[John McClain] The Monterey Peninsula in California
is a very beautiful area, and it's why Patrick Means who is a Christian writer moved there. And he wanted to enjoy the awesome beauty,
would inspire him for some of his writing. And the beauty is created by a combination
of cliffs, and the sea, and of course, the forest, it's heavily forested. And during his first summer there, there was
a series of destructive forest fires that broke out along the southern tip of the peninsula
and they raged out of control. So these firefighter crews were brought in,
the airplanes that drop the pink powder that helps to put out the fires were brought in. And they asked for volunteers from the community
to assist the firefighters. It was a huge effort and so Patrick volunteered. It was pretty dramatic stuff there with all
this going on, the crews from out of town with their bright yellow slippers so they
could be spotted easily if they were to go down in the fire area. And this plane swooping down overhead to drop
the extinguisher, the foam. But by the Monday of the second week, all
the fires were out and the planes and some of the crews had gone home but most of them
stayed. So this puzzled Patrick, why would all these
firefighters stay after the fire appeared to be out? The majority of them stayed. So the crews came back in the camp at the
end of the day, Patrick asked one of the grizzled old foremen about this, he wanted to know
why so many of them stayed. And the man said, "Well, son, don't think
that those fires are out just because they're covered with this pink goo, now is when the
real work begins. We've got to get back up there in the hills
with the shovels and chainsaws and find the hotspots under the goo. If we don't, they'll just smolder real quiet
until the first wind comes up and then poof, we got another firestorm on our hands.” So there were smoldering areas under these
downed trees that needed to be extinguished. So a lesson from firefighting, what lesson
can we draw from this firefighting that applies to the Days of Unleavened Bread? It might seem like a strange question. Well, it's a classic picture of each of us
leading a secret hidden life. We have tried to control our personal lives
and our attitudes and with help, we put out the blazes, but the real work continues every
day, every year. Christians never get a day off from being
a Christian and we have to be looking for the hotspots that still smolder in our lives,
and we have to root them out one by one. It's tough work, but it's absolutely critical
because if we assume the job is done when the obvious fires are out, it's just a matter
of time before another inferno will erupt. See, we have a dark side under our surface,
it's hidden like the dark side of the moon, which no one sees. And there's a backside of the moon we do not
see from earth. And there's a backside to our lives that is
not seen by others. On the surface, we appear to be people, good,
contented, and happy, successful, well, except for me, most of the others are. We serve others we do not murder, lie, or
steal, but what is under the surface that we still need to look deeper to find and to
root out to extinguish. We all appear to be serious and sober-minded
to be dedicated and spiritually focused, and I think we are, but sometimes we lose our
spiritual focus. We all have great pressures on us in this
society, sometimes it comes from ourselves but from society around us and we strive for
perfection from ourselves. And this can be good but when we fall short,
which we all do from time to time, then we have a huge sense of fatigue, a feeling of
anger and depression and discouragement. We really do feel fatigue from concealing
a sin. Psalm 32 talks about that about the exhaustion
and we often sing about that when we sing hymn number 20. Hymn number 20 tells about this is, it says
"My vitality was turned into the drought of summer, day and night, God's hand was on me
and I groaned until I confessed." That's the way the lyrics go in the song. "My sin I laid before Him, quickly, He forgave
them all.” So we do have that sense of exhaustion until
we confess our sins, but that brings renewal of strength and our fatigue begins to go away
and does not go on and on. So it's just one day to Passover, I think
it's like 30 hours away or 28 hours away. So this time of the year, we are told we are
to examine ourselves. It's a good exercise, especially at this time
of year. But it's good to have that all year long to
continue to examine ourselves, to dig into our lives, and to look for those places that
need to be extinguished, where things are smoldering, and should be changed, places
where we did not measure up to God's standards. So we can continue to examine ourselves all
during Unleavened Bread especially, then all through the rest of the year. Why stop then? Why stop after Days of Unleavened Bread? Let's read that instruction that we're given
is in 1 Corinthians 11:28. 1 Corinthians 11:28 talks about examining
ourselves before Passover. It says there, "But let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup." So please note this verse does not say to
examine ourselves and not eat of the bread and drink the cup. But we are clearly told to eat and drink after
examining ourselves regardless of what that exam shows. I'm sure it will show a lot of positive things
not all negative, you know. One man told me… one fellow I know pretty
well says, "I've grown, I really have grown." He says, "Last year I used to throw things
at the television when I watched the news, and I see these stupid things that people
are doing." He's now progressed now, "I don't throw things
at it, I just shout at it. Now next year," he says, "I hope I can say,
‘May God bless you, may God have mercy on you.’" What he took was… instead of a Nicorette
patch, he took an “Angerette” patch, to help him with his anger control. So we do make progress. We don't want to just focus on the negative
things that we still need, although that's going to be a list, but look at the things
that are positive. So this will become the state of you, instead
of the state of the union, it will be the state of you exam. So this should not be a depressing exercise
because even when we fall short, we know one of the most encouraging verses in the Bible,
which says, "There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ." It's in Romans 8:1. So, self-examination leads to identification,
admission, repentance, reconciliation, and reconnecting to God, that's what comes out
of our self-examination. Self-examination leads to identification,
admission, repentance, reconciliation, and reconnection to God. So let's take some time today to look at these
aspects of self-examination. First is identification of our destructive
behaviors or attitudes. The second is admission that we have such
things in our lives, you can't cure something you don't admit. And repentance, to reconcile and reconnect
with God, after we have identified and admitted our sins because our iniquities or sins have
separated us from God, so we do need to reconnect. So then point one is identification or hidden
faults, or hidden sins. What are our hidden destructive behaviors
and attitudes? What are we trying to hide from God? Proverbs 5:21 tells us that nothing is hidden
from God. So we're fooling ourselves if we think there's
certain parts of our lives that we can hide from Him. Proverbs 5:21 says, "For the ways of man are
before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths." The New Living Translation puts it this way. "For the Lord sees clearly what a man does,
examining every path he takes." So things that are done in the dark are just
as clear to God as those things that are done in the day. And this thought that God knows all we do
is reinforced in another verse I like to read other places too. But Ecclesiastes 12:14 says, "For God will
bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing… secret thing, whether
good or evil.” So let's not forget that we're talking about
examining ourselves and not about examining someone else. Not the person sitting next to you, or your
spouse, or the guy you work with, or any of our brethren, but we're talking about examining
ourselves. So let's dig through the layers of debris
like the firefighters do to put out the smoldering pockets, which can flame up when fanned by
the wind. And let's strip away any layers of denial
and self-deception and examine ourselves, and we all have self-deception. There are seven churches mentioned in Revelation
2 and 3. Five of those churches were told to repent. Apparently, they did not see their faults,
just as we do not always see our faults. The Laodiceans were told, "You do not know
that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." They thought they were in need of nothing. How can you not know that you're naked? It's just more self-deception and deceit. And deceit piggybacks on a secret life, we
seek to deceive others when we try to hide our secret life. You remember the story of The Emperor's New
Clothes? I suppose everybody does. Everyone could see that the emperor was naked,
except the emperor. And he was so deceived by the traveling salesman
who had sold him this new suit that he thought everything was fine. Everyone went along with the deception so
as not to embarrass the emperor but in the end, a little child finally spoke the truth. Now, others may see our faults but we often
don't see them ourselves just like the emperor did not. So if we moved to a new location, maybe you
live in Ohio, you move to Indiana, you still have those faults, moving will not remove
your faults. These are internal problems, and they have
to be things that are removed on the inside. We need to be clean on the inside just like
Jesus told the Pharisees that they need to clean the inside of the cup. Now, when you take your car to a repair shop
and you describe the symptoms, you say “The car goes rattle, rattle thundercloud, or boom,
boom, boom.” And the mechanic says, "Wow, sounds like you're
going to need new frabisoids and more torque on the Johnson rods." So that's maybe the initial analysis. But you know, it takes professional diagnostics
methods that we wouldn't all have access to identify the real problem and the root cause
of the symptom. So we need to ask God who has the professional
diagnostic methods to show us our secret faults. Ask Him to do it mercifully, ask Him to show
you the root cause of your faults and sins. King David had a secret life, he had secret
sins in his life, which he tried to conceal, and he denied them himself, and they were
huge, murder and adultery. Everyone around him knew about the sins of
adultery and murder, how could you not see such huge sins? It's got a be huge self-deception. David had excused them to himself and he thought
these sins were hidden. Well, the drama is exposed, if you'd like
to read it, it's in 2 Samuel 12, and I'll just summarize it for us today. The prophet Nathan, who showed great courage,
I think, coming before the king who could have had him killed. And he said to… To illustrate what happened, he told this
heart-rending tale of a rich man who stole a poor man's ewe lamb which he'd raised from
birth. And David immediately thundered, "Surely the
man who has done this deserves to die." Then Nathan whirled around and pointed his
long bony finger at the king and he said, "You are the man." I imagine there was a long silence right then. I wasn't there but… I'm not quite that old. But to the king's credit, David's immediate
response was repentance. And Psalm 51, which was written after this
encounter, is a model of spiritual restoration and reconnecting with God we all do well to
follow. David's sins were identified, he admitted
them, and then he repented and he sought quickly to reconnect with God. These are the same steps we need to take ourselves. Psalm 51 is one of the most powerful descriptions
of a person in agony as found anywhere in world literature. It's a wonderful model for us to follow as
we examine ourselves. So let's look closer at six steps that David
took in the Psalm. Verses 1 through 6, David took the first step,
which was to take a new depth of honesty. Finally, he faced it, he looked deeper into
his inner man, into his heart of hearts, you might say. So let's read Psalm 51:1-6. And it's interesting to note, this is part
of the scripture, its introduction to the Psalm and it says, "To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went
to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” So here was the adultery. And then verse 14 references, I think, the
murder of Uriah where it talks about the shedding of blood. So David had arranged for Bathsheba's husband
to be murdered. "So have mercy on me, O God, according to
Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse
me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my
sin is always before me. Against You, only You, have I sinned and done
this evil in Your sight— that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when
You judge. Behold, I was brought forth iniquity, and
in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, Your desired truth in the inward part,
and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom." So that's the title for our sermon today,
"In The Hidden Part." That's where we're looking to discover what
we need to eradicate from our lives. David acknowledges sin and he asks for forgiveness. But more than that, he asked for help in being
truthful, on a deeper level, in the inward parts or in his innermost being, or in his
secret heart, maybe even in your heart of hearts, as we've heard in the last decade. So it was because of this self-deceptive nature
of sin that David had not recognized his own sins. Here he asks for this honesty on a deeper
level, it would be a good prayer for us to ask as well. So when we remain open to the Lord, one layer
of denial after another begins to be stripped away, and we can see ourselves more clearly. So why not, starting today, tell the Lord
that you want to be honest on a deeper level. This can be scary, but it can also be exhilarating
because it will help us break the power of unhealthy habits. It will help us bring wisdom into our hidden
part, into our innermost being or into our secret heart. David displayed a second step by asking for
a new heart and new motives. Verse 10, sorry. Anyway, "Create in me a new heart," he says. "O, God, create in me a new heart." So once we see our innermost being, our private
thoughts, and our motives, we can ask God to cleanse and purify those areas of our lives
that we have refused to examine in the past or have skirted around examining. So this cleansing is a supernatural work of
God, it's something we cannot do on our own. It's described in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So what a wonderful, amazing promise, "If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all righteousness." Now, we can't repent too soon because we do
not know how soon it will be too late to repent. You know, we are all subject to the potential
of an accident when we least expect it. We could all die unexpectedly in an accident
or sudden illness. Four weeks ago, 30 people died unexpectedly
in a mudslide in Washington State. One Saturday morning, all of a sudden they're
covered with mud and suffocated. So things can happen so it's never too soon
to repent. In the next, verse 10, David took another
important step, his third step, and he asked for renewed faithfulness, “And renew a steadfast
spirit within me.” His sin with Bathsheba happened once and here
he asked that it never happened again, but he never… God helped him to never do something like
that again. David prayed here for renewal of this vital
character quality, a steadfast spirit, which we need as well, to prevent him from falling
away from a close relationship with God, he prayed that would never happen again. So that's the truest form of repentance is
to never repeat the sin again. In fact, if you keep repeating it, have you
really repented? If you keep repeating it, have you really
repented? Verses 11 and 12, David took another step,
step 4, he asked for a restored relationship. Versus 11 and 12, "Do not cast me away from
Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and
uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” David had lost the intimate contact with God
and he really missed it. He had had that for years and it was a chilling
experience to him to be in a situation where he was separated. He felt this icy emptiness because he pleaded
with God to restore his experience of God's presence and joy of his salvation. Have any of you ever had frostbite? I got it really bad one time when we lived
in Chicago. I came back from Texas with a light jacket
on, it was 50-below windchill in the airport parking lot. I got frostbite trying to get the car started
and warmed up. And it took a while to get rid of it. I put my hands in warm water, you don't want
to put it in hot water. But if you don't take some steps, it's going
to be some permanent damage. So David was taking these steps to get rid
of that icy feeling that he had because he missed being so close to God. Now David takes another fifth step here for
staying power. It's in verse 12, "And uphold me by Your generous
Spirit." It took some time for David to plan Uriah's
death, I would think, you know, “How am I going to get rid of this guy?” So it didn't happen instantly. And take some time for a secret life like
that to develop. Maybe took some time in your life and in my
life. But deep resolve is required to get out of
that secret life and we have to ask God to sustain us in the hard work to keep on the
right path and not to backslide. So David took another step here in verse 13
when he said, "He would help others out of their brokenness." He was essentially saying, “You know, I
can be useful to you, God." This takes a lot of chutzpah, I think, after
what he just confessed to and then turn around and tell God that he could be useful to Him. But anyway, it was a very positive approach. "Then I will teach transgressors Your ways
and sinners shall be converted to you." David had worked through the layers of his
own healing and restoration, and I hope we can too. After we work through our healing and restoration,
we can find a greater ability to help others because of what we've experienced. Paul wrote about this in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. 2 Corinthians 1:3, "Blessed to be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of miracles, and God of all comfort, who comforts
us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort others… comfort those who are
in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." So we can pass on the blessing we've been
given, the comfort we've been given by God and help others as David talked about here. He could help others because of what he had
experienced. So we each have things we should be removing
from our lives, but let's not take the approach, you know, it's not so bad you know, here in
Mayberry, everything's sweet and lovely, everybody's great. You're okay, I'm okay. Well, are we? We're all infected with this thing called
human nature, we all have it and we've got a bad case of it. You know the story of the plagues in Egypt,
God hardened Pharaoh's heart sometimes after some of those plagues, but after other plagues,
Pharaoh hardened his own heart. So we don't want to harden our own hearts. After identifying something that has plagued
us in our lives, we want to identify it, admit it, and get rid of it. And also, let's remember sin is not a remote
possibility, there's just a slight chance that you and I have sinned. It's not a remote possibility, it's part of
our human nature. So to identify sins, we can take several steps. I'll just give you some suggestions and you
can add to those. I'm sure you can think of other things. But we can review the Ten Commandments and
ask ourselves are we doing any better this year than we were a year ago? We find in the Ten Commandments, the letter
of the law, am I putting God first in everything or do I have other things that I'd rather
do instead of putting God first? Are there idols in our lives, are there things
that you know, we're just going to put ahead of God? Do we take His name in vain in a fit of anger? Do we remember the Sabbath? Are we honoring our parents even so some of
them may not be totally honorable? Am I being faithful to my spouse or my spouse-to-be? Am I still stealing little things like stuff
from the company stock room, stocking up on pens and papers? Am I still lying? Do I also want things that belong to others
that really aren't for me? And then after we look at the letter of the
law, we can look at the spirit of the law and to see that in the Sermon on the Mount
where Jesus Christ explained that anger and lust can be just as bad, just as serious as
murder and adultery. And after that, we can look at some of the
sin lists and there are a lot of sin lists in the Bible. I just picked three, Galatians 5:19-21, which
is really a handful, and it's in contrast with the fruits of the Spirit which comes
right after this. Galatians 5:19 "Now the works of the flesh
are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery…” Let's stop right there. Did you see the BT Daily this week about this
word? It can mean something to do with pharmacy
and the illicit drugs, like marijuana, and what that does to your mind, what other drugs
can do to your mind. So, the root word for sorcery there can include
that. "Hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts
of wrath." You see that often because it is one of the
works of the flesh. People burst out in anger when they're yielding
themselves to human nature. "Selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
envy, murders, drunkenness," this is in the news often. Binge drinking on campus, for example. “Revelries, and the like; of which I tell
you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past…" catch the last part of this
verse, it's very critical. "That those who practice such things will
not inherit the kingdom of God." Those who practice such things will not inherit
the kingdom of God. So if you want to throw off all restraint
and forget about your future, then that's what you could do, these things, because they'll
keep you out of the Kingdom. Also, we should look at Ephesians 5:3-5, Ephesians
5, it's another sin list, "But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it
not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish
talking," hello, "nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting but rather, giving thanks. For this you know that no fornicator, unclean
person, or covetous man, who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ
and God." So again, we're told these things would keep
us out of the kingdom. And let's consider one last sin list Revelation
21:7-8. Revelation 21:7, "He who overcomes shall inherit
all things, but I will be His God and He shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable,
murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the
lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." So who wants to go into the lake of fire? I'm not putting my hand. Into the second death, I'm sure no one wants
that. But the main thing to remember is people who
do these things will not be in the Kingdom. So that's the key. There are other sin lists. There are two general classifications of sin,
which I like to quote. And first is in James 4:17. "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and
does not do it, to him it is sin." So something that you know to do, you should
do it if you can. And the other is very general and very broad. It's, "What is not of faith is sin." Romans 14:23 this allows for some things that
might be sin to you that would unnecessarily be sin to me because of how you feel about
this, whatever it is. Romans 14:23. "But if you have doubts about whether or not
you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it for you're not following
your convictions." So if you do anything you believe is not right,
you are sinning. So it's your conscience coming into play there. So if you have a secret weight, which another
verse talks about comparing sin to weight, such as pornography or gambling, or alcohol,
or vanity, jealousy, lust or greed, you admit your sin and your need and God will give you
help today. So this brings us to the second part of our
self-examination, admitting our hidden faults, we've identified them now we want to admit
them. They really are in our lives. We all have wounds from our past actions. You know, armies have wounded and we hear
a lot on television ads about helping the wounded. Never leave a wounded warrior behind, never. Well, in church, we also need to help the
wounded by helping them with their needs. We're all broken in one way or another. We heard recently that we're all fixer-uppers
and we all have some dysfunction. And so we all could use some help from our
brethren. Let's admit our sins to God and confess them
to Him. There's an old hymn and lyrics I always liked,
"It's me, it's me. It's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of
prayer. Not my father, not my mother, not my sister,
not my brother. But it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need
of prayer." So that's the attitude we each need. I have sinned, not you have sinned, but I
have sinned. We need to admit our personal sins after we
have identified them and repented them. And we must not deny that we have sins because
if we do that, then we're calling God a liar. 1 John 1 and we read verse 9. 1 John 10 says, "If we say we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." Go back to the Old Testament, Isaiah wrote
this about himself and about the nation. He says, "I am a man of unclean lips and I
live among people of unclean lips." So here's a great prophet admitting personal
and national sins. In the New Testament, Paul, an apostle, admitted
his struggle with sins and he wrote about that. It's a very moving passage and we read it
every year at this time of year. But let's remember that before his conversion,
what did he do? He persecuted the church, he killed brethren,
he imprisoned others, caused him to blaspheme and other things, had others put to death. So no doubt when he wrote this, these things
probably were on his mind. And he may have even been groaning as he identified
those things that he'd done and thought about them and all the misery he'd caused. Now much later, when he writes this, in Romans
7, he's still struggling with sins. And if an apostle is struggling with sins,
guess what? You and I struggle with sins, too. It shouldn't be a surprise. So imagine putting your name in these verses
as we read through them. Romans 7:14-25, and I'd like to read it from
the New Living Translation. And put your name in here as appropriate times. "So the trouble is not with the law, for it
is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human,
a slave to sin. I don't really understand myself, for I want
to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong,
this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin
living in me that does it." So he's personifying sin here. "And I know that nothing good lives in me,"
So this is an apostle saying this. Do we ever say this to ourselves? "I know nothing good lives in me that is,
in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do
it anyway. “But if I do what I don't want to do, I
am not really the one doing wrong, it is sin living in me that does it.” “I have discovered this principle of life—
that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that
is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that
is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated
by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really
want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin." So when you and I reach this point in our
lives, this turning point of self-examination, we must turn and face the Father and admit
our sins. Do you think the Father will forgive something
we have not admitted and repented of? I don't think so. We must admit them and take responsibility
for our sins. But after admitting his sins and his struggle
with them, Paul gave us this great encouragement, which I quoted at the beginning. It's in Romans 8:1-2. "There is therefore now no condemnation to
those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according
to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life is Christ
Jesus who made me free from the law of sin and death." So that should be very encouraging to us,
we identify and repent of our sins, but we know that Christ or God does not condemn us. But to win this battle against sin, we need
to be on guard and to change ourselves from head to toe. This is not just a little bit of change on
your left arm or something, it's head to toe. Recently, I had my wife drive me to the chiropractor's
office because I couldn't stand up, I couldn't drive. So I managed somehow to get into the exam
room and he looked me over and he says, "Well, there's nothing wrong with your back, that's
good news." He says, "The problem is you got your cufflink
caught in your shoelaces, that's why you can't stand up. That'll be $75." Oh, well. So the chiropractor was just like you and
me, he wants to cover up his mistakes. And just as I was about to leave, his receptionist
told him that last patient who was here just collapsed on the front sidewalk. And he said, "Well, go out there and turn
him around so it looks like he just arrived." When we go to the family doctor, which is
once a year or twice a year for a checkup, he really does check you from head to toe. You know, now they ask you if you're depressed,
that's the first question. It's part of the new law, I think. Then he looks at your eyes as you stick out
your tongue and say “AH" and he checks, pokes around, looking for lumps, I guess,
cyst or tumors. And then pokes around my stomach and then
he feels my ankles to see if there's any circulation there. There's still a little bit. Anyway, then he checks my feet, so it's a
head to toe exam. Our exam should be also head to toe you remember
a lot of verses in the Bible that tell about first regarding the mind. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "Take every
thought captive… Take every thought captive.” Well, I can think of a lot of examples but
did you know gambling is the second-fastest-growing addiction in the United States? You know, and Paul wrote to the Philippines
also about their minds, he said, "Dwell on the things that are pure and honorable," to
summarize, it's a long list thereof good things. You know, I have to limit the amount of time
I watch the news because it's just filled with so much that is not uplifting, not encouraging,
it's bad. Solomon warned us about a deceitful mouth
and lying tongues, devious lips. He knew we would lie to ourselves saying that
we do not have a problem. See, that's the first step in any 12-step
recovery program is to admit you have a problem. So we hide the truth from ourselves and we
try to hide it from others. And Job wrote about making a covenant with
our eyes. He made a covenant with his eyes. Did you know that online pornography is the
fastest-growing addiction in the U.S.? Make a covenant with your eyes. God also warned us about our feet and where
we go and the places we choose to put ourselves into. And when you change your ways, your old friends
may wonder why aren't you hanging out with us anymore, you know, you're going on a different
path, and that may not go down really well with them. And even on a positive note, I think sometimes
we may have to disassociate ourselves from professional associations which just totally
gobble up our time and we not have the time we need for proper Bible study and prayer
and other things. So they consume too much of our time, we make
it difficult to walk on a new path. And to some members speculating about prophecy
is really exciting, and it is exciting. But I think we need for the principles of
Christian living to become so exciting to us, otherwise, we're going to be stuck, spiritually
speaking, we're stuck in Egypt. We're stuck there because we are not self-examining. So becoming godlike should excite us, and
self-examination to identify, admit, and repent of our sins are huge steps or is a huge step
to becoming godlike. After we identify and admit our sins, then
we need to take the next step, which is repenting of them. And that brings about reconnection and reconciliation
to God. Let's look at how this happens and let's realize
that we are still identifying our sins until the very end of our lives. Until Christ returns, we're going to be identifying
sins in our lives. And wouldn't it be wonderful when we're no
longer tempted, do you ever think about that? When we're spirit beings and we no longer
have any temptation to sin, those things that were so appealing won't have any attraction
to us. It's through our repentance that we reconnect
and reconcile with God. And remember that it's our sins that separated
us from Him. That's in Isaiah 59:2, just like to make a
note of it, "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden
His face from you, so that He will not hear." The New Living Translation puts it this way,
which is, I think, really effective. "It's your sins that have cut you off from
God. Because of your sins, He has turned away and
will not listen anymore. " So you and I need to lower the drawbridge
of our lives and let God in to help remove the sins that we have identified and admitted
and repented of. What are we holding back and why are we? Why are we not letting go? Our repentance releases God's power to assist
us in our overcoming. So the important step is to acknowledge that
we cannot overcome by our own strength, we need God's help. Ask God for help to overcome the hurdles that
stand between you and the kingdom of God between us and the kingdom of God. We have to change. If nothing changes, nothing changes. That sounds idiotic. But what's the definition of insanity? Doing the same old thing and expecting different
results. So we have to change. God wants to do the real work inside of us
to transform our character, but we need to stop resisting Him. You know, on the last day of trash pick up
before the Days of Unleavened Bread, it's always a relief when the symbols of our sins
are hauled away in the trash truck and they're taken… For Hamilton County and Clermont County, they
go on the west side of Hamilton County to Mount Trashmore or Mount Rumpke, whichever
you want to call it. It used to be a huge valley there, but now
it's a mountain, and they're buried. Those are just the symbols. God does a much, infinitely better job of
removing our real sins and He removes them as far as the east is from the west, as we
sang in the opening set of songs. And He doesn't bury them. He forgets them and they're never found again. When God forgets, He really forgets. And we need to do the same. Instead of dragging up old dirt of forgiven
sins, drag them back into the living room or the bedroom or the front seat of the car,
let them go. Don't be bringing them back. You know, Israel could not bring itself out
of Israel and we cannot take ourselves out of any of our sins, only God can do that,
but He's very happy to do so when we repent. When we're weak, God is strong, His strength
is sufficient. Romans 12:2… sorry. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, "And lest I should
be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was
given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord
three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient
for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." So it's God's strength that is sufficient
to help us overcome anything we face. You know, it's comforting, I think, to know
that Jesus Christ is our High Priest and He thoroughly knows and understands us. He was also tempted as we are tempted. I've thought about that verse a lot of times
just, you know, the temptations you have, I have, He had the same temptations from the
way this verse reads. Our temptations are not new. Let's take a look at Hebrews 4:12-16 to read
about some really encouraging verses here. Encouragement like we heard about in the sermonette,
encouragement, just before and after the crucifixion, this encouragement for all time. Hebrews 4:12, "For the Word of God is living
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul
and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart." Discerner of the intents of the heart.” So there's no hiding, everything is exposed
to God. Here it says in the next verse, "There is
no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him
to whom we must give account. Seeing then we have a great High Priest who
has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are…” but He
had a little different result than you and I have, "yet without sin.” It says. "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne
of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." You know, it's when you and I least feel like
coming before God, that we must come to Him when we have sin and we feel shame and guilt
and want to hide from God like Adam and Eve thought they could do in the garden. They hid themselves… actually, there was
no hiding place to hide from the Lord. But that's exactly when we need to come to
Him in repentance, we have sin and we surely need help. Sin easily ensnares us, or trips us up, captures
us. Just in case you've forgotten, let's read
about that. It's in Hebrews 12:1-3. Hebrews 12, "Therefore we also, since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before
us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,” having all the sins of all time
put on Him, despising that shame, “and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God. For consider Him who endured such hostility
from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls." We should not be discouraged. We should not be discouraged as this verse
says. And one more time, Romans 8:1, "There is no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit." In conclusion, brethren, by taking these steps,
you and I can reconcile and reconnect with God as king David did. It worked for David, it will work for us. If we identify and admit and repent of our
sins, we can reconnect more closely with God, and isn't that what we all want to do? I think so. We do not want the separation from God that
our sins bring, and we do really want to be reconciled to Him. And then we can claim this wonderful promise
from God, another wonderful promise that Paul wrote to the Philippians. It's in Philippians 1, "And I am certain that
God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished
on the day when Jesus Christ returns."
