First Baptist Church Jan 16, 2022

[Music] here [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] well it's good to be in the house of the Lord this morning amen good morning sorry about that smashing guitars on the stage oh sorry whoo yeah we'll need a replacement for that one if anyone wants to give I'm joking good to see y'all this morning amen I'm so glad that each and every single one of you are able to be here at first baptist church campton my name is cody I'm the pastor here if you need any prayer requests or anything like that be sure to find a prayer card in front of you and fill that out and drop it in one of these offering plates that are found at each one of our entrances that'll be huge and us being able to connect with you but also to pray for you so if you have a prayer request it's it's my honor as your past pastor to pray for you and with you and follow up with you on those different kinds of things now at the very beginning of our service we had a men's ministry promo thing that is happening on february 5th I hope that you're able to be here for that if you care about men's ministry and you want to be equipped as a man and how to be a not just a better husband but a godly husband not just a better father but a godly father better not just a better employee a godly employee we want you to be here for that the cost is 25 bucks you can sign up through the church center app there's a bunch of young guys that are involved in the leadership there there's myself there's randy demitz

There's nathan gustafsson there's justin brammer these are guys in their 30s and 40s that are interested in making this happen and when's the last time that our church had several guys in their 30s and 40s that were excited about doing anything now what I want to ask is that if you want to come alongside of them and partner with them the best thing you can do is sign up and attend okay men that's the best thing that you can do it's not just encouraging for them but it will be encouraging and a blessing for you as well lunch is provided it's from eight to two and it's gonna be a great time I hope that you'll be here for that now we do have core groups that's gonna be starting up you really need to try to sign up this week as we're gonna be getting people all squared away and plugged in and assigned to different core groups if you've never been involved in a core group it's men meeting with men women meeting with women for 12 to 18 months for things like Bible study Scripture memory prayer accountability it's designed to meet in a public area so that way it gives you opportunities to have Gospel conversations with people invite them to church to get them plugged into the what we call the discipleship pathway but if you want to accelerate your discipleship growth you need to sign up that's the only I can't do it for you I wish I could but it's your choice on whether or not to get involved in a core group and I would highly encourage you to do that let's see here we got our Biblical citizenship class that's going to be happening on wednesday at 5 45 it's going to be right down here in room 302 I know they had a pretty good group this past wednesday and I want to encourage

You to it's not too late to get involved and so if you want to know what it is to be not just a good citizen but a Christian citizen of america I want to encourage you to come and be a part of that now there's also another meeting on wednesday night that's at 6 00 p.m on wednesday that's where we're going to be talking about cow church on wednesday we're going to be planning out our february and march tracks so if you want to be a part of that and making that a reality we need track leaders we need Bible study leaders we just need people to help make sure that kids aren't like burning things down and stuff like that and so I want to invite you to come and be a part of that it's going to be a great time and that's going to be at 6 pm on wednesday so a lot of things coming up but before we do that we are here to worship the Lord amen we are here to make God's name big even though it is kind of cold and we got some of our regular people that are out I am thankful that you're here and I fully expect for God to do a great work among us here today amen I'm going to invite austin to lead us in opening prayer as we continue in worship you know I'm going to do something a little bit different today I invite you all to take just a minute or two to pray over this service right where you are so what I what I'd like you to do is just pray that your hearts would be open to the word of God this morning that you would be able to look past all of those things that may be happened on your way in today or look past all those things that make it uncomfortable to worship ask the Lord to lead you this morning the worship of him

And fathers pray over your children families pray together just take a minute or two right now and go ahead and pray over this service if you would [Music] so [Music] so Lord we come before you today to ask that you would just prepare us for worship God we ask that you would change our hearts from where we want them to be and God lead us unto you God help us to put aside everything that would distract or hinder us from the full worship of you God help us to run the race this morning help us to run after you with full abandon of everything that we that we think we should hold dear here on earth and Lord instead let us recognize that it's all about you it's in your name we pray amen please stand with me as we continue to sing [Music] lost without hope with no place [Music] when is [Music] falling me is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] our is [Music] is [Music] days [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's yourself [Music]

Come join the songs [Music] yes [Music] this next song we're going to sing has been our song of the month for january it's all glory be to Christ and it's set to that tune olive land sign which I think is pretty appropriate for the new year many of us probably made some great new year's resolutions and by now we're probably done with them or they're they're altered significantly am I right I'm in that camp that's exactly where I'm at right now so I think this song is a great reminder as we try to you know better ourselves for the new year it's a great reminder of what it's all really about it's not about you making yourself better in the end it's really all about Christ in fact we know that we can't really make ourselves better on our own we're hopelessly lost without him but the point is that it's it's all about him and what he's done and what he's done is the work of the cross that makes you better so as we sing this today in the second verse we're gonna sing about living water let the living water satisfy the thirsty without price and that I kind of was looking at that and it's living water is mentioned over and over again in the Scriptures both in the old and the new testament and one of those verses we find in the book of revelation about what that living water is going to be to us and he said to me it is done I am the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment the one who conquers will have this

Heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son in fact that's that's a promise that we partake of even now for those who are in Christ amen and that's a joyous thing so join me as we sing this morning all glory be to Christ [Music] no is [Music] is [Music] is Christ has been [Music] is [Music] oh glory [Music] is [Music] my [Music] with us [Music] oh [Music] all glory be to Christ our king all his rule and reign will never sing all glory be to Christ amen in the book of John we read this conversation with Jesus so Jesus said to the twelve do you want to go away as well simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go you have the words of eternal life and we have believed and have come to know that you are the holy one of God so this morning to whom shall we go who else is there who holds the words of eternal life but Christ join me as we sing Lord I need you [Music]

Sing it again Lord I come [Music] my rest [Music] my Lord I need your [Music] my [Music] is [Music] is [Music] teach my song to rise to you when temptation comes and when I cannot stand up [Music] Jesus you're my holy [Applause] [Music] my [Music] is [Music] me [Music] my righteousness oh God how I [Music] Lord remind us how much we need you today and every day God Lord we ask that you would help us to continue to worship this morning as we hear the preaching of your word God we ask that you would remind us just of who you are of your faithfulness of your greatness God remind us that you are the creator God that you ordain all things that you're awesome in power Lord remind us of who you are that we might worship you rightly God help us help us to worship you at all times because Lord you alone are worthy amen well good morning if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to first corinthians six first corinthians six

Hope that you are all doing well today it's my honor to hear so many of you saints singing and joining together in worship it's one of the testimonies that Christians have when outsiders come into the church and they hear the people of God singing with conviction it helps them to know we believe what we're singing there's a reason why we sing these songs it's not because they sound good or anything like that it's because there's deep Biblical abiding truth and today maybe you heard that song of Lord I need you oh I need you every hour I need you're my one defense my righteousness so God how I need you that is the confession of every believer that's in here today amen we don't abide in ourselves we have no power to save ourselves and so I hope that's a testimony to you today I'm going to start my sermon with a little bit of a preface because this is probably going to be one of the so more socially charged sermons that you'll hear me preach what I mean is that I'm going to be talking about lgbt issues and morality the southern baptist convention more things like that if those topics get you worked up I hope that you took your blood pressure medicine [Music] too much bacon this morning I'm feeling it so why are we talking about this especially today today is sanctity of life sunday it's it's important for Christians to remember that we are not just pro-birth we are pro-life which means from womb to tomb we defend life we believe that every person is

Created in the image of God and is therefore equal of value and dignity and worth doesn't matter what their identity is doesn't matter how old or how young they are it doesn't matter what their political affiliations or personal convictions might be we believe that they are created in the image of God and that God desires to save them and but instead of having a pro-life message today like I had hoped there was something that happened earlier this week january 8th 2022 there was a canadian bill that passed and became law as of january 8th it's canadian bill c4 and the preamble of this bill a preamble it's the purpose of a document why the law is taking effect and I've got it up on the screen for you I just copied and pasted it from the bill it says whereas conversion therapy causes harm to the persons who are subjected to it whereas conversion therapy causes harm to society because among other things it is based on and propagates myths and stereotypes about sexual orientation gender identity and gender expression including the myth that heterosexuality size gender gender identity and gender expression that conforms to the sex assigned to a person at birth are to be to be preferred over other sexual orientations gender identities and gender expressions the bill it can be summarized this way the enactment amends the criminal code that means that if you violate these it's jail time for you it's prison time it amends the criminal code to create the following offenses causing another person to undergo conversion therapy so if you're a parent

You can be criminalized for that means counseling by the way doing anything for the purpose of removing a child from canada with the intention that the child undergo conversion therapy outside of canada promoting or advertising conversion therapy receiving a financial or other material benefit from the provision of conversion therapy it also means criminal code to authorize courts to order the advertisements for conversion therapy be disposed of or deleted and so this bill obviously has a lot to do with conversion therapy so how does the law define conversion therapy because that's very important in sections 320.102 to 320.104 conversion therapy means a practice treatment or service design to a changes a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual b change a person's gender identity to size gender c change a person's gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth d repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behavior e repress a person's nuns size gender gender identity or f repress or reduce a person's gender expression that does not conform to the sex assigned to the person at birth for certain clear for greater certainty this definition does not include a practice treatment or service that relates to the exploration or development of an integrated personal identity such as a practice treatment or service that relates to the person's gender transition and that is not based on an assumption that a particular sexual orientation gender identity or gender expression is to be preferred over another and so the question is can a pastor or a parent or a sibling or anyone share about Genesis 1 27 which says

So God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them remember one of the definitions of the so-called conversion therapy is left wide open to say to repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behavior but as Christians we believe that heterosexual orientation like God's holy plan is for man and woman to be united together and heterosexual monogamous marriage that's what we believe unapologetically based upon God's word so our neighbors to the north are on a dangerous trajectory and so is our own country and so today we joined thousands of pastors in north america in canada people they are preaching on the issue of gender and sexuality because they can be tossed in jail now because of that they stand up and they say thus saith the Lord it's a punishable offense of up to five years in prison yeah two years if you are just kind of a passive participant in it make no mistake that our own southern baptist convention is not immune to the effects of increasing liberalism both the former president and the current president j.d greer and ed linton have both made the comment about how God shouts about materialism and greed while the Bible whispers about sexual sin thus the title of the sermon more than a whisper you see they've both said identically that homosexuality doesn't send you to hell and how do I know that because heterosexuality doesn't send you to

Heaven now no Christian that I know thinks that being straight gets you to heaven there's no like that might make a good sound bite for goats but it crumbles under the scrutiny of God's word as a church we explicitly reject the notion that there is such a thing as an lgbtq Christian why is that because what God's word says and that's what we're going to be talking about today I already see a couple of glares out there and I can't even see because my glasses are pulled down so but before we dive into the passage though there's a couple of things that we do need to establish is firstly one of the things I've I've already kind of covered it's that one of our guiding principles is that people matter we believe fiercely that every single person is created in the image of God and therefore carries immense value God loves them he desires to have a saving relationship with them therefore we as Christians are called to love them amen secondly since that's the case we do not believe that people in the lgbtq community are to be objects of our wrath or scorn or spite or anything like that they are people that need the Gospel of Jesus Christ thirdly no matter where our society goes on this issue we will stand unapologetically upon the word of God no matter what society says fourthly both greer and litton have said that God whispers about sexual sin and that's just a lie fifthly both greer and litton have said in sermons pertaining to romans 1 that Christians should be among the fiercest defenders and advocates of lgbtq rights which we believe is an abomina an abominable statement worthy of our disdain

When God speaks about all morality any doesn't matter what it is he speaks with authority and finality on every topic that is covered in God's word so whether it's heterosexual relationships homosexual relationships murder rape lies the hundreds of commands that are in the new testament and the old he has spoken with authority and so we stand behind it teach that song to our kids the b-I-b-l-e that's the book for me y'all know it a standalone on the word of God the b-I-b-l-e that's what we're gonna be talking about today in first corinthians chapter six verses one through twenty if you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we hear his word God's word says this when one of you has a grievance against another does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints or do you not know that the saints will judge the world and if the world is to be judged by you are you incompetent to try trivial cases do you not know that we are to judge angels how much more then matters pertaining to this life so if you have such cases why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church I say this to your shame can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers but brother goes to law against brother and that before unbelievers to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you why not rather suffer wrong why not rather be defrauded but you yourselves wrong and defraud even your own brothers or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor

Men who practice homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you but you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God all things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful all things are lawful for me but I will not be enslaved by anything food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food and God will destroy both and the other both one and the other the body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body and God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute never or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one with her one body with her for as it is written the two will become one flesh but he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him flee from sexual immorality every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body or do you not know that your body is a temple the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God you are not your own for you were bought with a price therefore so glorify God in your body let's pray and so Lord we do thank you for your word it's your word that changes our minds and hearts and we just our hearts are receptive to your word have your way in us Holy Spirit conform

Us to the image of the son of God Jesus Christ help us to move toward holiness that we might be salt and light to a world that desperately needs it God we want to be that city on a hill we want that light to shine most of all we want your kingdom to flourish in your name to be great we love you in Jesus name amen well today we're talking about six things that Christians should know six things that Christians should know if you've read the book of first corinthians then you know that this church was pretty much in shambles by the time that Paul is writing this there were divisions and factions that had formed in the church there were ungodly world views that had permeated the congregation and how does this even happen last week we were in the book of acts chapter 17 and we heard about Paul he was addressing the areopagus and he preached the Gospel some people they responded to it and then Paul in acts chapter 18 he goes across over to the city of corinth and something really amazing happens when he starts preaching the Gospel in corinth it's it's something that doesn't happen anywhere else where Paul is planting a church if you look at acts chapter 18 verses 9 through 11 it says this and the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision do not be afraid but go on speaking and do not be silent for I am with you and no one will attack you to harm you for I have many in this city who are my people and he stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them and so God by special revelation confirms to the apostle Paul that this is where Paul needs to be he needs to be in this city called corinth and he's going to be

There for a while a year and a half and why is that because God has many of his elect in that city that he has chosen to save he says there are many of my people here and they need the Gospel because there's no way that they will ever respond unless they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and so he teaches this congregation all about the Gospel all about God's law all about how to live practically for the glory of God for a year and a half this happens and then Paul moves over to the city called ephesus but then they get to sit under like one of the greatest evangelists in the early church and his name was apollos and so how does a church that has years of faithful preaching years of faithful instruction and pastoring implode to the point where sexual promiscuity and deviancy is celebrated in a local church well it all goes back to the core characteristics of a church which we talked about a few weeks ago holiness unity and love those are the core characteristics of a church but this church lacked all three in the city of corinth it had quite a history being on this it was this tremendous seat of power for nearly a millennia it held a position of influence and 750 was ruled by an ancient order called the bacchia dye those were a group of very influential men this is a 3d reconstruction of what it would have looked like back during the time of Paul that's showing the acropolis yeah and so this is looking up to the acropolis you see all the fortifications and stuff the acropolis means a high city it's a place of defense it's where

People would it was where all of the super important buildings were okay and corinth it was it was ruled by this organization called the bacchia die but then that was overthrown and this guy named sepsilis he was a tyrant he overthrew the back you die and so he ruled and then his son ruled and then his son was overthrown and that was taken over by an oligarchy of like 80 men and those 80 men of course they started fighting among themselves and they started breaking up into different factions and leadership and all that kind of stuff and so got this rise and fall of corinth rise and fall rise and fall but then the series of wars happened and it just sucked all the finances out of corinth you had the war against samus you had the first and second peloponnesian war yeah the war against sparta you had the conquering of Philip ii of macedon he had the sacking of corinth by rome in 146 and it was remained nearly empty desolate and abandoned for almost a century and then in 44 bc this guy julius caesar he walked there he saw corinth for what it could have been and he established a new roman city there and in less than 100 years it regrew to a position of economic influence and societal influence and militarily it was very important but it also had a history of worship in corinth they had several temples some to the God apollo this is apollo's temple this is what Paul would have looked at back in the day he would have preached outside of this place apollo he was the greek God of the son he was also the greek God of logic and knowledge and healing

This was located in that acropolis as well but that also there was aphrodite the greek goddess of lust and love and pleasure they also had temples to athena and these temples they housed thousands of boys and girls young men young women who were part of ritualistic prostitution what they would do is they would serve in these temples during the day and then the evening they would go and they would descend on the ports and the low city and they would sell their bodies and then they would bring back that money to go and fund the construction of temples like this now if you were a Christian let's say that was your lifestyle and that was your form of worship was prostitution and you went in and you received Christ you thought man I want to do something I want to give that might be your way of giving it's not good that's not God's plan and so when the Gospel spread we have to remember that this was the context and in the city of corinth it was actually wasn't well thought of by other greek cities they actually had a slang term it was corinthiazepi which means to behave like a corinthian it meant someone that was like a partier someone that was given to promiscuity and drunkenness and so all of these different things all this different history of the city the division the infighting the promiscuity it was all bubbling up to the surface while Paul and apollos were gone doing ministry in ephesus and asia minor and places like that so in first corinthians chapter five verse nine Paul he writes I wrote to you in my letter talking about a previous letter that we don't have anymore

He wrote to you in my previo in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters since then you would have to go out of this world but now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater or vile or drunkard or swindler not to even eat with such a one for what have I to do with judging outsiders is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge God judges those outside purge the evil person from among you and so this is the context of the passage that this church it was tolerating those that were in sin because apparently judge not lest g be judged was a favorite Bible verse among these people they've forgotten that Christ goes on to say in that Gospel he instructs us on how we are to judge and how we are to discern in righteousness and in humility and in grace but also in truth and this is why Paul talks about grievances and name points out the first thing that a Christian should know is that we will judge the world isn't that what the Scripture says explicitly right there did you know that if you are in Christ you will be a participant in God's judgment and this is a weighty thing this is a heavy thing if anyone in here goes awesome I get to judge people we need to talk Jesus said in revelation chapter 2 verses 26 through 27 the one who conquers who keeps my works until the end to him I will give authority over the nations

And he will rule them with a rod of iron as when earth and pots are broken in pieces even as I myself have received authority from my father so if Christians are to participate in judgment and ruling later with heavy things shouldn't Christians be able to handle simple grievances in their midst trivial cases and disagreements the second thing that Christians should know according to what Paul says is that we will judge angels Paul says in verse 3 that this is something that Christians will do and I believe not dogmatically okay but I do believe that he's talking about the fallen angels that we will judge but if the Christians in corinth they had a very greek culture and so they're coming at this probably from a very greek perspective remember that everything was tied up in litigation back in the day if you had a complaint you took it to the courthouse that's what you were supposed to do there weren't lawyers that you would hire to argue your case in fact anyone could just accuse you of anything and you would go and you would stand before a jury of up to 500 people and you would have to argue your case the prosecutor into the defender and you would present your arguments and the majority would rule the judge was there to keep order and then the prosecution and the defendant they would both give recommendations to the jury on what they felt like a just punishment would be socrates he was famously found guilty before a large jury he was accused of blaspheming the greek gods and he felt like it was all a sham and he didn't take it very seriously and the people that accused him of blasphemy he

Was found guilty and so they said how do you how do you think that you know what do you think of the sentencing should be they said death so they asked socrates they said socrates what do you think that the punishment should be he said I think it should just be one silver shekel and because he didn't take that seriously they went with death and he was made to drink hemlock and died well this is what Christian brothers and sisters were doing in public maybe not where there was executions and stuff but they were settling their disputes and their arguments out in the public square rather than within the church walls where it was supposed to be done as is God's plan mean how sad is it when Christian brothers and sisters sue one another when they take each one another to court doesn't that just defame the name of Christ it shows the world that the visible body of Christ the church is divided and that it's worldly in that it's looking for justice outside of Jesus Christ this is one of the reasons why social justice will always seem unfair and it's based upon emotions let me ask you this what is the greater tragedy for an innocent man to be declared guilty or for a guilty man to be declared innocent in our world which is the greater tragedy based upon a Christian worldview we believe that it is far worse for an innocent man to be declared guilty far worse and do you know why it's because we believe that there is a day of judgment coming where those who think that they've escaped the justice and wrath of God in this world

They will have to give an account before the Almighty for what they've done this is one of the primary reasons why Christians should seek justice on trivial matters within the church according to what God's word says and so Paul then changes gears a bit in verse 9 and he teaches about unrighteousness and he says the third thing that Christians should know is that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do you think that a Christian can look like the world act like the world talk like the world and still claim Christ Paul says you can't it's impossible you cannot ride the fence and just in case if it's unclear to the corinthian church he goes ahead and he defines unrighteousness for us he says do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor drunkards nor men who practice homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God a life of sexual immorality is evidence that you're not saved this is an all-encompassing term from Paul and it's so general that he decides to get more specific with idolaters that's kind of weird but remember the context right the context is that this was a form of worship in corinth to have sex and raise money for the pagan temples the corinthians may have allowed it we don't know but Paul thought that was important enough to address right here Paul he also names adulterers marriage it is a sacred covenant established by God it was done in public with the blessing of God marriage traditional God-fearing Biblical heterosexual monogamous marriage is what

Christians strive for you can't in one day say I love the Lord and on the other hand habitually sleep around or be joined in union outside the confines of the marriage covenant Paul he uses an interesting phrase with the next two characteristics here in the greek it's malaccos orte arsena coites that means literally translated girly men nor men that burn sexually for one another that malacos it totally flies in the face of transgenderism men should not be dressing like women and women should not be dressing like malaccos it's a term for people like especially for men in this context to wear soft feminine clothing and makeup like the women of the day this flies in the face of the modern world view that you can be gay and trans and still be a Christian that's Paul he writes in a second letter second corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness what accord has Christ with belial or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever what agreement has the temple of God with idols for we are the temple of the living God's people we should be holy we shouldn't be joined in partnership with ungodly groups that hold to ungodly world views but yet our own southern baptist convention in 2021 we voted to have a sex abuse task force work with third party investigators to examine the executive committee in you know the sbc and this is a good and that's a right thing to do actually the southern baptist convention

Voted to waive attorney-client privileges which is great we should be transparent we should want justice we should work for justice in this world and do what we can right to have right justice but the task force they decided to hire a law firm called link laters now that doesn't mean much to many of us but they are the number world's number one most celebrated entire purpose is furthering the lgbtq agenda they actually specialize in promulgating endorsing lgbtq litigation they've actually joined what's called the human rights campaign in a new initiative to pursue strategic litigation in the united states and federal courts to address discriminatory actions against the lgbtq plus community that's just straight from their website and there's other pages on there where they get like number one in china number one well in hong kong number one in the united states number one in uk in endorsing and promulgating the lgbtq agenda it's something that the that the task force and ed linton in the sbc needs to repent of in joining themselves to that Paul mentions he says thieves this is klepte which kleptomaniac okay that means stealing if you believe that you can steal from retail stores from restaurants from family from the government then your actions are not compatible with Christianity and it points to you not being saved Paul he changes it from the actions of the hands to our very heart and he talks about greed never being satisfied always wanting more and more and more or revilers people who hate people in their hearts

If you find yourself constantly gossiping and slandering people this is incompatible with the work of Jesus Christ swindlers people that take money under agreements and never complete a job or pay it back we don't have them in their our community do we and just but these these people will not inherit the kingdom of God but there's good news because that's exactly what you and I were like before Jesus saved us you and I we were sinners in need of a Savior Bible says that we were dead in our trespasses and sins and God he looked upon us in our helpless state in our dead state and he reached down to that low grave and he said come to life and we repented and we believed we did and you can have that hope by turning away from sin and turning to Christ and having eternal life and look at what Paul says but you were washed this means that the dirt is gone you were sanctified that means you're being made holy you were justified it means being declared righteous because of Christ well since I'm saved I can do whatever I want to right God's got a grace I can I can do what I want well this is where the law of God is still useful to the Christian because it reveals to us what God's desire is Paul he fleshes this thought out in verse 12. Look at it says all things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful all things are lawful for me but I will not be dominated by anything you know that phrase all things are lawful for me it repeats in other parts of first corinthians like in chapter 10 verse 23 all things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful all things are lawful for me but not all things build up if the heresy of legalism

Is strict adherence and conformity to the law then antinomianism is the heresy of doing away with the law completely the confusion comes from justification and sanctification we are justified by God's grace apart from the law and as Christians we grow and are sanctified by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives which causes us to conform to God's law Jesus said if you love me obey my commandments modern Christianity oftentimes skews this view of the law but that somehow God has changed because of what Jesus did on the cross the problem is that God never changes and if you look at the old testament it's full of countless examples of God being gracious towards people no when Jesus died on that cross he gave people the ability to be declared innocent based upon faith alone by grace alone in Christ alone where we can look at the cross and say he took my payment he paid the price for breaking God's law that I could never pay and as a result we conform ourselves to God's will you know I've heard many preachers say that Christianity is not a list of rules filled with do's and don'ts which is true it's not a list of do's and don'ts Christianity is much more than that it's a it's a special relationship that we have with a loving God that wants us to grow in him Christianity it's it's not just a list of do's and don'ts but it's also never less than that in Christ we don't get to determine our own right and wrong and he never gives us the right to do wrong

So why all this teaching on food and sexuality well because it has to do with the body and God one day he's going to raise up these bodies from the grave and he will make them new and he will make them right and he will make them holy and the fourth thing that a Christian should know is that your body is a member of Christ's and since that's the case you and I we should take care of it how we glorify God or dishonor God with what we do with it Ephesians chapter 5 verses 29 through 30 it says for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes it and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body I mean think of how weighty that is for a moment when you eat you eat to the Lord to the glory of God when you exercise you exercise to the Lord to the glory of God likewise when we submit our bodies to things like drunkenness to addiction to mutilation and sexual abuse that's done to the temple of God the fifth thing that Christians should know joining with one sexually makes you one in this context it's prostitution you see the act of marriage it's reserved for your spouse as a Christian we don't get to rule our own bodies I'm not my own master of my own body the Lord Jesus is and even before I get a say over it my wife does because I want to please her more than myself but when there's infidelity and lust and sexual immorality it leads to the bride of Christ being dysfunctional reviled and worldly and I thank the Lord that we've got many young people that are coming being a part of our church and

Involved in community groups and things like that I thank the Lord for that it's been a long time since our church has grown in that area amen but you wonder where have some of our people gone people that were in their 40s and 50s back in the 90s and now they're totally m.I.a from the work of God you kind of wonder what's happened to the church we see all the characteristics we see all the all the studies of what has happened in a lot of people's lives over the past couple of years especially with church attendance you look at covet that hasn't helped thing matters at all you wonder why people have left the church wonder why people have left Christianity they left it because they were never a part of Christianity that's what the Scripture says they've left us because they were not a part of us sixth and final thing that you should know look at verse 19. You should know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit see the Holy Spirit resides within every single believer we know this because Jesus promised that the helper he would come and he would lead us into all truth when we're saved and we receive his Holy Spirit we must come to this realization that we are not our own but we belong to God and so glorify God and your body but what if your body is unclean what if you're struggling with an addiction even right now as a as a follower of Christ you're going cody man I just I'm looking at this and I see some things here that maybe I'm just struggling with maybe you're filled with lust or maybe you swindle people out of out of money or whatever I don't know I don't know what your personal life is

Like I was driving with my family down to texas this past thanksgiving and the hotel that we like to stay at it's just outside of mcallister oklahoma it's a it's a la quinta we've got big beds and we've got a big family and so I called them and I was looking for a room for the night and they said we can't take anyone our hotel's closed oh why well we're we're renovating oh well so what caused the renovation well we have we have a mold problem oh okay well thank you and here's my family we're weary we're tired we're hungry we're looking for a place to rest and so you know look for that place and their house their their home their place was not in order it had things that they had to deal with I wonder how many times people have looked to Christianity look to churches who maybe have some things that are going on in their own churches that they need to tend to people that are looking for a place to rest a place for to be filled up as they're just kind of passing through life and yet churches aren't able to minister because they've got some issues maybe in our personal lives there are some things that we are struggling with maybe you need to get your mind and your body in order maybe there's things that you need to repent of and ask God can you just renovate my heart renovate my mind you know I maybe you've been lgbt affirming you don't want to be judgmental or anything and I get that

And remember that the friendship with the world is being an enemy of God that's what God's word says you need to repent of that you need to take a stand upon what God's word says and remember that for me to say that in canada is jail time now perhaps you've got hidden areas that you need to repent of that's that's why we have the altar the altar is there for you to bring stuff like your stuff and leave it if you keep it in the seat with you're going to take it with you maybe you don't know that you're saved but you sure know that you would like to be the Bible says that in order to be saved you must repent of your sins you must trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did for you on the cross so many years ago claim him as Savior claim him as Lord of your life and I promise you will walk in that abundant life he will do amazing wonderful things head hand heart head I want you to know that Christians they are called to judge those within the church with fearful humility and grace it's not something that we do arbitrarily it's not even something that we do with tremendous joy but if you've ever had a loved one that maybe wrestled with an addiction they struggled with things maybe they started making some habitually bad choices as a family member that loved your family member you sat them down and you talked with them about it because you love them and that's the attitude that I talk about when it's when we talk about judgment it's always done with fearful humility

But we must be holy and intentional with I want you to take some time this week and I want you to pray for our canadian brothers and sisters I mean there are pastors all over that country that they don't know if when they stream their services if someone's going to see it and report them they don't know so it's a scary time for our friends up north and we need to pray for him heart I want you to believe that we are called to be pure for the sake of Jesus Christ when Christians take a stand in their personal lives holiness with tremendous power will lead the church to unity and love so God we do thank you for all that you've done for us our confession is that we do need you that we do want you that we do want you to lead us and conform us to the image of your son God your word is so clear on all the things that we're supposed to do and so help us God give us the courage give us the unction give us the power of the spirit in order to do it that we might glorify you and be used by you in Jesus precious name amen let's stand and let's just respond together in worship I confess I find my rest and without you I fall apart I my rest upon what I need my righteousness and Lord we do confess that we need you each and every moment of each and every day be with us as we have opportunities to share the Gospel this week help us to do so full of grace and

Mercy and truth and love that many would be saved for your glory you're so good thank you for loving us in Jesus name amen go in peace