I just want to assure you it was not a time to push political agendas or parties or candidates. It was just simply a matter of saying, okay, here's the 10 things that, you know, basically news outlets say are the things that are on people's minds. Well, what does the Bible have to say to them? And the idea was, If we are to live out what the scriptures say, then we should know what it says about those issues. And that was it. But politics is a subject that we aren't supposed to talk about, right? And we did. So I thought, what better time to tackle topics that we tend to avoid? I mean, let's just keep this going. So all joking aside, There are topics that we may stop short of speaking about with unsaved family and friends. Now that doesn't mean that we go and we seek out fights and we try to bring up things that are controversial but I'm just simply saying there are things that we just maybe don't say when we really should be saying something. We might avoid teaching or discussing certain subjects even here at church. And things we personally avoid thinking about or applying to our lives can also apply to this. So we just simply skirt around that, that's a little uncomfortable, or I'll deal with that later. And we're going to kind of jump in a little bit here. But I wanted to remind us of what James 1.22 says, it says, be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. So in reality, it doesn't matter whether we actually confront properly with the scriptures They are what they are, and truth is what it is. And that's what we're going to be talking about. So the idea here is that we want to progress to be doers of the word in every aspect of our lives. Regardless of the reasons, we tend to sidestep topics, and this series will provide us with an opportunity to consider and deal with them. So these are, again, subjects that we sometimes avoid. They may not all apply to you, but some of them probably will. And today's topics are sin, worldliness, and God's judgment. Sin, worldliness, and God's judgment. I think one of the best ways that we can start this is to simply remind ourselves that we need to call sin what it is. We can sometimes shy away from using the word sin. We might be intimidated because the world mocks the thought of sin, frankly. They see it as old-fashioned and outdated, or they don't see sin for what it is. Isaiah 5, verse 20 says this, "'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil! who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. I don't know how we can illustrate better from the Word of God the opposites of what is right and what is wrong, of what is godly and what is ungodly. It is light and darkness and so on. Sometimes we try to diminish or we don't try to, we just do, we diminish the weight of our own sin by renaming it a fault, a mistake, or a flaw. So, as you're seeing, there's two ways that we're going to be tracking this morning. One is just life in general, and then the other part is a little more on the personal side. Ultimately, what it comes down to is a society And I do believe that ours is one that is heading more toward darkness and we can identify that in many different ways but a society, right, we can't control society. We should respond appropriately to it but we can determine whether or not we're going to be obedient. And so that's the two tracks there that we need to take. So let's talk about what sin means. And it's not extremely complicated. Sin basically means missing the mark. Missing the mark. Being off target. So if we would apply that to God's Word, it means this is what the Lord says, and we're just off of it. Or we're way off of it, right? If you miss, does it matter how much it is? It doesn't. It doesn't matter how much we miss if we miss the target. We're not on target. So if the bullseye is the target, it doesn't matter what ring we're in when we're doing what is wrong. Now, I'm not here to talk about consequences. There are varying consequences to sins. There are sins that are more serious. We have laws that reflect that in our country, right? If I go into a store and I take a small item, it's not going to be the same as if I murdered the clerk. Right? So we understand that. But both of them are still missing the mark. Sin is anything that we say, do, or think that goes against God's word. Sin was introduced into the world through the fall of Adam. Now, we're going to go through this a little bit. I want you to understand, this is not going to be an exhaustive theology of the doctrine of sin, but it's going to touch on some things. And the reason why I'm doing this is because this idea of sin, worldliness, and judgment, well, sin especially, is really going to be a bit of an umbrella of the other things that we tend not to want to think about. Right? Because some of those are sinful. And so this is a bit of a blanket statement as well. And so I want to make sure that we fill in some of the thinking here. So sin was introduced into the world through the fall of Adam, and we see this in Romans 5.12. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, that's Adam in context, and death through sin, thus death spread to all men, because all have sinned. So every person, that is, we, are all sinners. And we are all sinners by nature because that was passed down to us from our ultimate human dad, Adam, when he fell. 1 Corinthians 15 verses 20-23 say this, Now again, We're contrasting here, Adam and Christ. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at his coming. So the word all is there a couple of times, and I just need to point out, when it says here, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, that all is those who are his. that is defined in the end of the passage, okay? It's not saying that there's a universal salvation, but there is universal death. If you don't believe me, just drive past any graveyard. No one's escaping that. There isn't Christ it, all right? Psalm 51.5 says this, "'Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.'" Now this isn't saying that somehow my mom did something wrong. It's simply saying that the sin nature is passed down to us. So when we're born, we're born sinners. Now some people might say, wait a minute, you're talking about innocent little babies. Really? Really? Babies never cry out of selfishness? Little bitty kids don't express their own wills in the wrong way. You see where I'm going? You don't have to teach a kid to do right, well actually you do, you don't have to teach a kid to do wrong. Come here, I don't think so. Keep your diaper on. Eat this, I don't, nah. Now, you have to admit, for kids, some of that's okay, right? If you don't want to eat, like, peas, there's no sin in that. Sorry, parents, I'm just kidding. Anyway, but you get the idea, okay? We were brought forth in sin. Now, we're also sinners by experience, and I realize that we don't have to really illustrate that. But the scriptures do say this, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God in Romans 3.23. And then James 4.17 says, therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. So what do we have here? We have sins of omission, the last one. You didn't do something you're supposed to do. And then we have sins of commission, doing those things that we're not supposed to do. So they're both included here as sin. So what I want to do is I want to convince us to keep the word sin in our vocabulary, in our thinking. I didn't say think about sin, but keep that term appropriately in our minds. Sin is direct rebellion against God, his will, and his standard. And the unsaved need to know what sin is and that they are a sinner. It is then that a person knows that they need a Savior. Now, one thing we need to be careful about here is that we're not talking about all believers being some kind of morality police all the time, right? You put a little blue light on your head and maybe have a little siren and, you know, be telling everybody all the time, you're a sinner, you're a terrible person. But at the same time, it is going to come up. And by the way, it's going to come up in your life too. To shrink away from calling whatever it is, what it is, is to be shrinking away from the truth. Now what does the scriptures tell us to do? To speak the truth in what? In love. We're to respect everybody and there is a respectful way to say that's not right, that is wrong, that's an offense against God. We as Christians need to be truthful about identifying our own sin for what it is. So again, if we start to mislabel it or if we, you know, connive our way into other things and we don't call it what it is, that's not helpful. The problem with sin is that we have a lot of help, a lot of assistance in committing it. Not just because we are sinners, and I'm not trying to shift blame here, but there is also the lure of the world. Let's start with a reminder of what the word world means here. The Bible uses the term world in different ways. We're not going to go through all of them, but in this context, meaning how we're going to discuss it, it stands for man's kind system that is opposed to God. That's what we mean when we talk about the world, the world system, worldliness. The world system is almost always a sinful variation of something that is pleasing to God. I'll give you some examples. Hard work, even saving money, can become greed. We can fake kindness to manipulate others. Is kindness sinful? No, unless it's done for a selfish purpose. A basic need like clothing can even turn sinful. Even a passion for personal holiness can degrade into a judgmental attitude toward other people. So really, we can put forth a lot of different things and they can be corrupted. So the lure of the world, or what draws us to live like the world, isn't just sin, it is the whole mechanism of encouraging it. It is the system in place that is set against God and is designed to draw us away from God. So what do the scriptures say about this? Ephesians 2, verses 1-3 says this, And you he made alive, speaking to believers, who were dead in trespasses and sins. in which you once walked." Walked is always talking about, in this type of usage, lifestyle. This is how you lived. According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sense of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh. fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others." There's a lot there, folks, okay? But one thing I want to pick out of here is this. The prince of the power of the year is Satan. Satan rules this anti-God world system. He's the one who's behind it. He is the first and ultimate rebel. And he wants everybody else to rebel with him. The sad thing is, as we look at this passage, there are many folks, not many folks, every person is happy to do that. In this context, you could read down a little bit later and it would tell you it's by the grace of God that we are saved, that we are rescued from our sin. Ephesians 6.12 says this, Again, that's a mouthful. There's a lot there, but just in a nutshell, what it's saying is our battle is not against people. Not that we might not have someone who is enticing us to do something wrong, but ultimately it is the world system controlled by Satan that is driving all of that. I also want us to look at 1 John 2 verses 15-17 because it explains and helps define what this world system is all about. Do not love the world or the things in the world. Now again, this is not saying that you can't go out and enjoy the view at Yosemite National Park. Okay? This is referring to that world system. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. for all that is in the world. So now we're going to have what this worldly system is defined as. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. The world's passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. What we have in here, and by the way, the word lust simply means a selfish desire. It goes back to that whole idea where there's something that's good, but sin corrupts it. It's off the mark. And so it might be something that's fine in and of itself, except that it becomes a selfish desire of ours. So we have here three foundational elements of every kind of sin. And so I just want to kind of explain them a little bit differently. As we talk about this idea of missing the mark and being lured by sin, there's lust of the flesh, selfish desires through bodily cravings. Anything that our flesh, our body would want, but then, again, turns into something that offends God. Lust of the eyes, selfish desires through what we see. And frankly, I'm just going to say, men, we have a battle in relation to that when it comes to sexual lust. But all of us still battle, I see something and, oh, I really want that. What is covetousness? That's wanting what somebody else has. Wanting what somebody else has that I see they have. And then, the pride of life. That's self-centered living. That's me, myself, and I. That's elevating who I am at the expense of God's standard, right? So these are the selfish desires that we battle. So how does desire and sin work together? We see this in James chapter 4, I'm sorry, chapter 1. Chapter four, verses one through four, sorry. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Now, this is speaking actually to believers, right? Where do we have problems? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that warn your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on what? Your pleasures." Now, again, we're not talking about pleasures, good things, things that we might enjoy that are according to God's standard. We're talking about selfish desires. Look at what it says here. Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Folks, this is pretty strong language here. One of the things that we need to see in this passage is desires never fully satisfy. Selfish desires never fully satisfy, right? You keep wanting and you keep trying to get, but you don't. James uses very strong language here. He says adulterers and adulteresses. What he's saying is all of this is happening. These problems that you're experiencing are happening because you're cheating on God. You are in love with the world. Folks, that hits you between the eyes, doesn't it? Then we have James 1, 14 and 15. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. And then when desires are conceived, temptation gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. So how does all this work together? It works together because we not only have sin itself, but we have the enticement to sin. And again, that goes back to the world system. The world system says, hey, you're missing out. Let me advertise getting high. Or if you need this, getting low, right? Let me advertise excess in this area. You don't have enough and you don't have that thrill. So gamble, gamble your life savings away. And on and on and on and on we can go, right? Like I say, it's not here to just name a whole bunch of sins. The point is this, is that when we desire something, temptation is right there to say, oh, I have something for you. Right? And then what results? We offend God. It's when we use self-control, tackle those desires, and say no to them. But again, this is talking about the process that it takes here. So what's the point? Christians face a constant pull from this world system. Let's just understand something here, and there's verses I can give you to back this up. Satan, and what he's all about, he's not for you. He's called the enemy purposefully. That's his name. He doesn't want your good. He wants to divert you from a relationship with God. He wants to corrupt that to where it's an elevation of him. It sounds simple. But folks, you know as well as I do, whether you're here and you are a follower of Jesus Christ or not, sin is a powerful thing. And the tug to do it is very powerful. Now, understand something. We have to go back to the idea here that part of this whole world system, bless the flesh, bless the eyes, the pride of life, some of that is in us, too. We can't just say, oh, all of these terrible outside influences. We are sinners by nature. So even as a follower of Christ, we don't lose that propensity, that tendency to default to what comes easy, what comes natural. There is a constant tug. It's not fun. It's not nice to say. It's something that we avoid, which is why we're talking about it. But we're all selfish to one degree or another. And we have to fight it because that's ultimately what sin is. It's selfishness. So let's move on then because there is a penalty for sin. Now, let me begin this by saying some say that Christians act superior because we think that we are special. We think we're special people whom God chose and we cannot lose our salvation. Now, by the way, that phrase includes truth. Anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ is chosen by God. And if God brings us into his family, as Jesus said in John 10, right, he's not going to lose us. We are rescued forever. But I think it's that superiority idea that some people think flows from us. And frankly, I have known some Christians who think this way, that I'm better than you, not just you come off as being superior, but I'm better than you because I'm a follower of Jesus. Anyone who properly understands what God has done for us knows that our salvation is completely based upon God's grace. It's what he has done, not what we have done. So salvation really isn't about us, even though we absolutely benefit from it. So we cannot make it about us or let someone else make it about us. So if someone were to say to you, for example, you just think that you're, well, it's okay to gently say, you know, that might be true about somebody that's not true about me. Now, you have to be able to say that honestly. I'm just to be blunt. To say, I don't think I'm any better than you. I think that I'm forgiven. I've simply acknowledged who God is and what he has done for me and who I am, right? But there is another extreme, and I wanted to illustrate that extreme where, hey, I'm a Christian, I'm somebody. To the other extreme, which is also wrong, and that is playing down or ignoring the devastating eternal punishment for unforgiven sin. See we can shrink back to where, yeah, yeah, I go to church, right? Yeah, you do your thing, I'll do my thing and we're all going to be okay. No, we would be denying the penalty of sin in regards to that. The terrible truth is unforgiven sinners will not enter heaven. And by the way, and I don't mean this some kind of tongue in cheek off the wall remark, I don't make the rules. God does. And he doesn't need defending because none of us are righteous as we've already said. None of us deserve what he gives. But look at what Galatians tells us, Galatians 5, verses 9 through 21. Now, the works of the flesh are obvious, which are adultery, sexual immorality, and by the way, that's any kind of sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. Okay, just real quick, what Paul is saying is this, I might not have named your sin, but it's still sin. Okay. Of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Does it say here, and I'm just going to say it like it is, if a believer commits adultery, that they're really not a believer. It doesn't. Now. If a believer commits adultery and has no remorse for it and continues practicing that. Yeah. So I'm throwing in one of the biggies here, right? But listen, there's there's there's multiple lists in scripture. We might see another one, but the point is this. Those who practice sin, in other words, they sin as a lifestyle, as opposed to trying to be followers of Jesus Christ as a lifestyle, not for salvation, but because we're saved, right? They will not inherit the kingdom of God. Elsewhere in Galatians 6, verse 7 and 8 says this, do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, what he plants, he will reap. He's going to gain the fruits of that. For he who sows to his flesh will also of the flesh reap corruption. Now, keep that word in mind for a minute. But contrast, he who sows to the spirit, right? First of all, we're made alive. And now we're living by the Spirit, right? But he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. So if everlasting life is the contrast, what is corruption? Corruption ultimately is death. That's what that stands for. Sin is something God takes very seriously. He cannot overlook it because it is a violation of his perfect character." Folks, I'm just telling you, and I got to go back a little ways to give you context. In high school, I tried to witness to my friends, and I had several friends tell me that they were basically looking forward to going to hell because that was where all their friends were going to be, and they were going to party. And even though they were laughing and mocking me, the bottom line was I tried to tell them in no uncertain terms that that's not what hell is going to look like. God doesn't chuckle and get a little red in the face and say, oh, you silly people. No. It angers him and it's a righteous anger and at some point all who live a lifestyle against him are going to be forever separated from him. So we see here is that the payment for sin is death. There's a common business concept, return on investment. what I get in return for investing in a product or a service. I think of Frankie Hornick, who makes pizzas. Mama Mary's pizza, if you're over on that end of town, it's delicious, right? But if Frankie can't make money selling pizza, for whatever reason, by the way, I have permission to use this illustration, Frankie will find another way to earn a living. He's not just going to make pizza because He wants to make pizza. He's making pizza to make money. And that's a good thing. Why would he invest all of his time and energy and everything else and even have employees, right? So that he goes home with nothing or less money than where he started. Now, so what's Frankie concerned about? His return on investment. Well, we've all sinned. We've all made sin. We've put our little toppings on our sin, our favorites. We've baked it, right? We've all invested our time and energy and resources in disobeying God. And frankly, even as believers, we sometimes do that. We wanted to do it and we liked it. prior to Christ we desired the results and maybe even I should say in all sin. We sin because we want what we're going to get out of it. But what is the return on investment of sin? Ultimately the scriptures say it's death. Romans 6.23, for the wages, the payment, the return on investment of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. I don't know how we can have any more of a contrast than that. So we need to understand that God will judge sin. 2 Peter 3, 7 says this, but the heavens and the earth are now preserved by the same word, which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Revelation 21, 27 says this, but there shall be no, by no means enter. And we're talking now the new Jerusalem. This is, this is the latter part of revelation. This is heaven. We could call it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. In other words, only those who are followers of Christ. I want you to turn with me to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. If you need one of our pew Bibles, that's on page 1073. I want to read for you verses 11 through 15. By the way, I want to make it clear just as we have a little bit of a pause here. This is, how do I say this? I'm not one of those fire and brimstone preachers. Right? You're not going to come and every week you're going to hear me banging on the pulpit, you know, screaming about hell and, you know, maybe losing the vein in my forehead. Okay? But at the same time, the truth is truth. And you have heard me and will continue to hear me talk about the consequences of offending God. Right? We're not going to stop doing that. But what we're talking about is how we speak in and with the world and maybe there could be somebody here what you are actually saying to yourself. Revelation chapter 22, let me read for you verses 11 through 15. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still." I'm sorry, let me pause. We are now at the end. This is the judgment. Okay? In other words, there's nothing else that anybody can do anymore. All earthly life is over. This is the judgment. Sorry? Oh, 22. Typo on my part. Makes a big difference. Chapter 22. Yes. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. He who is holy, let him be holy still. Now again, where do we receive our righteousness from? It's Christ. Okay. Verse 12, and behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. Christ is saying here, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie. Now, by the way, just in context here, in this culture, dogs were not our fur friends. Dogs were a lowly creature that only had utilitarian purposes, all right? It doesn't make those people bad. It just means that we spoil animals, all right? I'm guilty, all right? But I just wanted us to understand that was not a good thing that he was saying, all right? So here's where we're at, folks. There is a penalty for offending God. Now, we've already illustrated through part of this, you can't miss that peppered in here is the hope of eternal life through Christ. And in some ways that brings us to the next thing that we're talking about. Now again, we're talking about a response to the world and the world system and we're talking about a personal response, right? The next thing we're looking at as we talk about sin, worldliness, and God's judgment is the appropriate response to sin. First thing is we need to see sin and the world system as God sees it. Sin is a corrupting force. Sin is a destructive force. and will ultimately cost someone their soul if the sins that they have committed go unpaid for because we can't pay the cost of it. That's why Christ died. Sin is rebellion against and a rejection of God. So as we're talking about a response, I think the first thing we need to do is understand that we need to own our sin. And by that I don't mean, ooh, yeah, this is my sin. I just simply mean we need to name it for what it is. If I have a tendency to lie, I need to name it for what it is. I'm not just embellishing the truth. If I lie once, I need to call it straight, and so on. If I'm here today, or as we're talking about dealing with the world, I'm talking with someone and it's clear that they have never placed their faith in what Jesus has done for them, then As we call sin what it is, as we own it, the ownership is I am choosing to keep the burden of my selfishness, to do what I want to do, and I'm willing to pay the cost of that. What have we said is the cost? It's eternal death. It's an eternal existence of dying, of suffering, separate from God himself. So, I encourage you, a proper response is owning it, calling it what it is. The next is repent. There is a repentance unto salvation. Look what 2 Corinthians 7, verses 9 and 10 says. Now, I rejoice, not that you were made sorry. Now, we're talking now about the Corinthian church. This is the second letter that Paul is writing to them. This was a messed up church, and he told them, look, you guys are not living your salvation outright. They were believers. But look at how he talked to them, because they corrected some things. Not that you were made sorry, meaning you felt bad about how you were sinning, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us for nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance, leading to salvation." So this is ultimately what he's talking about. Godly sorrow leads to salvation. Not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. In other words, just because you feel bad about doing something wrong doesn't change anything. It is that godly sorrow that says, I have offended God. I am going to repent. I'm going to have a change of heart and mind. I'm going to have a change of direction. I'm going to live differently. That's what he's talking about here. And then back in Revelation, John is writing to another church, a church in Laodicea, and he is kind of concluding what he says to them, but look at what he says to them. And this is actually Christ's words. As many as I love, I rebuke. That's a strong correction, right? And I chasten, I punish, I help them get back on the right track. Therefore, be zealous and repent. So repentance is for those who need salvation, repentance unto salvation, but there's also repentance for sanctification. What's sanctification? Spiritual growth. I'm a follower of Christ, but I'm not doing something correctly. I'm heading in the wrong direction. I'm living in some way selfishly. I'm offending God. I'm gonna stop doing that. I'm gonna change my thinking. I'm gonna change my direction. And now I'm going to do what the Lord wants me to do. And by the way, he says, be zealous and repent. Change your direction with some enthusiasm. Not like, oh, maybe next week I'll stop embezzling. Maybe next week I won't say hurtful things to the people that I love. I'll try to quit. Does that sound like zealous repentance? No, because if we've owned it, we've called it what it is, then we know it's offensive to God. And as someone who claims to be a child of God, I don't want to offend my father. I want to express my love to him. We heard that in the first hour. We also We talked about repentance now, we also need to put our faith in Christ. Again there is saving faith, if you are not a follower of Christ here today you need to trust in Christ and that he died to pay the penalty for your sin, he died in your place. We would be happy to talk with you about that, we've already shared several verses regarding that. But then for the believer, there's also daily faith, that step-by-step trust in the Lord. Romans 12, 1 and 2, by the way, this is an often quoted passage. It can be very familiar, but I don't want to miss what it contains. I beseech, this is I beg, I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this world. We've already defined what that is, right, folks? That's the system that's actually against God. Don't be conformed to this world. Don't let this world system shape you into its mold, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Let's not miss this. God's will is good. It's beneficial to us and for us. It's acceptable. We should want it. And it's perfect. So as we're thinking about what this passage says, we have become a new creation in Jesus Christ, but we have a responsibility to renew, to reset the way we think, the way we reason about life. So how might we apply this? How would a renewed mind think? Just in general, a renewed mind will be receptive to God's word, right? because we're not thinking and acting and doing what the world system says. We're not conformed to that. We're transformed, so we're renewing our mind. A renewed mind to transform life will be receptive to God's Word. A renewed mind will obey the leading of the Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit, resides in us. We have someone who comes alongside of us and helps us. A renewed mind will have a proper view of sin. A renewed mind will consider others before themselves. A renewed mind will consider others before myself. And by the way, that transforming is an active process, which means then that the renewing is an active process. Just so that we understand what I mean, We're not to be conformed to this world, but we are to continually transform, have our lives transformed into being more like Christ. How do we do that? By the renewing of our thinking. Folks, real briefly here, I had a good education at Genoa Area Local Schools. I really did. laced in there was worldly thinking. I had the opportunity because I felt that God was leading me into ministry to go to Bible college. Two years into Bible college you know what I realized? I stopped and I thought to myself, wait a minute, I'm thinking differently. I really tried as a Christian young person to be a follower of Christ, to, you know, obey him and things like that. But you know what? There was some thinking that just crept in. And what I realized was, as I was saturated, obviously, in Bible college with the scriptures, I started to realize my mind is changing. That's what all of us need to do when it comes to how the world influences us, which includes our own selfish desires. It's who we are and it's what we're in. Sin should become more and more repulsive to the obedient follower of Christ. Not so long ago, we took a detailed look at the process of putting off sin and putting on Christ. Ephesians 4, verses 20-24 speak to this, for you have not so learned Christ, talking about the wrong kinds of activities, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Isn't it neat how all this is fitting together? and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man which was created according to God through righteousness and holiness. Instead, we should want to please God. Colossians 1.10, think that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. So where does this bring us? We cannot accurately give the good news of Jesus if we entirely leave out the bad news of sin. God loves you only goes so far, folks. Quick illustration. You're watching television. There's a product. And the product, it says, you need this, right? And I say, I don't need that. You've not convinced me that I have a need. But this is great. This is wonderful. You need this. We can espouse God in a general sense But someone has to understand they have a need for him. Now, I'm just talking shop here when it comes to my illustration. Is it your responsibility to make sure that they buy? No. You cannot cause anyone to respond in faith. That's between them and God. But part of the truth is that they have a need. If we do not label sin for what it is in our own lives also, then we will not properly deal with it. This is an example of how our own hearts can fool ourselves. Let's put this in a more positive way when it comes to the Christian. When we are honest about missing the mark of God's standard and adjust the aim of our living, we will consistently hit the target. Right? He's not enough just to say, oh, that was a bad shot. You have to adjust your aim. That's repentance. Being honest about our sin is the first step to correcting it and moving on to spiritual growth. So again I've been going back and forth between Christian, unbeliever, the world, how we deal with that, how we look at ourselves. So I just want to end with this, if you're here today and you've never received Christ as your Savior I need to share the hard truth with you, your entire life is off target, you're going to miss the mark. The path of our life if we are apart from Christ is eternal separation from God and you will receive exactly what you deserve. I don't say that with any joy, I don't say that out of a smug superiority, it's just reality. So I want to encourage you, admit that you are a sinner, turn from living for sin and self, and receive what you do not deserve. And can I just humbly tell you, receive the same person, the same act, the same work that Jesus did that I absolutely did not deserve? I have no idea why I'm going to heaven, because I didn't do anything. It's what Christ did for me. Salvation from God through Christ is there, is offered because Jesus died to pay for sin. So I want to encourage you, don't miss the mark. Whether it be our own personal holiness or whether it be salvation in Jesus Christ. Folks, it's easy to get up here and, you know, go off on these things, but I just tell you humbly. You know, the old thing, you know, what we say as kids, right? Something about how, you know, anything you say to me, you know, I'm rubber and you're glue, right? That's what it was. Anything you say to me bounces off me and sticks to you. Well, I don't need it to bounce off of you. I know I'm a sinner. Ask my wife. Seriously, I know I'm a sinner. I know I offend God. I'm a recovering sinaholic. Seriously, I'd love to be able to say I gave all that up. I'm working on it but that is only possible because God graciously saved my life, rescued me, gave me hope because of what Jesus did. Jesus says, come unto me all you who labor, all you who are just working at it and heavy laden, burdened, and I will give you rest. But we need to come to him on his terms. Remember I said in the beginning of the message, I don't make the rules. I don't make the rules about what sin is. God did. Because he's a holy God and a just God. I don't make the rules about how we come to him. And what he says is this, you can only come to me through my son. Now think about this. A person who rejects Jesus says, I do not want the gift of your son's death. I want to live my life the way I want to. I don't want your authority over me. I am not going to place myself under your care. I can do it myself. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, what I just spoke of is the same attitude that we have as a believer when we sin. We basically say, I want to do it my way. I want what I want, not what you want. And if we were to be directly honest with ourselves as your followers and even as we just look back at our past life, We know that doing what you want us to do, doing what you command us to do is actually the best. But Lord those who don't know you, your scriptures tell us don't know any better because they've not been made alive, they don't understand. I pray Lord there's someone here today who needs to trust you as Savior that you would work in their life, that they would respond to you in faith but Lord also that as we are going out and being salt and light and telling Jesus, rightfully so, that God is love, that Jesus came to this earth and died on the cross for sinners. Lord, I pray that we help people understand what it really cost him, what he really paid for, because we offended you. Lord forgive us for the times when we just again want to do things our own way. We thank you for your patience in our lives. We thank you for the grace that you've shown us through Christ. In Jesus name, Amen.