WEBVTT 00:00:00.580 --> 00:00:07.620 Normally I'd tell you what text to turn to, because we like to go through expositional passages of the Bible. 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:11.730 Or at least scripturally, we go though sections of scripture together. 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:14.270 Today, for the end this New Year, we're going to do this a little bit differently. 00:00:15.120 --> 00:00:22.340 I'm going to end this year by just focusing on some theme ideas related to scripture, to help us with a fresh 00:00:22.340 --> 00:00:24.940 outlook to next year. 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:29.300 So we're going to look at, this morning, topically as it relates to the new year. 00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:36.730 When we say we're starting a new year 2019, I know some of you never thought that you would see this year. 00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:39.760 You just say the year 2019, all of a sudden your bones feel just old. 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:47.940 2019, I am so angry, I was supposed to be coming to church on at least a hover board if not a flying car already, all 00:00:47.940 --> 00:00:48.060 right? 00:00:48.060 --> 00:00:50.000 That Marty McFly lied to me. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:51.540 2019? 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:54.740 When you say that, you like, can we just stop and wait. 00:00:55.160 --> 00:00:58.580 Then others look at 2018, and you're like nope, and I want to get rid of last year. 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:06.160 There's a lot of emotions that come with a new year, and some people like to take this time of year and think of resolutions. 00:01:06.940 --> 00:01:08.860 Some people are not big on resolutions. 00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:13.760 Either way, a new year is a time for a fresh start. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:20.880 Sort of a year to set a reset for your life, and to think about some things you would like to see happen next 00:01:20.880 --> 00:01:23.230 year, so you can crush it. 00:01:23.300 --> 00:01:23.420 Right? 00:01:23.720 --> 00:01:30.390 2019 and all that it represents, whether vacations, bucket lists, habits you want to break, personal goals for your life. 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:36.070 I was reading through some of the things people put on internet for this year. 00:01:36.180 --> 00:01:38.370 If you're looking for some ideas, here's a few. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:43.220 One person wanted to get ahead of the game, with their new hair growth I guess. 00:01:43.240 --> 00:01:47.820 So they're more interested in maintaining trimming their nose and ear hair. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:49.000 That's a pretty good one. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:54.190 Or one person, on the next thing they purchase, they want to actually read the manual before they put it together. 00:01:54.520 --> 00:01:55.720 Good idea. 00:01:55.720 --> 00:01:59.920 Or, consider taking up a new hobby, such as procrastination. 00:02:01.360 --> 00:02:02.360 Or, maybe later. 00:02:03.230 --> 00:02:04.220 That's a good one. 00:02:04.320 --> 00:02:09.539 Or realize this year that God loves you, and embrace the fact that chocolate is the proof. 00:02:10.389 --> 00:02:12.020 I've been doing that my whole life. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:13.410 I like this one. 00:02:13.660 --> 00:02:17.090 Loose enough weight that my gut doesn't jiggle when I brush my teeth. 00:02:17.420 --> 00:02:18.300 That was a good... 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:19.560 Yes. 00:02:19.820 --> 00:02:21.260 Or, here's one. 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:24.830 Stop hanging out with people that ask me about my New Years resolution. 00:02:26.260 --> 00:02:28.890 You don't need a resolution when you're already perfect. 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:30.300 That's good. 00:02:30.880 --> 00:02:31.960 Or, here's the last one. 00:02:32.920 --> 00:02:38.510 One guys resolution was to quit all of his bad habits, but then he realized that nobody likes a quitter. 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:40.940 Yes. 00:02:41.160 --> 00:02:48.260 Maybe you're not big into resolutions, or looking at the New Year that way. 00:02:48.260 --> 00:02:54.260 But, no one starts a new year thinking of all the ways they could fail. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:02.650 Truth is, you don't need a new year to start something new, but a new year does give you a place to think about change. 00:03:04.260 --> 00:03:11.480 And as you look at 2019, and all that it might hold for you, I think it's good for us to pause as God's people and consider, 00:03:13.040 --> 00:03:13.760 what does God want? 00:03:16.140 --> 00:03:22.400 When you think about 2019, as it relates to your relationship with God, what might God want for your life? 00:03:22.420 --> 00:03:27.420 Or have you even stopped to consider how God fits into all that? 00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:35.180 I think we all have great personal goals, like maybe you want to fit into your college 00:03:35.180 --> 00:03:36.120 jeans again. 00:03:36.820 --> 00:03:40.900 Or maybe control your spending, or get a new job. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:48.780 But I think by far, one of the most important questions we consider in life is 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:51.400 just to simply ask, why am I here? 00:03:52.760 --> 00:03:55.580 And, what does God want for my life? 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:04.460 Especially when you think about the beginnings of a new year, and I don't want this to sound fluffy, but I 00:04:04.460 --> 00:04:06.090 do want us to consider this. 00:04:06.160 --> 00:04:11.580 When it comes to God, He is a God that likes to do things new. 00:04:13.220 --> 00:04:19.300 And, when you look throughout scripture, there are so many passages that reflect that idea as it relates to God. 00:04:20.220 --> 00:04:22.880 And I think that's important for God's people, because it gives us hope. 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:24.140 Right? 00:04:24.280 --> 00:04:29.070 If God wasn't a God that was about making things new, I would have given up a long time ago. 00:04:30.180 --> 00:04:34.540 But the book if Isaiah, chapter 43, verse 18 says it like this. 00:04:34.620 --> 00:04:38.180 God in this passage, He's really reflecting in this section of scripture. 00:04:38.540 --> 00:04:42.060 One on the exodus, which we talked about last week, and I want to dive into that again. 00:04:42.500 --> 00:04:49.900 But, He's also thinking about how He desires to make things new, because life today isn't that way God intended it to. 00:04:50.340 --> 00:04:54.620 When God, He created the Garden of Eden, in perfection in relationship with Him. 00:04:54.620 --> 00:05:01.180 And, scripture tells the story of God wanting to make things new again, and God is moving that way. 00:05:01.180 --> 00:05:08.400 In Isaiah 43:18 says this, talking to Israel says, “Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder the things 00:05:08.400 --> 00:05:08.940 of the past. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:11.560 Behold I will do something new. 00:05:12.860 --> 00:05:14.190 Now it will spring forth. 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:16.270 Will you not be aware of it? 00:05:16.640 --> 00:05:19.800 I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. 00:05:20.700 --> 00:05:22.360 The beast of the field will glorify me. 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:28.700 The jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and desert, to give drink to my chosen people. 00:05:28.880 --> 00:05:31.860 The people whom I formed for myself, will declare my praise”. 00:05:34.440 --> 00:05:36.800 God desires to make things new. 00:05:38.500 --> 00:05:45.760 You know I even think, as Christians if you walked with Jesus for sometime, sometimes you get accustomed to 00:05:45.760 --> 00:05:46.000 that. 00:05:46.080 --> 00:05:53.080 But I think it's important to not only recognize that God wants to make things new, but as a believer if 00:05:53.080 --> 00:06:00.260 you're feeling a little stale or maybe you're just on the shelf not being used for the Lord, God not only likes to make 00:06:00.260 --> 00:06:02.810 things new but He's also a God that likes to renew. 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:08.740 When you read through scripture, David says this in Psalm 51:10. 00:06:08.740 --> 00:06:14.960 He says, his prayer was, create in me a new heart oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:23.080 Romans 12, Paul encouraged us, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your 00:06:23.080 --> 00:06:23.580 mind. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.980 Or even 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, I love this verse. 00:06:28.980 --> 00:06:31.520 It says this, therefore we do not lose heart. 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:35.930 I love that beginning statement, because it's acknowledging that life is hard, but there is hope. 00:06:36.200 --> 00:06:36.300 Right? 00:06:36.980 --> 00:06:39.080 So therefore, we do not lose heart. 00:06:39.100 --> 00:06:45.320 But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:52.280 God's not only in the business of making things new, but He's in the business of taking those things and continuing to renew them. 00:06:53.740 --> 00:07:00.960 So to do something new, or renew, this also means for us, that something has to be different. 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:07.060 I would say it like this, in a very simplistic way, God made you to be different. 00:07:08.420 --> 00:07:11.600 This world, this versus acknowledging, there is some adversity in this world. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:16.960 There's some challenges to this world, but because God is a God that makes things new, and God calls you to belong to Him. 00:07:17.100 --> 00:07:19.900 In belonging to Him, God desires for you to be made new. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:25.480 And in order to be made new, that means therefore, that we are to be different. 00:07:27.200 --> 00:07:33.360 To leave behind, as Isaiah said, the things of the past and to grab hold of the things God calls us to in Him. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:37.720 God wants to create a change within you. 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:43.530 One of my favorite verses as it relates to this, is 2 Corinthians just a little bit before that section, that verse we just read. 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:48.240 It says this, when you think about what is God's goal for my life in 2019. 00:07:48.300 --> 00:07:50.620 I could tell you it's the same goal as 2018. 00:07:52.040 --> 00:07:54.390 And really the same goal for your whole life. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:01.740 It says this in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:08.960 of the Lord, are being transformed in the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the 00:08:08.960 --> 00:08:09.120 Spirit”. 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:16.400 What he's saying in this passage is that God's goal for your life, is really to conform you to the image of Christ. 00:08:18.020 --> 00:08:19.440 To make you new in this way. 00:08:19.900 --> 00:08:23.220 And the way it describes it in this passage is, moment by moment. 00:08:23.220 --> 00:08:29.580 What God is doing in you, in pursuing Jesus, He's using moment by moment to conform you into His image. 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:36.260 I love the way Philippians chapter one, verse six says, that He that began a good work in you will bring it to completion. 00:08:37.580 --> 00:08:41.590 Like God knows that you're not there yet, and God doesn't give up on you. 00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:47.840 But God desires to do that work in you, to make it new and to renew it on a daily basis. 00:08:48.060 --> 00:08:51.180 Because we understand in this world there's a conflict, there is a struggle. 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:55.980 But God wants to make things new. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:05.520 I often, the moment we recognize that God wants to make things new, or if you've been a believer following after Jesus and you're 00:09:05.520 --> 00:09:10.740 familiar with that thought, we can get skeptical, sometimes we can doubt. 00:09:12.560 --> 00:09:13.600 We can even feel guilty. 00:09:16.460 --> 00:09:22.380 I mean, in order to make things new, it also requires that things aren't the way they should be. 00:09:23.460 --> 00:09:24.000 Like in my own life. 00:09:26.340 --> 00:09:33.620 God wants to renew in me, and the reason He wants to renew in me is because there's a struggle within in me, that I hold on to things that aren't about what He wants to do. 00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:35.320 They're contrary to Him. 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:41.440 And in seeing my own heart in conflict with God, the guilt of that, right? 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:50.380 There can be a struggle in my inner man, I see the way that You write these verses and all the optimism that comes with that, and 00:09:50.380 --> 00:09:53.030 that's good for everyone else, but is there really hope for me? 00:09:55.380 --> 00:09:57.060 I'm tired of failing. 00:10:00.420 --> 00:10:05.010 I'm tired of not being who I know you've called me to be. 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:13.600 When you think about 2019 and those struggles, I think sometimes we don't like to think about that reset or those thing of being made 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:13.960 new. 00:10:13.980 --> 00:10:16.460 Honestly, because we get a little jaded about how things have gone. 00:10:18.140 --> 00:10:18.800 We struggle. 00:10:20.540 --> 00:10:23.130 So how do you find freedom from that guilt? 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:26.720 To look forward to a successful new year? 00:10:29.140 --> 00:10:36.180 We can handle guilt as people, in so many unhealthy ways, that conflict with the renewing 00:10:36.180 --> 00:10:39.000 idea that God represents in scripture for us. 00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:44.040 And I've thought about some of those this week, when you think about the beginning of the new year. 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:50.100 One is, I think sometimes as people, we recognize as people that we're often guilty. 00:10:50.520 --> 00:10:53.860 And one of the things we tend to do in that, is we deny our guilt. 00:10:55.490 --> 00:10:59.640 And the reason, I think, we deny guilt, is sometimes we don't know exactly what to do with it. 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:01.320 So we ignore it, pretend like it doesn't exist. 00:11:01.540 --> 00:11:02.860 We sweep it under the rug, right? 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:11.720 Or, we pretend like guilt is not real, because we've abused by some sort of religious legalistic system. 00:11:15.550 --> 00:11:23.380 One of the things I've noticed in life, there's a lot of people that might claim to be atheists in this world, especially 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:24.900 in American context. 00:11:25.700 --> 00:11:32.800 But you know, when you talk to people that hold that claim, often times I have found with having conversation with them, they're not really 00:11:32.800 --> 00:11:33.780 rejecting God. 00:11:35.260 --> 00:11:39.160 What they really reject is the idea of this God that they've concocted in their mind. 00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:45.600 And because they've seen God taught in their religious oppressive system, they often think that God is that way. 00:11:46.880 --> 00:11:49.650 He's a God that brings a lot of guilt, but no grace. 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:53.980 And in their mind they reject the idea of that God. 00:11:54.040 --> 00:11:57.880 They're not really rejecting God, they're rejecting the idea of that God. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:04.020 And when we talk to people about the rejection of that God, often times we can come to them. 00:12:04.020 --> 00:12:09.800 Like people that claim that there is no God and they're rejecting God, we find out why they reject God, because they've created this monster image of who God is. 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:15.080 Like when we talk to them, we can affirm if that was who God was, I would not follow that God either. 00:12:15.140 --> 00:12:15.240 Right? 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:23.600 But you know, one of the ironies of rejecting a God because you don't like a certain system that places this guilt on you, like a religious system. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:25.190 I don't think religion is the answer. 00:12:28.020 --> 00:12:35.150 But you know, one of the ironies of people that reject God because they don't like the guilt that represents maybe in religion and the God that it demonstrates, 00:12:37.580 --> 00:12:41.780 is that rejecting that God, they're honestly proving the existence of God. 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:49.060 And here's the reason why, is that, anytime in life you recognize things aren't as they should be, and then you hold to a moral 00:12:49.060 --> 00:12:52.760 ought that they should be a different way than that, and you don't like it because they're not that way. 00:12:53.540 --> 00:12:58.220 Anytime you hold to a moral ought, as if it should be universal, you're acknowledging a universal law giver. 00:12:59.680 --> 00:13:02.600 Someone has dictated what is right or wrong. 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:08.800 And so anytime we disagree with something because it's not as it should be, we're acknowledging a universal law giver. 00:13:09.680 --> 00:13:16.900 It's therefore, in rejecting the idea of guilt because we don't like it, we're actually acknowledging the existence of a moral law giver or God, because 00:13:16.900 --> 00:13:18.460 there is someone that has dictated it. 00:13:18.520 --> 00:13:23.980 So rejecting guilt isn't an answer, in fact it compounds the problem. 00:13:25.940 --> 00:13:29.260 But we tend to sometimes, we deny the fact that guilt exists. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:36.040 Or we attempt to conquer our guilt, by trying to be better people, which works for like five minutes. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:38.500 But what happens when you fail again? 00:13:40.340 --> 00:13:43.840 Or we deflect our guilt by comparing ourselves to others. 00:13:43.920 --> 00:13:48.290 We don't really know how to handle it with God, so we just compare ourselves to others to make ourselves feel better. 00:13:50.420 --> 00:13:54.020 I yell at my kids but at least I don't hit my kids. 00:13:54.380 --> 00:13:57.770 Or, I may cheat on my taxes, but at least I didn't kill anybody. 00:13:58.300 --> 00:13:58.400 Right? 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:03.360 We try to justify ourselves by comparing ourselves to others. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:08.580 And when you study scripture, that story's as old as the Garden of Eden. 00:14:09.820 --> 00:14:11.040 Adam did that with Eve. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:15.320 Like Adam sins and he says to God, it was the woman that you gave me, right? 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:17.320 She's more messed up than I am. 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:19.310 And then he was like, it was the serpent. 00:14:20.230 --> 00:14:22.220 He's more messed up than I am. 00:14:22.300 --> 00:14:23.380 We do that as people. 00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:25.420 We compare ourselves to avoid guilt. 00:14:26.660 --> 00:14:33.880 But the truth is that really heaps more guilt, because it identifies pride within us, or 00:14:33.880 --> 00:14:34.990 it brings us to despair. 00:14:35.940 --> 00:14:38.620 We look down on those that don't do what we do. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.800 We get angry with those that don't do what we would recommend that should do, because we think we're better. 00:14:45.640 --> 00:14:49.580 We get bitter at those that act better, or that are different than us. 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:58.460 So we compare ourselves to work through our guilt, or maybe this last one that I'll say, we just get obsessed with it. 00:14:58.640 --> 00:15:01.200 Like we just fail and we don't know what to do about it. 00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:06.900 Obsessing over your failures leads to depression and despair. 00:15:07.860 --> 00:15:14.980 Changing because of guilt is a horrible motivator, that 00:15:14.980 --> 00:15:16.660 will last temporarily. 00:15:17.980 --> 00:15:25.320 But when you look in the Psalms, David writes it like this in Psalm 32:3, he says, “When I kept silent my bones 00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:27.960 wasted away through my groaning all day long. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:32.160 For a day and a night, your hand was very heavy upon me. 00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:35.900 My strength was sapped as in the heat of the summer”. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:38.540 You know what that's like, right? 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:47.600 You blow it and the guilt, just on your shoulders, what 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:48.140 do you do with it? 00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:50.540 Obsess over it? 00:15:51.300 --> 00:15:52.240 Become depressed by it? 00:15:52.520 --> 00:15:53.220 You don't even want to get up. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:02.630 You know, if you feel guilty about past failures in life, I want you to know you're in good company. 00:16:03.980 --> 00:16:06.120 I mean, David walked that path. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:07.920 It's normal. 00:16:09.740 --> 00:16:15.840 I think it's normal to go through those experiences, but it's what you do with guilt that determines your health. 00:16:17.900 --> 00:16:20.300 God wants to do something new in you. 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:24.080 Conform you into the image of His Son. 00:16:26.640 --> 00:16:30.300 You can't be what everyone else wants you to be. 00:16:32.760 --> 00:16:36.800 But you can be who God has called you to be in Him. 00:16:38.300 --> 00:16:46.560 Yet, even when you try to move who God has called you to be, you're 00:16:46.560 --> 00:16:47.180 not going to be perfect. 00:16:50.560 --> 00:16:52.000 I'm not a perfect pastor. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:57.580 But you know the truth is, being a pastor is not who I am. 00:16:59.160 --> 00:16:59.920 It's just what I do. 00:17:02.100 --> 00:17:04.220 Who I am is a child of a King. 00:17:06.520 --> 00:17:09.079 And in my failure, Jesus makes me whole. 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:18.420 Guilt is something we all have to learn to deal with, in a healthy way, so we can be who God has called us 00:17:18.420 --> 00:17:18.990 to be. 00:17:20.040 --> 00:17:26.300 So when you think about a new year like the one that's coming, you could answer the question, what does God want? 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:36.480 You consider in scripture, let me just give you four thoughts to think, when you approach this new year, four thoughts I think helps us to move out 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:38.910 of the idea of guilt, not to be a prisoner there. 00:17:39.120 --> 00:17:44.800 But to move into what God calls making things new or being renewed in Him. 00:17:45.120 --> 00:17:49.640 The first thing that I think is important for us to do is, we've got to go to God in our guilt. 00:17:51.180 --> 00:17:52.220 In a sense, let God have it. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:18:01.620 Hebrews chapter 4:12, says it like this, “For the Word of God is living, and active, 00:18:02.420 --> 00:18:04.400 and sharper than any two edged sword. 00:18:05.360 --> 00:18:12.360 And piercing as far as the division of the soul and of the spirit, and of both joint and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:13.980 and intentions of the heart. 00:18:15.020 --> 00:18:17.640 And there is no creature hidden from His sight. 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:23.460 But all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do”. 00:18:25.360 --> 00:18:28.080 So here's the truth of the matter when it comes to guilt. 00:18:29.380 --> 00:18:30.480 God already sees your heart. 00:18:32.540 --> 00:18:35.040 You aren't fooling Him by avoiding Him. 00:18:35.660 --> 00:18:42.860 But when you read a verse like this verse is a fairly scary verse, just a couple of verses, if we just end it here, because 00:18:42.860 --> 00:18:45.720 this is a God that has exposed you where you're at. 00:18:46.700 --> 00:18:49.660 And He's really, I just said to you, go to God in your guilt. 00:18:49.660 --> 00:18:51.720 He's going to call you in this passage to Him. 00:18:52.060 --> 00:18:54.700 And when you read a verse like this you're like, so what could happen? 00:18:55.140 --> 00:18:58.560 So He could see the wickedness of what's in there and really just do me in? 00:18:58.940 --> 00:19:05.020 Like, does He know what He's asking here, when he exposes my heart, and that's laid bare? 00:19:06.600 --> 00:19:09.780 But this isn't a religious trick just to guilt you. 00:19:11.600 --> 00:19:19.140 But it is to be aware of the reality, that even in our guilt, it's not hidden from God. 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:20.840 God is completely aware. 00:19:22.780 --> 00:19:24.580 He knows every failure of 2018. 00:19:26.520 --> 00:19:28.900 Which is why the author then gives these next verses. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:36.540 He says this verse 14, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest, who 00:19:36.540 --> 00:19:39.640 has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:43.260 Let us hold fast our confession”. 00:19:43.740 --> 00:19:44.570 Look at that guys, it says... 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:49.560 When you go through guilt in life, the tendency is to run away from God, because of the guilt. 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:55.400 But he's saying in this instance, rather than run away, go fast to this confession. 00:19:57.560 --> 00:19:58.560 He is a great high priest. 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:07.160 Verse 15, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but one who has been tempted in all things as we 00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:08.420 are, yet without sin. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:16.400 Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may find and receive mercy, 00:20:16.940 --> 00:20:20.070 and find grace to help in the time of need". 00:20:22.420 --> 00:20:24.700 Why is coming to God in guilt a healthy step? 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:28.390 Verse 14 to 16 tell you. 00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:32.490 So verse 12 to 13, you are laid bare, there is no hiding. 00:20:34.220 --> 00:20:40.280 In verses 14 to 16 then explains to you why then, it calls you into God in this way. 00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:43.600 And the response in these verses tell you a few things about God. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:49.750 That He is very aware of your sinful condition, and on top of that He is sympathetic toward your sinful condition. 00:20:51.120 --> 00:20:55.180 And in the midst of the struggle in our own heart, God is for you. 00:20:58.650 --> 00:20:59.980 That God cares. 00:21:02.100 --> 00:21:04.760 That God wants you to go straight to Him in confession. 00:21:06.860 --> 00:21:07.280 I love that. 00:21:08.500 --> 00:21:14.260 There are no hoops to jump, there is no process, there are no religious leaders between you and God, it's you and God. 00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:21.200 And the access that you're granted because of what Jesus has done for you, is directly before His presence. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:23.680 God knows. 00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:26.590 God knows and that's why He died. 00:21:28.380 --> 00:21:35.380 So God calls you in the midst of your own struggles into His presence, because of what 00:21:35.380 --> 00:21:36.360 He has done for you. 00:21:37.380 --> 00:21:42.420 And what it's saying in this passage, is that you get to come back to God and start a new year every day. 00:21:43.140 --> 00:21:44.400 That's what renewing is. 00:21:45.460 --> 00:21:51.120 Every day is this start over, and when you're open to God about your sins, guess what you get? 00:21:52.760 --> 00:21:57.380 Gracious, patient, and loving. 00:22:00.260 --> 00:22:01.060 That's what these verses say. 00:22:04.660 --> 00:22:05.560 That God is for you. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:13.860 So go to God in your guilt, and then I would say, by renewed in Jesus. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:16.300 He makes things new. 00:22:17.100 --> 00:22:21.120 First John, chapter two, I love first John, it's a... 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:27.690 One of the things that people get confused with over this chapter, or over this book I should say, is who John is addressing. 00:22:29.020 --> 00:22:33.960 I think it's important for you to know, Christian, is who John is addressing is the Christian. 00:22:34.620 --> 00:22:42.130 And when you get to this book, you turn to 1 John 1:9 it says, “if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to cleanse us of 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:43.260 our sins and all our unrighteousness”. 00:22:45.300 --> 00:22:50.100 And in chapter 2:1 he says this, “My little children, I'm writing these things to you”. 00:22:50.600 --> 00:22:52.620 Notice he calls you little children here, okay? 00:22:53.280 --> 00:22:56.840 “My little children, I'm writing these things to you so you may not sin. 00:22:58.080 --> 00:23:02.280 And if anyone sins we have an advocate in Jesus Christ the righteous. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:05.320 He himself is the propitiation for our sins”. 00:23:05.600 --> 00:23:11.700 This means He satisfies God's wrath, the word propitiation, he satisfies God's wrath and makes us right with the Lord. 00:23:12.200 --> 00:23:18.680 And so He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 00:23:21.430 --> 00:23:24.590 This is why this is important to know that he's writing to believers. 00:23:25.380 --> 00:23:29.320 To say this, look if you belong to Jesus, you belong to Jesus. 00:23:31.420 --> 00:23:33.340 There's nothing that can separate you. 00:23:33.340 --> 00:23:38.500 Romans 8 says this, “shall heights, shall depth, shall angels and principalities, and powers. 00:23:38.560 --> 00:23:40.300 What can separate me from Christ”? 00:23:40.580 --> 00:23:40.720 Nothing. 00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:44.340 That's the answer in Romans 8, that's what the author comes to. 00:23:44.340 --> 00:23:45.220 Nothing can separate you. 00:23:45.700 --> 00:23:50.080 You belong to Jesus, the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 1, He seals you in His spirit. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:52.110 And that sealing is important. 00:23:52.300 --> 00:23:55.180 In Jesus' day, kings would seal documents. 00:23:56.620 --> 00:23:57.490 And it was considered official. 00:23:58.900 --> 00:24:02.400 And the only one that could break the seal was someone more powerful than the king. 00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:06.920 So when the king put something into law, it was in law and it couldn't be broken. 00:24:09.060 --> 00:24:16.120 But when you think about that same sealing, when it relates to God's people, when God seals you in Him, what can break 00:24:16.120 --> 00:24:16.220 that? 00:24:18.120 --> 00:24:20.420 Shall height, shall depth, shall principalities and powers? 00:24:20.980 --> 00:24:23.180 No nothing can separate you from the love in Christ Jesus. 00:24:24.180 --> 00:24:24.500 Nothing can. 00:24:26.500 --> 00:24:29.020 Nothing can separate you from belonging to Jesus. 00:24:29.020 --> 00:24:31.240 When Jesus paid for you, He paid it all. 00:24:33.520 --> 00:24:34.620 But here's what happens in life. 00:24:36.540 --> 00:24:40.630 In a family, like I have a few boys and they get wild. 00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:44.660 Like for Christmas, it was nothing but testosterone in every gift that they got. 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:47.490 And they've used those to beat each other up so far. 00:24:49.780 --> 00:24:51.040 And then they get in trouble, right? 00:24:52.420 --> 00:24:59.600 And while I'll always love my kids, there are difficulties that we go through that will often strain our relationship. 00:25:00.780 --> 00:25:02.680 Not drastic, I mean they're little. 00:25:03.900 --> 00:25:06.920 But every time there's sin present in relationship, it creates distance. 00:25:09.380 --> 00:25:11.550 And the goal of God is always reconciliation. 00:25:12.380 --> 00:25:15.640 I mean, that's what the cross is, God's reconciliation to you. 00:25:15.780 --> 00:25:17.940 He wants you with Him, that is the best place you can be. 00:25:18.860 --> 00:25:19.700 Same thing with my kids. 00:25:21.280 --> 00:25:26.140 I am their father, I love them and I think about the maturity of them becoming young men. 00:25:26.280 --> 00:25:33.220 And when I can walk life with them close, the more I can influence, and the more I can help them be person that God has called them to be. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:37.460 But when sin's present, there's distance. 00:25:37.900 --> 00:25:39.120 And that's what 1 John 2 is saying. 00:25:40.740 --> 00:25:45.980 That you belong to Him, but sometimes in life sin's present in your relationship with God. 00:25:46.040 --> 00:25:48.740 Often in life, sin is present in your relationship with God. 00:25:48.780 --> 00:25:49.620 What do you do with that? 00:25:50.600 --> 00:25:53.360 Go to Him in your guilt, and you'll be renewed. 00:25:55.080 --> 00:25:57.720 God loves you, and God is for you. 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:02.260 That's what 1 John 2 says, look we don't want you to sin, but if you do sin, look at this. 00:26:03.300 --> 00:26:04.280 God is for you. 00:26:06.620 --> 00:26:11.160 What God desires to do in you, is to make you new. 00:26:11.620 --> 00:26:15.400 He may not be for what you do, but He is for you. 00:26:15.520 --> 00:26:20.220 I love, Romans 8:31, if God is for us, who can be against us? 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:23.380 In Romans 8:37, we are more than conquerors in Christ. 00:26:24.980 --> 00:26:31.380 I like Lamentations 3:22 he says this, “His compassion never fails. 00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:33.420 They are new every morning. 00:26:33.420 --> 00:26:35.360 Great is your faithfulness”. 00:26:37.080 --> 00:26:43.720 Because if I didn't believe those verses, I would have quit in my walk with God, a long time ago. 00:26:43.720 --> 00:26:44.580 I probably would have quit on life. 00:26:47.900 --> 00:26:49.180 But God is God that renews. 00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:55.120 Go to God in your guilt, be renewed in Jesus. 00:26:55.140 --> 00:26:56.850 And here's one you don't do. 00:26:57.620 --> 00:26:59.160 Don't create double jeopardy. 00:27:00.690 --> 00:27:01.570 Rather, live in His promises. 00:27:01.820 --> 00:27:02.920 You guys know what jeopardy is? 00:27:03.460 --> 00:27:05.380 Don't confuse that with Jeopardy Daily Double, okay? 00:27:05.380 --> 00:27:07.550 It's not the Daily Double in Jeopardy. 00:27:07.860 --> 00:27:09.100 But, double jeopardy, right? 00:27:09.280 --> 00:27:13.760 That means when someone pays for a crime, and then someone else comes and pays for that same crime. 00:27:15.560 --> 00:27:21.500 Here's what the Bible says in Romans 8, “Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. 00:27:24.580 --> 00:27:30.000 Like sometimes we sin in our lives, and we feel like we've got to add something to what Jesus has already done for us. 00:27:31.300 --> 00:27:32.760 Jesus has paid for the crime. 00:27:33.080 --> 00:27:39.040 It tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He became sin who knew no sin, that we may become the righteousness of God in Him”. 00:27:40.740 --> 00:27:42.700 Jesus already paid for my sin. 00:27:43.940 --> 00:27:45.110 There is no double jeopardy. 00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:49.260 Rather, walking in the promises. 00:27:52.500 --> 00:27:53.380 Jesus is enough. 00:27:56.020 --> 00:28:03.260 The truth is guys, when we think about being renewed in Jesus, guilt can often be the 00:28:03.260 --> 00:28:04.570 enemy of my sanctification. 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:14.420 By the word sanctification, what we're acknowledging in 2 Corinthians 3:18 is, day by day God wants to conform you into the image of His Son. 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:17.500 God's doing a work in me. 00:28:19.620 --> 00:28:23.140 My sanctification, there's a process in sanctification. 00:28:23.260 --> 00:28:26.160 It all belongs to God, it doesn't involve me in my strength. 00:28:29.030 --> 00:28:35.260 But guilt becomes the enemy of sanctification when I don't accept the sufficiency of Jesus for what He's already done on my behalf. 00:28:36.840 --> 00:28:37.140 Double jeopardy. 00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:48.200 Guilt is the enemy of my sanctification, and the reason it works in the hand of the enemy is that, Satan wants 00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:49.780 your past and your present. 00:28:53.740 --> 00:28:58.570 Jesus wants your presence, and he wants your present free from your past. 00:29:00.520 --> 00:29:06.060 Romans 8 means this for us, you don't have to be afraid to approach God, rather run to Him. 00:29:07.980 --> 00:29:12.260 To give up on self, there's nothing that you can pay, He's already paid it. 00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:15.520 To give up on self and to give in to Jesus. 00:29:17.880 --> 00:29:19.160 And the last I would say is this. 00:29:21.100 --> 00:29:23.220 Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. 00:29:24.740 --> 00:29:29.860 Romans 5:1 says this, “Therefore, having been justified", that literally means being made right. 00:29:31.020 --> 00:29:32.620 Having been made right by faith. 00:29:34.220 --> 00:29:37.760 We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:44.220 You have peace with God. 00:29:45.380 --> 00:29:52.800 Instead of denying guilt, instead of making resolutions due to guilt, instead 00:29:52.800 --> 00:30:00.160 of looking down on others to feel better about yourself, or obsessing over guilt, the process 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:02.560 in scripture is this. 00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:04.400 Acknowledge your guilt and go to Jesus. 00:30:06.660 --> 00:30:13.680 Accept His love and forgiveness, as you're renewed in Him, not double jeopardy, and walk in the newness 00:30:13.720 --> 00:30:14.680 of that peace. 00:30:16.600 --> 00:30:18.240 Let the peace of God rule your heart. 00:30:21.340 --> 00:30:22.240 Jesus is enough. 00:30:24.580 --> 00:30:27.960 Jesus paid for it all, because He wanted to do something new in you. 00:30:29.960 --> 00:30:32.320 And He wanted to continue to renew you. 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:38.860 Every new year presents another opportunity to grow in Christ. 00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:42.810 By one, agreeing with God in my failures. 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:50.120 Turning it over to Him because of the cross, and saying to Him, not my will buy Yours be done. 00:30:51.840 --> 00:30:56.260 I think it's how we experience peace in our soul and freedom from guilt, because Jesus is enough. 00:30:58.680 --> 00:31:01.620 And God knows that you're not perfect, and you won't be perfect. 00:31:03.620 --> 00:31:05.570 That's why He gave you the verses that we read today. 00:31:07.320 --> 00:31:10.580 These verses were born out of the adversity and struggle of humanity. 00:31:12.060 --> 00:31:20.300 However, at the same time God wants to give you an incredible future, by the sufficiency of Christ, and 00:31:20.300 --> 00:31:24.000 the promises of the cross on behalf of your life. 00:31:26.220 --> 00:31:27.100 So here's the encouragement. 00:31:29.380 --> 00:31:31.480 Some years can be real rear end kickers. 00:31:34.380 --> 00:31:35.780 I want to encourage you, don't quit fighting. 00:31:37.940 --> 00:31:42.670 Don't quit fighting your battle to die to self and be made new in Jesus. 00:31:44.280 --> 00:31:48.520 Let God's grace renew you every day this year. 00:31:50.540 --> 00:31:53.740 His grace is available to you at any moment. 00:31:55.640 --> 00:32:00.560 If we would by faith, as this verse says, be justified in Him. 00:32:02.020 --> 00:32:09.380 Go to God, be renewed in Christ because of the cross, let His cross be sufficient, 00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:13.980 not double jeopardy, and walk in the peace of a God who's for you.