Transcript
Maybe we all fall into this delusion, sometimes, somewhere, somehow in our lives; but you really see it in the areas of sex and money. Here's the delusion: that my big struggle with sex and money lives outside of me, not inside of me. My problem with sex is that I live in this overly sexualized world, and my problem with money is I live in this dramatically materialistic world. And that sounds right, but it's not right.
We Are Not Medieval Monastics
Come on, we're not medieval monastics. What was the theology of the medieval monastery? Well, here it is. It's an evil world out there. The way to live a pure life is to build big walls and create this community separate from the evil of the surrounding world.
Well, what happened to the medieval monastery? Well, those monasteries replicated. They repeated all of the ills, all of the evils of the surrounding world. I mean, you got to know this. The big mistake of monasteries is that they let people in them; and when you let people in, they bring all the evils of their heart.
You see, here's what the Bible teaches. It's only ever the evil inside of me that hooks me, magnetizes me, connects me to the evil outside of me. The greatest danger in my life exists inside of me, not outside of me. That's why in Psalm 51 when David is confessing to adultery and murder, what does he pray for? He says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God."
David Names the Real Problem
You see, David understands the problem. The problem wasn't that there was a Bathsheba close to him. The problem was the fickle, selfish, my-pleasure-anyway struggle of his own heart. David names those in three words: transgression, iniquity, and sin.
Iniquity is moral uncleanness. There's moral uncleanness that lives inside of me. I'm not yet pure and that moral uncleanness makes me susceptible. There's transgression inside of me. Transgression is high-handed rebellion. It's my willingness to step across God's boundaries even though I know they're there. That's you and me parking in the no-parking place even though we see the sign.
And then, there's sin. Sin is moral inability. It's shooting the arrow and it always falls short of the target. As long as there is iniquity, as long as there's transgression, as long as there's sin inside of me, I am morally temptable and I need the rescuing grace of Jesus Christ because it's only when my heart is rescued, it's only as my heart becomes transformed that the external temptations are no longer beautiful to me, and I can know the freedom that the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is there to give me.
