0:00:00 - 0:00:27 We read that when God created the earth, he gave Dominion to Adam. Dominion means full control. It means sovereignty. Adam was a king over all the earth. That's why, for example, he had the ability to name the animals, the responsibility, the duty to write, to name the animals and to keep the garden 0:00:27 - 0:01:02 to tend the garden of Eden. Satan came along and he usurped that authority that Adam had received from God by convincing Adam to sin. When Jesus came in his mortal life, he reclaimed that kingdom through living a life that was fully dedicated to the father. He overcame the power of Satan and he became 0:01:01 - 0:01:27 the one with Dominion over the earth. And maybe it's better to say that he retained that Dominion. But coming as a man as he did to the earth, that was at risk. That was a trial that he had to overcome. And he did it. We read how we read in, in one of Paul's letters about how Jesus was tempted in all 0:01:27 - 0:00:00 things, but he did not succumb to those temptations. He remained without sin throughout his life. Now each of us in our lives, we face a similar situation as individuals. We were born with certain rights of Dominion, namely over ourselves. However, through our choices, we have handed that authority, 0:00:00 - 0:02:34 we've abdicated our kingdom over to Satan. We read that there is no one who has not sinned. So the question is once we find ourselves here in that situation, what are our options? This raises a very important question is saying that you believe in God, the same as being a follower of God is calling yourself 0:02:33 - 0:03:06 a Christian. The same thing as being called after the name of Christ in ancient times, God created a symbol, the rainbow to convey a promise to people. It had a meaning and the connection of that symbol to heaven is that if you were to go to heaven, you'd see rainbows in several places, but most notably 0:03:06 - 0:03:28 around the throne of God. And you can read about that description from people who have been there, including in the scriptures. But that's not the limit of the references. You'll find the rainbow is very important to God. It is a symbol that has, it's very much intertwined with his character. It's very 0:03:27 - 0:03:58 close to him. And yet in our day, that symbol has been usurped by people who do evil and they use it to connect to that. And so we, we have this recurring pattern of something holy heavenly from God that's taken away and used by and for evil. If you live such that you are doing anything less than what 0:03:58 - 0:04:25 Jesus would do in your place. As far as you understand, you are allowing your Dominion yourself to be used for evil. And God has a better way. Almost every Christian, almost every person who says they believe in Jesus will tell you that it's not possible for you to stop sinning. They're wrong, they're 0:04:24 - 0:04:45 wrong. There are ample scriptures that prove that they're wrong. Here's just one of them. This is from First Corinthians 1013, Paul says there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the 0:04:45 - 0:05:14 temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. It is completely possible for you to stop doing what you don't believe Jesus would do in your place and to always do what you believe he would do in your place in Hebrews 1026 we read about just how important this is for. If we sin 0:05:14 - 0:05:37 wilfully after that, we have received the knowledge of the truth. There remain no more sacrifice for sins. In other words, it doesn't matter if you say you believe in Jesus or not. If you continue to rebel against Him to choose differently than you sincerely believe He would choose in your place. There 0:05:36 - 0:06:04 remain no more sacrifice for your sins. In other words, whatever price he paid for the sins of mankind. You're not included in that we cannot be forgiven of our sins while we are still sinning, you can ask God for forgiveness any time and He will forgive you of your past sins if you are sincere, but 0:06:04 - 0:06:34 that does not stop you from committing future sin. That choice is yours. And it's one of the main reasons you came here was to have the opportunity to make that choice. This is how we choose to love God. He said, if you love me, keep my commandments, Jesus himself has coupled these two things. If you 0:06:34 - 0:06:56 sin, you do not love him. And what does it mean to love him while among other things, it certainly means to prefer Him above all else. If you say you love someone and they need something from you and you turn from that and you go do something else or you turn from what's important to them and go do something 0:06:56 - 0:07:18 else instead, you don't love them. You love what you turned to. But somehow modern Christians had managed to twist this all up to such an extent that they can use all the same words and mean completely different things than those words have ever meant before. And they think they can love God without 0:07:18 - 0:07:46 obeying Him, that they can be saved from sin while continuing to sin. What are you saved from? If you're still doing it, if you're still in it now? So often when we talk about repentance or setting aside your previous preferences for sin and picking up your preference for God. Because really that is 0:07:46 - 0:08:10 what it is when you sin, it's not that some power has overcome you. And you lack the power God has given you the power of choice. You are free to choose and you already have that choice. What you're doing is you're preferring a lie, an understanding of value that deviates from reality because God's way 0:08:10 - 0:08:29 is the best way. And if you truly trust Him and believe Him, you only have one choice which is to do what he would do in your place. But as, as we talk about repentance so often it can, it can feel like you're just being beaten over the head with this message of you're not good enough, you're not good 0:08:29 - 0:00:00 enough. Well, I have a couple of pieces of news for you. One, we're not good enough. We're absolutely not good enough. We are nothing. We are nothing and God is everything. This message of repentance. It's not a message of listen to me because I'm so good. Paul said he was the, the chief of sinners, 0:00:00 - 0:09:21 the greatest of sinners before he converted to Christ. Why did he say that? Because every single person who ever repented felt that way. And if you're not there yet, if you're not willing to be nothing before God, that is the reason that you have not repented, you have to be willing to understand that 0:09:21 - 0:09:49 we are nothing. It's because we accept our nothingness that we allow him to change us and we follow him and it's by his power that we become sinless. It's not because we're good. It's because we realize we're bad and we are willing to let go of that in preference for him and to receive him and he's better 0:09:48 - 0:10:11 . And this is what John was talking about in one of his letters where he says, if we love God, then his commandments will not be grievous to us. What does it look like when his commandments are grievous to you? It's when you walk around begrudgingly. Oh I, I guess I can keep this commandment this time 0:10:10 - 0:10:34 , but we'll see you next time, this time. I'll do it. But man, I really don't want to. If you think that the message of repentance, if it feels like getting beaten over the head, you don't love God. If you loved God, you'd realize that every single commandment he gives us is a gift. It's a gift beyond 0:10:34 - 0:10:57 measure because he's revealing to us a little bit more of how he is that differs from how we are in Isaiah. He speaks about how his ways are so much greater than our ways. They're so far away like the stars from the, from the earth. That's what he says. And so how are we going to cover the distance unless 0:10:57 - 0:11:16 he shows us as Paul said, how are you going to believe in a gospel? Unless you hear it preached? The commandments are a revelation of the character of Christ. Every and it doesn't matter if they're general to everyone or something specific to you that he tells you through your conscience, no matter how 0:11:15 - 0:11:34 small if you're walking through your ho your house, wherever you live and he says, pick up that piece of trash, you see the trash, you see that the world would be a better place without it. How do you react? Do you hear his voice? He's the good shepherd. If you're a sheep of the good shepherd, you hear 0:11:34 - 0:11:57 his voice and you obey and you pick up that piece of trash and you put it in the trash can, it doesn't matter how small it is, he's revealing to us more of what he would do in our place. And you have the power, you have the power to hear him and you have the power to obey him as you do. You're going 0:11:57 - 0:12:20 to increase little by little in how well you know him, you're going to get to know him a little bit more because your entire life becomes a training ground where he can show you more about what he would do in your place because, and here's the kicker, you think this idea of repentance is an all or nothing 0:12:20 - 0:12:44 ordeal and it is, you're partially correct. But everything you understand about him right now is the tiniest tip of the iceberg. It's just the beginning. It's just the gate, the decision to fully submit to God unconditionally. That's the gate and all you're surrendering to for now is the little bit that 0:12:44 - 0:13:11 you know about him. Most of that is either incomplete and some of it's actually incorrect. But as you sincerely do what you currently believe that is the way for him to teach you more. You go in the gate and then you're in the path. He said he's the way he's the truth in the life. What's the way it's 0:13:11 - 0:13:38 the path? But you can't get onto the path until you go through the gate. The gait is to fully reconcile yourself to Him in every way. You presently understand you have the power to stop sinning. God has already given it to you. You are already, you were already given a Dominion as a king or a queen in 0:13:38 - 0:14:03 God's kingdom. You turned away from it through sinning, but the gate and the path are there and he has done everything necessary to enable you to walk through the gate to actually take upon yourself the name of Christ, not just to call yourself a Christian and to be one of the many, many fake Christians 0:14:03 - 0:14:32 , he's given you the power to not just say that you believe in Him, but to actually follow him. Amos 33 talks about this idea that that two men can't, can't go together. Sorry, I butchered that. I better look that up. So I don't do that. Can two walk together except they be agreed. So, what's this saying 0:14:32 - 0:14:56 ? People are so quick to say they believe in Jesus, but we should use the word follow. It means the same thing. But like the rainbow, the word believe has been subverted. If you follow someone in your car, you drive where they drive, you watch where they, what they do and then you do it. If they turn 0:14:56 - 0:15:18 right, you turn right. If they turn left, you turn left. If they hit their brakes, you hit their brakes. If they accelerate, you accelerate, that's what it means to follow Jesus. If Jesus turns right and you turn left, you're not following him and just like following a car, you have to keep doing it 0:15:17 - 0:15:30 the second you stop or deviate, you're no longer following him. It's pretty simple, isn't it? Go follow Jesus?