Christian Circumcision 02142021

I didn't get a message. I didn't get a message.

Hello! Good morning, New Heights. Good morning,

Carrie Jo. Good morning. Good morning. Oh, that's

not the announcement. So, we do have some announcements

this morning. First announcement is for Team

Leader. There's a Team Leader meeting today,

immediately following service. Yay. And this

one is coming from our fatherhood watchman team

leader, Tony Tate. You are a man willing to make

encouragement contacts with new husbands or outside

men. Please see. Tony, for those of you who don't

know, this is Tony. All right, and now this is

for on -call. This would be an on -call volunteer

position that would help out our pantry. For

items that are going to be nearing their expiration

date, we want to move those out to people in

our community who may not be able to come. So

if you are interested in helping to deliver those

items, please see me, and then I will get you

on the list. for, it'd be like a rotating on

-call thing. So if you can only deliver once

a month on the third Sunday, if there's nothing

to deliver, then I'll just say, hey, Ron Mack,

there's nothing to deliver this week. You are

good to go. All right. And your questioneers,

if you are a member and you have not filled those

out yet, please get those filled out and turn

it in. Carrie and Christopher, of course, came

on us. And then remember, we are participating

in the Bless Every Home to pray for people in

your neighborhood and in the church community

and in the church. Pastor Dan can send you a

registration link. And also there are paper directions.

Yes. There will be at the Baptist Sanctuary.

And if you're unable to hear the sermon or you're

just like, hey, I'd really like to know what

was happening because we had to work. or you're

sick, or whatever, you can text LISTEN to 409

-409 -0095 for a link to the podcast, or the

podcast link is actually in your bulletin, and

that was a lot to type out. You can't just click

on it, guys. And also, on our church website,

if you are feeling the need to get some random

encouragement throughout the week, you can sign

up. for an encouragement. I don't know, how do

those come up? Do they text? Do they email? Yeah,

right. We email, we text, and we do voice calls.

All right. And you can sign up for that on the

church website, New Heights Fellowship. It's

newheightsfellowshipchurch .org. And there's

a tab that says, Encourage Me. Also, we've got

a couple more. We've got enough for this week,

guys. So today continues our sermon series. on

spiritual circumcision. And today, if you, again,

nursery, children's records, if you're not in

here, the text this week can be found in Romans

2 .29. And Pastor Dan's sermon today is titled

Spirit Over Letter. And for those of you who

don't know, on the back of your bulletin, there's

just a whole slew of random things that you want

to know knowledge about. such as information

on the church, how to give online or electronically.

We also have help and listen. Those are all located

on the back of your bulletin if ever you are

trying to tell someone about them and you can't

remember, they are listed right here, right up

under our vision statement. Alright, that's what

I have. Are there any announcements that I'm

missing? Do Lord, we thank you for this day.

Thank you for this opportunity to be here in

your house. We thank you for those that you've

brought with us. We ask your blessing as we go

throughout this week as we attack all of these

things that you've set before us and this long

list of announcements that is getting us back

to the things that we should be doing for you.

And we ask especially that you watch over those

of us who are not able to be here in this forum

this morning that may be joining us online. or

that may be in a different place. We ask your

guidance and that you bring them back to us safely.

In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, praise God. So I

have before me the list of names from our neighborhood.

We're going to do this first. I had a little

bit of technical difficulty. I thought I had

printed them off, but apparently I had not printed

them off. I was going to do it from paper. And

then there's my phone. So that's my easiest way

to access my email. And so people are watching

us via my phone right now, so I couldn't access

my email. So then I thought, oh, I'll give my

wife's phone. And then right after I asked her

if I could do the phone, I remembered I could

do it on here. So that's it right there. That's

the list. Also, I confess to you before we ever

pray that I have already clicked the click when

done button. So we're committed now. We must

pray for these folks today. Because I wasn't

sure if it was going to work. It looked like

it was copying in there. I thought, oh, I don't

know if it's going to work or not. So I clicked

when done, and then I had to sign in. So it's

already registered that we prayed, so we're going

to do that. And then you'll have an opportunity

after we pray to possibly share something that

God has spoken to you about this week or shown

you in the scripture or something like that.

And I had a couple of interesting experiences

myself that I may or may not share with you.

Let's just hear what we're all hearing from the

world. Okay, so first of all, these are the names.

They are John Ritchie of 1932 Kelsey Avenue.

Charlene and Joseph Maggard of 1922 Kelsey Avenue.

We're working our way down Kelsey. Linda and

Mandy Reif of 1916 Kelsey. Israel Jimenez of...

1910 Kelsey Avenue, and Hannah Hedges of 1910

Kelsey. And there's a suggested prayer in the

box, and it's always based on a scripture. And

so we'll pray. Let's pray together. Father in

heaven, you are an awesome God. And even as we

begin to talk today about what you've been saying

to us, what you've been doing in our lives, what

you've been showing us, how you've been urging

our hearts in your direction, we look now to

you for the ultimate in sustenance. amidst a

world pandemic with some people so fearful about

what may come next or about what they're going

to experience, about whether or not they are

going to get COVID. And some have already had

it and gotten over it and some have lasting residual

effects. But Lord, we're grateful that you've

been with us during such a difficult time and

activated us and allowed us to serve. At the

same time, that brings us to conviction because

perhaps we haven't served the way that we could.

And we ask your forgiveness. Thank you that that's

available through Jesus, your Son. And we ask

you, Lord, to now bless us as we seek to pray

for this list and for one another and to come

together, united to worship you. We pray for

those who are still hurting, of course. And then

we pray, Lord, for those who are on our minds

and hearts and also for these names that we've

called, that they may experience your perfect

love. Lord, I guess we would have to pray that

for ourselves. We want you to experience your

perfect love. Father, we know the scripture says

such love has no fear because perfect love expels

all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of

punishment. And this shows that we have not fully

experienced this perfect love. God, help us.

Help these we've listed. Help our friends, our

family, our co -workers, students at our school,

clients, visitors. whether they know you or not.

Lord, we are praying them into your presence

to experience your perfect love. We pray this

in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you very much. Okay,

so how has the Lord been speaking this week?

What have you seen? What have you heard? Brother

Frank. Just recently, a lot of you guys know

that I've been going through something that applies

to everything else. And the last couple of days...

The healing process has been great. The last

two days, I've been ready to run around the block.

Well, I can't do that, but, you know, it's just

great how the Lord works, you know, the blessings,

the healing, and everything. And God is good.

Thank you. We've been praying for you. Okay,

who else? Well, I just want to say thank you

for all you guys. I have no idea how much courage

I've come from a lot of songs. Just everything.

It's the Lord anyways, but just awesome. The

Lord just kept it in my heart. You don't know

who you are. You don't know who you are. You

don't go very far. Even though it's a podcast,

just a reminder of just... I've got to say, I

go with my testimony. When I was 23 years old,

I didn't know who I was. I was condemned and

I was forsaken by God. I wouldn't even know who

I was. But today I was able to call on the Lord

and the Lord accepted me through Christ Jesus.

You know, I've been under his lordship, his workmanship.

I've been under his conviction, his mercy. And

the last 16 years, I couldn't even tell you why

I've been out of control. Can't keep my heart

right. Don't know why I got things going on,

all this stuff. But there was so much foolishness

that I didn't ever deal with in my life. You

know, I got to say, I've never felt like this

in my entire life. And it was from a lot of here

and there, on the scene, behind the scenes, churches

I've gone to. There's been a lot of false hope

and false truth, but there's also been some true

hope, some true love, some true truth. So I'm

very grateful for a lot of things that people

don't even know what they said or did just by

stepping out. And I just want to say thank you.

And this verse, I just love this. You know, I

love the word. It's 2 ,000 years. The oldest

books are like the Iliad and Odyssey. They're

about the closest there is. There is nothing

as close to the Bible that is to stand the test

of time. This is Titus 2, verses 11 -13. This

Titus 2:11–13

is my go -to monthly scripture. I've got nothing

else to go to. But it says, For the grace of

God to bring salvation has appeared to all men.

It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly

passions and to live self -controlled. upright

in Godly lives in this present age. There's a

comma. While we wait for the blessed hope, the

glorious appearing of our great God and Savior,

Jesus Christ. Another comma, 14. Who gave himself

for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to

purify for himself a people that are his very

own. Comma. That are his very own. Eager to do

what is good. Period. Drop the mic. Very much

to say. But it's just so awesome that God appeared

in everyone. God is here today. Anybody that

wants to accept him, we're condemned to forsake

him without Christ Jesus. But we come under his

workmanship, his lordship, his purity, his holiness,

his righteousness. He nails our unrighteousness

to the cross and helps us deal with that unrighteousness.

And then... Someday He will come back again.

And we're waiting, patiently serving, living.

I got my GPS on. I'm glorifying God, pleasing

God, serving God. Easier said than done. But

it's God that strengthens me. And I said it before,

you know, I'm strong right now. The others are

strengthening me. But even if they don't, I can

actually finally say it. That the Lord is always

strong. He can strengthen me. If I don't get

what I need from others, I have this sustenance

from God. His supper, His table, giving me strength

every day. And then 14, you know, He sets us

apart for Himself. He sets us apart for Himself.

It's for Himself. He's not doing it because,

you know, we need to do this. No, it's for Himself.

You belong to Him. He loves you. He adores you.

He almost, not say worship, but He sees the image

of Christ and He draws near to it. Draws near

to us. for Himself and then for His own and then

to do what is good. Not just to do good things,

but His goodness and His righteousness. What

He says is good and what He says is right. Just

so awesome. Hope you're highly encouraged. Have

a great day. Amen. God bless you. Alright, anyone

else? Whether you know it or not, we don't follow

the... I don't know what you call it, ecumenical

calendar or whatever, but the way they tell you

to do church. We don't do church the way they

tell you to do church. We do church the way God

tells us to do church. But it's Transformation

Sunday. And so in a lot of churches all over

the place, especially those who are following

that calendar, they're celebrating today the

transformation of Jesus. And they're leading

up into Easter. It's one of the earlier texts

that they sort of like to attribute to Easter

and so on. And it's when Jesus went up on the

mountain and he saw... We took a couple of disciples

with him, and we saw some pretty incredible people

there, Moses and Elijah. And I remember Peter

saying, oh, Lord, it's good that we're here.

We can build you all some tents, you know, like

that. But Jesus was transformed there, and they

saw what he would look like after all. And so

it's a great celebration because we, too, are

in the process of being transformed. It's a long

road for us, it feels like, because we're kind

of still in the midst of it, still in the midst

of it. But today, I just want to kind of put

in your minds that thought when Jesus came up

out of the water and God said, you know, this

is my son with whom I am well pleased. Listen

to him. And so be encouraged today to listen

to him. Whether I get it right or wrong, whether

we write scripture today or not, all scripture

speaks about Christ. That's the unifying theme

from Genesis to Revelation. It's all about Jesus.

And so, listen to Him today. Not the person that's

next to you, the person that came with you, or

there's somebody else in the room. But listen

to Him today. Okay? This is my son who I'm well

pleased. Listen to Him. Alright? So we're going

to pray together at this time, and then transition

to tithes and offerings, a little more worship,

and then I'll have a word. Brother Frank, would

you kindly pray for us and remember the lesson

of tithes and offerings? Lord, as we gather today

to receive Your Word, We bless these words, Lord,

that we're inclined to hear. Be blessed to offer

me, Lord, that it may help the church grow even

stronger. Bless the people that are sick and

cannot be here. Be with us and our families.

And as we see new heights in the hour, we pray

that it may grow also. Bless us, Lord. All right,

thank you. Thank you. Something hopefully quicker.

There's a little bit of controversy about this

song, Reckless Love. And so I thought maybe I'd

better say something about that. The basic argument

is that God's love is not reckless. And I would

agree with that. So there's a certain context

of listening to this song in that sense. God's

love is not reckless. It's very intentional.

Amen. He knows what he will do. But there are

certain things that God will not do on our behalf.

He will not change his character. He will not

become something else for us. He is God. He's

eternal. He's the same yesterday, today, or tomorrow.

So he may, for example, tolerate our sin for

a little while, but it will be dealt with at

some point. He will and has gone to incredible

lengths to save us from our sins. But our sins

still have to be dealt with. And whether it's

through Christ on the cross or whether it's hell,

it's dealt with one way or another in the end.

So from God's standpoint, his love is very intentional.

He knows exactly what he's doing. There's no

chaos. There's no uncertain outcome from his

perspective. But from our point of view, it does

seem reckless, out of control maybe sometimes,

or, you know, no bounds to what he'll do for

us. But I just wanted to put that out there.

Sometimes after worship I feel like there just

isn't anything left to be said. We began a sermon

series last week and I want you to know that

it has happened to me a number of times in my

life that we are in the midst of a sermon series

or just beginning a sermon series and I come

under heavy attack. Usually I find that that

means that I'm about to say or the Lord would

want me to say something that We'll glorify him

and help us to better understand his nature,

draw us to him, and encourage us to apply what

we've learned. And so I have already been adjusting,

trying to adjust to what I'm about to try to

explain. It is a relatively complicated thing,

and we're going to come at it. You know how to

roller coaster? You do the chink, chink, chink,

chink, chink, and then you hit the hill down

and you get the speed? We're going to skip the

chink, chink, chink, and we're going to go straight

to the hill down, all right? So if you're a fan

of the chink, chink, chink, as you prepare yourself

to go down the fast hill, we don't get to do

that today because we have to recap where we're

at and the sermon series a little bit, so we

make sure everybody's on the same page, and we're

going to do that very quickly, very briefly.

So you're going to have to start with your thinking

cap on, start by absorbing right away, and then

into the text, which is moderately lengthy, so

you will not get an explanation of every word

or every phrase because we're looking at it as

an overview. And then we have to come out of

that with how to be affected and how to live

our lives according to what the text said. So

to get all that in and to do it in a way that

makes sense and is God -honoring, it's going

to go fast -paced the majority of the time. It

is nice occasionally to slow down, but we don't

really get that opportunity to slow down today.

So now you've been warned. Put your thinking

caps on. Alright, here we go. So we started a

sermon series last week, and we basically began

in Genesis 17. You'll recall, it was God's promises

to Abraham. And basically God was saying, I'm

going to do all this for you. And then he right

away afterwards, and we stopped there the first

time we looked at it, but he right away afterwards

says, and you're going to be circumcised for

me. He went on to say that everybody who is circumcised

is of me and everybody who is not circumcised

is not of me. In fact, he said, if there is a

stranger amongst you or if you yourself or any

person amongst you is found not to be circumcised,

they have no part with me. That caused us then

to begin to look at what Christian circumcision

is. It is not the snipping of the physical foreskin.

We obviously have put that behind us. It is not

of the flesh. And though the works of God, if

you are living for the Lord and following the

commands of the Lord, they may count for you

as circumcision if you did that completely. We

discovered it is not that because nobody does

that completely. rather than we looked at what

circumcision would be. In Deuteronomy 30, Moses

is speaking, and he talks about how there would

come a time when God's people would not be following

him. Remember, they were the stewards of the

word. They would not be following him, and they

would essentially be shunted off into other nations

in captivity. They would lose the land, the promised

land that God had offered them, the ability to

be blessed in the land that God had offered them.

Then God would call them back to himself. He

would put in them where there was a heart of

stone, a heart of flesh. He would give them compassion.

And most importantly, he would give them his

Holy Spirit. And so last week we discovered,

looked at how circumcision for Christians is

largely internal. It is a circumcision of the

heart. It is being affected by God internally.

We were basically heavily getting out of Romans

Romans 2:27–29

2, verses 27 -29, and ending in 29, this sermon

series to better understand this circumcision

of the heart that God would do bless you. Verse

27, chapter 2 said, And will not he who is physically

uncircumcised, if he keeps the law, will not

he judge you, who though having the letter of

the law and circumcision are a transgressor of

the law? That's that same thing that we said.

Will they not clearly see that we have not followed,

even if we are circumcised, we have not followed?

the law completely as we're supposed to. Those

who are uncircumcised, if they themselves are

following the law. Okay? And we talked about

that last week. Then 28. For he is not a Jew

who is one outwardly, neither is circumcision

that which is outward in the flesh. And then

29 essentially becomes the overarching verse

for the entire sermon series. It is this. But

he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision

is that which is of the heart, by the spirit,

not by the letter. And that's our phrase for

our title today, by the Spirit, not by the letter,

or a brief phrase to say Spirit over letter.

But our circumcision of the heart will be by

the Spirit, not by the letter. And His praise

is not from men, but from God. Okay, so now you're

there. Now grab your Bibles if you would, take

a deep breath, hoot, holler, say amen, whatever,

as we go to Romans chapter 7. This is God's Word.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

You're caught up to where we're at in the sermon

series now. I expect that you will digest it

and allow God to affect you. I hope you're excited

about God's work in your life today. Romans 7,

1 begins like this. Or do you not know, brethren,

for I am speaking to those who know the law,

so he's talking to those who know the Bible,

right? Or do you not know, brethren, that the

law has jurisdiction over a person as long as

he lives? For the married woman is bound by law

to her husband while he is living. So if her

husband is alive, she's bound by law to him.

But if her husband dies, she is released from

the law concerning the husband. So then, if while

her husband is living, she is joined to another

man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if

her husband dies, she is free from the law, so

that she is not an adulteress, though she is

joined to another man. So because her husband

dies, she is free from the law to be joined to

her husband, and rather is free to be joined

to another man. So she has escaped the burden

of the law because her husband died, right? Therefore,

my brethren, you also were made to die to the

law through the body of Christ that you might

be joined to another, to him who was raised from

the dead, that we might bear fruit from God.

Now there is a doctrine -packed verse right there.

We're not going to digest it all, but I do want

to give you just a basic understanding in case

you didn't get it on the first read -by. Therefore,

we died with Christ to the law. So we escaped

the burden of the law. We escape the burden of

thinking we would be saved by the law or even

in the requirements of following all the law

short of fulfilling the law. Short of the completeness

of the law. We don't follow individual pieces

of the law. He says you escape the burden of

the law because you died with him who is Christ.

And you live to him who was raised from the dead

who is Christ. that we might bear fruit for God.

So in other words, our lives might be made effective.

And is that not what we want? We want our lives

to be effective. Our lives might be made effective

by this process. At least it is made possible

that our lives might be made effective, that

we died with Christ and now live after that event.

Verse 5. For while we were in the flesh, the

sinful passions which were aroused by the law.

Okay, so your sinful passions are the things

that your flesh wants, your internal man, your

carnal man wants. that are not godly. Okay? Sinful

passions. They were aroused. It means they were

awakened. They were activated. Empowered, if

you will, by the law. They were at work in the

members of our body to bear fruit for death.

Did you catch all that? So the sinful passions,

that's what was at work. Our sinful passions

were at work in the members, that's the parts,

not like your limbs, but your whole parts of

your body. to bear fruit for death. So that's

the wrong way. That's not what you want. Death,

separation from God. Verse 6. But now we have

been released from the law, having died, to that

by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness

of the Spirit, capital S, and not in oldness

of the letter. And so now our lives are lived

in newness of the Spirit, not in the way the

law was written and given to men. Not in the

understanding of what it says in Scripture, simply

do this, okay, if I do that, I'm right by God.

If I don't do that, I'm wrong by God. But rather,

we are walking in the Spirit, not in the oldness

of the letter. Verse 7, we'll come back to that

in the points. What shall we say then? Is the

law sin? May it never be. So remember what just

happened. Because then the law came in, then

our sinful passions were arised, and we began

to bear essentially fruit for death. They were

aroused. So the power that is empowering those

sinful passions to essentially destroy us was

what? Was the law. Okay? And he says, we don't

want to think that the law is sin, may it never

be. On the contrary, I would not have come to

know sin except through the law. See, the law

was informing what sin was. It was highlighting

it, shining a light on it, making it obvious.

That make sense? If you go in the dark in a completely

pitch black room and you're in there with an

axe murderer, With a sharpened blade and a wicked

look in his eye. And it's completely dark. And

somebody flips on the light and the axe murderer

kills you. It was not the light that killed you.

It was the axe murderer. Okay, you understand?

So he was there anyway. And he was probably going

to start swinging regardless. You understand

what I'm saying? So it's not the law that did

it, but the sin that did it. And we're going

to see that a little bit more in this text. So

it says, Is the law sin? May it never be. On

the contrary, I would not have come to know sin

except through the law. For I would not have

known about coveting if the law had not said,

You shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity

through the commandment, produced in me coveting

of every kind. So sin produced in me a desire

for all this other stuff that I'm not supposed

to desire. Once I knew, or as I knew, or because

I knew, or because it was clear. The forbidden

fruit always seems to be desirable, look better,

etc. And the law lays out what is forbidden,

and so people go after it, is basically what

he's saying. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

Hang on, that may be one of the most important

things you need to hear. Apart from the law,

sin is dead. Nine. And I was once alive apart

from the law. Hear that? But when the commandment

came, sin became alive and I died. And that's

where Paul would elsewhere write in Ephesians

2, we were dead in our transgressions and sins,

right? Sin became alive and I died. So there's

a trading of places there. Sin was dead and I

was alive. then the law and the commandment became

obvious, and the truth became obvious, and then

sin became alive, and I died. And what this actually

looks like in your life, very practically speaking,

is when you have a choice to make, and you can

go the wrong way, or you can go the right way.

And the moment you go the wrong way, decide to

go the wrong way, or even yearn to go the wrong

way, think about going the wrong way, the moment

that you do that, you give life to the wrong

way. The wrong way becomes a thing. Once you've

done it a few times, it becomes a well -beaten

path, a way to go. Don't give life, but it happens.

Sin became alive and I died, verse 10. And his

commandment, which was to result in life, so

God gave us the commandments to result in life,

proved to result in death for me. For sin, taking

opportunity through the commandment, deceived

me and through it killed me. You can almost hear

the conflict in the Garden of Eden between Adam.

And Eve and the serpent, right? She looks at,

oh, that's a good tree. That fruit looks good

to eat. Yeah, well, they all look good to eat,

right? All the trees were good. But this is the

one tree that she was told to leave alone. It's

the one tree that they were told not to eat from.

They had to tend it, but don't eat from it. And

she warped God's word and the law was misquoted

and then she took of the tree and she ate, deceived,

believing that she would not be killed. But indeed,

she was killed, believing that she would not

be poisoned, believing that sin would not be

wrong for her life. But indeed, sin was wrong

for her life and it always will be. It says,

taking opportunity through the commandment deceived

me and through it killed me. So then the law

is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous

and good. That's a great verse to memorize, by

the way, right there, verse 12. Therefore, did

that which is good become a cause of death for

me? Was it the law or the teachings of the Bible

that were the cause of death for me? May it never

be. Rather, it was sin in order that it might

be shown to be sin by affecting my death through

that which is good. In other words, sin, because

sin is sin, And it's 100 % sin and there's nothing

about it. There's no grades or shades or shadows

about it. It's sin, right? Sin leapt up and became

sin. Surprise! I'm sin. 100 % sin. And given

an opportunity to warp our understanding of the

word, sin will do that. We have churches that

claim to be churches all over the world who are

warping an understanding of the word. Rather

than taking it for what it says, they want to

tweak it a little bit and make it authorize a

certain lifestyle, authorize a certain thing,

or command a certain thing to get people to do

a certain thing, whatever. Sin will always take

every opportunity to be sin. Rather it was sin,

back up a little bit, in order that it might

be shown to be sin by affecting my death through

that which is good. That through the commandment,

sin might become utterly... Sinful. It's absolutely

beyond a shadow of a doubt. Clearly, it only

has one identity. Its integrity is complete.

Ours is lacking, but its integrity is complete.

Verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual.

That's the word of God, spiritual. But I am of

flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For that which

I am doing, I do not understand. For I am not

practicing what I would like to do, but I am

doing the very thing I hate. So the things that

I don't want to do, the things that are bad for

me, the things that I know are wrong as a Christian,

sometimes we do them still. He says 16. But if

I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree

with the law. In other words, I know what side

I'm on, I know what's right, but I'm doing what

I don't want to do or what I shouldn't do, right?

confessing that it is good. I'm confessing that

the law is good, but I'm not following it for

whatever reason. 17, he's going to tell us what

the reason is. So now, no longer am I the one

doing it, but sin which dwells in me. Now notice,

nowhere in here has sin been killed. At the mix,

if you will, of the law and sin, sin came to

life. Sin is alive. It's a living thing in you

or in me. And I died. But then in Christ, we're

about to see something different for me. But

sin is still alive. And he says, so now, no longer

am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells

me. For I know. That nothing good dwells in me

that is in my flesh. So he's clarifying. For

the wishing is present in me, but the doing of

the good is not. In other words, and I always

use this example when I'm talking to somebody

about spiritual warfare. If you know who you

are and you're in your right mind, and then suddenly

you have a thought that does not agree with who

you are, that is spiritual warfare. That is an

evil spirit trying to get you to buy into, or

it can be your sinful nature, or it can be the

world, or trying to get you to buy into an idea

that is not your own. If, for example, you would

never strike out in anger and punch or hit a

family member, and then you're having a difficult

time, going through difficulty, whatever, and

you feel an urging to do something like that,

but you know you would never do that, but in

that moment you think, maybe actually you would

do that. Which one of those is really you? Well,

if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you would

never do that. Right? So in the moment that you're

tempted to do that, the moment you feel that

you're compelled to do that, or you have a thought

that you might even do that, even if it begins

with I, I think I'll do that, whatever. The moment

that you do that, you realize that's spiritual

warfare. That's a thought coming from somewhere

else. And you have to defeat that or take it

captive or destroy it, even if possible. Kill

it, as we're about to see. But the problem is,

at certain times, you don't. And then you realize,

oh, I should have done what... I knew to do was

right. And that's what he's talking about. Verse

19 says, For the good that I wish, I do not.

But I practice the very evil I do not wish. But

if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I

am no longer the one doing it, but sin which

dwells in me. Be clear, there's two people, two

persons, if you will, talked about in this that

are living inside you. That's becoming obvious,

isn't it? 21. I find then the principle that

evil is present in me, the one who wishes to

do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of

good in the inner man. So in other words, that

part of myself that is internal, my heart, my

mind, when I am calm, when I know who I am, when

I'm thinking out of my strength, out of God's

love for me, I know who I am. And I joyfully

agree with the law. I would do all the things

that it tells me to do. Verse 23 says, But I

see a different law in the members of my body.

which is yearning to do things that it should

not, waging war against the law of my mind and

making me a prisoner of the law of sin, which

is in my members. So this principle that you,

and the world teaches this, by the way, is a

very hearty thing. You can take what you want.

You can stand up for yourself. You can go after

it. You deserve it, etc. And those principles

are at war, coming out of the flesh, against

the real you, against the you that is in Christ,

if you've become a Christian. 24. He says, Wretched

man that I am! Who will set me free from the

body of this death? Thanks be to God, through

Jesus Christ our Lord. So then on the one hand,

I myself with my mind am serving the law of God.

But on the other, with my flesh, the law of sin.

In other words, there is a war, a battle going

on. That's what he just said. There's a battle

going on. My body wants to do one thing. Myself,

my inner man, my regenerated man, my follower

of Jesus man, wants to do another thing. And

so there is a conflict, a war going on with my

flesh. between my flesh and the Spirit of God

in me, or between my regenerated spirit, if you

want to say it that way. Chapter 8, verse 1,

or over two -thirds of the way done. There is

therefore now no condemnation for those who are

in Christ Jesus. Now, right away, you want to

say, I want to say, I've always quoted this verse

to say, there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus

because Jesus died on the cross to pay for all

my sins. Right? That's what we teach. That's

what we actually believe about this verse. That's

why there is no condemnation, because Jesus died

to pay for all my sins, past, present, and future.

That isn't even what it said, is it? There is

therefore, meaning it's based on the previous

verses, right? What is the reason in the previous

verses that tells us what the there is therefore

is? It is that there is a war going on in us

between sinful man and regenerated man. And when

sinful man wins out and we sin, sinful man gets

the blame. Because God sees the righteousness

of Christ in us, sinful man gets the blame for

what we did wrong. This is why there is now,

therefore, no condemnation because there is a

war going on in me between sinful man, carnal

man, if you will, and regenerated God man. And

sometimes it appears I'm losing. But it isn't

me. If I am carrying $100 in my pocket and I

go down a dark alleyway and I encounter a man

who is 7 '5 and 410 pounds and armed and mean

and nasty or whatever and he asks me for my $100,

I'm going to give it to him. He can have it.

And guess what? I am not going to feel the least

bit guilty about giving it to him. I'm not going

to come out of the alleyway and go, oh, I'm a

stupid fool. I never should have given my hundred

bucks. Why didn't I fight back? Why didn't I

do whatever? Because he's bigger than me. He

has already won the fight before the fight begins.

Now that is not the case with sin. But once the

other person has won the fight, it's a foolish

mistake to beat yourself up over the other person

having won the fight. There is a battle going

on in you. And when there is sin, give sin the

credit because sin is utterly sinful. And the

commands were brought out to show that sin is

utterly sinful. And taking an opportunity when

the commands were brought out, sin originally

killed me. Because I have thus died in Christ,

I have escaped the demands of the law, and I

am no longer dead. I am alive. And being alive,

I am at war. And because I am at war, because

I am participating in the war, There is no condemnation

of me now. I will not be judged as a lost sinner

unsaved going to hell because I am taking part

in the conflict. The battle is still going on

and ultimately I will be the winner. Verse 2.

For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus

has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

You would die and go to hell based on your actions.

Let's be very realistic. Not just... Whether

or not you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and

Savior, that's the final determiner of whether

you'll go to hell or not. But if you take Jesus

out of the mix, everybody would die and go to

hell based on what the law demands. We are all

sinners. We have all been sinners. And we would

die and go to hell if it were not for the salvation

that Jesus Christ has provided. But then Jesus,

the Holy Spirit of God in us, has provided a

sustenance, an escape from the law. We died with

Jesus, therefore we are free from the law. That's

where we began. Verse 3. For what the law could

not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God

did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful

flesh as an offering for sin. So in other words,

what the law, which was intended to give life,

could not do because our flesh man, as it was

corrupted in Adam, our flesh man was corrupted

and could not follow the rules and the laws and

whatever, did not, could not, whatever you want

to say. God took care of it. He sent his own

son. And he sent him in the flesh so that he

too had that sinful nature where we did not succeed

and avoid all sin. Jesus did succeed and avoided

all sin. And so he succeeded and avoided all

sin. In the weak flesh, same as we have, at war.

So Jesus was at war in himself, if you will,

with his fleshly desires, and he won. And then

died the death of someone who didn't win. That's

getting off on another topic. The end of verse

3 says, Sending his own son in the likeness of

sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, he

condemned sin in the flesh. in order that the

requirements of the law might be fulfilled in

us who do not walk according to the flesh, but

according to the Spirit. In other words, you

don't follow your body. Your body follows God.

Your body follows you as you choose to follow

God. For those who are according to the flesh

set their minds on the things of the flesh. If

you're being driven by your desires, if you want

a bigger car and you're doing things to get it,

If you want a better relationship, then you're

doing things to get it. You want to feel better

about yourself, then you're doing things to get

it. If those are your motivations, albeit fairly

normal, those are fleshly motivations. That's

not what we're called to. We follow the things

of the Spirit. Our mind is not on the things

of the flesh, but those who are according to

the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Verse 6,

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the

mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. because

the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God,

but it does not subject itself to the law of

God, for it is not even able to do so. And those

who are in the flesh cannot please God. It is

not possible to please God by any method other

than being reborn. Verse 9. However, you are

not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed

the Spirit of God dwells in you. So here is your

hope. If actually the Spirit of God dwells in

you, meaning if you have accepted Jesus Christ

your Lord and Savior, been born again, and are

actually following Jesus, a desire to follow

Jesus, then even when you screw up, that's sin

in you, not you, right? Which is no excuse to

continue to do it because your goal is to be

a person of the Spirit. Verse 9 again. However,

you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,

if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But

if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,

he does not belong to Him. There's only one way.

Verse 10. And if Christ is in you, though the

body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is

alive because of righteousness. In other words,

your flesh died with Jesus. And because of sin,

and sin was then taken by Jesus onto the cross,

right? It's kind of how that goes. But now you

are alive because of righteousness that God has

bestowed upon you. But if the Spirit of Him who

raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, in

other words, if the Holy Spirit lives in you,

He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will

also give life to your mortal bodies through

the Spirit who dwells in you. So eventually,

God is going to do this. It's in process. It's

even being done now. Verse 12. So then, brethren,

we are under obligation. We have a job to do.

There's something that is required of us. Not

to the flesh to live according to the flesh.

For if you are living according to the flesh,

you must die. But if by the Spirit you are putting

to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

There's your obligation. By the Spirit, putting

to death the deeds of the body. And verse 14,

our last verse. For all who are being led by

the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. You

understand? For all who are being led by the

Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Okay, so

we've read the verses, and now there's a couple

of things in there, a few things in there, very

powerful things I felt like, because it really

affected me, that you need to see. The first

one is failure without fail. Failure without

fail. A carnal mind cannot keep the law of God.

A fleshly mind, a mind driven by the passions

that are in your flesh, the lust of the flesh,

the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, which

all men deal with before, during, and after getting

saved. They don't go away. So at a cellular level,

I've counseled a number of people over the years

who are attempting to get rid of an addiction.

And some people have lengthy success in getting

rid of an addiction. But they forget after a

month or six months, nine months, a year, two

years, whatever, that addiction is actually at

a cellular level. There are certain chemical

addictions, for example, that your cells, literally

every little cell that's in your bicep is addicted

to that substance. And so you can feel like you're

completely clean and beyond it. And then all

of a sudden, some cell in your body calls out

for a thing and it becomes like a, remember the

viral, it's like a viral tweet where everybody

starts retweeting it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah,

yeah, that's right. I remember, I remember. I

used to get alcohol. I used to get cocaine. I

used to get heroin. Whatever. And they go, well,

I need that. I need that. We used to have that.

Why don't we have that anymore? Right? And pretty

soon all your cells are crying out for it and

you're taking it back in to fulfill that. The

carnal mind cannot fulfill the works of the law.

If you should decide as a non -Christian to not

lie, you may not lie for a day, a month, a year,

a decade, 50 years, and then in one moment tell

a lie and be right back into it. If you should

use 12 -step program and your higher power is

not Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, and

He does not actually rebirth you, He does not

actually save you, and then... You may give up

alcohol or whatever your particular addictive

substance is for however long and go right back

into it at some point in time. The carnal mind

cannot fulfill the law. It isn't even your fault

that it's like that. It goes all the way back

to Adam and Eve. It goes all the way back from

the moment that Adam was corrupted. And you know

who was present in Adam when he was corrupted?

Every one of us. All of us were in the seed of

Adam. All of us were in his DNA. All of us were

represented in him. And so when he sinned, he

sinned for all of us. And from that point on,

we all have this fleshly nature. We all have

this ability to drift off into the things that

we want that are not actually good for us. In

the Royal Navy, which is the tall ships era,

is one of my favorite eras. In the Royal Navy,

When they would go to war, they would enlist

more and more and more men into the navy. And

they would build more ships and they would put

them out to sea. They were a very strong seafaring

nation. They traveled all around the world. They

would go around the horn and over to the Spanish

main and all that kind of thing. On every ship,

there was consistent discipline. And if the captain

over -disciplined the men, if he whipped them

for a small offense, like not saluting an officer,

then morale on the ship would sink. And if the

captain under -disciplined them, like they could

not salute officers and he didn't say anything,

or somebody stole an extra ration of food and

they didn't get whipped for it or whatever, then

morale would sink. And every way that was not

perfectly right, mutiny would become more imminent.

Now here's what's amazing. After they served

on a sea ship, on a sea vessel like that for

months or years, usually years, they would go

to come off and they would go live somewhere

else and you know what would happen? They couldn't

function. They didn't want to function. They

didn't want to live on land because there was

no discipline on land. You can do anything you

want, anytime you want. There's no healthy way

of living. People to this day, I can't tell you

the number of people I've counseled with who've

been in prison. They went to prison. They've

been there for 10 years. They come out and they

find that they cannot function in prison. Their

life was ordered. They knew when they had to

eat. They knew when they had to clean up. They

knew when they had to be bed down. They knew

when the lights would go off. They knew when

they had to shower. What days they had to shower.

They knew everything was laid out for them. And

they began to function like that. And after that

period of time, it was perfectly all laid out

for them. They come out and they go, oh, and

they're shaky and they don't know how to live

because now I don't have to shower on Wednesday

morning at exactly 9 a .m. anymore. And my bedroom

doesn't go off at 10 like it used to. And they

just don't know how to function. The carnal mind

would need the utmost indiscipline. They would

need a separate section of rules perfectly laid

out. everything exactly and followed to a T.

And if you don't follow it, the punishment better

be severe. If you lie, or if you slander, or

if you misbehave by not following your parents'

direction, you should be taken outside the camp

and killed. Because if everybody doesn't have

the perfect disciplinary system, or if they don't

follow that disciplinary system, morale declines

and people fall apart, people start to abuse

each other, and pretty soon you have no society

that's worth anything at all. What am I describing?

We're talking about the law that God gave through

Moses for their society when they moved in. And

they needed to follow it to the letter perfectly

and have extremely strict discipline. But what

is it about the flesh? I don't like to get whipped

when I do something wrong, so I'm just going

to cover up my mistakes. I already made a mistake

anyway, so now I can lie about it. And it's another

sin, sure, but I'm already a sinner, so what

the heck? You know? The people in this land,

they worship a false god. They worship Baal or

Asherah. We can do that too, right? Look how

good they look worshiping. Going up in their

high places and they're on their knees and they

have such meaningful worship experiences and

they're raising their hands and they're bowing

down and they're giving great offerings and they

get to sleep with the prostitutes in the temple

to make it rain. We can do that too, can't we?

Well, God is a God of love and mercy. And he's

the one who put us there. He's the one who made

us. If we have this desire to do these things,

then that must be okay, right? No. The carnal

man cannot function in any system that is not

complete and total and perfectly followed. And

since Adam, we have not been able to function

in a system like that, which rules it all out.

The law was given to demonstrate to us what a

system like that would look like and how we would

have to live, and then they didn't do it. Neither

did we. Failure without fail. All have sinned

and fall short of the glory of God. Wicked is

the heart who can know it. We are not able. We

would fail. In fact, taking that opportunity

when the law came in and people began to know

what was wrong. In fact, Romans 1 says when those

who do not have the law Still have rules for

themselves. They have things that they're required

to do. They show they become a law unto themselves.

And then they break the law. So you set a rule

for yourself. January 1, 10 years ago, I'm not

going to overeat or I'm going to start working

out or I'm going to not lie anymore or I'm going

to go to bed at a good time and get up at a good

time. It's called New Year's resolution. You

set a rule for yourself. Then you break the rule.

It's the same as if you broke the law of God

because you made a rule for yourself and then

you broke it. We don't have integrity outside

of God anymore. We cannot keep it. Failure was

imminent and happened. Then taking an opportunity

as we knew what we were supposed to do and didn't

do it, sin, being utterly sinful, destroyed us.

Tore us down. Tore us apart. Put us in a position

of utter destruction. Death. Separation from

God. The second thing to see in this text then

is that God has facilitated a successful split.

The first was that it was going to be failure

without fail. The second thing is that God has...

I just noticed something I hadn't noticed before.

Praise the Lord. God has orchestrated a successful

split in us. Our inner man resurrected versus

sin which still lives in us. That's the battle.

Here for you today. from sunup to sundown. In

this corner, the sinful, fleshly desires of Dan

Stevenson. And in this corner, fully regenerated,

rejuvenated, just back from death, completely

capable of destroying his opponent, despite the

obvious differences in size. Dan Stevenson, the

Christian. Our inner man resurrected versus the

sin which still lives in us. Because we died

with Christ, we are freed from the laws, natural

ramifications as used by sin. It's happened a

number of times as I have been studying the Bible

that I have been impressed by one doctrine that

occurs from the beginning to the end. It is not

the doctrine that explains everything per se.

It's not a theology that I'm about to describe

to you, but it is a doctrine that occurs from

the beginning to the end. It is the doctrine

of the remnant. Is anybody here familiar with

friendship bread? You ever heard of friendship

bread? It's like a little baggie of nasty stuff.

It's yeast and like that. And then you use it

to let it grow in the bag for a while, which

it does all by itself under the right circumstances.

And then you take half of it and you use half

of it to make bread. And then you take the other

half. And you let it grow some more and divide

it down, whatever, and you give it to your friends,

and then they all do it. They take half of it

and make bread. What's that? Sourdough syrup.

Yeah, it's a sourdough syrup, but they call it

friendship bread. And so, because you can give

it to people, right? And you put a little sticker

on there, whatever says a nice thing, that kind

of thing. It's the remnant. The remnant is completely

capable of making another loaf of bread. I submit

to you that God has always reserved for himself

a remnant, and the doctrine is present all throughout

Scripture. There's always been a piece that God

could work with. When the prophet said to God,

God, I can't go on. God said back to him, I have

300 prophets that I have reserved for myself

that have not bowed the knee to Baal. You just

won. God has always reserved for himself a remnant.

And the nation of Egypt, when they worshipped

every false god and made up all kinds of things,

the god of the toads and the god of the Nile

and the god that was Pharaoh and the god of the

gnats and everything else, in there were the

Israelites. And God called his remnants out of

Egypt and remade his people and sent them back.

into the promised land. But He made it go for

400 years because for over 400 years, Israel

had to suffer in Egypt. And you remember why?

Was it because they were sinful? Uh -uh. Because

400 years prior, when God gave the prophecy and

said it's going to wait, it's going to be a while,

the people that were in the promised land at

that time, God wasn't done calling out to them

yet. In fact, He even said, there are some people

left in there yet. Their sin has not come to

full measure. You're going to have to wait. And

so they suffered in Egypt and then finally God

called them out and He said, okay, there is no

remnant left amongst this people. Kill them all!

There is the doctrine of the remnant throughout

Scripture. Some years ago, Brother Tony and I

were way back at East Toledo and I was a young,

young Christian. And we were playing on the softball

team. Sherry and I came out to softball practice

at Pearson Park. There were about 15 people on

the team, and Brother Tony was there, and I was

there, and Sherry, and I don't know, maybe it

was before Michael was even old enough to play.

I want to say maybe three other people. And we're

standing there afterwards talking with Brother

Tony, and he was confessing how he was kind of

frustrated that he couldn't get the whole team

out. But this is what he told, Brother Tony said

this to me. He said, my dad used to say to me,

You work with what you got. And that stuck with

me. And in the church, you got 30 people, 40

people in the church, and only 5 of them really

want to follow God? You work with what you got.

The remnant of the Lord in this day is the church.

But the real remnant of the Lord is in the church.

Do you want to work with God? Do you want to

follow God? Do you want to do what it is that

God wants you to do even though sometimes you

don't? Well, that don't part, that's sin in you.

That isn't even you. If you want to follow God,

you work with what you got. You work with the

parts of you that want to do what God wants you

to do. You work with the skills that God has

given you and the gifts that God has given you.

Inside you, there is a successful split. God

has resurrected a man to live in the house that

is you. Or a woman to live in the house that

is you that is completely capable of doing what

it is that God wants them to do. But also still

living in the house that is you is sin. Brought

back to life when you first died and still with

you. God has orchestrated in us a successful

split. I was working at Pizza Hut years ago.

I was a Pizza Hut manager for seven and a half

years. In my restaurant, I determined there were

certain things I wanted to accomplish. And I

looked at my crew. I had 40 people. And I asked

this question. And it was judgmental. I understand

that. But as a manager, sometimes you've got

to do that. I said, of all of them, who's with

me? I went down the list. Is she with me now,

really? Is he with me? Everything I say, he's

a yes man. Is he with me? He fights pretty hard.

He tries pretty hard. I think if I could get

him sold on the idea, he'd be with me. I went

down the list. I bought 11. 12, something like

that. And so I had a meeting. And I didn't invite

40 people to the meeting. I paid all 40 people

their normal wage that week. When I had the meeting,

I invited 11 people. Some were managers, some

were not. Some of the managers who were managers

weren't invited. The people that were invited

were the people that were with me. It was a subgroup.

It was a remnant. It was people that would do

what it is that I asked them to do. There is

a subgroup within you. You work with the one

that is you that will do what you're supposed

to do, what it is that God wants you to do. And

in a second, we're going to talk about how God's

going to handle the other part. But understand

that there is a failure without fail. The carnal

mind cannot follow God, would not follow his

law, his ways, his rules. But God has orchestrated

within us a successful split. There is now a

war, and that war will rage on in you until the

moment in which you are complete in the presence

of God. And some days it may feel like you're

losing. But the truth is, if you're a follower

of the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot lose. You

will win. And I'm reminded then of Jacob at the

side of the river. with all of his family and

friends watching, and the sun just came up, and

he's been wrestling the angel all night long,

and the angel said, just let me go. It's enough.

I'm done. And he had to have every reason, every

reason, embarrassed in front of everybody that

knew him that he had wrestled all night long,

sweaty, nasty, dirty, no significant wounds just

yet, but scraped up for sure, and just let me

go. And Jacob said, I have not lost. Why shouldn't

I win? You will win if you continue to fight.

No matter what the day feels like, you will win

ultimately. You may as well win. The third thing

to see in the text then is that we have an obligation

to overcome. And this is the part that can, if

you are not willing. Actually, if you're not

a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have

said you are, if you're making it up as you go

along, if you're pretending Jesus is Lord and

Master rather than actually having a Lord and

Master, if you're pretending you were reborn

rather than actually having been reborn, this

is the part that will offend. It is the part

that you will not want to participate in. It

is the part that is difficult, if you will, to

the point that we will not succeed. Why? Because

the carnal mind, which is what you have if you've

not actually been born again in Christ, the carnal

mind cannot follow. will not fight. And it is

this. We have an obligation to overcome. We have

an obligation to overcome. Broken down this way,

the Holy Spirit must occupy you, otherwise you

have no part with God. If God's Holy Spirit has

not taken up residence in you, you have no part

with God. Now, how do you get to the place where

you know that? There's three very simple, very

quick things. Number one thing, there must have

been a change in you. Talked about that last

week. Even the lost person understands that if

the Holy Spirit of God took up residence in you,

something happened, something changed. It's got

to be a change. No change, no God, period. Second

thing is, if the Holy Spirit is in you, then

you've been gifted, affected, moved in a certain

direction, able to do something maybe that you

couldn't do before, moved to see things in a

way that you couldn't see before, etc. He is

at work in you. There has been a change, an affected

change in your capabilities, as well as an affected

change in your personality. The third thing is

the Holy Spirit testifies with your spirit. So

in the quietness, not when you're arguing with

your significant other, not when you just got

abused by your parents verbally, not when your

paycheck just turned out, not in the middle of

the trouble, but in the quietness, in the solitude,

when it's just you talking to God and listening

to God, you recognize that there is a third being

in the conversation. Not a demon or an evil spirit.

He doesn't mean you any harm. He's not trying

to make you feel guilty. If he's trying to make

you feel guilty, that's not God. That's not the

Holy Spirit. But he's encouraging you. He's convicting

you. He's helping you to understand the Word,

etc. He's the Holy Spirit. And if he's in you,

then you have part with God. And if he's not,

you have no part with God. And if you have no

part with God, then you'll have no part with

God in eternity. And you're not going to win

the fight. Sin, instead, has you captive. And

basically, you're dead already. But if the Holy

Spirit of God is in you, then it's not so. We

have an obligation to occupation. He must be

in you in order for you to be saved. Next, we

have an obligation to leading. Now understand,

we have to let the Holy Spirit of God lead us,

and this takes people some very dangerous places.

People say, well, I've let the Spirit, and they

dance naked before the Lord, or they... Kill

people, they slay people in the Spirit, or they

prophecy things that aren't of God at all, have

nothing to do with what God would say, or people

exercise their gifts, they shout crazy words

in service because they've heard that people

speak in tongues, or whatever. This can be very

dangerous, being led by the Holy Spirit, especially

if you're not actually being led by the Holy

Spirit. It's in no way contrary to the Word.

The Holy Spirit is not going to throw out your

Bible. It's not going to have you read a passage

of Scripture in the Bible and go, well, that

doesn't exactly mean what it says, because, wait

for it, this means everything it says exactly.

There may be a deeper meaning, a place you have

to go with it, something you have to do because

of it, but there's no eliminating, not one word

of it. It all means exactly what it says, verbatim,

perfectly. So Holy Spirit leadership in you is

not going to do anything contrary to the Word.

Your friends will try to talk you out of it.

Your money will certainly plead with you to go

another direction. Your heart will yearn to get

your spouse, your friend, your kid, your situation

to be what you want it to be. Your flesh will

argue with you as to whether or not you should

commit yourself, give your time, your talents,

your efforts, your money, etc. to do what it

is that God would have you to do. Everything

in the world will stack up against you. Because

almost everything in the world is on the side

of the enemy. When you look at the stars, which

you can't have anyway, they talk about the glory

of God. When you're hugged innocently by a child,

and they love you, despite how stupid you are,

how mean you are, whatever, and they're loyal,

and they love you anyway, they talk about the

glory of God. When you think for a moment about

the incredible complexity of your body from top

to bottom and how it screwed up one day and okay

the next and healing works and addiction works

and DNA works and people try to say, oh, it's

just a coincidence. It happened in a mud puddle

a few million years ago or something. No, no.

This testifies about the glory of God. And that's

on the side of God to get you to listen, to follow

the leading of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy

Spirit's leading is in practical application

of the Word. In defining things. You read things

and you go, well, according to English, this

word means X. But according to God, it clearly

also means X. And I understand that because the

Holy Spirit is in me. He provides a healthy motivation.

While keeping at bay sin, He seals and regenerates

us. He keeps the sin at bay that is still alive

in us, sustaining us against sin's death -dealing

effects. You want to go after what your flesh

wants? It's in the Word. It's in the want. You

want to go after what your flesh wants. But the

Holy Spirit in you will show you a better way.

And amazingly enough, the Holy Spirit takes up

the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of

God. It's His sword. And I think you will not

be surprised to find out that He knows how to

use it. So in occupation, He must be in us. And

in leading, He must be leading us. And then finally,

and most importantly perhaps, because there's

a contingency built on it, in killing sin. We

allow God's Holy Spirit to work in us in killing

sin. Sin is alive. And multiplying. You ever

see one of those shows where they put the gremlins

together and suddenly there's gremlins everywhere?

Or we just watched one on the Justice League.

She had two little bunnies and she was supposed

to babysit them and keep the bunnies apart no

matter what. And the bunnies got together and

all of a sudden there's bunnies everywhere! And

they're fighting the bunnies and they're flying

through the bunnies and smashing the bunnies

and trying to capture the bunnies and everything.

And then the bunnies were so proliferous that

they became this huge monster which was going

to swallow up the whole city. And every time

she'd try to punch it, they'd just open up and

let her fly through. Sin is like that. That's

what sin is. Sin is not something you take like

a vitamin. Like, I'm just going to take a little

bit of sin today and I'll feel better because

I'll get what I want. Sin is not something you

control. I'm going to keep it in a box in my

bedroom. I'm going to whip it out whenever somebody's

messing with me. It'll chase them away because

I'll be mean, I'll be loud, I'll be vicious or

something. And then they'll go away, leave me

alone, and then I'll put it back in the bedroom

in the box and only use it when I need it. Sin

is not a firearm that has a safety and only works

if it's loaded. Sin is a nuclear bomb that invades

you at a cellular level and will blow up your

life and make you dead. And you want to kill

it. What you really want is to kill it. Not in

your flesh, I understand. But what you really

want, what God really wants is to kill sin. Proven.

Because Jesus became sin on the cross and what

did God do to him? He killed him. God wants to

kill sin. Sin wants to kill you. God in you can.

Kill sin a little bit more, repeatedly, successfully,

day after day after day. If you would wield the

Holy Spirit the way He was meant to be wielded,

you would be actively killing sin. Every time

you snuff it out, you say, God, help me in the

power to destroy this sin. Search it out. Not

so you can enjoy it or covet it or hide it or

snatch it or use it or wield it or put a handle

on it or put a cage around it. Or forget it?

But so you can destroy it. Because that is what

we are obligated to do. And because He is in

us, and because we are successfully split, and

because He is leading us, and because He is killing

sin in us on a daily basis, there is now, therefore,

no more condemnation for you and for me. But

if that's not the way you're living your life,

if you're not actively seeking out and destroying

sin that you would slip into, if you're not cutting

out temptations, if you're not turning off dirty

movies, if you're not throwing away addictive

substances, if you're not forcing yourself to

say encouraging things and chase out every opportunity

to say something discouraging, slanderous, or

false, If you're not actively squashing in yourself

that part of you that remains alive and would

be called sin, that is leading you to do things

that you should not do, you better ask yourself

how comfortable God's Holy Spirit actually is

going to be occupying you when all He wants to

do is destroy sin. And all you want to do is

keep the lion and the lamb on a chain and unleash

sin in your life. We've come to our conclusion.

We've been talking about circumcision and really

what we're talking about here is the circumcision

of the inward man. The circumcision of the inward

man results in application of God's Word and

more importantly, God's Holy Spirit at work to

defeat an enemy that once killed us. See, we're

already resurrected. We were dead, and now we

live. We were dead in our transgressions and

sins, and now we live. And then Paul writes in

1 Corinthians 15, 54 -58, he says, But when this

perishable, that's this, have put on the imperishable,

and this mortal have put on immortality, then

will come about the saying that is written, Death

is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is

your victory? O death, where is your sting? Remember

what the sting of death is? We read it. Do you

remember what the sting of death is? Sin. So

while we are not dead, we can still feel the

sting. O death, where is your victory? O death,

where is your sting? The sting of death is sin.

And the power of sin is the law. But thanks be

to God who gives us the victory through our Lord

Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,

be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in

the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil

is not in vain in the Lord. Join with me, remnant.

Join with me, church. Join with me, kingdom occupiers.

Join with me, conquerors, more than conquerors.

Let us destroy sin in ourselves. The greatest

sin you will ever face is the sin that you yourself

have propagated and continue. That very sin,

if you are unwilling to destroy it in you, will

take you to hell one day because if you are unwilling

to destroy it, then you have not united yourself

with the Holy Spirit of God who hates it and

can destroy it. You have not understood the Word

of God as a liberator, a light, and a truth,

but rather you are trapped in it. And I see people

all the time who claim to be Christians and they

say, well, I've got to do this by the Ten Commandments

and I've got to do this, what Paul said, and

I've got to do that. And that's the way they're

living their life. And it's not entirely wrong.

It just isn't enough. You can't do that. You

have to live by the Spirit. It's not by the letter

of the law, but by God's Holy Spirit who inspired

the law and the fullness of the law. The fullness

of the law is the salvation and sacrifice of

Jesus Christ. He did it. It's done. Be free.

Join the fight. And yet, I want to read just

very briefly from an essay, and we are in our

conclusion. This is my last illustration, I think.

21 ways to build a stronger life. A stronger

spiritual life. Be a river, not a swamp. The

Bible says, Rivers of living water will flow

from the heart of those who believe in me. Remember,

it is the mountain stream that carries fresh

life -giving water because it flows out. A swamp

collects and retains water that comes its way.

Don't be the kind of person who seeks to accumulate

much before allowing a little to flow through.

As Christians, we are to let blessings flow through

us and on to others. When we hoard and damn the

blessings in our lives, we are in danger of becoming

spiritually stagnant, emotionally detached, and

intellectually cynical. Resolve to break up the

dam and let the blessings flow. Be like Moses,

speaking words of blessing. May the Lord bless

you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you,

be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his

favor and give you his peace. And this, by the

way, to Christians and non -Christians alike,

because there are lost people who need to hear

that. They're at war trying to come to life.

You've already come to life and are at war with

sin. Nurture a shared prayer life. Find somebody

to pray with. Take time alone with the Lord.

Take a step of faith. Stop debating with yourself

whether you can do it or not. If God has called

you to do it, then do it. If it gets you crucified,

so what? It worked for Jesus. Just decide to

take the step of faith and become the kind of

person that God really wants you to be. Leap

out. Spend yourself on something that is bigger

than you can possibly imagine. You get an inkling.

I think I can do it. That's what God wants me

to do. Yeah, just do it. Take a leap of faith.

Restore someone else's faith. Help somebody pick

up the pieces of a broken dream. You'll never

become more grateful than when you realize exactly

how much suffering others have gone through.

It doesn't matter how much you've suffered. You

made it through to this point. Then when you

begin to see exactly how much they've gone through,

you'll be humbled and grow as a Christian. Be

a grateful person. Start every day with a...

Morning prayer of gratitude to God for the gift

of a new day. Do this even if the day appears

ominous. Conclude every day with an evening prayer

of gratitude to God for the gift of the preceding

hours. Do this even if you've had a very tough

day. Share the journey. Make a point of finding

another believer who wants to grow spiritually

and a set of time to meet with them, to talk

with them, to study the Bible, to pray with them,

whatever. Share the journey. Serve. Look for

ways to serve in your community, in your church.

Read and reflect on the actions of Jesus. Cultivate

a little solitude. Sit down. Shut up. Block out

the noise. And get back to who you are in Christ.

Fast and pray. The next time somebody asks you

to pray for something because it's urgent, Right

then, that moment, say, okay, I'm not going to

eat or I'm not going to do X until I hear a result

or for 24 hours or for three days or whatever

the Lord leads you to do. And it doesn't have

to be giving up all food, but you can do that.

If you do it and you know it's going to conflict

with your medical conditions, then talk to your

doctor first and ask them, how do I do that?

You turn your worries over to God. The scripture

tells us to turn our worries over to God. What

are you fretting about anyway? If he's for you,

who can be against you? Do it every time a worry

crops up in your head. When you start thinking,

I wonder how that's going to turn out. Turn it

over to God. Spread love wherever you go. First

of all, in your own house. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

once advised, she said, spread love everywhere

you go. First of all, in your own house. Let

no one ever come to you without leaving better

and happier. Be the living expression of God's

kindness. Kindness in your face, kindness in

your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in

your warm greeting. Or are you afraid that somehow

the world's going to get one over on you? If

you're afraid somehow the world's going to get

one over on you, then you probably don't realize

the big dog you're running with. Keep your priorities

straight. Know what is ultimately important and

what is not. Consider the words of former President

George Bush. I am blessed with a close and wonderful

family and I want to spend the rest of my life

letting them know how much I love them and appreciate

them, he said. One of my most important accomplishments,

one I am still working on, is to be a huge success

in the grandfather business. I would like to

be remembered for integrity, service, and family.

What's really important? It ain't your job. If

you think it is, you got your priorities screwed

up. Strive for excellence. Whatever you do, do

it well. Use it or lose it. Gifts that will wane

and die. Remember those transforming gifts that

you got from the Holy Spirit when He came and

took up residence in you? If you don't use those

gifts, you just might lose them. They'll certainly

shrink down in a way and not seem important to

you. Meditate on Scripture. Make it a habit to

read and study your Bible in a regular, disciplined

way. Meditate on what you read. Think about it.

Ask questions in your mind about it. Let God

answer. Be reliable. Do what you say you will

do, whether it is convenient or not. If you get

to the end of the day and you promise somebody

you would do something and you didn't do it,

go out. Don't come in until it's done. Keep your

word. God does. Ask God to make you a blessing

today. A great way to grow in wonder and amazement

is by asking God to turn your life into a blessing.

Do this each morning before resuming your daily

activities. Offer a short, simple prayer like

this one. Dear God, on this day, make my life

a blessing to someone somewhere. Then pay close

attention to every person you encounter during

the day as God will honor your prayer, sometimes

in surprising ways. If these are not your priorities,

you're missing out on opportunities to live a

powerful spiritual life. The last one on this

list is the one that touched me most and caused

me to add it in. Exercise your power of choice.

No matter what happens to you, you always have

the freedoms to choose. You can select joy over

despair. You can select love over hate. You can

select forgiveness over revenge. You can select

growth over stagnation. Remember that a crisis

can evoke the best in us or the worst in us.

The choice is yours. Who will win? Sin? In you?

Or you? I'm going to pray with you briefly, and

we'll go to the invitation. Father in heaven,

we have known, and it comes as no great surprise

to us, that our amazing God made an amazing creation.

Right down to the DNA level. You decided where

we would live and when, who we would experience

and how. You gave us access to all the knowledge

that we needed to make a genuine decision to

take Jesus as Lord and Master, to believe, to

be died on the cross for our sins, and to be

born again. You did this for us. And the effect

in this lifetime of being born again, of being

circumcised in the heart, of being inhabited

by your Holy Spirit, alive again, and at war,

it would be realistic to say a daily fight. And

there is no one here who can say that they have

not lost that fight. on certain days. Claiming

we do not have sin is to make our God and his

word out a liar. We've lost the fight on certain

days. That's not the problem. The problem is

whether or not we're willing to fight. Having

been born again, we know what's right. And again

and again, Learn more of what's right. Led by

your Holy Spirit to better understand the word

of God. He wields his sword and allows us to

wield his sword under his leadership with such

power and such freedom. Lord, give us hearts

of flesh. Send into us your Holy Spirit. Let

us join the fight. Day in and day out. Strike

one more blow against that sin that is alive

in us. He's got a lot of hit points. He's going

to take a lot of strikes. But ultimately, this

carnal body, this fleshly body that does perceive

and desire these things, We'll put on the immortal,

resurrected body that you are ready to give.

And then it'll just be me. People always ask

me, well, I don't know what my personality will

be like. I'm not sure what I'll be like when

I'm fully saved and in heaven with God. And we

can get a pretty good understanding, a pretty

good answer to that question. We just look at

us. When we're doing what we're supposed to be

doing. When we're not doing what we're not supposed

to be doing. When we're letting you reign in

us. There might be a person here in the room

who had not previously truly accepted you. Let

you take over the leadership of their life through

Jesus your son. And we know he is the only way.

Please entreat them now. for once and for all

and in earnest to really release themselves into

your hands to be brought to life and to begin

to warn against this living sin that is in us

maybe someone here today who would say I am a

follower of the Lord Jesus Christ I know to whom

I belong and I know what I have entrusted unto

him and that he is able to keep it unto that

day but I also realize now that I have not been

an active participant in winning the fight against

my own sin. And they'd like to pledge themselves

into your service again today. There may be other

decisions as well that you may make, whatever

they might be, whatever's on people's hearts,

whatever they're committing themselves to, whatever

they believe you happen to do. As we sing this

song, Move us to respond to you. We pray this

in Jesus' name. Amen. I ask that you come forward

at this time. Lead us in a closing hymn. This

is a hymn of worship, but it's also a hymn of

response. And so if you're responding, whether

you're with us in person or online, please make

your decision known and say, okay, God, as you

will, not as I will. If you're comfortable and

able to do so, please stand where you are and

sing along. And if you're making a decision,

you can respond. Walk forward to the front of

the room or raise your hand right where you are

or write a comment online. You're responding

to God, not to me. As we sing. I was reading

the wrong bulletin. See ya! Okay, we're done

singing right now. We've got a word coming your

way from Sister Kristen. So, a few weeks ago

I was in here and I talked about the difference

between feeling and emotion. Pastor Dan just

spoke in his sermon about how we can feel that

defeat. That's right. The definition of feeling

is a belief, especially a vague or irrational

one. So, when you are in Christ, when you know

Jesus Christ, and you feel defeated, that is

a lie. Amen. That's right. It's a lie because

it's irrational. Because you know that God conquers

everything. We've been told this in the Bible.

So just remember, if you know Jesus and you start

thinking you can't do this, then it's a lie.

Amen. Does anyone else have a word before we

close? Thank you for a wonderful service. Praise

the Lord. We give you all the glory. As I said,

this sermon series is speaking to my heart, so

I hope you all get something out of it. and maybe

going across the world. We've got people listening

to the podcast from literally all over the place,

and it's growing and growing, so praise God for

that. But it's God's Word. It's not about us.

The truth is, without His Holy Spirit, we wouldn't

understand it. You'd be set to fail. But with

Him working in us, convicting us, and helping

us to understand, we can do amazing things. And

so we're going to pray together at this time

and close, and then go out and be the church.

We do ask that you lift up. Those who are hurting

and suffering, there's a lot of that going on.

But sometimes it isn't just enough just to pray.

You need to reach out and find out what people

are really going through. And that's something

we're not very good at. And the reason we're

not very good at is our sinful nature, our flesh.

We're busy fighting, and sometimes it's a good

fight, but sometimes it's about our desires or

our wants or whatever. You don't need half of

what you have. You have it because you're blessed

by God and able to share it. Alright, let's pray.

Brother Ron Mack, would you close us in prayer

today? Lord, Father in Heaven, thank you so much

for the opportunity to be here today in your

house, Lord, to hear the words laid on Pastor

Dan's heart. I pray, Lord, that they will inspire

us, that they will draw us closer to you. Father,

thank you for the healing that you've imparted

on Frank. Lord, we ask more healing to all those

that are sick and hurting in our midst and around

us. Lord, please heal this nation. Unite us together.

Draw us closer together. Father, please be with

us as we go from this place. During the team

leader meeting, I pray we'll hear your will spoken.

And help us to remember that We're always one

body under you. Father, please help us to be

that body and to work together to see your will

and your roles done. In Jesus' name. Amen. God

bless you all. Vote me therefore and be the church.