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Steve Brown: Don’t let the kickers kick you. I’ll explain on Key Life.

Matthew: That was Steve Brown. He’s an author, seminary professor, and our teacher on Key Life, a program all about God’s radical grace. We’re committed to bringing you Bible teaching that’s honest, straightforward, and street smart. Keep listening to hear truth that’ll make you free.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. If you were listening yesterday, I introduced one of the lies that we’re looking at as I’m working on this book. And one of the lies are the lies about kickers. If you were listening yesterday, I took some time to explain what a kicker is.

You hear the good news and there’s always somebody after the good news is spoken, like you’re forgiven, you’re loved without condition, you’re his forever, but—and following the but, that’s the kicker. It lessens the power and the excitement and the joy and the reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, but.

Well, let me take a little bit of time to show you how this works as I’ve thought about it. Scripture says for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. As you know, that’s John 3:16 and it’s pretty clear. It’s pretty exciting. It’s pretty amazing. It’s pretty much good news.

Now let me give you the kicker that's stuck in sometimes. Okay, but there’s more to belief than just nodding in Jesus’ direction. Only those who genuinely and honestly and authentically believe are those who won’t perish. And the result? Most people will perish and those who don’t will always wonder if they’re going to perish.

Let me give you another. This is 2 Peter 3:9. It’s not his will that any should perish. And then the kicker: any doesn’t mean everybody but only the chosen and the elect. Result? God’s love is limited to us. Isn’t that awful? Isn’t that terrible?

Let me give you another. If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. That’s John 8:31 through 32. Now let me give you the kicker that often goes along with that. Jesus means that you will be free if you know the truth and you apply it.

Result? Knowing and believing the truth isn’t enough. What’s important is what you do with the truth, how you live your life, how obedient you are, how much you study the Bible, how much you pray. When we don't apply that, we'll be free. And there you go, the good news goes back out the window and the gospel becomes something less than good news.

Let me give you another one. I’m going to give you a bunch of these because it’s easy to forget. This is Romans 7:14 through 15. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want but the very thing I hate.

That was Paul. The kicker: Paul is talking about the way he was before he was a Christian. No, he’s not. But the result of that kicker is when we sin after becoming Christians, it’s possible that we aren’t Christians. And besides that, God can’t conjugate verbs. Listen, when Paul speaks in the present, he’s talking about the present. And the kicker robs it. The kicker makes us think, oh man, I’ve lost it.

Let me give you another. This is Hebrews 12:7. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. Let me give you the kicker. If you mess up, God will give you cancer or break your leg or kill your wife or your husband or your child. Result? God stops being a father and becomes a child abuser. Every bad thing that happens is your fault because of God’s discipline of your sin. And thus the good news is once again robbed of its goodness.

John 8:11. You remember what happened in the eighth chapter of John. A woman was caught in adultery and was dragged to stand before Jesus. It’s interesting that it takes two to commit adultery and that the guy’s not there, but that’s another sermon. But at any rate, you remember how Jesus dealt with that whole incident. He knelt down and he began to write something in the sand in front of him.

Now John doesn’t tell us what he wrote, but I know because Jesus is a friend of mine. He wrote sins and after he wrote the sin, he looked up at a particular person. Liar. And then he would look up at somebody in the crowd holding the stone, ready to stone the adulterous woman. And the guy would blush, drop his stone, and turn and walk away.

Fornicator, he would write and then he would look up at a particular man who held a stone. And if you had been there, you would have heard the thud of that stone as he walked away. But then what he said to the adulterous woman is this: where are those that condemn you? And then he said, woman, neither do I condemn you. That’s John 8:11.

The kicker comes every time. Yes, but he also told her not to sin anymore. The result? If she did sin again, he would turn away from her, giving her absolutely no hope. You know, as I go over some of these with you, I find myself getting angry at the people who use these kickers. And then the Holy Spirit reminds me how many times I use those kickers and I repent, and I repent publicly.

Let me give you another one. Luke 7:47. Therefore I tell you, her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. As I said, that’s Luke 7:47. You remember the incident. She was a prostitute and she was a dumb prostitute. I mean, she crashed the party of Pharisees. Now that’s just, a sinner can repent but stupid’s forever.

Can you believe that's the one place she shouldn't want to go? To a dinner party of Pharisees. But she did because of Jesus and only because of Jesus. You remember she cried. You remember she wet Jesus' feet with her tears. You remember she anointed him. And you remember Simon, one of the prostitutes who thought to himself, good heavens, does he know what kind of woman this is?

And that’s when Jesus said, therefore I tell you, her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. The kicker: that doesn’t mean what you think it means. It means she loved Jesus. The result? Prostitutes and other really bad people like you and me can’t really be Christians.

And I’ve seen it happen so many times that I can’t tell you. I have a friend who’s a politician by the way. He served a long time in the legislature of his state and he has made a point in a pure way to reach out to the worst people in his community. And just yesterday, he got a note from one prostitute who said that you are the first person of note who saw me. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew: Thanks, Steve. If you’re just joining us, we’re working our way through the content of Steve’s next book, Confronting the Lies We All Struggle With. And as we discussed today, some of those lies are the extra kickers that well-meaning folks often pile on to the good news of the gospel. We’ll continue separating the lies from the real good news tomorrow. Hope you’ll join us for that.

Ever talk to someone then realize they had a hidden agenda underneath what they were saying? It’s unnerving, right? Even more unnerving, you do it too. So do I. So I mean, let’s be honest. We’re all phony, afraid, and sinful and the pressure to act like we’re okay can kind of get overwhelming sometimes.

In his book, Hidden Agendas, Steve invites us to drop our masks and discover the depth of God’s love and grace. We created a special booklet based on that book and we would love to send it to you for free. So call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at steve@keylife.org to order that booklet or go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the US and Canada. Again, ask for the booklet called Hidden Agendas.

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