Mix Message

INTRO

Whats up everyone!

Im excited to be preaching at the mix

Same room as Sundays but wow what a different vibe.

You All know me - Im just Jed

PREFACE

But tonight I want to talk about how

Christ came to teach us, not only what we are to know and believe,

but what we are to do

have we are supposed to act and live out our faith

Belief and knowledge are pointless if we don’t put it to action.

If i know that i haven’t changed my oil in 20k miles and I believe that the car manufacture was right when they said change the oil every 3-5k miles

And i do nothing with that knowledge my car will breakdown

If i am not acting on that knowledge or living out the principles that i believe about cars it wont do me any good.

And it is the same thing when it comes to our faith.

We might be questions God, waiting on him, or even frustrated.

But have we been living out our faith?

That is what we are going to be diving into tonight

So I have two passages for us, one for the old testament and one from the new.

READ SCRIPTURE

Psalm 32:1–5 (ESV)

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my nbones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Matthew 7:12-14 (ESV)

English Standard Version Chapter 7

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

PRAY

Over the night and the sermon.

Cast out distractions.

Help us hear from you and apply this word throughout our week.

LEAD INTO POINT ONE

Psalm 32 probably contains the best description in Scripture of what it feels like being burdened by sin.

Psalm 32:1–2 ESV

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

What is impution?

It is the act of Christ taking on the blame of our sins, and covering us with his righteousness

Our sins imputed to Christ’s account

His righteousness imputed to our account

This verse describes that imputation.

The words the Lord counts no iniquity mean he doesn’t impute our sins to our accounts.

The verse says blessed is the man against whom the Lord [does not impute sin], and that’s a great reason to feel blessed…but it’s not the reason David says he was blessed.

Look at verse 3…

Psalm 32:3 (ESV)

For when I kept silent,---

What does David mean by this?

Here’s the context…

David committed adultery with Bathsheba, had her husband, Uriah, murdered, but instead of confessing his sin, he covered it up.

The following two verses show the agony David experienced when he kept carrying his burden.

Look what he says…

Psalm 32:3 (ESV)

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

This isn’t what I expected to be honest.

I expected David to talk about the spiritual consequences – and he will – but first he talked about the physical consequences.

He felt his body wasting away.

Listen to the ages these people died:

Abraham 175

Isaac 180

Jacob 147

Moses 120

Joshua 110

How old do you think David was?

David was 70!

Sin took a toll on him, and he described it here: he could feel it in his bones.

POINT ONE — OUR SIN IS A BURDEN TO US

There is real consequences to our sin

Sin isn’t some abstract thing, or something that only really maters at the end of our lives, and if the good out weighs the bad by then, than we are fine.

No it is affecting us day in and day out

No sin is better or not as bad as any other sin

There is NO sin that doesn't affect us or weigh us down.

A famous 17th century poet John Donne said, “Sin is a serpent, and whoever covers it only keeps it warm so it may sting even more fiercely, and disperse the venom more effectively,”

In other words, carrying around the burden of sin only makes the suffering worse.

Any lord of the rings fans? No just me?

Well the dark lord Sauron forged 9 evil and powerful rings.

The most powerful of them being the “one ring”

Sauron was defeated and the ring was lost, only to be found by gollum

he was a hobbit (short dude with big hairy feet)

He kept the ring for 500 years and it currupted him

he went insane, his body slowly shifted into a goulish being

his teeth rotted away.

All becuase he kept the evil ring

Our sins are doing the same thing to us

He wanted to keep the ring becuase of the abilities it gave him, and he became blind to the burdens of it

What sin do you keep turning to becuase of ____

Im telling you, no mater how good it seems it is putting a far greater burden onto you.

So what can you do

well remembering to not only know this but to live it out there are two things we must do

1. We need to confess our past sins to Christ

The only way we can be unburdened of our sin is by confessing it.

David didn't, he remained silent and it burdened him the rest of his life.

2. We need to avoid sin going forward

That sounds obvious but it is easier said than done.

Lets jump to the book of Matthew to see how this is difficult

Matthew 7:12–14 ESV

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

POINT TWO — OUR FAITH IS A NARROW PATH

So much temptation and pressures to sin

Culture wants us to go outside of this path

To justify sinful actions or make compromises in our beliefs

And here is what i think is the biggest trap we fall into

Thinking we live in some broad scale.

We don’t realize how narrow the path we walk really is

Everything we do, say, think or anything else falls into one of two ways

Right and wrong, good and evil; the way to heaven and the way to hell

In the one or other of these all are walking this path: there is no middle place

No gray area or justification that this isn't really that bad. or yes this is bad but-

there is no buts

Real talk, the gates to hell are wide and open, with many many paths leading to them.

And the gates of heaven are narrow with a singular path

There is going to be a lot of people and temptations wanting you to vear off this path

But it is so important to stay on it

With how much our sin burdens us we can not afford to stray off the path.

And with that have to remember its not a one time choice and action, but a daily choice and struggle.

SAVING MONEY BUT HAVING TEMPTATIONS EXAMPLE FUNNY STORY

TIE THIS BACK TO INTRO

So what are some tangible things we can do to stay on the Lords path

Its going to involve making real changes in our lives

There might be people you need to cut out of your life

If they are always pressuring you or getting you to sin you cant let that keep happing

You might need to delete some apps or setup boundaries for yourself digitally

Last week we all said our phones are our biggest distractions that keep us from spending time with God.

Adding more intentional time with God — Prayer, bible reading, Church on Sundays, worship events

Find more and more ways to include God in your life each week.

If i could pull up like a screen time data breakdown but of your life, what percentage of it would bee God?

20% work

20% friends and family

55% Netflix and socials

5% God

The more you spend time with God the more you will desire what he does and the easier it will be to stay on that path

with that said, are our actions, the way we live out our faith bring glory to God, or taking it away?

POINT THREE — OUR FOCUS NEEDS TO BE ON GODS GLORY

We are citizens of heaven, not of earth.

The only

CLOSING

Prayer

Set us free from the burden of our sins

help us walk the narrow path

Fix our eyes on you and not the things of this world