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This comes from Brandon.
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He says, "I need help.
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Only last night, I've learned what true
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Christianity is,
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which is living by faith,
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or seeking and living for God
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in everything
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and not living in habitual sin.
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I, too, was told that the sinner's prayer
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is your way to heaven,
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but I was really wrong.
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Right now, I live in habitual sin,
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and I need to know how to repent.
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I want to know how to
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let go of myself.
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I can tell you that I honestly
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believe in God and in His Son,
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and I do hate sin.
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But it's overpowering,
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and I need Christ in my life.
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How can I be saved?
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How do I get to the point
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where I completely let go?"
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I want to bring this one up,
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because I don't doubt that there are some
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of you here that are wondering
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exactly this:
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how to I repent?
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You know what's amazing?
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Is that when Jesus Christ came,
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He didn't explain it.
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He said, "Repent."
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Repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand.
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Repentance. Let me tell you something.
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In Luke 13:1-5
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Christ says this,
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"Unless you repent, you will likewise perish."
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Can I tell you something?
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Everyone in this room, that applies to.
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If you do not repent, you will perish.
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Here's the thing.
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Repentance is something you must do.
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You know, when John the Baptist came on,
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and he said, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand."
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He said bring forth fruit,
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bring forth works
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that are in accordance with repentance.
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That are suitable to repentance,
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that are meet for repentance.
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And they came to him and they said,
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ok, we're soldiers, what do we do?
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We're tax collectors, what do we do?
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We're the common people, what do we do?
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And he didn't say,
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"Do nothing. There's nothing you can do."
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You know what he said?
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He said basically turn away from sin.
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Leave it.
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Walk away from it.
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So, let's come back to this.
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Brandon says, "I need help."
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He's wondering ok, I need to know
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what I need to do to truly repent.
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Well, what I would say, Brandon,
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is: Repent.
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You see we've missed what that is.
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Well, what is repentance?
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Well, the Bible says there's a godly sorrow
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that leads to repentance.
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Are you guys sorrowful for your sin?
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If you're not sorrowing over your sin,
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you're pretty wicked; you're pretty wretched.
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You've got a pretty depraved heart
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if you can't be sorry over your sin.
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Look, if you're not sorry over your sin,
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there's no reason to even talk about repentance.
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If you're not sorry over your sin,
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you love your sin,
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ok, go on with your life and love your sin.
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And yes, there will be hell to pay at the end.
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The pleasures of sin are there for a season.
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Go out and drink them up.
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If that's what you want,
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and that's what your heart is set on,
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go do that.
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But you know what?
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As a preacher of the Gospel,
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what I'm called to do on behalf of Jesus Christ
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command you to repent.
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What does that look like?
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How do I get prepared for it?
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No, you don't get prepared for it.
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You repent.
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What does that mean?
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It's a turning from sin.
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That's what it is.
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It is a turning.
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You say, "I can't do it."
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Well, the Bible never says you can't do it.
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The Bible says do it.
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And it doesn't give this precise definition.
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You know why?
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You know what that means?
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Look, let me explain this to you.
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This has everything to do
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with trusting Christ.
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Think about the different times
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when Christ told people
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to do things that in and of themselves
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it was impossible to do.
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Does He not do that?
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Does He not repeatedly tell
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men and women to do things they couldn't do?
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For instance,
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"Rise up and walk."
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To a palsied man.
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What did he do?
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He rose up and walked?
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You say that's impossible!
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Well, certainly it's impossible!
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It's just as impossible for your heart
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that loves sin to repent of it and turn away from it.
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But what I'm telling you is do it!
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You see what that guy did?
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He heard Christ say it to him?
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And he said, ok, I believe.
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I believe that Jesus Christ is going to do something
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to me by which I'm going to be able to do this.
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And that's what I'm calling you to do as well.
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He says repent.
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And I'm telling you to trust Him,
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that He'll do something to you
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that's going to make it possible for you to do it.
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What's repentance?
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It's turning away from sin.
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That's exactly what it is.
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If you don't repent, you're going to perish.
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Well, what's that look like?
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Well, whatever sin you've got in your life.
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Look at your life right now.
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Do you have sin there?
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Turn from it.
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If it's like this sexual lust and temptation
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we've been talking about,
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turn from it.
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Go away and sin no more.
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Isn't that what Christ said?
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You say, but I can't. I've tried.
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Well, you've tried in your own strength.
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You've got to do it in the strength of Christ.
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What does that look like?
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It looks like this:
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It looks like, "Oh Lord,
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I feel temptation coming on.
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Lord, I don't think I can stand up against this.
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Lord, if You don't help me, I'm going to fall.
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I'm going to fall."
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It's kind of like Peter standing in the boat.
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Do you think Peter had the ability
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to walk on water?
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Do you think Peter had the ability
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to cause that surface tension
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on the water to be so tight
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that it would bear his weight?
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He couldn't do such a miracle.
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He had no control over water in that fashion.
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Nature was beyond his control.
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Again, it's this,
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Come.
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That's what Christ says to you.
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Do you think Christ is bidding you to come
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to a life of conquering sin?
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Yes, that's exactly what He's doing.
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That's exactly what He's calling you to do.
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He's calling you to come to Him.
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Peter could no more walk
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on the water than you can.
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Was he able to get there?
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Yes, but as soon as he took his eyes
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off Christ, what did he do?
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He started going down.
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Folks, this is really not complex.
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The reason people get so hung up with it,
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is this:
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They're looking to trust themselves
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and to produce some kind of repentance
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that they can then come take to God
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and say, "see what I've done,"
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"Now, save me."
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That's not what it is.
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What it is is doing what Christ
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beckons you to do
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in His strength.
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You say, how do I get strength from Him?
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Well, it's trust.
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It's trust.
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It's like the person that's going to jump
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off the second floor when there's a fire up there
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and there's a fireman down there,
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a great big guy, and he says,
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"Jump, and I'm going to catch you."
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It's that kind of thing.
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He's saying jump!
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And you're saying,
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"I can't tell you're going to hold me."
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But you step out there,
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and He holds you.
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Same kind of thing.
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I guarantee you,
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Look, Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners.
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You put your trust in Him,
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He's not going to let you fall.
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Some of the most incredible
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desires and passions to afflict us
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come with what we've already talked about,
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these sexual passions.
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I'll tell you what,
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you get out there where His name's on the line,
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"Lord, I'm sinking. I'm sinking!"
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"If you don't give me a way out of this,
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I'm going down!
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I'm going to fall into this."
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Whatever it is in your life.
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If you're addicted to pornography.
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If you're addicted to money.
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If you're addicted to lust in the mind.
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If you're addicted to food.
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If you're addicted to some drugs.
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If you're addicted to alcohol.
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You've got some addiction for
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pride and for applause and for recognition,
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whatever it is,
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you've got homosexual tendencies,
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folks, I'm telling you, whatever it is,
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repentance is to turn away from it.
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You say, but how do I do it?
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You turn away.
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You say, but I can't.
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You certainly can.
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In the strength of Christ, you can.
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And do you guys ever read about
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how it was in the Scriptures?
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It was like here comes Pharoah,
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and Moses is saying,
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"Lord, what do we do?
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We're in trouble."
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"The people are crying out."
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And God says, what are you standing there for?
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It's kind of like the priests at Jordan.
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You know what?
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He didn't just stop the water.
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He said, you know what,
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the priests have got to go down
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and put their feet in.
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Ok, you've got a Roman soldier
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who's in the grip of sin.
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He comes to John the Baptist
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and says what do I do?
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He didn't say do nothing,
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just sit there and wait on God.
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God's sovereign.
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God is sovereign, and I don't take away from that.
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But he didn't say you just sit there
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and do nothing because God's sovereign.
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What did he do?
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He said you guys need to stop extorting.
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Ok, don't chase after money anymore.
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Don't use your superior strength
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and your weaponry to extort people
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and get things from them,
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get their service from them,
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get their money from them,
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don't extort things away from people.
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Tax collectors - they came to him.
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And same kind of thing.
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Be honest.
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Look, if you're here today
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and you've got sin in your life,
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you've wronged people,
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you're bitter at people,
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you've got jealousy, you've got envy in your life.
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You've got these different kind of things
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that you've been controlled by.
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You hate people.
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You hate somebody.
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You're in bondage to something.
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Stop. Repent.
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Turn from it.
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Not so that you can go to God and say,
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"See Lord, see what I did."
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"Now will You save me?"
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That's not it.
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It's "Lord, I can't do this
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unless You do this for me."
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But you see how that's trusting Christ.
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That's turning away from your own
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reliance on yourself.
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Must you do something?
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Yes.
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But not relying on yourself.
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You rely on Christ.
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Repent.
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Turn.
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Walk away.
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And bottom line,
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people come along and they say,
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"Well, I would repent if I could."
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What are you saying?
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Are you saying you can't?
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What you're telling me is you won't.
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That's what you're saying.
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Because I'll tell you this,
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every single person who has turned
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from their sin trusting that Christ will give them
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deliverance from it, has been delivered.
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A lot of people in this room have been.
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You say you can't repent.
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Well, that's interesting.
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God commands you to do it.
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God desires you to do it.
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I've done it.
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Many sitting around you have done it.
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So what in the world are you saying?
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You can't do it.
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What you're saying is you won't do it.
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Or what you're saying is
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what you've tried to do,
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is you've tried to clean up your life
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and make it pretty so that God's arm
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was twisted to have to save you.
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But that's not what I'm talking about.
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I'm talking about where you basically come to the end
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of yourself and you say,
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just like the palsied man,
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that man had nothing in him
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to allow him to rise up out of that.
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And yet, did he try to stand?
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He did.
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And what Christ is saying to you is this,
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no, you don't have power over your sin
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to conquer this thing;
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you don't have power to clean up your life,
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you don't have power to beat this thing.
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But He tells you: Walk.
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Just like He told that man.
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In a physical sense, "Rise up and walk."
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He's telling you in a spiritual sense:
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Walk.
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And you can no more do it
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than that man could.
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But that man could do it.
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Not in his own strength.
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Can you imagine the first time?
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Walk.
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The man's palsied, he's crippled.
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And yet suddenly, he tried to move the leg,
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and it moved!
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And he set it on the ground,
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and it lifted him!
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Why?
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Because Christ gave him the strength.
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You see, when there's a trust
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and a reliance on Him,
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He will give you the strength
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to do what you need to do.
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This really comes back to the whole
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masturbation thing too.
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If you will say,
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"Lord, I'm trusting You."
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"Your name's at stake here, Lord."
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"You tell me to follow You,
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and I don't believe You were a masturbater.
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And so I'm going to seek to walk
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the line of purity."
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Just like Peter coming out of the boat.
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Keep your eyes on Him.
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Because I'll tell you what,
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if they get off,
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you're going to start sinking.
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You've got to keep them there.
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They've got to be on Christ.
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He's got to be your trust;
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He's got to be that source from which you draw.
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And you've got to be pleading with Him,
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you've got to be crying to Him,
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"Lord, You know this sin in my life,
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You know I'm going down,
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I've never been able to conquer this.
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Lord, if You don't help me..."
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You start telling people,
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I'm trusting the Lord to give me victory.
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Put Christ out there.
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"Lord, I'm putting Your name on the line.
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I'm telling people about You.
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I'm trusting You."
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That's what repentance is.
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Repent.