Mortify

Listen to the book of Romans, chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And today we're going to go after sin.

It's a great, great Sunday to bring your family to church.

This is the exact Sunday. You don't want to bring them to

church, but you're here. So I want to welcome all you

sinners with us, fellow sinners. And we're going to go after our

sinfulness, all of us. And so we preach grace in this

church. And some people every time they

sin, they say, but Rory preaches grace.

Yes, I preach grace and I also preach holiness.

So God didn't save us by grace so that we can continue to live

in sin. God saved us by grace so that we

can become like Jesus. Amen.

And so he's looking, he's going off the holiness.

So I'm actually going, Sir, after the very depth of your

heart today, I'm asking if you're holding on into any

secret sin or you're in habitual sin or you're addicted to sin or

to online gambling or anything doesn't that doesn't represent

Jesus and I'm going to do it from the book of Romans chapter

Romans 8 · chapter mention

8. I thought Stephens preach was

unbelievable. Last week.

I was going to preach on healing and I thought, no, rather let me

just preach my last servant before I go away for a few

months on holiness so that God can actually do some very deep

work in our hearts with the shadows that have allowed to

creep in because of an over an extension of grace.

Grace is there to set me free, not to keep me bound up to

sinful patterns and ongoing secret desires that are taking

place late at night. God wants to grab hold of you.

Amen. And so the Romans eights, let me

tell you what it says. One of the commentators says

Romans 8 is the inner sanctuary. It is the inner sanctuary within

the cathedral of Christian faith, the tree of Life in the

midst of the Garden of Eden, the highest peak in a range of

mountains, such as some of the metaphors used by interpreters

who extolled Romans chapter 8 as the greatest passage within what

Romans 8 · chapter mention

so many considered to be the greatest book in Scripture.

While the varied riches of God's work make any such comparisons

precarious, Romans 8 deserves to be put in the front rank for its

rich and comprehensive portrayal of what it means to be a

Christian. And it starts like this.

There is therefore now say therefore now no condemnation.

Say that there is therefore now no condemnation.

So remember this, you'll be preaching on sin, but you won't

walk out of your condemned, but you will walk out of your

convicted. You will not be condemned, but

you will be convicted. You can't stand up straight.

And even as I speak about sin, you will not buckle over.

You will keep standing straight because the grace of God allows

me to stand straight even while I'm having some issues in my

heart, but I'm not going to leave it unattended.

Amen. And the book of Romans chapter 8

Romans 8 · chapter mention

ends like this. There is no separation from the

love of God. Neither height nor depth, nor

angels, nor demons, nor principalities nor powers.

Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ.

So I've got no condemnation and I've got no separation.

So the love of God is unchanged. Even if you're a porn addict and

you're on TV last night until 2:00 in the morning, I'm going

to go after you. But the love of God doesn't

change over you. No condemnation, no separation.

And in the middle of it, I'm going to go for the depth of

your heart. And so this is a scripture that

gives us unbelievable assurance. Unbelievable assurance while it

doesn't let us get off the hook for bad behavior.

Amen. So let's read it for we're going

to read Stephens verse verse 11. And if the spirit of him who

raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, so the spirit is

living in me. The one that raised Jesus on

dead is living in me. He who raised Christ from the

dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit

who lives in you. Therefore, brothers say

therefore, so because the Spirit of God lives inside of me.

Which spirit? The same Spirit that raised

Jesus from the dead. Some of your sins have led to

death. Are the death of people or death

of sexuality, or death of somebody else's sexuality, or

death of relationships some of our sin.

But the spirit that raised Jesus of the dead is alive in me.

So it doesn't matter how severe my sin is and what destruction

my sin has caused. If the Spirit that gave Jesus

life is living inside of me, then that same Spirit can put

life back into me. Are you with me?

I want you to ponder as my final words before I leave.

I want you to ponder the scripture and I want God to do

deep work with inside of our hearts.

Because I think, friends, I say this many times, but the people

who walk into my office are people that have allowed the

mosque of the humanity, the one that presents itself before

society. They've allowed the mosque of

the humanity and the reality of their lives to distance

themselves. And So what I portray to society

as a successful surgeon, successful advertise, successful

pastor, successful sportsman, successful mother, successful,

whatever it might be. But actually the gap that exists

between who I really AM and what I am has actually become a lot

of bull dust. And we have to allow by the

grace of God, by there's no condemnation and there's no

separation within those boundaries of security.

We have to allow God access into the thing where we lie about

because people will change their perception about us if they know

the truth. We have to allow the Spirit of

God to go there so we can actually start to live without

tossing and turning at night because of secret sin and

shameful sin and shameful habits.

Jesus never ever, ever puts His light upon your sins so that He

can expose you. He always puts His light upon

your sin so that He can cover you.

Listen to me carefully. You say, friends, you're too

embarrassed to expose because you think you'll feel

embarrassed. And people, the moment that you

confess, instead of being exposed, you're covered.

You will never, ever, ever been tortured by that thing again in

your life. That's the goodness of the

gospel. But we have to put the light on

it. I've known people, and excuse me

for some of you proud men, I've known people who have kept

secrets in for 40 years of their life while they live this what

looks like a societal norm. They wrestle with the depth of

their own fallenness. And the gospel says in this

barrier or this bracket of assurance, I need to get hold of

that thing. So yet you can be free.

Are you with me, friends? Therefore brothers say brothers.

And he's talking to his sisters. This is not some pastor standing

up and saying, therefore, sinners, This is a guy.

He's saying, brothers, we're in this together.

Listen, my Portuguese brother Josie, and my Greek brother

Mofric Khan's brother, we're in this together.

They're four brothers. We have an obligation.

You know when you have an obligation to the bank.

But don't give up. You have an obligation to your

bond. Take it off this month. 3rd of

the month, Absa. 4th of the month, Absa. 5th of the month,

Absa. 7th of the month episode 25th of the month, fund, fund

sailed and vessels attorneys. Yeah, because you've got an

obligation because you signed the contract.

Now we're in a covenant. We have an obligation, but it is

not to the sinful nature. It's not to the sinful nature.

We have an obligation not to the sinful nature to live according

to it. For you, if you live according

to the sinful nature, you will die.

But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,

you will live. So this is how the Bible works.

Imperatives and indicatives. Please put that up for me.

We'll come back to the Scripture for those who are new in the

church. Indicative is an indicator.

It's where I live. That's my blessing in God.

You are adopted by Christ, you're free, you have every

spiritual blessing. You are a son, you are loved,

you're a daughter. That's an indicative.

In Romans, from Romans chapter 1 to Romans chapter 6, verse 11,

Romans 1 · chapter mention Romans 6:11

everything's indicative. It's the blessing of God.

An imperative is the command of what I need to do.

In layman's terms, it's the root system.

It's the root system and that's the decisions I have to make.

So Romans chapter 6 verse 11, it says consider yourself dead to

Romans 6:11

sin. It's the first time that we see

a ROUTES and the next time we see it in Romans chapter 8, it

Romans 8 · chapter mention

says you must put to death the misdeeds of your body.

God's not going to do it for you.

He'll do it with you, but he's not going to do it for you.

So you can't say let go and let God.

It's not going to happen. It's called fatalism.

You've got to partner with God and He's got to help you to kill

it. OK, you with me.

How are we doing? Because those who are led by the

Spirit of God are sons of God. So we have three spirits working

here. If you can put it up for me,

please. We have three spirits working

here. We have the spirit of life which

Stephen spoke about last week, which empowers us, puts life in

our bodies. We have the spirit of death

which comes on Silas and helps us to put to death that enables

us to kill sin. And we have the spirit of

adoption that enriches us. And between the spirit of life

and the spirit of adoption, God says, I want some things to die,

and my Holy Spirit's going to come and help you put them to

death, you with me. So let's read it in the King

James Version. For if you live after the flesh,

ye shall die. But if ye, through the Spirit,

do mortify, say mortify. For those online and those.

This message is called mortify. If you mortify the deeds of the

body, you shall live. That's the actual Greek word.

Mortify. Say mortify.

But mortify has been stolen by women in Santon.

Hi, doll. How are you now?

I'm mortified. I'm mortified.

What happened? I went to Doctor Cohen for an

augmentation. For those who don't know, it's a

big job. I went to Doctor Khan for an

augmentation at Senton Clinic and it didn't work and I'm

absolutely mortified. I'm absolutely, completely and

utterly I'm mortified when a man comes and says I'm stuck in

pornography and I've been in it for 10 years.

I don't want to stand and say I'm mortified.

I want to say, young man, by the spirit of life and by the spirit

of adoption and by the mind of Christ that Kai preached about

and the life of God that Stephen preached about.

I want to help you, young man, with the help of God, to put

that addiction to death. Because closer than the word

mortification is the same word Mortuary.

And I want to take you out of mortification and I want to take

you into the Mortuary because today some things have got to

die. Today some things have got to

die. Amen.

And it goes and says this I'll give you the between Stephens

preach, which was magnificent. It goes and says this because

those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Friends, I've been preaching for for 30 years there 32 years been

preaching the single worst sermon I ever preached in my

life. I was about 38 years old.

It was in Glen Ridge Church in Durban.

My mom and dad lived 3rd about 2 1/2 hours away in Underburg.

My dad wasn't a Christian but he was the most amazing man and he

woke up in the morning at 6:00 in Underburg and he said to my

mom, we're going to go and listen to Rory preaching.

He said why? He said, because I want to.

So they got in their car. They drove 2 1/2 hours.

My dad always sat in the business car seat.

You know, churches are normally split when there's a row here.

And he likes space. But like me, don't hug me.

Give me a bit of space. And so he's sitting there.

And it was the worst sermon I've ever preached to this day in my

life, where one of my friends was going like.

And when you're in it, you're in it, there's nothing you can do

about it. You just got to keep going and

you've got to think, Oh dear Jesus, by God's grace.

And, and I know in the future I'm going to preach some of

those two and you're going to be.

And I finished preaching and I got out of the pulpit and I'm

thinking all I want to do is run away.

And my dad walked up to me, grabbed me by the arm like this.

And he looked at me. My dad either called me Boiky

Buddy or China that day. He called me China.

He looked in my eyes and said, China, you are world class.

I thought it's the worst sermon I've ever preached in my life.

China, you are world class. So somewhere between the life of

the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead and China, you are

world class. We're going to do some deep work

today inside of our hearts. Amen.

So let's read it. Therefore, brothers, we have an

obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature.

So our obligation has changed now.

Our obligation is now to the Spirit, no longer to the flesh.

You and I are going to wrestle sin until the day we die.

I'm not looking about sinless perfection.

I'm just talking about the Spirit doing its work in the

dark places of our heart. We're going to fight this till

the day we die, but we're in a war.

Some of you are mortified. I want to put it in the

Mortuary. This guy, mind standing, was

once a little boy, was once a little boy.

And when there's a little boy, because I'm his dad, because I

want him to live, because I want him to grow old and because I

want him to flourish. When we got to a dangerous part,

it's like his hand. Say, come son, come, son, let's

go. You see, because I want to get

to the other side of the road. I want to live in sinless

perfection. I need to get there, but there's

a lot of dangerous stuff happening here.

And so I need somebody to help me get there because I'm a new

Christian. I don't know how to get there.

So I need somebody to take my hand and say, say the Holy

Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, Would you come into my

heart so that I can actually kill some of these fast Ferraris

that are knocking me off my feet?

So I held his hand and I covered.

And then he grew up. Now he's got his own walk with

God. And now when we walk, we just

walk together and, and, and we learn how to walk in step

because we're going to the same place you're going to go.

It's rugby or, or we, or we, we're going to church and we

walk in step, just walk in step. We, we, because we learn to walk

by the Holy Spirit. And then as I get older, I'm

going to get old and he's going to start taking my hand and,

and, and then he's going to walk me across the road because he

wants to make sure that that I can get across the road without

hurting myself. And every time you see somebody

hold somebody's hand walking across the road, you can say

thanks away. Just remember this, whether

you're young, the Holy Spirit will be an old person to you.

Or if you're old, the Holy Spirit will be a young person to

you. But the Holy Spirit will help

you walk across a dangerous Rd. so you can get to the side that

God wants you, not stuck on this side.

Beautiful, good illustration. Amen.

Then Robert came to me. Come, Robert.

He took my hand. He said, Ro, we need to talk,

you're too busy. We need to talk, we need to

talk. And then he said, and Clint,

Clint's going to come and join. It's going to come and join and,

and you come to the side. You're going to, we're going to

talk and we're going to walk together.

And, and, and, and because you're so busy and because we're

going to walk and we're going to walk across the road.

And then we're going to get to where God wants us.

And then we're going to turn around.

They're going to be Toms and, and Clint's been going through

some challenges with his health. And I come alongside and I say,

come guys, let's, let's get across here.

And if we're led by the Spirit and we're humbled enough,

therefore, brothers, if we're humbled enough to submit to our

brothers and our sisters, the Holy Spirit works through them.

We start to get to places that we never thought we could get

to. But let me put the scripture up

quickly or this saying, we can just put it up mortification.

Mortification means a ruthless, full hearted resistance to

sinful practices. A ruthless, full hearted

resistance to sinful practices. The word translated put to death

is violent and total. It means to reject everything we

know to be wrong, to declare war on attitudes and behaviors that

are wrong, to give them no inch, take no prisoners, pull out all

the stops. Be ruthless.

You cannot manage sin. You cannot manage it.

You're the boss. I am no longer obligated to the

flesh. I have now been given authority.

You cannot manage sin, you've got to own it.

You can't manage online gambling.

You cannot manage online pornography.

You cannot manage alcohol. You cannot manage it. 95% of you

can keep drinking for the next 30 years of your life. 5% of you

sitting in this auditorium have to today put it to death.

Are you saying Rory, drinking is wrong?

I'm not saying drinking is wrong.

But 5% of you sitting here, it's wrong.

It's sinful. You drink too much, you get

loud, you smack your wife, you do stupid things, You shout at

your children. Mortify it.

Mortify it. And because you're working such

long hours, because you want to be successful, when you come

home, you shout at your wife and you don't speak to your wife

like Jesus speaks to the church. Mortify it, Sir.

Mortify it. Let God get into your heart.

The one that raised Jesus from the dead and the one that says,

hey, China, you world class in between there.

You must kill it. Ruthlessly kill it.

You need to eliminate it. You can't wean yourself off it,

you can't keep it under control. You don't play games with it.

You get as far away from it as possible.

You don't just avoid things you know are sin, you avoid the

things that lead to it and even things that are doubtful.

This is war. Satellites, drones, guns,

prayers, grenades, bombs, bullets, swords, full battle

cry, shouting. No, just between the boundary

sets of no condemnation and no separation, I do this massive

war by the power of the Holy Spirit against all the misdeeds

of the body. I walked in today with my doctor

of a lady doctor. She's been fighting cancer.

And I said to her, how are you? She looks beautiful, She said.

I'm fighting Rory. I'm putting everything into it.

I'm fighting. You see friends, I don't know

about cancer, but I know it's just a cell.

All of us have got them in our bodies and it's a cell that goes

rogue. And when that cell goes rogue,

it forms the lump sometimes in the breast.

I've just recently had one of my friends whose wife has been

found with breast cancer. Immediately that that result

came everything that you've got your money, your contacts, your

experience, you just kicks into gear.

You said blood to London, you send the Pap smear to Australia.

You, you get hold of the top oncologist in the country

because you've got index and the moment and you get the dreaded

disease cover and you take that dreaded disease cover of

1,000,000 Rand and you plow it into the well-being of that lump

which is invading your body. And so the moment sin comes into

our life, it is like a Melanoma. It's like a cancerous tumor that

doesn't belong, that metastasizes and grows itself.

You have to declare war. You take your dreaded disease

cover, you use all your contacts, you fight them, and

you do whatever you can to radiate, to mortify, to kill

that foreign object. The people of three CI as I

leave between the spirit of life and hey China, you're world

class. May you search the depths of

your heart and put to death everything that doesn't belong

to Jesus in His wonderful name.