Am I Me

Real Life presents the Jack Kibs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. You love God, you wreck your Bible, you're saying him some praises, you got worship music on, you're getting on the freeway and some knucklehead, cuts you off and immediately, whoa, that guy, and then the Lord will say, what about our devotion coming together? We are having such a sweet day, Jack. Lord, you are so right, forgive me, forgive me, that's, am I mean, that's the old me. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to Jack Kibs.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying, amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now, open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Kibs. You know, I grew up at a time when you saw somebody talking to themselves, you got away from them real quick. They're either drunk, drugged or nuts are all of the above. But nowadays you see people, they're walking, jogging, talking, sitting, they're talking. There's nobody there, but they're talking away. And you're hoping that you get the angle of perspective that you can see, oh, they haven't here. They've got a Bluetooth. I thought we had a live one here. But how about this? You pull up at a stoplight and you see somebody talking to their hands are going. And, and you, wow, they're really involved in a conversation there. You know, what's interesting about us as believers, we don't have a near peace in and we may not even be on the Bluetooth. And we're talking away. Our hands are flailing around in the car. We're talking to God. We're crying out to Him. Now, I know just now, just saying that. Someone's going to record that and use it in court against me someday. You see how nuts he is? He's nuts. He's admitting that he talks to God by himself. Yes, it is true. It's called prayer. It's well documented. It's in the Bible. But you may be finding in your life as you've been growing along with Christ that you know more of his word than you ever have before. But listen, you have a healthier opinion about yourself and God now than you did maybe three years ago or five years ago or ten years ago. And that is you used to think you're okay. And if somebody stuck a microphone in your face and asked if you were a Christian, you would say yes. And you're quite proud about that. But now as you've walked along and grown along in Jesus Christ, you still confess that you're a Christian. But there's a great sense of humility to that now. You've never known more. You've never been closer. But there's this war. There's this life. There's this existence on the inside of if I know God, if I'm a child of God, then why this? And many people struggle with what we'll call doubts. I hate to use that word. But they're remedied by drawing closer to Jesus and understanding the Bible says. It's great when a believer has doubts because a believer goes to the Bible and gets them answered. Now, look, if you're not a Christian today, maybe you're a very religious person. Maybe you're a very moral person. Maybe you're somebody. I don't know. You have some pedigree of some sorts. Listen, unless you're born again, you'll not see the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said. Well, pastor, my, you don't know. My grandfather was the founding member of the first Bapticostal Church of Los Angeles. The God doesn't care. God doesn't care. Well, on the best citizen in the county says who? God doesn't care. Jesus said, you must be born again. And the moment that that happens, your life will be one of a great and sanctified contradiction as you live your life. It's quite remarkable. So number one, let's dive into this. The question is, am I me? Is Paul's take away from this? We see in verse 13, the first argument, and it's this. It is when it comes to the law of God. Who am I when it comes to the law of God? He writes in verse 13, has then what is good become death to me? He's speaking about the law. That which is good, by the way, circling in your Bible, Bible students, the word are the mentioned reference to good. He's talking about the word of God. God's will expressed in the word. If you want to know the will of God for your life, it's easy to find out. Oh, pastor, I've been fasting. I've been praying just to find out God's will for my life. Great. But have you been reading your Bible while you're fasting and praying? He will speak to you. When he mentions and references the good, it is the word of God. So then is what is good? The word of God become death to me? He says perish the thoughts. Certainly not. But sin, watch, this is what good the word of God does. Sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me. Notice it's death that is revealed by sin. God's word doesn't kill you. Sin kills you. But God's word will address it. Follow with me. Watch this. Producing death in me through what is good so that sin through the commandment might become it's seedingly sinful when I pick up the Bible and I start reading. Watch this. When I pick up the Bible, I start learning things about myself. I do not exactly read this book when I open it up and find out what's in it, it reads me. And I find out about myself. You know what? I find out that my mind is prone to disaster. Bad thoughts, selfishness, anger, lust, temperament. Don't look at me like that. The Bible says every single one of you are just like me. You think thoughts of lust, you think thoughts of selfishness. What's in it for me? And that's a problem. Yet that's why Jesus went to the cross. What about the law of God? Did it kill me? Oh no, no, it didn't kill you. It just revealed that you were dead. So for example, Martha's down. Let God's law be your judge. You know, we live in an age right now where everybody feels like they got a license to judge everybody and yet everybody's saying, you know, don't judge, don't judge. But everybody's judging. It's kind of funny. It's actually one big, ginormous emotional joke because the fact of the matter is God is the only one who can judge. You've got to be perfect to be able to judge. That's why I wouldn't want to be a judge. Think about the ramifications of the day of judgment when a judge stands before God in that position of power. The Bible speaks the same thing about pastors and teachers teaching the word of God. What I teach you, do I live? God's word knows this because God knows this. And the law of God, watch this, mark it down if you would, is the judge. It's the Bible that judges us. And church family, listen up. That's a very good thing. Be very happy that the final judgment does not lie in the hands of men. Thank God, there is no mercy with man. But God's got an answer for all of this. Holy God gives us the holy law. And as David cried out many times that he would throw himself into the mercy of God. Verse 13 says, has then what is good become death to me? Parish the thought, certainly not. So Paul has drawn our attention to the fact that God's law is so divine, so perfect, so pure, but friends listen up. God's law never promised, nor did it ever declare that it could save you from your sins. God's law never said it would take you to heaven. But listen, if you begin to say, I am so good, I have so achieved in this spiritual journey that most of the stuff in the Bible doesn't apply to me. My friend, I'd like to introduce you to Jesus Christ. You need to be born again. Because you cannot think that the law is going to get you into heaven and you think you have faith in Christ. The longer you walk with Jesus, I think 46 years now, I've been a Christian. And they got to tell you, I've got to be honest with you. I've got to give glory to God. 46 years, it's never gotten boring for me. It's never gotten dim. I'm closer to Christ now than ever have been. Here's the deal. I've never thought less of myself. I've never felt more small. I've never felt more of a failure. Why? Because when you get near to him, you become very small, very small. I should be teaching you like this right now, moving over here. Because as you draw closer to him, he is his glory and his holiness that is revealed through the law is the very thing that says to me, Jack, you're a sinner. And I'm convicted. And when the initial conviction comes as a non-believer, you start thinking thoughts, I got to stop living like this. This is right. What if I die like this and God begins to speak to you? Let God's law judge you. And you just remember that. By the way, back in Romans 7, verse 7, the Bible says, what shall we say then, is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. Wow. The law of God is the great revealer. It's not the great saver. It's the great revealer. And I liken it to a mirror. You look at a mirror. I know exactly when was the last time you looked at a mirror. You looked at a mirror just before you came here today. And some of you even looked in the mirror when you parked your car just before you got out. You just, and you looked, and then you got out. And you might have even looked in the mirror in the bathrooms. Why were you looking at the mirror? Why? Honestly, why? You lie. You all you lie, lie. It's all the same thing. How do I look? You everything okay? Right before I come out here, I always go like this. Make sure there's no bats in the cave. Oh, come on. You do the same thing. You look at the mirror to see if the thing's wrong. Now, I don't know what I have something wrong with me. I guess I don't get it. But I at least all my life, I've walked around with food on my face. And the reason why is I can't feel my face. My face is absolutely numb. I just, I don't feel anything. It's always been that way. I can cut myself, JV, and it's like, oh, my gosh, I look in the mirror and I'm like, you know, donating blood. Something strange. And when I get food on my face, I don't know. I don't know about it. And so Lisa is so sweet. Lisa, listen, we've been married 43 years. Listen guys, get a pick a woman who will go like this. You're out to dinner with friends and she'll go, she'll look at you and she'll go. And I know, it's like, I've got spaghetti noodle hang in there. Something's going on. Whatever. And I can't feel it. I can't feel it. And, but without her, it would be there. And before I knew where I could later eat it for lunch, who knows? I didn't know it was there. It was not revealed. And I didn't feel it because I wasn't insensitive to it until I looked in the mirror. And this is the mirror of God. You look at this book and this book speaks to you. And you see that you've got a noodle here and you've got a booger there and you've got a dirt here and God speaks. And he does that because he loves us. God's word lovingly judges us and shows us what's wrong. And if you run away from him, if you are intellectually dishonest with yourself and with God, you don't want to hear anything about this because you've got such a grand view of yourself that you don't want to be disappointed. And God is saying, you need to look at reality and you need to come to know me. And Paul, his first 12 verses of this chapter is all about the life that was. And from verse 13 on, it's all about the life that is as a believer. It's profound. The second thing is this church is let God's love be your assurance. When it comes to the law of God and the question of who am I and in this conduct is that even me. Let the love of God be your assurance. Verse 13 continues and says, but sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good. God's law magnified sin. And right now, today you're saying, honey, why do we come here to this church? Did we get the wrong address? I don't like it here. I want to go some. Somebody might be sitting here today saying, what's going on? Something's happening to me on the inside. I don't like it, but I also know I need it. What's happening? The Holy Spirit's at work. He's using the Bible and watch what happens. If you think you're something and all of your religion is nice, fine, tidy and just predictable. And you consider God pretty privileged to have you in the crowd. Jesus met such people. Luke chapter 5, listen to this. Verse 30, Luke 5, verse 30, and there were scribes and Pharisees. It complained against his disciples. Saying, why do you, they're questioning Jesus? Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Wow. Leave it up to a bunch of religious thugs to question Jesus. Hey, where do you get off hanging out with IRS agents and bad people? And Jesus, come on, if this is the first time you've ever heard the Bible, you've got to fall in love with them right about now. Watch what happens. Jesus answered and said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Think about you. What if you're in that crowd right there? Hey, what's going on with you hanging out with these tax collectors and bad people? I mean, you're pretty good from what we gather. What do you do with them? Hey, no problem, guys. I've come to save those who need saving. Oh, don't worry about it, guys. I've come to be a physician to those who are sick. Don't worry about it. I've come to rescue those who need repentance. He's giving them the right answer, but it's bouncing off their thick head. They saw themselves as self-righteous. And I find it wonderful. When you stop and realize that a follower of Christ is somebody who understands that nobody is perfect, but God, and yet none of us will live a perfect life until we die. We got to die before that happens. Read your Bible carefully. That in the meantime, here's the dividing point. A, the true child of God will still pursue perfection with Christ. He or she is driven by the Holy Spirit to please God. And even when we fail God, it grieves our heart, but like the old song says, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the game again, so to speak. The believer realizes every day that you and I wake up as a true believer, it's Lord I want to live for you. And we don't, we know that it's not our strength. It's God's grace that gets us through. And when we sin, I'm going to explain this in a moment. You're posting, you confessing? Is this a confession hour? This is a conf-, I'm going to confess for you too, that when we get up as believers so close to Jesus and we're heading on the right path, doing everything right, the world is watching, and they think we're stellar, but inside, we allow a temptation to take up habitation from a moment. It could be seconds that turns in the minutes that you might spend ten minutes, twenty minutes, and your mind has gone down the path. Listen, you have gone from temptation, which every one of you who are breathing are subject to, temptation is hitting you, but what you do with it determines if you're walking close to Jesus or not. And as you walk close to Jesus, the temptation hits and you fight it off. Of God, you read your Bible, you sang him some praises, you got worship music on, you're getting on the freeway and some knucklehead cuts you off, and immediately, whoa, that guy, and then the Lord will say, what about our devotion coming together? We are having such a sweet day, Jack. Lord, you are so right. Forgive me. Forgive me. That's, am I me? That's the old me. Lord, I don't want to be me of the past. I don't want anything to do with the me of the past. I recognize him too much. And Lord, I now confess that to you, and I ask you to forgive me. And in an instant, according to the Word of God, our fellowship is restored. And that leads to him being our guide. Let God's light be your guide. Verse 13 ends with this, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. So do you remember the mirror? Look, the mirror reflects what is on you and what you look like. No one ever washes, are you listening church? No one ever washes their face with a mirror. If you try that, you're going to get hurt. God's law, God's Word, shows us. We see it. And we see what needs to be dealt with. The mirror cannot save you. The mirror tells you. The law cannot save you. The law tells you. 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