.

670
00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:58,280
You got to hear the whole thing.
Don't walk out after the first 

671
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:00,800
sentence. 
That the New Testament is one of

672
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:04,160
the most radically feminist 
documents you'll ever find in 

673
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:06,720
ancient history. 
Here's what I mean. 

674
00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:09,520
First of all, there were women 
who are a part of the ministry 

675
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:11,160
of Jesus. 
There were women who are part of

676
00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:14,760
the ministry of Paul and for the
first time basically in human 

677
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:19,000
history, a individual woman had 
standing before God. 

678
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:22,280
She could go to God directly. 
She didn't have to go through 

679
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:23,520
her husband. 
She didn't have to go through a 

680
00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:24,640
priest. 
She didn't have to go through a 

681
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:26,320
veil. 
She actually could do that. 

682
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:27,520
I said, but that's not what 
you're talking about. 

683
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:29,920
You're talking about Ephesians 5
wives submit to your husbands 

684
00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:31,440
because that's what was in the 
news. 

685
00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:34,040
So I then I explained a very 
conservative normal. 

686
00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:35,920
Hopefully I don't have time 
tonight. 

687
00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:40,000
View exegesis of Ephesians 5. 
That's not the point of the 

688
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:40,800
story. 
I promise. 

689
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:45,840
There's a point. 
The high priestess raises her 

690
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,720
hand. 
I should have known she was the 

691
00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:51,280
high priestess. 
She looked like a high 

692
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:53,880
priestess. 
She had on a Cape. 

693
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:56,800
Now, you don't wear capes in 
Arizona. 

694
00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:03,520
She stood up. 
I mean, it was really pointed 

695
00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,080
her finger at me. 
And she said, Sir, I have a 

696
00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:08,640
question. 
The room goes quiet. 

697
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:11,400
I mean, Yoda is getting ready to
speak, so the whole room's just 

698
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:17,320
silent. 
I have a questions, actually, 

699
00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:19,480
she said. 
I actually have a comment 

700
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,120
instead. 
Now listen to this. 

701
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:29,080
All due respect to her. 
For the first time in my life, I

702
00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:34,520
now understand why people who 
call themselves Christians and 

703
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:38,360
people who say they believe the 
Bible is the word of God must 

704
00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:42,920
believe the way they do. 
Thank you for helping me 

705
00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:47,880
understand that she and I could 
have sat down for herbal tea and

706
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:49,400
talked about Jesus. 
You know what I'm saying? 

707
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:56,360
So stand your ground. 
Understand there's truth here. 

708
00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:00,040
Just like I said on Sunday, not 
everybody's going to believe it.

709
00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:04,520
So we've got to start at a place
to help them understand This is 

710
00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:08,840
why we believe what we believe. 
But for you and you're dealing 

711
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:13,320
with guilt. 
Don't reject God, don't reject 

712
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:17,240
his grace, don't reject his 
forgiveness because he's got a 

713
00:41:17,240 --> 00:41:19,680
plan for you. 
So what happens with some 

714
00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:20,760
people? 
Listen. 

715
00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:22,680
And some of you may be in this 
room, and this is the most 

716
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:26,360
important part of tonight. 
Probably some of you here create

717
00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:29,760
your own standards of right and 
wrong, and you're living by your

718
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:32,880
own holy scales. 
And so you either remain lost 

719
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:37,800
and unforgiven, searching 
aimlessly for Shalom somewhere 

720
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:40,120
and you're never going to find 
it somewhere because it doesn't 

721
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:44,840
exist somewhere, it exists in 
someone, or you're searching for

722
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:47,920
purpose. 
But others. 

723
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:50,840
This is some of you church 
members. 

724
00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:57,400
Maybe some of you claim to know 
him but then don't accept His 

725
00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:01,000
grace. 
This is where we start getting 

726
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:05,960
into toxic guilt which leads to 
all kinds of problems. 

727
00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:10,880
You don't allow God to just etch
your life with that small dose 

728
00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:15,200
of acidic guilt and conviction 
and then receive His forgiveness

729
00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:19,000
like David did. 
What you do is you reject His 

730
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,880
forgiveness, often by not 
forgiving others or not 

731
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,360
forgiving yourself. 
And, and you hold on to your 

732
00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:30,760
guilt and you won't let it go. 
And then you hold on to false 

733
00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:36,760
teaching about God's inability 
to forgive you for what you've 

734
00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:41,280
done. 
And, and you allow guilt to 

735
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:45,880
overpower grace as an extremely 
dangerous place to be. 

736
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:52,320
And so you leap, or you know 
people who leap into an entire 

737
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:59,720
VAT of acidic toxic guilt and 
they immerse themselves in 

738
00:42:59,720 --> 00:43:03,640
corrosive, destructive emotional
thoughts and actions where 

739
00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:07,760
they're constantly submerging 
themselves in a pity party of 

740
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:11,320
this toxic guilt and will not 
accept help. 

741
00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:16,680
And as the acid of toxic guilt 
eats into them, it creates even 

742
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:22,280
more self defeating, self 
blaming, self shaming sin. 

743
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:27,560
So toxic guilt can blind us to 
true conviction and to the true 

744
00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:30,480
source of forgiveness. 
And we become so obsessed with 

745
00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:34,320
our guilt that we don't even 
recognize our true sin anymore. 

746
00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:38,280
And we become so focused on the 
past we can't look forward. 

747
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:41,400
And we deceive ourselves into 
thinking that we are worthless 

748
00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:46,080
and beyond help. 
I run into these people. 

749
00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:49,920
I know these people. 
Some of them become suicidal, 

750
00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:54,840
some of them become very 
depressed, and most of them are 

751
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:58,800
very obnoxious to be around very
difficult people. 

752
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:04,040
Sometimes it's a dangerous thing
to hang on to sin after God's 

753
00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:07,360
grace has been extended. 
Don't ever forget that. 

754
00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:12,960
It's important line. 
You and I won't grow if we're 

755
00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:16,000
not sensitive to sin. 
We've got to be sensitive to it.

756
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:17,640
We've got to understand 
conviction. 

757
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,600
We've got to understand true, 
healthy guilt. 

758
00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:25,000
But we also won't grow unless we
focus on the Savior rather than 

759
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:28,640
our sin. 
Guilt ridden people have trouble

760
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:33,800
fixing their eyes on Jesus. 
The recognition of sin should 

761
00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:38,120
certainly carry with it strong 
feelings of of remorse and 

762
00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:42,000
should certainly lead us to true
confession and true repentance. 

763
00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:45,320
It certainly did for David. 
What a what is example for us of

764
00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:49,720
a horrendous thing. 
I mean, I, you know, we don't, 

765
00:44:49,720 --> 00:44:51,760
we don't rank sin, but we rank 
sin. 

766
00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:55,800
Murder's high up there, murder 
and adultery pretty high up 

767
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,160
there, even though we're not 
supposed to rank them. 

768
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:04,680
Sin can't be taken lightly. 
Sin is sin is a stench in the 

769
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:08,400
nostrils of God. 
Almost sound King James there 

770
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:12,880
for a minute, didn't I? 
Yeah, David knew what to do. 

771
00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:17,680
But I know people who get 
paralyzed in this and they're in

772
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:23,720
the cannibalistic cycle of toxic
guilt and suddenly their 

773
00:45:23,720 --> 00:45:26,440
impression of themselves is not 
true anymore. 

774
00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:31,080
Satan leaps on this. 
He'll, he'll pile onto this and 

775
00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:33,040
he'll, he'll help you never get 
out of it. 

776
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:36,360
And if you're in that place 
where you can't forgive 

777
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:38,840
yourself, if you're here live or
you're listening to this and 

778
00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:43,840
you, you, you, you've done so 
much bad, you think that there's

779
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:47,720
no way out of it. 
You're just not focused upon the

780
00:45:47,720 --> 00:45:50,120
truth. 
You're listening to the father 

781
00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,680
of lies who wants to destroy 
you. 

782
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:55,520
You got to let it. 
You got to let him. 

783
00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:59,520
You got to let him bring you 
freedom no matter what you've 

784
00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:03,920
done, you've got to let him 
forgive you and accept his 

785
00:46:03,920 --> 00:46:05,800
grace. 
So David knew what to do. 

786
00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:06,760
Listen again. 
Listen. 

787
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:09,760
He says in verse 7 again, I know
this is redundant, but it needs 

788
00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:12,520
to be purged. 
Me with hyssop and I shall be 

789
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:14,160
clean. 
Notice this verb tense. 

790
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:19,000
There's no question you, you do 
this and I will be, I'm, I know 

791
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:22,320
it. 
Wash me and I shall be whiter 

792
00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:28,040
than snow. 
I just murdered somebody, but 

793
00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:31,080
I'll be whiter than snow. 
Even our society would have a 

794
00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:34,880
hard time with that. 
Let me hear joy and gladness. 

795
00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:36,760
Let the bones that you have 
broken rejoice. 

796
00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:39,480
Hide your face for my sins and 
blot out all my iniquities. 

797
00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:42,800
Created me a clean heart, oh 
God, and renew a right spirit 

798
00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:45,120
within me. 
Cast me not away from your 

799
00:46:45,120 --> 00:46:48,000
presence and take not your Holy 
Spirit for me. 

800
00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,280
Restore to me the joy of your 
salvation and uphold me with a 

801
00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:56,240
willing spirit. 
There's no relief without the 

802
00:46:56,240 --> 00:47:00,240
satisfaction of the demands of a
righteous God. 

803
00:47:00,240 --> 00:47:01,560
We have to take care of 
business. 

804
00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:06,440
We must confess, we must repent,
we must be willing to do 

805
00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:10,280
everything with his help to 
change and to live differently, 

806
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:16,000
to not repeat that action again 
or that thought or that those 

807
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:19,200
words. 
But we serve a God. 

808
00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:24,160
We serve a God who's gone way 
out of his way to be satisfied. 

809
00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:28,400
Think about what he's done. 
We have to satisfy Him, but He's

810
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:32,080
gone way out of the way to be 
satisfied on our behalf. 

811
00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:34,800
No other faith system teaches 
that. 

812
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:37,960
Nobody. 
I've shown you this before, but 

813
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:39,680
I've got to show you this time 
and time again. 

814
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:42,520
Every other faith system says 
I've got to work my way up to 

815
00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:48,280
somehow, maybe, hopefully, 
pleasing the divine truth says 

816
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:51,680
why we were yet sinners. 
Christ died, for He went out of 

817
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:54,320
His way. 
He became one of us. 

818
00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:59,000
The Word became flesh and dwelt 
among us, and we beheld as glory

819
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:02,400
glories of the only begotten, 
full of grace and truth. 

820
00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:06,280
See, grace, That's what's the 
difference. 

821
00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:07,680
That's what this world doesn't 
understand. 

822
00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:09,840
They, they have a hard time. 
They want, they, they want to, 

823
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:12,400
they want to figure out their 
own system of justice. 

824
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:14,600
They, they have a hard time with
grace. 

825
00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:20,440
See, that's why this culture has
become so ungracious, so toxic, 

826
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:26,960
so raging, so cancelling, right?
He arranged for the payment of 

827
00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:29,280
his own penalty. 
So when we trust Jesus Christ as

828
00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:32,720
Savior, the blame for our sin 
has been removed, the charges 

829
00:48:32,720 --> 00:48:36,000
against us have been dismissed. 
That's why He can blot us from 

830
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,360
the text. 
That's why our sin is blotted 

831
00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:41,840
out and doesn't get remembered 
anymore, our slates wiped clean.

832
00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:45,680
God forgiven, unconditionally 
accepted, declared completely 

833
00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:47,680
righteous by Him. 
It doesn't get any better. 

834
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,400
There's nothing higher, there's 
nothing stronger, there's 

835
00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:55,760
nothing more important. 
So forgive yourself when God 

836
00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:59,040
Forgives you. 
And that doesn't mean one ever 

837
00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:05,160
sin again, but it does mean that
we have appropriated God's grace

838
00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:11,360
by faith in Jesus Christ to 
cover those sins and to grant us

839
00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:13,600
pardon. 
And I can confess my sin and 

840
00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:18,880
he'll be faithful and just and 
forgive me over and over and 

841
00:49:18,880 --> 00:49:22,520
over and over and over and over 
and over and over again. 

842
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:26,560
Now He may teach me lessons. 
David had a price to pay. 

843
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:29,360
There were lessons that he had 
to learn. 

844
00:49:29,840 --> 00:49:33,920
There were repercussions in real
life because of his sin, right? 

845
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:41,440
There were things he had to do. 
After the Lord brought me back, 

846
00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:45,920
after I ran home to the Father, 
after the pigpen, I had to go 

847
00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:47,680
find people and apologize to 
them. 

848
00:49:48,760 --> 00:49:51,560
I, I actually had to go talk to 
law enforcement about some 

849
00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:55,360
things and make sure it was OK 
for me to be free. 

850
00:49:56,720 --> 00:49:58,600
That'll tell you something about
my testimony. 

851
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:06,200
But God was gracious. 
So how can I truly be forgiven, 

852
00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:08,280
right? 
How do we get through that? 

853
00:50:08,720 --> 00:50:11,440
So Psalm 51, verse one again, 
have mercy on me, O God, 

854
00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:14,440
according to your steadfast 
love, according to your abundant

855
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:17,160
mercy, blot out my 
transgressions, wash me 

856
00:50:17,160 --> 00:50:20,560
thoroughly for my iniquity and 
cleanse me from my sin, for I 

857
00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:23,960
know my transgressions and my 
sin is ever before me. 

858
00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:28,120
So once again, first of all, we 
must confess we agree with him. 

859
00:50:28,120 --> 00:50:31,680
I've already shared those things
with you in desperate need of 

860
00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:35,240
divine forgiveness. 
We can do nothing but cast 

861
00:50:35,240 --> 00:50:39,360
ourselves on God's mercy. 
We've sinned. 

862
00:50:39,520 --> 00:50:41,920
I we blew it, we missed the 
mark. 

863
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:44,480
We intentionally did something, 
we unintentionally did 

864
00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:46,080
something. 
We've messed up. 

865
00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:50,240
We've got no excuse. 
I need your grace. 

866
00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:57,080
So forgiveness is this act of 
divine grace whereby sin is 

867
00:50:57,080 --> 00:50:59,920
blotted out and the sinners 
cleanse. 

868
00:50:59,920 --> 00:51:01,640
Now there's only one person who 
can do that. 

869
00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:06,680
And so as we take the lid off of
our lives and we openly and 

870
00:51:06,680 --> 00:51:11,480
honestly confess to the Lord our
sins are, our burden of guilt 

871
00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:15,520
can begin to dissolve. 
So that's the first step to true

872
00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:17,720
forgiveness. 
And that's why I quoted first 

873
00:51:17,720 --> 00:51:22,560
John 19 a moment ago. 
But we cannot confess that of 

874
00:51:22,560 --> 00:51:26,000
which we're not aware. 
So we must pray. 

875
00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:30,760
Pray for the sensitivity, pray 
for the awareness. 

876
00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:33,160
The Holy Spirit's going to help 
us with this awareness. 

877
00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:36,400
But this is one of the things 
that Martin Luther was mocked by

878
00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:40,240
his, his priest confessor when 
you know, as a, as a monk, he 

879
00:51:40,240 --> 00:51:43,760
would go to a priest to confess 
his sins when he was still a 

880
00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:46,640
part of the Catholic Church. 
And, and he would confess all 

881
00:51:46,640 --> 00:51:49,760
these things he was doing. 
And his, his, his, his priest 

882
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:52,400
confessor would say, Luther, 
those aren't even sins. 

883
00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:58,440
He was overworking the list. 
So make sure you're being 

884
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:03,920
biblical, but God can handle it 
and the Holy Spirit, I help you.

885
00:52:05,200 --> 00:52:10,480
Secondly, then we must correct. 
So verse 12 restore to me the 

886
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:14,360
joy of your salvation and uphold
me with a willing spirit. 

887
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:18,480
Then I will teach transgressors 
your ways and sinners will 

888
00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:20,920
return to you. 
Deliver me from blood 

889
00:52:20,920 --> 00:52:23,440
guiltiness. 
Oh God, oh God of my salvation 

890
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:25,800
and my tongue will sing a lot of
your righteousness. 

891
00:52:25,960 --> 00:52:29,520
Oh Lord, open my lips and my 
mouth will declare your praise. 

892
00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:33,880
We have to embrace the new, but 
we also, we also should be 

893
00:52:33,880 --> 00:52:39,800
changed by forgiveness, right? 
So, so if, if we're, if we're 

894
00:52:39,800 --> 00:52:45,040
sinning this a a certain sin and
we confess that and seek his 

895
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:48,120
forgiveness, and then 2 seconds 
later we're sending that same 

896
00:52:48,120 --> 00:52:51,200
sin again. 
We're not learning enough yet. 

897
00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:55,680
We're not really correcting, not
sure we're really confessing 

898
00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:58,880
yet. 
We don't understand the severity

899
00:52:58,880 --> 00:53:01,480
of what's going on. 
Forgiveness should change us. 

900
00:53:01,640 --> 00:53:04,200
But it in this case, as you see 
with David, it ought to lead us 

901
00:53:04,200 --> 00:53:05,800
to worship. 
It ought to lead us to 

902
00:53:05,800 --> 00:53:08,160
discipleship. 
It ought to lead us to service. 

903
00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:10,440
That's what he's saying here. 
If you do that, I'm going to 

904
00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:12,560
teach other people, I'm going to
praise you. 

905
00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:15,120
I'm going to serve you. 
I'm going to be who you want me 

906
00:53:15,120 --> 00:53:16,840
to be. 
So there ought to be a change. 

907
00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:19,440
This is what I've said in one of
the very first sermons I ever 

908
00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:21,520
preached at Inglewood. 
It's replacement. 

909
00:53:21,640 --> 00:53:24,800
I've got to take off the old, 
I've got to put on the new. 

910
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:28,960
I've got to replace it. 
If you don't and you leave that 

911
00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:35,440
void, you're going to refill it 
with acid and sin you will. 

912
00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:40,040
That's the pattern of addiction,
where somebody feels bad about 

913
00:53:40,040 --> 00:53:41,760
their addiction, they say 
they're never going to do it 

914
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:43,520
again. 
And then two days, two weeks 

915
00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:45,960
later, they're doing it again. 
It's because they're not 

916
00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:49,440
replacing the void with 
something positive. 

917
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:52,160
And so we need to seek 
forgiveness. 

918
00:53:52,160 --> 00:53:55,480
We need to mean it. 
We need to truly repent and then

919
00:53:55,480 --> 00:53:59,920
we also need to grant 
forgiveness as well. 

920
00:53:59,920 --> 00:54:03,000
So we need to seek forgiveness 
from God, but also from others. 

921
00:54:03,920 --> 00:54:06,080
Maybe I offended. 
Maybe I need to seek forgiveness

922
00:54:06,080 --> 00:54:08,760
from some other people in the 
process too. 

923
00:54:08,760 --> 00:54:11,800
Maybe that's part of maybe 
that's part of what needs to 

924
00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:14,640
happen. 
I, I need to seek forgiveness 

925
00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:18,680
or, or maybe I need to extend 
forgiveness to someone. 

926
00:54:19,440 --> 00:54:22,440
See, I'm hanging on to something
I need, I need that I need to 

927
00:54:22,720 --> 00:54:25,680
their forgiveness, but also need
to extend forgiveness. 

928
00:54:26,240 --> 00:54:29,160
We can't simply ignore it. 
That's that's why Matthew 5 says

929
00:54:29,160 --> 00:54:33,080
what it says in Matthew 523. 
So you're, if you're offering 

930
00:54:33,080 --> 00:54:38,720
your gift at the altar and there
remember that your brother has 

931
00:54:38,720 --> 00:54:42,960
something against you, leave 
your gift there before the altar

932
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:49,520
and go first be reconciled to 
your brother and then come and 

933
00:54:49,520 --> 00:54:53,080
offer your gift. 
So if I know that I've offended 

934
00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:58,000
somebody and I know that I'm 
going to, I'm never going to 

935
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:02,000
have a clear worship path. 
I'm going to have a hard time 

936
00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:04,000
with my prayers. 
I'm going to have a hard time 

937
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:06,520
with my spiritual life until I 
clean this up. 

938
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:10,720
I need to seek forgiveness. 
I need to extend forgiveness. 

939
00:55:12,920 --> 00:55:16,800
Now as I've shared with you, 
either you've heard this or some

940
00:55:16,800 --> 00:55:19,880
of you don't know anything about
me, but but I've dealt with a 

941
00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:24,360
lot of conflict. 
That's professionally, I teach 

942
00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:28,600
PhD level seminars on conflict. 
But but one of the things that 

943
00:55:28,600 --> 00:55:31,680
I've done especially for the 
last 10-12 years is I've dealt 

944
00:55:31,680 --> 00:55:34,960
with some of the most 
dysfunctional conflict filled 

945
00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:37,960
churches and church leaders that
you can imagine. 

946
00:55:38,240 --> 00:55:41,680
I mean physically going after 
each other, verbally going after

947
00:55:41,680 --> 00:55:44,680
each other, spiritually going 
after each other. 

948
00:55:44,680 --> 00:55:50,760
I mean, jumping on top of each 
other sometimes with me and with

949
00:55:50,760 --> 00:55:55,120
me refereeing, and I don't have 
a whistle, but I got a good left

950
00:55:55,120 --> 00:56:00,720
hook. 
So it's amazing how my life has 

951
00:56:00,720 --> 00:56:02,360
paid off so many times in 
ministry. 

952
00:56:02,760 --> 00:56:08,040
So my bouncing days have become 
more profitable in some of this 

953
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:11,440
work than you could ever imagine
because I was a bouncer for a 

954
00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:13,360
while. 
But anyway, it's another story, 

955
00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:15,960
part of the testimony that I 
can't share in a mixed audience.

956
00:56:18,720 --> 00:56:21,200
But but here's the point I'm 
trying to make that that what 

957
00:56:21,200 --> 00:56:24,920
happens is I've seen people with
such bitterness toward other 

958
00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:29,160
people. 
Now listen, and, and I won't get

959
00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:34,240
graphic here, but folks, I've, 
I've dealt with rape, I've dealt

960
00:56:34,240 --> 00:56:38,160
with murder, I've dealt with 
manslaughter. 

961
00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:42,880
This might be a little too hard.
Let me, let me be careful here. 

962
00:56:43,240 --> 00:56:49,360
I've dealt with a toddler 
leading to the death of his baby

963
00:56:49,360 --> 00:56:57,720
sister, all kinds of things. 
So how, how can I get through 

964
00:56:57,720 --> 00:57:01,160
that? 
How do I forgive my rapist? 

965
00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:06,440
Seriously, it's a real story, 
you know, and I'm not saying 

966
00:57:06,440 --> 00:57:11,640
that you forget. 
I'm not saying that you, you, 

967
00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:14,840
you like the person. 
I'm not saying you're going to 

968
00:57:14,840 --> 00:57:17,120
be their best friend. 
I'm saying that somehow you've 

969
00:57:17,120 --> 00:57:23,520
got to work through the load of 
pain because it's not hurting 

970
00:57:23,520 --> 00:57:26,720
them, but it's going to hold you
back your whole life. 

971
00:57:27,680 --> 00:57:29,920
Now that didn't, that's not a, 
that's not an instantaneous 

972
00:57:29,920 --> 00:57:31,640
thing. 
That's not a momentary 

973
00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:33,680
experience. 
That's, that's a, that's a, 

974
00:57:33,720 --> 00:57:37,240
that's a, that's a process, 
sometimes a lifetime. 

975
00:57:39,080 --> 00:57:42,160
But I've also seen pastors mad 
at each other. 

976
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:47,840
And I had a pastor ask me about 
this passage and they said, so 

977
00:57:47,840 --> 00:57:51,360
this pastor did this and I've 
done this and I want to go and I

978
00:57:51,360 --> 00:57:53,680
want to try to reconcile. 
I want to live out Matthew 5. 

979
00:57:53,680 --> 00:57:55,440
This person had good intentions.
They really did. 

980
00:57:55,440 --> 00:57:57,920
I knew him well. 
I want to do this now. 

981
00:57:58,320 --> 00:58:01,840
And then next phone call. 
Well, I tried, but they wouldn't

982
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:07,240
accept it. 
Now what Matthew 5 says, it says

983
00:58:07,240 --> 00:58:09,520
that if I remember that my 
brother has something against 

984
00:58:09,520 --> 00:58:11,840
me, I leave my gift there before
the altar and go first. 

985
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:14,200
Be reconciled to your brother. 
Then come and offer your gift. 

986
00:58:14,400 --> 00:58:17,360
I can't force my brother to 
reconcile with me. 

987
00:58:17,720 --> 00:58:21,680
Does this make sense? 
All I can do is my very honest, 

988
00:58:21,680 --> 00:58:25,120
authentic best to grant 
forgiveness and to seek 

989
00:58:25,120 --> 00:58:27,000
forgiveness. 
If that person refuses to give 

990
00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:31,960
me forgiveness, at some level, 
I've done all I can do now. 

991
00:58:31,960 --> 00:58:35,160
I'll be available anytime you 
want to talk, anytime we can to 

992
00:58:35,160 --> 00:58:37,240
talk about this again, We can do
that. 

993
00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:39,920
But you're now the one holding 
the luggage. 

994
00:58:41,080 --> 00:58:43,840
I don't have the burden anymore.
Does that make sense? 

995
00:58:45,960 --> 00:58:49,240
But we have the responsibility. 
You're mad at somebody in this 

996
00:58:49,240 --> 00:58:51,440
room. 
You can talk to them. 

997
00:58:52,840 --> 00:58:55,600
You're just, you're just going 
to hit a ceiling and you're 

998
00:58:55,600 --> 00:58:58,280
going to be carrying weight. 
You might not even be aware of 

999
00:58:58,280 --> 00:59:01,800
the weight, but it's there. 
Then we have to help others do 

1000
00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:03,400
the same. 
Verse 13 again. 

1001
00:59:03,400 --> 00:59:07,080
Then I will teach transgressors 
their ways and sinners will 

1002
00:59:07,080 --> 00:59:09,720
return to you. 
So we see that I'm intentionally

1003
00:59:09,720 --> 00:59:13,720
then helping people look at 
Jesus and not at their sin. 

1004
00:59:13,840 --> 00:59:16,800
This is one of the best ways to 
help them through their healing.

1005
00:59:16,920 --> 00:59:19,000
And this is where testimonies 
are powerful. 

1006
00:59:19,440 --> 00:59:22,040
You know, when I teach, and 
we'll do this later in the 

1007
00:59:22,040 --> 00:59:24,240
personal evangelism, I want to 
teach you how to share a good 

1008
00:59:24,240 --> 00:59:26,320
testimony. 
And the emphasis in the 

1009
00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:29,840
testimony is what's happened now
not happened before, what 

1010
00:59:29,840 --> 00:59:32,200
happened before. 
So I was a rock'n'roll drug 

1011
00:59:32,200 --> 00:59:34,840
addict before I met Jesus. 
Then I was saved, and then now 

1012
00:59:34,840 --> 00:59:35,840
I'm just kind of going to 
church. 

1013
00:59:36,040 --> 00:59:37,080
That's not a very good 
testimony. 

1014
00:59:37,920 --> 00:59:40,560
What we want to talk about. 
You can talk about whatever's 

1015
00:59:40,560 --> 00:59:43,520
going on before you meet Christ.
But one of those points that I 

1016
00:59:43,520 --> 00:59:45,600
make students write out, it's 
actually a paper you have to 

1017
00:59:45,600 --> 00:59:50,280
write in seminary is. 
So what does the difference that

1018
00:59:50,280 --> 00:59:54,360
Jesus makes in your life today? 
You might have been saved and 

1019
00:59:54,360 --> 00:59:58,400
baptized when you were 8. 
Great fun part of the story. 

1020
00:59:58,400 --> 01:00:00,800
Wonderful part of the story. 
Incredible. 

1021
01:00:00,800 --> 01:00:03,200
So thankful that you were saved 
that young. 

1022
01:00:03,200 --> 01:00:05,440
I wasn't. 
Teresa wasn't so thankful you 

1023
01:00:05,440 --> 01:00:09,320
were. 
But So what in the testimony, 

1024
01:00:10,240 --> 01:00:12,560
because that person listening to
you in our culture today is 

1025
01:00:12,560 --> 01:00:14,360
going to say, well, that's 
really swell for kids. 

1026
01:00:15,640 --> 01:00:18,680
But if, but if I'm living it 
today, which means that I'm in 

1027
01:00:18,680 --> 01:00:22,920
the word today, I'm in prayer 
today, I'm walking with God 

1028
01:00:23,080 --> 01:00:24,280
today. 
It's fresh. 

1029
01:00:24,280 --> 01:00:27,840
Let me show you the freshness of
what it means to trust in Christ

1030
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:31,480
right now, just this morning. 
That's, that's the part of the 

1031
01:00:31,480 --> 01:00:33,160
testimony. 
When I'm on an airplane or on 

1032
01:00:33,160 --> 01:00:34,960
airports or wherever I'm sharing
the testimony. 

1033
01:00:35,200 --> 01:00:39,680
That's the powerful part. 
It's just this morning God 

1034
01:00:39,680 --> 01:00:46,120
showed me, see, so I want, I 
want, I want to teach others 

1035
01:00:46,680 --> 01:00:49,760
and, and, and we need to help 
one another and, and gang, I 

1036
01:00:49,760 --> 01:00:51,960
know you may get tired of me 
saying this, but you're going to

1037
01:00:51,960 --> 01:00:53,840
get really tired of me saying 
this because I hadn't even 

1038
01:00:53,840 --> 01:00:55,600
started yet. 
You need to be in a connect 

1039
01:00:55,600 --> 01:00:57,760
group. 
If you're in this church, you 

1040
01:00:57,760 --> 01:00:59,440
need to be in a smaller 
community. 

1041
01:00:59,920 --> 01:01:03,000
You can try to do this by 
yourself, you can try to Lone 

1042
01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:06,120
Ranger this all you want, but 
that's not the biblical image of

1043
01:01:06,120 --> 01:01:08,160
the body. 
You need to be in a smaller 

1044
01:01:08,160 --> 01:01:11,640
community, in a church this size
where you can help one another, 

1045
01:01:11,720 --> 01:01:14,600
you can share with what, you can
cry with one another, you can 

1046
01:01:14,600 --> 01:01:18,080
laugh with one another, you can 
hold people up and you can fall 

1047
01:01:18,080 --> 01:01:21,680
down and be held up getting a 
connect group. 

1048
01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:26,800
So thirdly, then we must claim. 
Now, I wouldn't start there. 

1049
01:01:26,800 --> 01:01:34,280
We'd just be naming it and 
claiming it, wouldn't we restore

1050
01:01:34,280 --> 01:01:39,400
to me the joy of your salvation 
and uphold me with a willing 

1051
01:01:39,400 --> 01:01:42,520
spirit. 
Verse 12 says listen, we must 

1052
01:01:42,520 --> 01:01:46,840
not waste time ignoring our sin.
Makes no sense. 

1053
01:01:47,240 --> 01:01:50,680
Don't waste time ignoring your 
sin because it's going to be 

1054
01:01:50,680 --> 01:01:52,240
there. 
You got to deal with it. 

1055
01:01:53,040 --> 01:01:58,480
But we must also not waste time 
and valuable spiritual and 

1056
01:01:58,480 --> 01:02:03,160
emotional energy punishing 
ourselves over actions for which

1057
01:02:03,160 --> 01:02:07,720
God has already forgiven us. 
We've got to accept grace. 

1058
01:02:08,440 --> 01:02:10,920
That doesn't mean that I'm not. 
There might be repercussions. 

1059
01:02:10,920 --> 01:02:13,800
The child's going to die. 
We know the end of the story in 

1060
01:02:13,800 --> 01:02:16,640
David's life. 
There's repercussions sometimes.

1061
01:02:16,800 --> 01:02:19,120
Or I need to go and seek 
forgiveness. 

1062
01:02:19,760 --> 01:02:23,040
I need to. 
I need to apologize or I need to

1063
01:02:23,040 --> 01:02:24,360
extend. 
I've, I've been, I've been 

1064
01:02:24,360 --> 01:02:26,320
holding onto a seat of 
bitterness towards you and I 

1065
01:02:26,320 --> 01:02:28,680
need to let that go because all 
that's doing is hurting me. 

1066
01:02:28,840 --> 01:02:30,280
It's just giving Satan a 
stronghold. 

1067
01:02:30,280 --> 01:02:32,640
Remember anger. 
I'm just giving Satan an 

1068
01:02:32,640 --> 01:02:37,120
opportunity. 
But at the same time, I can't 

1069
01:02:37,120 --> 01:02:41,240
just hang on to it because at 
that point I am declaring to 

1070
01:02:41,240 --> 01:02:46,520
God, you are not capable. 
Your grace is not good enough. 

1071
01:02:48,000 --> 01:02:52,040
Your sacrifice doesn't count. 
The cross is worthless. 

1072
01:02:52,680 --> 01:02:57,360
You will literally quench the 
Holy Spirit by reliving and 

1073
01:02:57,360 --> 01:02:59,600
focusing upon past sin like 
that. 

1074
01:03:00,880 --> 01:03:07,520
False guilt denies the power and
grace of God because God has 

1075
01:03:07,520 --> 01:03:11,280
chosen to release us. 
Jesus did not say to that woman 

1076
01:03:11,280 --> 01:03:13,440
caught in adultery go and feel 
guilty. 

1077
01:03:14,320 --> 01:03:17,920
That's not what he said, did he?
And she was obviously in sin. 

1078
01:03:18,920 --> 01:03:21,280
I don't think there's ever a 
part of the story that doubts 

1079
01:03:21,280 --> 01:03:23,240
whether or not she was caught in
adultery. 

1080
01:03:23,360 --> 01:03:26,040
Now we often wonder, where's the
where's the stupid man? 

1081
01:03:27,120 --> 01:03:32,240
Why didn't he being stoned? 
But that's not what Jesus says 

1082
01:03:32,240 --> 01:03:33,200
to her. 
What does he say? 

1083
01:03:33,200 --> 01:03:36,360
Go. 
And what there is your lesson, 

1084
01:03:38,360 --> 01:03:41,280
Learn. 
Grow from this. 

1085
01:03:42,320 --> 01:03:47,880
Be appreciative of this moment. 
You were not stoned, you're 

1086
01:03:47,880 --> 01:03:53,400
still alive. 
Now go live a different way and 

1087
01:03:53,400 --> 01:03:57,000
don't dwell on the past. 
Quit living in defeat. 

1088
01:03:57,560 --> 01:03:59,840
Quit living. 
Quit living in self 

1089
01:03:59,960 --> 01:04:05,040
condemnation. 
Accept his gift of grace. 

1090
01:04:05,480 --> 01:04:09,800
Be forgiven. 
Be set free because the cross of

1091
01:04:09,800 --> 01:04:13,840
guilt, it's too heavy for you to
bear. 

1092
01:04:13,920 --> 01:04:16,280
Think about that. 
It was always designed that way.

1093
01:04:16,440 --> 01:04:19,320
You can't bear the cross of your
own guilt. 

1094
01:04:19,320 --> 01:04:22,920
That's the whole point. 
Jesus had to do that. 

1095
01:04:24,600 --> 01:04:27,680
Jesus had to bear that cross 
because you can't. 

1096
01:04:28,080 --> 01:04:30,160
We can't. 
We're not worthy of it. 

1097
01:04:30,280 --> 01:04:33,520
He already bore it for us. 
So we have to confess our guilt 

1098
01:04:33,520 --> 01:04:37,360
to Him and allow Him to remove 
that burden from our shoulders, 

1099
01:04:38,080 --> 01:04:41,800
right? 
But at the same time, don't skip

1100
01:04:41,800 --> 01:04:44,440
through life thinking you should
never feel guilty about anything

1101
01:04:44,480 --> 01:04:46,720
because if you sin, you should 
be convicted. 

1102
01:04:46,840 --> 01:04:49,560
You should embrace it, and you 
ought to even thank God for that

1103
01:04:49,560 --> 01:04:52,040
conviction. 
Thank you for stopping me. 

1104
01:04:52,040 --> 01:04:54,440
Thank you for correcting me. 
Thank you for teaching me. 

1105
01:04:54,560 --> 01:04:56,720
Thank you for keeping me from 
walking out in the middle of the

1106
01:04:56,720 --> 01:04:59,280
street and making a fool of 
myself. 

1107
01:05:00,360 --> 01:05:05,560
Thank you, Father. 
So part of my testimony, and I 

1108
01:05:05,560 --> 01:05:07,600
almost brought it in here with 
me, but I thought it would be a 

1109
01:05:07,600 --> 01:05:12,600
little too dramatic. 
The other night really did 

1110
01:05:12,600 --> 01:05:14,200
bother me. 
Teresa, I'll tell you, I've been

1111
01:05:16,640 --> 01:05:21,240
in a pity party. 
But there's the hypocrisy of 

1112
01:05:21,560 --> 01:05:24,160
Ewart. 
I guess I just felt like I wish 

1113
01:05:24,160 --> 01:05:27,800
I'd done something else with the
kids and the anyway, although 

1114
01:05:27,800 --> 01:05:31,160
today somebody told me they were
there or their family was there 

1115
01:05:31,160 --> 01:05:33,600
and they were talking about how 
God used it. 

1116
01:05:33,600 --> 01:05:38,080
So I don't, I don't know, 
anyway, in my office and I can 

1117
01:05:38,080 --> 01:05:40,560
show it to you sometime, I don't
want to really do that. 

1118
01:05:41,480 --> 01:05:44,360
I really don't like glorifying 
this part of the experience. 

1119
01:05:45,320 --> 01:05:47,160
But in my office, I have a 
baseball bat. 

1120
01:05:49,240 --> 01:05:52,720
It's a junior bat. 
And there's a reason why it's a 

1121
01:05:52,720 --> 01:05:55,360
junior bat. 
It's exactly the length of my 

1122
01:05:55,360 --> 01:05:58,920
arm because I used to put it up 
my coat sleeve. 

1123
01:06:00,560 --> 01:06:06,840
And so I've been a bouncer, I've
been a boxer, and I've been what

1124
01:06:06,840 --> 01:06:10,920
you call a bag man, and the bag 
man's the guy that collects. 

1125
01:06:12,200 --> 01:06:14,760
And if you don't pay the bag 
man, the mechanics come to see 

1126
01:06:14,760 --> 01:06:17,920
you. 
I had two full blood Cherokee 

1127
01:06:17,920 --> 01:06:21,040
brothers, Max and Sam Chuka 
Late, that if you didn't pay me,

1128
01:06:21,600 --> 01:06:23,240
the Chuka Late brothers would 
come see you. 

1129
01:06:24,520 --> 01:06:29,280
Boss Vance, my grandfather owned
the slums and I was being 

1130
01:06:29,280 --> 01:06:33,560
groomed to take over the empire.
And so I was a man child as a 

1131
01:06:33,560 --> 01:06:38,400
teenager, and as a teenager, I'm
collecting rent with a baseball 

1132
01:06:38,400 --> 01:06:45,280
bat, the poorest people in our 
city who couldn't afford it 

1133
01:06:45,280 --> 01:06:48,080
sometimes. 
And I could pull that bat out 

1134
01:06:48,080 --> 01:06:50,600
like a switchblade if I needed 
to. 

1135
01:06:51,280 --> 01:06:52,880
I could pop it out. 
I can still do it. 

1136
01:06:52,880 --> 01:06:59,240
The staff seen me do it, pull 
that thing out. 

1137
01:07:01,320 --> 01:07:05,680
It's got chunks out of it that's
not from hitting baseballs. 

1138
01:07:07,320 --> 01:07:09,760
I've removed people from their 
property and I've removed 

1139
01:07:09,760 --> 01:07:18,320
property from people in my life.
A lot of stuff back there After 

1140
01:07:18,320 --> 01:07:21,480
God got a hold of me again 
later, I had a big dumpster 

1141
01:07:21,480 --> 01:07:23,880
fire. 
That's probably illegal too, by 

1142
01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:31,680
the way, and I saved two things.
Now that dumpster fire. 

1143
01:07:32,400 --> 01:07:35,760
One of them was the bat. 
I've had that bat in every 

1144
01:07:35,760 --> 01:07:39,400
office I've ever worked in. 
And on that bat I have 2nd 

1145
01:07:39,400 --> 01:07:48,080
Corinthians 517 written. 
If anyone is in Christ, he's a 

1146
01:07:48,080 --> 01:07:51,560
new creation. 
The old things have passed away.

1147
01:07:51,560 --> 01:07:56,320
All things have become new. 
So when I stand up here and I 

1148
01:07:56,320 --> 01:07:59,360
say if God can forgive me, he 
can forgive anybody, you have no

1149
01:07:59,360 --> 01:08:03,400
idea what I've done. 
I do, and I have to live with 

1150
01:08:03,400 --> 01:08:06,720
it. 
But I don't dwell on it. 

1151
01:08:07,800 --> 01:08:10,120
I've worked through the process 
of seeking forgiveness. 

1152
01:08:10,120 --> 01:08:12,320
I've gone back to homes, I've 
gone back to people. 

1153
01:08:12,320 --> 01:08:14,640
I've gone, like I said, the law.
I've gone to all over the place 

1154
01:08:15,200 --> 01:08:19,040
asking people to forgive me, 
restoring what I could. 

1155
01:08:23,840 --> 01:08:30,479
But the biggest hurdle was 
looking in the mirror and 

1156
01:08:30,479 --> 01:08:38,160
knowing that I hurt people for 
money, power, things of this 

1157
01:08:38,160 --> 01:08:44,399
world but aren't worth anything.
But I'm so thankful. 

1158
01:08:45,880 --> 01:08:49,000
And so when I talk about being 
saved, I believe that I have 

1159
01:08:49,000 --> 01:08:53,520
been saved and I don't want to 
ever survive my salvation. 

1160
01:08:54,399 --> 01:09:01,720
The old person died and who I am
now is so far away from that. 

1161
01:09:02,600 --> 01:09:07,359
Hard to imagine anymore. 
But I keep the bat. 

1162
01:09:08,920 --> 01:09:10,680
Kind of like when they cross the
Jordan. 

1163
01:09:10,680 --> 01:09:13,319
They piled up stones. 
Remember they have memorials 

1164
01:09:13,319 --> 01:09:15,600
every now and then. 
Remember, don't let your don't 

1165
01:09:15,600 --> 01:09:17,760
let the generations forget. 
Pile the stones up. 

1166
01:09:17,920 --> 01:09:21,920
Remember what happened here. 
So that bat's just a pile of 

1167
01:09:21,920 --> 01:09:24,720
stones for me. 
Not in a bad way. 

1168
01:09:24,720 --> 01:09:28,120
Doesn't bring back bad memories.
It brings back memories of grace

1169
01:09:29,080 --> 01:09:32,920
and forgiveness. 
I remember being absolutely 

1170
01:09:32,920 --> 01:09:39,160
shattered by God and forgiven. 
I was trying to kill somebody at

1171
01:09:39,160 --> 01:09:44,160
that moment and you stopped me. 
It's a whole nother part of the 

1172
01:09:44,160 --> 01:09:46,560
testimony. 
Scared the little kids. 

1173
01:09:50,160 --> 01:09:53,720
One day maybe I'll share it all.
When you make a movie, remember 

1174
01:09:53,720 --> 01:09:55,840
the book title. 
He ain't always been a preacher,

1175
01:09:56,120 --> 01:10:04,440
so, but I tell you what it does 
help me with, I've been in a few

1176
01:10:04,440 --> 01:10:07,720
situations in ministry and life 
and maybe I don't scare quite as

1177
01:10:07,720 --> 01:10:11,200
easy as some people do. 
And so anything that you have, 

1178
01:10:11,200 --> 01:10:15,480
you want to bring to me that you
need to talk about, I bet we can

1179
01:10:15,480 --> 01:10:19,040
handle it. 
I bet we can handle it because 

1180
01:10:19,040 --> 01:10:22,720
we know God can, right? 
So don't do it alone. 

1181
01:10:23,520 --> 01:10:27,000
Let us help you even tonight. 
If you want to talk to somebody 

1182
01:10:27,000 --> 01:10:29,760
before we close here in just a 
moment, if you want to talk to 

1183
01:10:29,760 --> 01:10:32,320
somebody, come talk to us, 
right? 

1184
01:10:32,880 --> 01:10:36,000
And come and come help me. 
And let me just close with this 

1185
01:10:36,000 --> 01:10:39,600
thought. 
My mother died dramatically, and

1186
01:10:39,600 --> 01:10:41,320
that's a story I've mentioned a 
little bit. 

1187
01:10:41,320 --> 01:10:44,400
But when she died and we were 
finally at that final place, my 

1188
01:10:44,400 --> 01:10:46,520
brother's this medical doctor. 
I'm going to tell a whole story 

1189
01:10:46,520 --> 01:10:50,680
about his testimony someday. 
But we were standing there at 

1190
01:10:50,680 --> 01:10:55,480
her bed, just the two of us. 
And you got to understand that 

1191
01:10:55,480 --> 01:10:57,680
at that moment, in that moment 
in life, my brother and I 

1192
01:10:57,680 --> 01:10:59,800
weren't very close. 
I wasn't close to anybody in my 

1193
01:10:59,800 --> 01:11:03,000
family, very close, some a 
little better than others. 

1194
01:11:03,000 --> 01:11:05,960
But at that point in time, he 
and I just did not we, we really

1195
01:11:06,200 --> 01:11:11,960
grew up separately. 
And my brother just broke down. 

1196
01:11:14,080 --> 01:11:17,320
I'd led him to the Lord of 
several years earlier, but he 

1197
01:11:17,320 --> 01:11:19,160
had not really walked with the 
Lord much. 

1198
01:11:19,160 --> 01:11:21,280
And he'd been through some 
things of divorce and some other

1199
01:11:21,280 --> 01:11:25,280
stuff in life. 
And he just broke down at mom's 

1200
01:11:25,280 --> 01:11:28,280
bed. 
And he said, Johnny, because 

1201
01:11:28,280 --> 01:11:33,280
that's all I am back home, 
Johnny, I've been living for all

1202
01:11:33,280 --> 01:11:37,040
the wrong things. 
Now this is a multi millionaire 

1203
01:11:38,760 --> 01:11:40,360
who was about to build a 
hospital. 

1204
01:11:41,520 --> 01:11:43,920
He owned a mansion. 
He owned the mansion, the yacht,

1205
01:11:43,960 --> 01:11:46,560
the sports cars, everything you 
can imagine. 

1206
01:11:46,680 --> 01:11:52,320
And he loses it all. 
And he said, I've been living 

1207
01:11:52,320 --> 01:11:56,320
for all the wrong things. 
And my brother is now an elder 

1208
01:11:56,320 --> 01:11:59,680
at his church in Kansas. 
And he preaches every time the 

1209
01:11:59,680 --> 01:12:09,000
pastor's gone. 
And if that's not grace, see, he

1210
01:12:09,000 --> 01:12:12,480
has a plan for you. 
He has a purpose for you. 

1211
01:12:13,600 --> 01:12:15,200
So let him help you with your 
stress. 

1212
01:12:15,800 --> 01:12:17,480
Let him help you with your 
anger. 

1213
01:12:18,320 --> 01:12:19,680
Let him help you with your 
guilt. 

1214
01:12:20,880 --> 01:12:22,840
Let Him help you with your 
difficulties. 

1215
01:12:23,320 --> 01:12:26,040
We're going to keep talking. 
Talk about time. 

1216
01:12:26,040 --> 01:12:28,040
What do we do with that thing? 
Time. 

1217
01:12:30,280 --> 01:12:34,680
Let's pray together. 
Father. 

1218
01:12:34,680 --> 01:12:40,560
All we can do is rejoice in the 
joy of your salvation. 

1219
01:12:41,440 --> 01:12:45,840
That's what we do. 
We acknowledge who you are, Your

1220
01:12:45,840 --> 01:12:50,080
awesomeness, Your greatness, 
Father, it, it, it's hard for us

1221
01:12:50,080 --> 01:12:53,600
sometimes because the way you 
are is so different than the way

1222
01:12:53,600 --> 01:12:57,040
we are. 
That's why the world's going to 

1223
01:12:57,040 --> 01:12:59,200
struggle with you, Father, 
because they're, they're so 

1224
01:12:59,200 --> 01:13:03,400
different than you are. 
The concept of grace is like a 

1225
01:13:03,400 --> 01:13:08,080
foreign language, the concept 
that you could forgive somebody 

1226
01:13:08,080 --> 01:13:14,200
who did something horrible, that
you could restore a wretched 

1227
01:13:14,200 --> 01:13:23,240
Sinner like David or like me. 
It's just foreign to the sense 

1228
01:13:23,240 --> 01:13:27,800
of justice, the sense of balance
that this world tries to create 

1229
01:13:27,800 --> 01:13:31,400
by itself. 
So, Father, I thank you that 

1230
01:13:31,400 --> 01:13:35,800
we're an unbalanced people, 
that, Father, we don't live in a

1231
01:13:35,800 --> 01:13:38,200
balanced way at all. 
We live in a mystery. 

1232
01:13:38,840 --> 01:13:40,800
That's what it is. 
That's what Paul calls it, isn't

1233
01:13:40,800 --> 01:13:43,440
it, Father? 
It's a mystery, this thing 

1234
01:13:43,440 --> 01:13:47,200
called the gospel. 
The fact that you chose to do 

1235
01:13:47,200 --> 01:13:48,600
this. 
You knew all this was going to 

1236
01:13:48,600 --> 01:13:50,280
happen. 
You knew how we would be. 

1237
01:13:50,280 --> 01:13:52,560
You knew what we would do. 
You knew what we would say. 

1238
01:13:52,560 --> 01:13:55,240
You knew what we would think. 
And you still created us. 

1239
01:13:58,160 --> 01:14:02,000
And then you did more. 
You did it all. 

1240
01:14:03,560 --> 01:14:09,360
You came and paid the price. 
Not for your sin, not for 

1241
01:14:09,360 --> 01:14:12,600
something you did wrong, not for
your mistake, not for some error

1242
01:14:12,600 --> 01:14:16,920
you committed. 
But but for us, that's your 

1243
01:14:16,920 --> 01:14:21,640
capacity of love. 
That's your capacity of grace. 

1244
01:14:22,680 --> 01:14:28,880
Help us in our feebleness. 
Help us in our weakness to be 

1245
01:14:28,880 --> 01:14:32,600
able, first of all, to confess 
to you that we desperately need 

1246
01:14:32,600 --> 01:14:34,720
you. 
There may be someone here or 

1247
01:14:34,720 --> 01:14:37,760
someone listening right now, and
they've really never trusted in 

1248
01:14:37,760 --> 01:14:44,440
you as Lord and Savior. 
There's no other way. 

1249
01:14:45,960 --> 01:14:48,760
They can't handle the weight of 
this on their own. 

1250
01:14:48,760 --> 01:14:51,440
They were never created to do 
that. 

1251
01:14:53,280 --> 01:14:55,400
So, Father, help them to know 
the truth. 

1252
01:14:56,440 --> 01:15:00,520
Help them to know you're real 
and that you love them so much. 

1253
01:15:01,720 --> 01:15:07,520
You created grace. 
A foreign thing to our human 

1254
01:15:07,520 --> 01:15:12,600
minds, something we try to 
learn, something we try to 

1255
01:15:12,600 --> 01:15:16,160
extend, I pray, something we 
appreciate. 

1256
01:15:17,320 --> 01:15:20,120
And so Father, if there's 
someone here who knows they're 

1257
01:15:20,120 --> 01:15:23,280
guilty, who feels that guilt, 
and perhaps Father, they just 

1258
01:15:23,280 --> 01:15:26,240
can't let it go. 
They just keep self defeating 

1259
01:15:26,240 --> 01:15:28,200
themselves. 
They have such a poor self 

1260
01:15:28,200 --> 01:15:33,080
esteem and such poor self worth 
that they're just trashing 

1261
01:15:33,080 --> 01:15:35,400
themselves constantly and 
beating themselves up 

1262
01:15:35,400 --> 01:15:37,600
constantly. 
Father, help them to know that's

1263
01:15:37,600 --> 01:15:40,600
not the way, That's not what you
created. 

1264
01:15:40,760 --> 01:15:46,400
That's not your workmanship. 
And help them, Father, to turn 

1265
01:15:46,400 --> 01:15:50,760
to you, to surrender to you, to 
forgive themselves. 

1266
01:15:51,680 --> 01:15:54,160
Maybe, Father, they have to 
forgive someone else who did 

1267
01:15:54,160 --> 01:15:57,280
something really horrible, 
really, really horrible to them.

1268
01:15:58,000 --> 01:16:00,080
And Father, I know that'll be 
hard and I know it'll be a 

1269
01:16:00,080 --> 01:16:02,280
process, but Father, as they 
begin to work through those 

1270
01:16:02,280 --> 01:16:07,280
steps, probably with help, 
Father, help them to gain 

1271
01:16:07,280 --> 01:16:11,640
freedom. 
And for many of us, Father, who 

1272
01:16:11,640 --> 01:16:16,920
go through life stumbling and 
mumbling our way, not intending 

1273
01:16:16,920 --> 01:16:20,960
to sin, Father, we start the day
with the goal of, of not 

1274
01:16:20,960 --> 01:16:22,840
sinning. 
It's like, it's like the soldier

1275
01:16:22,840 --> 01:16:25,200
going into battle. 
My goal today is not to get shot

1276
01:16:25,200 --> 01:16:27,920
at all. 
I'm not going to sin today. 

1277
01:16:28,640 --> 01:16:32,840
And then we do, we stumble and 
we fall. 

1278
01:16:32,840 --> 01:16:36,080
Father, thank you that we can 
come to you immediately upon 

1279
01:16:36,200 --> 01:16:39,280
that awareness. 
Father, convict us, send Your 

1280
01:16:39,280 --> 01:16:43,880
Spirit to show us, and then 
immediately let us go to you in 

1281
01:16:43,880 --> 01:16:46,520
prayer. 
Seek your forgiveness and you'll

1282
01:16:46,520 --> 01:16:50,040
make us clean again. 
Let us learn from it. 

1283
01:16:50,320 --> 01:16:52,480
Let us not trip on that same 
place again. 

1284
01:16:52,680 --> 01:16:55,320
Let us avoid that rock. 
Let's avoid that root. 

1285
01:16:55,440 --> 01:17:00,960
Let's avoid that whole. 
Father, let's not give Satan a 

1286
01:17:00,960 --> 01:17:04,960
stronghold. 
So Father, wherever we are, 

1287
01:17:04,960 --> 01:17:10,760
whatever state we're in here for
those listening, Father, I pray 

1288
01:17:10,760 --> 01:17:14,480
we'll accept grace and that 
grace will replace guilt. 

1289
01:17:16,680 --> 01:17:21,800
But Father, we also thank you 
that you love us enough that you

1290
01:17:21,800 --> 01:17:26,320
correct us, You discipline us, 
you convict us. 

1291
01:17:26,840 --> 01:17:29,880
You show us so that we might 
learn, so that we might mature, 

1292
01:17:30,840 --> 01:17:34,560
so that we might become better 
disciples, so that we can teach 

1293
01:17:34,560 --> 01:17:38,360
others and help them too. 
Thank you for the thing called 

1294
01:17:38,360 --> 01:17:40,440
the church where that can 
happen. 

1295
01:17:41,720 --> 01:17:46,080
Thank you for this time together
in Christ's name, Amen. 

1296
01:17:46,880 --> 01:17:49,280
God bless you all. 
Thank you so much. 

1297
01:17:52,240 --> 01:17:53,920
Thank you so much for listening 
today. 

1298
01:17:53,920 --> 01:17:55,200
And I also hope that you'll go 
to 

1299
01:17:55,200 --> 01:17:59,040
ourwebsite@englewoodbaptist.com 
as well as our app and find many

1300
01:17:59,040 --> 01:18:01,400
other resources that will bless 
you and your families. 

1301
01:18:01,560 --> 01:18:02,600
Thank you once again.