The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 3: A Pursuit of Holiness

Episode Date: September 10, 2017

Holiness is not a hindrance to our freedom, but true freedom is only found in being a slave to God. Revival will only come when we desire God with all of our heart, pray to God with all of our might, and live for God with all of our lives.

All right. How are we doing church? Doing okay? Everybody's looking good, slightly nervous, but we're going to be okay. All right. Hey, God, if you got your Bibles, grab them, go to Romans chapter six, Romans chapter six. And as you're looking that up, we're going to do a little bit of housekeeping here, obviously in regards to Irma. As I kind of woke up this morning and we were making decisions about everything, I was like, Lord, are we praying for a revival and you sent us Irma, all right? Not exactly what we were praying for. but here's just a couple things so our services will are canceled for sunday but just to be very

clear about this you can't cancel church because church is a movement it is not a meeting and so the church will be happening all over the world all days of the week because the people of god sometimes gather together in old walmarts and old Lutheran churches and old stinky fingers and those kind of places and then sometimes the church scatters all over the world to be the not just preach the gospel, okay? So we won't have services on Sunday, but I pray that you serve, okay? Make sense? And so we thank you that you are here, and then there will be a lot of people listening this message. Some of you are listening right now, three days from now, in your car or hotel rooms or wherever you are. And as I was just kind of praying through this, I just began to think about what we have said the ingredients for gospel renewal are. Remember the first week we said that a desire for God is the beginning of a gospel. awakening and that that oftentimes God uses pain in our life to wean us from this world of comfort so that we would cleave to him. Like maybe when things come in, like a big storm comes through and reminds us that the things

of this world can be replaced because they're just things. And the thing that matters are relationships, first with him and then with each other. And then the second week we talked about the revival never happens without prayer. I mean, let's just be honest. You've been praying more the last few days than normal? I have. I know the Bible says you can move them out, and I'm trying to move a hurricane out to sea, all right?

But honestly, haven't you been praying more? And then the thing that we're going to talk about tonight is this, is a pursuit of holiness. And I believe that when tough times come, when people are displaced, when there's danger and tragedy and those kind of things, that is the stage on which Christians can display the glory of God by living in a holy way. That doesn't mean perfectly.

That means that we live as if God's vision and values are greater than this world's vision and values. And so regardless of what happens with this hurricane, it will give us an opportunity to put on display the love and the grace of Jesus to our community regardless of what they believe or what they do. Amen? And so what if we've been praying for revival in Irma could be. a tool in the hands of an almighty sovereign God so that we would depend on him and we would pray and we would display the holiness of God by loving our neighbors as ourselves. Amen? And so here's why we gather tonight as a church. Look, there are things you should do. Man,

board up your houses. Pay attention to what the mayor says. If he says, if he says, evacuate, do what he says, all right? God put him in the place. But you know why we gather here right now? because God Almighty is our strong refuge. We gather here to make much of him because he's the only one that can really do something about this. And so what we're going to do now is we are just going to pray. And that mean really prayer. Pray.

We're not going to say prayers. We're going to pray. So if you would, at all of our locations, bow your head, close your eyes. And let's go to the almighty sovereign king of the universe who just happens to be our dad. Our good and gracious heavenly father. God, regardless of weathered patterns, we know that you are good and you are gracious.

And we know this because you have already demonstrated it at the cross, that you have proved once and for all, regardless of our current circumstances, regardless of our comforts, regardless of our fear, regardless of what happens around us, what happened on that cross, demonstrated with an exclamation point that it is finished. that your love for us has been declared. But, God, you say we have not, because we ask not, and we know that you are sovereign. And so, God, we ask that you send this storm far out to sea to do nothing. And, God, we know, we know that just with your spoken word, you could look at this hurricane and go, stop, and it would have no choice?

And so, God, if that is your will for the display of your glory in this world, would you do that now? And God, if you want to display your glory by letting that thing run up through here and reminding people that this world has nothing for us and you are more than enough than glory be to you. And God, I pray that you would stir in us the compassion that you display for us and that we would love one another by serving one another. God, we pray for folks that are displaced. We pray against fear because you did not give us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of power and of love and of self-discipline. And God, we pray that your grace and your love is put on display. And that somehow, and only the way a sovereign God could orchestrate this thing, God,

could you take what's going to be happening over the next few days and weeks, and could you draw men and women unto yourself? And a thousand years from now, when we are gathered. around your throne singing holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty we would look back at all of the events of this earth that drew men and women under you and we would say worth it because worthy is the lamb who is slain and God we pray this in the only name that matters when you pray we pray this in the name of Jesus and all God's children said amen amen all right if you hadn't found Romans 6 now give up I just lost a third of my sermon oh there it is so

you can get it in your bulletin here, and we are going to dig in on the pursuit of holiness. Now, the word holy can kind of freak you out, so we're going to unpack a little bit of what that means. But one of the major potential problems with a grace-based gospel-centered church like ours is sometimes people can drift into, I'm going to teach you a new word, into what is called antinomianism. It just means no law. It means, well, since the gospel is received and not achieved, and since it's not about what I do for God, but what God has done for me through Christ on the cross, then doesn't that mean that I can just do whatever I want? I mean, if there's nothing I can do to lose my salvation, if there's nothing I can do to earn my salvation, then can't I just live like the devil and go to heaven anyway?

And honestly, that's kind of how I grew up. I got saved, radically saved at camp. And then they told me, listen, when Jesus died on the cross, he died for all of your sins, all of your past sins, all of your current sins, and all of your future sins. And I remember thinking, sweet, future sins. Let's talk about that for a minute. And then I found 1, 1 John 1.9, that is a dangerous verse. for a 16-year-old to get a hold of.

That if we confess our sins, that he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. It was the first verse I memorized. And then every year, what I would do is I would live all year thinking, you know what? I mean, Jesus paid it all. So if somebody told you, hey, listen, here's an unlimited credit card. How much would you use that? Glory God.

Run that thing to the top. And there is no top, all right? And so that is kind of, that's anti-nomonymism is what it is, no law. And so basically I would just sin as much as I could all year, knowing that at camp every year on the last night, now you couldn't do this on Tuesday, you couldn't do it on Wednesday. But on Thursday, here comes the invitation. And then I would come down, quote first John 1-9, dump out all of my sin bucket, and then head back to fill it back up the next year. And so it is a danger. It is a real, real danger. And Paul is going to specifically address this in Romans chapter 6. And what it means to live a holy life. Now, 1. Peter says this.

Let me just read it to you. You keep going to Romans 6. As obedient children, do not be conform to the passions of your former ignorance. But as he who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, he's going to quote Leviticus, you shall be holy. for I am holy. That's God talking. Now, I think when we think of the word holy, we think perfect. Or a lot of us think about, like, very religious, like somebody that does not mess up. And what holy actually means, literally the word just means set apart. And we see some,

we see some extreme versions of holiness, like the Amish. They have taken that to an extreme. We are going to be set apart. We are going to be recognizable. We are not going to be like this world. So we're going to be like this. You know, they shaved their mustache, and I don't know what that's about, but that's what they do. The good thing, you can pick on the Amish because they don't listen to podcasts, so whatever. All right. So that's one extreme, okay? And then a lot of, and then, you know, there's some, like, slatter versions of this.

If you grew up with some kind of church, if you have a church background and your church just had some kind of weird, some kind of random, in your mind, some kind of random rules. Like when I was growing up, you know, I got saved in Southern Baptist Church or at the camp, And so we were involved in Southern Baptist churches, so we couldn't play. Like, my grandma would not allow us to play with face cards. You could play Uno, but you couldn't play with regular cards because people gamble on regular cards, but they didn't gamble with Uno. I'm like, they probably do.

I mean, it was weird stuff like that. It was rules about the rules, you know. And so then a lot of us, we swing way over on the other side, and we are not even indistinguishable from this world. Like, there's no difference whatsoever. I can remember when I was in youth ministry and I would go on to a high school campus. I remember here. I was going to Fletcher one time looking for one of our student leaders.

And I'm walking on campus and one of our student leaders talked to me about what a shining example of the glory of God he was at his campus. And, you know, and this kind of thing. He was like a missionary on his campus. And I go to find him on campus and I'm walking to the school and I bumping in this girl. I'm like, hey, sorry to bother you. do you know a student named Billy? She's like, Billy, yeah, who are you? You know, this creepy old guy just showing up asking for Billy. I'm like, no, no, it's cool. I'm his youth

pastor. He's one of our youth leaders. And she goes, Billy, last name is a Christian? That's funny. And I thought, uh-oh. And then I go, hey, Billy, I ran into this girl and asked her out. He goes, oh yeah, man, I share my fate with her all the time. Do you really? Okay? You see, because Billy was indistinguishable from this world. You see, so, so, so, A part of what it means to be holy is the Bible says that we are to love God and love people and reject the godless, selfish value system of this world. But a lot of people that say they love Jesus, what we actually do is we love the values and the things of this world, and we reject God and his people.

And so to pursue God is to pursue a life of holiness because it declares that he, is more than enough. And I would venture to say that when we hear this word holiness, we think somehow holiness is in conflict with happiness. True, true, true, like beyond just happiness based in your happenings, but true deep joy is actually found in the holy life that God commands us to lead. So Romans chapter 6 starts out this way, verse one. It says, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Now the reason he starts Chapter 6 with a question is because of Chapter 5. I don't know if you knew this, but Harvard Law School for about the first hundred years of its existence, all of its first year students would read

the entire book of Romans, not because of his theological content, but because Paul was a master of while he was making a point, he began to understand what the objections would be and then he would answer those objections before anyone actually objected. So to understand what the objection here is in 6-1, you've got to back up to chapter 5. This is really, really dangerous because what I really need to do is teach chapter 5, 6, 7, and 8 in order for us to understand this. So you've got nowhere to go. Here we go, all right.

So basically what all of chapter 5, the second half of chapter 5 is this, is that Adam, the first man who sin, that he infected us with like a generational curse. And through the sin of Adam and Eve, we all are infected, but the good news is that Jesus has a cure for all of us. And so no matter how sick you are, Jesus' cure is greater than your sickness. And basically what chapter 5 says, and the sicker you are, the bigger God's grace is to heal you. And so it says, where sin increases, grace abounds. and then Paul sees this argument. So after Paul says this, where sin increases,

in other words, no matter what you've done, no matter how many times you've done it, no matter who you've done it with, and how many times you promise you would never do that again. Where sin increases, grace abounds. Grace is bigger. And he understands that any logical person says, well, then I've got an idea.

So I've got that limitless grace credit card. Let's run that puppy up, okay? And so then he says, he asked that question. So what do we say then? Are we to continue to sin that grace may abound? And his answer, verse two, uh-uh. By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? It's a very direct answer. In other words, what he's saying is this, if there is no evidence in your life that Jesus is your Lord, maybe the evidence is that he is not your Lord. Maybe you haven't died to sin. Maybe you just did a church thing. Like maybe you heard me preaching and I got you all stirred up because I can do that

man. I got some stories and we get somebody to come out and play the keys and get you all weepy and you're like okay I'm in but you weren't really it. You just raise your hand or you fill it out a card or you've made a promise but you didn't actually die to sin. You see now let's be very careful now because anytime you talk about sanctification or holy living or what a life in Christ looks like, we have to be very, very clear about the gospel. The gospel, the good news is that salvation is received, not achieved. But when the gospel is actually received, then it's amazing what God can achieve through you. It changes everything from the inside out.

It would be like, if I showed up here late tonight, and you were to say, hey, where were you? And I'm like, you're not going to believe this. I just went through Hurricane Irma. I mean, I was in Puerto Rico, and I was there, man, from the very beginning of it to the very end, and then I left straight from there, and I came to here. And you would look at me, and you'd be like, I don't believe you. Like, what do you mean? Are you calling me a liar?

Well, I sort of am, because the evidence of your life, now, you're not a very put-together guy, but I've seen what going through a hurricane looks like, and if you are saying that, you were hit head on by the force of a hurricane, a cat five hurricane, and then you just look the same, I would deduce that you actually were not hit with the full force of the cat five hurricane. And the sovereign grace of God is exponentially greater in power than a cat five hurricane. So if you say, Jesus is my Lord, but not a thing in your life is different, then you would say, well, maybe the reason is because Jesus, Jesus isn't your Lord. Now again, we're not talking about being perfect, but we are talking about

evidence that God is doing something in you. The Puritans used to say this. Any justification that does not lead to sanctification is a sham. In other words, new birth always leads to new life. Now, I don't know if you've got children, you'll understand this. Now, that does not mean that overnight, everything changes. I can remember when we first had JP and Gretchen was still working some, and so there would be like days or a day where I would have him for many hours. Just, I remember the first time that was the plan. I was like, are you, we should probably seek wise counsel about this. You understand? This is not, okay, but we, that's what we went with. And so she would come home. She'd be like, what happened? And I was like, nothing. Like, no thing.

He didn't move. He didn't, I mean, I fed him, and I did the things you made me do, but like he didn't, like he's not growing, he's not talking. I don't know if it's working. Okay, I just looked at him. He looked at me, and then you came home. I mean, that's it. So not overnight, but over time, now he's, you know, this tall, right?

You can run and talk. He could do all kind of stuff. And so over time, if you have died to sin, then there would be evidence in your life. Verse three, he says, do you not know, which is. means you didn't know this, but do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. In other words, if there is a new birth, then there is a new life.

This is why next week you should get baptized. If you've ever been baptized as a believer, this is what baptism is. It is an outward declaration that from the inside out, you have been buried with Jesus in his death, and because he died to sin, now you have died to sin. And just like Jesus was resurrected from the grave on the third day, that we, with him, we are resurrected to a new life. By the way, this is one of the reasons we dunk you under the water. One of the main reasons is in Greek, the word baptizo just means to dip, dump, submerge.

And so another reason, though, is this is a picture of a burial. And you've never been to a funeral, and they take some dirt, and they just sprinkle it on the guy and walk away because you'd be like, you're not done. Like, he's still here. Okay? So when you get baptized, this is what it is. We say, who is Jesus to you, and you declare, Jesus is my Lord? And then we bring you back, and you are being, it is a picture of something that has already happened. and we bring you back and we bury you with Jesus.

And we don't hold you in long. You just stay right here for a second. And then when you come up out of the water, it is to declare to the whole world, just like I have died with Christ, I will also join with him in a resurrection. And now, because Christ lives in me, everything about my life is completely different. That's what baptism is. And this is why, like if you grew up Catholic or Presbyterian or. Methodist, or if you grew up in a way where somebody did this to you when you were a kid, praise God, you had good parents that loved you and wanted to set you on the right track.

But baptism is when you declare for you that you believe that when Jesus died on the cross, it counted for you. And so that's where he goes. And he keeps going going going, verse five. For if we have been united with him, that word united is very, very important. United with him. Here's what this means. If you are united with Christ, literally in Greek, the word means grafted into the root.

So all that the root has is now available to you. That you are a part of the plant. That you and Jesus are united. So you were united to his past, you are united to his present, and you are united to his future. That everything that he has is yours because you are united. You are one. It's like marriage language. You see, when you get married to somebody, then what's yours is hers and what's hers is yours.

It would be like, just imagine, if you knew a couple and the female was super rich, and if you ask, so how did she get rich? Because she was super smart. She went to school, she made great grades, she busted, she's smart. She's Ruth, okay? She's Proverbs 31. She's getting after it, all right? She's a boss, and she makes bank on her own merit. And I mean, she is loaded.

And then she meets a guy, and they get married. And then the guy marries the girl, and guess what? He's rich. And what did he do for it? He married her. That's it. He could be dumb and not work hard and all of those things. And guess what?

They got a joint account. And now he's rich. This is what this means. Jesus earned perfection. And when we are united in him, then everything that he is. has is ours. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. He goes, what's that mean? Here's what it means. Verse six, we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought

to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. In other words, the way you live matters. It matters a bunch. But being a Christian is not sin management. Being a Christian is not like you get all a hold of your sin, and with all of your might and power, you just quit doing all that bad stuff, a bunch of sinners. That's not what it is. It is, if you are united in Christ, then Christ puts that body of sin to death. And this little phrase, body of sin, it's just gross, so I thought it was awesome. I thought I'd share it with you.

In Roman culture, this phrase body of sin, it was kind of a rare and unusual punishment, but sometimes as a punishment to murderers, here's what they would do. They wouldn't put them in jail. If they were convicted of murder, they would take the dead body of the person that they murdered and they would strap them to the back of the murder and then just set them free, and they called that the body of sin. And you would walk around with a dead, decaying, stinky dude that you killed. And this was what you had earned.

like you decided to do this thing. And so what the Bible says is, is that when we sin, when we walk in our sin after knowing Jesus, it's terrible. It's like carrying around this big dead, decaying, gross, stinky body on our back. And Jesus has set us free from that. You see, my two favorite illustrations about what it looks like to put off the old self and put on the new self, my two favorite illustrations are actually given to us by Jesus. Jesus. One is in the book of Mark where Jesus goes to the cripple man laying on a mat by the pools of

Bethesda. And he says to that man, he says, take up your mat and walk. And the reason, he didn't say leave the mat there because he wanted everybody to see this miraculous thing that had happened. The implication of what Jesus says there here, he says, take up your mat and walk. And if you were to catch up with this guy three weeks later and the guy's laying by the down on this filthy mat. I imagine he'd be like, bro, bro, what are you doing? Why are you laying on a cripple of man's mat? Because you can walk. And people that can walk don't lay on mats like that. I have set you free so that you could walk. So quit laying back down in your filth. The other illustration that Jesus gives, it's my other favorite, is in the book of John,

where Jesus caused Lazarus to come out of the grave. And if you grew up in Bible study, you've heard of this four. It's a pretty famous story, even if you're new to Bible study. Jesus shows up. This is where the shortest verse in the whole Bible is, where it says Jesus wept. And so his friend dies, the guy named Lazarus, and he shows up and he kind of cries with the sisters for a minute. And then he walks up to the grave, and he says, roll the stone away. And he calls out, Lazarus, come forth. And what you've got to know about first century tradition in regards to burial is they'd take about a hundred pounds of burial cloth, and they would wrap it around people.

And they'd put these spices and things in it because, again, it's a dead decaying body, and they didn't abomb. And so it was just to kind of keep the smell down. In fact, right before he rolled the stone away, and he said he's going to resurrect Lazarus, one of the sisters in King James, it says, but Lord, he stinketh. Okay, that's a Bible verse. And so Jesus says, Lazarus, come forth. And I imagine Lazarus, you can't really walk. You know, he comes hopping on out. Like, you know, it's all wrapped up.

And then Jesus does not look at Lazarus. good luck. He does it. He says, take off those grave clothes. Why? Because you're alive. And living people don't wear grave clothes. And if you bumped into Lazarus three weeks ago, or three weeks later, and he still got

his grave clothes wrapped around them, you'd be like, bro, bro, you need to take that off. Not just because they stink. They do stink, but that's not why you take them off. You take them off because you're alive, and they don't fit you anymore. So because Christ brought you alive again, then you don't need to wear a dead man's clothes. And so this is what Paul is saying here. When you and I walk in sinful disobedience, it's not just that it's bad. It's not that it's just destructive.

It's not just because it's things that we shouldn't do. But those are things of your old self, the dead you. You could take off those addictions. You could take off those habits. You could take off those sinful behaviors. you don't have to keep doing what you used to do because you're not the person that you used to be. That's what a life of holiness declares to this whole world. The message version of the Bible says it this way.

I'm not often one to quote that. It is not a translation. It's a guy's an guy's interpretation of the scriptures. Guy named Eugene Peterson, super smart guy. But this one, I think, helps us. He says this about this verse. Here's the way he guesses what it means, whatever. He says this.

If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or did you not realize? We packed up and left there for good. In other words, you don't live, you were a citizen of a different kingdom now. But I would say it really means it's not that we moved into him, but that he moved into us. Therefore, we know that our old self was crucified. with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Verse 7. 4. One who has died has been set free. You see, what we're going to see here over the next bunch of verses is Paul is going to say set free about a bazillion times. And I think the reason is because when we think of the word holiness, I think we think of hindrance to everything we think we want. And what Paul is going to say is, no, no, no, no.

Actually, a life lived on mission for the glory of God is the freest thing you will ever do in your life. And he says, for one who has died has been set free from sin. Not only from the penalty of sin, but also from the power of sin. You see the difference? You see, a bunch of us, some of us can kind of understand that if you trust Christ as your Savior, than we're saved from the penalty of sin. In other words, we know we're still screwed up, so one day we're going to get to heaven and we're going to be okay.

And the reality of the gospel is Christians aren't just forgiven. We are not merely forgiven, but the power that brought Jesus out of the grave resides in us, and we have been set free from the penalty of sin for sure, but we've also been set free from the power of sin. That sin does not have power or dominion over us anymore, verse 8. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. Like, not only in heaven one day, in the sweet by and by, but we also live with him right now.

That eternal life begins the moment that you surrender your life to Jesus Christ. Verse 9, we know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. Therefore, because you're united in him, it no longer has dominion over you. For the death he died, he died to sin once and for all. I love precision. Here in this verse, it does not say he died for sin, although he did die for sin. That he died for sin, for our sin, but he also died to sin.

That in him, we would live forever in him because he died for our sin, and that we can truly live now through him. This is what Jesus means in John 1010 when he says, the thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. That is the enemy's mission statement about you. He wants to kill, steal, and destroy. And then Jesus says, but I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly. In fact, there's a pastor friend of mine right here on the front row, and he lives out in the Midwest, so I go speak at his church as much as I can,

so I can earn hunting rights. And so his church is called abundant life. that Jesus said, and the abundant life does not begin when you die. It begins now. And the abundant life is not cash in prizes because an abundance of that does not bring life. I mean, just watch one VH1 behind the music. But an abundant life is in him. Why?

Because he died for our sin and he died to or towards sin so that in him we could live forever because he covered our sin debt and we could truly live through him now and have that abundant life. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Verse 11. So also, you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Now, that word consider, we're going to hang out on it for just a second. In Greek, it's logizomai.

Logizumai. And I don't think, man, the people that do the ESV translation of the Bible are infinitely smarter than me for sure. But the word consider is not enough because it doesn't just mean to consider. Because when I use the word consider, I just mean like, so think about it. like well consider this like you what I'm really saying is you're wrong I'm right but just get there as fast as you can okay that's what I use it most people when they say consider they're like we could both be right I don't ever think that okay so

Ligitomai in 1st Corinthians 13 is love keeps no record of wrong that word record is logitomai so it means like to count or to credit something so you must also count toward yourself or actually my favorite translation is the King James. It uses the word reckon the King James says likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead. That sounds like a pirate to me. I don't know why. Likewise reckon ye also. All right so now when I grew up reckon meant like I think so. First time I was in college freshman class. I was sitting in the front row and the teacher asking me something straight off out of South Carolina. She's like what do you think about that? I don't know, I reckon. She was like, what is a reckon? I was like, I think so. So,

what he's saying here is, you must also credit, reckon, count yourself dead to sin alive to God in Christ Jesus. Here's what this means. Quit thinking of yourself as a sinner. Count yourself as righteous. And you're like, how do I do that? Because you're alive to God in Christ Jesus. So when we around here say you're a wretched black-hearted sinner. That is only true in the past tense. Because of what Christ did on the cross, you are no longer a wretched black-hearted sinner. That's not who you are. It's who you were, but God ripped out that wretched heart, threw it away, and he gave you a new heart. He gave you his heart. And so now you're a saint. According to the Bible. How about that, Catholics? You're a saint. You get a necklace with your own name on it. Look there there.

Saint Ted. Call grandma. Yep, I'm a saint. You're great man, I really will think we're a cult then, but you see, because by the time Paul gets to, like, chapter 8, he's going to let us know. Look, no, no, no, you're more than a conqueror. There's nothing, nothing in the future, in the past, heaven, hell, or anything in between that could separate you from the love of God because you are more than a conqueror. You're a son and a daughter of the most high God. And the only way that happens is because God made Him. who is without sin to be sin for us that we would be made the righteousness of God. This is called double imputation.

Again, not double amputation, imputation. That God reckoned our sin to the shoulders of Christ, and he reckoned Christ's perfect life unto our account. Luther called it the great exchange, that Jesus took responsibility for our life, and we got credit for His. and when that is true, you also consider yourself. So that's not just like, consider that as the power goes out for the next few days, okay?

But count it, credit it. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Verse 12, let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal bodies. Why? Because sin is not your king, not if you're in Christ. Jesus is your king. and so you do what your king says. Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.

Do not present your members, that means like your body parts. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourself to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law, grace. Here's the way I would say that. Obviously, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit and a lot smarter than me, I would say,

so quit doing sin stuff. If Jesus is your Lord, tell all your body parts to obey. They're Lord. So when you go online, start looking up sermons instead of porn. Have your mind. Tell your fingers to don't type in that address, type in the other one that brings glory to God. And with your money, don't be greedy.

Be generous. And with your mouth, quit cursing. And I don't just mean saying cuss words. There's a difference in cussing and cursing. You know the difference? There have been some 1122ers who have blessed me with cuss words. You can tell them in the Roman church is great. Praise God.

We built this place for you. And they'll come up there and they'll be, that's of a sermon. And I'm like, thank you? Don't say that so loud right around here. Somebody will tase you. All right, just relax. But I know what you mean. They were actually blessing me with bad words.

But with your mouth, quit cursing and start blessing. Like, present your whole face to God instead of to sin. And with your attitude, choose gratitude instead of entitlement. And with your mind, choose faith, not fear. And you say, well, man, how do I do that? Here's how. For sin will have no dominion over you. since you were not under law but under grace.

And so Paul sees another objection coming up, verse 15. So he goes ahead and asks your question before you can ask it. So what then? Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Uh-uh. By no means. In other words, Paul is saying grace doesn't mean that you were free to sin. It means you're free from sin.

Why? Because, again, I don't have to do the things I used to do because I'm not the person I used to be. Like that old me is dead My own evil passions are not my Lord They were nailed to the cross They have no power over me My king is Jesus Augustine says this

He used to share this story in one of his books Before he got saved He would run around with a bunch of girls And he's walking through a town Post conversion years after he became a follower of Jesus and one of his old mistresses saw him in town. And she comes up to him and invites him to go with her to a place they used to go and spend time together. And he looked at her and just ignored her and continued to walk down the road even while she was calling his name.

And so then she began to think, uh-oh, maybe it's been a couple of years or so. And so he doesn't know who I am. And so he gets right in front of him and he stops, she stops him. And she says, oh, but sir, it is a. I. And he replies, I know it is you, but madam, it is not I. What he was saying is, I don't do those things anymore because I'm not that person anymore. I am a new creation. I am a new person. So we don't, we don't sin because we are not under law, but under grace. No, no. See, grace, grace means we are free from sin, not free to sin. Verse 16, do you not know that if you present yourself to anyone as

obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, either of sin which will lead to death or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. Here's what he means. We are all slaves to something. We are all worshippers. We all have a master, every single one of us. And if you go, not me, I am independent, then you are a slave to yourself and to your own independence. You see, every single one of us worship something. Something is all. in our life, and I can tell you what it is, it is what you obey. And it can all be boiled down to basically four core idols in our life, because we were created as image bearers of God, and we will glorify him.

We will reflect what is most important in our life. And everything we struggle with boils down to one of these four things. You can dress it up in a bunch of different ways, but here it is. One of them is power. One's power, one's control, one's comfort, and one is a person. approval, that is it. Power. This just means, man, it's all about you. And your ego, and you talk about you a lot, and you mistreat others for your own game, and everything's a competition, and you have to win. You're like, wow, pastor, you seem to know that real well. Yeah, I do, okay? I've been living with my whole life.

Power. And so you will do whatever you have to do to be the most powerful person in the room. and it is an idol sitting on the throne of our hearts. And some of you're like, no, that's not me. You might be right. Yours might be control. And the thing about control is you don't have to be like type A and extrovert and loud and all of that. You could be a really sweet, really timid, really introverted, control freak. And everything has to be your way with your rules and your timetable.

And it plays itself out in perfectionism. And it's an idol in your life. and not only do you have to control you but everybody around you or maybe it's comfort and this is where the ones that the church likes to pick on all the time a lot of times it can play itself out in sex drugs and rock and roll and really what you're trying to do is just soothe your soul trying to comfort yourself or sometimes it can mask itself in like sunday school and a certain way to look but your greatest idol is your own comfort and then the fourth one is this approval and you're a grown person given into peer pressure, and it's about your image and you seek the applause of others.

There literally are dozens of you driving cars you don't even like, but you know your neighbor does, so you bought it. You hear that? Dang it, it's just true, because it drives you. It drives you. You live in a neighborhood he didn't really care about, but you just wanted to say, I mean, you got a house that didn't have the floor plan you wanted, didn't have anything you wanted. But the name of the neighborhood drove you to spend the most money you've ever spent in your whole life because you know it would impress the people that are most important to you. And when you do this, you are a slave or a servant to that thing.

And if you're like, oh, I'm not sure which one I am. Here's the quickest way, man. Watch how you spend money and it will lead you to your idol. If you spend money to gain dominance over people, like if you're the boss too and you're kind of pulling everybody's strings with what you're going to pay them or not pay them, might worship at the idol of money. Or if you use money to control other people or control your own circumstances, so they always go your way.

Or if you use all of your money to always comfort you, you better watch out. Or if you spend money to just get the applause of man, then guess what? Maybe the biggest idol in your life is applause. So we are all, this is what he's saying. We all worship something. The problem is, is that none of these things, none of these things, none of the people, of these idols of this world can do for you what they promise. Verse 17, but thanks be to God.

Those are some great words. But every single one of us worship something. We are idol-making factories, but thanks be to God that you were, past tense. You like this, were once slaves to sin and have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching from which you were committed. and having been set free from sin. Those are beautiful words, having become slaves of righteousness. You see, here's what this means.

That true freedom is found when you serve a God that you were incapable of giving anything to other than you. I mean, let's think about this. What are you going to give God a ride? He's already there. You're going to give him money? A hundred years, I can promise you. You're gone, he's here, your money's still here.

Like what can, a song? Come home, man. Like, what can we give him other than just us? And you see, here's the thing. When we find that kind of freedom, when we begin to serve a God that we are incapable of bringing anything to, all we can do is reflect the glory of God by loving him back because he first loved us. Because the reality is that these idols in our life that lead us to some pretty unharmes, holy living, they're all shams. And God is the fulfillment of what we're looking for in these

things. If you worship at the idol of power, guess what? God is all powerful. He could look at the wind and the waves to dite and say, stop, and they don't have a choice. Job, in the book of Job, we'll get there one day, thinks he's awesome, girds up his loin, stands before God, and in the Hebrew, it makes it sound like Job is trying to put God on trial. You owe me. God. And God basically says, you should read like the last five chapters of Job. And God says, you ready for this big boy? Stand there and take this like a man. Where were you on the days that I hung the stars in the sky? I mean, think about this. Basically, God is like, Job, there's parts of your own back you can't scratch. And you call yourself all powerful? Or you can't lick your own elbow?

Who do you think you're talking to? You see, why go for the idol of power when we can serve a God, who is all powerful? Or why worship at the idol of control when God is in control of everything? And why worship at the idol of comfort when Jesus is the secret of being content in all situations? And that he is ultimate comfort. And in him and him alone, he transcends our circumstances. And in him we find peace. And it reflects the glory of God.

I'm telling you, you wait, watch what happens. Hurricanes go through and it blow a bunch of stuff around, and yet there is this group of people that have learned the secret of being content in every situation. And the newscasters are like, do what? But you lost all this world has to offer, and they go, I know, but I'm not a citizen of this world. Praise God. And then everybody else with all the stuff is somehow strangely jealous in the right kind of way of this person. And then why worship at the idol of approval when he already approves of you in Christ Jesus,

and his opinion alone is the only one that matters? And so he says, he finishes up. He says, I'm speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. That makes me laugh right there. Paul's writing the Bible, and he's like, I would tell you some more stuff, but you're not smart enough, okay? Well, thank you, Paul. for just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness. So now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

In other words, if you've been set free, act like it. Through the blood of Jesus, he has come to your cell door, and he has opened up the door, so why are you still sitting in the cell? Just get up and walk out because he has set you free. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regards to righteousness. but what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? Let me talk to any Christian that's walked with the Lord for a while. But hey, tell me about that time you were the boss of your life.

How'd that work out for you? Not that good. Not that good. It's like that scene from Matrix. They're sitting in the back of the car. Neo's trying to figure it. I know that's like the last time I saw a current movie, so get over it. Okay?

And so, Neo sitting in the back of the car trying to figure out what to do and he's going to leave. And the girl says to him, hey, you've been down that road before. You know where it leads. This is what Paul's saying. You've been down the road before of you being the boss of you. And how did that work out? And if you're honest, if you have enough life under your belt, every single one of us have the same answer, not good. And so he goes on to say, for in the end, like the end of that road, for in the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God. And so he goes. And so he goes, God, the fruit that you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

In other words, that we have been set free from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and one day glory to God, when we are face to face with Him, we will be set free from the very presence of sin. And he sums it up with a very famous verse, for the wages of sin is death. A wage is something that you have earned. You know what you have earned, and I have earned by our glad rebellion and treason against the Most High King, we have earned death. That doesn't just mean death in a grave. That means death to relationships, death to dreams, death to visions. He says, the wages of sin is death, but the free

gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In other words, the gospel is not achieved. It is received. Here's the point. Holiness is not a hindrance to our freedom, but true freedom is only found in being a slave to God. Because you and I do have a master, and it is that thing that we obey. Now, let me just be honest, man. If Paul would stop right there, if he just said, end dot, chapter six, boom, into the Bible. Man, I'm telling you, some works-based preachers would have a field day. Now here's the case. So right after Paul, eloquently, goes through, if you are walking in sin, what is wrong with you? You are dead to sin and alive in Christ.

And you know what all of chapter 7 is about? All of chapter 7, Paul basically goes, anybody having a hard time with everything I just said? That's what the whole chapter is about. Paul says, I don't know what's wrong with me. I want to do good and evil is right there with me. The bad things I don't want to do, these things I keep on doing. over and over and over he says even though I am sin is dead to me and I am a slave to the righteousness of God I yet find in me an inner war my soul has been has been saved but my

flesh has not yet been refined and so I find at war inside me this cosmic battle and then basically the way he ends which can we just be honest this is why I know this book is real because I don't know about you, but just right this second, right now, I feel pretty good about my walk with Jesus. I don't think I've sinned for the last like 50 minutes or something. I'm doing great, all right? I think I did a couple times, but, you know, it's still, and right after Paul, y'all shouldn't laugh at me, me, me, hurt my feelings. Now, we're supposed to go, no, pastor, nobody does. I give you a lot, all right? So, right after Paul lays out this just crystal clear, if you are saved and your life looks like it,

then all of the next chapter, chapter 7, is a confession of Paul. And can we just agree? Paul's a beast in his faith? Paul's the kind of guy that says, to live as Christ, to die his gain. Anybody rocking that testimony? I feel like sometimes I'm just struggling week to week

to like get to the next service. Paul's like, put me in prison, I'll lead your guards to Christ. Lock me up by myself, better give me a hymnal. I'm going to sing the doors off this place. cut my head off glory to God I'm going to heaven leave me here I'm gonna talk to you about Jesus to live his Christ to die his game that's what he says and so then the next chapter he says I don't understand my own actions you've ever been there like you want to love Jesus right now

but that sin that has no dominion over you still seems to get its hooks in you here's why Paul says that you are dead to sin it never says that sin is dead to you not until not until until that final day where Christ cast it into that abyss. And he goes, I don't know what I'm doing. For I don't do what I want, but I do the thing I hate. I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh, for I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. Wretched man that I am.

And then he asked this question, who will deliver me from this body of death? That's his question. That's where his pursuit of holiness leads him. when he's pursuing, he says, God, I want my life to reflect my theology, that I love you because you first love me. But actually, as he actually digs in and pursues holiness, it leads him to this fundamental question. What is wrong with me? And what am I going to do about this? Because I've tried everything I know how to do and I can't figure it out, which leads him to this.

I need somebody else to do something for me that I cannot pull off on my own. Who will deliver me from this body of death? and then his answer, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ. Then you get to chapter 8, verse 1. This is like the pinnacle of Romans. Therefore, now. Now, you remember, when the Bible says therefore, you've got to see what it's there for. The reason the therefore is there is because it's chapter 7.

What's wrong with me? I promise I'd never do this again. By the way, anybody ever been there? Can we just have a little confession time here? all right okay all the liars keep your hands down we appreciate y'all you're at the wrong place like yeah these intentions and then you'll get to this place man and he'd be like what is wrong with me what is wrong with me i did not want to do this and here am again then he says so who's going to deliver me because i've tried to deliver me by the way religion is not a deliverer

religion finds a man drowning and hands him swimming instructions. It's of no use. What we need is a rescuer. Therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Jesus. Amen? Amen. A pursuit of holiness always leads you to the cross. A pursuit of holiness.

always lead you to say, what is wrong with me? I need a deliverer. Therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Church, would you please stand and pray with me? Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you because you love us first. God, we are utterly dependent on you. God, thanks for reminding us once again with this hurricane, how little we are, how big you are. And God, even staring down this thing, God, we trust in you because you are a good, good God. That our circumstances do not dictate what we believe about you, but the cross does. And so, God, as we pursue a life of holiness, it's not for us, but it's to your name and your name alone be the glory.

God, may what you have done inside of us to the power of the holy spirit. Spirit, what you have done on the cross when Jesus says it is finished. May it just drive us to live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ for one reason and one reason alone, not just because it'll keep us out of trouble, not because it'll just make our marriages better, not because our life goes better when we do things your way, but for one reason and one reason alone to put on display the glory of God for the entire world to see. Dear God, we love you. we lift up our hearts and our very lives to you.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.