Transcription
What inarnation have I got myself stuck into?
Well, howdy partners. Gather your young ones and saddle up for this year's vacation Bible school. We're fixing on having a rooting and tooting good time filled with good old-fashioned teaching from the Bible, snacks, crafts, games, and more. Kids may even have a chance at striking it rich with some real gold. Yeehaw.
But more important than that, we're going to be presenting these kids with the gospel by talking about King Josiah from the Bible and how God can use anybody to accomplish great things, no matter how big or small they are. So, grab your cowboys and cowgirls, get them on the roster today. I'll see you there. Yeehaw. Yeehaw.
All right, it's time to worship the Lord. Let's wake up and praise him this morning.
Wandering into the night, wanting a place to hide this soul, this bag of bones. I try with all my might, but I just can't win the fight. I'm slowly drifting, a vagabond.
Just when I ran out, I met a man I didn't know. And he told me that I was not alone. He lift me up. Turn me around. Place my feet on the ground. I've been master. I've been saved because he my heart. Change my pain forever free. I am not the same. I've been master. I've been saved. I thank God. I cannot deny what I've seen. Got no choice but to believe. My doubts are burning. Like ashes in the wind. So long to my old friends. Burden and bitterness. You can't just keep it moving 'cause you ain't welcome here. From now till I walk the streets alone, I sing how you saved my soul. This wayward child has found a way back. Oh, you pick me up, turn me around, raise my feet on solid ground. I've been master. I've been saved because he healed my heart. He changed my name forever free. I am not the same.
I think master. I've lost another one. Oh, wife. Oh, I am free. He'll lost another one. I am free. Oh, I am free. Yeah, I am free. Oh, help. I am free. Oh, I am free. Oh, I am free. Help my way. I am free. Oh, I am free. Turn me around. Place my feet on solid ground. I cannot save because you my heart change my name forever free. I am prophesy. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah.
Oh, I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah. I'm clean. Sin was stayed on me. Shame was running deep. But love was spilled on Calvary. Oh, hallelujah. I God, how can it be? I'm ransomed and redeemed. I'm standing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah. I'll be washed in the water. Washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah. I'll be washed in the water. Washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah. I'm clean.
It's not what I have done, but what you've done for me. You paid it all upon that tree. Oh, hallelujah. I'm your love has overcome and your mercy is supreme. I'm dancing to your victory. Oh, hallelujah. I'll be washed in the water. Washed in the blood. I'm as good as. Oh, hallelujah. I'm washed in the water. Washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah. I'm washed in the water. Washed in the blood. I'm as good as you. Oh, hallelujah. I'm washed in the water. Washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah.
'Cause you took away my sin and you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the door. Hallelujah. You 'cause you took away my shame and you nailed it to the cross. He got me running out the grave. Hallelujah. Here I come 'cause it took away my shame. Hanging down to the cross. You got me running out. Hallelujah. Here I come. You took away my shame. You took away my shame and you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out. Hallelujah. Here I go. Hallelujah. Here I go. Hallelujah. Here I go. Hallelujah. Here I go. Hallelujah. Here I go. Hallelujah. Highle Jesus.
Oh, I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. I'm as good as. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah. Sing this out. Sing. Oh, how great praising is our God. Oh, sing with me. How great is our God. And all we'll see how great, how great is our God. Sing that again. Sing how great. Oh, how great is our God. Oh, sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God. Most worthy, worthy of praise, exalted above all things. My God, you are my God. Your splendor and majesty, your wonder fills everything. My God, you are my God.
Holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord Almighty. Seated on the throne. Seated on the throne of glory. Highly lifted up. Your presence fills the temple where we worship you. Oh, worship you. Creation points to the king. The heavens can help sing to you. To you are our God. Holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord Almighty. Seated on the throne. Seated on the throne of glory, high and lifted up. Your presence fills the temple where we worship you. Oh, we worship you. Holy, holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord Almighty. Seated on the throne. Seated on the throne of glory. High lifted earth. Your presence builds a temple where we worship you. Oh, we worship you.
Hallelujah to the word. Hallelujah to the word and rose again. Hallelujah to the only name the world is glory and honor and power forever to make. Hallelujah to die again. Hallelujah to the name of the Lord. Glory and honor and power forever. Glory and honor and power forever. Holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord Almighty. Seated on the throne. Seated on the throne of glory. High and lifted up. Your presence is a temple where we worship you. Oh, we worship you. I to glory and honor and power forever you to the world and forever. Forever glory and honor and power forever. Sing hope.
Holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord Almighty. Seated on the throne. He's seated on the throne. Glory high and lifted up. Your presence fills the temple where we worship you. Oh, we worship you. And I love you, Lord. Oh, your mercy never fails me. And all my days I've been held in your hands from the moment that I wake up until I lay your hand. And I will sing of the goodness of God. And all my life you have been faithful. And all my life you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am made. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.
I love your voice. You have led me through the fire. The darkest night. You are close like no other. I've known you as a father. I've known you as a friend. I live in the goodness of God. Don't my life you have been faithful. Don't my life you have been so, so in with every breath that I am. of the goodness of God. Wo! Your goodness is running after. It's running after me. Your goodness is running after. It's running after me. With my life laid down, I surrender now. I give you everything. Your goodness is running after me. Your goodness is running after me. Your goodness is running after me. My life down. I surrender now. I give you everything. Your goodness is running after, running after.
And all my life you have been faithful. Oh, sing it out. All my life you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. Oh, all my life you have been faithful. Oh my. And all my life you have been so, so good. Everywhere I am. of the goodness of God. Oh, I sing of the goodness of God. Oh, I sing of the praise. Praise you, Jesus. We thank you, God. We thank you for your salvation, Lord. We thank you for your faithfulness in our lives, God. We give you the glory in this place and all God's people said, "Amen."
Amen. All right, church. Well, um I know you know what to do. Um, but do you do it? That's my question. Just get someone's name. Don't you have to tell each other your life story. Just make sure you get their name and then commit to praying for them this week. And then have a look at the screens for announcements.
Hey church, welcome to Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. Hey, I was actually told to make quick, please, the announcements for this morning. So, be ready with your phone to scan the QR code because we have a lot to go through. But first, if this is your home church and you'd like to give to what the Lord is doing here, we have three ways for you to do that. First is you can go online to calvarycc.org. Second is you can text the number here on the screen. And the third is you can drop your offering off in the agape boxes located in the back of the sanctuary. Now, Jordy, what's our first announcement?
Yes, happening now is happening this Wednesday, the 17th, with Bruce Lon KD. And if you haven't heard of him, it's probably because you might be over the age of like 40, but he's a Christian influencer and YouTuber and podcaster, and he's doing amazing things for this younger generation. So, if you know a young person, we'd encourage you bring him on out. It's going to be a great time. Next one. What was? What is that? Bets. It's funny. If you've served in our military, we have a special veterans brunch coming up on July 18th with an awesome guest speaker. So, we'd encourage you to sign up. The event is free, but registration is required. Jordy, next announcement.
That's right. America's 250th anniversary is this year, and so we're selling t-shirts in the courtyard. Make sure to grab yours. Just uh get one in the right size. What's next? The choir and orchestra is coming up in light of the 250th anniversary. Still not quite the right size. It's going to be an awesome night. It's July 1st. It's going to be with our CCCH choir and orchestra right here on a Wednesday night. We'd encourage you to bring your friends and family because it's going to be a great time. Next, I get it. Small group facilitators. If you're interested in facilitating a small group, we have a small group facilitators meeting coming up on July 5th. You can find out more information by scanning a QR code. Next, yes, the His Table info. We have a special meeting for the His Table Ministry coming up today at 3:30 in the gym. So, if you're participating in that, please head over there at 3:30. Jordy, anything else?
That's right. Would you grab your Bibles and prepare your hearts to receive from God's word? All right. Good morning.
There we go. Let's On the count of three, you can say good morning. One, two, three. Good morning. Aren't you Aren't you excited to be at church? I am too. Or is it the two cups of coffee that I already had? I always debate, should I drink a second cup before first? You guys have no idea how nervous I am when I come out here. So, I don't know if two cups is good. So, they asked me if I would hand out a book, and I was like, "Yes, 'cause that helps me calm down." It's not like handing out the book is relaxing. is that after a couple of minutes of being up here, I can calm down before I start teaching and go 100 miles an hour in God's word. So, you know the drill if you've been here for any length of time. We're looking for a visitor who has traveled the furthest to be here that gets a free book. I'm already having someone pointed to where are you from? Where did she just get the book? Good morning. Welcome from Ukraine. What time is it in Ukraine right now? Huh? What time is it in Ukraine right now? No, no, no. What time is it there? Uh, evening. Evening. Today or tomorrow? It's pretty awesome. And you guys saw the announcement for Rouslon. I have heard of Rouslon and I am over 40. So, you can be aware of him if you're over 40. But I guess they're thinking most people uh don't know him that are over 40. So, make sure you're here this Wednesday. It's going to be an absolutely epic time. All right, with that, let's pray and dive into God's word this morning.
Father, we come before you excited with anticipation to hear from you. Lord, we didn't come to this place to hear from a man. We came to this place to learn your scripture because we know this is a place that teaches the word of God. It is the pillar and ground of truth according to your scripture. So we came with that anticipation to hear from you to be emboldened in our faith to leave here equipped to walk out those doors to live completely totally and utterly sold out for you. Lord, if we came in just sort of weary and tired, may we leave emboldened and empowered and excited to live for you. So we surrender this time to you in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Now, the last time we were together, we looked at one of the most remarkable conversations in all of scripture. Nicodemus had gone to Jesus by night to discuss who Jesus was. In the middle of the conversation, Jesus looked at Nicodemus and he said, "You must be born again." Maybe you realized on that Sunday that God didn't want to just improve who you were. He wanted to make you something entirely new. Today, I want you to know that becoming born again is more secure, more permanent, and more powerful than you realize. Because today, we're not just talking about how to become a child of God. We're talking about what it means to be one. John, the same apostle who recorded that conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in John chapter 3, wrote a letter late in his life to a congregation wrestling with doubt, false teaching, and spiritual attack. And in the closing verses of that letter, he wants them to know something. Not guess, not hope, but to know. So today, would you open your Bibles to First John 5? And we're going to be looking at a message entitled The Untouchables. 1 John chapter 5. We are going to look at a passage of scripture as John is wrapping up his epistles here where he says and talks about us being children of God. You may already be born again. You may have been for some time and you may not have realized the verses that correlate with John chapter 3, but I pray that you have. So to lay a foundation, we're going to first look at 1 John verses 1 to 5. John says here, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." You should circle the word is. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, circle that, is born of God. And everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God. When we love God and keep his commandments, for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. You should underline that. And his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. Our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world? By he who believes that Jesus is the son of God.
Now, there's a a whole lot there that we could spend literally weeks studying. We're not going to spend weeks studying. We're going to look at this passage in moments. But to set the stage, he says, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God or born again." Now, how do you know if you are born again or not? Well, here's a simple question. Do you love God? Everybody says they love God. Here's where the rubber meets the road. Do you love others? Now, I didn't hear a resounding yes on that one. That's where it's a little more difficult, is it not? Isn't it hard to love others? Especially people that don't seem lovable. But but just may I remind you, you and I, we weren't so lovable before Jesus. And as far as the world is concerned, they don't love us now, right? Did you guys see uh what's happening at the White House yesterday and this week? The motorcycles jumping yesterday. Did you see that? And then they're going to like have a UFC. They're having concerts. All this like entertainment stuff. And I was reading the comments on the White House page and I was seeing, oh, he's they've turned it into a circus and all this stuff. And I was thinking, I feel like I remember a time when there was a lot of debauchery going on out on the lawn of the White House. Do you remember that? Those same people that that say, "Oh my goodness, jumping dirt bikes. What a what a circus." Well, everybody can watch a dirt bike jump and not get offended. Remember Evil Knievel? Like the whole world watched Evil Knievel jump and then crash. And everybody's like, "Wow, that was awesome." Everybody talked about Evil Knievel. And you could let your kids watch Evil Knievel. They made Evil Knievel. I mean, Evil is probably not the best name, but I guess it's because it rhymed with Knievel. Maybe could have just done Weevil Knievel or something like that. But anyway, so they made toys. I had one kid had a little zip pole, you know, and you'd put little Evil Knievel down and he'd wobble and jump and, you know, there's somebody that kids could emulate. But then we had the open debauchery. And it's those folks that hate us who say we hate them, but that is simply not true. We don't hate them. We hate the sin. We do, but we don't hate the person. We We're not supposed to. But in this context, do we love others? We are supposed to be known by our love. So, do you keep his commandments? And you may ask, well, the ten commandments. Now, I'd say the two commandments, the two commandments. You want to know what the two commandments are? Turn to Matthew chapter 22 and let's look at verses 36 through 40. So Jesus is asked, which is the great commandment in all the law? Look at what Jesus answers. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
You know, I can say that I love God. Anybody can say that they love God. But then you have to prove that you love God. The best way to prove that you love God is by loving others. How are you when you show up at church and when you come into the sanctuary and when you leave the sanctuary and when you're walking around town and when you see other believers or other people? What are you known by? If you were to ask somebody, what am I known by? What if you know me? How would you describe me? If they said impatient, rude. You have a little work to do. If we were to go around and interview all of the different little restaurants that exist around after church, excuse me, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills just let out of service. Lots of their congregants came in here to eat. How would you describe them? Those were Christians. Pastor Jack shared not too long ago he was I don't know where he was. He was somewhere and he heard somebody talking about someone who was a Christian who had passed away and someone had said they were a Christian. It shouldn't be a surprise. They're a Christian. What? What about your neighbors? Would your neighbors say they're a Christian? They should say, "Oh, no. We know they're a Christian." Why? 'Cause they have all those Trump billboards out in front of their house. No, it should be because you of all the neighbors are the most loving. You're the one, man. If if everything went south, they knew we're going to that house 'cause those people will take care of us. You know, a lot of other people, it's every man for themselves. But they would know, hey, if we go there and we get them, they're going to help us. That's the way it should be. Now that I beat you up enough, let's go into some encouragement. Let's look at what makes us untouchable.
So, first untouchable because we're born again. Because we're born again. Look at 1 John 5:18. We know whoever is born of God does not sin. But he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. Now, just before you think like, I am I am never sinning anymore. I don't sin. We're going to talk about what this really means because it doesn't mean that you're not capable of sin, but that you no longer live habitually for sin. Do you remember before Jesus how you used to make plans to sin? I did. Call my friends. What are you doing on Friday night? We didn't use these words. We didn't say, "Dude, we're going to sin real good." You didn't do that, did you? With a beeper beep. Turn it upside down. It says sin because you remember how you could turn it upside down and your letters could be like I remember when I learned to send goose. You don't know. You know what I'm talking about. You send it. You send a message. You could send goose to someone's pager and they would look at the numbers. They like, what are these numbers? But if you flipped it upside down, it said goose. Anyways, never mind. We'll just move on. You apparently have no idea what I'm talking about. You only used pagers in their correct function to let people know that they needed to call a certain number. But I didn't. So, we know that that was not something that we're going to share next service. For those of you that think I write humor into my notes, if you have downloaded my notes, you will notice there is nothing funny in my notes at all. Everything else that comes out is my cartoon brain. Forgive me. We're going to move on.
So, what do we know? We know three things. One, we know whoever is born of God does not sin. Number two, we know that we are of God. And number three, we know the son of God has come. So, born of God, we covered this at length in our previous message. You can go on the YouTube channel if you weren't here to see it and watch it. Uh, it's like watching the second uh movie first and then going back and watching the first movie, but you'll get it. John 3:3, "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." It's so very clear in scripture. If you're not born again, you're not going to heaven. And we need to make sure we know where we're going when we die. John 3:5-6, Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." 1 Corinthians 15:50, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? I don't want to take anything that's sinful from this world into the next life. And by the way, let me just say in passing for the believer, death is the best thing that could happen to you. It's not the worst. I'm I get sad when I hear people, you know, there's a loved one going to die. They're going to enter glory. I mean, they're they're going to die in this physical body, be separated from us in this physical world, but they're going to be with Jesus. And we act like that's the worst thing that could possibly happen to them. It's the best thing that can happen to them. It's like the absolute best thing in all of the world. Man, when I'm going to die, don't cry. Be like, well, you probably would be like, "Oh, finally, man." Well, it took so long. But if something happened and I had a heart attack and I fell down on this stage, if if like there's it's not that bad, you know, revive me. But if IT'S BAD, LET ME GO. Don't hit me with those paddles. Just let me go. But but what about your family? Well, there's that. But it's like Paul said, to depart for him, to depart from me is better, but to remain is more needful for my family. Okay? Because truly they're they'll be locked out of the garage door opener app. They'll be standing outside the garage. How do we get in the house? Only dad knows the code.
Now, new birth results in new behavior. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:17. He says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, what is he? A new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new." Isn't that beautiful? The day that I came to Christ, I became a new creation. All the old things passed away and everything became new. That's what isn't that what people want on New Year's Day? Wash away 2025. Here comes 2026. It's a fresh slate. And I'm going to go mess up 2026. And then I'll wait till 2027 to start all new again. And then when 2027 comes, I'm going to do all the same stuff that I did in 2026. And I'm going to wonder why things aren't different in 2027. Isn't that most of the world? They're like, eat like crazy the whole month of December. They're like, I'm going on a diet in January. I'm going to hit the gym. They go to the gym and they're super faithful for like a week and then all of a sudden everything starts dropping off and they're right back to the old habits. But when you come to Christ, you literally become a new creation before God. You have a brand new slate. But as we're going to see, that slate stays clean, which is pretty amazing. It's pretty amazing.
Now, he says, "Does not sin." Let's unpack this because it's important that we understand what he is and what he is not saying. He says, "Does not sin. We're untouchable because sin has no power over us. We're no longer under its power." That's why before Christ, I made plans to sin because I was stuck in the power of sin. I was in bondage to it until Christ broke the chains. Now, it's not that we're unable to sin because we surely can sin. 1 John 1:8 says that if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So, if I say I am not a sinner, then I'm lying because I am capable of sin. 1 John 2:1, we have here the advocate if we sin. So if we sin, he says in verse one, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not ours only, but also for the whole world. Meaning whoever would want to come to Christ to have Jesus as their defense attorney can. Isn't that amazing? He stands ready. He's just like, I'm I'm waiting. He's not one of those, you know, you see the Larry H. Parker, we'll fight for you. And you might win. I when I was a kid, I was no dummy, but I noticed that some of those guys in the Larry H. Parker commercials, they only showed a little circle around their head. Did you ever notice that? He's like, "Larry Parker got me $2.1 million." And I remember thinking, "How come they're not showing the rest of you?" He's like laying in a bed paralyzed from the neck down. And what will you do with $2.1 million? Pay your doctor's bills for sure. Maybe your family's going to go out and have some fun, but you're stuck in a doctor in a in a hospital bed. So, I didn't understand why they didn't show the whole thing. And there's still always a chance that you could lose. You understand? But with Jesus as your defense attorney, you will never lose. Isn't that Satan? The Bible says is the accuser of the brethren, which means he's standing before God accusing every time you even look sideways, he's like, "Did you see what he just did? Did you see what he just did? Did you see what Shadrach just did? Did you hear what he said?" That's where Jesus comes in. He's like, "Yep, just shows the print, right? The blood of Jesus covers us." How awesome is that? Now, is that is that a free pass to go sin? No. Is it a fast pass to sin? No. How can we who are dead to sin live any longer in it?
Now, it's no longer something that we practice. And that's the point here. 1 John 5:18, we know that God's children do not make a practice of sinning. That's what it says in the NLT. We don't make a practice of sinning. Now, it's something you try not to do. Before it was something that you planned on doing. You see the difference? Before Christ, I planned on sinning. Hey, what are we doing on Friday? We're going to go sin. How much are we going to sin? A lot. How late are we going to stay up? All night long sinning. But now, I don't make plans to sin. I make plans not to sin. You see, when I first came to Christ, it was like my friends still because they didn't have Jesus wanted to sin. I didn't have any clue that I should no longer hang out with them. And so I would try to hang out with them and they'd be like, "Let's go sin." And I was like, "I don't want to sin anymore." And they were like, "Yeah, but we're going to go sin." And I would sit in the room with them while they were doing their sin. And they would say, "Come on and sin with us." They didn't use these words, of course, but I would say, "No, I don't do that anymore." And they couldn't understand it. But here's the wild thing. Neither could I. I couldn't understand why there was no longer a desire to do the things that they were doing. I just knew I don't have that desire anymore. I want to do something different with my life. And that's been the change. I now want to live free from sin for the glory of God. And that should be our motive and our goal each and every day when we get up out of bed. Now, I can mess that up. If I get up and I'm like, I'm tired. I'm going to live for myself today. That I can go around and be grumpy. I can go around and be mean and yell at people on the road because for Christians, like that's like the that's the place where at least men, I don't know about you ladies, but for men, that's like some of the most difficult territory for us. The 91 freeway. That will test your faith like nothing else. You know, I was born and raised in Costa Mesa. I worked for Newport Mesa Unified School District for 13 years before coming on staff here. And my wife, while I was working for the school district, my wife and I were looking to buy a house. And and the last place on the planet I ever wanted to live was Riverside. Actually told God, I will never live in Riverside. I live in Riverside City and Riverside County. He's like, oh yeah, double Riverside on you. So he made me miserable in South Orange County and and eventually I was like, "Okay, fine. We can go. We can go look." And so I was making a 35 mile commute from Costa Mesa to Riverside and back each day. And I turned my car into like a little uh Bible college, you know? I mean, I would listen to Bible studies and play worship music. And I can't tell you how many times, and I don't know what it was about getting re near uh Green River Drive at that time, but that's where the worst drivers seem to be. So, I remember one time absolutely worshiping the Lord like and so moved that I had tears coming down my face and the guy came and cut me off. I honked my horn at him and was instantly mad like, "Oh, I'M GOING TO KILL THIS GUY." And it was like the Lord was like, "What happened? You even surprise yourself. You're like, "How can I go from like totally in his presence other than it was totally satanic? That guy just cut me off. It must have been Satan driving that car." We don't any longer make a practice of it. It doesn't mean that sometimes we don't struggle with it or find ourselves in the middle of a moment where we do sin. But that's where the advocate comes in. When I blow it, I break fellowship with God. I don't lose my salvation. That's a whole another message we could get into. I have been sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. The Bible is so very clear. Once you're born again, you cannot become unborn again. But you could be a miserable child of God because that's what sin will do. If you get caught up in sin, you know, as a Christian, you don't even sin good anymore. Used to be a pro-sinner and now you're not even good at that anymore because you have a new nature. And your new nature is grieved. And so is the Holy Spirit. When you sin, you grieve the Holy Spirit and you grieve yourself. And it's better just to not live in it anymore.
And then that under this point because we are free from the power of sin. Look at Romans 6:7. He says, "For," never mind, I'm gonna just keep going here. He who has died has been freed from what? Sin. Romans uh 6:10-11. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. So when sin comes knocking, you're like, I'm dead to that. I don't need to go do that any longer because I have a new nature. I am free and I can go live for Jesus. And that's the best, man. Because I'll tell you what, when I first came to Christ, I couldn't explain what happened to me. I just knew I thought differently. And it happened instantly the second that I prayed to receive Christ. Everything changed. If if you remember, I went into the Harvest Crusade planning on sinning the next day. It was like, I'm only here 'cause my dad invited me and I don't really want to be here on these bunch of Christians. They think they're all doing so great and they're bunch of lameos and I'm going to go sin tomorrow 'cause I've got a life. That night I got true life. And I walked out going, "Man, I was the loser. I had no idea." My eyes were opened and everything became new. Romans 6:14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace." Isn't that freeing? You don't have to wake up and then go do what your sinful desires demand because you are no longer under its power. Ephesians 2 verse 1:3. And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. You were dead in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But that's no longer since we are free from it. We can no longer live in it. And Romans 6:2 says, "How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" So we need to move on from it. It's the past. It no longer has power over us.
And we're untouchable because he Jesus keeps him the believer. Isn't that awesome? He keeps us. Jesus keeps me right where he wants me. He says he does not touch. The word is stronger than touch; rather graspeth or layeth hold of. It means to lay hold of or to grasp rather than a mere superficial touch. He in Colossians 1:13 has delivered us from the power of darkness and he has conveyed us into the kingdom of a son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins. He has conveyed us and that means to move us out of the jurisdiction of. Isn't that beautiful? He took us out of the jurisdiction of the world. He has conveyed us into his kingdom and now we are untouchable. Isn't that wild? Isn't that wild? 'Cause don't you feel like living in this world, don't you feel sometimes you're like it's getting on me? Like this morning got out of the car. Fortunately, I wasn't wearing this jacket or this very white brand new shirt. I had eaten some eggs on the way here. I was carpooling. Got out of the car, grabbed the plate, plastic plate that I had folded up, and when I opened the back door, my brand new Yeti water bottle got launched out onto the ground and started rolling. I picked it up and because I wasn't really paying attention to how the plate had shifted, when I grabbed the jacket and the shirt out of the vehicle, I somehow dumped egg all over the front of the jacket. I almost got back in the car and went home. It's a sign. The waves are good. See how the enemy works. You're like, "Yeah, why didn't you?" I was just like, "Man, I can't believe this." But then I was thankful at least the jacket was over the white shirt because the white shirt would have had egg and that would not have come off. At least there's a little bit of egg. It's like the world though because you are in the world but you are not of the world. And sometimes you can get a little bit of the world on you, but don't worry because Jesus gets it off, right? Isn't that the best? Yeah, you can clap for that. So, he's transferred us into the kingdom of his son. Jesus prayed for us in John chapter 16 verse 15. He said, "I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth." We are sanctified as we read God's word. We have been sanctified. We are being sanctified and we will be sanctified. The word sanctified simply means set apart. We are set apart by Jesus. We're set apart when we read his word. And we're set apart ultimately when we're removed from this world from our physical body and placed into his eternal kingdom forever. I look forward to that day.
But we're not immune to spiritual warfare. Now, if you've ever read Job, um, which we just did in our studies, I remember thinking Job, you know, the joke is if you start reading Job, it must be because things are going to happen to you, right? Bad things. And you're like, treat it like some taboo book. Well, I can't read Job. Why not? Well, this is bad things that are going to start happening to me if I read the book of Job. Do you think that there's any book in the scripture from cover to cover that God has placed there that you could read that would bring like some bad luck into your life? Because that's not true. The scripture in its entirety is given for reproof, instruction, and righteousness that the man of God or woman would be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So there is not a book in the Bible that you could read and not benefit from, which I highly encourage you to do. So the book of Job, uh, Satan is asked by God if he has considered his servant Job. And of course, J uh Satan answers yes, I have. But there's really nothing he admits that he can do to Job because God has placed a hedge of protection around Job and he can't get to him. Then God begins to allow Satan to do specific things to Job, but only specific things. And if you remember, Jesus told Peter that Satan had asked to sift him as wheat. And he said, "When you return," you remember? So he allowed him to sift him as wheat, but when he returned, he was restored. And then we get first and second Peter, which are amazing writings. So, it's not that we're immune from spiritual warfare. And Satan can tempt us, but he cannot control us. And a believer, you cannot be possessed. I've had Christians ask me if they can be possessed. A Christian cannot be possessed. Technically, you are filled with the Holy Spirit. There's no room. The Holy Spirit's inside of you. There's no there's no room for Satan. You're full. Amen. But he can oppress. He can do stuff on the outside. But he can only do what God allows him to do. So if he is allowed anywhere in your life to do anything, it's only what God would allow him temporarily for a purpose and for that purpose of making you better, building you up, testing your faith, or some other thing. Now 2 Corinthians 10 says that though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. So, he can tempt you, but he cannot control you. He cannot make you sin. The Bible is clear in James, we're tempted when we're drawn away by our own desires and then enticed. But we're also told with every temptation, he provides a way of escape. So even when it's my own desire and then there comes an opportunity, there's still an escape route, but I need to find it. You are not powerless as a child of God to overcome sin. I've heard too many people who are born again say, "I have no power over it." That is theologically untrue. You have power over it because of Christ. By the blood of Christ, you overcome that sin and temptation. You are no longer under its power. So when you do it, you do it willfully or it's an opportunity that presents itself in a moment and you can be tripped up by it. So we've got to be clear about that.
Now point number two, untouchable because we are of God. 1 John 5:19, we know that we are of God. You should underline that. We are of God. There's no question here and there's no room for debate. We are of God. Not you might be or you are, but you know, it's like 80%. 80/20. 80% and you don't go back and forth on a slider depending on how you feel. You are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. This is why you should not be surprised by what you see going on in the world ever. The world is growing more and more debased. Is it not? The debauchery is at a level I cannot believe. I remember when I was a kid growing up in this country, just thinking, you know, we live in the United States of America, the best country on the planet because of the freedom that we have, right? And going to air shows with my dad and seeing, you know, the F-14 Tomcat fly and all these amazing things, going to the beach, just being oblivious about what was going on in the world around me. And the older you get, the more aware you become. And the more aware you become, you can become grieved. And then you can you can find it surprising when you see the level of things happening in our world. And it shouldn't surprise you because that's the way the world is going. The world is under the sway of the wicked one. They are not under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is convicting them of sin, but they lie under the sway of the wicked one, which means all the deception that's happening for them. I understand there's a new movie, I don't even remember the name of it. Um, and I think it's Steven Spielberg made it. It's some new alien movie. I saw a headline that said, "If you see this movie, you'll deny Jesus." That's what they're claiming. They're they're saying this, it's not a joke. They're saying this movie is so strong in its whatever it's evidence or whatever. It's a movie. I don't even know. But I'm thinking, what? What? That's the level of deception we're at. They're not even hiding it anymore. But the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Now, we are of
God. And what of God means is out of God or birthed by him. This is John's consistent language throughout the epistle. Look at 1 John 2:29. Everyone who practices righteousness is born of him. Do you think that the world practices righteousness? No. The world practices lawlessness. Do you understand that? 1 John 3:9, "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him." 1 John 4:4, you are of God, little children. Look at the correlation even. You are of God, out of God, born of God, little children. We're now his children. Isn't that beautiful? His children.
Like, you ever see little kids running around? Like, I've never been at the park and seen a little kid like run over to his dad. Am I still your child? Dad's like, "Well, I'm going to have to think about it." You don't see that. You see a little kid running and and typically what you see is a little kid do something and then they look at their parent, you know, mom, dad, look, watch, watch. I remember doing that. I was at the pool and we were at a one of my mom's friends house and I was in the pool doing something and I'd go, "MOM, MOM, WATCH THIS. Watch this." And her friend, I guess, got tired of me doing that. So she said, "Hey, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad." And I was like looking at her like, "Why is she being so obnoxious? What?" And she goes, "Watch this." And she took a drink of her tea. And I was like, "That's stupid. I was jumping off the diving board." You know, when you're a little kid, you're like, "Mom, watch this. You see the relationship? There's not like, "Does my mom love me?" me. I mean, there are kids that I'm sure have that. But if you grew up in a good, healthy home, you're not thinking that. Not thinking, "Did my mom and dad love me?" I knew my mom and dad love me. They showed it. They told me. I wasn't running around going, "Am I still a means? I did something stupid. Am I still your child?" Isn't that the thing?
And I have to remind parents of this. If your kid did something really stupid, do you stop loving them? >> Do you? >> No. It might break your heart. You might be concerned. And because we're not God, we don't know the consequences or the outcome of what they did, right? But do you stop loving them? Nope. They're still your kid. You're like, "All right, that's it. Let's go to the courthouse. We're changing your last name. I've had it." Even awful bad parents don't think that way. You understand? So, how much more God doesn't abort his children? He loves you. Jesus died for you. Romans 5:8 says he demonstrated his love for you at the cross. You're not going to walk around wondering if God loves you or if you're his kid.
Look at 1 John 4:7. Love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God. Now look at John 8:41. Because the Pharisees, they there's a whole conversation happening before this, but we're going to pick up in verse 41. The Pharisees say to Jesus, "We were not born in fornication." What a lowb blow. Jesus is God. Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and became pregnant with Jesus. Their response to what God was doing was, "Obviously, your mom was sleeping around." That's what they're accusing Jesus of. And look at what Jesus says. If God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you were not able to listen to my word. You are of your father, the devil. And the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning. He does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources. For he is a liar. and the father of it. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe. Which of you convicts me of sin? And I tell you the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears God's words. Therefore, you do not hear because you are not of God. Wow. Can you imagine that conversation? Have you ever been in a conversation where you were just like, I think I need to leave now. This would be one of those conversations. If you were the disciples, I could see them like, "Wow, would you look at what time it is? I think we got to go wash our nets cuz this is gnarly." Either that or they're like, "Yeah, give it to them, Jesus. Give it to them."
You know, now the whole world lies under the influence of the wicked one or the sway. The word sway means to lie, to recline, or to be laid out. Doesn't even sound like they're fighting against it, does it? They're reclining in it. They like it. And that's the way we see it happening in our country today. We see a lot of wickedness. We see a lot of debauchery. And we see a lot of hanging out in it. No desire to know the truth or come to their senses that they might escape the snare of the devil. They go headlong into it. They like it. They recline in it. Those who are without Christ are under his influence. And he is the prince of the power of the air. In Ephesians 2:1 it says, "You he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of the world according to the prince of the power of the air." And he governs the kingdom of darkness with the power of darkness. It's how he presides over it. Colossians 1:13 says, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love." spiritual blindness, moral corruption, satanic dominion. It is the character and the atmosphere of Satan's kingdom. That's what he does. He keeps people entangled in their sins and in bondage in the dark less they come to the light and their deeds be exposed. Jesus said that they love their sins more. They'd rather stay in their sin than come to the light. But if you've come to the light, you've passed from death to life >> and you are a new creation and you are no longer under the sway of the wicked one whose minds this God of this age has blinded. According to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he says in verse three, "If our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God should shine on them." They don't want to know the truth. It's not that they can't. They don't want to. They'd rather stay in their sins. And we know from 2 Timothy they have been taken as a prisoner. 2 Timothy 2:24 says, "A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will."
You guys, we need to see them as prisoners of war. >> They're PS in Satan's kingdom. We cannot hate the lost. We have to love the lost as Jesus loves the lost. And until they die, we have every opportunity to point them to Jesus. And they may wear on you. Listen, you may have a boss that's absolutely horrible to you. I had one early on in my life. He was really vulgar in front of me as often as he could be. And I'll never forget, I was on staff, I think a year, maybe a year and a half. We had gone to the Harvest Crusade, was sitting there with the youth group, and someone comes up behind me and smacks me on the back of the head just like this. And I was like, you know how startling that is, guys? If another guy when you're not looking comes and smacks you on the back of the head, are you like, oh, it must be a friend of mine or are you like, I want to get up and punch somebody in the face, but I'm sitting with the youth group at the stadium for a church event and I just remember like I stood up and turned around and it was my old boss and I wanted to say, "You are the last person on earth that I ever saw saw in my whole entire life. Like if I had thought there was anybody that would never be here, I would think the Hell's Angels would be here before you. I'm talking about the bike motorcycle club, right? Not the not Hell's Actual Angels. And I stood up and I turned around and I I was really, which is hard to believe, I was at a loss for words. I just I was like, "What brought you here? I haven't seen you in a long time." And he said, "I'm here with my son." Now, I knew his son. I used to work with his son. And his son was a belie is a believer. And so I said I said, "Oh." I said, "Are you do you uh do you" I didn't know how to ask. I was like, "Do you go to church?" He's like, "Yep." And I was like, "Are you a Christian now?" And he said, "Yes." I almost said, "Wow, hell froze over." >> That's how shocked I was. Do you understand? >> So, even when you think they're the last person on the planet, I've heard it said, "If you take a rock and throw it into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one that got hit." This guy made a lot of noise. He was obviously getting hit, not just by me. There was a lot of believers that worked uh around him and under him, but man, he went out of his way to be vulgar around me. I cannot tell. And I would be like, and I'd walk away and then I worked with another guy and he would go out of his way. And so here's what I would do. I would put my my fingers in my ears and I would sing, "Be careful little ears, what you hear. Be careful little ears what you hear." And he would and then you know what he would do? He would immediately go he was because he would always say, "You Christians, I'm not perfect. I'm just forgiven." That's what he would say. And then he WOULD GO, "COP OUT. COP OUT." I WOULD DO THAT. I would sing and he would get in a flat. He would get so mad. He was trying to be nice until I would do that. Be careful, little ears, what you hear. And he go, "Cop out. Cop out." He was like a little kid. I mean, I was probably acting like a little kid, too. But the reason I did it is cuz I knew it annoyed him. I was like, And so I remember asking him one day, I said, "Who was the Christian in your family?" He said, "What?" He was an atheist, by the way. I said, "What? What did you just say to me? I said, 'Who was the Christian in your family? >> He goes, "Why would you ask me a question like that?" I said, "Because somebody was." Because you're moral. And morals don't come from nothing. >> They come from God. And so he he said, "My my grandfather was." I said, "You loved him, didn't you?" He said, "I with everything." And I said, "And you're upset at God about something that happened to him." And he said, "Yes." He wasn't even he was so emotional in that moment. He couldn't even think about the fact that he was acknowledging that there was a God because it was mad AT HIM. THERE'S NO GOD AND I HATE HIM. REALLY, HOW CAN YOU HATE GOD IF THERE IS NO GOD? BECAUSE THERE IS A GOD. YOU KNOW THERE'S A GOD. >> They know there's a God. But the only reason they don't come to Jesus is because they'd rather stay in the dark.
Point number three, untouchable. Because we have an understanding. First John 5:20. And we know that the son of God has come and has given us understanding. Do you notice the we know the we know the we know constantly over and over and over. He's not I hope so. I wonder if is that the language that you see here in first John? No. He's like we know. We know. He did it in John and he's doing it in first John. He says these things have been written that you might know you have eternal life. God wants you to know it. He says, 'We know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. So we know number one, the son of God has come. This is absolute complete and settled knowledge. We know he has come. There's no debate. There's no debate. If someone says Jesus didn't come, they are lying or they've not done the research because the fact is Jesus came. It's interesting. We know a lot of atheists who are now believers who tried to disprove the resurrection and they could not disprove the resurrection because of the eyewitness accounts and the eyewitness accounts and the chain of evidence. the the things that we use today to preside in a trial or look at evidence to prove something is true or false is the same uh scientific evaluation applied to the resurrection. And anyone who's ever done it with a serious desire to disprove it has truly become born again. >> And if you were here last Wednesday night, you heard one here sharing with you, Charlie Campbell. He is an amazing apologist now because at one time he tried to disprove the things that he now believes. Has he been brainwashed? No. He took an honest look at the evidence and concluded there is a God. And he sent his son. And as sure as the son will rise tomorrow, Jesus came and lived a perfect sinless life. Died on the cross and rose from the dead. Period. It is what we know. Job 19:2, Job said,"I know that my redeemer lives and he shall stand at last on the earth." Job, what do you know? Way back before he even had a New Testament and any of the Old Testament, he said, "I know that my redeemer lives." Do you know that your redeemer lives? Do you know that you are in him? Do you know the things that are available to you as a child of God? Do you know the real power that you have over sin? Or are you stuck living every day just trying not to sin, just trying to get by? God wants so much more for you than that. He wants you to live in the freedom that he has provided. He wants you to live completely and totally free, resting in the finished work of the cross. That's what he wants for you. 2 Timothy 1:12, I know whom I am have believed and am persuaded. He is able to keep what I have committed him until that day.
And number two, under this, he has given us an understanding, the eyes of our understanding, and our hearts have been open. 2 Corinthians 3:17, it says, "The Lord is spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord and being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord. And that's what's happening every day as a child of God. You're being transformed more into his likeness. Think about a little baby when they're born. They come out and they they don't like really don't have much of a personality yet, right? But as time goes on, as they spend more time with mom and dad, they become more and more like mom and dad. Isn't that interesting? And they're like, "I'm never going to be like my mom and dad when I grow up." And then they grow up and they're just like their mom and dad. Because eventually they see the wisdom in what mom and dad were trying to do, right? But that's what happens if you hang out with somebody long enough. You make a new friend, you hang out with each other long enough, over a lifetime, you end up becoming like each other. say the same things, talk in the same way, use the same inflections. It's like you're a little sponge. But every day that I spend time with Jesus, and this is the thing, you can tell people who spend time with Jesus because they look more like him every day. They talk more like him every day. And you know, it's so refreshing to hang around a believer who has spent so much time with Jesus. That's why you young people, you need to find some of the older folks around in here. And I don't just mean older folks because you could be older but not have spent very much time with Jesus. I mean an older person who has spent a lot of time with Jesus. And man, I'll tell you what, there is nothing more refreshing than that. Sitting with them, listening to them share what they've learned in life, how they've overcome stuff, and more. John 12:46, Jesus said, "I've come as a light into the world that whoever believes in me would not abide in darkness." And we know Romans 8:28 that all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to his purpose.
Point number three, that we may know him. This is a knowledge that grows deeper and deeper by experience. The first was we know it. Period. You cannot grow in that knowledge anymore. It's like knowing something. It's like 2 plus 2 is four. You know, when you're little, you might have a hard time with that concept, but when you know it because you've learned it, it doesn't change. It's not a truth that gets deeper over time. 2 plus two is four. And when you know it, you know it. But as you get to know somebody, like being married, it's I I love it because I'm getting to know my wife over the course of our marriage. I got to know her before we got married. I fell in love with her. I said, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you." But, you know, it's also spending the rest of my life getting to know her. >> Yes. >> Did you know that? Because as people, as we're growing, we're also changing. So, the woman that I married is not the woman that I have married to me right now. She's no longer that woman. We've been married for 28 years. She's 28 years closer to Jesus. We've been in each other's lives for 28 years. I'm not the man that she married. Exactly. We're both better off because of each other and because of our walk with Christ. >> You see, and that's what this is talking about, a a experience over time. The more I read God's word, the more I get to know him. the more understanding that I have because the more scriptures I know and the more balanced I can become in my view because I'm learning it for myself. I'm not just being told by somebody. You know, when I was young in Christ, I ate up everything that I could find. But because it was so much information, it didn't all stick. But over the nearly 35 years that I've been a believer, you know, as I've spent time with him, I've gotten to know him. And you can hear his voice easier as you get older and you've spent more time with him. >> Amen. >> Hosea 6:3 says, "Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning. He will come to us like rain, like the latter rain and former reign of the earth." Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth." Aren't you glad for that? Man, am I glad. I can't wait for that day to watch him be exalted in the earth. To watch the whole earth recognize that Jesus is God. Philippians 3:10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death.
And point number four, under this, we know we are in him. We are not we will be, not we were, but we are in him. This exact phrase in Christ is used somewhere between 80 to 85 times in Paul's writings. Now, if you add to that in the Lord, in him, in Christ, etc., it's somewhere between 160 and 165 times in his writings that we know we're in him. It's settled. I have been conveyed from the power of darkness into the son of his love, into his kingdom. That's a fact. I know it to be true and now I can live accordingly. Right? Uh Ephesians 1:3, blessed be the God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. 1 Corinthians 15:22, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 2 Corinthians 5:17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. Romans 8:1. 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, the true God, and eternal life.
Why? Because Jesus is God. >> Period. He is God. Isaiah 7:14, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel." Emmanuel means God with us. In Isaiah 9:6-7 it says, "Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and of the increase of his government and his peace there will be no end." I love it. >> John 1:1, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. John 10:30, I and my father are one, Jesus said. Then the Jews took up stones to kill him. And he said, "For which good work do you stone me?" The Jews in verse 33 answered, "For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy because you, being a man, make yourself God." Did Jesus ever claim to be God? Yes, he did. John 10:30 through33, he did. He didn't say, "I am God." In in those exact words, he said, "I and my father are one." That's equivalent to saying, "I am God." Because that was one of the very first arguments I had somebody tell me that they didn't believe Jesus was God because he never claimed to be God. And at that point, I didn't know how to refute that. Now, I do. John 10, take them to verse 30 to 33.
Now, last two points. Therefore, since we're untouchable, know what you believe. Know what you believe. Know what you believe and know why you believe it. >> Know what you believe. and know why you believe it and be able to defend it. These things John says, I have written to you who believe in the name of the son of God that you may what? Know you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the son of God. One day a preacher asks the man, "What do you believe?" "Well, I believe the same as the church." And what does the church believe? Well, they believe the same as me. seeing he was getting nowhere. This is attributed to Whitfield. Uh whether it is or is not cannot be proven. And what is it that you both believe? Well, I suppose the same thing. There's too many Christians like that. What do you believe? I believe what Calvary Chapel Chino Hills believes. What do they believe? Same thing as I believe. Okay, that's not helpful. Not after you've been here for so long. How many years you been here? I grew up here. What must you believe? You must repent. Believe that Jesus is God died on the cross and rose from the dead. You must confess that with your mouth what you have believed in your heart and the Bible says you shall be saved. So once you believe, you can know you have eternal life. This is where if you take Ephesians 6:17 and then 1 Thessalonians 5 through8, in Ephesians 6 you have the armorament. And here in 1 Thessalonians, we're told to put on the helmet of salvation. I remember there being a time in my life I walked around wondering if I was saved because of something that I had done. Believing and not not realizing not fully realizing because I wasn't able to really think through what that thought meant but just thinking I did this uh maybe I'm not a child of God anymore until someone talked to me about the helmet of salvation. You put on the helmet of salvation. What is the helmet of salvation? Well, the helmet of salvation if like any helmet what does the helmet cover? It covers your head. What's inside your head? Your brains. Well, at least in most of us. So, you put it on and what does it protect? It protects your brains. Is if your brain gets damaged enough, it dies and then so do you. But if you think about this spiritually, it's what you know to be true, which is under constant attack. Constant attack. As a matter of fact, we're told in Romans 12 to not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of what? your mind. There's a whole neuroscience behind that. By the by the way, you know, God is the God of science. There's a neuroscience alongside the the meditating or the reading of God's word. Transformation of the mind, rewiring the neural pathways in your brain through the reading of God's word. It's amazing.
And then last, therefore, keep yourselves from idols. It almost seems like, you know, he's he's talking about what you know, and then this last thing he's like, therefore, keep yourself from idols. So look at 1 John 5:21. He says, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." Amen. Like, "Well, that doesn't seem to really fit." Oh, it fits perfectly. He's talking about what you know, who you are, and now he's talking about what you're going to go do. So, you're going to get ready to get burped out these doors in just a moment, right? The worship's going to come out in a moment, and you guys are going to close in a song of worship, and you're going to go out and you're going to live your day. And remember what I said if we were to go out after first service exited, give you enough time to go over to where you're wherever you're going to eat lunch and we're to go in and interview the staff there. Hey, how did you get treated by Calvary Chapel Chino Hills? Well, they were really rough. They were really rude. I was having a bad day. You know, my mom just died and whatever they may be going through and we didn't show any love or concern for them. One great question that I've heard people ask a waitress or a waiter is, "Is there something that I can pray for you for? Of course, you better not be like, "Well, my water's not here. Can I pray for you should be, you know, you're you're you're winsome." And when you ask that question, they know you care because they don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care. That's the way it works. When they know how much you care, then they are open to you asking questions. And they might even ask you, "Why are you different?" Have you ever had somebody ask you why you're different? Hm. I remember the first time someone asked me that. They said, "Why are you different?" And I said, "What?" They said, "Why are you different?" I said, "Different than who?" Different from from those other people. And I was like, "Well, they're not funny." No, I didn't get it. I was like, "What do you I" And then it was like I realized like, "Oh, because I'm a believer, I live differently."
So, he says, "Keep yourselves from idols." An idol is anything that we can have in our life that gets between us and the Lord. Anything can become an idol. You see, we don't bow down and worship them like you know they did. You know, you get a new car, you don't go out and set up incense around it and bow down to it and oh, Mercedes. Oh, Mercedes. You don't do that. You go out and you're like, man, that is a nice car. Don't anybody look at it. You park it out in the middle of the park. And I'm not saying if you do this, you're worshiping your car. Maybe you just don't want door dings. I get it. But but we can become like someone gets in it and you're like you can sit in it but don't touch the seats. If you could just hold yourself up as we drive that'd be great. We can be a little obsessive about things. Now look at 1 Corinthians 10:13. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able. but with the temptation will make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry, because he does, therefore flee it. Colossians 3:5, therefore put to death your members which are on earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. In the New Living Translation, it says, "Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idoltor, worshiping things of this world." You see, we can be we can be greedy. We can focus on things of this world. In 1 Corinthians 10:18, it says, "Observe Israel after the flesh. Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?" What am I saying then? That an idol is anything or what is offered to idols is anything? rather that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You see, it's not the idol that's anything. It's the demon behind it. He doesn't want us to have any fellowship with demons. Look at what he says in verse 21. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? An idol for us would be anything that we give our heart, soul, strength, and mind to above God. And we're to love him with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. So love God with your entire being, and you will remain untouchable. He wants to keep you. He already has you in the palm of his hand. You understand that? You wake up, you're in the palm of his hand. Whatever your day is like, no matter how beat up and tattered you feel at the end of the day, you are still in his hand. Do you realize that when you sin and you don't feel like a child of God, that you still are a child of God? I met with someone recently who said, "I know I am forgiven. I just don't feel it." Well, I can't find a verse in the Bible that says, "If I don't feel forgiven, then I'm not." Do you understand that you you grieve over what you've done and you grieve the Holy Spirit over what you've done? But when you repent, God cleanses you. Do you understand? >> First John 1:9, he cleanses you. He washes you. He brings you back into fellowship with himself.
Do you even know how much God loves you? the end of Song of Solomon in chapter 8, the Schulomite is talking about this love between her and Solomon and she's basically pleading with Solomon to love her with the love of God. And the New King James doesn't use God in the text, but in the original language, she talks about this fire which has its source as the fire of God, which means love between a husband and a wife, that fire, that passion comes from God himself. And if you think about the way that God loves, it's totally unconditionally. But we can't understand that because we love with conditions. And I don't care who you are and I don't care how loving you think you are. You and I have conditions in our love. As much as we try not to, we can't fathom or understand God loving us unconditionally. You cannot earn. You do not deserve God's love. He simply gives it to you and offers it to you. Isn't that wild? And he wants you to know that every day that you wake up as a child of God, you live and you walk in his love. >> And he wants you to go and allow him to love others through you. >> That's what he wants to love others through you. And sometimes he just wants to love you. Sometimes you just need to sit at his feet. Stop being a Martha and learn how to be Mary and sit at his feet and just let him love you. You say, "I don't know how to be loved." It's okay cuz he'll show you. >> Father, we come before you today as your people honestly sometimes confused about how you can love us in this way, that you could love your children unconditionally. There's nothing that we've ever done to earn your love. There's nothing that we can do to keep your love. We already have it. It's as simple as you saying to Nicodemus, you didn't come into the world to condemn the world. And the fact was the world was already condemned. So when you came into the world, you came into the world to save the world. You came into the world to show the world what love was and what love is. And we as your children can take a deep breath today and walk out the doors and understand that your love for us is not based on or connected to any earthly love we've ever experienced. Your love is beyond. May we live in that. May we relish in it. We surrender this time to you, Father. We praise you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> Hell, I am free. Oh, I am free. Oh, I am free. Hell lost another one, I am free. Oh, I am free. Oh, I am free. Oh, hell lost another one. I am free. Oh, I am free. Oh, I am free. Hell another way. I am free. Oh, I am free. Oh, he lifts me up. Turn me around. Raise my feet on solid ground. I master. I s my heart. Change my name. Ever free. I am not the same. I'm in the mountain. I am the savior. I thank God. Amen. God bless you guys. If you need prayer, come on up front. Our prayer team will be up here for you. We hope to see you on Wednesday night for our midweek service.