Father, we are thankful to you for such wonderful grace and tender mercy that you show to us, not only saving us, but sustaining us. And we thank you, Father, that we have been sustained through another week. And as we've prepared our hearts for this morning, we pray that You would pour into us Your Word, that our lives may be changed, whether it's in the teaching hour or the preaching hour. We pray, Father, that You would be honored, that Your Son would be magnified and glorified in our midst, so that we would be edified, encouraged and educated. We pray, Father, that we would walk away renewed and revived in our hearts wanting even more so to be faithful to you. Pray now for your grace even now as we will discuss aspects of counseling that you would again encourage our hearts to be faithful to serve one another through loving each other and applying to one another as we give thanks to you for your great kindness in Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated. Welcome to this second instalment of the practice of nursery counselling and I hope by now you've seen that some of principles that have been taught are not uniquely set aside for those who are counselors alone. This is true of anybody who is walking with the Lord, growing in their salvation and sanctification. Anyone who is faithful to the Lord should be able to counsel. And that's the whole goal. of No Theory Counseling, it is to provide us a platform as believers to get involved with one another, to help one another, to counsel one another, and not leave it up to the professionals. This morning we're going to look at the application of amputation. So what do you do when you have a person who's struggling with a specific sin? How do you help them? How do you deal with somebody that struggles with anger? How do you help them change? And that's the goal, is to see God's people change. Sorry, I've got a bit of a scratchy throat, so I'm just gonna cough. Helping struggling saints change. Okay, how do we help people change? Does God require us to change? It's a question. The answer is yes. Okay, we said yes first. Well, can you hang it on a verse? Can you give me biblical support that will demonstrate that God requires us to change? Direct or indirect verses. Elsette. Sure. Well said, yeah. Be holy, for I am holy. is what Elze said. If you guys can just keep an eye on if anybody wants to talk. Yeah, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Okay, 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Look at verse 16. The discussion here deals with Paul's explanation of how the new covenant is better than the old covenant. How the old covenant is viewed as a covenant of death, does not produce life, but the new covenant gives life, produces life, and sustains you in life. Look at verse 16. So having made that distinction, he says, But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are what being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is a spirit there's a reoccurring phrase there did you catch it the Lord is the spirit and encapsulated between those two things or one before and one after. Paul deals with salvation and then sanctification. Now take note of this. Salvation in verse 16. When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. That is salvation. Now notice what he says. Now the Lord is a spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So when one turns, that can only take place when the spirit of the Lord is present because he provides the freedom for you to turn. now sanctification and we all with unveiled face with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed that is an ongoing activity as opposed to the once of activity of being turned of turning to the Lord. That's salvation. But there's an ongoing change that is taking place. That's transformation. There's an ongoing change that God is expecting from us because He's the one producing that change in the lives of His people. And so we grow from one degree of glory to another. It's just another way of saying that we are changing from one state to another. We are growing closer into the image of Christ. So there are, looking at my notes, there are two things that we need to do to help people change. Number one is show them a need for change through teaching. show them that the scripture actually requires them to change and there's a variety of different passages now first one you can point them to is that salvation produces what new life romans chapter six At this stage, I made the transition last week, but at this stage, I'm going to be talking more to those who are counselors than to those who are being counseled. We will get to those being counseled later on when we deal with particular issues when I return to Noetheric counseling. Take note at verse 4 and 5, we were buried Therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father We too may walk in the newness of life So not only are you saved by God, but you are changed by God There's a new life that he produces in the life of this new convert Secondly, there's a new walk that God desires Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their heart that defines them as sinners. Hardness of heart. Far from God. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. This is who they are by nature. They do not desire any form of righteousness. But notice what he says in verse 20. But this is not the way you learned Christ. there's a new walk and a new desire that God gives to the believer. Assuming you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus. So assuming that you are believers, you should know better than to follow these unbelieving saints, unbelieving people. And so now it tells them, How to do that? Put off the old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. And we'll look at that in a moment's time. There is a new walk and new desires that comes from God. You can go to the Old Testament in Ezekiel chapter 36 where God says that I will put my law in your heart or in their hearts and cause them to obey me. That's the same idea. First, putting the law in their heart requires a new heart, a heart of flesh. And then causing them to bathe in it is producing new desires in the heart, which causes them to walk in a way that is different from what they did. So first of all, show them a need for change and then show them the means of change. That is correction. Ephesians 4, verse 20, and I already read that. learn Christ, and then put to death the deeds of the flesh. Change does not take place apart from growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Do you, can you think of any verse that will help you explain this to a person that is struggling with sin, regardless of the sin? Okay, 1 Peter chapter 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 2 let me think it's I think it's 2 Peter could be yeah 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 3 his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence which he granted to us by which He granted to us His precious and very great promises. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. How? How do we get that? How do we attain that? Through the knowledge of Him. So help them see that God enables them to change and provides for them the means of change through growing in understanding of who Jesus is and what Jesus requires. That's it. Oh, Victor, sorry. You've got a deep voice, eh? There's something also parallel in 1 Peter 2. Yeah. Therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Well said, yeah. Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Clearly God provides us the means to change. We are not supposed to remain as babes. Babes are immature. Babes are sensitive. It's shocking to see how many sensitive Christians there are today. Now I'm not on social media anymore. But I used to be. And the minute you make a statement about some false teacher or some false practice, people fume. They blow up because they are immature and sensitive. And how dare you attack such a man of God? How dare you speak so insensitively about people who are sincere and love the Lord? Yeah, they are sincere, but sincerely wrong. And they need to be helped. We don't shy away from the truth because of people's feelings. Show them. that they need to put to death the old and then put on the new. I will put this PowerPoint on the group for those of you who want to catch up with the notes, because I know that I do go fast through these things. But if you do want to complete your sentence, just tell me, can you go back one slide? I will do that for you. All right. So put off and put on process. Why is changing so difficult? Why is godly change, godly pursuit of holiness so difficult? He's been fired. A big reason is because we live in this foreign world and we're surrounded by sin, we're surrounded by lawlessness and we are exposed to it. We can try to limit that exposure but it's all around us, it's hard to escape, it's put in our face every day. Yeah, good point. Sin is a problem. Now there's two elements that you as a counselor need to think through as you sit with a person. Number one is the fallen human condition. That deals with our guilt. That deals with unbelievers, and I'll get back to that in a moment's time. The second element is the effects of sin, the effects of corruption upon the believer. So the first one, the fallen human condition, let me just put my phone on silent. The fallen human condition disallows people to grow. The second one, you may be struggling with sin, but there's still hope and potential, huge potential for growth. So let me go back. Well, I see people viciously writing that down. Fallen human condition and then effects of corruption. Any comments or questions? I think one verse that you can see this quite well in is in Philippians 3, where he says, whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. And then going on, it says, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and counted them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him. And I think we often that he said, you suffer the loss of these things. There are a lot of things we cling to because of our pride. Yeah. And it is hard. It's painful to put the flesh to death. That's well said, yeah. Dealing with the effects of corruption, that is our fallenness in Adam. It's hard to put to death. We all struggle with pride. We all have a very high view of ourselves. And it is painful when somebody points out that you may be wrong. Oh, I don't like that. My wife will tell you, it's hard for me to hear. Yeah, that's just not right. And that's because I struggle with pride just as much as you do. How do we get changed? By not screaming a person to change, but by pointing out that this is not what God desires of you. Make them guilty before the cross. Make them guilty before their Savior, not guilt before you. Anyway, let me move on. Go ahead. And I think Paul probably captures it well in chapter seven of Romans, where he speaks about that very conflict between, and he says, I'll read it very quickly, verse 21, so I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil eyes close at hand, for I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind. and make me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. I think Paul's very aware of that conflict. Yes, and I'll get back to that in a moment's time. Good point. Okay, so the two problems that we face is the fallen human condition. That deals with our justification. We are not just before God, and so we need His divine help. I'm just gonna run through this because I see my time is going very quickly. The solution is justification for the fallen human condition. The solution to the common effects of the corruption is this ongoing, which is what Peter mentioned in Romans 7, this ongoing struggle against sin. Do not give up the fight. That's the hope and the investment you can make into the lives of those who are struggling with sin. Yes, it is a reality, but you don't stop fighting. You constantly have to work at killing sin. Got a mental shot, can I move on? Read it, memorize it, and then write it down. Okay, let's move on. So how do we help people? Number one, there's dual activity, which is replacement, and the second one is reproduction. Replacement is that you personally work at the problem. So as a counselee, you need to point out to him, it's not my job to change you. You have to work at change. Go to Ephesians chapter four. You have to work hard at changing. Verse 25 through to 28. Notice the personal aspect of these instructions. Therefore, verse 25, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. So singularly, each one of you as a part of this community speak the truth. Be angry, do not sin, Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity for the devil. So this comes from the previous section where he speaks about how we need to put to death and then put on the new life. Put to death the old man and then put on the new man. So now you are showing them that yes you have to do this but it's a personal, there's personal effort in this. You have to work hard at it. And it gets a little bit more practical later on. And that's where you see the reproduction. Yes, corporate involvement in it. Look at verse 29. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth. And now it goes from you individually, personally, individually to your, the group as a whole, but only such as is good for building up. Paul is speaking about how the mouth or the tongue is being used. And so dealing with just that one issue, the implication is with every other sin, there are those two parts that are important. Replacement and reproduction. Replace the wrong thing and reproduce or produce good things. Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up. So replace the corrupt talk with speaking things which builds up. as fits the occasion, give grace to those that it may give grace to those who year and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Believers must personally work on their growth, but also personally be involved in the lives of others as they are growing. I'm not going to go through chapter 5, but you can read through it. There's a mutual sense of growth and help that is in view in chapter 5. And this comes on the heels of not grieving the Holy Spirit and not speaking to one another in a certain way, but depending on one another, loving one another, being kind to one another, forgiving one another, there's a mutual growth and help that is in view coming from chapter four into chapter five. Any comments? Yes, go ahead. I've got a question. Are you using replacement as synonymous to amputation? In terms of Matthew 18 7. Yes. You know, if your eye causes you to sin. Yes, I'll get to that. Yes. What replacement looks like? Yes, I am. Okay. When we speak about replacement, there's two ways to view it. And the first way, this is often how people see it. you're slowly, I don't know if you can see the smaller text there, you're slowly getting rid of the ungodly habits. So you're putting it up as a continual habit that is slowly taking place. And that is often how it is seen, and that is good. I mean, that's the application of Romans chapter six into chapter seven, you get rid of your sin and then you replace it with godliness and this would be the counteraction so as you are so both are taking place at the same time so the yellow and the red line are taking place at the same time as you are putting off the old man you're putting on the new man so correspondingly I think you can see it right so getting rid of the sin but also putting on the new man getting rid of the sin putting on the new man and eventually by doing that what happens is there's more new man than there is old man and this is the the common way of seeing it however what happens when we don't do the red line when you're only focusing on getting rid of the old things but you're not replacing it what happens sin will dominate you You cannot put to death without putting on. You cannot get rid of your sin without replacing that sin with a righteous action. And so even though this is the dominant view, and I think it's helpful, but there's a danger in this. When the yellow line is all that you're focusing on and the red line is not a reality, you're going to be dominated by that sin. Go ahead. So what you probably find, and this has been the case in many lives, where you do overcome a particular sin that you're working at very hard and focusing on, but you're not replacing it with godliness. And so another sin which you were unaware of, or not looking at, starts dominating life in a different way. So you may, for instance, be totally focused on overcoming, say, pornography. You really focus on it to the point that you battle with it. But you're going grumpy with your wife and you're becoming angrier things. So that's not dominating your life. Yeah. While you're winning in one side because you haven't replaced with godliness. It's actually you haven't actually dealt with it because the same passion and lust that drives you to that is now expressed because it's not being fulfilled. It's expressed in anger, frustration, and the effects of that is still being seen because the sin has not been dealt with. So just focusing on the yellow line causes more problems. And so we have to have a replacement theology with regards to sin. Let me be clear, a replacement theology with regards to sin. And it looks like this. As you are putting off the old man, you are putting on the new man, not at the same time, meaning you kill the son and you do the right thing. Make sense? So you're not slowly putting it off. You're saying, I'm done with it. I don't want to go back to it. And so in place of that, you're doing the right thing. And so you're helping them to see it is not a slow progressive thing that you must do when getting rid of the yellow line, when getting rid of the ungodly habits. It's a killing off. It's an amputation. It's an immediate thing that you must do. And if you do that, you must immediately put on the red line. You must immediately replace it with a godly action. Does that make sense? See, if we are taking slowly, getting I'm not talking about sin as a whole in the believer's life. I'm talking about a particular sin. When we are talking about amputation, when you're talking about dealing with a sin that a believer comes to you for counseling, you're not going to say, oh, you know what? It's going to take years for you to get over the sin. That is what you do in professional counseling. Don't worry about it. We'll work with you for the next two years. And then eventually you overcome it. Is there no power in Christ? Is there no power in the gospel? Is there no power in the word of God to change lives completely and drastically? I think Jesus thought that it was possible and you'll see that in Matthew later on. There must be an immediate replacement of the thing that you're struggling with. If you don't replace that thing with a godly habit, then sin will dominate you. And like Peter says, it is not only that sin that is gonna be a struggle, but the effects of that sin will now be seen in other areas as well. So lying, what do you replace lying with? I'm gonna use some illustrations. What? Speaking the truth. In order to speak the truth, you need to know the truth. Stealing, what do you replace stealing with? What now? Giving. Working and giving. Ephesians chapter four. These are from this passage that we just read. These are Paul's examples of how to help people change. If they are struggling with stealing, don't just tell them, stop stealing. Or brother, maybe for the next month, will you just take one instead of five? It's still stealing. He's still saying. You should say no. Instead of doing that, go find a job and as you are getting some form of income, give to people. Stealing is self-centered. Taking from people is covetous. But when you replace that sin, you are focusing on helping and loving others with their struggles. Go ahead. When we say to replace it or if we look at for example lying, the root of that sin is not loving the truth but loving what is not true. So replacing it with telling the truth like it changes at the heart. Same with like stealing, it's covetousness, desiring to have more. So not only stop wanting more, but give what you have. Like that, it's a greater killing. Like it's, I don't know how to state it, but the fact that you are not only challenging that believer to let go of their sin, but to, it hurts them even more, because now they're not only getting, but they have to give. That's true, yes. Well said. Now you're making a lot of sense. It's not just the fact that you're replacing. There's a hard issue that is in view and Jesus gets to that in Matthew and I really hope to be able to get to that. Hello. Just put a pin in it. Jesus gets to the fact that there's a hard issue that is the problem. So stealing is a net result of both covetousness and self-fulfilling desire. So that needs to be replaced. So it's not just the fact that you're stopping the stealing, but that you replace that desire for being self-satisfied with helping and giving towards others. So that's what you're after. But that's a point later on. But go ahead. Yes, I want to just add this because this is also what I'm hearing because you don't want to do behavior modification by just stopping something but actually deal with a heart issue and that is why we put on righteous action in replacement of that. Good point, good point. And like I said, if you think of the previous slide, if we just focus on the ungodly action or the slow regression of the ungodly action, you're not helping that person. It must be stop and replace. Get rid of it and put on this thing. So in order for you to help them, you need to be able to identify the sin, which I'll get to in a moment's time, and then offer the replacement solution, which aims at the heart. Let me go through this. Immorality, holiness in thought, and doing what is right. Pride, humility, serving, praising others. That is hard. For those of you who struggle with pride and arrogance, it is hard to give praise to someone else because you want that praise from them. And if you struggle with that, get into the habit of not receiving praise, but giving praise. Anxiety, pray, being thankful, leave it with the Lord. And you'll see when I get to this in, Philippians, how those three things work together. Suicidal thoughts, care for others, and surrounding yourself with godly saints. Suicidal thoughts apparently, not apparently, surprisingly has increased with social media amongst believers. Hmm, interesting there, right? Amongst believers. What does social media do? It isolates, and then it is inward focus. Yes, you are right. It's inward focus. It's about me. So somebody don't comment on my post. I went to the dentist today. Nobody cares. Nobody likes, there's no hearts. And so because you become so inward focused, you become sad. and that sadness leads to suicidal thoughts. Nobody in this world cares about me. What's the problem? You're so self-centered that you don't care about others, but only yourself. And so you think the solution is to remove yourself from a world that doesn't care about you. And now look, there are various other reasons that people end up there, but generally it's because you're so focused on yourself. What about laziness? I don't have it on the screen, but what about laziness? What is a good replacement for laziness? How would you have a person that is lazy? How would you have a young man, because generally young men, that are lazy? Work with your hands. What does Proverbs say? Go to the ant you sluggard. I love it. There's no mincing of words there. Go to the ant. Look at what he does. Nobody tells him to go and work. He works because it's that time. Winter's coming. There's a time coming when you cannot work. So when you work, go put away, not only does the ant work, but it knows to store things. It's a lesson in what? Saving. So it's not just work and spend, work and spend. That is a huge problem in our culture today. Before the money comes in, it is gone. Denver? Yes. I actually want, I love what it further on says. It says, wake up, you know, stop sleeping the whole day. Yeah. So a good replacement for laziness is also to wake up early. It is. It is. And yeah, he uses quite a wide array of analogies. Go ahead. What would be a replacement for worldliness? You're looking for a more specific answer? What would be the replacement for worldliness, you said? Anybody want to help with that? There you go. Let the word richly dwell, all Colossians 3.1. Set your mind on things above. The unfortunate thing is that the Christian world has been so influenced by materialism. And so we are drawn to it, we are bound by it. We need the next best phone. What's it, iPhone 15 now? What is it, 15? We need the next best phone. And if we don't have it, we are not a hip. I don't know why people want the best thing. I've got a Chinese phone. Yes, I work for China. I've got a Chinese phone that I have not upgraded my country because I don't see the need to. The thing is still working. The minute it dies and I break my phones quite often, I will probably have to replace it. But I don't see the need to spend thousands on something that's going to break. We are so consumed with materialism that our minds are not, we don't think in terms of, you know what, if I pay 500 rand a month versus 3000 rand a month, I could use the rest to support a missionary. I could potentially help this believer who's in dire straits. They just lost their job. Maybe instead of doing that, I can do that. Why? Because our minds are not set on things above. It is set on things on the earth. So the answer is think Christ with thoughts that will change the way that you live. I do need to move on because I am running out of time. Okay, so in order for you to help replace and reproduction, you need to recognize the sin that needs to be put off. U.S. counselor needs to be able to point out what the problem is. In counseling, they tell you, or they will ask you, what do you think the problem is? Well, if you're going to ask me, I'm not going to say it's my pride, it's my arrogance, it's my frustration, because I'm going to avoid all those things. I'm going to be so general and non-specific. I'm probably going to say, you know what, it's my wife. And it's not, by the way. It's the circumstances that I've been placed in. No, help them see what the source of their problem is. Find scripture. Finding scripture, the biblical replacement is, I always ask, can you hang it on a scripture? So for the question, why do you replace this with that? That's one half. Yes, we need to replace it, but what do you replace it with? Find a biblical verse, because there are thousands of sins that are directly dealt with in scripture. So do your work. Help them see the importance of implementing new habits as you put off the old habits. In other words, replacement, not slow regression. And I think I've made that point very clear. And then help them see the importance of not isolating themselves. as a believer, they must be in the community of saints who care about them, and if the sin is not private, if it's public, then they need to seek help from other saints as well. Okay. J. Adams says, Put on, put off dynamic quote, biblical change is always two-faced. It is not just a matter of breaking habits, but of replacing them. Old sinful ways must be put off and the new righteous alternatives must be put on in their place. Again, don't think slow. I'm gonna get rid of my anger, January one. And then for 2024, I'm gonna work on anger. What's that? That's worldly thinking of how you deal with your sin. In counseling, you must have replacement theology. With regards to sin, I better be clear about that. All right, so cutting off the source. So now we get to the application of amputation in which Donovan was asking about. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you, for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna. What is amputation? When counselees struggle with ongoing sin, we need to show them that they need, they must cut off the source of the sin. There is no regression, meaning slow, progressive, getting rid of sin. You need to viciously get rid of it. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. For it is better for you to lose one of your parts of your body than for your whole body to go into Gehenna. Amputation. What is it? It is not literal but figurative speech, please. when Jesus says, pluck it out. He's not saying, go home now and pull your eyes out because you're sinning by what you're looking at. That's not what he's saying. It is an idiom. It is a visual picture that Jesus uses to illustrate, and I'll get to that in a moment's time, the importance and the urgency of dealing with your sin. It also illustrates the goal. It does this by providing a reminder that there is a real and present struggle with sin. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Oops. Secondly, there's an expectation of radical willingness. Think about this. Think about the literal implications of this. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Jesus says take hold of your eye as painful. Have you ever touched your eye with your finger? No, you've not. Okay. There's salt on your fingers and your body naturally produces it. And when you touch your eye, the two doesn't like each other and it causes a burn. And so your eyes start to tear up. Jesus says, take your hand and pull it out. Put your whole hand on it and pluck it out. That's a painful process. That is a very vicious process and it is there to jar the mind. It illustrates the importance of cutting sin off at its source. If your hand is the source, and now again, it's figurative language. Jesus is not saying that your hand is the cause of sin. It's used to illustrate finding the source. That's what Jesus is after. Find the thing that causes you to sin, cut it off. So in the case of, for instance, by illustration, if it's the hand, cut it off. Now, if you are right handed, What are you going to sin with? Your right hand. So what are you going to use to cut it off? Your left hand. You're not strong with your left hand. Again, you see the image, right? You're going to be hacking a couple of times, whereas with your right hand, it will be one shot off. But with your left hand, it's going to be, whoop, oh, that's a finger. Oh, that's the palm, not the whole hand. You see the image, right? The idea is be willing to do what you must to get rid of the sin. Don't think hand, don't think eye, think heart. There is something wrong in your heart is what Jesus is saying. Get rid of it, cut it out. That's radical amputation. Again, Adam says, by this dramatic hyperbolic figure of speech, of course, he did not intend for anyone to take what he said literally. Jesus meant that one must be willing to dispose of whatever it is that leads to sin. I think that is absolutely clear. Whatever it is, whatever your lusts are, whatever, fuels your passions that leads you to sin. Get rid of it. And you may say, you know what, but I need my internet for work. Oh, really? Well, then go work in a public place where people can see you instead of sitting privately while you're working. cut off the source, get rid of the desire that causes the sin. And at this stage, a lot of the time we deal with the consequences or we deal with the fruits of sin. And what's the word? symptoms of sin, and that is not helpful. You need to deal with the root. And so as a counselor, you need to help them see what the problem is. Okay, and I'll end on this. Amputation requires action. It's not a matter of, I'm just gonna let go and let God. God will help me through this. There's a call for change in scripture, especially Matthew. You pluck it out. In Ephesians chapter 4, let the thief speak the truth. It's the person that is guilty of the sin. He must act. Repentance and forgiveness of sin must lead to killing of sin. It's not enough to say, I've repented and God has forgiven me. And then you return to it tomorrow. You gotta fight it. Oops. You gotta fight your sin. As counselors, we need to help counselees see the importance of being vicious about the cause or the source or the root of their sin. Okay, we have five minutes. I wanna give you a little bit of time for Q&A if you have, and then we'll call it a morning. Any questions or comments? Go ahead. So the question I have is with regards to, you know, the sins that... Before you go on, anybody want to go back to a slide? I know I went very quickly. No? Okay, so I'll just leave it at that. And then we'll get back to I'll put this on the group. Go ahead. So just the relationship between amputation and, and sanctification. Yeah. Um, often the, you will see that, you know, we'll talk about sins that we are struggling with. Um, and so as a counselor, how do you actually spot that? How do you spot the difference between a sin that requires amputation or a sin that someone is actually struggling with that requires more sanctification? Uh, it's a good question. So, How do you identify, is what you asked? Yeah, so how do you identify it's a habitual sin versus actually this thing needs to be cut off now, because I get the sense of Matthew 18, there's an urgency, but there's also a recognition that it can be done by yourself if you actually know the truth. So Jesus is not saying find the closest to elders and then cut off your eye or pluck out your eye. He's saying you do that because you can identify that it's sinful. So as the counselor, how do you identify that type of sin versus sin that requires actually where you'd say habitual innocence? Both require the same thing though. So there's no passage that makes allowance for slowly putting to death. Paul calls for put to death as an immediate action. Cut it off. And then putting on as an immediate action, the replacement immediately. So I think we've become accustomed to getting rid of sin slowly. And so we think that is part of our sanctification. Sanctification is growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in doing that, we need to what? Get rid of that sin. John says that, so it deals with both parts. If a person says he does not sin, he is a liar. So we all sin, and so what does he say you need to do in that case? In verse nine, you ask for forgiveness. You go, let me see if I can find it. In 1 John 1 verse 9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It's not a either or, slowly getting rid of the sin. Notice what he says, he forgives us, but notice also there's a cleansing. It's getting rid of the thing that you've just asked forgiveness for. So God requires us to get rid of. And unfortunately, for instance, with regards to immoral sins, the most common amongst men, we say we're going to deal with it over time. No, you can cut it off. You can get rid of that sin immediately. And there's no need for us to take longer. The sanctification is growing in your pursuit of godliness. It's your sanctification is growing in who Jesus Christ is. And if you do grow in that, you should want to get rid of the other thing. So I don't see a separation in slowly getting rid of sin. Go ahead. Hi, I just want to make a comment on that also to say there is no distinction to gradually get rid of something because then you would want to pat yourself on the back if you were stealing 50 things and now only stealing 10 because then it would demonstrate there's progress at least. So it is something that must be dealt with immediately regardless of That is the world's view. You are not as bad as you were, so you've made progress. Read Ephesians chapter 4. There is no progress. There is immediate action. Cut it off and replace it. Put off the old, put on the new. But we've become so accustomed to putting up with the old and getting slowly rid of the old. Why? Because we love our sin. we love doing the wrong thing and it's hard to put on the right thing yet Paul says replace it if you're a thief just stop stealing and then work with your hands and give to other people if you're a liar if a liar lies less next week what is he he's still a liar that is not replacement again with regards to counseling theology um There's an immediate action that is being called for. And I would be very careful to encourage people to work slowly at their sin. Consider the action that Jesus is calling for in Matthew 5. I know I said 29 here, but I think it's 17 onwards, that Jesus is calling for you. Pluck it out. What does that mean? Slowly draw it out so that you eventually get to the stage where it comes out. No, it's an immediate action. And so with regards to sin, if somebody is in counseling with you, you want to help them see the need for immediate action. And that's all point that I was trying to make. Help them see the need. that this is not something you need to take very lightly because it will consume your life. It will ruin your Christian walk. Victor, one last comment. We're supposed to repent of our sin and the meaning of repentance doesn't really leave space for staying in it or diminishing it slowly. Repentance is a change of mind and so you'd expect based on that what it means is that we are forsaking something and turning away from it in another direction. Yeah, so yes, it is true that it is a change of mind, but the corollary to that is a change of direction as well. So it's a both. And do you have a verse to hang that on? No. Okay. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 9. For they themselves, interestingly speaking about their works, they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned. from idols repentance turned from idols to serve living God. It's not just a turning away from, but a turning towards, and there's an activity that replaces the wrong activity. Your former worship, I see that end, is now replaced by true worship of the living God. That is what repentance is. When you cut off the old sin, what should you be doing? Replacing it with that which honors the Lord. Yes, go ahead. Where is it on? Okay. What about grace? Or where does grace fit into all of that? So when we are trying to... I get the question. I get the question. Yes, how do we, how do we, how do we still remain gracious through all of that? Without, without forgetting that. Okay, so I'm going to take it from the vantage point of God. Is God not gracious when we sin? Is God not gracious when we sin? He is, right? He's been gracious and extending his long suffering with all of us in our longevity of our pursuit of sin. I think that makes sense, right? And what does he call you to? Holiness. What does he call you to? To amputate the thing that he's being very gracious about. God calls us to action. So the counselor's job is to point the counselee to what God requires. You must change. If you love the Lord, you've got to honor Him. You've got to do what is right before Him. As hard as it is, and change is hard for every one of us, it is hard. We don't want to get rid of our change, get rid of our convenient sins, but God requires that. And so it is gracious to point out to them the need for change. It is the most loving thing that we can do for believers. All right, we're going to have to end on that. Let me pray and then we'll take a short break and continue. Father, we are thankful to you for your grace upon our lives and for being so patient with us. We know we struggle. There are those of us who struggle with a variety of different sins and we pray that you would work in our hearts, help us to see the need to amputate and to replace Replace those sins with godly actions. Forgive us where we were not aware of this and help us to do the right thing so that we are able to honor you, able to bring glory to you even in our lives. Thank you again for your patience and we ask these things in your name. Amen.