SPEAKER_00: As we continue in worship, I encourage you to turn in your Bible to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 21.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be reading verses 20 34 through 38.
SPEAKER_00: And if you happen not to have a Bible with you, there should be one located in the pew in front of you, and you can find the scripture passage on page 881.
SPEAKER_00: That's 881 of the Pew Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Encourage you to look on.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're here today and you don't own a Bible or don't have uh easy access to one, please take that one home with you.
SPEAKER_00: We are privileged to be able to give away Bibles every week, and uh we would love for you to have it if you don't have one.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 21, beginning in verse 34.
SPEAKER_00: But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.
SPEAKER_00: For it will come upon all who dwell in the face of the whole earth.
SPEAKER_00: But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_00: And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged at the mount called Olivet, and early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't we read the Bible more?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't we pray more?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't we share our faith more?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't we forgive more?
SPEAKER_00: Or trust more?
SPEAKER_00: Or rest in God's grace more than we do?
SPEAKER_00: What are you living for?
SPEAKER_00: What are you living for today?
SPEAKER_00: It's the beginning of a new year, and of course, many people will have New Year's resolutions of things that they're going to do, and they make a decision, I'm going to go to the gym.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to get a gym membership.
SPEAKER_00: I just read a statistic in the newspaper, and it said 70% of all New Year's gym memberships will go unused.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if everyone who actually had a membership went to the gym, they wouldn't have the capacity to hold it.
SPEAKER_00: So they know that you will make the commitment, you will make a decision, but you will not follow through.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes we live the Christian life that way.
SPEAKER_00: We go from meeting to meeting, from camp to camp, from event to event, and we make decisions, and those are good things, but the reality of it is that it doesn't last.
SPEAKER_00: This morning I want to talk about spiritual dullness.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual dullness.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says here, watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't talking to the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking to the fair-weathered disciples who followed Jesus while things were going well, but as soon as the teaching got tough, it says that they turned and followed him no more.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says this to the twelve apostles.
SPEAKER_00: He says it to his closest followers, those who have been walking with him, living with him for over three years, who had seen his miracles, who had seen the dead raised, who had seen the blind get sight, who had seen the mute speak, who had seen the lepers cleansed.
SPEAKER_00: He was telling his twelve disciples to watch their hearts lest they be weighed down and become spiritually dull.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to us.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to us to guard ourselves to recognize the reality that you and I are prone to spiritual dullness.
SPEAKER_00: You and I get to walk around like an evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: God is warning us.
SPEAKER_00: God is warning us that our hearts can become dull and unaware of spiritual reality.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's telling his disciples here.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, be careful, watch your heart, otherwise you might not know and be aware of spiritual reality that is all around you and is about to happen.
SPEAKER_00: He says that he is returning, that he is coming back.
SPEAKER_00: And for those who have eyes to see, they'll be aware.
SPEAKER_00: For those who have ears to hear, they'll be able to hear.
SPEAKER_00: But if you become dull of hearing and dull of seeing, you will not see and you will not hear.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what is spiritual dullness?
SPEAKER_00: The writer to Hebrews says this in Hebrews chapter 5, verses 11 through 13.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to them about spiritual truths, and he says, I have much to say to you.
SPEAKER_00: And it's hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.
SPEAKER_00: For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.
SPEAKER_00: You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child.
SPEAKER_00: But meat is for the mature.
SPEAKER_00: And the writer to Hebrews is writing to believers and saying, by this time you ought to be teachers.
SPEAKER_00: You ought to be leaders in the church.
SPEAKER_00: You've been Christians long enough.
SPEAKER_00: You've known Christ, you've walked with Christ long enough that by this time you ought to be on the front lines of the Christian faith.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is, is you still are babes in Christ because of your spiritual dullness.
SPEAKER_00: You have become dull of hearing.
SPEAKER_00: He says there's a lot that you still need to learn.
SPEAKER_00: The great preacher Jonathan Edwards described it this way: He says, When the realities of God and his gospel grow dim, and unbelief and worldly affection so strong that the heart of the church wanders to the lusts and rivalries of a secularized mind.
SPEAKER_00: What Edwards said 250 years ago is that we can drift spiritually to the point where there is no material difference between us and the unbelieving world.
SPEAKER_00: There's no difference between how we act and react, how we respond in situations, that for all intents and purposes, our reactions and our responses are the exact same as unbelievers.
SPEAKER_00: Here are some words that describe spiritual dullness, slowness, laziness.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes difficult to pick up your Bible and read or to take time to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lethargy, complacency, uninterested, normalizing mediocrity.
SPEAKER_00: We begin to say, well, well, everyone else, nobody else is further along than me.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody else is committed, so what does it matter if I just warm the pew every Sunday morning?
SPEAKER_00: Rationalizing sin.
SPEAKER_00: We begin to minimize our sin and justify our sin and rationalize our sin.
SPEAKER_00: We stop recognizing the holiness of God and the gravity of our behavior before that God.
SPEAKER_00: Pride that you've arrived, you begin to think that there really isn't too much more room for growth.
SPEAKER_00: As I look at my life, I see myself in such a way that I don't recognize how far I still have to go.
SPEAKER_00: Another author describes it this way concerning spiritual drift.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Your faith is ritual and routine.
SPEAKER_00: There's no vitality, there's no life, there's no excitement, there's no anticipation.
SPEAKER_00: You go through the motions and you do it as ritual and routine, and it becomes religion to you.
SPEAKER_00: He says you mouth the words of hymns and prayers, but only out of habit, with no heart and eagerness.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what do the results of spiritual dullness look like?
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned already, one clear sign is if your reaction is no different from everyone else when they see you angry, upset, or hurt.
SPEAKER_00: If there's no greater love or forgiveness than your typical non-Christian, something is not right in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: If you respond with the same anger and bitterness and resentment that is common among unbelievers, you have forgotten the gospel that saved you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said this, You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
SPEAKER_00: But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: For he makes the Son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
SPEAKER_00: For if you love those who love you, what reward is that?
SPEAKER_00: Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
SPEAKER_00: And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?
SPEAKER_00: Do not even the Gentiles do the same.
SPEAKER_00: When I was in high school, I became a Christian in ninth grade, had a zeal for God, I had a passion for God's word.
SPEAKER_00: I started reading the Bible that first summer after I had come to know Christ, I read through the New Testament, uh, took notes, uh, began witnessing, began talking to my friends.
SPEAKER_00: But over the course of the next couple years, I began to drift.
SPEAKER_00: I began to be influenced by my non-Christian friends.
SPEAKER_00: I began to get pulled down to act the same way they acted and do the things they did and talk the way they talked.
SPEAKER_00: And I still wanted to witness, and I remember being in the library in the in the area that groups could talk, and I was there with a friend of mine, Todd.
SPEAKER_00: Todd had grown up in this odd religion, and I and I began to share the gospel with him.
SPEAKER_00: I began to tell them about Christ, and right in the middle of it, Todd looked at me and said, Why should I believe what you're saying?
SPEAKER_00: Your life is no different from mine.
SPEAKER_00: And he stopped me dead in my tracks.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual dullness happens to all of us.
SPEAKER_00: There's no way to avoid it if you don't guard your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And I know even throughout my Christian life, even in being in ministry, that that you don't get a pass just because you're a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: That God warns us like he warns the apostles to guard your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so this morning I want to talk first of all about the problem.
SPEAKER_00: What is the danger of spiritual dullness?
SPEAKER_00: And then in the last few minutes, talk about the remedy of persevering through spiritual alertness.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's look at the text of what Jesus says here, warning us about the reality of spiritual dullness of being weighed down by different things.
SPEAKER_00: So, what is spiritual dullness?
SPEAKER_00: He says, watch yourselves, let your hearts be weighed down.
SPEAKER_00: What does the Bible mean about heart?
SPEAKER_00: Again, just to refresh our memories, the heart is the seat of your being.
SPEAKER_00: It is who you are in your inner life.
SPEAKER_00: It's your desires and your habits and your beliefs.
SPEAKER_00: It's your intellect, your will, your emotions.
SPEAKER_00: It is who you are, it is what motivates you.
SPEAKER_00: Your thoughts, your choices, your feelings flow from your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so that you can look at the things that you desire and it gives you an indicator of what's going on in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You can look at your emotions and your responses, and it gives an indicator of what's going on in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You can look at your words that you say, and it's a reflection of what is the reality of your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And Proverbs tells us to keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the wellsprings of life.
SPEAKER_00: Your heart is where your deepest passions lie that motivate you to act and react, to feel and respond.
SPEAKER_00: Now the Bible tells us as Christians what ought to motivate us, and it ought to be the love of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: What ought to compel us, Paul says, it's the love of Christ that compels us.
SPEAKER_00: It's the reality that God the Father has chosen you as his own, has sent his son to die for your sins, has called you into his family, and that you are the object of his affection.
SPEAKER_00: And what ought to motivate and move our hearts is the reality of our sonship.
SPEAKER_00: The reality that we are the adopted children of our Heavenly Father who delights in us.
SPEAKER_00: And so often our Christian faith moves from joy and passion to duty and drudgery.
SPEAKER_00: And life becomes dry.
SPEAKER_00: We go through the motions, maybe we we we continue to read our Bibles out of a sense of duty.
SPEAKER_00: We pray, but it's really more of a sense of obligation of mouthing certain words, of saying certain things, of taking a certain amount of time in the morning or sometime in the day.
SPEAKER_00: And these things become duties rather than delights.
SPEAKER_00: You become unmotivated.
SPEAKER_00: You hear of others talking in spiritual passion, and you begin to judge them and think, well, that's just emotionalism, or they're just hyping themselves up.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you even become cynical and think, well, yeah, they're just faking it too.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says we can be weighed down, and and he's he gives two areas here in the text.
SPEAKER_00: He talks about dissipation and distraction.
SPEAKER_00: He says we can be weighed down with dissipation, first of all, or distraction.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what he he says in verse 34.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness.
SPEAKER_00: And what Jesus warns is that you can move from Jesus to Jack Daniel's.
SPEAKER_00: That you can move.
SPEAKER_00: Dissipation is an interesting word.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize all of the connotations until I was looking it up this week in preparation for this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: But dissipation is a word that describes drinking to the point of excess so that the next day you feel sick.
SPEAKER_00: And dissipation is that sickness that follows the next day.
SPEAKER_00: We would call it a hangover.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus warns here and says that we can be weighed down with different things.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things he talks about is alcohol.
SPEAKER_00: Now the Bible is clear, and we've talked about this.
SPEAKER_00: It's not inherently wrong to drink.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, wine is described as one of God's blessings in Psalm 104.15.
SPEAKER_00: It says that God gave wine to gladden the heart of man in a list of things that God has given in his goodness.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible warns very clearly, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery in Ephesians 5.18.
SPEAKER_00: And one author notes this.
SPEAKER_00: He says, if you have been getting drunk, or if people who love you are concerned about how much you are drinking, stop drinking immediately.
SPEAKER_00: If you find that you can't stop, this proves you have a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Medication, medical attention may be needed to deal with the physical effects, especially if it's a strong chemical dependency has developed.
SPEAKER_00: But at its heart, the abuse of alcohol is a spiritual issue that calls for the repentance of sin.
SPEAKER_00: Now you may be sitting here thinking, well, I've never had a drop of alcohol in my life, so this passage doesn't apply to me.
SPEAKER_00: But there's something underlying this at the heart of what Jesus is talking about, that alcohol is only an example of.
SPEAKER_00: And that is our tendency to self-medicate.
SPEAKER_00: And let me explain what I mean by that.
SPEAKER_00: Anything that you run to in times of pain or stress instead of Jesus is self-medication.
SPEAKER_00: Anything that you use to cope with life on a consistent basis is self-medication.
SPEAKER_00: For some it might be alcohol and drugs, for others, it may be exercise or food.
SPEAKER_00: The way of escape, the way to deal with life is to avoid it by going to the gym and working out six days a week.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's to indulge in food, and that little bit of pleasure that you get from the food that you're eating dulls the pain or the reality of what you're dealing with in life.
SPEAKER_00: Or it might be entertainment.
SPEAKER_00: It might be sitting in front of the television for hour after hour getting lost in dramas and comedies in order to take your mind off the realities of life.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of running to Jesus, you run to ABC and CBS.
SPEAKER_00: And you allow that to become your coping mechanism, the way in which you deal with life and you begin to lose sight of the reality around you.
SPEAKER_00: It could be video games sitting in front of the video council for hours and hours on edge, vegging out and looking at these role-playing games and going for hours and hours and days and days at so much of the things in life, even good things, we can use to self-medicate.
SPEAKER_00: We can use to avoid the realities of life instead of running to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus warns us that we can begin to get caught up.
SPEAKER_00: We can lose sight of the goodness of God and the grace of God and the love of God and the care of God.
SPEAKER_00: We can forget that God sees us and knows our hearts, he knows our lives, he knows everything that you're going through, that his eye is on you.
SPEAKER_00: We can begin to forget the reality that God cares for you, that he loves you, that we don't have to run around like unbelievers do because he knows what we need before we even ask.
SPEAKER_00: We begin to forget that we have a Father that is intimately acquainted with all of our ways and he is there for our good.
SPEAKER_00: And because we forget those things, because we become spiritually dull, we begin to run to other things in order to cope with life and we self-medicate, it doesn't have to be alcohol.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus warns us of this reality.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what what else he says here, he talks about the cares of this life.
SPEAKER_00: The cares of this life.
SPEAKER_00: And those things can be good things or bad things.
SPEAKER_00: The cares of this life could be worry and anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: Worry and faith are really opposites, and to the degree that we're worrying, we're not trusting.
SPEAKER_00: To the degree that we're focusing on our problems instead of focusing on our Savior, we lose sight of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so worry can cause our hearts to be weighed down.
SPEAKER_00: We begin to look at our circumstances and only see the horizontal.
SPEAKER_00: We look around and we see what's going on today and this week and this month, and we begin to wonder and worry.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how things are going to work out.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what things are going to look like in the future.
SPEAKER_00: I'm worried about myself or my family.
SPEAKER_00: And those things begin to weigh us down.
SPEAKER_00: And all we see is the horizontal.
SPEAKER_00: We stop looking up and remembering God.
SPEAKER_00: And so things in our lives can weigh us down, but good things can weigh us down too.
SPEAKER_00: Busyness can weigh us down.
SPEAKER_00: We can become so distracted with the things of this life that we run from place to place and activity to activity.
SPEAKER_00: We never have time to slow down.
SPEAKER_00: We never have time to rest.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're so busy and so active, we never have time to think and reflect and rest and pray.
SPEAKER_00: And so what Jesus warns us is the reality of spiritual dullness that can set in over time as we get caught up in either self-medicating or the distraction that causes us to forget the reality of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And it weighs us down day in and day out, and over time we continue to drift, we become more blind, we become more insensitive, we stop hearing the reality of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus warns us of the reality of spiritual dullness.
SPEAKER_00: The result of spiritual dullness, he talks about in this passage as well.
SPEAKER_00: He says, That that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.
SPEAKER_00: Now that day, he tells us what it is.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
SPEAKER_00: But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place to stand before the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the second coming.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the reality that the same Christ who was raised from the dead, who ascended into heaven, that in the same way that he ascended into heaven, that Jesus Christ is going to return.
SPEAKER_00: And what Jesus says here is that we can become so caught up in this world that we're not even anticipating the reality of the second coming.
SPEAKER_00: He says it's going to come upon you suddenly like a trap.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we might be thinking to ourselves, well, but isn't Jesus supposed to come like a thief in the night?
SPEAKER_00: I saw the movie.
SPEAKER_00: You have to be old to get that reference.
SPEAKER_00: 78, I think.
SPEAKER_00: 1978, not 78 years old.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: I want to show you something.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to see what Paul says here.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the second coming of Christ here.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to get into all of the details of end times here, but he's talking about the second coming of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We see that at the end of chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: And then in the beginning of chapter 5, look at what he says in verses 1 to 3.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to have anything written to you.
SPEAKER_00: For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Look at what he says next.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: While people are saying there is peace and security, then suddenly destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
SPEAKER_00: And so, like Jesus says, it will come like a trap, it will come suddenly a trap that you don't realize it's there, and then it springs on you, and it's too late.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul here says it's like it's like birth pains, that a woman is going along pregnant, wondering when the baby's going to come, and suddenly her water breaks, and and the uh the contractions start, and it's it catches you off guard.
SPEAKER_00: But but look at what he says next in verses four through seven.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse four, but you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
SPEAKER_00: But you uh for you are all children of light, children of the day, we are not of the night or of the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
SPEAKER_00: For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
SPEAKER_00: But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: You see, what Paul says here is the same thing that Jesus says in Luke chapter 21.
SPEAKER_00: He says that for the for the spiritually insensitive, for those who are dull or spiritually dead, that everything is going to catch them off guard.
SPEAKER_00: They're going to have no expectation, no anticipation.
SPEAKER_00: But then he says to us as believers, he says, but you it shouldn't catch off guard.
SPEAKER_00: If you're awake and you're alert, if you're ready, if you're prepared, if you're anticipating, it should not catch you like it does unbelievers.
SPEAKER_00: And now, neither Jesus nor Paul is telling us that we're going to know the day or the hour.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, No man knows the day or the hour, even when Christ was on earth.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Not even the Son, but only the Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So he's not talking about date setting, but he is talking about anticipation.
SPEAKER_00: He is talking about expectation.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that those who are spiritually alive and awake, they're looking around and they're looking up and they're living for that day.
SPEAKER_00: They're living for the return of Christ and the consummation of all things as God unfolds his redemption plan.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus, in the Gospel of Luke, he tells us that for those who are spiritually dull, that all of these things are going to overtake them like a trap.
SPEAKER_00: And so then he gives us the remedy, he gives us the solution.
SPEAKER_00: How do we avoid spiritual darkness?
SPEAKER_00: Or what do spiritual dullness?
SPEAKER_00: What do I do if I'm already there?
SPEAKER_00: What if, as I look at my heart, as I look at my life, I realize I'm going through the motions?
SPEAKER_00: That as I think about the passion in my heart, when I'm at church, I may say spiritual things and I may sing songs or even raise my hand, but when I'm at home, uh the Bible sits until next Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: And prayer is few and far between.
SPEAKER_00: What do we do if if we're in this place of spiritual dullness?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's not merely a matter of a decision to try harder.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus talks about the perseverance through spiritual alertness, but it's not just making a decision.
SPEAKER_00: That's one of the reasons why New Year's resolutions, although it's good to think about and fun to plan, the reality of it is, is you could just repeat last year's because you didn't do them the last time you made them.
SPEAKER_00: And we all know where good intentions lead.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it is true we do need to make a commitment.
SPEAKER_00: We do need to decide to repent and return to Christ, but it's more than just a decision.
SPEAKER_00: If you leave here today and say, okay, I'm just going to try harder to follow Jesus, you're going to miss the point.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not a matter of willpower, of just willing yourself into a new place, willing your heart to change.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, watch yourselves, watch your heart.
SPEAKER_00: So we need to know our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We need to, on a daily basis before God, take inventory of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And when things come out of our mouths, when we when we see things, begin to reflect and ask, where did that come from?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says all of these things that come out flow from the heart, and so we need to recognize what's going on in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We need to know our tendencies and our weaknesses.
SPEAKER_00: We need to know the true depth of our sinfulness.
SPEAKER_00: One 18th-century pastor J.C.
SPEAKER_00: Ryle said this.
SPEAKER_00: He said, There is no sin so great, but that a great saint may fall into it.
SPEAKER_00: And there is no saint so great, but he may fall into a great sin.
SPEAKER_00: The reality is that all of us have indwelling sin that wages war against our souls, that we fight against day in and day out, and to know the reality of our sin, to see ourselves for who we really are.
SPEAKER_00: And to know the depths of our sinfulness.
SPEAKER_00: As I've said before, one man Jack Miller says, cheer up, you're worse than you think you are.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we need to be careful that when we look at our sin, that we forget to look through it through the lens of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Because if all we do is introspection and look at our sin, one of two things is going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Either we're going to look at our sin and we can't face it, so we're going to rationalize it away.
SPEAKER_00: Or we're going to look at our sin and we're going to get a true glimpse of the depravity in our hearts, but apart from the gospel, we'll fall into despair.
SPEAKER_00: But when you look in the light of the gospel, you're able to be honest with yourself and look at your sin because you remember the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And so know the depths of your sinfulness, know your surroundings and your influences.
SPEAKER_00: And then bring them all to the Lord in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, but stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus tells us to pray, but what we pray is out of weakness.
SPEAKER_00: What we pray is the realities of what are before us.
SPEAKER_00: God, I am weak, but you are strong.
SPEAKER_00: May your strength be made manifest in my life.
SPEAKER_00: God, I look at my heart and I see how how prone to wander I am.
SPEAKER_00: How prone I am to stray.
SPEAKER_00: How prone I am to leave you or to forget you or to ignore you.
SPEAKER_00: But God, soften my hardened heart.
SPEAKER_00: To cry out to Jesus and ask him to do in your life what he wants to do and what only he can do.
SPEAKER_00: And the only thing that hinders him from doing it is you going your own way.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus says that we need to pray, but pray for alertness, realize our ability to be dull, pray for discernment to see what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for deliverance, the reality that things are going from bad to worse, but God is able to deliver us.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for endurance.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: But above all else, pray that you understand the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: I've said this last week, I've said it over and over again because it's such a reality in my own heart and life.
SPEAKER_00: I read a quote this week and it just stuck with me.
SPEAKER_00: It said, as a Christian, you never go beyond the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: You only go deeper in it.
SPEAKER_00: And the longer that we know Christ, the more we should revel in our forgiveness and stand in awe of the fact that God loves us and called us to be his own.
SPEAKER_00: To look at the cross, and the longer we live, the more we're gripped by the reality of our sin, but the more we're gripped by grace.
SPEAKER_00: To see the cross, to see the gospel, to go deeper in it.
SPEAKER_00: That every day we preach the gospel to ourselves, we allow the truth of who God is and what he has done to answer the deepest hurts and pains and fears of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And so we preach the gospel to ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We don't go beyond the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing else.
SPEAKER_00: The whole story of the Bible is a story of redemption history from beginning to end.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about Jesus and what He's done and why He came.
SPEAKER_00: And to go deeper in it.
SPEAKER_00: To renew our minds to the truth of God's word, but not as an academic exercise.
SPEAKER_00: To say, God, soften my heart and open my eyes as I read your word so that I might meet with you and see you and know you better.
SPEAKER_00: To renew our minds of the truth of God's word, to allow God's word to wash us with water, which is the word it says in Ephesians chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: To feed our souls on God's word and pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to take that truth and impress it upon our hearts so that the true weight of spiritual reality impacts us and penetrates the dullness that we're prone to.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for a greater awareness of the love of your Father and the forgiveness that you have in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We never move beyond the gospel, we just move deeper in it.
SPEAKER_00: So what are you living for?
SPEAKER_00: Are you living for today?
SPEAKER_00: Are you living for circumstances?
SPEAKER_00: Are you living for that day?
SPEAKER_00: Are you living in light of eternity?
SPEAKER_00: Are you living in light of the reality that one day either we will go to be with God or Christ will return?
SPEAKER_00: Either I will stand before Jesus in my death, or Jesus will come back for me, and I will stand before him.
SPEAKER_00: But that is the day that we live for.
SPEAKER_00: It is a moment by moment repentant faith of confessing our sins and believing the gospel in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: It's a reality that we are going to pursue God above all else, that He is our object, that He is our goal, and that nothing else is going to get in our way and deter us, and that this is going to be the daily reality of our pursuit for the rest of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just a decision to make today and then to walk out here and forget what you are, what you've said.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a gym membership.
SPEAKER_00: This is a reality of saying, God, I want you in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I have been drifting, I am spiritually dull.
SPEAKER_00: Awaken me, enliven me to the reality of who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want us to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And I want us to cry out to God to do what only He can do in our lives, to do what only He can do in this church.
SPEAKER_00: To awaken us to the reality of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father God, as we are gathered here, your word has pricked our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: As we look at our lives, we realize, Lord, that we are drifting.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have the passion that we once had.
SPEAKER_00: We remember the height from which we've from which we've fallen, and we want to repent and do those things we did at first.
SPEAKER_00: We realize, Lord, that we have become weighed down with self-medication and weighed down with the cares of this world.
SPEAKER_00: We're so distracted by stuff, even by good stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Things that aren't in themselves wrong, but but we run to them instead of running to you.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, we ask you to do your work in our lives of softening our hearts, of changing us and transforming us, of putting within us a desire for the things of you, that we will hunger and thirst for righteousness, that we will long for you, that we will seek after you.
SPEAKER_00: Father, and this isn't just a momentary decision, but Lord, we want this to be the direction of our lives every day when we leave here and tonight and when we wake up in the morning and when we have lunch tomorrow at work or school, that we want to say that we want to follow you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, we do so faultingly.
SPEAKER_00: We do so struggling, Father, but we cry out and ask for your grace and your strength.
SPEAKER_00: We are weak, Lord, but you are strong.
SPEAKER_00: Give us strength.
SPEAKER_00: May the power of your Holy Spirit fill us and empower us, Lord, and incline our wills to follow and believe.
SPEAKER_00: Give us a greater vision of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we never move beyond it.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, we pray in this new year that we will move deeper in it.
SPEAKER_00: And so we cry out to you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Change us.
SPEAKER_00: Change our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Break up the fallow ground.
SPEAKER_00: Bring revival in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.