Message | After the Prodigal's Party - Pastor Kirk Graham

Summary

Podcast Summary

River Valley Church – Message | After the Prodigal's Party – Pastor Kirk Graham
Date: August 3, 2025

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode features Pastor Kirk Graham delivering a message entitled "After the Prodigal's Party," focusing on 1 John 3. The central theme is what it truly means to live as a child of God after receiving forgiveness—how grace not only welcomes us home but also calls us to transformation and purity. Pastor Graham explores identity in Christ, the seriousness of sin, and the ongoing journey toward Christlikeness.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Series Context & Review

• The message is part of a series walking through 1 John.
• Previous weeks have addressed confession (1 John 1) and the incompatibility of worldly ways with God’s kingdom (1 John 2).
• Memorable insight: “You cannot run with the world and walk with God. You have to choose.” (00:48, Pastor Rob)

2. Identity as Children of God

• The recurring theme in 1 John 3: Children, sin, and love (02:23).
• “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are.” (02:44, Pastor Rob reads 1 John 3:1)
• The term "child of God" is emphasized as a legal adoption—belonging to a new, heavenly family (09:01–09:43).
• Quote referencing Tim Keller:

  “In traditional culture, you get your identity from your family. In modern culture, you create your identity from your desires. But in the Gospel, you receive your identity from the one who created you and died for you.” (10:35)

3. The Foreign Nature of God’s Love

• The phrase “what kind of love?” (in Greek: “foreign”) reflects the unique, otherworldly love offered in Christ (09:01–09:43).
• This love is fundamentally different from anything in this world.

4. Ongoing Transformation (Sanctification)

• The Christian life is described as a process—becoming more Christlike each day (11:01).
• Reference to 2 Corinthians 3:18 on transformation:

  “There will be a day where Christ returns and you will be transformed into the image of Christ. But between now and then, we're supposed to go day by day, walking with God, becoming more like Christ.” (11:21, Pastor Rob)

5. Hope and Purity

• Hope in Christ purifies us—“Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).
• The process is active (13:47)—purification is not legalism but pursuit:

  “It's not legalism. It's what is our pursuit to be like Christ.” (13:47, Co-Pastor)

6. Sin as Cancer: The Call to Eradicate, Not Manage

• Sin is compared to cancer—deadly, foreign, and not to be ignored (15:57–18:11).
• Memorable quote:

  “We don't treat cancer...in a nonchalant, no big deal, just gonna ignore it. Therefore, we should not treat sin in any way that's like, ‘I'm forgiven, it's all good, it's no big deal.’” (16:17, Pastor Rob)

• Grace is not a license for apathy toward sin.

7. Living in Alignment with God’s Family

• The content explores the transformation after the "prodigal's party"—what comes after grace and celebration (21:27–22:24).
• The “talking-to” after the party mirrors 1 John 3, where the Father lovingly sets ground rules for living as His child.
• “No more living lawless...the carnal side of us makes us lawless.” (23:35–23:57, Pastor Rob/Co-Pastor)

8. Seven Fatherly Teachings from 1 John 3

At (22:33–30:00), Pastor Graham outlines seven “ground rules,” as if the Father is instructing His returned son:

1. No More Lawless Living (23:35)

   • Sin is not just imperfection—it is rebellion (23:57, “It's rebellious and it's lawless.” – Co-Pastor)
   • Quote from John Stott: “Sin is lawlessness. It's not just moral failure, it’s open rebellion.”

2. Jesus Came to Take Away Your Sin (24:56)

   • “He came to take away your sin. You're forgiven. And now you need to live it out.” (25:01, Pastor Rob)

3. Choose to Abide (25:51)

   • Abiding means clinging to Christ, not drifting into sin (26:05, “Abiding is grabbing onto. Sin is severing.” – Pastor Rob)
   • Romans 6:2: “How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

4. Don’t Be Deceived (27:01)

   • Vigilance is required; deception can lead us away from God (27:18).

5. Live Like You’re in the Family (27:20)

   • “You’re in the family of God. Live like it.” (27:32, Pastor Rob)
   • Galatians 5:19–24—the contrast between works of the flesh and fruit of the Spirit.
   • “Rather than sweeping something under the rug in your life and saying, ‘it’s no big deal because it’s forgiven,’ you should re-acknowledge it, confess it, and crucify it.” (29:10, Pastor Rob)

6. Pull the Root, Not Just Address the Symptom (29:31)

   • “We're going to deal with the root, not just the symptoms...There is no room for a root of sin.” (29:32–30:02)

7. You Are God’s Child—Now Live Like It (30:02)

   • Affirming identity: “You are my son. The love of God, it is foreign. It is different. Comes from another place.” (30:20, Pastor Rob)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On identity:
  “The love of Jesus is foreign to this world... It's from a different place, it's from a different family. The love of Jesus is like no other love that could ever be comprehended. You're a child of God, which is a legal term. You've been legally adopted, grafted into the family of God.” (09:01, Pastor Rob)

• On treating sin seriously:
  “Sin in a Christian’s life is like cancer in your body. It’s foreign, it’s deadly, and it’s something to eradicate. We don’t cozy up to cancer and say, ‘well, at least Jesus paid for it.’ So why do we do that with sin?” (17:18, Pastor Rob)

• On confession vs. complacency:
  “When you catch yourself in pride, don't shrug it off—confess it... Root it out. Pray for God’s Spirit to burn it off of you. Fight like your life depends on it, because it does.” (18:25, Pastor Rob)

• On the post-celebration moment:
  “First John chapter three is that moment where the father sits down his son, the prodigal son who's returned...and he gives something like First John chapter three—a long talking to. Not in shame or condemnation, but in some ground rules of what it means to live in the Father's house.” (22:35, Co-Pastor)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Series context and setup: 00:00–02:16
• Key scripture reading (1 John 3:1–10): 02:23–04:38
• Message title and transition to prayer: 04:38–05:55
• Identity and family analogy: 06:15–09:43
• Tim Keller quote & identity in Gospel: 10:35
• Transformation and sanctification: 11:01–13:47
• Cancer analogy for sin: 15:57–19:55
• The Prodigal's party and aftermath: 21:27–22:33
• Seven post-celebration fatherly instructions: 22:33–30:20

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Tone and Style

Pastor Graham’s tone oscillates between warm encouragement and urgent exhortation. He employs vivid metaphors (family, cancer) and uses narrative illustrations and scripture to reinforce his points. The message is anchored in grace but calls for genuine transformation and action.

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Takeaway

This episode’s message moves beyond receiving forgiveness to embracing daily transformation. As Pastor Graham illustrates with the prodigal son, entering God’s family is not simply about being welcomed home; it's about learning to live like a true child of God—relentlessly eradicating sin, seeking purity, and reflecting the character of Christ in every aspect of life.

Final encouragement:
“I want this because I want to be like Jesus...Lord, I pray that we would not make a small deal of sin just because it's been forgiven, but you would help us totally remove it from our life.” (30:20, Pastor Rob)

Transcript

[Pastor Rob]

I want to welcome everybody joining with us this weekend, all of our campuses across the Twin Cities, as well as our missionaries that are joining with us now. Apple Valley campus, can you welcome everybody that's joining with us? Welcome to church. We're glad you're here.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Oh, yeah.

[Pastor Rob]

If you've been here the last few weeks in church, we've been going through this series through the book of First John. We're going to continue it to the book of Second John and Third John as well. A seven week series taking the Word of God chapter by chapter. And if you've been here the last couple weeks, anybody have been enjoying this, it's kind of been a great series. Kind of back to the basic series if you were here. Week one, Pastor Rob preached from First John, chapter one, confess your sins, and he is faithful to forgive us of our sin. And in week two, last week, Pastor Rob, he was describing, there is a system in this world that is in every way different than the system or the path or the way of life in the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. That the two systems or the two ways of life are at odds and incompatible. One thing that he said that really stuck out to me, you cannot run with the world and walk with God. You have to choose. There's a fork in your road. And as a Christ follower, you have to choose every single day to walk with God.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

We're gonna go to 1 John, chapter 3, and we're gonna read verses 1 through 10.

[Pastor Rob]

And this week's message really, John is dialing it in. He's getting it closer. It's not just the way of the world, it is sin in your life that is the problem.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Now everybody just got excited for the message. This is great. Just leaning in.

[Pastor Rob]

It's sin that is the problem.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

But can I just, before we read.

[Pastor Rob]

Just say that this message is not about perfection.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It's not about legalism, but it's about your perspective.

[Pastor Rob]

It's about character and integrity and to.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Become Christlike in every way.

[Pastor Rob]

What our lives produce reveals whose children we are. If we're born again, we are God's children.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And just as a side note, I think this is cool. In chapter three, the most used word, the most repeated word in chapter three is children. And then tied for second is sin and love. And that's what this message is all about. Let's read in First John, chapter three together. John says this.

[Pastor Rob]

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are the reason why the world does not know us, is that it? It did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now. And what we will be has not yet appeared.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I love that.

[Pastor Rob]

But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure, as Jesus is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sin, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him. And he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. The title of this message is after the Prodigal's Party.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And the church people might know that parable, but we'll get into it in a moment. Can we just pray one more time? Lord, we thank you that your presence is here, and I know it's true across all of our campuses. And for those watching online, I sensed a real presence of the Holy Spirit as we sung in worship and as we received and took communion together. Lord, I thank you for your real, tangible presence that is here. And we honor you and we uphold the word of God. And I just pray right now that during this message you would convict us of our sin, Lord, that we would confess it to you. Lord, I thank you that we are forgiven. We're covered by the blood of Jesus. What he did on the cross, Lord, I thank you for that. But we are to walk in the light today. And would you help us remove all sin from our life? In Jesus name I pray. Everybody said Amen. When you read First John, you're like, he's repeating himself constantly, like he's saying.

[Pastor Rob]

The same thing different ways.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And I don't know if you're like me.

[Pastor Rob]

Growing up, I got in trouble a lot. And I don't know if you had the Same parent that I had this style of parenting. But my dad, when I would get in trouble, he would sit me down.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And I just.

[Pastor Rob]

I knew, like, we're buckling up for an hour.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Like, it's. It's.

[Pastor Rob]

We're gonna. We're gonna be here a while. And he would. He would talk to me, and he would pour into me godly correction and the way that I should live. And he would say the same thing over and over and in different ways, just saying the same thing. Anybody just remember, like, maybe being raised like that, and. And if you weren't, that's okay. It's like it's coming from a different life. I just think it was perfect parenting. He was imperfect, but I just think it's perfect. Like, hey, you're gonna sit down and you're gonna hear this for a while. And a lot of scriptures like that. It's like you're saying the same thing over and over. But it helped me. It helped me get my identity in the family that I am his son, and he is raising me to be a Graham.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And.

[Pastor Rob]

And just, like, it's important for me to understand that as I'm being raised into the man of God I was created to be in my family. It's important for you to understand your identity in the family of God. I was born. I've got a grandpa.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

His name's Roger. And he would give all the grandchildren nicknames and, you know, like, to help.

[Pastor Rob]

You with your family identity, give each grandkid a nickname.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I've got. Oh, I've got my.

[Pastor Rob]

My nickname from Grandparaj. And each year, he would put a custom license plate with your nickname on his car. And it was like, that's your year. And he had all the license plates nailed to a tree.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It just.

[Pastor Rob]

It was his thing, a little out there, but cool. You know, I wanted, like, a name like Maverick or something cool, you know, a real cool name.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And he said.

[Pastor Rob]

He looked at me when I was born, and he goes, big Arnie.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

That's his name.

[Pastor Rob]

It's like, how did I get Big Arnie? I just. Like, that's not. I don't even. I don't even know why, like, why Arnie? And I understood the big part that was like, it's like you were a big baby. That's crazy. The nickname helped me get a little bit of identity that I'm a part of this family, and I didn't get the cool nickname.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

That's all good.

[Pastor Rob]

I have another grandpa. His name is David.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And we named one of our Twin boys. Roger David, after my grandfathers. And I just remember, you know, growing.

[Pastor Rob]

Up, my family, extended family, would say.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

You look like Grandpa David.

[Pastor Rob]

And as much as I wanted to be like, you're tall like him, or you got blonde hair like him, they said, you've got big hands like Grandpa David. It's like, okay, I guess that's cool. I guess it's cool. Big hands.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It's great. Perfect. That's awesome.

[Pastor Rob]

But that helped connect the dots in my mind that there's some family resemblance. So through my two grandfathers, I had this identity in the family because of a nickname, because of who my name is and what I'm a part of the family, and I looked like it. And this book of first John, and this chapter specifically is like a grandfather sitting you down and saying, you need to understand your identity in the family of God, and you better look like this family. You have to live it out. And this is the chapter, all about living it out. The first thing, just in the first verse, see what kind of love the Father's given to us that we should be called children of God. You need to know that you are a child of God. This is John talking to the church of Jesus Christ, and I'm grateful. At the end of the service, if you're not a child of God, if you've not surrendered your life to Jesus, today's the day you can be forgiven and made new. He can give you eternity in heaven forever and ever. But if you're in Christ, you are a child of God. See, behold, pay attention. He says, what kind of love? That phrase in Greek, what kind of love? It literally means foreign. Not from here, a different country. The love of Jesus is foreign to this world. It's from a different place, it's from a different family. The love of Jesus is like no other love that could ever be comprehended. You're a child of God, which is a legal term. You've been legally adopted, grafted into the family of God, and your identity should be as a child of God. Tim Keller said this. In traditional culture, you get your identity from your family. In modern culture, you create your identity from your desires. But in the Gospel, you receive your identity from the one who created you and died for you. Your identity should be one as a son or a daughter of the living God. Welcome to the family. He goes on to say, beloved, we're God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. And I just want to remind anybody here, you are to be like Christ. And you will be like Christ. He will appear, he will return. Just a few weeks ago, we talked about the return of Christ. 2nd Corinthians 3:18. And we all will. With unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord. At that moment, we're being transformed into the same image. From one degree of glory to another. There will be a day where Christ returns and you will be transformed into the image of Christ. But between now and then, we're supposed to go day by day, walking with God, becoming more like Christ. The process of a churchy term called sanctification. I'm becoming more like Jesus. I'm going fast. Through these first three verses, he says, hope in Him. Those who hope in him purifies himself. As Jesus is pure, we are to hope in him. At that time when that was written, the Gentiles, they had these beliefs, Greek and Roman beliefs of gods. And a lot of if they were thinking about godliness, I want to be like a God. That they would think about a future glory moment. It's like the movie Hercules. I will find my way. I can go anybody.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

That song rips.

[Pastor Rob]

That's crazy. They would think about, like a future glory date, about how they were so awesome, like a God. But the Jews and as Christ followers today, we don't just think about the return of Christ and we don't think about our own glory. We think about the glory of Jesus that surpasses everything else. But we also think, how do we hope in Him? What does it look like? It's not just the hope for return. We did talk about that, and we do hope for his return. It's going to happen. But we also look at history and in the Old Testament, the character of God. One way to hope in him is to look throughout the Scriptures and to see his character. That he is good, that he is faithful, that he heals, that he, that he resurrects, that he restores, that he guides that in the valley of the shadow of the death. You don't have to be afraid. You can look at the history of the character of God and you can hope in him every step of the way.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It says, purify yourself as he is pure. I just. The rest of this message is really all about that. Again, it's not legalism. It's what is our pursuit to be like Christ. That's where we're headed. It's gonna happen, but it should be every single day. We need to purify ourselves as Jesus is pure. James 4, verse 8. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

[Pastor Rob]

Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Purify your hearts, you double minded.

[Pastor Rob]

The Christ follower has awareness of their sin. It's brought to light by the Word and the Holy Spirit. The Christ follower must care about eradicating sin from their life in every way, shape or form.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It's like the heart of David.

[Pastor Rob]

Psalm 51, verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Renew a right spirit within me. Just a reminder.

[Pastor Rob]

Jesus came.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

He came to take away the sins of the world. He came to take away your sin.

[Pastor Rob]

Not just to cover you. At communion.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

We remember the blood of Jesus that covers us.

[Pastor Rob]

We're in Christ.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

We're covered by the work on the cross.

[Pastor Rob]

We're covered. Praise God. He's forgiven us our sins, past, present and future. But we should be cleansed now. We should pursue righteousness now. To live like Jesus now, not to live in any way, that's like, it's no big deal. It's just my personality quirk. It's just my thing. It just takes the edge off. It's not that I love Jesus and this is no big deal, it's covered. No, we should purify ourselves as Jesus is pure.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I was going to do this later in the message. I'm going to do it now. I just want to draw a parallel between cancer and sin. Sin is like a spiritual cancer that.

[Pastor Rob]

Wants to kill you.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And we don't treat cancer in a way in a nonchalant, no big deal, just gonna ignore it.

[Pastor Rob]

Therefore, we should not treat sin in any way. That's like, I'm forgiven, it's all good, it's no big deal.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

No, we should eradicate it from our life. We should care about it.

[Pastor Rob]

I just wrote this.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Imagine the doctor's office. Some of you have lived this moment. The words hit you like a freight train. It's cancer. Your heart stops, your mind races.

[Pastor Rob]

You choose to trust God. But then do you shrug it off and say, ah, just live with it, it's no big deal. No, you fight, you pray, you meet with doctors, you change your diet. You petition God for miraculous healing. Nobody says, I'll just ignore it. Jesus paid for it on the cross. No big deal. I know I'll be healed in heaven. And just as a side note, we can trust God. You can trust God while also pursuing the answer to one day get a cancer free diagnosis. Cancer is something you attack with everything you've got. We should do the same with our sin life. Why do we treat sin like it's just a personality quirk? John, in First John, he says, no one who abides in him keeps on sinning. Not sometimes, not a little, not. It's just who I am. He's saying, sin in a Christian's life is like cancer in your body. It's foreign, it's deadly, and it's something to eradicate. We don't cozy up to cancer and say, well, at least Jesus paid for it. So why do we do that? With sin? We pretend that grace, just because grace covers us, we're pretending that sin is not killing us.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I just gossip a little bit, Just a little thing that I do, just.

[Pastor Rob]

A little loose lust. I'm just a little bit prideful, but praise God, I'm forgiven. That's like saying I've got cancer, but at least I'll be healthy in heaven. And yes, in Christ you are forgiven. And in heaven you will be healed. But just like we pursue a cancer free diagnosis now, we pursue freedom from sin. Now sin is your enemy. And Jesus didn't die to manage your sin, he died to destroy it. The reason Jesus appeared was to take away your sin. You wouldn't let cancer spread unchecked. Don't let sin linger either. When you catch yourself in pride, don't shrug it off, confess it when you drink too much or eat too much. When you lack self control and anger, don't excuse it away. Root it out. Pray for God's spirit to burn it off of you. Fight like your life depends on it, because it does. Pray fiercely. Cut out toxic influences. Chase holiness. You will look more like Jesus. Purity now, not just in eternity. So what's the sin that you've let slide? Name it and attack it. Today, following Jesus isn't just about limping into heaven, scarred by sin.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Purify yourself as he is pure.

[Pastor Rob]

I mean, can we receive that.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Lord?

[Pastor Rob]

Would you purify us? Would you make us new? This is not legalism.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

This is a perspective that I don't shrug off sin in my life, but I pursue being like Jesus every single day. Lord, it's not the end of the message. I'm just asking that your Holy Spirit would move across this room and across each campus right now that you are calling us to new heights in you, a new altitude to purify us and to make us more like you. Bring to our awareness sin that we've let slide.

[Pastor Rob]

Help us by the power of the.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Holy Spirit to remove it out of our life. I thank you that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We are covered and we are forgiven. But we don't want to run with the world and try to walk with you. We just want to walk with you. In Jesus name. Here's how we're going to end the message. Just this last section. The title is after the Prodigal's Party. And I love this thought. Jesus, he gave this parable about the prodigal son, about this father that had two boys. And one of the boys said, hey, I want my inheritance now. I'm out of here, Deuces. See you later. The parable goes on that this son squandered it all, lost it all, gave it all up, got himself into a pretty bad spot, backed into a corner, had nothing left, nowhere else to go. And he thought in his head, maybe I could go back to my father's house and just be a servant in his house. Not as a son, but. But as a servant. Because the servants when I was growing up, they're living better than I'm living now. And I need help. And so he goes back and the story is that the father celebrates and throws this party for his son. He runs after his son and puts a ring on his finger, a robe around him, says, my son's return.

[Pastor Rob]

My son's return.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

But hypothetically, let's just think about what happens after that celebration and after that party. And I just think one John, chapter.

[Pastor Rob]

Three, really the whole book.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

But first John chapter three is that moment where the father sits down his son, the prodigal son who's returned, who we've celebrated. It's amazing. The party's over and he sits down his son and he gives something like one John chapter three, a long talking to. Not in shame or condemnation, but in some ground rules of what it means to live in the Father's house. And just going verse by verse, I'll do this the best that I can with the time that we have left. These are the seven things I think the Father would say to the prodigal son. That the word of God is saying in First John chapter three. The first one is no more living lawless. By the way, the perspective in hearing this, and it's the perspective that I'm carrying, is that I'm the son sitting in the chair listening.

[Pastor Rob]

I'm the one being corrected.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I'm the one that is being taught the way to life. I think that's all of our perspective.

[Pastor Rob]

No more living lawless. The Greeks view of sin was like imperfection. I'm just not perfect. But the Old Testament in Judaism saw it more concretely as a transgression of God's.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Law.

[Pastor Rob]

That sin is, is lawlessness. It's not just. I'm just kind of working on it. Nope.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It's rebellious and it's lawless.

[Pastor Rob]

And that's how we should treat sin. Self righteousness. Says, I've got some flaws, but at least I'm not lawless. I'm not like those people. I love the Lord. I'm good. I got a couple issues. It's no big deal. My sins are minor. Look at those lawless people out there. Heathens, degenerates, rabble rousers.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

That's self righteousness. No, the sin we sweep under the rug, the rug of our personality or other people's grace for dealing with us, the carnal side of us, makes us lawless. John Stott said, this sin is lawlessness. It's not just moral failure, it's open rebellion. In that moment, the Father sits the Son down. Hypothetically, First John, chapter three is, no more lawless living. If you're gonna be in the house, if you're gonna be a son, if you're gonna be here, no more lawless living. Second thing is, Jesus came to take away your sin. I just think that that's like sitting down.

[Pastor Rob]

No more lawless living.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And guess what? It's all forgiven. He came to take away your sin. You're forgiven.

[Pastor Rob]

And now you need to live it out.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

First John 1:29. The next day, John the Baptist saw.

[Pastor Rob]

Jesus coming toward him and said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin. Christ appeared not to tolerate sin, but.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

To take it away. We said that earlier.

[Pastor Rob]

The sin in your life is totally incompatible with following Jesus.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I'm saying the same thing in different ways.

[Pastor Rob]

Galatians 5, 16 and 17. But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

You want to do.

[Pastor Rob]

We could have read the verse, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's incompatible with following Jesus. The third thing I think the Father.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Would have said to His Son is, choose to abide. Pastor Rob touched on this in chapter two.

[Pastor Rob]

Choose to abide.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Abiding is embracing. Abiding is apprehending.

[Pastor Rob]

Abiding is grabbing onto sin is severing. Sin is disconnecting. Sin is distancing yourself. And we should abide in Christ and hold on to him and embrace him in his ways to be more like him we should choose to abide. Romans 6:2. How can we who died to sin still live in it? When I gave my life to Christ, I chose to die to sin, and all of my sin is forgiven. And that's what he did for me. But now I want to live my life not to earn salvation, but to live up to the name that is the family of God, the name of Jesus Christ. Sin and sonship are incompatible. Christ separated himself from sin, and we should also.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

The fourth thing, I think he said, and the keys can come out. Don't be deceived. Next week in chapter four, John talks like a grandfather about deception and about staying alert and about keeping your mind ready. Don't be deceived.

[Pastor Rob]

The fifth thing, you're in this family.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

So live like it. That's. It's like my dad's words. I could just hear that, you know, it's like, hey, you're a Graham. Live like it. Live like it. I just think that's good parenting, and I think that that's what John is saying.

[Pastor Rob]

You're in the family of God.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Live like it. I mean, he goes even harder than that. If you. If you practice sin, you're of the devil. You know, it's. It's good parenting. You know.

[Pastor Rob]

You'Re in the family.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Live like it. Another Galatians verse. You know, we talked about walking by the Spirit or by the flesh. Another Galatians verse, chapter 5, verses 19 through 24. Now, the works of the flesh are evident.

[Pastor Rob]

Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So we don't listen to that list.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And just go like, ah, it's all covered by.

[Pastor Rob]

It's covered. It's all good. No verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit, our pursuit, what we're walking towards, what we're going after. The fruit of the Spirit, our family resemblance, our family identity as sons or as daughters. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things, there is no law. I'm not going to live lawless anymore. I'm going to carry the fruit of the Spirit. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Rather than sweeping something under the rug in your life and saying, it's no Big deal. Because it's forgiven. You should re acknowledge it, confess it, and you should crucify it. The root of sin must be pulled.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

That's the sixth one.

[Pastor Rob]

Talking to his son. The root has to be pulled. We're going to deal with the root, not the symptoms. Not just the symptoms. We're going to pull it out by the root. He said in verse nine, no one born of God makes the practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him. I've got as a son or as a daughter. You have the root of God in your life, and there is no room for a root of sin.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And the last thing in verse 10, John just says, by this it's evident you are children of God. And so in that fatherly talking to gives them a little heat, you know, we celebrated.

[Pastor Rob]

You are forgiven. Just giving a little ground rules a.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Little bit of heat.

[Pastor Rob]

And he ends it.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Children of God, he ends it. I just imagine in my mind, he ends it with, you are my son. You are my son. The love of God, it is foreign. It is different, comes from another place. The love of God. Lord, I thank you for speaking to our hearts. I thank you for your word. It could be a tough one, but man, I want this because I want to be like Jesus. I want it, Lord. Lord, I pray that we would not make a small deal of sin just because it's been forgiven, but you would help us totally remove it from our life. I'm just praying that at the end of this service here and at every campus, as we invite prayer team members forward in a moment, I pray that you would convict the congregation of sin and they would come forward to the prayer teams and they would confess. Lord, I thank you that you are faithful to forgive. And I just believe that at the altar in a moment with you, you can cleanse your people of all unrighteousness, that they can be free from sin. There's something that seems small now that if left unchecked, can grow and can kill. Lord, I just pray that you'd bring those things to our minds too. That we would remove the things that seem small. But it's still sin, make us more like Jesus. It's in your name. I pray everybody said amen. Amen.