Remember!, Part 2

Materialism word covetousness pause effectively saying is, is enslaving us to want more things about it. Dreams about it fantasizes about it loss after it… For it needs more money for whatever it is I want that shape matching that Jay met Jane on that dollar and that color and that color I wanted all I want all satisfied because there's another color baby refers to that lifestyle as remarkable Christianity and that's the name of our current series. In today's lesson. Stephen continues teaching what remarkable Christianity looks like in a lesson called remember.

Imagine where you would be today if Jesus hadn't reached down to save you.

In today's message Stephen challenges you to take a step back and really consider who you've become. Since your conversion. We began this message last time. So were going to do a little bit of review and then bring the we watched in recent years, legislative bodies begin the way in all kinds of things are passing bands and creating laws. All sorts of activities major and minor weighing and where parents should even bother alleges there are actually legislative bands against things like body piercing on minors on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors for even laws against junkfood machines in the school lunch rooms have a law about that back the lower house in the Texas legislature even devised a ban on overtly suggestive cheerleading for high schools. We have put a ban on the law about those other was ironic. Texas is trying to ban suggestive cheerleading even more ironic is that they in every state in this unit would never think about banning or even discouraging sexual activity. After the game. Let's just keep the cheerleaders from suggesting it during the bad must make a law about that one author put it perceptively that we just simply have more more children arriving in the classroom without any kind of moral compass. The parents didn't have one to begin with the pass along lawmakers rightly don't even know where to begin to force the listener. You cannot have. You cannot watch an argument take place on the floor of a national political party on primetime television, whether or not you should even mention God and then expected next generation to care about God, much less obey God. Here's the progression you develop a personal and cultural bias against God, and you will soon develop a personal and cultural belligerence against the boundaries of God. Anything that smacks of authority where I am. Don't mess with me is just a little step away from who do you think you are hard to even suggest that I so foolishness becomes disobedience.

Bias turns into belligerence which leads Paul to quality.

Says here, a disobedient spirit, literally a chafing under any kind of moral or ethical authority in the sky grow more and more obvious when reported recently talked about an incident were hundred 25 Harvard University students were caught collaborating on an exam by way of email. Even though on the exam printed on it was and I quote violating a no collaboration policy they could not violated by talking to each other forget this many of the students were shocked when they were caught, and then charged with cheating some of them threatened to sue the school because he did know was cheating. Even those printed on the examination. One reporter responded, tongue in cheek when he wrote, are we meant to assume that students were smart enough to get into Harvard don't know cheating is will the school need offer later a course on white subentity to pour gasoline on the flaming toaster oven.

All these news items always report simply highlight the simple fact that apart from a moral lawgiver, you cannot have moral guidelines whose to say was right around were watching with such speed taking place. I just this month. Just this past month, the country of Brazil became all tangled up.

They passed a month earlier, the legality of gay marriage and now a notary happen to approve a three way civil union, one man and two women, which is where you get eventually she claimed that she had broken a law and the trouble is, nobody can argue with her that she noted that Brazil approved gay marriage, notary centers, no laws against polygamy. There are no laws on the books and so since now the definition is flexible. Marriage is obviously flexible.

Why not one man to women. Our culture is being set up for polygamy. That's one of the next hurdles in our belligerence against the standard of God.

Why not think about it you dismiss God.

One man famously said and any things permissible right what folly world is biased in the folly there belligerence and their disobedience now.

Thirdly, Paul was right there blind blind. He says deceived spiritually blind is the idea you dismiss God. Follow your own path in the Bible tells you ahead of time you get to go from bad to worse. You go from a little tangle to all tangled up.

Why, because God is the only way center. It is the only voice I sometimes I feel his is the quietest among the only thing that another voice out there while God will always speak the truth to you while God will always seek to protect you while he will always give you guidelines to provide guidance and direction.

There's another voice and that voice as a native tongue, and it is the truth. It is lying. He is the father of what lies Johnny 44 he comes up with that stuff. But since his native tongue, and he said thousands of years to practice from the very beginning July, he whispered into the ear of the heat masquerades as a guy with a pitchfork and a tail and horns but as an angel.

What light 1114 he deceives the whole world. Revelation 12 is a master at it.

So the president was the voice of God.

Guess what you are now open to listen to the voice of a master deceiver. So the word Paul uses here to describe our fallen condition deceived is awarded. You could literally translate missile led in our vernacular. You could even use the word duped to Paul warned Timothy that evil men will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived while I got the runs scam going deceiving others. They are deceived they are to sing at 313. They look good.

This nonreligious, perhaps they might even have a Colorado semi, the pulpit, what Paul wrote earlier to Titus to make them alert to those who actually turned away from the truth and are now upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach Titus chapter 1 verses 1011 for teaching things that might uplift the spirit might please the ear, but they are Jesus and blind people leading blind people and they're all eventually fall into the same pit. Matthew 540 the world is rejecting a creator God and his duped in the process. Blind. So here's the description biased belligerent wind and now, fourthly, bound.

He writes in the middle part of verse three, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, enslaved, bound, bound in lusts. The word is up with the media for strong desire to keep in mind that word refers to that which is only in the mind, the heart is the fantasy of the mind is the desire of the heart people. Then he says are enslaved to fantasies. You can be enslaved to something that only takes place in your mind what you ever do anything about it. She Paul have something to say to our culture today. In the popular argument that violence gaming or pornography isn't really all that bad because you're not actually physically involved is just a game is just in the mind policy now. It all belongs in the same kettle soup. More than that he's writing this to all of us. Here's part of this pointy thing.

Look, this is this is part of our old lives.

This represents our old life, not her new life that belongs in the in the pit in it and in the yes it wants to crawl out of that.

On every occasion it can create Barnett up put all kinds of limitations garnered your heart out.

It comes issues of life, death is the warning since we eventually act out fantasies. It begins in the mind and heart and eventually is or can be acted out.

Paul then uses the next word I just lusts but pleasures. This is a word of physically acting out sinful desires of the word Paul uses here for pleasure is actually the word Haydon. They which gives us our word hedonism that broadens little sexy.

Hedonism is simply the pursuit of self-satisfaction Megan anyway. Anything whatever might be. Hedonism is the number one religion on the planet is it's at the core it's I me and mine fact would you notice he uses the word here before lusts and pleasures, the word various various houses in your translation, but it means multicolored variegated many colored you have no idea kinds of sins we can come up with no idea word for pleasures here, by the way, is not just a reference to some kind of immoral or sexual sin. Paul actually uses it in his letter to Timothy for covetousness from materialism. Materialism add that your color palette materialism.

This word covetousness. Paul is effectively saying he is is enslaving us to want more. It thinks about it dreams about it and fantasizes about it lusts after it.

It lives for it needs more money for it. Whatever it is I want that shape matching Jade matching I want that color and eye color and that color that I wanted all I wanted all satisfied because there's another color that went to see that shape the world thinks it's free as a bird to think anything to do anything to want anything to pursue anything imposes those actually enslavement you are enslaved to what you have, what you can't have what you shouldn't have, what you don't have and it spirals downward from there because you never get everything you want to what happens next boat is on to describe the next up with his loaded phrase verse three spending our life in malice and envy, literally passing the time. This is the hobby of everyone's life. Passing the time envy.

Driving to work, envy, coming home, envy going to the campus and going out to play, envy C, envy is a key driving factor and will simply label as bitterness, bitterness, look at what they have what they wear liquid with a dry look at where they live. Look at what they do toys.

I know that existed I can add that one to what I want, envy is more than that though envy this Greek word has the has the feeling of displeasure when you see someone having cute isn't just high wall of the got is I don't like them because they've got it malice it is is a chilling word talks about wanting to remove that person do something to that person so I can have what they have. I'm not going to sit out and take it. I deserve it. I wanted to have me give just a little strange and Ms. Mike to be a blip on the radar screen of the saw to come across a news parents in Tennessee. The complaint, the putting of the honor roll embarrassed the kids were excluded because of the uproar they created that school literally eliminated the Hon. the issue was not embarrassment over the kids whose names were on the list kids whose names were on the list hope to her.

I was one of them deal with these kids are working so hard to do to get that without the reward for it was parents who were envious because their kids were on the list need to just stop with the honor roll. When father was so angry that his daughter had been suspended from the school softball team. He took an aluminum bat beat that coach and put them in the hospital you will not get in my way, or in my family's way road rage where that come from envy. It took my spot. Malice on around my throat because I sent those recently he was behind the guy who's moving slowly down the road out and ask him how slowly want to know when the dotted line of purity gutter on the guy that guy just came awake.

He just came.

He raced after my son sits around and immediately slammed on his brakes going to cut my son from not hitting him was he was able to swerve into the other lane around which the guiding caught up past my son backed way off was settled, infuriated, and being passed on the road a person becomes willing at their own peril shed blood. I mean can really become malicious absolutely.

It was envy.

It was envy that led the Sanhedrin to the point where they asked incited the riots who shouted crucify him, bringing Jesus the pilot pilot. I love that. He says he he knew that it was for feed that they delivered him to the core of it following Jesus are not following us to get rid of him is to get our spot. That's ours pollens the list and where it would naturally progress, foolish, disobedient, deceived slave. Various lusts and pleasures, spending her life in malice and ending on notice hateful painting one another. Go the bottom of the pit. We just hate everybody and were just hateful people could call this bad tempered people just at each other's throats. Think about it. Think about the shallowness of relationships where you were or where you go to school. Think of how quickly the behind the back comments breakout when someone's not around because maybe they are promoted. Maybe they got something somebody else wanted. She could get outlined this text in three steps downward or three concentric circles working outward. Whichever. But the first one is a description of her attitude toward God foolish and disobedient or biased and belligerent. Secondly, Paul describes her attitude toward ourselves. Think were smart we think were free but were actually deceived and the slave were actually blind and bound and thirdly, he describes her attitude toward others. Malice in the and hatred that we could close our Bibles and we could admit that Paul fully and realistically describe the awfulness of her sin in the past, but also the depths of our depravity. Even now, and he has indeed every right to say that this list includes us all.

For we all came from that pit in our nature gravitates back toward it, but I don't enter today, so we just going to dip our toe into verse four, and one of my favorite words in the English Bible appears, but how bad can it get all its bad but but when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved you come to the end of a list like that and say, but he saved us, you come to the end of a list like that and you say that's why he got rid of us, but he saved us kindness and love of God appeared the words of Tiffany here, a reference to the incarnation came not to discard us but to save us biased bad tempered, blind, belligerent, bound, bitter, and he saved us. This will than in Paul's mind provoke us, incentivize us to live for Christ over the pit off but he saved us, you know, in light of that, I want to live for him.

I want to love them and I really love all these people enter because you know what they remind me of me like George Whitfield, who watched a man walking toward the gallows, who said there but by the grace of God go Y is no room for pride in that realism with humility. It's compassion it it's love. This will provoke an incentive to love Christ back to deliver them and to serve them and serve others hear the body to serve those in our world as we make him our master and will dock our lives become one gigantic! Of gratitude is what Paul was reminded us why we can be so thankful and how changes are lives. I read some time ago that an old man lived in Florida.

Everybody referred to him as old Ed just about every Friday evening he could be seen walking along the beach to his favorite peer carrying a bucket of shrimp wasn't for him.

When first family when first friends shrimp. It was that bucket was for the Siegel's. That's an expensive way to get birds around, but he would walk out to the end of that.

Soon the evening sky would be filled with screeching birds swooping down the catch the shrimp as he threw it into the air and people talked about how old Ed be seen out there. They could tell his lips were moving and they knew he was talking to the birds he wants. Within minutes the bucket would be empty and all that would stand there at the end of the pier and just stare off at them as they flew away, deep in thought. The turn and walk home. His full name was Eddie Rickenbacker been a captain of World War II flown a B-17 with a crew of seven other men on one particular mission across the Pacific actually got lost in plain rent at a gas settlers smoothly as they could effect it was smooth enough to allow all of them to survive it in.

Miraculously, they made it out of the plane and into their life raft, they live for weeks. He talks about in his autobiography before the song they fought the sharks and most of all, they fought their hunger as they begin to starve to death.

Ed remembers she would write about being semi conscious sitting in that raft. His hat pulled down over his eyes when he felt something the land on his head. He was a Siegel goal meant food so as slowly as he could hardly daring to breathe. He reached up his hands and he caught it and made a meal of that bird use the leftovers for bait which allow them to catch fish.

They repeat the cycle and survived. Later rescued old and never forgot nearly every Friday evening for years until he died he go to that peer with a bucketful shrimp and the seagulls would fly overhead.

We got close enough to nosy, threw it into the air.

What he was saying was thank thank you one of those Christians mumbling about other talking to God.

I guess the world to get close enough to us. I think you're nothing less gratitude to God saved us from ourselves, saved us pit forgive every sin, past, present and future saved us from a horrible future saved us from meaningless life all tangled up her cell incentive to leave that old soon. Paul would effectively say that that's my point there and live it and say saying we remember.

Thank you Lord.

We remember, thank not for the God in our lives we be living according to the things on the list we saw today so why don't you do what Stephen just suggested take time to remember and reflect on what your life would be without Christ and then find time to thank him for saving you and for delivering you from the domain of darkness Stevens message today is part of a series he's calling remarkable Christianity. This lesson is called simply remember will continue working through this series.

In the days ahead. In the meantime, we'd enjoy hearing from you. If you have a comments question or would like more information you can send an email if you address it to info@wisdomonline.org we have a special place on our website where Stephen answers questions that have come in from listeners like you. If you come across the passage that's confusing or encounter a teaching that you need to have clarified Stephen would like to help you. In fact, you might enjoy going online and looking at what other people have asked, it might be that someone had the exact same question as you but anytime you have a question regarding the Bible or the Christian faith send that question to info@wisdomonline.org will added to the collection. Of course you can use that address. If you have a question about our ministry or comment for us as well.

Thanks for listening to speak with us today dial 86 648 Bible, then join us next time. For more wisdom