We have been slowly marching through Second Corinthians, and I am excited to announce we are in our last chapter this morning. How about that, guys? Come on. Yeah. So next week, I believe. Don't quote me on that for sure, but we're wrapping it up. I think Jake's wrapping up Second Corinthians. I don't know about you guys. It has been awesome to dwell in this book for several months, to dig deeply into it and honestly, if we're being honest, to also be deeply challenged by it. And I've been just shocked and convicted and challenged by how much of Paul's words to Corinth could also apply to our culture. If we're honest, even our church, and if we're even more honest, even each of us individually. And surprise, surprise, we're going to be challenged again this morning because today, these first four verses, it's all about the dangers of sin. So happy Mother's Day. Glad you guys came. But, I mean, even as I say that, right? We chuckle a bit because, let's be honest, like, we can call it out. Talking about sin feels a little uncomfortable. You're at Great. I'm a guest here at church. We're talking about sin. Why. Why do we make such a big deal about it? Like, why don't we preach about love, forgiveness, grace instead? And those things are in God's word. We want to preach them, absolutely. But we also want the Bible to direct our preaching and as we're working through a book of the Bible, that to direct where we're going even more than a cultural calendar. And this is where our passage is taking us today. So we're going to faithfully follow, see what God has for us. But second, even beyond that, there's a deeper reason. Like, there's a reason, if you think about it, that the consistent testimony of Scripture talks about sin, and it's because it presents it as deceptive and deadly. Let me show you just one place where the Bible makes this clear. Look at this warning in Hebrews 3 to those who are kind of in danger of being hardened by sin. This is what the author of Hebrews says. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God, but exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, which, by the way, brief aside, is what we're doing right now in the church of God. This is what we're doing, he goes on, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Veritas. I think I can speak for all of us in this room. We all want to persevere in the faith. None of us want to have an evil, unbelieving heart. Like we don't want to have a heart hardened by sin. And if God is the prize, like we say all the time, and we firmly believe he is, none of us want to fall away from the living God. That would be our deepest tragedy in life. But this passage is a warning for a reason. Now let me be clear. We firmly believe in God's sovereignty over salvation. We believe all those who Jesus saves, Jesus keeps. But at the same time, we need to take these types of passages seriously because we believe God calls us to work through our salvation with fear and trembling, like it says in Philippians. We believe when God calls us to take care to not be hardened by sin, he means it's we believe flippancy towards sin could lead to destruction and drift. And we believe it's through warnings like this and in our text today that God calls us to actually consider where our hearts are at. Because the truth is, a lot of us have seen Hebrews 3 up close. We've seen people who have claimed to follow Jesus only to at some point fall away due to sin's deception or drift. And really, the most sobering reality of all, if we're just being honest, is that some of us sitting in these seats today will not be next year due to us not heeding this warning. So here's the question. How do we make sure that isn't us? How do we make sure this isn't the story of our church? Like that was the cliff that the church of Corinth was on the edge at? Okay, look with me at what Paul said in the last verse from last week. He says this. I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier. And here's the kicker, have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality and sensuality that they have practiced. It's kind of crazy if you think about it. Corinth, a church planted by Paul, a church that had experienced incredible spiritual gifts, that had seen this movement of God, had now drifted to the point of unrepentant sin, rebellion against God and worldly immorality. And wouldn't we be foolish to think that couldn't happen to you and me or To Veritas as well. An old Puritan, John Owen, he put it really memorably and seriously and bluntly, which I love. He says this be killing sin, or sin will be killing you. So here's the question we need to answer. How do we cultivate a heart that's protected from sin's deception? Like, what does God call us to? How do we cultivate the type of heart that does not experience that drift, that does not well, or experience that deception, but instead, when it meets, it is ready to resist sin's deception? I think there's several answers God gives us throughout Scripture, but as we dwell in our passage today, we're going to get some really rich insight into this question, which is good news for us. We're going to get to listen in on how Paul challenged Corinth. A church that we just saw was on the precipice of that exact danger. And there's a specific truth, like Paul is laboring and laboring to help Corinth recover that I think we need to recover as well. So if you have your Bibles, flip them to second Corinthians 13. We're just going to be in the first four verses today, and we're going to read it through together and then talk about what it means for us. You guys ready? All right, let's go. I love it. This is what Paul says. We'll read the whole chunk, then break it down. This is the third time I'm coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. I warned those who sinned before and all the others. And I warn them now, while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again, I will not spare them. Since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me, he is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God, for we also are weak in him. But in dealing with you, we will live with him by the power of God. Okay, so let's draw out Paul's meaning together, starting by focusing on verse one, because this could be confusing at first. Paul says this. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. You're like, what does that mean? Well, in this verse, what Paul's doing is he's warning Corinth about what's going to happen if he returns and finds Corinth still living in their sin. And what exactly he's warning them about might seem unclear at first. Until you Understand, you might see in your Bible, it shows this cross reference that Paul's quoting a verse in Deuteronomy. So look at this verse with me. This is what Deuteronomy 19:15 says. A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. So here's what's going on in that verse. God's giving Israel instructions on how to set up this, like, just legal system when they enter the promised land. And what he's communicating or commanding isn't that complicated. He's telling Israel, before someone can be legally punished with a crime, hey, there should be multiple witnesses. So by quoting this verse, here's what Paul is saying to Corinth and what he was going to do. He's basically saying this. When I come again, I'm gonna hold my own court. I'm gonna call witnesses from among you who will testify to your sin, and then judgment will be given. I don't know what the Corinthians were thinking when they were reading this portion of the letter, but I just imagine them, like, looking at each other. They're holding this portion in their hands. They read it and they're like, wait, did we just get served? Like, pretty much Paul's telling Corinth, hey, if nothing changes before I get back, I'm gonna make my case against you. I'm gonna call witnesses from your own church that can testify I'm telling the truth, and then judgment will be served. And he explains that a bit more in verse two. Look at this. He says, I warned those who sinned before and all the others. And I warn them now, while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again, I will not spare them. Guys, in a nutshell, here's what's going on in these first two verses. Paul is taking Corinth's sin incredibly seriously. He isn't winking at their sin. He isn't minimizing their sin. He isn't excusing their sin. He is taking it about as deeply seriously as you could imagine. He's saying, so serious, if I come again and this hasn't been dealt with, I'm gonna hold court, I'm gonna call witnesses, and judgment will be called on. You see, up to this point, like Paul says in this passage, he's like, hey, I've been weak in dealing with you. And as we've walked through this letter, we kind of understand what that means. He's saying, hey, I've taken your slander without retaliating. I've been patient with you. I've refused to be impressive. I've pled with you and given you time to repent. But now Paul's telling Corinth, hey, don't mistake me being weak with me being a doormat or a pushover. Because now Paul's saying, I'm ready to deal with you in power. Look, the gloves have kind of come off. Look at the last sentence of verse four. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you, we will live with him by the power of God. Paul's going to deal with Corinth in power? What does he mean by that? I think we get a hint by seeing how Paul responded in his first letter to Corinth when he describes his judgment on a man who is flaunting just, deep, unrepentant sexual sin. Look at 1 Corinthians 5. Paul says this. For though absent in body, I'm present in spirit. And. And as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Big words. Here's what Paul's saying. He's like, hey, I am authoritatively, powerfully removing this unrepentant sinner from the Christian community and giving him up to Satan's power. And by extension, like this would have been a picture of what is waiting ultimately, for those living in unrepentant sin, separation from God and exclusion from his people. And that's the type of power Paul was wielding and prepared to use on his third visit. For those who hadn't given up sin's pursuits, Paul was ready to remove them from the church, saying, my judgment on you right now is this. You are not living like you are a citizen of God's kingdom. You're living like you're following Satan and belong to the world. And that is some serious, powerful judgment. Paul was ready to lay on those who had rejected his pleas again and again to turn from their sin. Don't miss this. Just because Paul was humble, weak, gracious, merciful and kind does not mean he refused to take sin seriously. Paul's attitude towards sin was incredibly serious because he knew it was destructive to the church and dishonoring to God, I'd put it this way. You'll have to forgive me because I'm a bit of a comic book fan, but when I was reading this example of Paul and thinking about his weakness, but his power, I'd almost put it like this. When it comes to Paul's patience, his weakness, his willingness to be unimpressive, Paul is kind of like Bruce Banner. You know, this, like, unassuming professor is kind of nerdy. But when it comes to unrepentant, festering sin, Paul kind of became like the Incredible Hulk. See, he didn't take the power lightly. He didn't wield it unnecessarily. But just like this meek, mild Bruce Banner transforms into the Hulk when evil threatens his people. Paul's like, hey, I'm willing to display the power I need to when sin threatens my people, people. And when sin threatens God's people. Paul's not power hungry. He's not being a villainous dictator. He's fiercely protecting the people of God. And Paul was kind of hulking out to take sin seriously. And if we want to cultivate a heart that isn't deceived by sin, we need to follow in those exact same footsteps. See, the first step towards having a heart protected from sin is having a heart that actually takes sin seriously, like it demands. Paul was trying to help Corinth. See, hey, your sin is so serious, it's going to have deep consequences. But the problem is a heart deceived by sin starts by being a heart that tolerates sin. A heart that sees it not as that big a deal. A heart that starts making excuses. I'm not as bad as that guy. I'm not hurting anyone. If they understand the situation, they'd know. You don't know what position I'm in. God forgives me. It'll be okay. But what's Paul's example here? And see, what I'm asking you to consider this morning is maybe a bit different than what people often ask you to consider. I'm not necessarily asking you to consider, is there sin in your life? What I'm asking you to consider this morning is how do you view the sin in your life? It's a different question. Do you hate your sin? Is there actual real opposition to it in your heart? Do you feel that it is weighing you down? Do you struggle against it? Do you take it seriously? If so, Paul's words are an encouragement to keep going and to push even more. But if, like Corinth, you've begun to make peace with sin, if you Wink at it. If you tolerate it, if you even celebrate it in certain ways in your life, man. These words are a loving but strong warning that we need to start taking sin more seriously. But here's where our passage and what I love about this passage that's just been so profound as I've been thinking about it, is it takes a step deeper than that. See, verses three and four show us something. They show us this. The reason Paul took Corinth's sin seriously was because Paul took Corinth's Savior seriously. And here's what I mean. Look again at verses three through four. Pay attention, because there's gonna be a quiz for you in a minute. This is what it says. Since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me, he is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you, we will live with him by the power of God. So I'm going to ask you three questions. It's going to be an easy quiz. It's the same answer to each one. Who does Paul say is speaking through him in this passage? Yes. Whose power is ultimately going to be demonstrated through Paul? All right, last question. Who ultimately desires a holy people? Christ. See, the big headline in this passage isn't ultimately that Paul took sin seriously, though. He did. The big headline in this passage is Paul took Jesus seriously. And Paul was begging Corinth to take the Savior they claimed to worship as seriously as him. Here's why this is such a big shift in our thinking. What we need to understand veritas is this. Our attitude towards sin is always tied to our viewer attitude towards Jesus. They aren't separated. They rise and fall together. Let me show you what I mean in this passage. First, Paul's showing Corinth they should take sin seriously because ultimately they should take Jesus power seriously. Paul gets at this when he says, jesus isn't weak in dealing with you. He is powerful among you and lives by the power of God. Like Paul's saying, corinth, do you know the type of Savior that you are dealing with? The Savior who lives by the power of God, who literally rose from the dead, who conquered sin, Satan, and evil. The the king who promises to return and conquer sin for good. Paul's saying, yeah, Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. He was crucified among you. He's also the roaring and powerful lion. Clearly, somehow along the way, Corinth had lost sight of the power and fierceness of Jesus. And Veritas, kind of my fear for us is that in our culture now, in time, this could happen to us, that we'd veer so far into the Jesus is my buddy like territory that we'd scrub away the fact he's also our powerful king and just judge. Yes, hear me. The biblical Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart, and we believe that. But the biblical Jesus is also powerful and just and holy. I mean, just read Revelation sometime this week and you'll see what I mean. Right? Like sin's deception says, hey, Jesus won't take your sin too seriously, but the testimony of Scripture reveals a God who is more powerful and bigger than we imagine. I think one person who understood that well was C.S. lewis. We see this in how he depicts Aslan, right. This Jesus figure in the Chronicles of Narnia. This is a famous passage, but it's worth reflecting on. This is how Lewis describes Aslan in a conversation between Susan and Mr. Beaver. This is what Mr. Beaver says. Aslan is a lion, the great lion. Oh, said Susan, I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion. Safe, said Mr. Beaver. Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe, but he's good. He's the king. I tell you, this is what a healthy fear of Christ looks like. The type of fear that sees Jesus as good and as king, but as mighty and powerful at the same time. In Veritas, so often, I think we settle for a safe savior, but not a great and powerful savior worthy of our worship. We treat Jesus like a cat rather than a lion. We view him as our friend, but not as our king. Now, he is, of course, our friend, but he's also our king. And what has God's word shown us today? Yeah, Jesus is merciful to say, if he was crucified among you, you are part of the kingdom of God. But Jesus is also mighty to judge on repentance, sin. And that means when we come before his presence, we should come before him in joy, but also in a healthy trembling. Like we should take our sin seriously because we take the power and justice of Jesus seriously. How do we not end up like Corinth? How do we not end up in this mess of unrepentant sin? One antidote is to actually take Jesus power seriously. If you do, you'll start taking your sin a lot more seriously. There's one other way. Corinth's view of their sin should have been tied to Their view of Jesus according to Paul, this is how I would put it, or how I believe Paul puts it. Corinth should take their sins seriously because they should have taken Jesus presence seriously. So not just Jesus power, but also his presence. Where is that in the text? Let me show you. It's in two little but really important words at the end of verse three. This is what Paul says. Jesus is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. Paul's reminding Corinth Jesus is dwelling among you. And this has implications for your life. And really, Paul's just reminding Corinth of what he's reminded them time and time again in his first letter, that you are a temple of the living God. Jesus dwells in you and among you you have his very presence. And here's why that's important for Corinth. If they knew the history of God's people and what happened when God's presence dwelt among his people, they would have known they needed to take sin seriously. Hear me Veritas. Having the presence of the living God, there is no better blessing and privilege. That's what we pray for. God, give us more of you. Be among us. Let us see you. Let us glorify you. If God is the prize, like we should overflow with the light at the thought he would choose to be near us and dwell among us. But don't miss it. That incredible privilege is at the exact same time and called the deep purity and holiness. Because if a holy God is going to dwell in the presence of his people, he is too good to tolerate ongoing rebellion and unrepentant sin in his midst. Let me show you just one story from the Old Testament that reveals this exact truth from everyone's favorite book of the Bible, Leviticus. You know where reading plans go to die at this point in Leviticus? Let me cut you in, since I know a lot of us didn't make it there. God had rescued Israel. He had just made a way to dwell with them in his tabernacle, or what you would say, the tent of God's presence. But no sooner had God started to dwell among them than a tragedy happened. Here's what happened. When two of the priests who were supposed to honor God are flippant about his presence. And you can't accuse the Bible of being boring. Look at Leviticus 10:1:3. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. These priests each took his sensor and put fire on it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them, so they disobeyed and blasphemed him. And this is what happened. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them. And they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord has said. Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified. And before all the people, I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. Crazy story, Veritas. If that makes you a bit uncomfortable. I mean, that's kind of a normal reaction. But my question would be, could it be because we've cheapened the holiness of our Lord and the weight of what his presence means? Maybe the fact that we're pretty flippant about what it means to have Jesus presence among us maybe betrays a bit of flippancy towards sin in our hearts. Because really, what we're saying is it doesn't make that much difference if you literally dwell with us and inside us. My life is still gonna look the exact same. But Paul's saying something different right now. Don't misunderstand me. Veritas. Yes. Will every one of us still wrestle against sin in life? Yes. Is God waiting to smite you as you wrestle against sin? No. Do we live on the other side of the cross? Yes. But we can't cheapen the power of this story. Does it make sense that if the very presence of Jesus is among us, that he would just tolerate and be fine with unrepentant sin and rebellion in his mind midst no fertas. It is the greatest privilege imaginable to have God dwell among us. But what does it look like when we take that privilege and abuse it by not keeping the dwelling place pure and holy? I mean, we know this instinctively if you think about it, right? Like, let me hear some participation from you guys. When you have an important guest or a guest you love coming to stay with you in your house, what do you do to the house, like, rapidly, the day before or an hour before you clean it finally, right? Like you need some incentive. You work well under pressure. You mop the floor, hide the dirty laundry, put the dishes that have been on the sink for a week in the dishwasher, check the mousetraps to make sure they aren't going to have, you know, dead mouse in their closet, whatever. Why? Because you want to be. You want them to be ready, and you want to be ready for the presence of someone important. But Veritas, how foolish are we? We wouldn't tolerate a dirty home, the presence of a guest. Why do we Tolerate a dirty home for the God of the universe who is good enough to dwell with us. No, we won't catch every speck of dirt. Yes, there needs to be ongoing maintenance. No, like, the house is never completely perfectly clean in this life. But shouldn't we want and fight and love to make the dwelling place of God a place that's clean? Shouldn't we want to take sin seriously? Corinth had started to cheapen the presence of Jesus among them, and they cheapened the reality and weight of their sin as a result. But if we understand the weight of what it means to have Jesus holy presence among us, we'd be so much less prone to make peace with the sin that's still in our lives. So now, with this understanding of what Paul's communicating to Corinth firmly in place, we can kind of start to piece together the answer to our question, right? How do we cultivate a heart that's protected from sin's deception? And here's how I'd phrase it. In Paul's answer, according to Second Corinthians 13, protection from sin flows from taking sin seriously, and taking sin seriously flows from taking Jesus seriously. Church, our view of sin is directly tied to our view of Jesus. Do you have a high view of him, of his power, of his presence? Then you'll have a serious view of your sin. But if you have a low view of Jesus, if he's just a moral improvement plan, if he's just a buddy who will never call you to sacrifice anything to follow him, if he's just safe, you're gonna have a flippant view of your sin. But the call for us from God's word is this. To fight for such a high view of Jesus that we can't help but take our sin seriously. Because if we take Jesus seriously, we take our sin seriously. And if you take sin seriously, you will be guarded against this drift and deceit and destruction of sin. So now with this truth in our minds, I kind of want to drill down deeper, and I want to give us, like, two ways to cultivate a heart that's well protected from sin. And these two ways are really more like what you call. They're just two words. Two words that I hope and pray would mark each of us individually and our church. The first word helps us take Jesus seriously, and the second word helps us take sin seriously. And, guys, I would love it if these two words were just frequent on our lips and our minds and in our vocabularies, because I think if they were, we'd cultivate the kind of heart that has a high view of Jesus and a serious view of our sins. So here's the first word. First word is this. Reverence. We need to recover the word reverence, okay? In a culture that struggles to be reverent about anything anymore, Christians more than ever need to recover a reverence and high view of Jesus. And that's hard because, like, we don't swim in a culture that makes it easy for us to cultivate a deep awe or wonder or respect for the one true God and what his holiness actually means. But Jesus is worthy of that type of reverence. And guys, what wise old Christians who have gone before us would tell us is that a real reverence towards Jesus, a deep respect for him, a deep awe for him, goes a long way towards cultivating this kind of heart that sees Jesus as big and sin as serious. Here's how John Owen puts it. I already quoted him once. Here's one more. He says, there's no greater need than to urge men to keep up a constant holy reverence of God, both in their thoughts and in their behavior. And then he says this. The reverent fear of God is the life of Christianity. So do you have that kind of deep reverence for Jesus in your heart? Do you ever tremble at the thought of how big and mighty he is? How do you think about Jesus when you think about Him? How do you speak about Jesus when you speak about him to others? Have you ever really sat, like, with the weight of what his glory and presence means and how you should live in response to it? Because your answer to those questions, they'll surely shape your view of Jesus and your view of sin. And honestly, I think part of the reason that we struggle in this area is this we fail to feed ourselves from the word of God when it comes to reverence. We're full. And I think this is a good thing. We're full when it comes to reflecting on Jesus, grace and mercy and forgiveness and love. But I think we're malnourished when it comes to reflecting on Jesus. Grace, mercy, forgiveness. Sorry, his power, his glory, his holiness. We're malnourished when it comes to reflecting on the high view of Jesus. We need. And so here's what I want to do during your time with God this week. I just want to give you a few passages that I want you to write down that will encourage you and stoke your reverence for Jesus. They're right there on the screen. And I would encourage you during your time with God Just take a few minutes to pick one of those passages. Just reflect on it slowly. Think about how it should change your view of God. Sit with it, keep it on your mind. Pray it back to him. Ask God to stoke your reverence for him as you dwell on who His Word says he is. We need to recover a high view of Jesus and a reverent view of Jesus, and we need to see it in His Word. This is a great starting place for you. Here's a second word, though, and where I want to camp out and take a little more time. After we recover the word reverence, we need to recover the word repentance. See, this is always where reverence for Jesus actually leads. Because when you see Jesus in all his holiness and glory, you'll see how sinful you are. You'll hate your sin for what it is. And after we take Jesus seriously by recovering reverence, we take sin seriously by saying, I need to recover a repentant heart. But I want to get practical here because that word repentance is a churchy word, comes with maybe a host of questions like, what is real repentance? How do I repent? When is it time to call someone else to repentance? How do I do that? Well, I want to equip you guys by giving you a tool that's been really helpful to me. I think this was shown to you guys in a sermon about a year ago. But repetition is the key to learning, so this will still be good for us. This is the repenter's quadrant. It's not original to me. It's a tool. Our college students know it well, used it with almost all of them because it really simply clearly describes what repentance is. And I think it's me really helpful to us. You'll notice there's a conceal to confession axis and then an apathy to action axis. And you can kind of plot where you are based on that. Let me walk you through the categories. If you are concealing your sin and if you're apathetic towards it, that would be called the hider. Like, you're not bringing sin before God and others, and you're also not taking any action against it. And that's really the most dangerous place to be. But don't miss that. There's two other spots that would not be called repentance that are also dangerous. If you are somebody who confesses your sin often but doesn't take action towards it, you'd be called the talker. And I think that's really a helpful language for us to use. Because sometimes we equate confessing or talking about sin with repenting, when that's a part of it, but it's not the whole. Like, maybe you've had someone in your connection group that for the last six months has brought the sin, same sin up over and over, but nothing seems to change. And they kind of seem to make peace with it. That that would be called talking, not repentance. But what's just as dangerous as being the talker is not, or taking action against your sin while still concealing it before God and others. That's called being the fixer. And it's where I most naturally fall on this quadrant. Like a fixer wants to change, they want to grow, they want to leave their sin, but they sometimes struggle to bring it before God and others because they're trying to hold onto their image or control, try to clean things up on their own. But that is fixing, not repenting. But when you find yourself in this intersection between confession of sin and taking action against it, that's repentance and that's what we're aiming for. And here's why this tool is so helpful. Two ways. First, it gives us a really clear definition of repentance. And. But guys, it also gives you really helpful language and categories to practice personal repentance in your own life. You can take some time before God in prayer. You can look at these four quadrants, come before him, and ask God, are there areas in my life where I'm hiding or talking or fixing but not repenting? And then you can ask God, what's one way I can move to the repentance quadrant? Do I need to invite a friend into where I'm struggling and kind of lay my ego down? Do I need to take an action step that I've been avoiding because I don't want my wife to change? Whatever it is, you can use this quadrant to pursue repentance in your own life. But I think that my favorite thing about this tool is that it also gives us the category to pursue the repentance of other people as well. Because repentance isn't just personal. It's a whole church thing. And part of taking sin seriously, it isn't just recovering repentance in our own lives. It's recovering repentance in the church. It's recovering the word repentance. When we go to a brother or sister and say, hey, I'm worried about the direction you are heading and I want to help pull you back. I mean, let's be Honest. Like, it's hard sometimes to figure out how to challenge others. Well, if you're anything like me, maybe sometimes you're like, is that rude? Is it hypocritical? I know I have sin in my life. I don't even know how I challenge them. What if they don't react well? How do I explain to them what I'm worried about? But we need to always come back and remember Paul's example in this passage this morning. Because, yes, Paul was gracious and patient to Corinth. And of course, we shouldn't be itching for a fight. We shouldn't get some weird joy out of pursuing conflict. But Paul confronted sin boldly when it was time. And as Corinth's sin became public and more and more public, Paul confronted their sin more and more boldly. And we should do the same. The more witnesses that are called that see a person's sin or testify to it, the more powerfully we should pursue them and call them to repentance. And as sin became more and more tolerated, Paul confronted sin powerfully, and we should do the same. If we see people making peace with sin in their lives, it is the duty of brothers and sisters in Christ to call them to repentance and church. If we were willing, like, to boldly to compassionately call each other to repentance, we would be so well guarded against sin's deception and our blind spots because we would have people around us always calling us back. And here's what I think this tool does that's so helpful, is it gives you the language to go to someone and to say, hey, I noticed you've shared the same sin struggle for, like, three months, and I could be wrong, but I don't see any change in your life. Is it possible that right now you're kind of being a talker, and if so, how can I help you? It gives you the language to go to someone and say, hey, you haven't asked me to pray for any sin in your life for the past few months. I haven't heard you mention it or what you're currently going through. Through. Is it possible right now you're trying to fix on your own? How can I help you with that? It gives you the language to go to someone and say, hey, I'm really worried about you. I'm seeing evidence of sin in your life. You're drifting from community. I'm worried you're hiding. Can I help you take that step to become repentant again? I mean, what if this was like, shared language for our church to challenge each other on. What if every hider and fixer and talker was challenged to become a repenter? What if every time we slip into being a hider or talker or fixer, someone was there to joyfully call us to repentance? Man, that would be so awesome. And what if every hider, fixer and talker was told they can repent and find forgiveness because the gospel is still true and good news, and tells them they can lay their sin down at the feet of Jesus? That'd be good news. And really guys, it's the gospel that gives us the ability to take Jesus and our sin seriously without being crushed. Because I know this passage like it can create some hard questions. Some of them are good to wrestle through. How can I have hope even after I sin time and time again? How do I take sin seriously without being crushed by it? Where does the truth of the gospel intersect with Second Corinthians 13? I think the answer that holds all this together is found in Psalm 2:1012, one of the verses or passages I gave you. But look at these verses with me. This is what I've been reflecting and meditating on. This is what it says. Now therefore, O Kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling, kiss the sun, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. But then it says this, blessed are all who take refuge in him. Here's what I love about this passage veritas it contains the same challenge to take Jesus seriously. We have been reflecting on this whole time like it calls us Bend the knee to Jesus. Serve him. Rejoice, but also serve him with fear and trembling. And some of you living in unrepentant sin today need to hear that warning. There are people in this room who have begun to tolerate or even celebrate what God hates, and you need this challenge. But don't miss this passage also contains a really precious Blessed are all those who take refuge in him. Not blessed are those who clean themselves up enough to make it to God. Not blessed are those who have done enough good to cancel out the sin that's in their lives. Not blessed are those who have a good enough image. Blessed are those who take refuge in the very person of Jesus Christ. So if you're here today and you're wondering, has my sin disqualified me from the family of God and from knowing God, this is the invitation to run to Jesus, to hide in the shadow of the Cross where he paid the price of your sin so it would never have to fall on you. See, God's word calls us to take Jesus power seriously, calls us to take his presence seriously. But Psalm 2 is also calling us to take this promise seriously. Take refuge in him this morning. Run to him with your sin, cast it at his feet. Look at your sin for what it is. But then look at the cross and all it promises for you. See, the Christian invitation is, anyone, no matter how sinful, can come and find refuge in Jesus. But the Christian call is anyone who comes to Jesus and finds refuge now lives a new life with a new attitude towards sin. These two truths, they go together. They cannot be separated. So what we're calling you to today is to come find refuge in Jesus and know that he's too good to turn you away. But also know that Jesus is too powerful and holy to keep you where you're at. Because the same Jesus who's faithful to save you is also faithful to change you. And the fact that Jesus will surely change us. Let me just tell you as we wrap up, that is really good news. Because here's what I can say with confidence will happen if we become a reverent and repentant church. Here's what I can say with confidence will happen if we take Jesus seriously and our sin seriously. We would be a blessed church, a church that is truly blessed by the living God. How do I know that? Because that's what Jesus himself says when he says this. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Church. The equation is pretty simple. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness is blessing. Reverence and repentance is blessing. Taking Jesus seriously and sin seriously is blessing. Not the blessing of more money, comfort, worldly happiness. Maybe you'll get that, maybe you won't. But the more important blessing you'll have is more of the very living God. The blessing of experience, the glory of his presence among us, the blessing of becoming a pure, holy place for God himself to dwell. Veritas. Let's be a reverent and repentant church. Let's be a church that takes sin seriously. Why? Because we take Jesus seriously and have such a high view of him that we love to conquer and kill sin in our lives. Because if we do that, we will be a blessed church that knows the glory and presence of God. And that is the type of church I want to be yet. Amen. All right. Pray with me. Lord, we are before your very presence now, where your word is opened where your gospel is proclaimed and where your faithful warning against sin is also proclaimed. God. Lord, I pray now that we would take our sin seriously, but it wouldn't be for no reason. Lord, we would take our sin seriously because we take you seriously. Because we see you as high and lifted up. Because we see you as powerful and good and because we long for your presence among us. God, there is no sin that we could cling to that would be a deeper blessing and provide more happiness than the living God. So please forgive us for chasing after counterfeits. Forgive us for hewing out broken cisterns when we have forsaken the fount of living water. And God, may we come back here and now and know that we can take refuge in you. Help us find comfort in the good invitation of the gospel that says Jesus is faithful to save us and that as we take refuge in him we will surely be changed by him. And would you bless this church more and more with yourself? Because we long to be a church that is reverent before you and comes to you in repentance time and time again. We love you and we ask this in your name. Amen.