And we've done a series here in the book of 1 John. 1 John 1, verses 8 through 10. There is a Bible in your pew if you like it, if you'd like to look at it. Sometimes the words are a little small, but anyways, 1 John 1, verses 8 through 10. Denial of sin brings death. Cleaning products are supposed to make things clean and germ free. But did you know that the cleaning products can be the vehicle for spreading soil and germs? Sounds counterintuitive. How can cleaning products make things soiled or contaminated? Well, consider what recently happened. Now, this is a report from 2022. Consider what recently happened with a high-end line of cleaning products sold under the name of the Laundress. The company recently had to recall nearly 8 million units of the products, including laundry detergents, stain removers, and surface cleaners, because they potentially were infected with dangerous bacteria with really long, hard-to-pronounce names. I'm not going to pronounce them, there's several here. Safety regulators said consumers should immediately stop using all reference products and return them for a refund. Or consider another similar incident just months prior when the Clorox company, the king of clean right, had to recall various pine saw cleaning products because of the risk of bacteria. In both cases, the products designed and marketed to clean our filth and thus keep us healthier were spreading germs that could kill us. Can you say irony? Sadly, a spiritual parallel occurs in human hearts every minute of every day as we make our feeble attempts to wash ourselves and purge ourselves of the stain of sin. We attempt to scrub our soiled souls with a detergent. of our human efforts, good works, and good intentions. We try to wash away past and present sin with the stain remover of pious acts or legalistic mandates. Yet for all our effort, we are simply injecting more sin, soil, and contamination into the mix. And just like those contaminated cleaning products, our self-righteous efforts can and will kill us. I want to look here at 1 John 1, verses 8 through 10. Denial of sin brings death. If there's a problem in your life, if there's a health issue in your life, when I go to the doctor, I would like the doctor to say, Chris, here is the problem. I don't want him to say, Chris, man, you're the finest specimen of health there is. I would hate to hear those answers if it's not true. None of us. I mean, when he immediately says it, you're like, yeah, I'm in good health, but why am I hurting? There's a disconnect there, right? That just doesn't make sense. But if we acknowledge the sin, in 1 John 1, verse 8 through 10, if we say that 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 that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar. His word is not in us. My favorite two verses in the entire Bible. There's nothing greater about these. They mean a lot to me during probably some of the darkest days I've ever been through in my life. And they just encourage me and challenge me. Here in Hebrews chapter 12, one and two. Can I tell you that God's desire is to scrub the sin from our lives? Not because God's trying to be harsh, not because God's trying to be mean, but God says, listen, if there's cancer in your body, let's get it out. If there's a problem, if there's boils or something else, a sickness in your body, I don't want it there, let's get it out. Every one of us want to be cleansed and purified. You know what, that's a wonderful thing. After you've been working a long hard day, I know when we were doing the renovations, man, there were days we were just sweating, just sweating like mad. And you're out there and you're all muddy and you're all dirty. You know what's good? You get in that shower, throw on that shampoo, throw on that soap and you clean your body and you get out and you're clean. But not only are you physically clean, but there's something that happens inside. Man, I love when I'm clean on the inside. I know between God and I, there's nothing between my soul and the Savior, as that famous hymn discusses. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about. So great a cloud of witnesses, that cloud of witnesses you can read about Hebrews chapter 11, which is the hall of faith chapter. Man, you talk about Christians that got it, Hebrews chapter 11. Many of them, their stories from the beginning, the stories in their early life, sometimes their stories later in life, they made some pretty big mistakes. but yet they're still listed in the hall of faith because they began to move forward in faith for God. Don't let your past be your, hold you back from what God wants to do in your life. Cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, that sin which pulls you down. You might have friends in your life, man, they just, every time you make an advance for the Lord, every time you begin to move forward, it's like they say something, they do something, they just like jerk you back down, jerk you back into the mud pit, and you're just like, Oh, am I ever gonna move forward? Right. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which has so easily beset us, and the sin, and let us run with patience. I don't like that word, but patience. You know, the Christian life, it's not a sprint. It's a day by day. I don't know if you've ever run a race. I remember one time I did a 530 kilometer bike ride. I was out on the West Coast, I went over the Cascade Mountains, and I did a ride, and you know what? Pedal by pedal, stroke by stroke, as I rode a long ways, I had to patiently, every stroke, just go. To make my way, I went from Seattle to Spokane, and it was a long ride, and then I ran a 12K race, and you know what? Again, every step. every step, patience, the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. You know, that's a beautiful, wonderful story here, and scripture is clear that all of our righteous deeds, everything, there's things that I can do for God, and God says, well, I didn't really want you to do that. All of our righteous deeds, righteous by my standard of what is right, are like smelly, filthy rags, in the nostrils of the Lord, Isaiah 64, 6 tells us. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We all do fate as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. You see, the more we try to clean ourselves, the dirtier we become. Ever find yourself like that? Man, you're moving forward, and you're like, I make one step forward to five steps backward, and you're like, ugh! You ever find yourself like that? I mean, it kind of gets discouraging. You're like, I want to do right, I want to move forward. Can I tell you there's only one cleaning solution? To remove the stain of our soiled souls. That's the cleansing power of the blood of the lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. As we look here in verse seven of 1 John chapter one, we mentioned this several weeks ago. In 1 John chapter one, Verse seven, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Verse nine, if we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You know what? There's always, always a path back to the cross. There's always forgiveness. If I will recognize there's a problem in my life and you recognize in your life. The passage of scripture deals not with a lost person, but in fact he's addressing saved people. People who are living a self-righteous or a proud life, not saying, God, is there anything in my life that shouldn't be there? There's a blindness on the part of many Christians who don't realize they are out of fellowship with God and they're on a path of hurt. As I mentioned earlier, if you go to the doctor and the doctor says, you're okay, but he looks at the MRI or he looks at some sort of the CAT scan or some other type of technology of imaging, and he sees things that shouldn't be there and he doesn't tell you about them. That's a bad day. You see, that's what the Spirit of God does. The Spirit of God, man, he is the best technical imagery you could ever find to look inside and say, Chris, there's some things that shouldn't be there. You see, the problem with many in today's society is we all have a burden of guilt without a sense of sin. The burden of guilt is there. It shows up in many, many ways, but so many of us don't see ourselves as sinners needing to be forgiven. We see ourselves as people who make mistakes that need to be fixed. And so we're trying to fix ourselves and somehow compensate for or commiserate with the problem without getting cleansed and forgiven. If the doctor was to say, here's the diagnosis, Chris, you have cancer. Then I'll ask, Doc, what do I do? How do I fix it? I don't wanna just know there's a problem. And many times, we can feel the weight and the burden of the sin, but I don't know how to get cleansed. I don't know how to get right with God. And that is the problem in our lives. I can feel the guilt and the shame of my actions, but then I'm like, well, now what? When you feel that weight, it's just like, you're frustrated. You feel down and discouraged. You're like, God, why? Can I tell you, we're gonna talk today about the denial of sin. Next week, Lord willing, we'll talk about the truth, the truth that sets you free. Can I tell you, God doesn't want you just to feel the guiltiness of sin. It's kind of like a little kid. And the little kid, he sees the hot cookies on the table, chocolate chip cookies, fresh chocolate, peanut butter chocolate. I mean, that's like, woo-hoo, amen, right? And mom says, don't eat the cookies. And the little kid, he grabs the cookies, ow, holds on to it, puts it behind his back, chocolate all over his face. Did you eat the cookies? No. Well, he's feeling the guilt. He knows he's done wrong, and we feel like that before God sometimes. We feel the guilt. But where do I go from here? A little boy would have to say, Mom, I'm sorry. I ate a cookie. I'll accept what you say. You know, we all want God's, there's additional pain, hurt, and frustration in our life because we live in denial of that which God hates, and God hates sin. In Hebrews 8, 12, it says, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities while I remember no more. You know what God says? He says, listen, you confess the sins, I don't remember it anymore. It's wiped clean. It's wiped clean. We want God in Isaiah 43, 25, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. That idea of blotting out as if, say you have a court record, you have a book and it has all your criminal record, and God has that eraser, perfect eraser, and nothing is seen on that record again. Can I tell you, in the Christian life, God's desire for you and I as a Christian, the record is clear, but what happens is that fellowship, that relationship, it would be as if my wife and I were to have an argument, and she's still my wife, but that relationship has tension in it. And this is what he's talking about. There's tension in your life between you and God. There's a stress, there's a trial, there's struggles in your life. And you're like, I don't know what to do. I'm out of answers. And God says, I want to give you the key. And this is what he's trying to tell them. God says, I love you. Let's come back. Let's look at Hebrews chapter 10, verse 14. Still my introduction here this morning. But man, this is exciting stuff. Because what's happened here in the book of 1 John is there's these people, they're dealing with Gnosticism, these people, oh, we've got this enlightenment, we've got this secret knowledge, and we are God's gift to man, and all of this stuff, and they're propping themselves up, and the Apostle John, by inspiration of God, is saying, yeah, we're all sinners. We all, we all have things we do in our lives that we could all be made more like the image of Christ. We're all growing. Praise the Lord for that. In Hebrews 10, verse 14. For by one offering He hath perfected... That word perfected there means made whole forever them that are sanctified. Verse 17. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission or the forgiveness of these is? There is no more offering for sin. perfected, made whole, them that are sanctified. God says, listen, you're my child. You're mine. You're adopted into my family. You are part of my family. The word here translated as perfected has a sense of being made complete or whole. I am complete in Christ. The word translated as sanctified is the present tense and passive voice. You could think of this thought here as essentially, for by one offering, he has completely made whole those who are being sanctified, and all of us are being sanctified. That idea of sanctified, the word sanctified means to be set apart. If you work for a company, you're set apart. You're an employee of that company. You're not an employee of another company. You're that company's employee. You're set apart. God's saying, you're being sanctified. You're set apart unto me. You're being made like Christ. We all need to be confronted with truth. I want you to look with me at James 1, Hebrews, and then comes the book of James. Verse 13. James 1, verse 13. God's desire is all of us to have a fear of sin. A hatred for that which destroys us. Can I tell you, if you think about this in your life, if something drops on the ground, recently we had to go to the Shell gas station, I had to pick up some ice for my wife. And imagine she's eating a sucker and it falls on the ground, right outside the Shell gas station. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna pick up and drink, eat that sucker anymore, that sucker. I'll buy her another one, do something, but she's not gonna eat that because the amount of foot traffic in and out of there, who knows where people have stepped? I don't want that in my life. I don't want, I mean, it could be okay. I don't know about that, right? It's kind of like when you go fishing, and I was several years ago with our dog, she was a rescue dog, and this guy came in with a dog, and he'd been feeding his dog the raw fish. Well, the fish sometimes have worms in them. I don't want to feed, if I'm going to give my dog some fish, I'll cook it. I don't give my dog fish, but if I were, I would cook it because I don't want them to have worms. Would you want to eat raw fish that has worms in it? It might or it might not and God's saying listen. I want to give you the best I Want you to be clean and pure and I want to man. I want that relationship to be sweet Can I tell you when my wife and I and the relationship is good and all this and it is good But but when that relationship is I mean you're just like we're out on a date and we're together and enjoying the time together We went on a cruise here not too long ago, and it was just a four-day cruise, but man it was awesome and I'm just spending time together. In the book of 1 John, God's saying, I want a close relationship with you. In James 1, verse 13, no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. As I mentioned, that little lollipop on the ground that falls, a little bit of dirt might have some deadly viruses on it, deadly bacteria. I don't want any part of that which is going to destroy my body. And God is saying, Christian, I don't want anything in your life that's going to destroy you. And so God is trying to get our attention here. In 1 John 5, 17, all unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death. You see, our life standard is not my morality. It's not a self-proclaimed truth, but the Lord's unchanging wisdom in the Holy Bible. We must not justify sin, but rather confess and forsake it. And God's not trying to continually say, oh, you did this wrong, and you did this, and pointing fingers. The only reason why God gives us conviction, he says, listen, I want that sweet relationship. Man, I want to be close with you. I want to know you. But unfortunately, there's a sickness here. If you had a virus, a very, very sick virus, and you had to be separated, I mean, it was just one of those, like, rare viruses, and you were in those rooms, and you're all quarantined off, you're like, oh, I just want a hug again, right? And God's saying, listen, I want that sweet relationship. And if I say I don't have sin, I'm saying, God, there's no problem. And he said, well, we're all growing. We all have things in our life we could all grow from. And it's, I'm not the standard of what is right. And I'm not comparing myself to you. You shouldn't compare yourself to me and be like, I'm better, I'm worse. It's not a comparison to me. The comparison is to perfection, and that's God. And God's saying, I want to be close with you. Again, all that God does, all of this idea of sin in our life is God saying, I want sweet fellowship. So let's open up in a word of prayer, and we'll continue our study this morning. Our Father, I thank You for this morning. Lord Jesus, I thank You for the love You've given. Lord, if there's any sin in our lives, Lord, I pray that You would reveal it to us. And Lord, that we'd be willing to do what is right. Father, not as a judging, but as a means of getting closer to you. Father, that's the name, the precious name of Jesus that I want to be close with. Father, I love you, and I thank you for this morning. And should there be someone here this morning that has never personally confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, may this morning be the day of salvation. Lord Jesus, I love you. Thank you for your grace and your precious name, I pray. Amen. We have a deception that we start off with here. The principle I want to get across this morning, my desire, is to receive the truth of God's word, confess your sins, and be restored to fellowship with God and man. God's desire is fellowship with Him and with man. And there's a problem here in verse 8, a deception. If we say that we have no sin, I like what Rod Mattoon states, he's a pastor but also a commentarian. He says, when people have deceived themselves, they blame others for their problems and live as if they are not accountable. They also live in doing God's will, they are not available. They compromise with evil, that's acceptable. Worldly heroes are admirable and considered adorable. What is right and wrong is adjustable, according to your dictates. Spiritual growth is abysmal. Living for Christ, that's abnormal. Apathy and laziness are admissible. Selfishness, sensuality, and unfaithfulness are allowable. The cost of their sin becomes astronomical. Getting right with God and living for Him is advisable, attainable, achievable. Can I tell you in all of that, We go back to 1 John 1, verse 6. 1 John 1, verse 6. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, if there's something in my life that I'm doing that I shouldn't be doing, and I say, God, I've never been closer, and He's like, well, there's a habit of your life, a sinful habit you're continuing to do. He says, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie. and do not the truth. Again, I know this isn't one of those necessarily really feel good messages, but man, if I go to the doctor and the doctor says, Chris, there's something wrong and here's the solution, here's what you need to do, I'm like, sign me up, because I wanna get better. I wanna heal, I wanna grow. I don't wanna stay in that sick condition. And verse 10 is, we look in our 1 John 1 10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Do you realize this? In several places in the Bible, 1 Kings 8 46, if they sin against thee, for there is no man that sinneth not. And the verse goes on. Proverbs 20 9, look with me at this passage of scripture. Proverbs 20 9. You know what, you and I can't cleanse ourselves. I can't make myself clean. I can't. The cleansing doesn't come from me. I don't have the spiritual soap to cleanse Chris. I don't have the ability to do that. Jesus does that, the blood of Jesus. He is the one that washes me white as snow. He is the one that cleanses me. In Proverbs chapter 20, verse 9, now I understand there's choices of obedience I make that draw me closer to the Lord, but ultimately in Proverbs 20, verse 9, who can say I have made my heart clean? I'm pure from my sin. I need the Lord as the Spirit of God convicts me, and then I act based upon the conviction of the Spirit of God, as you think about this from the scriptures. Here's the idea here. Use the right measuring stick. A self-righteous man once boasted to a Christian friend of his, you know, John, I'm not such a bad fellow. There are many worse than I. His friend replied, Ivor, you are measuring yourself by the wrong standard. You measure yourself by the harlots and drunkards you see on Skid Row, and you feel quite satisfied by comparison. But go and measure yourself alongside Jesus Christ and see how you make out. No person's life cuts much of a figure when placed alongside the perfect life of Christ. The life of the Lord Jesus shows us how crooked and defiled their own lives really are. It is no wonder God says, there is none righteous, no, not one. 2 Corinthians 10-12 tells us, I'm not going to compare myself to you. You shouldn't compare yourself to me. The only standard I'm going to compare myself is to Christ. And the idea in the Christian life, yes, there is obedience, and as I walk in obedience and as the Lord convicts me of sin, I say, oh, I should, you know, I do need to change this behavior, and as I walk in obedience, there's that cleansing, there's that being made more like Christ, and that fellowship should get sweeter. If you think about, if you read some of the hymn writers and some of the stories behind what they've written, They've gone through some hard times. You think about last weekend with Pastor Nez as he was preaching and he just came under the conviction of God and God would work and work and work and here he is today preaching the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ because Christ made the difference. Christ did a purifying that he could never do on his own. You know what, the Bible tells us, Ecclesiastes 7.20, for there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not. You know what, we all, all of us, we all sin against God. And I want you to look at something here, Romans chapter seven. Now, that sin that we do, it doesn't lose our relationship with God, but it loses that sweet fellowship with him. I lose fellowship. You know, if my wife and I have a disagreement or have an argument, that doesn't end the relationship. That just, you know, if you're walking into a room and you're like, I can kind of cut the tension with a knife. I mean, you just feel it. It's just like, ooh. You don't see it, but man, you can feel that tension there. And the Bible, seeing sin the way God sees it. When I'm forgiven, yes, all my sins are forgiven. Praise the Lord for that. I have eternal home in heaven. Amen. I am forever secured as God's child. But as I live the Christian life, that relationship, I'm either closer or further from Him based upon whether I'm walking in obedience, And I'm walking, if he says, hey, Chris, there's something you're doing you shouldn't be doing, you're right, Lord, I confess it. And then he says, listen, that relationship is restored. The fellowship is restored. If you think about this in Romans 7, verse 7, the Bible tells us, what shall we say then? Is the law a sin? God forbid. I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. That word concupiscence means an irregular appetite for worldly good. Basically, I want to do what I want to do, right? And for without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Here's the truth. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we're sinners. You know, and here's the war of the natures. I was talking with someone not long ago on the war of the natures. We're saved with God. We have eternal home in heaven. It's guaranteed. I know Jesus as my Savior. I know heaven's my home. But as I walk this life with the Lord and I struggle with certain things, can I tell you the Apostle Paul struggled the same way you and I did? Think about this, Romans chapter seven, verse 14. I love this passage of scripture, because there's times in our life we're beating ourselves up, we're like, ah, I'm trying, I'm trying, it just doesn't feel like I'm doing enough. And the true is there's a war of natures going on. I want to do what I want to do with it. I want to serve God, I want the peace of God, I want the rest, I want the comfort of God. But you know, there's times. I just want to do what I want to do. You ever find yourself that? I mean, there's times I want to do what I want to do. And it's kind of like, I want the best of both worlds. And there's like a battle going on. In James 1.8, it tells us a double-minded man, a Christian is a double mind. I want what I want, and I want what God wants. I want the benefits of God, while I want what I want. And it doesn't quite work that way. I mean, it's like a colossal tug-of-war going on sometimes in our mind, and I'm torn inside going, ah! In Romans chapter 7, we see this struggle internally. In verse 14 of Romans 7, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. Paul's saying, listen, what I want to do, I'm not doing. What I shouldn't do, I do. If then I do that which I would not, I consent to the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not." Do you ever get that place? You're like, how do I do good in the Christian life? How do I move forward? Man, I feel bad, but I don't know what to do. And Paul's like, man, I want to do right, but I don't find myself doing, and when I don't do right, you know, he's just, he's torn. This is the apostle Paul, whom God mightily used. Goes on to say, for the good that I would, I do not. He said I should be doing good, but I'm not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself, through the law of God, with the flesh, the law of sin. You know what sin does? Sin is, I'm living for myself, and then there's the law of sin. The law of sin is, listen, you did wrong. Let me point at you. You did wrong. God doesn't want to just point. God says, listen, I've got the solution. I want to fix it. God's always for restoration. God's always for reconciliation unto himself. So that's where coming back to 1 John, he's saying if we say we have no sin, there is that war going on. In Romans 6, verse 14, just go back one chapter if you're there in Romans. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. God's saying, listen, you don't have to give in to the selfish desires. You know, our daughter, she's five now, and when she's younger, and she's growing and learning, but there's things in her life, I've never had to teach her how to be selfish. I've never had to teach her how to be mean to others. Never had to teach her how to do that. It comes naturally. You know, it's natural. When there's opposition, your desire is to lash out. That's natural. That's the part of me that's a part of my flesh. But I'm under grace. You know, what God has given me, let's look at Romans 8, verse 1. Here's the victory, Christian. There is, therefore, now no condemnation. to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Can I tell you, you don't need to be ruled by sin. I must understand that sin is a decay in my life, and when God brings it up in my life. There was some years ago, I worked at a movie theater, and while I was working there, they had given me some liberty to eat some of the stuff there, but I took more than I should have. And for years it bothered my conscience. Man, it bothered me for years. Until finally I wrote a letter and I sent the money that I owed them for the things I had taken. You know what happened when I did that? There was peace inside. God was saying, Chris, you should have made it right years ago. And when I did, God restored that peace. that fellowship with God, God kept convicting me. I'd drive by that theater and I'd just feel that aching, like I was grieving the spirit of God. Every time I'm like, ugh. I even told my wife about it, you know, and I was just like, ugh. And then I wrote that letter and I sent the money and God restored it, restored a peace. God's not there to be a colossal judge He's saying, if He's your Father and you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, He's saying, man, I want that sweet fellowship. I want you close with Me. But you have to come to an understanding that the truths that I give you in the Word of God are for your good. They're for fellowship. They're for closeness in a relationship. They're not to distance you. They're not to shun you. They're there to bring you to Me. Can I tell you there's a danger of living deceived? Would you look with me at Romans 6, verse 1? Romans 6, verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? There are some that say, I can live however I want in the Christian life because I'm saved. The problem is with that thinking, is that it creates a wall in your relationship with God. I remember one time going to this house, back when I was in the military, I went to the house with the assistant pastor of the church, and I saw that we were talking with the wife, the husband was upstairs, and his mistress walked in the door while we were there. And I was like, I tell you, that wasn't a good relationship. God is saying, listen, I don't want any mistresses in your life between you and me. God says, I want all of your heart. I want to be close with you. It was amazing. I was just like, I can't believe she just walked in here. It was just like Cavalier. I was just like, blew my mind. But look what God says in verse two, but God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? No, you not. So many of us as we're baptized in Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism to death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. Even so, let's look at this part. Even so, we also should walk in newness of life. What is God's desire? God says, don't live for sin, don't live for yourself, don't live for your selfishness. He's saying, get rid of the mistress of all your selfish deeds. Give me all of your heart. I want you. I don't know of any person on the marriage altar that's going to say, oh yeah, I want, I do to you and I do to them. No, no, no, no, no, no. No one says I do to you and do to them. When I said I do to my wife, it was her and her alone. So it's a sacred relationship. You realize this, that God works in this idea of a covenant relationship? He says, shall have everlasting life. He said, the promise of my eternity rests on him. He made the promise to me. God said, I'm not cheating on you with anyone else. You're all mine. And God's saying, I want all of your heart, right? What's the first and greatest commandment? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy strength, and all thy mind. Look with me at verse 10 of Romans 6. For in that he died, he died into sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed into sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. You should obey the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead. And your members, as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not dominate over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. What's he saying here? Stop living for ourselves. Can I tell you, when you begin to live a life surrendered to God, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. You know what, there's something in all of us. Something in all of us that we can always grow more. If you have an apple tree and it produces a whole bunch of apples this year, next year. you're hoping it produces apples again, right? And if you prune it and cut it back and do what is necessary and horticulture or whatever is necessary for the tree, you want it to produce more fruit, right? That's the desire. And that's the desire for God. He says, listen, I want you to produce more fruit. Man, I wanna see you succeed and do great things. We read about stories of missionaries from the past and they're the same flesh and blood. They have the same fears and worries as you do. The only difference is they made a decision that I will let Jesus lead every part of my life. Sin shall not dominion over you. What really matters in life is what God thinks of you, not men. He is your judge. To declare you've never done anything wrong is to accuse God of being a liar. Can I look with me at Proverbs 14? I just want to look at a Actually, you know what, I'll look at Proverbs 14 and I'll be done this morning. I've got a whole bunch more. I'm only halfway through my message. I thought I'd get a little bit further today, but anyways, it is what it is. Proverbs 14. Proverbs 14, why do we preach against sin? It's not to make people feel bad. It's because it's like going to the doctor. And Doc, please tell me what's wrong with me. I just haven't been feeling well lately. I haven't been acting well. I don't know what the problem is. And that doctor, in his professional practice, he'll give me his best estimate. But there's a God in heaven who sees all that's wrong. He sees everything that's wrong in your life and mine. And his desire is, he says, man, You could be doing so much more for the Lord. You could be so much more successful. You could be so much more victorious. You could have so much more peace in your life. But here's some things that are holding you back. Why do we preach against sin? In Proverbs 14, verse 12, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man. but the end thereof are the ways of death. Verse 14, the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. I've been reading in the book of Ezekiel and Ezekiel chapter 23 right now. Man, he's like just over and over and over again. The Lord says, please turn from your ways, turn from your ways. Please, the enemy is circling around you. The enemy's gonna destroy you. The enemy will take all your sons and daughters. Please get right. Oh, Ezekiel, you're so negative. Right? God's saying, please, you're going a path that's going to produce more hurt. Please don't do that. Man, I want you close. Can I tell you in the morning, my daughter gets up, she runs out there, I'm sitting in my recliner, I'm doing my devotions, and she jumps into my lap and I give her a big old hug and I cuddle with her. Can I tell you that's sweet? That's wonderful? I love it. And when I leave in the morning or when I leave for work, Daddy, can I have a kiss? And she gets quite hysterical. Daddy, I need a kiss. And if I give my wife a kiss, she has to have the last kiss. If I give Rebecca a hug, my wife a hug, she has to have the last hug. She wants her affection. I can say I love you to my wife, but then I have to say I love you to my daughter. And if I just say it generically, I love you, she'll say, Daddy, I love you. I love you, dear. She has to know that that heart relationship is there. And can I tell you, Christian, that it ought to be the desire of my heart? Man, I want to know I'm close with God. I want to know I've got his heart. And if there's something in my life that shouldn't be there, that's affecting that heart relationship, get rid of it. I'm telling you this morning. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. There's something in every one of us that we could all do right. And God's desire for you is sweet communion, fellowship, and a relationship. And maybe this morning as I've been preaching, there's something the Lord has said in your life, it shouldn't be there. Maybe a lifestyle. Maybe some words that you've said. Maybe some thought patterns. As was mentioned this week, God's desire, faithfulness to the Lord's house, faithfulness in meditating. Can I tell you, this book has changed my life. Changed me. As I read it and meditate on it every day, some might go, well, you're a pastor, that's what you're supposed to do. Can I tell you long before I ever did that? It was in 2007, I was working 17, 18 hours a day, seven days a week, and I stopped reading this book. I went away from this book, I went away from church, and my life went pew, real fast. Real fast. It took a long time to get back to where I was. But I'm thankful I had a friend in my life, an older gentleman. He was a master sergeant and he took me under his wing and he said, Chris, a just man falls seven times and rises up again. Don't stay down. Don't stay down with those mistakes. Acknowledge it, right? If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There's always a path back to the heart of God. And this morning, as the message was preached, denial of sin brings death. I don't know what God's Spirit has spoken to you about this morning, but if there's something in your life you need to make right, can I encourage you to please, please ask God to forgive it, get right. Or maybe you're here this morning and you said there's never, if I was to ask you, how do you know for sure you're on your way to heaven? And say, well, I think so, I hope so. Can I tell you in 1 John 5, 13, these things have been written unto you that ye might know that ye have eternal life, God's desires that you would know. If you've never accepted Jesus Christ, I'd love to show you after this service how you can know for sure you're God's child. So we're gonna have the music play in a time of invitation. What we do, this is just a time for you to pray wherever you're seated. You can kneel, you can come up front, whatever the Lord leads you to do, you do. but just pray and talk with the Lord as the music plays. And I trust you would just do what God's spirit has told you to do this morning. Don't do what I tell you to do, do what God's spirit tells you to do. And may you be obedient and watch that fellowship be renewed as the music plays. Take time to be holy. If you're struggling in an area and you say, I have some questions I'd like answered, I'd be more than happy to meet with you after the service or even schedule a time this week and have a cup of coffee. We can chat or a meal. But can I tell you God's desire for you is sweet fellowship. He's longing to be close with you. He wants that close relationship. You're that valued, every one of you. I don't care where you've come from, what you've done. There is always room at the cross to come back to Christ. We'll sing number 329 in the Blue Red Hymn Book. This is the third stanza. We'll sing the fourth verse here in just a moment, but 329 in your Red Hymn Book. If you're praying, still keep praying. I just trust that you would just talk with the Lord as long as He has for you this morning.