WEBVTT 00:00:05.942 --> 00:00:08.304 Well, hey, good morning, good morning, you can go ahead and take your seat. 00:00:08.304 --> 00:00:10.603 Aren't you glad to be in church today? 00:00:10.603 --> 00:00:12.670 All right, all right. 00:00:12.670 --> 00:00:15.926 Some of y'all are like I'm not sure it's been really hot this week. 00:00:15.926 --> 00:00:17.967 Everybody's AC make it through this past week. 00:00:17.967 --> 00:00:20.248 Anybody lose some AC this past week. 00:00:20.248 --> 00:00:23.429 I know my man, brian, did on the front row up here. 00:00:23.429 --> 00:00:27.908 We're gonna lay hands on Brian at the end of the service and pray for their AC unit before we go home today. 00:00:27.908 --> 00:00:30.088 But I hope your AC is hanging in there. 00:00:30.088 --> 00:00:31.136 I'm glad you're here today. 00:00:31.136 --> 00:00:32.365 I'm glad you're here today. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:36.971 We're gonna talk today from the subject getting past your past. 00:00:36.971 --> 00:00:39.106 Getting past your past. 00:00:39.106 --> 00:00:44.945 What I know is that we're all human beings in the room, meaning we all have a past. 00:00:44.945 --> 00:00:46.445 We're all from somewhere. 00:00:46.445 --> 00:00:47.865 We've all got a story. 00:00:47.865 --> 00:01:06.186 There's probably areas in our past that we're really glad that we're not gonna roll the tape back today and put it on the big screen right Words that we've said or circumstances where, if we could go back and do it differently, man, we know exactly what we do and it wouldn't be anything like what we did. 00:01:06.186 --> 00:01:13.245 Or maybe, if we could have a moment back, we know exactly what we should have said in the moment, like if I could just go back and say it one more time. 00:01:13.245 --> 00:01:14.790 I gotta fix it right that you know what I'm saying. 00:01:14.790 --> 00:01:23.168 We all have moments from our past that we either wish we could do differently, wish we could do better, or that we wish should never happen. 00:01:23.168 --> 00:01:26.850 So how do we get past our past? 00:01:26.850 --> 00:01:28.787 We're gonna be in Colossians, chapter three. 00:01:29.540 --> 00:01:56.749 This is, I think, part seven of a series through the book of Colossians, and this is Paul's letter to a church that is in danger of turning away from the main focus of the gospel, which is Jesus Christ, and they're in danger of embracing some version of a works-based theology that you've got to earn your salvation in order for Jesus to really approve of you and welcome you. 00:01:56.749 --> 00:02:05.722 And so Paul is making an argument that once you are in Christ, positionally in Jesus, everything changes. 00:02:05.722 --> 00:02:17.750 By grace, through faith and the finished work of Christ on the cross, you're a new creation and everything is different now, and that's where this chapter three begins. 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:22.010 Paul says if, then everybody say if, then your turn. 00:02:22.010 --> 00:02:24.986 You have been raised with Christ. 00:02:25.600 --> 00:02:30.106 Seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 00:02:30.106 --> 00:02:37.990 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 00:02:37.990 --> 00:02:43.429 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 00:02:43.429 --> 00:02:46.207 Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you? 00:02:46.207 --> 00:02:52.469 Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. 00:02:52.469 --> 00:03:02.027 On account of these, the wrath of God is coming In these you once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. 00:03:02.027 --> 00:03:05.587 Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. 00:03:05.587 --> 00:03:16.147 Don't lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 00:03:16.147 --> 00:03:28.030 Here there is not Greek, in Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. 00:03:29.060 --> 00:03:31.087 Father, we thank you today for your word. 00:03:31.087 --> 00:03:32.864 We pray God. 00:03:32.864 --> 00:03:37.228 By the power of your spirit, your word would do a deep work in our heart. 00:03:37.228 --> 00:03:49.008 God, we confess at the beginning that there are moments in our past that we are not proud of, moments where our life has been characterized by the list of things that Paul says we need to put to death. 00:03:49.008 --> 00:04:09.627 But, father, we are also really grateful this morning that there's a new life available in Jesus by grace, through faith, can be ours and because of that, because of your grace at work in us, father, we're able to actually move past, to get past our past. 00:04:09.627 --> 00:04:17.408 So, god, we pray now that by the power of your spirit, you would work in these moments that we share in Jesus name, and everybody says amen. 00:04:18.139 --> 00:04:24.609 So last Sunday after church, my family and I, we finished loading out that process here. 00:04:24.609 --> 00:04:29.704 Everything was on the trailers, trailers were moving back to the downtown campus and it was lunchtime. 00:04:29.704 --> 00:04:40.709 So we're discussing, debating our kids due to Noah, they're throwing in all kinds of suggestions as far as what we should eat for lunch and we end up as we often do. 00:04:40.709 --> 00:04:46.185 Y'all go through like the process as a family of like debating where you're gonna go, only to go to where you always go. 00:04:46.185 --> 00:04:47.704 We went to El Jalapeño. 00:04:47.704 --> 00:04:49.426 We always go to El Jalapeño. 00:04:49.426 --> 00:04:51.005 I didn't get better than El Jalapeño. 00:04:51.005 --> 00:04:51.828 It's phenomenal. 00:04:51.828 --> 00:04:55.421 We're not sponsored by them, but if they wanna send a bunch of burritos we'll take them. 00:04:55.421 --> 00:04:56.847 You know, like it's amazing. 00:04:56.847 --> 00:05:07.825 And so we went to El Jalapeño and we sat down and we ate lunch and it was delicious, and then we went on with the day and five o'clock I'm downtown at the downtown campus for the five o'clock service. 00:05:07.899 --> 00:05:20.625 I'm sitting on the front row and my wife comes in, sits down to my left and she begins to look at me like there is something that I am unaware of that I should be aware of. 00:05:20.625 --> 00:05:28.180 And some of you men who are married you know that look, and I'm getting that look from my wife and what you know. 00:05:28.180 --> 00:05:33.647 I'm like looking at her, like trying to be inconspicuous on the front row, like why are you looking at me like this? 00:05:33.647 --> 00:05:38.826 And she leans over to me and she says you smell like an enchilada. 00:05:38.826 --> 00:05:42.804 And I was like, well, you know there's two ways to look at that. 00:05:42.804 --> 00:05:46.605 There are a lot worse things I could smell like and my lunch was really good. 00:05:46.605 --> 00:05:53.060 Or, and you know, like, maybe, maybe, like who day enchilada is like the scent of the fall, you know like. 00:05:53.060 --> 00:06:00.467 But she just was looking at me like and sometimes, if we're honest, that's kind of how our past is. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:08.972 It's just on us and everybody around us knows it and can see it and it's affecting us and maybe it's a good thing, right? 00:06:08.972 --> 00:06:19.065 You ever met anybody that just lives in the old glory days you know they're always telling stories about their high school career and the fish they caught that one time and like it's just like glory day. 00:06:19.065 --> 00:06:23.548 Those are the people you wanna be around at the family reunion, like they're a blast right. 00:06:23.548 --> 00:06:26.067 Good stuff from the past just sticks with you. 00:06:26.067 --> 00:06:36.366 Maybe it's bad stuff from the past, choices again, choices you wish you could have back, or words you wish you had never said, or maybe words that you should have said. 00:06:36.366 --> 00:06:39.990 And you know, maybe it's regret that creeps in. 00:06:40.280 --> 00:06:53.566 I still to this day I'm 31 years old and I still to this day, remember being six years old in the first grade, sitting in class, and I'm talking when I shouldn't have been talking, and my teacher points at me and says, james, were you talking? 00:06:53.566 --> 00:07:02.626 And my response as an honest six year old in the first grade was no, he was and I was the kid in class that didn't normally talk in class. 00:07:02.626 --> 00:07:19.907 And guess what, my teacher believed me and she turned the card of the guy next to me which, in my book, in first grade, six years old, turning your card was like the worst thing that could happen, because it went in your agenda and you had to get that thing signed by your parents and I hadn't yet figured out that I could sign my own agenda and my mom and dad never had to see it. 00:07:19.907 --> 00:07:23.864 I didn't know that yet, I wasn't that type, but some of the kids were like, oh, that's a really good idea. 00:07:23.864 --> 00:07:28.166 You know, like I didn't know that and so I told my teacher no, it wasn't me, it was him. 00:07:28.166 --> 00:07:45.365 And she turned his card and in the moment I'm like woo Right, then get home and it's like I lied to my teacher and y'all like for years that aided me and I finally had to write a letter to my teacher to tell her that I lied to her when I was six years old in the first grade. 00:07:46.099 --> 00:07:53.483 Because that's what shame and guilt and condemnation from the past does right, it just eats at you, it weighs on you. 00:07:53.483 --> 00:07:57.041 And here's the thing we know. 00:07:57.041 --> 00:08:01.827 We know that in Christ we're called to move into the future. 00:08:01.827 --> 00:08:04.086 We're called to go forward. 00:08:04.086 --> 00:08:07.328 We all have a past, but we don't live in the past. 00:08:07.328 --> 00:08:11.229 We all are from somewhere, but we don't stay there. 00:08:11.229 --> 00:08:17.404 We all have a story, but who we were doesn't have to define who we are and who we are becoming. 00:08:17.404 --> 00:08:20.287 Paul writes in his letter to the church at Corinth. 00:08:20.287 --> 00:08:26.163 God always leads us in triumphal procession after Christ, like that's what he does. 00:08:26.163 --> 00:08:28.827 He moves us into the future. 00:08:28.827 --> 00:08:33.581 But how many of us are living our lives, sam? 00:08:33.581 --> 00:08:34.681 Help me out, raphaz, come here. 00:08:34.681 --> 00:08:37.827 Raphaz, by the way, y'all, sam had a birthday yesterday. 00:08:37.827 --> 00:08:40.288 My little brother turned 24 years old. 00:08:40.288 --> 00:08:40.841 How about that? 00:08:40.841 --> 00:08:45.303 Just growing up on the other side, you know, just growing up, man, proud of you, love you All. 00:08:45.303 --> 00:08:46.779 Right, watch this, y'all, watch this. 00:08:46.779 --> 00:08:47.583 So many of us. 00:08:47.583 --> 00:08:50.338 We know God's calling us to go that way. 00:08:50.338 --> 00:08:54.519 Right, we're called to go forward, but so many times this is what we do. 00:08:54.679 --> 00:08:57.788 Sam, I want you to walk forward, but look at me while you walk. 00:08:57.788 --> 00:09:00.295 Okay, keep going, keep going. 00:09:00.295 --> 00:09:02.625 You about to run over, miss Faye, pause, pause, pause, pause. 00:09:02.625 --> 00:09:04.470 Miss Faye's, like I think he might hit me right now. 00:09:04.470 --> 00:09:05.938 We do that. 00:09:05.938 --> 00:09:07.461 Right, I keep come back to the right. 00:09:07.461 --> 00:09:07.982 Just a little bit. 00:09:07.982 --> 00:09:08.483 There you go. 00:09:08.483 --> 00:09:09.004 Keep going straight. 00:09:09.004 --> 00:09:12.430 That's pretty good. 00:09:12.430 --> 00:09:14.754 It's a pause, you good, that's good. 00:09:14.754 --> 00:09:15.930 Come back, come back, come back, come back. 00:09:15.930 --> 00:09:16.779 That was really good. 00:09:16.779 --> 00:09:18.299 He kind of blew up my illustration right there. 00:09:18.299 --> 00:09:26.299 Maybe we shouldn't pick you for illustrations next time, but that's the point though, right, like it's really hard to walk forward. 00:09:26.299 --> 00:09:27.802 How confident were you in that walk? 00:09:27.802 --> 00:09:30.025 Right there You're watching me. 00:09:30.025 --> 00:09:31.808 That's cheating. 00:09:31.808 --> 00:09:34.812 It's cheating it's wisdom. 00:09:34.812 --> 00:09:35.894 You're 24 now, so they go. 00:09:35.894 --> 00:09:36.235 Good job. 00:09:36.235 --> 00:09:52.199 The point, the point If we are constantly facing this way and trying to move that way, we're going to get off course really quickly and God's calling us to move into the future. 00:09:52.319 --> 00:09:57.579 So this question becomes how do we move forward away from what is behind? 00:09:57.579 --> 00:09:59.980 Paul says it like this in another place in his letters. 00:09:59.980 --> 00:10:05.620 He says pressing on towards what is ahead and forgetting what lies behind. 00:10:05.620 --> 00:10:13.406 I press on towards the goal, the prize of the upward call in Christ and what Paul is going to tell us in Colossians. 00:10:13.406 --> 00:10:39.959 Chapter three is going to help us get past our past and I really I believe that for some of us in the room who came in here today with shame and guilt and condemnation from choices we made years ago, or relationships that blew up years ago, or words we wish we had never said years ago, or regret from our past, I really believe this is going to be helpful and encouraging to us today. 00:10:39.980 --> 00:10:43.129 Okay, paul starts chapter three with two words. 00:10:43.129 --> 00:10:48.452 He says if, then, if, then, if then what? 00:10:48.452 --> 00:10:52.672 Well, if then you have been raised with Christ. 00:10:52.672 --> 00:10:57.569 If your position is now in Christ, how do we find our position in Christ? 00:10:57.569 --> 00:10:59.506 This has been the last two weeks message. 00:10:59.506 --> 00:11:03.550 We find our position in Christ by grace, through faith. 00:11:03.550 --> 00:11:05.265 Who does the work? 00:11:05.265 --> 00:11:12.405 Jesus on the cross did everything that we need to be made right with God, and when he finished, what did he say? 00:11:12.405 --> 00:11:14.747 It is finished. 00:11:14.747 --> 00:11:21.559 All that we need to be right with God has been completed for us in Jesus on the cross. 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:32.691 And Paul says if then you've been raised with Christ, if, by grace, through faith, you've received the gift of salvation through Jesus, you now have a new life. 00:11:33.139 --> 00:11:42.544 Paul says this is what happens next Seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 00:11:42.544 --> 00:11:47.587 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things on the earth. 00:11:47.587 --> 00:11:51.259 And so he gives us two really quick pieces of instruction. 00:11:51.259 --> 00:11:59.985 He says hey, set your mind, set your attention, set your thoughts on things above where Christ is and seek after them. 00:11:59.985 --> 00:12:16.169 He actually says it the opposite way Seek after and set your mind on so it's this sense of desire more than anything else on this earth Christ and the things of Christ, and then dwell on those in your thought. 00:12:16.169 --> 00:12:19.715 Let those dominate your thought process throughout your day. 00:12:19.715 --> 00:12:26.649 You know, we have a phrase in the English language get your head out of the clouds, right. 00:12:26.649 --> 00:12:33.473 And what Paul is saying here is no, put your head back in the clouds, like you're thinking. 00:12:33.473 --> 00:12:41.838 On this level, paul says I want you thinking on things that are above, just thinking on things of Christ. 00:12:43.928 --> 00:13:15.169 If I took a poll of the room today, myself included, and said hey, what is it that dominates your desire, what you want, what you chase, what you pursue and your thoughts, what you think about where your mind goes when you have a moment of free time and quiet, if we took a poll and said what is it that you desire and what is it that dominates your mind, I'm willing to bet that for most of us in the room it would be some form of well, you know, I think a lot about my career. 00:13:15.169 --> 00:13:21.980 I desire, maybe, stability and consistency and number in a bank account so I can retire one day. 00:13:21.980 --> 00:13:25.654 I desire for my kids to make good choices and live good lives. 00:13:25.654 --> 00:13:28.840 I, you know, I think a lot about the future. 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:34.377 I'm concerned about the direction of our world and the choices that we're making. 00:13:34.377 --> 00:13:45.612 As a people Like I'm willing to bet that some form or fashion, those concerns and thoughts and desires would dominate the results of that poll. 00:13:45.612 --> 00:13:48.951 And that's not necessarily bad, is it y'all? 00:13:48.951 --> 00:14:01.251 To think about your kids and your career and to chase, you know, success in, you know the earthly sense Like none of that in and of itself is bad. 00:14:01.251 --> 00:14:11.819 Paul just says it's a bad focus for your mind, it's a bad thought process for your mind to constantly be there and it's an emptiness for your heart. 00:14:13.286 --> 00:14:28.058 So Paul challenges us right off the top and says hey, if you are a new creation in Christ, set your hearts and your minds, your desires and your thoughts on things that are above where Christ is, not on things of the earth. 00:14:28.058 --> 00:14:29.715 And then he explains why. 00:14:29.715 --> 00:14:33.350 In verse three he says for you have died Again. 00:14:33.350 --> 00:14:34.337 You're not who you used to be. 00:14:34.337 --> 00:14:41.419 You're not the old you, the things that you used to pursue, the places you used to look for hope and wholeness. 00:14:41.419 --> 00:14:43.218 That no longer defines you. 00:14:43.218 --> 00:14:48.059 You have died and you, your life now is hidden with Christ in God. 00:14:48.059 --> 00:14:54.216 And when Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with him in glory. 00:14:54.216 --> 00:14:57.899 So he says right now, today, there's been a change. 00:14:57.899 --> 00:15:12.803 You're now hidden with Christ in God and there's a moment coming where Jesus will return and then the process of change will be complete and you'll see Jesus as he is Now. 00:15:12.803 --> 00:15:13.698 Y'all, we got to be honest. 00:15:13.698 --> 00:15:19.500 There's a little bit of tension that is introduced in these first four verses of chapter three. 00:15:19.539 --> 00:15:31.659 So again, we've been talking a lot these last couple of weeks about salvation and where salvation comes from, and again I want to reiterate salvation is by grace, through faith, the free gift of God. 00:15:31.659 --> 00:15:39.914 It's not of works so that we can't be proud of ourselves when we get saved, like that's really really clear, right? 00:15:39.914 --> 00:15:54.408 And most of us, when we think about salvation, what we're talking about is the moment where we express faith in Jesus, we turn from our sins and repentance and we confess that we need a savior and we ask Jesus to save us. 00:15:54.408 --> 00:15:58.518 For most of us, that's what we think about when we think of salvation. 00:15:58.518 --> 00:16:06.535 When the New Testament talks about salvation, it actually talks about salvation in three ways and this is really really important. 00:16:06.535 --> 00:16:10.939 And in the New Testament, again, salvation is a process. 00:16:10.939 --> 00:16:12.178 It's a process. 00:16:12.178 --> 00:16:22.475 It starts with what's called justification, the moment we express faith in Jesus, we express our need for a savior and we ask Jesus by grace, through faith, to save us. 00:16:22.475 --> 00:16:25.139 That's justification. 00:16:25.139 --> 00:16:32.872 It's when we're declared right before God, our sins are forgiven, our past is redeemed and we are made new. 00:16:32.872 --> 00:16:42.658 So you could say in that sense, as the New Testament says over and over Romans 10, 10 comes to mind you have been saved, you are saved. 00:16:42.658 --> 00:16:46.215 It's a past tense. 00:16:46.215 --> 00:16:47.259 Salvation has happened to you. 00:16:48.472 --> 00:16:53.549 Justification, the second part of the salvation process, the big word is sanctification. 00:16:53.549 --> 00:16:59.459 It's this process of becoming like Jesus. 00:16:59.459 --> 00:17:08.239 How many of you know, just because you place your faith in Jesus and your sins are forgiven and you're made new, the old is gone, you've been erased with Christ. 00:17:08.239 --> 00:17:11.326 When that happened, did anybody immediately become perfect? 00:17:11.326 --> 00:17:15.859 I didn't, right. 00:17:15.859 --> 00:17:27.180 Like, just because you give your life to Jesus doesn't mean that from that point forward, this journey with God, this path that we walk, we walk in perfection. 00:17:27.180 --> 00:17:29.019 Now, that would be awesome, would it not? 00:17:29.019 --> 00:17:36.513 Like y'all, I would love to be able to get up here on a Sunday morning and say, hey, if you place your faith in Jesus today, you'll be perfect for the rest of your life. 00:17:36.513 --> 00:17:42.310 Like, that would preach and people would come and they would get saved. 00:17:42.310 --> 00:17:43.257 And it would be wrong. 00:17:43.257 --> 00:17:46.019 Right, because that's not how it works. 00:17:47.788 --> 00:17:55.819 There's this process called sanctification that the New Testament teaches is a critical component of our salvation. 00:17:55.819 --> 00:18:07.411 We've been justified by grace through faith, and then the process of sanctification, becoming like Christ, begins Again. 00:18:07.411 --> 00:18:08.858 New Testament language Matthew 24,. 00:18:08.858 --> 00:18:14.897 Jesus says this those who persevere to the end will be saved. 00:18:14.897 --> 00:18:16.019 You will be saved. 00:18:16.019 --> 00:18:19.014 It's this future sense. 00:18:19.014 --> 00:18:24.251 In other places in the New Testament the language is you are being saved. 00:18:24.251 --> 00:18:27.508 So you have been saved, you are being saved. 00:18:27.508 --> 00:18:37.828 And then Jesus says you will be saved, which leads us to this third component, this third component that Paul talks about here glorification. 00:18:37.828 --> 00:18:43.100 The moment when Jesus returns and the old is completely gone. 00:18:43.100 --> 00:19:03.980 Aren't you ready for that day when the effects of sin are no more and every wrong is made right and everything is redeemed and creation is recreated and restored, like that's gonna be a great day, the end of this salvation process where by grace, through faith, we come to know Jesus. 00:19:03.980 --> 00:19:12.489 We're in this process, now becoming like Christ, and one day our faith becomes site and the process is brought to its conclusion. 00:19:13.342 --> 00:19:19.910 Philippians says that we know that he who begin a good work in us will see it through to completion. 00:19:19.910 --> 00:19:22.287 That's glorification. 00:19:22.287 --> 00:19:23.123 That's coming. 00:19:23.123 --> 00:19:28.605 God does the justifying, god's gonna do the glorifying. 00:19:28.605 --> 00:19:46.113 But what Paul is telling us here in Colossians, chapter three, is that this middle part, this being saved, sanctification process, you and I get the chance to partner with God in God's work. 00:19:46.113 --> 00:19:50.780 If, then, you've been raised with Christ, who does that? 00:19:50.780 --> 00:19:52.707 God does, it starts with God. 00:19:52.707 --> 00:20:03.460 But then Paul says now, y'all, we've got some work to do, we've got some responsibility in the matter. 00:20:03.784 --> 00:20:05.259 Philippians, chapter two, 12 and 13,. 00:20:05.259 --> 00:20:06.778 Paul says it like this. 00:20:06.778 --> 00:20:16.480 He's telling the church at Philippi hey, because of what God's done on your behalf, you've been given a living hope, a new story, and you're a new creature in Christ. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:22.948 Then Paul says now, work out your salvation with fear and with trembling. 00:20:22.948 --> 00:20:25.755 And that's an interesting phrase, right, like work out. 00:20:25.755 --> 00:20:26.560 It's an athletic term. 00:20:26.560 --> 00:20:29.160 It's an athletic term when Paul uses it 2000 years ago. 00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:31.460 It means, hey, y'all have got something to do. 00:20:31.460 --> 00:20:34.820 I've got something to do Because we're not who we used to be. 00:20:34.820 --> 00:20:39.220 But we're not who we're going to be, we're in the process of becoming like Christ. 00:20:39.663 --> 00:20:46.019 Paul says get to work on it, right, like we know that none of us are there yet we know we've got work to do. 00:20:46.019 --> 00:20:47.519 And then he doesn't stop there. 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:55.826 He says work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his pleasure. 00:20:55.826 --> 00:21:01.000 And so it's like wait a minute, paul, do we work our salvation out? 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:05.519 Paul would say yes, is it God that's doing the work in us? 00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:07.406 And Paul would say yes. 00:21:07.406 --> 00:21:16.128 And now we're all like Paul, we are confused and see, that's the tension that the Bible is okay with. 00:21:16.128 --> 00:21:18.613 It is finished. 00:21:18.821 --> 00:21:23.126 Jesus has done everything that we need to be justified before God. 00:21:23.126 --> 00:21:42.883 And now, because of what Jesus has done, you and I have a responsibility to respond to God in repentance and obedience for all of our days on this planet, and that's a choice we get to make Today. 00:21:42.883 --> 00:21:45.519 Am I gonna respond to God in repentance and obedience? 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:48.690 Am I gonna do what God says in repentance and obedience? 00:21:48.690 --> 00:21:55.490 Am I gonna deny my flesh, take up my cross and follow after Jesus in repentance and obedience? 00:21:55.490 --> 00:22:04.644 So Paul in verse five says okay, because now we're in this process of being saved, being sanctified. 00:22:04.644 --> 00:22:11.680 You've been justified by faith in Christ, but we're becoming more like Jesus, waiting on the moment when Jesus returns. 00:22:11.820 --> 00:22:14.988 Paul says, okay, now put to death. 00:22:14.988 --> 00:22:20.120 Therefore, there are some components of the old on the inside. 00:22:20.120 --> 00:22:23.259 Paul says that have to be put to death. 00:22:23.259 --> 00:22:28.649 They can't go with you where you're going, they no longer define who you are. 00:22:28.649 --> 00:22:34.909 So Paul says, part of this working out your salvation means putting to death what is earthly in you. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:44.447 And then here's his first list sexual immorality, which is any sexual activity outside the boundaries of God's design for sex. 00:22:44.447 --> 00:22:51.851 Sex is a good gift from a good God, designed in the context of marriage for one man and one woman for life. 00:22:51.851 --> 00:22:58.125 And Paul says anything outside of those boundaries has to be put to death. 00:22:58.125 --> 00:23:06.468 Put to death impurity, which is exactly what it sounds like impurity of motive or heart. 00:23:06.468 --> 00:23:08.525 Passion, which we don't normally think about. 00:23:08.525 --> 00:23:17.184 Passion is something bad or wrong, like if you see somebody who's passionate about their career or their team, like we're, like that's a good thing, passion is a good thing. 00:23:17.184 --> 00:23:28.752 In this context, the original language, it simply means lustful passion or angry passion, people who are desirous of fulfilling their own desires. 00:23:28.752 --> 00:23:40.807 Essentially is what Paul is saying Evil desire there the idea is again and covetousness, which in this context means the constant desire for more sexual pleasure. 00:23:40.807 --> 00:23:47.548 Paul says put that to death because ultimately it's idolatry. 00:23:47.548 --> 00:23:53.886 It's taking a good gift from God and putting it at the center of your life and making it God. 00:23:53.886 --> 00:24:00.989 And then he says on account of these, the wrath of God is coming. 00:24:00.989 --> 00:24:16.826 And I wanna pause right there and ask the question why does Paul say that on account of these, this list of sexual immorality and its associated acts, why does Paul say on account of these, the wrath of God is coming? 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:18.805 I think there's a couple of reasons. 00:24:18.805 --> 00:24:44.170 One Paul lived at a day in time in a culture in which sexuality and sexual expression was the center of people's lives, so much so, in fact, that the worship of many pagan gods, many false gods, centered around sex, and it was actually seen as an act of worship. 00:24:44.170 --> 00:25:02.748 And so Paul's writing to a culture that's full of sexual brokenness, and what he's seeing is that when the wrong expression of sexuality begins to become the center for people, it does something to us on the inside. 00:25:02.748 --> 00:25:17.791 When we use God's gifts outside of God's design and essentially turn something good into a God thing in our lives, it breaks us and it breaks our fellowship with God. 00:25:17.791 --> 00:25:19.761 And y'all. 00:25:20.062 --> 00:25:22.670 Paul could have written this yesterday, could he not have? 00:25:22.670 --> 00:25:43.111 My heart breaks when I look at our culture today, because what we have done is put sexuality at the center of our identity, and what we have said is that this is who you are, this is what defines your life, this is the most critical component of your life. 00:25:43.111 --> 00:25:58.845 And I am not a sociologist, I am not a psychologist, but I would make, I would be willing to offer today to you that this sexual revolution that we're seeing in our world today is not leading to healing and wholeness for people. 00:25:58.845 --> 00:26:02.528 If anything, it's the opposite. 00:26:02.528 --> 00:26:28.931 The more that we find our identity in sexuality and sexual expression, the more broken this we will feel and the more broken this we will pursue, because sex cannot be God and we cannot fill our souls with any expression of our sexuality, especially not outside the bounds of God's design. 00:26:30.060 --> 00:27:04.923 And so y'all, as church people who believe in Jesus as the way, the truth and the life, and who believe in the standard of scripture for our life and practice, who believe that, from Genesis to Revelation, god is clear on his design for sexuality, our heart has to break for the state of our world today, and what we need to do and be as people is hey, if you're married, let's seek with everything we have to be an example of marriage that honors and glorifies Jesus, and if we're single. 00:27:04.923 --> 00:27:10.490 Let's order our lives after the ethics and the truth of Jesus. 00:27:10.490 --> 00:27:24.707 Let's live pure, not in our strength but in the power of Christ to show the world, hey, god's way isn't just a way, it's the only way if we're really looking for life and hope and wholeness and healing. 00:27:24.707 --> 00:27:34.004 So what are worlds trying is not working, and may they not see the church standing in judgment over their brokenness. 00:27:34.004 --> 00:27:41.027 But may we be people who, with open arms say hey, this list may define your past, but it does not have to define your future. 00:27:41.027 --> 00:27:47.151 There's freedom, there's redemption, there's restoration. 00:27:47.151 --> 00:27:59.371 Jesus has the power to rebuild what the enemy has torn down, what our own choices have done to us on the inside, jesus has the power to redeem and to restore. 00:27:59.371 --> 00:28:09.460 And so Paul says hey, in these you two once walked, this is who you used to be, and maybe that's true for you today. 00:28:09.460 --> 00:28:21.280 This list defines your past, but you no longer are living in them because you've been raised with Christ, and isn't that good news? 00:28:21.280 --> 00:28:26.119 Sexual brokenness doesn't have to define your future. 00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:31.300 Your past mistakes do not have to define your future. 00:28:31.300 --> 00:28:36.836 There is forgiveness and freedom in the name of Jesus. 00:28:36.836 --> 00:28:40.300 God's heart breaks at the sin that breaks his people. 00:28:40.300 --> 00:28:45.300 But Paul says but now you get the chance, you must put them all away. 00:28:47.390 --> 00:28:51.280 And then he gives another list anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. 00:28:51.280 --> 00:28:52.775 And he says don't lie to one another. 00:28:52.775 --> 00:28:59.099 So he talks about sexuality and says anchor that in the truth of who God is and what God says. 00:28:59.099 --> 00:29:10.675 And then he goes to our words and says hey, anger, you ever met somebody who just is like constantly, they're like, they're right, they're a bad moment away from a switch being flipped and they're just mad all the time. 00:29:10.675 --> 00:29:11.216 That's anger. 00:29:11.216 --> 00:29:16.199 And then he says wrath, or the NIV translation says rage. 00:29:16.199 --> 00:29:20.828 You ever seen somebody who it seems like the switch gets flipped and the outburst just comes? 00:29:20.828 --> 00:29:21.250 You ever been there? 00:29:21.250 --> 00:29:26.219 Right, it's like hey, you just push me one step too far. 00:29:26.219 --> 00:29:32.205 I had a professor at Wofford that always used to say don't poke the old grizzly and what he meant was hey, if the switch flips he might black out for a minute. 00:29:32.205 --> 00:29:34.451 You know, don't poke the old grizzly. 00:29:34.451 --> 00:29:43.259 Anger, wrath, malice, the underlying discontent with everything that leads to anger and rage. 00:29:43.259 --> 00:29:49.609 Paul says slander, talking bad about others, obscene talk put that away, don't lie, but be people of the truth. 00:29:49.609 --> 00:29:53.300 He's given us a list right? 00:29:53.300 --> 00:29:59.172 And how many of you know that our words have the power to break people down and to build people up? 00:29:59.172 --> 00:30:08.239 And Paul says hey, if you're a new creation, your words should be used to build people up, not break people down. 00:30:08.701 --> 00:30:15.194 On Father's Day I preached a message and I told our men in the room that day. 00:30:15.194 --> 00:30:16.300 I said men, feel the power. 00:30:16.300 --> 00:30:20.668 In the room that day I said men, this is Paul in Colossians, chapter three. 00:30:20.668 --> 00:30:22.705 He says it just down in verse 19,. 00:30:22.705 --> 00:30:26.167 He says husbands, love your wives and don't be harsh. 00:30:26.167 --> 00:30:27.807 And then he says fathers, don't provoke your children. 00:30:27.807 --> 00:30:29.403 Last day, become discouraged. 00:30:29.403 --> 00:30:30.961 That was Father's Day. 00:30:30.982 --> 00:30:43.473 The scripture I read that afternoon, my six year old bothered me he's not in the room so I can say that and I fussed at him and he looked at me and he said dad, your words are harsh right now. 00:30:43.473 --> 00:30:47.496 And I was like that wasn't for me, son, that was for somebody else. 00:30:47.496 --> 00:30:48.785 This morning, you know, I didn't say that. 00:30:48.785 --> 00:30:59.225 I was like, no, no, you're right man, my words, my tongue, my speech was harsh and rather than building up, it was discouraging. 00:30:59.225 --> 00:31:10.734 Rather than building up and coaching up and correcting it, it was harsh and I had to apologize to my son for the words that I said, cause that's us right. 00:31:10.734 --> 00:31:11.930 We're new. 00:31:11.930 --> 00:31:15.192 If you're in Christ, you're new, but that doesn't mean you're perfect. 00:31:15.192 --> 00:31:20.345 It doesn't mean the old goes away completely in the process. 00:31:20.345 --> 00:31:35.828 We're in this journey of putting off what is old and putting on what is new, and that's what Paul says Put away some things and put on some other things, and the language that he's using to talk about putting off and putting on. 00:31:36.530 --> 00:31:47.853 The best picture is this Imagine that you spend all day outside in your yard and it's like Friday, it's 104. 00:31:47.853 --> 00:31:50.734 The humidity is like unregisterable. 00:31:50.734 --> 00:31:53.072 It's so humid outside. 00:31:53.072 --> 00:32:14.090 It's nasty and you're nasty and you've been weed eating and you've thrown dirt and muck and grime and it's sticking to you and there's grass all over you and your shirt used to be white and now it's brown and you look like you've been in the spray tanner for about three hours because you're like a different color cause you're covered in mud. 00:32:14.745 --> 00:32:21.594 Imagine that you walk back in your house and married man, I'm gonna pick on you guys for a second. 00:32:21.594 --> 00:32:28.294 Imagine that you looked at your wife and you're like whoo, it's hot, I'm nasty. 00:32:28.294 --> 00:32:33.072 And then you walked over and you plopped yourself down or out on the couch. 00:32:33.072 --> 00:32:37.514 My wife would end me right there, be over for me. 00:32:37.514 --> 00:32:46.671 But then imagine you just sit there, you just stay there in your mess and then later you eat dinner. 00:32:46.671 --> 00:32:47.927 And you eat dinner in your mess. 00:32:47.927 --> 00:32:53.009 You're nasty, you're stinky, everybody at the table is like what is wrong with him, Like you just gross. 00:32:53.905 --> 00:32:57.230 Then your iPhone alerts you hey, it's 15 minutes to bedtime. 00:32:57.230 --> 00:32:58.453 Start the wind down routine. 00:32:58.453 --> 00:33:01.171 Like all right, I'm ready for bed. 00:33:01.171 --> 00:33:02.266 Wives. 00:33:02.266 --> 00:33:03.811 Like, hey, you get a shower. 00:33:03.811 --> 00:33:04.313 No, I'm good. 00:33:06.545 --> 00:33:08.711 Bedtime hits jumping the sheets. 00:33:08.711 --> 00:33:11.090 You got the socks still on. 00:33:11.090 --> 00:33:16.317 You took the boots off, but you still got the socks on, soggy, nasty, dirty. 00:33:16.317 --> 00:33:17.167 You just end the sheets. 00:33:17.167 --> 00:33:18.572 Pull the sheets over your head. 00:33:18.572 --> 00:33:20.388 Can you imagine? 00:33:21.065 --> 00:33:22.745 Some of y'all ladies are like that is the like. 00:33:22.745 --> 00:33:23.710 Why don't we get church today? 00:33:23.710 --> 00:33:24.468 This is disgusting. 00:33:24.468 --> 00:33:27.913 Just imagine like what would happen. 00:33:27.913 --> 00:33:33.652 Somebody should step in and be like take a shower, you've got clean clothes. 00:33:33.652 --> 00:33:41.038 Take off the old, dirty, dusty, muck covered clothing that you're wearing. 00:33:41.038 --> 00:33:44.354 Take a shower and put on something new. 00:33:44.354 --> 00:33:45.813 That's what Paul's saying. 00:33:45.813 --> 00:33:50.590 Paul's saying hey, the old is gone, the new has come. 00:33:50.590 --> 00:34:03.473 You don't have to live your life leaving a trail of muck and dust and dirt and grime everywhere you sit, you've been washed, you've been given new clothes. 00:34:03.473 --> 00:34:05.673 Take the old shirt off and burn it. 00:34:05.673 --> 00:34:07.090 Put on something new. 00:34:07.090 --> 00:34:09.184 That's what he's saying. 00:34:09.264 --> 00:34:15.311 And in that good news, the best news y'all, paul says we don't do this by ourselves. 00:34:15.311 --> 00:34:26.751 You've put off the old self with its practices and you've put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 00:34:26.751 --> 00:34:30.289 So who's doing the putting off and putting on? 00:34:30.289 --> 00:34:31.192 Is God doing it? 00:34:31.192 --> 00:34:32.695 Yes, are we doing it? 00:34:32.695 --> 00:34:41.028 Yes, it's a partnership and God is at work, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 00:34:41.128 --> 00:34:49.293 Philippians two says I love that you can be new, you can move past your past. 00:34:49.293 --> 00:34:58.173 So we got a few minutes left this morning and I wanna give you a couple of three actually practical truths. 00:34:58.173 --> 00:35:10.735 If you are a follower of Jesus, these three things are true for you, cause if we're gonna move past our past, paul says it happens as our mind is renewed in knowledge. 00:35:10.735 --> 00:35:21.247 So what do we need to know in order to move past the shame, the guilt, the regret, the condemnation of our past? 00:35:21.247 --> 00:35:24.131 What do we need to know If you're not a follower of Jesus? 00:35:24.131 --> 00:35:30.347 Let me say really clearly these three truths do not apply to you, but they can. 00:35:30.347 --> 00:35:41.554 The invitation is on the table because of what Jesus has done by grace, through faith in the finished work of Christ, you can receive the free gift of salvation. 00:35:41.554 --> 00:35:46.970 The list doesn't have to define who you are and who you are becoming. 00:35:46.970 --> 00:35:48.250 You can be forgiven. 00:35:48.250 --> 00:35:51.333 You can be set free by grace, through faith. 00:35:51.333 --> 00:35:59.574 Today, number one, truth number one is this you have had an encounter with Almighty God. 00:35:59.574 --> 00:36:08.432 If you are in Christ, you have had an encounter with God, and that changes everything. 00:36:09.385 --> 00:36:12.670 If you think about the story of the Bible, think about a guy like Abraham. 00:36:12.670 --> 00:36:20.092 God shows up and speaks to Abraham, says I've got a plan for you, I've got a calling on your life. 00:36:20.092 --> 00:36:24.614 I'm gonna bless you and through you, I'm gonna bless all the peoples of the earth. 00:36:24.614 --> 00:36:27.713 At that point in time, abraham was probably a pagan. 00:36:27.713 --> 00:36:30.273 He probably had multiple gods. 00:36:30.273 --> 00:36:35.373 Just based on where he lived and the culture of the day, he didn't know the one true God. 00:36:35.373 --> 00:36:38.630 But when he had an encounter with God, guess what Abraham did? 00:36:38.630 --> 00:36:41.693 He responded in repentance and obedience. 00:36:41.693 --> 00:36:47.454 He turned away from his old life and he followed after the one true God. 00:36:48.405 --> 00:36:49.670 Think about a guy like Moses. 00:36:49.670 --> 00:36:57.574 Moses thought he was doing the right thing and he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave. 00:36:57.574 --> 00:37:03.414 He thinks he's stepping in, but it ends up leaving Moses in the wilderness. 00:37:03.414 --> 00:37:04.891 He's off on his own. 00:37:04.891 --> 00:37:11.729 He's a person without a purpose, a man without a home, and he has an encounter with God. 00:37:11.729 --> 00:37:12.913 Burning bush. 00:37:12.913 --> 00:37:14.851 Moses, take off your feet. 00:37:14.851 --> 00:37:16.869 Take off your feet, take off your shoes. 00:37:16.869 --> 00:37:18.912 You're standing on holy ground. 00:37:18.912 --> 00:37:27.655 Moses responds repentance, obedience and begins to be used by God in powerful ways. 00:37:28.724 --> 00:37:31.032 King David we talked about David a little bit last week. 00:37:31.032 --> 00:37:38.853 Anointed as king of Israel, a sense to the throne unites the kingdom. 00:37:38.853 --> 00:37:41.028 Was David perfect from there? 00:37:41.028 --> 00:37:48.872 No, because one day David saw another man's wife and he said I want her. 00:37:48.872 --> 00:37:51.313 And he let his desire lead the way. 00:37:51.313 --> 00:37:56.733 Rather than bringing his desires in line with the truth of God, david let his desire lead. 00:37:56.733 --> 00:37:57.809 He committed adultery. 00:37:57.809 --> 00:38:02.208 She gets pregnant and to cover up his sin, what does David do? 00:38:02.208 --> 00:38:14.282 He kicks off this big conspiracy to have Bathsheba's husband placed at the front lines, where he knows that her husband will die, will fall in battle. 00:38:14.282 --> 00:38:19.413 He messes it up big time. 00:38:19.413 --> 00:38:24.102 He's confronted, has an encounter with God through the prophet. 00:38:24.102 --> 00:38:26.593 What's he do? 00:38:26.593 --> 00:38:30.001 Repents and he obeys God. 00:38:30.001 --> 00:38:32.528 Now, the sin in his life. 00:38:32.528 --> 00:38:36.905 It does carry some consequences Anytime we step outside of God's design. 00:38:36.905 --> 00:38:39.753 There are very real consequences in our world. 00:38:39.753 --> 00:38:46.192 But David, when David's remembered, what is David remembered for? 00:38:46.192 --> 00:38:50.160 Oh, david's a man after God's own heart. 00:38:50.160 --> 00:38:57.126 David's the king of Israel, through which the Savior of the world comes to the planet. 00:38:57.126 --> 00:38:59.213 Like David is the man. 00:38:59.213 --> 00:39:10.003 He's not defined by his failure, but rather it's the redemption through the failure that comes to define David's life. 00:39:10.003 --> 00:39:12.128 He had an encounter with God. 00:39:12.150 --> 00:39:14.653 Think about Peter, one of the 12. 00:39:14.653 --> 00:39:19.664