1 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:04,480 Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast. 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,280 Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to 3 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:11,080 take hold of so we hope this message inspires you and build 4 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:14,240 your faith that it helps you have more of a God perspective 5 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:15,920 for your day. Enjoy SO. 6 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,480 Last month for those who were here, I preached and I preached 7 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,160 about how in the Beatitudes that says blessed are the pure and 8 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,080 half that they shall see God. And the word pure, there's 9 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:31,640 Cathros. It means completely, 100% pure. 10 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:37,040 And at that point most people think, well, that counts me out. 11 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:42,040 But then I explained through John 15 that it's actually 12 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,760 Jesus. He gives us that kind of purity. 13 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:50,800 It's the only way it really is. And because God Jesus gives us 14 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:54,720 purity, it means that we get to see God every day in all things. 15 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:57,040 So I want to continue from that message. 16 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,360 I did say that I'd try and continue it, and today is that 17 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:01,520 day. All right. 18 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,080 Now, for those who are in the know, my lovely wife Rachel, she 19 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:10,440 is currently away in the US of A Yeah. 20 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,080 If you've been trying to contact her, good luck. 21 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,200 I know when she actually has her phone she doesn't answer very 22 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:21,360 often and she personally sees this now as an opportunity to 23 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,960 not answer it at all. True story. 24 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:27,600 She even said to me I'm going to leave my phone behind. 25 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:38,520 Oh I love that girl. Anyway so she's been away which 26 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:40,280 is good. Gave me time to write this 27 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:41,360 message. I've actually really been 28 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,080 struggling with this message. I had a chat to the leadership, 29 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:47,640 to team and also to the pre service. 30 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:52,160 This message has actually been quite hard for me to write, but 31 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:55,240 at least four Times Now, God has given me some beautiful 32 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,640 confirmation that this is the message for today. 33 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,120 Now, I didn't even ask for confirmation, but I think he 34 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:03,400 just knew. Yeah, John, John needs some help 35 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,760 with this one because he is kind. 36 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,080 So I want to give you the context of today's message, and 37 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,400 it's specifically if you are dealing with condemnation, 38 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:21,640 guilt, shame, unworthiness, and I want to bring it back to your 39 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:25,280 identity in Christ. OK. 40 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:27,200 And I want to give you a bit of an example. 41 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,800 Oh, actually, if you, because I've got pages of notes, pages 42 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,920 and pages and pages of notes. If you want to know more, just 43 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:35,200 ask me. I'll send it to you. 44 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:40,440 But you can also ask our awesome Pastor Henry, who has this 45 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,720 sheet, this document, and has all the scriptures on it of who 46 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,000 you are in Christ rather than pages and pages. 47 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,680 It's all nicely condensed. So ask Pastor Henry for that. 48 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:56,120 All right, so let me give you an example of how I see 49 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,760 condemnation, guilt, shame, impurities in the Kingdom of 50 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,560 heaven because my wife is away now, bless her beautiful heart. 51 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,560 She was super generous and she pre made a bunch of meals for 52 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,600 us. So all I have to do is reheat 53 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,760 them. Pretty great, but we still do 54 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:16,280 have to do a little bit of a top up. 55 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:21,640 And I've noticed that the way that I shop compared to the way 56 00:03:21,640 --> 00:03:24,320 that Rachel shops is very different. 57 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,360 So when I want apples, I think, oh, I need apples. 58 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:31,680 I go to the shop. I go to where they have the 59 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,480 apple stand. I pick up an apple, put it in 60 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:38,760 the bag, pay for it at the checkout, go home, eat the 61 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:40,440 apple. Super easy. 62 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:46,280 Not so when I go shopping with Rachel, she'll say to me, oh, we 63 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,280 need apples, go get an apple. So I'll do this. 64 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,040 Genuinely true. Pick up an apple. 65 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:56,920 I show her and she goes, not that one, put it back. 66 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:03,680 OK, so I pick up another one, hand it to her, she goes, not 67 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,680 that one, put it back. So yeah, poor John. 68 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:14,760 So now I am convinced in the Garden of Eden, if Adam had 69 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:18,880 picked a fruit, he would have given it to Eve and she would 70 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:25,240 have said not that one, put it back and we would still be 71 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:37,800 living in paradise. For me, an Apple's an apple even 72 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:43,760 with its impurities, it's dots, it's dents, it's bruises, it's 73 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,800 just an apple. And I don't mind cutting off the 74 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,000 impurities. I just cut them off, you know, 75 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,200 still get to eat it. And I've also noticed that even 76 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:58,640 apples with dots, dents, and bruises, you can still use it 77 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:05,760 for things like apple pie, apple juice, and the seeds inside it 78 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:12,920 still have potential despite its external impurities, because an 79 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,600 apple does not change its identity because of those. 80 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:23,040 And you were like that apple. In fact, anyone who accepts the 81 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:27,840 saving grace of Jesus, redeemed by his blood has become the 82 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:31,360 righteousness of Christ. It says the righteousness of God 83 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:34,560 actually in Christ. That's Second Corinthians 521 84 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,840 for the note takers. Think of that God is the most 85 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:41,640 righteous, the most righteous, the most pure. 86 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:46,320 And then he says in the second Corinthians, you are the 87 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,320 righteousness of God in Christ and you think really what? 88 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,440 Because it happens to anyone called by his name. 89 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,280 And that's what I brought up a little bit last time I preached 90 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:03,760 in John 15, three, because Jesus is talking about how he's the 91 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,720 one who prunes like he's the one who cuts the dents off the dots 92 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,080 and the bruises. He's the one that trims it. 93 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:13,560 And then he says to the to the disciples, you have been made 94 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:18,560 pure by my word. So it has to be a gift from God. 95 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:20,760 Purity has to be a gift from God. 96 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:28,640 Now, sometimes having dots, dents and bruises do need 97 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,320 additional care. That's why we have counselling, 98 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:35,360 psychological help. But sometimes that's not enough 99 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:40,480 because we need Jesus who does the sanctification. 100 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:44,000 So cutting off dense dots, bruises, we call that 101 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,200 sanctification. It's just cutting off the 102 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,040 things, the impurities, removing them. 103 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,240 And sometimes we do need a little bit of help for that. 104 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,200 Friends, family, church, brothers and sisters, 105 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:59,040 professional help. And our part of this whole 106 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,760 sanctification process is called taking up your cross daily. 107 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,480 It's going, you know, something. Yeah. 108 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,360 I want to continue this journey. And sometimes getting the dots 109 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,640 dense bruises cut off is painful. 110 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,160 But that's why Jesus said it's taking up your cross. 111 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:21,560 He didn't say it's picking daisies. 112 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:27,960 But it is God. He's the one who makes you pure. 113 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:29,800 He's the one who makes you righteous. 114 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:35,640 He brings wholeness. So I am convinced, genuinely 115 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,760 convinced, because I have things I'm working on. 116 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:43,840 There are things that I have issues with and struggles, but I 117 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:49,560 am absolutely convinced that when God picks you, dots, dance, 118 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:54,840 bruises and awe. Unlike my wife, He won't say, 119 00:07:55,560 --> 00:08:02,640 not that one put him back. In fact, I think he says I'm 120 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,080 going to make juice out of this one. 121 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:09,480 Or pie. And here's a plan for the seeds 122 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:15,560 that are in your life. So the title of this message is 123 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,240 the good, the bad, the beautiful. 124 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:21,560 Yeah. So let's start with the good, 125 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:26,080 the Bibles. The world needs to get this. 126 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:30,680 The Bible is not a book of condemnation, actually. 127 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:38,200 It's actually a book of hope. It might surprise you if you 128 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:43,280 carry guilt and condemnation in your life, that the Bible is a 129 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,800 book of hope because when you read it, you read it through 130 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:50,080 those tainted glasses. And I'm even more sure that if 131 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,200 you carry guilt, shame, condemnation, unworthiness in 132 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,960 your life, this is this, that you often push that onto others. 133 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:01,480 So can I be brutal for a moment? Is that OK? 134 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,000 Yeah. You see, condemnation is when 135 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,880 you know that your sin in your life, the sin in your life, 136 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:11,400 should be punished. That's what condemnation is. 137 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,600 It's like when you know that the sin in other people's lives 138 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:19,640 should also be punished, and you live with that. 139 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:26,760 They deserve a good slap. And whereas conviction, which is 140 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:31,440 vastly different, is knowing still that sin should be 141 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,520 punished in yourself and that sin should be punished in 142 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:37,760 others. But it's always in the framework 143 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:40,920 of hope and life. Always. 144 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:43,520 It's not just in the framework of punishment. 145 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:47,800 Full stop. Now actually there's an Egyptian 146 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:53,800 God, lowercase G called Mahat actually. 147 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,480 And the Israelites would have been aware when they were living 148 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,600 under Pharaoh in, in Egypt in the Bible, that would have been 149 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,080 aware of this lowercase G Mahat God. 150 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,160 And this was basically the God of justice. 151 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:13,840 That was their their thought. So let me tell you, if you see 152 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:18,480 condemnation for your own sins and you're condemning others and 153 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:22,040 there's no hope, no life, just punishment, then that's the God 154 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:29,640 you serve, not the God of the Bible, because the Bible is a 155 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:33,720 book of life and of hope. So people say, oh, John, but the 156 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:36,720 Bible says eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. 157 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,920 Yes, the Bible definitely agrees with the punishment. 158 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:43,200 God does not back away from that. 159 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:49,480 But then chapter after chapter, book after book, Old Testament, 160 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:55,200 New Testament, the whole thing is about how the innocent can 161 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:57,400 take the punishment for the guilty. 162 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,800 It's true. So that there's no condemnation 163 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,880 for anyone who accepts the sacrifice of the innocent. 164 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,920 It's all the way through. That's why in Scripture Romans 165 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:13,680 81 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ 166 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:18,880 because he was the most perfect, perfectly innocent sacrifice 167 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:24,280 punished for you. The innocent has taken your 168 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:28,240 punishment. So those who suffer A 169 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:33,520 condemnation complex that act like everything they do deserves 170 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:41,120 a good stoning, they do. Now not every commandment in the 171 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,560 Bible actually has severe condemnation or punishment. 172 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:47,960 To be honest, last night we I had my beautiful nieces over. 173 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:52,480 It was lovely, so great. And we had a bit of a fire and 174 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:54,800 the boys are like, we're just going right now. 175 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,520 But one of my beautiful children, one of my beautiful 176 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:01,600 sons was saying that they were in an event where some people 177 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:08,760 showed up and these people do weird things, just being kind. 178 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,200 And one of one of my sons said, Dad, is that a sin? 179 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,240 Is that like sinful behaviour? And I said to him, you know, 180 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:26,960 something, being stupid is not a sin because we all do stupid 181 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:33,440 things doesn't make them sinful. So not every commandment has via 182 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:35,240 punishment for disobedience. In fact, some of the 183 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:39,280 commandments are simply ways to live a more blessed life, a 184 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,680 little less stupid. Yeah. 185 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,360 For example, you might hear people talk about, you know, the 186 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:49,000 commandment or the prohibition against mixing threads. 187 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,920 That's in Deuteronomy 2211. And, you know, if you mix 188 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:55,240 threads, what does that deserve? It deserves a good stoning. 189 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,400 No, there was no punishment at all for mixing threads in the 190 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:01,840 Bible. None, Zero. 191 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:04,560 God's like, actually, if you want to live a really full life, 192 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:06,880 don't mix threads. And there are multiple studies 193 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:10,360 out there now where wearing just pure linen or pure wool has 194 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:12,880 benefits. It's like maybe the creator of 195 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,960 the universe just knows how for us to live a better life. 196 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:22,680 Could just be that there's a very weird commandment in Judaic 197 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:24,160 literature. This is the least of the 198 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:26,000 commandments. OK, so the least of the 199 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:28,560 commandments, It's Deuteronomy 22. 200 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:30,400 It's a really super weird commandment, I'll give you that. 201 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:33,560 But it's about bird eggs. Yeah. 202 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,640 So what it says in Jeremy 22, what's. 203 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,000 Yeah, Six to seven, there's this commandment, and it says if you 204 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,600 come across a nest and you think, oh, eggs, I'm going to 205 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,000 eat them, all right. It says that you can take the 206 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,760 eggs, but don't take the mother bird with them. 207 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:52,080 Just take the eggs, like, leave the mother bird alone. 208 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:56,760 That's what it says, right? If you do it wrong, if you 209 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:58,800 ignore that, what's the punishment? 210 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:04,320 Stoning. No, no, there's no punishment 211 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:06,520 for doing it. But this is what Jesus, well, 212 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:08,480 this is what God, Jesus promises. 213 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:13,040 He actually says that obedience to this command will prolong 214 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:16,320 your days. It's a commandment of blessing. 215 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:19,120 What other verse in the Bible, what other commandments says 216 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:22,760 that will prolong your days? Honour your mother and father. 217 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:29,480 So the least commandment has a blessing to it and it's compared 218 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,400 to one of the really high commandments. 219 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,440 So sometimes commandments are just there. 220 00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:37,800 God's like, I want you to have a blessed life. 221 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,400 Just like Pastor Graham was standing by tithing. 222 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:43,000 It's like, I just want you to have a blessed life. 223 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:45,640 And this is how you do it. These are the, these are the 224 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:50,040 laws that I've put into place. When you follow those laws, it's 225 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:53,320 going to work out great for you. Choose life. 226 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:57,920 Then there's a whole stack of commandments that we really take 227 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,520 wrong and either has no punishment like I was just 228 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,240 explaining or very little discipline punishment. 229 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:08,720 For example, the dietary laws, eating bacon stoning. 230 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,600 No, it was have a bath, wash yourself, wait for a few hours. 231 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,640 But I've heard and seen on threads atheists go, I don't 232 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,120 know why Christians eat bacon. Like don't they deserve a good 233 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:20,880 stoning? Like they actually said that 234 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:27,200 Like, whoa, have a bath, Go wait a few hours. 235 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:31,680 Purity laws. There's a stack of purity laws. 236 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,120 I'm going to try and be very G rated for this. 237 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,120 Childbirth ones. My favorite one, it's called 238 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,800 Shikavat Zara. How do I say this really kindly? 239 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,080 It is a male bodily function. Can we just stop there? 240 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:52,560 OK, Shake of that literally means to lay down intimately 241 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:54,520 Zeramin seed. That's enough. 242 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,280 All right, But you know what the punishment was for that? 243 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:00,360 I want to say stoning again, but it wasn't. 244 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,880 It was clean up, wait a few hours. 245 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,880 That was all. We take everything like 246 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:11,720 everything deserves the most harshest punishment. 247 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,880 That is how you know you're living in condemnation, where 248 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:21,160 you think everything deserves a good stoning, even the ritual 249 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:22,440 laws. I mean, I've got so many here, 250 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,360 pages of them. Do you know what's not unclean 251 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:27,480 in the Bible? Because there's a stack of 252 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:30,240 unclean things that you know, it's absolutely, and it says it 253 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:31,640 in Scripture. God points it out. 254 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:34,840 He says there is something that's absolutely not unclean. 255 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:41,920 Baldness. It does in Leviticus 13. 256 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:45,640 Gee, God literally says he goes baldness, whether from hair loss 257 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,400 or receding hairline does not make a person unclean or impure. 258 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:56,720 Good to know, I know. Anyway, second point. 259 00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,360 So this is called the bad. I said the bad, not the bald, 260 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:00,160 right? The bad. 261 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:04,920 Now if you if you really get into Hebrew and Greek and start 262 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:08,400 reading scripture that way, you can become wildly depressed. 263 00:17:09,079 --> 00:17:13,240 Really, because it does appear that just about everything in 264 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:18,640 some way makes you impure at some point in your life. 265 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,240 Just living makes you impure in some way. 266 00:17:22,599 --> 00:17:26,040 And I was thinking this through over like the last decade or so. 267 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:29,160 It's like, wow, if everything makes you impure, then maybe I 268 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,800 should just not get out of bed. And then I then I found out that 269 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:35,680 being in bed and laziness, that's an impurity. 270 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:37,880 And I'm like, what about breathing? 271 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:39,880 Surely breathing, we can do that. 272 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:44,600 No, no, actually Numbers 19 and Leviticus 13 talk about 273 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:51,800 breathing. So define we can also come from 274 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:56,960 cut contact every the whole lot. All right, so there are some 275 00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:58,240 Hebrew words. I'm not going to get a lot of 276 00:17:58,240 --> 00:17:59,800 Hebrew and Greek. It's not even going to be on the 277 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:01,920 screen because it's not important for you to learn this 278 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,320 today. But there are some really big 279 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:09,360 words to avar, which basically it means abomination, filthy, 280 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:14,280 disgusting. But there are two words that you 281 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:19,720 see almost through all of Scripture in Hebrews to me and 282 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:22,760 in Greek, it's akathatos, right? They're the ones that they're 283 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:24,080 the, they're the ones that you see everywhere. 284 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,200 All right, Old Testament, New Testament, the whole lot. 285 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:29,880 And they both mean unclean and defiled. 286 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:36,200 Unfortunately, these words to my akathatos, same word like as in 287 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,240 like same meaning, just different language. 288 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:43,160 Unfortunately, they are used for everything, just about just 289 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:48,560 about everything from impure water like muddy water through 290 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:52,440 to demons. Same word, true, same word. 291 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,040 So if they're ancient Greek, this was Akathatos was anything 292 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:59,480 that was in pure. So you can imagine being a 293 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:02,880 scholar at Jesus time, a Pharisee religious leader, and 294 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:04,720 this actually might give you a little bit of compassion for 295 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,920 them. But when they're reading the 296 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:12,800 Torah of the Tanakh, it looks like everything, whether it be 297 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:17,200 muddy water or demons was on the same playing field. 298 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,920 And so that is why, especially in Matthew 7, the Pharisees got 299 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:25,640 super angry, offended at the disciples because they didn't 300 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:27,200 wash their hands properly before they ate. 301 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:31,000 So they're not thinking it's just dirt. 302 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:35,800 They're thinking demons because it was on the same playing 303 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:40,680 field, same word. And that's actually the problem 304 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:45,600 with any language. We we all group different 305 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:47,920 meanings to one word. For example, love. 306 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:52,640 You know, I love my family, my kids, my nieces, right? 307 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,760 But I also love apple pie. Yeah, I really do. 308 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,960 It's great stuff. Now, there's obviously a big 309 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:03,640 difference between them, right? I would die for my family and I 310 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:12,760 would kill for apple pies. Bless you. 311 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,720 Now, have you ever heard someone say that all sin is the same? 312 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:24,520 OK, it is in many ways because all impurity anything. 313 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:28,920 No matter what it is, least of the highest cuts us off from a 314 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:35,000 super righteous pure God. But not all sin is the same 315 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,120 within impurity or consequence. All right? 316 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,040 It's like muddy water and demons are not the same. 317 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:47,800 So why doesn't God use different words for different levels of 318 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:49,520 what impurity is? That would be handy. 319 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,960 Hey. Well, first one is because God 320 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,400 limits himself to our language restraints. 321 00:20:56,360 --> 00:20:59,200 It's just like speaking baby language to babies. 322 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:01,640 You know, You just saw my beautiful new grandson, 323 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,280 Jeremiah. Now Hope Belfa's here too. 324 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:07,560 I haven't seen him yet. But when when you talk to my 325 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:11,000 grandsons, I'm like, hey, darling, say granddad. 326 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:14,720 Granddad. I don't say quantum mechanics. 327 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:22,720 Yeah, so that's the first reason. 328 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:28,400 The second one is because as I mentioned earlier, no matter how 329 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:34,760 great a sin or how low or little the sin is, it all completely 330 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:39,920 cuts off soft from God, which is why Romans 323 Paul says all 331 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:44,200 have sinned, all have become unpure and fall short of the 332 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:48,120 glory of God because he is massively pure. 333 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:55,880 In Isaiah 64 verse 6, it says, but we are all like an unclean 334 00:21:55,880 --> 00:22:01,160 thing and all our righteousnesses are like filthy 335 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,560 rags. In other words, the best that 336 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:09,360 you've got is disgusting. Man. 337 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,000 I'll tell you this verse so people like, well, you know, if 338 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,600 all my righteousness is so disgusting anyway, what's even 339 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:17,120 the point? Can I put this into some sort of 340 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:19,840 perspective for you? I really want you to understand 341 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:20,400 this. I hope. 342 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:25,240 OK, So imagine you've got a cat. I know that's a good thought for 343 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:26,480 some of you, bad thought for others. 344 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:31,120 But you've got a cat, and there's some rogue rat that has 345 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:34,600 been infiltrating your house, destroying things. 346 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:37,960 And then one day you're sitting in your lounge, you're watching 347 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:45,480 TV, and your cat, who's now caught the rat and destroyed it, 348 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,120 brings it into the house and spits it out right in front of 349 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:56,520 you, like. And you're thinking, Oh my gosh, 350 00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:00,040 that's disgusting. Good job, cat. 351 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:03,360 Actually, this is exactly what I want you to do. 352 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,520 Oh, gross. Keep doing this. 353 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,280 But oh yuck, get it out of the house. 354 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:13,600 You see the conflict there? Keep doing the righteousness, 355 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:20,440 but I'll all that righteousness is as filthy rags. 356 00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:25,240 Proverbs 2211. This is interesting. 357 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:27,800 It talks about a whole generation who thinks that they 358 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:33,880 are pure but they're not because they genuinely think that them 359 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,080 doing nice things, righteous things is enough. 360 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:43,440 Last point, the beautiful so as I mentioned, I preached the last 361 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:46,200 thing about blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God 362 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:51,040 means they see God now and everything and I spoke about 363 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:54,040 focus. What is it that you see right? 364 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,200 Are you do you see God or do you see other things? 365 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:02,400 This is the problem with condemnation is that you see 366 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:05,880 your failings more than you see God. 367 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,920 You see unworthiness. You see your your sins. 368 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,880 David had the same problem. King David, the Bible in Psalms 369 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:19,040 51 three says, I know my transgressions and my sin is 370 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:23,600 always before me. Now there is somebody here, or 371 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:27,240 maybe there's a few people, maybe all of us who have 372 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,800 thought. All I see is my failures. 373 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,360 I want someone to hear this because as I was driving, these 374 00:24:34,360 --> 00:24:36,560 words dropped into my head. This is what happens in your 375 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:38,640 head. This is what you think, you go, 376 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,160 I am a massive disappointment to God. 377 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,200 Well, you need a massive revelation of how pure and loved 378 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:54,720 you are and those impurities do not define who you are. 379 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:03,560 In Matthew 548, Jesus says to the crowd, He says, therefore 380 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:07,440 you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is 381 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:09,200 perfect. It's like what? 382 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:14,880 Who wants to give up Now? The word perfect there, the 383 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:19,080 Greek was Telios and it gets used a few times in Scripture 384 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:28,280 and it really means complete whole Shalom fully matured. 385 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,040 So you might be thinking that this verse about be perfect as 386 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,560 your father in in heaven is perfect is about your behaviour. 387 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,320 You know, be a perfect little Princess, perfect young man. 388 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:44,160 But this verse is absolutely about God wanting you to be 389 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,760 whole, be whole as your Father in heaven is whole. 390 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:52,040 Be completely healed like your Father in heaven is healing. 391 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:59,040 In fact, in Scripture, the Bible demonstrates that the perfect 392 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:03,600 righteous purity of God must be given by God. 393 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,280 So which means that that be righteous as your Father in 394 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:11,160 heaven is righteous. He has to give it to us. 395 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:16,520 He has to give us His wholeness. He has to give us our purity. 396 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:21,000 We actually can't do it ourselves because as I said 397 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:25,600 before, just breathing, you failed in some ways. 398 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:31,600 It has to be imputed to us. Imputed means put in where God 399 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,320 takes his own righteousness, his own purity, and He just shoves 400 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:39,000 it into your life because it's the only way that we're going to 401 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,840 make it. That's in Romans 519, First 402 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:48,680 Corinthians 132nd Corinthians 521, You know, last week, last 403 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,320 week, Pastor TJ who was here, who was here for that great 404 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,440 preacher, I love that man. He mentioned Isaiah 118, which 405 00:26:55,440 --> 00:27:00,320 says this come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. 406 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:03,720 Though your sins are like scarlet. 407 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:06,640 Let me let me give you some explanation here. 408 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:10,280 Though your sins are like scarlet means this is 409 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:13,560 disgusting. This just in you're disgusting. 410 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:18,680 That's as good as I can rap. I don't know where that came 411 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:27,400 from to the next, even though your sin is disgusting, people 412 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,240 like although your sins are like scarlet, it's a lovely colour. 413 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:36,640 That's not what this means. It means disgusting though your 414 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:41,080 sins are disgusting. The next part, they shall be 415 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:46,440 white as snow, though they are red like Crimson, they shall be 416 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,480 as wool. That is a gift from God. 417 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:55,800 I like this part though. It says, come now, let us reason 418 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:57,400 together. It's like, Are you sure God, 419 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:02,200 think about it, sit and reason. How is it reasonable that God 420 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,680 gives us his purity? That's not reasonable, really, 421 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,880 when you think about it. But God's reason is, yeah, I'm 422 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:16,400 going to have to, so I will. In Ezekiel 47, there's this 423 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:21,080 beautiful vision of God's cleansing and healing power 424 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:25,680 bringing life to the dead. It's where this river just flows 425 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,840 out into the Dead Sea and it just heals it. 426 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:36,240 And it says in verse 12, Ezekiel 47, verse 12, full 9 to 12, it 427 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:40,120 says that every living thing that moves wherever this river 428 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:43,880 of life goes will live. And there's going to be healing 429 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:49,760 trees because everything will live wherever this river goes 430 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:51,840 go. This is a whole prophecy that 431 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:57,600 God gives purity, righteousness, and it brings life and it brings 432 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:01,560 life to the dead because the Dead Sea can't heal itself. 433 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:07,160 The Dead Sea can't bring life and God's like, hey, let's, I'm 434 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:10,720 going to be reasonable, so I'll do it. 435 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:18,680 In the Ziya 6 verse 5, there's an event happens where Isaiah is 436 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,720 having this vision and he sees the Lord on the throne. 437 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:25,280 He starts to freak out. He's like I'm going to die. 438 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,440 I've seen God, no one lives, right? 439 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:30,760 And he starts saying this in verse 5. 440 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:35,840 He says woe is me, I'm undone because I'm a man of unclean 441 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,880 lips. He's just like I am unpure, 442 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:44,200 impure, not righteousness. And the next line he says, and I 443 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,440 dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips. 444 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:49,680 I like that. So he throws them under the bus 445 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:51,680 too. Hey, he's like, and so are they, 446 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:57,040 for I've seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 447 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:01,480 But this big old Angel, he grabs a coal from the altar and he 448 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:07,880 puts it on his eyes, lips, purifies him, Righteousness of 449 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:12,360 God, because God thinks it's reasonable that he should give 450 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:20,200 us his purity. So now we see this, We see that 451 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:26,760 wholeness, perfect completion, purity and authority might speak 452 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:31,280 about that next time. And authority is and must be a 453 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:33,880 gift from God for those who wanted. 454 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:36,880 You see, this is the power of God. 455 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:43,240 This is how only God can make all things work together for 456 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:45,840 good. Romans 828 we sang about it 457 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:49,640 earlier. Because God gives His wholeness, 458 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,520 because He gives completion, because He gives purity, that's 459 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:59,000 how He makes it all work out. It's interesting when we read 460 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:02,280 that verse. Romans 828 says all things work 461 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,720 for good for those who love the Lord according to His purposes. 462 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:09,720 It's like our brains automatically go accept our 463 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:17,120 mistakes just to be honest. See, that's how we interject, 464 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,680 accept my mistakes. Well, The thing is, when it says 465 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:30,200 all, it means all. You can't get around that all, 466 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:36,120 all things, which means your mistakes and your impurities are 467 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:44,480 not your final identity. You know, when I was young, like 468 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:49,560 super young, I was living in Townsville with my parents, and 469 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:52,920 we had this huge mango tree at the back of the house. 470 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:54,480 Huge tree. You remember that? 471 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,880 Past the mill? Yeah, big. 472 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,520 And you just have these big, big mangoes like, oh, huge. 473 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:07,680 Unfortunately, at night the flying foxes would often come 474 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,840 and they would put dots, dense bruises. 475 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:16,560 They would destroy the mangoes. A lot of them that really did 476 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:21,200 damage a lot of mangoes. And sometimes listen to this, 477 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:27,120 and sometimes the damaged mangoes would succumb to the 478 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:31,200 attack. They would then separate 479 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:36,040 themselves from the tree. They would fall to the ground 480 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:40,600 and just rot, just die, totally ruined. 481 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:42,600 It actually was really slimy and gross. 482 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:45,920 Rachel's like, do you like mangoes? 483 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:50,080 I'm like, I love mangoes, and I hate mangoes because I really 484 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,480 like mangoes. But the imagery of me slipping 485 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:54,520 around in the backyard, Oh, it's traumatic. 486 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:03,640 But here's the good news. The mangoes that stayed 487 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:09,680 connected to the tree despite their damage eventually healed 488 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:17,080 and they were good to eat. Good for mango smoothies and the 489 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,760 potential of the seed inside them. 490 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:30,320 Astronomical Church, my beautiful family, stay connected 491 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:35,040 to the tree. Jesus says in John 15, I'm the 492 00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:38,400 vine, stay connected to me. He's the one who gives you the 493 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:40,600 purity. He's the one who gives you the 494 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:45,880 righteousness. In fact, just to wrap up, thank 495 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:51,120 you for coming out. Two people in the Bible, Judas 496 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:59,520 and Peter, both disciples of Jesus, both messed up, both had 497 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:03,720 impurities. Judas betrays Jesus, Peter 498 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:09,600 denies Jesus three times. But it was only Peter who 499 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:13,480 survived. You see, Judas fell, Peter 500 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:17,040 stayed connected. You can see that in John 21. 501 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:23,400 He saw Jesus on the beach and ran to him, stayed connected and 502 00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,639 then he led the purity of Jesus into his life. 503 00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:30,400 Whereas if you read Acts one, it actually says that Judas fell 504 00:34:30,679 --> 00:34:34,159 and to be polite says he was slimed just like a manga. 505 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:43,400 John 15 verse three. You are already clean because of 506 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:45,080 the word which I've spoken to you. 507 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:55,120 Abide in me and I in you heavy moment. 508 00:34:55,120 --> 00:35:00,840 Hey, but condemnation, shame, unworthiness, it has to go. 509 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:04,680 There are people in our community, they won't even walk 510 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:08,280 into this church because they have a sense of shame and 511 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:11,520 condemnation before they get 100 feet from this place. 512 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:18,920 And Jesus, all he wants, all God has made a way for is that they 513 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:24,120 would come in, hear the word of God and be purified. 514 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:29,520 Yes, we make a big deal about handing out those pamphlets, but 515 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:32,160 like, you've got our beautiful Josh and his family hearing the 516 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,880 word of God purifying from that darkness. 517 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:39,720 That's the life of Christ.