The Church of Eleven22 - Saturated Thursday: Pastor Matt Chandler

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

On Saturated Thursday, Pastor Matt Chandler dives into 1 Corinthians 15:1-6, where Paul reminds us of the foundation of our faith—Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. This truth isn’t just something we believe once and move on from. It’s the very thing we stand in every day. The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To learn more about how God is moving at Eleven22, visit coe22.com.

Well, if you're wondering, that's an incredible amount of pressure. You're just wondering how that felt. That felt like, all right, Lord, I need you to deliver. You're going to do something tonight. Hey, if you have your Bibles go ahead and grab there, we're going to be in 1st Corinthians 15, but I want to spend some time setting up, getting us there, and then we'll dive in. I grew up in a home with a super fundamentalist mama, like she thought the Pharisees were a little bit lazy in their application.

of the law, and then I grew up with a daddy who was battling some significant and serious demons. And so it was a confusing thing to not be able to watch rated R movies or listen to secular music, but in any time, Dad might snap and beat the hell out of you. And then you have to try to make sense of all of that, that there's a lot of Jesus talk in the house, and there's a lot of explosive violence that could pop off at any given time without even a good reason for it to happen. And so what that did to me is made me really confused

about the person and work of Jesus. It made me not understand what this gospel thing was, what this Jewish man, a couple of thousand years ago dying on the cross, had to do with me. And it really disoriented me for the things of God

for a long time. And then, you know, the Lord's good, so he, you know, fought his way through all of that and snatched me up. I can quote David that he pulled me out of the muck and the mire. He set my feet on a rock. He put a hymn of praise in my mouth, a song to our God,

and he grabbed hold of me, and I hadn't recovered from that grabbing. And, man, he has sustained and brought me through. I've been through the valley of the shadow of death. If you haven't been there, it's not fun, but, I can promise you he'll be with you in it. He doesn't abandon you to it.

And he's been really the only one in my life that has been so consistently grabbing me by the face and saying, I'm not going. And so as I got into ministry, which was not my plan for my life, I was already a political science major. Here's what I wanted a really hot wife and a Porsche. And God gave me a really beautiful. woman and a career that means you probably aren't driving a Porsche. But he's giving me a lot of other good things. So here's what I want to try to do.

If there's any gap in your understanding of what the gospel is and what it means for your life, I want to try to fill that gap as simply and as quickly as I can. And don't get excited about me using the word quickly. Usually means about 50 minutes. Right? And so we'll be fine. We'll be fine. Now, if I could just give you a sentence and then unpack that sentence, here's what I would tell you,

that the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that all of your sins, all of them, past, present, and future. Past, we're usually pretty good at that one. Present struggles, future sins, don't even hardly, but the reality that you're going to have them. But that all of our sins, past, present, and future. have been fully, freely, and forever forgiven in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's my, that's not a sentence, it's like six, but I don't do math. We hire people to do math at the village.

Now, if I could turn that into more of just me talking to you, here's what those couple of sentences mean. Here, look at me, lean in for me. Jesus wants you. all of you like body soul and mind he wants all of you

and he makes these ridiculous invitations in the scripture like he sends out in Matthew come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I'll give you rest I want you come to me I'm picking you you're on my team

no one does that oh you socially awkward oh you've train wrecked your life oh man you're walking with the limp because of this or that. Oh, you've got some self-hatred? Oh, you're, you're just like, you're my people. Get in here. Like, who makes that invitation? Christ and Christ alone does. Nobody wants you like he wants you. The city of Jacksonville wants you to chase comfort and give yourself over to the accumulation of the stuff of future

landfills all the while marinating in your own mediocrity. The invitation of what wealth wants the hours and minutes of your day, but at the cost of deep meaning and connection, which is actually the fuel for the soul that God brings to our equation. The hookup or swinging invitation wants your bodies, but it'll rot your soul. Now, Jesus wants your soul. He wants you, and not the better version of you that you're working on. You know, because listen, here's what I meant, I've been in this game for, you know, 25 years. Some of you in this room, he just absolutely convinced that once you stop or once you start, then all of a sudden Jesus is going to be like, that's my God.

But that's the anti-gospel. Like the gospel is that he, he looks, he lifts up your face and stares in you while you were yet sinners. Christ dies for you. So if you've come in here tonight and you're thinking, I just got to stop doing this and start doing this, so that I might have the life that I see in my friend. You're not hearing your friend right or your friend's saying it wrong.

You don't get to do some stuff in order to taste and see the Lord is good. He's good. He tastes and looks beautiful, not because you're bringing some seasoning to the baking goods. You tracking with me? And I'm telling you, that's a slippery slope for us. Gosh, we love us some moralistic deism. Just yanks on us. Just like, tell me what to do and I'll do it.

But it's not about what you're doing. It's about a who. And Jesus, show me the text where Jesus gives the person the list to do. I mean, I'll give you my direct email. You don't want, I know because you can't go email because it ain't in there. Like when does God give the people of Israel the law before he gets them out of Egypt or after he gets them out of Egypt? After. He's like, hey, nail these ten things.

and I'll get you out of here. It's like, I'm going to flex, I'm going to break you out of bondage, I'm going to deliver you, and then when you get out here, I'm going to show you how to live. Then I'm going to show you how to live. I'm going to show you life as I've designed it,

life as I've built it, life that's full of truth, beauty, and goodness. And so if you've got it backwards, you've got the anti-gospel, not the real gospel. You've got dead-deformed religion that's just going to turn you

into a different kind of slave, a slave that you're going to slap Jesus's name on it when he repeatedly say, no, no, I came to get you out of those bondages. Not put you in them. And so I want us to look at this text. This is First Corinthians. We're going to pick it up in verse one,

and I'm going to start by just kind of building this past, present, future concept when it comes to the gospel. Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being,

saved. Are you with me? In which you received, that's past tense, in which you now stand, that's present tense, by which you will be saved is future tense. So the gospel isn't just something we believe and then move on from. But rather, it becomes the very essence out of which we're living a life marked by joy and gladness. I didn't say happiness and spirit sprinkle, comfort. I said joy. like joy's different than those things it's thicker it's stronger happiness is way too fragile for you to make it the pursuit of your life and gosh you know it you know it it just like there are these moments that you have and i have where man we're just happy it just takes one person

in the left lane that doesn't understand that that's a passing lane i mean sign sign sign lane for passing lane for passing lane for passing lane for passing 10 miles under the me and now all of a sudden my day's far. Or if I've got plans in my head, here's how my day's going to go and my day doesn't go that way. Well then all of a sudden I'm frustrated. I am no longer happy. I am agitated. I am

at a seven under the surface and like a two in front of everyone because I'm a pastor and you can't be a seven usually unless you're preaching and then you can be an eight or nine. That's why I love it. So I want to talk about this idea right out of the gate where he says which you

received. He's talking about this past event that the men and women in Corinth had. That someone had proclaimed the gospel to them and they received it. And so I'm going to give you the gospel just as quick as I can. If we do it in kind of a narrative approach, here's the gospel of Jesus Christ, that God creates everything that is by the word of his power. He just speaks it. into existence. He just tells stuff what to do and it does it. Stuff that didn't even exist except in his own delightful heart. He just tells it and it goes, right? When a bunch of stuff was in heaven, he's like, it's really cluttery up here. Let's get that out there into the universe.

He just says it and boom in every direction. It's continuing to grow and move. Thus is the word of his power and this refrain begins to occur in the creation narrative. And it was good. and it was good. Man, I nailed that. That's amazing. And now here's something that's important to note about all of creation. All of creation and us as the crown jewel, the image bears of that creation, the viceroys of King Jesus, are placed in the garden so that everything that we interact with is meant not to terminate on itself, but to roll past itself into greater joy and gladness because God's the good giver of all gifts. So like I've tried to say this for 20 years.

I think people who don't know Jesus can have a good life. They can enjoy a great steak and a great glass of wine. I think they can have sex and have an orgasm. I think they can, or you know, I know who you're pastor. Don't be, I know I'm fine.

Oh, give me. So you're like, what? Oh, give me, you must not be 1122. right? Like they can do, they can do all these things, but what they will not ever experience is the joy of the pleasure moving past the gift back to the giver. So if you know and love and understand Jesus, when you bite into that steak done medium rare or order chicken, and you put it in your mouth and you taste those flavors, there's

another place to go. There's not just the joy of the flavors, there's the giver of the flavors, which helps me to do something about the nature and character of God that he gave us flavors like that. He didn't have to do it. And the same is true about sex, and the same is true about play, and the same is true about friendship, and the same is true about money. He creates all things good, meant to roll past those things, and onto him the giver of everything good, true, and beautiful. And how does man respond to this? Well, he rebels.

Instead of staying in communion with God, in the presence of God, which is, I don't know if you know this or not, but that presence that we've talked about and sung about, and I think everybody that's touched the stage so far as mentioned it, it's the very fuel for the human soul. We don't run right without it.

We run, but we don't run, but we don't run rice. It's like putting diesel in a regular car. It's just going to not, it's not going to work. It's going to stop running. And some of you, man, you're like stuck on the side of the freeway tonight. Like, no, no, you need the presence and power of God. But what we read about in the narrative is they run from the presence of God. They believe the lie. It's never been about the fruit. If that's confused, you're like, there's an apple. Give me a break. No, no, no. It wasn't. It was about believing that God isn't trustworthy. What did the snake say? Did the snake bring Eve the fruit and be like,

you hungry? No. He came up to her and said, did God really say? Does God really mean he makes accusations against the nature and character of God? He's holding out on you. He doesn't want your greater joy. He's a tyrant and she believed. And this belief, along with her past, massive idiot husband fractures the universe. I mean, I'm not trying to make a joke there. I'm quoting the Apostle Paul. How did sin enter the world through the man? You go back there and you're like, wait, no, it's clear right here.

No, no, no, what's Adam doing? You're like, while this snake's deceiving his wife. I've got a wife. Somebody's whispering her ears lies? I'd like to believe that I'm not the kind of man. They're just like, ah, she'll figure it out. Now, she's smart and godly and far more prophetically gifted than I am, so I think she will. But she's going to figure that out with me right there, but you'll have to shut your mouth

and trying to get my masculine energy involved, if you will. And so this fractures the universe, and here's what I mean by fractures the universe. Here's what you need to know most about sin. Sin drives a wedge between us and God. between us and us and between us and others. So sin is not just some kind of moral mistake that you made, although certainly sin can mean breaking the law, the law of God. But the greatest pain point in sin is that it fractures,

it creates distance between you and God. And some of you know, it creates distance between you and you. and then that bubbles up with beef with everybody else. And so it's a significant and serious issue. Here's how Romans 1 describes it. He says that we prefer creation to the creator. We don't want God, we want his stuff. It says that we fail to acknowledge him.

Right? You fail to acknowledge him. This just means you take credit for what you didn't do. That's what it means. And he's saying like all human beings, we all do this. We just want God's stuff. We don't want him. We don't want him glory.

We want the sex. We don't want to do it his way. We want the friends. We don't want to honor him with him. We want his stuff. Not him. And then lastly, on this one, like it says that we think we're smarter than him. The way the apostle Paul writes about that is they believe the lie over the truth of God.

Like if we were straight, how many of the people are. how many of you think there are certain passages in the Bible that there's like for you there's like an asterisk by it and if you go down and you look and you turn back to that there's like a picture of you and it's like except for this guy now what you what you're doing in that moment is you're like hey I think in this area of my life I'm smarter than him I think if God knew where I'm coming from what I've been through then he would never ask this of me I get why he's asking it of everybody else but if you only only knew the details of my story. And I would just giggle at you. You serious? He knows them better than you do. He knows the details better than you do because they're a memory for you and it's a place he was. See, we're singing God is holy and one of the things you need to know and we're talking about God is holy. He's other than, he's very different than us, is time is something for you and me, but he sits outside of it. Which means the future isn't something he knows about. It's where he is while being here and being in yesterday.

If that's bend in the brain, yeah, it does, because we can't comprehend that. We are finite. He is not. And so we come across things in the Bible and we're just like, no, that's not me. I'm not going to do it that way. I'm going to do what I want.

And this is accusation against God. I'm smarter than you. What's wild is some of you are like me and spend a little bit of extra time in middle school. You know, like repeated the eighth grade and now all of a sudden I'm a moral expert on what's best in my own life. Right? This is how the Bible talks about sin.

And this breaks. This breaks our relationship with God. It twists our relationship with ourself. And that bubbles over onto all the beef we have with others. And here's what's fascinating. Here's where we're, we really need to get into it. Because this is what you, hopefully you've heard and received. And if not, I want to give you an opportunity to receive it tonight.

God in light of all those things. So he's giving all these good gifts. He's given all this truth, beauty, and goodness to the, you know, the diamond of his creation, those made in his image, his viceroys, those who are meant to be as ambassadors that bring his truth, beauty, and goodness to bear on the world. And they're like, yeah, no, no, thank you, we're good.

Now, we'll take all your stuff as long as you move on. And now that we're thinking about it, you kind of made some dumb stuff up. and for all the good that's coming in my love, I'm going to give me credit for that. And anything bad, I'm going to blame you. His response. Now, remember, when I said nobody wants you like this,

his response to that wasn't to put up boundaries. It was to move towards you in love. Like, this is the, if you'll just read the Bible slow enough to pick this up, this is the whole story of the Bible. The whole story of the Bible could be boiled down to God with us. what happens? You got the man and woman who sin in the garden, and what does God do? He, like, clothes them. He gives them a messianic promise that he'll make straight what they just made crooked.

And then he saves the people of Israel out of enslavement to Egypt. And what does he do? He puts the tabernacle right in the middle of them where when they open up their tents, they see the manifest presence of God every day, God with us. And then when they get stiff-necked, he sends them judges. and when they get stiff necks, he sends them prophets. And when they turn yet again, the second person of the Trinity, the son of God,

equal with the Father, co-eternal with the Father, condescends and puts on this. Puts on flesh and blood and does what? Dwells with us. And he's crucified. He is resurrected.

He ascends. And then what's Pentecost, but God with us? He sends the Holy Spirit to end dwell the hearts of his sons and daughters. So if you get a shot to go to Jerusalem, great. Here's what you're going to find. You're going to find him any closer to you there than he is right here. It's not the way our faith. You don't need to make a pilgrimage if you can.

It's cool. But you are not going to find him there in a way he is not here. The Holy Spirit's going to ambush you a couple places. You'll be in a spot. and also you just get all weepy thinking about what happened in that space. But the presence of Jesus Christ via the Holy Spirit is as powerful and as profound in this place than it is in any holy sight around the world.

So let me read this to you. Here's, this is God moving towards us in Jesus. I wish I could read this whole passage, but I won't do that to us. 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11. Or do you not know that the unrighteous, will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral, nor the idolaters, nor adulterers,

nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor the drunkards, nor the revilers, nor the swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Okay, look at me. How many of you are on that list? My hands up. Anybody on it a couple of times?

I'm on that list a couple of times. Like, I mean, this is literally like reading my resume before Christ snatched me out and some after. And then I just read, will not inherit the kingdom of God. Why? Because to be in His holiness in this state would be to be vaporized.

Will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now I love verse 11. And such were some of you. Now, I love that, but if I think about my own progression and understanding what the gospel is, I could read that and go, oh, I used to do that, and now I don't.

I've pulled myself up by my bootstraps. I've cleaned myself up. I'm doing better than I was doing two years ago when it comes to getting high or chasing girls with daddy issues or whatever your thing is or right. You're just kind of... That's a true statement. I don't know why y'all just like, all right, let's keep going. But then here, watch what happens here.

And such were some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Now, in that last verse, are you the active agent or you the passive agent? Passive, like you're receiving it all. You were washed. It wasn't like you heard the good news, you scrubbed yourself. No, no.

You were washed. Somebody washed you. Someone sanctified you. Someone justified you. You didn't justify you. You didn't wash you. You didn't sanctify you. You were washed.

You were sanctified. You were justified. There's this active agent bearing his love upon you. So in light of the men and women in this room who don't know Jesus, who have said with their lives, I don't want you, I want your stuff. Have said, I just think I'm smarter than you. I think this is an archaic, ancient idea that has no real weight on today. or you failed to acknowledge him.

I am the author of every good thing in my life and God, if he exists, is to blame for every bad thing. Remember when I said, nobody wants you like Jesus? What does Jesus do? He condescents. He's crucified on a cross as a way to wash you, sanctify you, justify you, get him, get you to himself. In fact, if we had more time, we could go back and look at verse 3

in this passage, which talks about the death of Christ as being this wrath-absorbing act that Christ gladly gives himself over to to save you from your sin. So you rebel, he moves towards. You want his stuff, you literally like, I want, I don't want, get away, but give me your stuff. And he washes that off of you.

He washes it off of you. I think I'm smarter than you, I'm going to do life my way. You just get bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. God, why are you doing? See, that's why I don't believe in you. He moves towards you. He washes it off of you, sanctifies you. Gives you new life.

Pulls you into the very thing you need to operate as a distinct image bear. Makes you new. Washes you clean. Verse 6 in 1 Corinthians 6. Talks about the resurrection as being the evidence. Here, look at me. that the bill was paid in full. You tracking with me?

The Apostle Paul would say in the book of Colossians that he's canceled the record of debt. How do you know that's true? Because Christ isn't in the ground. If he was still in the ground, then you still owe a little something, but since he's not, the record of debt has been canceled.

And so this, hearing this, receiving this, reconciles us to God and then reconciles me to myself. It helps me know who I really am, what I really am, and it makes me really, gives me a supernatural ability to live out of joy and gratitude. Like, the Bible says that my primary identity is child of God. Like, if I believe that, what are you going to do to me? One, you can't touch it.

It's the only thing in my life that you can't take from me. I mean, I'm guessing when I get home, my wife Lauren's still going to be there. But if one day she's not, I won't be Lauren Chandler's husband anymore. What if there was some sort of beef between me and my kids, and they don't want anything to do with me anymore? And now I'm their dad only in name, not in relationship. Well, what if I get fired from the village? And I know, for those of you know my story, you're like, ah, bro, I think you're safe. They fired Jonathan Edwards.

And if they fired Jonathan Edwards, no one's safe. Just say, dude started a great awakening. And they're like, we didn't like how you handled the budget this year. You're gone. That's not the real story, but I think it's funny. And so, but you know what? Nothing can take from me that I am a beloved son of God on high. And as I've been walking in that, what's been interesting is as I've been walking in that,

The Lord's just been like, hey, keep your eyes on me to be more fully you. And so I'm not trying to be anybody else. I'm not trying to preach like Joby. I'm trying to preach like me. I'm not trying to do things the way this guy does it. I'm trying to be who God made me. See, I'm freed up to be me. The sanctified, washed, justified version of me.

It reconciled me to myself, pulled me out of my wounded. I mean, I listen to that dude's story. I'm like, I get that. I get thinking, like my big wrestle for most of my life, especially in following Jesus, is I, because of my family of origin stuff, I can believe that I'm useful, but not necessarily lovable. I just, I mean, I just grew up in a house where if I did what I was told, then maybe things wouldn't explode. And so I learned growing up, I can be useful. But I'm not, nobody really wants to be with me.

Just want me to do stuff. Man, that haunted me. Who fixed that? Jesus fixed that. No, I want you. I want you. I'm putting on flesh and blood and pouring out my blood. I want you so badly. I want you. You are loved. You are. You're not just you. I'm not trying to use you at all. I'm doing stuff and I want you to come with me. And if you hear this and receive it, there's reconciliation. And Paul's like, that's what happened to some of you in Corinth. You heard this and you received it. And then he moves on towards this, in which you stand. That's present tense.

So maybe this is important for us to say, Jesus doesn't save us, give us a good game, and wish us good luck as we head out there. Go figure it out, pop. That's not what he does. The gospel isn't some kind of front door you walk into. It's the whole house.

It's the whole essence of life for those of us who are in Christ. It defines reality for us, and here's why this is such a critical piece. Here's why this is such a critical piece, because when I heard and received this, I was at my worst. I don't know your backstory, the worst version of me ever was when Christ opened up my eyes to see his beauty and grace. And then I got into church, and I started learning stuff. Oh, what are we supposed to say?

What are we not supposed to say? What are we supposed to do? What are we not supposed to do? Oh, we raise our hand on this song? Okay, we, oh, this. We were Baptist, we didn't raise any hands where I was from. That was, like, wildly charismatic at the church. I got to say, it was awkward.

It was like a distraction if somebody raised their hand at First Baptist of Texas City, Texas. But I learned to play the game there. And then here's what started happening to me. I don't know if this will resonate or not. but the more I learned about church life, the more shame I started to feel and the more distance I started to feel from the Lord because I wouldn't good at it.

I wouldn't good at it. And then I, yeah, I'll be real since we're being, I struggle with some stuff. There were things that didn't fall off me easily. Anybody else? There were things that did not. I've heard those testimonies where he's like, man, I prayed that prayer,

I never wanted to drink again. I prayed that pride. and touched a woman since. That was not my story. I will tell you, my heart fundamentally shifted. I want you. I want what you want. And then I'd walk into a wall.

My old guys would be like, hey, you know, just come. Just come with us tonight, man. Like, you don't have drink, you don't have to do anything. Just be our drive. Man, just come with us. Okay. Then I'm waking up in the back of an El Camino in a different state with like a sponge.

SpongeBob tattoo on my calf, not remembering what happened the night before. All that's made up, by the way. I only have one right here. I don't have SpongeBob on my calf. But how awesome would that be if I did? What happened there? Regret. Regret happened there.

And I would stumble and fall, and here's what happened. I was in a church system that didn't understand what I'm talking about right now, and nobody admitted that's where they were. nobody was honest about ongoing struggles nobody was like would ever say it was just like everybody was pretty and put together how are you brother I'm fine brother how are you praise his name meanwhile I smell like last night still

you know some of you know exactly what I'm saying you come in here and you still smell like Saturday and that I was wrestling and then what ended up happening because I was in this environment where it wasn't okay to not be okay, I just developed a real duplicitous life. I'm not dumb. That might be half this room tonight.

Like you know the answers, God. You know what? And you might actually feel something while we're singing. And then you just get pulled back into the fray. Just can't quite break free. And I want to say to you tonight, it's because the gospel doesn't just save you. Look at me.

It keeps saving you. So what does that mean? I'm not telling you you're not saved right now. I am saying you're not enjoying the fruit of your salvation, which is freedom. Now, what does that look like? Man, I'm so glad you ask. By the way, I want to highlight this as often as I can. Just so you can feel better.

I don't think anyone in the Bible could make it through the hiring process of the village church. We get those background checks, and you ain't coming in. David, man's man, plays the heart, but don't. Don't sleep on him, right? Dude's killed. They wrote songs about how many people had thousands and thousands of 10,000. So don't sleep on David.

You're like, look at that dude playing the harp. Bam, you're dead. And so, like, I'm reading David's bio. HR's like, oh, he's so anointed. A couple of flags popped up. Well, tell me about those. Well, he had a really good friend, super loyal to him.

And he slept with his wife and murdered him. yeah we're not going to be able to hire him can't imagine the blog post that'd be written about that or Moses Moses not only murdered a guy and buried him in the sand which what genius

shallow grave he then like even as he's leading the people of God with all he still flies into rages he's like never quite got that temper under do we need to keep going because I could do almost anybody in the Bible Jeremiah, if you were

in a small group with Jeremiah and he started praying, you would move your chair over because this brother was like, you tricked me, you lied to me, you seduced me, you have not done what you said you were going to do, Lord. You'd be like, oh, Lord, and then small group leader would be like, brother, we don't pray like that here.

I'm telling you, this is, just the Bible is filled with people. Look at me, just like you. Imperfect, bumbling and stumbling, men and women who God by grace alone has set his affection on in Christ. Some of you are so enslaved trying to like climb the moral ladder. I'm not saying that God and have a moral vision for your life. I'm telling you you get there by intimacy with him and his presence, not by your moral striving.

So what does it look like to stand in it, to live the gospel. now? Well, the first thing that you've got to believe. Here, look at me, this is just so big. You have to believe that what the Bible says about you is true, namely that in Christ you have been set free from your sinful nature. Like before Christ came to dwell in your heart through the Holy Spirit, you had no choice, just whatever doesn't proceed from faith as sin. So you probably couldn't even see it until the Holy Spirit made it. you aware of what sin was and where it was in your life. But now that the Holy Spirit dwells inside of you, look at me, you have been set free.

So you got to believe that. And that's hard in 2024, where the victim mentality is the lead card that almost everybody plays. I am not saying bad things have not happened to you. I am not saying horrific, demonic, dark makes the rage and wrath of God flamed. things have happened to you. That's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying there aren't victims. I'm saying that culturally speaking, it's everybody's lead foot.

And so what ends up happening is rather than walking in the victory of Christ, walking in resurrection power, which is one of the big themes of the New Testament, we show up at small group, we're like, I did it again, never going to get free. We lose heart rather than moving into his presence. And here's what Paul says in Romans 6 about that. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means? How can we, who died to sin, still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us have been baptized into Christ Jesus? We've been baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into his death and or that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. Here, let's make some eye contact. You are not that compulsion you struggle with. You're not.

You are a beloved and delighted in child of God. And in that struggle, you need to move towards him, not from him. This is the deceitfulness of sin. the deceitfulness of sin makes us want to hide and pretend. The new life God has put in us, lets us know that Jesus knew what he was buying on the cross. That our stumbling and bumbling isn't like a big shock to him that you've got a porn issue.

You know, in the heaven, he's like, where'd this come from? He knows exactly where it came from, and he's moving towards you to heal you and set you free. But if that's just what you are, You're just the guy or the girl that struggles with porn or you can't help yourself. You get bored or stressed and you can't help yourself

or swipe left or right. I don't know how the thing works. And you're just like, you're just, yeah, you're choosing to step back into a slavery that Christ has set you free from. Set you free from. So this is one of the ways, here's my favorite thing to do

when the enemy whispers nonsense in my ear. It is not uncommon. Even now, I've been following Jesus for 32 years now and still not uncommon for the enemy to bring up something in my past that, like, I don't know your backstory, I've got some stuff that if I think about them, I'll get nauseous. I mean, they're gross. I can't believe how far the Lord's brought me, and he'll whisper to me. Like, if these people knew that, do you think they'd be listening to you now?

One of my favorite things to remind him is that that Matt Chandler's dead. Like, that guy's already dead. I'm glad you brought that up. That guy's a piece of work. I'm glad he's dead. And this is what the apostle Paul does when he's accused by the enemy. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me in the life.

I live in the flesh. I now live in the faith in the son of God who loves me and gave himself up for me. So I'm not living out of this. I did this or I struggle with this. I'm living out of faith in what? Christ loves me and gave himself up for him. He's not, look at it what he bought now by his blood with a lot of regret and wants a mulligan concerning me. It's not the way this works.

Look at me, you don't have to be stuck. You don't. So what does it look like? It means believing this. I have been set free from the sinful nature. I don't have to do this. I can see it and I don't have to. I can choose.

I can choose life instead of choosing death. And then the second thing, and I don't think you'll like, the second thing, what does it look like to stand in the gospel right now? It has to do with the ongoing ethics of confession and repentance. You will, here we go, let's look at each other again. You will never outgrow the ongoing ethic of confession and repentance. And let me clear up confession. A lot of times when we talk about confession,

we just think about telling the bad stuff that we do to somebody. but confession is just truth-telling. Like you want to grow in intimacy with God? Start telling God the truth. I just tell them the truth. Just go, hey, I'm anxious right now and I don't know why and I don't like it. Or this is my most frequent.

I'm angry right now. And I don't know why. I'm just ad-to-that-old. Will you take this from me? Or it could be, I don't feel pretty enough. I don't feel gifted enough. Do you think he doesn't want to hear that from you? What would your relationship with God look like?

Look at me. If you just told the truth. Like, I confess your sins. Absolutely. I've got a group of guys. I call them the king's table. They see my tax returns. I ain't got no secrets.

Like, you ain't going to get me with, guess what I know about you? It's like nothing that four other guys don't know. A lot more authority than you have to do anything about it. Right? This, like, yes, there's this space for us to go, I'm really struggling with this,

or this is something I stumbled into, or this is something the Lord's really pressing in on me on. But I want to expand your understanding of confession. It's not just I did this bad thing again. It's just telling the truth to God. And then telling the truth to your crew. If you don't have a crew, you need to build a crew. Brothers, especially you.

we're crap for relationships I mean we talk college football all day don't know how to get below the line at all right we're like mind strength heart soul I mean we don't even know how to access those things and if we're ever going to live

into what God's called us into you'll have to be more integrated than that and without brothers in the trench with you and if you're like what about the ladies I think you guys do this a lot more naturally than we do I know you do. It doesn't mean you all do. I just know it comes a little bit easier for you. And so, but brothers, they struggle with this. And not a lot of guys even want it. And I'm saying, if you want to become all that God has for you to become brothers, find you some other brothers

for the day of war. And do that in peacetime. All right. Now, here's 1st John 1.9. I'm actually doing better than I thought. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. His brow is not furrowed when he looks at you. He is not resentful. God is not a resentful God. He doesn't do that thing that almost all of us has experienced where someone gives to us and is gracious to us

and we don't respond how they want us to, so they pull back. He's always moving towards. I mean, I'm 32 years into this dance. He hadn't took a step back yet. And I've done some nonsense. I've taken steps back. I've run and hid. And he just keeps moving.

And all I have to do is confess and repent. And there I am being washed again, being sanctified. He just doesn't tire of getting the crap off of me. that I get myself in. Not the stuff that other people fling on me. That's a whole other sermon. My stuff. My own crap.

Let me say this about this idea of confession. Telling God the truth. I'm going to say it. It's awful and awesome. To be 99% known is to be completely unknown. If you're 90, and this is church games here. to be 99% known, but to hang on to that 1% will make it very difficult for you to ever experience the love and grace of God,

even as it manifests itself among his people. Because any grace you're shown or love you're shown, you're going to be doing internally, you know what the enemy's going to be doing in your heart. But if they knew that 1%, if they knew that 1%, they wouldn't love you like that. I'll tell you what, they probably would kick you out of the group if they know about that 1%.

and what do you do? You bury that 1% even deeper. Confession helps you experience the grace and mercy of God through the people of God. Because when you confess something gross and you're just absolutely convinced that you're no longer going to be welcomed and you're going to be burned to the ground

and it's met with grace, somebody like hugs you and weeps with you. It's just like the tangible love of God may manifest in another person. Yeah. What does it look like to stay in, to keep walking in the, gospel? Well, it looks like the ongoing ethic of confession and repentance, telling the truth

and getting back into my relationship with Jesus and on the path that he's put me on. Then I know you're like, oh my gosh, you've got the whole future thing still. Relax the future thing's a lot shorter. So you've got past and present now. And then here's where I want to just, I hope this really, really encourages you. You're going to screw up in the next year. Maybe I hadn't even thought of that yet. That's why they bring me here. No, like you're not too far out from like blowing, blowing it. Like not just a little stumble, not just a little,

and here's what's great about the grace of Jesus. It's future-oriented. How many of your sins were future sins when Christ died on the cross? Yeah, 100%. The Apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth. You heard this and you received it. You're standing on it. And if you'll stay in it, it'll keep you to the end.

Disappointment, delusionment, brokenness, sickness, betrayal, they're coming. Anybody already met them? Anybody already met them? Great. Maybe you got a little bit more coming from you. Maybe you just met it and you just get to meet it once. They just do keeps knocking at my door. And I will respond out of my...

identity as beloved son of God, or I'll shift back into my flesh. I'll live the life I want. I'll tell God no thank you. I'll want revenge. I'll want distance. I'll want fair. I'll want, and I'll drift from the very essence of life made available to me in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So to finish to the end doesn't require the constant addition. of anything. To finish well at the end is to stay in the dance of the triune God of the universe that's overflowing with love, grace, truth, and beauty, and just don't move off of it. Stay in it.

Keep preaching it to yourself and surround yourself with others who will preach it to you. That'll come after your soul that speak words of life into you. you're becoming like the people you're spending all your time with. You spending your time with a bunch of cynical, disillusioned, angry people? Friend, you're like I just start my watch. You're on the way out. And the backside of that, I have not met a ton of happy people on the other side of that. I've met a lot of angry, bitter,

lying, violent people on the backside of moving out of this active, passive pursuit of mercy and grace from King Jesus. So let me say it again. Jesus wants you, all of you, all of life for all of life. He wants that limp, he wants that pimple, he wants that. He wants that pimple. He wants that scar, he wants that colesore, he wants that deformity, he wants you. Not some future version. Like you, right now, however you came in tonight. He wants you. Mind, body, and soul, all of life, for all of life. And let me just end with this. And there ain't a better deal you're going to get them that. Jacksonville isn't going to give it to you. money's not going to give it to you.

You're not going to find somebody the opposite sex who can do all of this because marriage is just a picture of this relationship. It's a shadow. It's not the form. So, everybody watching those romantic movies. I just need somebody to complete me. You ain't going to find it. You're going to crush somebody

with that expectation. But I'm going to find it. That's not the way this works. Marriage is a shadow of the form of Christ moving towards his people, his bride. So there ain't somebody out there that you're going to find and make, all that angst go away? You're not going to find it in hookups and orgasms. You're not going to find it in new stuff and trinkets. You'll be able to numb yourself, marinate in mediocrity, but freedom

is found in King Jesus. Is it for freedom Christ has set us free? Let us not return to chains. Don't you give me a favor? Want you bow your heads and close your eyes? I'm going to invite the band to just come on back up. We're just going to see what the Lord has for us tonight. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that all of your sin, past, present, and future, has been fully, freely, and forever forgiven. And I'm wondering where you get stuck in those sentences. Here's what I mean by that. Some of you in here, there's just something in your past.

that you think just disqualifies you from this. Again, I've been doing this for over 30 years. I hear the testimonies at the church I pastor all the time that you did this thing. And so whenever you hear a message like this, what you end up doing is like you code switch and it's just like, yeah, but not me. He can't mean me.

The number of conversations I have like that feel endless. So maybe you've done this thing and it just feels like it's rotting you out from the inside. It's a past issue. And you've heard the words, but it's still just so hard for you to believe that Jesus forgives that, forgets that,

cancels the record of debt, and moves towards you despite that. And maybe, let me just do this, if that's where you get hung up on this gospel conversation, and you're like, yeah, man, it's hard for me to believe and you don't even know what I did. So how could you know that he could do it?

And I would just answer because I've read the Bible and it's filled with varsity-level sinners, murderers and rapists and kinds of wickedness that are beyond our imagination. And so I think the forgiveness of God is sitting there for you. But if that's you tonight, you're going, man, I love this, but I just so hard from it. I just got this thing in my past.

It's just eating my gut out right now. If that's you, would you just raise your hand? Just get it high like where there's no Baptist or denominational ties in here. Yeah, just get that hand high so I can see it. I mean, yeah, it's just got this thing back there. Thank you guys so much. Would you put your hands down?

Now, let me ask this. Some of you're, it's not that past thing. Like, you got that, man. You came down at you camp or you came down, you know, a couple of years ago here, and you just said yes, and you just bald your eyes out and said yes to Jesus, but the reason this might be hard for you to know is like presently, you're all jammed up,

man, you feel really stuck. You haven't told the truth to God in a long time. You've got secret, indwelling, besetting sin that you feel stuck and you can't get out of. And you believe that if anybody finds this out, their willingness to stay close to you, to continue to be friends with you to continue to walk with you, begins to evaporate. And if that's you, and you're just like, ah, man, it's not past for me. I so love, but he saved me and then I still, I still did the same things back to him. And I just, it's hard for me to believe that his love for me is still resting on me now because I knew better this time and I did it. If that's you and you're like, no, man, it's the present that's got me jammed up. If that's you, would just raise your hand

where you are, it's the present. I am stuck right now, and I don't know how to get out of this. Thank you. Praise God. I want you put your hands down. Last one. Maybe for you, it's a besetting anxiety about the future, where you have tasted and seen the Lord's good in the past. You're walking in a certain level of victory right now, and yet there's something about the future, a fear, a hope that might go unrealized. I don't know what it could be, but it's pulling you out of the presence and confidence that Jesus is the king of kings and Lord of Lords. If that's you and you're like, no, it's the future right now. I've got a fear. I've got an unmet expectation. It's hard for me to believe that God's good when I haven't got this thing I've been asking for or hoping for. Why don't you get those hands up

one more time? Let me just look around. See? Oh gosh, I didn't, I wouldn't expect in so many futures. This is amazing. Okay, praise God. Why don't you? put your hands down. Here's all I'm going to do. I'm going to pray for us. That's all. I'm just going to pray. And we're all going to stand together at the end. We're going to sing for a little bit in here. We're going to sing about the truth, beauty, and goodness of King Jesus. And here's what I'm going to ask you to do. If you raised your hand, you're like, this past thing's got me. I want you to get up here ASAP. And we want to pray for, I just want you to come down here. I just want you to bring whatever that thing is. However gross it is,

however nasty it feels, however nauseous it makes. I just want you to bring it up here with you. And I want you to drop it up here and give it to King Jesus, who purchased it by his blood. It doesn't belong to you anymore. It's not yours anymore. He canceled the record of debt.

That's over. Or maybe it's a present reality. You just really struggle, man. You just feel stuck in a sin or compulsion owns your life. Well, I want you to come up too. And I want you to bring that with you. Don't leave it in your chair.

Don't put some lipstick on it so it looks a little prettier than it is. We're terrible at truth-telling. Kind of give like a half-truth instead of the full truth. So we're like 99.5% known, but not 100% known, which still means you're not known. I want you to bring it up. I don't want you to confess to God and to one of the prayer team members. But I'm pleading with you for the sake of your soul not to pretty it up, but to be as honest as you can. And then lastly, if you've got, there's something out there in the future.

Again, I'm actually literally shocked that so many of you were in this category. There's something about the future that you feel pulling you out of the presence and confidence of God in Christ. I want you get up here. That's a lot of us guys. I mean, I saw a lot of hands. That's going to be a lot of us up here. And it's just, what, a beautiful picture that the gospel works across time and space regardless of where we are to pull us into the presence, mercy and forgiveness of King Jesus, and that whatever truth we have to tell, his grace not only holds it, but heals it,

and then crosses it out of the record of debt. Father, I bless these men and women in the name of Jesus. I thank you. What I saw as hands, you saw as full backstories. What I saw as hands, you understand everything. every high, every low, every moment that led to this moment where you have in your love moved towards again. Thank you that every hand that was raised is representing you moving towards. Got this thing in their past and you sent me here to go, hey, give that to them. It's not yours. It's been purchased. You're moving towards them in your love. And for those who are stuck,

you've sent me, I'm so humble. You'd be like, let me come here and just go, no, no, no. You can be free. You can walk in the love. You can walk in the love. You're just sent me. I'm so humble. I'm so humble. You're like, you're like, you're like, you can walk in the light, you can be known. That power can be broken in your life. And for those who look to the future with despair or sit in disappointment, thinking that things would have been different by now, you want to meet them with your grace. You're enough. You're better than, and you're going to reveal that to them tonight, Holy Spirit. I'm so grateful for you. Now, thank you for these men and women think you just love them like you do. It's just so crazy to me that you love us like you do. is no love like this that keeps moving towards. It keeps moving towards. And so as you move towards us

tonight, give us the strength and grace to not run from you, but to run to you. That's for your beautiful name, I pray. Amen. Do you stand with me? And if you raised your hand, you get up here and let us pray for you.