"The grace of God is not a license to sin, but a license to live." These powerful words from Pastor Taylor Guerin frame a transformative exploration of Romans 6, where we confront one of Christianity's most challenging paradoxes: If God's grace always rises above our sin, shouldn't more sin simply produce more grace?
Drawing from Paul's emphatic response, Pastor Taylor guides us through the radical transformation that occurs when we come to Christ. Using the powerful imagery of baptism, he illustrates how believers experience both a "spiritual obituary" and a "spiritual birth certificate" - the old self dies, and a completely new creation emerges.
This sermon doesn't shy away from difficult questions. While no believer would openly suggest sinning more to receive more grace, our actions often betray this very mindset when we willfully disobey with the assumption of forgiveness. Through personal stories and biblical insights, Pastor Taylor challenges us to examine where we might still be clinging to our "old address" instead of embracing the freedom of our new life.
Whether you're struggling with persistent sin, wondering about the purpose of baptism, or seeking to understand the relationship between God's grace and our daily choices, this message offers practical guidance for your spiritual journey. You'll discover why motivation matters in overcoming sin, how the Holy Spirit empowers transformation, and what it truly means to be "dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
For believers feeling defeated by recurring sin patterns and those who haven't yet experienced new life in Christ, this message offers both challenge and hope. God's grace doesn't just cover our sin—it transforms our very relationship with it.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast.
My name is Taylor Guerin.
I have the privilege of beingthe pastor here at First Baptist
and I want to thank you forlistening in to our sermon this
week.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist, elDorado.
(00:25):
Will you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
This morning, I invite you toopen your Bibles now to Romans,
chapter 6.
As we continue in this seriesthrough the book of Romans
throughout the year, we're nowin Romans, chapter 6.
(00:47):
Last week, towards the end ofRomans 5, we talked about this
reality that John Newton spokeof, that indeed, you are a great
sinner, but Christ is a greatSavior.
You and I, we are great sinners, but Christ is a great Savior.
You and I, we are great sinners, but Christ is a great Savior.
Now, paul was very good at thisthroughout the book of Romans,
(01:09):
of anticipating the question.
Anytime you and I are trying topersuade someone, help someone
to see things our way, talk theminto something, we want to
anticipate the question andanticipate the objection so that
I'm ready with the response.
Paul does this time and timeagain, and it is in this
(01:32):
anticipation that we see ourfirst point today, which is this
Our life in Christ changes howwe view sin.
Our life in Christ changes howwe view sin.
In 520, we saw this verse.
Now the law came in to increasethe trespass.
But look at this, but where sinincreased, grace abounded all
(01:56):
the more.
Praise God.
The last week we saw thisreality that there is no sin too
high or too deep or too wide.
That means that I am too farfrom the grace of God.
There is no amount of sin inwhich the Lord, jesus Christ and
his grace cannot reach down andfind me and save me and forgive
(02:19):
me.
And so, no matter how high thesin goes, the grace of Jesus
Christ goes higher.
That's unbelievable news and wenever forget that good news.
But now Paul wants to anticipatewhat comes next, to anticipate
the question, and it's thisverse 1 of chapter 6.
What shall we say then?
(02:40):
Are we to continue in sin thatgrace may abound?
There's the question.
What shall we say?
Are we to continue in sin thatgrace may abound?
What is the question he'santicipating?
(03:01):
It's simply this If my sinmeant grace, grace that is
greater than my sin.
Well, does that mean that moreof my sin means more of that
grace?
Mainly this does God's gracegive me a license to sin?
(03:22):
If some sin led to some grace,does more sin lead to more grace
?
Can I actually just increasethe grace of God, the waterfall
of grace that flows into my life, by just producing a waterfall
of sin out of my life?
Shall we continue in sin.
That grace may abound.
Now you're probably thinkingwhat I'm thinking.
(03:44):
Who in the world would ask thisquestion?
What kind of person thinks thatway?
Who among us would, out loud,look at the God of the universe
and say you know, couldn't Ijust make your grace flow a
little fuller by just sinning alittle more and more?
Who would say that I hope andpray that any believer in this
(04:06):
room, that you and I would notsay that, that we would not
utter those words, certainly tothe God of the universe.
But the reality I would argueis this that you and I are
tempted to live out those wordsevery day, that we wouldn't say
that out loud yet at times inour life, even as believers, we
(04:28):
would live that out loud,because any time a believer
enters into intentional, willfuldisobedience of God, they're
really living out the words ofchapter 6, verse 1.
Anytime, as a believer, in theback of our minds, we're tempted
(04:52):
to have this thought but won'tGod forgive me, won't God
forgive this sin if I enter intothis sin?
Won't God be gracious over this?
And let me be clear aboutsomething.
First, John 1.9 tells me yes,god will forgive your sin.
But what Paul wants us torealize throughout this passage
(05:15):
is the grace of God, again, isnot a license to sin.
Verse 2, by no means.
Verse 2, by no means,absolutely not.
Why?
How can we who have died to sinstill live in it?
(05:36):
Mainly this if you are inChrist Jesus, you have a new
address now, a new zip code.
You live a new life.
The old you is far behind you,the you that has died to sin
which we'll talk more about in aminute that is dead and gone,
and now you are alive in Christ.
And so, in Christ Jesus, younow live a different life.
You don't live the same lifeyou used to live, because the
(06:01):
old you is dead and gone.
So the question of lettinggrace be a license to sin it
shouldn't even be in our minds,Because that's not us.
Look with me as we continueVerse 3 and 4.
Do you not know that all of uswho have been baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized intohis death?
(06:23):
We were buried, therefore, withhim by baptism into death, in
order that, just as Christ wasraised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, we toomight walk in newness of life?
How does Paul want to continueto make this point?
He wants to do it by talkingabout baptism, baptism.
(06:44):
We do it all the time here.
The church, for centuries now,has gotten to give the visible
representation of the gospelthrough baptism, of showing that
individuals have moved fromdeath to life.
What is baptism?
What does it represent?
Well, it shows a picture ofJesus Christ going into the
(07:06):
grave.
Quite literally, those Ibaptize, we go under the water.
You are buried with Christ inbaptism.
Christ himself has died, and ina spiritual sense, in the exact
same way, you too have died tosin, but thankfully for everyone
who I've ever baptized, I thenbring you back up.
(07:28):
You are coming out of the water, just as Christ has come out of
the grave.
In fact, what I say in baptismis straight from these verses
you are buried with Christ inbaptism, you are raised to walk
in newness of life.
Baptism is the picture of whatChrist has done in our hearts
(07:51):
and so it is a picture of thefact that, if you and I are in
Christ Jesus, if we know him,that the old us, the old sinful
person, is dead and gone and thenew person has come.
I want to show a picture now ofthe Bible.
I got in first grade.
(08:12):
There's a picture here and Iwrote in it that's my
handwriting there.
I was saved on May 18th 1997.
Now, when I got a older, Ilearned cursive in school and I
got a little classy at thebottom and I rewrote it with my
newfound cursive.
I was saved on May 18th 1997.
(08:35):
So if this morning we could goback in time to May 18th 1997,
as I've told you before, to afirst grade Sunday school class.
Two interesting things happenedon May 18th 1997.
Now, early in the day, as I satin that class, something
(08:55):
unbelievable happened on thatmorning In a spiritual sense.
A spiritual obituary waspublished.
Now I know that sounds strangeand maybe a little bit heavy.
You know, six-year-old me.
A spiritual obituary waswritten and in a sense,
(09:16):
spiritually speaking, you know,here lies the grave of the old
person, the old man, man,six-year-old boy, the old tailor
, because the old hymn is deadand gone.
So there was a spiritualobituary, but there was also
this On that same morning, may18th 1997, at about the same
(09:39):
exact moment that obituary waspublished, something else was
also published, a spiritualbirth certificate that on that
morning a new birth waspublished.
Something else was alsopublished, a spiritual birth
certificate that on that morninga new birth was announced, the
new man came out of the grave.
And in this moment again, anold man died, a new man was born
.
That's what salvation is.
(09:59):
That's what salvation is foreach one of you in your story of
death to life in Christ Jesus,that you have died to the old
self and the new self has come.
Look at verse 5 and 6.
For if we have been united withhim in a death like his, we
shall certainly be united withhim in a resurrection like his.
We know that our old self wascrucified with him in order that
(10:23):
the body of sin might bebrought to nothing, so that we
would no longer be enslaved tosin.
So, christian, in Christ Jesus,the old you has died has been
crucified with Christ, the new.
You has been raised with Christ.
(10:46):
You no longer dwell in theterritory of sin and death and
separation from God.
That's the old neighborhood,that's the old zip code.
You have a new life in ChristJesus.
Now you ask me this does thatmean as a believer, if I don't
dwell in the land of sin anylonger?
Is it supposed to be the casethat I'm just perfect now?
(11:09):
Is it supposed to be the casethat I just no longer sin?
Because, pastor, I've got totell you, if that's the case,
I'm in big trouble.
I like how one professor saidit.
I remember him saying this to aclass.
He said that, believers inChrist Jesus, you will not be
sinless, but you will sin less.
(11:31):
Did you catch that?
You will not be sinless, butyou will sin less.
What does that mean?
That, as believers, by thepower of the Holy Spirit,
sanctification is happening.
The Holy Spirit is doing a workin us that we would look more
and more like Jesus Christ, andso the declaration of the
(11:56):
Christian life should always bein our sanctification this hey,
I may not be exactly where Iwant to be, but look what the
Lord has done that.
I'm not who I was one year ago,five years ago, a decade, two
decades ago, that Christ iscontinually working in and
through me to bear fruit in mylife, that I may not be sinless
(12:16):
but praise God I sin less, thatthe Lord is working on me.
Let me just ask you thisquestion Do you see the Spirit
working on your heart, believer?
(12:38):
Do you see the fruit of theSpirit in your life?
I don't want to scare you thismorning and make you wonder am I
in?
I'll just ask you this questionwhen you sin, are you convicted
of that?
When you sin, do you like thatyou've sinned or do you know
that you've sinned?
Do you know that you need torun to the Father for
forgiveness?
Is the Holy Spirit working in away in your life that the
(13:03):
things that you used to strugglewith years ago you struggle
with less today?
Or maybe you put an end tothose today and you look more
like Jesus than you did a weekago, a day ago, an hour and a
half ago, a decade ago?
Whatever it is, believer, isthat your life?
I pray that it is Verse 7through 11, for one who has died
(13:29):
look at this has been set freefrom sin.
Now, if we have died withChrist, we believe that we will
also live with him.
We know that Christ, beingraised from the dead, will never
die again.
Death no longer has dominionover him For the death he died.
He died to sin once for all,but the life he lives, he lives
(13:49):
to God.
So you also must consideryourself.
Look at this dead to sin andalive to God in Christ Jesus.
Believer, you have a newaddress.
Believer, you have a newaddress.
You live in a new neighborhood.
The old you has died, the new,you has come.
(14:14):
That is Paul's overarchingargument here in Romans, chapter
6.
And the idea is simply thisthat the one who would profess
to know Jesus Christ yet is justliving in unrepentant, willful,
intentional sin again, with nodesire to repent.
That individual needs to reallyconsider if they have truly
(14:38):
understood the grace of God.
Have you truly understood thegift of the grace of God?
Have you truly understood thegift of the grace of God and
what he has done for you and howhe has purchased you and how he
has forgiven you?
Do you understand that?
Because when you understandthat, when you grasp that,
you'll know quickly that God'sgrace is not a license to sin,
(15:01):
it's a license to live.
For him.
It's the new life, the greaterlife, and it's what Jesus talked
about often.
I think about John, chapter 8.
There's a woman caught inadultery and we don't have time
to walk through the many layersof that story, fascinating story
(15:22):
.
This woman is caught inadultery and she comes before
the religious elite for judgment.
Jesus is standing there as well.
The religious elite says we'vegot every right, it seems, to
execute this individual for whatshe has done.
And Jesus in a sense says okay,I hear you out.
And he says this you canabsolutely do that, but we'll do
(15:43):
it this way.
Let the one who has neversinned be the first to pick up
the stone for judgment.
The one who has not sinned, yougo ahead.
You're up and every religiousleader slowly but surely walks
away.
Jesus looks at this woman caughtin adultery and says is anybody
here?
The woman says everybody's gone.
(16:05):
And he says this, this word ofgrace and pardon.
He says well, neither do Icondemn.
This woman was rightfullystanding before judgment.
She had done wrong.
There's more layers at play,surely, in this story.
She had done wrong.
(16:26):
There's more layers at play,surely in this story, but she
had done wrong.
And yet, in this moment, theSavior stands with a word of
forgiveness, a word of pardon,and it's fascinating to me that,
following this word of pardonin verse 10, jesus then says
this now go and sin no more.
Then says this now go and sinno more.
(16:50):
That the unbelievable grace ofJesus in this moment.
For this woman it was anunbelievable announcement of
pardon.
But it was not a license to sin.
It was a license of aninvitation to a life of
obedience.
That to this woman you don'thave to go back to the old way.
You've been forgiven of that.
There is a new way Go and sinno more.
Luke, chapter 19,.
The story of Zacchaeus, thebiggest con man in town, a tax
(17:13):
collector.
If you owed Rome $50, he'd tellyou you owed Rome $70.
Rome would get 50.
He'd get20.
He did this for a long, longtime.
Yet he knew Jesus was coming totown and he wanted just a
little picture of what Jesus wasall about.
You may know the story or mayknow the song.
(17:34):
He climbed the tree, he lookedat Jesus.
Jesus said I'm coming to yourhouse today.
They have a meal at the homeand Zacchaeus is turned upside
down by the grace of Jesus andhe comes to have a personal
encounter with Jesus.
And guess what?
Because of the personalencounter which, by the way,
came first, the personalencounter with Jesus.
(17:56):
What does Zacchaeus then do?
He goes out and he startspaying back the people that he
had stolen.
From that, the unbelievablegrace of Jesus actually causes
this man to live differently.
He doesn't go back to the oldways.
(18:17):
In fact he tries to pay backthe old ways in which he had
stolen.
I think of 1 John 2, verse 2,beautiful verse that if anyone
does sin, he or she has anadvocate with the Father, jesus
Christ the righteous.
That's good news, so that ifyou find yourself in sin, there
is a Father who delights to showforgiveness through the work of
(18:38):
Jesus Christ on the cross, theforgiveness for you.
That's the gospel.
That's good news.
Right before that verse, johndoes write this to believers,
verse 1, I'm writing this sothat you don't sin.
And then he says but if anyonedoes sin, you have an advocate.
I praise God for the grace ofthat.
(19:02):
But from the start, john wantsthe believer to realize that
you're dead to the old self.
Your desire in the Christianlife is to flee sin.
Oh praise God, christian, thatwhen we do sin, we have an
advocate, but our desire shouldbe to flee.
I was reading this week out of abiography of Martin Lloyd-Jones
, the preacher in the 20thcentury at Westminster Chapel in
(19:25):
London, and he talked about aquote he had heard from a man
and it just frustrated him.
And it was funny because I wasconfused at first because it
sounded like a great quote, oneI might be tempted to say, but
he overheard a man say this.
He said 20 years ago I came toknow Jesus Christ and I haven't
regretted it one time.
(19:46):
That was the quote.
If I said this from this pulpit, you might say amen to that.
20 years ago I came to knowJesus personally and I haven't
regretted it one time.
So why in the world was MartinLloyd-Jones frustrated with that
?
Martin Lloyd-Jones frustratedwith that?
Imagine this morning if I toldyou these words.
(20:07):
20 years ago someone gifted me$50 million.
I haven't regretted it one time.
No, I would say you wouldn't.
20 years ago, someone broke meout of a life sentence in prison
.
Not only that, but gave me fullpardon.
So I got to live as a free manin society, and that person did
(20:29):
that for me.
I haven't regretted it one time.
I know what this guy's gettingafter, but, at the same time,
all the benefits I've receivedhave been, ultimately, the grace
of Jesus Christ, who has givenme wholly what I did not deserve
, everything done on his end.
(20:49):
Of course, I haven't regrettedit.
There's nothing to regret.
There is only grace and favorthat I do not deserve from the
God of the universe and theperson of Jesus Christ, the
righteous, and what he's donefor me.
And so now, as believers,having received this grace that
(21:10):
we did not deserve, we receiveit not as a license to continue
in sin, but as a license, as ajoy, to say these words Jesus
Christ, in you, completelyundeserved, I have found
everything I need for life, andnow I want to live in all times,
(21:32):
in all places, in all ways, inall of my life, in response to
the grace that you've given.
So, first of all, our life inChrist changes how we view sin,
but I want you to see this tooOur life in Christ changes how
we flee sin, verse 12.
Let not sin, therefore, reignin your mortal body to make you
(21:57):
obey its passions.
Do not present your members tosin as instruments for
unrighteousness, but presentyourself to God as those who
have been brought from death tolife and your members to God as
instruments for righteousness.
Our life in Christ changes howwe flee sin.
I like this passage in John 6because it really does follow
(22:20):
that John 8 trajectory, doesn'tit?
The woman caught in adulteryVerse 1 through 11, you have
this amazing announcement ofgrace and pardon, and in those
last three verses you then getthe turn you saw in John chapter
8, go and sin no more.
The same kind of idea.
Having received this pardon,the new life you have in Christ
(22:41):
Jesus now flee from sin.
Let not sin reign in yourmortal body.
Now my question is this If we'recalled to flee sin, if we're
called to not let sin reign inour body, how in the world do we
do this?
It's easy to say out loud froma pulpit or to hear in a pew.
It's a lot harder to live outin real life, isn't it?
(23:04):
It's a lot harder, and I wouldargue with this think about your
motivation.
I believe in every area of life, motivation really means
everything.
If you told me right now,taylor, I need you to run
outside and run a six-minutemile, I'll start the clock For
some of you, especially ourcross-country folks.
(23:26):
Six-minute mile.
That's warm up.
For you that's not an issue.
For me that's an impossibility.
But then if you tell me mydaughter is in trouble and
you've got six minutes to getthere, I will see my daughter in
four and a half minutes,because the motivation changes
everything.
So when the motivation to fleesin in the Christian life is
(23:49):
this, that here's another rulethat I've got to follow.
Oh, I sure don't want to get onGod's bad side this time.
Oh, these are the things thatI've got to do.
Those are the things that Isure can't do.
If that's your motivation, letme just stop you right now.
You are going to fail.
You'll make it a day, you'llmake it a week, but then you
(24:15):
will fail.
But if your motivation is this,like we've discussed, I am an
individual who, by no merit ofmy own, have been saved by the
grace of Jesus Christ therighteous, and now a sinner like
me, through the power of thecross, dwells in the heavenly
places with Christ Jesus, andthat is now my new life, and now
(24:38):
I get to live in response tothat.
We can go somewhere with thatmotivation.
The Lord can go somewhere withthis.
So how do we flee sin?
How does Jesus say to do it.
Matthew 5, 29 through 30 in theSermon on the Mount, in a moment
when Jesus is actually talkingabout the lust of the flesh,
he's talking to the crowd.
(24:58):
If anyone finds themselves inadultery, I've heard it said you
know, do not commit adultery.
There's probably a lot ofpeople in the crowd checking a
box.
I've been faithful to my spouse, I've done pretty good.
But then in the crowd Jesussays something else.
But I say to you, if anyonelooks in lust after another
(25:22):
individual, they've committedadultery in their heart.
Suddenly the plot thickens andafter that Jesus says these
staggering words that if yourright eye causes you to sin,
what does he say next?
Tell your eye, do better nexttime.
Say hey, don't worry about it,you got it next time, champ.
(25:45):
Is that what he said?
No, no.
If your right eye causes you tosin, what does he say?
Pluck it out.
If the right hand causes you tosin, cut it off.
Jesus takes fleeing sinseriously and I just want to ask
you the question to theChristian this morning what is
(26:09):
it in your life not tomorrow,not next week, but today that
just needs to be cut off?
What changes need to be made sothat you don't run after the
same old sins of the life thatyou no longer live.
What needs to happen in yourlife?
What does it look like to cutthat thing off?
(26:30):
And I just want you to get very, in your own heart, specific
with that, not a general, I sure.
Better flee sin, that's true.
But in your own life, what isthe specific sin that, even as a
believer, you're just temptedto run back to?
The specific attitude of theheart?
(26:51):
Maybe the pride that sits there.
Maybe it's the lust of theflesh.
Maybe it's the gossip or theway you talk about others, or
maybe it's the words that youuse.
Or maybe the envy that's shownin your life.
Maybe it's the time that you'regiving to things that aren't
necessarily bad but are justtaking you from the most
(27:14):
important things in your life.
For everyone in this room itcould be a hundred different
things, but the calling thismorning from Paul and from Jesus
is simply this to make waragainst your sin.
The old John Owen quote bekilling sin or it will be
(27:34):
killing you.
Go to battle against sin.
And also this, lest we think,even hearing these words, that
it's all about me and what I cando now that I've got the
motivation now that I know whatI need to cut off lest we think
that it's all about us first andforemost, in the beginning, in
(27:57):
the middle, in the end andeverywhere in between.
Pray that by God's Spirit hewould do in you what you cannot
do for yourself.
I wonder if there's a testimonythis morning.
Don't worry, I'm not gonna makeyou say it out loud, but I just
wonder in your own heart ifthere's a testimony this morning
of what the Spirit has done inyour life, that you can look
(28:21):
back on former days of your lifeand think about sinful roads
you've walked down and by thepower of the Spirit, you sit
here this morning as someonethat not only has run away from
those sins, but the Holy Spirithas done such a work in your
life that you don't even desirethose old ways anymore.
That's what the Spirit can do.
(28:41):
You and I aren't able, but theSpirit can.
And here's what's better.
The Spirit delights to do this.
The Spirit wants to do it.
As we pray to the Father, lord,show me those areas in my life,
the ones I see or the blindspots I don't see, and help me
in this.
Help me flee sin.
(29:02):
The Father delights to do it,because, believer, the old
person, that's not you anymore.
You have been made new.
Verse 14,.
For sin will have no dominionover you.
Look at this since you are notunder law but under grace,
(29:22):
everything about you isdifferent.
Today is my brother's birthday.
I have a brother, scott.
He's two years older.
Today is his birthday.
So into that camera I say happybirthday, scott.
He's two years older.
Today is his birthday.
So into that camera I say happybirthday and also tell this
(29:43):
story.
I don't know what your game daysituation on a football Saturday
in the fall is.
I don't know what universityyou enjoy when you go down there
.
If you've got the parking pass,the tailgate spot, if your
parking pass is your drivewayand your tailgate spot is your
couch, that's fantastic too.
I love those Saturdays.
I don't know what yoursituation is, but I do know this
my brother has you beat.
When he was in college he hadthe best college football
(30:06):
Saturday situation that Ibelieve any human has ever had.
He and four of his buddieslived in this unbelievable house
.
There's a picture, the firstpicture to put up there.
It's like an aerial shot.
That's obviously Donald WReynolds Razorback Stadium, and
just a shot of it, simple Googleshot.
But go to the next one.
That yellow circle is his house.
(30:28):
He and four guys in collegelived right there, and now what
you're probably saying is youknow that's 80 million miles in
the air on a Google satellitedepth perception.
How close is it really?
The next is the Google streetview.
Every fall they hardly ever hadto pay rent because all the guys
(30:52):
in the house would drive theircars to the local elementary
school and then all theirparking.
They would let people pay forparking and rent was covered for
the whole fall.
They made so much money parkingcars and it was the best thing
because we'd grill out beforewe'd hang out and then we just
walk across the street,literally walk across one
(31:12):
parking lot.
At the time we'd watch DarrenMcFadden run for 300 yards.
Then we'd walk right back and Iloved the end of the day
because we'd walk right backinto the living room and we'd
all sit there in the living room.
We'd grab another bite to eat,we'd turn on another college
football game that's still going, or watch the sports center
highlights, and it was the bestbecause outside of our window we
(31:36):
saw on the street.
We saw thousands flooding out,having to just flood out with
another 20,000 people.
We saw, you know, 200 peopletry to load up onto a shuttle
that's made for about 45 people.
We heard the sounds of the carshonking at one another as
they're so frustrated, trying tojust move an inch to get away
(31:59):
from the stadium.
And we were just insidewatching football, loving life.
Do you know what I never didduring those days, when I got to
the end of the day and I gotinto their living room and I
grabbed my bite to eat and I satdown in front of the TV to
watch other guys.
I never did this.
I never sat there and said youknow what I'm going to take just
(32:23):
a minute.
I just want to remember whatthat shuttle was like.
I just want to get back outthere.
I just want to do this and cramonto a shuttle again.
If I could just get anothertaste of that traffic jam and
(32:45):
let somebody honk at me, eventhough I've got nowhere possible
to go, if I could just tastethat again, if I could get in
line with 20,000 other peopletrying to get to their
destination, wouldn't that be?
Not, I never did that.
You know what I did?
I sat there with my bike to eat.
I watched my game and on acollege football Saturday it was
heaven on earth.
Why, bringing it to scripture?
(33:07):
I'm the new man now.
You and I live a new life inChrist Jesus.
We don't have to run back tothe old ways.
We don't have to go back to theold things, but instead we can
(33:29):
find our life, our joy, ourcontentment, our hope in the
presence of Christ Jesus, whohas done the work for our
salvation.
Who has done the work that wemight die to the old ways and
live the new life.
Believer, don't run back.
And I wonder, if you're herethis morning and for the first
(33:53):
time you want to come to theSavior, that you know what it is
to live in that sinful placeand you've tried it all and it's
all left you empty.
I would love nothing more thanto introduce you to the new life
in Christ Jesus.
I wonder, believer in the room,if you need to just come to this
(34:13):
altar and pray.
I'd love nothing more than topray over you, to pray with you.
You may say this.
I've said it before if I comedown after a sermon on sin,
everybody's going to know I'm asinner.
I'm praying over my sin.
Let me just tell you, if youcome down, you're praying for
the person next to you, not foryou.
That's what we'll tell them all.
Okay, come down, I want to praywith you.
(34:36):
I want to pray over you.
Maybe you want to come jointhis church because you say this
that I need believers to walktowards Jesus with.
If I'm done with the old manand I'm living this new life, I
need a family of faith that canlive that life with me.
Come down, I'd love nothingmore.
If you just need me to praywith you over anything, I'll do
(34:58):
it.
But however you need to respond, I'm going to be right here and
I pray.
I pray that you would Let mepray.
Lord Jesus, thank you for thegospel.
Thank you that in Christ we arenew believers, that we don't
have to run back to the old way,but you have raised us up to
(35:21):
walk in newness of life.
God, I thank you, I give youpraise and I just pray for
anyone in this room that theHoly Spirit, even now, is just
pulling on their heart torespond.
Lord, there will be atemptation to say I'll do it
next week.
There will be a temptation tosay this is just a feeling,
(35:46):
it'll pat.
No, no, no.
Lord, if your spirit is tuggingon their heart in any way, I
pray that now they would dobusiness with you and Lord.
Any way I can help, lord, helpme.
If they need to come chat withme or another pastor, let it be.
(36:06):
But, lord, let everyone in herethat knows Christ personally
know that they are the newperson and let everyone here who
does not know Christ Jesus knowthat they can be the new person
and it can start now.
Help us, lord, as we seek toflee sin.
Convict us of sin.
Show us our sin, the sins.
(36:28):
We know the sins.
We're blind.
To Help us, lord, would we lookmore like Jesus, holy Spirit,
as you work in us, and HolySpirit, please, in our lives.
Would you do what only you cando.
We need you In Christ's name,amen.
Would you stand?
We'll worship together and I'mright down front.
Hello and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast.
My name is Taylor Guerin.
I have the privilege of beingthe pastor here at First Baptist
and I want to thank you forlistening in to our sermon this
week.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist, elDorado.
(00:25):
Will you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
This morning, I invite you toopen your Bibles now to Romans,
chapter 6.
As we continue in this seriesthrough the book of Romans
throughout the year, we're nowin Romans, chapter 6.
(00:47):
Last week, towards the end ofRomans 5, we talked about this
reality that John Newton spokeof, that indeed, you are a great
sinner, but Christ is a greatSavior.
You and I, we are great sinners, but Christ is a great Savior.
You and I, we are great sinners, but Christ is a great Savior.
Now, paul was very good at thisthroughout the book of Romans,
(01:09):
of anticipating the question.
Anytime you and I are trying topersuade someone, help someone
to see things our way, talk theminto something, we want to
anticipate the question andanticipate the objection so that
I'm ready with the response.
Paul does this time and timeagain, and it is in this
(01:32):
anticipation that we see ourfirst point today, which is this
Our life in Christ changes howwe view sin.
Our life in Christ changes howwe view sin.
In 520, we saw this verse.
Now the law came in to increasethe trespass.
But look at this, but where sinincreased, grace abounded all
(01:56):
the more.
Praise God.
The last week we saw thisreality that there is no sin too
high or too deep or too wide.
That means that I am too farfrom the grace of God.
There is no amount of sin inwhich the Lord, jesus Christ and
his grace cannot reach down andfind me and save me and forgive
(02:19):
me.
And so, no matter how high thesin goes, the grace of Jesus
Christ goes higher.
That's unbelievable news and wenever forget that good news.
But now Paul wants to anticipatewhat comes next, to anticipate
the question, and it's thisverse 1 of chapter 6.
What shall we say then?
(02:40):
Are we to continue in sin thatgrace may abound?
There's the question.
What shall we say?
Are we to continue in sin thatgrace may abound?
What is the question he'santicipating?
(03:01):
It's simply this If my sinmeant grace, grace that is
greater than my sin.
Well, does that mean that moreof my sin means more of that
grace?
Mainly this does God's gracegive me a license to sin?
(03:22):
If some sin led to some grace,does more sin lead to more grace
?
Can I actually just increasethe grace of God, the waterfall
of grace that flows into my life, by just producing a waterfall
of sin out of my life?
Shall we continue in sin.
That grace may abound.
Now you're probably thinkingwhat I'm thinking.
(03:44):
Who in the world would ask thisquestion?
What kind of person thinks thatway?
Who among us would, out loud,look at the God of the universe
and say you know, couldn't Ijust make your grace flow a
little fuller by just sinning alittle more and more?
Who would say that I hope andpray that any believer in this
(04:06):
room, that you and I would notsay that, that we would not
utter those words, certainly tothe God of the universe.
But the reality I would argueis this that you and I are
tempted to live out those wordsevery day, that we wouldn't say
that out loud yet at times inour life, even as believers, we
(04:28):
would live that out loud,because any time a believer
enters into intentional, willfuldisobedience of God, they're
really living out the words ofchapter 6, verse 1.
Anytime, as a believer, in theback of our minds, we're tempted
(04:52):
to have this thought but won'tGod forgive me, won't God
forgive this sin if I enter intothis sin?
Won't God be gracious over this?
And let me be clear aboutsomething.
First, John 1.9 tells me yes,god will forgive your sin.
But what Paul wants us torealize throughout this passage
(05:15):
is the grace of God, again, isnot a license to sin.
Verse 2, by no means.
Verse 2, by no means,absolutely not.
Why?
How can we who have died to sinstill live in it?
(05:36):
Mainly this if you are inChrist Jesus, you have a new
address now, a new zip code.
You live a new life.
The old you is far behind you,the you that has died to sin
which we'll talk more about in aminute that is dead and gone,
and now you are alive in Christ.
And so, in Christ Jesus, younow live a different life.
You don't live the same lifeyou used to live, because the
(06:01):
old you is dead and gone.
So the question of lettinggrace be a license to sin it
shouldn't even be in our minds,Because that's not us.
Look with me as we continueVerse 3 and 4.
Do you not know that all of uswho have been baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized intohis death?
(06:23):
We were buried, therefore, withhim by baptism into death, in
order that, just as Christ wasraised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, we toomight walk in newness of life?
How does Paul want to continueto make this point?
He wants to do it by talkingabout baptism, baptism.
(06:44):
We do it all the time here.
The church, for centuries now,has gotten to give the visible
representation of the gospelthrough baptism, of showing that
individuals have moved fromdeath to life.
What is baptism?
What does it represent?
Well, it shows a picture ofJesus Christ going into the
(07:06):
grave.
Quite literally, those Ibaptize, we go under the water.
You are buried with Christ inbaptism.
Christ himself has died, and ina spiritual sense, in the exact
same way, you too have died tosin, but thankfully for everyone
who I've ever baptized, I thenbring you back up.
(07:28):
You are coming out of the water, just as Christ has come out of
the grave.
In fact, what I say in baptismis straight from these verses
you are buried with Christ inbaptism, you are raised to walk
in newness of life.
Baptism is the picture of whatChrist has done in our hearts
(07:51):
and so it is a picture of thefact that, if you and I are in
Christ Jesus, if we know him,that the old us, the old sinful
person, is dead and gone and thenew person has come.
I want to show a picture now ofthe Bible.
I got in first grade.
(08:12):
There's a picture here and Iwrote in it that's my
handwriting there.
I was saved on May 18th 1997.
Now, when I got a older, Ilearned cursive in school and I
got a little classy at thebottom and I rewrote it with my
newfound cursive.
I was saved on May 18th 1997.
(08:35):
So if this morning we could goback in time to May 18th 1997,
as I've told you before, to afirst grade Sunday school class.
Two interesting things happenedon May 18th 1997.
Now, early in the day, as I satin that class, something
(08:55):
unbelievable happened on thatmorning In a spiritual sense.
A spiritual obituary waspublished.
Now I know that sounds strangeand maybe a little bit heavy.
You know, six-year-old me.
A spiritual obituary waswritten and in a sense,
(09:16):
spiritually speaking, you know,here lies the grave of the old
person, the old man, man,six-year-old boy, the old tailor
, because the old hymn is deadand gone.
So there was a spiritualobituary, but there was also
this On that same morning, may18th 1997, at about the same
(09:39):
exact moment that obituary waspublished, something else was
also published, a spiritualbirth certificate that on that
morning a new birth waspublished.
Something else was alsopublished, a spiritual birth
certificate that on that morninga new birth was announced, the
new man came out of the grave.
And in this moment again, anold man died, a new man was born
.
That's what salvation is.
(09:59):
That's what salvation is foreach one of you in your story of
death to life in Christ Jesus,that you have died to the old
self and the new self has come.
Look at verse 5 and 6.
For if we have been united withhim in a death like his, we
shall certainly be united withhim in a resurrection like his.
We know that our old self wascrucified with him in order that
(10:23):
the body of sin might bebrought to nothing, so that we
would no longer be enslaved tosin.
So, christian, in Christ Jesus,the old you has died has been
crucified with Christ, the new.
You has been raised with Christ.
(10:46):
You no longer dwell in theterritory of sin and death and
separation from God.
That's the old neighborhood,that's the old zip code.
You have a new life in ChristJesus.
Now you ask me this does thatmean as a believer, if I don't
dwell in the land of sin anylonger?
Is it supposed to be the casethat I'm just perfect now?
(11:09):
Is it supposed to be the casethat I just no longer sin?
Because, pastor, I've got totell you, if that's the case,
I'm in big trouble.
I like how one professor saidit.
I remember him saying this to aclass.
He said that, believers inChrist Jesus, you will not be
sinless, but you will sin less.
(11:31):
Did you catch that?
You will not be sinless, butyou will sin less.
What does that mean?
That, as believers, by thepower of the Holy Spirit,
sanctification is happening.
The Holy Spirit is doing a workin us that we would look more
and more like Jesus Christ, andso the declaration of the
(11:56):
Christian life should always bein our sanctification this hey,
I may not be exactly where Iwant to be, but look what the
Lord has done that.
I'm not who I was one year ago,five years ago, a decade, two
decades ago, that Christ iscontinually working in and
through me to bear fruit in mylife, that I may not be sinless
(12:16):
but praise God I sin less, thatthe Lord is working on me.
Let me just ask you thisquestion Do you see the Spirit
working on your heart, believer?
(12:38):
Do you see the fruit of theSpirit in your life?
I don't want to scare you thismorning and make you wonder am I
in?
I'll just ask you this questionwhen you sin, are you convicted
of that?
When you sin, do you like thatyou've sinned or do you know
that you've sinned?
Do you know that you need torun to the Father for
forgiveness?
Is the Holy Spirit working in away in your life that the
(13:03):
things that you used to strugglewith years ago you struggle
with less today?
Or maybe you put an end tothose today and you look more
like Jesus than you did a weekago, a day ago, an hour and a
half ago, a decade ago?
Whatever it is, believer, isthat your life?
I pray that it is Verse 7through 11, for one who has died
(13:29):
look at this has been set freefrom sin.
Now, if we have died withChrist, we believe that we will
also live with him.
We know that Christ, beingraised from the dead, will never
die again.
Death no longer has dominionover him For the death he died.
He died to sin once for all,but the life he lives, he lives
(13:49):
to God.
So you also must consideryourself.
Look at this dead to sin andalive to God in Christ Jesus.
Believer, you have a newaddress.
Believer, you have a newaddress.
You live in a new neighborhood.
The old you has died, the new,you has come.
(14:14):
That is Paul's overarchingargument here in Romans, chapter
6.
And the idea is simply thisthat the one who would profess
to know Jesus Christ yet is justliving in unrepentant, willful,
intentional sin again, with nodesire to repent.
That individual needs to reallyconsider if they have truly
(14:38):
understood the grace of God.
Have you truly understood thegift of the grace of God?
Have you truly understood thegift of the grace of God and
what he has done for you and howhe has purchased you and how he
has forgiven you?
Do you understand that?
Because when you understandthat, when you grasp that,
you'll know quickly that God'sgrace is not a license to sin,
(15:01):
it's a license to live.
For him.
It's the new life, the greaterlife, and it's what Jesus talked
about often.
I think about John, chapter 8.
There's a woman caught inadultery and we don't have time
to walk through the many layersof that story, fascinating story
(15:22):
.
This woman is caught inadultery and she comes before
the religious elite for judgment.
Jesus is standing there as well.
The religious elite says we'vegot every right, it seems, to
execute this individual for whatshe has done.
And Jesus in a sense says okay,I hear you out.
And he says this you canabsolutely do that, but we'll do
(15:43):
it this way.
Let the one who has neversinned be the first to pick up
the stone for judgment.
The one who has not sinned, yougo ahead.
You're up and every religiousleader slowly but surely walks
away.
Jesus looks at this woman caughtin adultery and says is anybody
here?
The woman says everybody's gone.
(16:05):
And he says this, this word ofgrace and pardon.
He says well, neither do Icondemn.
This woman was rightfullystanding before judgment.
She had done wrong.
There's more layers at play,surely, in this story.
She had done wrong.
(16:26):
There's more layers at play,surely in this story, but she
had done wrong.
And yet, in this moment, theSavior stands with a word of
forgiveness, a word of pardon,and it's fascinating to me that,
following this word of pardonin verse 10, jesus then says
this now go and sin no more.
Then says this now go and sinno more.
(16:50):
That the unbelievable grace ofJesus in this moment.
For this woman it was anunbelievable announcement of
pardon.
But it was not a license to sin.
It was a license of aninvitation to a life of
obedience.
That to this woman you don'thave to go back to the old way.
You've been forgiven of that.
There is a new way Go and sinno more.
Luke, chapter 19,.
The story of Zacchaeus, thebiggest con man in town, a tax
(17:13):
collector.
If you owed Rome $50, he'd tellyou you owed Rome $70.
Rome would get 50.
He'd get20.
He did this for a long, longtime.
Yet he knew Jesus was coming totown and he wanted just a
little picture of what Jesus wasall about.
You may know the story or mayknow the song.
(17:34):
He climbed the tree, he lookedat Jesus.
Jesus said I'm coming to yourhouse today.
They have a meal at the homeand Zacchaeus is turned upside
down by the grace of Jesus andhe comes to have a personal
encounter with Jesus.
And guess what?
Because of the personalencounter which, by the way,
came first, the personalencounter with Jesus.
(17:56):
What does Zacchaeus then do?
He goes out and he startspaying back the people that he
had stolen.
From that, the unbelievablegrace of Jesus actually causes
this man to live differently.
He doesn't go back to the oldways.
(18:17):
In fact he tries to pay backthe old ways in which he had
stolen.
I think of 1 John 2, verse 2,beautiful verse that if anyone
does sin, he or she has anadvocate with the Father, jesus
Christ the righteous.
That's good news, so that ifyou find yourself in sin, there
is a Father who delights to showforgiveness through the work of
(18:38):
Jesus Christ on the cross, theforgiveness for you.
That's the gospel.
That's good news.
Right before that verse, johndoes write this to believers,
verse 1, I'm writing this sothat you don't sin.
And then he says but if anyonedoes sin, you have an advocate.
I praise God for the grace ofthat.
(19:02):
But from the start, john wantsthe believer to realize that
you're dead to the old self.
Your desire in the Christianlife is to flee sin.
Oh praise God, christian, thatwhen we do sin, we have an
advocate, but our desire shouldbe to flee.
I was reading this week out of abiography of Martin Lloyd-Jones
, the preacher in the 20thcentury at Westminster Chapel in
(19:25):
London, and he talked about aquote he had heard from a man
and it just frustrated him.
And it was funny because I wasconfused at first because it
sounded like a great quote, oneI might be tempted to say, but
he overheard a man say this.
He said 20 years ago I came toknow Jesus Christ and I haven't
regretted it one time.
(19:46):
That was the quote.
If I said this from this pulpit, you might say amen to that.
20 years ago I came to knowJesus personally and I haven't
regretted it one time.
So why in the world was MartinLloyd-Jones frustrated with that
?
Martin Lloyd-Jones frustratedwith that?
Imagine this morning if I toldyou these words.
(20:07):
20 years ago someone gifted me$50 million.
I haven't regretted it one time.
No, I would say you wouldn't.
20 years ago, someone broke meout of a life sentence in prison
.
Not only that, but gave me fullpardon.
So I got to live as a free manin society, and that person did
(20:29):
that for me.
I haven't regretted it one time.
I know what this guy's gettingafter, but, at the same time,
all the benefits I've receivedhave been, ultimately, the grace
of Jesus Christ, who has givenme wholly what I did not deserve
, everything done on his end.
(20:49):
Of course, I haven't regrettedit.
There's nothing to regret.
There is only grace and favorthat I do not deserve from the
God of the universe and theperson of Jesus Christ, the
righteous, and what he's donefor me.
And so now, as believers,having received this grace that
(21:10):
we did not deserve, we receiveit not as a license to continue
in sin, but as a license, as ajoy, to say these words Jesus
Christ, in you, completelyundeserved, I have found
everything I need for life, andnow I want to live in all times,
(21:32):
in all places, in all ways, inall of my life, in response to
the grace that you've given.
So, first of all, our life inChrist changes how we view sin,
but I want you to see this tooOur life in Christ changes how
we flee sin, verse 12.
Let not sin, therefore, reignin your mortal body to make you
(21:57):
obey its passions.
Do not present your members tosin as instruments for
unrighteousness, but presentyourself to God as those who
have been brought from death tolife and your members to God as
instruments for righteousness.
Our life in Christ changes howwe flee sin.
I like this passage in John 6because it really does follow
(22:20):
that John 8 trajectory, doesn'tit?
The woman caught in adulteryVerse 1 through 11, you have
this amazing announcement ofgrace and pardon, and in those
last three verses you then getthe turn you saw in John chapter
8, go and sin no more.
The same kind of idea.
Having received this pardon,the new life you have in Christ
(22:41):
Jesus now flee from sin.
Let not sin reign in yourmortal body.
Now my question is this If we'recalled to flee sin, if we're
called to not let sin reign inour body, how in the world do we
do this?
It's easy to say out loud froma pulpit or to hear in a pew.
It's a lot harder to live outin real life, isn't it?
(23:04):
It's a lot harder, and I wouldargue with this think about your
motivation.
I believe in every area of life, motivation really means
everything.
If you told me right now,taylor, I need you to run
outside and run a six-minutemile, I'll start the clock For
some of you, especially ourcross-country folks.
(23:26):
Six-minute mile.
That's warm up.
For you that's not an issue.
For me that's an impossibility.
But then if you tell me mydaughter is in trouble and
you've got six minutes to getthere, I will see my daughter in
four and a half minutes,because the motivation changes
everything.
So when the motivation to fleesin in the Christian life is
(23:49):
this, that here's another rulethat I've got to follow.
Oh, I sure don't want to get onGod's bad side this time.
Oh, these are the things thatI've got to do.
Those are the things that Isure can't do.
If that's your motivation, letme just stop you right now.
You are going to fail.
You'll make it a day, you'llmake it a week, but then you
(24:15):
will fail.
But if your motivation is this,like we've discussed, I am an
individual who, by no merit ofmy own, have been saved by the
grace of Jesus Christ therighteous, and now a sinner like
me, through the power of thecross, dwells in the heavenly
places with Christ Jesus, andthat is now my new life, and now
(24:38):
I get to live in response tothat.
We can go somewhere with thatmotivation.
The Lord can go somewhere withthis.
So how do we flee sin?
How does Jesus say to do it.
Matthew 5, 29 through 30 in theSermon on the Mount, in a moment
when Jesus is actually talkingabout the lust of the flesh,
he's talking to the crowd.
(24:58):
If anyone finds themselves inadultery, I've heard it said you
know, do not commit adultery.
There's probably a lot ofpeople in the crowd checking a
box.
I've been faithful to my spouse, I've done pretty good.
But then in the crowd Jesussays something else.
But I say to you, if anyonelooks in lust after another
(25:22):
individual, they've committedadultery in their heart.
Suddenly the plot thickens andafter that Jesus says these
staggering words that if yourright eye causes you to sin,
what does he say next?
Tell your eye, do better nexttime.
Say hey, don't worry about it,you got it next time, champ.
(25:45):
Is that what he said?
No, no.
If your right eye causes you tosin, what does he say?
Pluck it out.
If the right hand causes you tosin, cut it off.
Jesus takes fleeing sinseriously and I just want to ask
you the question to theChristian this morning what is
(26:09):
it in your life not tomorrow,not next week, but today that
just needs to be cut off?
What changes need to be made sothat you don't run after the
same old sins of the life thatyou no longer live.
What needs to happen in yourlife?
What does it look like to cutthat thing off?
(26:30):
And I just want you to get very, in your own heart, specific
with that, not a general, I sure.
Better flee sin, that's true.
But in your own life, what isthe specific sin that, even as a
believer, you're just temptedto run back to?
The specific attitude of theheart?
(26:51):
Maybe the pride that sits there.
Maybe it's the lust of theflesh.
Maybe it's the gossip or theway you talk about others, or
maybe it's the words that youuse.
Or maybe the envy that's shownin your life.
Maybe it's the time that you'regiving to things that aren't
necessarily bad but are justtaking you from the most
(27:14):
important things in your life.
For everyone in this room itcould be a hundred different
things, but the calling thismorning from Paul and from Jesus
is simply this to make waragainst your sin.
The old John Owen quote bekilling sin or it will be
(27:34):
killing you.
Go to battle against sin.
And also this, lest we think,even hearing these words, that
it's all about me and what I cando now that I've got the
motivation now that I know whatI need to cut off lest we think
that it's all about us first andforemost, in the beginning, in
(27:57):
the middle, in the end andeverywhere in between.
Pray that by God's Spirit hewould do in you what you cannot
do for yourself.
I wonder if there's a testimonythis morning.
Don't worry, I'm not gonna makeyou say it out loud, but I just
wonder in your own heart ifthere's a testimony this morning
of what the Spirit has done inyour life, that you can look
(28:21):
back on former days of your lifeand think about sinful roads
you've walked down and by thepower of the Spirit, you sit
here this morning as someonethat not only has run away from
those sins, but the Holy Spirithas done such a work in your
life that you don't even desirethose old ways anymore.
That's what the Spirit can do.
(28:41):
You and I aren't able, but theSpirit can.
And here's what's better.
The Spirit delights to do this.
The Spirit wants to do it.
As we pray to the Father, lord,show me those areas in my life,
the ones I see or the blindspots I don't see, and help me
in this.
Help me flee sin.
(29:02):
The Father delights to do it,because, believer, the old
person, that's not you anymore.
You have been made new.
Verse 14,.
For sin will have no dominionover you.
Look at this since you are notunder law but under grace,
(29:22):
everything about you isdifferent.
Today is my brother's birthday.
I have a brother, scott.
He's two years older.
Today is his birthday.
So into that camera I say happybirthday, scott.
He's two years older.
Today is his birthday.
So into that camera I say happybirthday and also tell this
(29:43):
story.
I don't know what your game daysituation on a football Saturday
in the fall is.
I don't know what universityyou enjoy when you go down there
.
If you've got the parking pass,the tailgate spot, if your
parking pass is your drivewayand your tailgate spot is your
couch, that's fantastic too.
I love those Saturdays.
I don't know what yoursituation is, but I do know this
my brother has you beat.
When he was in college he hadthe best college football
(30:06):
Saturday situation that Ibelieve any human has ever had.
He and four of his buddieslived in this unbelievable house
.
There's a picture, the firstpicture to put up there.
It's like an aerial shot.
That's obviously Donald WReynolds Razorback Stadium, and
just a shot of it, simple Googleshot.
But go to the next one.
That yellow circle is his house.
(30:28):
He and four guys in collegelived right there, and now what
you're probably saying is youknow that's 80 million miles in
the air on a Google satellitedepth perception.
How close is it really?
The next is the Google streetview.
Every fall they hardly ever hadto pay rent because all the guys
(30:52):
in the house would drive theircars to the local elementary
school and then all theirparking.
They would let people pay forparking and rent was covered for
the whole fall.
They made so much money parkingcars and it was the best thing
because we'd grill out beforewe'd hang out and then we just
walk across the street,literally walk across one
(31:12):
parking lot.
At the time we'd watch DarrenMcFadden run for 300 yards.
Then we'd walk right back and Iloved the end of the day
because we'd walk right backinto the living room and we'd
all sit there in the living room.
We'd grab another bite to eat,we'd turn on another college
football game that's still going, or watch the sports center
highlights, and it was the bestbecause outside of our window we
(31:36):
saw on the street.
We saw thousands flooding out,having to just flood out with
another 20,000 people.
We saw, you know, 200 peopletry to load up onto a shuttle
that's made for about 45 people.
We heard the sounds of the carshonking at one another as
they're so frustrated, trying tojust move an inch to get away
(31:59):
from the stadium.
And we were just insidewatching football, loving life.
Do you know what I never didduring those days, when I got to
the end of the day and I gotinto their living room and I
grabbed my bite to eat and I satdown in front of the TV to
watch other guys.
I never did this.
I never sat there and said youknow what I'm going to take just
(32:23):
a minute.
I just want to remember whatthat shuttle was like.
I just want to get back outthere.
I just want to do this and cramonto a shuttle again.
If I could just get anothertaste of that traffic jam and
(32:45):
let somebody honk at me, eventhough I've got nowhere possible
to go, if I could just tastethat again, if I could get in
line with 20,000 other peopletrying to get to their
destination, wouldn't that be?
Not, I never did that.
You know what I did?
I sat there with my bike to eat.
I watched my game and on acollege football Saturday it was
heaven on earth.
Why, bringing it to scripture?
(33:07):
I'm the new man now.
You and I live a new life inChrist Jesus.
We don't have to run back tothe old ways.
We don't have to go back to theold things, but instead we can
(33:29):
find our life, our joy, ourcontentment, our hope in the
presence of Christ Jesus, whohas done the work for our
salvation.
Who has done the work that wemight die to the old ways and
live the new life.
Believer, don't run back.
And I wonder, if you're herethis morning and for the first
(33:53):
time you want to come to theSavior, that you know what it is
to live in that sinful placeand you've tried it all and it's
all left you empty.
I would love nothing more thanto introduce you to the new life
in Christ Jesus.
I wonder, believer in the room,if you need to just come to this
(34:13):
altar and pray.
I'd love nothing more than topray over you, to pray with you.
You may say this.
I've said it before if I comedown after a sermon on sin,
everybody's going to know I'm asinner.
I'm praying over my sin.
Let me just tell you, if youcome down, you're praying for
the person next to you, not foryou.
That's what we'll tell them all.
Okay, come down, I want to praywith you.
(34:36):
I want to pray over you.
Maybe you want to come jointhis church because you say this
that I need believers to walktowards Jesus with.
If I'm done with the old manand I'm living this new life, I
need a family of faith that canlive that life with me.
Come down, I'd love nothingmore.
If you just need me to praywith you over anything, I'll do
(34:58):
it.
But however you need to respond, I'm going to be right here and
I pray.
I pray that you would Let mepray.
Lord Jesus, thank you for thegospel.
Thank you that in Christ we arenew believers, that we don't
have to run back to the old way,but you have raised us up to
(35:21):
walk in newness of life.
God, I thank you, I give youpraise and I just pray for
anyone in this room that theHoly Spirit, even now, is just
pulling on their heart torespond.
Lord, there will be atemptation to say I'll do it
next week.
There will be a temptation tosay this is just a feeling,
(35:46):
it'll pat.
No, no, no.
Lord, if your spirit is tuggingon their heart in any way, I
pray that now they would dobusiness with you and Lord.
Any way I can help, lord, helpme.
If they need to come chat withme or another pastor, let it be.
(36:06):
But, lord, let everyone in herethat knows Christ personally
know that they are the newperson and let everyone here who
does not know Christ Jesus knowthat they can be the new person
and it can start now.
Help us, lord, as we seek toflee sin.
Convict us of sin.
Show us our sin, the sins.
(36:28):
We know the sins.
We're blind.
To Help us, lord, would we lookmore like Jesus, holy Spirit,
as you work in us, and HolySpirit, please, in our lives.
Would you do what only you cando.
We need you In Christ's name,amen.
Would you stand?
We'll worship together and I'mright down front.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.