Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: We must come out of the darkness into the light. This is what Jesus said in John chapter 3. This is the verdict, light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the Senior Pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a Professor in Biblical Studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled, "Where Do You Turn?" Let's listen in as JP gives part two of "When You Are Addicted."

JP Jones: When we embrace Christ and we believed in Christ and we became a follower of Jesus Christ, not only did we receive the forgiveness of our sins, but we received the benefit of what Christ did to set us free from sin's power. So we exchanged masters. Sin used to be our master and now Christ is our master.

I've used this illustration here before when I tried to teach this truth. It's really difficult, I understand that. But it's foundational to living in freedom and living out of bondage and not being a victim to our addictions.

If someone their whole life had a 10-pound steel ball chained to their ankle from birth. They grew up as a toddler, as a youngster, as a teenager, as an adult. That steel ball is chained. And so everywhere they go, they drag it. And then they get to a place that they kind of, you know, can be strong enough, they start picking it up.

But they just live life knowing they're chained to that 10-pound ball. One time in the middle of the night, someone comes and cuts the chain. You know what they're going to do when they wake up in the morning? They're going to grab that ball and pick it up and keep walking with it, even though they're not chained to it anymore.

That's the way we are with sin. We come into this world as sinners, vulnerable to certain temptations, accusations, and deceptions. We develop certain styles of sinning. We come to know Jesus Christ, we receive the unbelievable message we're forgiven of our sin, and we still pick up our 10-pound ball and walk with it.

We need to also receive the message that the chain has been cut. We're not in bondage to that anymore. It doesn't control us anymore. That doesn't mean it's not a real temptation, a real pull, and it certainly doesn't mean because of just developmental behavior and how we learn to develop habits, certain habits won't die real hard.

But it does mean we are not under any definitive obligation to have to do it, you see. So there's a truth consideration for us all to realize we've not only been forgiven of our sins, we have been set free from sin's power.

Here's a third truth consideration. We must come out of the darkness into the light. It's like what we were singing about a few moments ago. We must come out of the darkness into the light. This is what Jesus said in John chapter 3. This is the verdict, light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

You know, this is a very powerful passage confronting the real issue. I get into conversations as I share with you with people talking about the Lord, share my faith. Seems like nowadays I have most of the time at the gym, you know, in the Jacuzzi. In fact, it's interesting. I I drive up to Forest Home, I get to this men's retreat.

I walk into the main room where we're going to be meeting and the band is there kind of sitting and practicing, and I see this guy in the band who has all these tattoos. And I realize, I just had a conversation with him in the Jacuzzi this past week. I didn't even know that he was a worship leader at another church, because I saw him in the Jacuzzi.

I'm sitting there, I saw him out come out after working out, and I saw all these tats and I saw that he had a tattoo of a cross. So I walk up and I said, "Hey man, nice nice ink." And he goes, "Yeah," and he starts telling me about where he got his tattoos and all this stuff. And I go, "Man, is that, is that telling a story there or, you know, you just get, you like the design and so you you get it?" And he goes, "Oh no, you know, this is a cross, I'm a Christian." I go, "Oh great, blah, blah, blah, blah." I didn't know where he was going to be coming from, but I thought it might be an inroad to be able to start talking to him about the Lord. Turns out he's a worship leader of this church. I'm speaking at the men's retreat and he's leading worship.

I get into conversations all the time, and at some point in the conversation, people will ask a question. "How do you know you can really trust the Bible? What about the person who's never heard? Why is Christianity the only way? You know, all of these various questions that are commonly asked.

And you've probably heard me say this before, I respond back, I say, "That's a great question, but before I try to answer it, could I ask you a question? If I answer that question to your intellectual satisfaction, will you commit your life to Jesus Christ?" 99.9% of the time, what do people say? "No."

I say, "Thanks for your honesty, but your honest answer also tells me that that's not your real question. Your real question is, why should I commit my life to Christ?" So let me ask you, why don't you want to commit your life to Christ? And again, 99% of the time, you know what comes out?

"I don't want to have to change. I don't want to have to stop," and then you fill in the blank. Some moral issue. And it's really the realization that if I become a follower of Christ, I'm going to have to repent. I'm going to have to at some point give up this area of my life and give my allegiance to Jesus.

Well, you know what Jesus says right here in John 3? The verdict is this, "Light has come into darkness, but men loved darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed." But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

And I've discovered this too, that's not just the struggle of an unbeliever, that's the struggle for many of us in the body of Christ where parts of our life are still in the darkness, but the fear of being exposed keeps us in the darkness. We got to get over that.

We got to realize we have a God who loves us and died for us. We got to realize we need one another. Nobody has it all together. And hopefully, you know, and I'm going to keep saying it and keep saying it and keep saying it, that this is a place where nobody's perfect. We're all in process, and we all need to be coming out of the darkness, coming into the light because we need one another's encouragement and help. And until we get in the light, we're not going to receive the help we need.

It seems like this was an issue with John, because this is what he said in another book that he wrote in 1 John. He wrote this, 1 John 1:5-9. "This is the message we've heard from him and declared to you: God is light and in him there's no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

See, confession is just being honest. Confession is being honest with God. It's being honest with others. It's being honest with yourself. It's agreeing with God. And so we need to come out of the darkness into the light by confessing we're sinners who sin.

And this is this is the struggle that I'm having right now. This is the sin struggle I'm having right now. Here's a fourth truth consideration, a step to to freedom when we're struggling with addictions. We must deal decisively with sin. We got to deal decisively with it.

Colossians 3:5-10, "Put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these, anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you've taken off your old self with its practices and you've put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator."

I went back through that passage and I underlined in my own text here the actions related to sinful behavior. Put to death. Rid yourself. Don't do it. Take it off. There is a real sense in our following of Jesus Christ, in our coming out of darkness into the light, in crossing the line and naming ourselves as as Christians where we need to repent.

That's just the bottom line. That's what the Bible says. And there's freedom when we do that. Now, listen to me because I'm going to say something that I think, I like to say at least one very profound thing in each of my messages. I think this is it.

Dealing decisively with sin is a decision of the will. But it takes more than willpower to act upon it. Did you hear that? Dealing decisively with sin is a decision of the will, but it takes a whole lot more than willpower to act on it. If it was just up to willpower, we'd all be perfect here.

Everybody here wants to be a good person. Everybody here wants to be loving. Everybody here wants to be free from addictive behavior. So if it was just a decision of the will, why would I even be preaching a sermon? Because we'd all be perfect. It takes more than willpower. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit. It takes the love of Christ. It takes the encouragement of people who stand beside us.

It takes a lot of factors to really implement it, but it is a decision of the will, and if it's not your decision of the will, it'll never happen. I can't do it for you. And your spouse can't do it for you, and your kids can't do it for you, and your men's group can't do it for you, and your therapist can't do it for you. You got to make a decision.

And then God will use maybe any and all of those resources to help you act upon it. Here's one more consideration. We're talking about, where do we turn when we struggle with addictions? Let's just be honest. That's going to touch every one of our lives, either because it's our personal struggle, or it's our spouse's, it's our kids, it's our best friend. It's it's just going to, it's something we all deal with.

Here's a fifth consideration. We need to get help from others. We need to get help from others. Galatians 6:1-2 says this, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently, but watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Don't you love that passage?

It says, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin," people, listen, we will get caught in sin at times. And so here's what the Bible says, we collectively as a community of believers who know Christ, and who love God, and love one another, this is how we ought to deal with it. If someone's caught in a sin, you are spiritual, should restore him gently. Restore gently.

Watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. In other words, no one is immune from this possibility. No one is immune from this possibility. I got a book on my shelf written by Steve Ferrar, probably the best, most impactful guy out there in men's ministry. It's called "Finishing Well."

And he chronicles the story of 300 guys who are in seminary, committed to serve Christ and impact the world with the gospel. And where they are 30 years later. And how few of them actually finished well. This, what we're talking about, any one of us could get caught in a trespass.

So we need people in our lives who will gently restore us. Hebrews 3:12-13, "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Any one of us could be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

That's the nature of deceit. I mean, it's a beautiful strategy of the devil to deceive us. Because when you're deceived, what do you think? Do you think, "I'm deceived"? No, when you're deceived, you think you're seeing things truthfully.

You think your position is right. You believe your own justifications. But the actual fact is you're deceived. And that can happen any of us. So what does it say? Encourage one another daily. We need encouragement from other people. We need help from other people. We need grace from other people. We need truth from other people. We need people who rejoice with us when we rejoice, and weep with us when we weep. We need people who will put their arms around us and help us and people who stand behind us and kick us in the butt. We need people.

This this reality, and we're just touching the surface on some stuff obviously, but what I'm trying to say is this, bottom line, lay it in its plain. Every one of us here in one way or another, at some season in our life, is going to struggle with this issue of addiction. And where do we turn? We need to turn to Jesus Christ.

And his game plan for hope, for forgiveness, for transformation. We need to own our stuff. We need to come out of the darkness. We need to come into the light. We need to get the help of people who will help us. There is hope and there is the reality of transformation. It does not mean it will be easy. It does not mean it will be instantaneous. Maybe three steps forward, two steps back, but that's still one step forward.

And the reality is the alternatives are just despair and bondage. That's it. This past weekend, again, coming back to this retreat. I was speaking at this retreat Friday night. I sensed I was coming to the end of my message and I I sensed that this would be just an appropriate time. Even though it's the beginning of this retreat, but it was just kind of going on in the worship and kind of the sense I was getting in the audience with the guys, to kind of to give an invitation to men.

To act upon what God was doing and to come forward, to give, give like an altar call. But in my discussions with the pastor before I went on that retreat, that was not part of their church culture. They don't do that. That that's kind of, that takes them way out of their comfort zone. And so I wanted out of deference to that church and their pastor and kind of ministry, I decided not to do it.

I was rooming with a couple of the guys, and on Saturday they said, "You know what? We really felt like God was doing something last night and we don't do this at our church, but we kind of felt like you should have done some kind of altar call." And they said, "Do you do that at your church?" I go, "Occasionally I do."

I do sometimes. And they said, "Well, how do you know when to do it or not to do it?" I go, "Well, sometimes it fits the message and sometimes if I feel like that's what God is leading us to do, hey, I'm the guy up front. I just do it!" We kind of laughed. So, Saturday night, the pastor came to me and said, "You know what? This is not what we normally do, but if you feel like that's what needs to be done, do it."

So, last night, up at Forest Home, coming to the end of my message, and I just I was honest. I just did, I just kind of, and I just said it just like that, like I just said it to you. And I just said, "Guys, I don't know what what's going on in your life, but if God is doing something here, you need to respond to it. Like when God said to Isaiah, 'Who will go for me?' And Isaiah said, 'Here am I, send me.' And if God is speaking to you, you need to say, 'Here am I, send me.'" And so I prayed and I gave an invitation and almost the whole group came forward.

It was powerful. It really was powerful. Now, I feel like we need to do something about what we're hearing with the word of God here. We need to do business with God. I don't want to manipulate you. I don't want you to do anything for me or for anybody else, but if the Holy Spirit is putting on your heart that you're struggling and you need help, stop playing games and get the help you need. And we're here to to help you in the process.

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653, or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250. For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, "Facing Goliath." Please join us every Sunday at 9 or 11:00 a.m. at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. You know, in Jesus's high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, Jesus prayed this: "Father, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth." The word of God is true and everything that it says to us is true. And the nature of truth is that it sets us free. That's what Jesus said in John 8, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." This is what God says is true. Every one of us has been uniquely created in his image. We are image bearers.

But the Bible also says that we are sinful. The image of God has been marred within us. Every person has a sin problem. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But the Bible says that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that there's forgiveness in the cross of Jesus Christ. As believers, we are forgiven people. And also the Bible says that we've been identified with Christ's death and resurrection and we have the power to live in holiness and to say no to sin.

Every person as a believer in Jesus Christ is both sinful and forgiven and set free from sin. That's true. The truest thing about us is what God's word says is true. Confession means that we agree with the truth. Confession would mean that we admit our sin problem, that we admit Jesus died for our sins and that we embrace the truth that we are forgiven and set free and we walk in the freedom of what Christ has done for us.

Romans chapter 6 says this, "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, for we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again. Death no longer has any master over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all, and the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness. Instead, offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and offer the parts of your body as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you."

Every one of us, as believers in Jesus Christ, has been set free from the power of sin. So where do we turn when we're addicted to sin? We turn to the truth of the word of God. We admit our sin. We confess Christ's forgiveness. We confess our new relationship with Christ that we have been set free and we walk in the power of the truth. We live out of our union with Christ, having died to sin and having been resurrected to a new life. That truth sets us free.

Every person, every person has been affected by sin. But once we confess Christ, our sins are forgiven and we've been given the power to walk in freedom and no longer in the bondage to sin. We don't have to be addicted to sin. We can live in the freedom that Christ provides. If that's your desire, will you confess what's true about you as a new person in Christ? And I invite you to do that with me in prayer. Jesus, we confess we're sinners. And we confess you died for our sins. And we confess we are forgiven through your blood. And we confess that we've died with you and been raised from the dead with you. And we confess we are set free from sin's power. Lord, help us to live in that freedom, to live as new people in Christ. And we pray for that in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the Internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.