01:35 Realization of Sinfulness

05:09 The Nature of Sin

06:54 Sin's Control Over Us

10:50 Active Participation in Sin

15:28 Rebellion Against God

18:13 Admit Your Complete Sinfulness

20:19 The Illusion of Good Deeds

24:54 The Law Reveals Our Sin

30:33 Abandon Self-Reliance

36:16 The Danger of Holding Onto Sin

39:47 A Prayer for Repentance and Faith

We were looking at Romans three, nine through 20.

2

And um, when I was in.

3

I, I probably told you this before, when

I was in high school, I was really cool.

4

Um, I was in marching band and so

there was a point though in high

5

school that maybe some of you are

starting to realize maybe if you

6

play a sport, you play an instrument.

7

There's a point where I realized

that, that I wasn't good enough

8

to be a professional musician.

9

There was a point where reality

looked me in the face and I

10

realized I'm not gonna make it.

11

Someday.

12

For most of you who play sports or play

instruments, there's gonna be a day

13

when you're, maybe it's in college,

maybe it's in high school, where you're

14

gonna realize, I'm not gonna make it

to the MLB, I'm not gonna make it.

15

I'm not, I'm not good enough.

16

There's gonna be a day where you

have to come to terms with the

17

fact of what you really like.

18

You know, you're, you don't throw hard

enough, you're not talented enough.

19

Right.

20

You, you, you can't practice enough.

21

No amount of practice will overcome

your, your lack of talent or

22

your lack of genetics, right?

23

There's gonna be a time where

you're gonna have to, to see

24

yourself as you really are.

25

Right?

26

And for me, that was the

middle of high school.

27

I realized I, I went to this, I, I I

was, because I thought I was really good.

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And then I, I went to this, like, I joined

this like advanced orchestra, which is.

29

I was really cool.

30

I know.

31

Um, I know you're all really jealous of me

and, and I realized I'm not good enough.

32

Like these guys are way better than me.

33

There's I, I'm, I, I'm not good enough.

34

I can't do it.

35

I hope that very soon, if it hasn't

happened to you already, that reality

36

has looked you in the face and you

have realized that you're a sinner.

37

I hope that.

38

That's already happened to you, or I

hope that might happen to you tonight,

39

that you are gonna to realize, to

see yourself the way you really are,

40

that you're not good enough, that you

aren't just someone who's, who makes

41

mistakes or occasionally does the

wrong thing, or isn't always perfect.

42

But tonight, I, I want you to

realize that you and, and I, and

43

everyone in this room is wicked evil.

44

That every single person who's

ever walked the face of the earth

45

is sinner a terrible, guilty,

condemned, awful sinner, and that

46

deserves God's wrath in hell forever.

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That's the realization I

want you to have tonight.

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Tonight our main point, I want you to

agree with God about your sinful state.

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I want you to to see yourself

the way you really are.

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I don't want you to sugarcoat it.

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I don't want you to, to try to

patch it up with, I'm not that

52

bad, or everyone else does it too.

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Or what about that person over there?

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I want you to see yourself

as you really are and agree

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with what God says about you.

56

I heard a story this week that, um,

there was a guy who was, uh, this

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is, it was, it was one of my favorite

stories I've heard in a while.

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This guy, um, someone asked them to take

a, him to take a picture of their family.

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Or like a portrait, uh, of, of

like some guy, you know, they're

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walking, oh, can you take my picture?

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He's like, actually, I

already have your picture.

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And they were like, what?

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That's super creepy.

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You have my picture.

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And he opened up his Bible

and he read them this passage.

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He said, this passage is your picture.

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This passage is you,

you're looking in a mirror.

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When you read this passage, you're looking

at yourself when you read these words.

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So that's what we're gonna see tonight.

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Before we get there, I want you to

remember where we're at, where we're at.

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Romans is a letter.

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It's a, it's an argument.

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It's a, it's a series of thoughts.

74

It's one connected train of

thought, and it's easy to lose

75

that when we go slowly like this.

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I mean, this isn't really

that slow for Romans.

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There's people that take way longer to

go through Romans than we're doing, but.

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We're in this big first section.

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God's wrath is good.

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God's wrath is righteous.

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God's wrath is the right

response towards sinners like us.

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We, we think God should punish us.

83

That's, that's the conclusion that

we're getting to the, the point

84

of this section is we wanna get to

this next part, next week's sermon.

85

I don't want you to be surprised

that God sends people to hell.

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I want you to be just surprised

that God forgives anyone.

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That's where I want you to

be by 6:30 PM next Wednesday.

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I don't want you to be surprised

that people go to hell.

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I want you to be surprised

that anyone doesn't go to hell.

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That's the the, that's what

Romans is setting us up for.

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Okay.

92

So what's happening?

93

How do we get there?

94

Well, this is kind of Paul's

tying everything together.

95

Paul, the Apostle Paul, he wrote

this letter to the church in Rome.

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He's tying all of all of these

steps together into this big

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conclusion, and, and this is the

conclusion that he's come to.

98

So read.

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Um, actually before that we're

gonna do things a little different.

100

I'm gonna give you the point first, and

then I'll, we'll look at the verses.

101

Okay?

102

So our first point is we need

to ag, we need to agree with

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God about who we are, right?

104

Acknowledge your rebellion against God.

105

There's a few different ways

that the Bible talks about sin.

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We talk about sin, maybe the, the

most common way you think of sin

107

is maybe missing the mark, right?

108

I messed up, I made a mistake.

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Maybe that's the way you think of

sin, or maybe you think of sin,

110

um, as doing the wrong thing.

111

I, I disobeyed God.

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Sin isn't just disobeying.

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Sin is actually personal.

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Sin is you personally rejecting

God, rebelling against God.

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Sin is is you turning away from God.

116

You're God's the God's, the

ruler, and you're saying, I don't

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want you to be in charge of me.

118

That's what sin.

119

And that's the first part of

what Paul wants us to see.

120

Look at verse nine of chapter three.

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So we just talked about some arguments

against the gospel and then we talked

122

about a lot about Jews and Gentiles.

123

Verse nine, what then are

we Jews any better off?

124

Right?

125

Is there any advantage to being Jewish?

126

Is there any advantage to being God's

chosen people from the Old Testament?

127

Paul says, no, there's, you're not

any better off on Judgment Day.

128

You don't get any extra righteousness

credited to your account.

129

There's no, there's no benefits to being

a Jew when it comes to judgment four.

130

Why?

131

We have already charged that all.

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Both Jews and Greeks are under sin.

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Under sin.

134

Let's look at that under sin.

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What does that mean?

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Right?

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Does that mean like sin is.

138

On top and we're like literally under sin.

139

No.

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So what does that mean?

141

Well, what Paul's doing here is he's,

he's giving us a picture of sin.

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Like sin is a slave master,

or sin is a, a kingdom.

143

And he's saying that every single

person, you, me, doesn't matter

144

where we're from, doesn't matter how

much religion we have in our past.

145

Doesn't matter how, what church we went

to or who our parents are, every single

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person starts off in this category.

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Under sin, every single person

starts off under sins mastery.

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The way we talked about it, our

community group last night, was

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that sin is driving the car.

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Sin is taking you where it wants to go.

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You aren't driving the car,

sin is driving the car, right?

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Some of you guys, you get.

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Sibling driving and you're

stuck in, in the back.

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Your siblings taking you places

that you don't want to go.

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You don't want to go get ice cream.

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You're stuck in the back of the car.

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They're your ride.

158

You gotta go, right?

159

What Paul is saying here is that that's

every single person when it comes to sin.

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Sin is in charge of you.

161

Sin is in control of you.

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And that's different than maybe

some, some things that you

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might think about sin, right?

164

You might think of sin as

something that I choose.

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I'm the one who's, who's

in control of my life.

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I'm making these decisions.

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I'm the one who's, who's

choosing what to do.

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I get to decide, oh,

I'm not gonna do this.

169

I'm gonna do that.

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I don't do this.

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I am, I don't love this.

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I love this.

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Instead, you, maybe you think

you're the one in control,

174

but really sin is addictive.

175

You think you control it, but really

your sinful desires control you.

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You don't control your sinful desires.

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They control.

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You,

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it's when you think

about addiction, right?

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A lot of people who, who are

addicted to things think that

181

they can stop whenever they want,

and that's how they get addicted.

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They think, well, okay,

I'll start doing this drug.

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Or maybe it's, you know,

I'll start playing this game.

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And then they can't stop.

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They can't stop.

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I remember when we went to, um, strikes.

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Right.

188

There was a, a game that may or may

not have been gambling, and there

189

were some students there who were

gambling, um, and they couldn't stop.

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They, they couldn't leave.

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They literally wouldn't, they like

begging their parents, please,

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please don't make us leave.

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Please don't make us leave.

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We need to stay here.

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We can't leave.

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They thought, oh, well this

game's not in control of me.

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I'm playing the game.

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But, but really the game's

in control of them, right?

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Because they're locked in, they

can't leave, they're stuck.

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They're like, I can't leave this game.

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I have to get everything right.

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Sin is addictive.

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Sin isn't just bad things you do.

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I heard a pastor put it like this.

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Sin is a slave.

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Master.

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Sin isn't just you saying,

oh, I do these bad things.

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Sin is actually taking control of you.

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You're under sin.

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Maybe you think, oh, well, I

can just stop sinning when I get

211

older and I'll become a Christian.

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Then Paul's saying that

you're actually under sin.

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Your sinful desires are

in the driver's seat.

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They're driving you around.

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All you can do is sin.

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You can't stop.

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You're stuck.

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But it's easy to say that and then be

like, well, I'm just a victim, right?

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My sin controls me.

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I just do whatever my sinful desires want.

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How I'm not responsible then, right?

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'cause I'm a sinner.

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That's just what I do.

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I sin.

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I can't help it.

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That's actually the opposite

of what Paul's about to say.

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Keep reading here in verse 10.

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He's gonna quote a bunch

of Old Testament passages.

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Verse 10.

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As it is written, no one is righteous.

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No, not one.

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No one understands.

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No one seeks for God.

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Everyone all has have turned aside.

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Together.

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They have become.

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Worthless like corrupt.

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No one does good.

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Not even one.

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You aren't just a victim

of your sinful desires.

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You're an active participant in them.

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You're not just in the back of

the car being driven around.

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You're in the back of the

car enjoying the ride.

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You're in the back of the

car saying, this is awesome.

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Please take me there.

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Please let me go where you want me to go.

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I love this ride.

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You're not just stuck in the car, you

actually are stuck in the car because

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you don't wanna get out of the car.

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It doesn't even matter if there's

a child lock on, you can't get out.

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You're saying, I love this.

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I want to be here.

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And that's what sinful desires are like.

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You're not just a a victim to them.

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You are a willing participant.

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That's what Paul's talking about.

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No one is righteous.

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No one likes doing the right thing.

259

He's saying every single

person loves sinning.

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No one understands.

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What that means is that there's no one

who naturally agrees with what God says.

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Everyone naturally

opposes God and His word.

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That's your natural disposition.

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That's what you're

naturally like naturally.

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No one says, oh, you know what?

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I want to follow God.

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I want to to be unselfish

and love other people.

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That has to come from God.

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It doesn't come from you.

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All of our values are

backward to God's values.

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Like you think about, a great

example is humility, right?

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You don't have to teach

a baby to be prideful.

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You don't have to teach a baby to

look out for their best interests.

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Every baby grows up thinking

about themselves when they

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don't get what they want.

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They cry when they're hungry.

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They cry when they're cold.

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They cry when they're hot.

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They cry, right?

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They're, do they care if

they're waking their parents up?

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No.

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They just wanna get what they want, right?

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Then you get older and really you

just learn how to like socially

284

make your sin socially acceptable.

285

So instead of crying, you just gossip

about people instead, or you exclude

286

them or you hurt them or whatever.

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So everyone, sin comes

naturally to everyone.

288

Every single person naturally

is opposed to God's values.

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God loves things like humility.

290

We love things like pride.

291

God loves things like peace.

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We naturally are anxious.

293

We naturally worry about all

these different things that

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we don't need to worry about.

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You don't have to try to sin.

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Also, when we talk about no

one seeks for God, right?

297

You think about, well, there's all

these religious people out there.

298

There's all these other religions.

299

Everyone seems to know that God exists.

300

What do you mean no one seeks for God?

301

Right?

302

You're telling me that the Buddhist

monk isn't seeking for God.

303

You're telling me that the, the,

the Muslim guy who, who goes

304

to and prays seven times a day,

he, he doesn't seek for God.

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Well, one, he's not seeking

for this God, right?

306

But also no one naturally wants God.

307

We just want His stuff.

308

We don't really want God, we want.

309

God gives us, we love the things that

God gives us more than we love God.

310

That's called idolatry, right?

311

We, we say, oh God, well, I

want you to make me happy.

312

I want you to keep me safe.

313

I want you to give me the,

the, the grades I want.

314

I want you to gimme the friends I want.

315

I want you to make my siblings do

what I want, but I don't want you.

316

We don't naturally want God.

317

We just naturally want his

stuff because we're sinners.

318

That's how deeply rooted

our sin is, in fact.

319

We all avoid God, that word turned aside.

320

It sounds kind of weak.

321

It's like, oh, I just made a wrong turn.

322

What it really means is like you're

avoiding, you're going out of the way.

323

People go out of their

way to not look for God.

324

People go out of their way to avoid

God, and we've all been there, right?

325

All of us have actively avoided God.

326

You've actively decided,

God's given me a Bible.

327

I don't wanna read it.

328

You've actively decided.

329

God's offered himself to me in prayer.

330

Not gonna do it.

331

We've all actively turned away from God.

332

God has said, I give life, I give peace.

333

I give joy.

334

And we say, well actually God, I

can be happier doing my own thing.

335

I can be happier living my own way.

336

I can be happier making my own

decisions and not listening to you.

337

We all turn aside.

338

We all reject God.

339

We say, God, your way's dumb.

340

My way's better.

341

I'm gonna do that.

342

That's sin.

343

Whenever we sin, that's what we're saying.

344

We're saying, God, I don't want you.

345

I want me.

346

That's sin.

347

We are all so sinful.

348

We are rebelling against God.

349

We're opposing God, right?

350

Sin isn't just making mistakes.

351

Sin is actively opposing God.

352

When we sin, right?

353

When, when, like for example, let's

just take, um, let's take anger, right?

354

You get upset with someone in your heart.

355

You hate them in your heart.

356

That's you saying, God, this

person is so inconvenient to me or

357

bothering me so much that I'm going

to, to murder them in my heart.

358

You're rebelling against God.

359

That's what, that's what anger is.

360

Or let's take um, anxiety, right?

361

Anxiety, rejection of God.

362

Anxiety is saying, God,

I know that you're good.

363

I know that you're wise.

364

I know that you love me,

but I don't trust you.

365

I need.

366

To be safe.

367

That's what anxiety is.

368

It's a rebellion against God.

369

It's saying, God, I'm gonna live as if

you don't exist, and I'm gonna live as

370

if this thing is more powerful than you.

371

I'm gonna be more afraid of

this thing than I am of you.

372

It's rebelling against God.

373

So all, all sin is, is actively

rejecting God and rebelling against him.

374

Remember, sin is sinful because

of what it says about God.

375

I heard one pastor, he said that if.

376

God didn't exist.

377

And let's say you were a successful

version of Hitler and you

378

actually did kill all of the Jews,

379

would that person, if there

was no God, no heaven, no.

380

Hell would that person deserve to

suffer forever for their punishment.

381

If they killed, if they succeeded in

wiping out a whole race of people,

382

they wouldn't deserve to suffer forever.

383

They did a finite amount of sin and

they sinned against finite people.

384

If you sin against an infinitely

awesome and amazing God, that's why

385

you deserve infinite punishment.

386

You don't go to hell because of

what your sin does to other people.

387

You go to hell because

your sin says God is.

388

Even though he's the most amazing,

most glorious, most worthy to be

389

trusted, most worthy, to be loved

most, he's so patient with me, he,

390

he's so kind to me and I don't care.

391

That's why sin sends people to hell

forever because of God, not because

392

of what happens to other people.

393

So even if you say, oh, my

sins not hurting anyone,

394

what does it say about God?

395

Sin is sinful because of what it

says about God, not because of

396

what it says about other people.

397

And because of all that, our sin has

made us, this word says worthless.

398

It's ruined us.

399

We've become corrupt.

400

We've become thoroughly

infected by our sin.

401

So our second point tonight is

admit that you are thoroughly

402

evil, thoroughly, right?

403

Whole, holistically all of you.

404

Every part of you is

infected by sin, right?

405

You're not a house that just

has a couple rooms of sin and a

406

couple rooms of righteousness.

407

Every part of you is sinful.

408

I don't know if you've seen this before,

but if you've seen the difference between

409

when you put food coloring in cold water

and when you put it in hot water, it's

410

like this science experiment people do.

411

When you put food coloring in cold

water, it takes way longer to spread out.

412

When you put it in hot water, it

fills the whole thing pretty fast.

413

So I think a lot of times

we see ourselves like this.

414

We say, well, yeah, part of me might

be sinful, but part of me is not.

415

I do some good things.

416

I do some bad things right?

417

Part of me loves God.

418

Part of me doesn't, and we see ourselves

as, oh, well, parts of me are bad.

419

Parts of me are infected by

sin and parts of me aren't.

420

Part of me are clean water.

421

Part of me is.

422

Polluted water.

423

Right?

424

Really, this is us apart from

Christ, all of us are colored by sin.

425

All of us.

426

This, this sin is infecting every

part of us, not just some parts.

427

It's not like, oh, well I'm, I'm only

sinful when I'm with those people, or I'm

428

only sinful when I'm doing bad things.

429

Actually.

430

Because of how thoroughly,

how sinful we are.

431

You're always under sin.

432

Apart from Christ, you are

always infected by sin.

433

That's what Paul talks about in verse 12.

434

Everyone's turned away from God,

the other of become corrupt.

435

No one does good.

436

Not even one.

437

No one does good.

438

Paul is saying that that billionaire.

439

Atheist who donates to

charity, he's not doing good.

440

What do you agree with that?

441

That sounds weird, right?

442

Well, why?

443

Well, when you think about it,

every good deed that someone does,

444

if it's not for God, who's it for?

445

It's for them.

446

It's selfish.

447

And remember what we

talked about with sin?

448

Sin is sin because of

what it says about God.

449

If you donate a billion

dollars to charity.

450

For you.

451

What are you saying about God?

452

You're not even acknowledging God.

453

You're saying God is worthless.

454

God isn't important.

455

God's not worth my time.

456

You're stealing glory from God.

457

Maybe you're drawing

attention to yourself.

458

So really that good thing that

you did is still infected by sin.

459

There's no clean water in that activity.

460

It's all polluted.

461

Think about all the things, all the the

good things that you could do for selfish

462

reasons, and think about your life if

maybe before you were a Christian or

463

maybe now you're, you're not a Christian,

think about all the good things you

464

do and think about how your motives

are so sometimes double sided, right?

465

It's like, well, did I really do that?

466

Did I really?

467

Say that encouraging word to that person

because I wanted to encourage them, or did

468

I say it because I wanted 'em to like me?

469

Maybe both, but guess what?

470

Is that a pure act then?

471

No, it's infected by sin or, oh, well,

did I really, um, answer that question in

472

small group because I wanted to be honest?

473

Or was I answering it because

I wanted attention and I

474

wanted to impress my leader?

475

Well, even if it's both, guess what?

476

Not a pure motive, right?

477

So we're incapable apart from, from

God of doing anything good because

478

everything about us is infected by sin.

479

Just like all of the water

in the jar is polluted.

480

And then Paul goes on to talk

about how he talks about a lot of

481

different body parts here, right?

482

You see things like throat.

483

Tongues, lips, mouth.

484

And then we talk about feet

and we talk about like walking,

485

and then we talk about eyes.

486

I think what Paul's trying to say

here is he, so he's compiled a bunch

487

of quotes from the Old Testament,

and what he's saying is that you're

488

evil from head to toe, right?

489

From your head to your feet.

490

You're a terrible person.

491

That's what Paul's saying.

492

Paul is saying that your words

are, they tear people down.

493

They're an an asp, that's a snake.

494

That's like a Egyptian cobra.

495

If you know about Cleopatra,

that's probably the kind that

496

she used to kill herself Anyway.

497

Um, there your mouth.

498

And what did you just

say about our mouths?

499

Right?

500

Our mouths reveal our hearts.

501

He says, out of the abundance

of your heart, the mouth speaks.

502

What comes outta your mouth is

actually showing your heart.

503

So everything about us is polluted by sin.

504

See how Paul here is focusing

on motives and intentions too.

505

Not just actions.

506

He's not just talking about the

external things that people can see.

507

He's talking about the things

that go on in your heart

508

that no one else knows about.

509

Right?

510

He's talking about deceiving people.

511

He's talking about bitterness, right?

512

I, I might not be able

to tell if you're bitter.

513

Your parents might not be able to tell

if you're, if you're being bitter, if

514

you're holding a grudge against someone,

if you're tearing someone, someone down

515

when, when they, they walk away or even.

516

Their feet are swift to shed blood.

517

That's an intention.

518

That's it.

519

I, I want to hurt someone.

520

So

521

even our good deeds are

filled with mixed motives.

522

They're filled with selfishness,

they're filled with pride, and so

523

we are thoroughly infected by sin.

524

There's no part of us

that's untouched by sin.

525

We're not like, oh, 90%

sinful, 10% good, or.

526

60% righteous, 40% sinful.

527

Everyone is 100% sinful, 100% sinful

before God does something to you.

528

But also sin makes us

blind to our need for help.

529

So if you keep reading

in our passage, verse 19.

530

After all those quotes, Paul

says, now that we know, whatever

531

the law says, it speaks to those

who are under the law, right?

532

So under the law, that means the

people that are under the authority

533

of the law, so that every mouth

may be stopped and the whole world

534

may be held accountable for God.

535

So no objections.

536

No objections.

537

Every single person is accountable to God.

538

Every single person falls short of

God's standard, and every single

539

person is responsible for that.

540

That's why we all deserve God's punishment

because God has a standard, he, he gives

541

the law and no one can make any excuse.

542

You can't say, well, God, I, I

wasn't sure that you existed.

543

Right.

544

Romans one, we talked about how

everyone knows that God exists

545

and then you say, well, um, maybe

I was part of the right group.

546

I got baptized, or I went to church,

or My parents are Christians.

547

Romans two, right.

548

Paul talked about how even the

Jewish people have all these

549

religious advantages, but.

550

They don't measure up to

God's standard either.

551

So no one has any, any standing to say,

God, actually you shouldn't condemn me.

552

You shouldn't punish me for my sin.

553

So sin because it makes us

blind to our need for help.

554

God gives us the law by works

of the law, no human being

555

will be justified in his sight.

556

No one, no person is good

enough to go to heaven.

557

That's what Paul's saying.

558

Since through the law

comes knowledge of sin.

559

The law shows us that we're sinful.

560

God gives us the law.

561

He gives us his word, he, he tells

us what he expects of us, to show

562

us that we're not good enough.

563

Because one of the symptoms of

sin is that we don't see it.

564

We don't think we're sinful.

565

Most people, if you ask

them, are you a good person?

566

Yes.

567

Or most people, you ask them, do you think

you're gonna go to heaven or go to hell?

568

Uh, I think I'm go to heaven.

569

Why?

570

I'm a good person.

571

Or I went to church, or I prayed a prayer.

572

Get a lot of people who assume, right?

573

There's a country song.

574

I believe most people are good, or I

believe that most people say, oh, but

575

there's goodness in everyone, right?

576

We see that in a lot

like Star Wars, right?

577

That's like the whole point of Star Wars.

578

So we see a lot of, a lot of

this come out just implicitly.

579

We think, oh, well, somewhat deep down

they're, they're really a good person.

580

Or we think kids are just good natured and

then they get corrupted by our society.

581

Not true.

582

Kids are sinners, and

so that's why they sin.

583

So God needs to show us that we're sinful.

584

And the way he does that

is he gives us his law.

585

It's kind of like, I dunno if you remember

these things from elementary school.

586

So I have terrible handwriting.

587

Um, these things don't

help me write neatly.

588

They just make me feel bad.

589

These things don't help

me have good handwriting.

590

What they do is they show

me that I stink at writing.

591

They show me as I try to

fill out the, as I could even

592

probably do this on the board.

593

I'm not going to, but they show

me that I'm a terrible writer.

594

That I, I have terrible

handwriting, terrible penmanship.

595

I don't write neatly or I have

bad motor skills, whatever.

596

Right.

597

That's what God's law does.

598

Right.

599

We try to fill out the, the form.

600

We try to, to write the

A's and and write ant.

601

We try to do that and.

602

We end up looking terrible 'cause we

see what we're supposed to be like and

603

we realize, oh man, I'm not doing that.

604

We need that.

605

'cause otherwise we would think

we're good because we look around.

606

Imagine if you didn't know what

an A was supposed to look like

607

and you just had a bunch of third

graders try to write the letter.

608

Or sorry, a bunch of three-year-olds

try to write the letter A sometimes

609

third graders, some of you.

610

I see your sermon notes anyway.

611

Um, no, I'm just kidding.

612

But imagine, right, if we're just all

doing this and we're just comparing

613

ourselves to each other and we're

not comparing ourselves to this,

614

it makes it harder to see, right?

615

If all the three-year-olds in the room

are like trying to write, you know, in

616

the lines and they're like, well, I'm

better than you and I'm better than you.

617

But guess what?

618

If we show them this, oh

yeah, I don't measure up.

619

I'm not good enough.

620

My A looks nothing like that.

621

A, even if it's the best a

in the three-year-old class.

622

I don't even know if

three year old's, right.

623

Anyway, um, you get the point, right?

624

The whole point of the first three

chapters of Romans is to expose your sin.

625

The whole point of, of what probably

feels like a bunch of discouraging

626

sermons is because we are so bad at

admitting that we need God to save us

627

because we love to rely on ourselves.

628

We love to think that we're good enough.

629

We love to think that, that

I don't, I, I can make it.

630

Maybe, maybe God will help me,

but I'll do like some of the work.

631

We love to think those things, right?

632

The Mormons, one of their phrases

that they'll tell you is, the way

633

salvation works is you do your best

and God takes care of the rest.

634

So you try as hard as you can to

be a good person to, to do what

635

the Book of Mormon says, and then

God will make up the difference.

636

But as long as you tried.

637

Good.

638

The Bible says you're the

worst and God does everything.

639

So we are so bad at admitting

because we love to rely on ourselves.

640

We love to be to get credit for things.

641

We love to deserve things.

642

We love to earn things, and

that's what's wrong with us.

643

So our third point tonight is

abandon your reliance on self.

644

Right.

645

Give it up.

646

Say, I can't, trust

me, I can't rely on me.

647

I can't count on me to be good enough.

648

When I stand before God and he

judges me, I can't say, well, God,

649

look what I fill in the blank.

650

Look what I did.

651

I can't say that because

that's me relying on me.

652

One of the, the things with sin is it,

it's called blindness a lot in the Bible.

653

And the thing about sin is it, it makes

us think that we're fine on our own.

654

It makes us think that we

don't need other people's help.

655

When I was listening to what some

people said about this passage, I heard

656

this epic story about Ringo the Duck.

657

I want you guys to meet Ringo,

the duck from the seventies.

658

The reason he is named Ringo.

659

Is because he was trying to like, eat

stuff through some trash and you know,

660

those like soda can things, he got one of

those stuck around his, his beak and so

661

he couldn't open his mouth all the way.

662

Um, and so he, this was in Toronto I

think, and everyone tried to help him,

663

but imagine, right, you're trying to

help this duck get the, the ring off.

664

Its off its bill.

665

What's the duck gonna do?

666

Is duck gonna be like,

oh yeah, please help.

667

Duck's gonna fly away, right?

668

Duck's gonna jump in the water.

669

So all these people are trying to

help Ringo and Ringo's running away.

670

Ringo's saying, I'm scared of you.

671

I don't like you, I'm going away.

672

So these people in Toronto, they

made like a, like a coalition

673

to help Ringo, like save Ringo.

674

And so they got, um, people with

like net guns to try to catch Ringo.

675

Didn't work, couldn't catch a Ringo.

676

He kept escaping.

677

They got like some skin divers to go and

like try to ambush Ringo and, and get him.

678

Still didn't work.

679

They even got the champion duck collar

from Canada to get Ringo to come and they

680

got other ducks to come, but not Ringo.

681

I don't know what happened to Ringo.

682

Ringo may have been liberated

from his, his plight, um, but.

683

He might not have.

684

Ringo might have died.

685

He might have, he might have starved to

death 'cause he couldn't eat anything.

686

But the point is that all these people

tried to help Ringo and Ringo ran away

687

from their help because Ringo didn't

realize that they're trying to help him.

688

Ringo didn't realize that

these people care about him.

689

He just saw, oh, they're scary.

690

I'm gonna run away.

691

Ringo obviously is a duck.

692

Can't admit that he needs help.

693

A lot of people are like Ringo, like

God comes to you with the gospel.

694

You hear sermons, your parents talk

to you, your leaders talk to you.

695

You're convicted of your

sin, and you run away.

696

You say, I don't want that.

697

That's, I, I don't think

that's good for me.

698

'cause Ringo thought I

was gonna hurt Ringo's.

699

Like, oh, they're gonna kill me,

they're going to eat me, whatever.

700

Right?

701

Ringo didn't wanna do do

that, and so he ran away.

702

Part of the problem for us

when we're under sin, right?

703

We're even sometimes Christians,

we're so influenced by our sinful

704

flesh that we don't want God's help.

705

People are naturally resistant to God.

706

We naturally want to rely on ourselves.

707

We naturally want to do things our way.

708

We naturally don't want God's

help because we want to hold on

709

to anything that gives us credit.

710

We wanna hold onto?

711

Oh, well, I'm, I'm not really that bad.

712

I know that I know what the Bible says.

713

I know that I'm a sinner,

but I'm not like that bad.

714

I'm not gonna confess that sin.

715

I can't give up that God's

asking me to stop doing that.

716

That's what repentance looks like.

717

I don't wanna do that.

718

You're telling me that that's better.

719

That God is better than, than this.

720

You're telling me God's

better than that relationship.

721

You're telling me God's better than,

than this hobby that I really enjoy.

722

You're telling me that that God's

worth investing time into time reading

723

the Bible and and time praying and

and time talking to other Christians.

724

We love to hold onto our own goodness

or our own independence or our own

725

priorities, and it prevents us.

726

From being saved a lot, or if you're a

Christian, it prevents us from growing.

727

If you never admit that you need help,

you're not gonna grow as a Christian.

728

The the less you feel like you're

a sinner, the less you'll grow

729

even as a Christian, the less

that you feel like you need.

730

God's grace and God's help, and

God's power and God's Word, and

731

God's people to help you grow.

732

Trials to help you.

733

That's why God gives you trials as

a Christian, because we're so bad at

734

growing that God has to make us go through

really hard things so that we trust him.

735

Because if God just gave us

all these good things all the

736

time, we'd forget about 'em.

737

And we love all his gifts

and we wouldn't love God.

738

So God has to give us, there's,

there's a, one of Paul's letters.

739

He basically says that God almost

had to kill me to get me to, to

740

trust him, to stop relying on myself.

741

How sinful Paul was, and I can't

imagine that any of us here

742

are much better off than that.

743

There's a scene in Indiana Jones, um, the

last crusade where, I don't know, at the

744

very end, spoiler alert, um, they find

the holy grail and um, which isn't real.

745

Anyway, um, this lady really wants

it and she, she wants to grab it.

746

And what happens is they're, they

find it and the cha uh, every Indiana

747

Jones movie, everything starts falling

down and the building gets destroyed

748

every, at the end of every movie.

749

And, um, the, the Holy Grail, it falls

down this crack and she jumps after

750

it 'cause she's trying to get it.

751

And if Indiana Jones, he grabs

her hand because he, if she,

752

lets go of him, she's gonna fall.

753

But she's trying to grab this.

754

She wants the this cup, she wants

the holy grail and she wants it so

755

bad and she's so consumed with, I

need that, that I need that treasure.

756

I need that.

757

She thinks it's gonna make

her live forever, right?

758

She's like, I want that so bad.

759

She doesn't realize she's literally

about to die to get it, and so he's

760

trying to pull her up and she can't stop.

761

She, she wants it so bad.

762

She ends up letting go and dying

because of how bad she wants.

763

That she, if, if she lets, if she gives

up on this, if she says, you know what?

764

I give up on that, I'm gonna

let go of that and grab onto

765

you, then I'll be saved.

766

I'll live.

767

But she is so caught up in

this, in the holy grail.

768

She wants it so bad she can't give it up.

769

And she can't let go of it in

order to to grab Indy and be saved.

770

That's where I think a

lot of you guys are at.

771

You know that, that God could save you.

772

You know that he could pull you up,

773

but you're so caught up with

your sin, you love it too much.

774

You can't let it go, or you can't

really bring yourself to admit

775

the fact that I need a savior.

776

I don't just need God to help

me and clean me up a little bit.

777

I need God to save me 'cause I'm a sinner.

778

I deserve hell.

779

I deserve wrath forever.

780

And you can't let go of the fact

that, oh, I'm, I'm not that bad.

781

Or I, I have to, I have to.

782

Following Jesus means putting

him above that person or that

783

priority, or that ambition of mine.

784

You can't give it up.

785

You can't let it go and

it's, it's gonna kill you.

786

If, if you can't surrender to Jesus,

787

whatever you're, you're

chasing after will kill you

788

because you have to let go of it.

789

You have to abandon your self-reliance.

790

You have to say, I'm not good enough,

so don't hold on to that anymore.

791

Right.

792

Stop holding on to.

793

Whatever it is that that makes you

feel like you can, maybe you think

794

I'm too sinful to come to Jesus,

whatever it is, stop holding onto that.

795

Give it up and it, and admit,

turn away from yourself.

796

Say, I'm not good enough.

797

I fall short.

798

I need Jesus to save me.

799

I don't just need Jesus to help me.

800

I don't just need Jesus

to, to partner with me.

801

I need a savior.

802

I don't just need help.

803

Let's pray and we'll talk

about that in small groups.

804

God, thank you that you love us so much.

805

We are awful people.

806

Um, and we admit that and confess

that, um, that we are sinful.

807

We are worse than we think we are.

808

We are more evil, more selfish, more

prideful, more lazy, more lustful,

809

more anxious than we think we are.

810

And so I pray tonight that you

show us that, that you show us who

811

we really are, that we would see

ourselves the way you see us, first and

812

foremost, our sin, the way you see it.

813

But I also pray that we would be able to

see salvation for what it is that we would

814

remember, that trying to hold on to our

sin, trying to hold onto the world, trying

815

to hold onto ourselves will kill us.

816

Turning to you in repentance and

faith, trusting that you, Jesus,

817

died to take away our sin, and you

live to give us righteousness, and

818

you rose again to defeat death.

819

Trusting you, turning to you

in in faith gives us life.

820

So I pray that we're honest

and we're open in small groups.

821

And I pray that we, you help us to, to

really see things the way they really are.

822

You pray this in Jesus name.

823

Amen.