111. Freedom From Unhitching Part 2

This is not just a matter of a theological disagreement or a disagreement over an ethical issue. It's a matter of gospel importance, and that's not just based upon some kind of theological hunch. That's actually based upon the text of the New Testament. But, of course, there's a lot going on here, and the conference has now been held, and this past Sunday, Andy Stanley took the time in both of the Sunday morning services to respond specifically to me and to the article I wrote. And I'm not making that by inference. He said that explicitly in both services as he introduced his message. Now, the simple fact that he addressed these issues, and the audio is now pretty widely available, if he addressed these issues, I need to pay attention to what he said. And that's for the very simple but very important reason that if we are concerned about doctrinal error, we should be very thankful for doctrinal clarification and doctrinal correction. Now, one of the interesting things is that in addressing what I had written about in the article and talked about on the briefing, Andy Stanley spoke of my argument and my role in this as being one who draws lines, and he contrasted that with Jesus, who he said drew circles. And I quote him here. He said, quote, he, meaning Jesus, drew circles so large and included so many people in his circle that it consistently made religious leaders nervous, end quote. Welcome to the For Freedom Podcast. I found my freedom in you. I found a joy I can't lose. And thank God it's true. You wrapped your arms around me. And heaven broke through from the moment you found me. I found my freedom in you. This podcast exists to bring the freedom of the gospel for everyday Christians with everyday issues. Now here are your hosts, James Saferich and Brett Martin. Welcome back to the podcast. We are continuing our conversation on being unhitched. And it was a good episode last week. I really enjoyed it. We're talking about this conference that Andy Stanley had. We're talking about Al Mohler's response to it. But we've also got some stuff going on. Our Israel trip is still going on. And if you didn't hear last week, we want to let you know that we are still going to Israel. We push it back to March 2025. We want to go. We're going to make it happen. I think, James, we should do a few in the future, maybe sometime next year, we should do some episodes on Israel. I would love to do a little, you know, kind of mini series on Israel just to whet people's appetite for the Holy Land. And then next week, we've got Shannon coming on. We've got an interview with her and she's going to Uganda. And when we were at the For the Sake of the Gospel Conference, man, we heard just a little, a little sliver of her testimony. And man, it's just some of the stuff that she's been through. And I just can't wait to have a conversation with her. And I'm definitely looking forward to that. What else we got going on, James? Well, we, speaking of next year, Brett, we're excited about our next, me and John have never done seasons. I know some people do seasons in podcasts. We just continue to release episodes and we're excited about that. But in the, I guess you would say the next season of the podcast in January, we're going to be doing, we mentioned this several months ago, way before the RFP guys did. I'm pretty sure they stole our idea. We're going to talk about freedom in the church. And I know we're going in a different direction than what they are, but we're going to be doing what freedom allows in church. That's right. Oftentimes. And Brett, you're going to share a little bit of your story of going from Louisiana to Mississippi and, you know, just the, the small illustration of a Sunday night service and having to feel like you have to go to Sunday night service and not realizing the freedom that God does give us in that, even the way of worship. And so we're going to look through the different freedom. We're going to be hitting on music. We're going to be bringing on guests. We're going to be talking through abuse and what that looks like. A lot of different things that we're going to be talking about in the first part of the year, probably Brett, probably eight to 10, maybe even 12 episodes. So it's going to be a long lengthier series that we do. So looking forward to that, looking forward to jumping with that. So with that being said, let us begin talking about the unconditional conference and what Al Mohler said in response to what Andy Stanley said. We, we picked up from last week. If you listen, we'll recap a little bit with the unhitching from the old Testament. We laid that foundation because we wanted you to understand the foundation of where this leads to. This is five years later from unhitching. This is where we're at now. Yeah. So five years later, and he makes this statement, lines and circles. And he begins to talk about where Jesus drew circles and his circles were huge. And Mohler and conservative Christianity has drawn lines. And he said, he makes a statement later in his sermon. I hope that heaven is big so that I never have to be around the people that draw lines. Because Jesus is going to draw circles and everyone's going to be welcome. Basically, as I would say, I know I'm misquoting him a little bit there, but he made sense of that effect. And you can listen to the message and hear it. But Jesus did draw circles, not debating that. He drew circles for sinners. He drew circles for prostitutes. He drew circles for tax collectors. He even drew circles that made the Pharisees cringe. They didn't like it. They didn't like that Jesus brought in a tax collector named Matthew. They hated it. They didn't understand how he could recline in the room with sinners and tax collectors. Think about how Simon the Zealot felt bringing Matthew the tax collector in. Oh, yeah. I mean, there had to be a little bit of underneath the surface tension there. You know, I mean, I know, you know, I don't know if you've seen The Chosen or not. The Chosen talks about that, too. But, man, he of the Seraphonician woman, I mean, this was a Gentile woman. I mean, Jesus is out here healing Romans, you know, the centurions, you know, family and daughter and things like that. And like you said, you're right. I mean, the Pharisees couldn't believe the people that Jesus was hanging out with. So, yes, he did draw circles. He said everybody is welcome. Everybody, I'm for everybody. Yeah. He also included in that circle Nicodemus, who was religious. He included Joseph of Arimathea, who was on the most highest Supreme Court of the religious. Both of them were. He allowed them to enter that circle. But he didn't just end there. He drew lines as well. You can't look at Jesus' teachings. And I like how Moeller says it. He said, Jesus said, he drew lines of belief and unbelief. He drew lines of faithfulness and unfaithfulness. And then the most ultimate line that he drew, he said, there are going to be sheep and there are going to be goats. And there are going to be those who believe. And there's going to be those who say they believe. But yet they're goats and they're wolves in sheep clothing. And so where he drew circles, he also drew lines. And these lines were very, very straight and very, very specific. And we have to understand that, yes, there is a time and a place to draw circles. And there is a time and a place to cast your net wide and say, come all who believe. But there's also a time to say, we've got to draw lines. We've got to say that this is right and this is wrong. This is just and this is unjust. This is what you should do. And this is what you shouldn't do. I'll throw this out there, Brett. I'm studying right now and preaching through the book of Colossians. Fantastic book. I think you said once it was one of your favorite books, I think, in the New Testament. Definitely. And so in Colossians, where I was at and where we've been studying, this is what Peter says. I'm sorry. Paul says to the book of Colossae. He says this, but you have now also put away, I'm sorry, verse 5, 3, 5. Therefore, put to death the parts of the earthly nature. And you're ready? He draws some lines here. He says, these are some things we should put away. Sexual immorality, uncleanness, inordinate affections, evil desires. I'm not quoting the Old Testament here. This is the New Testament. Just so in case you were wondering, Colossians is in the New Testament. Covetousness, idolatry. Because these things, what are they? The wrath of God comes upon those who are sons of disobedience. You once walked in these, and you lived in them. But now you must put away these things, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. And do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old nature with its deeds. That's Paul drawing some pretty specific lines in the New Testament. Sounds like a line to me. Yeah. He's saying, put off these things. Get rid of them. Don't have them around you. Again, sexual immorality. Uncleanness, inordinate affections, evil desires, covetousness, which is idolatry. Those are some pretty specific lines there that Paul writes in the New Testament to the New Testament church and says, listen, there's times for you to welcome everyone. But there's times also to draw lines and say, no, we can't have this. Let me add to that by reading some scripture that Mohler quoted on the briefing. He quoted 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9 and 10. Is that the New Testament or the New Testament? Let me check. It's in the New Testament. Okay. Okay. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Once again, lines. And just to say, yes, Jesus, just like Mohler said, yes, he drew circles. But to say he never drew lines is just completely, it's unfair to say that. And then verse 11 continues, and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. So, yes, we have this past where we're sanctified, we're washed, we're justified. And I love how Mohler put it. He said, and this is the essence of the gospel. It's the promise of the gospel. Past sin, present faithfulness, future glory. That's the gospel. Yeah, absolutely. You know, Brett, I want to, we stopped to verse 11. And I just now, in this moment, we're reading verse 12. And I think it's going to segue well into what Andy Stanley's error of teaching is. It says this, all things are lawful to me. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have freedom to do whatever we want through Christ's freedom. But then Paul says, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me again, but I will not be brought under the power of anything. And how often is the power of sin what we bring into our life? The power that sin brings into our life that causes us to fail, that causes us to stumble and fall in our sinful nature. Where Christ is saying, no, you have been justified through Christ. And we cannot, like, I don't know if Mohler said this or if I read it somewhere, but we cannot carry our sin of the past into the present and we can't take it into the future. The sin of the past is in the past. And we cannot let that sin hold on to us. And we definitely can't take it into the future where Christ says we have been justified and will be sanctified. Okay, sanctification cannot allow sin into that. And so we have to look at our life. We have to say, okay, what is this line? And what did Andy Stanley teach at this conference? He didn't teach specifically. He brought people in that taught at this conference. And so let's begin to go through this conference a little bit for sake of time. We've got a lot to cover, but we want to be faithful stewards of our time as well. So, Brett, let's begin talking through the conference, the people that were there, the people that they brought in, and then what they taught and what Andy Stanley taught on specifically marriage and sexuality. One of the things that he talked about that he specifically said at the conference was Andy Stanley kind of, he confirmed that his church stands on a marriage between a man and a woman. Like he, you know, he made that statement. Yes, we teach that. But one of the points that Al brought up about it, what Andy Stanley said, is that he was a, he mentioned it in a very pragmatic way. Like when he talked about sex outside of marriage, okay? He says sex outside of marriage in any context is wrong. But then he, Andy made the statement, has sex outside of marriage made your life better or worse? You know, very, very, very pragmatic view. And to me, that's pretty subjective, you know, as opposed to, you know, basing a belief on the objective truth of the Bible. It's wrong no matter what you feel about it. Whether it's helpful or not, it's wrong. Right, yeah. It doesn't matter how you feel about it. It's wrong either way. Right. So, yes, Andy Stanley confirms that a marriage between a man and a woman. But then again, he has, he brings in people to speak at the conference who are in a homosexual marriage. And I think the reason why he thinks this is okay is, are you ready to play your clip? Yeah, let's do it. Let's play it because you showed me this clip and it floored me as much as it floored you. And I think this goes to the root of Andy Stanley's logic. And I also want to hear you talk more about it as well because, you know, you've got something to say about that. Yeah, this is at the end of Andy's sermon. So, he's 45 minutes into the sermon. And most people wouldn't even get, in our realm, wouldn't even get to this part because it's so far in and it's just hard to listen to at times. Some other great things. And, Brett, we need to talk about the good things. Before we play this clip, let's talk about some of the positive things from this. They talk about the group that was formed out of this. Talk a little bit about that. So, Parent Connect is something that they, you know, we have parents who their kids are coming out. And they say, we don't know what to do. We read them Bible verses. We pray for them. You know, we don't know what to do. So, in his church, he's gotten kind of a group together for parents that have kids that, you know, have come out and how to deal with your kids, how to deal with this situation. And listen, I don't have a problem with this. Putting a group together for parents whose kids have come out, I think that's a very helpful thing. And what it reminds me of, have you ever heard of Al-Anon? I have not. Al-Anon is a support group for the family members of Alcoholics. So, you've got AA and then you've got Al-Anon for the family members. And this kind of reminds me of Al-Anon where it's like you have, okay, man, my kids are going through this. I don't know how to deal with this. I don't know what to do next. And putting these parents together in a group and teaching them how to deal with their kids, I think it's a good thing. I think it's a great thing. And here's the three points of his Parent Connect group. Number one is love the kids well. Absolutely. Fantastic. You don't throw somebody away just because, say, for instance, they've come out as a homosexual. Yeah. You don't. Jesus didn't do that. Jesus didn't throw anybody away. Okay. He did not. He accepted everybody. You can't sit down and have a meal with somebody because of something they're doing. You need to reexamine because Jesus would fellowship with anybody. Hey, number one. Just stop right there. Did he throw Paul away because he killed Christians? Good point. Not just the sexuality. Your sin does not define who you are. Your sin is simply part of your fallen nature, but it doesn't define us because Christ says, I came to redeem you for the glory of God, not so that you can live in your sin. And our sin doesn't define us. And we're going to hit on that in a minute. I want you to remember that. Our sin doesn't define us. Go ahead. So number one, love the kids well. And this is what these parent connect groups teach. Number two, we have to continue to point them to Jesus. And I would wholeheartedly agree with that. When you're dealing with this type of situation, you keep pointing them to Jesus. You keep pointing them to the gospel, pointing them towards Christ. This is all positive stuff. And then number three, help parents discover what God wants to do in their own hearts. Okay. So parents, we need to help you deal with the situation as best you can. What's God's purpose and plan for you? I thought that this group was a great idea. And I thought that this is a very, very helpful thing. And, you know, for the most part, I don't have a problem with a group like this. Yeah. And I thought it was great. I think that those, that is what the church can do to help and to help well is to have these support groups. And ultimately you're sharing the gospel with these parents. They're able to go back and love their kids because they're in sin. I'm not saying that you accept what they're doing. Saying love the person that they are. And you're able to empower these parents to go with confidence of the gospel to go and love their kid. If their kid were to be, let's use the same illustration as a murderer, wouldn't expect that parent to neglect their child and no longer talk to their child and abandon their child. No, they're going to go and they should love their child and they should share the gospel with that child. And they should help that child to go through the stages of repentance, the stages of accepting Jesus. And that's the problem. That's what's missing here. And that's what we're going to talk about at the very end. So, so that's a great part there. Let's go ahead and play this clip now, because this is where one of the big errors, there's two big errors. One that I'm going to show here. And then the next one that John sort of enlightened me on as I was talking to him today on, and we're going to try to find that clip and play it as well. But this is the first clip. Now, look, all of us have felt shame about things we've done. All of us have felt shame about things we haven't done. But I bet you've never carried shame about who you are. That's the difference. And when people say to me, well, Andy, it's just like I just stop them. I say, no, this is not like anything. This is an is. It is a category all unto itself. It's a category all unto itself. It is an is. What he has done here, Brett, I don't know if he did it knowingly. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he did it unknowingly. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he did not realize what he was doing here. Because I believe Andy Stan is a wise man. And I think maybe he was just in the emotion side of it. You could hear it in his voice. He's emotional. I believe that what he did here was he began to put homosexuality, same sex marriage, the LGBTQ movement in its own category of sin. Their sin, and this is wrong. Killing someone, lying, cheating, stealing. That's wrong and that's sin. But the LGBTQ movement, the same sex marriage, the same sex attraction, whatever you want to call it, it's in its own form. It's a different type of sin. And that sin, it has redemption in and of itself. Like there's a different way of redemption. Just the sin that Christ came to die on the earth for, it's a different sin outside of that. They're born this way. All of a sudden, he begins to use this language that I don't see anywhere in Scripture. Can't find it. I'm looking. I'm looking. I've looked in the Old Testament. I know we unhitched from that. I'm joking there. Looked in the Old Testament. Looked in the New Testament. And I cannot find this new realm of sin that he's talking about. It's like he says he's made his own little category because he presupposes that it's impossible to get victory over homosexuality. And because it's impossible to do, he separates it from every other category of sin. And it's just, it's amazing that you point, it took me a second to listen to that clip a couple of times to really understand what he was, what he, what he's trying to say. You know, one of the quotes that he made is he says, quit trying to change him to stop parents to their kids. Quit trying to change him and find new ways to love him. Well, you know, that sounds nice. But first, the parents can't change kids anyway. And the kid can't change himself. It's Jesus that changes us. And then, you know, you can love somebody without affirming their sin. And so, you know, I just think that that's something that we need to talk about. So one more thing I want to say about that clip that we played was, you know, he's talking to the audience and saying, you have never been ashamed of your identity like this group over here has. And what I want to say about that is, you know, it goes back to our identity. You know, we are who Jesus says we are. Okay. Our identity is assigned to us. And if someone is ashamed of their identity, they're ashamed of who they are, they're to change it to match what Jesus said, to match what the Bible says, what God has for us. Listen, God gives everybody a thorn in the flesh. You know, it's to keep us humble. It's to keep us needing God. We find peace in Jesus. We don't find peace indulging in our sin. And I want to say one more thing, because that goes into something else that I have written down. Another statement that he makes is this is Andy Stanley. He talking about these middle schoolers, that their attraction, that they have attraction that they did not choose, but was chosen for them. Okay. But, you know, James, the thing is, we all have attractions that we ought not act on. Okay. Attractions that we were born with, that we have no control over. If someone is tempted to have heterosexual sex, you know, heterosexual sex, you know, outside of marriage, that's a desire that we shouldn't have. Okay. And, you know, I make it a point when I preach, when I preach homosexuality, that I'm also going to hit on adultery. I'm also going to hit on fornication because they're not in categories separate. They're in the same category. It's sexual immorality. It's all the same thing. And part of Andy's problem is he's compartmentalized it. He's sequestered it and saying, we can't use the Bible to define this category. I have to come up with a new way to look at this because the Bible doesn't sufficiently address it. Yeah. And he also talks about this. He makes a statement in here. He says, celibacy isn't sustainable. Where he talks about same-sex couples and, you know, people have these desires. And he made this statement. He said he justified by saying the LGBTQ person wouldn't be satisfied with this because their relationship is viewed as less. And I often think that this right here, he essentially is just saying the Bible is wrong. Plain and simple. Like, hey, listen, they've tried really hard. They're made this way. They're born this way. However you want to say it. And so, you know, celibacy is just not sustainable. So just let them give in to whatever desires they have. And what Al is saying there is he's saying that saying that, that when he says that, he's saying the LGBTQ community is not going to be satisfied with Andy's answer because it's still viewed as their relationship is less than a heterosexual relationship. And so Al is saying, look, you know, this is the answer you're giving, Andy. It not only matches up with the Bible, but it also is not satisfactory to the LGBTQ crowd. Yeah. And he goes even a step further and says, you know, if this were the case, we would get up and say, well, you know, being faithful to my wife just isn't sustainable either. Right. And all of a sudden now you've opened up the floodgates to justify whatever you want by saying it's just not sustainable. Me not robbing a bank is just not sustainable. I'm just eventually going to have to do it. Got to do it. And so this is this thought of, again, you go back to Colossians where I'm preaching it right now. I'm using that because this is what's fresh in my mind. And Paul is saying here through Christ, Christ is saying through Paul's writings, put off these things and put on Christ, put off sexual morality, put off lying to others, put off inordinate desires and put on the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a putting off and a putting on very clearly in scripture, and we must be aware of it. And we must understand that that is biblical. And this thought of, well, it's just not sustainable. I just can't. Yeah, of course you can't do it in and of yourself. I can't do it in and of myself. It's only through the grace and the power of Jesus Christ that I can do this because I am fleshly and I am sinful and I am going to do wrong. But it's through Christ that I have the freedom to live in him. And that's where Andy gets it wrong because he begins to take this area. And I'm going to go ahead and quote John because he pulled it out to me. And we'll talk about this and then we'll talk through what Andy didn't talk about, the last two things. But he said that he believes that Andy's biggest fault in theology is not that he has his theology wrong. It's that he has his view of Christ wrong, his Christology wrong. His view of Christ is the view of the ethics of Christ, that if we can just live like Christ, then we'll be justified, right? If we can live the right way, if we can, you know, he talks through some things of as far as, you know, don't have sex before marriage and living a right way, then all of a sudden we'll be fine. And he pulls this out. He says it a little bit, but he doesn't, he said, he talks about the ethic, the Christian ethic or Christ ethic. And we'll pull this clip out and it'll be the last clip of paper before we wrap this up. As it relates to sexuality, here's what we teach. And hopefully you know this. I feel like if you've been coming for a while, there should be no question about this, but I don't mind just putting it out there. We teach what I refer to as a New Testament sexual ethic. In fact, I wrote a whole book about this, the new rules for love, sex, and death. The New Testament ethic, the New Testament Christian ethic or the Christ ethic. And this is not the, he's basically teaching the ethics of Christ and he's teaching that you can be ethically just if you're doing the right ethics, but he's not teaching the essence of Christ. He is not teaching the Godhead of who Christ is and the preeminence of who Christ is in our life. And when Christ is Lord over all in our life, everything else fades away because Christ is front and center and Christ is supreme in our life. And that's the difference. He misses the essence of Christ when he just talks about the ethics of Christ, because Christ was ethically pure. He was, he was pure. And yes, that is our goal and desire to be ethically pure, but without the essence of Christ will never be that. And we have to have Christ in us and living through us in order for that to happen. Exactly. He's missing the person of Christ. And, you know, it's, it's more than just a, the Bible is more than just a, you know, a guidebook on, you know, how to live and how to treat your neighbor. And while it is all of those things, what reveals to us is the person of Jesus. And that is what's going to make the, make the difference. Okay. Um, you know, I, I think what's missing in Andy's message and Al brought this up too, is repentance is missing. Yeah. There's no repentance here. It's repentance is essential from the gospel. One of the things that we get from the new Testament is that, you know, it may seem like, you know, repentance is impossible in certain situations, but the Bible tells us that repentance is a gift from God. Like God is the one who gives us repentance and repentance is a change of mind. Okay. And if you say that your sin isn't wrong, how is that a change of mind? Al hit the nail on the head when he said that you, you can't carry your sin into your Christian life. You can't carry that sin into, uh, your salvation. You have to, you have to change your mind. You can't bring that sin into your Christian life. Uh, that would be a departure from the faith. Yeah. And you know, Andy, he presupposes, like I said earlier, that homosexuality is impossible to get the victory over. Well, number one, the Bible promises you promises that you can get victory over any sin and it's not a separate category. It's not its own thing. Sin falls under the category of sin. And number two, there are people walking around who have got the victory in this area. Um, it varies. Some have gotten complete victory over it. Some people still struggle with it. But like I, this is one of my favorite things to say about sin is only saved people struggle with sin because for the unsaved person, it's just another decision for them. But, you know, there's some people who struggle with this, but they don't maybe not have complete victory over it. But, you know, the different walks varies. But the process of sanctification is different for everybody. What I think this boils down to, and tell me what you think about this, is I think that this is a cover for Andy to teach people that it's okay to tolerate certain sin. Yeah. Yeah. It's a tolerant gospel. Yeah. And I want to go back just a minute there because I agree with what you're saying. But, uh, the command of Christ is repentance. Repent and believe. Repent and believe. All throughout scripture. Repent and believe is what happens. Andy is teaching, believe and stay where you are. My circle's huge. Heaven's going to be big. Believe in Jesus, but don't change who you are. And that is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 11 says it like this. But I fear that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve through his trickery, so your minds might be led astray from the simplicity that it is in Christ. In verse 4, for if he who comes preaching another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which we have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, that you might submit to it readily enough and flee from it. This is what it is. This is another gospel. And this is saying that you can come to Jesus without changing who you are. But Paul and every other apostle that wrote any martyr scripture says, no, you must repent, turn from where you are, and believe in who Jesus is in order to be saved. But I believe, after listening to this message, that Andy is saying, you don't need to repent. You were made this way. You're born this way. Stay who you are, believe, and live the rest of your life. And I don't see that in scripture anywhere. You know, you mentioned the fact that he said, heaven's big, big circle. But you know, I read somewhere, and you can help me, that I read somewhere in some book that narrow is the way. Right. And few there be that find it. And I think I read somewhere else that says, broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many will go therewith. The therewith is for the KJV listeners. I put that in there as a bonus. Yes. But listen, just because it's in, and kind of what I want to close out by saying is, look, just because it's a sin, doesn't mean we should be intolerant of the sinner. Too many Christians, they do this. And this is where the mistake comes in. They mess up because they're so intolerant of the sin that they're also intolerant of the sinner. And that's anti-gospel. That's anti-Jesus. That wasn't the message of Jesus. He ate with sinners. He fellowshiped with them. But at the end of the day, the last thing he would say to them is, go and sin no more. And that's what's missing from Andy. Nowhere in all of this and the messages that we've listened to, did he ever say those words to those who are fighting this battle. He never said the words, go and sin no more. Right. And you're exactly right. And I'm going to, I'm going to quote that verse because one of the times where Jesus said it, because so often this is the departure of truth where Andy's at. He is saying, come and stay the way you are. But Jesus, when the woman was caught in adultery and she was brought before him and they said, let's stone her. And Jesus began to stoop down and wrote in the sand. And he stood up and he looked at this woman that was caught in adultery, that was prostituting, that could have very easily said, I was made this way. God designed me to be a prostitute for the rest of my life. Why would I change? Like, this is how I make my living. This is where I'm going to be. And Jesus stood up and he said, woman, where are your accusers? Did not, did no one condemn you? And she said, Lord, she said, no, Lord. And Jesus said to hear, neither do I condemn you. I don't condemn you of your sins, but now I'm commanding you to do this. Go and sin no more. He told her, do not live in this prostitution. Do not live this lifestyle because this is lifestyle is not the lifestyle that Christ has made for us. He's saying, I don't condemn you. I have given you forgiveness. In order to receive that forgiveness, go and sin no more. She could have said, you know what? Nope, I'm not going to do it. She wouldn't have received the repentance. She didn't repent. She weren't able to go forward, but she, we don't know the story when all happened to her, but we do see that she got the command to go and sin no more. And that's what sanctification is. Repentance leads to sanctification. And this is the error that Andy's at. He doesn't preach the repentance in the message that we just listened to. The message of the, I love, I love my church, that sermon. He did not preach repentance one time. He did not preach sanctification of, of the freedom that the free from the sin that they're in. The Christian life is not bringing your sin into it, but it's fleeing from your sin and running to Christ. Exactly. It's never, the gospel isn't accepting of sin. It's, we need to get victory over it. We need to move past it. And, uh, you know, that's what the, that's what the gospel does. He helps us get victory over our sin. Absolutely. All right. Well, thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for listening. We don't thank you enough. We appreciate you guys. Uh, we don't do this for ourselves. We do this because we want to help. And, uh, if you'd ever want to share this or like this, reach out to me or Brett. Uh, we've had several good responses and people that have reached out to us over the last couple of weeks and months. And, uh, we appreciate the feedback. Um, again, we're winding down for this year and, uh, we thank you guys for listening. Uh, if you have found any of our episodes to be helpful, like, and share and leave us a rating and a review, it does help us, um, on getting this out to people, uh, who may need help with these things. So until next time to God, not the pastor, be the glory. Found my new name. Found that good grace. Found that healing. And the tears fell down my face when I found my beginning. Has no ending. Found that second chance. Found my best friend. Found my forgiveness. Found my happiness. I've been singing ever since. Found my freedom in you. Thanks for listening to the for freedom podcast. If you enjoyed our content, do us a favor by liking, subscribing, or sharing our podcast or whichever podcast platform you use. Be sure to join us next time for the for freedom podcast. Thank you.

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