The Universal Requirement:
The path of Sin to Depression:
- A SIN is committed.
- We feel GUILTY over our mistake.
- We DELAY confession and repentance.
- The growing guilt caused by our conscience leads to DEPRESSION .
Defeating Depression "caused by" Sin: (Ephesians 4:17-32)
- Get SERIOUS. (Eph 4:17-24)
- Get SPECIFIC. (Eph 4:25-29)
- Get STRATEGIC. (Eph 4:25-29)
- Get SECURE. (Eph 4:30-32)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:01-00:08
Another pillar of Harvest Bible Chapel is proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology.
00:09-00:13
Or, as we like to say, Bible is our middle name, right?
00:14-00:15
So do you have your Bible?
00:16-00:18
Alright, if you have your Bible, you're going to need it.
00:18-00:20
Turn to Ephesians chapter 4.
00:24-00:28
And this month we are defeating depression.
00:32-00:40
And as we talk about depression, we need to make some things clear because this is a very, very sensitive subject matter.
00:43-00:50
And I would be horrified to think that someone misheard me on some of these things.
00:50-00:52
So I want you to listen very closely.
00:55-00:57
Have you ever been to the Pittsburgh Zoo?
00:57-00:59
How many people here have been to the Pittsburgh Zoo?
00:59-00:59
Show of hands.
01:00-01:01
Okay, like everybody?
01:02-01:03
Seriously, is there anybody here that hasn't been?
01:03-01:04
That's okay.
01:07-01:09
What are you people waiting for?
01:10-01:12
You can go under where the polar bears swim.
01:12-01:13
Did you know that?
01:15-01:16
You do now, get there, Nate.
01:19-01:21
Can we stop and just pray for Darla and Nathan?
01:22-01:23
(audience laughing)
01:26-01:35
All right, the rest of you might have to help explain this to them, but when you go into the Pittsburgh Zoo there's the entrance, right, where you buy your tickets.
01:35-01:38
Right, you know what I'm talking, can you see in your mind's eye the entrance?
01:39-01:42
And then after you go through the entrance, what's next?
01:42-01:43
The escalator.
01:43-01:44
The escalator, right?
01:46-01:47
What if you have a stroller?
01:49-01:50
There's an elevator right there, isn't there?
01:53-01:58
Those are two different ways to get to the same place, right?
02:00-02:06
And I want you to think of the entrance as being in a non-depressed state.
02:07-02:11
And I want you to think the level of the zoo being in a depressed state.
02:12-02:18
There are two different ways to get there, right?
02:19-02:21
But they both lead to the same place.
02:22-02:25
If you take the escalator, if you take the elevator, you're getting to the same place.
02:26-02:32
And when you leave the zoo, there are two different ways to leave, but they both take you to the entrance.
02:34-02:36
And depression is like that.
02:37-02:40
There are many different ways to get depressed, right?
02:41-02:43
There are different ways to get depressed.
02:46-02:51
So the way to get out of depression is often different.
02:57-03:10
Proverbs 18, 13 says this, "If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.
03:16-03:27
Every cause of depression must be dealt with in a way that's appropriate to the cause, meaning this, you can give the right counsel to the wrong person.
03:32-03:57
Sometimes depression is caused by a physical disease, maybe it's a side effect of Parkinson's or Alzheimer's or diabetes or a Physical thing If that's the case you need to see a doctor All right, people ask me all the time. You know pastor Jeff. What do you think about like medication for depression?
03:57-03:59
What do you I'm not a doctor?
04:00-05:44
I'm not Okay, it's not it's not my job to tell you whether you do or you don't need medication that's not my job However a Lot of depression Is caused by things that have nothing to do with a physical disease And That's what we're going after Are we all clear on this? Can I get a thumbs up like if you're with me, okay, I Wouldn't want anybody to leave here thinking. I got this physical problem that causes depression and Basically, they just told me to suck it up No No, not at all You see this is where the waters get muddied Because oftentimes and maybe there's a maybe there is a physical problem going on and the person needs to be at the doctor and Christians and all their compassion come alongside and say Christian shouldn't be depressed Come on, buck up. Come on, you shouldn't be depressed That's that's wrong But the opposite happens too, doesn't it Somebody's involved in sin and they're depressed because they're involved in sin. So what do they do? They go to a doctor So I can get medicine That'll dull my conscience Stabilize my emotions chemically and they never dealt with their sin. So do you see where the waters get a little muddy?
05:45-05:55
Doctors do doctor stuff but we're talking about hard stuff in here right and Who deals with hard stuff Jesus deals with hard stuff, right?
05:56-07:42
Jesus only Jesus can do that. So that's what we're going after here All right. So the Bible gives us principles to deal with each cause Whether you've got to depression through an escalator or the elevator or You found your own secret way into the zoo or whatever The Bible gives us principles to deal with each cause drop this first of all down on your outline. I have parenthetically the universal requirements When we're talking about regular Regular emotional depression not caused by sickness Drop this down overcoming depression can only happen with God's help If there's someone here this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior You're powerless to deal with emotional depression in the flesh You might go to a counselor and get some good advice and I'm not discounting that Ultimately to overcome depression to really deal with hard stuff only Jesus can do that By nature man is utterly sinful. We can't naturally obey God The Bible tells us that because of sin We are alienated from the very life of God Jesus Christ is the source of life and joy and contentment and Jesus came to bring us back to God It's a glorious thing about the gospel. You know, the Bible says that Man is utterly sinful Jesus Christ, the Holy Son of God, perfect.
07:44-07:49
The Bible says that the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you know what happened there?
07:51-07:54
Jesus took our sin upon himself.
07:55-08:00
And when he was on the cross, God was punishing our sin on his son.
08:01-08:03
So Jesus takes our sin.
08:03-08:09
And in exchange, the Bible says, 2 Corinthians 521, The Bible says Jesus gives us His righteousness.
08:12-08:22
That when God looks at you, if you're a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, God views you as perfect as God Himself.
08:25-08:28
That's the most mind-boggling thing in the entire Bible to me.
08:29-08:35
That God would look at a sinner who receives Jesus and say, "You're perfect.
08:35-09:07
You're as perfect as my son Well, it didn't come for me it's because Jesus puts that righteousness into my Spiritual bank account you could say So reconciliation to God is a vital and universal requirement for those who want to overcome depression Okay We have a lot of visitors today. This this is not self-help talk Okay, I'm not going to give you a pep talk.
09:08-09:14
I'm not going to give you some, you know, psychological feel-good stuff that'll give you the warm and fuzzies.
09:16-09:18
Only God can do this work.
09:18-09:28
The Word of God does the work of God, and the Holy Spirit works with the Word of God, and that's why we're going after this in the Word of God.
09:28-09:33
But step one has to be, you have to be in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
09:33-09:34
Have you been born again?
09:35-09:39
If you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if not, my question is, what are you waiting for?
09:40-09:41
What are you waiting for?
09:42-09:43
Do you have another plan?
09:44-09:45
God doesn't.
09:46-09:53
There is no plan B. He has demonstrated His love for us through Christ.
09:54-09:56
Today's the day if you haven't taken that step.
09:57-09:57
Okay?
10:00-10:02
So that's the universal requirement.
10:05-10:09
You're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, believers sometimes struggle with depression." That's absolutely true.
10:09-10:10
We talked about that last week, didn't we?
10:12-10:17
Well, for the believers who still struggle with depression, here's where we're going the next three weeks.
10:18-10:20
It really boils down to three causes.
10:23-10:25
Why do believers still struggle with depression?
10:25-10:26
There's three reasons.
10:28-10:29
The first one is sin.
10:32-10:42
If you're a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, but you are engaged in sin currently, you are rightly depressed.
10:45-10:49
The second reason that Christians get depressed is mishandling a crisis.
10:50-10:57
Something happens, a tragedy, something unexpected, a huge disappointment comes along, and you You just don't know how to handle it.
10:58-11:00
I'm just not sure what to do about this.
11:00-11:02
We're going to talk about that next week.
11:04-11:16
And the third cause, a lot of Christians are depressed and I really believe that this could be the biggest one, is just having unbiblical expectations about life.
11:17-11:19
You just have unbiblical expectations.
11:19-11:22
You're expecting things that the Bible never promised.
11:25-11:38
idealized some things and why don't I have these things and maybe you have unbiblical expectations about life and we're going to talk about that the last message of this series. Today we're going to talk about sin.
11:42-11:53
Throughout this time I'm going to outline the path of sin to depression. How does it happen? Well, very often the road looks like this. Number one, a sin is committed.
11:54-11:57
Okay, Christians, I'm talking to Christians now.
11:59-12:03
Okay, so you're walking with the Lord and you stumble into sin.
12:04-12:06
You choose to sin.
12:07-12:15
Maybe it's a sin of commission, meaning it's something you do, or it's a sin of omission, meaning it's something you know you're supposed to do and you don't do it.
12:16-12:19
But whatever the case is, you're in sin, you know you're in sin.
12:21-12:24
Secondly, we feel guilty over our mistake.
12:25-12:27
We feel guilty over our mistake.
12:27-12:27
We know it's wrong.
12:29-12:38
And you go to church and the preacher says, "That's wrong." And you're sitting there like, "Oh man, I know it's wrong." And maybe another person pointed it out to you.
12:40-12:55
Like, "Look man, I love you, but I think you're wrong on this." Maybe you go to small group and you're sitting around, you know, the circle of people praying for you in small group and you're sharing some things and they're like, "You know what? You're in sin right now, man.
12:55-13:01
We've got to get you to a better place here." And we feel guilty over our mistake.
13:04-13:07
Now, this kind of stuff happens to everybody, right?
13:09-13:12
Is there anybody here that's like, "Yeah, I haven't sinned since I've been in Christ.
13:12-13:14
It's been like 30 years." Anybody?
13:15-13:16
Okay. We've all dealt with this, right?
13:17-13:18
Don't leave me up here.
13:19-13:19
We've dealt with this.
13:20-13:21
You confess sin and you're guilty.
13:22-13:23
Here's where we run into problems.
13:23-13:26
Number three, we delay confession and repentance.
13:26-13:27
We delay.
13:28-13:30
Delay confession and repentance.
13:30-13:31
What does it mean to confess?
13:31-13:34
Confess literally means you agree with God.
13:34-13:35
God says that's a sin.
13:36-13:38
Confession means I agree with you, God, that's sin.
13:40-13:41
That's what it means to confess.
13:41-13:46
When you confess your sins, what you're saying is I've been doing this and I know that it's wrong.
13:47-13:49
And repentance literally means to change your mind.
13:51-13:53
You start thinking about it the way God thinks about it.
13:56-14:07
Well, sometimes, church, when we sin and we know we're guilty, sometimes we don't deal with it immediately.
14:08-14:18
Sometimes we delay and we put it off and I'll take care of that Sunday and let me just get through this season And just doing it one more time is not going to hurt anybody.
14:19-14:22
And I'm going to get to a better place when we delay.
14:24-14:28
The problem is when you delay, guilt increases, you think about failing.
14:31-14:33
And that leads to number four.
14:33-14:39
The growing guilt and distress caused by our conscience leads to depression.
14:43-14:47
Ultimately, you become depressed by not dealing with it.
14:50-14:53
So born-again believers know that they are forgiven in Jesus Christ.
14:53-15:00
If we know that God views us as having the righteousness of Jesus on our account, why does sin still hurt?
15:00-15:02
Well, you're in Ephesians 4, right?
15:03-15:04
Look at verse 30.
15:06-15:29
Look at verse 30 where Paul writes, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." We're going to back up and look at the rest of this passage, but understand what happens when you sin as a believer.
15:31-15:33
The Bible says you grieve the Holy Spirit.
15:37-15:42
If you're a born again believer in Christ, the Bible says God's Holy Spirit indwells you.
15:42-15:45
Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
15:45-15:47
He dwells in you.
15:49-15:58
But when you sin, now you're acting against your new nature.
16:00-16:07
Your flesh is desiring something that God's Holy Spirit in you hates.
16:09-16:22
And when you choose to obey the flesh, when you choose to sin, you grieve the Holy Spirit of God, acting against your new nature.
16:29-16:34
I have a friend who says, "The most miserable person in the world." Do you know who it is?
16:34-16:38
I used to think, "Well, it's that person that doesn't know Jesus." And then you know what?
16:41-16:42
Maybe not.
16:43-16:49
The most miserable person in the world is a Christian involved in sin.
16:51-16:52
Can anybody testify to that?
16:53-16:59
When you think of a time in your life, maybe some of you are going through that right now.
17:01-17:06
This is hitting a little too close to home, and I'm just looking at which door I'm about to run out.
17:08-17:09
Don't.
17:13-17:27
But the most miserable person in the world is a Christian who is in sin, and they know they're in sin and they know what they need to do in dealing with the sin and they just haven't taken that step to do it.
17:29-17:34
So let's talk about defeating depression quote unquote caused by sin.
17:35-17:51
I have caused by in quotes on my outline because you have to understand that sin is the root of it and depression becomes the fruit, one of the fruits of your sin.
17:52-17:54
So we're going to back up to verse 17.
17:55-18:55
Here in Ephesians chapter 4, I have a little subheading in my Bible that says "the new life." This section of Ephesians that we're looking at talks about how the believer in Jesus Christ, born-again believer relates to sin how the born-again believer views sin so if there's a passage in Scripture that tells you Christian how you should deal with sin here it is drop this down first of all letter a get serious get serious Paul writes, "Now this I say in testifying the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds.
18:56-19:04
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart.
19:05-19:15
They become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
19:17-19:48
But that is not the way you learn Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness.
19:49-19:53
The first thing you need to do is to get serious.
19:57-20:02
Christians should view sin more seriously than any other person on the planet.
20:04-20:05
And you see the description here.
20:07-20:17
People who don't know Christ, their minds are futile, they're darkened in their understanding, alienated, ignorant, hard-hearted, callous, giving themselves up to sensuality, greedy.
20:20-20:23
He says, but that's not the way you learn Christ.
20:24-20:25
You need to get serious.
20:28-20:30
You need to get serious about that.
20:30-20:31
It has to start there.
20:32-20:40
If you're depressed because of sin, but you've kind of talked yourself into having this attitude of, "Oh, everybody makes mistakes.
20:41-20:41
You know what?
20:41-20:50
Everybody blows it every once in a while." You're not going to get out of depression anytime soon if sin is causing your depression.
20:52-20:53
Need to get serious.
20:56-21:04
I'm going to tell you a story about myself that you're going to be ashamed of me.
21:06-21:10
But I will say this happened when I was a very, very young baby Christian, okay?
21:14-21:16
So show me grace, all right?
21:18-21:19
Baby Christian, right?
21:20-23:09
Still held I still had that like new Christian smell like right out of the package. You know what I'm talking about You're like no we have no idea what you're talking about It's okay but Baby Christian, I I had to get two tires put on my car So I went to how many people remember Montgomery wards Remember monkey wards. All right. There's a conversation up with the young people in the way home Monkey wards I went to monkey wards to get the two new tires put on and They called and said you actually need four tires if you're going to pass inspection And we get you know talking back and forth and all this stuff will fast forward When I went to pick the car up they only build me for two tires Because in the midst of the billing and checking the other ones that etc etc They put four new tires on but they only built me for two To my shame I Was like so proud of that. I remember I was like, yes retire day at Montgomery Ward's I Was like so I was so proud of myself Like like I got away with something. I remember Talking to Darren I should you remember this I went to Darren and I thought he'd be proud of me, too what they they put four tires on they only charged me for two and he goes we gonna tell them I'm like no I'm not gonna tell them like that's their fault I will never forget this you might have I will never forget this Darren said he goes Jeff that's not who you are He was right.
23:11-23:25
He said, "That's not who you are." So I guess we went back to Montgomery Wards, and I'm like, yeah, there was an accident like in the billing, so because of my honesty, I'm sure you're going to give me those tires for free, right?
23:28-23:30
I had to pay for them.
23:31-23:41
But you know, those words, Christians, should be ringing in your heart when you're involved in sin.
23:42-23:52
Listen, the Holy Spirit, whether He's speaking to you directly or He's speaking to you through another person like He did to me in that case, that's not who you are.
23:53-23:54
That's not who you are.
23:55-23:58
This sin that you're committing, that's not who you are.
23:58-23:59
That's not the way you learn Christ.
24:00-24:02
That's not what Jesus wants for you.
24:04-24:07
I don't view sin like I did before I came to Christ.
24:08-24:13
So let's dispel the notion that sin isn't serious because it is to God.
24:15-24:20
And it's my sin that nailed my Savior to the cross.
24:22-24:24
So let's get serious.
24:25-24:28
That has to be step one, get serious.
24:31-24:32
Letter B, get specific.
24:33-24:36
Get specific, Luke verses 25 through 29.
24:37-24:43
He says, "Therefore having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
24:44-24:45
Be angry and do not sin.
24:46-24:50
Do not let the sun go down on your anchor and give no opportunity for the devil.
24:52-25:00
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
25:02-25:14
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Get specific.
25:15-25:15
Get specific.
25:17-25:22
Oh, how different the New Testament would be if the Apostle Paul didn't get specific, right?
25:23-25:30
The Apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus, "Love Jesus, don't sin," signed Paul.
25:31-25:37
The Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi, "Love Jesus, don't sin," loved Paul.
25:38-25:41
The Apostle Paul to -- I can keep going.
25:41-25:42
You get the point, right?
25:43-25:47
He doesn't just say don't sin and all the Christians are like, oh, letter from Paul.
25:47-25:48
He says not to sin.
25:48-25:49
Okay, everybody cool with that?
25:49-25:50
Yeah, let's not sin.
25:51-25:53
Notice he got really specific here.
25:53-25:54
Did you see that?
25:57-26:01
Sid talked about putting away falsehood and stealing and corrupt talk.
26:02-26:04
Down in verse 31, we'll get to that in a second.
26:05-26:06
They're all sins of hatred.
26:08-26:12
that even with the sins of hatred, he got really specific.
26:14-26:24
That's why I would say to you, church, when you're in sin, Christians, first you need to get serious about it, but secondly, you need to get specific about it.
26:25-26:26
Satan deals with generalities.
26:27-26:29
God deals with specifics.
26:32-26:37
Okay, so this idea of, you know, I'm just gonna get down on my knees and say, God, I'm sorry for my sin. Amen.
26:39-26:41
I would encourage you to get specific.
26:41-26:43
First of all, God already knows, right?
26:43-26:44
You're not going to shock him.
26:45-26:48
You're not going to tell God something that's going on in your life right now.
26:48-26:51
And God's like, "Oh, I can't even believe what I'm hearing right now." He knows.
26:52-26:53
He knows.
26:56-26:59
For those of you who are parents, you get this, right?
27:01-27:05
I've had this talk with Kade so many times.
27:05-27:06
What did you do wrong?
27:07-27:08
Well, I did something bad.
27:09-27:09
What did you do wrong?
27:10-27:11
I did something I wasn't supposed to.
27:12-27:13
What are we fishing for, parents?
27:14-27:17
I want you to tell me what the problem is specifically.
27:18-27:19
Do you understand why you're in trouble?
27:22-27:24
God is the perfect heavenly father.
27:25-27:27
When we come to him in prayer, we should be specific.
27:28-27:30
God, I'm wrestling with lust in my heart right now.
27:31-27:36
God, I can't seem to keep my big gossipy mouth shut.
27:38-27:41
God, I'm wrestling with pride right now.
27:41-27:45
Why am I so fixated on exalting myself?
27:46-27:47
Get specific.
27:49-27:49
Okay, get specific.
27:52-27:52
Let's ditch this.
27:53-27:55
Okay, I'm just gonna try to do better.
27:55-27:56
Get specific.
27:59-28:02
And when you get specific, letter C, you're going to have to get strategic.
28:07-28:12
You're going to have to get serious, then you're going to have to get specific, and then you're going to have to get strategic.
28:17-28:21
Some of you have heard this talk before, but you know the important things of life don't happen by accident, right?
28:22-28:23
Is that right?
28:23-28:25
You don't roll out of bed and say, I hope I exercise today.
28:29-28:29
Right?
28:31-28:41
You don't look at your checkbook and say, "I hope the bills get paid this month." The important things require you to take action and to get specific.
28:43-28:45
And it's the same way with dealing with sin, Christians.
28:46-28:48
That's why a lot of Christians are still wallowing in depression.
28:48-28:52
You didn't get serious and you didn't get specific and you're not getting strategic.
28:53-28:54
Gotta have a strategy.
28:54-28:55
It's not going to happen by accident.
28:56-28:58
Gosh, I hope I stop lusting today.
28:58-29:00
It's not going to happen by accident.
29:01-29:03
I hope that my mouth magically cleans up.
29:04-29:06
It's not going to happen by accident.
29:06-29:07
How does it happen?
29:09-29:09
Look at verse 22.
29:14-29:16
Underline these words in your Bible.
29:16-29:17
You're like, I don't underline in my Bible.
29:18-29:19
Underline these words in your Bible.
29:22-29:24
Like he's saying that, but I'm not really going to do it.
29:24-29:27
Make sure that the person sitting next to you has them underlined in their Bible.
29:28-29:30
If they don't, we have extra pens.
29:38-29:40
I was kind of kidding about that.
29:42-29:43
But not much.
29:45-29:47
Put off your old self.
29:47-29:48
So how do we deal with it?
29:50-29:52
How do we get strategic?
29:53-29:53
Here's God's plan.
29:54-29:57
As a Christian deals with sin, first of all, he says put off.
29:58-29:59
Underline that in your Bible.
30:00-30:10
Put off your old self and then verse 23, be renewed in the spirit of your minds.
30:12-30:19
And then he says, verse 24, put on the new self.
30:21-30:25
This is repentance in action.
30:25-30:27
You talk about repentance, what does it look like?
30:28-30:29
Here's what it looks like, Christians.
30:29-30:30
First of all, you put off.
30:34-30:35
I am dead to sin.
30:37-30:38
That is not who I am anymore.
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I am not doing that anymore.
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Then be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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Thinking differently.
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Thanks to God's Holy Spirit within, I think differently about sin than the way I used And then he says to put on.
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This is what I do.
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This is who I am in Christ.
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Put off the old nature.
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Allow the Holy Spirit to renew your thinking.
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Embrace your identity in Jesus Christ.
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This is who I am.
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But only when you get serious and specific can you get strategic.
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That's why Paul gives these very specific strategies.
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Did you see that?
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Concerning falsehood.
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Notice Paul didn't just say, "Stop lying." He says, "Put away falsehood and instead do what?
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"Speak the truth with his neighbor." He's like, "That's what you do.
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"You put off the lying, "but you have to put something else on, "which is speaking the truth." And then look at the next one, stealing.
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Paul didn't say, "Don't steal." He said, "Replace that with something else." You put off stealing and you replace it with what?
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Work, earn, give.
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Do you know the remedy for stealing?
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Start giving stuff away.
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Be generous.
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That's the remedy for stealing.
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Be generous.
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He talks about corrupt talk down in verse 29.
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He says, "Put off the corrupt talk and put on what?
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"Only such as is good for building up." Meaning encouraging talk.
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Like I can tell you a dirty joke or make a crass statement, or instead, why don't I use my voice to encourage people, to lift people up, to push people a little closer to Jesus, maybe who need it.
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And even with the sins of hatred, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, put those off.
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So what do we do instead, Paul?
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Well, he says, verse 32, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted and forgiving." So do you see all through this passage, put off, renew your mind and put on.
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That's why you have to be very specific about what sin you're wrestling with so that you can get strategic in dealing with it.
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Meaning this.
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Do you need forgiveness from someone?
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And you need to make the call today and ask them for forgiveness.
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Is there someone you need to forgive?
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You need to make the call today and tell them that they're forgiven.
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Did you wrong someone?
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Did you rip somebody off?
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Make restitution today.
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I owe you and I'm sorry and like well I can't make restitution today.
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You call them and you get a plan together to make restitution to them as soon as possible if it's not today.
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But that's what you see in this passage and that's how you're going to get out of the rut of depression caused by sin.
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You got to go after it.
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It's not going to happen by accident.
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For some of you, it's to have a plan to avoid temptation.
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I just won't watch that channel on TV.
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Maybe you need to lose the TV.
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I know some great people that don't even have a TV.
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They're like, "Yeah, but I need my computer for work." Get somebody to put a filter on your computer, and they know the password and you don't.
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If that's an area where you're struggling, it's not going to get better by accident.
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Strategic.
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Get serious and get specific and get strategic.
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The Bible tells us, Jesus, when he taught us to pray, said that we should say, "Lead us not into temptation." Do you have a plan?
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If that's an area of weakness for you, to take the wide path around temptation.
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Paul tells us in Romans to make no provision for the flesh.
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You gotta be deliberate.
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You gotta be deliberate.
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And then finally, letter D, get secure.
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insecure. Look at verses 30 through 32. Paul says, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Don't act against your nature.
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Don't act against your nature. He says, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
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Look at that last phrase.
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As God in Christ forgave you.
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Here's a good question.
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How has God forgiven us in Christ?
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Are you like half forgiven?
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And you're going to make up the other half somewhere?
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Is that how you're forgiven in Christ?
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Halfway?
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Is there something that you need to do that's going to make God happy?
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Is there some work of the flesh that you can perform?
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The answer is no.
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You are 100% fully and freely forgiven through Jesus Christ.
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You are forgiven.
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Not someday I hope to be forgiven.
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If you have received Christ, understand you are forgiven.
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That is present tense.
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That's tomorrow too.
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You're already forgiven for tomorrow.
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You know the stupid knuckleheaded thing you're going to do on Thursday?
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You're already forgiven for that too.
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You stand in a position of being fully forgiven in Jesus Christ.
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So get secure.
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There's nothing that we can do to earn God's forgiveness and there's no sin too great to disqualify us from being forgiven.
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already forgiven. The problem is you feel guilty when you sin.
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The Christians often will still feel guilty even after they deal with it.
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OK. And this is who I'm speaking to.
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There are some people sitting in this room right now.
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You've gone through this.
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I realized how I said and I did get serious and I got specific and I got strategic.
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But Pastor Jeff, I still feel guilty.
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I still feel guilty about it and I'm still depressed over what happened with my sin.
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It still bothers me and how can I blow it?
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I have a word for you today.
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And that word is this, move on.
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Did you deal with your sin?
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Did you make restitution with people if needed?
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then it's time to move on.
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Too many Christians are handcuffed by the past.
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I'm not making light of the seriousness of it.
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I have sat down and talked with people who have committed sins decades ago and sit across the table from me and they say, "Pastor Jeff, I'm not sure if I'm really forgiven for that." They've been debilitated and depressed by this sin that they committed like in the early 90s.
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like deal with it, make restitution to people, and move on.
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Why?
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Well, Jeremiah 31, 34, and Hebrews 8, 12, this is something so important to God, we put it in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
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God has promised, "I will remember your sins no more." God has already chosen to forget your sins.
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Do you know that?
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Some people think they're going to stand before God someday and God's going to like roll out your sin list and stand still, I'm gonna read them to you.
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That's the glorious thing about God's grace.
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In Christ, when you stand before God someday, do you know what he's gonna say?
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He's gonna say you're perfect.
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Come on in, I got a place for you.
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And that is it.
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"Oh, well, what about my sin?" God's like, "What sin?
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I chose to forget about that.
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The day you received Jesus Christ, I chose to forget.
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But God, I did all these terrible things and God's just like, 'Yeah, doesn't ring a bell.'" He doesn't forget because he's like getting old.
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He chooses.
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He chooses to not remember your sin.
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So my question to you church is why would you choose to remember something when your God has chosen to not remember it?
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Too many Christians refuse to forget their sin.
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Please hear me, I want to say this as sensitively as I can.
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But when you do that, you're undermining God's Word.
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You're undermining God's grace by saying I'm not sure if this can be forgiven when he's already spelled it out so clearly how thorough forgiveness is in Jesus Christ.
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Yesterday is ancient history. I'm going to thank God for his forgiveness and I'm going to spend my energy focusing on my walk with Jesus Christ today. So does sin to have you weighed down, provision has already been made and dealt with biblically.
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You can be out of depression caused by sin today.
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Let's pray.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Ephesians 4:17-32
What does it mean to “grieve the Holy Spirit”? What does that have to do with sin and depression?
What should motivate Christians to turn from sin, even though they are already forgiven?
Breakout Questions:
Are there any sins in your life right now that are causing depression? What steps do you need to take in dealing with it?
