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WISDOM & WONDER | Deal Aggressively With This | Matthew 18:7-9 | Philip Anthony Mitchell
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You could be seated are God. If you're a guest, we welcome you to 2819. If you. If you're sitting in the overflow room, for everybody sitting in the overflow room, we welcome you to 2819. To all of our digital disciples watching me right now live in cities across the country and around the world, we welcome you to 2819. And for every person in that overflow, Every person watching me live right now, every person in this room who's not a follower of Christ, we know that you are in here. We want you to know that. We welcome you. We're glad that you are here. You could. You could belong before you believe. That means you could be among us. You could be in these gatherings. You could keep eavesdropping on the proclamation of God's word. And we pray that someday, some moment that we pray you as you were part of the elect, before the foundation of the world, that God would draw you to himself even while the Word is being proclaimed, with no altar call, that even right there in your seat, right there across that camera, right there on your couch, man, you could be brought into the kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit without the ingenuity of a man. And we pray that you will become our family while you still have breath in your lungs. I want to give you a disclaimer that the message I'm about to preach you today is not an easy one. And it will not be a long one. And it will not be long because I want to carve out some time on the end, on the backside for us to have a moment of prayer and a moment of reflection. These verses that we're going to deal with this morning are very difficult verses. And I want to try to approach them as calm as I know how because I know I'm an intense person. And I don't want you to feel like this is a whooping. I don't want you to feel like I'm going to pull out my belt on you. But whatever. What I am believing God for is as this word is proclaimed, albeit difficult, that what the Lord would do through the power of the Holy Spirit would take, like salve from heaven and wipe it on your eyes, and that scales would fall from your eyes and that your eyes would be open, and that without a whooping, but just through the power of the Holy Spirit, you might hear and receive and believe and turn and repent. So I'm just warning you that the text is a heavy text. It is a weighty text. I don't want you to feel like you're being disciplined. I want you to feel like you're being awoken. You're being awakened of sorts by the power of the Holy Spirit. So we're in the backside of a series called Wisdom and Wonder, where we are walking through Matthew chapter 12 through 20 together. And we have only two more chapters in this series. If you are not a follower of Christ, we don't want to presume you know who Matthew was. Matthew was a Jew that lived in the first century, outcast from his community because of his job with the Roman government as a tax collector. He was converted to the faith of Christianity by the Lord Jesus himself and went on to become an eyewitness of the life of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus, and went on to become an apostle and a martyr for what he saw and what he believed. He wrote the gospel that bears his name, the one that we are studying together. And for all of our note takers today, we're going to kind of lean in to just three verses. Matthew, chapter 18, verses 7 through 9. I am going to read the beginning of the whole chapter because like I said before, two weeks ago, when these original documents was written, there was no chapters and verses. And so you need to read them completely so you have complete thought and context. So we will read the beginning of Matthew 18, but the verses we're going to unpack today, seven through nine, just three verses. And then I want to call us to a moment of prayer. I will. I will not be up here alone. We're going to tag a title to this text. I'm just going to call this text. Deal aggressively with this. Don't play with it. Don't keep it as a pet. It's killing us. Deal aggressively with this Eternal God and of a wise father. Lord, I pray by the power of your Holy Spirit, now, in this moment, in this room, across that camera, across this nation, in that overflow Lord, you would. You would come and ride by the power of the Spirit on the proclamation of your word. I pray. Spirit of the living God, you would. You would anoint our eyes with salve to see. You would. You would trouble the hearts of your sons and daughters. I pray you would pour out upon us a spirit of revelation, a spirit of repentance upon us even right now. I pray for the unbeliever under my voice that they would tremble at the weight of the word, God. They would feel the weight of the word coming to bear on their souls, and they might turn and repent and come aboard the ark of safety. Before it's too late. I pray, Jesus, that you would arrest us even right now. Awaken us from our slumber and our sleep, and help me to proclaim the. The difficulty of these three weighty verses. I ask for your help in the mighty and in the majestic and the matchless. Name of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, say amen and amen. And Amen. Deal aggressively with this family. Last week, our nation watched as one of entertainment industry's most famous people was arrested and brought in in handcuffs in a New York City hotel. This man, who I don't never liked very much ever, but have been listening to his music since I was a teenager, was brought in on very serious charges by the federal government. Now, when his indictment was opened and that seal was broken on his indictment, man, legal analysts and TV pundits and social media pundits began to give commentary about the severity of his charges. And as they began to give commentary about the severity of his charges, man, they begin to speak with a type of language like, this brother's life was over. Like, if he does not beat these charges, he may spend the rest of his life in prison. Now, my brothers and sisters, long before there was. Long before there was videos of him beating women in lobbies and long before there were lawsuits, man, what was it that brought him to the brink of the situation he's in right now? The same thing that brought him to the brink of the situation he is right now is the same thing that is alive on the inside of you and on the inside of me. And that it is sin in his life that brought him to the brink of what he's dealing with right now. And it's the same thing that's alive on you and the same thing that's alive on me. And while people are crying in comments, man, we hope that he gets what he deserves. And then you have other people saying, man, we feel sorry for him for what he's about to suffer, and we feel sorry for his family. My brothers and sisters, I want you to know, man, this thing that brought him to where he is right now, this thing that's alive on the inside of you and me, man, this thing that began with Adam and the original sin that spread to all human beings, man, this thing on the inside of us, listen to me. It is the bane of our existence. It is the cause of all pain and suffering in society. It is the cause of every sorrowful tear that has ever fallen from your eyes. It is the cause of all of our relational tension and friendship, tension and Marital tension. It is the source of all of the issues going on right now in the world. It is because of this thing. Sin, man. It has toppled empires in history, has corrupted foreign governments. It has infected every single part of the human being. Your intellect has been infected by sin. Your intelligence has been affected by sin. Your emotions have been affected by sin. Your desires, your wants, your longings, the way you see the world, your language, your mouth, your heart, your feelings. Every single part of the human being has been infected by sin. I know you think because you were born on the altar, I'm not talking to you. And I know you think because you're morally good, I'm not talking to you. But every single person who has ever been born, we all, every single part of you, have been infected by sin. It is the bane of human existence. To the point I hate sin. I hate it in my life. I hate it in the church, I hate it in society. Not because I'm morally pure. I hate it because just the opposite. I hate it because I know the pain it has brought to my life. I know the destruction it has brought to my life. I know the heartache and the frustration it has brought to my life. And I know I'm not the only one who has looked over your shoulder and looked at the devastation of sin in your life from past. Seasons, man. Things I regret because of sin. Seasons I regret because of sin. Chapters of my life I wish I could rip out of my story because of sin. And while all these people are commenting on this music mogul sin saying, man, we hope he gets what he deserves. It's crazy that so many of us don't even realize our own repentant sin. And we're not even worried about what we deserve or what we gonna get on the backside of our own repentance. Sin. Not only that, brother's the problem. We too are a problem. And so the Lord, nearing the end of his earthly ministry, is trying to prepare his followers for his transition out of the world. He's trying to teach them that the end is coming. In Matthew chapter 16, he prophesies to them about the birth of the Christian church that was just a few months away. In Matthew 28:19, he gives that church its only commission. Spread the Gospel, multiply disciples. But in Matthew 18, he gives the church its very first teaching on the context of how we govern ourselves inside biblical community. Matthew 18 is one of the most important chapters in all of Matthew. It's one of the most important chapters in all of the New Testament for all of the doctrines of the New Testament, all of the letters of the New Testament that teach us how to govern ourselves inside the context of biblical community. All of them find their origin in Matthew chapter 18. And before Jesus sends his people out with a message, he gives them context on how to govern themselves in community. So watch so their behavior does not compromise the witness of their message. So in the very first teaching to followers of Christ about biblical community, Matthew records this powerful message or sermon from the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in Matthew 18:1. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? We see the brokenness of their heart through their questions and calling to him a child. He put them in the midst and said, truly, I say to you, unless you turn, repent and become sanctification, like little children who are humble, meek, mild, who are not looking for glory, they're not attention seekers, they have no desire for fame and platforms, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. You will be in church your whole life and miss glory. He says, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. That is, Jesus equates greatness to humility. Not status, not power, not Instagram following, not fame. Greatness is attributed to humility in the eyes of God. Whoever receives one such a child receives me. That is how you treat another believer, how you treat Christ. Those who are Christ like. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, that is whichever one of y'all in the context of community, that you become the conduit through which another brother or sister falls into sin. The Lord said it would be better that you tie a millstone around your neck, which was a form of punishment by Rome, and that you'll be drowned in the depths of the sea. That the Lord is saying, it'll be safer for you to be dead than to be alive and leading other Christians into sin, that it'll be better for you to be off the earth than alive in the earth and be the conduit through which people sin. Now, pay attention. There are no verses in the original manuscripts. So when we read these next three verses, this is one continual thought of the Lord Jesus. One argument. So he tells his followers, not the people outside, the people in the room, the people in the lobby, the people in the overflow, you watching me across that camera. He tells us his followers, if any one of you will be the cause of leading another brother or sister in sin, it would be better that you just tie a stone around your neck and be drowned in the sea. That is, you better not be the cause for other believers and sisters being caught up in sin. Let something else get them caught up. You better not be the origin of them getting caught up. He continues his argument with these next three verses like that phone just went off. I pray that you will hear an alarm from heaven waking you up right now. The Lord says in verse seven, woe. Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom temptation comes. Stop. So what the Lord gives us here is a double woe. And I want to draw your attention to a few things in the verse. First, I want to draw your attention to the word woe. The Lord lose this word speaking to the religious elite of the day when he said to the Pharisees, woe to you hypocrites. The Lord used this word when he spoke to cities that would not repent, he said, woe to you, Chorazin. So we see the Lord in his preaching using this word woe, when he's talking to people who are unrepentant in their sin. It is a very powerful word. It is a very serious word. It is not a word you want to be on the other side of. The Lord doesn't only give a singular woe, but right here he gives us a double woe. It is serious, and for the believer, we need to be paying attention. What is woe? Woe is two things simultaneously. First, woe is a declaration of inescapable punishment for a person on the other side of the woe, that is, whoever he said woe to man, there is something severe coming to that person on the other side of the woe. Woe to you Pharisees, you hypocrites. He's pronouncing judgment for the person on the other side of the woe. Then second, at the same time, woe is a sorrowful expression that I feel bad for the person on the other side of that woe. So when Jesus says woe, he's doing two things at the same time. He's saying, watch, something severe is coming for you in the form of punishment, and I feel sorry for you for what you're about to endure. So woe is a declaration of punishment, and it is an expression of sorrowness of heart, because you feel bad for who's on the other side of that woe. Now look at who he gives the woe to. Two groups. He says, first, woe to the world for temptations to sin. So what the Lord is saying here, he pronounces judgment on the fallen world of humanity. That is woe to every government. Woe to every institution that man has ever created that leads human beings into sin. Woe to corrupt governments. Woe to corrupt nations. Woe to America. Woe to Planned Parenthood for teaching people it's okay to kill babies in the womb. I don't care if you're a Democrat. That is murder in the womb. See, you're getting ready to leave right now. No, that baby in the womb has life and personhood. For he said to Jeremiah, before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you personally. And I ain't judging you because I done paid for my fair share of abortions. But the Lord said, woe to every man made institution that makes it easy for people to commit sin. Every legislation by a corrupt government. Every institution, every clinic, every Planned Parenthood, everything in the world. All the people that create porn sites, all the people that do sex trafficking. Any entity in the world that makes it easy for people to commit sin. Any entity or government in the world that exports sin. Any entity or government in the world. Watch. That is a conduit for sin. The Lord said to all of them, woe to you. That is in your rebellion and your repentance, your unwillingness to repent. Man. There is a severe judgment coming for everybody who is an export of sin. And I feel sorry for what you're going to endure in the judgment, for what you're doing right now in this life. So he says, woe to the world. This is woe to everybody outside my church who are engineers of sin. And then he says, watch. It is necessary that temptation should come. That is, watch. Sin in the world is inevitable. It cannot be avoided. Because we live in a fallen society. We live in a Genesis 3 world. So he says, man, woe to the world for the sins that are coming. These temptations, they are inevitable. But watch. But woe to the one through whom they come. That is, although sin is inevitable in the world, you don't want to be the person responsible for spreading it in society. Let the world be blinded by sin, but let not my children be involved and being agents of the spread of sin. No, see, I'm almost done already. My brothers and my sisters, this is very serious language by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord knows the damage and the destruction that sin has done to humanity. The Lord is an eternal being. He did not have his origin when he was born in Bethlehem. The Lord has always existed. Let us. Genesis 1:26. Make man in our image and in our likeness. He is an eternal being. Watch. And the Lord pay attention. He knows the destruction of sin family. The first sin ever committed was not in the Garden of Eden. The first sin ever committed happened in heaven. So the scripture teaches us, since we don't read, that God created all these angelic beings. And among those angelic beings, he created three archangels. Michael, who's responsible for warfare. Gabriel, who's responsible for delivering messages. Lucifer, who was responsible for worship. The scripture says his body was made out of musical instruments and pipes. Ezekiel taught us that. But then Isaiah in 14 teaches us something about Lucifer. When he was in heaven, some way, somehow, he got a glimpse of his beauty. And then the first sin entered into the heart of a being. Pride. And then in his pride, the scripture says because of your much trading, you corrupted yourself. Which means what? Lucifer did? He start going to one angel. He's like, yo, I'm going to be better than God. And then he goes to another angel, I'm going to be better than God. And then he runs to another angel, yo, I'm going to be better than God. And he goes on whispering in the ears of all these angels that he's going to be better than God. And then the second sin is born in his heart. Rebellion. And the scripture teaches us he rebelled against God and there was war in heaven. Read the book. War in heaven. And because there is no dualism that Satan is not stronger than God Almighty, there's no dualism. Satan ain't stronger than God. The scripture says because of that watch, Satan was cast out of heaven is when Jesus said, I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning down to the earth. And in Revelation, when he's pictured as the dragon, it says his tail took a third of the stars of heaven with him. That is, he took one third of all of the angels with him who he had got in their ear. So stupid. Who, according to Jude, abandoned their place in heaven. And now they're going to be chained in eternal fire for their abandonment of God. These angels that he corrupted that was thrown out of heaven are the demons that roam the earth today. They're the demons that whisper in the ears of your favorite psychic when you go get your palm read. And these demons that have been watching you since you was young, and so they whisper in the ear of the psychic, they tell your age and the last boyfriend you had and what city you was born in, because they've been watching you. And then they start to prophet lie and tell you about your future and lead you away from the Lord Jesus Christ. And because we are not read. Because you love sermons, but you don't read. You don't know that that stuff is demonic. Your little tarot cards, your little sage, your little crystals, your little readings, all that stuff is demonic. As demonic. How are you praying to God and got crystals next to your Bible at the same time? How you trying to send up the incense of prayer and got sage burning at the same time? Too many sermons, not enough literacy. That's why I'm going to keep encouraging you. Don't just listen to me. Read the Scriptures for yourself. Read, read, read. Don't just trust me. So Christ in heaven saw with his own eyes the first sin ever committed. And he's seen the damage it caused. It caused an archangel to lose their position in glory. Who became your adversary? The devil. And Satan, who still loves music, by the way. It. Oh. Oh. You never realize when you listen to certain things why it make you feel angry, lustful. You feel like you want to commit murder. Oh, no, no. You love her because she's famous. You love her and you love him because they're famous and they call themselves a Christian. I don't have time to get into this, but I just want to tell you, you can't find a description for Christian in the Bible. It's not in there. It was a derogatory term that was given to us. We call ourselves now, but you can't find a description for a disciple. Anybody in society could put Christian in their profile. But we checking for fruit. I said we looking for fruit. We're looking for evidence of your Christianity. You know, tell. Somebody gonna tell me or you can't tell me? I'm not a Christian. John did in first John, this is who we know who the sons of God are and who the sons of the devil are. So foolish and gullible. I don't care that somebody call themselves a Christian. We're checking for fruit. Evidence of grace and transformation. Where is the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? Where is your desire by nature to follow the commandments of God Almighty? What are we talking about? I don't care. I don't care. I ain't trying to fill up no room. I'm going to preach this truth whether the room is full or the room is empty. I don't care. Ain't gonna shut me up. I ain't up here to get your approval. I don't care if half of y'all don't Come back next week. The Lord not going. Your blood is not going to be on my hands in the judgment. Now listen to me. I have two verses and I'm going. Listen to me, please. Please hear my heart in the overflow. Hear my heart. I'm talking to you. Please listen to me carefully. The Lord knows the deep damage that sin does to the hearts and lives of human beings. Listen to me. He knows how destructive it is. He knows how catastrophic it is. He sees the hurt that we incur upon ourselves because of our sinful behavior. And the Lord looks upon us with a type of grief in his heart when he sees his children who love to indulge in sin. And he sees how we are damaging our lives and ruining our witness and our credibility. How many times have the Lord responded to your tears because of his love? But he's looking at you like, if you would just stop doing this. Come on, man. Everybody watch so. Because I'm almost done. Because the Lord knows the deep damage and destruction that sin brings to the lives of people. Watch. He went through extreme measures to warn his followers to not play around with sin. Don't treat it like a pet. Don't keep it on a leash. He went through extreme measures to teach us. Don't play with this. The evidence of that is in the next two verses, verse eight. And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. Now watch the warning. It is better for you to enter life, that is heaven, crippled or lame, than with two hands and two feet to be thrown into eternal fire. Now peep the taxi. The Lord says, if your hand or foot causes you to sin, what is the hand or foot? This is a metaphor for sins of commission. That is sins you do activity. That is sins you practice. This is like you watching pornography. You sowing seeds of discord. You are rebellious in nature against authority. You tear up churches. You lie, you cheat, you steal. You wound other people unnecessarily. You love hips on Instagram. Like your wife is not enough. I'm talking to me, too. I'm talking to all the brothers like me that struggle with lust. See? Don't know y'all. Y'all some phony ninjas. Just like the last gathering. Gonna leave me up here by myself. Like y'all brothers ain't never struggle with lust. You nervous cause your. Your girlfriend or your wife is sitting right next to you, so you gonna leave me up here by myself. Lying ninjas. Lying. Trying to act like you perfect and you got halos. Around your head. Let me try this one more time. For all the dudes even like me that struggled with lust. All y'all ninjas who you stroll and you stop. You feel conviction and you don't move. Sins of commission. The Lord said, for all of the sins, watch you practice with unrepentance. He says, man, recognize it, see it, cut it off, watch. This is not the Lord saying or advocating for self mutilation. This is the Lord advocating for behavior. Mutilation. Get rid of the folders. Whatever you got to do to stop practicing unrepentant sin, listen to me. And the Lord is speaking with serious language. He said, it's better for you watch. To cut it off, I. E. It's better for you to have discipline and suffer because of what you want and deny yourself than to watch to end up in hell because of your lack of repentance. Oh, oh. Once saved, always saved. Those who endure to the end shall be saved. You think because you prayed a prayer or you came to an altar, you could just say, ask the Lord into your heart and then lives any way that you want. No family. The devil is a liar. He said, when you recognize in your life habitual. Watch this word. Willful practices of sin. The Lord looks at you and says, son, daughter, you better watch. Cut it off, you better stop it, for you're going to end up back in Matthew 7, Lord, they came to me and said, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and did we not serve on a team? And did we not sing on a platform? Did we not preach sermons? And he's going to say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. You love sin. I never knew you. Y'all worried about the atheist. I'm worried about you. You more deceived than they are. At least they know they don't believe in God. But you got a false assurance while you claiming Christ and living in sin. Ain't nobody pipe game worth going to hell over. It ain't his stroke. Ain't that nice? Sexual immorality, homosexuality, adultery, all of the things we practice. The Lord says, when you see them in your life, cut them off. Watch, I. E. Deal aggressively with your sinful behavior. It's like me when I had to go to my wife when she caught me with pornography two years into our marriage. And I had to tell her about what happened to me when I was 10 and the kind of life I lived before I got married and why I struggle with lust. And I have to tell her, pray for me why Because I don't want no dark areas in my life. I don't want no secrets, right? Because any area of darkness in your life is a lane for the devil to traffic. That's why I got accountability partners in my life, that if I have a bad day or a bad week, I call up my accountability partners. This is what I did. Pray for me. This is what I thought. Pray for me. I go to Lena. Pray for me. She knows, they know. God knows. No darkness. No darkness. I remember going to my wife, saying, lena, I need a safety circle. We do that in our home. Safety circle means I'm about to tell you something that's about to be heavy, but don't respond to me with judgment. So she comes to me, says, honey, safety circle. I mean, I got to listen to what she says. If I come to safety circle. I remember the day I came to a safety circle. Lena, this is something I struggle with. And I know the work I've done over the years to cut that out of my life. To not watch, play around with sins of commission. Watch, I'm almost done. But look at the last verse. Pay attention. But the Lord doesn't stop there. He says, if your eye causes you to sin, this is a sermon on the Mount. Language. Tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than for two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. I want you to notice some people think, oh, we don't believe in hell. It's metaphorical. Jesus preached a lot about hell. He talks about it as a physical location. There's too many people who are deceived to think when you die, that's how it's going to be. Because you think death is like when you sleep. The Lord says, man, it is better for you to deal with the sins of the eye. Watch this. The eye is a metaphor we know from Sermon on the Mount for the issues of the heart. These are the hidden sins that people don't see on the outside, but God sees on the inside. This is like unforgiveness. This is like pride. This is like lust. This is like anger. This is like jealousy. This is like envy. This is like covetousness. This is like self inflation. These are all the things inside your heart, sinful things that the people don't see. This is like idolatry. The sins of the eyes, the sins in your heart that people don't see. The Lord says, man, if you see those things, pluck them out. I knew a dude who went to jail and lost his eye in a fight with a razor. The Lord said it would be better for you to enter heaven with one eye than end up in hell with both. Again, not advocating for bodily mutilation, but now heart mutilation, that is mutilate the things in your heart that you know are sinful in the eyes of God. So, like, this is when y'all hear me saying, this is a true story, man, when things run up in my heart, man, I run to God in. In my prayer room. And, man, I'll be ringing out these sins in my heart. Like, Lord, I'm feeling lust. I wring that out. Lord, I'm feeling jealous. I wring that out. Lord, I'm feeling covetous. I wring that out. Lord, I'm feeling like Philip Anthony Mitchell. I wring that out. Like, all those things that's creeping up in your heart, man, you wring those things out, you keep dealing aggressively with the sins of your heart. There's unforgiveness in there. There is murder in there. There was hatred in there. There's jealousy in there. Why you. You hate them because you're jealous of them, man. Wring that out. See, some of you, I know you don't deal aggressively with your sin because you've been deceived by grace. See, you think because we live in the era of grace, and you haven't seen the full wrath of God against sin, against. That's why. Because you don't see him flexing on sin is why you think because of grace, you have a license for licentiousness. Tell that to Ananias and Sapphira Heart, who lied to the Holy Spirit commission and God struck them dead for what? Deceitfulness of heart, the eye lying to the Holy Spirit, the hand and the foot struck dead by God in the New Testament era. See, see, see, if the Lord just starts striking people dead for the stuff you was doing, this whole church would just empty out. Half that overflow would just empty out. If the Lord just starts striking people dead because of your sin, I bet you people clean up real quick. See, you know what this country lost? Watch this word reverence. You think God is a sucker? You think he's a name on a bracelet? And because he's withholding wrath, you think you have a license for licentiousness? I'm trying to, sister. See, I know some of y'all sitting here watching me in overflow, like the Lord doing the most. He's telling you to deal aggressively with your sin. That is, he's Calling watch this word. His people watch this word, too. A life of holiness and a pursuit of holiness. Not just a song you sing, not just something you post. It's the way you live Monday through Saturday and not just on Sunday on a platform. Holiness and want anointings. But you don't want to live holy. There's a price to be paid for an anointing. Tired of the Western church always singing about holiness, preaching about holiness, posting about holiness. But we don't live. The Lord said, be holy as I am. That ain't no suggestion. See? And some of y'all, I'm closing. You think the Lord doing the most. It don't take all of that. It ain't that serious. You want me to show you what is serious? Luke, chapter 16, verse 19. I'm going to show you what's serious. Since you think the Lord doing the most. There was a rich man. Oh, my God. Who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. Watch this story or watch this parable. Whichever it is, I don't want no parts of it. And at his gate laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores. I'm done, Frank. Who desired to be fed with, well fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came to lick his sores. Now watch, because verse 22 is coming for you. But you don't think about that. A day for you in a box is coming for you. He said the poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham's side. That is glory. The rich man also died and was buried and in location Hades, another metaphor for hell. A temporary holding place until the final judgment, which is the lake of fire. Revelation 19 and 20. Y'all worried about what that mogul is going to get. You're not worried about what you going to get for your unrepentant said. You're worried about what he deserves. What about what you deserve? You worry about what he's headed for. What about what you're headed for? And he called out. Watch. He called out. As he lifted his eyes in torment. He was in torment. He lifted his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, but Lazarus at his side. And he called out, father Abraham, have mercy on me. And send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in these flames. Gosh. But Abraham said, child, remember that in your lifetime, the one life you get. The unknown Riba Hebrew, the unknown writer of Hebrew, says it is appointed to A man to live one time and then the judgment. He said, son, in your lifetime, since you want to keep playing with your days, you want to treat sin like a pet, you want to keep it on the leash. When it's a viper, it's going to choke you and bite you and poison you and kill you. He said, son, in your lifetime you receive good things and Lazarus in like manner, bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. And besides all this between us, you. And there's a great chasm that has been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able to. That is, wherever you end up, your fate is sealed. Judas has been there for 2,000 years and he's never going to get out. And none may cross from here to there. And he said, then I beg you, Father, send him to my Father's house, for I have five brothers so that he may warn them, warn them, warn them. You know that is woe, woe, woe. He may warn them, lest for fear of they also come into this place of torment. But Abraham said, no, son, they have Moses and the prophets. Not fake prophets, they have real prophets who proclaim the word of God as it is written, not prophesy lies to keep you comfortable. You love that stuff. I already know you're going to find a new church next week of some compromised pastor that's too afraid to preach the Scriptures. They're more worried about butts and seats than souls in hell. They're going to lie to you next week. No, they have the real prophets. They said, let them hear them. And he said, no, Father, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. He said, son, if they do not hear Moses, if they do not hear the real prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. He's saying, the hearts of men are so rebellious that a person that could come back from death and testify of hell and they still wouldn't repent. Why? Because you love sin and you never hear preaching like this. Because we only want to fill you up with secular humanistic doctrine. And this ain't me being a hellfire and brimstone preacher. This is me reading to you the words of the one you call Lord and Savior who is warning, warning, warning his church. Deal aggressively with your sin. Stop playing with sin. Stop keeping it in the closet. Stop treating it like a pet. You see it, you acknowledge it. Kill it. Keep wringing it out. Run from it. Throw yourself on the altar of God. And say, lord, have mercy on me. This is Christ calling his community to humility. This is Christ calling his community the childlike civility. This is Christ calling his community to holiness. I know you think, man, that's so heavy. I can't do that. You know why? Because you read an Eastern book with Western eyes. This is an Eastern book, doctrines that came from the East. And in the east, they don't just see sin as something that they were born with. They see sin as something they can stop doing. It's only in the west we cry Christ, live in sin, and then give ourselves a license for licentiousness. No, listen, you can deal aggressively with your sin. The Lord came, he died, he lived a perfect life. He died a sacrificial death to nail the punishment for your sin to the cross. But then, watch this. But then he rose and gave you the Holy Spirit, who is the power of Christ on the inside of you for you to live a brand new life. How the scripture says, have you tasted of the heavenly gift, Receive the Holy Spirit, understand the love of the Savior, see what he did for you on the cross, and then choose to live a life of rebellion and sin. No. You've been empowered. Watch. You can do this. You can turn away from sin. He's been giving you the power to not live a life of sin. You have the power. You could do this, man. I Wish I had 500 of you that would just celebrate your own self, that you can do this, you can do it. Come on, anybody. You can do it. You can't put that down. You can't stop watching that. You can't stop feeling that you can wring it out. He gave you the power to not live a life of unrepentant sin. He gave you the power to do it. If the people of God won't take the words of their Savior serious, what credibility do we have to the world, man? I'm talking to you, man. In the west, why do we think God intended the church to have a gathering and to be licentious at the same time? You are a holy people, a royal people, a peculiar people, separated from the world, consecrated. Separated from the world, man. If you look just like the people who are against them, man, what message do we have? Hear me. If he told us to cut it off, if he told us to pluck it out, he would not tell you to do something that he did not empower you to do. It's only our excuses. Yeah. My God. Wow. Father, in the name of your Holy One, would something Like Sav from heaven be wiped on the eyes of every person who could hear me right now? Would you deliver us from our excuses, the lies of the enemy that we could. We have to be bound by sinful lives. Would you remind us in this moment we have been empowered to live a life of holiness? And would you pour out on the church in America a spirit of reverence, a spirit of veneration, a spirit of honor, a spirit of respect for you, Lord. May a holy fear come upon us, God. And may we live as holy men and women striving for moral purity, dealing with the sins of our heart, dealing with the sins in our life, that our message to the world would not be compromised. I pray God now for a breaking, a shaking and a stirring wherever this message is heard in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless. Name Christ. If you're in the overflow, don't move. If you're watching me across this camera, don't move. If you're in the room, don't move. Every head bowed now. We're gonna take. You're looking at me. You're in rebellion. See, it's all in. You bow your head, close your eyes. Don't look. I'm saying that because I don't want you to. Look at me in the overflow right now. Take a moment. You don't got to talk. The Lord can hear your mind. Repent. Right now, I want you to. I want you to wring out your heart of sin right now. Come on. The things that you know you're doing, I want you to ask God to give you the grace to do it. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. I see those tears in your eyes. I can't leave you like that. Let me tell you two things you can do to deal aggressively with sin. Number one, increase your love for the Lord Jesus Christ through prayer, through devotion, through reading, through worship. Increase your love for the Lord Jesus Christ. The more you love him, the harder it becomes to sin against him. Because you don't want to keep hurting someone that you love. So increase your love for him. And then secondly, praying ask God to give you a hatred in your heart for sin. The more you pray, the more you ask God, let me hate what you hate. I started doing this five years ago, praying, asking God, God, give me a hatred in my heart for sin. And the more you start to hate sin, you start to recognize it in you, recognize it in the world, recognize in church. And then you don't want to treat it like a pet. When you find yourself in sin, when you find yourself, you start crying, you weep, you say, this is nasty. You don't want it in you. You deal with it more aggressively when you hate it. So now, Lord, I pray an increase of love over your people and an increase of hatred for sin. Now, with your heads bowed, your eyes closed, just take a minute, please. Just take a minute and just talk to the Lord. You can use your words, you can use your mind. Please don't move. And just. Just be honest, like, Lord, there is sin in me in this area. I like this too much. I've been making excuses for this. I keep going here when you keep telling me not to go. I keep watching this when you keep telling me not to watch. Lord, help me with masturbation. Help me with lust. Help me with unforgiveness. Help me with watching pornography. Help me with hatred. Help me with rebellion. Help me with going to the strip club, whatever it is. Ask the Lord. Give you grace right now. Come on. You're judgmental and you're critical. You're wayward and rebellious. I see people crying. I see somebody getting on their knees. Come on, be honest, man. This ain't no sermon. Come on. The church needs to be holy. I'm dealing with my own sin. Me, Philip Anthony Mitchell. I'm dealing with my own stuff, too. I ain't above you because I'm on a platform. I see tears falling. Yes. Cry, weep, repent. Come on, man. Desires that are not right. Rebellion in your heart, and it's not right. I want you to see the things in your heart it says not right. Lord, somebody. You holding somebody forever, man. Let them go. Unforgiveness is a sin. He's gonna deal with that in the next few verses. Come on. Lust, pride. Father, I pray for my wife. I pray for my children. I pray for my church family. I pray for any follower. Wherever this message is heard across this nation and around the world in these last days, I pray you would empower us, God, to live holy. Give us a hatred, God, for sin. Father, let us take your word seriously. Morning sermons, let there be declarations of what you want from us. God, help us to walk in humility and childlikeness. Help us, God. Lord, in the name of Jesus, to deal aggressively with our sinful nature. Against friends, against loved ones, against spouses, against each other, against you, Lord. Let us be a holy people, God, that our message will not be compromised, that we won't bring you into reproach. Help us even right now. I pray in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.