In this sixth lesson, Pastor Dave Capoccia overviews what the biblical process of change toward greater Christ-likeness looks like. First, Pastor Dave takes a macro view of what should be the biblical expectation regarding change over one’s lifetime. Second, Pastor Dave takes a micro, more moment-by-moment view of how what one loves and worships in one’s heart leads a person either to sin or righteousness.
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good morning good morning welcome to sunday school thank you for being here good to see you all again uh we missed you last sunday but it’s good to be back thank you for all of you who were praying for us while we were away lord gave us a good good time of vacation let’s pray as we begin today’s lesson heavenly father thank you so much for bringing us back so that we can do more of the work of ministry and be with your people bless this time now as we learn more about how you change us how your spirit works in us not just individual individually but as a body in jesus name amen okay let’s go over the homework you had extra time to do the homework so hopefully you’re able to do it last time along with bible reading and prayer i asked you to read an article by aaron cerrone with ccef becoming a biblical counselor a skeptic’s journey i also gave his extra credit another article by dave palinson what were some things that you noticed or had questions about from those articles yeah april yeah uh thanks april so talking about aaron cerrone’s article and how he came at it from a secular academic perspective and while also learning about biblical counseling and wanting to come at it from a christian perspective and you can you can sympathize with this struggle right where he wants he wants it to be more uh more real especially to his experience as a christian and yet his training was not that and so um comes to see over time that there’s only so much that psychology can do what else yes yeah so um i’m just pointing out that because of his training and his early negative exposure to biblical counseling it was hard for him to move towards that and i think that is true for many people who either because of their education maybe some experiences in their lives or just a negative experience of biblical counseling they say this is not helpful this is not right but actually this this is the way that the lord leads us to minister to one another and by god’s grace he helped aaron and hopefully he’s helping us to see no this is a superior answer this is the supreme insufficient answer from god for his people now one point i hope that you noticed in the article and aaron is keen to emphasize this that he doesn’t think that everything in psychology is bad or that his training was useless and that needs to be that needs to be said those who have been trained in secular psychology they can offer some benefit to the people that they meet with and really it’s just no illustration of common grace and even some of the principles of the bible when you talk with someone you get outside of yourself you you articulate some of your some of your thoughts and ideas and someone else can say hey you know man that’s that’s totally weird or i’m sure that psychologist wouldn’t say just like that but they help you to see like oh wow i i can actually move past this there’s some help in that but as aaron also emphasizes it can only go so far you can’t get to the to the real root of many of the issues that people come to psychologists for so if you had a positive experience with a psychologist i’m not discounting that and i don’t think aaron is but just realize that they can only do so much what else yeah granddad yeah so that’s an interesting um thought and observation glenda he’s and many looking for you know the perfect meeting place between psychology and christianity but in one sense while they might look like they meet in the distance they don’t really they come from totally different foundations and assumptions and so there isn’t really a good way to combine them again not everything in psychology is wrong but when you’re talking about theories of the person and their behavior when you start from a standpoint that is opposite the bible you’re not really going to be able to combine them without radically changing one or the other and usually it’s the bible that gets changed and that’s why integration often is a dangerous thing and this is not a new problem i can’t remember how much i’ve emphasized it so much in this course but you look in christian history philosophy popular philosophy in ancient times when people try to integrate it with christianity it usually hurt the church in some way or another but people said hey you know this compliments this allows us to do ministry even better but it ends up actually doing harm to the church so we want to be aware beware um just trying to integrate worldly ideas with christianity we could say more about that but we have a lot more to talk about today so i’m going to move on we can talk also in conversation about that let’s talk about your new homework uh oh this clicker is not uh moving me forward but i can still talk about it hopefully you all got a booklet if you are here attending today one one per family yeah homework for lexington six this is the last reading assignment i’m going to give you this is godliness through discipline by jay adams so this is going to go a lot with what we’re talking about today about the process of biblical change or the biblical process of change so i want you to read it write down five observations or questions you’ve already met jay adams at this point for extra credit i’m giving you a different kind of assignment bible memorization you say oh you know isn’t that kind of basic but actually the basics are really important if you’ve done bible memorization before you know how helpful it is it helps you to meditate more on the truths of scripture especially the truths that we’re talking about in this class and it also helps you bring them back to mind in instances where you’re under pressure and we know that it is rehearsing the truth of scripture to ourselves and believing it that’s actually part of our victory in times of temptation it’s what the lord did it’s what we’re exhorted by the scriptures to do and so here’s an opportunity once you give you i’m giving you three verses for extra credit proverbs 4 23 luke 6 45 and james 4 1. we’ll talk about those verses in the class today at least most of them all right that’s the homework for lesson six well today we are looking at the process of biblical change this is the second half of the course the first half was more apologetic trying to clarify and defend the bible sufficiency the lord’s sufficiency for bringing about heart change true and lasting change in our lives but the second half is going to be a little bit more practical and instructional how do we actually do this how do we actually counsel one another today my agenda is to do two things and you see it also reflected on your handout look at the macro process of change and the micro process of change two different introductory views here but to get us thinking a little bit along these lines have a little introductory analogy this clicker is a little uh moody today there we go one of the questions that keeps on coming up in our society is about losing weight how can i lose and keep off extra weight all these articles about this there’s a whole industry devoted to this every other year it seems like a newly discovered and marketed diet plan appears offering americans the secret to weight loss success just eat these special foods and you’ll lose the pounds in no time eat at these special times of the day and you’ll easily lose weight yet the secret to losing weight is long known in fact it’s been known from ancient times you go to your doctor and ask him how you might lose weight he will tell you he will no doubt tell you the secret what is the long known secret to losing and keeping off weight yeah steve diet and exercise eat less move more it’s so simple you don’t need a phd for this and that’s great news right yet most people don’t follow these recommendations and they would perhaps even say that they cannot do so i can’t do that why yeah jay they’re it’s too hard there must be an easier way i like food this is inconvenient it’s too hard the result therefore that jay is totally right is that millions of people will seek change when it comes to food and their bodies but they will never find it because they’re not willing to do what is difficult but necessary and we can sympathize right we also do not like pain and we enjoy comfort what would be necessary then for a person to persevere and overcome the difficulty necessary for this change it’s hard so how can anyone do it yeah they have to have a fundamental change of mind they have to say this is really important the sacrifices are worth it i’m going to do this they need to be changed in mind they need to be changed in heart or to say it another way to persevere in the face of pain and hardship a person needs a change in his inner man and his thoughts beliefs and desires when it comes to dieting food is not that important this health goal is important i’m willing to make the sacrifice what does the bible call this kind of change heart change what’s another word for it yeah mark repentance repentance a change of mind that leads to a change in action and what’s true for a limited value issue like weight loss the bible says bodily discipline is little profit is actually also true for things that are more profitable even the whole christian life central to the process of necessary and important biblical change is repentance a change of heart that leads to a change in action so this is our topic for today what does the process of biblical change towards christ’s likeness look like and as i said we’re going to take two perspectives here the first is macro broadly and go next okay nice broadly what should change look like a across a christian’s life oh nice we’re switching here okay and there are a number of different views about this what should your life look like when it comes to change number of popular views but often the popular views are false wrong views towards what sanctification what the process of change towards christ’s likeness will look like in your life and we’re going to examine four of them and then the biblical view and the first one is easy believism giving you space on your hand out if you want to draw the graphic here so i put a little illustration of what easy believism expects if you can imagine the left side of the graph is your holiness your christ’s likeness and the bottom side of the graph is time and the right side of the graph is the end of your life and going to be with the lord in heaven easy believism basically says you don’t need to change you don’t need to become more holy all that matters is faith in christ so don’t expect that you’re actually going to progress and so you see on the graph it’s just kind of stays in the same spot a little bit of functionality but it doesn’t really change but the scriptures are quite clear this is a false view this is a faulty expectation of what the christian life should be and can you think of any scriptures that would confirm that this is a wrong view yeah steve that’s right very good so ephesians right after ephesians uh 289 that wonderful proclamation of salvation by faith all of god ephesians 2 10 says but we were created for good works which god prepared beforehand for us to walk in it comes together what’s another one yeah april oh very good going to james faith without works is dead hebrews 12 14 also says pursue peace with all men and a sanctification without which no one will see the lord and jesus and john and many of the apostles talk about you say you know god and you don’t walk a holy life i’m telling you you don’t know god and you’re under the wrath of god so easy believers and this is the wrong view of what sanctification looks like in a macro sense let’s look at another one christian perfectionism or entire sanctification this is like the opposite view in this view one can progress to such a level of godliness that you actually do not willfully sin anymore you’re done with sin this change is a second work of grace you might make mistakes but you no longer sin you say i’ve never heard of this well this view came out of the wesleyan holiness movement of the early 1800s john wesley was actually a great evangelist in in england in the 1700s but he was armenian and he had certain ideas he thought a little bit about whether christians could become entirely perfect he didn’t say that you could but some of his followers took his ideas further and they said yeah we can become perfect we can be entirely sanctified and this still exists even today those who take this view but it is a wrong view you’re never we are never going to be entirely sanctified in our lives we’re not going to experience a second work of grace and aside from simple life experience i mean come on somebody tells you that they’re entirely sanctified just observe them for a little while and you’ll be like no you’re not basically you have to come up with a new definition of sin to hold to that but what scriptures would contradict this view yeah glenda i’m sorry can you say that again um where is that from yeah there are definitely statements all over the scriptures but i think glenn is referring to one in first kings there’s not a man on earth who doesn’t sin which sounds like proverbs 20 verse nine who can say i’ve cleansed my heart and i am pure from sin rhetorical question nobody what else yeah mark yeah very good first john mark quoting from first john 1 8 and 10.
you say you don’t sin you don’t have any sin you’re calling god a liar which is interesting because john also says but if you live in sin you also don’t know god we have those two things together and of course this example of paul himself come on as apostles anybody more holy than paul but he says in philippians chapter 3 i’ve not already obtained it i’ve not become perfect but you know what i do i keep pressing on forgetting what lies behind straining toward what lies ahead i press on for the prize the upward calling christ and he says you should have that same view any of you who are mature perfect so-called perfect it’s this view not entire perfection so again this is a faulty view that idea that that top line there is perfection and that second cross there is that second work of grace similar view similarly false view is the higher life view or the keswick view higher life mergement view the higher life movement it kind of followed on some of the foundation laid by those who believed in christian perfectionism higher life specifically was centered in keswick england this was also the 1800s this view sees the christian life as containing two significant crisis moments there’s the one where you experience justification you believe in jesus as savior and now you belong to him and will go to heaven but then there’s another later moment in your life your moment of sanctification when a person commits to jesus as lord according to the higher life teaching these do not happen together some time in between and similar to the perfectionism view the second moment of enlightenment commitment that happens later in a christian’s life as a second work of grace a second touch a second baptism even of the holy spirit it doesn’t necessarily result in sinlessness but a higher life of holiness and that’s what you see in the graph right you really weren’t making much progress against sin and then boom second work you’ve made a new commitment you’ve been enlightened by the spirit and now you’re really not perfect but now you’re really walking with god this view is also unbiblical and aside from the verse is mentioned already about how there’s no true salvation without true sanctification the bible also does not separate the moment of justification from the moment of sanctification or rather the beginning of sanctification in a believer’s life romans 6 22 says but now having been freed from sin and enslaved to god you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life if you embrace jesus as savior you embrace him as lord you can’t split that or galatians 2 20 paul again giving his own example he says i have been crucified with christ is no longer i who live but christ lives in me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by faith in the son of god that loved me and gave himself up for me there’s not going to be a lapse in the christian life of okay i believe in the lord but i’m not going to be sanctified i’m not going to pursue sanctification or growing sanctification that doesn’t happen and any who who went along with this view and experienced that second work of grace what they probably experienced if they did experience it was true salvation for the first time they didn’t really come to know jesus their recommitment was actually just coming to christ also the bible never describes as normative a second mighty work or baptism of the spirit in a person’s life you go to the book of acts sometimes it does seem to be a separation between someone believing in special miraculous gifts but there’s a reason for that it’s god bringing in new peoples into the church and he wanted them to be affirmed by special representatives the apostles so when they laid their hands on certain believers it’s only then that they spoke in tongues or exercised other miraculous gifts but that was unique to that time you don’t see this two separate works of the spirit as normative in the christian life when you’re baptized into christ at that singular moment of faith and repentance the spirit then begins and then continues from that point working out your salvation through sanctification one other faulty view is the hyper grace view similar to the previous two views i almost wondered whether i should create my own graphic for it or not this view has become popular again in the last few decades in this view your progress and holiness will become easy and automatic if you just embrace and hold on to certain truths about yourself and god maybe you just need to focus on your identity in christ or maybe you just need to focus on god’s love for you or simply meditate on god’s grace the idea is that if you just focus on and dwell on the indicatives of the bible you won’t really have to worry about the imperatives because the commands will come naturally to you if you’re just overwhelmed with offer jesus you won’t have to worry about the commands you won’t even have to try hard it’ll just come naturally in fact stressing the imperatives of the bible is the type of fair safe hypocrisy to be avoided really if obedience is a struggle for you it’s a sign that your heart is not in it and you’ve fallen back into legalism the fact that you’re trying hard is a is just showing that you’re in sin need to repent of trying hard and just swim in the ocean of god’s grace and even let go and let god now don’t get me wrong the indicatives of the bible are important and taking hold of them by faith is an important part of sanctification and there is such a thing as outward obedience to god without any real corresponding inward obedience and god hates that he’s not pleased with that that’s not real obedience but this hyper-grace view of sanctification is wrong and it inevitably leads to antinomianism that is living without real concerns about the commands of god living in sin and this is actually played out in the lives of many prominent hyper grace teachers the bible itself have we seen as we have seen it places heavy emphasis on the imperatives and the need to live a life in the holy fear of god and furthermore though the true christian will ultimately be victorious in his life in the process of sanctification it will come by hard and persevering spiritual combat motivated by faith in god i mean just listen to the way that paul describes it in ephesians 6 ephesians 6 12-13 he says for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the powers against the forces the world forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places therefore take up the full armor of god so that you will be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm is it ever going to be hard for you to follow god is ever going to be hard to stay close to christ yes but you can do it by the lord’s spirit and by holding on to him by faith it takes endurance it takes perseverance and you only be able to remain if you believe the lord and you believe his promises one way to describe it is it takes discipline listen to the way paul exhorts timothy regarding the same truth first timothy 4 verses 7 to 10. first timothy 4 7 to 10 paul says but have nothing to do talking to timothy with worldly fables fit only for old women that’s not helpful on the other hand discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness for bodily discipline is only of little profit but godliness is profitable for all things since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance for this for this we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living god who is the savior of all men especially of believers the christian life is a life that contains striving laboring agonizing but this is done in faith and even with joy says lord this is hard but i’ll hold on to you keep me with you god and he says i will persevere overcome there’s a reward this is what he says in revelation right don’t give up keep going we should expect struggle and sanctification but we should also expect that when we hold on to christ we will overcome now there are other faulty views of saying oh i should explain the graphic what i’ve attempted here is that little moment where it goes up skyward there that’s the person just embracing the indicatives and he stops trying and it’s just automatic but then he kind of forgets and he starts to try again he he moves away from the indicatives and then he falls right back down and then he remembers again you just start swimming in the grace again and then it’s easy this is the expectation of this view but that’s not it’s not reality now there are a number of variants to these views i can’t possibly talk about them all and there are other views but these are kind of four major views that i wanted you to be aware of but what’s the biblical view what should be a biblical expectation of change in our lives it’s the last graphic here it’s progressive sanctification it’s like what we say from the pulpit week after week you’re not going to be perfect it’s not perfection that god is looking for but it is the direction of your life are you growing in holiness that’s the biblical view it’s gradual it’s progressive sanctification you’re wholly justified in one sense you’re already clean before god but in a practical behavioral sense you’re not yet fully clean you must grow the truly christian life according to the bible is one of ongoing change and gradual growth and holiness as the believer practices a lifestyle of repentance he becomes aware of sin in his life he’s confronted over a sin he says i need to change and he does if he truly belongs to the lord he doesn’t remain in sin he repents he turns away from that old pattern and he embraces a new pattern and this keeps on happening this keeps on happening he keeps on changing he sees another area he needs to grow and he grows my seminary teacher my counseling teacher for seminary dr street he described progressive sanctification in this way and i’ll give you this definition i forgot to include on your handout sorry about that but i have put it up here and you can always get the slides afterwards via email dr street says progressive sanctification is a lifelong cycle of sin repentance renewal and growth toward christ’s likeness that will only be completed when we meet our lord you’re not going to have some moment some second grace moment where you just are perfect now no it only perfection only comes when we meet christ this process is accomplished through the active discipline of the believer himself who trusts that the holy spirit is energizing his efforts who does sanctification you or god it’s both i mean it’s god doing it all you aren’t able to do anything without god and yet it’s not going to happen unless you god is ordained that the means is that you actually strive you do the hard work of sanctification and this is the same view of a sanctification as articulated by the reformers i’ll read something to you this is the westminster confession of faith composed in the mid-1600s by the most evident eminent pastor theologians in england the reformed pastors at that time chapter 12 of that statement paragraph 1 to 3 says this regarding progressive sanctification they who are effectually called and regenerated having a new heart and a new spirit created in them are further sanctified really and personally through the virtue of christ’s death and resurrection by his word and spirit dwelling in them the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified that is put to death and they are more and more quickened that is brought to life and strengthened in all saving graces to the practice of true holiness without which no man will see the lord this sanctification is throughout the whole man yet imperfect in this life there abide is still some remnants of corruption in every part once arises the continual and irreconcilable war the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh in which war although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying spirit of christ the regenerate part doth overcome and so the saints grow in grace perfecting holiness in the fear of god that’s a great truth that gives us hope right we can change we can change by god’s spirit now let me clarify it is true i’ll go back to the picture here it’s true that often our experience in progressive sanctification will be one of increasing awareness of sin even while we are increasingly putting off sin and putting on holiness they say okay you’re saying i’m progressing but i feel more sinful now than maybe when i was first saved that is because we are like a man traveling to a lit cabin at night after falling into a mud puddle so imagine it’s night this guy’s walking towards this cabin it’s got the lights on but he falls into a mud puddle he gets back up and he starts going towards the cabin even as the mud increasingly falls off the man as he approaches the cabin he also increasingly notices more mud on him because he’s getting closer to the light there actually is less mud on him than when he started but he just is aware more of what’s left so it is for us in our lives as god sanctifies us and we actually do sin less and we walk in more and more holiness we will actually see more and more sin and say oh i didn’t even realize this was there oh i need christ even more lord help me against this sin help me against this area where i need to be sanctified that’s our experience but the lord does sanctify us and even as we say lord i still sin lord i need your help we can say thank you lord that i’m not the way i used to be last year to this year i’ve grown and this year to five years ago i’ve grown that should be our experience so having overviewed those models we should take a moment quickly to ask what is the functional model in which we operate in our lives no matter what what model we confess we can say yep i believe in progressive sanctification that’s biblical what mindset do we actually have for how we live is it one of imperfect but progressively overcoming walking with christ by faith or do we settle merely for a life of transparency we’re quick to confess how sinful we are to others but we seldom repent and change transparency is good it’s good for us to be open to one another but if all you do is confess your sin and don’t change that is not good that’s not sanctification are we engaged in godly discipline for the lord’s sake are we like paul hitting our body under the eye so we will not be disqualified are we like those waiting around for some mighty divine event to overtake us i’m just waiting for god to banish temptation from my life i’m just waiting god to fill me with overwhelming love for him so that it’s not hard anymore though we may decry let go and let god as unbiblical on antinomian is that the way we actually live do we think that merely listening to bible teaching will automatically sanctify us just plug more knowledge into my head it’ll happen no real hard work or perseverant discipline required listening to the scriptures is good you need that as part of your sanctification but that alone is not going to change james 1 22 says prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves we can do that we can substitute merely learning about god and learning the bible for real sanctification your bible study truly hasn’t profited you until you believe it and put it into practice in your life so our brothers and sisters we need to make sure we understand and live out true sanctification not only for our own benefit but also so that we can truly help others because that’s what we’re ultimately called to do right i told you we’re all called as biblical counselors we need to help them with this but we need to make sure we’re being progressively sanctified ourselves philippians 2 verses 12 to 13 i think sums up in a mysterious balance much of what i’m saying paul says philippians 2 12-13 so then my beloved just as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your salvation with fear and trembling come on strive you got to do it no one else is going to do it for you you got to do it 4 verse 13 for it is god who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure how do those fit together that’s mysterious but we know they’re both true you gotta strive but you also have to rely on god he’s the one doing it and of course god uses the means very practical means as part of this process the word the fellowship the ministry of the church prayer we should never embrace the mindset of sanctification apart from god’s people hey just me the bible and the holy spirit and maybe some john macarthur sermons not only will that be a much less joyful journey but we will see very little progress in holiness you need the church and the church needs you god may put you a place temporarily where you’re not fellowshipping with other brethren you can’t say well because i’m not around i guess i can’t be holy no god will provide for you in that time but the normal experience is you need the ministry and fellowship of the church and the gifts and the teaching and all the things that the church involves to grow in holiness and this is an exhortation not to stay away from church you need to be involved so this is a macro view of the biblical process of change now let’s take a micro view what happens on a more moment by moment basis to bring about either sin or repentance in our lives i’ve given you a short answer right on your hand now the short answer that question is this sinful behavior ultimately comes from idolatry in the heart with the heart thinking desiring and believing according to what is false there’s something wrong in the heart first before you can see the visible manifestation of sin therefore true and lasting change only takes place when the false thoughts desires and beliefs in the heart are confronted and the false idol is dethroned and christ is restored to his proper place of worship so let me see if i can explain this a little bit more fully i’ve given you three points on your handout to kind of illustrate that further let’s go through those i’ll come back to that diagram number one here’s the truth the heart always pursues whatever it worships heart always pursues whatever it worships one of the awesome and fundamental truths about man from the bible is that man was made to worship just how god designed us man was always made to love serve and find joy in something beyond himself more specifically man was made to love and worship god and to depend on god for joy wisdom and life and this is actually part of the reason why god gave adam and eve that first forbidden command don’t eat the fruit depend on me trust me if you will follow my counsel obey me fellowship with me then you will have abundant life but if you seek to live apart from me you seek something besides me what will you find death seek your own wisdom your own fulfillment apart from me you will find death and that’s what they found and that’s what we’ve all inherited unsurprisingly if this is the way god designed us what is the foremost command given to man in the bible love god with your entire self jesus says it this way matthew 22 37-38 and he’s quoting deuteronomy 6 5.
matthew 22 37-38 and he said to him you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind this is the great and foremost commandment not only is this our design it is god’s do and as the fountain of life as the glorious as the only glorious being not only is he worthy of this but he will satisfy all those who come to him and do it those who come to god as living water they will find refreshment they will find eternal satisfaction but for those who stray to other fountains what will they find jeremiah says broken cisterns that can hold no water looking for something else to worship something else to satisfy you secure you enlighten you you’re not going to find it just broken cisterns that can hold no water let me say it another way all of us from our inner man we were made to seek and enjoy treasure we want treasure we want to find what’s truly valuable and enjoy it and the only true treasure the ultimate treasure is the one we were meant to enjoy from the beginning god himself thus jesus urges a sort of indirect way here in matthew 7 verses 19 to 21 do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth where mother must destroy him where thieves break in and steal but store for yourselves treasure in heaven neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also whatever you treasure is whatever you love whatever you love is whatever you worship in an ultimate sense jesus says this actually in the same passage in another way matthew 7 24 jesus says no one can serve two masters father you will hate the one and love the other he will be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve god and wealth whatever is your treasure whatever you love is what you serve it’s what you seek it’s what you pursue whatever your heart worships is what you’re going to go after not just in your heart but even in your life jesus says you can’t go after something else in god at the same time if wealth is your treasure you will serve it and do everything you can to obtain it but if god is your treasure then you will serve him and do everything you can to obtain and enjoy him the bible often talks about setting our mind on things and the the need to set our mind on the things above the things of heaven the things of god rather than the things of earth what does it mean to set your mind on something yeah make it your focus yeah mark that’s right yeah uh mark bringing back some words from greg last week what you’re thinking about all the time uh what is your dominating thought mindset it’s your focus it’s your pursuit i’m going after that i’m setting my mind on that or him that one we are creatures that must set our minds on something we cannot endure purposelessness we feel deep in our souls that we should pursue whatever is great we seek treasure we want that and we were made for that but the question is what will we regard as treasure what will we regard as great and is it really great what will we worship who will we worship what will we pursue if we regard rightly who and what is true treasure that we will pursue god we will worship god in our hearts and what will that lead to in our lives holiness obedience and also the blessing that comes with that because we are pursuing him so of course we’ll want to do what he wants us to do of course we’ll want to be like him because we want him but if we regard something else as more or equally worthy to god what will that lead to in our lives it will lead to sin because now we are pursuing something apart from god and that necessitates disobedience thus number two sin is a symptom of wrong heart worship sin is a symptom of wrong heart worship there is an abundantly clear connection in the bible between having wrong worship in the heart and acting out in sinful ways in the world it starts in the heart first i’ve got a whole bunch of scriptures here but i’ll have to paraphrase them for the sake of time paul says in philippians 3 verses 18 to 19 talking about those who are not true followers of god he says their end is destruction their god is their appetite their glory is their shame who set their minds on earthly things they walk in sin because their god is their appetite their desires james 4 in a very clear passage talks about the source of quarrels and conflicts i’ll read this to you james 4 1-4 what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you where do these fights come from is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members inside you you lust and do not have so what do you do you commit murder you’re envious and cannot obtain oh i need that i need that that’s my true treasure so you fight and quarrel you do not have because you do not ask you ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures god god please give me this thing because i really want it more than you you adulteresses verse 4 do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility towards god therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of god that is a hard hitting passage but very clarifying notice how james accurately identifies the source of conflicts and we’ve all experienced conflicts right what is the source of conflicts it’s our desires it’s the things we love and regard as necessary treasures in our lives we want to enjoy these things but things people get in the way of that hey don’t you know i need that treasure what are you doing if you’re getting in the way i’m going to have to deal with you i have to punish you it’s only just because of lust that is strong desire people will commit murder or the equivalent of murder they will act in anger because of envy and covenant they will fight in coral what is the old testament equivalent to the term lusts or strong desires say that again it is it is coveting yes but there’s actually a more tangible representation of it in the old testament an idol yeah an idol it’s an idol of the heart the outward idols they’re just physical manifestations of the idols we have in our hearts i mean it’s kind of obvious right you have the god of war the god of love the god of wealth people are worshiping what those gods represent in ancient times now we just hide those it’s all about those desires in our hearts and thus james correctly identifies what’s really taking place when you guys get into conflict he says when you’re fighting with one another you know what you’re really manifesting spiritual adultery you have departed worship of god in your hearts and you’ve put something else there some desire you’ve enlisted with the world against god this isn’t just marital infidelity this is treason you made yourself an enemy of god why would you do that the anger and the calling that takes place even with believers remember james is writing to believers it’s a symptom of a deeper problem it’s just a symptom it does need to be dealt with but it’s a symptom of a deeper problem a heart multiple hearts believing that they need something other than god to be happy to be fulfilled to be secure they need it just as much or more than god all our sin basically comes from the same source idolatry strong desires of the heart that’s why we get angry that’s why we worry that’s why we get depressed that’s why we do all manner of sins because we’ve moved away from what god designed us to do which is to worship him find our joy in him james describes the process in a similar way in the earlier part of his book james 1 14-15 but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust that’s internal that’s strong desire then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin it gives to the birth of the sin that everyone can see and when sin is accomplished when it’s full grown it brings forth death it starts internally if you’re going to deal with the sin you must deal with the lust that gave birth to the sin the bible talks about this often in terms of fruit this is now i want to use this little illustration jesus talks about our speech or our actions our sinful actions where do they come from they don’t come from outside of us he says he says to his disciples you’re not defiled by the food you eat by things outside you the defilement comes from within it comes from an evil heart it manifests in the fruit of your life why do you speak evil things you ever had that experience where you’re just going about your life somebody did something and all of a sudden these really rotten words came out of your mouth and then you’re like whoa whoa where’d that come from i didn’t mean to say that actually you did it came from a heart it came from a heart that was devoted to some idol that was caught up in wickedness and the heart wants to make itself known and it often doesn’t in words so an evil word just spews out of your mouth it’s not just words it’s our actions too jesus says from within come fornications thefts murders adulteries deeds of coveting wickedness as well as deceit sensuality envy slander pride and foolishness all of these evil things proceed from within and defile the man our sins are just the fruit of a tree with roots that are drawing from the wrong sources therefore if we’re going to deal with the sin if we’re actually going to repent if we’re going to proceed in the process of biblical change we need to get to the root what’s at the root what are the false thoughts what are the idolatrous desires what are the proud demands think about your own sin struggles for a moment the sins that you frequently commit ask yourself this question what kind of idol or strong desire is behind this sin because until that desire an idol is dethroned you will not see ongoing victory might be able to temporarily restrain it but you haven’t gotten rid of the fuel haven’t gotten rid of the source it will come back but if you do deal with that idol if you do come back to the lord and say no he’s my treasure not only will your behavior change but your wish will be acceptable to the lord that’s ultimately what we’re after right not just changed behavior but a heart that truly loves god we want to see people worshiping god rightly part of christ’s likeness there are plenty of worldly treasures that we can pursue i won’t try to mention the list consider some of the following descriptions to help you get a get a bead get an aimer on that idol that might be in your heart if you are wanting or desiring something that god does not want or desire it’s an idol if you’re wanting something that god also wants or desires but you want it so much that you will become ungodly to get it or ungodly if you don’t get it it’s an idol good things can be idols i want a godly spouse i want to be healthy i want a successful ministry those are fine desires but if you sin to get it or if you sin you don’t get it it’s a sign it’s an idol it’s now become more necessary to you than god and whatever god decides you need i need to be treated well they shouldn’t treat me like that god is sovereign he can take care of you others are obligated to follow after the and obey god’s commands but you don’t need people to treat you well you don’t need to be respected you don’t need to be popular the lord is enough being controlled by your own expectations and becoming ungodly in thought word or deed when those expectations are not realized that’s idolatry perceiving a deserved right and then following through with unholy thoughts words and actions to try and get that right when it is denied that’s idolatry believing in some standard or rule that is not of god and that leads to ungodly practices this can be the case in so-called ocd and perfectionism becoming upset when you don’t meet that self-made standard that is idolatry having a mindset that is against the truth of god’s word such as self-confidence that leads to ungodliness and thoughts words and actions it’s idolatry basically you can fill in the following to discover what’s the root cause of sin symptoms and i have this on your sheet i must have or not have blank that is what i worship if i must have it or i must not have it and it’s not god in that blank that’s an idol or that’s an idol it’s a lust it’s a strong desire and it has to be dealt with so for ourselves and also for those we counsel when we see them caught up in sin or we see ourselves caught up in sin we want to find out the answer to this question what is their idol their lustful motivation that is fueling the attitude the speech and the behavior that i see sometimes it’s not that hard to figure out sometimes it takes some digging but this is the basic way that our hearts work i have a bunch of illustrations but i have to skip those because we literally have one minute left the goal of course is not merely to expose idolatrous desires but to transform which is why number three says restored heart worship leads to righteous living this is where we bring the gospel the truth to bear in people’s lives we say okay do you see friend this is what i observe based on what you’ve shown me based on what you’ve told me based on what i see in your life this sounds like the root idol this sounds like the thing that you desire more than god but don’t you see this can’t satisfy you don’t you see that this can’t secure you but the lord can the lord is better than this i know this circumstance is hard friend but the lord he’s enough for you through this he can sustain you he loves you every circumstance is perfectly designed by him for your good you don’t need this or that thing you don’t have to be worried you don’t have to be angry you don’t have to be depressed because you’ve got the lord this is how hearts become transformed this is the way god has designed it this is his means that we bring the truth about him from his word not only to expose these idolatrous desires but to uproot them and put christ back where he belongs say don’t you remember the gospel that you believed it wasn’t about this it was about the lord and he said give up everything for me i can take care of you now we’ll minister that in a different specific ways depending on the context and the person but that’s what it comes down to if we want to see them walking righteously if we want to see them worshiping god again we’ve got to get that idol out of there and we’ve got to get them to believe and love the lord again it’s just coming back to the gospel it involves encouragement it involves training it involves accountability and involves coming up with practical strategies that’s basically it you’ve got to deal with the root get them back drawing from the stream of christ instead of the broken cistern of that idol now you can’t ultimately force someone to do that but if they’re a believer god is gracious he will bring them back ephesians 4 22-24 sorry for going over time i’ll just close with this it kind of describes the whole process in a helpful way ephesians 4 22-24 says this is paul kind of outlining what sanctification is to the newly converted gentiles in ephesus and he says in reference to your former manner of life you lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit and that should be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self which in the likeness of god has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth christian life is about putting off and putting on you can’t simply put off you have to put on but where does that happen it happens both on the outer man and in the inner man and the inner man really is where it has to happen first you have to have your thinking renewed as roman says you need to be renewed in your mind washed in the spirit of your mind away from the old futile thinking ungodly thinking ungodly worship back to what is true back to the lord and when you put off and put on there then you put off and put on on the outer man your behavior in speech that’s what we’re after that’s what god does okay a lot more to say about that but we can’t because we’re out of time next week we will talk about a few specific topics related to the process of biblical change that are often misunderstood and they are guilt repentance and forgiveness let me briefly pray thank you lord for this time thank you that you do work in us continue that work god and expose these things lord search us that there be any unclean way in us even an idol lord that we love more or instead of you show us that so we can get rid of it and come back to the fountain of living water in jesus name amen thank you everyone