Scripture referenced 9 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Ephesians 2:4-5 opening encouragement about God's mercy and grace saving us even when dead in sins
4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
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Keep this verse
Galatians 5:19-21
the works of the flesh listed as step one examples of what we need to admit powerlessness over
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
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Galatians 5:22-23
the fruit of the Spirit presented as what sanity and health look like in step two
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
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Psalm 55:1-5
David's cry of distress used as an Old Testament example of deflation at depth
1 Listen to my prayer, God. Don’t hide yourself from my supplication.
2 Attend to me, and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and moan,
3 Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked. For they bring suffering on me. In anger they hold a grudge against me.
4 My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fearfulness and trembling have come on me. Horror has overwhelmed me.
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Romans 7:24-25
Paul's cry of wretchedness used as a New Testament example of moving from step one to step two
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, the sin’s law.
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Psalm 42:1
the deer panting for water used to illustrate recognizing one's lack and thirsting for God
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
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1 Peter 5:6-11
humbling under God's hand and casting cares on Him connected to step three's decision to turn will and life over to God
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time;
7 casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.
8 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.
10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
11 To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
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James 5:16
confessing sins to one another cited as the biblical basis for admitting wrongs to another human being in step five
16 Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
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1 John 1:9
God's faithfulness to forgive and cleanse when we confess, connected to the Greek word homologeo
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message was the latest installment in Pastor Brian's series walking through the twelve steps as a framework for spiritual growth and recovery. He focused on steps four and five: making an honest moral inventory of yourself, and then admitting what you found to God, to yourself, and to another person. The through-line of the whole message was that God's grace is sufficient to cover whatever that inventory turns up.
What was said
Pastor Brian opened by recapping the ground already covered. Step one is the painful recognition that we are powerless over our problem, what the early AA literature calls "deflation at depth." Step two follows quickly: the belief that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity. Step three is the decision to actually turn our will and our lives over to God's care. None of these steps are meant to be camped in for long, he said, and each one is saturated with scripture from the Psalms, from Romans, from Galatians.
Step four, which he had introduced a month earlier, is the searching and fearless moral inventory. He read again from the vice lists in the New Testament, noting that the list is representative, not exhaustive, and that our blind spots may keep us from seeing our particular entry on it right away. He was candid that leaving people in step four for a month was probably irresponsible, because step four without step five is a dangerous place to sit.
He described what he called "the rattle": the period when a person knows something is wrong and knows they should do something about it, but has not yet moved. He spoke personally about a friend he lost this year who drank himself to death during that window. The rattle, he said, is the moment when people are most likely to do something dramatic and destructive rather than simply taking the next step forward.
Step five is admitting to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. Pastor Brian spent time on the Greek word for confession, "homologueo," meaning to say the same thing, to agree with God about what God already sees. He pointed to James 5:16 as the biblical warrant for the "another human being" part, the piece that Protestants tend to resist most. The point is not that another person can absolve sin, but that confessing to someone who is a step ahead of you and asking for their prayer is powerful and effective.
He read a long prayer by the French cleric Michel the preacher called "Sin," which moves from the raw shame of a believer who has fallen again, through isolation and self-disgust, to God's response: "Come, son. Isn't it mainly your pride that is wounded?" God's answer in the poem is that the worst thing is not falling but staying on the ground, and Pastor Brian used that as the hinge of the whole message. The guilt, not just the guilty feeling, is what God removes when we confess, and the adversary's strategy is to keep pelting us with charges God has already thrown into the sea.
He closed by connecting progressive sanctification to this process. God does not reveal all of a person's sin at once, Pastor Brian said. He reveals one thing, and when a person agrees with Him about that one thing and turns it over, He moves to the next. The grace that covers the sin you already know about is sufficient for the one you do not yet know about. The elders came forward, the altar was opened, and people were invited to find someone they trusted and pray through whatever God had surfaced.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Carl described 'deflation at depth' as recognizing your own lack and powerlessness. When have you experienced that kind of moment, and what did it feel like?
- Step two says we came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity, and the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians five is offered as a picture of what that sanity looks like. Which of those qualities, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, feels most out of reach for you right now, and why?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,331 words
Speaker 3Good morning, everybody. It's good to see you. Would you would you stand and join us in song? I'd love to to worship together in song. And I've got an encouraging word from Ephesians two to lead us into this song.
And it says this, but God is so rich in mercy. He doesn't give us what we do deserve. He loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It's by grace that we've been saved. Will you join us in singing his mercy is more?
Speaker 2His mercy is more. Stronger than darkness, whoever more our sins they are many. His mercy is more. Or the love could remember no wrongs we have done. Omniscient all knowing he counts not their sum thrown into a sea without bottom or shore.
What patience would wait as we constantly move on. What father so tender rich years of kindness he's lavished on us. His blood was the fame and his life was the cause. We stood beneath the bed we could never afford. Our sins, they Stronger than darkness, new ever born.
Our sins, they are many. His
Speaker 3mercy is
Speaker 1I'm can you hear me? Can you hear me now? Hey. Hey. Can you hear me now?
There we are. Announcements. Let's find out what they are here together. Alright? Now I have actually seen them this morning.
Thank you for allowing the grace for us to just be awake. We are, Tanya and I, are officially empty masters. Pascal has moved to Auburn University, and I will try not to cry. Y'all please move up and in. This is something that we're trying to get, and I see that the comfort plus section up here in the front is completely vacant.
People pay extra for that, you know? Rock concerts or airplanes, this is the place. But right here, this is not the place. You don't wanna be it's like a Gallagher show. No.
Nothing. Nobody wants to move forward. Nothing. Okay. We would like for you to do that.
When we get up and stand up, would you kinda move forward? That'd be good. First b b q is happening today. After the services, you probably walk past the tables and chairs out here. Games, food, fun, fellowship.
Just being together. Table fellowship is so important in the New Testament. So that's happening between services. One more scheduled for September 15 this summer. There is a church camp out coming up the twenty third to the twenty fifth down at Palisades.
The place is amazing. The place that they have chosen and set up last time is just great. That's gonna be good. Brian McCooey and Mike Demetrius know more about this. If you wanna talk to them about it and find anything else out, ask them.
But there are others who have been. If you're talking about it around the tables, you're likely likely to find somebody. That's a fun time, the twenty third to twenty fifth. Old is coming up. This is the giving season.
We're in that realm of between August and September. The donations that you give to First Bees Benevolence Fund through old bills are amplified. You can see that up there. This is what allows us to say yes when people come in and they're struggling and they're in need. They need a car park or they need a night in a hotel.
Something difficult is going on in their lives. We like to meet those needs when we can and this is what allows us to do that. So Old Bills Fund Run, it's a donation through the community foundation that's amplified. Usually, a dollar in is about a dollar 50 out, usually. That's what it is.
That's pretty good return on an investment in the people of the valley. There is a there is a worship hootenanny coming up. Down in Bondurant, the worship hootenanny Bondurant Fellowship is setting up for August 31 through September 1. The band is gonna play on Saturday night, I think. I'm gonna preach a little little sermonette after we play.
Danny Ortley will be there. There are few others but it's going to be a good time. August 31 through September 1, it's going to be down there where Dan and Nancy have a place in Bondurant at their place, I think. So, the worship Hootenanny, the theme is a journey through the Psalms and that's coming up pretty fast. There's one other.
This is called Women of Legacy Luncheon. It's happening at PCJH from eleven to one on August 26. And I think that Sherry Turpin might know more information about this. But if you wanna know more, you can call the church office and we will try to get you hooked up with that. Is there anything that I'm forgetting or skipping?
Just blessing over. If you wanna get the church's Bible study emails like the first b in the Bible emails, you can do that at first b jackson dot org or you can also just sign up to get our kind of we used to do paper bulletins and now we're doing digital bulletins. You can get those too. If there's nothing else, I wanna say thank you. I see Brad's doing in the back back there.
Thank you, Brad. I appreciate you preaching for the for the congregation for our good while we're gone. I told him before I left, I don't think I would announce the second one on suffering. You know, you're gonna preach on suffering one week. Let it be a surprise if you're gonna preach on it next week.
But both of them were wonderful. It was very helpful. I found it very helpful for me and I hope you did too. Would you stand with us and you all can gather and greet and hang out for a second. And as you do, move forward and inward.
Speaker 2That my hands will bring me safely home by that I could. Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the Here's And, God, can
Speaker 3we make that not just our song, but our our prayer? God, here's here's our hearts. Here's our heart. That's what you're really after. The depths, who we truly are, and and just as we are.
And thank you, God, for coming to meet us. Thank you just as we've sung in the song, we're prone to wander. But, God, thank you for coming after us in this divine rescue mission. Thank you for sending Jesus. God, you really do care.
You truly care for us. Could we feel that this morning? Lord, would we know that? Spirit, would you fill us? In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Speaker 2I love you, Lord, for your mercy never fails me. All my days I've been held in your hand. From the moment that I wake up until I lay my head. I will sing of the goodness of God. Let's sing of his faithfulness.
You led me through the fire. In darkest night, you were close like no other. I've known you as a father. I've known you as a friend. And I'm here with the goodness of God.
And all my life you have been faith. All my life you have been so sober. And every breath that I'm able, I will sing of the goodness of God, his goodness, running after. And your goodness here are the night, running running after me in all my life. And all my life, you have been faithful.
All my life, you have been so so With every breath that I'm able, I will sing of the goodness of God. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.
Speaker 3Sometimes there's a psalm that just, you know, puts an exclamation point on a song that we're singing. It's this one here, Lord, that we would choose to do this. This is psalm one forty six. I'll praise the Lord as long as I live. Gosh.
If we would just what if we were to wake up each morning and go, God, I'm gonna praise you as long as I have breath. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being, that even in in dark times, we turn the corner and make the decision, God, I'm gonna praise you through this. Whatever it is, that that would be us. He is faithful. He is faithful.
Speaker 2How great the chasm that lay between us. How high the mountain I could not climb. In desperation, I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. Down from glory to where my sin and bear my shame. The cross has spoken.
I am forgiven. The king of kings calls me his own. Beautiful savior. I'm yours forever. Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Hallelujah. Praise Jesus Christ, my living. Then came the Lord
Speaker 3You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the the worship through giving part of the service. I invite our ushers to come on forward. We'll get to sing a song to your words, from Isaiah 40. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of God, it stands forever.
Before we sing, Ray, may I ask you to pray?
Speaker 1Lord God almighty. Lord God almighty, thank you. Thank you. Overwhelmed by your goodness as we've sung about this morning. Lord, we're overwhelmed by your mercies that are new every morning.
Overwhelmed by your good news for this whole world. In Jesus name, Lord, we ask that you would bless this time of offering this worship through giving. Lord, that we would put in the plates a portion of what you have given to us, Lord, but also metaphorically that we would put in ourselves what you've given to us, the specific and particular way that you've made each of us, Lord, is good for your gospels going forward. So I pray, Lord, that we would place in those plates what we can that allows for that to happen. In Jesus name, we ask that we would be about your business, that we would be doing your will in your way.
Would you give us the confidence to walk, God confidence to walk in righteousness, to walk in victory, to walk in humble holiness. Lord, that would draw people in. May we be winsome and helpful and hopeful, careful with people's hearts. Lord God almighty, I pray that you would do the work through us. Your will, Lord, done your way.
In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Alright. So nursery through kindergarten, second grade. Nursery, kindergarten, second grade, and high school, middle school are released for Sunday school.
So third through fifth grade, that means y'all are in here. Okay? So that's happening right now. Children's church downstairs, nursery, kindergarten through second grade, high school, middle school if you want to go. And I think that my first slide hey, yes, that is what it is.
Ray, don't forget the covenant ceremony again. John Daly, would you come forward? So John has been joining us for some time and he is coming as a member and we usually do a covenant ceremony and in our little membership packet, it kinda says a few things. John, have you personally trusted in Jesus Christ as your savior?
Speaker 2Absolutely.
Speaker 1Absolutely. That's good to hear. I know that. Do you believe that God is leading you to join first b?
Speaker 2Yes, I do.
Speaker 1Okay. Do you recognize the authority of scripture in your life and endeavor to live by its teachings?
Speaker 2Yes.
Speaker 1Amen. So as members together in the body of Christ, I'm asking you, John, if you will covenant with us to as best you can help us to grow in the faith and allow us to help you to grow in the faith. Would you do that?
Speaker 2Yes.
Speaker 1Okay. And as we endeavor to grow in faithfulness to one another in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, I'm gonna ask you all. Would you stand up for just a second? Seems solemn for some reason right now. Maybe it's because John is so solemn.
Would you all do your best to help everyone else in this fellowship, but John in particular for today, can we covenant together to say, I will be there for you in Jesus name. Can we say that together? I will be there for you in Jesus name. I will be there for you. In Jesus name.
Amen. Welcome in, John. Do you wanna say anything?
Speaker 2Well, I just have been looking for a church for a long time that has faith, joy, and gratitude in the word of the Lord and this is it.
Speaker 1Amen. You, John. Y'all can y'all can have a seat now. Thank you. So for the last few weeks for the last couple of weeks, you've heard Brad preach on suffering or maybe hardship and the difficulties of life.
For the week before that, we were at the fair and I decided to break away from this series for the fair and just speak on first Peter five six through 11. That was the last message that I preached. But I'm going back to our series about six and a half years ago. I have a close friend who called upon me. And as I was trying to help him with a specific problem, I said, you know, the 12 steps supposedly work.
I had read the big book a long time ago, actually for the same friend. But it I didn't get it the first time around. Wasn't my issue, didn't think about it much. But in the past twelve years of being here, what are some practical hands on things that you can hold on to that help? Well, the word of the Lord will endure forever.
And that's what I've been doing the whole time I'm here. But when I finished the New Testament, preaching it, the whole thing, not skipping anything. I was going back and kind of thinking of a greatest hits package. Right? What are the things that I think are most helpful?
I think first Peter five six through 11 at the fair that to me, that's like, that is power packed. One paragraph of four things you can do and four things that God says he will do. Right? That's good. But the other than that and a few others that I've done lately, the 12 steps have been in my life the thing that felt like, man, that unlocked something for me and it was really really helpful.
So I wanted to go through that. Step one. I did this one several weeks ago along with step two in the same one. But we admitted that we were powerless. Actually, it begins with having had a spiritual awakening.
That's the way all of these begin. Having had a spiritual awakening. We admitted that we were powerless over our problem, whatever that problem may be. For Alcoholics Anonymous, it's we admitted that we were powerless over alcohol. Right?
We didn't know how to deal with that in our lives. We admitted that we were powerless over our problem, that our lives had become unmanageable. That is a statement of humility, recognizing our lack. Actually, in the early literature of the AA, they said this is deflation at depth. Isn't that good?
Is to be to recognize your lack, is to admit that you're powerless over your problem. And you don't want to stay here for very long. This is a depressing place. Deflation at depth is a very very hard place. Realizing your lack is hard for us.
And so step one is followed very closely by step two. Now step one looks like this. The works of the flesh are evident, it says in Galatians five. And I've read these off for several weeks. I actually talking to Pascal, she said, you think you're gonna read that list again?
I said, I kinda I kinda think I am. I have been so steadily focused for so long on just presenting expository preaching. This is what the word says kinda. But this is more topical. And in step one, we might recognize one of these things.
And there and things like these is at the bottom of this list. And so it's not a it's not an exhaustive list. It's a representative list. But sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, all seem to go together near the top of the list. Idolatry, putting anything in God's place before God.
Sorcery, trying to manipulate the spiritual realm to get what you want. Enmity, having enemies and harboring that. Strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, those all seem to go together and sound pretty pertinent for our current context, think. Drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. The works of the flesh, Galatians five nineteen through 21 says they're evident.
You can see them and we all know that they're a problem. But if you look at that list, does not the world stoke all of those things? What do we use in advertising? All of those things. It's around us all the time.
This is a more complete list. I'm not gonna read the whole thing. But this more complete list is from all of the vice lists from the New Testament. There are others in the Old Testament. But if you're struggling, you say, well, don't drink, I don't spit, I don't chew, I don't run with girls that do, then that's not just it.
Keep on reading the list. Right? That's again a representative list. Some of the big ones for our current situation, you look at them and might not even see them on that list. Right?
But you will. If you look deeper, if you look with humility, you'll see them. You'll see where you will land on this list. Step two, don't stay in step one long. Deflation at depth is not good for any of us.
Deflation at depth is good for all of us as long as we followed up with the next step which is we came to believe after having had a spiritual awakening. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Now, in the early literature on this step, it says, this is an expression of willingness, belief, should be a comma in my opinion. I must have copied and pasted. Willingness, belief, and seeking.
Willingness, belief, and seeking says, there is a higher power. Now, this also is a step of humility knowing that I lack and then recognizing that there is a God that could restore us to sanity. There He has made the way possible for me to be restored to sanity as health. Right? Not just mental but wholeness.
We came to believe that power greater steps could restore us to sanity. And this is what sanity looks like. This is what health looks like. And I like the list in Galatians five nineteen through 23. That first list is great, but it's really great when it's contrasted against the second list.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. That is what sanity looks like. Now, I wrestled this week with how much of this do I do without scripture. Well, it's all scriptural. I promise you, it's all scriptural.
I've got a stack up here. Okay? There are lots of different places where it comes out. The listen to my prayer, oh God, and do not ignore my plea. Hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught. That's deflation at depth. Because of what others are saying, because of the threats about me for they bring down suffering on me, they assail me in their anger. My heart is in me. It's with anguish that it's in me.
The terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me. Horror has overwhelmed me. That's Old Testament. That's David.
Paul in his great theological treaties of Romans gets really personal in chapter six, seven, right around in there. Seven twenty four and twenty five, deflation at depth. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Christ.
He went from step one to step two. I can't do this on my own. Oh, what a wretched man I am. Who will deliver me? There is a God who could restore me to sanity.
Amen. Psalm forty two one, as the deer pants for streams of water, I recognize my own lack. Lord, I need this water to live my soul pants for you, oh God. They're all over, all over scripture, every page. Step three, we made a decision to turn over our will and our lives over to the care of God.
We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. Now, a decision to surrender. It's a recognition of my lack. It's a recognition of God's sufficiency. It's a recognition that he can.
This is saying, I'm going with your prep. I'm going with your plan, lord. I'm making a decision to turn over my will and my life over to the care of God. If I'm going through suffering, I'm putting that on you. The reason for preaching first Peter five six through 11, to humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, casting all your cares on him, right, It's because he cares for us.
It says that. This is a kind of a part of that. We made a decision to turn our will in our lives over to the care of God. That's step three. And it adds this, as we understood him.
Now for Christians, this is a rift sometimes with Christians and actual AA because they say, and I've had it said recently. It has everything you need except Jesus. Well, no. It's an understanding that we know so little about how God is and when we see what he looks like, we're open to willingness, seeking, and belief. As we understood him as another statement of humility and God resist pride.
He resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble. If you open yourself up for God to take over your will in your life as you understand him, he will do it. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Right? Now, yeah, it has to be sincere.
I'm presupposing the sincerity of recognizing your own lack and recognizing his goodness. We sang about the goodness of God. It keeps running after us. It keeps pursuing us. Making a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him is step three.
And then, step four. Now, this was kind of cruel of me, honestly. The last time I preached on this series, it's been three different Sundays. So it's been a month since you all heard we made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Searching and fearless.
And then I gave you a chance at self examination. For a month, what was I thinking? I think we need to do this more often. I think we need to take a little bit longer time in doing this to examine self. As James says, to look at ourselves deeply and intently.
Right? To pay attention to what we see when we get there. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Now, it doesn't stop there. You got step five.
I even mentioned it that Sunday. You got step five coming. This is a good good one. I have a friend in town who is a counselor, and what he does for a living, if you ask him, he says, I do fifth steps. I do fifth steps.
He's presupposing all of the four have happened, and people come to him with a little pile of stuff that they discovered looking at their life, and he helps them in step five, and that's what we're going to today. But making a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Now this is a dangerous place to stop. It's a very dangerous place to stop when you see now you already know your lack. You've already admitted that.
You already know God's goodness. You've already made a decision that you're going to turn your will and your life over. Really doing that though happens in step five. If you look at yourself and you start to see how you really are, you're really really honest with yourself, this is a really depressing place too. It's a really hard place to stay and I'm asking you not to stay there.
Actually, some people say, I can't do that. I can't do step four. It is one of the steps. As you see something on your list, it may be that God reveals to you something, and he didn't reveal all of your sin at once. He just reveals one thing.
This is the primary problem that you're dealing with right here, right now. And when he does that, you've decided to turn your will and your life over to him. You go with what he's revealed to you and you go step five. I'll get back to that. I call the difference in step four and step five after having had a lot of years now helping trying to help people with recovery.
I see the rattle. The rattle. The rattle is that time where you know there's something wrong and you know you ought to do something about it, but you have not yet done it. And that's the time when take people take the most dramatic leaps. It's the I've heard this is true.
I don't know that this is true. I've heard this is true. That at the top of like the State Statue Of Liberty or at the top of a building, for people who are scared of heights when they get close to the edge, they get close to the edge and what they feel like is, I can't take this anymore, and they want to jump. Well, that's the worst possible thing you can do. Stay away from the edge, step back from the edge if you're afraid of it.
But recognizing your own lack, don't let that go to, there's no way this will ever be cured and I've just got to do something dramatic and dangerous. So I've seen people who have had substance abuse problems or alcohol problems or even or even pride problems or enmity problems where they recognize it in humility and then get so exasperated and feel so all of the sudden overwhelmed, but they haven't yet given it over to God. And they do something dramatically dangerous and hurtful and upsetting and it's a really really hard place to be. This year, I lost a friend who drank himself to death on purpose. He knew he needed something wrong.
I mean, he knew there was something wrong. He knew he needed help. I took him to rehab five times. One time, he beat me home. I love him dearly.
I loved him dearly. If you are caught in that rattle, this is why I said it was irresponsible of me to wait a month to preach this next one. If you're caught in that rattle where you know what you've done wrong, but you don't know where to go with it, or you feel like you've done it too many times for God to still listen to you, please, please, please, please go to step five. Here's your list again. See myself there, That's what he's asking for.
I see myself there, Lord. That's what he's asking for. We admitted to God our lack to ourselves. Self righteousness was the Pharisees' problem, and we can see that looking at the New Testament and having two thousand years of examination to see it. But do we see it in our own life?
Or are we lying to ourselves about the exact nature of our wrongs? Are we trying to justify ourselves? We admitted it to God. Lord God, I am wrong in this way. Saying that to God is admitting it to yourself.
And then we, especially Baptist, Protestants in general, but especially Baptist. We don't want it to admit it to anybody else. I'm I'm a priest to the believer. Priest to the believer, I go straight to God with this and yes, you can. That's good.
I don't have a problem with you going straight to God. Go to God first. While you're going to God and you're saying it to God, you're saying it to yourself, that's great. The another human being part of this really sticks in people's crawls. Why should I have to tell anybody about this?
They probably see it anyway. Not sure, but it helps. James five sixteen says, therefore, confess your sins to one another. Now, do you have to have a priest to absolve you of sin? Is that theologically accurate?
No. No. I don't think it is. Does it help to tell somebody, I'm struggling with pride. I'm struggling with enmity.
I'm struggling with pornography. I'm struggling with whatever it is for you. Will you pray for me? James follows that. It's in the same verse actually.
It says the fervent prayer of the righteous. Somebody who's getting through it, they're just maybe a step ahead of you. It's powerful. So don't skip any part of this. Admit it to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.
AA is a group of people who all struggle with the same thing and it works. It works because the exact nature of their wrongs bands them together. Now I've been saying, you can look at the list. It doesn't have to be something that is inebriating. You can look at the list and see yourself.
This part of confession. Now the word for confession, I've mentioned it a 100 times in here, is in Greek homologueo. And homologueo, homo we all know means the same. And then logueo is content or word or saying or speaking. If we are saying the same thing as God about our sin, first John one nine says, he is faithful and he is just to be forgiving that sin and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
Who wants to be cleansed of all unrighteousness? I do. I do. Progressive sanctification. He's gonna reveal to you something that you might not even realize right now you're struggling with because we all have blind spots.
And as he reveals it to you, if you will say, that is my issue. You can do it, Lord. I'm going to let you. Oh my goodness. It's overwhelming.
How could I have not seen this before? Don't stay in that depressive state of how could I have not seen this before. Say, God, I'm giving it over to you. I admit it to you. Bam.
He throws it in the sea of forgetfulness, remembers it more. If you don't remember this, go back and hear the song service. Everything we sang this morning, thank you, Carl, was about that. God being able to forgive. I say often in counseling that one of the goals of modern therapy is to help you get rid of the guilty feeling, but the goal of God is to help you rid yourself of the guilt.
The guilty feeling will go away if the guilt is gone. Now, you do have an adversary. I mentioned him at the at the fair. And he's roaring, lying, prowling around, and looking for someone to devour. You have to resist him firm in the faith knowing you've been forgiven because he, like a good prosecutor, knows the list of the charges, knows you're guilty and will keep on pelting you with him.
But God Almighty, the only judge has already thrown them in the sea of forgiveness and remembers him no more and sees the righteousness of Christ. That is an amen. Amen. That has been imputed to us. We admitted to God to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Now, they are. You might look at them and go, I have been overtaken with stupid and senseless controversies. I didn't even realize it. I just was trying to stay informed. That sounds a lot like filled with a morbid craving for controversy.
Controversy. Controversy. Oh, let's get in there. May we pursue the goodness of God. Now, when you go to God with this and say, help me Lord, he will.
I've been seeing this as an issue for a while. And yes, you are forgiven. And I'm gonna pick you up and show you the way forward. Amen. Now he also might say, yep.
And you've been swollen with conceit about that too. Oh, I didn't recognize that one, Lord. But I don't want to be swollen with conceit. The proud guy in the movie we all know is the bad guy. Right?
I've all honestly, I've been faithless and I've been heartless and I've been ruthless. Yep. And those are forgiven too. And now that we're talking about those controversies always make me mad. There's enmity, there's strife, there's jealousy, there fits of anger.
There's a rivalry that I can't stand. I don't want it to be that way. When he says you'll prepare a table where I'll eat with my enemies? Oh my goodness. He makes enemies into friends, dissension, division, envy, fade.
Now, there is such a thing as somebody just not getting it and they're wrong, but you also are wrong. You also are only righteous with the righteousness that God supplies. There is no such thing as actual righteousness and self righteousness. God is the one who imputes righteousness and it's a gift. It's a gift for those who are humble enough to ask for it.
Step five, we admitted it to God, to ourselves, to another human being. I already mentioned James five sixteen as the kinda mention it to someone else. I have a poem that I wanna share. It's by a French cleric named Michel I do not speak French, and my pronunciation is horrific. It sounds like somebody who speaks Spanish trying to speak French.
But Michelle Quois has written a poem, and it's just called sin in the in the in the book of poetry that I have. I actually put it on the screen this time. If you want it, send me a, hey, I want that, and I will send you the all the slides for today. But I usually when I go over, I just read it from a book. But I have fallen, Lord, is the way it starts.
I have fallen, Lord. Once more, I can't go on. I'll never succeed. I'm ashamed. I don't dare look at you.
And yet, I struggled, Lord. For I knew you were right near me, that you were bending over me, that you were watching. This sounds like a Christian. This is a Christian right here. A Christian who finds himself on that list somewhere.
But temptation blew like a hurricane, and instead of looking at you, I turned my head away. I stepped aside while you stood silent and sorrowful like the spurned lover who sees his loved one carried away by the enemy. When the wind died down as suddenly as it had arisen, when the lightning ceased after proudly streaking the darkness, all of a sudden, I found myself alone and ashamed and disgusted with my sin in my hands. That sin that I selected, the way that a customer makes his purchase. This sin that I've paid for and I cannot return for the shopkeeper is no longer there.
This tasteless sin, this odorless sin, this sin that sickens me, that I have wanted, but I want no more. That I have imagined, that I've sought, and I've played with, and I've fondled it for a long time, that I have finally embraced while turning coldly away from you, God. My arms outstretched, my eyes and heart irresistibly drawn to it. This sin that I have grasped and consumed with gluttony, it's mine now, but it possesses me as the spider web holds captive the gnat. It's mine and it sticks to me and it flows in my veins and it fills my heart and it slipped in everywhere.
As darkness slips into the forest at dusk and it fills in all of the patches of light and I can't get rid of it. Does that sound like step number one? Yeah. And step number four actually. I run from it the way one tries to lose a stray dog, but it catches up with me and it bounds joyfully against my leg.
Everyone must notice it. That's more descriptive in French. I run from it the way one tries to lose a stray dog, but it catches up and bounds joyfully against my legs. Everyone must notice it. I'm so ashamed that I feel like crawling to avoid being seen.
I'm ashamed of being seen by my friends. Isolation is one of the devil's tricks. I'm ashamed of being seen by you, Lord, for you loved me, and I forgot you. And I forgot you because I was thinking of myself. And one can't think of several persons at once.
One must choose, and I chose. And your voice and your look and your love hurt me. I don't think that's actually true, but that is the way it feels. Right? I know better and I did it anyway.
Your voice and your look and your love hurt me. They weigh me down. They weigh me down more than my sin. Lord, don't look at me like that. For I am naked and I am dirty and I am down and I'm shattered with no strength left.
I dare make no more promises. I can only lie bowed before you. That is humility. And then God responds. This is the theme in this prayer book of Michel Koist Prayers.
It starts with the plea and then it ends with God's response after a little star. And God responds, come son, my child, look up. Isn't it mainly your pride that's wounded? If you loved me, you would grieve but you would also trust. Do you think that there's a limit to God's love?
Do you think that for a moment I stopped loving you? But you're still relying on yourself, son. Now, if you know you've got a problem you can't do anything about and you know that God can restore you to Sam, you decided you're gonna let him. When you don't do that, this is where you get stuck. But you still rely on yourself, son.
You must rely on me. Ask my pardon and get up quickly. You see, it's not falling that is the worst, but it's staying on the ground or wallowing on the ground. When you recognize what it is that God is bringing out by the Holy Spirit, you turn that over to him and he rids you of that guilt and he promises to pick you up. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and he's just and he will forgive us of those sins and purify us from all unrighteousness because we are more sinful than we believe.
His grace is sufficient to cover it, but the grace that covers that sin that you know about is sufficient for covering the one that you don't yet know about. It's a trust in Almighty God that he will progressively clean you up as you go forward. Keep on turning to him. Keep on turning to him. Primarily, like I said before, is about agreeing with God.
And the confession of your sins to each other and praying for each other so that you may be healed is very very important and I feel like we've thrown that out out of shame and it's a way that the devil chooses. There's no new news. There's only old news happening to new people. He hasn't changed his strategy. Separation and isolation, division is his plan.
And if we will come together in humility and ask one another, the body of Christ, he will do it. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. And there, outside of the grace of God, there are no righteous people. And you might argue that point for a little while, but God has made the ones who will turn to him in humility righteous. I think that's the last slide.
Yeah. Oh, come to the altar. Hey, how convenient is that? The altar is open. The leg room was not taken up by many legs.
I'm gonna ask the elders that are currently serving right now as elders. If you all would come forward, you don't have to you can come up and bow your heads. Elders, if you're in here, some of them are out there getting ready for actually, it looks like all of them are out there ready except for me and Carl. So, there's Berkeley. Come on.
Berkeley, would you come forward and we are offering and we know pastoral confidentiality, whatever you mentioned to any of these guys, to me or any of the elders of the church or any of these other folks. We understand that holding on to that confidence and praying with you before God is important. If you're looking at your life and you're seeing yourself on that list somewhere, the altar is open now. It's always open. I'm ready to receive you.
I'll turn the microphone off. There are guys who would be ready here and there are guys out there that'll be ready around the tables and there are friends that are ready out there around the tables. If you're taking this seriously, God is revealing something to you. Find somebody to tell that you trust and let us pray through it together with you. In Jesus name, would you stand up and we're gonna sing, oh come to the
Speaker 2is calling. Have you come to the end of yourself? Do you thirst for a drink from the well Jesus is called And leave behind your regrets and mistakes. Come today, there's no reason to wait. Jesus is calling.
Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy. From the ashes, a new life is born. Jesus is calling. We'll come to the altar. The father's arms are roamed and wide.
Again, this Oh, what a Satan. Oh, what a savior. Isn't Christ is risen. Don't come to you. And we'll come to the altar.
The father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought well. The precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1May I pray for you right now? God almighty, I pray that you would create a bond here that is a good and loving bond between these people that they would be able to share and bear the burdens of each other. Lord God almighty, would you use your humble servants to do your will and your way in this community and to the very uttermost parts. I pray specifically for all of those who see themselves as hurting and broken inside that have been restored by the one who heals and gives life. In Jesus name, I pray.
Amen. Amen.
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