New Heart, Not Just Better Behavior

Stop striving and start trusting to wake up tomorrow and say, God, I don't need to fix myself today. I need to walk in what you've already done in me. Some of us need to lay something down today. The pressure to perform, the guilt you keep carrying, the quiet belief that God is already a little disappointed in you, and instead you need to receive this that he has made you new. Not improved, not patched up, new. So what would that look like this week to stop trying to be a better version of the same you and start living as the new you that Jesus has already created in you? [01:13:47] (48 seconds)  #TrustNotStrive

You wake up thinking, I need to do better today. I need to get it I've gotta get it right today. God's probably disappointed in me. And so you try. You try to be more disciplined. You try to walk the straight and narrow. You try to clean the things up on the outside. And here's the problem. You are still relating to God on the basis of your behavior instead of your new heart. And I'll give you one word that describes what you're feeling. Exhaustion. There is nothing more exhausting than a Christian who is trying to earn the favor of God. [01:11:47] (54 seconds)  #ExhaustedByPerformance

This is why Jesus came. Jesus didn't come to make bad people better. He didn't come to clean up our habits, improve our behavior. He came to do what we could not do. He came to change us from the inside out at the cross. All that sin that has been flowing from your heart, that's been flowing from my heart was put on him, and his righteousness is given to us. This is what's called the great exchange. He transforms our very nature. We bring our sin. We bring our brokenness. We bring our corruption, and he shows up with forgiveness and cleansing and newness, new heart, new life. [01:08:00] (44 seconds)  #GreatExchange

We don't sin because of our environment. We sin because of our nature. We don't become sinners because we sin. We sin because we're sinners. That's why behavior modification that every one of us in this room, it is a universal truth. Every one of us in this room have tried behavior modification in our own lives. And that's why it doesn't work because you can adjust habits. You can build discipline. You can improve routines. But eventually, what is in your heart is going to surface. It is going to come out. You can manage it for a while. You can hide it for a season, but you can't remove it. [01:05:17] (47 seconds)  #HeartOverHabits

Some of us have have been trying, trying to do right, trying to fix ourselves, and we're exhausted because deep down, we know it just ain't working. It's just not sticking, and it won't. You don't need behavior modification. You don't need the outside cleaned up. You need transformation. And that's exactly what Jesus offers. So today, I just entreat you to stop managing your sin, stop pretending, stop trying to fix yourself, come to him, repent, believe, and receive the new heart that only he can give. [01:10:48] (37 seconds)  #ReceiveNewHeart

Right? And so if the issue in our life with the things that we we do that we wish we didn't do, if it was really disciplined, the Pharisees would have been, like, praised by God. Like, he would have held them up and be like everybody else. I want you to gather around. Let's just watch the Pharisees how they live. That's not what he does. He he challenges them. They they they they these people were intentional. They looked like they had it all together. And he says to them, you guys are focused on the outside when your heavenly father is concerned about what's on the inside. [00:42:42] (35 seconds)  #InsideMattersMost

We may not use the word Corbin today. If we did, nobody know what we're talking about. But we do the same thing. We we create systems of faith that look spiritual, that feel comfortable, but allow us to avoid real obedience. This is the danger. This is the slippery slope for people who have walked with Jesus for a hot minute. Right? We get comfortable. Right? We can attend church but neglect to spend any real time with the Lord. We can talk theology all day long. And some of us love theology. [00:53:18] (39 seconds)  #FormOverFaith

And so the these these religious laws that the Pharisees are practicing here in Mark chapter seven, they they expanded or added to built upon the Levitical law, which, by the way, primarily focused on the priest in the first place. And they are trying to apply it to all of the Jewish people. Effectively, what they're doing is they're treating like every dining table, like the temple altar. You got to wash your hands a certain way. You got to wash your cups a certain way. You got to wash everything before you eat a certain way. And none of this, by the way, was actually commanded by God. [00:48:13] (36 seconds)  #TraditionVsCommand