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PODCAST That's a Good Question Avoiding Temptation and Becoming Perfect November 14, 2023 Jon Delger & Mitchell Leach Listen to this Episode JonHey everyone, welcome to That's a Good Question, a podcast of Peace Church. This is a place where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language. I'm Jon. I serve as a pastor here at Peace as well as I get to serve as the weekly host of this show. You can always submit questions to peacechurch.cc/question. And today, I have with me here a special guest, Mitchell Leach. Mitchell Hey, glad to be here. Jon Mitch is actually our producer of this show. So for the last many months, he's had a high impact on this show. He helps us gather content and get ready and then obviously produce and edit the show. And so he's been on the other side of the microphone for a long time and now excited today to actually have him be part of the conversation. Mitchell Yeah, it's gonna be fun. Jon So Mitch's actual title is Communication Director here at Peace Church and Mitch has also been studying, is on his way towards being a pastor and so excited to get to have some fun conversation today. Mitchell Yeah. Great. Sweet. I'm ready. You want to jump in the questions? Jon Yep. Mitchell This question comes from a high school student and it's a great question. Here it is. Hypothetically, isn't there a way to be perfect if we always use the way of escape whenever our sinful temptations arise. Jesus was tempted, but he never sinned, which also means being tempted is not a sin, but falling into temptation is. So that means that there is a way not to fall into temptation, which means if we always use the way of escape like Jesus did, we should hypothetically be able to be perfect. But our human nature is always in conflict with our divine nature that we assimilate from Jesus when we accept him as Savior. God calls us to be perfect just as he is, so is it possible to be perfect? Question #1: God calls us to be perfect just as he is, so is it possible to be perfect? Jon Awesome question. I love that and I'm glad we read the whole thing because it's an intricate, well thought out question. I love it. It's awesome. So, thank you for the question. We're actually going to break this down and talk about it in a few different parts just because it's such a good, deep, rich question. So let's talk about it in a few ways. So, referring to the way of escape, so the way of escape, I think we're drawing from 1 Corinthians 10.13, which says, No temptation has seized you that is not common to man. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but when the temptation comes, he will provide a way of escape so that you may be able to stand up under it. that I'm like looking at the ESV, but I got the NIV 1984 in my mind from all my memorization as a young man. So blending those. So that's the way of escape. So God's Word tells us that there is always a way out when we are tempted. I also want to say that correctly stated in the question was the idea that temptation and sin are not the same thing. Those are different. You can be tempted without actually falling into sin. So for example, if you get your phone out and you're scrolling through Facebook and you come across an ad for something inappropriate, you're being tempted. There's a temptation in front of you, but you're at a point of decision. You can decide, am I going to click that? Am I going to get into that? Or am I going to pass by and keep going, therefore conquering the temptation? So those are two different things. Mitchell Yeah. You might also want to change your ad preferences on Facebook. JonThat's a good point. Well stated. You can do something about that. Yeah, that's good. So I think another important point as we consider this question is that, you know, sin is not just an outward thing that we do. It's not just our behavior, right? It also includes the thoughts and dispositions of our hearts. Mitch, do you have any Bible passages that talk about that? MitchellYeah. Matthew 5 is one that comes to mind when I think about that. So, Matthew 5 says, if you have heard, or you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So, what are some of the implications of that as we think about that passage? JonYeah, so Jesus you know, essentially takes the outward action, adultery, right? And he says not only is adultery sin, but he takes it a step further and he says what goes on in your mind and in your heart can also be sin. Takes it a step further. So, you know, if you're at work and a co-worker calls you a butthead, you might feel a desire to punch him in the face, okay? And so you've got temptation in front of you. You have a choice. Do I punch him in the face? Do I not punch him in the face? But you also have another level of temptation. You also have a temptation in your head and in your heart that when you walk away from that, whatever you do at that moment, then you walk away, you go back to your desk, you can choose either to sit there and have hate in your heart and in your mind, or you can choose not to. It goes beyond just the act of doing something outwardly to the thoughts. Mitchell I think we look at the Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes, almost like it's a second law that Jesus gave us, but in reality, it's giving a fuller picture of who Jesus is, who God is, and what righteousness is. The law that came to Moses was, hey, here's a standard, and the response should have been, oh no, I can't do this. And Israel at that point was in a spot where they thought, no, we can obey fully the Ten Commandments. We can be righteous. And Jesus comes to say, hey, I want to expand on that beyond just your outward actions. I want to talk about your heart. I want to talk about what you're thinking about, how you're feeling, those types of things. Not just what you're tempted to, but what really is causing the sin, which is your heart condition. Jon Yeah. So you're saying that's not really new to the New Testament. No, that's been around since the beginning. Jesus is just unpacking it. Mitchell Yeah, he's making it clear saying, you know, even the question asker said, you must be holy as I am holy. That's probably the Sermon on the Mount. And Jesus is making the point, hey, this isn't a, you've got this, just try really hard. Jon So I think we're like, we're kind of digging down and taking this layers and layers deeper as we go. Another layer that I'm thinking about is that not only are there sins of omission, there's also sins of commission, right? There's the sins that we do, but there's also sins that are sinned because it's something that we haven't done that we should have done. So, you know, I could just, so I think as I think about, I think of the scenario, and I used to think this way when I was younger, could I go a whole day without sinning? Could I do that? So what if I hypothetically locked myself in a room and I did nothing but read the Bible all day long? Could I actually have one day, whether that's valuable or not valuable, could I actually have one day out of my life that I didn't sin? Mitchell What was your answer? JonFor a minute, I think my answer was yes. I think I went a period of time where I thought the answer was yes. My answer now is basically no. Mitchell I think we all feel that though. Like there is a time in our life, a time in our Christian journey where we think, can I muster up enough willpower to do exactly what God is laying out for me, right? Right. Do you remember? You obviously remember feeling that, but that's a very common thing for every Christian. Jon Oh yeah, totally, totally. And I think the real answer to the question is like, maybe, but you have to take into consideration I think some other layers that we haven't talked about yet. So, you know, perhaps you've avoided things like punching somebody in the face, maybe you've even avoided the thought and heart level of hating somebody. Mitchell Good things to avoid. Good things to avoid, that's right. If you want to stay employed. Jon Right, right. Now, you know, locked alone in a room with a Bible, you still could have those mind and heart sins that still could come. Let's just say hypothetically you avoided some of those things. But go to the next level of what are the things that God has commanded you to actively do that you then didn't do? You know, the great commission that Jesus gives, the mission of the church is to go and make disciples. So how did you contribute to the mission that Jesus commanded you to do? Were you doing that during that time? Were you loving and serving other people the way that Jesus tells you to do that? Were you loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, as Scripture tells us? Did you have any pride in your heart? You know, there's just all these layers of, there's the things that you, there's a sense of commission, there's a sense of omission, there's things of, you know, outward actions, Mitchell I remember being a youth pastor and students would say "Can I be sinless?" and asking them what's the greatest sin you could commit? And they would usually they would say, I don't know. And I would ask, OK, what's the greatest commandment? Right. Love the Lord, God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And so I'd say, OK, for a minute or for 10 seconds, I would say, okay, did anybody do it? And there'd always be like three kids who decided that they were going to raise their hand and try to prove this whole thought experiment wrong. And they're like, yeah, I've done this. And I would say, I didn't see you lift anything. You didn't love God with all your strength. You didn't love God with all your, like, we can't access all of our mind. And it is both these little-esk sins, right, these small mistakes that we make, but also the big S sin of, you know, our depravity, our lives running away from God, that we need, our sin nature that we need to repent of, because there isn't a moment that I can actually obey the greatest commandment. JonYeah. MitchellYou know? JonNow, just for fun, to put you on the spot here, you brought up the greatest commandment. Are you saying that there are some sins that are worse than other sins? Mitchell I'm just saying this is what – no, I'm not saying there's some sins greater than others. I'm saying this is a good example of what would be a way for us to see where our heart truly lies. Sure. lies. Are we in tune with God here or are we out of step with him? Jon Yeah, that's fair. Well, I was just kind of giving you a hard time, but I think, and this is another topic that we'd have to dive into another time, but actually I would say that not all sins are equal. I would say they're all equal in the sense that they all lead to hell. Each of them is equally worth God's wrath. You know, whatever the sin is, you do, whether you murder, whether you tell a little lie, both of those things are worthy of God's wrath of hell. But they don't have the same consequences in the natural world. MitchellRight. So, yeah. Yeah. If you want to commit murder against me, you have hatred in your heart, you know, I'm going to be upset that that's the case. But if you try to kill me, I'm going to be way different. JonYeah, a different level of things going on, for sure. For sure. One of the other things that the person asking the question brought up that I also want to just affirm is they talked about the two natures within us, the sinful nature and what we sometimes call the godly nature or the regenerate nature. There's a key passage that talks about these. It comes from Romans chapter seven. I'm just going to read a couple of verses. The whole chapter is about this, Romans chapter seven, but here's just starting in verse 21, a couple verses about it. It says, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. So lots of stuff going on in there, but that's the Apostle Paul. So guy who wrote most of the New Testament. You know, a strong believer. Apostle of the church. This is a guy who's still talking about his ongoing war with sin, about two natures that are battling inside of him. Mitchell I think we're going to get some questions on that. Jon0:12:05Yeah? Oh yeah, yeah. Mitchell Because there's two views of that, whether Paul is talking about himself pre-Christ or post-Christ. JonYeah, totally. I take a pretty strong stand on that one personally. That this is regenerate believer Paul, and he's talking about himself in that. I think that's the clearest way to read it. C.S. Lewis has an awesome quote that I've used many times in talking about this topic. He says, two dogs wage war within, the one I feed is the one that wins. I talked with a friend once about making a T-shirt out of that. We couldn't come up with a design that was very attractive. But, well, the concept is, yeah, that we've got these two natures inside of us, and they are constantly at war. At every opportunity, we've got a godly side of us that wants to follow the Lord, that wants to bear the fruit of the Spirit, that wants to do what's right, and then we've got another side of us that wants nothing but sin. Wants to go the way of the world, the way of Satan, wants to satisfy the flesh. And the question every day for the Christian is, which one are you going to embrace? And the question ahead of time for the Christian is, which one are you going to feed? Which comes through, are you going to engage with God's Word and feed your godly nature? You know, a healthy relationship with the Lord, the Word, prayer, spiritual disciplines, the church, those kind of things you need to be part of, or are you going to sort of nurse the side of sinfulness by engaging more and more in worldly things in heaven, those kind of feeding that side of yourself. MitchellAll right, so back to the big question. Is it theoretically possible to escape every temptation? JonThat's a... Yeah, so I really struggled as we talked about this and as we thought about this question. I really struggled with that whole idea of theoretically and theoretically versus practically. Now, I'm a very practical person, so I jump right to, well, practically, no, just practically. It's just not going to happen. Theoretically, I'm trying to be open-minded here, and I'm trying to say, you know, 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God always gives us a way out, right? There's always a way to escape, and so I don't want to undermine that at all, because that's true. There's always a way to escape. Which shouldn't that mean, theoretically, that there's always a way out? But then I come back and I say, but Scripture tells us that we're born into sin, we have a sinful nature, there's always a sinful nature in us until we are resurrected with Jesus, either when we die and part from our sinful nature or when Jesus returns. And so I think because we've always got a sinful nature within us, no, I mean, my real answer is that no, none of us can be perfect until Jesus returns. Mitchell But I get the temptation to want to say that because it sounds hopeless to say even theoretically this isn't possible. Like to say even theoretically there isn't a chance that we can be sinless, that we can be sinless in this life. JonYeah, so what's your answer to that? So when somebody says, I feel hopeless now because you've told me it's impossible to be without sin. MitchellI would say that's a good start. And that sounds really harsh and really mean, but it isn't until we realize that there isn't hope for us on our own, that we can understand something greater. I think of the Pilgrim's Progress if you've ever read that book There's the house of legality and he'll Christian goes to to try to save himself Well, he wanders off the path and he tries to go up the hill and it's this hill that he cannot climb it's this hill that promises to save him, but he literally cannot go up it is too steep and chasing after trying to save ourselves is like that, and it even says like the burden on his back becomes even heavier. And that's, you know, with legality or trying to save ourselves, trying to become perfect from our own merit leads us into a place where number one, our burden in life is more great, is heavier, and we end up just slipping and feeling more condemnation because we couldn't do it. But it's when we get to that spot we realize the beauty of the gospel. You know the point of the law, the point of the commandments in Scripture, yes they are trying to tell us number one who God is, what God expects of us, but it also points us to the fact that we need Christ. We need someone to have taken our place on the cross. The beautiful part of the gospel is that the Father can treat me like Jesus because he treated Jesus like me. And so Jesus was perfect. He was the one who actually fulfilled the law. And because I couldn't, we get to trade places and I don't have to worry about being perfect. That doesn't give me an excuse to sin or a blank check, but it gives me a freedom, a burden less life because I know that there was someone who did pay my price and I don't have to earn it myself. Which in turn makes wanting to obey, wanting to live a more transformed life even greater. Jon Well said, that's good stuff. And one of the things I'll add, too, is just to be clear for everybody, too, it's off the table that even outside of this conversation, it's off the table that any of us could actually become sinless or perfect like Jesus. Romans 3.10 says that there's no one righteous, not even one. Romans 3.23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3.20 right next to that says that through the law we become conscious of sin, which is the point you were making there. So the law is not meant for us to attain perfection, it's meant to show us our imperfection and point us to Jesus. One of its purposes. So yeah, it's off the table that any of us could be perfectly righteous, even if you, again, I'm saying it's not possible for you to do this, but even if somebody else was saying it was possible, you're 30 years old and you've decided to be perfect from here on out, even if you could do that, you've still got 30 years of sin before that. And you can't make up for that. There's no way to make up for that. Only Jesus can take away sin. MitchellYeah. It makes me want to ask this question a follow-up. How does that, for you, someone who preaches here regularly enough, how does that impact the way that you teach on things like commandments or morality? JonWell, it means like what you were saying it means that I've always got to bring it back to the gospel. So when we preach the law when we tell people God says this or that that God gives us these commands. We preach that really and fully that God gives us these commands and we are supposed to do these things. And so out of love for God, we want to obey these commands and do these things, but we also always have to come back to the gospel and say, but all of us here in this room, we will not do this perfectly, we will fail, we are failing, we hope to grow and do better, but our ultimate hope is not in us doing better, our ultimate hope is in Jesus who did it perfectly. Yeah. That's where the real hope is MitchellYeah, because better's not good enough. That's right. And I feel like I can hear people, pastors that I've heard in my life, and sometimes you get into that morality type of preaching. And it, I felt this, I don't know if you felt this, but it leads me to one of two places, either like, oh yeah, I have done that and like I am good and like, you know, I'm better than the people who struggle with this, or to despair and like, oh shoot, I am like, there's no way that I can be good enough. And when that's all that's given, which I don't think ever happens here, because we always preach the gospel, but when that's all you hear, it kind of gives you to these two twin falls of pride and thinking that you really are better than people or despair and going, man, there is no hope for me. JonYeah. I think that's perfect timing to bring us back to a key passage that I think we want to make sure we read before the end of this conversation. 1 John 1, starting in verse 8, says, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. So there it is. If we say that we don't have any sin, we are deceived. And the truth is not in us. Verse 9, if we confess our sins, so that's what we're supposed to do with sin, we're supposed to confess it. He, being God, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Verse 10 says it again, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So none of us is sinless, all of us needs the grace of God. Yeah, the goal is not to be perfect, the goal is to continually grow as a Christian. Mitchell Yeah, so we kind of talked about, you know, there are a lot of voices in the Christian world, but not all of them are trustworthy. Not all of them are going to be ones that give you a good gospel understanding of passages or of things going on. I know that there are a lot of people who struggle with this. In fact, there's one of the questions we have. Is there a list of safe resources for Bible studies or sermons? It's hard to find out which people are solid in biblical truth, especially when some appear to have changed their views over time? Jon Yeah, that's an awesome question, and it's a question that we get fairly often. At least I get, you know, verbally people ask me this on Sundays and different things, and so I'm glad somebody submitted it and excited to say a little bit about the answer. So the answer is at Peace Church, we've got something coming very soon, coming very soon, that is our own kind of response to that question. So we've been thinking about this and praying about this really for years. And we finally come to the place in the last few months where we actually feel ready to give a response to this question. It's that we want to actually create our own library of resources that are what we would call safe resources. Now, I'll quickly say, by the way, that everybody should always be discerning and always checking anything they hear against Scripture, including what we've just said right now. All of that should be checked against scripture. Acts 17, the noble Bereans we call them, the Apostle Paul says that he came and he taught them what scripture said about Jesus, but then the noble Bereans took it and every day they went back to their Bibles and they tried to discern if it was true. That's what all of us should be doing. So we should always be discerning. But actually coming in January 2024, an exciting resource is coming from Peace Church. Yeah. That's gonna provide a lot of this stuff. Mitchell Yeah. Not just exciting in that it's gonna be biblically solid, which it's going to be, but I think it's gonna be engaging. It's gonna have not just blogs, but some other type of media like podcasts like this. Some video. Yeah. Some stuff that will be fun to engage with and gospel-centered.Yeah. JonWhich we hope will be a huge blessing to the church, and not just one church, but many churches all around. Awesome. Well, hey, Mitch, thanks for the conversation, man. It's been awesome. Thanks, everybody, for listening. Hope this has been a blessing and a help to you as you walk with the Lord. Hope this has been a blessing and a help to you as you walk with the Lord. Have a great week.

Together Discover and Bless our Differences Session 1 Video Teaching Kevin Harney Jon Delger I Didn't Know I Needed the Church Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Session 2 Creating Meaningful Traditions Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Q+A Jon Delger I Didn't Know I Needed the Bible Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Session 1 Jon Delger Withstand: How The Culture War Is A Spiritual Battle Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Where Do We Go From Here? Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Q & A Kelly Needham | Women's Christmas Party People Pleasing Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Are We a Christian Nation?

Is Prioritizing Love Un-Christian? Christian Life Jon Delger Multiplication Pastor Peace Church Published On: February 5, 2025 Recently, the Vice President of the United States made a comment that sparked criticism from some Christians. Was he right? Was he wrong? Should Christians prioritize their love for others? The Quote Here is the quote from Vice President J.D. Vance: But there is this old school, and I think it’s a very Christian concept by the way, that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country. And then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world. The Question While we know that God is love (1 John 4:8) and the Bible calls us to love brothers (1 John 2:9-10), neighbors (Matthew 22:37-39), and foreigners (Deuteronomy 10:19), does this mean that there can be no prioritization among those groups? Let’s consider what Scripture says. What does the Bible say? As noted above, the Bible calls us to love others. This includes the people closest to us, our family and friends (1 Timothy 5:8; John 15:12-13). It also includes people outside our immediate circle, such as neighbors and even foreigners (Matthew 22:37-39; Deuteronomy 10:19). The very mission of the Christian church is to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). This is the most loving thing we can do since it involves sharing the gospel of eternal life through Jesus, and the Lord calls us to take that message to the ends of the earth. So both our mission to share the gospel and our call to love extends to the ends of the earth. But does this mean there can be no prioritization? Is there really no order in which we carry God’s love to the world? Jesus’ final words to his followers before leaving the earth were these: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). These words are spoken in Jerusalem. So Jesus tells his followers to bear witness to his resurrection where they are at, then in the surrounding region (Judea and Samaria), then to the ends of the earth. While some are called to travel to a foreign place to share the gospel, and any believer can support such foreign mission efforts, we are failing in God’s mission if we do not share the gospel with those in closest proximity to us. 1 Timothy 5:8 says “if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” While Christians are called to share love far and wide and to be generous, if a believer doesn’t prioritize care for their own family, they have missed the heart of God. 1 Timothy 3:4-5 says that in order to be qualified to serve as an elder in God’s church, a man must first manage his own household well. If someone isn’t loving and caring for those closest to him, then he isn’t ready to care for the next level of proximity. In Romans 9:1-3, the Apostle Paul shares his deep anguish for his kinsmen. While Paul labors to bring the gospel to Jew and Gentile alike, he expresses a unique concern for his fellow Jews. In John 13:35, Jesus says that his disciples will be known by their love for one another. While they are called to love the world, Jesus’ disciples must first love their brothers and sisters in Christ, the church (see also Galatians 6:10). There are many examples in Scripture of self-sacrificial love (John 15:12-13), and even of sacrificial love for people of another national or ethnic group (Luke 10:25-37). However, translating Jesus’ call to individual disciples into national policy takes careful interpretive work. Sacrificing one’s own life or money for another may not be the same as sacrificing the money or well-being of a nation by their leaders. While Scripture calls Christians to love people to the ends of the earth, the Bible also supports an order of priority by proximity calling us to care for those closest to us and then carry our love further out. Life in the World As human beings living in a broken world, we do have to make decisions about limited resources. Every day we each choose how to allocate our time, energy, and money. Each of us could spend all our resources on ourselves, spend it all on someone else, or some combination of the two. Each of us faces seasons where we have more available resources or less, and seasons of greater or lesser need for ourselves or our families. Our decisions about resource allocation must be rooted in biblical principles and apply those principles to practical realities around us. Consider an example from family life. If my neighbor lost his job and isn’t able to provide food for his kids, it would be loving for me to help out by providing food for his kids for a time. However, if I provide food for my neighbor’s kids and let my kids go hungry as a result, that is not loving but irresponsible. Why? Because I have been entrusted by God with the responsibility of being a father, and thus I must prioritize my own children. If we take this example further, we can see how complex these situations can become. If after 6 months I am still paying for my neighbor’s food and he is not pursuing a new job, am I still being loving or am I enabling unhealthy behavior? Of course, these principles could also be abused. Just as some might neglect their own family in order to help the neighbor, some might claim that they can’t help their neighbor at all in the name of prioritizing their family. Sometimes there are also opportunities for creative solutions. If resources were tight, might it be a great opportunity for family discipleship for me to talk with my family and decide that we could give up ice cream sacrificially for a time in order to have the funds to help out our neighbor? The situation becomes even more complicated when we extend beyond the individual and the family to the nation. Just like each of us and our families, our nation also must make decisions about how best to allocate limited resources in a broken world. Our leaders must use sound principles in the face of practical realities. More Blogs You'll Like Is Prioritizing Love Un-Christian? What Does The Bible Say? Read More More Than Meets the Eye Discovering God’s Purposes for Motherhood Read More Mom Guilt and How to Fight It Read More

10 (Quick) Things To Know About The Holy Spirit Theology Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Published On: March 18, 2024 For being the third member of the Trinity, many Christian denominations and traditions (and Christians themselves) give embarrassingly little-to-no acknowledgment to the Holy Spirit.    This lack of focus and discipleship around the Holy Spirit in the modern church can often be a reaction to some churches’ over-emphasis on the “gifts” over the “fruit” of the Spirit, while also confusing biblical theology with emotional expression. So what ends up happening is an overreaction: many will make the error of deemphasizing or completely ignoring any speak regarding the person, power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  But lack of knowledge of the Holy Spirit isn’t a new phenomenon; even the Apostle Paul ran into some Christians who didn’t know about the Holy Spirit (see Acts 19:2).   The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is called Pneumatology, but make no mistake—He is not merely a set of parameters outlined by orthodoxy. He is the person, presence, and power of God in our lives.   And, yes, so much more can be said, but let’s look quickly at 10 things you should know about the Holy Spirit…     1. HE IS GOD  The single most important thing to know about the Holy Spirit is that He is God. Rather than just some ethereal non-personal power, the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity who is not only present with us personally, but as we see in Scripture, He speaks (Acts 21:11, Hebrews 3:7), as well as filled our Savior while Jesus was on earth (Luke 4:1). Scripture tells us that lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God (Acts 5:3-4), and blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the only unforgivable sin (Mark 3:22–30, Matthew 12:22–32, Luke 12:10).      When we baptize, we are to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit (Matthew 28:19). God does not share His name with anyone else and as we baptize into the name (singular) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are doing this because we are baptizing in the name of the one, triune God.     2. HE IS CREATOR  The Holy Spirit, while more fully detailed, described, and revealed in the New Testament, is present and active in the Old Testament (i.e. 2 Samuel 23:2, Ezekiel 2:2), since the very, very beginning.     The Holy Spirit was present at Creation (Genesis 1:2; Job 26:13; Isaiah 32:15, Psalm 104:30). The second verse in the Bible says, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).    As we think about God as creator and sustainer of the universe, remember that the Holy Spirit was integral in the formation and life-giving aspects of Creation.     3. HE INSPIRED SCRIPTURES   The Word of God was composed by men but inspired by (carried along by) the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:16, 2 Peter 1:21, John 14:25-26, John 16:13-15), making the Holy Spirit the ultimate author of Scripture. While people were allowed to use their own languages and even slang, the Holy Spirit was there to ensure consistency through the 40 different authors and the hundreds of years between them, making sure that not only is every word as it should be, but that the unifying message of the Gospel is progressively revealed.    This is why it is so important to lean on and into the Holy Spirit when we read the Bible because He’s the ultimate author!     4. HE CONVICTS PEOPLE OF SIN  As Jesus teaches us, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin (John 16:8). Yes, we are to share God’s Word with people, helping them to see how they have violated God’s commands and how salvation is found in Jesus’ name… but we are just instruments in this process. For people to truly know the grievousness of their sin and their desperate need of a Savior, we need the Holy Spirit to be the one to open their eyes and hearts to this truth.    So, remember – when someone realizes their own sin, this is proof the Holy Spirit is working and this is to be recognized, nourished, and prayed over!     5. HE COMFORTS THOSE WHO FOLLOW JESUS  As the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, He also comforts the people of God.   Jesus even said that His departure back into heaven was for our “advantage” because by Him returning to heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit (John 16:7) and in John 14:26, Christ calls the Holy Spirit, “παράκλητος / paraklétos.” As you’ll see in different English translations, this word can be translated as Helper (ESV/NASB/NKJV), Counselor (CSB), Comforter (KJV), and Advocate (NLT/NIV). It’s not that any of those translations are wrong; rather they all go to help us understand in a fuller way how the Holy Spirit is here for our benefit, reassurance, guidance, peace, and faithfulness.     6. HE INDWELLS CHRISTIANS  Jesus tells His disciples that they already know the Holy Spirit, “for He dwells with you and will be in you.” Knowing this and knowing the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, the Holy Spirit is already active in us before we have full knowledge of faith, so that when we come to faith it’s because the Holy Spirit is already at work in us.     Paul writes and tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?”    You cannot be a true follower of Jesus and not have the Spirit already active in your life. It’s just that too many of us don’t fully recognize or consciously walk in His steps, allowing Him to not only work in our reading of Scripture, but also to lead us in every moment of our lives.      So, when you come to those crossroads and you have to ask yourself, “What would Jesus do?,” remember it’s the Holy Spirit who gives you the answer, whether through the Scripture He inspired, or the leading He brings to your mind in accordance with His Word.      7. HE IS OUR TRUE WORSHIP LEADER  The Holy Spirit is our ultimate worship leader, filling us as we worship (Ephesians 5:18-20, Philippians 3:3). The Holy Spirit is present in our worship ensuring that it is firstly grounded in God and His truth (John 4:24). We all know that music speaks to the soul and every person has their own musical preference, but the Holy Spirit is not there firstly to make sure our emotions are moved or that our experience is exciting… the Holy Spirit leads us, directing our worship to remain God-focused and truth-centered!    Ephesians 5:18-20 says, “… be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”    So, when we worship, remember who is truly in charge, guiding us to give God our adoration and His glory.     8. HE PRODUCES THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IN OUR LIVES  "When people ask, 'How do we know a person is truly a Christian?', we need to understand that there are a number of ways to ask that question. However, one key way is to look at the evidence of their lives—specifically, the fruit of their lives: Do they bear the fruit of the Spirit?"  Galatians 5 tells us that we know we are in step with the Holy Spirit when the fruit He produces is evident in our lives. More than just being a nice person, the Bible tells us clearly what to look for as described in Galatians 5:22-23, “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control…”    Before I look for the demonstration of miraculous gifts, I want to know if a Christian is simply walking in step with the Spirit as shown by a life marked by love, joy, peace, and the rest of the fruit of the Spirit for these are markers of a person being filled with the Holy Spirit.     9. HIS GIVES US THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS   Let’s make something clear upfront: The Holy Spirit gives followers of Jesus incredible gifts (1 Corinthians 12:11) not so we can show the world a bunch of magic tricks, but rather – in order that the church of Jesus Christ can be built as we serve Jesus and each other (1 Corinthians 12:7, 1 Peter 4:10) and this is so that all credit would go to the supernatural work of God, not the ingenuity of the human mind.   The Bible is clear: We are supposed to know about the gifts of the Spirit. Paul says he does not want us to be uninformed about the gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1). These are not physical gifts like we get for Christmas and birthdays; these are spiritual abilities (manifestations of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:7) given to Christians that we may use in tandem with others in the Church (1 Corinthians 12:12, 25) to do the work God has called us to do in this world.     The gifts of the Spirit are detailed in passages like 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and 1 Peter 4.     If you don’t know your gift (or gifts) or don’t know how to use it in service at your church, talk with your pastor, elder, or ministry leaders about discerning and using your gifts! I know that’s a conversation they are eager to have with you!     10. HE GIVES US POWER!   The Holy Spirit gives us power. As Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…    So, the question is, “Power…to do what?” The way that some act, you would think the Holy Spirit’s power is to put on a spectacle of a worship service or draw attention to the worshipper or the pastor… but Jesus clarifies what this power is for – if we would just finish the verse….    Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”     The power we are given from the Holy Spirit is meant to empower our lives, not just our church services or worship experiences, but to empower our day-in-and-day-out lives so we can live more fully for God as we embody the Gospel of Jesus Christ and bring this message into the world.       Yes, we are given power from the Holy Spirit to demonstrate a life guided by the fruit of the Spirit, empowered by the spiritual gifts, so that the name of Jesus may be lifted high by our lives, actions, church, and mission.     Acts 4:33  says, “And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.”    We see here the disciples used the power given to them to share the Gospel. Simply put, the power of the Holy Spirit is given to us so that we can be effective in our mission as we proclaim the name of Jesus and give God all the glory.     TO GO FROM HERE  "Biblically speaking, the word 'spirit' is connected to the word for wind or breath. It's a movement we can't see, but we can feel." The Holy Spirit is to guide our spirits as we live and breathe to the glory of God.     There is so much to be said about the Holy Spirit, so continue to learn about who He is and His place in our faith and lives. Christians, lean into the Holy Spirit, pray in His name and realize – as the disciples were reminded – the Holy Spirit dwells within you, so live into the comfort and power that only He can provide.   To learn more about the Holy Spirit, watch this 4-part sermon series from Peace Church called, “ The Helper: The Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit. ” More Blogs You'll Like Do the Resurrection Accounts Contradict? How differences in the Gospel accounts strengthen rather than undermine the credibility of the resurrection Read More What is 'Probably' Missing From Most Nativity Sets Miracle, Myth, or Meteor? Identifying What the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ Truly Was Read More Is The Bible Really Without Error? A Closer Look at Scripture’s Reliability, Inerrancy, and Historical Trustworthiness Read More

When Forgiveness Is Out of Reach Jon Delger Multiplication Pastor Peace Church Published On: It may shock you to hear that Jesus spoke of an unforgivable sin. You would not be alone in your shock. In 1856, when the German poet and journalist Heinriche Heine was on his deathbed, a priest reportedly asked him if he thought God would forgive his sin. In response, Heine replied, “Of course God will forgive me; that’s his job.” Heine’s words reflect the unspoken assumption of many people today. We imagine God to be a gentle old man passing out Werther’s Originals. When we sin, he winks at us, tells us it is ok, and hands us a piece of candy. We have a low view of God and a cheap view of grace. By contrast, the Bible tells us that we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s perfect standard (Rom 3:23), and that what God owes us is not grace but death (Rom 6:23). Rather than being shocked that there is an unforgivable sin, we should be amazed that God would forgive any of our sin. Mark 3:28-30 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” For full context, you can read Mark 3:22-30 (see also Matthew 12:22-32 and Luke 12:8-12). Some religious leaders were saying that the reason Jesus was able to cast out demons was not because he had the power of God, but because he himself was possessed by a demon. Jesus points out the absurdity of this claim, and then goes on to warn his opponents of the seriousness of their words. They make a claim that has consequences. This is not the only such warning in the Bible. Scripture is quite clear that sin is nothing to fool around with and that a hard heart is dangerous (for example: 1 John 4:20; Hebrews 10:26-31; Hebrews 3:7-12). What is the Unforgivable Sin? Bible scholar Wayne Grudem summarizes nicely (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 508). The unforgivable sin includes: (1) a clear knowledge of who Christ is and of the power of the Holy Spirit working through him, (2) a willful rejection of the facts about Christ that his opponents knew to be true, and (3) slanderously attributing the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ to the power of Satan. In this case it is not that the sin itself is so horrible that it could not be covered by Christ’s redemptive work, but rather that the sinner’s hardened heart puts him or her beyond the reach of God’s ordinary means of bringing forgiveness through repentance and trusting Christ for salvation. So the person who has committed the unforgivable sin has heard the truth, rejected the truth, has hardened their heart against God, and is rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit. This reminds me of another passage, 1 John 1:8-10. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. If we confess our sin to God and ask for forgiveness, believing in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then God gives us the gift of forgiveness. However, if we reject the conviction of sin that the Holy Spirit brings, our heart becomes hard, we do not repent, and we do not receive forgiveness. Have I Committed the Unforgivable Sin? You might be reading this wondering, have I committed the unforgivable sin? Let me start by sharing some good news. If you are concerned about having committed the unforgivable sin, then you probably have not committed it. Remember, the nature of the unforgivable sin is that it comes from a heart so hard that it is rejecting Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. If you are feeling convicted of sin, if you desire a relationship with God, and if you would like to repent and believe in Jesus and receive salvation, then your heart is not so hard. Praise God! However, let me also share a warning. Sin is not something to fool around with. Living in continual sin leads an increasingly hard heart. Do not be fooled into thinking that you can just have a little and it will be enough. Do not think that you can continue just a bit longer before putting a stop to it. Be careful. Hearts aren’t hardened overnight. They become harder one step and one day at a time. Turn back before it is too late. More Blogs You'll Like

Elizabeth Leach Elizabeth is the co-host of Mom Guilt, a podcast on the Resound Podcast Network. She and her husband Mitchell (host of Retiring and Aspiring) live in Hudsonville, Michigan, and have three children. One day she hopes to own a camper and take mediocre vacations with her small children. Most Recent Content from Elizabeth Leach Educational Choices as Mission Fields? You see it was not other peers or friends who were the salt and light to me in public school, but it was their families. Although I was not a believer or by any means a perfect child, they invited me into their homes and showed... READ MORE

What is Sanctification? Theology Jon Delger Multiplication Pastor Peace Church Published On: November 16, 2023 As you are studying the Bible, you will eventually come across some big words that you don’t use in everyday conversation… and sanctification is one of those words. Short Answer: What is Sanctification? Simply put, sanctification is the process of being made holy. Some key passages include John 17:17; John 17:19; Ephesians 5:26; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 5:23. When someone puts their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, they are justified (see article) or declared righteous. Jesus’ blood washes away their sin, they are saved, they are righteous from a legal standpoint. However… they are not righteous or holy from a day-to-day life standpoint. When someone puts their faith in Jesus they do not become instantly perfect, never sinning again. Instead, they begin a lifelong process of growing in likeness to Jesus. This process is what the Bible calls sanctification. Longer Answer: What is Sanctification? Although the definition above is the simplest answer, the Bible does use the word sanctification in a few different ways, which can cause some confusion. Let’s talk about the different ways the word is used in Scripture and then consider a couple other important points. The word sanctification is a translation of the greek word hagiasmos, which can mean holiness or separation. Context is important when we consider the specific meaning of this word in different passages. One way the word sanctification is sometimes used is to refer to the holiness or righteousness or separation unto God we receive at salvation (1 Corinthians 1:30). This has sometimes been called positional or definitive sanctification. In essence, it is another way to refer to justification. Another way the Bible uses this word (and I would consider this the main way), is to refer to the process of becoming more like Jesus (Romans 6:19). This has sometimes been called progressive or experiential sanctification. It is the lifelong process of growing in spiritual maturity, holiness, obedience to God, or Christ-likeness. A final way the Bible uses the word is to refer to the completion of the sanctification process (1 Thessalonians 5:23). This is what could also be referred to as glorification (Romans 8:18, 30; 2 Corinthians 4:17). When a believer dies or when Christ returns, they are glorified. They are finally free from sin and now live in the full and glorious presence of God. If we were to chart the life of Christians in terms of their battle with sin, it would look something like this… We were dead in sin. Then when we put our faith in Jesus, we were justified. At this point we become spiritually alive and are declared righteous in God’s eyes. From this point forward, our entire life is a process of sanctification. It has ups and downs, but Lord willing, with an overall trajectory toward greater holiness. Finally, when we die or the Lord returns (whichever comes first), we are finally free from sin and entirely holy More Blogs You'll Like Do the Resurrection Accounts Contradict? How differences in the Gospel accounts strengthen rather than undermine the credibility of the resurrection Read More What is 'Probably' Missing From Most Nativity Sets Miracle, Myth, or Meteor? Identifying What the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ Truly Was Read More Is The Bible Really Without Error? A Closer Look at Scripture’s Reliability, Inerrancy, and Historical Trustworthiness Read More

PODCAST What's the Point of Easter: Exploring the Impact of Jesus' Resurrection March 31, 2024 Logan Bailey & Mitchell Leach Listen to this Episode Jon Hey, welcome to That's a Good Question, a podcast of Peace Church and a part of Resound Media. You can find more great content for the Christian life and church leaders at resoundmedia.cc . That's a Good Question is a place where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language. My name is John. I get to serve as a pastor as well as a part of this podcast. I'm here with Mitchell Leach, who is our producer. Jon You can always submit questions at peacechurch.cc . Today, we get to talk about the topic of the Resurrection and we get to let the cat out of the bag, which is that it's all made up. April fools! April Fool's. I don't know when you're listening to this, but right now in real life while we're recording it, it is April Fool's Day. It's the day after Easter. So, that is an April Fool's joke. It's not true. The resurrection is true. It's real. And we're going to talk about it. It's an important part of our faith. Mitchell Yeah, for sure. All right, here we go. Here's our first question. Why is the resurrection a big deal? Theologically, we say that Jesus declared it was finished on the cross. That was him saying that he had paid for sin fully. So why is the resurrection such a big deal and not the crucifixion? Why do we celebrate Easter as the highlight of the church calendar and not Good Friday? Right, right, right. Yeah, I've been asked that question many times, actually, because we talk about the cross so much and rightfully so, because the cross is so important. So on Good Friday, Jesus dies in our place for our sins. Jon And then, yeah, that's often the question I hear is, well, Jesus died for my sins. So that's it. You know, why did he have to raise from the dead? I'll give a couple answers. One is just kind of a plain looking at the Bible and looking at what Jesus said. If Jesus doesn't raise from the dead, Jesus is a liar. So that's a problem. You know, Jesus claimed and said, I'm the Son of God, I'm the author of life. He said, I will die, and on the third day be raised from the dead. And so, man, if Jesus doesn't rise from the dead, then it's all a lie. It's not true. So that's a huge problem. Theologically, there's also the issue of, so the way we think about the resurrection is that the resurrection is how we know that God the Father accepted Jesus' sacrifice. So Jesus goes to the cross as a substitute for us, in place of us, for our sin. That's a sacrifice and the Father has to accept that sacrifice. He has to say this does satisfy justice, this does do justice. I accept the sacrifice and that's how we know that's the case, it's through the resurrection. Yeah, absolutely. I think thinking about it, the crucifixion is only one half of the idea of imputation. Imputation is a theological concept where we describe that Jesus gets all of our sin, he takes all of our sin on himself, and then through that we get all of his righteousness. It's like this trade. So the crucifixion is Jesus taking all of our sin, but it's not until the resurrection that we get his righteousness. Mitchell If Jesus only were to have died and suffered for our sin, we would still be left wanting before the Father. And it is only through his resurrection that we are imputed or we gain all of the righteousness, all of his work, all of his miraculous works that he did on earth, his obedience to the law, that's, we are counted as righteous by his resurrection. I'm also thinking of a couple of passages, think of in Romans 4, it says that he was delivered over, he died for our sins, but it says he was raised for our justification, so passages like that tie our salvation right there, those two elements together, the cross and the resurrection. Jon I also think of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 where he talks about if, man, if Jesus isn't raised, then we are still in our sins. If Jesus isn't raised, then our faith is futile. I mean, he says that the resurrection is the very core of the Christian faith. Christianity is a religion that relies on a historical fact. If the resurrection is true, Christianity isn't true. We've staked our faith on a historical fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Yeah, which is a really beautiful truth, right? That's something that differentiates us from every other religion. Every other religion is a philosophy, right? Mitchell Where ours is history. Which, in just even saying that, that describes the difference between Christianity and everything else. Every other religion says, you've got to do this, or you've got to obey this, or you've got to follow these rules in order to reach either enlightenment or a right state with God. And Christianity says, you just have to believe this because it's already happened. The action is on Christ, where every other religion says the action's on you, which is comforting for people who are Christians. We can know that it's already been paid in full. It's already, we are already counted as righteous because of our faith, because of what Christ has done. Let's move into our second question. What was Jesus like after he was resurrected? You mean like what was his sense of humor like and that kind of stuff? What did he eat? Actually, we know a little bit of what he ate. Jon We've got some records of that. But like, was he a ghost? Was it just the same body? Mitchell What was he like? Jon Right, right. No, that's a good question. So, after the resurrection, Jesus is both body and soul reunited. He is fully God, fully man. You know, some of the, I think actually the gospel accounts go to work to make sure that we know that. You know, you have Thomas putting his hands in the holes in Jesus's hands and in his side. You have him eating, like we talked about, that kind of stuff. The Gospels go to kind of show us and prove to us that Jesus has a body, that he's not a ghost, that he's not an immaterial soul, that he hasn't been separated now, his soul, from his body, but he's both. He's a picture of, well, he's the first of the resurrection that we will one day receive. When Jesus returns, when all things are made new, we will be body and soul put together. Yeah, and that's important because if he was just spirit or if this was some sort of ghost, we could say, well, where was this body? He didn't really raise from the dead, right? But there's also some kind of weird stuff that happens in the later part of the Gospels where he kind of seems to like be able to walk through walls or there's some like supernatural, there's something different about Jesus. He's still fully God, fully man, but there's some some sense that he's already been or maybe taken a step into his glorification. There's some supernatural thing that he's doing. He's gone to that next level, the level of glorification. Mitchell Yeah. Here's our third question. How was the resurrection God's answer to his promises? Yeah. Most basically, again, it's like we said, that he promised he would raise. So, you know, he's a liar and he hasn't kept his promises if he doesn't do that. So it proves that what he said while he was on earth is true. But it also, in many ways, is the fulfillment of the entire Bible. Jon That this is him, you know, going back to Genesis chapter 3, in the garden, you know, Adam and Eve and the snake, and there's the promise that someday a child of the woman is going to crush the head of the snake. Well, on Good Friday, it actually looks like the snake won, that Jesus is crushed. I mean, Jesus is crushed for our sins. But on Easter Sunday is when we find out that Jesus has ultimately crushed the head of the serpent. He won. He won that victory. Death could not hold him. He conquered. And so, really, it's the fulfillment of everything that God has been promising throughout the entire Bible. Yeah. It seems like the ultimate brag, too. He raises from the dead, and it's like, you know, that fulfillment of that promise. Mitchell It's like, oh, that was just a bruise, right? You know, I crushed the snake. It wasn't me that got crushed. I just got a little bruised. And I think that's such a cool, it's not like improper for that to be a brag that Jesus has. It's an ultimate thing that he did. It's amazing. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think also thinking about what happens with even the covenant promise to Abraham, the idea that Abraham would be a blessing to all the nations. We see kind of a glimpse of that with Sarah and Isaac and the physical promise being delivered in through an offspring, through an heir, but then in the resurrection we see the ultimate fulfillment of that. That it's not just through that son that comes from Sarah, but it's through the Father, you know, God the Father, His Son was sent to be a true and ultimate blessing to all the nations. Yeah, so like in Romans 4, you know, you get that sort of hint at that when, you know, Sarah's womb is barren and then life comes from it, it's like a resurrection. Jon So it's kind of a hint of that. Also, when Isaac is about to be sacrificed, you've got kind of that hint that it's like Abraham was basically expecting that he was gonna kill Isaac and Isaac was gonna be raised from the dead, but then God spares Isaac and provides a ram in his place. So you've got kind of another hint of resurrection, and then the real thing, the real thing comes in Jesus. He's the ultimate fulfillment. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's such an amazing theological truth, but I think practically, how does that work for us? What kind of comfort does this give us as Christians, knowing this, seeing this promise being fulfilled in Christ? Yeah. So, our series right now at Peace Church has been called Always Yes, All the Promises of God are Yes in Jesus . And I think that is the primary comfort that we get from the resurrection. We know that because Jesus was raised, we can be raised with him. We will have a resurrection like his. Yeah, if Jesus has overcome death, then those who have their faith in Jesus will also overcome death. Mitchell God is not a liar, he is a promise keeper. God has provided the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. God has raised Jesus, and in the same way, he will raise us. We will have victory and conquer and have eternal life because of what Jesus has done in the resurrection. All throughout the Old Testament, we see this word pop up. It's one word in Hebrew but usually two words in our English Bible: God's steadfast love or his covenantal love. God is a God who makes true on his promise of his covenant to his people and wecan know that he is steadfast, that he's faithful, and that when he makes a promise, he's gonna come through on it, which is I think for me personally, it's really comforting knowing that you see Jesus being resurrected. We read about that in the Gospels, and we can know that all of God's promises are going to come true. So when he promises that he's gonna come back, we can know that's not an empty promise, but that's one that's coming true. How about this question? Where did Jesus go after he ascended? So, Jesus was on earth after the resurrection for 40 days, and then he ascended into heaven. I guess, you know, where is he? What is he doing? What, you know, what's going on with that? Yeah, totally. Yeah, so passages like Romans 8 or Hebrews chapter 4 talk about Jesus as our High Priest, as Him interceding on our behalf, that He is at the right hand of the throne of His Father. Jon And so, he's taken on—he's always had that role—but he's taken on that role in a new and unique way of sitting at the right hand of the Father as our mediator, as the one who is hearing our prayers and taking them before the Father and being there on our behalf. So that's where he's at, he's with his father. Mitchell Yeah. What does that mean, sitting at the right hand? Is that a question we can go into a bit of a rabbit trail? No, I mean, in the ancient world, the right hand of the throne is the highest place of honor. So Jesus is at the highest place. Jon There's nobody greater than Jesus besides his father. And obviously you've got, you know, a Trinity kind of conversation there, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are all one. Three persons, one God. So, I would say that's essentially what it means. What would you say to that? Mitchell I've heard people say that his act of sitting down means he's no longer active. His work is completed. Jon Yeah, in some sense, he's completed the work for our atonement, but yet he's not done working. You know, the Westminster talks about Jesus being our priest, that he is continually interceding for those who believe. So, his sitting down doesn't mean that he's done; he's still the sovereign God of the universe. Yeah, and he sends his Holy Spirit, so that's actually— to give it away, this Sunday I get the privilege of preaching from John 14, which is Jesus talking ahead about after he's gone, what's happening, and what's happening is the Holy Spirit's coming. And so, yeah, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the one who is with us, in us, here. But he's still in control. He's still doing stuff. It's amazing. Mitchell How about this? How do we know that the resurrection actually happened? Jon Yeah, totally. So, I think there's several ways. I'll try to list a few here. So, let's just start with this one. One of the ways that we can know the resurrection is true is from the manuscript evidence. So, when we think about historical events—and like we said already, the resurrection is a historical fact that Christianity is based upon—any historical fact relies on the written record, the documents, the manuscripts. And the New Testament is the best-attested ancient manuscript we have, period. You use all the rules that scholars have for testifying how valid this document is. You talk about the number of copies we have; we have more copies of the New Testament than any other historical document. When you talk about the consistency of those copies, you know, has the record stayed the same across the copies? You know, pre-printing press, these records had to be hand-copied. And so, how consistent are they from the oldest ones to the newest ones? And the New Testament is the strongest on that. It's so consistent all the way across it. How old are the copies of the documents? The New Testament has the closest record to the actual historical event of anything we have records of. So, just by all the measures as a historical document,the New Testament, the Gospels in specific, are so strongly attested. If they didn't contain religious truth claims or supernatural things, it would just be a given fact, right? If it was a record of some kind of ancient war or an ancient person's biography, it would just be assumed by everybody, "This is absolutely true, period." But because it includes religious truth claims and supernatural acts, that's, of course, why people doubt it. But it has so much verification to it. It's actually astounding in comparison to other ancient texts, how many not only copies, but how close it is to that actual date. Mitchell I mean, it's just unparalleled in terms of ancient documents. I mean, even like, somebody like Shakespeare, who's in the scope of history, he seems almost close to us. Some of his plays were only found—the earliest copies we can find are 200 years after he's done. And nobody questions whether that's written by Shakespeare or if that was actually what he said. Jon Right. And the New Testament may be out within 50 years. Yeah, within 50 years. Some say even closer. But yeah, at least within 50 years. Yeah, and it's almost silly to think there are people who question the validity of the New Testament against ancient texts. It's almost silly. Totally. We've got other historical attestation too. You know, there are other records of guys like Pontius Pilate, guys like Herod, events that happened during that time. That's one of God's genius moves, if I could say it that way, in the New Testament. It records some of these names of other people and other things that were going on at the time. And you sort of think, "Well, why? I don't care about that detail." But it was there, and it's just another historical thing that we can validate through other records. We can say, "Oh yeah, the Roman records also say that this happened at this time and in this place." And so it just validates the New Testament. One more I'll say is the eyewitnesses themselves, the fact that the disciples witnessed the resurrection and then died for it, suffered for it and died for it, I think is a big statement. If I were one of the 11 disciples after Judas, and I wanted to make up the fact that my hero had died and rose from the grave, as soon as you start beating me with a club or put a knife to my throat, I'm probably going to just give up. I'm going to be like, "Okay, you know what? You got me. It's a lie. I made it up. The joke's over," right? Mitchell I mean, if this was the ultimate April Fool's joke, when your feet are held to the fire, it's like, "Okay, we're done." Jon Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to put my life on the line, but the fact that 11 guys did. Yeah. They suffered persecution and eventually death for simply the fact that they claimed that Jesus rose from the grave. I mean, they died for that historical fact. Mitchell Yeah. And the fact that they did, I think, is a huge witness to its truth. I think that he appeared to over 500 people as an incredible witness to the New Testament too, right? If this hadn't happened, there would be people who were saying, "No, this never happened." But there were people who were saying, "No, no, I was there." Think about the early church. Those 500 people could say they saw this happen. There were people who were backing this up. There were no claims in the early church to the Like there were people who were backing these up. That's why Paul will say and he'll mention people by name or that they were the son of certain people or even the man who carried Jesus's cross. I can't remember his name right now. But he's talked about like these are his children or this is his parents or this is where he's from, to say that this is a guy that the early church would have known, kind of fits in that same, those 500 people that saw him, his resurrected body, this was a historical reality. Amen Jon So Easter Sunday is not an April Fool's joke. Actually, I remember it was like five years ago or something, some years ago, that Easter did fall on April Fool's Day. I remember as a pastor getting ready to preach that morning and debating, do I use an April Fool's Day joke? Do I not? I'm pretty sure I didn't. I think that just didn't seem like the moment. So, to everybody listening, Easter Sunday is the day for Christians. I know some of you talk about, is it Christmas or is it Easter? Now, this is a little bit like the chicken and the egg argument, right? Because Christmas has to happen for Easter to happen. Jesus has to be born before he can die and rise from the dead. So, they are both crucially important. You can't live without either one of them. But Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, is the historical fact that the Christian faith is built upon. And so, that's my argument for why Easter actually takes the number one seed. Mitchell I think I agree with that. In fact, I think sometimes weromanticize Christmas. I'm not. I love Christmas. Christmas is amazing. There's so many great and wonderful things about Christmas, but if I can maybe put it into a little bit of perspective of why Easter is so amazing. Christmas is an act of judgment on God's end. It's Him having to send His Son because we couldn't figure it out. The incarnation is a wonderful gift, that's why we do presents, but it's also, it's a curse to those who won't receive it. Like in the parable of the tenants, is kind of what you're thinking, yeah. Yeah, like it's almost like, if you're a parent you'll recognize this,it's almost like hearing your kids downstairs and saying, don't make me come down there. And then at some point having to come down there. That's Jesus coming down, he had to come down because things were so wrong and so messed up that he had to make it right. And that's the good news of Easter is that when he's resurrected, everything can be made right now. That's right, he is making it right. Jon Awesome, well hey, thanks Mitch for your conversation. Thanks everybody, hope you have an awesome week after Easter.

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Comfort and Challenge Sermon Series: Final Words Nate Harney Executive Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: 1 John 3 Transcript Well, good morning, church. My name is Nate. I'm the family pastor here, and it is my joy to open up God's word with you on this special day. Feels a little redundant by this point of the service, but I'll say it again. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. I woke up this morning, and it has never felt so calm and peaceful in my home. And it had nothing to do with Father's Day. My kids are four, three, and one right now. It felt so calm and peaceful because for this last week, I was actually gone on a trip in West Virginia with a full busload of middle schoolers from this church. And we had an amazing time. It was a blast. God did some awesome work, but it is good to be home. And I hope you hear my heart. I love the kids of the church. I love your students that are here. But I also love just a little bit of peace and quiet every once in a while, a little personal space. I hope you can grasp those two things at once. And I say that because I almost feel like it's a bit of a lost art these days to be able to hold on to two ideas at the same time. I was reminded of that. That was solidified for me with a news story that popped on my feed just yesterday. It's from our neck of the woods. Here's what it says. This is by an international news outlet. They covered a story that, here's the headline, I'll just read it to you. It says, a sense of betrayal, liberal dismay as Muslim-led US city bans pride flags. Here's the tagline. Many liberals celebrated when Hamtramck, Michigan elected a Muslim majority council, but a vote to exclude LGBT flags from city property has now soured those relations. When I saw that headline, the first thing I thought was, how in the world did they not see this coming? This should have been an anticipated conflict, but people just have an idea, or have difficulty grasping two ideas at once. And so I think the people of Hamtramck that wanted to prove how progressive their city was, they had trouble grasping the idea that they had this desire on one hand to prove to the world that they were not Islamophobic. They wanted that to be loud and clear. They didn't realize that might come in conflict with their other desire to show the world their pride in this sexual revolution that takes over our country at this time of the year. They weren't thinking about those two ideas at the same time. And so as a result, they get to be on the headline of the news now. And this morning, as we continue our walk through John's final words given in his last letters, we'll have to hold on to two ideas at the same time. So I'll need you to focus and think about this with me. And I hope that you've kind of caught this already. We're three weeks into the series on the book of 1 John. I hope you've caught this, but if you haven't, there's kind of this debate. There's this conversation that happens around this letter and particularly right around this third chapter because there's a question. Is the intention of this letter to bring comfort to the church or is it? Is John trying to assure Christians of their faith? Bring them to comfort through that? Or is he trying to challenge the false faith that's present in the church and making it very clear that there are those who claim the name of Christ that isn't actually with him? Which one is it? As we return again to 1 John this morning, I think we'll all see that the most honest and the most straightforward reading of this letter is that God intends for us to feel both of those things, comforted and challenged at the same time. So would you open your Bibles with me to 1 John chapter 3. I'm going to start by reading the first 10 verses and then later on we'll read the remainder of the chapter. And as you're turning there now, I just want you to know going into it, the whole focus of this morning is going to be on how we respond to passages like this. How do we respond to a chapter like 1st John 3? Will we feel comforted? Will we feel challenged? Maybe both, hopefully both? Maybe even we'll feel neither of those things? So please don't zone out as I read this. It's a longer portion of God's word, but it's just that this is God's word. So as we read it, really think about what he is speaking to us today and how you are responding to it individually. So here we go. 1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the father has has given to us that we should be called children of God and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin. Listen to this. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him little children let no one deceive you whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil No one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God's seed abides in him And he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil? Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Would you pray with me? Father, we ask that you speak to us this morning through the power of your Holy Spirit as present here in your word. Help us to respond honestly and openly to what you're trying to say to us today. We love you and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So answer with me just in your heart, Amen. So, answer with me, just in your heart, but honestly this morning. What did you think and how did you feel while hearing God's Word just now? What was your response? And I hope that for most of us gathered here, your response was the one that God intended for us, to feel both comforted and challenged. You should be comforted by the first thing we just read in verses 1 and 2. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now. And what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is. If you are a follower of Jesus this morning, I hope you were deeply comforted by hearing that you are a child of God, your Father. On this Father's Day, whatever your relationship is to your earthly Father, whether you got the best dad in the world, or you've never even met him, whether you're going to be celebrating with him right after the service today, or whether you're going to be grieving and remembering the father's days that you did get to spend with him. Whatever your relationship is, good, bad, or ugly, we should be comforted today by knowing that God is all of our perfect father, perfect Father and if we follow Him we are His beloved children. That should bring us great joy and comfort but but we should also feel challenged by God's Word this morning. We should be challenged by the last thing that we just read in verses 9 and 10. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning Because he has been born of God By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil whoever does not practice Righteousness is not of God nor is the one who does not love his brother. If you are a follower of Jesus this morning, I trust and I hope you are challenged by hearing that we can know who the children of God are because they cannot keep on sinning. Now we've gone over in 1 John 1 and 1 John 2, I hope with total clarity that these passages in 1 John are not talking about attaining a state of sinless perfection. Remember that John clarifies in this same letter that we all sin. But it also doesn't mean the exact opposite of what it plainly says. And if anyone tells you this means the opposite of what it says, you have to question the source there. We should be challenged by hearing that God's children cannot make a repetitive pattern practice of the same old sin and that there will be evidence of growing righteousness in their lives that is clearly displayed and how they love others. True children of God grow up to live like their righteous, loving, heavenly Father. So pause with me here, because as we look at this chapter in 1 John, if you're experiencing some sort of mix of comfort and challenge and maybe some new clarity or even new questions about what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus, praise God because you are responding rightly to His Word this morning. Because 1 John 3, and really all of God's Word, it gives us this constant, beautiful mix of comfort and inspiration, of challenge and conviction. But here's something we know. Here's something I know. For all of us gathered here, there's so many here, that I know there are a number of us here who didn't feel comforted or challenged while they were listening to the word of God, but they felt something else entirely. Because if we're being honest, I know that there are some of us here this morning who as we open up and as we explore God's word, some of you feel indifferent, unaffected, almost apathetic to what God's Word is saying here. You hear God's Word say in verse 5, you know that he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known Him, and you just don't think too much about it. Maybe you're here this morning, because this is what you do on Sundays, this is what we do in West Michigan on Sundays, and you believe the Bible stuff, but outside of Sunday mornings, this doesn't really have a big impact on your daily life. Maybe you said a prayer one day or you accepted Christ, so you're good. And nothing else has really changed, but you know what's neat? You get to go to heaven when you die. That's special. This is where we need to be precise and we need to be extremely careful because we are entering into some dangerous and risky territory here. But hear me out, hear me out, because this isn't me. Because of what God's word said, I just read it to you, because of what God's word says here in 1 John 3, I need to tell you that if you feel indifferent about all of this, if you're just kind of going through the motions and doing the church stuff, but your life isn't being consistently transformed by the grace of God, if you aren't becoming more like Jesus if you're just living your life your way but also just happen to wear the label of Christian, I need you to listen to me because Because what God's Word says not my opinion or anyone else's Because what God's Word says if that is you this morning And I am deeply concerned for your soul. Listen to what I'm saying. Based on what God's Word says, we know that there are those gathered here right now who you think you are a Christian, you feel that you are a follower of Jesus, and you earnestly believe that you are saved and you're not. Does this make us a little uncomfortable? Does this challenge some of the ways that we might think about the gospel? Good. We need to hold on to that. And we're going to go there this morning. But before we get into that, I've got to tell you, this is what's hard about a passage like 1 John 3. Because there's another group that I know is here right now that I'm just as concerned about, but for a very, very different reason. Some of you, as we're reading God's Word this morning, you're not feeling apathy, you're not feeling indifference. When we read a passage like this, you feel the exact opposite. You have absolute terror and deep-down dread in your heart and your soul. Because when you heard God's Word say, you know that He appeared in order to take away sins and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. You didn't feel indifferent to that. You didn't feel challenged either and you certainly didn't feel any comfort from that. You experienced total and absolute terror because for you a passage like this is confirming concerns that have just been constantly consuming your mind and your heart and your soul. Am I sinning too much to be truly saved? Do I even have enough righteousness to prove that I really am one of God's children? Do I love others enough and consistently enough to reflect that I really am a follower of Jesus and I love like He loved us. I did that sin again, and I promised God I would never do, and I did it again, and I haven't been loving people this week like I know I should, like the Bible says I should. When I meet Jesus face to face, He's gonna look at me, and He's gonna say, away from me, I never knew you." Listen to me if that's you this morning. Again, based on what God's Word says, I feel it's probably safe to say that there are some of you who are deeply worried that you are not Christians. You're terrified that you're not actually saved. child of God, when the truth is, the biblical truth, is that undoubtedly, absolutely, assuredly, you are a follower of Jesus and you will not hear away from me, I never knew you, but you will hear, well done, good and faithful servant, come into the loving arms of your Father. Do we feel the gravity of a chapter of Scripture like this? Do you understand what's at stake if we oversimplify the complexity here and if we get rid of one of these two ideas that are present here that God wants to comfort and challenge us simultaneously? Because God's Word, I can't say this enough this morning, you have to hear me. God's Word is crystal clear that the good news the gospel tells us that it's not what we do, but it's what Jesus has done that saves us. Amen? Be comforted by that this morning. Rest in that. And God's saving grace in your life is transformation. Not perfection, but transformation. Amen? That's the gospel truth to you. Be challenged by that this morning. And I hope and I pray for each of us are feeling the proper response to verses like this. Some comfort and some challenge. I hope for the most of us here that we're just getting a reminder that we need to hold both these ideas that we are not saved by our own goodness or good works, but that once we are saved, God will do a good work in and through us. So I want to read the rest of 1st John 3 for you now, and let's hold these ideas of being comforted and challenged as we read the rest here. So open up your Bibles again to verses 11 through 24. We're going to read the rest of this beautiful chapter from Scripture. Here's what it says. It says, for this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and who murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. And by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before him. For whenever our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us whoever keeps his Commandments abides in God and God in him and by this we know that he abides in us By the Spirit whom he has given us So again, what did you experience while we read that I hope for most of us. It was challenged in comfort Now I just want to speak again for those of you who are feeling the fear and the anxiety right now I believe God the Father has a message for you from his word today Here's the message for those of you who are concerned that you aren't Christians, but you actually are It's to believe you are His child and to receive His comfort. Just look at the last section of that passage we just read. Verse 19 says this, By this we shall know we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before Him. For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything. Beloved, if your heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. Stop there. Even with all the challenge that's present in a chapter like this, in a book like 1 John, God's purpose for his children here is not to feel condemnation, but to feel the comfort of confidence and the assurance of our position before God as his beloved children. I went to a church for a season while I was in college and I was really attracted to the church because they seem to love the word and they preach the word and they want to follow the word but I found over time that instead of challenge and conviction there were just times and I believe seasons where they're heaping a lot of condemnation on the congregation and as I sat there, I was training to be a pastor to do this, and I found myself starting to think, I can't be a pastor. I don't even know if I'm a follower of Jesus anymore. All these things I'm supposed to be doing that I don't do, all these patterns that are supposed to be changing, all this transformation that's supposed to be happening. I don't even know if I'm a Christian. I can't be a pastor. So I panicked. And so I went to another source, I was studying at the time, so I went to this grizzled old theology professor who kind of seemed like a grumpy guy, and I thought if anyone's gonna confirm my worst fears, it's gonna be this guy. So I just started kind of pouring out what I was going through. And he sat there, and he started to smile, and then he just started to laugh at me. And I'm like, why are you laughing? And he said, let me ask you something. How many people who aren't Christians do you think are out there right now worrying that they're not Christians? I don't think a lot of them out there. I think that's a pretty exclusively Christian thing to do. I think you're fine. That reassured me in so many ways. and I realized my heart just needed some reassurance from the Spirit of God spoken through a wise man. But then he got really serious with me. Because he said, don't worry about it. It's clear. I see the transformation. You're not perfect, but God's doing a work in you. But he said, but you need to snap out of this now. Because you sitting around all day worrying about your own salvation instead of trusting Jesus has finished work on the cross makes you of no good to the kingdom of God and he's got people that need to be loved He's got a mission that needs to be completed. He's got things for you to do. So snap out of it and get out there And that's exactly what I needed to hear If you're feeling any ungodly condemnation and terror today. That's not based on God's Word. That's based on lies and fear. If you believe in Jesus and you see true transformation happening. So if that's you today, God has a message for you on this Father's Day. It's believing you are my child and receiving my comfort. God has things for you to do. He's got people you need to love. The truth that needs to be proclaimed. If you're sitting around worried about your own salvation all day, you're not going to be completing the mission that God has in front of you. So receive his comfort and his assurance this morning. But we need to switch gears because that's what John does in this letter. Some of us need to hear the other side of this message because the Father has another message for us, clear in His word. Because there are those of us who might call ourselves Christian, but you actually are not. And God's message to you is to become my child and receive my challenge. Go back to verse 23 with me. Let's keep reading. God says this, and this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He has commanded us. Whoever keeps His commands abides in God, and God in him. Did you catch that at the end there? Our assurance of our faith doesn't just come from knowing that we've believed in the name of Jesus, but biblically, what we're reading this morning, we learn that our confidence also comes from seeing the tangible evidence of the work that the Spirit is doing in and through us that shows we actually do believe in Jesus. This is displayed according to God's word in how we obey the commandments and love one another. I gotta say it again, because a message like this might be confusing for some of you. I thought Peace was a gospel-centered church. What is going on with this message? I want to be really clear. We've said this so many times, but it's worth saying over and over and over again. Our righteousness, our obedience, and our love does not save us. Jesus is righteousness and his obedience and his love that drove him to the cross in our place. That's what brings us salvation. That is the gospel. And it's also the gospel, the same gospel that teaches us in a place like first John is saved by God will keep his commandments and will grow in love. It's not the cause, it's the effect. It's never earning, but there is always effort involved. Now I've got to tell you, in my life right now, as I've been preparing for this message, it's just been helping me to realize that there's a situation in my life where I've been ungodly. There's someone I work with here at the church and I just over time I developed kind of an unfair and an unreasonable grudge against them and then for a season, God has helped me to realize and been challenging me that I've just been repeatedly taking it out on them. Does that disqualify me from being a Christian? Praise God, no it doesn't. Do I lose my salvation because I messed up again? Absolutely not. What Jesus has done on the cross cannot be undone by anyone, including myself. Praise God, thank you, Jesus. That's a comfort this morning. I hope you take that comfort in. But here's the beauty and the complexity of the Christian walk as we hold all the breadth of what Scripture teaches. That person that I was being cruel to, that I was holding a grudge against, think about this. Based on what we're reading in 1 John, would a follower of Jesus live in blatant sin and willful disobedience in that unloving pattern for the rest of their life. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. By God's grace, I got to sit down with this person and pour out my confession and ask for forgiveness and promise true repentance that I would change and by God's grace this person did not repay my evil with some of their own no they poured out on me forgiveness and love now neither my confessing of the sin or their forgiving of my sin played an ounce into our salvation. But both of our actions reflected that we really are children of our Father in Heaven. He's doing something in us. And if either of us wouldn't have been ever willing to repent ever, I will never repent of that, or I will never forgive what He did. Consistently over time, if that was the pattern, 1 John 3 today is telling us that should be a cause for concern, and that's why I say, I would be worried for your soul if you can identify with that. That makes you uncomfortable, I get it. I'm sweating up here right now. I normally don't do that. This is intense. If you're a person who just says, I'm trying to grasp this biblical reality, praise God, you're responding rightly to God's Word. But let me just be really clear, if this something like this, if a message like this makes you uncomfortable because you say, you know what, if I'm being honest with myself, if I ask the people around me, since I became a Christian, I think most people would say, there hasn't been really any effect in my life. I feel like God's grace saved me, but I don't know if I've ever really encountered His transforming grace. Can I tell you what? They're the same thing. So if you haven't experienced one, then you haven't experienced the other. If you're feeling that, if you're sitting in that this morning, I'm not bringing condemnation on you. That is not my intent. In fact, I want to do the opposite. I want to give you the invitation that God has already offered. Come to Jesus. Become the Father's child today. Receive the comfort of his salvation and the excitement of the challenge of a life lived for Jesus here on earth. It's a daily adventure to get to receive his grace and be saved and then be transformed by it as we go out obeying his commandments and loving the people he has called us to love. But my hope still is that most of us are somewhere in between these two groups. So the Father's final message to all of His children that I see here in 1 John 3 is just to continue in His comfort and in His challenge. Look at what the last sentence in chapter 3 says, And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. I can't tell you that God abides in you only the Spirit who he's given can do that And how does the Spirit do that this morning? I hope he's been doing that by the power of his word and by your honest response to it It's exactly what I hope is going on in all of us this morning So if you would would you all if you're able would you just stand? With your heads bowed Would you quiet your hearts I just want to ask those of you, if you call yourself a Christian but still feel indifferent to all of this, to living it out daily, hear God's word one last time. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. If you truly believe and follow Jesus, but you're feeling ungodly fear and anxiety because you are believing a lie from the pit of hell, hear God's word one last time this morning. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are. Heavenly Father, my prayer My prayer for each of us here this morning, if we're experiencing ungodly condemnation, I pray God that your comfort would come rushing in and you would give total assurance that you have finished the work on the cross. And Lord, for others here who have gotten so comfortable that their lives aren't being transformed by Jesus, I pray God that you would introduce them to yourself anew this morning. God, that you would just encapsulate them and that you would, God, you would just bring the waves of your saving and transforming grace over every aspect of their lives. For all of us God Help us to respond to the challenge and to the comfort That you've given us in your word. Thank you, Jesus That you've given us in your word. Thank you, Jesus Please accept our worship as we sing to you God in Jesus name. Amen

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