Ep. 44 - Am I Responsible for Sin?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: When I think about, do I need to be reminded? I think this is a lot of times what kept people coming back to church, coming back to Bible study, coming back to this fellowship is because we think that we need this constant reminder to keep us in check. And I think that's the great delusion. I think that's the deception of the enemy to think that's what we need. What we really need is to replace the lies that we're believing with the truth, God's word. And yes, that does happen in Bible study and at church and in scholarship, but generally it's not happening. It should be happening is really what I should say, but it's simply not. Hello, we welcome you back to let's Talk Life, our 44th episode. This has been such a sweet journey together. Carl records Zach Rasmussen. Us not having all the answers, simply journeying together with the one who does have all the answers and really learning to trust him. That's the journey, isn't it, Carl? Just learning to trust him. [00:01:08] Speaker B: Every. Every opportunity is an opportunity to trust. [00:01:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:13] Speaker B: Just giving it to him. Not manipulating, not trying to control. [00:01:17] Speaker A: Right. Yeah, Those are. Those are heavy words right there. [00:01:20] Speaker B: Yeah. It's all we. It's all we know. [00:01:21] Speaker A: Isn't that what we've done? It's all. Yeah, it's all we know. Totally off topic, but just some that I heard recently about love and being loved. And I think the aspect of God that we don't understand is to receive his love. And we can't really effectively love other people without receiving God's love. In terms of those words that you just used and specifically, control, which. Which one is easier to do? It's much easier for me to love someone else than it is for me to receive God's love. And the reason is because me loving someone else, I'm in control. Me being vulnerable and allowing God or others to love me, that. That's scary. So we stay away from that. So, yeah, I like those words that you brought up. Carl, Are you still with us? Maybe with connection issues. We'll see. We'll see how this goes. [00:02:18] Speaker B: Good thing you know how to edit. Yeah. So I'm at Liberty University. Can you hear me? [00:02:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:25] Speaker B: And so right behind me is the eternal flame of Jerry Falwell. And just. I'm on Liberty's campus. They just had a. A fake public event, crisis event. It was fake. It wasn't real. But the police came, SWAT camera. And so that was just like Saturday. So if something happens while we're on camera, just want you to carry on the show as I'm being arrested. [00:02:55] Speaker A: Right. [00:02:57] Speaker B: But this is a special place for me. Liberty University was a place where God really strengthened me. Maybe that's the best term, restored and strengthened back in 2020. And used my experience in grad school in such a positive way that he had better plans for me than I could ever imagine. And it started being around here. So it's a very special place for me. [00:03:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Awesome. So we're talking today about am I responsible for sin? And that's an intriguing question, but there's this misunderstanding and so I' start from there. I'm pulling a lot of these ideas just chapter to chapter from this book. Resolving misunderstanding of this exchanged life or new covenant or grace, life or life message as we call it. There's a lot of different names. It's really just the gospel is what it is. But there's. There's many that think our teaching on it is not serious about sin. And there is a thought that keeping Christians reminded of God's rules and God's standards, that's what we need in order to really live a life of holiness so we can strive towards that holiness. So, yeah, our terminology about stuff is less about striving and trying to become something that I already am. And so that's why there's this confusion. So there's a lot of questions. I don't know that. I guess I'll throw up too, and just. We'll see where it takes us. So any thoughts so far, Carl, about that misunderstanding? [00:04:44] Speaker B: No, that's. That's. Well, well said. [00:04:48] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, do you think that we need to be reminded of sin? [00:04:52] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I. [00:04:54] Speaker A: Reminded of our sin. [00:04:56] Speaker B: I think that looking at ourselves the way God sees us is very hard because if. If God sees me as his child saint, you know, we talk about that exchanged life concept. It was my unrighteousness for his righteousness, Christ's righteousness. Then can I see myself the way the Father sees me? And that is very hard. We have a lifetime of sermons. Whether we preach them or they were preached to us, or we heard them of striving, trying harder. Even the latest book, I won't say the name, you know, becoming the man God wants you to be. So 10 steps, you read this book, you can learn how to be God's man, become it. [00:05:42] Speaker A: Right, Right. [00:05:43] Speaker B: And so just full of confusion and doubt maybe, and shame keeps me from seeing myself that way. So. Yeah, I don't know if that makes. [00:05:55] Speaker A: Sense, but yeah, it does. And. And I love even that Reference to, you know, an unnamed book. But like, there. The marketing of these things has been so well done to where, boy, I. I really need that. [00:06:13] Speaker B: Like, yeah, that's what I want. [00:06:14] Speaker A: I want that victory. And so it sounds really good. And that's why there's such confusion, is because it's. It becomes just another thing that we grab a hold of that really doesn't satisfy what we were really looking for. And we're confused. We're left going, well, I followed these 10 steps as best I could. Or maybe I'm just a failure because I can't follow them. Or maybe it's. I did follow them and I'm still not satisfied. So it just leaves us empty. [00:06:45] Speaker B: What if that question is Christ is enough? Like, what if Christ in me is enough? [00:06:53] Speaker A: Right. [00:06:54] Speaker B: And I think that if you ask that question. [00:06:58] Speaker A: Because he is. [00:06:59] Speaker B: Yeah. If you ask that question to people. [00:07:02] Speaker A: Right. [00:07:03] Speaker B: I think they would. It would start to maybe have some wheels turn of like, yeah, I actually am enough right now because Christ is in me. I've received him. [00:07:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Right. Yeah, it's so good. There are, you know, I think songs that we've sung that have. Have stated that. [00:07:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:20] Speaker A: But that's. That's where the disconnect even comes from. What we call worship service and our reality. Yeah. [00:07:30] Speaker B: Think about this, right? [00:07:32] Speaker A: And. But there's been such a disconnect. [00:07:34] Speaker B: My. [00:07:34] Speaker A: Yeah, go ahead. [00:07:35] Speaker B: He is my hope and my righteousness. And yet when I look at myself. Ah, yeah, no, I'm. I'm a sinner. You know, I just. I need to work hard to become something else instead of what if I already am complete in Christ? Well, that's in Colossians, you know, new creation. That's in Second Corinthians. So it's all. It's always there. [00:07:58] Speaker A: Yes, for sure. So I mean, just going back to this, this misunderstanding. I stated it as like, there is this mentality that we need to have a reminder of God's rules and God's standards. And here's the question concerning that. How has that worked out? How is it working presently, you know, to which I just say emptiness. It's not fulfilling. It's condemning. Because I'm condemned. I feel condemned. Even if I'm not being condemned, I'm condemning myself because I'm not living up to it. So I don't know if that makes sense. [00:08:37] Speaker B: 100. [00:08:38] Speaker A: But there is, like this. It's tough because how do you raise kids without showing them the difference between right and wrong? But then you look at little kids, especially Toddlers. And it's like, well, are they in Adam or are they in Christ? Even if they are in Christ, have they got this revelation, this understanding, this maturity that, you know, somebody that's 20 or 30 or 40 years old has? It's like, so we're not comparing apples to apples a lot of times with these standards, even. So, yeah, there's. There's a lot within this. This book that just really stuck out to me, so I wanted to share a few of those things. But, I mean, do we need to be reminded? When I think about. Do I need to be reminded? I think this was a lot of times what kept people coming back to church, coming back to Bible study, coming back to this fellowship is because we think that we need this constant reminder to keep us in check. And I think that's the great delusion. I think that's the deception of the enemy to think that's what we need. What we really need is to replace the lies that we're believing with the truth from God's word. And, yes, that does happen in Bible study in that church, or could. Yeah, but generally it's not happening. It should be happening is really what I should say, but it's simply not. And a big part of that is because our gatherings are mostly corporate. Meaning that just a big group of people and there's no one on one with people. There's no real talk with people. There's no getting into their life and saying, where are you at? How are you doing? Or, you went through this last week. How can I walk you through that? What's. What's that? How does that make you feel? This or that way? And there's none of that happening in a corporate setting. And so that's where it kind of gets lost. [00:10:37] Speaker B: Yeah. And if I can. If I can get you to keep coming back, you know, whether it's. We don't look at it as a manipulation and control. We look at it as, hey, this is being an overseer. But we think an overseer is a manager. And we're not called to manage people. And so. Yeah, so we don't know. We actually don't. [00:10:57] Speaker A: Right. [00:10:58] Speaker B: This is not the first time I've said this today. We don't, in the American church, equip people to. For them to walk by the spirit. We. We want people to be dependent on us as church leaders. And that is a flawed, flawed ideology. And. And really, it's what we see. [00:11:19] Speaker A: Yeah, well, that's what creates lifelessness, because it's just another model. It's just another person to look like and to act like and to do what they do. And in the end, it's. It's lifeless. [00:11:31] Speaker B: Now, I will say this. Are people finding God in all these churches? Perhaps. And that's awesome. That God can use. He can use everything. [00:11:42] Speaker A: Sure. [00:11:42] Speaker B: Right. Of course. So that's, that's, that's almost. The other side is, man, when you've tasted this freedom of Jesus, this way of Jesus, man, you don't want to go back. Yeah, you. You just wanted. You just want to say the way of Jesus and you want to bring people with you. You want to plant seeds, you know, vulnerability. [00:12:04] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah. For sure. When. Well, because what comes along with seeing this, like you said, is really receiving God's love. And now that I. It's not about perfection. It's not that I've perfectly understood this idea of being loved by God, but I've learned better to receive God's love. And now I'm able. Better to really love other people and to just journey with them. And that makes all the difference in the world. It makes. Oh, yeah, every bit of difference. Because it's not me now living out of the flesh, which is just me trying to serve God with all of my might, all of my heart. Instead, it's me really just depending on the Father, trusting in him, trusting what's in front of me, you know, just operating out of the opportunities that are placed in front of me. And so that's what's so beautiful, even about this last year for us moving to Florida. I. I love what we're doing. I. I think when you love what you're doing, you can be broke and you can have all these other things that go along with it that it's like, I'm okay with that because I love what God is doing in me and my family and the opportunities that it has opened up. So I just am very happy with where we're at, and it takes me to a lot of different things, but I guess we gotta keep a little bit focused because we do have a question that we're trying to answer. And we've. We've mentioned this time and again about sin and what do we do with, you know, sin in our members, things that we still do. And. [00:13:45] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of like. It's kind of like Paul gives us the choice, what are we going to do? Like Romans 6 or 7. I guess it's 6. [00:13:54] Speaker A: Yep. [00:13:54] Speaker B: Don't do it. Like, don't. Don't present your members. You know, it's not who you are anymore. You know, you're dead to the power of sin. [00:14:01] Speaker A: Right. [00:14:02] Speaker B: Ephesians 4. I think that's the put on, put off, and just like, hey, yeah, that's not. It's not life, it's death. It's not good. Not good for you. [00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, right? [00:14:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's like, it's great. Yeah. [00:14:21] Speaker A: And in reality, we know it's. We know it's not good for us, and we know that it doesn't satisfy. [00:14:28] Speaker B: Right. [00:14:29] Speaker A: And so I think that's. That's often what he's saying, because we do have an option. Are you going to present yourself to God? Because that's who you are. You are approved, you are okay with God, and you can present yourself to God, or are you going to present yourself to sin? So it always comes back to, what do I believe about myself? What do I believe about God? [00:14:49] Speaker B: So walking worthy of this calling is not like, oh, work harder, Zach, work harder, Carl. No, it's like a declaration of who I am, that with Christ in me, his holiness, I'm holy, I'm righteous, I can walk this out. But if I think it's some aspirin I need to aspire to or I'm going to fall short and I'm going to start believing that I'm a sinner, I'm going to start believing that I'm less than. I'm not. I'm not worthy of that calling. You know, I need to. I need to work really harder this week to make up for it for next Sunday morning. And that's. That's us. That's that cycle, man. Oh, man. [00:15:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I love that, that you brought that into it because there is this also talk about misunderstandings. There's this misunderstanding that when we sin, like when we have this sin in our members, whatever that looks like. [00:15:50] Speaker B: It. [00:15:50] Speaker A: Causes a loss of fellowship with God, or we've now lost this closeness to God. And now I need to get close again. And so my question, I guess, that I was going to throw at you, Carl, what is a better word for. For that or a better description of what happens? Because the reality is we still do have the sin in our members. The difference is that's no longer our identity, and that's what we talk about all the time. But what do we do with this lie that we think that, oh, I've. I, I need to get back, and I need to get back closer to God. How many teenagers have I heard say, yeah, I just need to read my Bible more? And these Things. No, it's not. That was just my experience with. With the other people that I worked with for those 20 years. Yeah. [00:16:37] Speaker B: Because if I sin, then I gotta make it up. I gotta make up something. I gotta. I gotta. That's my mindset. Right. So. So if I'm sinning or if I'm falling in a cycle of sin, then I somehow gotta make up for the bad stuff. And it's. Yeah, man. [00:16:53] Speaker A: Right. That's. That's completely it. And that's where we. We will talk about God's love being unconditional. But then we'll only receive his love based on conditions. I sure appreciate that's just because of a misunderstanding. [00:17:08] Speaker B: I sure appreciate the rest of the gospel. And I don't see it here. [00:17:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:13] Speaker B: But a couple things I was reading recently, Dan Stone, Just. Just referring to the fact that Paul's saying, like, hey, I tried the law don't work. I tried Moses my whole life, you know. [00:17:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:26] Speaker B: And then the second thing is that when it comes to total forgiveness, you know, that, that. That we're totally forgiven. [00:17:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:35] Speaker B: There's no condemnation for losing Christ. [00:17:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:39] Speaker B: And. [00:17:40] Speaker A: Oh, right. [00:17:41] Speaker B: Yeah. So. So what he says. I love what he says. He says, the blood of Jesus Christ is our only answer against sin. It's our only defense against shame. That our identity in Christ, the blood of Christ. And so. So in other words, Zach, I need it the day I'm saved, and I need it today and I need it tomorrow. It's my only answer. It's not me trying harder. It's not me sending. Less is more godliness. It is Christ in me. [00:18:10] Speaker A: Right. [00:18:10] Speaker B: And so that. I mean, really, it answers so much. And so that. That'd be my answer. I don't know if that's. If I went a different way, but. [00:18:21] Speaker A: No, I think that's very good. No, I mean, I don't know. There's no specific way that I was looking for. Just looking for your insights on that too. And. But yeah, just as we received him as Lord and Savior of our life, so we walk in him. How do we receive him? Not. Not by trying harder. Not because I did enough good deeds to deserve his grace. It's a gift. So I received him by faith, which I use the word trust. And so how do I walk in him? Same way I trust by faith and hardest way to live. You know, we've talked about that. [00:19:01] Speaker B: Sure. [00:19:03] Speaker A: And, you know, here's the reality, like, making it just. Just thinking back, like for you and me, you know, church work for X amount of Years, each of us. And it's like, how did it work for us to give these standards and these guidelines to, to what we should be doing as Christians? How did that pan out? How did it pan out for me personally? How did it pan out for people that were listening, thinking they needed to follow, like you said, like, yeah, there's some good to it. It's like if, if it was even possible for me to follow eight even of the Ten Commandments, it would be very good for me, but it wouldn't bring life and if I was lost, it wouldn't save me. So there, there you have it is. It's only going back to what you're saying. It's only the work of Jesus. And so we continue to walk in that trust. And so making it all about rules and regulations and making those things, like the chief thing to focus on, it ends up being lifeless. And I think it's kind of crazy to think about, like, you're one of the guys. There's another pastor too, that shared with me that boy. I was preaching supposedly this gospel of grace. But I, I look back and now recognize that I was just teaching law. I remember you told me that once and it just like took me back and, and, and that was early on my journey to where I had to chew on that and go. Me too. Yeah, actually, because that's what we did. We give them freedom with the gospel, then we bind them up with rules and regulations and these are the things that you should be doing. I've heard somebody say we should all over them, should all over them. Just. And it's like it's just become the way and it's not truly the way. That's not the gospel. So I don't know what you think about all that, but it's, it's been a fun journey. Learning all that has has been crazy and still learning, you know, that's, that's the joy of the journey. [00:21:15] Speaker B: We don't have to have all the answers. We don't need to know everything. Just like, man, I just want point people to Christ. I want them to hear from God. I want them to walk by the Holy Spirit. And that, that's, that's the way, man. [00:21:32] Speaker A: Totally. It really is equip and send. And sometimes in the sending, there are people that are right there, right with you. Like they're going out is actually still being right there with you, but always being okay with. Yeah, what if the sending means they're not going to be right with me? That's okay because you've equipped them to go do what God has for them. [00:21:54] Speaker B: That's right. [00:21:56] Speaker A: And that's okay. But we are free. Like, we're free from that legalistic mindset of the law. We're dead to the law, we're alive to God. And just that that verse has a lot. Romans 6:2. There's so much value in just recognizing that I'm alive to God because we look at that condemnation aspect so much deeper than we look at the life aspect of our relationship with God. But we are free, like, and there's freedom to so much more than just looking for ways to not sin. Like, I think that's oftentimes what we think. It's like, yeah, I'm free now to live in this new understanding of here are 10 more steps. Here's three more ways to overcome this, or eight ways to do that. And that's not freedom. So true freedom in Christ is really knowing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And. And I really sum that up as Romans 5 through 8. So just keep chewing on that. But here's Colossians 1:1 through 4. I'll just kind of close this whole thing out with this. Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and you're now, and your life is now hidden with Christ. When Christ, who is your life, appears, and you will appear with him. And glory. And I, I, I love how so much of this, like looking at this differently than I ever did in the past. Before, it was always kind of like this future hope. And now I can look at it as this is. I can set my heart there right now and know this now this is my reality now I don't have to wait for it. And so there's. There's so much to hold on to. And in my. My Bible has a heading there that says rules for. For holy living. I find that just so comical because the rules really is just trust. Just if you want to know what Jesus did, he trusted the Father. [00:23:57] Speaker B: That's right. [00:23:59] Speaker A: So such. Such good stuff. Thank you, God, for your grace. That is so amazing. It is Jesus. It's all Jesus. Amen.