Our our study today is we're going to continue in the book of
James and it's don't neglect to lean in and it's really kind of
fun. Between her Elizabeth Elliott
quote and Aunt Sherry and Spencer's worship today, there's
so much that we were worshipping about just enduring and that God
won't give us stuff that isn't going to improve us for his
work. That just God's always working
right? And he is working on each and
every one of us every day in the good and the bad in our life.
James, we're going to be verses 12 through 18 going on in
chapter 1. Blessed is the man who remains
steadfast under trials, for when he has stood the test he will
receive a crown of life which God has promised to those who
love who love him. Let no one say when he is
tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with
evil, and he himself tempts no one.
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his
own desires. And then desire, when it is
conceived, give birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown,
brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my brother
or my beloved brothers, Every good gift and every perfect gift
is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom
there is no variation or shadow due to change of His own will.
He brought forth. He brought us forth by the word
of truth that we, we should be a kind of firstfruits of His
creation. And Lord, I just, I lift up this
time and everybody here and just all that you've done for us,
Lord, and all that you're continuing to do every day,
Lord, that you would be with us here now, Lord, but you would
also be with us when we leave here.
That you would be speaking to our hearts that you would be
guiding and directing us or that you'd be putting appointments in
front of us to witness to our friends and family and Co
workers and the bank clerk, the grocery store cashier, Lord,
that we would just be a light for you, but not because we're
trying, Lord, but because we're just reflecting what you pour
into US or and that you would just continue to work in our
hearts in Jesus name, Amen. So verse 12 is blessed is the
man who remains steadfast under trials for when he is when he
has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which
God has promised to those who love him.
And steadfast just means to endure, to last, to continue in
the same state without perishing.
Enduring is not coasting. It's not, hey, I got saved and
now I'm just going to live life and coast through it.
It is recognizing the struggle and giving the battle to the
Lord, Remembering that trials or testing is a tool God uses to
build us into the tools he needs.
And the tools he needs are tools to go out and reach the lost,
right? I mean, that's the thing you
have to remember about everything that we do here on
earth. After the day I gave my life to
the Lord, the reason I am here is so that he can use me to
reflect his life to to reach the lost and dying of this world.
Hebrews 12 verses one and two goes on and says, Therefore,
since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us
also lay aside every weight and sin which clings too closely,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God.
As life comes at us, do we lean into Him and His plan, or do we
whine and complain about what's going on?
So then this is when I get to throw myself under the bus.
Faye was talking about setting up a website.
There is, there is setting up a website.
There's figuring out tithing. There's dealing with bankers and
dealing with our landlord and the lawyers and all the things.
And there are so many things as I go through this, as Faye and I
go through this that I don't even know the questions to ask,
right? I mean, when we, we set this up,
you know, I, we've done everything we can to be as
forward thinking as we can. So, you know, we had a firm set
up the nonprofit so that that he, that's just what that group
does. So that's going to be right.
And you know, we, we went to sub splash, which is a church based
website giver that sets those up right.
But there's so much stuff that we don't know how to do and it's
not Carl's great at his part of it, but it's it's learning,
right? And I am not a tech guy and I'm
not a law guy. So things keep coming up and,
and I get frustrated and I know that's shocking, right?
We never, none of us get frustrated.
So as I'm whining, I have, I have a helpmate right over here.
And as I'm whining because I forget what the what the thing
was, I'm like this just getting ridiculous.
I'm sick of this and my helpmate says, so are you letting are you
letting the devil have this 10 shut up.
But but that's the, but that's really, I mean, and that's us,
right? When we're as a, as a body, we
should be, we should be encouraging everybody in that,
right, that that God is using everything that's going on in
our lives to draw us closer to him and to build, to build the
tools he needs. You know, for something like
that, as I'm going through it, right?
When we get to the other side of this, and we will get to the
other side of it and everything will run as it's supposed to.
And, and like I tell Carl and Spencer and Andrew every week,
we haven't made any major mistakes yet, right?
We, we seem to, oh, the lights are still on, You know, all the,
that YouTube still run. So we've, we've, we've stumbled
through the process. And when we get to the other
side, there will be learnings that we will have to help help
somebody that's going out to start a new church, right?
We'll have those, those learnings.
And there's other, there's also going to be other learnings that
have nothing to do with specifically what we're doing,
but things that we learn to endure through.
And and it's leaning in right that my, my title is don't
neglect to lean in. But it's do we lean in to the
struggle? Hebrews goes on to in in verse 3
of chapter 12 and says, consider him who endured from sinners
such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary
or faint hearted in your struggle against sin.
You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addressed you
as sons? My son, do not regard lightly
the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when he reproved by
him, for the Lord disciplines the ones He loves and chastises
every son whom he receives in all moments.
Do we come at the Lord like that?
Do we? Do we understand who He is and
how big He is in our lives and how, how in charge He is of my
life? Do I trust Him in that?
You know, and, and I mean Faye. Faye is a witness.
I am really good over the years at saying the Lord's got it.
I will tell you this, this season and and there's a
spiritual side of that that I am sure right this season is is God
testing me to kind of put my money where my mouth is, if that
makes sense of I know the right things to say, but I have
opportunities like Friday morning getting an e-mail and
going. Are you kidding me?
You know, I have those, but I have the opportunities in those
moments to put that back and say, hey, Lord, you've got this.
You are in charge. My hands open, right?
It's it's those testings and then recognizing them.
The Lord is always working on those he loves, right?
He's chasing us. He is never willing to say that
that's good enough. You're, you're close enough to
me. He wants us to be closer to him
every day. He wants us to be more in his
light today than we were yesterday.
There's a, a YouTube guy that says it's not about big changes.
It's be 1% better today than you were yesterday.
Well, if that works for a guy on YouTube, I'm sure that works for
Jesus, right? The goal is to just be closer to
him today. Spend a little more time with
him. Go a little deeper.
Don't, don't tie a knot. Attempt to hold on.
He is never willing to let us do that.
He will. He will Cut the Rope so that you
have to cling to Him. God wants to give us crowns of
life. He wants to give us strength in
our weakness. He wants to give us practice
following His plan to stay to stand steadfast knowing He is
building the perfect tool for what He has planned in my life.
James goes on in verse 13 and says, let no one say when he is
tempted, I am being tempted by God.
For God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no
one. On a side note there the
question comes up, if God can't be tempted, then when Jesus is
tempted, how does that work? And Jesus is tempted in the
wilderness, but because he was 100% man and 100% God, he can
understand the struggles we go through.
Now I will explain exactly how Jesus was 100% God and 100% man
right after the rapture. We can meet up.
You can, I'll give you all the, all the insurance and outs with
that. But but that's so don't get hung
up on that, that I just don't want you to get hung up on that.
He can't be tempted, right? Jesus was tempted in the
wilderness and he does understand what that is.
But God can't be tempted. He is.
He is good. And there is a difference
between testing and temptations. When we are in a testing or a
difficult time in our relationships, at work, or in
our money, we we will very often have choices to make.
God allows them to build us into the tools he needs to do the
work He has for us. Very often, though, temptations
are very often given us a way to avoid the trial, avoid the, the
testing. You know, it's, it's doing
making a mistake at work and, and you have a choice owning up
to the mistake, going in and throwing yourself under the bus,
taking ownership of it or lying about it, right.
There's a there's a temptation there.
You know, your flesh wants to just cover it up.
That's having those moments of temptation.
I mean, there's, there's, there's temptation in sin,
right? There's temptation to, to be
where you're not supposed to be looking at what you're not
supposed to be looking at. There is there are those
temptations and they are serious and God wants to deliver you
from them. But very often our temptations
are really superficial. They are US trying to just
protect me and I get to do what I want to do.
And I I get to be selfish. I get to be prideful.
I get to. I always say in America, we're
really good at the. Yeah, but attitude, which is.
Yeah, but it's different now. Lord, you know, I mean,
Americans are really, really good.
Sorry, this is off notes. We're really, really good at
being a free country. Did you know that we are a free
country? We have liberty.
Did you know that we are and we do come in that we, we, we have
blessed to be born in this country.
God doesn't talk about our liberty.
He talks about our servanthood. He talks about he talks about
being slaves and we are slaves one way or another.
We are either slaves to him or slaves to sin, right?
There is no there is no middle ground.
We are on one side or the other. And as Americans, we want to
have our our day in the you know, I'm in charge of my life
and it's something we were raised with, right?
It's really hard to think that that I'm a slave to anybody
because I'm an American. I have liberty to God-given
right, but the liberty is a God-given right to follow Him.
But each person, and this is verse 14, but each person is
tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires.
So guys, we blame the enemy for a lot of things, but the enemy
does not have to read minds or be outside of time to
effectively tempt us, right? He is.
We are weak and simple outside of Christ.
We're not if we are not slaves to Christ, if we are not in him,
Satan just gets to spin us and turn us and do whatever he
wants. Romans 82 says For the law of
the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the
law of sin and death. So we're under one of the two
laws. We are under the law of under
the law or in Christ. In Christ we can withstand
temptation, but outside of his grace and his power, we cannot.
I don't have it in me. I talked last week about about
when I, when I quit you in Copenhagen, I knew I didn't have
it in me. There are things in this room
right now you know you can't beat, but there are other things
in this room that you think that I can beat, that I am good
enough and know that you can't outside of Christ.
You are unable to win this battle unless you submit it to
the Lord. 1st Corinthians 1013 says no temptation has overtaken
you. That is not common to man.
God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond your
ability, but with the temptation, He will also provide
the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
So how often do we set ourselves up to sin?
How often do we set ourselves up in a temptation?
I, the one I, I'm sure you guys have heard the illustration of
two teenagers that come to their their pastor and they're like,
we keep falling to our we're sexual sin like, well, the
pastor says, OK, So what? What?
Give me, give me an idea what you're doing.
And you know, well, you know, the other night we were, we were
up on Lookout Mountain and in our car and it was dark and we
were alone and we just, we flipped into sand.
There might have been some steps to get there, right.
And we do that. We do that on all kinds of
things. We set ourselves up.
So what he's saying in the no temptations overtaking you
except which is common to man, but he will not let you be
tempted to run. It's really simple.
Get out, open the door and get out of the car.
Run first of all, don't go to Lookout Mountain in the dark,
but but if you find yourself in a situation, if you're it will
will use alcoholism. If you're an alcoholic and you
find yourself in a bar, run. If you're an alcoholic and you
bought a six pack of beer on the way home, throw it out of the
window right you you haven't sinned until you sin.
Be willing to to run, be willing to escape.
That's what he's saying is there?
There is always an option. And then once you've sinned,
what do you do? Run back to him.
And I always, I always tell people that no matter how far
you've gone, the return trip is one step.
Turn around. He's right there when I come up
with a reason to not follow what the Lord has plainly stated it
will go badly. This is the funny part about how
big our God is is God uses it to train me through the suck right?
All my choices, all my choices as a believer when I am tempted
to choose sin. Even if I choose sin, God will
use it right. It's, it is something that he
will continually, if you're going to try and lie, he's going
to expose it because you're on his side, right?
You're, you're on his team and he isn't willing to let you.
He isn't willing to let you get away with it.
You know, it's, it's the embezzlers of the world, the,
the, the adulterers of the world, all the people that are
believers in churches that are on the other side doing things
that are completely obvious sin there.
It's going to come out. It's going to come out because
God's not willing. He's not willing to let you
wander through life, running it in, in whatever sin you want to
run it in or whatever sin I want to run it in and let you just
wander through ruining your life and others, right.
He's going to, he's going to, he's going to confront it,
right? No different than a father would
confront his children, right? Galatians 6-7 and eight says do
not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever
one sows that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own
flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows
to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
When I choose to sin and not turn to God, I reap corruption.
There have been, there have been numerous times in my life.
I've got many stories, but one in particular that was brutal,
brutal heart shack stuff that was just, Lord, please don't
make me do this. I don't want.
And we're at work out at Hanford and it's me and me and another
foreman. And I was rolling next to the
building with a little peanut roller.
And as we were trying to finish up on a on a Thursday afternoon
and I hit a bump and the cage of the Pennant peanut roller
touched the building. Now it didn't dent the building
did put a mark on the building like a, a black mark.
It didn't dent the building. And me and my, me and me and
Jason, my, my other foreman, we talked about it and mark my, the
Superintendent, he was off site. So if I called him.
And this was our conversation. If I called him, he was going to
tell me to go report it. If I reported it, this was, this
was a shut the job down for three days, epic big deal.
And it really wasn't right. We touched the building with a
little paint on it. We can get the paint off.
It's not a big deal. We're just going to, we're just
going to move through it. It's it's really nothing.
If Mark was here, he would look at it and go, we're good.
So we didn't say anything and, and I talked myself into it like
we're good. We don't have to say anything.
And, and I, my, my, I conned myself.
So that was Thursday or Friday and I conned myself until Sunday
morning and God said, so you need to tell Mark and I'm like,
no, we're not going to do that. So that's a, that's a bad idea.
And so I'd love to say, and on Monday morning, I went and told
Mark, no, I mean, me and the Lord, we went back and forth and
Wednesday, Wednesday and I'm, I'm like at this point, I'm not
sleeping at night. Me and me and the Lord are
having long conversations about why I don't have to do this
Lord. And at Wednesday at work, I have
a kid and I'm standing behind the trench box, my pipe layer.
He goes down in the trench box. He steps on a rock and rolls his
ankle. And so we're we're on for the
Hanford sites. You got to report everything.
So I'm like, we'll just go report it.
It's you know, you didn't, didn't die, but it's what they
want us to do. So go report it.
So we went and reported it. So he's gone the rest of the day
dealing with that stuff. And I get a call from Mark at
home that night and he goes, what happened today?
And that we'd only got like 200 feet of pipe and we should be
getting about 500 feet of pipe. So I thought he was talking
about that. And I'm like, well, we had this
and that. And if no, what what happened to
Tyson? And I'm like, well, he rolled it
and he stepped down on a ladder and rolled his ankle.
He goes, why did he say he did it walking across the job site?
I'm like, I have no idea because that isn't what happened.
Well, the back story, Mark knew the Mark knew the truth.
Mark listened to Tyson's story. And then I had to come in on
Thursday morning and sign an affidavit that that's what
happened, that he was walking across the job site, his friend
and ankle and Mark. Mark stood in a room for Nick.
Ain't signing that. That's a lie.
Because Mark knew that I don't lie.
Mark knew that I wouldn't lie. What was I arguing with the Lord
about? And you, Yeah, let's just add
conviction on top of conviction, right?
That was just like, so now I have to go tell Mark that I did
lie because I didn't tell him. I mean, I didn't, I didn't
verbally lie, but I held truth back, which is a lie.
And he's standing up for me, telling me, telling everybody
how I'm this stand in right places guy.
Yeah. So like I said, the Lord is not
willing. Now the, the fun thing with that
is so I'm not sleeping at night. This is a whole big thing.
I get to Mark, I finally get him and I explained the whole thing.
I said if you got to give me 3 days off, give me 3 days off,
give me whatever you need to do. Just do that.
And he goes, Nick, don't worry about it.
It it was so you're fine. So to him, it was absolutely no
big deal and I wasted a week of my life on it, right?
And so, but, but the Lord wasn't going to let that rest.
That wasn't something that I was going to.
I had a like I talked about last week, I was going to come to a
impasse where either I was going to do what the Lord wanted me to
do, or I was going to quit listening all together.
And that wasn't because the Lord changed.
It was going to be my heart, right?
I was either going to listen or I was going to be done right.
I was going to harden my heart if I didn't decide to listen.
And that's where we are all the time, right?
The Lord's speaking to you. If he stops speaking to you, you
need to be worried, right? If that, if that would have went
blank and all of a sudden the Lord isn't talking to me about
that, I wouldn't have felt like I won the conversation.
I didn't know him what happened, right?
I didn't know him that I know what I'm supposed to do when I
need to go do it. The when we get in trouble, it's
like hiding from the suck, right?
I mean, that was me trying to hide from the suck of telling
Mark it's it's hiding from the discipline of the Lord when I
choose to. And then and what happens is I
choose to walk farther and farther away from the Lord when
that happens, if I'm trying to hide from it and then and that
makes me a slave to sin. And that's Romans 16 through 18.
And you guys have heard, I've heard, sorry, Romans 616 through
18. And I've used this a lot.
But do you not know that if you present yourself to anyone as
obedient slaves, you are a slave of the one whom you obey, either
of sin, which leads to death, or obedience, which leads to
righteousness? But thanks be to God that you
were once slaves of sin, having become obedient from the heart
to the standard of teaching which you were committed, and
having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of
righteousness. And that's the day you gave your
life to Jesus. He gave you the ability to
follow Him. That's that.
That's the thing about being a slave to Christ is that you're a
slave to Christ, but what you're a slave to is, is being willing
to follow Him. And He's going to give you the
power to do it, but you have to be willing.
And the day we gave our life to Christ and called Him Lord, we
agreed to be his slave and follow him.
You were forgiven and all things became new that day. 2nd
Corinthians 517 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation. Old has passed away and behold
the new has come. But like all new things, if not
care for what happens to him. Had a friend's daughter, was
given a brand new Honda Civic and she came over to my house.
I was where I was working on lots of, I was doing youth group
stuff, so lots of cars and stuff.
And her dad, the divorced family.
So the dad had bought her this car and maybe it wasn't brand
new, but it was, it was newer. And I bought her this car and,
you know, dropped it off and she lived at her mom's house and it
had a noise. So in the time she had owned the
car, she didn't know how to pop the hood.
She'd had it like a year and a half.
If you have the car for a year and a half and you haven't
pumped the hood, could be some, could be some neglect going on,
right? Maybe some maintenance is
needed. She burned that car up for lack
of oil, and that's neglect. That doesn't mean it wasn't a
new car. Doesn't mean it wasn't a nice
car, but it was neglected. I was actually talking to Uncle
Pat on the way. We were joking about him being a
teacher and not being a teacher and that stuff.
And something I've learned from him over the years.
You know what you want to do in your life.
Want to be in the Word. Want to be in the word every
day. Just just open it.
I mean, if you don't have time to read chapters and chapters,
just be in it. Read today.
Ask the Lord to speak to you, right?
He'll show you stuff. Don't neglect that.
Be in prayer, don't neglect that.
And Hebrews 2-3 says, how shall we escape if we neglect such a
great salvation? It was declared at first by the
Lord and it was attested to by those who heard.
And neglect just means to fail to do something, either by
accident or on purpose. So the girl that didn't pop her
hood, that was an accident. She didn't know.
She literally didn't know there was all I mean should no no
knowledge of how a car runs. You just turn the key on it can
involve responsibilities not using available available
resources or choosing not to take action when you should.
So how much of that is is marks our Christian life not using
available resources. You know Peter Peter when he was
sinking shortest prayer in the Bible.
Lord save me, you know that's that's something we need to get
good at is when I'm about to fail.
Lord save me from me a lot. The when we ignore our
salvation, when we ignore what the Lord has done, it always
reminds me truly does the funniest dentist office like
little picture on the wall said don't brush your teeth, don't
floss your teeth. Just ignore them.
They'll go away and right. And that is that is truth and
and that has to do with our relationship with the Lord.
He's not willing to yell. He's not willing to scream at
us. You know, as parents, a lot of
times when our kids aren't listen, listening, we get louder
and we scream and yell and the Lord is he.
He's going to put things in your path that make you turn to him.
He's not going to yell at you. There's going to be a louder
voice in your ear. It's just going to be that he
loves you and he wants the best for you and you need to turn.
It's I don't want to neglect my relationship with his son.
The gift of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
If there's anything in my life I allow to create a create a
shadow in my life, you know it. It's am I being lured and
enticed by my own desires because sin will finish its work
if I don't repent. If we don't repent, God is not
willing to let let you or me go quietly into the night.
He will, He will chasten you. He wants you to turn.
But if we don't turn James in verse 15 says, then desire, when
it is on, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin and sin when
it is full grown, bring forth death.
That's where it ends up not not unlike not putting oil in a car.
Sooner or later the car just quits.
As a believer, we must always remember we are not up for the
fight. We're not up for the fight
against temptation or sin. I don't have it in me to win
that battle. We will miss.
It will happen. The closer you get in your
relationship with Jesus, the more you will be able to see.
The farther from the mark we've reached right the the the
dirtier I see myself, the closer I get to the Lord, I can see
like some of my motivations, some of my just quiet sin that I
didn't even recognize was sin when I first became a believer.
Paul talks about it or sorry in first Timothy says this is a
trustworthy saying and deserves of deserving of full acceptance
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I
am the foremost right. Paul recognized his position.
Paul doesn't say, oh, well, this is just how God may be.
You know, Adam in the garden said the woman you gave me
because it was God's fault. There's nothing in nothing that
no sin in my life that I can turn and say, Lord, this is how
you made me. It's me.
Me and Faye were talking about some of the the sins out there.
You know, some of the addictions out there and what we call them
is addictions of disease. There's a lot of addictions out
there that that so we we fund at a a lot, we advertise for the
disease, right. Alcoholism is a disease that is
a multi million dollar, $100 million a week business that we
fund, right. So maybe it's not a disease,
maybe it's just sin and we're free built for it.
But that's because we're pre built for sin.
We're either on we're either in Christ or in sin.
So it's it's not something that Paul at any point points at God
and says, and God made me this way so I can't be changed.
Romans 718 and 19 and this is Paul and I'm sure you guys know
this this part. For I know that nothing good
dwells in me that is in my flesh.
For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to
carry it out. For I do not do the good I want
to, but the evil I do not want to do what is what I keep on
doing. And everybody says Amen and
that's me. But if you go on to verse 24,
Paul says wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this
body of death. Thanks be to God through Christ
Jesus our Lord. So when I myself serve the law
of God with my mind but my flesh, I serve the law of sin.
The point is, the only way we win is in Christ our position.
And I I listen to a guy that that his his congregation when
he handed you guys don't do this, but his congregation
whenever he says what is your position, they say in Christ,
because if we're in Christ, we are protected.
We we move like he moves. We're shielded from what the
enemy can do. The enemy can do nothing to me
in Christ, just like the rain can't get me wet in the
building. And but Paul completely
understood his need, his need for grace.
The more time Paul spent with Jesus, the more he understood
his need for more time with Jesus.
Do we understand that, that there's never a point, like I
said at the beginning, there's never a point that we just tie a
knot and say, I'm close enough. You know, that we did when I did
high school ministry, high schoolers very often.
And, and I think they're just more honest about it very often
want to know how far can I, how close can I get to sin before
it's sin? That is never the question
because we are sinners saved by grace.
And it's how close can I get to Jesus because I'm already a
Sinner. So it's not a matter of well,
how far until I'm sinning? Well, you're already a Sinner.
You need Jesus and you need what he does in your life.
We never arrive. We're always moving towards
Christ or away from Christ this side of the grave.
We will have a choice until the day we die because our our free
will was so important to our Lord and Savior that he died on
a cross for you guys get that that when we talk about liberty
and and I have rights. He did give us liberty and
rights because if I'm God and I am not my attitude, my son died
for you, you will accept him, period.
There isn't a conversation. We're not, I'm not letting you
choose. He died for you.
You will accept that because that's what's best for you,
right? To accept that.
That's what's best for you. And he did the work.
So now accept it. And that's not what the Lord
does. It's a it's a choice we get to
make. When we think Christianity is a
rule book, we don't understand what what Jesus did on the
cross. When we think that I have to
follow a set of rules instead of coming to the Lord and having a
relationship with Him, I used marriage the other day.
Marriage is not a set of rules that you follow.
It's a relationship with your spouse.
Right now, there are there rules in marriage.
Yeah, but that isn't what makes the marriage good.
It's a relationship that you're not cheating on one another is
just a well, that kind of a byproduct, right, of loving one
another. And but it's I don't, I don't
concentrate every day on following the rules of marriage.
I concentrate on loving my wife. I concentrate on that
relationship and that's the relationship we're supposed to
have with Jesus. Concentrating on the
relationship. So Jesus says come and rest and
Satan says go to work, right? Satan wants you to focus on the
rules. He wants to make Christianity a
religion and not not a relationship.
Ephesians 610 says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his
strength, or in the strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand
against the schemes of the devil.
And then remember, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood,
but against rulers and against authorities and against cosmic
powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual
forces of evil in this heavenly and, and to remember that that
we are unable. I mean, I, I will continue to
say this about leaning in to what Christ does in our life and
how we do that is having a better relationship with him
today than I did yesterday. Because if at any point I think
I can stand the enemy, the enemy starts in like at a Little
League game. Imagine I haven't been to a
Little League game in probably a decade plus.
But especially a middle school game.
Does everybody remember what happens when the batter's up and
the pitcher's getting ready to pitch all the, all the, the
whole outfield in the infield saying hey, bata, bata, Bata,
Bata, swing Bata and then laughing when he misses, Right.
Well, the enemy is, is doing very similar to us.
He's, he's tempting, tempting, tempting, tempting.
And then there's sin and they're laughing.
And then he then he says, hide it, hide it, don't tell anybody.
And then, then, then he's got you where he wants you.
And he just says Sinner, you're just a Sinner.
God, give up. You're a loser.
God doesn't use losers, you're useless.
Die. That's his method, right?
His method is to tempt you to get you to sin, to get you
alone, to get you separated, to make you walk away.
So how do we, how do we defend against that?
How do we defend against sin? First John 19 and I do tell you
go, go to 1st John. Read, read the chapter.
But verse 9 says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. Get along with the Lord.
Talk to him about where you're at, if there's anything, if
there's any shadow in your life. This is something I do on a
daily basis. That is Lord, is there anything
between me and you keeping short accounts.
That's that's when you keep short accounts.
The enemy gets out of your ear. He he has nothing to whisper.
We're we are unable to fight the battle right without the Lord.
It is an unwinnable battle. I've I've used the the other day
when I was here, I was using the story about a three-year old
fighting a grown man, but it's actually a three-year old
fighting a a middle school bully.
Does a three-year old stand a chance?
But if Bob his dad is here, does the middle schooler stand a
chance? That's Jesus, right?
Is Jesus, the middle school bully got no, nothing on him,
right? He just takes him out.
But if the three-year old puts up his fists and decides he's
going to fight the the bully, how's that go?
Right? And that can be a tough
three-year old and it doesn't matter.
He loses every time. We are that we.
That's where we're at in this battle.
Verse 16 says do not be deceived, my brothers, my
beloved brothers, as soon as Satan gets us in a conversation
about you or someone else, we have already lost.
If you think about if you think about conversations with Satan
in the Bible, Michael the Archangel didn't even spend time
talking to Satan. He simply said the Lord rebuke
you. And Jude 19, it says, but when
when the Archangel Michael contended with the devil was
disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to
pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said the Lord
rebuke you. So that's, that's Michael the
Archangel. But the one I love that I found
the other day and I just it's it's better than Michael the
Archangel. The Lord won't even discuss you
with Satan. Zechariah 3 starting in verse
one, it says then he showed me to Joshua the high priest
standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his
right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, the
Lord rebuke you, O Satan, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem
rebuke you. Is not this a brand plucked from
the fire? Now Joshua was standing before
the Angel clothed with filthy garments.
And the Angel said to those who were standing before him, remove
the filthy garments. And to him he said, behold, I
have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you
with pure vestment, which just means priestly robes.
This is God telling Satan to hush it.
You have no, you have no standing here to talk.
You have no standing to accuse. You have no standing if we're in
Christ. That is the conversation.
The Lord, the Lord doesn't have to debate with Satan.
He just says shut up, he's mine, shut up, she's mine.
And our contribution to that Jonathan Edwards, another old
dead guy, you contribute nothing to your to your salvation.
Accept the sin that made it necessary.
And this is that this is that picture Joshua.
Joshua has Joshua's not Joshua's in the room, but he's not in the
conversation. Josh was clothed and filthy
garments, but he's not even in the conversation.
Zach goes on in verse 5 and says, And I said, let let them
put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on
his head and clothed him with garments.
And the Angel of the Lord was standing by. 17 and 18.
And James says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom
there is no variation or shadow due to change of his own will.
He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a
kind of firstfruits of his creation.
And today they were talking one of the songs they were talking
about that we were like scarlet. And that's Isaiah 118 says, come
now, let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins
are like scarlet, they shall be made white as snow.
They are red like Crimson, they shall become like wool.
And and like with Joshua, this is not God saying do this and
get that God has a free cleaning plan.
Thank you. I think I've talked about it
before, but when GA Jesus didn't die for my sins, I love saying
that because it makes everybody look up.
He did pay for him, but he threw him as far as E is from the
West. He died from me he died.
He died so me and him could have a relationship.
No, no different than if I buy, if I buy a car and it's filthy,
I didn't buy the dirt on the car.
I did pay for the dirt on the car, but I'm going to clean the
car and I'm not going to save the dirt.
That's that's what Jesus did for us and he did it.
He did it because of what he did on the cross, not because of
what I do, right? I don't contribute anything to
that part of it. And back in Zechariah verses 6
and seven, it says in the Angel of the Lord, solemn, solemnly
assured Joshua. Thus says the Lord of hosts, if
you will walk in my ways, keep my charge, then you shall rule
my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the
right of access among those who are standing here.
So look at that difference. Do we notice what God, what
God's promise isn't? It isn't.
God is not telling Joshua, if you do these things, I will save
you. He's already saved Joshua.
What he's telling Joshua, If you do these things, if you, if you
follow me, if you listen to my commandments, I will give you, I
will give you power over those principalities and powers.
I will give you the ability to go out and change the world.
I will. I will make you a judge, a
leader of my court, but that's out of obedience that's that's
out of leaning in and not neglecting the salvation right
of of really accepting that it's about that relationship with the
Lord. John 1421 And you guys hear, you
guys will hear this redundantly because it is a it is, it is
really the picture that I love of the Lord, whoever has my
commandments and keeps them. It is he who loves me and he who
loves me. We loved by the Father and I
will love him and manifest myself to him.
If I listen to the Lord, if I follow his, his convictions and
I I move the direction he wants me to move, he will show himself
in my life. He will become more real every
day and it is that simple. And I don't, I don't know where
everybody is here today. I don't know if where.
I don't know if you're in sin. I don't know if you're if you're
walking with the Lord. I know a bunch of you are.
I know a bunch of you love him with all your heart, but have
that conversation. There's only one way and Jesus
says I'm the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the
Father except through him. And that means I don't get to go
outside of Christ and spend time with him.
I only get to spend time in I get to spend time with Jesus in
Christ in Jesus, right. It is a I'm either surrendered
or I'm not. There's a, a Psalm in the Old
Testament that tells you that if you're not a believer, if you're
not following Jesus, your prayers are bouncing off the
ceiling because then you're listening.
And that is the prayer he's listening to is Lord, save me,
Lord, come in and fill me. I'm a Sinner.
That's the prayer he's listening to.
Like Joshua, there is nothing we bring except filth.
But he will clean us and give us new clothes.
All we have to do is ask, believing he is able.
Romans 10/9 says because if you confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved.
It is that simple. So not not giving a call today,
but I am asking you to talk to the Lord where you at?
Where's your heart at? And and that's you've been a
believer for 20 years. You've been a believer for 50
years or you have no idea that what Jesus has done in your
life. It's this simple, Lord, what do
you have? What do you want me to do?
Speak to my heart. And Lord, I just I lift up
everybody here and I lift up just the the fact that you do
cleanse us, Lord, that you do fill us with your spirit that
you clean us, that you wash us white as snow.
Lord, be with us today. Be with us in the conversations
and the fellowship we have, but Lord also be be with us in the
world, be with us in the community.
That we would be that light for you Lord, that we would reflect
what you have for us, and that you give us appointments and
pray. All this in Jesus name, Amen.