Part of the chapter that I want to focus on is at the end there in verse number 26 when
the Bible reads,
Unto you first God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning
away every one of you from his iniquities.
And the title of my sermon this morning is The Blessing of Turning from Sin.
The blessing of turning from sin.
See the Bible says that God sent his son Jesus to bless us in turning us away, everyone
from our iniquities.
Why?
Because turning away from our iniquities is a blessing unto us.
See the life lived without iniquity is better than the life lived in the midst of iniquity.
It's a blessing to turn from sin.
Now let me start out by first dealing with the fact that getting saved, getting into
heaven, receiving eternal life is not a result of turning from sin.
First of all, if you would keep your finger there in Acts chapter 3, flip back to Jonah
chapter number 3.
The book of Jonah is in the Minor Prophets toward the end of the Old Testament.
See the Bible is really clear that we're saved by faith, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
and not by our works.
The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves
it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.
So our salvation is not of works, and if it were of works, then we'd be able to boast
about it.
But it's not of works lest any man should boast and say, well, I'm going to heaven because
I turned away from my sins.
I'm going to heaven because I gave up this, and I gave up that, and I did all these
good deeds, and I go to church, and I keep the commandments, and I fast twice in the
week, and I give tithes of all that I possess.
You know, that's boasting.
The Bible says we're not saved by our works, not by our deeds.
We're saved by faith only.
But then it follows that up in Ephesians 2, 10.
It says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God
had before ordained that we should walk in them.
So after we get saved, God wants us to do good works.
God desires us to do good works.
He has a path that he has laid out for us, and he will teach us how to live our lives
in a more excellent way than the world around us.
So good works have their place after we're saved, but they don't get you saved, and they
don't keep you saved because once you're saved by believing in Jesus Christ, nothing can
separate you from the love of God.
You're sealed unto the day of redemption by the Holy Ghost.
You have eternal life.
No one can pluck you out of his hand.
Now back in Jonah chapter 3, verse 10, there's an interesting verse here.
It says, and God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way.
So when God saw their works, what he was actually specifically looking at was the fact that
they turned from their evil way.
So turning from your evil way, God classifies that as works.
So therefore, if you believe that you have to turn from your evil way to be saved, you're
basically saying that you have to do works to be saved.
And we're not saved by works.
We're not saved by turning from our evil way.
We're not saved by repenting of all our sins.
No, we're saved by believing in Jesus Christ, not of works that any man should boast.
It says, God saw their works from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he
had said he would do unto them, and he did it not.
So notice in this passage, God repents.
So this proves that the word repent is not always referring to repenting of your sins
because God has no sins.
Repent just means to turn or to change.
In this case, God was going to destroy Nineveh, but he turns away from that course of action,
and he decides not to destroy Nineveh because the people turned from their evil way.
He turned from his path of destruction where he was going to destroy Nineveh.
So where the confusion comes from is people take verses that say repent, and they automatically
add on of your sins.
Now repenting of your sins is something that we should do on a daily basis.
Repenting of our sins is something that we do all the time after we're saved, just like
good works should be a part of our life after we're saved.
But when repentance of sin is mixed up with salvation, that's a false doctrine.
Because now you're tampering with the fact that salvation is by grace through faith,
and it's not of works.
Turning from your sin or turning from your evil way, that's work.
I mean, I don't know about you, but it takes work for me to live a godly life, or does
it just come naturally to you?
You just automatically get all the sin out of your life, you're just automatically living
well.
So that's hard work.
Daily we have to deny self, and take up the cross daily and follow Christ, and that's
hard work.
It's hard to resist all the temptations.
It doesn't happen automatically.
If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Now go back to Acts chapter 3.
Here's one of the verses that people will use right here in Acts chapter 3.
They'll take a verse like verse 19 where it says, Repent ye therefore and be converted
that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence
of the Lord.
So right there in Acts 3.19 it says, Repent ye therefore and be converted.
And people will say, well see right there, it says you have to repent of your sins.
But does it say repent of your sins?
No.
What he just finished talking about, if you get the context, he said in verse 14, But
you denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you,
and killed the prince of life.
What he's rebuking the Jews for is having chosen Barabbas over Jesus.
They said, not this man, but give us Barabbas.
Instead of receiving Jesus Christ, instead of acknowledging him as their Lord and Savior,
as the King of Israel, as the King of the Jews, they said, no, no, no, we don't want
this man.
We want Barabbas.
He's saying, you killed Jesus.
You rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.
You need to repent, meaning that you need to accept the Lord Jesus Christ.
You need to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.
So whenever we see the word repent in the Bible, we need to get the context.
What's being repented of?
For example, in Jonah, what was God repenting of?
Well, he was repenting of destroying Nineveh.
Other times God repented.
In fact, God repented in the Bible more than anyone else.
If you just look up the word repent, you'll find that it's God who does the most repenting
in all the 105 mentions of the word repent in the Bible.
So when it comes to being saved, we're saved by grace through faith.
But that's not all Jesus does for us.
Jesus doesn't just save us and then just leave us to do whatever and live however.
After we get saved, he wants us to follow him.
Jesus said over and over again, follow me.
I'll make you fishers of men.
Be followers of me.
And so after we get saved, after we believe on Jesus Christ, God wants us to follow Christ
and he wants us to get the sin out of our life.
And he wants to, at the end of verse 26 there, turn us, everyone, away from our iniquities.
Not so that we can get saved, we're already saved.
But so that we can be blessed.
See it said he sent him to bless you in turning everyone of you away from your iniquities.
Go to Hebrews chapter 12.
Toward the end of the New Testament, the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter number 12.
You see the title of the sermon this morning is the blessing of turning from sin.
How many times I've heard people say, well, you know, if you're just saved by believing
in Jesus, then why even turn from your sins?
You know, why even live a good life?
Well here's, there are a lot of reasons why, but one of the reasons why is that turning
from your sins is actually for your own good.
It's actually a blessing to you.
The fact that Christ not only saved you, but that he also called you with a holy calling,
that he also gave you work to do, that he also gave you rules to live by, he's actually
doing that for your benefit and for your blessing.
You're better off following God's rules than living life according to this world's wisdom
or according to your own wisdom.
God actually sent Jesus to bless you and to turn every one of you away from his iniquities.
Look at Hebrews chapter 12, I'll show you what I'm talking about in verse 6, it says,
for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
As you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom
the Father chasteneth not?
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and
not sons.
Furthermore, we've had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure.
Watch this last phrase, but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness.
The Bible says there that when God disciplines us, when he spanks us, when he chastises us,
he's doing it for our benefit that we might be partakers of his holiness.
See being a partaker of his holiness is a privilege.
It's something that we should desire and want.
It's a blessing to be turned away from your iniquities and to be a partaker of his holiness.
Now the Bible says that our earthly parents chastened us after their own pleasure.
Now parents obviously that love their children discipline their children for the benefit
of their children, right?
But they also derive a benefit from it.
Why?
Because if I discipline my children, they're not going to be putting their footprints all
over the ceiling and tearing my house down and destroying the place.
I mean think about it.
If I had just nine undisciplined children in my house, they would tear the place apart.
They would be all whining and crying and complaining and bickering.
They would just be terrible.
They'd destroy the place and they'd make our lives miserable.
Now there's a reason why the ungodly of this world, the worldly people out there, you don't
see them lining up to have six, seven, eight, nine, ten kids, do you?
Why?
Because it would be madness and folly since they don't believe in disciplining their kids.
So these people with this modern enlightened parenting where they don't discipline, you
don't use it.
It's rare to see them have a big family because if so, they'd be destroyed.
I mean think about it.
It just doesn't work.
I mean these newfangled parenting methods, they might work if you just have all your
time and energy just to focus on this one child, right?
And just, now can we think of a better way to have done that?
You know, all this weird, just all this reasoning and going back and forth and spending all
this time.
And even then, you're going to raise a terrible child if you don't discipline them.
They're not going to have any fear of God in them.
But the point is that to the parent, there's a benefit too of actually having obedient
children that are a pleasure to be around.
You know, it's a pleasure to be around good children.
Children that are respectful, children that obey, children that are happy and in a good
mood instead of just whining and fussing and complaining all the time.
So that's, you know, our parents chastened us after their own pleasure.
But what the Bible is saying here is that God does it for our prophet that we might
be partakers of his holiness because really it's not as much skin off God's back because,
you know, God's not up in heaven just annoyed by all the noise and all the mess.
You see, like parents would be.
I mean, God's primary motive in disciplining us is just for our prophet that we might be
partakers of his holiness.
I mean, everything that God does for us or to us or in our lives is for our benefit.
It's for the benefit of mankind.
It's for the benefit of those that are saved or those that are going to get saved.
Okay, God loved the world.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe in him
should not perish but have everlasting life.
You know, that's benefiting to anyone in the world who will receive that free gift of everlasting
life.
So the point is that when God chastens us and when God disciplines us to turn us away
from our iniquities, he's doing it for our prophet that we might be partakers of his
holiness.
So instead of looking at it as, oh, well, you know, it's such a bummer being a Christian
because we can't just do whatever we want, you know, we have to follow all these rules,
why don't you realize that's a blessing?
Because if you lived according to everything that you felt like doing or wanted to do,
you'll live a stupid, worthless, miserable life.
And there's great joy and blessing living a life serving the Lord and following his
rules.
Now, let me illustrate it to you this way, children, they think that their parents have
it in for them when they make rules for them because children don't have the wisdom that
adults have.
The Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction
will drive it far from him.
And I know that when I was a child, I didn't have the wisdom that I have now and I looked
at the rules that my parents had for me and I felt that all the rules that my parents
had or the rules at church or the rules at school, I felt like they were all just kind
of cramping my style, you know, that they were all there just to stop me from having
a good time.
Isn't that the attitude that kids have?
And they say things like, well, when I grow up, I'm going to just eat candy all day and
I'm just going to have ice cream whenever I want and I'm going to do all this.
This is how kids think.
They don't understand that their parents' rules are there not to be a curse unto them
but to be a blessing unto them.
Actually the rules are for the children's benefit.
Even if the children are not smart enough to understand that now, later they will understand.
You know, for example, when it comes to food, your mom tells you to eat your vegetables.
It's not just because she likes to see you suffer.
She likes to watch you just cringe and as you put those bites of lima beans into your
mouth and they're all mealy and mushy in your mouth, and she's just looking at you just
like, oh, I love watching that grimace.
I like to see you suffer.
Here, let me give you seconds.
Why is she, she's giving you the lima beans because she knows that they're essential nutrients
and vitamins.
She wants you to feel good.
She wants you to be healthy, have energy, be strong.
She wants your brain to develop right.
She wants you to live a long and productive life.
She doesn't want to outlive you.
She doesn't want you to die when you're young because you just abused your body by just
putting in nothing but ice cream.
Look, if you just left children to just eat whatever they want and do whatever they want,
they're not going to eat any lima beans.
They're not going to eat any Brussels sprouts.
They're not going to seek out a green smoothie and make sure that they get all their vitamin
A or whatever, spinach, salads, and all this stuff.
No, no, no.
They're going to go straight for what?
Every meal is going to be French fries and chicken fingers.
Every dessert is ice cream, candy.
It's going to be Sour Patch Kids and sour straws and all the different Skittles.
I mean, they're not going to walk in and choose nutritious foods at the grocery store.
They're going to fill the cart with Skittles and ice cream and cake and brownie and they'll
die.
It will literally kill them.
They'll die.
And if they don't die right away, they're going to die slowly of all the disease and
obesity and type 2 diabetes and from not restraining those appetites.
So the children are being blessed by their parents when their parents force them to eat
things that they don't like.
Why?
Because as an adult, you're not going to want to be a picky eater when you're an adult.
I personally, I like to be able to go to foreign countries and just eat whatever they put on
my plate and not have to be like, oh, I don't like that.
Oh, I don't like that.
I don't like that.
You know, it's embarrassing.
Don't you think it's embarrassing when you're a young man or an adult and you show up places
and you're like, I don't like that.
I don't like that.
It's embarrassing.
It's humiliating.
And listen to me.
Let me confess my sin unto you.
When I was growing up, I was a very picky eater.
And you know, it was just the way that I was brought up, you know, there weren't a lot
of exotic foods being introduced to me.
So I was a very picky eater growing up.
But when I was a teenager, it started kind of embarrassing me.
When I would go places and I didn't, I had to keep rejecting foods, I started feeling
a little bit embarrassed and humiliated by that.
So I just made a decision.
I said, you know what?
I'm just going to start forcing myself to eat stuff I don't like.
And I'm going to broaden this palette.
You know what I mean?
I'm not going to be that guy.
And I, you know, now I'm not a picky eater.
Now I can pretty much walk in and just say, hey, just make me a plate and I'll eat whatever.
But here's the thing.
If your parents start you out real young, giving you foods that you don't like and making
you try things and making you branch out from chicken fingers and french fries, then actually
they're doing you a favor.
They're blessing you because you're going to appreciate that later in life, the ability
to eat a variety of foods.
And by putting nutritious food on your plate and restricting the sweets and restricting
the junk, they're doing you a favor.
They're making you healthier and happier and it's for your own good.
Also just safety.
Obviously parents have all kinds of safety rules.
It's because they love you.
They're trying to keep you safe.
They know that things are dangerous that you might think aren't dangerous at all.
You think running around on the roof is fun, but they know that there are little drainage
pipes and things that come out of the air conditioning unit and you could trip off that
thing and go rolling off, break your arm, break your leg, break your neck and die.
It's not that they're just trying to stop you from having a good time.
You know, they're actually trying to keep you safe.
Or maybe your parents want you to be supervised all the time and you just want to run wild
because you think at age nine or 11 or 13, you think you're just invincible, right?
And I know because when I was that age, I felt that I was invincible.
Children are wise in their own eyes.
When I was four years old, I told my parents that I could drive a car.
And I told, when I was a four year old, I said, look, I don't have any doubt about it,
mom.
I said, the only reason I can't drive a car is just because my body's not big enough to,
you know, to reach the pedal and the steering wheel.
But I said, I have the capability.
And my mom's like, what do you know about driving?
I said, because I play pole position.
You know, who knows what I'm talking about pole position.
You know, there's two gears, low and high.
You're the, by the way, you're the only car on the road.
So you know, and I'm like, yeah, I mean, what, there's nothing to it.
Pole position.
I've been to the arcade.
I know how to drive.
But when I turned 15, I actually started learning how to drive.
I realized a lot harder than it looks to drive, but that's the mentality of children.
They think they're invincible.
I remember my parents saying, hey, you know, I don't want you riding your bike over to
this area of town or, hey, you need to be supervised.
You need to go with your brother or whatever.
And I'm just thinking, come on, nothing's going to happen.
But you don't realize a kid, all the abductions, all the molesters and weirdos that are, I
mean, we're living in perilous times.
And it's not that we don't love our children and we just don't want them to have any fun.
No, it's that we're trying to guard and protect their safety.
We want them to stay close to us or stay with someone supervising them because we don't
want them to get hurt or molested or abducted or anything like that.
Or the way that you dress.
You know, young ladies, if your dad is telling you to go back in and get changed, he has
every right to do that.
Let me say this, it's your responsibility to do that, dad.
Don't let your daughter go out of the house looking like a hussy and a hoochie mama.
You make sure that your daughter is dressed modestly and respectfully.
And I don't care if she huffs and puffs and gets all upset about it.
Well then discipline her for that, amen.
But not only that, she needs to realize you're doing that for her own good when you say,
that outfit's too see-through or that skirt's too short or that top is too revealing.
You have every right to do that, you have a responsibility to do that.
And the wise child will understand, my dad loves me, he's trying to protect my integrity.
He's trying to protect my reputation.
He's trying to make me respectable so I can attract the right kind of guy and not just
attract just whatever lustful derelict just wants to feast his eyes on my flesh that doesn't
love me at all.
And by the way, all the Hollywood movies, oh my parents won't let me watch the Hollywood movies.
Hey, they're trying to protect you.
Why?
Because those Hollywood movies are going to destroy your mind and cause you to believe
all the stupid stuff that the rest of the world believes in.
See we in this room here today hearing Bible preaching are considered fanatics or extreme
because we believe you're supposed to be pure on your wedding day.
Because we don't believe in drinking alcohol.
Because we believe in living soberly and righteously and godly in this present world.
And the reason why we're seen as extreme is because all the people out there are all watching
the same movies and the same TV shows that glorify drinking, that glorify premarital
relations, that glorify adultery, that glorify drugs, that glorify everything that this book
is against.
And every single movie in the theater out there, it has an agenda to brainwash you in
some area or other.
Whether it's to get you to accept sodomites and think they're normal.
Whether it's to get you to think that drinking is fun.
Whether it's to get you to think that going to bed on the first date is normal.
That's what the movies are promoting.
That's what they teach.
Okay, how about this?
How about the fact that they don't glorify God or Jesus Christ so they show people living
happy lives and finding fulfillment in their life with no religion, no Christianity, no
serving of the Lord Jesus Christ, no giving him the honor and praise and glory.
So it just teaches people to have God not in all their thoughts.
I mean, think about it.
Does X men glorify the Lord?
Is the X stand for the first Greek letter of Christ?
Like X-mas?
Is that what that stands for?
No.
There's no mention of Jesus Christ.
There's no mention of God the Father.
There's no mention of the Bible.
And it's all promoting some weird agenda and some of it's even subliminal.
Now you think you've got it all figured out, but probably, you know, if I sat and watched
the movie with you, I probably couldn't even figure out all the subliminal brainwash, but
I'm sure there's plenty of it.
And dad's sure children aren't going to figure it out.
Children are just like a sponge just soaking all that stuff up.
They're just absorbing all the teachings of the world.
And they see all the teenage movies with the bratty teenagers and they're throwing their
hair back and they're yelling at their mom and dad and mom and dad are like, now, honey,
she's like, die.
And they're just like, honey, relax, you know, and she just hops in the car with her friends
and drives up.
And then the parents look at each other and they're like, right?
You know, when was the last time you watched a movie and the parents took the child and
gave him a spanking?
And if they do, it's demonized.
That's the villain of the movie.
If they show a spanking in the movie, it'll be some guy drinking and just beating them
within an inch of their life, right?
Just chasing them down the hall with a belt, just lashing them across the face or something.
That's what they'll show.
They don't show righteous parents disciplining their children.
They show children just mouthing off and dad's a big idiot and mom has to step in and use
her brain a little bit because dad's a fuddy-duddy that doesn't know anything.
It's all brainwashing.
It's not that your parents just don't want you to have any fun, it's that TV makes you
stupid and that these movies brainwash and make you worldly and ungodly.
You've got to read the word of God to get all these ideas out of your head than to think
that all that stuff's normal.
Or your parents make you study and do your homeschooling or your schoolwork or read books
or something instead of rotting your brain in front of video games and TV all the time.
They tell you, hey, go play outside.
Go get some exercise.
Go play basketball.
Go run around.
Go do something.
Go, here, read this book or, hey, let's lose the comic book and do some intelligent reading.
Let's read something a little bit on your reading level.
You're 15.
You're 13.
Let's get you something at that reading level or above and not just you're reading comics.
Nonstop just mindless entertainment.
It's not because your parents are trying to ruin your fun.
It's that they love you and they're trying to do what's best for you.
They want to bless you by turning you away from your iniquities.
God wants to bless you.
Okay.
So when I'm on the kids, all the parents are like, yeah, get them.
Yeah.
Maybe my kids are going to start doing more housework now and they're going to start obeying
and everything.
Yeah, I love this church, but you know, but here's the thing.
This goes for the parents too, because God's our heavenly father and he's got rules for
us and we need to obey God's rules because he's trying to bless us too.
Just as our earthly parents, when we're kids have rules that we don't understand, but
we follow them.
Why do we follow them?
We follow them because they chastened us and we gave them reverence.
Okay.
Well, we need to have that same reverence for God as adults.
Okay.
Yeah.
Children need to understand that their parents rules are for their own good, but we all need
to understand that God's rules are for our own good.
He's trying to bless us.
The Bible, see, you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says in first John five, three,
for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments.
Watch this.
His commandments are not grievous.
God's commandments are not there to grieve us.
They're there to bless us and help us.
The Bible says, behold, happy is the man whom God corrects.
Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the almighty.
The Bible says in Psalm 18, 30 as for God, his way is perfect.
The word of the Lord has tried.
He's a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Go to Romans chapter six, Romans chapter number six, book of Romans chapter number six.
See God's commandments are a blessing to us.
He's trying to help us.
He wants us to live a better life.
Now let me give you an example of this.
When I was a teenager, I remember the temptation to commit fornication was strong and fornication
is when people basically go to bed together before they're married.
For those that don't know that biblical word, you know, the Bible teaches we're supposed
to wait until we're married to have that physical relationship, to go to bed with that one that
we're going to be married to.
Anytime before marriage, that's that sin is known as fornication.
Okay.
Well, when I was a teenager, the temptation to commit fornication was strong.
And if you would have come to me as a teenager and explained to the teenage Steven Anderson,
listen, God's trying to bless you here by not allowing you to commit fornication and
you're going to be happier in life.
You're going to have a better marriage.
You know, this is just a short time in your life.
You're going to be married for many decades.
And so, you know, you need to save yourself for your future spouse.
And look, I heard talks like this as a teenager and you know what they did?
They went like this in one ear and out the other because when you're 15, you're not smart
enough to understand that logic of how, oh, you need to save yourself and oh, you know,
you're going to have a better marriage.
You're going to have marriage problems.
If you commit fornication and then you bring that baggage into your marriage, you know,
it's not going to make you happier.
It's going to make you miserable.
I wasn't smart enough to understand that when I was 15 years old, 14 year old, 16 year olds,
they don't understand that wisdom.
They're not smart enough at that age.
Okay.
But listen, thank God I did not commit fornication as a teenager.
I did not commit fornication all the way up until I got married, you know, and I was a
virgin when I got married, thank God.
And the reason why was because of one reason and one reason alone, the fear of God.
That's all.
That's the only reason.
I did not commit fornication because I was scared of God punishing me because I'd read
all the stories in the Bible where God brought his punishment and his wrath down on people
for committing fornication and I went to church and I heard all the hard preaching, yelling
and screaming not to commit fornication, how it's wicked and God's going to judge you
and it's a big sin.
So I was scared to death to commit fornication.
Now then I go to the liberal church and I listen to this, oh, you know, it's going to
be more special for you if you wait and I'm thinking like, what are you talking about?
Because when you're 15, like, you know, that seems a really long way off and you're like,
that's all right, I'll manage.
That's what you're thinking.
That kind of preaching doesn't work.
It doesn't work.
That's why the Bible isn't filled with stuff like that.
Where's that chapter in the Bible about saving yourself for that special...
No, he says, flee fornication.
Remember how I killed 23,000 people in one day?
That's the fornication in 1 Corinthians 10.
He rips on fornication.
He preaches that it's wicked and that's the preaching that kept me pure was just that
fear of the Lord.
Now, look, why did God not want me to commit fornication?
Is it because God just wanted me to just suffer and just be starved for affection or whatever
and just be wishing and just miserable?
No, no.
God knew that you're going to be much happier and healthier and that you're going to have
a better marriage and a better life if you don't commit fornication.
So God puts a rule there that says, hey, don't commit fornication.
And he doesn't make it optional.
Well, if you want to live the better life, if you want to live the happier life, don't
commit fornication.
And you're like, I'll take the lesser life.
But no, no, no.
God says, no, you're not fornicating, period.
But he makes that rule for our own good, for our profit that we might be partakers of his
holiness so we don't ruin our lives committing.
And there are many ways that fornication ruins your life, ruins your heart, ruins your mind
and so forth.
And look, if you've already committed that sin, I'm not trying to bash you.
I'm not trying to beat you up about that.
You know, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things
or before.
You know, I preach hard against that sin for the ones who are young and have not committed
that sin or so that they won't continue in that sin.
We need hard preaching, not trying to beat up those who've made that mistake in your
past.
But look, if you've made that mistake in your past and you're married now, you probably
know that what I'm saying is true, that there are negative ramifications.
There are negative repercussions to that that you have to live with for the rest of your
life that no teenager is going to understand.
Look, nobody who's not married understands marriage.
The last thing I want is some single person to tell me about married life or marriage.
And I don't care how many people you've shacked up with for decades or years.
Being married is being married.
And only those who've been married understand what marriage is like.
And you can't expect a teenager to understand what marriage is like.
And that's why a teenager just needs to be told, don't fornicate, because God hates it
and it's a sin and God's going to punish you if you do it.
And young ladies need to be told, no, you're not going to wear that outfit, no, you're
not going to be around that boy unchaperoned, no, you're not going out on a date with him
alone.
No, no, we're going to guard you and protect you.
Why?
Because we're jerks.
Because we want you to suffer.
No, it's because we want to protect you and you'll be much happier and someday you'll
thank us.
I thank God, but you know what, I also thank my parents that they made sacrifices to take
me to churches where I'd hear hard preaching, they drove a long way sometimes, have to drive
a long way to get me under the right preaching.
I'm glad that they raised me with the fear of God in my life.
I thank God for every spanking that I received.
I thank my parents, I've said to them, to their face, I've said thank you for spanking
me, thank you for disciplining me, thank you for being strict with me.
You've helped me, you know, you've made me who I am today because I can't even imagine
what I would be like without strict discipline and without being brought up in the nurtured
admonition of the Lord.
It's for our benefit.
It's for their benefit.
When God has rules for us, it's because he loves us.
But look, just because you're an adult, you still don't understand everything.
I don't understand everything.
There are things in the Bible that I don't understand, but I follow it by faith because
I know it's all there for my own good, for my own benefit, for my own blessing.
Look at Romans chapter 6 verse 4, you say, wait a minute, I thought it was Easter Sunday.
Okay, here comes the Easter tie-in.
And by the way, the first verse I read did mention the resurrection of Jesus, just so
you know.
Here's the Easter tie-in.
It says in Romans 6, 4, therefore we're buried with him by baptism into death, that like
as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life, for if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
So what does the resurrection picture?
What is the likeness of the resurrection?
The Bible teaches that we should walk in newness of life, just as Christ was raised
from the dead, the Bible says even so we also should walk in newness of life, meaning that
we should live differently than the unsaved.
We should live differently than before we were saved, or if we got saved at a young
age like me, we should just live differently than the unsaved.
We should walk in newness of life.
The Bible says in verse 20 of the same chapter, for when you were the servants of sin, you
were free from righteousness.
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed, for the end of those things
is death.
So when we think of the life that does not follow the Bible, the life that does not follow
the teachings of Christ, but rather the life that just goes the way of American culture
or whatever the worldly culture, the Bible says that if you live that lifestyle, when
you get to the end of it, you're going to look back and be ashamed of the life that
you lived.
When you grow up, or when you're 30 or 40 or 50, when you look back at the sinful things
you did, at the drunkenness, at the fornication, at the adulteries, at the thefts, at all the
things that you did, the abortion, or just whatever other sins that you partook in, those
are the type of things that later you're going to be ashamed of.
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof you're now ashamed?
I mean, what was the benefit of it?
I mean, do you think old people in nursing homes today are sitting there thinking, man,
I'm glad I lived a wild life in my 20s, because it sure is boring in here, but at least I
lived a wild life back in my 20s.
I can just sit and think about that.
No, no.
They don't think that.
Okay, let me ask you this.
Do you think people in a nursing home are sitting there thinking, man, I wish I would
have had less kids, man, I wish I would have had less children, man, I wish I would have
spent more time partying and less time raising a family, man, I wish I would have just had
more girlfriends when I was in my 20s.
You think that's what they're thinking?
Man, if I only would have drank more alcohol, maybe my nose would be even bigger, maybe
my ears would be even bigger, maybe I'd even be more, maybe my liver would be even more
shot.
You think that's what they're thinking?
Man, I wish I would have taken more drugs.
I mean, that was the time I should have been experimenting.
I mean, you think that's what they're thinking?
No, no, no.
Those are the things wherein they're going to be now ashamed at that point.
Okay.
And every time that they spent in church or reading the Bible or winning a soul to Christ
or raising godly children, those are the things that they're going to be glad that they did.
Right?
And so God is trying to bless us in turning us away from our iniquities.
So if you went to Genesis chapter one, Genesis chapter one, this is the first command that
you read in the Bible.
If you actually start in the beginning of your Bible and just start reading the Bible,
the first time God ever gives a command is in Genesis chapter one.
And it's interesting because the command is a blessing because remember, Jesus is here
to bless us by turning us away from our iniquities.
Look what it says in Genesis one twenty-eight.
And God blessed them and God said unto them, live your best life now.
Is that what it says?
No.
See, God blesses us by turning us away from our iniquities.
God blesses us by giving us good rules and good advice.
He says, God bless them and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish
the earth and subdue them and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl
of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
So being fruitful and multiplying was a blessing that was given unto them.
Now go if you would to Psalm one hundred and twenty-seven.
Psalm one hundred and twenty-seven.
See if we get a biblical point of view, having children is a blessing.
God tells us to be fruitful and multiply and that's actually a blessing.
But the world looks at that as like, I mean, do you guys like have to keep having kids
because of your religion?
Is that what's going on?
You know, because we'll be out in public and people will see that we have a big family
and they're like, what religion are you guys?
You know, why?
Because they must know that you must have some religion or you wouldn't be having all
those kids, right?
Because what person who just has the freedom to just do whatever they want is going to
choose to live that lifestyle?
Well, you know what?
Let me just be real honest with you.
Not me.
Because I'm an idiot.
Because I'm a fool.
Because every natural man without the Lord Jesus Christ, without the Holy Spirit, without
God in their life is a fool.
I mean, in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing.
If you took the Holy Spirit out of the equation here, if you took the Lord and the Bible and
his commands out of the equation and you're just left with Steven Anderson, I'd be living
a stupid life right now.
I'd be living an idiotic life.
I would have spent my teenage years in fornication.
I would have spent my young adult years in stupidity and drunkenness and fornication.
And then I probably would have got married and divorced a few times by now.
I'd probably have tattoos, I'd probably be, you know, who knows what I'd be doing.
I certainly wouldn't be married with nine children.
And if you think I'm wrong, then parade for me all the non-religious people that have
nine children in the United States right now.
Any time you see a big family, you pretty much can take it to the bank.
These people are some kind of a Christian or they have some kind of a religion that's
telling them to do that.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
Because nobody's just going to choose that on their own.
Nobody's just going to be like, hmm, I just want to have a ton of kids.
You know, I mean, okay, maybe some people would, but then their spouse is probably going
to be like, no way.
And you know, sometimes it's the man, sometimes it's the woman, but you know, it'd be pretty
tough to find two worldly, unsaved people, two atheists who are just like, let's just,
I mean, look, evolution's true, so let's just kick their butts evolutionally and just, we're
going to take over with the gene pool.
Our DNA is taking over.
And by the way, I'm defeating every evolutionist.
My DNA is, you know, is going forward, buddy.
And you know what?
You're going the way of the dodo bird.
Bunch of atheists, bunch of evolutionists, they don't even know how to procreate.
Looks like I'm the fittest, buddy.
In 100 years, your DNA is going to be a fossil, buddy.
And I'm going to have thousands of descendants.
It's true, amen?
But here's the thing.
But look, and look, I want you to listen carefully.
I want you to pay attention because this is an important point.
No, I would not have chosen this lifestyle, but this is such a great life.
Children are such a blessing.
But you're not really smart enough to know that going in.
But then once you have a big family, you love it.
And you know, you're going to love it when your kids grow up, and they're respectful,
and they love you, and they love the Lord, and you can be proud of them.
It's all, it all in the end is a blessing, but you don't know that going in.
I'm not smart enough.
You're not smart enough.
Look what the Bible says in Psalm 127-3.
It says, lo, children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath this quiver full of them.
They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
So why is God telling you to be fruitful and multiply?
Just because he wants you to just have no money, and have a dirty house, and just never
get a quiet moment, and just listen to noise all the time?
No, no, no.
He wants you to be happy.
He wants you to be blessed.
He's trying to bless you.
And you're going to be glad when you do it by faith, but you have to do it by faith.
Look, somebody asked me when I was 15 years old, how many children do you want to have?
And you know what I said, zero.
That's what I said.
I'm just being honest.
I said, I want to have zero.
And I said, I don't want to have kids.
Why?
Because I was a selfish fool.
Because I was a teenager.
Because I didn't have the wisdom to understand the blessings of children.
But I got married, and I understood what the Bible said.
I grew in maturity.
I grew in knowledge and love for the Lord.
And then I desired to have children.
And then I desired to be fruitful and multiply.
And then I wanted to go for exponential growth.
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, so the point is, why stop at multiplication?
But the point is that we don't know what's best for us sometimes.
God knows better.
His way is perfect.
Let's not lean on our own understanding.
Let's trust in the Lord.
And some people get offended when you get up and preach hard against sin.
Don't tell me how to live my life.
We're just trying to bless you, trying to bless you in turning you away from your iniquities.
And here's the thing.
You walk out of here and disregard my preaching, and you say, well, Pastor Anderson's not going
to tell me what to do.
Fine.
Go do what you want.
I'm not your Lord.
I'm not your boss.
I'm not your authority.
Go out and do it.
And you can find a church that'll even let you worship the Lord without ever telling
you anything against your sins.
But you know what?
You're not going to be blessed.
You get blessed by turning away from your iniquities.
Look at the next verse.
Here at the end of Psalm 127, look at verse one of chapter 128 there.
Blessed is everyone that fear at the Lord that walketh in his ways.
See your blessed when you walk in his ways for thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands.
Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Who doesn't want that, right?
I mean, of course you want to be happy and you want to be well with you.
Thy wife shall be a fruitful vine.
See that's part of the part of the program.
By the sides of thine house thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Behold that thus shall the man be blessed that fear at the Lord.
The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the
days of thy life.
Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children and peace upon Israel.
But you don't really think about grandchildren when you're 15 or 16.
You're going out, you're fornicating, you're out sowing your wild oats, you're out drinking
yourself drunk and puking and snapchatting it and saying how fun it was.
You know what?
That's stupid.
That's ridiculous.
Someday you're going to be ashamed of that ridiculous, stupid behavior.
Well, it's your one chance to live that way.
Just skip it.
It's a waste.
It's vanity.
And you're going to suffer repercussions from that all the rest of your life.
Even if they're not physical repercussions, God will make sure that you suffer for living
your life that way in your youth.
That things are going to happen to you.
Why?
Because the path to God's blessings through the door of obedience.
God wants to bless you by turning you away from your iniquities.
And look, the way of this world, it doesn't really bring joy and happiness.
And if you look at the sinful lifestyle and you ask yourself, why are people living a
sinful life?
Like, why is it that they drink?
Why is it that they fornicate?
Why is it that they take drugs?
Why is it that they commit adultery or whatever the other sins?
Why is it that they steal and take drugs and why do they vandalize?
Why do they do these things?
The answer is because it makes them happy.
But here's the thing.
Does it really make them happy though?
No.
It's empty.
It brings the pleasures of sin for a season.
But honestly, I don't think anyone would come up to me and say, no Pastor Anderson, honestly,
drunkenness makes you happy.
It really is.
It's the path to happiness.
It is the path.
Fornication, it's worth it.
It's worth all the STDs.
It's worth all the unplanned pregnancies, the children born out of wedlock.
It's just that fun.
Nobody with a brain in their head would actually say that.
You see, God wants us to live a clean life, right?
To eat our vegetables like our parents tell us, to be safe, to be clean, to work hard,
to study to show ourselves approved, to go to church, to read our Bibles, to pray.
He wants us to grow up and get a job and have kids and do what we're supposed to do because
He knows that that's the happy life.
That's the blessed life.
And I'm not saying you're not going to go through trials and tribulations and punishments
and hard times.
Look, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but afterward it yielded the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised therein.
I mean, look, if we look at children whose parents give them everything that they want,
are they happy?
They're the brattiest kids.
They're the most unhappy kids.
If you look at parents that never spank their kids, those are the kids that are on the ground
just, right?
You will never see my kids do that because they've all done it once.
I'm telling you, my kids never do that.
They do.
Look, do my kids disobey?
Absolutely.
Of course my kids disobey.
Of course they talk back.
Of course they get into trouble.
But you'll never see them throw themselves on the ground and start beating a fist and
a tantrum.
But you know what?
Is that happiness?
You think that kid's happy?
I mean, that kid at the grocery store, he's like, nah, I want Skittles, I want Skittles.
And then their mom's finally like, here, just take the Skittles.
You think that kid's happy?
And then he gets the Skittles and he's like, nah.
There's no happiness in that life.
The life of hedonism and indulging the flesh, look, Solomon tried it, King Solomon in the
Book of Ecclesiastes.
He withheld not anything from himself.
Whatever women, whatever foods, whatever riches, whatever fun, the music, the enjoyment, he
withheld not his heart from any joy.
And it only took chapter 2 for him to say, I hated life.
That's why these Hollywood stars and rock stars are constantly ending their life.
Are they ending their life because they're so happy?
They have everything that you think as a worldly person could make you happy, money, surrounded
by beautiful women or whatever, surrounded by luxury.
They can travel.
They can do whatever they want.
But they're caught shoplifting.
They're a millionaire and they're caught shoplifting.
They're a millionaire.
They're caught drunk driving.
Think about it.
They're a millionaire.
They're so happy that they get in the car and they start driving 120 miles an hour down
Highway 1 and go sailing off a cliff or sailing into some other innocent person and killing
both them and the other driver because they're so happy?
No, because happiness is the Lord.
Happiness is, happy is the man that follows God's program.
Happy is the family man.
Happy is the soul winning man.
Happy is the Christian man.
Happy is the Bible reading man, the praying man, the church going man, the man who's clean.
The man who has only known his wife or the woman who's only known her husband.
That's going to make you happy.
Happiness is not found in a bottle.
It's not found in a needle somewhere.
It's not found in a whorehouse somewhere or in a hookah lounge somewhere or in some drug
house somewhere.
It's not found in a gutter somewhere.
It's found in the Lord.
It's found in the Word of God.
And it's not found in the movie house or the dance club or the bar room.
Look, it's found in serving the Lord.
I mean, if we're wise, we'll understand that God has created us and foreordained good works
for us that we should walk in.
And if we do that, that's where we're going to find joy and happiness in our life.
And if we go against the grain with that, we're trying to shove a round peg into a square
hole because we were born to live a certain lifestyle.
God created us as men to work six days a week.
He created men.
Because six days shalt thou labor.
That's how God created us.
But you say, no, no, no, I just want to live a life where I just sit around all day.
You're not going to be happy.
And your body's going to deteriorate because your body was designed to be a worker.
And you just sit around.
No, no, I'm just going to sit around and watch TV and play video games.
And I'm 19, 20, 21.
I'm living in my parents' basement.
And I'm just going to relax down in my man cave.
And I'm just going to play games.
You're going to be miserable.
You're not going to be happy.
You're going to get depressed.
The guy who's happy is the guy who goes out, works hard, comes home from a good day's work
and sits down and eats a good plate of food cooked by his wife and plays with the children.
That's living, my friend.
And I'll take that over your Las Vegas bender any day of the week.
Any day of the week.
A job well done.
Working hard and eating the fruit of my own hands.
Eating the food that I provided by the sweat of my brow.
I'll take that any day of the week over your favorite drug or your favorite hangout or
party place.
Let's bow our heads and have a word with God repented.
In fact, God repented in the Bible more than anyone else.
If you just look up the word repent, you'll find that it's God who does the most repenting
in all the 105 mentions of the word repent in the Bible.
So when it comes to being saved, we're saved by grace through faith.
But that's not all Jesus does for us.
Jesus doesn't just save us and then just leave us to do whatever and live however.
After we get saved, he wants us to follow him.
Jesus said over and over again, follow me, I'll make you fishers of men.
Be followers of me.
And so after we get saved, after we believe on Jesus Christ, God wants us to follow Christ
and he wants us to get the sin out of our life.
And he wants to, at the end of verse 26 there, turn us, everyone, away from our iniquities.
Not so that we can get saved, we're already saved, but so that we can be blessed.
See it said he sent him to bless you in turning every one of you away from your iniquities.
Go to Hebrews chapter 12.
Toward the end of the New Testament, the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter number 12.
You see the title of the sermon this morning is The Blessing of Turning from Sin.
How many times I've heard people say, well, you know, if you're just saved by believing
in Jesus, then why even turn from your sins?
You know, why even live a good life?
Well here's, there are a lot of reasons why, but one of the reasons why is that turning
from your sins is actually for your own good.
It's actually a blessing to you.
The fact that Christ not only saved you, but that he also called you with a holy calling,
that he also gave you work to do, that he also gave you rules to live by, he's actually
doing that for your benefit and for your blessing.
You're better off following God's rules than living life according to this world's wisdom
or according to your own wisdom.
God actually sent Jesus to bless you and to turn every one of you away from his iniquities.
Look at Hebrews chapter 12, I'll show you what I'm talking about in verse, in them.
So after we get saved, God wants us to do good works.
God desires us to do good works.
He has a path that he has laid out for us and he will teach us how to live our lives
in a more excellent way than the world around us.
So good works have their place after we're saved, but they don't get you saved and they
don't keep you saved because once you're saved by believing in Jesus Christ, nothing can
separate you from the love of God.
You're sealed unto the day of redemption by the Holy Ghost.
You have eternal life.
No one can pluck you out of his hand.
Now back in Jonah chapter 3 verse 10, there's an interesting verse here.
It says, and God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way.
So when God saw their works, what he was actually specifically looking at was the fact that
they turned from their evil way.
So turning from your evil way, God classifies that as works.
So therefore, if you believe that you have to turn from your evil way to be saved, you're
basically saying that you have to do works to be saved.
And we're not saved by works.
We're not saved by turning from our evil way.
We're not saved by repenting of all our sins.
No, we're saved by believing in Jesus Christ, not of works that any man should boast.
It says, God saw their works from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had
said he would do unto them and he did it not.
So notice in this passage, God repents.
So this proves that the word repent is not always referring to repenting of your sins
because God has no sins.
Repent just means to turn or to change.
In this case, God was going to destroy Nineveh, but he turns away from that course of action
and he decides not to destroy Nineveh because the people turned from their evil way.
He turned from his path of destruction where he was going to destroy Nineveh.
So where the confusion comes from is people take verses that say repent and they automatically
add on of your sins.
Now repenting of your sins is something that we should do on a daily basis.
Repenting of our sins is something that we do all the time after we're saved, just like
good works should be a part of our life after we're saved.
But when repentance of sin is mixed up with salvation, that's a false doctrine because
now you're tampering with the fact that salvation is by grace through faith and it's not of
works.
Turning from your sin or turning from your evil way, that's work.
I mean, I don't know about you, but it takes work for me to live a godly life or does it
just come naturally to you?
You just automatically get all the sin out of your life, you're just automatically living
well.
It's hard work daily.
We have to deny self and take up the cross daily and follow Christ and that's hard work.
It's hard to resist all the temptations.
It doesn't happen automatically.
If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Now go back to Acts chapter three.
Here's one of the verses that people will use right here in Acts chapter three.
They'll take a verse like verse 19 where it says, repent ye therefore and be converted
that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence
of the Lord.
So right there in Acts 3 19 it says, repent ye therefore and be converted.
People will say, well see right there, it says you have to repent of your sins.
But does it say repent of your sins?
No.
What he just finished talking about, if you get the context, he said in verse 14, but
you denied the holy one and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed
the prince of life.
What he's rebuking the Jews for is having chosen Barabbas over Jesus.
They said, not this man, but give us Barabbas.
Instead of receiving Jesus Christ, instead of acknowledging him as their Lord and Savior,
as the King of Israel, as the King of the Jews, they said, no, no, no, we don't want
this man.
We want Barabbas.
He's saying, you killed Jesus.
You rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.
You need to repent, meaning that you need to accept the Lord Jesus Christ.
You need to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.
So whenever we see the word repent in the Bible, we need to get the context.
What's being repented of?
For example, in Jonah, what was God repenting of?
Well, he was repenting of destroying Nineveh.
Other times it says, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth.
If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.
For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and
not sons.
Furthermore, we've had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure.
Watch this last phrase.
But he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
The Bible says there that when God disciplines us, when he spanks us, when he chastises us,
he's doing it for our benefit.
That we might be partakers of his holiness.
See being a partaker of his holiness is a privilege.
It's something that we should desire and want.
It's a blessing to be turned away from your iniquities and to be a partaker of his holiness.
Now the Bible says that our earthly parents chastened us after their own pleasure.
Now parents obviously that love their children discipline their children for the benefit
of their children, right?
But they also derive a benefit from it.
Why?
Because if I discipline my children, they're not going to be putting their footprints all
over the ceiling and tearing my house down and destroying the place.
I mean think about it.
If I had just nine undisciplined children in my house, they would tear the place apart.
They would be all whining and crying and complaining and bickering.
They would just be terrible.
They'd destroy the place and they'd make our lives miserable.
Now there's a reason why the ungodly of this world, the worldly people out there, you don't
see them lining up to have six, seven, eight, nine, ten kids, do you?
Why?
Because it would be madness and folly since they don't believe in disciplining their kids.
You know these people with this modern enlightened parenting where they don't discipline, it's
rare to see them have a big family.
Part of the chapter that I want to focus on is at the end there in verse number 26 when
the Bible reads, unto you first God having raised up his son Jesus sent him to bless
you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
The title of my sermon this morning is the blessing of turning from sin.
The blessing of turning from sin.
The Bible says that God sent his son Jesus to bless us in turning us away everyone from
our iniquities.
Why?
Because turning away from our iniquities is a blessing unto us.
The life lived without iniquity is better than the life lived in the midst of iniquity.
It's a blessing to turn from sin.
Now let me start out by first dealing with the fact that getting saved, getting into
heaven, receiving eternal life is not a result of turning from sin, okay?
First of all, flip back if you would keep your finger there in Acts chapter three, flip
back to Jonah chapter number three.
The book of Jonah is in the minor prophets toward the end of the Old Testament.
See the Bible is really clear that we're saved by faith, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
and not by our works.
The Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it
is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.
So our salvation is not of works and if it were of works then we'd be able to boast about
it.
But it's not of works lest any man should boast and say well I'm going to heaven because
I turned away from my sins.
I'm going to heaven because I gave up this and I gave up that and I did all these good
deeds and I go to church and I keep the commandments and I fast twice in the week and I give tithes
of all that I possess.
You know that's boasting.
The Bible says we're not saved by our works, not by our deeds, we're saved by faith only.
But then it follows that up in Ephesians 2 10 it says for we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God had before ordained that we should walk.