(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Matthew Stuckey here from Verity Baptist Church in Manila and I want to make a quick video explaining to you why it is that someone who gets on fire for God that used to live a past life of sin is more likely to fade out on the things of God than someone who gets on fire for God but never really lived a past life of sin. And one thing you'll notice if you're around Christianity long enough is that most people that get on fire for God fade out and especially when it's someone who used to live a past life of sin oftentimes they return. Well why is that? Well one reason why is because if someone has lived a past life of sin and they opened up the door to certain sins those sins just won't seem as bad to them as someone who never committed them. If someone's been a drunk before, been a fornicator before, they're going to feel less guilty about committing those sins again. It just won't seem as bad as someone who's never done that. Someone who's never committed those sins. That will just seem horrible to them. They never want to do that. I've never smoked a cigarette before and you know if I were to just smoke a cigarette I would feel guilty about it because it's something I've never done and I'd be like man I've lived 30 some years and never done that and not that that's the worst sin in the world but I would feel guilty about that because it's something I've never done. But there's also another thing and that's in terms of the temptation of those sins that used to commit. Since I've never smoked a cigarette, look I don't have a temptation to smoke a cigarette. It's very unlikely I'm going to start now where someone who used to do that is more likely to smoke a cigarette in the future. And even looking at more serious sins, if it's something like being a drug addict, hey someone who's never tried a drug before in their life is less likely to have a temptation to do that. They're not going to have that temptation. Whereas someone who used to live that life, even though they know it's wrong, they might still have that temptation. So that's the second reason. Another reason is this, that if you live the past life of sin, you might still have avenues to return to that life of sin. Maybe you see old acquaintances you used to know. Maybe you run by some of the old places in town that you used to go. Maybe you just have certain areas and avenues where you can go back to that life of sin. Whereas someone who doesn't have those bad acquaintances, doesn't have those sorts of avenues that someone who used to live that life of sin would have. Another reason why someone who used to live a life of sin is more likely to return to it is because of the fact they know how to live a life of sin. They've done it before. They know where to go to get their drugs. They know where to go to get their alcohol. They know how to hide those things from other people so people don't know. They know how to lie about the money where that's going if they're wasting money. Whereas someone who's never done that before is going to be very naive to those things. They don't even know how to become a drug addict. They don't even know how to go out and get drunk and hide the evidence from other people. They just don't know how to do it. Whereas someone who used to live the life of sin, they're fully aware how to do it, how to get away with it. They know where to go, what they have to do to get away with it. And a fifth reason is because of the fact if you've lived the life of sin in the past, when you hear the preacher preaching the truth, he's going to preach against your sin a lot. And you just have to be willing to sit there and take it and not get prideful, not to make excuses in your mind. But hey, just forgetting those things which are behind like Paul said. That's what he said. This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. You can't reach forth to what's before unless you forget about what's behind. And sadly, it's very hard for people to fully forget about their past. And so people, you know, who are divorced, they might sit in church and when they hear preaching against divorce, they might just get prideful and bitter and angry at the pastor. Whereas the attitude they should have is to be thankful that the pastor is preaching against it so other people don't commit those same sins. Whereas if someone's never lived a life of sin and they hear preaching against alcohol and they've never drank before, it's not going to make them feel guilty at all. It's not going to make them mad at the pastor. Why? Because they're not guilty of it. And so five quick reasons we saw of why someone who gets on fire for God who used to live a life sin is more likely to return than someone who never really lived a life of sin is because of the fact, one, because it's easier to commit sins if you've already committed them. They just don't feel as grievous to you. Number two, you're going to have more of a temptation to commit those sins. Number three, you have certain avenues in which you're able to return to that life of sin. Number four, you know how to live a life of sin and to get away with it. And number five, because of the fact that preaching can step on your toes and get mad at the pastor and quit the church and go to some lame Joel Osteen type church where you never have to worry about the pastor ever preaching against anything you've ever done that's wrong. Thank you and God bless.