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Death Spiral (Romans 1:24-32) | Louis Azuma
00:00 Introduction to Romans 1:24-32
02:11 The Downward Spiral of Sin
05:03 Three Steps of the Death Spiral
07:02 Exchanging God's Truth for Lies
12:08 Rejecting God's Design
15:24 The Universality of Sin
17:38 Embracing God to Avoid the Spiral
19:57 Understanding God's Wrath
21:25 The Consequences of Sin
29:18 The Deceptive Nature of Sin
33:00 Embracing Sinful Thinking
36:50 The Importance of Holiness
39:41 Conclusion and Call to Action
Transcript
Romans one is where we're going.
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:Romans one.
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:And we're gonna be looking at verses 24.
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:This is 32.
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:Romans 1, 24 to 32, Romans 1, 24 to 32.
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:So you may have heard, you may have heard
that today something really sad happened.
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:Um, something really sad and
really, really evil happened.
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:So there was someone who, um.
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:Who believes some things that the Bible
says, and they were shot by someone
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:who didn't like that about them.
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:They didn't like what they
believed and they shot him.
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:Um, I would not, I would, I would
tell you, don't go look this
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:up because it's live on camera.
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:Someone caught it on
camera, so don't watch it.
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:Um, so don't watch it.
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:But the reason I bring it up is 'cause
some of you might have heard about it.
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:Um.
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:And the reaction to it was,
obviously people are very, feel
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:very bad about this, right?
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:Someone, a guy died, a
husband died, a father died.
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:Um, but one of the reactions that I
noticed, someone I know, um, their
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:reaction was really, really, really
sad, actually made me feel sick.
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:Um, they were excited and they
were happy that this person died.
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:They were celebrating that this person
was shot and that these, this wife
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:doesn't have her husband anymore, and that
these kids don't have their dad anymore.
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:They were excited because they
think this person spreads hate and
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:this person spreads violence, and
they think that this person doesn't
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:deserve to be alive, and so they are
celebrating that this person was shot.
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:They're celebrating an innocent
person's death because they
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:disagree with what this person says.
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:It's really sad.
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:How does someone get to that point?
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:How does a real person, a real,
not, not just someone online, but
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:a, a real person gets to the point
where they're excited that an
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:innocent person got shot and killed.
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:What makes someone get to that point?
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:What takes someone to, to be that
hardhearted and set in their sin and
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:is, is what we're gonna look at tonight?
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:This passage, Romans one is gonna
show us a downward spiral of sin.
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:It's gonna show us where that
spiral starts and kind of
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:the steps along that spiral.
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:And it, it's kind of a, it's, it's
a spiral 'cause it's cyclical.
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:It, it reoccurs and you go
further and further, further
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:down into what this death spiral.
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:And you end up like this
person that I know who.
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:Just, I can't even explain how horrible
this is, that they're excited, they're
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:celebrating this person's death.
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:Um, and that's because they are
currently living out this passage.
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:This passage talks about our sin.
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:It talks about, um, what happens
when we reject God and, um.
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:That's what we're gonna
see in tonight's passage.
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:So our main point tonight
is that rejecting God starts
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:a deadly spiral of sin.
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:It begins with a rejection of God.
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:It doesn't begin with
who your parents are.
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:It doesn't begin with how you were raised.
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:It doesn't begin with your who you follow
on Instagram, or the kind of books you
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:read, or the podcast you listen to.
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:It begins.
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:With what you do with God,
with who God is to you.
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:That's where it starts.
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:And once you reject God, once you say
that, that you don't want God in your
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:life, once you oppose God in that way,
you have set yourself on this trajectory,
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:this downward spiral that will take you
to terrible, terrible places, obviously
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:in eternity, apart from God in Hell.
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:But also along the way, you,
you won't go to places that you.
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:Want to be in.
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:So remember the big picture, right?
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:We're we're seeing Romans one,
two, and three are showing us
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:that God's wrath is righteous.
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:It's a good thing for
God to show his wrath.
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:It's a good thing because
God is a good judge.
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:He's being a good judge.
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:When he shows his anger towards
sin, that's the, that's what we're
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:looking at for these first three
chapters of Romans, and this passage
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:is showing us what that looks like.
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:So what's gonna be interesting
about this passage is that this is
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:actually how God shows his wrath.
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:He hands people over
to their spiral of sin.
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:He says, okay, if you're gonna reject
me, I will let you keep doing that,
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:and I will send you down this path.
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:Down this spiral to your
destruction, and this is what
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:we're gonna see in this passage.
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:Okay?
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:I don't know if we're gonna be able
to read through the whole thing,
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:but this is what the spiral is.
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:There's three steps to the spiral, okay?
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:The death spiral of sin
starts with rejecting God.
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:People reject God to worship other things.
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:They say this is better than
God, this thing that they want.
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:Maybe it's money, maybe it's
power, maybe it's control.
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:Maybe it's pleasure.
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:Maybe in, in this case,
it's a statue right?
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:In, in, in Romans one.
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:Um, they worship other things than God.
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:They say, I don't want God.
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:This is better.
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:Remember we talked about last week, sin is
preferring something else to God, right?
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:Sin is is not first and
foremost something bad.
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:The reason it's bad is because you're
saying something's better than God.
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:That's sin.
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:So it starts with rejecting
God to worship other things.
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:Then God shows his wrath by
handing people over to their sin.
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:He says, okay, if that's what you
want, if you really want something
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:other than me, I'll let you have it.
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:You can have this thing
besides me to to be your God.
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:He hands them over to that.
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:He says, here you go.
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:You wanted it.
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:Then those people say, awesome, great.
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:I finally got what I, what I wanted.
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:I don't have God in my life anymore.
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:I got rid of God.
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:I, I'm the authority now.
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:I'm in control.
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:I'm most important.
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:I finally got what I wanted.
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:I can do whatever I want.
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:No more rules.
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:No more restrictions, no more big,
bad God telling me what to do.
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:And they're, they're free from that.
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:And they embrace that sin, right?
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:They embrace their, their.
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:They're in control of their lives
now, or they can do whatever they
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:want, this freedom, this autonomy.
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:They can do whatever they want and then
they keep on going down this spiral.
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:That's what this passage is
gonna show us, that there's
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:these three steps to this spiral.
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:So the, but it starts with rejecting.
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:Starts with rejecting God, and
that's what we see in this passage.
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:All right, so what I want you
to see is just from, I took kind
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:of a few verses from Romans one.
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:Just to kind of show you what Paul
is saying, people reject God, right?
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:They, they know God.
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:They don't honor him as God.
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:They know about God, right?
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:They say, oh yeah, God exists,
but they say, uh, well, I
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:don't really wanna worship him.
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:And he's saying, everyone is in that boat.
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:Everyone knows God exists.
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:Everyone can know that God exists
because of his creation, right?
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:We talked about that I think two weeks
ago or last week, that everyone can
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:know God exists because of his creation.
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:He's made it obvious that he exists,
but people don't worship him.
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:People don't treat him like he's God.
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:They live their own life.
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:Another way they do that is they
exchange the glory of God for images.
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:They say, well, I know that I'm supposed
to worship God, but instead I want this.
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:This is better than God.
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:This is more important than God.
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:This is cooler than God.
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:This will make me happier
than God could make me.
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:They exchange the glory of God for images.
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:Right in, in our day it's maybe
not a, a picture or, or a statue,
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:but it's a feeling we want or a
position we want, or a relationship
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:we want or something, right?
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:We, we say, I want this
more than I want God.
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:Something else that we do is we
exchange the truth about God for a lie.
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:We say, well, maybe, maybe you think that
about God, but I think God is like this.
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:We, we take things that are true and
we say, I don't want to believe those.
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:I know maybe you say that God exists
or you say that God says this,
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:or God wants me to live this way.
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:And you say, I don't want,
I don't wanna believe that.
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:And you believe lies.
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:That's the other thing that we do.
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:Another way we reject God is
we take things that are true
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:and we say, I don't want those.
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:I don't want things
that make me feel good.
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:Things that I like.
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:I'd rather hear what I
like than hear what's true.
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:And then another way, right?
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:Don't fit, see, fit.
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:To acknowledge God.
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:We say, I don't, I don't
want to deal with God.
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:I'm just gonna put God
to the back of my mind.
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:I don't want to, I don't
want to think about God.
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:I don't wanna live as though God exists.
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:So it starts with a rejection of God.
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:And so these points, the three points
tonight, they're gonna be what not to do.
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:These three points are three
ways to ruin your life.
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:So the points are what's not or
you're not supposed to do, right?
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:The points are three ways to
ruin your life, three ways to, to
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:take this downward spiral of sin.
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:And end up under God's wrath.
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:So the first way to ruin your life
and blend in with, with our world
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:that hates God is to reject God
to worship other things, right?
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:That's the first step in our spiral.
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:It starts with rejecting God.
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:Just like we said last week, all sins
starts with preferring something to God.
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:All sins starts with, I want that.
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:I don't want God.
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:I wanna do things my way, not God's way.
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:This is better than God.
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:That's how sin starts.
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:We even see that, right?
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:I showed you this earlier, but we see that
here they exchange the truth about God.
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:Verse 25.
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:So these people who are, whose God's
handing over to to their own desires,
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:they exchange the truth about God
for a lie and worshiped and served
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:the creature rather than the creator.
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:Said, I like the things God
made more than God, right?
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:That that's all of us in this room.
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:We want the things that
God made more than we want.
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:God.
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:That's called sin.
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:We're all sinners.
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:We're all wired this way.
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:Everyone starts off in this boat.
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:We all start wanting what God
made more than we want God, right?
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:We want approval more than we want God.
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:We want money more than we want God.
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:We want security and comfort
more than we want God.
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:We want pleasure more than we want God.
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:All these things, we want more than God.
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:We serve what God made
instead of serving God.
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:That's how sin starts.
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:Every sin trades something true about
God and and says it's a lie, right?
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:If you think about this, even with.
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:Sins that maybe seem more common, right?
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:Something like, well, I'm
not like worshiping an idol.
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:What about like anxiety?
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:Anxiety?
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:You're trading the truth
about God for a lie.
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:Anxiety is saying, well, I know
that God's in control, but I don't
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:really feel like he's in control.
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:I know that God loves you.
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:I don't really feel like he loves me.
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:And so you believing a lie
instead of what's true, right?
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:Or something maybe like impurity you're
saying, I know that God promises joy, but
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:really I think this will make me happen.
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:Be or laziness.
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:I know that following God and doing this
hard thing would actually be better for
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:me, but I'd rather listen to my, my flesh
and I will buy the lie that being lazy
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:and undisciplined will be better for me.
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:So every sin, you're,
you're buying a lie, right?
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:We talked about that last week, right?
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:You're, you're trading, you're
making a bad trade, right?
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:You're, you're, it's like you're
the general manager of the Cowboys.
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:You're making a bad trade.
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:You're, you're, you're trading
something true for a lie.
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:But then part of this spiral is
you also reject God's good design.
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:So you not only reject God, you
reject the way he made things to be.
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:That's what the next few verses
talk about, verses 26 and 27.
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:For this reason.
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:So what reason?
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:Well, the people exchange the
truth about God for a lie.
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:So then God gave them up.
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:He handed them over to their desires.
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:He said, okay, you wanna
worship something other than me?
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:Here you go.
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:I'll let you, I'll give you over to
those sinful desires that you have.
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:And this phrase, natural
relations comes up, right?
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:The point that Paul's making is these
people, these women and these men, they're
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:sinning against God's created design.
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:God made the world to work one way,
and they're saying, God, we don't
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:like the way you made the world.
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:We're gonna make it.
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:We're, we're gonna do our own
thing that we think is better.
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:What happens with sin is
we not only reject God, we
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:reject the way he made things.
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:Right?
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:In this case, what Paul is talking
about is Paul is talking about
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:homosexuality here in this passage, right?
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:That's what he's saying.
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:Women who exchange natural relations
for those that are contrary to
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:nature, against nature, right?
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:God designed marriage
between a man and a woman.
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:God designed there to be men and women.
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:And for you to stay a man and a
woman or a woman, they're women.
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:So these people, they, they say, I don't
want the way God designed me to be.
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:I want a different way.
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:And so they're exchanging that they're
going against God's created design.
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:Verse 27, same thing.
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:These men do the same thing.
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:Instead of wanting to be married to
one woman, they say, well, actually
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:I want to, I, I desire other men.
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:So this is a down the spiral
consequence of rejecting God.
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:You reject God, then you start
to reject what he says, and
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:so then you reject his design.
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:So it's down the spiral, right?
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:So you reject God, you
start rejecting things.
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:God says that's what happens.
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:And that's what Paul's talking about here.
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:He's talking about homosexuality.
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:Now, next week we are gonna talk
more in depth about homosexuality.
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:So if you have questions, don't
terrorize your leaders yet next
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:week you'll be able to do that.
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:So next week we're gonna talk about
what the Bible says about homosexuality,
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:how to talk to people who maybe believe
that other things about homosexuality
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:or any of the other LGBTQ plus letters.
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:That's what we're gonna be
talking about next week.
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:Okay?
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:So if you have questions about that, what
the Bible says, save 'em for next week.
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:But we do care about that.
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:We, 'cause God cares about it.
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:Um, and so we want to explain that
to you and equip you to maybe talk
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:with people who believe those things.
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:So that's what we'll
be covering next week.
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:But right now what I want you to
see is that, what Paul is saying
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:here is that homosexuality is
a rejection of God's design.
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:It's, it's an extension of rejecting God.
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:You reject God, so then you
reject the way he made things.
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:Right?
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:That's, that's Paul's point.
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:So.
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:Then what happens next?
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:Well, maybe you're like,
well, my sin isn't that bad.
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:I'm not one of these people that's totally
rejecting the way God made the world.
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:Well, look what else Paul says, verse 28.
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:Since they did not see fit to acknowledge
God, these people who, who didn't wanna
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:worship God, God gave them up to a
debased mind, like a twisted, messed up
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:mind to do what ought, ought to be done.
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:And then he has this big list of things.
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:There's like over 20 things on this list.
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:I'm on this list.
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:You're on this list, right?
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:Maybe you were like, oh, well
I'm not one of those people that
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:totally rejects God's design.
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:Well, you're still one
of these people, right?
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:You're still one of these people
who don't acknowledge God as this,
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:and then you, or before you were
Christian, you were one of these people.
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:So there's this big list of things and
some of these things you're like, man,
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:that's tor, that's terrible, right?
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:You see murder over there.
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:You see haters of God on there.
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:You see heartless or, or ruthless,
and you're like, man, that's terrible.
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:Those are really bad people.
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:Well, who's, who else
is in the same category?
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:Anyone ever done that before?
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:Right?
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:What about this one?
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:You ever wanted something
that wasn't yours?
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:What about this one?
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:You ever lied?
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:What about this one?
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:Right.
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:This is all the same category, boasting.
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:It's all the same group.
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:All of these people deserve God's wrath.
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:You deserve God's wrath.
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:I deserve God's wrath.
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:And the worst sin you can
think of deserves God's wrath.
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:Every single person does.
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:All of us reject God.
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:All of us categorically do the same.
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:Same thing, right?
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:We sin, we say, I want this more than God.
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:So before you say, well, I'm not as bad as
those people keep reading the passage and,
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:and, and think about, man, I, according
to Paul, I do what these people do.
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:The people who reject God, I do
the same things that they do.
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:So how do I not do this right?
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:How do I not start this downward spiral?
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:How do I not right?
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:I, I'm a sinner.
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:I, I know that.
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:I, I see it.
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:Okay, how do I not reject God?
358
:Well, hopefully you've already
done this, but you, you embrace God
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:the opposite of rejecting, right?
360
:You think of like rejecting,
pushing on away, embracing you.
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:You come to God, you say, God, I want you.
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:That's what trusting God is.
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:It's embracing him.
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:Or you, maybe you heard
the term, receive Jesus.
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:That means like to, to come
to him, to, to embrace him.
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:And you say.
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:You.
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:You trust God.
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:You say, you know what?
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:God, what you designed is good.
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:The way you made the world to work.
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:The things you say in your word is good.
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:It's good for me, right?
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:You're a good God.
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:You're a kind God.
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:You're a loving God and I trust you.
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:I trust you to save me.
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:I'm messed up.
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:I'm a sinner.
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:I need you to save me.
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:And that starts when you become a
Christian, but also for the rest of
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:your life, there's gonna be things
that are hard for you to believe
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:that what God says is better.
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:It's gonna be hard, like for
the rest of your Christian life.
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:It's not just a one time,
okay, I, I didn't reject God.
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:Great.
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:I'm a Christian.
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:No.
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:It's like, well, I, you
keep on embracing God.
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:You keep on saying, God, I trust you.
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:Your design is better.
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:Right?
393
:Maybe I didn't get into the
school I wanted to go into.
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:I don't have the friends that I, I
thought I'd have, or I'm not as good
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:at this as I want to be, or what.
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:You have to trust God with those things
and say, God, you are working for my good.
397
:And then also something else to, to
prevent this spiral is you see how
398
:destructive and, and terrible your sin is.
399
:You, you, you see where this goes?
400
:You see where this spiral, that's why
Paul does this, is he shows you where
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:your sinful desires will take you.
402
:You refute lies with truth.
403
:You, you, you think back
when you're tempted to sin.
404
:You say, what?
405
:We talked about this last week, right?
406
:Your sin is trying to sell you something.
407
:It's trying to make, it's trying
to offer you something, and
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:you say, well, that's not true.
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:It's not worth it.
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:Here's what God offers me.
411
:God offered me something better.
412
:And that's why you need to know what
God says because if you don't know what
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:God says, it's gonna be hard to believe
that what he has for you is better.
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:So
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:the first step in this spiral is to reject
God and worship other things instead
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:to want other things more than God.
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:And the second step in our spiral
right, was that God hands people
418
:over to their, to their sinful
desires, which is interesting, right?
419
:'cause God is the one actively doing that.
420
:It's not that you did it, God did it.
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:It's that's how God shows his wrath.
422
:Even presently, God is presently
showing his wrath against people who
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:are living and walking around on the
earth by giving them over to their sin.
424
:And that's what we see in this passage.
425
:I forgot to show you this.
426
:This is how Paul ends Romans one.
427
:Those who practice such things
disobeying their parents, gossiping,
428
:envying, deserve to die, right?
429
:You need, we need to
see how bad our sin is.
430
:My sin put Jesus on the cross, right?
431
:My sin deserves hell, just like that
person's sin, who maybe seems worse.
432
:Anyway, that was our first point, talking
about now the second phase in our spiral,
433
:that God gives people over to their
sinful desires when they reject him.
434
:We see that right?
435
:Verse 24, 26, 28.
436
:Like this.
437
:That's where I got the spiral idea from.
438
:Right?
439
:It's like a, you ever seen
a spiral staircase, right?
440
:Paul is like walking down this
spiral staircase of sin, and
441
:God is the one who's saying how,
here's how I'm gonna show my wrath.
442
:I'm going to hand you over to your lusts,
to your passions, to your sinful thinking.
443
:I'm gonna give you over to those things.
444
:It's like almost like,
um, in a courtroom, right?
445
:When someone's convicted,
they hand them over, right?
446
:They're guilty, they hand them over.
447
:He's saying, here you go.
448
:This is what you wanted.
449
:It's actually how God shows his wrath.
450
:God punishes you by letting you sin.
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:Isn't that weird?
452
:So if you wanna continue down
the spiral of rejecting God
453
:and ruining your life, 0.2
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:would be to let your desires loose.
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:That's the second way you
can ruin your life and end up
456
:apart from God under his wrath.
457
:Do whatever you want, right?
458
:Don't hold back any of
your sinful desires.
459
:Just follow them wherever your
body, wherever your sin tells
460
:you to go, follow it and just go.
461
:That's how you ruin your life.
462
:But it's really interesting
to think about that.
463
:God shows his wrath by
letting people sin, right?
464
:He hands them over to their sin.
465
:That's that.
466
:It's probably something you
haven't thought about before.
467
:And how does that work?
468
:Well, if what you want is bad
for you, it's a punishment to
469
:let you keep doing it, right?
470
:If what you want is bad for you
471
:to punish you, I would just
let you keep doing it right,
472
:because that's bad for you.
473
:It reminded me of this really old
book that I read in elementary school.
474
:I don't, no one's probably
ever heard of this book.
475
:It's called Mrs.
476
:Pickle Wiggle.
477
:Now this book, so this, this, it's
this about this old lady and Mrs.
478
:P wiggle is like this, this lady who's
like really good at like parenting tricks.
479
:So all the people in their little town,
they come to her and they're like, my
480
:daughter has this problem, or my son has
this problem and they ask her to fix it.
481
:And she comes up with some like really
funny, like clever way to help them.
482
:So.
483
:For example, uh, this dude, he
didn't wanna put his toys away.
484
:He never wanted to clean up, right?
485
:He never wanted to clean up.
486
:His toys are all over his room.
487
:He doesn't wanna clean up.
488
:And so here's what Mrs.
489
:Pickle wiggle decides to do.
490
:She says, okay, fine.
491
:Just let him keep all his toys out.
492
:And it's like, what?
493
:That seems counterintuitive, right?
494
:But what happens is they, for like, I
don't know how long, maybe it's like a
495
:month, they let him keep all his toys
out and he takes all 'em out and he has,
496
:his room is full of toys and eventually
he can't even like get out of his room.
497
:And like he's, there's like delivering
him food at the door of his room.
498
:Anyway, it's really funny.
499
:But then what Ms.
500
:Tickle wiggle does is she leads like
a parade, like a really fun parade,
501
:like this big party outside the
house, and he's stuck in his room
502
:because he wouldn't clean up his toys.
503
:So now he can't go enjoy this parade.
504
:He can't be part of this awesome party
because he didn't put away his toys.
505
:You see that?
506
:So what she did is she
said, Hey, don't, it's fine.
507
:Keep all your toys out.
508
:You're gonna miss out
on what's better, right?
509
:Same thing, I, I'm not
sure if it was this girl.
510
:It was, there was a girl in the book.
511
:She never wanted to take a bath.
512
:She never wanted to shower.
513
:Right.
514
:Which that's pretty easy to
hand someone over to, right.
515
:So what they did is they were like, fine,
we're just gonna let you not shower and
516
:not take a bath and never clean yourself.
517
:And then this girl gets like so dirty.
518
:They like, it's really weird.
519
:They plant like a like seeds on her
'cause there's so much dirt on her
520
:and she ends up like covered in like
plants, which is probably not good.
521
:But the point is, okay, fine, you don't
wanna take a shower, that's totally fine.
522
:You're just gonna be gross
and disgusting, right?
523
:That's what God does when he
hands you over to your sin.
524
:He says, okay, you wanna keep sinning, you
wanna keep following your impure thoughts.
525
:You want to keep being
anxious and not trusting me.
526
:You wanna keep coveting and envying
and gossiping, and slandering,
527
:and disobeying your parents and
all the things on that list, fine.
528
:Do it.
529
:It'll kill you.
530
:That's what God says.
531
:That's how God shows his wrath.
532
:By letting you keep sinning, you
miss out on these amazing things
533
:that he has to offer because you
settled for something lame, right?
534
:You, you kept all the toys out in your
room and you missed out on the party.
535
:You ended up gross and disgusting in
your sin because that's what you wanted.
536
:You wanted it, and he
says, here you go, have it.
537
:That's part of this spiral.
538
:If you let your sinful
desires lead you, right?
539
:If you let your sinful desires take you
where they want you to go, where you
540
:think you want to go, you will continue
out in this spiral under God's wrath.
541
:That's why self-control
is such a good thing.
542
:Self-control is a, is a good thing
because it prevents you from following
543
:this spiral and ruining your life.
544
:Paul is trying to show you the end of the
story, this passage, what God is doing.
545
:God doesn't want you to to end up
stuck in your room with all your
546
:toys out missing out on the party.
547
:God doesn't want you to be gross
and disgusting with plants all over
548
:you because you didn't wanna shower.
549
:God loves you too much.
550
:And so he gives you warnings
and he says, if you keep going
551
:that way, it'll kill you.
552
:And so he says, don't like follow me.
553
:He gives you a better offer.
554
:But we have to fight our sinful
desires to do that even if
555
:it feels good in the moment.
556
:Think about when you're,
when you're tempted, right?
557
:You want to, your desires
are pulling at you.
558
:The best thing to do in that moment is to
think, okay, where is this gonna take me?
559
:If I give into this temptation,
where is this gonna go?
560
:Right.
561
:Kind of like you ever been to
all you can eat Korean barbecue?
562
:Yes.
563
:It's like Kenneth just woke up.
564
:Um, so right.
565
:All you can eat Korean barbecue,
they have all those like,
566
:random things out on the table.
567
:You know, like, there's like
vegetables and weird stuff, right?
568
:I know some people that don't even
eat the rice at cream barbecue cup.
569
:Why?
570
:Because they wanna save as much
room as possible for the meat.
571
:They wanna save as much room as possible
for the bulgogi and the, you know,
572
:Korean fried chicken and the pork belly.
573
:They want to save all the room for that.
574
:So they're like, no appetizers.
575
:I don't want it.
576
:Some people even skip lunch.
577
:They're like, I wanna be ready for
this, so I'm gonna skip lunch so
578
:that I can be as hungry as possible
to eat the, to get my money's
579
:worth on this 30 something dollars.
580
:All you can eat barbecue, right?
581
:Mm-hmm.
582
:So what helps you be self-controlled?
583
:Let's say you're skipping lunch, which
don't do it, but let's say you're
584
:skipping lunch to, to enjoy your all.
585
:You can eat Korean barbecue at dinner when
you're starving at 3:00 PM and you want to
586
:go to the to the pantry and grab a snack.
587
:What's gonna keep you motivated to be self
controlled and not give into your desires?
588
:You gotta think about, you gotta
think about the Korean barbecue.
589
:You gotta think about
how good it's gonna be.
590
:You gotta think about, oh man, I
can just order like however much
591
:I want and I can just eat it.
592
:And you think about how awesome it is.
593
:You're like, oh, you know what?
594
:I'll wait.
595
:I'll pass on the Doritos.
596
:I'll pass on the whatever,
snacks, pretzels, whatever.
597
:I don't know.
598
:I'll pass on the snacks because I
want, I want what's better, right?
599
:That's what God is offering you.
600
:He's saying, here I have an all you
can eat barbecue of, of goodness
601
:for you, but you're settling for the
lame little appetizers on the table.
602
:You're, you're eating the kimchi and the,
the salad and the whatever you're, you're
603
:eating all that, and you should be saving
room for what's, what's really good.
604
:That's how you'd be self-control.
605
:That's the secret to self-control
is, is to have a, a bigger desire.
606
:Well, I want this more, so I'm not
gonna fall for the little thing.
607
:I'm not gonna snack
because I, I want dinner.
608
:That's what God gives us.
609
:He gives us promises, he gives us warning.
610
:He says, if you eat this.
611
:You won't be hungry for
dinner, you'll miss out.
612
:So think about right when you're attempted
and you feel the pull of your desires.
613
:Think about the end of the story.
614
:Think about where is this gonna take me?
615
:How is this gonna go for me?
616
:And think about that.
617
:Your sinful desires are
destructive too, right?
618
:They'll kill you, right?
619
:They, they appear to be good,
but really they'll kill you.
620
:I heard a story, I, I forget
where I heard it a long time ago,
621
:about how some people kill wolves.
622
:They're shepherds, they're trying
to protect their sheep, and
623
:this is how they kill wolves.
624
:Okay.
625
:It's, it's kind of crazy.
626
:Um, what they do is they take a,
um, they take like a, a steak,
627
:essentially like meat, and they
put it over a, um, a knife and then
628
:they freeze it and they put it out.
629
:The wolf smells the meat, right?
630
:And there's like blood and everything.
631
:And so the wolf starts licking the ice
to get the meat off or to get the ice off
632
:the meat so he can eat the meat, right?
633
:So the wolf's like licking, licking
this ice to get, to get this meat.
634
:And all the wolf tastes.
635
:The wolf smells the meat, the wolf
tastes the meat, and there's blood.
636
:And so he tastes, he tastes blood.
637
:And that's good, right?
638
:He's hungry, he wants blood.
639
:So as the wolf starts licking this,
this ice and chewing on this meat,
640
:he starts licking the the knife.
641
:And then it cuts his tongue and his
tongue's bleeding and the whole time
642
:he's licking it and like chewing on it.
643
:And he's tasting what he thinks is
the animal that he's trying to eat,
644
:but whose blood is he really tasting?
645
:His.
646
:And then the wolf bleeds out and dies.
647
:Yeah, that's, that's
what your sin is doing.
648
:Your sin is tricking you.
649
:Your sin makes you think you're
eating this awesome steak, but
650
:really you're, you're dying, you're
bleeding out on your own blood.
651
:That's what your sin does.
652
:And the hard part is seeing
it for what it is, right?
653
:Because you're, you're, you get so
wrapped up in, oh, this tastes so good.
654
:And you, you, for, you don't realize
what you're doing to yourself, right?
655
:And so that's why God
gives us these warnings.
656
:That's why he says, Hey.
657
:Look out, right?
658
:God's wrath is coming on.
659
:These types of sins, God's wrath
is, is against these people.
660
:These type of sins will lead you to death.
661
:That's what God says, and the reason
he says that isn't 'cause he hates
662
:you and wants you to have no fun.
663
:It's 'cause he loves you
and doesn't want you to die.
664
:So your your sin, your sinful desires.
665
:If you follow your sinful desires,
it tricks you because it gets
666
:you to like what kills you.
667
:Right.
668
:That, that's, that's
how your sin kills you.
669
:It gets you to like what kills you.
670
:And so you keep, you keep licking it
and you bleed out because you, you're
671
:enjoying it, but you're, it's like
you're addicted to poison, right?
672
:You're just drinking and drinking and
drinking poison, and you kill yourself
673
:because you're enjoying what kills you.
674
:That's what your sin does.
675
:And so you have to see
where is this taking me?
676
:What is this doing?
677
:But that state right of
I, I enjoy what kills me.
678
:That's what sin does to you.
679
:And if you follow this
spiral, you reject God.
680
:You let your desires lead you.
681
:That's what Paul means when he says that
God gives you over to your sinful desires.
682
:He talks about your mind.
683
:He says they're, they're, they're
futile in their understanding
684
:or they claim to be wise.
685
:They became fools because they
started to like what kills them.
686
:You see that?
687
:In our passage from last week, they
became futile in their thinking.
688
:They thought they were smart, but they
were actually being foolish, and then God
689
:gave them up to a debased mind, right?
690
:A sinful mind.
691
:Verse 28.
692
:What your sin does is it gets you to
like what's killing you, and that's
693
:how you end up trapped in this spiral.
694
:That's the very bottom of the spiral.
695
:You like your sin and you hate God, and
you love hating God, and you love sinning.
696
:So the last step in this spiral is to
embrace sinful thinking and values.
697
:So you start enjoying it, right?
698
:Your sin used to feel bad
and now it doesn't anymore.
699
:Now it just feels normal, and
then it starts feeling good
700
:and doesn't bother you anymore,
701
:right?
702
:If you're, if you're starting to
enjoy your sin, if you're approving
703
:your sin, if you're saying, this is
great that I'm doing this, I love.
704
:Being lazy, right?
705
:I love being, I love gossiping.
706
:It's so fun.
707
:Just the thrill of being able to
spread news and, and the control I
708
:get from being able to, to define
the narrative around people or, oh,
709
:I, I love, I just, I love how much
better I am than other people, right?
710
:And your pride, once you start
enjoying it, and once it starts
711
:being comfortable and normal for
you, you're in a really bad spot
712
:because.
713
:You've got, you're, you're
enjoying what's killing you, right?
714
:It doesn't bother you anymore.
715
:Or when you watch that, it,
it doesn't really convict you.
716
:Or when you play that game or
hear those words or make those
717
:jokes, nothing, it doesn't,
there's, there's nothing happening.
718
:You're just like, oh, that's really funny.
719
:Or That was such a, that was really good.
720
:And, and that's what.
721
:That's what God is warning you right?
722
:Is, is people at the bottom of this
spiral, and maybe that's, you think
723
:that they're, they're doing great.
724
:They're like, look how free I am.
725
:I don't have to listen to God.
726
:I don't have to read the Bible.
727
:I don't have to be just,
I can do whatever I want.
728
:I get to escape all of these rules
that my parents put on me or that,
729
:that the Bible says they think they're
doing great, but in reality they're
730
:foolish because they're saying, I
love this thing that's killing me.
731
:And that's where Paul goes,
verse 27, they're, they're
732
:doing shameless things, right?
733
:They're not embarrassed about it.
734
:They're, they're doing it openly.
735
:They're not, they're not embarrassed if
someone knows that they're sinning, right?
736
:Maybe they're bragging about it
or they, this last part, they
737
:approve people who do those, right?
738
:That's like what we do when
we laugh at a dirty joke.
739
:We're giving approval to
someone who's sinning.
740
:We're saying, oh, that's, that's great.
741
:That's funny.
742
:So
743
:at the bottom of this spiral, your sin
becomes more normal and more enjoyable.
744
:And, and the problem is you
don't really notice it, right?
745
:Just like that wolf doesn't notice when it
went from sheep blood to wolf blood, you
746
:don't notice it because it's so subtle.
747
:And that's why, um, your sin, like
pastor PJ mentioned on Sunday.
748
:You can't just have a little
sin in the corner and be like,
749
:oh, it's just a little one.
750
:It's okay.
751
:It's just gossip or it's just coveting
or it's just lying or, uh, well, I don't,
752
:I don't act on my lustful thoughts.
753
:I just have lustful thoughts.
754
:Those desires are trying to kill you.
755
:They're not just there.
756
:Right.
757
:It's like having you hear about every once
in a while you hear this headline about.
758
:You know, owner killed by Pet Snake.
759
:It's like, why did you have, why
did you have a pet boa constrictor
760
:that was probably gonna kill
you if it got out of its cage?
761
:Right?
762
:If you're treating your sin casually,
like, oh, it's just a little sin,
763
:it's just not a, it's not a big deal.
764
:You're, you're keeping a, a
deadly pet and it will kill you.
765
:It's trying to kill you.
766
:And so this, this whole thing
starts with rejecting God.
767
:This whole spiral of now at this
point, the bottom of it, you're
768
:embracing sin, you're celebrating sin.
769
:You're not embarrassed about
sin, you're not convicted.
770
:It starts with the rejection of God,
and that's why your relationship with
771
:God, even as a Christian is so important
because the closer you are with God,
772
:the more obvious your sin will be.
773
:Right?
774
:Just like
775
:the cleaner.
776
:Your house is the more obvious
it is when something's dirty.
777
:Right?
778
:I, my, um, college apartment,
I had two roommates.
779
:I moved in to their apartment.
780
:It was, it was disgusting.
781
:Like this one dude like literally
stopped doing his dishes,
782
:like just put 'em in the sink.
783
:And I was like, what in the world?
784
:Like, what are we doing guys?
785
:Um, the other dude would like
stay up till 2:00 AM and play.
786
:Rocket League and never clean anything.
787
:It was, it was like the worst of what
you think of from college living.
788
:And then they both graduated.
789
:Praise the Lord.
790
:After I got there, and then I had this
other roommate moved in and this roommate,
791
:he's from Germany, his name is Marcus,
and he was like the best thing ever.
792
:He came in, he like deep
cleaned everything right?
793
:He was like, he took like everything
outta the stove, like all the
794
:burners out and everything.
795
:And I cleaned.
796
:I was like, this is wild.
797
:This is awesome.
798
:So.
799
:Now, right now I'm married
and I'm not living with dudes
800
:I'm living with, with Shay.
801
:And Shay's a very clean person
and she designs things that
802
:look really cool and awesome.
803
:Um, and so if one of my old
college roommates wanted to to
804
:live with us for a month, we
would notice very quickly, right?
805
:Dirty things started showing
up, or there was footprints on
806
:the floor because it's clean.
807
:But if it's already dirty,
you don't notice it.
808
:Right?
809
:If your relationship with
God is, is close, right?
810
:If you're in God's word, you're your
time in, you're spending time in prayer.
811
:You, you have a, a, a growing love
for him, a concern for others.
812
:You're excited to be with Jesus.
813
:You're, your sin will hurt more because
you're closer with God, so you'll
814
:notice your sin more and you'll be
less vulnerable to this type of spiral.
815
:So,
816
:like we talked about on Sunday, which
I, I hope you're paying attention
817
:to Pastor PJ when he's preaching,
but holiness right of putting off
818
:sin is, is how you enjoy God, right?
819
:The, the holier you are, the happier
you'll be because the more you'll enjoy
820
:God, the closer you'll be with God.
821
:So the reason we, we warn you about
these things and we tell you about
822
:this spiral and how to ruin your life
and all that is so that you go to God.
823
:We want you to go to God and
'cause God loves you and God will
824
:make you happier than your sin.
825
:Hands down, end of story.
826
:And so the reason that, that Paul is
pointing all this out is because he's,
827
:he wants to show you that you need Jesus.
828
:That's where that's where we're gonna
go at the end of Romans chapter three.
829
:He's gonna say that all of sin and
fallen short of the glory of God.
830
:And so the only way to have a
relationship with God, to enjoy
831
:God is to have your sin taken away.
832
:And so as a Christian, it's putting off
sin because you've already been forgiven.
833
:But primarily it comes from
forgiveness, from justification,
834
:from getting Jesus righteousness.
835
:That's how you enjoy God is the,
the, the gateway into that is
836
:putting your faith in Jesus.
837
:And so if, if, if you saw yourself
in this spiral tonight, if, if
838
:you saw, you know that to me.
839
:I'm enjoying my sin.
840
:I'm celebrating my sin.
841
:Don't fall for it and turn to Jesus.
842
:Right?
843
:You, you've been shown that
your sin will lead you to your
844
:death, but Jesus offers you God.
845
:That's the, that's the
reason we, we get forgiven.
846
:That's the reason Jesus gives us
righteousness so we can be with God.
847
:The whole point of
forgiveness is who you get.
848
:You get God.
849
:So, um, if you're a Christian,
pursue holiness so you can get God.
850
:If you're not, get trust Jesus and get his
righteousness so that you can enjoy God.
851
:Let's pray and we'll go to small groups.
852
:God, we are grateful that you want us to
be happy, and maybe we've never thought
853
:about that before, but thank you that
you love us and you made us to enjoy you.
854
:That's what Christians for.
855
:Centuries have said, is the
purpose of our existence to glorify
856
:you and to enjoy you forever.
857
:So I pray that we would see sin
as something that hinders, that,
858
:that prevents us from being happy,
and that we would see you as.
859
:Our ultimate happiness that you, God,
love us so much and you want what's
860
:best for us, and we can trust you
to make us happy if we follow you.
861
:So I pray tonight that you would help us
to see our sin for what it is, and I pray
862
:that in small groups as we talk about
our sin and, and its consequences and,
863
:and its effects that we would be honest
about ourselves and, and how we're so
864
:drawn to our sin and that we would repent
of sin, put it off and kill it so that
865
:we can put on you and enjoy you more.
866
:We pray this in Jesus' name.
867
:Amen.
