In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. All right. This is not my sermon page, actually. My daughter
! Just ran up thinking I left a sermon page. This is something else. Thank you, sweetheart.
! I appreciate that. Yeah! Family in a pinch, baby. I love it. All right. So good morning,
everybody. It's good to be with you. Today, we're going to be talking about a topic that is near
and dear to my heart, and that is the question of how we change. Or perhaps you want to think
of it as how we grow or how we pursue holiness or how we pursue maturity. The Christian word
that we use for it often is sanctification. Whatever word you'd like to use, what we're
going to be talking about this morning is how we as Christians seek to grow more in the character
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So I'm going to be pulling some ideas from a TDI class
that I taught earlier this year. TDI stands for the Discipleship Institute, which sounded
cooler than adult Sunday school class. But that's basically what it is. So I'm pulling
some ideas from that. The class that I taught was largely based on material from David Powlison,
who is a professor and a biblical counselor who I have just deep appreciation for. So this
morning, we're talking about change. Our culture has got all kinds of ideas about how to change.
It's got self-improvement strategies. It's got atomic habits and successful mindsets.
And we can actually find kernels of wisdom in a lot of those ideas. So that's important to recognize.
But when our culture thinks about pursuing change, it ignores or sometimes it even suppresses
three key realities. And those three realities are, and I'll be reminding you of these as we go through,
one is the necessity of God's Word, second is the significance of the heart, and then third would be
our dependence upon the living God. Okay? So James Clear's Atomic Habits. It's a great book. It provides
a super helpful framework for considering how to build good habits, but James Clear is not going to
highlight the sufficiency of God's Word. Stephen Covey, or Covey, however you pronounce his name,
he's got some very helpful ideas for how to become a highly effective person, but he's not going to talk
about the heart as the governing center of your desires. Sahil Bloom, he's got some great ideas about how to
prioritize a meaningful life, but he isn't going to point you to a relationship with the living God as one of his
five types of wealth. Okay? So I've benefited from all of these authors. They have some good things to say,
but they're missing the most important parts of what it means to truly change. And what I want to point you to today,
in today's message, is that for the Christian, the Christian who has been ransomed, saved, claimed,
adopted, rescued, and born again through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, for the Christian,
pursuing change means tethering yourself to the truths and promises of God's Word.
It means understanding the nature of the heart as it's taught in the Bible. And it means seeking after
the living God who loved you so much that he gave himself up for you.
So that's the threefold focus we're going to be focusing on, is the Word, the heart, and the Lord,
the living God. That's where we're going today. As Christians, we don't reject those realities,
like our culture does, but we do tend to forget them. We tend to neglect them, and sometimes we
can misunderstand them. And I put myself in that category, by the way, as someone who far too easily
forgets and neglects these truths. So I need to be reminded of these things as I'm preaching. I am
preaching to myself as much as I'm preaching to you this morning. Okay? We are all learners here.
Before we dig into these, I want to start by saying why we change in the first place. Why do we even
bother with pursuing change? Are we seeking to become our best selves? Are we trying to live our
best life now? Are we wanting to change our lives just to make them better and more fulfilling? Like,
what's the reason that a Christian would pursue change? Here's the target. It's given to us by
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 16. He says this,
Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works and do what?
Glorify your Father who is in heaven. So the reason that we're pursuing change is so that we can
become more like Jesus and so that we can reflect his character and his ways and his priorities in such
a way that God is glorified. Okay? So we're not talking about mere self-improvement here today.
We're talking about the glory of God. That's what we're going after. So with that in front of us,
here's what I want you to do this morning. We're going to get a little personal.
I want you to think of a besetting sin in your life. I want you to think of an area in your life
that you know that you are deficient in, that you know that you need help in.
It could be something as simple as just addiction to constantly checking your phone. It could be raising
your voice with your kids when they disobey you. It could be a tendency to slip into words and
behaviors with your friends at school that you know that God and your parents would not approve of.
It could be an irritation that you carry in your spirit towards your spouse. It could be anger that
you have towards a co-worker. In this little bit of time that we have together, I want us to try to
make this personal. CCEF, they use this wonderful phrase, the personal God gets personal with us,
which I love. I love that phrase. And in order for the personal God to get personal with us,
we have to be honest and vulnerable with him about ourselves. So I'm going to invite you to do that
this morning as we go through this. First reality of change is the sufficiency of God's Word.
It's the sufficiency of God's Word. Let's look at how Jesus Christ, the God-man, the second person of
the Trinity, the man who the winds and the waves obey, the one who is holding up the universe right now
by the Word of his power. Let's start by considering what he says about the nature of his Word, the Bible,
the scriptures, the 66 books that are given to us in his Word. So would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 4? If you've got a Bible in front of you, Matthew chapter 4, because I want you to see this.
If you're using a pew Bible, you're going to go to page 809, Matthew 4.
It says this,
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him,
If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
But he answered, It is written,
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
So in Matthew 4, we see our Savior facing his greatest temptation in the wilderness,
battling not only the physical weariness of a 40-day fast, but also the seductive words of his great enemy,
the devil. And with every temptation that the devil throws at him,
Jesus responds like a drumbeat. It is written, it is written, it is written.
And the first passage of Holy Spirit-inspired Scripture that he fires back at his enemy,
is it is written,
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by what?
By every word that comes from the mouth of God.
So I want you to see this.
I want you to feel the weight and the goodness and the goodness of what Jesus is saying here.
Because according to Jesus Christ, God's word is to our souls what food is to our bodies.
Okay?
God's word is to our souls what food is to our bodies.
Which means that you and I, brother and sister, are utterly dependent on the Bible.
Because these are God's words.
This is not a book of opinions.
This is not man's best attempt to try to understand who God is.
This is God himself speaking to you every time that you open up this word.
from Genesis to Revelation.
So the personal God gets personal with us
as we read his words as found in the scriptures.
Which means that if you want to change,
if you want to grow and you're not anchored
in the wisdom of this book,
then your growth is going to be stunted.
You're never going to get very far.
I've never met a mature believer
who isn't knee-deep in this book.
God's commands and God's words are not burdensome.
They are life-giving.
You cannot live by bread alone.
You live by every word that comes out of this book,
and you can't live by it if you don't read it.
Here's another astounding claim from God's word
that I want you to see.
Go with me to 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17.
2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17.
Again, if you've got a pew Bible,
it's going to be on page 996.
This is the Apostle Paul talking.
He says this.
All Scripture, all Scripture is breathed out by God
and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, and for training in righteousness
that the man or woman of God may be complete,
equipped for every good word.
So hear the totality of that statement in 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17.
Here's what that means at a minimum,
is that if the only book that you had was a Bible,
you didn't have any self-help books,
you didn't have any financial advice books,
no books on leadership development,
you would still have everything that you need
in order to faithfully and rightly obey and follow the Lord Jesus Christ
in every situation that you encounter in life if you have this.
That's the claim of 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17.
So if we want to change,
we need to be always growing in our knowledge of the words
that God has spoken to us through the Scriptures.
There's just no replacement for getting in this book
and feasting on this daily.
Only man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Okay.
Now before we move on,
so we're talking about the sufficiency of God's Word.
Before we move on,
I want to be clear about something.
I want to be clear about what the sufficiency of God's Word doesn't mean.
Okay?
Here's what it doesn't mean.
It doesn't mean that there's no wisdom to be found in books outside of the Bible.
It doesn't mean that.
It doesn't mean that we do not need the counsel of wise friends
or that we don't need community,
because in fact, you've got Proverbs 11, 14,
which says that in an abundance of counselors,
there is victory.
So that verse right there would point us to humbly seek out the help and wisdom of others,
especially those who are anchored in the wisdom of this book.
So get good counsel from friends.
Read good books,
and then weigh everything that you were told by God's Word.
Okay?
I also want to say this.
I think that this is important about the sufficiency of the Bible.
The sufficiency of the Bible
also doesn't mean
that Christians should avoid medication to help with things
like anxiety, depression, or other mental hardships.
Okay?
I want you to hear this.
God's Word is very honest
about the fact that we live in a fallen and sinful world.
And one of the effects of the fall
is that sometimes our brain can turn into our enemies.
Okay?
That's an effect of the fall.
There are situations
where the wisdom of God's Word
would encourage you
to take medication
that helps you to get your head above water
so that you can think clearly.
But you never stop being dependent
on God's Word or on His Spirit.
So whatever sin, struggle,
that you thought of
when we started this sermon,
God's Word is up to the task
of giving you the wisdom that you need
to be complete
and fully equipped
for every good work.
That's what the Bible claims for itself.
Now, as you get to know this book,
if you're paying attention,
you're going to notice
that the Bible talks an awful lot
about the heart.
Okay?
So now we're into our second key reality
for pursuing change,
the importance of the heart.
When I say the heart,
you probably have some sense
of what I mean.
That word gets an awful lot of mileage
in the English language,
and it does in the Bible too.
Across the 66 books
of the Old and New Testament,
the word, the heart,
shows up nearly a thousand times
in Hebrew and in Greek,
a thousand times.
The first time that the heart
is used in your Bibles
is in Genesis 6, 5 through 6.
This is in the account of the flood.
It says this,
the Lord saw the wickedness of man,
that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth,
and that every intention
of the thought of his heart
was only evil continually.
And the Lord regretted
that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him to his heart.
And then at the end
of the flood account in Genesis 8,
it says,
the Lord said in his heart,
I will never curse the ground again.
The Lord's resolve.
He said in his heart.
And then after that,
it's just off to the races
with the phrase,
the heart.
If you pay attention to it,
you're gonna see that
all over the surface of the Bible.
So what does the Bible mean
when it says the heart?
We tend to divide
the heart and the mind,
the heart and the mind
in a way that the Bible does not.
We tend to classify emotions
and feelings and desires,
and we put those
within the bucket of the heart.
And then our thoughts
and our reasoning
and our decisions,
we put those into
the category of the mind.
And the Bible says
that all of those things
originate from within
the heart of a person.
All of those things,
mind and heart go together.
They're not against one another.
We could say it like this.
The heart is the fountainhead
of your deepest thoughts,
your greatest loves,
your strongest emotions,
and your every desire
and decision.
The heart is the fountainhead
of your deepest thoughts,
your greatest loves,
your strongest emotions,
and your every desire
and decision.
Or we could say,
if I know your heart,
then I know you.
Now, as Les covered last week,
before Jesus saved you,
what was the state
of your heart?
He was dead.
Right?
Let's do a quick review
from Ephesians 2,
1 through 3.
The Apostle Paul says this,
And you were dead
in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked,
following the course
of this world,
following the prince of the air,
the spirit that is now at work
in the sons of disobedience,
among whom we all once lived
in the passions of our flesh,
carrying out the desires
of the flesh and the mind,
and were by nature
children of wrath,
like the rest of mankind.
Which means that
before you came to Christ,
your heart was dead.
Dead to God,
dead to the ways of God,
you had no desire
to truly love God,
or worship God,
or follow God.
That's the state
of every human being
when they are born
into this world.
And then we get
to the glorious verses
of verse 4 and 5,
which says,
But God,
being rich in mercy
because of the great love
with which he loved us,
even when we were dead
in our trespasses,
made us alive
together with Christ,
by grace you have been saved.
Which means that
if you are in Christ,
you've been born again,
and you have a new heart.
This is what the Lord spoke
through the prophet Ezekiel
back in Ezekiel 36
when he wrote this
hundreds of years
before Christ's arrival
on this earth.
This is the Lord speaking.
He said,
I will sprinkle
clean water on you,
and you shall be clean
from all your uncleannesses,
and from all your idols
I will cleanse you,
and I will give you
a new heart,
and a new spirit
I will put within you,
and I will remove
the heart of stone
from your flesh,
and give you
a heart of flesh,
and I will put
my spirit within you,
and cause you
to walk in my statutes,
and be careful
to obey my rules.
So this is the same thing
that Paul is talking about
in 2 Corinthians 5.17.
A lot of us love that verse
when he says,
if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation, right?
And this changes everything
about how we pursue change.
If we are in Christ,
our hearts have been transformed,
and they have been made new.
If you are a Christian,
your heart that once cared
only for yourself,
that was ruled by evil desires,
your heart that was once dead,
is now under the rule
and reign of your Lord Jesus Christ.
And now in Christ,
you have a desire
to know God,
and to worship God,
and follow God,
and trust God,
and live your life
for God,
because your heart
has been radically reoriented
towards him.
That is good news.
Now here's the hard reality.
All right?
And I like how
Les put this last week.
you are a new creation,
and you still have grave clothes
that are sitting on you.
You are a new,
you have a new heart,
and there are dead sin cells,
not skin cells,
sin cells,
that are still clinging to you.
You've been made new,
and God is still at work,
he's still in the process
of transforming you
into his image and likeness.
So we call this
the already
and the not yet,
right?
Those two together,
which means that your heart,
even though it's new,
is still capable
of desiring sin.
All right?
One day it won't.
New heavens,
new earth,
glory,
after this life,
when you're in the presence
of Jesus,
that's gonna be gone.
But right now,
your heart is still capable
of supplanting God
and putting idols
in his place.
Supplanting as in quotes.
Of course,
you can't totally dethrone God.
This is how Jesus puts it
in Matthew 15.
He says,
but what comes out of the mouth
proceeds from the heart.
Proceeds from the heart,
and this defiles a person.
For out of the heart
come evil thoughts,
murder,
adultery,
sexual immorality,
theft,
false witness,
slander.
These are what defile
a person.
So what he's saying
is that anytime you sin,
it is out of a desire
that originates
in your heart.
Anytime that you think
or speak rightly,
okay,
you do what is right,
that is also out of a desire
that originates
from within your heart.
Jesus puts it like this
in Matthew,
or I'm sorry,
in Luke 645.
The good person
out of the good treasure
of his heart
produces good,
and the evil person
out of his evil treasure
produces evil.
For out of the abundance
of the heart
his mouth speaks.
So again,
you have a new heart,
but on this side of heaven
you are still capable
of desiring
and choosing sin.
And the Bible
is very honest
about that.
That's why in Ephesians 4,
Paul says,
he says,
put off your old self
which belongs
to your former manner
of life
and is corrupt
through deceitful desires
and instead put on
the new self
that is created
after the likeness
of God
in true righteousness
and holiness.
And this is why
Hebrews says,
put aside every weight
in the sin
which clings so closely.
This is why James says
to put aside
all filthiness
and rampant wickedness.
You are a new creation,
but you are still
in a battle.
There is still a fight
to press into
as a Christian.
And so that sin
that you've been keeping
in the back of your mind
that you've been thinking about
as we've been talking,
the desire for that
leads,
the desire that leads
to that sin
is primarily about
your relationship
with the living God.
So if you're following
my points,
we've reached
the third key reality.
Without question,
this is the most important
reality
in our pursuit of change
and that is
your relationship
with the living God.
Change for the Christian
is not primarily driven
by habits
or disciplines.
Those things
are important.
They are necessary.
But real change,
true change,
the kind of change
that God
is after
in us
is primarily
relational.
It's primarily
relational.
So Jesus makes this
gloriously clear
that the foundation
of obedience
to God
is to love God.
When he was asked
the greatest commandment
was,
what does he say?
He says,
you shall love
the Lord your God
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind.
This is the great
and first commandment.
And the second
is like it.
You shall love
your neighbor
as yourself.
On these
two commandments
depend
all the law
and the prophets.
So love God,
love your neighbor.
Jesus was saying
that if you want
to follow the Lord,
if you want
to walk in holiness,
then love God
with all of your heart
and love your neighbor
as yourself.
So he's making
the core of obedience
to God
relational.
The personal God
gets personal
with us.
which means
that we don't
think about
facing our sins
in terms of
a self-improvement
project.
Instead,
we honestly
and openly
and probably
a little painfully
search our hearts
with the help
of the Spirit
to see what
we are treasuring
more
than the God
who loved us
and gave himself
up for us.
So I want
to give you
an example
of this
from my
own life.
Those of you
who know me
pretty well,
you're going
to be aware
that this is
an ongoing
struggle for me.
I have a tendency
to fall into
a pair of sins
that run
parallel
with one another
and those are
anxiety
and irritability.
They tend
to run along
the same
track.
So here's
a very real
example
from my
wife.
From my
wife.
From my
life.
This involves
my wife.
Ooh,
all right.
Could have
changed that
phrasing.
All right.
So my
wife calls
me while
I'm in the
office.
My wife
calls me
while I'm
in the
office.
She has
good news
for me
and that
good news
is that we
have a pipe
leaking in
our basement.
All right.
And the
moment that
I hear
that,
the agitation
starts to
sink in.
Right.
I've got
this phrase
that I like
to use
when things
break down
in our
house and
that phrase
is,
you've got
to be
kidding me.
Does
anybody else
use that
phrase?
You've got
to be
kidding me?
Right.
After a
while,
I'm sure
that my
wife has
begun
thinking,
no,
I'm not
kidding
that our
house that
was built
before the
moon landing
has a
leaking pipe.
But in
that moment,
in that
moment,
I do not
care that my
frustration
makes no
logical sense
because all
that I see
in front of
me is a
house project.
It's going
to cost
me time
and it's
going to
cost me
money.
So what's
really going
on behind
you've got to
be kidding
me is,
how dare
this home
steal my
time and
my money
and my
comfort and
disrupt my
day and my
plans?
That's what's
going on behind
you've got to be
kidding me.
Which means that
functionally,
at that moment,
the God who
owns the cattle
on a thousand
hills and is
working all
things,
including a
leaking pipe in
my home,
all things
together,
for my
good and
his glory,
the God who
rescued me
from my
sins,
who has
showered me
with grace,
who loves
me,
who is so
patient with
me,
who has
good purposes
for me,
even behind
the inconvenience
of a broken
water pipe,
I have
dethroned him.
I have
dethroned him
in my
heart and
my actions
and my
words
reveal
that comfort
and ease
are the
greatest
treasure to
me in
that
moment,
not my
Lord and
Savior,
Jesus
Christ.
And when I
get home
to scope
out the
leak,
and I'm
short with
my wife,
and I'm
short with
my kids,
I am
bringing
forth evil
out of the
evil treasure
of my
heart.
This is what
Jesus says,
in a situation
where God
calls me to
bear good
fruit,
instead I
bear thorns,
thorny,
sinful
response out
of what I'm
desiring
within my
heart.
So this is
not fundamentally
an anxiety
problem.
At the
deepest
roots,
it's not
an anxiety
or anger
or irritability
problem,
this is an
idolatry
problem.
It's a
treasuring
comfort
rather than
God
problem.
So you
might ask
yourself,
how has the
living God
gotten
personal with
me in my
idolatrous
craving for
comfort and
ease
recently?
family.
So first
off, I'm
very much a
work in
progress,
so just
honest about
that.
But here's
a way that
God has
met me.
This is
James 1,
2 through
4.
Count it
all joy,
my brothers,
when you
meet trials
of various
kinds.
It just
covers everything,
which is so
frustrating.
when you
meet trials
of various
kinds,
for you
know that
the testing
of your
faith produces
steadfastness.
And let
steadfastness
have its
full effect
that you
may be
perfect and
complete,
lacking in
nothing.
So here's
what that
verse has
assured me
of,
that God
is at
work.
every,
he's at
work in
my character
every time
that I
face a
trial of
any kind.
So that
could be the
deepest of
sufferings,
like the
hardest of
things that
you could
go up
against.
And that
could be the
most trivial
of inconveniences
of everyday
life.
I'm stuck in a
traffic jam,
right?
my God
is using
that to
shape me
and to
make me
more and
more like
my Savior,
who is the
one who is
truly perfect
and complete,
lacking in
nothing.
I'm not
going to
pretend that I
understand all
of the
purposes that
God has
for my
trials,
but I can
take to
the bank
the promise
that he
intends to
shape me
and make
me more
like him.
And God's
word says to
face those
trials with
joy.
And so
the living
God, he
meets me
with the
scriptures
and with
his spirit
and I go
to him.
All right?
You can't,
this is part
of it, is you
go to him,
to the living
God who
really hears
you, who
really listens,
who is really
intimately involved
in your life.
And I confess
to him,
Lord, forgive
me of my
love for
comfort, help
me to trust
you in this,
my heart wants
to go this
way, forgive
me for that,
help me, I
pray to him,
I reach for
him, I rely
on him, and
I increasingly,
little by little,
this is not a
magic wand,
little by little,
I increasingly
choose to seek
him rather than
ignore him or
run from him.
glory.
And slowly
but surely,
he transforms
me from one
degree of glory
to another.
And I start
treasuring my
Lord, I start
trusting him
more, I start
being more
patient with my
family, less
irritable, when
something breaks
in our pre-moon
landing house,
and the fruit of
the Spirit begins
to characterize me
more and more.
more.
And again, it's
not perfectly,
because perfection
doesn't come until
Christ returns or
calls me home, but
more and more I
begin to look more
like my Savior.
Savior.
The God who showers
me with the grace of
his forgiveness, he
also showers on me
the grace of
change.
Forgiveness and
change, his grace
sufficient for both
of those things.
Now, that is not
flashy on the
surface, it's not
super exciting or
very dramatic, but I
am totally convinced
that this is where
God meets us.
And he helps us to
pivot from our
thorny, sinful
responses and help
us to move towards
more and more
bearing good fruit.
And if you are a
Christian, I want to
say this, if you are
a Christian, then you
are capable of
bearing good fruit and
becoming more like
Jesus because you
have the Spirit of
God at work in
you.
So it doesn't
matter how deeply
rooted your sin is.
If you came in with
a sense of despair
over a besetting
sin, God wants you
to know that his
grace is sufficient
to change that.
It doesn't matter how
deeply rooted that is.
It doesn't matter if
you're 12 or 16 or
45 or 85.
If you are a
Christian, you have the
Holy Spirit of God at
work in you and
changing you.
He's going to help
you to grow in
holiness.
You're going to have
to act.
You're going to have
to choose.
You will have to walk
the hard road of
obedience, but you
will do so in his
grace and in his
strength, which means
that there are no
hopeless situations in
this room.
Do you believe that
about yourself and
about the brothers and
sisters in Christ that
you know?
That's what we should
believe.
Okay, I want to leave
you with some
application that I hope
will be helpful in
terms of thinking about
living this out a little
practically.
So I've got five
applications.
I'm going to throw at
you fairly rapidly here.
Number one, resolve
right now to know
the Lord and his
promises through the
scriptures.
Make that resolution.
Take Jesus seriously
when he says that you
cannot live by bread
alone, but that you
need every word that
comes from the mouth
of God.
He also said in John
10, 27, my sheep
hear my voice, and I
know them, and they
follow me.
So God's word is where
you hear his voice.
If you need help in
knowing how to read the
Bible and apply it to
your life, I've got 20
copies of an article by
David Pollison.
It's out on the
Connect desk.
Printed 20.
We can print more if we
need to.
And it is going to be,
I believe, helpful.
If you are uncertain of
how do I apply the Bible
to my life, how does this
relate to what's going on,
grab that article on your
way out.
It's a version of an
article that I hand out
in the TDI class that I
teach.
So number one is resolve
to know the Lord and his
promises through the
scriptures.
Number two is begin the
hard but good work of
prayerfully identifying what
rules your heart.
Okay, you've got to
identify what rules your
heart.
And one way that you can
do that is you ask
yourself some difficult
but life-giving questions
that sound like this.
What preoccupies my
thoughts?
What drives me?
What do I feel entitled
to?
What would put me in
despair if I lost it?
What do I organize my
life around?
And the more specific and
honest that you can be
about what goes on in your
heart with the Lord, the
better.
Those kind of questions are
going to reveal things.
things.
Number three is blame the
heart, not the heat.
Okay?
Blame the heart, not the
heat.
We are remarkably good at
blame shifting when it
comes to our sin.
That was the first response
to the first ever sin in the
Garden of Eden.
Immediately, Adam passes the
buck, right?
And we do the same thing with
our sinful responses.
We think, if only I had a
different job, if I had more
money, if my spouse was more
kind, if my kids weren't so
difficult, if my teacher
wasn't so harsh, if I didn't
have this suffering going on
in my life, then I wouldn't do
or say or think X, Y, or Z.
But Jesus does not say, out of
the abundance of your
circumstances, the mouth speaks.
He says it's out of the
abundance of our heart that we
respond in sinful ways.
Which means that situations,
hard situations, are
significant.
God is not unfeeling towards
hard circumstances or
suffering.
He's near to the broken
hearted.
He saves those who are
crushed in spirit.
But circumstances are never
determinative of our sinful
responses.
So our trials, they have a
way of exposing what is
already happening within our
hearts, what we already love
and value.
So own that.
Don't let the enemy trick you
into blame shifting or
excusing your sin or idolatry.
Number four, embrace the slow
work of sowing and reaping.
Okay?
This is slow, steady work.
If you think just for a moment
about the nature of bearing
fruit, Jesus could have picked
any other image to describe how
we change.
He keeps coming back to bearing
fruit over and over in the
Gospels.
That is a process that's slow.
Right?
It starts very small.
And over time, it yields
fruit.
And some people, they bear more
fruit than others.
But if you are a Christian, you
are going to bear fruit.
Because at the end of the day,
you have a new heart.
You have what you need.
But don't be discouraged if that
process is slow.
Be encouraged by the little
pieces of fruit that start to
show up in your life.
Because that's a sign of the
Holy Spirit at work in you.
Embrace the slow work.
And then lastly, I just, I
can't, I can't overstate how
important this is.
Is you have to seek the living
God.
You have to seek the living God.
The Apostle Paul in the book of
Galatians, he provides us with
what I think is one of the most
wonderful verses in all of the
Bible.
I've alluded to it a couple of
times already in the sermon.
It's Galatians 2.20.
I have been crucified with
Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but
Christ who lives in me.
And the life I now live in the
flesh, I live by faith in the
Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me.
So you, dear brothers and
sisters, have been crucified with
Christ.
Which means that your old self is
dead.
In the sense that it no longer
rules.
Christ does.
And the life you now live in the
here and now, in the Monday through
Friday, in the day in, day out
ordinariness, in the pain of your
trials and your sufferings, you
live by faith in the Son of God who
loved you so much that he gave
himself up for you.
You are his.
You belong to him now and forever.
So seek him.
Trust him.
Ask his spirit for his help.
Find him as your refuge.
Learn how to pour out your heart to
him.
And then you act.
You obey.
You live by faith for his glory.
And you do so knowing that his grace
covers your every step and that he
is with you always to the end of the
age.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that you
are a God who is right now, right
now at work completing the good work
that you began in us.
You are not a God who leaves us to our
own strength.
You do not leave us to our own power.
You are a God who meets us with grace.
The grace that we need hour by hour in
every circumstance or trial.
We thank you for being a God who is
intimately involved in our lives.
Thank you that you are not a God who
keeps us at arm's length.
You are a God who draws close.
Thank you for being personal.
Thank you for the grace that you pour
out even when we resist you.
Thank you for your patience.
You are good.
We ask you now for your help as we
seek to grow more and more like you.
It's in Jesus' beautiful name that we
pray.
Amen.