WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.120 We're in a series. 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:05.599 We've been in a series in Mark for almost two years, or excuse me, for about a year and a half. 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:08.240 And then we'll it'll take about two years to get through it. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:09.519 The Gospel of Mark. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:13.439 But it's titled He is Good because Mark is trying to tell that story. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:20.719 He wants to talk about the goodness of Jesus to Christians in Rome that are undergoing persecution and trying to figure out is Jesus actually good? 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:23.839 And Mark is saying, He is, in fact, very, very good. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:29.600 And so we've been going through this, and the teaching text for today comes from Mark 9. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:31.920 We're about to finish up Mark 9. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.359 Mark 9, verses 42 through 50. 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:38.240 And this is what Mark writes. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:52.719 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:59.679 It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to enter into hell, where the fire never goes out. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:02.320 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:07.200 It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.159 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:20.239 It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:23.200 Everyone will be salted with fire. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:28.959 Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:32.159 Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with each other. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:33.439 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:37.920 Nice easy text for a Sunday. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:57.040 But I do think that there's a message here for us today. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:04.319 Back when my grandfather, my granddaddy, was sick with cancer, he went to the doctor, like everybody does. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:07.840 And the doctor said, hey, first thing, you have to quit smoking. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:09.120 Like, stop that. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:13.199 And then you need to get on chemotherapy and radiation. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:18.639 And the doctor told him, like, you need to begin those things almost immediately, just so you know. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:26.000 Um, if you go through as you go through chemotherapy and radiation, he said uh it will really destroy parts of your body. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:28.879 Like it's just gonna really be painful in some spaces. 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:32.400 It's gonna hurt, you're gonna lose your sense of taste, which did end up happening. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:36.159 It's gonna affect your muscles, your organs, you're gonna be nauseous a lot. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:40.319 Um, it might change your moods, and it did change his moods because it's affecting your hormones. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:49.520 Uh, it'll make you tired, you won't have any energy, and you will likely, if it doesn't work, you will likely die from the chemo or the radiation more than the cancer itself. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:54.159 That's what the doctor said to my grandfather and my grandmother and everybody in the room. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:03:02.960 Now, what was interesting is that no one looked at the doctor and all the hard things that he was saying and was like, you're being real mean, and they didn't get their feelings hurt. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:15.280 Like they didn't do any of that because everybody understood the doctor was actually trying to be kind and addressing an issue in my grandfather's life that's like, look, I know something you don't know. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:26.560 You're dealing with something that you don't fully understand, and so I'm gonna tell you some hard things that maybe you don't want to hear, but I'm gonna tell you some hard things that you need to do in order to try and take care of you. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:32.719 Um, and unfortunately, my grandfather did pass away on his cancer diagnosis. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:44.560 Um, but I say all that because I do think that there's this space when you read some of Jesus' words and some of the things that he says, it's easy to be like, that's outdated, or that's irrelevant, or those are really hard things. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:49.759 But I think in many ways, Jesus is doing here what the doctor was trying to do with my grandfather. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:56.400 He was trying to actually say, Hey, I you're dealing with something that you don't fully understand. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:58.159 You're dealing with something really dangerous. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:06.719 And so I'm gonna say some hard stuff, and I'm gonna talk about some hard things, but I'm gonna do it in a space of kindness, not as a way of punishing you. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:08.240 I am gonna talk about hell. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.439 I'm gonna talk about chopping things off, but I'm not doing that to hurt you. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:12.960 I'm actually trying to do that to help you. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:17.040 And so I think Jesus is doing the exact same thing here as he talks about some of these things. 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:35.040 And so, what I want to do today is I want to look at this extreme practice that Jesus is calling us to practice, this extreme practice that he gives us, why he says that we should practice this extreme thing, and then a couple of things he says about just the nature and reality of being a follower of Jesus. 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:40.879 And so the first thing that he says, this extreme practice that he gives us, this is what he's saying. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:50.079 Jesus says, practice making it, this is the first point, practice making it physically impossible to do the things that lead you away from God into sin. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:05:02.240 You need to have a regular practice in your life of seeking to make sin physically impossible for you, to where you can't actually press into it, even if you wanted to, because the desire's there, but you're just unable to do it. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:08.720 You need to have a practice, a common thing in your life of if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.279 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:13.920 If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:16.720 Make it physically impossible when it comes to sin. 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:22.639 Make it physically impossible for you to actually press into those things that lead you away from God and into sin. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:32.959 And so the idea for us would be for the hand, just this slide here, if you were to consider for the hand, you would ask the question, what are the things that you do? 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:35.759 What are the things that you do that lead you to sin? 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:40.560 And so if you consider this, it's like, are there ways that you use your time? 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:45.360 The things that you do with your time, are there ways that you use your time that cause you to sin? 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:50.319 Maybe it's your work, maybe it's your hobbies, maybe it's just laziness and procrastination. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:52.959 What do you do that leads you into a space of sin? 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:55.120 And what Jesus is saying is like, cut it off. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:56.800 Figure out how to cut that off. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:00.959 Make it physically impossible for you not to sin in that way, make it that difficult. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:02.319 How do you spend your money? 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:05.040 We do that with our hands, credit cards, phones now, everything. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:06.079 How do you spend your money? 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:09.279 Does your hand cause you to live above your means? 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:15.360 Does the way you spend your money lead you into greater and greater debt, even though we're not supposed to get into debt? 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:18.240 How do you use your phone? 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:24.000 Texting, scrolling, posting, not spending time with your family because of what is in your hand. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:25.759 And Jesus is like, cut it off. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:30.399 Figure out a way to put it out in a space where you cannot actually do that thing. 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:33.759 Are there ways that you use your hands that hurt people or hurt yourself? 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:47.600 And again, Jesus is just saying, He's like, if there is, as you consider the way that you use your hands, if your hand is causing you to sin, figure out a way to make it physically impossible for you to sin in that way. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:49.600 And he says the same thing with the eye. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:53.120 Ask the question what is it, what do you look at that leads you to sin? 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:54.480 Is it TV? 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:56.079 Is it social media? 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:58.639 TV and social media can lead to greed. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:02.480 You just you just see things that other people have that you want envy. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:11.759 I just see something that they have and something that they're doing, and it leads you to want that thing, and so you're envying after that thing, which then leads into a space where you choose to chase down that thing. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:12.959 It leads to discontentment. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:15.279 I look at this thing and I become discontent with my own life. 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:17.199 Jesus was like, pluck it out. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:18.800 Stop looking at it. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:20.639 Make it impossible for you to look at that thing. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:21.680 It's leading you to sin. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:22.240 Pluck it. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:25.519 He's not saying it literally, also, I probably should have said that. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:31.759 He's not literally saying chop those things off and do that stuff because you can still sin even if you don't have your limbs or your eyes or whatever. 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:39.120 But he's saying, do whatever it takes to where that thing no longer comes in front of your eyes, so that doesn't lead you to envy, sin, lust. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:42.160 What do you look at that leads you to sin? 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:42.959 Watching the news. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:46.399 Watching the news leads people to fear and anger and hatred. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:47.279 Stop it. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:49.199 And Jesus is saying, literally stop it. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:54.160 Some of y'all, if you're you know old enough or whatever, you remember that Bob Hope, I can't remember that dude's name, but he did that. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:58.959 He was a counselor, he's doing a Bob Newhart, he was doing that counseling thing, and his whole counseling was stop it. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:00.959 Like that was his whole thing, like, oh, you're doing that? 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:01.519 That's terrible. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:02.079 Stop it. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:02.879 And that was his whole thing. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:09.279 Jesus is in some sense going, like, if you can stop it, some things, like your mind, you're supposed to take it captive, it's hard. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:13.040 But there are some things that you can physically make it impossible to sin in that way. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:26.959 And so if you watch the news and whine, you leave and you're hateful and it ruins your joy, and it did not make you thankful, but worried and fearful and condemnatory, and you're just like, I just hate everybody, and they're the pro like, stop doing that thing. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:31.439 Jesus is saying, make it physically impossible to where you cannot do that. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:33.200 What about your foot? 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:34.399 Where do you go? 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:37.679 Where do you go that seems to always lead you into sin? 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:42.000 And so for some people, this is like the store. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:47.600 Like every time I go to the store, all I want to do is buy more stuff. 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:50.240 For some people, it's on our phones, it's the Amazon app. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:51.600 Delete the app. 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:54.639 You've got to make it impossible for you to sin in that way. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:57.679 For some people, it is, like everywhere you go is social media. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:01.279 You go into a space of social media, and again, it leads into a space of sin. 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:02.879 For some people, it's your work. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:04.799 Every time I go to work, I come home. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:08.480 I'm a terrible husband, I'm a terrible father because of my job. 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:11.919 You gotta figure out what's the greatest sacrifice that you actually want to do. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:13.519 You want to sacrifice your children? 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:18.960 You want to sacrifice your marriage, or you just want to just leave this thing that's causing you to sin. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:26.320 For me, I have to be careful who I spend time with. 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:31.039 Um if I spend time with people who complain a bunch, I start complaining. 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:39.919 If I I mean, I Rainey knows this, I've left coffee shops uh with people or different organizations where I would sit there and she's like, You come home and you're really angry. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:43.440 I was like, I think I'm shaped by the people that I'm around. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:46.399 And I think I hang out with angry people and I become angry. 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:51.679 I hang out with discontented people and I become discontent because all we talk about are the things that are wrong in the world. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:54.720 And so I have to be careful who I hang out with because I'm like, I don't want to be that way. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:57.919 I'm a pretty happy-go-lucky, joyful person most of the time. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:02.720 Like half cup, cup, half full, kind of that's I'm optimistic in that way. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:05.440 And so if I hang out with people and they're not that way, I struggle. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:07.279 I'm a pastor, I'm supposed to hang out with everybody. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:08.320 It gets difficult every now and then. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:10.240 Most of the time, I send them to Andrew. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:15.519 Andrew's a uh a full cup, there's no half. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:18.639 It's just it's just pure joy through and through. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:21.759 He can hang out with those people who complain too much. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:24.720 But where do you go? 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:26.960 Where do you go with your eyes, with your feet? 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:29.600 Where are you where are you led to that causes you to sin? 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:32.799 And Jesus is saying, He's like, look, I'm not saying like, ah, just work on it. 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:34.559 He's going, chop it off. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:36.399 Figure out a way to get rid of it. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:44.720 Make a practice consistently of removing things from your life that lead you away from God and what he wants from you and lead you towards sin. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:51.759 The most common way inside the church that people deal with their sin, there's normally two, deal with sin. 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:56.080 One is some people just say, Jesus forgives my sin, and so I'm gonna sin however I want. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.360 He loves to forgive sin, I love to sin, let's just move forward. 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:01.279 Like that's sometimes what people say. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:06.480 And this attitude, if you have that attitude, I just want you to know that just shows that you're not truly a believer in Jesus. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:11.840 You have believed a false gospel that is not available for you to believe that and actually be a follower of Jesus. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:20.159 Because the truth is, if you believe the true gospel that Jesus sacrificed his life, bled, died, and was crushed on the cross, you would then receive his spirit. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:24.080 The spirit would be anti-sin and would fight against sin and struggle against sin. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:32.159 And so the fact that anybody would call themselves a Christian and, like, I don't struggle with my sin at all, I would suggest and say, you don't have the spirit of Jesus in you. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:33.759 You don't have anything in there. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:35.440 You have just your flesh. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:40.960 And so anybody that would say that, mostly working in student ministry, students would say that all the time, like, so Jesus forgives all my sin. 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:42.320 I'm like, yes, he forgives all your sin. 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:43.759 And they're like, so I can just go do whatever I want. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:45.759 I'm like, no, that's not how that works. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:48.639 Because no one would treat somebody they love that way. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.720 No one would say, I know Rainey won't leave me if I cheat on her. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:58.799 And so uh, I'm just gonna roll out and just cheat on her as much as I want because she'll always forgive me and take me back. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:01.279 If I actually loved her, I'd never treat her that way. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.200 And so anybody who actually genuinely loves Jesus would never say, You forgive my sin. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.960 Oh, it cost you your death and you bled and were cut and bruised and beaten and spit on. 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:09.840 Cool, cool, cool. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:12.960 I'm just gonna keep rolling in this pathway because thanks for the forgiveness. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:15.600 Like no one would do that if you actually believe that. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:19.039 And so anybody who says that type of thing, I'm like, you're not actually a believer in Jesus. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:20.799 The gospel hasn't taken root in your heart. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:24.960 You do not have the Spirit of God inside of you, which is the seal proving that you're a Christian. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:26.559 And so you don't have that. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:30.720 The second way that people normally deal with their sin is the indefinite struggle. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:34.080 Just on the struggle bus, just struggling, constantly struggling with it. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:35.519 We've made an idol out of struggling. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:36.879 How's your sin life going? 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:38.320 Struggling, just struggling with it. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:38.960 How's lust? 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:40.159 How's your deal with porn? 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:40.879 How's this up? 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:42.720 Struggling, just struggling. 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:45.120 And I think there's truth to that. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:47.759 Like we will struggle against, we will fight against sin. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:56.159 But this idea that like I will just struggle with temptations with no growth, I will struggle with sin with no growth, no maturity, that doesn't exist in the scriptures. 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:57.360 That's not the antidote. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:12:58.480 Like, how do I deal with sin? 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:01.679 Just struggle the rest of your life and just keep rolling that way. 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:11.279 Like, that's not what the scriptures, you can't find that verse in there because it doesn't, that's not a way of remedying your sin, just a constant battle and never actually moving forward and things. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:13.360 Jesus isn't saying that here. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:17.039 He's not saying keep struggling indefinitely with your sin. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:21.279 He's like, chop it off, pluck it out, stop this. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.240 You're still struggling because you won't do what I said. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:26.720 You won't actually make it impossible for you to do that thing. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:30.320 The reason the struggle still exists is because you still like it just a little bit. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:36.000 He is saying, chop it off, cut off the problem area. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:41.600 That's making it to where you struggle and make it to where I don't even have that option anymore. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:47.679 If you struggle overspending, give your money to someone else so that they can run it and take care of it. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:49.519 Let them do your budget. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:57.759 That's the financial freedom thing where it's like just use the dollars in the envelopes thing, and when it's gone, you don't have the ability to charge anything on a credit card. 00:13:57.840 --> 00:13:59.360 Chop your credit cards up. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:02.240 Chop it off. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:09.039 Get a roommate if that helps you live in your singleness and you need somebody to help you with your purity or just your loneliness or your depression. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:12.320 I mean, just get them into a space where you have somebody else there. 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:16.480 Some of us need to leave old friends, old relationships behind. 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:22.080 Some of us need to get different phones or at least give the permissions of your phone to someone you trust that can actually control those things. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:28.720 Rainey has access and permissions and locks on my phone in so many different ways because I don't want to struggle with sin. 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:30.399 I don't want to press into those things. 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:36.240 So I want somebody there to help me because I know I'm like, hey, in my flesh, I will fall to these things and it will ruin my joy. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:37.919 I just don't want that. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:42.000 And I'm not doing it because I'm fearful of like what God's gonna bring into my life. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:43.200 Punishment fell on Jesus. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:46.639 I'm not doing it because I'm like, oh God, I'm gonna sin and now you're gonna hate me. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:48.159 I'm not fearful of that. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:56.080 I just actually want to experience the fruits of walking in righteousness, and I don't want to be have everything in my life broken up and stolen by sin. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.120 Some of you need to cancel your social media. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:02.720 Some of you need to stop watching certain shows and stop watching the news. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:07.039 Some of you might need to be leaving a job, be willing to leave that job for the sake of those things. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:11.600 I don't know, but the point is what Jesus is saying, he's like, I have a practice for you, Christians. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:20.399 If you're choosing to follow me, make it a common practice where you look at your life, you notice sin, and you do whatever it takes to make that sin physically impossible for you to press into it. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:23.120 It's a very hard saying, but that is what he's saying. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:30.080 And he's not saying there's no grace when we struggle, he's not saying that because clearly there is grace when we struggle, and actually bow down to some of those things. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:36.320 But he is saying, calling you to do a hard thing, calling you to chop it off, chop it off, and pluck it out. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.480 He's not calling us to struggle forever. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:39.840 All right, so that's the first thing. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:40.559 How are we doing? 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:41.039 You okay? 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:41.600 We okay? 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:42.000 We're good? 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:42.960 I know, it's heavy. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:45.600 I would talk, I wrote in here, like, tell a funny story. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:47.039 I don't have any funny stories. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:49.759 Um, but I would say something to make it a little lighter. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:54.240 But um, Jesus goes hard on this because of the next thing. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:56.000 Why is he so hard on sin? 00:15:56.159 --> 00:16:01.360 And then he tells them why he's so extreme about this in the verses 43, 47, and 48. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:10.480 He says, It is better, and I chopped up the verses, but it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to enter into hell where the fire never goes out. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:13.279 It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two feet and be thrown into hell. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:20.080 It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where the worms that eat them don't die and the fire is not quenched. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:28.480 And so he's so extreme on this practice of chopping sin out of our lives because sin leads to hell. 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:29.840 And that's what he's saying. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:31.679 Sin leads to hell. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:49.519 And just a quick caveat because we're in the South, and many times you start talking about hell, and people can get this reverberate, like these old memories of like pastors uh preaching hellfire and brimstone and the whole thing and trying to scare you. 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:53.440 And you need to remember, Jesus is is talking to his best friends. 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:57.360 Like he is not preaching from the street corner, going, You're all gonna burn if you don't turn. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:16:58.720 Like he's not doing any of that. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:04.720 It is a conversation between Jesus and 12 of his closest friends, that he is just describing a reality. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:06.960 He's not trying to scare them into believing in him. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:08.079 They already believe in him. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:10.960 So he's not sitting there like, I'm gonna scare them into heaven. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:12.160 He's not doing any of that. 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:16.319 He's just genuinely going, Hey, I just want to tell you guys something that's true about sin. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:23.759 And he begins talking about a reality, not trying to evangelize them, because preachers take this and they're like, Yeah, the fire doesn't go out. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:25.119 That's something that'll preach. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.519 Then they stand up and they try and scare everybody to choose Jesus and like to turn from all these different things. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:32.880 Then they get a ton of people at the altar, but Jesus doesn't do that. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:40.000 Like he's not, he's not sitting there, he doesn't, like, I don't even know those old hymns that they just as I am, he there's no altar call after this. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.640 He's not like you're all gonna burn, so you better turn right now. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:47.839 Everybody walk up front, and we're gonna burn our CDs and our posters, and like he doesn't, none of that. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:18:00.160 Like he really, what he's just saying, he's talking to them the way that like Rainey and I have talked to Teddy about hey, when somebody picks you up from school, make sure you know it's your parents or your grandparents. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:02.160 Never get into the car with a stranger. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:03.279 And he's like, why? 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:03.920 I don't understand. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:08.000 And then we would, you know, tell him to some extent why he shouldn't get into a car with a stranger. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:14.400 Like Jesus is talking like that, the way that maybe you had kids that started driving and you talked to them about the dangers of driving that like they don't understand. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:16.000 They're just excited to drive. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:18.960 But you start speaking something into them that they don't fully understand. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:19.839 Jesus is doing that. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:22.720 He's talking to people he loves that already believe in him. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:29.119 He's going, look, I'm not trying to scare you into something, I'm trying to let you in on a reality that's true for you. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:31.759 Sin will burn your life to the ground. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.799 And so that's what he's addressing here. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:36.160 I just wanted to say that real quick. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.799 He is not trying to scare them by talking about hell. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:41.440 He is genuinely trying to inform them about a reality. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:42.960 And so he talks about hell. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:45.359 One of the commentators, Mark Strauss, says this. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.880 He says the word translated hell is Gehenna. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:52.400 It's the Greek form of the Hebrew word valley of Hinnom. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:59.039 This was a literal valley that lies on the southern side of the city of Jerusalem and was used as a city's garbage dump. 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:05.359 In the most apostate times of the Old Testament, it was the site of human sacrifices to the pagan god Moloch. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:11.839 As the place where human excrement and rubbish, including animal carcasses, were disposed of and burned. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.680 The fires of Gehenna never went out, because they were constantly burning stuff. 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:23.359 So that the name came to be used symbolically to represent the place of divine punishment, where the worm, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:30.799 That is an allusion to Isaiah 66, 24, which speaks of eternal punishment of those who have rebelled against God. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:39.920 And so what Jesus is doing is he's so extreme about cutting sin out of our lives, because he knows sin leads to us experiencing hell. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:47.200 Sin leads to us experiencing unending destruction, where the fires that could burn your life down will not stop. 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:49.920 Sin doesn't just take, I'll just take a little bit of that person's life. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.799 It's a fire that will roar through your life and take everything. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:58.160 Where the worm doesn't stop eating away your joy, your peace, your hope, your love, all those different things. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:01.039 Where everything is just burned down or eaten away. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:03.680 And so he talks about, Jesus talks about this in two ways. 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:04.799 And next slide here. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.400 He talks about this experience of hell in two ways. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:12.720 He talks about experiencing it now, here and now, and then the experience of eternity. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:18.319 He talks about entering into it now, and then something that will be thrown into that sin's going to be thrown into in eternity. 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:20.079 And so I want to take these one at a time. 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:29.279 Here and now, when we sin, Jesus is so hard on this because when we sin, we are entering into or we are inviting hell into our life. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:33.119 We're inviting unending destruction into our lives. 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:40.240 Any and every sin invites and opens the door to continual destruction over and over and over again. 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:44.480 And so unfortunately, in my role as a pastor, I experienced this a lot. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:49.839 And actually, this past weekend I was at this church, saw a ton of people I hadn't seen in so long. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:52.400 And uh it happened three times. 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:55.279 I walked up to a guy and I was like, hey man, I heard you got married. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:56.960 He's like, Yeah, I'm divorced. 00:20:57.119 --> 00:20:58.079 I was like, oh my gosh. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:20:59.279 And he's like, but I got remarried. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:01.119 I was like, great, he's like divorced again, though. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:04.960 And I was like, ooh, over two. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:09.279 Then I saw another guy walking in. 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:11.039 I was like, what's up, man? 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:12.079 So good to see you. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:13.759 His wife used to work in the student ministry. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:15.200 I was like, Where's where's joy? 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:16.079 Uh we're divorced. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:18.559 I was like, I'm gonna stop asking this question. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:20.640 I am 0 for three. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:24.000 I'm asking, like, did everyone get divorced when I left? 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:25.279 Like, what happened? 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:27.759 Uh and then I was talking to another dude. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:31.759 Oh, well, and then and those I eventually asked, like, dude, what happened? 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:33.839 Like, what took place? 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:36.400 And it was always something really small. 00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:37.359 Always. 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:40.480 One of them, it was like, oh, it was just my selfishness. 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:42.400 Like, I just I was just super selfish. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:45.440 Made some selfish decisions and she wanted out, and that was it. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:48.880 Another one said, What happened was something super small. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:53.359 It was just a conversation with a co worker when I was at an argument with my wife. 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:56.640 Just one conversation with a co worker when I was in an argument with my wife. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:06.079 It's like that led to a text, which led to Hiding and deleting some texts, which led to discontentment at my home, then to a dinner, then to an affair. 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:11.200 He's like, and then it blew up my marriage, it's affected my kids, and it's still affecting me today. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:12.240 It's a terrible decision. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:13.599 One conversation. 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:19.440 And Jesus is going, like, hey, just so you know, I want you to chop it off because sin doesn't stop burning. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:23.759 Like it will just continue to roar through your life all the way through. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:25.759 And you're not like, oh, it's a controlled burn. 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:27.920 I'll just burn a little bit here, then I'll have it stop there. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:29.759 And it's like, yeah, that sounds fun. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.759 It does not work that way. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:36.960 It is unending fire that will continue for the rest of this life. 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:41.200 It will continue to burn and take and steal and eat away. 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:49.440 Another guy said that he was talking about just some decisions that he made with his life and suicides and stuff like that. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:50.720 And I was like, what happened? 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:55.039 And he was like, uh honestly, he was like, it was just a little bit of porn. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:59.200 It just started like just a social media came out and it was just a little bit of porn. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:03.519 And somehow it got into my mind, affected my emotions and affected everything. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:04.720 I became addicted to it. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:10.400 And then I made some decisions that made me hate myself and the shame and the guilt and the shame and the guilt and the shame and the guilt, and I didn't want to live anymore. 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:14.160 And it's like just a little bit of a thing, just a touch. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:19.039 I've seen that happen with unforgiveness. 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:26.559 Leads to people breaking relationship off with another person, and then it leads to that person poisoning other people against that person, which then leads to bitterness. 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:38.720 Then every conversation becomes about that person, even when that person isn't around, which leads to you to you losing relationships around you because they don't want to be around you, because you're so bitter and you're so just spewing venom about a person that you haven't seen in 10 years. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:40.400 Just watch this thing happen. 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:47.839 And it just continues to take and take and take, and unforgiveness just locks them into a cell where they're by themselves, enslaved to unforgiveness. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.440 I've seen it with envy. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:50.799 All it is envy. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:52.480 I just want what they have. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:54.559 I just want to live like they do. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:55.680 Like, is that so hard? 00:23:55.759 --> 00:23:56.880 Like, we're the same age. 00:23:57.039 --> 00:23:59.839 Like I should live exactly the way that they do. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:03.119 Then it makes you discontent with what you have, it steals your gratitude. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:08.079 You don't even see the blessings in your life as being blessings anymore because you still don't have the thing that you want. 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:20.559 And then it leads to living above your means, buying things that you can't afford, living in debt, and now you're frustrated and irritated, and your family's struggling because you can't afford to do the things that are just normal stuff that you need to do. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:22.559 I'm just watching this thing happen. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:27.920 And so Jesus is looking at this thing and going, here and now, it when we sin, it is not a controlled burn. 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:31.440 It moves into your life and it destroys and it ravages everything. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:35.279 And there's just this unending fire that burns things down in your life. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:38.400 And so he's like, please cut it off. 00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:43.839 You might sacrifice a hand, or you might like, I don't, I didn't get to watch that show. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:48.960 And it's like, yeah, but you might save your marriage, or you might save your joy, or you might save this thing. 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:52.880 Like, there's so much more that it will take from you than it'll actually give. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:25:08.559 And this is why Jesus is saying, amputation seems radical, but it will actually save you from the pain of experiencing what sin can actually do, because it invites hell into your life, and hell is not tame, and it is not neutral. 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:11.519 A lot of people just think sin is just bad. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:13.920 Jesus doesn't like it because it's just bad. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:16.319 And he's like, No, you're inviting hell into your life. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:18.400 You're inviting unending destruction into your life. 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:19.359 Please cut it off. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:24.000 I'm trying to be kind to you the way a doctor would say something to a patient, like, we gotta cut that tumor out. 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:26.000 Like, ah, I really like it though. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:29.119 Cut that out. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:30.480 It will kill you. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:33.119 And it will kill the things that you love. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:37.200 Solomon says that sinning is like scooping fire into your lap. 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:39.599 It's a pretty vivid imagery there. 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:41.680 Like you will get burned. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:45.359 And in places that matter, you will get really burned. 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:49.359 You're inviting fire into your life when you sin. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:50.720 I am not just Paul. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:52.240 I'm not trying to scare anyone either. 00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:53.279 I'm just, this is the text. 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:54.559 And I think Jesus is trying to be kind. 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:56.640 And again, he's not evangelizing a group. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:59.119 He is talking to his friends and going, I love you. 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:01.119 You 12, I love you. 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:03.920 I want you to know, I need you to go tell the people that you love. 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:06.000