WEBVTT 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:05.200 Thank you for joining us on the CCW podcast. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:11.119 Make sure you connect with us on social media to stay up to date on ministries and events happening at CCW. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:15.039 We hope you're encouraged, inspired, and motivated by today's message. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:19.120 To find out how to connect with us, keep listening after the message ends. 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:32.799 Amen. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:35.039 I'm glad that you're here this morning. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:53.600 And uh, I do want to say a word of uh we want to acknowledge there's some folks here with us that are from the furthest I think somebody might have ever visited, CCW, all the way from California, because Robert Pick turned 72 today. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:02.000 And you can say an age about somebody as long as they look really good, and Robert looks good. 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:04.000 So it's all right. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:06.480 Anyhow, happy birthday, sir. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:08.239 Glad to have y'all. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:12.079 And um, I want to invite you next week, don't miss something. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:18.400 Next week, uh, Barry Key is going to be recognized in the service. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:28.000 Uh, we prayed when God uh allowed us to get into ministry, and as a part of CCW, we hope that God would allow us to ordain pastors. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:33.920 And uh Barry Key is going to be ordained as a pastor next Sunday, so you don't want to miss that. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:39.760 He's gonna be sharing some of his testimony, which is a testimony to identity change. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:42.319 And uh we're gonna hear a charge about that. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:44.079 So don't miss that, make that important. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:45.519 Man, we'd love to have you back. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:48.239 That is a part of the organic work of the church. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:55.599 We want to send people, we want people to become pastors and missionaries, and we want some in this younger generation to become pastors. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:57.280 We want that to be our church. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:01:59.280 So don't miss next week. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:03.040 And then I do want to just share a word, church family. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:07.120 I know that uh many hearts were broken this week. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:17.840 And um, when I consider the loss of Charlie Kirk, um one of the things that I really thought about is this is the loss of a voice of a generation. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:24.400 And I just consider what it might have been like for my grandparents to lose Billy Graham. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:29.199 Um, not in the same realm, but his voice was being heard. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:36.800 Um, and I don't have a lot of things coming all throughout my platforms, but I feel like Charlie Kirk visits me every day. 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:59.280 Um, and I felt like I've been at rallies of his just listening um to a lot of insights, and it is unbelievable, no matter where you stand on things, his ability to uh debate and his ability to take words and bring back a response that was biblical. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:00.879 Um, what a gift. 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:08.159 And uh our prayers today are with his wife and his children and turning point USA. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.599 In fact, I'd like for you, if you would, to pray with me. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:23.439 Father, we thank you that we know Romans 8 says that all things work together for good to them who love God, who are called according to your purposes. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:30.719 And we know that no man that walks into the gates of heaven would ever trade being back here where we are. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:36.319 And God, we thank you for a life that has been lived and has motivated many. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:40.960 God, we lift his family in this season right now. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:42.639 God, their children. 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:52.080 I pray that you just walk with them, put some Christian, godly people around them and love them through something that, God, I don't know they ever get to understand. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.800 But God, I pray they continue to walk and stand. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:00.879 We pray for uh the organization and the people at Turning Point USA, Lord. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:07.840 We just pray that you would uh be with Christians, help the heartbeat to remain focused on the right things. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:11.439 And God, I pray that you raise up, Lord, we're asking that. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:13.520 Charlie was a man, but there's more men. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:24.879 We pray that you raise up a generation, God, of youth who would hear this message, of people that would hear the message of Jesus Christ and use our lives to fulfill that message. 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:27.920 But I pray that you would bless the word of God this morning. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:34.720 Let our hearts be in tune with you, with what you want us to hear, and God, let us walk out differently than we came. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:35.680 In Jesus' name. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:36.560 Amen. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:40.240 John chapter 8, if you would take your Bibles there. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:43.519 Identity losing the label. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:47.360 The first point I want you to see this morning is a name of shame. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:54.319 In John chapter 8, we're going to be introduced to a woman known as the adulterous woman. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:57.759 When the kids were young, I made up a story. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:04:59.519 Bedtime stories. 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:14.079 They may remember it, I don't know, but when it was bedtime, I think I was more entertaining myself because I didn't have a book, but I made up a story of a cat named Dog and a dog named Kat who went to a park together. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:20.800 And I would tell them this story over and over, and it would morph into a rabbit named Squirrel and a squirrel named Rabbit, and they would be on a swing set. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:24.079 And I was just entertaining myself till they fell asleep. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:30.160 And uh I came across this week there's a family in Texas that in fact named their dog Kat. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:38.240 Mainly because they thought it would be funny when people looked at that label and saw that the truth did not match the label. 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:42.879 And I've told Heather, if we ever get a dog and I'm in charge, I really want to name it Kitty. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:45.199 I want to say, here, kitty. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:46.720 Here, kitty. 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:49.600 And people look at me like, what is wrong with that man? 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:51.920 It doesn't match the label. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:54.399 Labels are everywhere in culture. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:57.439 You don't have to go very far to look for a label. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:02.000 And I want to submit to you this morning as God's masterpiece. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:08.720 When he looked through all of creation and he said, When you and I were made, when humans were made, he said, It was very good. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:16.000 As God's masterpiece, humanity is far too wonderful to be identified by man-made labels. 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:21.040 And so, if you would look with me in verses 1 through 4 in John chapter 8. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:23.279 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:29.360 Now early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him and he sat down and taught them. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:34.560 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:41.519 And when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:46.000 Letter A, this morning is this, the collapse from sexual passion. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:57.839 I don't want to sugarcoat adultery, uh, is sexual relationship with any man or woman outside of marriage, and sexual adultery is wrong. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:03.360 Adultery is a perversion of what God intended with marriage. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:07.519 But I want you to think about some things according to this text. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:12.639 Understanding cultural context is important for a clarified picture. 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:18.000 Some of the things you need to know about marriages, then often was a marriage arranged. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:23.839 And it might have been common for a woman to be involved in an unloving relationship. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:31.120 And so possibly pulled towards, again, adultery is wrong, but maybe pulled out of an unloving relationship. 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:38.800 Women were seen as a different class citizen, and their economic dependence had to do with marriage. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:41.519 It impacted a woman's survival. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:49.360 Commentators believe, because the woman was drawn out, that possibly she was baited into this situation. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:56.240 And so you have to look at the whole picture because it says she was caught in the act. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:06.079 So they think possible that they were baiting this woman, that maybe the man was in cahoots with the Pharisees. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:13.839 And another reason why, if you turned your Bible into Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse 22, you can turn there if you like. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.680 But it says this this is the law, and they were understood the law. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:23.199 It says, if a man is found lying with a woman married, then both of them shall die. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:27.120 You know what's missing in this picture? 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:30.800 We see an adulterous woman, but who do we not see? 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:32.879 We don't see the man. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:39.039 The man is missing from this accusal, making the idea of a trap plausible. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:42.080 What else is missing in this picture of this woman? 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:45.360 This adulterous woman is her name. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:47.200 We don't know her name. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:49.120 All we get is this label. 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:50.799 We don't know her marriage status. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:51.919 What's going on there? 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:57.039 All we know that there is a collapse, and she is caught in her shame. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:59.679 Well, let's look into that further. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:00.559 Letter B. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:02.720 We see the charade of the pious. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:06.480 I want you to turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 11. 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:12.320 Luke chapter 11, verse 53 and 54. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:32.960 Jesus said these things to them, and the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail him vehemently and to cross-examine him and many things, lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him. 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:37.759 See, the Pharisees were very concerned about trapping Jesus. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:44.000 I think, more so concerned about trapping Jesus than finding this woman in adultery. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:50.960 I think their hearts were to look into see where they could find some loophole in Jesus as the person. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:55.840 Their hearts were looking to use somebody, a sin as a pawn. 00:09:56.720 --> 00:10:02.480 See, if Jesus rejected the law of Moses here, they could call out blasphemy. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:09.519 And if he upheld the law, you can look in John 18, 31, he would be violating Roman law. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:09.840 Okay? 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:12.480 And so Jesus was put in this place. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:14.320 What do we do with her? 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:19.440 Caught in the act, set up a trap. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:23.600 Verse 6 says, it says they said this to test him. 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:33.200 Luke 11 there said it was they were lying in wait, seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might have an accusal. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:36.799 Let me give y'all some teen lingo today. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:39.200 Parents, this is time to listen. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:40.159 Alright? 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:43.200 If you hear your kids say this, you need to understand why, okay? 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:44.480 All right, y'all with me? 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:45.759 He's a problem. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:48.000 Y'all heard he's a problem. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:49.679 He might be a problem. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:57.600 So, in a good way, my sons will talk about sports figure and say, you know, he might be a problem. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:10:59.200 I'm like, what's that mean? 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.679 He might, he's fast, he might be a problem. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:03.679 He's strong, he might be a problem. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:16.320 Well, for the Pharisees, because Jesus disregarded their traditions and their religiosity, his authority in word and in miracle threatened their power. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:18.000 Jesus was a problem. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:21.440 And they were having enough of that problem. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:28.000 People here listening today, they were listening to his message. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.919 And the Pharisees didn't like that this message was being held on to. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:36.879 And let me tell you, this is not the first time in Scripture that a problem like this came up. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:47.919 In Daniel chapter 6, we don't have time to go through all the passage, but in Daniel 6, people were watching the life of Daniel, and it says they could find no fault in him. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.000 And they hated that they couldn't find any fault in this man. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:53.360 He was upright in all his ways. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:12:03.759 So they went to King Darius and they proposed, let's make a law that people will bow down, and nobody can revere anything, any God, except for you. 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:06.879 If they do, they're going to be thrown into the pit of lions. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:10.639 And Daniel, of course, did what Daniel did. 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:12.240 He prayed daily. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:13.039 And he did it. 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:13.840 I love Daniel. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:19.039 Daniel did it and pulled the curtains back, and he kept on praying so everybody could see who he was. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:24.320 And his accusers brought him for the king, and the king was sorrowful that he threw Daniel in the pit. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:25.440 But y'all know the story. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:29.840 The lions took a nap, and Daniel slept with the lions that night. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:35.840 And then the accusers, the king, brought them and threw them into the pit of lions. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:43.679 Wednesday, September 10th, evil took aim at a man. 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:47.120 And not because he was on a political side. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:51.600 Evil took aim because he had a powerful message. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:59.440 There was a few months ago Charlie Kirk was interviewed and he was asked how he would want to be remembered. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:03.519 And he said, I want to be remembered for the courage of my faith. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:06.320 He said this in another interview. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:09.279 I am nothing without Jesus. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:11.759 And I want you to hear this this morning. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:21.679 I don't believe evil took aim at Charlie Kirk because he spoke, but I think evil took aim because the youth of America were listening to Charlie Kirk. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:27.360 They were hearing this message, and Charlie was fighting for a new identity, for a turning point. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:40.240 What I've been praying for for years as a previous youth minister, a revival in a nation that people would come to, and people were hearing this message, and so evil took aim. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:45.279 Satan himself, church, is the father of charades. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:50.480 He was so low as to tempt Jesus himself. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:55.279 He took Jesus into the wilderness, and in each temptation, he came at him. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:58.080 He said, God, Jesus turned stone into bread. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:13:59.600 He had been fasting. 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:02.399 He said, Jump off this temple pinnacle. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:04.559 He said, Bow down and worship me. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:09.679 But in that back and forth, two times, there's a blatant attack from Satan. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:10.720 Look at what he does. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:14.480 If there's ever been a fight, evil versus good, don't miss this. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:17.759 Satan had a chance to attack Jesus. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:18.960 And what does he do? 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:23.759 Twice he says to him, Art thou the Son of God? 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:26.639 He attacks his identity. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:28.639 Who he really was. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:30.080 He means to attack. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:40.080 If you aren't the Son of God, and so if Satan will attack the identity of Jesus Christ, don't you know men full of themselves would attack Jesus' identity? 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:45.759 The enemy, Satan, his name means accuser. 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:49.279 And he is in full operation today, church. 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:57.360 He's looking to whisper in your ears, whether that be through men, through media, through magazines, some medium. 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:02.879 He wants to whisper in your ears something that you are not what God made you to be. 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:04.799 He wants you to hear that you're nothing. 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:08.480 He wants you to hear that you don't matter and what you do for God doesn't matter. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:13.039 He wants you to hear that you're a faith, that you're a failure and not faithful. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:14.879 He wants you to hear that you're a mistake. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:19.519 He wants you to hear that you are made to be the dollar sign and go after that. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:25.919 He wants you to hear that you are made to be prosperous and if you can attain things, then you'll be happy. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.600 He wants you to hear anything, but you are a child of God. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:33.919 He wants to attack your identity at its core. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:41.200 Well, we see a second thing about this woman in this picture. 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:43.120 We see a heart in pain. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:47.519 Proverbs chapter 3, if you want to turn there. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:51.840 Everybody knows Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:54.480 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not into your own understanding. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:58.320 All thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy path. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:02.480 But verse 7 and 8 gives us some instruction. 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:09.840 It says, Do not be wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:15.679 And if you do, it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:18.000 Hear me, this was a heart in pain. 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:21.360 This was a heart of a person who had sin. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:25.919 And by the way, Jesus said, I came to seek and to save that which was lost. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:28.799 He didn't come here for the found, but the lost. 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:31.519 And so this woman was in a painful place. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:33.279 Sin is painful. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:37.039 By the way, all sickness is a result of sin. 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:38.240 Genesis 3. 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:47.840 When the world was cursed and we became a fallen place, polluted, everything that follows became fallen. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:55.279 But Proverbs says, if you want to live better in the world that's fallen, he says, forsake sin. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:17:09.839 I'm not saying all your ailments are going to magically go away if you start living a more holy life, but it is a result of sin that you have ailments, that we have pollution, that we have struggle. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:15.920 So James 5.16 says, confess your sin so that you may be healed. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.440 Get your heart right at the end of Proverbs there. 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:24.000 Get your heart right and watch your physical health be impacted. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:26.720 Depart from evil. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:31.039 It says it'll be life and flesh to your bones. 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:40.079 And so, you know, if we were just making sense of it, we could pick anything, but we'll say you are physically, you know, in an addiction with alcohol. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:43.759 Well, obviously that has a physical impact on your body. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:49.359 And you're being filled with something that's not the Holy Spirit, and you're pulled and torn to that thing. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:54.480 And so if you quit, the physical impact begins to change. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:58.000 This was a heart in pain. 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:03.119 And any heart in pain, any heart and sin, letter A is a crushing pressure. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.200 Look at Romans chapter 7. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:17.279 Paul gives this perplexing passage in Romans 7. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:19.039 Look at verse 14. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:25.759 He says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:27.920 I'm flesh, sold under sin. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:30.720 For what I am doing, I do not understand. 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:33.599 Hear this, because I think we all can verify with it. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:38.240 For what I will to do, that I do not practice. 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:41.599 But what I hate, that I do. 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:46.319 If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law, that is good. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:50.240 But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:56.240 For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells, for to will is present within me. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.279 But how to perform what is good I do not find. 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:05.839 For the good that I would do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that is what I practice. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:11.920 Does that sound at all familiar to anybody? 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:18.960 So often Sunday morning we will come down and people will make a decision at this altar. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:23.759 And the crazy thing about Sunday morning is Monday happens after it. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:26.799 And my flesh is still sold to sin. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:30.160 And the Bible says the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:40.079 And that word sold to sin is paprasco, and it means as one who has been trafficked into it, disposed as merchandise. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:43.599 In the garden, Adam and Eve question, what do they question? 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:49.440 Their identity and who God was at the hands of the serpent. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:51.839 So sin creates a tremendous weight. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:55.519 And Paul said, I can't not sin. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:59.519 He says, I don't want to, but I do. 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:02.880 And I want to do good, but I don't. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:10.079 Scripture says in one place, therefore, for him that knows to do good and doeth it not, it is sin. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:18.240 So sin is sin by commission when I do something, and then sin by omission, when I know to do something and I don't do it. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:22.559 So the only answer for commission and omission is remission. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:28.160 The weight of sin is a crushing pressure, church. 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:32.240 I don't know if you've heard of this book. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:35.279 Aaron Ralston wrote a book. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:38.640 It's called Between a Rock and a Hard Place. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:47.279 And it's the story of Aaron Ralston taking a detrimental hiking trip to the Blue John Canyon. 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:55.839 And what was detrimental about that trip was that he went alone and he shared with nobody his itinerary of what he was doing. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:05.200 And so as he was hiking along, he fell, and when he fell, he became trapped by a several-ton boulder pinning his arm. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:08.319 It was crushing pressure. 00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:27.599 And Aaron Ralston, amazingly, I don't want to give you the gory details, but he had to lose his arm, which was his own doing, and he lost his arm, and he amazingly walked out of that place, bleeding out, and his life was dramatically saved. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:36.079 But for five days, and there's a movie about 127 hours, he was trapped by crushing pressure. 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:38.799 Church, sin is a trap. 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:42.640 It's heavy and it leans on us and it seeks to destroy. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:45.599 And the enemy says he wants to kill, steal, and destroy. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:47.440 He wants to take your life. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:50.640 I want you to get a picture of where the woman was. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.680 The woman, the woman that was awaiting Jesus' response. 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:58.720 Hear this she was drugged out. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:02.000 Y'all hear that? 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:03.119 You got the picture? 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:05.599 She was dragged out, caught in the act. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:09.680 She was acutely aware of her standing before everyone. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:13.119 She was very aware of her sin and her guilt. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:17.279 Suffice to say, she was feeling every pressure of sin. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:20.480 I mean, have you ever been caught in the act of your sin? 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:25.359 How many of you were bad at sinning as kids and the parents got you? 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:26.720 Bad sinners. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:28.160 Man, I'm a bad sinner. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:29.839 I'm just gonna be honest, okay? 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.200 I'm a bad sinner. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:34.720 God caught me all the time by the nap of the neck, let me fall down. 00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:37.519 Praise God for bad sinners, right? 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:39.680 And so some of you are. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:43.599 I was thinking, caught in the act. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:52.319 So my cousin, my best friend of the time, and I scored, this isn't popular today, some SIGs. 00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:53.599 Okay? 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:56.640 Cool SIGs, which made you cool. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:58.000 K-O-O-L. 00:22:58.400 --> 00:22:59.519 You know what I'm talking about? 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:01.519 Anybody old enough to remember cool? 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:03.440 It was cool filter kings. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:04.799 I don't even know what that meant. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:10.240 But we scored some sigs, and we were in, it used to have been my sister's bedroom. 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:13.519 She had moved out, and I thought everybody was asleep. 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:14.799 And so there we were. 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:23.680 I didn't even know what I was doing, but I was trying to do it and look cool, and there we were going, just having a good old time, cool filtering the whole place up. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:28.000 Like somebody wouldn't be able to smell it, but we just smoking away. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:30.799 In pops my mom, caught in the act. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:35.279 But there was my cousin and my best friend sitting on the couch. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:38.720 When she opened the door, she turned eyes on them. 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:44.640 I stepped behind the door, dropped my cig on the floor, burned my foot, and stood there. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:48.400 I was like, see, I knew y'all would get caught. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:50.960 Mom never knew what I did. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:24:00.880 There was never a I don't know how there was never a question about the burn in the purple carpet, but I was right there, caught in the act, as I've ever been. 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:03.359 It was an awful feeling. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:08.720 For this woman, she was a waiting stoning. 00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:12.079 Imagine the feelings. 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:15.759 Her failure in the eyes of the law was a pending verdict. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:19.039 Undoubtedly, her death penalty was nearing. 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:21.680 Sin is devastating, church. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:26.640 Romans 6 23 says, For the wages of sin is death. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:28.559 It's devastating. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:30.480 Let her be, I want you to see. 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:33.839 A captured prisoner. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:37.759 Look at verse 23 and 24 of Romans 7. 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:50.000 Paul said, But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:58.799 He says, Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:02.319 He says, I'm captive to the law. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:04.799 I'm captive to this thing that's within me. 00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:08.000 It doesn't just crush us, hear me, it chains us. 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:13.680 Romans 5, 2 says, By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:16.000 We were born prisoners. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:21.599 This woman was bound by law, by guilt, and labeled by her adultery. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.400 Labeled as an adulterous woman. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:25.599 That's her label. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:26.880 Adulteress. 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:33.759 No little girl ever grows up and dreams that one day I'm going to be an adulterer. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:36.799 This is going to be my label from society. 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:40.480 There she was. 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:43.119 Paul said, Paul lamented. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:45.839 He says, I'm captive to sin. 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:47.680 It's in myself. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.880 And the thing that I don't want to do, I keep doing, and what I wish to do. 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:53.039 He says, Oh, here, hear the weight. 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:55.599 Oh, wretched man that I am. 00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:58.799 The flesh wars against the spirit. 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:03.839 And it happens, church, every day when our feet hits the carpet all over again. 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:10.160 The problem for humanity is that we cannot stop being human. 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:15.920 The psalmist, Psalms 51, says, I was brought forth in iniquity. 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:23.359 I think we need to see a proper picture of where this woman was at, the pain, the sinfulness, and where she was. 00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:28.400 And don't miss this, because the ones that we make the enemy of the story, right? 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:30.480 We're over here and we're feeling it now. 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:36.000 Them Pharisees, them dirty people trapping, trying to trap Jesus, no good. 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:43.119 All they they were worried about their power, those Pharisees and scribes, and they stood in judgment of this woman. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:46.000 They sought to foil Jesus' plans. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:48.400 They too are bound. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:52.559 They too are captives in their self-righteousness. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:56.240 Church, we're all captives. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:05.519 It often gets missed in this story that Jesus died for the woman, but he gave his life for the Pharisees and the scribes too. 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:07.359 Who were missing it. 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:18.400 And I beg to say today, there's maybe more people here that would side on the error of self-righteousness than who are struggling in adultery. 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:22.240 And we go, I'm okay, but they're not okay. 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:25.680 I've been praying for them, but I'm not, I'm good. 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:27.599 I'm actually quite good. 00:27:29.119 --> 00:27:30.400 But are we? 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:35.440 So we see that Jesus came for both. 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:46.000 Charles Wesley wrote a song, and if you grew up like I did in church, maybe you sang an old hymn that says, And can it be? 00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:50.720 And the words of And Can It Be say this about this capturing this prison. 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:56.240 Long my imprisoned spirit lay, thus bound in sin, and nature's night. 00:27:56.640 --> 00:28:00.319 My chains fell off my heart and was free. 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:01.839 Amazing love. 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:03.680 How can it be? 00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:09.759 This is what Jesus does for a heart that's captured in sin. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:12.400 Jesus came. 00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:14.160 Hear me, don't miss. 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:19.920 He came for the adulterous woman, he came for the Pharisees, he came for you, and he came for me. 00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:23.440 How many of you have seen the movie The Count of Monte Cristo? 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:27.759 That's the first amen from over there. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:29.119 All right, here we go. 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:31.039 I better pick it up. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:36.240 In the movie The Count of Monte Cristo, the lead character is a man named Edmund Dantes. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:41.440 And Edmund Dantes is imprisoned by betrayal. 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:44.880 And he's bound in the Chateau d'If. 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:52.400 And for years he's chained in this darkness, in this solitude, and he's enslaved because of betrayal. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:29:06.480 And he begins to find a way to dig a tunnel, and on his digging through a tunnel with a plan to somehow free himself, he runs into another man in another prison, so, and becomes friends with Abe Faria. 00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:16.559 When he goes through that wall, this fast friendship, they begin to make a plan together of how they might escape Chateau d'If. 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:29.519 And what seems like, in a moment, a woeful twist to the story, Abe Faria dies as some rocks come down as they're digging through a tunnel and it crushes him. 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:32.000 And you think, this is so sad. 00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:59.680 But Dantez fortuitously makes a quick plot, pivots, and gets the body of Faria, puts it in the tunnel, and as the men were bringing the burial shroud, he puts himself into the shroud, seals up the shroud, and the guards come and take Dantes' body and they pitch it over, they take it outside and pitch it over the cliff into the sea, which was how the prison did burials. 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:04.960 And as he was in that shroud, he cuts himself free. 00:30:05.599 --> 00:30:07.440 The guards believed it was Faria. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:12.960 He cuts himself free, setting himself on a new path of life. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:14.720 But I thought about this. 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:17.680 You know what really set him free? 00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:23.759 It was the death of Abbe Faria that changed his destiny. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:27.680 Look at verse 25 of Romans 7. 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:30.799 Paul finally pivots in this passage. 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.480 He says, Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:38.480 And then he says, I thank God through Jesus Christ. 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:40.559 He shares the answer. 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:44.559 He said, I had to take a look outside of myself. 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:46.720 I had to look outside of me. 00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:50.160 Colossians 2, 14 and 15 says it this way. 00:30:50.799 --> 00:31:10.079 Having wiped out the handwriting of the requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, and he, Jesus, has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers, and made a public spectacle of them by triumphing over them. 00:31:11.119 --> 00:31:16.720 Another scripture says it this way greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:19.039 That takes us to the third point this morning. 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:21.119 He breaks the chains. 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:25.119 I want you to see what Jesus does. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:33.839 If you go back to John chapter 8, Jesus breaks the chains. 00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:38.240