Sickness, Darkness, and Light
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HONOR — INTRO YOURSELF
This morning I want to talk about SICKNESS, DARKNESS, and LIGHT
My hope is to answer the question: What does it mean to be a Christian?
We have an Encounter Conference coming up Oct. 7-9, which is a freedom weekend where we allow the Holy Spirit to address some issues that may be lingering in our hearts. There may be some areas that you need freedom and you need the Holy Spirit to come fill you.
So today — I want to address — What does it really mean to be a Christian?
Because — for me — I’ve been saved for many year - and yet I still struggle with living “Free” as God as called me to live. I still struggle with sin.
I was saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved
I was justified, I am being sanctified, and I will be glorified.
There was the Cross, there is my walk with the Lord now, and there will be The Day of the Lord, when He returns.
If some of that went over your head that’s totally fine we’ll get to it!
Title of my message: “Sickness, Darkness, and Light”
So let’s open our Bibles to John 3:16-21
John not only explains why one should become a Christian, and how to become a Christian, but what it means to be a Christian
CONTEXT …
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
READ AND PRAY
Benjamin being an absolute terror LOL
Coming up and licking his baby brother while he has hand, foot, mouth - I’M GOING TO CUT YOUR TONGUE OUT
I never taught Benjamin to be a brat. I never had to show him how to act wrongly.
We are all pre-programmed to act wrongly. TO SIN.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We are all sick little Benjamin’s licking our brothers.
WE ARE ALL SICK WITH SIN. It’s hereditary. It’s been passed down from our father Adam.
When you are born - you are born with a sin nature
When you are born again IN CHRIST - You are given a SIN FIGHTING nature!
What does it look like to be a Christian? — YOU TRUST GOD MORE THAN YOU TRUST YOURSELF.
What is a Christian? Someone who recognizes their sin and submits it to God
We are told in our culture today that every urge and every desire we have should be trusted.
YOU DO YOU
JUST FOLLOW YOUR HEART
LIVE YOUR TRUTH
IT CAN’T BE SIN BECAUSE IT’S HOW I REALLY FEEL
IF YOU FEEL SHAME OR CONVICTION JUST DECONSTRUCT THOSE FEELINGS
GOOD VIBES ONLY!
Let me just tell you - not everything you feel should be acted upon.
Not every emotion is fair
Not every desire is from God
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
WE ARE DESPERATELY SICK
We need saving!
YOU ARE NOT YOUR DESIRES! YOU ARE NOT YOUR EMOTIONS!
If you are in Christ — you are a NEW CREATION — meaning what? It means you’ve been shaped by the image of Christ NOT BY YOUR DESIRES
What does it mean to be a Christian? It means we live our lives for God and not for ourselves.
THE NEW YOU, IN CHRIST, IS THE TRUE YOU
Does this mean that EVERY feeling you have is wrong and we should all be robots?
OF COURSE NOT!
It means that my every thought and emotion don’t dictate my life — The Word of God is what dictates my life
I trust God before I trust myself.
When you rob people of the problem of sin you actually rob them of the power of grace.
When we don’t confront the sin problem, we don’t see the need for the power of grace
The Problem of Sin
The Problem of Sin
Truth has become relative in our world today.
There’s this thought of — “yeah I love God, but I’m not big on religion, I just do what’s best for me”
God is not a supplement we take.
He’s not like keto, yoga, or a workout program — “I go to church to just be a better person”
“Jesus is not a supplement you take but a King you surrender to.”
You can’t do what you want and call yourself a Christian.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
The root of all is sin is thinking we know better
It’s what I THINK about — justice, sexuality, identity … whatever.
He is GOD. We are not.
We are NOT our desires.
The new you is the true you
You can’t be a Christian and just do whatever you want.
If you are a Christian than you follow the God of the Bible OR YOU ARE NOT A CHRISTIAN!
A woman who runs a very influential christian culture instagram account tweeted this a couple weeks ago …
“I am a Christian but I believe [evangelizing] is violence against another.
I am a Christian and I believe LGBTQ+ people are divine and should lead us.
I am a Christian and I learn a lot from people who don’t share my faith.
I am a Christian and I don’t go to church.
I am a Christian and I don’t believe the Bible is the word of God.
I am a Christian and I embrace sex-positivity, which includes but isn’t limited to, sex outside of marriage.”
BRO … YOU’RE NOT A CHRISTIAN THEN!
Hear me … this is one of the most import things I’ll say today:
Some people fear hell enough to be saved but don’t love God enough to be a Christian
We have churches today that are filled with people who are saved... But they are not Christians. They have accepted Jesus as Savior but they will not live with Him as Lord.
“Well this is just a needless line in the sand. We all sin and we all have things to work through.”
OF COURSE! That’s why EVERYONE should be a part of an Encounter Conference type of moment. We need that - I need that.
But there is a difference in a struggle with sin and those that no longer struggle with sin but accept their sin.
We ALL must submit EVERY PART OF OURSELVES TO GOD
We love the sinner! But our love for the sinner cannot change the definitions in God’s Word.
The Word is how I interpret the World. The World is NOT how I interpret the Word.
But this is what’s happened to the church today.
“You can belong before you believe.” — That’s how you get a church full of saved people that aren’t Christians
If you are going to be a son or daughter of God — Then Father God will do the work of a Father and shape and guide his children.
Jesus is not a gym-membership
Jesus is not a service you subscribe to; He is a King you surrender to
Only God can direct our lives — We can never get to that place.
I’m not a sinner because I sin — I sin because I’m a sinner. It’s our default setting.
We are all sick.
Saying the opposite so Benjamin does what we want
We all have rebellion in us. We all have to keep dying to ourselves!
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
We love BAD things. We even take GOOD things and make them BAD.
My wife: “Let’s watch 2 episodes and go to bed.” I’m like - I’ll watch 3 seasons and I’ll see you on Friday!
We make things BAD — why?? Because theres something wrong with me — with us!
We are condemned without God. We’re lost without Him.
God’s not here - I’m not here - to condemn you. God sent Jesus to save you BECAUSE YOU ARE ALREADY CONDEMNED.
Salvation is not a pick-and-choose experience. You must LIVE IN THE LIGHT. Fully.
We can’t decide which parts of the Bible are for us and which parts aren’t and then call ourselves Christians.
When we rob people of the problem of sin / we rob them of the power of grace.
The Power of Grace
The Power of Grace
Let me ask you this: Did Jesus ever sin? — NO. That matters!
We get a righteous that we did not earn!
God fixed the sin problem through JESUS. Grace solution. Romans 5:20
20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
The fix wasn’t mercy — it was grace.
BAND
Getting arrested for stealing a car and speeding...
Mercy says we caught you but we’re letting you go.
Grace says we’re letting you go and here’s the keys to a Farreri
HEAR ME: The Grace of God is what enables you to be who you are called to be - so you can do what you’re called to do
Its the Grace of God that empowers you to be a good father
Good mother
Good steward
Whatever your struggle, whatever your mountain — IT IS THE GRACE OF GOD THAT EMPOWERS YOU TO DO WHAT GOD HAS ALLOWED YOU TO DO!
YOU DON’T GET THE POWER OF GRACE WITHOUT RECOGNIZING THE PROBLEM OF SIN
WHY?! …
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
WE MUST REPENT!
The main part of repentance is to stop doing what one was doing and start obeying God
we must preach the FULL Gospel.
—and listen, the Gospel is offensive enough without your help!
you don’t need to add and edge to shove the Gospel in peoples face. No. Speak THE TRUTH IN LOVE
Don’t sanitize the Gospel and don’t try to add some edge to it — it’s offensive and comforting enough without your help!
Hear me:
The Gospel will convict you before it comforts you!
The Gospel will rebuke you before it inspires you!
The Gospel will correct you before it encourages you!
We can live in a way that makes God resist us.
That’s terrifying… I have enough problems as it is.
But if we humble ourselves… Take the keys to the Farreri
Rich young ruler — Had it all down, EXPECT complete surrender.
Saved … but not a Christ follower.
That’s the call today: complete surrender
Being a Christian is living in the Light — which means:
1. recognizing that you’re in darkness and
2. leaving the darkness of your ways and walking in the Light of His ways
We exists to Worship God — don’t know what to do with your life? Let me help you… Worship God. NOT A SONG, A LIFE.
I don’t care if your profession is a pastor or a plumber, your purpose is the same: WORSHIP, COMPLETE SURRENDER
It takes humility. It’s not doing it our way — It’s doing it God’s way.
Altar call:
-Step into the light, SALVATION, admit that you’re SICK — giving your life to the Lord, not your version of “christianity”
-Rededication — you’ve slipped into this place of making it about you and not about serving Him