The Church of Eleven22 - Come Thou Fount - Worship is War: Wk 4

Episode Date: October 5, 2025

What do you do when the battle isn’t out there—but inside your own heart? We all get fired up about the war out there—but the greatest battle is often the one within. In week four of Worship is War, Pastor Joby unpacks the story behind “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and the confession that still speaks to every believer: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.” Through Romans 7, we’re reminded that even when our hearts drift, God’s grace pursues us. Worship realigns our spirit to the truth that Jesus has already won the war—and invites us to come home to the One who never stops seeking us. 📣 Episode Mentions: Scripture Passage: Romans 7 Preacher: Pastor Joby Martin Hymns Album  📌 Supplemental Resources From This Week: When Gratitude Feels Like Warfare - Nick's Story  Come Thou Fount - Worship is War: Wk 4 What Does It Mean To Be Truly Free? - Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin S23E4  Worship is War Sermon Series Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin About The Church of Eleven22 The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here.

Amen and amen. If you got your Bibles, I hope you do, we're going to end up in Romans chapter 7. We are in week four of this series that we have called worship is war. And I hope you've enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it. We're studying these old hymns that lead us to text to talk about how important worship is and why we worship. And the theological realities behind why we sing what we sing. And one of the things that I will point out to you, we talk about war around here a lot.

But we all get fired up when the war is out there somewhere, right? I mean, I do a lot. And it's easy to get fired up. There's a lot to be fired up about these days. There's no doubt about it. And I get all animated when the war is out there coming against God's people and against the church, all right? But I don't know if you know this, but most often the war is actually in here. Anybody ever notice that?

The biggest war you're ever going to face is not what you see on your nightly news. The biggest war that you ever going to face is what you see right in the morning when you look in the mirror. when you come eyeball to eyeball with the one that war is like against you in here. And the other reality is this. The church has often responded rightly when the attack is from the outside. I mean, have you seen the response of the church in the last couple of weeks? With a martyrdom, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, how did the church respond? Not in looting writing.

The church responded with prayer vigils. The church responded with one of the largest worship services ever in the history of America. that hundreds of thousands of people got together, and what did they do? They sang worship songs by some of them, by Brandon Lake and Chris Tomlin and Phil Wickham, these guys. How about this one? This will blow your mind.

Politicians clearly shared the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. By the way, better than some preachers I've heard. It's crazy. And some news stations broadcast it for people to hear. So, and then there's always a group of critics, but you remember this. it's not the critic who counts, right? It's those of us in the arena.

And so the church does pretty good when we're attacked from the outside. But faith is like a nail. The harder you hit it, bro, the deeper it goes. But what do you do when the war is not out there against you, but the war is actually on the inside of you? You see, this is what leads us to this hymn. We sung it like three times.

We're going to sing it again. It's called come thou found. One of my very favorite ones. And a part of the reason is because this very famous line, We'll get two in it. And a lot of it what it talks about is, what do you do when the evil attack is personal and private? All right, the story behind this hymn, Come Thou Fount, it was written by a guy named Robert Robinson. He was born in England, and 1735, lost his father at a bad age, and he made very bad decisions.

They were very, very, very poor, and he didn't make good decisions. He was such a jerk that his grandfather disinherited him. Think about how crappy you have to be. It's one thing when your parents don't like you because you suck, but when your grandparents don't like you, you got to be terrible. He was terrible, all right? He was a barber's apprentice to try to help out, but he didn't really make any money. And so he joined a gang in England, and the history book says that what this gang was known

for was mocking religion, carousing and causing trouble. So at age 17, this guy named George Whitfield, who would have been like the modern, the modern day Billy Graham back then. He was a traveling evangelist. He was super famous. He would go in to cities, preach the gospel. Bunches of people would get saved, George Whitfield. He was going to London.

And so Robert's little gang decided that they were going to go there just to disrupt the meetings. And so they filled their pockets with rocks. And their idea was when George Whitfield got on stage, they were going to pull out the rocks and throw them at the dude and throw them at the people. And they were going to disrupt everything and just make a mess. Well, when they showed up on the scene, and Robert begins to reach his hand into his pocket to grab the rocks.

George Whitfield sees him and quotes Matthew 7, or 3-7, looks right at him and says, Oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? And he was frozen. Robert was frozen. He ended up just listening to the entire message. Shortly after this, our guy Robert Robinson, surrenders his life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ,

decides to go into the ministry. Works at Baptist Churches and Methodist churches for a little while, And then two years after his salvation, he writes the hymn that we know as come thou fount of every blessing. And what he had intended for evil, God intended for good. He wrote that's him for his local church for a Pentecost Sunday. It was about both prayer and confession. And Robert, his entire life struggled with his feelings being all over the place, even though he knew that Christ had saved him. And so here are the words to the song.

It says, come thou fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy praise. Anybody ever notice that our hearts get out of tune with the Lord? You ever notice that? I mean, I don't play anything except the radio, but if you bang around a piano or bang around a guitar, it's not going to go into and it gets out of tune. And when you live in this world, you get banged around by this world.

Our tune, our heart gets out of tune. And a part of what corporate worship does is we get here together. The Lord, I need you to tune my heart. to sing about your grace, because this world wants me to tune my heart to sing all about me. It says, tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,

called for songs of loudest praise. Pastor Britt taught us last week that one of the key ingredients to like gospel, God glorifying, go to war kind of worship is gratitude. That when we see God for who he really is, then we respond by making much of him. Then the first chorus says this, teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.

You realize that when we go to church to sing, it's just practice for what we get to do in heaven forever and ever and ever. We won't only sing, but there will always be singing. I hope you know this. It's kind of an old Baptist joke. Like if you don't like to sing in church, you ain't going to like it in heaven. Because the elders get around the throne,

lay down their crowns, and they never stop singing. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was and is to come. Then he says, praise the mount. I'm fixed upon it. Mount of thy redeeming love. First two, he says, here I raise my Ebenezer. And I know you don't know what Ebenezer is. This isn't like Scrooge.

This is not what this is. Ebenezer means a remembering rock from the Old Testament. And what God would instruct the folks in the Old Testament to do is when God would move in a miraculous way, he would instruct the people to build an author. It was usually like 12 stones. And the big one was an Ebenezer. And it was to remember so that in the next generation, when your kids were like, hey, dad, what's that altar doing there?

You'd be like, oh, son, this is where God. moved and our people crossed the Red Sea or crossed over the Jordan or did something like that. A part of what it is to worship is to remind us the people of God about the faithfulness of God. He says, here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I've come. And I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. It sounds to me like, and I kind of know the end of this guy's story, is that he knows that he's shaky and its feelings are all over the place. So kind of like the psalmist, he's reminding his soul of the faithfulness of God, especially when he has a hard time remembering the faithfulness of God.

Like, he wants to make sure he doesn't forget the loving grace of Jesus. Why? You ever forget the loving grace of Jesus? I mean, don't we all have a tendency to get a little gospel amnesia? I mean, it makes so sense when we're in here at church, and I'm preaching on Ephesians 2 or Romans 3 or Romans 6 or Romans 8 or basically the whole, Bible that we're not saved by works, we're saved by grace through faith because of what Christ has done for us. And we say yes and amen and we pray about it, we raise our hands about it.

And then by Wednesday we screw up and we're like, oh my gosh, do you even like me anymore? And we could just forget. And then he anchors this just in the gospel. The second chorus says this, Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God. How many of you know that's true. Like you didn't find God. He wasn't lost. You were lost. I was lost. God was not sitting in heaven waiting for you to finally come to church two weeks in a row before he said, oh, now you're acceptable. No, no, no, no. That he came on a rescue mission for us. He, to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood. And then this is where, I think these next two, four lines, whatever it is. I think this is why this song resonates with folks like you and me.

Oh, to grace, how great a debtor. Daily I'm constrained to be, let that grace now like a fetter bind my wondering heart to thee. A fetter is like a ball and chain. It's like shackles that you would shackle somebody up in prison so that they can't get away. And he is confessing. God, I don't know what's wrong with me, but I need your grace. to stick me to you. Because it's the only thing that's going to stick me to you because I'm not. And the reason I'm not is because I had a real problem.

And my problem is me. And here's my problem. Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. So here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Anybody else prone to wonder?

See, this sermon, if you're a real church, churchy, you're not gonna like this one. That's fine. No way I like you either, so it's fine. But if you're real churchy, you're not gonna like this. Cause we're gonna talk a lot about this internal struggle with sin. And this is one of the few songs that I can find where the dude just says it, prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it.

And then even in his own mind, he's like, it don't make sense though, because I love God, prone to leave the God I love. I think this is why this resonates with me so much. much because I am like you prone to wonder. Hey, and I'm going to be honest, I love God a lot. I love Jesus. I read my Bible so much. Listen, how about this? I'm a professional Christian. You guys pay me to do this. Y'all are good for nothing. I make a living at this. You understand what I'm saying? I read my Bible. I hang out with Christians. I go on mission trips. I plan services. I share all the things. And there are some moments where I love him so much and I feel him so much and I feel his friends, it's so close.

I feel like over my eyes, I'll see his face. And then there's other times where I'm just over here acting like I don't even know who he is. And I'm like, what is wrong with me? You ever feel like that? This is why I'm telling you, this is going to bother church folks. Speaking of it, bothering church folks, Proverbs 2611 says that this is in the Proverbs. I didn't make this up. Ready?

Proverbs 2611. As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their volley. folly. So when you see a dog eating vomit that it threw up, aren't you like, ugh? And the reason you don't do that is because you're not a dog. Okay. Now this illustration is a J.D. Greer illustration, not mine. So if you don't like this, email him. He gets plenty of emails. All right, ready? Can you imagine, what did I eat last night? I can't remember. Pizza maybe. All right. So whatever I ate, hot dogs. I think I had a hot dog. Can you imagine it for right now, I was overwhelmed with a sick stomach, and I vomited all over the carpets down here.

Like little chunks of hot dogs, mostly chewed. Got it in your mind? Bun, I like chili with mustard and some onions. Got it? Do you know what we would not have to do? We would not have to say, hey, new rule, you're not allowed to come up and look up pastors vomit. You're not allowed because you would think,

I wouldn't even want to. That is sick. Who would want to do that? From heaven's perspective, when a saint acts like a sinner, like a dog returning to his vomit. So is a fool who keeps sinning. And heaven's like, what are you doing?

And even right now, there are things in your world that seem sick and nasty to you. And even in your heart during the last song, when you come out here and get on your face and pray to God, and you think, I'm never doing that again. That just seems terrible, doesn't it? And then by Wednesday, you're like, man, that looks like vomit.

That smells like vomit. Oh my God, I want it so bad. What is wrong with us? Here's what's wrong with us. Is that there is a war going on, but it's a civil war inside of us. There is this war between God's salvation and our own flesh, and it is at war. This is why we are prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. After 722, this girl comes up to me in the lobby.

Sweet girl. I love her so much. And she has repented of a rebellious lifestyle. walked away from everything this world had to offer, and is walking with Jesus. Praise God for this girl's life and testimony. I love this girl so much. And she asked me, she goes,

so am I a saint or a sinner? And I go, yep. And then somebody didn't like my answer and send me an email and gave me many verses. And I go, that's adorable. I too have verses. So both of these things are simultaneously true. Now, positionally, the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ,

you have been justified in all of your sin that's been paid for, and you are holy and blameless. True. And yet, John says, whoever says he is without sin is a liar and the truth is not within him. Both of those things are simultaneously. Positionally, you have already been paid for, adopted, and are seated with Christ at the right hand. And yet simultaneous, sin still rules and reign is in your life and is tempting. Listen, man, if it ain't tempting, it ain't temptation, right?

Anybody still struggle with temptation? Those of us were their hands up, and the liar sit next to you. So if that's your story, I got some great news. The Apostle Paul writes Romans chapter 7. And fundamentally, he's going to go, anybody struggle with their walk with Christ? Like what your heart wants for the Lord and what your flesh wants every day, just don't seem to line up. Anybody else's struggle?

Paul's going to say, me too. Now, some people will say, well, Paul wasn't a Christian when he wrote Romans 7. What? Okay. I think he was because of Romans one, two, three, four, five, and six. So when you go six, seven, then you can say, I'm a Christian, you understand? That's what I'm saying. Romans one, he says, that I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation. He says it's God's kindness that leads us to repentance. He says we've all sin and fallen short of the glory of God. and no one by works of their own righteousness can be declared as justified by God that we need somebody to do for us what we can't do for ourselves, that it is by faith alone in Christ alone that we are saved. And that there's only two categories of people. Listen, if you're really young, this is going to be offensive, okay?

God is very binary. When he returns, there's only two categories. Save, not saved. You were either in the camp of Jesus or Adam. And the wages of sin is death, but the gifts of God is eternal life in Christ, Jesus. So when you were baptized, it was a picture that you were buried with your old self in Christ. And just like Christ was resurrected from the grave, you have been resurrected to a newness of life. So what does those of us who have been buried with Christ have to do with sin?

And the answer is nothing. We don't have anything to do with sin. And you're like, yeah, Paul, you get them. Until he gets to chapter 70, he's like, except you're still struggling with sin? He's like, uh-huh. He's like, well, good. Well, let's talk about that for a little while. Romans chapter 7 verse 4 says, likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ.

In other words, and I know Paul can be very complicated to read. By the way, Peter in one of his letters says, anybody read Paul? Kind of hard to get your head around. And this was the Apostle Peter who said that. So if you're a little slow on the uptake on the Bible study stuff, you could make a great disciple. I will explain, okay? I'll put it like in bottom shelf, Dylan vernacular, about fourth grade education. Ready?

Here we go. Likewise, my brothers. you also have died to the law through the body of Christ. In other words, the gospel is not, if I obey, then I'll be accepted. The gospel is, I have been accepted because of the obedience of Christ. And when I put my faith in him, it's my faith in him that drives me to obey, not the other way around. And then he explains it. He says, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead,

in order that we may bear fruit for God. for while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law, were at work in our members who bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the spirit

and not in the old way of the written code. Let me explain, okay? The moment you put your faith in Jesus, the old you is dead, and the new you has been resurrected. That's true. We talk about this all the time. This is not about an outside end

obedience of the law. This is about an inside out, put your faith in Jesus. Sometimes I'll say it this way. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than putting your heaven in the, I mean, put in your head in the oven makes you a biscuit. That's not how it works. It's an inside out thing, not an outside end thing, okay? Some of the examples that we see in the Bible are things like in John chapter 11, when Jesus calls Lazarus out of the grave, the first thing he tells him to do is take off his grave clothes. Why? Because he's a living man and living men don't wear dead people closed. He didn't take off the grave clothes in order to become alive. God made him alive and then he took off the grave clothes. You're like, yay, praise God, I get that. Or Mark chapter 2,

Jesus says, hey, cripple man, now you can walk, take up your mat and walk. Why? Because you don't have to lay down on your mat because walking people don't lay down on cripple people mats. And we go praise God for that. Only problem is, about three weeks later, we have a tendency to slip back into some grave clothes. We have a tendency to lay back down on that nasty mat, don't we? This is what Paul is addressing here. And by the way, anybody struggle with this? The answer is yes, we all do.

The good news is this is what Paul is talking about. He is talking about that indwelling sin, that besettings, I love Jesus, I've surrendered my life to Jesus, and yet for some reason I can't live in the way that I think a Christian all to live. First seven. What then shall we say that the law is sin by no means? By the way, the Greek word there by no means is like perfano or something like that, some Greek word that sounds like where we get the word profanity. So this would, he's saying like, heck no, that's bad, just cussing right there. Okay, that's what he's saying. He's like, no. Here's what he's saying. Okay. So you can't think that the law is bad. The law is a gift for,

to us by God. You see, when God gives us a law, the Ten Commandments and all the commandments, all the rules, all the regulations, all the, this is what you should do and should not do, it is a gift from God. It is a gift from God. Why? Because God knows how to live life better than you know how to live life. And you're like, yeah, but I have Chet GPT. Well, that's adorable.

It's only as good as its inputs, and its inputs are sinful, okay? But the law is not going to change your life. The law of God, the Word of God, is like a map and a mirror. It's the best way I know to explain it. It's a map to show us how we ought to rightly live before a righteous God. But it's also a mirror, so you look at it and you go, uh-oh, there's a problem. But the solution is not the mirror. Do you know that?

Like you've looked at your face in the mirror. All of us today got up this morning and you looked at your face in the mirror. And there's always somebody's like, not me. Brother, we could tell. You need to go to, you need to be in a group. You need to be in a group. But when you see the problem in the mirror, first of all, you don't blame the mirror. You're not like, Martha, look what the mirror is doing to my face.

No, it's just revealing your face. And you also can't take the mirror off the wall and then clean your face with the mirror. That's just not what it was made for. This is the law of God. That the law is given to us as a guide, as a mirror, to show us that there's a problem. He says, yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. that the reason God gives us these commandments is to know that we're commandment breakers.

It's like the speed limit. Do you know how you know you're speeding? Because you broke the speed limit. Can you imagine if you pulled out on 95 and it just said, drive safely, good luck. And you just got to determine what that is. Some of you fools would drive 44 miles an hour in the left lane in front of me at 95

and caused me to sin. That's a different conversation. Some of you would drive 144 miles an hour while texting and putting it on your makeup and feeling great about it. So the law has been established so that we know what it is to break the law. That's what he's saying. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, you shall not covet.

But sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Here's what he's saying. Do you ever not even thinking about doing a thing until somebody told you you couldn't do the thing and now you just have to do the thing? You know what I'm talking about? last week we weren't here because Gretchen and I, we were in, with some friends, we were in Germany, and they have more castles in Germany than McDonald's, which is probably a good idea. And I don't love castles, but I love Gretchen.

Gretchen loves a castle, so guess what? I love castles, so there we are. We're looking at the castles. And you walk into this castle, and they have all these old things by these rich people, you know? And I'm walking by, and it's like, here's the queen's jewels. Don't touch the jewels. And you know what I do? I'm like, I touch it.

Every time. And Gretchen's like, what is wrong with you? Are you a child? I'm like, maybe, but I tell you what I am. I'm American. Ain't no German queen telling me what I do by God. I just touched me. I mean, that's what I do.

Don't you ever do that? This is what he's saying. So there's nothing wrong with the law. The law just revealed something is wrong in me. He says, for apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law. But when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me for sin,

and seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. So the problem is not God's commandments. The problem is us. Verse 13. Did that which is good then bring death to me by no means?

Again, the law is a map and a mirror. The law just can't cure you. It was sin producing death in me through what is good. In order that sin might be shown to be sin and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. In other words, when you rightly read the scriptures, the more you dive into the Bible, you're not going to find your wisdom,

you're going to find your ignorance. You're not going to see your righteousness. You're going to see your unrighteousness. I hope you realize that. The deeper you dive into the Word, and the Word drives into you, you begin to realize, uh-oh, God, there's a real problem here. I can't do any of this on my own.

which Jesus, by the way, when he starts out his teaching ministry, he starts out with this in the sermon on the mount. He starts with this, blessed are the poor in spirit. You know what that means? Blessed are you when you realize I'm spiritually bankrupt. And I can't get me out of this. I need somebody to do for me what I can't do for me. I don't bring any merit to my salvation. And when you get to that place, that's when Jesus goes perfect.

Because you know what you need to be saved? You need need. You see, what will actually happen in your life, the longer you walk with the Lord, is I heard this, John MacArthur said this. He just passed away like a month ago or whatever. He was a preacher forever, like 250 years, long time. And spoke a lot of truth, all right, a lot of truth. And not the most tender pastor you've ever heard in your life. But he was being interviewed, and it just popped up on one of my reels or whatever.

And he says this. He goes, the longer, the more you dive into the word, the more you mature, as a Christian, two things are going to simultaneously happen. One, you're going to sin less, which is true. Over time, the gospel, by the Spirit of God in you, and the Word of God over you, is going to conform you more and more into the image and likeness of Christ. You're not going to be perfect, but you're going to stack up some victories, right? You're going to sin less, and you're going to feel worse.

Isn't that true? When I first became a Christian in high school, Reagan, don't listen to this. When I first became a Christian in high school, if I just simply wasn't sleeping with somebody drunk or punching you in the face, I thought I might be up for sainthood any weekend now, okay? And now I get this gripping conviction, not even if I say or do something. If I just think something, I think, oh, no. Why? Because what the law is revealing is that I have a heart problem. And then verse 14, check this out. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh sold under sin.

Has anybody ever noticed there's a serious disconnect in your lived experience between what I want and what the word requires? And I love God. But there's a serious disconnect from the promises that I make. God, I'm never going to do that again. And then the things that I want to do. I mean, anybody else here? Like you want to follow God, then you get to parts of the Bible, and you're like, ah, gosh, why is that in there? And Paul's like, yeah, me too.

Paul's like, I'm still battling with the flesh and the devil and the world. And so when that girl asked me, so am I a saint or a sinner? And I say, yes, it's because the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you have been saved, you are being saved, and one day you will be saved. You have been saved from your sin. once and for all. That's called justification. That you have, that the penalty has been paid for the penalty of your sin and you are saved. One day when you breathe your last here on the planet and you are face to face with God, you will be glorified. Praise God. And you will be saved from the presence of sin. And we will get to be in the presence of God in our resurrected and glorified bodies.

Can I get a witness from the 50 and up crowd? Praise God. You hear that? Yeah, all you teenagers and 25ers or whatever, you're like, what are you talking about? That's adorable. God bless your eyesight, your flexibility, and your ignorance, all right? So everything in between your justification and your glorification is called sanctification. This means there's a continual process by the spirit of God in you, the authority of the word of God over you, like a hammer and a chisel, chiseling out anything in you that does not look like Jesus because God is going to conform us into the image and likeness of God.

So positionally, we are saints, holy and blameless. Practically speaking, we still struggle with sin every single one of us. This next line is why I chose Romans 7 to talk about the verses from the song, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Verse 15. I know it's been complicated so far. Paul is going to put this on the bottom shelf. I don't care what you believe.

If this is the first time you've ever been in church in your life, you're going to understand what this means. Verse 15. For I do not understand my own actions. Anybody? For I don't understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

You ever done that? I mean, forget the law of God and the promises that you made the last week of saturated, the last day is saturated. Just think about this. Anybody just decide I am going to get in such good shape?

Oh my God. You don't even know the shape mama's about to get in this week. And then you're like, I know I shouldn't, you know, right? Can't even do the thing you wanted to do. Or exercise until it gets sore, but I ain't doing that again. Or you know, you know you need to quit talking to him. And you tell yourself you're going to, then you keep calling him.

Or how about this, parents? You ever, you ever promise you never going to use these words again? You know what I'm saying? You're like, baby, this time, listen, listen, okay. When we're going on a trip with the kids, who's a trip, not a vacation because the kids are there. And you're like, we are not going to scream at the kids the whole time. Okay, deal, promise. They'll pray about it.

Put worship music on. We're going to hold each other accountable. We're going to speak life into our children. You ain't even pulled out of the chick-fil-a drive-through. And you'd be like, you're like, you want to turn around or turn around? You know, you're like, what is wrong with me? I don't understand my own actions. You know, sometimes it's funny.

Sometimes it ain't funny. Sometimes it's life and death, man. You struggle with an addiction? Or know somebody or love somebody who's struggle with an addiction? They'll say it, man. I'm like, I don't want to do this. I don't want to drink this. I don't want to look at this.

I don't want to take that. I don't want to. And yet I can't understand. I do the thing I don't want to do. Why do we do this? Why do we do this? Now listen, I got saved in the 80s, which is a really hard time to get saved. Okay?

There's a lot of rules. And we were trying to be cool. I'm too old to be cool now, I just want to be helpful. And I'd go to a lot of fellowship of Christian athletes, things. I love it. I love it. I love it. We support it.

I'm all into it. But the problem was in the 80s, when I'm like a junior, senior, senior in high school, the only people that they would put at these FCA camps up in front, their story, their testimony was my life was hell. I met Jesus. And then it's been a Lego movie. Everything is awesome. And in my life was not that. I mean, they would have these outbursts.

They would have some soccer champion, you know, and he would come up, he'd be like, he's from Mexico City. His name was like, Godaloupe, or something awesome. And he was like, I was in a gang. I was selling drugs, and we attacked a nun, and I stabbed her in the neck with a butcher knife, and she bled out in the face of Jesus, and I saw the light, and I surrendered my life, El Salvador. And then I'm a soccer champion, and I leave the fastest-growing church in the country of Mexico. And I was like, wow. I'm an 11th grader

and I life doesn't look anything like that. And so my discipleship journey was not. My life was terrible. I met Jesus and everything's up and the world right. My discipleship journey was more like, I love him and I prayed to ask him into my heart. That's what the language we used at camp. But my discipleship journey is like two steps forward,

three steps back, cha, cha, cha, cha. I think I'm still in. Am I in? So our team found an actual video of my discipleship journey that I want you to see. This is what your pastor looks like in his discipleship journey. Follow me as I follow Christ. Anybody else?

Now, I'm not making light of sin. Christ had to die to pay the penalty for it. I'm just saying my life ain't perfect, man. And I look at my own life and I go, I don't understand my own actions. There are times in my life, and I don't even do what I want, but the fairy thing I hate.

This is what Paul says. He says, now, if I do what I don't want, like jump back into the ditch, you know what that sheep is thinking. If I just jump higher, I'll get over it this time. Here we go. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good.

So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. Now, he's not saying it's not my fault of responsibility. He's not saying the devil made me do it. He's just saying there's something not lined up here. There's a civil war going on inside of me. Between my redeemed heart and soul that Christ paid for in my flesh that screams out loud. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh.

I'm here to tell you, you were not a mistakeer in need of a life coach. You are a sinner in need of a Savior, every single one of us. You're not a bad person that needs to be better. That the heart of the problem is we got a heart problem. That's it. And I know this is going to be a little offensive to you, but Jimmy Cracks going and I don't care. Actually, I care a lot.

The thing I get in trouble for or the most negative feedback, you'd be amazed at how little it impacts what I say. It's what we're saying. I can't believe you call me a wretched, blackhearted sinner. Because you are. Me too. I know. I know.

I know, I know y'all grow, you're like, you know, you're like, but my kindergarten teacher said that I'm a puppy's breath and I'm a Skittal and I'm a snowflake. All right, Skidl, let me tell you, your kindergarten teacher was a crooked and depraved liar. That was her problem too. And if you don't know that, then you won't ever know you need a cure. Listen, if you went to a doctor and he was more concerned about your feelings than your health, is that a good doctor? I mean, if you go to a doctor and he's like, whoa, whoa, hey man, you got some serious medical.

issues here. You've got heart issues. You've got insulin issues. You got all kind of. I mean, if you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to die. And you were like, yeah, but it's not my fault. I mean, I didn't get hug much as a kid and I wasn't breastfed. So, I mean, what am I going to do? I'm like, okay, just ice cream it to death then, darling. You need a new doctor. If you are listening to a preacher and he cares more about how you feel than what is true, you need a new preacher. And it is love. It is love that tells somebody the truth, so that they can find the cure. He says, for I have a desire to do is right.

Anybody? This is why pep talks on won't work. Which sucks for me because I'm good at pep talks, man. We can laugh, we can cry, get you fired up about all kind of stuff. Here's the problem, though. Without the spirit of God working inside the believer, it's nothing but just an exercise

and the futility of our own willpower for three or four days. That's going to change nothing. We've all been down that road. The first thing we have to do is be honest and confess, God, I still need help. I believe in you. I got saved, and I still have these things in my life that seem to be haunting me. I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

That's some real talk, isn't it? You ever been there like, God, you know he's calling you to forgive, but by Wednesday, you talk yourself out of why it doesn't count for you. You know he's calling you to be generous, but then you figure out a way where you don't have to be. You know he's calling you to pick up the phone and start the hard. hard work of reconciliation. You know you're not supposed to talk to her anymore. You know you're supposed to put the drink down.

You have the desire. You can't seem to pull it off. Verse 19. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. Can you see the frustration?

Can you see the civil war? That's what's going on. Now he's not going to stop there It's going to lead him somewhere Verse 21 And so I find it to be a law That when I want to do right Evil lies close at hand

Some of you, this is the first time You've ever heard this talk about at church Because at the church you came from Everybody had a bad case of the finitis Everybody's fine But you knew them not at church And they weren't fine Paul's like, I ain't fine

There is a war going on on the inside of every single one of us. And here's the crazy thing, man. Okay? What Johnny Mack said is right. Even if you walk with Christ for a long time, you may sin less and feel worse because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

But here's where some of you are right now. The most miserable person on the planet is the Christian living in unrepentant sin. Because you can't enjoy either part of the double life you're trying to live. You can't even enjoy the party. You can't even enjoy the affair. You can't even enjoy the part.

pornography. Because the Spirit of God lives and you're haunted by it. You're going to like, why am I doing this? And you can't enjoy the fellowship with God. Because every time we try to sing a song about the goodness of God, you're just confronted with your besetting sin that you haven't repented of. And it's miserable. And God wants you to have freedom. Verse 22. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. You're like, I love God. Like, especially right now. I mean, you're 40 minutes into a three-hour sermon, and you're like, I love God so much. But I see in my members another law, waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. All right.

So all of that is just set up. Anybody prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it prone to leave the God I love. This guy, Robert, wasn't making it up. He gets it right out of Romans 7. And the conclusion is this. The gospel is not. God is good. You're bad.

Try harder. See you next week. That is not the gospel. And God has given us this gift of worship to go to war, not just out there, but go to war in here. Worship is war. Worship is war against the flesh. One of the things that we do when we declare war on the enemy and we worship God is this, is that you celebrate what you value. And when we worship God, we're saying, God, I know there's a bunch of stuff in this world, but you, I celebrate you more.

Listen, today is Reagan Capri's 16th birthday, right there, second row, pretty one, 16 years old. Woo! I felt like we've been celebrating her for six months. Bought her a Jeep. You know why? Doesn't go that fast. If she rolls it over, her buddies can roll it back over, she can make it home. You know what I mean?

We did a birthday party on Friday night. We did one on Saturday night, and today, after church, we're going to lunch. I'm not going to the lobby. I'm going to lunch with her. Do I love you? I love you so much. I love her more. I'm going to lunch with her, okay?

We got her a cake, we got her candles, we got all of that, we sing her songs, why? Because you celebrate what you value. When you get together as a church and you make much, oh, so pick out where we're going to lunch. And so, and you celebrate God, that's what worship is. A part of what worship is war when you're warring against your own flesh is it declares God's victory over sin. Like if you notice, we don't sing a lot of songs about us. We sing a lot of songs about the resurrected Christ, about the ruling reigning Christ, about the death direction of Christ. We sing songs like Jesus sought me when a stranger,

wondering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me from danger, interpose his precious blood. When we worship together, because the Bible says, do not, do not neglect the gathering of the church. Because when we worship together, it reminds us, we're not alone in this battle. Aren't you glad we all sing the same song at the same time? What if we did karaoke?

I'm like, all right, dude, you're up. You're like, okay, this isn't good. And we're like, we know. Now, we sing all together. And some of you're like, I'm not a good singer. We are aware. We ain't giving you a microphone. But what you lack in talent, you just make up for an energy and volume.

That's what I do. And we're going to sing in just a minute, prone to wonder. And see, you thought you were by yourself in this fight. And I want you to watch the hands. When we get to that prone to wonder thing, there's going to be a bunch of people testify going, me too. And you're going to look around and be like, oh, my goodness. And you know that we'll have about 100,000 people worship

with us live this weekend between all of our services, our outpost and online. You can only see a portion of the testimony of people going, me too. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. But here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Another thing that worship does for us is why I love this so much? This is going to bother the church people again. Worship reminds the devil that he does not get the last word in your life. You see, the devil tries to continuously tell you that you're defined by your scar.

worship reminds us that Jesus defines us by his scars. You ever buy a used car and pull a car fax on it? You know what Carfax is? It tells you how crappy the car is, see if you want to actually buy it or not. You know Jesus ran a Carfax on you? You think he's surprised? You think he don't know that you leak oil

and that your transmission don't work good? Do you think he doesn't know that if you let go the wheels of your life, you're going to hit the ditch quick? He fully knows it all and yet demonstrated his love for how. in this. He pulled the car fax. The thing said lemon, busted up, been in many wrecks, being held together by paint and bondo. And he says, I'll pay full price with my very own blood, and then I'm going to move into the driver's seat and begin the restoration process from the inside up. That's what

worship reminds us of. And worship reminds us. It's not all about us. We should be honest. There's no doubt about it. But if all you ever do in your Christian life is just focus on your own sin, You're not doing it right. Too many Christians, just too much self-evaluation. And then you're just getting groups and talking about how crappy we all are. No, man. Worship reminds us the focus isn't on me.

The God has called me, God has redeemed me, and God has appointed me to go and push back darkness for the advancement of the kingdom. I love this one. Worship is to remind the devil that he does not get to sit on the throne that Christ has reserved for us.

If I have a right of certain worship song, it's going to be called, go to hell. devil because that's it at the consummation of all things when god finally puts me in my right place which is seated on the throne with christ as a co-air you can guess what devil you're going to go to hell where you belong forever and ever and ever and ever and ever so you can spit at me and griping me a little bit but man i'm going to stomp your head you understand that's what worship does and then worship helps realign our spirit to the truth that god's ways are better than our ways and that he is worth it Our word worship is just jamming together the words worthship, because God is worthy of our praise.

So Paul looks at this. By the time you get to the end of Romans 7, Paul's like, here's the gospel. God saves, I can't save. But something's wrong. What is wrong with me? I mean, I love him. I want to love him, but there is a problem, and I don't think I'm the solution. Verse 24, here's the diagnosis.

Wretched man that I am. Now notice he says, wretched man that I am. He doesn't say you people are wretched. Y'all should fix yourself and then come see me. No, no, no, no. I've told you this before. One of the worst ways to read the Bible

is like a set of binoculars. Like, oh, look at all the sinners, Lord. Oh, there's one. Get them. The best way to read it is to hold it up and be like, uh-oh, there's a sinner. God, I need your help. That's what he says,

wretched man that I am. Again, his diagnosis is not I'm a good person that needs to be, you know, do a little better. No, no, no, no, he's a crooked, wretched, depraved, black-hearted sinner. But then, not only does he make the right diagnosis, but he's going to give himself the right cure. And it's in the question that he asks. Again, don't go to a doctor that is afraid to put his hands on the place that hurts.

And so he says, who will deliver me from this body of death? See, he realizes, you know what the body of death is? Him. That's what he's been talking about. I got a civil war going on inside of me. I want to do evil. What is wrong with me? So I know I am not the solution.

I'm actually the problem. The question that he does not ask is, what must I do? That's the wrong question. Because it's centered in me. There was this very famous story in the Gospels. There's this dude called the rich young ruler. Because he was rich and he was young and he was in charge of stuff. and he thought very highly of himself.

And he comes up to Jesus and he asks this question, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Well, there's two things wrong with the question. First of all, apparently he doesn't know what an inheritance is. Because what do you do to get an inheritance? You have to be a son or a daughter. What do you do to be a son or a daughter? You can't do anything.

Something has to be done for you. There's only two ways. It's by blood. or by adoption. Well, I got some really good news. That through the blood of Jesus Christ, everyone who believes on Christ for their salvation has been adopted into the family of God,

and therefore we received as a gift, the inheritance of God. So he thinks it's something to be earned. And then he doesn't understand, he doesn't understand Jesus' sarcasm and the answer. He says, what must I do to inherit the kingdom of God or inherit heaven? And Jesus says, all that's easy,

you just obey all the commandments. you know what he's saying okay here's how you earn it you just be perfect and you know what the guy says got him yeah i'm nailing him she's like oh okay you know there's one in there it says thou shalt not lie he's like yeah that's it i'm from from my birth i have obeyed them all he's like oh have you all right well there's just one thing you're missing you got to love me more than everything else and for you he doesn't say this for every single person He says, you're a problem. You love your money more than you love anything else.

So just go sell that. Give it away. Come and follow me. And the Bible says he went away sad. You see, God's not looking for our begrudging submission. The Shema says that what God wants from us is to love him. No one has ever loved a substitute teacher that simply gives them credit for the grade that they earned. Make sense?

Like, does anybody love the IRS when you get your tax return? Do you open it? You're like, oh, my, I need to call somebody. Hey, guys, thank you so much for taking too much of my money doing weird stuff with it and then letting me get mine back. I love you so much. No, it's your money that you earned. They just gave back yours.

That's what earning is. But what about a Redeemer that saves you when you didn't deserve it? So Paul says, who will deliver me from this body of death? And then here is the answer, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That the question, when you say, what is wrong with me? The question to ask is not what must I do, but who will deliver me? And the answer is, the deliverer is God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That is the answer.

And when you understand that, and if you're like me, which God bless you, if you are, seriously, and the enemy constantly whispers those lies of condemnation. You know what I'm talking about? Like if they really knew the things you've done, the things you think, the things you struggle with, if they only knew, that's the lie of condemnation. Because the enemy wants me to be defined by the scars of my past. And you get to this place and you go, you know what enemy?

You're right. I don't deserve, I don't deserve to be saved. I don't deserve to be the pastor. I don't deserve any of these things. But I asked the question, who will deliver me from this body of death? And Jesus decided to deliver me. That's how you get to Romans 8-1.

Therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Praise God. Condemnation is a building term. Condemnation means unfit for use. When I was in college, I've told you before, as I'm a junior year of college. They condemned my fraternity house.

Some experts looked at that, and they deduced humans should not live in there. And they were right. And they put a big old sticker from the city of Richmond and it said, condemned unfit for use. And the enemy wants you to say, you are condemned. You are unfit for use.

God is done with you. And then through the gospel of Jesus Christ, he goes, whoa, whoa, whoa. Because of my life, my death, my resurrection for anybody who would believe they received the right to be son of God. No, no, no, no, no. No, no.

Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. In fact, 1st Corinthians 6 says, you were not your own. You were bought with a price. First Corinthians 6 says that your body is the temple of God. You know what the temple is? The temple is where the spirit dwells. So God looks at the facility that the enemy said, like your body, he says, all right, the enemy says you're condemned.

Jesus says, no, no, no, no. She's not condemned. That's my temple. She is going to be my permanent residence here on earth because the spirit of God through the blood of Christ is going to dwell in her. And so this is how we can say, oh, to grace, how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let that grace now, like a fetter, bind my wondering heart to thee. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.

The question is not. All right, so what do I do? It's here's my heart, Lord, taking seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Here's what's kind of poetically sad about Robert, the guy that wrote this. These beautiful words, man. He struggled with it his whole life. He was a pastor.

He worked in the ministry. And he struggled with the joy and the assurance of his salvation. Because he couldn't keep his feelings in alignment. And there's an old story from the history books that say there was a day late in his life. And he was writing on a stagecoach. And this woman was singing this hymn. And she asked him what his opinion of this hymn is. and he said,

Madam, I am the unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago and I would give a thousand worlds if I had them if I could feel now as I felt then and he'd wandered away. Well, I wish I could talk to Robert, but I can talk to you.

That's some really good news. Your salvation is not based on what you feel like right now. That your salvation came through grace. It is by grace that you have been saved through faith. Now, you've got to hang in here for a second because this is theologically a little deep. Did you know it's not your faith that saves you?

Your fate is a vehicle by which God puts his grace on you. Ephesians 2 says that we are saved by grace through faith and not of our own works. Which means this. Some of you have got all kind of big faith. I mean, you get all fired up in here and, you know, especially after saturated

in the last few weeks and you're ready to attack hell with a water gun. Let's go. Praise God. Big old faith. And some of you got, because of the events of your world or what's going on inside of your heart, some of you feel like you're just maybe barely hanging on by a tiny little itsy-bitsy thread of faith. And Jesus says, that's cool.

If you've got fate the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain move. And it's got to listen. Because we're saved by the grace of God through faith, whether it's a ton of faith. like you're like if you get me the mic i could explain it way better than you are right now you're probably good or if you're like i don't even i can't understand anything you're saying but i believe when jesus down on the cross somehow that counted for me and some of you have known jesus for a while but you've wondered away like the hymn writer wondered or away because you're prone to wonder my invitation for you come home just come home because we serve the kind of god that celebrates when

his prodigals come home. Just come home. Some of you've never put your faith in Jesus. And I'm not going to, I'm not trying to make this thing sound easy. It is not easy to be a Christian. In fact, if your Christian life is easy, you might not be doing it right. Jesus said, this world's going to hate us. There's all kind of temptations. There's a lot. But it's so simple that even a child can believe. It's as simple as ABC. It's as simple as A. I admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a savior. It's as simple as B. I believe. I trust. I trust that somehow when Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And if that's you, the Bible says, do see all who call on the name of the Lord will be safe. The Bible says,

if you confess him as Lord, then you will be saved. And so I want to give our wondering hearts an opportunity to come home to the salvation through Jesus Christ. Would you bow your head? Would you close your eyes? And if that's you, if that's you, and you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ. And today, for the very first time, you were ready to admit it. I'm a sinner. I need a savior. You believe that when Christ died on the cross, somehow it counted for you. And today, you were ready to confess him as Lord. I would like for you to make that confession by lifting your hand as high as you can and simply saying, God, I call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible says that is a prayer that gets answered 100% of the time. If you confess Jesus as

your Lord, then you will be safe. Lift that hand as high as you can. Our good and gracious, Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because Christ, you first loved us. God, I thank you so much that you're not looking for begrudging submission. God, I pray against the devil and his lies and his whispers. Lord, I pray that we would be so overwhelmed by your love that we would put off the things of this world and that we would walk in alignment with who you say that we are. And God, I pray that it's by your goodness and your grace that you would chain us to you. And in those chains, that's where we would find ultimate and complete life and freedom.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond? We're going to sing, and I believe you're going to crush it, and you better, because I explained every word of the song. We're going to sing. And when we get to that, prone to wonder part, if you can lift your hands, I would encourage you to. And we're going to bring our ties and our offerings, because we're going to take. this world, you don't own me. God owns it all. And he gave his first and best for me. And so I bring my first and best in. And we don't pray. And listen, we don't do this alone.

A bunch of us who are prone to wonder need to sprint down here, get on our face and say, Lord, I need help. Would you help me? And the answer is, he will. So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.