The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 17: No Condemnation

Episode Date: May 13, 2018

The enemy says that you are condemned because of what you have done. The Father says that you are alive and free because of what Jesus has done for you.

Amen and amen. How are we doing, church? Everybody doing good? You're looking great. Happy Mother's Day. Can we give it up to all of the mamas? Way to go, way to go. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The Bible is very clear that Jesus is the head of the church,

but my contention is you pray and mamas have been the backbone of the church since the empty tomb. A bunch of mamas showed up there. And so thank you for all that you do. You have the hardest job on the planet. I know this to be true because Gretchen's gone for like a day, and I have to do some stuff with the kids, and I'm like, I got to go to work and get some rest. All right? So we know.

You are like, you are intercessor and counselor and disciplinarian and protector most of the time from dad. I mean, that's just you do all of those things, and none of us will be here without you. So one more time, thank you to the mamas. We love you like crazy. We really, really do. And also, this is a movement for all people, and I do understand that for some of you, the idea of Mother's Day doesn't bring happy thoughts, but sad. ones. And so some of you more than anything, you just wanted to have a baby, and that has not happened

for you yet. And just hear me, hear me, hear me. God is close to the brokenhearted, close to the broken hearted. And listen, let me give you a little theology lesson. This is for free, real quick. In the book of Genesis, Eve is named Eve. Means the mother of all living things, and she has not had a baby yet. So here's what this means. In God's economy, if you are an adult female, you are a mama in the church. You've heard it takes a village to raise a kid. You don't want the village raising our kids. You don't want the village raising our kids today. You have the village idiot. It takes a church. And so we need, we need all the mamas in here together to raise up that new generation in this faith family, all right? And so we need you here. And I pray. I also know this, for some of you that have kids, man, you got

some serious mom guilt going on because you have these kind of standards that you have set for yourself that you don't believe you're living up to. Or maybe you raise your kid right and they're a prodigal now, or maybe you didn't raise your kid right, and you feel like this is your fault, I hope and I pray that as we dig into Romans chapter 8 today, that the message that therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus would ring loud and true in your life. And so before we dig into that, can I just pray especially for you? Let's pray.

God, we thank you for the gift of moms. We obviously literally would not be here without them. And God, I pray for it. The mamas that today is a great and glorious day, Lord, I pray that they would just receive the joy that is theirs. That their families would treat them as they should be treated, like the queen that they are this day. And then God, I also pray for those folks in all of our churches all over the city today where today's tough. It's just really, really tough. And so God, I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would do exactly what Jesus said you were coming to do and that you would comfort.

God, you would comfort. And Lord, I pray that you would bring a peace that transcends understanding. You would guard hearts and minds in Christ, Jesus. And Lord, I pray that these women would not be, they would not identify themselves by whether they have children or not, but they would identify themselves primarily as a child of you, the great high king. And so God, I pray for a good gospel work through Romans chapter 8 this day that we could live out the truth. that therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We pray this in Jesus' name and all God's people said.

Amen. Romans chapter 8. Now, Romans chapter 8 is kind of in many theologians' opinion. I would be one of those. I don't know if I'm a theologian, but I have an opinion. That this is the pinnacle of all the scripture. In fact, Martin Luther said this about the book of Romans itself. Luther said Romans is worthy, not only that every Christian should know it word for word

by heart but occupy himself with it every day as the daily bread of the soul it can never be read or pondered too much and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes i hope you feel that way since this is our 17th week in this and we're just we're just at the halfway point and then uh uh the dead welch preacher named d martin lloy jones and this incredible preacher he wrote this about romans chapter 8 itself he was talking about the idea that of all the books ever written, that the most, if you stacked them all up, it would be like stacking up a bunch of stones and that the greatest and glorious of the stones would be the Bible. And then about this, he says, it, talking about Romans, it is one of the brightest jims of

all. Someone has said that in the whole of the scripture, the brightest and most lustrous flashing stone or collection of stones is the epistle to the Romans, and that of these, chapter 8, is the brightest gem in the cluster. The most moving chapter in Romans and in the Bible is Romans chapter 8. Dr. John Piper says that the greatest book in the world, the Bible. The greatest letter in that book, Romans. The greatest chapter in that letter, Romans chapter 8. This is where we're going to be for the next four weeks.

We're going to do a mini-series, within series, called the Great Eight. And we call it the Great Eight because we want you to understand how important this is in understanding the gospel. Now, the bar is pretty high. If my sermon's not very good, then I'm in rough shape. Because this is it. This is the gospel. Nowhere do we have more facts about God's love for us, more information about how God saves us and what he saves us from. And no more saturation than the Spirit than Romans chapter 8, all found here in one place.

But to understand Romans 8, hopefully you were here last week and you got to know Romans 7. because Romans 8 is the answer to Romans 7. And you remember last week, Paul, who can we just agree that Paul is a Christian when he's writing Romans chapter 7, and it kind of sounds like a tongue twister at some points. I don't understand the things that I do because the things that I want to do, these things I can't do, and the things that I don't want to do, these things I keep on doing. He fundamentally just gets to this place where he goes, what is wrong with me? And we last week, we said, anybody been there?

And I know all the perfect people are fine, all right? You're on the bullet train to hell, all right? But the rest of us get to the place where we go, something is wrong with me. I mean, I love Jesus with my heart. I love Jesus with my mind, and I get all stirred up in church, and I want to do good. And then by like Sunday night, evil is right there with me.

What is wrong with me? Which leads him to this place, this diagnosis. Wretched man that I am. Wretched man that I am. No good thing dwells in me. In other words, he says, you know what's wrong with me? me I'm wrong with me and what am I going to do about it what am I going to do about it I mean I got me stuck in the ditch how am I going to get me out of the ditch which leads him then to take his eyes off of

himself and ask this question who will deliver me not what will deliver me not what thing must do I do to clean myself up but who will deliver me I need someone to do for me what I cannot do for myself who will deliver me and then he answers his own question thanks be to God through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And that, see, if you just start in 8-1 and you miss the angst going on in Romans 7, then you'll miss the good news of Romans 8-1. And so he says in Romans 8-1, there is therefore now. And the therefore is therefore chapter 7.

What is wrong with me? Wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me? Thank you, Jesus. There is therefore now. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. All of chapter 8 could be summed up in two words, no condemnation. Now the word condemnation, it's literally a legal term that means no charge or no debt.

That in the grand judgment of your life for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no charge that you owe no debt. Now, most of us feel something very different. most of us feel a whole bunch of condemnation. And most of the time when we use the word condemnation, we're not using it in the like legal sense. We use it kind of like in the builder sense. You see, if a building is condemned, if a building is under condemnation, then somebody has inspected the building and they have slapped a sticker on that thing

that says unfit for use. And that's where a lot of us feel like we are based on the things that we have done. Listen, I have first-hand experience with living in a condemned building. My fraternity house, when I was a sophomore in college, got condemned. Now, there was a lot of things that should have been condemned going on in there, but the building itself got condemned. I lived in the fan. It was like 1993. I went to VCU, Virginia Commonwealth University, and to save money, I lived in the fraternity house.

It was the cheapest thing in the world. Four of us, we lived in one room, and we just made like these bunk beds, and we would all in this one little room. And the place was, I mean, it was the closest to homeless I've personally ever been. And it was crazy, man. We had baseball heating, but we couldn't turn it on because it cost too much money, and it was a fire hazard. So we got a kerosene heater, and we just put it in there and shut all the doors and closed all the windows. And every class I'd walk into, people were like, I smell something on fire. I'd be like, I haven't smelled anything all winter. I don't know what the problem is. All right. So that's where we live. Well, I think it's 93.

We had three blizzards, three weekends in a row. And when the second one hit, the snow from the one hadn't melted yet because it didn't warm up enough. And we had three storms of the century, three weekends in a row. And so a few days after that third storm, we lived in the fan district, like these super flat roofs, and that ice and some of the ice had melted kind of under it, that ice and water was just sitting on our flat roof for like 25 days. One night, in the middle of the night, my roof caves in over my bedroom. I don't mean, like, I don't mean a little bit either.

I'm talking about as it's happening, we could see the stars from our bed. That's what's going on. The thing cracks, and it just sounds like, I mean, all this water that was under the ice that was on our roof just begins to pour into my room. And I don't mean like a little leak. I mean, it sounds like a T-Rex. It's taking a leak in my bedroom. Just like a fire hydrant. And I'm freaking out, so scared.

And my roommate above me, he jumped out of his bunk into mine. He was like, I'm scared. Me too. I mean, we just kind of snuggled. So whatever. So then they came to fix it and they were like, nope. And it was like a cartoon. They slapped this big poster on the front door that said condemned.

So they, after they investigate, they go, this building is unfit for use. It made everybody move out. Now, that kind of language is the native tongue of the enemy. It's the native tongue of the enemy. He looks at you, he looks at the things that you've done, he's whispered to you all the times that you failed, that you tried but you failed. He reads out chapter seven, but he leaves out the last few lines. And he goes, you know what's wrong with you? You're wrong with you. And you are condemned. You are unfit for use. And see, the crazy thing is, is that your feelings, your feelings will

support that too. Now, here's the thing about your feelings. Ready? I'm going to give you two things about your feelings. All right? Number one, Jimmy Cracks Corn. I don't care. Now, I don't care that you have feelings. You just can't let your feelings be the Lord of your life. Because let me tell you what will change your feelings. Facts will change your feelings. They will. Like if you thought that your friend died at a car accident and if I just came to you and said, cheer up, you'd be like, you know what? I just lost my friend. I don't think me telling you to cheer up would do anything about it. Even if I quoted verses and talked about God's plan and said dumb stuff that Christians often say to us in times of tragedy.

But what if I came to you and you thought your friend had passed away in a car accident, but they actually hadn't. You had gotten misinformation. And then I were to come to you and say, cheer up. And you're like, but I can't because she's dead. No, no, no, no, she's not. They gave you the wrong information. I just saw her.

She's alive. She is alive. Look, look. I took a picture and put it on Instagram. She is alive. You would look at those facts and then it would change the way you felt. The reason I say this is because Romans 8-1 is a fact. And when you get that spirit infused fact into you, it changes everything about you.

Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And I know some of you're like, yeah, but you don't understand. You don't know about my past. I mean, I had an abortion and in his mother's day, and I just feel broken and abandoned and unfit for use. Or you say, I have been unfaithful to my spouse, and no matter what I do, I think I am done, I think God is done with me. Or some of you would say, look, I'm divorced, and I promised till death do his part, and I was willing to stick it out, but he wasn't.

And so he left, and my last church said there's certain groups I can't be in anymore because, I mean, they basically told me, yep, you're unfit for use. You say, well, pastor, I get all this, and I appreciate it, but I can't stop. I can't stop the drugs. I can't stop the drinking. I can't stop the eating. I can't stop looking at pornography. And honestly, and in that moment, I don't even care.

I know it's a sin. And I'm like, whatever. And then the moment it's over, I feel nothing but condemnation. And some of you would say, listen, well, listen, at my last church, they said, if you don't stop feeling the blank, then you are not a part of us and that God is done with you. And I would tell you, if that's what you've been taught, you were taught wrong. You should have been taught Romans 8 a little bit more.

That therefore now, now, therefore now, not once you get you act together. Therefore now, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The question is, are you in Christ Jesus? Now, the bad news is if you're not in Christ Jesus, then there's only condemnation. But for anyone who is in Christ, therefore now, now. there is no condemnation. You see, your feelings are not your Lord. What you've got to do is you've got to quote the facts of the scripture to you.

And by the power of the Holy Spirit, hopefully over time, maybe not overnight, that your feelings will begin to line up with the facts that when Christ died on the cross, that counted for you. Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If I could encourage you to memorize a verse, this may be one of the most important verses in your daily walk with Jesus for the rest of your days. Because when the enemy starts whispering, ah, God's done with you. Then you shout about, no, no, no, no. Therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And you say, well, how in the world can that be? How could there be no condemnation? You don't know what I've done. You don't know what I think. You don't know what I struggle with. And so verses 2 through like 5, he is going to explain the how. Here's how there is no condemnation. Verse 2, for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

So there's a law of try harder, and that just leads to exhaustion. And then there's a law of the spirit of life that leads to freedom. Here's what this means. If you have surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, you should be, experiencing some level of freedom. And if you're not experiencing some level of freedom in your walk, in your life, then you're not doing it right. Then you've got, you've put the burden on your own performance instead of trusting Christ's performance on the cross. Now, I know some of you pay attention, dozens of you pay attention, I really appreciate that. And you might say, but pastor, last week you said,

it's a war. And you're right, you're right, it is a war. We war against evil, we war against sin, we war against the flesh, but Christ has set us free to war against those things. And here's the thing, we are fighting from victory. We're not fighting for victory. This is a big difference. I've read to the end of the book. I don't know if you've gotten there yet, but I'm a professional. I've been doing this a long time. I've gotten to the end of the book. Guess what? If you are in Christ, the victory is already yours. That the game is already over. I mean, checkmate has happened. The score is finally. one day Jesus cracks over in the heavens and it's over man Satan's going into the pit and we're going with Jesus

all right I promise in the end we win which should give us the freedom to understand that we are fighting from victory that in Christ the enemy cannot win he cannot win a couple years ago J.P's playing for he's playing baseball he's still he's been playing baseball forever but a couple years ago when he was in the 10 and under league they had this rule in rec baseball where you could only score seven runs in an inning. No matter what. No matter if every kid hit a home run just at seven, you had to stop because they didn't want to damage the psyche of these precious little puppies' breaths and skittles and snowflakes out there. Okay.

What my rule? I promise. We play full contact, 100 inning, whatever. All right. So we're playing this team. They're pretty good, but that day we were better. And so we're up 10 to 1 and we're going into the very last inning. And JP is a pitcher.

And so there's a lot of pressure on a kid when they're 10 years old and they have to pitch and their parents are screaming at them and all the, you know, less than athletic dads are trying to live vicariously through their 10 year old. You know all this scene, all right. And so JP's stepping out there to pitch and, again, it's 10 to 1 and there's one inning to go. And I walk, I was one of the coaches. I walk out there with him. And I'm like, hey, buddy, this is the greatest, greatest time to pitch ever. Look at the scoreboard.

It's 10 to 1. And he's just kind of freaking out because all the pressure of pitching. And I don't think he gets it yet. I'm like, buddy, do you understand? No matter what you do, no matter what you do. If you pitch great, we win. If you pitch terrible, we win. So just, you should just have fun.

That you are free to just throw the ball. And he's like, okay. And so first batter gets up. And the first batter up is the last batter in the lineup. And JP, super nervous, trying to work. through his nerves a little bit, throws one ball, two ball, three, four, and he walks him, four straight balls, and he walks him, and then he goes, ah. And I go, hey, buddy, it don't matter. Now, see, he was frustrated because he knows this. He knows you don't walk the last batter. You know why? In 10-year-old

rec league, because he's terrible. That's what? Now, if your kid is the last batter, I just have a word for you, all right? Listen, God has a plan for your kid's life. But it ain't baseball, all right? You should go man try something else. All right, it's over. So, anyway, so he walks. And I'm like, hey, buddy, it don't matter. It don't matter. Look at scoreboard. We're going to win, okay? And so then, so he rears back now that the number one batters up and he's good. And J.P. throws it hard and hits him in the earhole, drops him like a World War II movie. He's just, and I'm going, hey, buddy, it doesn't matter. And the other dugouts like, what do you mean? It doesn't matter. That's my kid. I'm like, shut up. That's not what I'm talking about. So I go back out there. I'm like, hey, bud. He's like,

dad, I'm not doing good. I'm like, honestly, man, it's fine. We want. We want. We want. Look at the score, okay? If you hit them all in the face, we win. We're going to win. If they all hit home runs, we win. You're going to win this game no matter what. In that moment, it just clicked. It clicked.

And he realized that he was free. He was free. And so the next batter comes up, super good guy. And he just rares back and he just starts throwing heat, man. Strikes first kid out. The next kid pops out to shortstop. The third kid strikes him out. And the moment he strikes out the third kid, you know what the dug out.

didn't do, the dugout didn't go, it doesn't matter. No, we celebrated. We won, we won, and we all come running out there and high-fiving, high-fiving, high-fiving. This is what Paul is talking about here. That Christ has set us free. Why? Because we're not fighting for victory, maybe some little individual victories, but the game is over. Christ has defeated our enemy, and we are on the winning side. This means that we are free from the performance trap and we are free from pretending. This means that God is not in love with some future version of you or God doesn't love you on your good days

and he's frustrated with you on your bad days. No, you're free from the performance trap. It also means that you're free. You don't have to pretend anymore. And I'm going to tell you, the worst pretenders on the planet, church people, on Sunday, at church. I mean, how many people have you already lied to today? How you doing?

I'm just blessed and highly favored. Really? Because your Facebook looks like you're going crazy, all right? Looks like your world's on fire, and you're trying to put it out with kerosene. So are you sure you're okay? Well, see, in Christ, in Christ, we're free. Because for the law, the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Verse three, for God has done.

Who has done? God, you don't save you. He does. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. In other words, rulekeeping as a means of justification cannot save you. Rule keeping, religious rulekeeping as a means of justification, either lead to pride. You think you're better than everybody else. It leads to exhaustion.

I just can't do this anymore. Or it leads to hopelessness. That's where it leads. And being a Christian, it's not about sin management. It's about a relationship with Jesus. You see, sin management is what honestly, a bunch of us were brought up in. Like if you're going to be a good Christian, you've got to stop doing these things. And by your own efforts, you grab that sin, and you just, with your own effort,

you try to just manage it and hold it down. I call it beach ball theology. You ever try to take a beach ball and hold it under the ocean? You can do it. Do you know how long? There's a lot of variables there. Depends on you, how strong you are. Depends on how much sunscreen you have on your hands.

Depends on how big the beach ball is. Depends on the waves that day. But here's what I promise. It will lead to exhaustion. And then at some point, at some point, the beach ball slips out of your hands or you get hit by a wave or you just get too tired. And I don't know if you've ever noticed it.

It doesn't just gently resurface. It comes back with an explosion. You see, that's works-based righteousness. That's the law of sin and death. I got this. The cross says, you ain't got this. You see, the gospel in this analogy is Jesus does not come by and go, come on, you can do it, you can do it. Try hard or pray more.

No, Jesus pulls out his pocket knife. He just stabs the beach ball. He goes, that thing has no power anymore. Now you just look like a silly person holding something under that's not even there. You see, this is what he's saying. We have been set free in Christ Jesus. Verse three, for God has done what the law weakened by flesh could not do. and here's how he did it.

By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. You see, there's a whole bunch here. You see, there is because God is holy and just and righteous. And we are not. that there is a righteous requirement of the law. People ask me sometimes,

hey, so how come God just doesn't forgive people? I can forgive people all the time. Well, it's because you're not holy and just. And for God to just overlook sin, it would be unjust. It would be outside of his character. I mean, can you imagine if someone did something to your son or daughter?

If someone molested them, raped them, hurt them. And they were guilty before a judge. And a judge said, you know, don't worry about it, we all make mistakes. You would say that is an unjust judge. Well, in an infinitely greater way, sin must be paid for because of God's justice. However, because of God's mercy, he has delayed the payment. Romans 623, we studied it a few weeks ago, for the wages of sin is death.

Anybody ever sin in the room? Well, it's a wages of sin is death. then how come you're not dead? How come the moment you sin for the first time, you know, you're a little baby, you're like, mine, just, are you done? Why? Because of God's mercy, he delayed the payment. Because of God's justice, sin must be paid for.

Because of God's mercy, he delays the payment. And because of his grace, he pays the debt. So what Romans 3 teaches us when it says he is the just and the justifier. So what he's talking about here in verse 3 and 4. is that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled through the perfect life of his son, Jesus Christ. He explains that, I think, in Romans 3 this way. Romans 3.23, we did this a few weeks ago. He says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,

and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. That word perpetuation. It's a very important word for you to understand. Perpetuation means a payment that satisfies. A payment that satisfies. That at the cross, when Jesus says it is finished, the payment of the sin debt that we owe God

was fully satisfied in Jesus Christ. And it was satisfied by his blood. Now, if you're new to church and you look at the songs that we were singing today, you're like, what's with all the dead lambs? I mean, every other song we're slaying another lamb. What does that mean? And if you grew up in church, you're like, yeah,

I mean, that's just kind of what, you know, you know that language, but, you know, I had some friends come one time I'd never been there, but like, man, y'all hate lambs, don't you? Be like, hold on, no, we're not lamb killers. Here's what this means. That for a couple thousand years before Jesus shows up on the scene, there was a temple. And in the temple, the temple represented the very presence of God. And there was a sacrificial system. And the reason the sacrificial system was set up, it was as a precursor to Jesus.

It was to point to what Christ would do on the cross. every year the God's people would gather together. They would confess their sins, and the priest would receive the confessed sins of the people and transfer their sins to the head of this goat. It's called the scapegoat. Take it to the edge of town. Send it out into the wilderness to die, and he would go as far as the east is from the west. So the people could see their sins leaving them.

And then he would take a lamb, a perfect spotless lamb, and he would go inside of this room, inside a room, inside a room, inside the temple. That little room was called the Holy of Holies. And in the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. If you want to see a good documentary, Raiders of the Lost Ark. That's what the thing is about. It was that box. And inside that box had the Ten Commandments.

And because we break those commandments, we deserve to be judged because God is a just judge. And every year, the high priest would shed the blood of a lamb and sprinkle that blood over the Ark of the Covenant. The top of it was called, in English, we call it the mercy seat. The Hebrew word is the hylisterium. The Greek word of that seat is called the propitiation seat. And that the blood of the lamb would cover over the sin of the Jewish people for one year. It happened here after year after year. And then Jesus shows up on the scene.

John the Baptist is baptizing people at the Jordan River. And he says, behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of all the people. Not another Lamb of God that's here to cover over the sin of the Jordan. Jewish people for one year, but he is the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of all the people. And so when Jesus' blood is shed on the cross and he says, it is finished, what is finished? The sacrificial system is finished. That the propitiation has been made, the payment that satisfies. So if Jesus is the perfect payment that fully satisfies God and you are in Christ, like he said earlier, then you know what that means? That means that means that.

that God cannot be dissatisfied in you. That's a fact. That's a fact. Regardless of what your feelings are about that right now. A spirit-infused fact will help your feelings line up with that reality. That means that God's not in love with some future version of you once you quit sinning so much, but he loves you because of who Christ is and if you are in Christ, that he makes this great exchange. Second Corinthians 521 will say it this way, that God made Him, Jesus, who was without sin,

to be sin for us that we would be made the righteousness of God. This is called double imputation. He takes our sin. We get credit for his righteousness. It would be like if you logged on to your bank account and you were a trillion dollars in debt. Can you imagine somebody being a trillion dollars in debt? Ha-ha.

And so you look at that and you're like, there's nothing I could do. If I work for the rest of my life, I can't make a trillion dollars. What am I going to do? And then God slash the banker looks at your account and he looks at his account. And in his account, he's got trillions upon trillions upon trillions of dollars. And he says, you're going to trade? You're going to trade. I'll take all of

your debt and you take all of my resources. And you'll say, I'll take that deal. That's double imputation. That's the great exchange that Paul is talking about here. That is the gospel. Therefore now there is no condemnation. Why? Because Christ was condemned on the cross. And he is the payment that satisfies. Now, verses 5 in following, now what Paul is going to talk about is the gospel's implications in our life. If that is actually true, then the way we pitch matters, not for the outcome of the game,

but because we are pitching or we are fighting from victory, not for victory. Here's what he says in verse 5. For those who live, according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit Set their minds on the things of the spirit For to set the mind on the flesh is death But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace

And so it's a pretty easy question So which one do you want? You want death? Or do you want life and peace? Of course we want life and peace And every single one of us is on a path that leads somewhere And your intentions are pretty meaningless in regards to the path that you're own.

In other words, if you want to go to Miami and you get on 95 north, you ain't going to Miami. I don't care how much you pray about it. I don't care what songs you sing in the car. I don't care who's praying for your trip and your traveling mercies.

That path just don't go there. And so what he's saying is every single one of us are on an eternal path. One path leads to life. One path leads to death. The path of life is, the substitutionary atoning work of Jesus, the path that leads to death is the self-atoning work of ourselves.

Now, a part of what he's saying here is this. If you are in Christ, then why in the world do you have your mind set on the things of this world? If you live in the Spirit, if you've received Jesus, the Spirit lives in you, why in the world would you, as a Christian, act like you're going to live forever in this world? You see, there's a whole bunch of Christians at our church, and you are not walking in the freedom

that Christ has purchased for you because you've set your mind on the flesh. We don't use the word flesh that way, but you've set your mind on just the distractions and temporary things of this world. And Paul's saying, listen, wherever you put your mind, the rest of you is going to go. You ever teach a teenager to drive? I did youth ministry, and sometimes parents say like a payback would make me teach their kids how to drive, all right, whatever. And what you don't do to a teenager, you don't have them look for directions.

You do the directions and just tell them where they go, because if they look, they drive that way, all right? Paul is saying that's how we live. And if you set your things, if you set your mind on the things of this earth, and I'm telling you, it leads to death. Now, 1 John 2, verse 16, we talk about this all the time. It says in 1 John 2,16, that all that this world has to offer, or the schemes of the enemy are only these three things. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. That's it. The lust of the eyes. That means you see something and you want it. The lust of the flesh, that means you. You want to feel a certain way and the pride of life. You want to be somebody. And so when he's warning here, he's warning Christians,

he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, why in the world would you set your eyes on the things of this world and not set your eyes on the things of God? And there's a bunch of us that got caught up in the lust of the eyes. That's like money and stuff. Now, there's nothing wrong with stuff, right? Everybody needs some stuff. But it's when you set your mind. on these things. Like when you get obsessed with stuff, and we are in a stuff-crazed world, are we not? I mean, we are working on ways right now for drones to bring us some stuff we don't even need, but we better get it today. That's the kind of world that we're in. You ever just get some stuff because you're bored? Like you're just, what are you doing? I don't know. I'm just looking

through this stuff app. Ooh, that's some stuff. Click. One click. Oh, I got some more stuff. and the problem the problem when we set our mind on money and stuff is we've taken our mind off of the mission of God and we're not using our resources to make much of him we're using our resources to make much of me that's what it means to set your mind on the lust of the eyes and some of us set our mind on the lust of the flesh

now the ESV doesn't translate it lust it translate desire but I like lust better it just sounds say it lust. It just sounds dirty, doesn't it? Lust of the flesh. Now when you hear that, I think you primarily think like sex, and it could be sex, or pornography or whatever. But lust of the flesh is when you think you deserve to feel a certain way. Like, you have these appetites and you think, well, you know what, if I get hungry, I feed that. But it could be drugs, it could be alcohol. But it can also be the couch. Like when you begin to tell your,

self. Look, I know I'm a husband. I know I'm a dad. I know I've got a lot of responsibilities around the house, but I deserve to lay on the couch all day and just feel this way. That's what the lust of the flesh. I mean, again, it could be drugs or it could be Doritos. Whatever it is that you begin to obey this. That's the lust of the flesh. Or the pride of life. The pride of life is like, I'm going to be somebody. The pride of life says, listen, I'm going to mistreat people on my way to the top. The pride of life says, I'm going to do whatever it takes to get the next promotion. to be respected. And then we lie to ourselves and go, no, no, no, I'm doing all this from my family.

Do you ever ask your family? I did. Your kids said they'd rather you make it to the ballgame. They told me. And then you're like, wait a minute. You see, what Paul is saying is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. That leads somewhere, but it does not lead to the life that Christ has set you free to live in. And it gets worse than that.

Verse seven, for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. In other places in the Bible, it'll say, without faith, it is impossible to please God. This is usually the point. If you're not a Christian, you would come to me and go, but dude, I'm not hostile to God. I don't even think about him that much.

The reality is there was only one ruler and reiner. in the universe and it is the king of kings his name is jesus and if you are not under the rule and reign of jesus you are by definition a rebel and we all reject god we all have a tendency to reject god and some of us reject god through rebellion this is like sex drugs and rock and roll i do what i want with who i want when i want woo you only live once it's just a lie you only live forever or or some people reject god through religion they're like i go to enough bible studies i sponsor enough kids i think i'm okay. And the fundamental diagnosis of the gospel is, no, you're not okay. Imagine you lived in a kingdom where there's a king. And yet you looked at that king and you said, you're not my king. I'm not

paying your taxes. I'm not obeying your rules. That would be treason against that king. This is what it means to be hostile to God. Hostility towards God is, get off me, I don't need you. I got this. the crazy thing about this king, he's the only king I've ever heard of that would leave his throne on a rescue mission for the very people that are rebelling against him. So he says, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Verse 9, you, however, this means if you're in Christ, you're not in the flesh. So you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, underline that word dwells.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. Two things about this. First and foremost, do you see the triune God here in this verse? There's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. All here in this one place. And a part of what Paul wants us to understand here is that you can't divide up the Trinity.

The Godhead is not a buffet. You're not at Perkins. You don't get to like, oh, I'll take the father, but you can have the son. No, no, no. That is not how it works. But we live in a world that's like pro-God, anti-Jesus. The Bible would say, impossible. You cannot simultaneously receive the father and reject the son. Jesus himself said, I and the father are one. That Jesus says, I am the way, the truth in the life. And no one comes to the father except through me. This is what Paul is talking about here. And so he says, you however are not in the flesh but in the spirit if in fact the spirit of God what's that next

word thanks front row rest of you come on keep up dwells in you dwells in you I wonder why he used the word dwells in you maybe it's because he started out this chapter this way therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because dwells is like a building term too and and if the enemy whispers to you hey you were broken You're abandoned. God looks at you and says unfit for use. Then what Paul wants us to know is that the Spirit of God looks at you with the same circumstances. But if you are in Christ and Christ is the payment that satisfies, then the Spirit of God looks at you

with all your busted up stuff and all your leaky roof and all the things that this world condemns and want you to believe that you are unfit for use. And God says, no, no, no, you're not unfit for use. In fact, I'm going to dwell in you. You could take off the condemn sign and need you to put up the sold sign. This is what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 when he says this. You were not your own. You were bought at a price.

Therefore, honor God with your body, for your body is the temple of God. How many have you been to the gym and you see like the body is a temple posters? Can I tell you what that doesn't mean? That has nothing to do with what you look like in a bikini. can I get a witness? Amen. All right. Jim, people give it back. That ain't your verse. All right. Keep working out. That's fine.

But that's not what that means. What that means is the enemy wants you to believe I'm condemned. God can never use me. And the gospel tells us, no, no, no, no, no. Not because of what you have done, but because of what Christ has done for you. Not only does he want to make sure you know that you are fit for use, but his permanent address on this planet is in you. You see, the day that Jesus

pushed up on those nail-pierce feet and says, it is finished into the hands I commit my spirit, an earthquake cracks through Jerusalem. These are just facts. It went right through the middle of the temple. And there was a curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from all the other parts of the world. A curtain that separated the people of God

from the presence of God. And when Jesus died on that cross, that curtain was torn from the top to the bottom. And so now the presence of God is unleashed on this planet. And then on the day of Pentecost, for anybody who would believe that when Christ died on the cross, that counted for them. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, dwelled within every single believer. Therefore now, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Why? Because the Spirit of God dwells in you. Darling, that makes you a temple of the most holy God. And so he keeps going. but if Christ is in you, that's a big if, but if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells there is again. Dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. And so you look, if you're a Christian, you look at your life and you go,

is it possible for me to have victory over sin? And Paul would say, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. And the same power that brought Jesus out of the grave is the same power that lives in you. Therefore, you should walk in freedom and victory. The question is, is Christ in you? Is Christ in you? That's the key question. C.S. Lewis will say it this way.

He is speaking on behalf of God when he says, He says this. He says, give me all of you. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your talents and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you, all of you. I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman. That's C.S. Lewis's smart English way of saying, Jesus did not come for you to just act better. He says, I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman, but to kill it. No half measures will do. I don't want only to prune a branch here and a branch here. branch there. Rather, I want the whole tree out. Hand it over to me. The whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants, all of your wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to me. Give me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you myself. My will shall become your will. My heart shall become your heart. Now see, that's the message of the gospel. But the enemy whispers.

And the enemy whispers condemnation. And the enemy says that you are condemned because of what you have done. And the Father says you are alive and free because of what Jesus has done for you. So you can put your faith in you. Or you can put your faith in what Jesus has done for you. So then the question is, is Christ in you? And I know that's some kind of like churchy language, us being in Christ and Christ being in us. And so Jesus made it very, very clear.

He explained what it means for Jesus to be in you. In the book of Revelation, chapter 3, verse 20, the resurrected, glorified Jesus, says these words to a bunch of people sitting in a church. He says, it starts this way. Behold. Behold means pay attention. If you've been asleep for the rest of the sermon, you've got to wake up for this part because what he's going to say is super important. Behold. And Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock.

And if anyone hears my voice. Now here's what's crazy about this. Is that I can't make you hear the knock. Man, I wish I could. No matter how much I explain it, no matter how many stories I tell about growing up in Dylan and my kids, and no matter how many theological terms I explain like propitiation, no matter how many times I preach to the gospel,

I can't make you hear the knock. I can describe a knock. I can explain what doors are and what knocks sound like. But I just can't make you hear that knock in your life. I can't. In fact, when I was a teenager, I'd heard the gospel a hundred million times. I grew up in the South. I believe in God and the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus and college football and NASCAR like all of us should.

Okay? For whatever reason, one night, the knock got real loud. And I had to respond. And Jesus says, behold, I stand at. the door and he's talking about the door of your life i stand at the door and knock and if anyone hears my voice to which some of you go anyone because i thought i was condemned and jesus would say no hey no way if you fall into anyone category then the invitation is for you behold i stand at the door and knock and anyone who hears my voice and welcomes me in i will come in and eat with him and

he with me. The King James says, behold, I stand at the door and knock, and whosoever would welcome me in, I would come in and sup with him and he with me. When I was a teenager, I thought that meant Jesus walks in and it's like, what's up, okay? That's kind of what it is. When the Bible says, I will come in and eat with him, it means I will come in and have a relationship in the first century to break bread with people meant that was the ultimate form of intimacy, that you would sit down. And listen, whether you're eating at one of those big fancy tables in that room that you only go in on Christmas and Thanksgiving on China, or you're a college freshman and you're eating ramen off a beanbag. Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock.

And anyone who hears that and just opens the door, welcomes me in, that's what it means for Christ to be in you. That you hear the knot, that you admit it. something's wrong. Who will deliver me? I admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. And I believe that somehow, when Christ died on the cross, that counted for me. And somehow, for the very first time in my life, I hear him inviting me into a relationship with him.

I hear the knock. I don't know how to explain it. I just can't deny it. I hear him knocking on the door of my heart right now. And so in this moment, I want to confess him as Lord. I want to go to the door and open it up. Listen, you don't have to clean it up before he comes. He's not a guest.

He's going to be the king. He knows the mess that's behind the door. That's why he's coming in. And he loves you anyway. And so he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone would hear my voice and welcome me in, I would come in and eat with him and he with me. And therefore now, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Jesus.

I would like for you to have the opportunity right now, at all of our locations, right now, if you've heard the knock of the invitation of God through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to come into your life, to wash away your sins, to forgive you, and to adopt you as his very own, I want you to say yes to Jesus right now.

If you would please, bow your head to close your eyes. And if you would say, that's me, that's me, that I've heard the knock of God on the door of my life. I've been rejecting God, whether it's through rebellion or religion, but today for the very first time, I believe that when Christ died on the cross, that counted for me and I want to receive Christ as my Lord and Savior. Then I want you to just raise your hand right where you are on the count of three. One, do you hear that not?

Two, there is no condemnation. Three, if you're ready to welcome him, raise your hand in the air. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you and we praise you because you first loved us. And this is love, not that we love you, but you loved us. and you sent your son Jesus as the propitiation for our sin. God, I thank you and I praise you that all weekend long, God, you have been knocking on the doors of hearts. God, what kind of king leaves his throne to pursue rebellious people like us

and then claim to him as his very own children? A king who was defined by love. So, God, I thank you, and I praise you, for the men and women, the students in this very place right now, that for the very first time have surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.