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Our nation recently watched as one of entertainment's most famous people was arrested on very serious federal charges. Legal analysts and TV pundits began discussing the severity of his case, speaking as if his life was over—that he might spend the rest of his life in prison.
But long before the videos and lawsuits, what brought him to this brink? Sin. The same thing that is alive inside you and me. And while people debate what he deserves, I want you to understand something: this thing that began with Adam and spread to all human beings—it is the bane of our existence. It is the cause of all pain and suffering in society.
Sin has infected every single part of the human being. Your intellect has been infected by sin. Your intelligence, your emotions, your desires, your wants, your longings—the way you see the world, your language, your mouth, your heart, your feelings—every single part has been infected by sin.
I know you think because you were born on the altar, I'm not talking to you. I know you think because you're morally good, I'm not talking to you. But every single person who has ever been born—every single part of you has been infected by sin.
I hate sin. Not because I'm morally pure, but because I know the pain it has brought to my life. I know the destruction it has brought to my life. I know the heartache and the frustration. I'm not the only one who has looked over your shoulders and seen the devastation of sin in your life from past seasons—things you regret because of sin, seasons you regret because of sin, chapters of your life you wish you could rip out of your story because of sin.
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While all these people are commenting on this music mogul's sin, saying he deserves what he gets, so many of us don't even realize our own repentance sin. We're not even worried about what we deserve or what we're going to get on the backside of our own sin.
As Jesus neared the end of His earthly ministry, He prepared His followers for His transition out of the world. In Matthew 16, He prophesied about the birth of the Christian church. In Matthew 28:19, He gave that church its only commission: spread the gospel, multiply disciples.
But in Matthew 18, He gave the church its very first teaching on how to govern ourselves inside biblical community. Matthew 18 is one of the most important chapters in all of the New Testament. All the letters of the New Testament that teach us how to govern ourselves inside biblical community find their origin in Matthew 18. Before Jesus sends His people out with a message, He gives them context on how to govern themselves in community—so their behavior does not compromise the witness of their message.
In Matthew 18:1, the disciples asked Jesus, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" We see the brokenness of their hearts through their question. Jesus called a child and put them in the midst of them and said:
"Truly I say to you, unless you turn, repent, and become sanctified like little children who are humble, meek, mild, who are not looking for glory or attention or fame or platforms, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven."
You will be in church your whole life and miss glory. Jesus equates greatness to humility—not status, not power, not Instagram following, not fame. Greatness is attributed to humility in the eyes of God.
He said, "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child receives me. That is how you treat another believer—how you treat Christ, those who are Christlike.
"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin—that is, whichever one of you in the context of community becomes the conduit through which another brother or sister falls into sin—the Lord said it will be better that you tie a millstone around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea."
The Lord is saying: it'll be safer for you to be dead than to be alive and leading other Christians into sin. It'll be better for you to be off the earth than alive in the earth and be the conduit through which people sin.
There are no verses in the original manuscripts between these next three verses, so this is one continual thought of Jesus, one argument. He tells His followers—not the people outside, not the people in the lobby, not the overflow—you watching across the camera, He tells us: if any one of you would be the cause of leading another brother or sister into sin, it would be better that you tie a stone around your neck and be drowned in the sea. You better not be the cause for other believers and sisters being caught up in sin.
In Matthew 18:7, Jesus gives us a powerful warning:
"Woe to the world for temptations to sin. For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom temptation comes."
What the Lord gives us here is a double woe. I want to draw your attention to the word "woe." The Lord uses this word when talking to people who are unrepentant in their sin. It is a very powerful word, a very serious word—not a word you want to be on the other side of.
Woe is a sorrowful expression. When Jesus says woe, He's doing two things at the same time: He's saying something severe is coming for you in the form of punishment, and I feel sorry for you for what you're about to endure. Woe is a declaration of punishment and an expression of sorrow of heart because you feel bad for who's on the other side of that woe.
He pronounces judgment on the fallen world of humanity. Woe to every government, woe to every institution that man has ever created that leads human beings into sin. Woe to corrupt governments. Woe to corrupt nations. Woe to America. Woe to Planned Parenthood for teaching people it's okay to kill babies in the womb.
I don't care if you're a Democrat. That is murder in the womb. That baby in the womb has life and personhood. For He said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you personally." And I ain't judging you because I done paid for my fair share of abortions. But the Lord said: "Woe to every manmade institution that makes it easy for people to commit sin. Every legislation by a corrupt government, every institution, every clinic, every Planned Parenthood, everything in the world that creates sites for sin, all the people that do sex trafficking—any entity in the world that makes it easy for people to commit sin, any entity or government in the world that exports sin, any entity or government that is a conduit for sin—the Lord said to all of them: Woe to you."
There is a severe judgment coming for everybody who is an export of sin. And I feel sorry for what you're going to endure in the judgment.
He says woe to the world. This is woe to everybody outside my church who are engineers of sin. And then He says: "It is necessary that temptation should come." Sin in the world is inevitable. It cannot be avoided because we live in a fallen society, a Genesis 3 world.
But watch: "Woe to the one through whom they come." Although sin is inevitable in the world, you don't want to be the person responsible for spreading it in society. Let the world be blinded by sin, but let not my children be involved in being agents of the spread of sin.
The Lord knows the damage and destruction that sin has done to humanity. The Lord is an eternal being. He did not have His origin when He was born in Bethlehem. The Lord has always existed. Genesis 1:26 says, "Let us make man in our image and in our likeness."
The Lord knows the destruction of sin because the first sin ever committed happened in heaven. Scripture teaches us that God created all these angelic beings, and among those angelic beings, He created three archangels: Michael, responsible for warfare; Gabriel, responsible for delivering messages; and Lucifer, responsible for worship. The scripture says his body was made out of musical instruments and pipes, as Ezekiel taught us.
But then Isaiah 14 teaches us something about Lucifer when he was in heaven. Somehow he got a glimpse of his beauty, and then the first sin entered into the heart of a being: pride. In his pride, the scripture says, "Because of your much trading, you corrupted yourself." What Lucifer did was whisper in the ears of the angels: "I'm going to be better than God." And then the second sin was born in his heart: rebellion.
The scripture teaches us he rebelled against God and there was war in heaven. Because there is no dualism—Satan is not stronger than God Almighty—Satan was cast out of heaven. Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning down to the earth." In Revelation, when he's pictured as the dragon, it says his tail took a third of the stars of heaven with him—one-third of all the angels who he had corrupted. According to Jude, these angels abandoned their place in heaven and now they're going to be chained in eternal fire.
These angels that he corrupted and that were thrown out of heaven are the demons that roam the earth today.
They're the demons that whisper in the ears of your favorite psychic when you go get your palm read. These demons have been watching you since you were young, so they whisper in the ear of the psychic and tell your age and the last boyfriend you had and what city you were born in. Because they've been watching you, they start to prophesy and tell you about your future and lead you away from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because you don't read—you love sermons but you don't read—you don't know that stuff is demonic. Your little tarot cards, your little sage, your little crystals, your little readings—all that stuff is demonic. How are you praying to God and got crystals next to your Bible at the same time? How are you trying to send up the incense of prayer and got sage burning at the same time?
Too many sermons, not enough literacy. Don't just listen to me. Read the scriptures for yourself. Read. Read. Read. Don't just trust me. Read.
Christ in heaven saw with His own eyes the first sin ever committed, and He saw the damage that it caused. It caused an archangel to lose their position in glory and become your adversary, the devil and Satan, who still loves music, by the way.
You never realize when you listen to certain things why it makes you feel angry, lustful, like you want to commit murder. You love her because she's famous. You love him because they're famous and they call themselves a Christian. But you can't find a description for "Christian" in the Bible. It's not in there. It was a derogatory term that was given to us, and we call ourselves that now. But you can't find a description for a disciple in society. Anybody in society could put "Christian" in their profile, but we're checking for fruit. We're looking for evidence of your Christianity. We're looking for fruit, evidence of grace and transformation. Where is the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? Where is your desire by nature to follow the commandments of God Almighty?
I don't care if somebody calls themselves a Christian. We're checking for fruit. In 1 John, it says: "This is how we know who the sons of God are and who the sons of the devil are." That's not foolish and gullible—that's biblical. I ain't trying to fill up no room. I'm going to preach this truth whether the room is full or empty. Jesus, I don't care—ain't going to shut me up. I ain't up here to get your approval. I don't care if half of y'all don't come back next week. Your blood is not going to be on my hands in the judgment.
The Lord knows the deep damage that sin does to the hearts and lives of human beings. Listen to me. He knows how destructive it is. He knows how catastrophic it is. He sees the hurt that we incur upon ourselves because of our sinful behavior. And the Lord looks upon us with a type of grief in His heart when He sees His children who love to indulge in sin—how we are damaging our lives and ruining our witness and our credibility.
How many times has the Lord responded to your tears because of His love? But He's looking at you like: if you would just stop doing this.
Because the Lord knows the deep damage and destruction that sin brings to the lives of people, He went through extreme measures to warn His followers to not play around with sin. Don't treat it like a pet. Don't keep it on a leash. He went through extreme measures to teach us: don't play with this.
In Matthew 18:8-9:
"And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life—that is heaven—crippled or lame than with two hands and two feet to be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than for two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire."
The hand or foot is a metaphor for sins of commission—sins you do, activity, sin you practice. This is like you watching pornography, sowing seeds of discord, being rebellious in nature against authority, tearing up churches, lying, cheating, stealing, wounding other people unnecessarily, loving hips on Instagram like your wife is not enough.
I'm talking to me too. I'm talking to all the brothers like me that struggle with lust. Don't know. Y'all, y'all some phony people just like the last gathering, going to leave me up here by myself like y'all brothers ain't never struggled with lust. You nervous because your girlfriend or your wife is sitting right next to you. So you're going to leave me up here by myself. Lying, trying to act like you're perfect and you got halos around your head.
Let me try this one more time for all the dudes like me that struggled with lust. All y'all who stroll and you stop, who feel conviction and you don't move—these are sins of commission. The Lord said for all of the sins you practice with unrepentance, recognize it, see it, cut it off.
This is not the Lord saying or advocating for self-mutilation. This is the Lord advocating for behavior mutilation. Get rid of the folders. Repent. Whatever you got to do to stop practicing unrepentant sin. And the Lord is speaking with serious language. He said: "It's better for you to cut it off. It's better for you to have discipline and suffer because of what you want and deny yourself than to end up in hell because of your lack of repentance."
Once saved, always saved? Those who endure to the end shall be saved. You think because you prayed a prayer or you came to an altar, you could just ask the Lord into your heart and then live any way you want? No, family. The devil is a liar. When you recognize in your life habitual, willful practices of sin, the Lord looks at you and says: "Son, daughter, you better watch. Cut it off. You better stop it now, for you're going to end up in Matthew 7."
"Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name? And did we not serve on a team? And did we not sing on a platform? Did we not preach sermons?" And He's going to say: "Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. You love sin. I never knew you."
Y'all worried about the atheists. I'm worried about you. You're more deceived than they are. At least they know they don't believe in God. But you got a false assurance while you're claiming Christ and living in sin. Ain't nobody's pipe game worth going to hell over. Sexual immorality, homosexuality, adultery, all of the things we practice—the Lord says when you see them in your life, cut them off.
I.e., deal aggressively with your sinful behavior. It's like me when I had to go to my wife when she caught me with pornography two years into our marriage. I had to tell her about what happened to me when I was ten, why the kind of life I lived before I got married, and why I struggle with lust. I asked her to pray for me. Why? Because I don't want any dark areas in my life. I don't want any secrets. Because any area of darkness in your life is a lane for the devil to traffic.
That's why I got accountability partners in my life. If I have a bad day or a bad week, I call up my accountability partners and say: "This is what I did. Pray for me. This is what I thought. Pray for me." She knows. They know. God knows. No darkness. No darkness.
I remember going to my wife saying: "Lena, I need a safety circle." Safety circle means I'm about to tell you something heavy, but don't respond to me with judgment. She comes to me and says: "Honey, safety circle." I mean, I got to listen to what she says. If I come to say safety circle, she listens. And I remember the day I came with a safety circle and said: "Lena, this is something I struggle with." And I know the work I've done over the years to cut that out of my life, to not play around with sins of commission.
But look at the last verse. The Lord doesn't stop there. He says: "And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than for two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire."
I want you to notice: some people think "Oh, we don't believe in hell. It's metaphorical." Jesus preached a lot about hell. He talks about it as a physical location. The eye is a metaphor from the Sermon on the Mount for the issues of the heart. These are the hidden sins that people don't see on the outside but God sees on the inside.
This is like unforgiveness, pride, lust, anger, jealousy, envy, covetousness, self-inflation, idolatry. These are all the things inside your heart, sinful things that people don't see. The Lord says: if you see those things, pluck them out.
I knew a dude who went to jail and lost his eye in a fight with a razor. The Lord said it would be better for you to enter heaven with one eye than end up in hell with both. Again, not advocating for bodily mutilation, but heart mutilation—mutilate the things in your heart that you know are sinful in the eyes of God.
When things rise up in my heart, I run to God in my prayer room and I ring out these sins like: "Lord, I'm feeling lustful." I ring that out. "Lord, I'm feeling jealous." I ring that out. "Lord, I'm feeling covetous." I ring that out. "Lord, I'm feeling like Philip Anthony Mitchell." I ring that out. All those things that are creeping up in your heart, you ring those things out. You keep dealing aggressively with the sins of your heart.
Some of you don't deal aggressively with your sin because you've been deceived by grace. You think because we live in the era of grace and you ain't seen the full wrath of God against sin—that's why you think because of grace you have a license for licentiousness. Jesus, tell that to Ananias and Sapphira, who lied to the Holy Spirit with deceitfulness of heart. God struck them dead in the New Testament era for the deception of the eye, the lying to the Holy Spirit.
If the Lord just started striking people dead for the stuff you're doing, this whole church would empty out. Half that overflow would empty out. If the Lord just started striking people dead because of your sin, I bet you people would clean up real quick.
You know what this country lost? Reverence. You think God is a sucker. You think He's a name on a bracelet. And because He's withholding wrath, you think you have a license for licentiousness.
The Lord is calling His people to a life of holiness and a pursuit of holiness. Not just a song you sing, not just something you post, but the way you live Monday through Saturday and not just on Sunday on a platform. You want anointings, but you don't want to live holy. There's a price to be paid for an anointing.
I'm tired of the Western church always singing about holiness, preaching about holiness, posting about holiness, but we don't live holy. The Lord said: "Be holy as I am." That ain't no suggestion. You think the Lord is doing the most? It don't take all of that. It ain't that serious.
Let me show you what is serious. Luke 16:19—there was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. At his gate laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came to lick his sores.
But verse 22 is coming for you, and you don't think about that. A day for you in a box is coming for you. He said: "The poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham's side—that is, glory. The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades—another metaphor for hell, a temporary holding place until the final judgment reaches the lake of fire in Revelation 19 and 20—he lifted his eyes in torment."
Y'all worried about what that mogul is going to get. You're not worried about what you're going to get for your unrepentant sin. You're worried about what he deserves. What about what you deserve? You're worried about what he's headed for. What about what you're headed for?
And he called out: "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in these flames."
But Abraham said: "Child, remember that in your lifetime—the one life you get—it is appointed to a man to live one time and then the judgment. Son, in your lifetime, since you want to keep playing with your days, treat sin like a pet, keep it on a leash when it's a viper—it's going to choke you and bite you and poison you and kill you. Son, in your lifetime you received good things, and Lazarus in like manner received bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish."
"And besides all this between us and you, there's a great chasm that has been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able to." Wherever you end up, your fate is sealed. Judas has been there for two thousand years and he's never going to get out. And none may cross from there to here.
And he said: "Then I beg you, Father, send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them. Warn them. Warn them."
You know what that is? Woe. Woe. He may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment. But Abraham said: "No, son. They have Moses and the prophets—not fake prophets, but real prophets who proclaim the word of God as it is written, not prophecy lies to keep you comfortable."
You love that stuff. I already know you're going to find a new church next week with some compromised pastor who's too afraid to preach the scriptures. They're more worried about butts and seats than souls in hell. They're going to lie to you next week. "No, they have the real prophets. Let them hear them."
And he said: "No, father, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." He said: "Son, if they do not hear Moses, if they do not hear the real prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. He's saying the hearts of men are so rebellious that a person could come back from death and testify of hell and they still wouldn't repent. Why? Because you love sin."
This is not me being a hellfire and brimstone preacher. This is me reading to you the words of the one you call Lord and Savior who is warning, warning, warning His church.
Deal aggressively with your sin. Stop playing with sin. Stop keeping it in the closet. Stop treating it like a pet. You see it, you acknowledge it. Kill it. Keep ringing it out. Run from it. Throw yourself on the altar of God and say, "Lord, have mercy on me."
This is Christ calling His community to humility. This is Christ calling His community to childlike civility. This is Christ calling His community to holiness.
You know why you think, "Man, that's so heavy. I can't do that"? Because you read an Eastern book with Western eyes. This is an Eastern book. Doctrines that came from the East—they don't just see sin as something they were born with. They see sin as something they can stop doing. It's only in the West that we cry Christ, live in sin, and then give ourselves a license for licentiousness.
No, listen. You can deal aggressively with your sin. The Lord came. He lived a perfect life. He died a sacrificial death to nail the punishment for your sins to the cross. But then, watch this: but then He rose and gave you the Holy Spirit, who is the power of Christ on the inside of you for you to live a brand new life.
The scripture says: "Have you tasted of the heavenly gift, received the Holy Spirit, understood the love of the Savior, seen what He did for you on the cross, and then choose to live a life of rebellion and sin?" No. You've been empowered.
You can do this. You can turn away from sin. He's been giving you the power to not live a life of sin. You got the power. You could do this. I wish I had five hundred of you that would just celebrate your own self that you can do this. You can do it. Come on. Anybody. You can do it. You can't put that down. You can't stop watching that. You can't stop feeling that. You can't ring it out. He gave you the power to not live a life of unrepentant sin. He gave you the power to do it.
If the people of God won't take the words of their Savior seriously, what credibility do we have to the world? In the West, why do we think God intended the church to have a gathering and be licentious at the same time? You are a holy people, a royal people, a peculiar people, separated from the world, consecrated, separated from the world. If you look just like the people who are against Him, what message do we have?
Hear me: If He told us to cut it off, if He told us to pluck it out, He would not tell you to do something that He did not empower you to do. It's only our excuses.
