WEBVTT 00:00:03.866 --> 00:00:05.490 We're in a series called Can we Talk? 00:00:05.490 --> 00:00:07.733 Addressing The Uncomfortable. 00:00:07.733 --> 00:00:16.370 We live in a world where truth is on the chopping block and there are so many places and so many ways that truth is under assault. 00:00:16.370 --> 00:00:35.390 And we believe that truth is absolute and it's found in the person of Jesus Christ and in the Bible that he wrote, and we're so grateful that we have this living Word of God, that we can find the truths that are found in him throughout the pages and the words that are in this great book. 00:00:35.390 --> 00:01:07.087 But all of us probably know somebody who has given in to the lies of the culture, and so our hope is for us to be able to be equipped to have conversations with people who are struggling with the idea of truth an absolute truth, and the idea of Jesus being truth, so that we can make sure that people understand where we stand on things but, most importantly, that the Lord could use our words to be able to create change and transformation in people's lives, because that's what it's all about, amen. 00:01:07.087 --> 00:01:17.768 And so last week we began by talking about truth and laying the foundation of that, and today we're going to be looking at love, and truth and love are friends of each other. 00:01:17.768 --> 00:01:21.850 They are not enemies and we'll be getting into that during the message this morning. 00:01:21.939 --> 00:01:28.965 And I knew that I was on the right subject this morning because when I came in earlier, somebody handed me a cigar. 00:01:28.965 --> 00:01:32.528 No, it's chocolate. 00:01:32.528 --> 00:01:33.209 It's chocolate. 00:01:33.209 --> 00:01:39.506 So don't, don't, do not allow the religious spirit to rise up among us, but it is a chocolate cigar. 00:01:39.506 --> 00:01:53.549 But for those of you who are from out of town, there's a tradition whenever the University of Tennessee football team plays the University of Alabama team and the winning team passes out cigars and they get to, they smoke the cigars, right. 00:01:53.549 --> 00:01:55.947 So here's the reality. 00:01:55.947 --> 00:01:59.147 If you didn't know, this University of Tennessee did not win yesterday. 00:01:59.147 --> 00:02:14.789 So for somebody to hand this to me without expecting any form of response or reaction, it was really a test for me, it was a challenge and I couldn't really, I couldn't really think of a better like scenario to start the message out with. 00:02:14.789 --> 00:02:24.394 So there you go, and I'm not going to name their name, because they know who they are and God's dealing with them. 00:02:24.394 --> 00:02:35.608 And it is so hard because I have mixed emotions, because, crimson Tide, we believe that the blood of Jesus washes us clean from all sins. 00:02:35.608 --> 00:02:41.469 So it's all confusing out there a little bit, but anyway, let's get into the real truth this morning. 00:02:41.469 --> 00:02:44.243 It has nothing to do with football, aren't you glad? 00:02:46.283 --> 00:03:03.743 So, again, our hope is that the truths that we preach about today and over this whole series are things that you can use around the Thanksgiving dinner table and your workplace, at school and at Walmart, wherever you find yourself in a position that you have the chance to speak the truth in love. 00:03:03.743 --> 00:03:07.151 We want you to be able to be equipped to do that. 00:03:07.151 --> 00:03:13.627 So if you would turn in your Bibles to Ephesians, chapter four and we're going to start we have four parts really to the message. 00:03:13.627 --> 00:03:32.068 The first part is a devotional from Ephesians four, and then we will talk about, we'll have, like, an example from Scripture, and then we're going to be talking about three questions what does culture say about love, what does God say about love and how can we talk about love within the culture? 00:03:32.068 --> 00:03:33.786 So you ready for this? 00:03:33.786 --> 00:03:35.566 You ready to get going with me? 00:03:35.566 --> 00:03:36.046 Here we go. 00:03:36.046 --> 00:03:39.048 Ephesians, chapter four, 11 through 16. 00:03:39.800 --> 00:03:47.325 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 00:03:47.325 --> 00:03:54.723 Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 00:03:54.723 --> 00:04:07.132 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 00:04:07.132 --> 00:04:15.384 When we will no longer be immature like children, we won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. 00:04:15.384 --> 00:04:22.523 We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 00:04:22.523 --> 00:04:32.367 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church. 00:04:32.367 --> 00:04:35.625 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. 00:04:35.625 --> 00:04:46.314 As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. 00:04:46.314 --> 00:04:47.845 Let's pray together. 00:04:47.845 --> 00:04:51.608 Father, we thank you for your word that is so true. 00:04:51.608 --> 00:05:06.910 We ask you, lord, that you would help us to absorb it, that it would go into the very recesses of our heart and clean out everything that needs to be cleaned out and causes to be transformed and changed more and more into your likeness. 00:05:06.910 --> 00:05:10.528 Help us to live like Jesus while we're on this planet. 00:05:10.528 --> 00:05:13.687 We ask you these prayers in Jesus' name, amen. 00:05:15.281 --> 00:05:17.988 My wife and I met on a Christian drama team. 00:05:17.988 --> 00:05:21.488 On this drama team we traveled all over the United States. 00:05:21.488 --> 00:05:24.750 I went to 42 states doing ministry. 00:05:24.750 --> 00:05:31.692 We went to prisons and schools and street corners, festivals, churches. 00:05:31.692 --> 00:05:36.591 Whenever there was an opportunity or a door we would go to these different places. 00:05:36.591 --> 00:05:39.249 It was a tremendous thing to be involved with. 00:05:39.249 --> 00:05:41.185 One time we went to a college campus. 00:05:41.185 --> 00:05:45.740 While we were there we were going to invite students to come to the meeting that we were having. 00:05:45.740 --> 00:05:49.584 That night we saw a ruckus going on in the commons area. 00:05:49.584 --> 00:05:57.951 Until we made our way over to the commons area, we found in the middle of that area a crowd had gathered and there was a screaming preacher. 00:05:57.951 --> 00:06:00.786 Anybody ever heard of a screaming preacher? 00:06:00.786 --> 00:06:10.593 The screaming preacher was letting people know with no uncertain terms that they were lustful, that they were envious, that they were. 00:06:10.593 --> 00:06:18.220 He was basically going down the Ten Commandments and then yelling you're all going to go to hell, hey, hail, yeah. 00:06:18.220 --> 00:06:22.069 It just kind of added an extra syllable to it. 00:06:22.069 --> 00:06:24.485 Somehow it made it more spiritual. 00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:35.548 I was observing this and the crowd that had gathered was not as enthusiastic about what was being said as I might have hoped. 00:06:35.548 --> 00:06:38.910 They were very not enthusiastic about it. 00:06:38.910 --> 00:06:42.370 In fact they were throwing things at this man who was a preacher. 00:06:42.370 --> 00:06:46.370 They were throwing tomatoes and eggs and other things like that. 00:06:46.370 --> 00:06:52.410 I, just being the young, wise man that I was I was what? 00:06:52.410 --> 00:06:58.142 20 years old I walked up to this man who was preaching, tapped him on the shoulder and said, could we have a turn? 00:06:58.142 --> 00:07:02.225 Not knowing how the crowd would handle us being up there. 00:07:02.225 --> 00:07:04.610 But he kind of gladly stepped away. 00:07:04.610 --> 00:07:06.439 It was kind of an interesting thing. 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:08.165 It was almost like he'd had his fill. 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:12.906 We got up and we did a couple of skits that were a little more funny. 00:07:12.906 --> 00:07:17.406 The crowd began to pay attention a little bit. 00:07:17.406 --> 00:07:28.110 We finally did one that was about suicide and hopelessness and about how Jesus is the answer even in the middle of those kinds of places in life that are just hard to describe or explain. 00:07:28.110 --> 00:07:39.129 By the end of that time the many in the crowd were weeping and we gave a simple gospel message and several people came to know Jesus that day. 00:07:39.129 --> 00:07:47.843 Now I'm not saying that story to you to say that we did something great and this man did something horrible. 00:07:48.620 --> 00:08:03.603 Actually, we were both speaking truth, if you're, if we're honest, because that crowd was filled with people who were involved in sexual sin, in, in all kinds, all of the Ten Commandments for being broken in one way or another. 00:08:03.603 --> 00:08:20.904 And the reality is that a person who does not confess Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord and follow after him so that their life is transformed and changed, that they will, when they die, go from this life to the next and face eternity in hell. 00:08:20.904 --> 00:08:24.855 So it was truth, in a way, that he was speaking. 00:08:24.855 --> 00:08:26.079 So what was the difference? 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:28.499 What made the difference on that day? 00:08:28.499 --> 00:08:30.142 It wasn't that there was. 00:08:30.142 --> 00:08:35.245 There were two truths being spoken, but it was the way that the truth was being presented. 00:08:35.245 --> 00:08:42.554 It was the love that people were experiencing as we were speaking, the truth that we were speaking to them. 00:08:42.554 --> 00:08:49.128 And it's only God, by the way, who can cause anybody to have a heart that changes or a mind that changes. 00:08:49.128 --> 00:08:51.357 Anyway, it wasn't us at all. 00:08:51.357 --> 00:08:58.057 We were just simply vessels that were being used by him, and the truths that we were speaking were just as true as what he was saying. 00:08:58.057 --> 00:09:03.528 It's just that we were using love as a means to get through to these people. 00:09:04.356 --> 00:09:14.014 So, as we look into this passage in Ephesians, chapter 4, remember that Paul was an apostle who started a lot of churches and he was a powerful man of God. 00:09:14.014 --> 00:09:17.226 But probably his favorite church was the church at Ephesus. 00:09:17.226 --> 00:09:19.534 He spent two solid years there. 00:09:19.534 --> 00:09:27.759 He started a ministry school, he trained up many leaders that would be used in all of the different churches that he planted around the Greco-Roman world. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:36.855 And he specifically trained up a young man named Timothy, who was his protege, his son in the faith, who would then become the pastor of this church in Ephesus. 00:09:36.855 --> 00:09:40.615 And so Paul writes this letter to the Ephesian church. 00:09:40.615 --> 00:09:47.948 And it's kind of an interesting letter because most of all of the other letters that Paul writes are pretty corrective in nature. 00:09:47.948 --> 00:09:51.446 In other words, you're doing this wrong and so you need to do this differently. 00:09:51.936 --> 00:09:57.989 But in the book of Ephesians most of it is really simply glorifying Christ. 00:09:57.989 --> 00:10:00.534 It's presenting him in his glory. 00:10:00.534 --> 00:10:06.903 It's talking about how he saves lost people who are not seeking after him, but he pursues them. 00:10:06.903 --> 00:10:11.543 It talks about it's very it's a beautiful book. 00:10:11.543 --> 00:10:15.259 If you've never read the book of Ephesians, I encourage you, even this week. 00:10:15.259 --> 00:10:16.201 It's six chapters. 00:10:16.201 --> 00:10:20.418 Take a chapter a day and read through this beautiful book. 00:10:20.418 --> 00:10:36.210 And in Ephesians 4, paul begins to talk about how the church should function and what kinds of roles the church leaders have and how the leadership within the church should prepare those who are part of the church to be able to do the work of ministry. 00:10:36.210 --> 00:10:38.764 And that's where we find ourselves here in Ephesians, chapter 4. 00:10:39.275 --> 00:10:45.688 So I want to make four crucial points to you from this passage, from our devotional, and then we'll move on to our questions. 00:10:45.688 --> 00:10:51.434 So the first one is Christ gave himself to the church in the form of ministry gifts. 00:10:51.434 --> 00:11:05.749 As great as Neil Silverberg is, or Derek Overhold, or anybody else that you could call out by name in this room, it's only Jesus that can save you, and so you know what we present of ourselves to you. 00:11:05.749 --> 00:11:09.605 I always say to people if you follow me around long enough, I will fail you. 00:11:09.605 --> 00:11:16.875 I'm not trying to fail you, but I am not a perfect person and I will make a mistake somewhere that will cause you to be bothered by that. 00:11:16.875 --> 00:11:21.447 But if you follow whatever you see of Jesus in me, you're never going to be. 00:11:21.447 --> 00:11:27.394 Everything is going to be fine, right, everything's going to be fine Not easy, but fine. 00:11:27.394 --> 00:11:30.595 So follow Jesus and whatever of Jesus you see in me. 00:11:31.576 --> 00:11:42.355 But Jesus felt so strongly about this that he actually laid out these ministry gifts and, by the way, these are, these are they're not really titles, they're more functions. 00:11:42.355 --> 00:11:57.355 So when you think about it, if somebody, if you observe somebody in ministry and they're requiring people to call them a certain title, like Apostle so-and-so, prophet so-and-so, evangelist so-and-so, you have to ask yourself the question why are they requiring that? 00:11:57.355 --> 00:12:06.595 Now it's if somebody refers to another person with a term of Endurement, like we live in the South, everybody calls their pastor pastor Tyler or pastor Derek. 00:12:06.595 --> 00:12:09.727 There's nothing wrong with that, horribly wrong with that. 00:12:09.727 --> 00:12:13.469 But we're never going to require that of you, because we don't feel like that. 00:12:13.469 --> 00:12:14.355 That's what this is about, right? 00:12:14.355 --> 00:12:25.481 Jesus is the name that needs to be magnified and glorified and it's the giving of himself through these different ministry gifts and functions, that's the most important thing. 00:12:25.542 --> 00:12:27.128 So what are these five quickly? 00:12:27.128 --> 00:12:28.211 What are these five things? 00:12:28.211 --> 00:12:29.355 What are the functions of these things? 00:12:29.355 --> 00:12:45.712 Apostles are sent, ones who plant churches or help establish order and lay foundation biblically, especially in these churches Powerful thing that Neil Silverberg and others that we know that operate in this gift. 00:12:45.712 --> 00:12:46.355 Also, profits. 00:12:46.355 --> 00:12:48.104 What do profits do? 00:12:48.104 --> 00:12:50.355 They help declare and confirm what is in the mind of the Lord. 00:12:50.355 --> 00:12:59.355 They bring clarity by speaking the word of God in a particular setting, to a particular group of people at a particular time. 00:13:00.178 --> 00:13:03.315 Evangelists are the hands and feet of Jesus to a lost and dying world. 00:13:03.315 --> 00:13:09.355 If there ever were evangelists that I've ever met, robin Chris Ellis fit in this category very much. 00:13:09.355 --> 00:13:11.422 They are evangelists. 00:13:11.422 --> 00:13:15.315 This is what they do, that is their function, that is what makes them tick right. 00:13:15.315 --> 00:13:20.412 Pastors lead, care for and protect the church. 00:13:20.412 --> 00:13:21.315 That's their ultimate role. 00:13:21.315 --> 00:13:36.067 It's kind of like a shepherd to sheep right, and the teachers help maintain balance through the word of God, and we have pastors and teachers on our group of elders as well, and so we're grateful for all of these different gifts and their functions. 00:13:36.857 --> 00:13:51.315 Jesus performed perfectly every single one of these, and I've never met a person on this planet that can function in all five of these ministry gifts to perfection, like Jesus did right, and that's just absolutely true. 00:13:51.315 --> 00:13:55.335 But the church needs these gifts in place in order for it to be healthy. 00:13:55.335 --> 00:13:58.355 Together, these gifts help to build up the church. 00:13:58.355 --> 00:14:03.335 So the next point is those in ministry should be equipping the church to live like Jesus. 00:14:03.335 --> 00:14:13.335 What is the purpose of these five functions, these gifts that are given, parts of Jesus's ministry, that are given in order for others to carry them forward. 00:14:13.335 --> 00:14:18.315 What is the purpose of those gifts Is to equip the church to live like Jesus. 00:14:18.315 --> 00:14:36.833 We take God gives part of himself, part of Jesus, to different people so that they can express that, so that those who are listening and following and a part of what God's doing through those people can live out the truths that are being spoken about. 00:14:36.854 --> 00:14:37.335 Isn't it interesting? 00:14:37.335 --> 00:14:39.355 What was Jesus's ministry? 00:14:39.355 --> 00:14:40.822 What was his plan? 00:14:40.822 --> 00:14:42.309 What was his plan? 00:14:42.309 --> 00:14:44.857 Was it so? 00:14:44.857 --> 00:14:54.472 Did he want to gather the masses together every day so that he could hope that there would be thousands and thousands of people who would go out and talk about him and bring others to him? 00:14:54.472 --> 00:14:55.355 He could have done that. 00:14:55.355 --> 00:14:56.547 He could have easily gathered the crowds. 00:14:56.547 --> 00:14:59.355 One healing, one miracle. 00:14:59.355 --> 00:15:05.355 We know that there were times he was trying to escape the crowds because they were constantly pushing in on him, wanting more, wanting something more. 00:15:05.355 --> 00:15:07.221 But what did he do? 00:15:07.221 --> 00:15:32.951 He took time with 12 individuals, 12 people, and he taught them who he was, he showed them who he was, he sent them to take the gifts that he had to disperse to others and then, in the end, he filled them with the Holy Spirit and released them as he ascended into heaven to take this great message of the gospel, the kingdom of God, and to disperse it among the nations. 00:15:32.951 --> 00:15:41.335 We are here this morning because that plan works and, by the way, the plan hasn't changed. 00:15:45.220 --> 00:15:56.274 God continues to give giftings to individuals, functions, ministry, functions to individuals so that they can use those things to help disciple others, so that they can do it further and further and further, multitude upon multitude. 00:15:56.274 --> 00:16:04.355 And we have a chance as a church, especially with our young people, to pass this on to the next generation. 00:16:04.355 --> 00:16:10.073 We, as an elder team, these are the types of things that we think about when we think about ministry. 00:16:10.073 --> 00:16:17.254 If we are to live like Jesus, we must also speak the truth in love like Jesus. 00:16:17.254 --> 00:16:17.355 Amen. 00:16:17.355 --> 00:16:18.600 We must speak the truth in love. 00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:24.294 Speaking the truth in love like Jesus is one of the key indicators of spiritual maturity. 00:16:24.294 --> 00:16:33.355 It says here instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of the church. 00:16:33.355 --> 00:16:38.572 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. 00:16:38.572 --> 00:16:45.315 As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. 00:16:45.315 --> 00:16:51.315 Now, most people fit within one of these two camps. 00:16:51.315 --> 00:16:56.214 They're either truth people or they're love people. 00:16:56.254 --> 00:17:00.909 Right Now, how do you figure out, honestly, which camp you are in? 00:17:00.909 --> 00:17:03.304 Here's how you can tell. 00:17:03.304 --> 00:17:04.128 One of the ways you can tell. 00:17:04.128 --> 00:17:11.315 If you get excited about confronting somebody about something, you may be in the truth camp. 00:17:11.315 --> 00:17:27.335 If you are looking forward to the chance to lay somebody out with some truth that you have come to know and feel strongly about and passionately about, you may be in the truth camp. 00:17:27.335 --> 00:17:37.335 If you get silent when things are controversial and back away, you may be in the love camp. 00:17:37.335 --> 00:17:52.111 If you wait patiently for an opportunity to be able to speak somebody instead of being excited about fileting them like you do with salmon, you may be in the love camp. 00:17:52.111 --> 00:17:58.885 But can I tell you the honest truth None of us should fully be in either one of those camps. 00:17:58.885 --> 00:18:01.001 We should be in both. 00:18:01.001 --> 00:18:02.901 We should be in both. 00:18:02.901 --> 00:18:18.839 If we are to live like Jesus, then we must learn, regardless of our passions and what turns us on and what we get excited about, we must choose to follow Jesus and to do things his way, his way. 00:18:22.827 --> 00:18:36.150 I remember when Neil, who was the former lead pastor of Trinity Community Church, asked me about seven or eight years ago if I would consider being the next lead pastor, and so I was praying about that and asking the Lord about it. 00:18:36.150 --> 00:18:40.810 And the Lord asked me a simple question, which I really did not appreciate, if I'm being honest. 00:18:40.810 --> 00:18:43.386 I'm just being real with you. 00:18:43.386 --> 00:18:46.948 He said do you really love the people of the church? 00:18:46.948 --> 00:18:58.107 And I said well, lord, first of all, I'm like the roller-decks or the chip in my brain is going through all of the biblical stories. 00:18:58.107 --> 00:19:05.089 I'm thinking about Peter and Jesus serving in breakfast on the thing and I'm like, how did I sin a few years ago that now Jesus is correcting my sin? 00:19:05.089 --> 00:19:09.125 And then does your mind ever go there Like crazy places? 00:19:09.125 --> 00:19:12.327 But really, I just asked for clarification. 00:19:12.327 --> 00:19:17.605 I said, lord, I think I love them, but I'm sure you're going to tell me something else. 00:19:17.605 --> 00:19:21.707 And he said do you love them enough to tell them the truth? 00:19:21.707 --> 00:19:25.468 Do you love them enough to tell them the truth? 00:19:25.619 --> 00:19:45.741 And for a person who is mostly motivated by love, to hear the Lord asking that of me was something I had to grapple with, something I had to come to terms with because, in order for me to lead and to be an example to our church, to my children, to my grandchildren, to my wife. 00:19:45.741 --> 00:19:53.406 I have to be willing to stand up for what's right and what's true and what's just and what's pure and what's holy. 00:19:53.406 --> 00:20:01.205 And it doesn't mean that I can't love, but love looks like sometimes, really looks like speaking the truth, right. 00:20:01.205 --> 00:20:13.884 So if you find yourself in either one of those camps, ask the Lord to help you to change, to get more to that middle ground where the two are friends of each other, they are not enemies. 00:20:13.884 --> 00:20:21.387 It takes great wisdom and self-control to combine the two in such a way that Christ is fully represented in our communication. 00:20:21.387 --> 00:20:27.986 It's interesting because a lot of times, when it comes to ministry, people forget they're representing somebody else. 00:20:27.986 --> 00:20:40.683 It's not about you, it's not about the way you do something, it's about the Christ that you have the privilege of representing, and that's what it should be all about. 00:20:40.683 --> 00:20:51.019 So the true sign of Christian maturity is that we live like Jesus, and there's a great example of this found in John, chapter eight in verse two. 00:20:51.159 --> 00:20:53.709 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. 00:20:53.709 --> 00:20:58.307 This was Jesus, and all the people came to him and he sat down and taught them. 00:20:58.307 --> 00:21:04.884 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, in placing her in the midst. 00:21:04.884 --> 00:21:09.163 They said to him teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 00:21:09.163 --> 00:21:13.489 Now, in the law, moses commanded us to stone such women. 00:21:13.489 --> 00:21:15.443 So what do you say? 00:21:15.443 --> 00:21:18.867 It sounds like a friendly conversation, right? 00:21:18.867 --> 00:21:21.446 Then they said to test him. 00:21:21.446 --> 00:21:28.087 Aren't you glad that the Bible sometimes gives you like the footnotes, so that you understand the motivation behind it, what's actually being said? 00:21:28.087 --> 00:21:29.203 We don't have to figure it out. 00:21:29.203 --> 00:21:30.039 This. 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:33.368 They said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. 00:21:33.368 --> 00:21:38.409 Jesus spent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 00:21:38.409 --> 00:21:49.020 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her Ouch. 00:21:49.020 --> 00:21:53.088 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 00:21:53.088 --> 00:22:06.208 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, the wiser ones, who understood a little bit more, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 00:22:06.208 --> 00:22:09.886 Jesus stood up and said to her woman where are they? 00:22:09.886 --> 00:22:12.344 Has no one condemned you? 00:22:12.344 --> 00:22:14.503 She said no one, lord. 00:22:14.503 --> 00:22:17.886 And Jesus said neither do I condemn you. 00:22:17.886 --> 00:22:22.769 Go and from now on sin no more. 00:22:26.505 --> 00:22:28.209 The religious leaders spoke the truth. 00:22:28.209 --> 00:22:45.111 It was true that in Moses' law, that if a person were caught in the act of adultery, that one of the punishments, one of the prescriptions, would be for them to be stoned to death, and so they were not tricking Jesus with something that was way far outside. 00:22:45.111 --> 00:22:47.826 And you know this is the way that Satan works. 00:22:47.826 --> 00:22:55.449 He works with things that are very close to being true or could be represented as truth in certain groups, around certain types of people. 00:22:55.449 --> 00:23:05.131 That's the way he loves to work scratching the surface of truth, but the motivation behind it, that which is the desired end result, is far from the truth. 00:23:05.131 --> 00:23:16.407 It's called manipulation and control, and we, as believers in Jesus Christ, should not live or exercise in the realm and the world of Satan and the way he does things. 00:23:16.407 --> 00:23:22.511 We are required and we have the blessing of living like Jesus did. 00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:24.987 They were attempting to cancel Jesus. 00:23:24.987 --> 00:23:29.759 They wanted him removed from the scene, and you know why. 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:34.951 You know why they wanted to cancel Jesus Because they were envious of him. 00:23:34.951 --> 00:23:44.250 When was the last time one of these religious leaders prayed for blind eyes that opened, or deaf ears that could hear, or lame people that jumped up and walked. 00:23:44.250 --> 00:23:52.548 When was the last time that they saw somebody raised from the dead or spoke with such authority, almost like that God himself was speaking? 00:23:52.548 --> 00:23:59.586 When was the last time that crowds would gather around these religious leaders and want to hear the brand of truth that they were presenting? 00:23:59.586 --> 00:24:16.586 Over and over and over again, these people were filled with envy and jealousy and they were wanting to do anything that they could to try to silence this man they considered to be a wicked man. 00:24:16.586 --> 00:24:23.568 Now we know that they weren't serious about this woman and the sin that she was caught in. 00:24:23.568 --> 00:24:24.029 You know why. 00:24:24.029 --> 00:24:26.402 Why? 00:24:26.402 --> 00:24:27.103 Where was the man? 00:24:27.103 --> 00:24:40.111 The woman was caught in adultery, caught in the act of adultery, and so obviously there was somebody else involved in that equation. 00:24:40.111 --> 00:24:41.703 Why weren't they brought? 00:24:41.703 --> 00:24:56.330 Well, because maybe these religious leaders knew this man and wanted to protect his reputation, maybe he was even one of them, maybe he was somebody that was not as important. 00:24:56.330 --> 00:25:10.066 They wanted to bring this vulnerable person, this woman, to Jesus, to make it harder for him to be able to answer the question without somehow messing with something from Moses or from culture that was present at the time. 00:25:10.066 --> 00:25:20.373 They really just wanted to trick Jesus, to condemn him, to discredit him to remove him. 00:25:22.782 --> 00:25:26.070 People in general listen to this. 00:25:26.070 --> 00:25:32.741 People in general tend to follow those who have similar passions to them, but how many of you know? 00:25:32.741 --> 00:25:37.865 Just because somebody is passionate about something doesn't mean that there's somebody that we should follow. 00:25:37.865 --> 00:25:50.788 These religious leaders were passionate about what they taught, about what they believed, about what they did, about what they didn't do, especially, and about what they were promoting for other people to not do or to do. 00:25:50.788 --> 00:26:07.503 They were religious in every way, and yet they couldn't see the kingdom of God had come right in front of them and they were completely blind to it, to the point to where they were resisting it with everything that they had in them. 00:26:07.503 --> 00:26:13.864 Let's be careful not to connect ourselves with people who are passionate about something that is not truth. 00:26:13.864 --> 00:26:16.925 Let's be careful and guarded against that. 00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:31.328 There are so many people that have voices on the internet through podcasts in many different ways, that they're really interesting to listen to, and we feel similar passions to what they feel, and so we go with them completely. 00:26:31.328 --> 00:26:32.683 It's like all or nothing. 00:26:32.683 --> 00:26:39.762 The only person that we should be all or nothing with and it should be all, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 00:26:39.762 --> 00:26:45.388 Everyone else is prone to weakness and failing. 00:26:45.388 --> 00:26:49.126 So what did Jesus do with these religious leaders? 00:26:49.126 --> 00:26:54.632 I believe he challenged them by speaking the truth and love about their own need for mercy. 00:26:54.632 --> 00:26:56.285 First of all, he said nothing. 00:26:56.285 --> 00:27:11.752 He bends over and he begins to ride in the sand, and I love the scene from the Passion of the Christ where the woman comes to Jesus and Jesus bends over and begins to ride in the sand, and you hear the sound effect of poooosh as the sand flies up off of the ground. 00:27:11.752 --> 00:27:28.530 We don't know if it was that kind of a miraculous moment or not, but we do know those very same fingers in the Old Testament wrote the law of God on two tablets of stone, and so I believe this was a similarly powerful moment. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:39.847 The God of creation, jesus Himself, who spoke the words of creation, stooped down and wrote in the sand, and there's all kinds of conjecture about what he must have written. 00:27:39.847 --> 00:27:40.890 What could he have written? 00:27:40.890 --> 00:27:41.632 What did he write? 00:27:41.632 --> 00:27:43.265 Or did he just draw something? 00:27:43.265 --> 00:27:46.909 Was it the first emoji ever that was ever created? 00:27:46.909 --> 00:27:49.326 What did he write, you know, in the sand. 00:27:51.845 --> 00:27:55.031 I have a theory, and I'm going to tell you this is a complete theory. 00:27:55.031 --> 00:28:03.124 This is not something that you should write down in your notes and say Tyler said this is the way, it is okay. 00:28:03.124 --> 00:28:09.750 But what if the first time he stooped down he wrote do not commit adultery. 00:28:09.750 --> 00:28:23.286 And then he stood up and said that he's without sin, cast the first stone, and then he bends down and he starts writing the other nine. 00:28:23.286 --> 00:28:42.214 All of a sudden, from the oldest to the youngest, they drop their rocks and they leave, maybe for the first time in many years, recognizing their own need for mercy, their own need For mercy. 00:28:43.102 --> 00:28:57.143 Isn't it interesting that the very people that were attempting to destroy Jesus and cancel him, jesus is throwing them a lifeline by helping them to look up where their help comes from. 00:28:57.143 --> 00:28:59.686 Again, we're not benefited. 00:28:59.686 --> 00:29:09.923 We don't have the end of all of their stories, but I believe that some of these people began to think differently about Jesus and about his words from this point forward. 00:29:09.923 --> 00:29:14.536 He could have easily swatted them away like flies. 00:29:14.536 --> 00:29:22.795 He could have called down fire from heaven, he could have consumed them with lightning, he could have sent angels to mess with them. 00:29:22.795 --> 00:29:29.315 He could have done a thousand million different things, and yet he just stooped over and wrote in the sand. 00:29:33.105 --> 00:29:36.130 And then Jesus speaks the truth in love to the unbelieving woman. 00:29:36.130 --> 00:29:40.707 Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 00:29:40.707 --> 00:29:44.334 He stood up and said to her woman where are they? 00:29:44.334 --> 00:29:45.208 Could you picture this? 00:29:45.208 --> 00:30:08.454 Up to this point, her hair must have been in front of her eyes and her hands probably in a defensive position, waiting for the first rock to be thrown, knowing that this was probably the end of her life, and all of a sudden she wipes away the mud and the tears and pushes her hair back and looks around. 00:30:08.454 --> 00:30:13.096 You can just think it must have been very still in that moment. 00:30:13.096 --> 00:30:18.087 And she looks around and there's nobody left except for Jesus. 00:30:18.087 --> 00:30:20.627 And she looks up at Jesus. 00:30:20.627 --> 00:30:23.095 And what does Jesus say? 00:30:23.095 --> 00:30:29.109 Has no one condemned you? 00:30:29.109 --> 00:30:32.810 She said no one, lord. 00:30:32.810 --> 00:30:38.136 And Jesus said neither do I condemn you. 00:30:38.136 --> 00:30:42.875 Go and from now on, sin no more. 00:30:45.664 --> 00:30:52.313 You see, first of all, jesus deals with the shame that this woman must have been experiencing because of the sin that she was involved with. 00:30:52.313 --> 00:30:56.695 He confronted her by truth in love. 00:30:56.695 --> 00:30:59.093 He asked the woman where are your accusers? 00:30:59.093 --> 00:31:03.353 You know the difference between condemnation and conviction. 00:31:03.353 --> 00:31:13.512 Condemnation is a tool of Satan that attempts to convince people that there's no hope, that there's no answer, there's no way out. 00:31:13.512 --> 00:31:16.974 They've gone too far, they've gone too deep, it's over. 00:31:16.974 --> 00:31:23.269 And not only does it try to convince people of that about themselves. 00:31:23.269 --> 00:31:28.011 Condemnation tries to work on us, against other people as well. 00:31:28.011 --> 00:31:30.310 They're getting what they deserve. 00:31:30.310 --> 00:31:33.894 We need to be careful with that. 00:31:33.894 --> 00:31:39.244 Judge not, lest you be judged Now. 00:31:39.266 --> 00:31:40.170 What does conviction do? 00:31:40.170 --> 00:31:57.727 Conviction does not deny the fact that this adultery was sin against God and against man, and the fullest extent of the reverberation or the consequence of that sin is eternal separation from God. 00:31:57.727 --> 00:32:05.040 But but but go and sin no more. 00:32:05.040 --> 00:32:07.849 He gave her a way out. 00:32:07.849 --> 00:32:09.048 He gave her an answer. 00:32:09.048 --> 00:32:16.488 Conviction is God saying to you let's do this, let's do this, let's lay it aside. 00:32:16.488 --> 00:32:20.570 Let's lay that aside and follow after me and I will make all things new. 00:32:20.570 --> 00:32:25.775 And then the woman did you notice what she said? 00:32:25.775 --> 00:32:29.954 She acknowledged Jesus as her savior and Lord. 00:32:29.954 --> 00:32:36.000 When she said no one Lord, no one Lord. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:42.453 We don't know who was her master before besides Satan. 00:32:42.453 --> 00:32:47.174 But now she looks at Jesus with new eyes and new hope. 00:32:47.174 --> 00:32:50.230 And what does Jesus do? 00:32:50.230 --> 00:32:56.849 Jesus forgives her, but then he challenges her to show fruits of repentance. 00:32:56.849 --> 00:33:06.453 Jesus, again, didn't deny the sin, he didn't lessen its effect, he didn't make light of it, but he gave her a way out and a means of remaining free from it. 00:33:06.453 --> 00:33:12.375 This is how Jesus speaks the truth in love. 00:33:15.585 --> 00:33:18.650 Speaking the truth in love, like Jesus, must begin within the church. 00:33:18.650 --> 00:33:27.113 How many churches have divided because these truths have not been exercised in their houses, in their church? 00:33:27.113 --> 00:33:37.008 How can we model such love when we must address our own failings, our own sins, our own offenses with one another? 00:33:37.008 --> 00:33:42.211 Jesus gave us clear instructions, thankfully, in Matthew 18, verse 15. 00:33:42.211 --> 00:33:48.054 If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. 00:33:48.054 --> 00:33:51.692 If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 00:33:51.692 --> 00:34:00.010 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 00:34:00.010 --> 00:34:04.493 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. 00:34:04.493 --> 00:34:11.492 And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 00:34:11.492 --> 00:34:16.030 Whoa, this is serious. 00:34:16.030 --> 00:34:19.692 Let's just reiterate quickly the steps. 00:34:19.784 --> 00:34:27.175 Step one the person observing another believer's unrepented sin must be the one who lovingly and biblically confronts them. 00:34:27.175 --> 00:34:32.072 You know what we normally do hey, did you see what so and so did? 00:34:32.072 --> 00:34:33.949 Did you see that post? 00:34:33.949 --> 00:34:42.333 Did you recognize what they were doing and we also spiritualize it. 00:34:42.333 --> 00:34:48.050 You know we really need to pray for so and so they're really struggling right now. 00:34:48.050 --> 00:34:53.867 You know what they're involved with, right, I do now. 00:34:59.605 --> 00:35:20.231 This is a one-on-one scenario One person going to another person because they care so deeply about them about them that they're willing to be honest and open about something that they see that could be a great threat to this person. 00:35:20.231 --> 00:35:31.150 If we're not interested in the restoration of the person, don't start the process. 00:35:31.150 --> 00:35:43.780 Shut your mouth and sit down, because church discipline, the only goal must be restoration. 00:35:43.780 --> 00:35:48.094 Now can we control how that if that happens? 00:35:48.094 --> 00:35:49.289 Absolutely not. 00:35:49.289 --> 00:35:55.492 We have no ability to control how another person carries out their walk and their life. 00:35:55.492 --> 00:35:58.931 All we can do is create every kind of way. 00:35:58.931 --> 00:36:12.610 System means to give that person a chance to walk in the light as he is in the light, to walk away from the sin that has had them captivated and to walk in truth. 00:36:17.677 --> 00:36:24.766 Step two if there is no repentance, try again with one or two other people that are on your side. 00:36:24.766 --> 00:36:27.019 Is that the right answer? 00:36:27.019 --> 00:36:31.525 One or two spiritually mature people? 00:36:31.525 --> 00:36:34.141 This is not a gang obsession. 00:36:34.141 --> 00:36:41.800 This is not you and your buddies coming to let them know that you're going to do something about this because of what they've done. 00:36:41.800 --> 00:36:56.565 This is a serious thing because you're concerned not about your own feelings alone, but you're concerned about the outcome for this person's life. 00:36:56.565 --> 00:37:06.501 And step three, the final stage if the person does not repent, it is that the church leadership gets involved and it's brought ultimately before the church. 00:37:07.815 --> 00:37:12.240 And I've had people ask me and I've been in ministry 30 years have you ever seen it go to step three? 00:37:12.240 --> 00:37:14.219 I want to tell you a quick story. 00:37:14.219 --> 00:37:52.864 25 years ago, the pastor of our church started a relationship with a young lady in the church, and it started out innocently enough, but over time it seemed like it began to change and transform into something that was more than just a friendship, and so I, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit in love, went to this pastor time and time again and asked simple questions Is it possible that you're getting too close to this individual? 00:37:52.864 --> 00:37:54.960 How can I pray about this? 00:37:54.960 --> 00:38:09.400 Expressing my own weakness, especially as a teenager, when it came to being involved in relationships that were not good for me, that were not healthy, and every time I would walk away from those occasions feeling like I had done something wrong. 00:38:09.400 --> 00:38:16.925 In fact, the last time they said I swear on the Bible that I haven't done anything wrong. 00:38:16.925 --> 00:38:26.518 Well, the person that they were married to hired a private investigator and discovered that there was something going on that was wrong. 00:38:26.518 --> 00:38:40.259 And so then I had to step in as one of the other pastors of the church to speak to this individual again, and at first it looked like that they were going to repent, and I was so excited. 00:38:41.934 --> 00:38:50.157 But a day or two later, god, in his wisdom, had eyes out that we didn't even know about around the community. 00:38:50.157 --> 00:39:15.601 That saw this pastor and this young lady together again, and so, confronted again, I called one of our overseers of the church to come in and help me, and we met together with this pastor, again confronted in love, looking for redemption, looking for a way for a means for this to be turned into a positive thing instead of a negative thing for him. 00:39:15.601 --> 00:39:27.737 And in the end he refused, and so I had to say well then, I'm going to have to speak to the church, step three. 00:39:27.737 --> 00:39:48.338 And so I stood up on a Sunday morning, just like this, and I shared what I just shared with you to a congregation and shared that their pastor, my dad, had chosen to walk away from everything that he had known before to pursue this relationship with this young lady. 00:39:48.338 --> 00:40:02.184 That, my friends, was one of the hardest days of my life, and as I was trying to make the decision of whether I could do that, even do that, or should do that, you know what I thought about. 00:40:02.184 --> 00:40:13.460 I thought about my young children and I thought about years from that day when we would have conversations about Christ and about truth and about love. 00:40:13.460 --> 00:40:19.820 How would I explain what happened with their grandfather and how that connected to the church? 00:40:19.820 --> 00:40:29.860 And I realized that I was not just doing this for my dad's benefit, I was doing it for my own family's benefit, because the children of the church. 00:40:30.554 --> 00:40:37.159 If there's no standard of holiness held up within a church, what do our kids think? 00:40:37.159 --> 00:40:42.998 They think that anything goes, it really doesn't matter, there's no repercussion, there's no consequence. 00:40:42.998 --> 00:41:01.782 You know we talk about sin on Sunday mornings, but there's no evidence of anybody ever being confronted about sin or being dealt with or having to come to terms with the fact that they're living in a life that's outside of what is God's best for them, and so it made the decision based on that. 00:41:01.782 --> 00:41:04.143 Now, this afternoon, right after this service. 00:41:04.143 --> 00:41:23.282 I'm leaving to go to North Carolina to visit my dad and I met with him about six weeks ago and we had the best conversation we've had in 25 years and he is much closer to repairing his relationship with the Lord than he ever has been up to this point. 00:41:23.282 --> 00:41:31.117 And that is still my hope and the goal of this whole thing, the whole thing. 00:41:32.014 --> 00:41:39.565 And so what I'm saying to you is that, as hard as this thing is, to do this the right way, it's got to be done. 00:41:39.565 --> 00:41:44.516 It must be done for the health of the individual and for the body. 00:41:44.516 --> 00:41:48.244 That's a part of this kind of thing. 00:41:48.244 --> 00:41:49.067 Right? 00:41:49.067 --> 00:41:55.001 It's one of the reasons why I have built such here's the thing about my dad that you don't know. 00:41:55.001 --> 00:42:00.139 He was one of the greatest ministers of the gospel I have ever known. 00:42:00.139 --> 00:42:03.862 He saw blind eyes open and deaf ears open. 00:42:03.862 --> 00:42:07.543 He saw hundreds of people come to know Jesus as their savior. 00:42:07.543 --> 00:42:19.181 He was not a slough, he was the real thing, until this thing got ahold of him and he wasn't willing to let it go. 00:42:22.295 --> 00:42:31.597 So I have built all kinds of accountability into my life to ensure because if that man could fall the way he fell, but for the grace of God. 00:42:31.597 --> 00:42:32.721 There go I. 00:42:32.721 --> 00:42:46.724 So one of the things that I've done my wife has the ability to search any of my accounts at any time without me deleting anything or changing a password or anything like that. 00:42:46.724 --> 00:42:51.800 I also will never be in a car alone with a woman unless she's a part of my family. 00:42:51.800 --> 00:42:57.360 I don't counsel with women alone in the church unless there are other people that are here. 00:42:57.360 --> 00:43:25.923 When I travel, I try to take somebody with me so that I'm not alone All kinds of things that are built in as accountability, not because I'm afraid of something happening, but because I've observed the breaking down of something beautiful and precious to something that has taken 25 years to even see a glimmer of hope. 00:43:28.268 --> 00:43:29.070 It's serious, guys. 00:43:29.070 --> 00:43:30.699 What we're talking about here is real. 00:43:30.699 --> 00:43:35.443 In Galatians 6-1 really gives us a great observation. 00:43:35.443 --> 00:43:42.500 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you, who are spiritual, should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. 00:43:42.500 --> 00:43:47.798 Keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted. 00:43:47.798 --> 00:43:54.331 A little bit of humility goes a long way when it comes to speaking the truth in love. 00:43:54.331 --> 00:43:56.021 Do you agree with that? 00:43:56.021 --> 00:43:57.246 Amen? 00:43:58.061 --> 00:44:05.762 So let's talk about what culture says, and again, we understand Satan's impact on the culture based, the agenda that we hear about that. 00:44:05.762 --> 00:44:07.166 We argue about the agendas. 00:44:07.166 --> 00:44:19.367 Those agendas are fed by things that are greater than humanity in the sense of their scope, the scope of power that they have, whether God is feeding them or Satan is feeding them. 00:44:19.367 --> 00:44:27.802 So the first lie is that love is all-inclusive and celebrates diversity of every kind, except Christianity. 00:44:27.802 --> 00:44:37.431 We are the last ones, we are the only ones that there's open season on. 00:44:37.431 --> 00:45:05.489 If you are truly a Christian, then you are the enemy of culture, of our current culture, and it's not because we've set ourselves up that way, it's because Satan hates Jesus Christ, and so anything and anyone who represents Jesus Christ in public is under assault by a Satan who hates the life and love of Jesus Christ. 00:45:05.489 --> 00:45:26.952 But, by the way, the culture will gladly embrace churches that affirm their sin and there are plenty out there that do and I just want to reinforce with you that we will always walk in love toward anyone, regardless of where they're at in their relationship with the Lord or what sin they're involved with. 00:45:26.952 --> 00:45:40.351 But I will tell you this right now that we will not change our stance concerning what God says is true based on pressure from the culture to change. 00:45:40.351 --> 00:45:46.009 That is our hope, and we ask you to continue to pray for us that we will walk in that truth. 00:45:47.800 --> 00:45:53.403 Another thing culture says is love looks like not interfering with my life choices, even when they're harmful or wrong. 00:45:53.403 --> 00:45:58.507 You just pacify, you just walk away. 00:45:58.507 --> 00:45:59.724 You just look the other way. 00:45:59.724 --> 00:46:04.460 Love is embracing my victimhood and whatever that causes me to do so. 00:46:04.460 --> 00:46:21.047 If I break into your house and rub from you, you need to celebrate that, because you're understanding that I'm actually the victim who's acting out of my victimhood and you're not actually being harmed, you're just kind of getting the reciprocation. 00:46:21.047 --> 00:46:24.744 That's weird, but it's true. 00:46:24.744 --> 00:46:25.385