February 10, 2025 • 40 mins
In this powerful message, guest speaker Michael Rondon unpacks Romans 6, reminding us not to look back at our old lives but to fix our eyes on Jesus and move forward in faith. He challenges us to consider whether we are living dead to sin or still trapped in it, urging us to embrace the full assurance of salvation and the transformative power of God’s grace. With practical steps—Know, Reckon, Resist, and Replace—Michael encourages us to actively live out our faith, allowing God to lead and shape our lives. Grace is greater than our stubborn sin, and we are called to walk in the freedom Christ has given us.
Join us for this impactful message, and be sure to read Romans 7 in preparation for next week’s sermon!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Morning, church.
How are we doing?
Morning, morning.
Happy Super Bowl Sunday.
Who we ruined for?We room for the three. Pete.
Yay! Anyone out there?
No. How about for the Eagles?
Yeah, a little bit.
How about just.
We don't care who's winning.
We don't want our team next year. Right?
Although I will saya couple of our high schoolers
who are on the platform this morning.
(00:26):
Syd on drums, which she's awesome.
Come get up for.
Said and Asher over here on basslike their die hard Chiefs fan.
So for their sake,I hope they get the three peat.
But it was interesting.
I was reading about the three peat andand if you've heard the name Pat Riley,
he's an NBA guy. Legendary kind of figure.
Looks like the Godfather.
He, he he coined three.
He trademarked that.
(00:47):
And so he'sdefinitely rooting for the three peat
because if that happenshe is getting a huge payday from the NFL.
But this morning we're going to continuein our series in the book of Romans.
So if you have your Bibles, turn to Romanssix while your smartphone's Romans six,
pastor calls did an amazing job,
going through chaptersone through five and and unpacking that.
(01:07):
There'sso much in the book of Romans, so much.
And we won't get through all of chapter
six today,even we're going to hit on most of it.
But I encourage you to go backand read it, this week sometime.
And I did this last time I was up here.
And so I'm going to do it,I think every single time I'm up here,
if you have Pastor Kohl's number,send him a text.
Right now.
I'm just going to continuethat that that tradition.
Just tell him you're thinking about him.
(01:28):
You're praying for him. He's with family.
He's visiting grandkids.
Cinematheque.
Tell me you're thinking about him.
You're praying for him.
I know that he he loves getting awayand spending time with family,
but he loves being here.
Like,he has a real gift to to unpack God's word
and to share it with, with the churchevery Sunday.
So, I'm definitely humbled to be up herein his space.
(01:50):
My Bible titles, chapter six and know whatyour Bible titles it mine says
Dead to Sin and Alive in Christ, deadto sin and Alive in Christ.
And those.
That's pretty bold statement, right?
That we can believe fully andwith confidence that we are dead to sin
and alive in Christ.
And so this morning,
I want to I want to present to usa four step process as I was reading
(02:12):
through the text and processing it, and,and just kind of
praying about how to, how to,how to walk through it this morning,
a four step processso we can start living a new life.
So I want to put on the screen.
We will
we'll go through each step individually,of course, but I want to put them up there
so you can start thinking about them.
And the first step is to know
(02:32):
how you and I, as followers of Jesus,we have to know what God's Word says.
I'm not sure we can follow Jesusand in his ways.
If we don't open up the Bibleand know what the text says.
So that's step one, right?
Very practical.
And then step two is to reckon,
reckon yourself, which is a wordwe don't use, but it's just to decide.
It's one thing to knowwhat the Bible says.
It's another thing to decide to followin what it says.
(02:54):
That's like that belief part, right?
That head knowledge versus heart knowledgethat this is
this is for me, I believe it,I believe it to be true.
I reckon it to be true.
I've decided it is truth.
And then that third stepalmost feels natural.
We have to resist, right?
We have this desire to live for selfand to play God and to be on the throne.
And so we have towe have to push back that urge of, of, of,
(03:15):
of being God and playing,you know, Savior and realize that,
you know, we have to we have to push backagainst it, against the culture
and against the things that distract usand that influence us in a negative way.
And then fourth step is to replace, right.
What are we going to allow in?
What are we going to allow toto speak to us?
What are we going to submit to?
What are we going to allowto be an authority in our lives?
(03:36):
And so know, reckon, resist and replace iswhat we're going to unpack this morning.
And as I was thinking, as I,as we, as we jump in dead to sin and alive
in Christ, I was thinking this weekabout this statement
that that the Christian life is a battle
and I thought you.
But it feels like a battle to me,and it's one that we cannot give up on,
especially as a spouse, as a parent, as anand an uncle, whoever.
(03:59):
You know that anyone that serves
this next generation, it is so vitalthat we realize that it is a battle
if we're doing the things that that Godasks of us, if we if we are sacrificing
and we are tithing,and we are giving our time
and our talents and our resources,
if we are submitting to Godand being in Scripture,
if we are in prayer,if we're letting our kids go out
and just trustingGod with their lives like it is a battle
(04:22):
and it's one that we can't give up on.
We can't cut corners.
We can't, you know,shave a little off this year.
We have to be so intentional
with the with the life that that Jesushas given us, the Holy Spirit, the life
that he has redeemed
and I found
I stumbled on this quote this weekfrom from Charles Spurgeon.
I'm just going to paraphrase.
I'm not going to read the quote,but it says this.
It says when someone is born again
(04:44):
through faith in Christ,
their life immediately day one, it entersinto a spiritual battle against sin.
And the world is not like,get your bearings right, find a church,
find you know, understand Scripturea little bit like a certain saint.
Day one.
There's this immediate battlethat you're thrust into because
now you're not deadanymore. You're made alive.
(05:04):
And when you're alive, you have choice.
And when you have choice and you havethe Holy Spirit, it's this decision.
Are we going to live for God?Are we going to live for self?
And that's the tension
I think Romans is presenting iswho are we going to live for?
And that Spurgeon is talking about?
I don't mean it happened day one
and you were with us in the fall.
Pastor Carl took us through judges.
It was a great series,great study, a lot to pull from it.
(05:28):
And he shared this with the church,and I was thinking about it a lot
the last couple weeks
that that you and I can be tired in itand we should be tired.
And if if we're living for othersand we're sacrificing
and we're we're doing whatwe're supposed to do, we should be tired.
But we can't be tired of it.
That's the charge. As a Christian.
Don't get tired of it.Don't get lazy in your faith. Right?
I was talking to our our high schoolstudents.
(05:48):
We're going through the book of Hebrews.
When we talk aboutour faith is like a spectrum where
maybe we hear it's very legalisticand we kind of add things to the cross
over here. It's very lazy. Our faith.
We don't want to be either extremes.
We want to be right in the middlewhere Jesus is our fixed reference point.
And as we live thisChristian life, we don't.
God doesn't mind us being tired.
And itwe should be, but we can't be tired of it.
(06:10):
Because when we're tired of it, thingsget sideways.
Sin creeps and temptation creeps.And bless you.
When we get tired of it, we stop fighting.
We stop doingthe things we're supposed to do.
We stop.
We stop inviting God into our livesand asking for his strength and his wisdom
and his discernmentand his his, his, his what he has for us.
Right?
And so, as cheesy as it is,we have to be vigilant.
(06:32):
We have to be fighters, right?
Otherwise,
life can get a little bit weird on us.
As I was processing
the text, the Bible,I think the Gospels this shares that
although our spirits regeneratedor made new, our flesh is not right.
And that means we have a warring, meanswe have conflict.
We have tension within us
(06:54):
because we certainly want to serve a Godwho loves us, who came down and took on
flesh and lived a life and then diedand paid the penalty that we couldn't pay.
We want towe want to serve and we want to love him.
We want to live for him.
But then if we're being honest,we also want to live for self
and other things that I want and I want topursue and I want to be in control.
I want to have the authority.
I want to me, me, me, me, me.
(07:15):
I think as we get marriedand we have kids and we,
we are getting further removedfrom that, you know, hope hopefully. But
but we have this conflict
and I think we have to acknowledgethe conflict that exists within us.
We don't ignore itand we don't say it doesn't exist.
It does exist.
Bless you. Yep.
So as we jump into five, or chapter sixthis morning, I,
I want to remind us, PastorKrall shared with us that
(07:38):
that the first five chapters has shown usthat all nations are guilty.
There's not anyone that doesn't that thathasn't fallen short of the glory of God,
which is the beauty of, ofof of the cross.
Right.
And it's the beauty ofwe don't look sideways and say,
you know, look at you and look at you,
and your sin is greaterand your sin is less, right.
And we're supposed to focus on the plank
in our own eye,not the speck in someone else's eye.
But chapterfive has showed us that all are guilty.
(07:59):
All nations, all peoples were guiltyas charged.
Humanity is guilty.
But the good news isthat Jesus took the penalty for our crime.
He took it away. He made us righteous.
That's an amazing thingthat that Jesus became what we are
so that we could become what he isblameless in the sight of God,
righteous because of the cross,we are made new.
(08:21):
It's an amazing reality.
And so before we jump in,
I just want to put this on the screenfor you to think about chapters 1 to 5.
They they talk about being dead insane.
We're dead in our sin.
And what can you dowhen you're dead in sin?
Not you can't do anything right.
But then it's sneaky.
You just sub one word in and one word out.
Chapter six seven, eight. It shifts.
Paul shifts his language.
(08:42):
He says, now we're dead to sin.
It's a big difference.
And this feels like it's our response.How do we respond, then, to the sin
that is still in our livesand in this world?
And so we're no longer dead
in Saint Paul's going to argue in chaptersix, we're dead to sin.
Right.
And so it's that's very proactive.
Now, what are we goingto do with our life?
What are you going to do with the lifethat God has blessed us with and given us?
(09:03):
So I want to start with thatfour step process, and we'll start with
the first word is to knowfor the note takers, I'm talking about no.
And before we jump into six we got toI got to remind you,
David just referenced it during communion.
Chapter five ends in this wayit says, but where sin increased,
grace increased all the more.
It's important to note, certainly worsethan increased grace has to increase
(09:26):
because the cross is complete,it has to increase.
We can't outspend the cross right.
And so Paul, with that in mind,is going to jump in to six
and acknowledge that right away.
So I want to readthe first couple scriptures.
It says this
in six verse oneit says what shall we say then?
Shall we go on sendingso that grace may increase?
Verse two.
He says, by no meanswe are those who have died to sin.
(09:48):
How can we live in it any longer?
Verse three says, or don't you know thatall of us
who were baptized into Christ Jesus,we were baptized into his death?
Verse four says,we were therefore buried with him
through baptism into death, in orderthat just as Christ
was raised from the dead
through the glory of the father,we too may have a new life.
So, Paul,why is he talking? Any objections?
(10:09):
He's easy.
He's right away saying,
now we're just because grace increasesand grace abounds doesn't mean we.
We want to lean inand live a selfish lifestyle.
Augustine said, love the Lordyour God and do as you please.
Right?
And Paul's saying nowhen he's fighting every objection
here, he's saying, no, that's nothow we're supposed to live our lives.
All right?
We're not.
We're forced to push back to any desire
(10:29):
to live for self and to please self,to think that sin right
should, should, should rule in our livesand then we should give in to it.
Now it's important to know, doesunlimited forgiveness for standing exist?
Of course it does. It does.
But it doesn't mean we continueto live in that space any longer.
But I liken it to likethe jail cell has been open
and we're just choosing to livein that cell.
(10:51):
Like, why are the doors wide open?
We might walk out for a little bit
and then we find ourselves rightback in that cell. But the door is open.
We're dead to sin.
It means we should look andlive and act a different way.
But unlimited forgiveness for sindoes still exist.
Grace does abound.
But I think why Paul makes this argument,why we're not supposed to live
(11:12):
in our old, brokenways, is because of the cost of our sin.
We couldn't pay that cost.
So Jesus came down.
He paid that penalty for our trespasses.
I mean, I and I
just think of my own shame, my own guilt,my own struggles, my own disgust at times
that Jesus bore that for meon the cross times all of us
and the 8 billion people that liveand has ever lived and will ever live.
(11:34):
I mean, I just thinkmine can be suffocating enough.
The things that I struggle with
and things I try to push back onand and try not to indulge in.
And yet it's billions and billionsand billions of people more that
Jesus experienced that hurt on the cross,that guilt, that shame, that disgust.
And so, in my view,I'm just like, I can't keep living there
because in some ways it's like,am I even valuing the cross?
(11:55):
Then am I even valuing the
the gift that is grace and salvationand eternity with God?
It's like I have to start living right?
Your will be done on earth as it is inheaven, right here, right now, in my life
as it is in heaven, and flip sideslife as it is in heaven.
So we have to push back. We have to fight.
And I think what Paul's is
getting out here is this, that you and Iare supposed to walk in newness of life.
(12:17):
That's what
that's what verse three talks about, says,or don't you know that all of all of us
who were baptized into Christ Jesus,we were baptized into his death.
It was actually really importantto reflect on.
Right?
And we have to be prettyconvinced of this.
We have no theology.
We have to know what this is saying,because so often
I think we say, no, I'm going to addJesus to my marriage, which is good.
I'm going to add Jesus to my finances.
(12:38):
I'm going to add Jesus to my parenting,which are all good things,
but we don't add Jesus to us.
It says we're fully immersed in him.
I mean, you know, think of baptism, right?
Oh, we do baptism here in Carl'spool, right?
Full immersion.
Jesus was fully immersedwhen he was baptized.
And so we have to not fallen to the trapof, oh, I'm going to add Jesus to me now.
We're fully immersed in him.
(12:58):
That means in all aspects of life,we should have Jesus as our
as our reference point, as our as our,you know, glasses that we look through,
like whether I'm at workor at home or ballgame or
with my family or my friends or churchor whatever, that Jesus is
on mymind always because I'm fully immersed.
You are fully immersed in him,and it's easy to live contrary to that.
(13:21):
And that's why I think Paul'shitting at this.
Don't forget, you're dead to sin.
You're dead to sin, not dead in sin.
And so we need to be mindfulthat when we're immersed in Christ's death
right throughhis, this baptism into his death.
And so Paul's again,he's just hitting the point.
How can we live in sin any longer?
He's saying, you know, God, you knowthe miracles, you know the teachings.
(13:41):
You know how he lived his life.
And in light of that,and you know the cost of the cross,
how can we live there any longer?
And I want to say it one more time.
Again, we don't look left and right,front and back.
We we look we search our own hearts whenit comes to the sin issues that we have.
The plank in my eye is the same size,the plank in your eye.
But your eyes will look like a speck to mebecause I'm not focused on yours.
(14:02):
I'm focused on my own.
I'm focused on me, doing better. Me,me, me.
Growing in my faithand living that out through my marriage
and my parenting in my,you know, youth pastoring.
And so we're called to walkin newness of life.
I'm going to continue.
We're gonna jump into verse five.
It says, for if we have been unitedwith him in a death like this,
(14:22):
we will certainly also be unitedwith him in a resurrection like this.
For we know that our old selfwas crucified with him,
so that the body ruled by sin,it might be done away with.
We should no longer be slaves to sin,because anyone who has died
has been set free from sin.
Now, if
we died with Christ, we believe thatwe will also live with him.
For we know that since Christ was raisedfrom the dead, he cannot die again.
(14:45):
Death no longer has mastery over him.
The death he died,he died to sin once for all.
And this is important.
But the life he lives, he lives to God.
It's one thing to believethat we're forgiven and experience that.
It's another thing to live our life
to God, to dedicate that life to God.
Christ as he lives this life,he lives to God.
We are called to live to God,to seek holiness because he is holy.
(15:09):
Right.
Verses 5 to 10 I think they share with usthat Christ died and rose again,
that Scripture assures that when he died,we died.
And when he rose, we rose.
And so there's something really magical,something really important,
something really mysteriousabout the cross.
Because the cross,what happened 2000 years ago.
But in 2005, I experienced the crosswhen I accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.
(15:32):
And you experienced
and whatever you're you experiencedthat you became a believer.
So in that way,the cross will be alive forever.
Because once we become a believer, once,once the Holy Spirit regenerates
us, we experience that death and thatresurrection is really this magical thing,
that God is a giftthat he allows us to say.
That's a reality for mein 2005 and beyond,
and for all of youand whatever year you came to faith,
(15:53):
it's quite wild.
But if we do believe that we died with himwhen he rose again,
and we do believe
that the sins of our lives andthe lives of those around us are forgiven,
and that means the power of our sin.Nature also died.
The power of our sin nature is dead.
The power is gone. We don't need again.
Go back in and out of that jail cell.It is gone.
It is done. We are dead.
It's interesting
(16:14):
if you think about rightthis older self, this older Michael before
I was a believer and then you have towe have to view him as dead.
I am a new person in Christ.
So that old versionof me is gone, is dead.
Our our junior highers are in Genesis.
We're going through the book of Genesisand Revelation.
We're kind of like bookending scripture.
And we're going through
how God is using Abraham, Isaac and Jacobto bring about the Messiah.
(16:38):
And and we just got through Esauand Jacob twins.
But they're so differentin every single way.
He's always hairy.
He's a man of the country.
He connects better with his father.
Jacob is smooth skinned.
It says, he stays among the tentsand he connects with his mother.
And there's some family dynamics.
There's some hurt and brokenness. But.
(16:58):
But what we seetalked about here in Romans
six was actually firsttalked about in Genesis with our story.
God told Rebecca, their mother.
He said that the older Esauwill serve the younger,
just like my old self,my sinful self, my broken self, my dead
self is going to serve my new,younger self.
That is spirit led and spirit driven.
And so we see this.
That's how we have to be in Scripturebecause we see this connection,
(17:20):
the old version of me as Esau, he'sgoing to serve the younger version of me,
which is Jacob, right?
The oldest there, the new has come.
And so we're called in that wayto, to, to to reckon myself dead.
And we'll talkabout reckoning in a minute.
But we have to get this donewith the Norse theology.
We have to know that scriptureand all the connections
and all that end in the out,because God talked about this very idea
back in Genesis, whatever, 20 something 26but if we don't know
(17:43):
this, we're going to miss it.
And so our
old self should serve our younger self,the broken flesh, and serve the spirit.
It's a really coolconcept, really cool idea.
And I think the one way to sum that upis just to say this, that
that sin is rendered powerless.
The sin you have in your life that stillexists, it's still there, right?
Just because we're saveddoesn't mean we still don't have sin.
Pop up here and there,but it's rendered powerless.
(18:06):
I think, as I processin, I think the reality is
that we should spend lessas we as we mature in our faith,
and so we should sin less, but it shouldalso hit us more, should hit us harder.
It hit us heavier because wewe know how much we've been blessed.
We know how much God has done for us.
And so, although we have less than,it should almost be like
we're more convicted and we're more hurtand we're more broken over our sin,
(18:26):
less means more insome weird spiritual way,
because we don't want towalk in that way any longer.
But sin is better, powerless.
Verse five.
It shared that the body of sinshould be done away with, done away with.
Think of it like it's void.
It's completely void.
It's abolished.
It's out of business.
That old version of me, it's gone. Why?
Because we were baptizedinto Christ. Death.
(18:48):
That old nature is voided.
It is gone.
But like I just said, the realityis that our old self
still lingers around, still fighting forits life, still wanting to find life.
Wanting to find out that hold on us,wanting it, wanting
to kind of jump back into the picture.
And so I think very practically,
we just have to say, all right, God,I need you more than I need me.
(19:10):
I need to get off the throne.
I can't keep playingGod. I can't keep going for self.
And verse 11 speaks of that.
It says in the same way, count yourselves
dead to sin,but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
So the first step,
I think, to, to, to living this new lifeis to know what Scripture says, to know
the connection to the Old Testament,the new, to know what Jesus said,
to know that our God has ultimate victory.
(19:32):
Although the Christian life is a battle,a daily battle for you and for me,
we know the victor.
Our God is the victor.
And so we have to believe this stuff.We have to.
We have to rather we have to know it.
And that's going to leadhopefully to this, this deep conviction
and this belief.
And so that's what step two is,I think this morning is to reckon yourself
never use that word in my lifebefore preparing this teaching.
(19:52):
I don't reckon, I've used that.
But you have to reckon yourself,
you have to decide that you're deadto sin.
Yeah. Stupid joke.
If you decide that you're dead to sin,you have to reckon it fully.
I am dead to sin and I'm alive to Christ.
And you have to own it.
If the first step is knowing,
the second self is believing fully,all in wholeheartedly.
This is true.
(20:12):
As I wanted it.
I was thinkingI wanted to give us a definition
for reckonjust because it's not a word we use.
And so reckon is this.
It's a firm conviction reached by rationalthought on the basis of the gospel.
So the gospel is theis the is the foundation.
But I love the first couple words.
It's a firm conviction.
To reckon that we're dead to sinis to be all in fully believe it.
1,000% convinced.
(20:34):
It's not like I'm kind of lukewarm.Or maybe it's true.
Maybe it's not. No, it's we're fullythere.
It's a it's a firm convictionby by rational
thought on the basis of the gospel.
So reckon it's to count yourself to countthis deed already completely done.
This deed is done.
I am dead to sin.
Say it over and over if you need to.
I am dead to it.
And I think how I've.
(20:54):
I've come to unpackthis is we have to believe that.
That this new life is totally disconnectedfrom our past life, right?
This, that when you were placed in Christ,
you were completely disconnectedfrom your past. Right?
That Grand Canyon
seems like we are completely disconnectedin this world and how we live.
It's hard to get rid of our pastand the mistakes and the hurt
because we see the same peopleor we experience the same things.
(21:16):
But but the hurt in Christ,the hurt towards
God that existed,it is fully erased because of the cross.
It's gone.
And we don't have to live in that hurtspace any longer.
All the stuff, the crap that maybeis coming to mind that you like.
I still maybe struggle with this.
Give it to God and you are dead to it
fully and forever dead to it.
(21:39):
Now Galatians 220 is a great scripturethat speaks this truth.
It says, I have been crucified with Christand I no longer live.
I don't live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the bodyI live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me,gave himself for you.
I think you can see this played outreally in a really cool way
through Isaiah the prophet Isaiah.
(21:59):
If we go, if we jump in the Old Testament,I'm not going to read per se,
but I want to give you kind of a pictureof what happens. Isaiah.
He sees a vision of the Lord.
He sees the cry of the servant,and he sees that God is holy
in light of who he is.
You see, God is so holy.
And when Isaiah got this revelation,he saw God's beauty and his majesty.
But it's important to knowhow did he respond?
(22:21):
Isaiah says, woe is me,
woe is me, for I am lost.
A man of unclean lips.
Isaiah responds to God's holiness
for seeing himselffor what he really is sinful, wretched,
right, dirty.
And Isaiah cursed his own selfright in light of just who he is.
(22:42):
And that juxtaposition of like, Godis there and I am so far away from that.
I can never get there.
He was broken over his sinful natureand the things of his heart.
And this morning,
I think in the same way, we have to bebroken of the things of our heart.
We do our hardest.
It's not always oriented towards God.
(23:04):
Even though we have this nowheart of flesh, it's still not always,
you know, focus in the right directionas we broken over our sin.
Not in a way that leads to guiltand shame, but in a way that leads to us
pursuing Christ more and in in
like an act of thanksgiving.
We have to we have to believe,
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that that nastinessthat Isaiah describes is real.
And we have to reckonthat we're going to live for Christ.
Verse 14 or sorry, verse12 speaks to this.
He says therefore, which means witheverything we've talked about in mind,
do not let sin reign in your mortal body
so that you obey its evil desires.
(23:48):
First step is to know Scripture, to knowGod's Word.
Second is to reckon and believe.
It is fully and wholly true,
not to live in guilt and shame,
not to live looking left and right,
but to say, God,help me with the plant in my eye.
Help me to look more like you.
And so our third step this morning
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is to resist.
It's to resist.
And so maybe this scripture comes to mind.
Maybe not.
But James four seven says, resistthe devil and he will flee from you.
Resist the devil, he will flee from you.
So as a as a believer, if we're just goingprogression right, we know Scripture.
We got to know it. We got to believefully. We got to be all in.
Then we got to resist.
We got to act.We got to do something. Now.
But Isaiah or James ratherfour seven actually starts,
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you know, different than what I just read.
It doesn't start with resistthe devil. He will flee from you.
It starts submit yourselves into God.
Submit yourselves, then to God.
Resist the deviland he will flee from you.
The order of operation is important
because I believe that thing.
If we do not submit,
the ability to resist is not possible.
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And I know as Americanswe love our freedom.
If we do not like this submit,
we do not like even the word submissionfeels kind of nasty at times.
I think we attach negative things to it,but we're we're talking about submitting
to a God who was holy and justand righteous and good and sacrificial.
Christ suffered on our behalf
because he never gave in to temptationand sin.
(25:15):
And so submitting to Christ is bestcase scenario, because his yoke is light,
his burden does not exist.So where's ultimate freedom in Christ?
And so I thinkas I as I process this week, if I want to
resist, I have to submit.
And if I have to submit,I have to seek God.
And if I'm seeking God, then then that'swhat we call sanctification, right?
Big church, fancy word.
But but it just means to separate,to be set apart,
(25:40):
set apart from sin, and ultimatelyprogressively becoming more like Jesus.
That sanctification
that you and I over our lifetimeare going to look more like Jesus,
you know, in ten years and in 20 yearsand in 30 years than we do today,
hopefully, you know, over the next,you know, couple years,
maybe the next month or two.
But but the goal is to look more likeJesus
every day,which means he has to be on our hearts,
(26:00):
and you have to be on our minds,
and you have to be someone we seekand something we someone we interact with.
The result of submitting to seeking andseeking, I think, leads to sanctification.
And sanctificationleads us to this scripture.
It's it's second Corinthians 318.
It says, and we knowand we all who with unveiled faces
we should contemplate the Lord's glory.
(26:22):
Why? Because in that way we're goingto be transformed into his image,
and we're going to experience the everincreasing glory
which comes from the Lord,who is the spirit I.
But as I look at it
right, we're supposed to contemplatethe Lord's glory, seek his face,
and then it talks of this ever increasingglory like the more we seek him.
I mean, there should just be morerevealing and more understanding and more,
more, more grace and more more of a freedom that we get to experience in Christ
(26:47):
growing in the Christian life.
Is it saying no to self and yes to Christ?
It's saying yes to repentance,yes to Scripture, yes to prayer.
Yes to accountability.
Looking left and right and saying, hold meaccountable.
I need you to hold me accountable.
As long as today is called today, Hebrewssays we should encourage each other,
especially as believers,
because we're working so hardand trying to please God and
(27:08):
and trying to do his workand further his kingdom.
But it's difficult.
So we need to encourage each other.
But we're called to sanctify ourselves.
We're called to seek Godand submit to him.
You know, I like,sometimes I'm going to the gym.
I want to lift heavy weights.
You know, I want to be mindful ofwhat I'm listening to.
And so
I have I call it aggressive worship.
(27:29):
Music, aggressive worship.
So it's it's like screamo singing music,but it's the Christians that that lead it.
And I wanted to share.
I wanted to share one of their,lyric with you.
It says this, it says you're born again.
You're a new life.
You are a new creation.
But there is to be progress.
There's to be growing.
There's to be growinginto the likeness of Christ.
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We have to begin to conquer the fleshlittle by little, day by day.
As you live, there is to be a progressin in conquering the flesh.
This new life, this new man,this new person that you are
has to begin to grow.
When we're placed in Christ,we're separated from our past of
has to begin to grow.
I love that right.
You don't hear much of that either.
Google it because he'sjust screaming the whole time.
(28:11):
But it's there.
It's there, the promise. It's there.
If you want the playlist,I'll send it to you.
It's really good, I promise.
It's awesome.
I initially convicted me this week.
I want I want this for myself,but I want this more for my family.
And so I wanted to talk to the parentsor grandparents
or aunts and uncles, whoever
has kids in their lifethat they get to influence.
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Right?
Because you know this, we can't takeeverything into heaven with us.
We can't take the cars,the house, the fancy toys, the nothing.
We can't. It's that's not how it works.
But we can stand before God, armswide open and say,
look what I did with the livesyou blessed me with.
Look, I do with seal, Jude, Levi, Logan.
I do with the lives you bless me with.
And in that waywe have to sanctify ourselves.
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We have to seek God, because if we don't,we will not do those things well.
You know what's true?
I think there'swhat one generation sees as optional.
The next might see is unnecessary,
and we don't want our kids to see seekingGod and sanctifying ourselves
and knowing Scriptureand being in prayer and being in community
and encouraging each otheras optional kids, not it's not optional,
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something that we have to havethis deep conviction in
deep like, love for
because life is busy and it is loud.
And sometimes you can look upand like I have off my Bible in a week,
we have to take this seriouslyand spend time in here in this thing,
and I loveI was one pastor, I was, I was listening.
There are a coupleI follow online on social media and and
(29:39):
and he was talking about sanctificationand he any, any
he shared threadsand I want to share with you this morning.
Oh, skip that one. My bed.
Oh wait. Where am I at?
There it is.
Sorry. I'm all over the place.
So the 3D god declares,
Satan denies and we have to decide.
I think back to the garden.
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God declared,
how many of you are safe?
You're taking care of your goodlike you're provided for.
I want to walk in the coolness of daywith you. Trust me, trust me.
I'm your God. I'm.
I'm your creator. I want to,I want to do life with you.
But that one treewhere they're just a tree.
I'm not going to believe that one alone.
You don't need that. It's not.There's no benefit to you.
I'm your God, and I'm going to.I'm going to take care of you.
Trust me.
God declared these things,and then Satan denies as we know, right?
(30:24):
He's like, I, can you believeGod is trying to be in controlling here?
Why would he?Why would he keep something from you?
You know,I just want you to be like him, right?
He just denies he tweaks it. Twist.
And then Adam and Eve had to decide.
And we know how that went. Right.
And so I guess the same thingapplies to us, right?
God is declaring these things to us.
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And Satan might deny.
He might twist, he might turn.
He might say, Michael,you can't really serve, right.
You I mean, you know whatyou thought and done and things
that are of your own heartand the brokenness that exists.
And then I have to decide,am I going to believe those lies,
although they once were true?
Am I going to believe those lies and say,well, God can't use me because I have
made mistakes in my life? No.
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So we haveto decide, are we actually dead to sin?
Are you dead to sin?
Scripture is declaringthat God is declaring it.
You are dead to sinand you're alive in Christ.
Don't believe anything short of that.
And so I think a good way.
It's sobering.
It's it's humbling
to to say, am I dead to sin or am I deadin sin is to look at your lifestyle.
What does it show?
(31:27):
Is God's Word trustworthy to you?
Is is community valuable right?
Am I the king? Is Christthe King? Who's leading this, this?
This thing?
Who's leading this show? You know.
Look at that lifestyle.
Look at what you pursue and the thingsyou are and who you're becoming.
Are you dead to sin?
Are you still dead inside?
My hope is my prayeris that you are dead to it.
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So in Corinthians is the scripturethat I come back to all the time.
It's something I,I use when I was baptized at 21.
It says, therefore,if anyone is in Christ,
a new creation has come, the old is gone,the new is here. It's amazing reality.
It's amazing truth.
That means I'm not defined by my old self.
That means I'm not definedby my own mistakes or my sin.
I'm not the same dude anymore.
I'm a new creation.
And if I'm a new creation and you're a newcreation, let's start living that way
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with authority I.
We're defined by the cross,and that's been our hope
and our faith and our trust inJesus for the forgiveness of our sins.
And so much so that Paul in verse 13 here,
he's going to he'sgoing to make it super personal.
He says, do not offer any part of yourselfas an instrument of wickedness,
but rather offer yourself to God as thosewho have been brought from death to life
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and offer every part of yourself to himas an instrument of righteousness.
So when we talk about us being baptizedinto Christ, death, that's like full body.
But now we're talking about every memberof our body, every member,
like hands, eyes, toes, knees,you know, whatever.
Like he's asking, what are you doing withall these different members of your body?
(32:56):
How how are you pursuing me? How are you?
How are you living for me?
How are you using your hands and your eyes
and your earsfor my righteousness and for my glory?
Right is very personal.
It's very specific.
Our God wants us to be so intentional withour faith that we answer that question.
And we can say, here'show I use my hands for your glory.
Here's how I use my eyes for your glory.
I'm your ears for your glory.Here's how I do these things.
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To not just go through lifeand not process how I'm being intentional.
Living for God.
It's important to process this now.
Our fourth pointthis morning is to replace,
and I'm not going to read the lastall the last scriptures here,
but I want to jump into 16in a couple others real quick.
It says in verse 16, don'tyou know that when you offer yourselves
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to someone as obedient slaves,you are slaves of the one you obey?
Whether you are slaves to sin,which leads to death,
or to obedience,which leads to righteousness.
I think verse 16 is asking the question,
like which nature are you feeding?
Which nature?
Like who are you living for?
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Are you feeding the slavethe sin that leads to death,
or of obediencethat leads to righteousness?
Because what we feed is going to grow,
it's going to grow inour life is going to manifest itself.
It's going to be known,and it's going to be visible.
So what do you allow in inwhat do you like to influence you?
What are you consuming?
What's what's what's
what's that look like for youthis morning?
(34:24):
It's importantto know what nature in my feeding.
And we jump into verse 21.
It says, what benefit did you reap at
the time fromthe things you are now ashamed of?
So I think he's referring to,like from your former life before you
and before you knew Jesus, that you wereashamed of what benefit was there, right?
What benefit did you reap at the timefor the things you are
now ashamed of,the things that result in death?
(34:45):
And so I think as I processthis scripture, it's
it's really challenging us to say,
don't look back at your lifebefore knowing Jesus with nostalgia.
Like, don't look back. It led to death.There was nothing.
I mean, sure, you might have good memoriesor good moments
and God redeemed some thingsand guided you.
I'm not saying they're not valuable,
but don't look back at that old lifeand think, I wish I had
what once I did before Christbecause it was leading to death.
(35:07):
There's no value.
Paul saying, he's saying, look forward.
Have your fixed reference point on Jesusgoing forward.
Don't focus on where you were,who you've been,
but where you're goingand where God wants to send you
what's coming next and include you.
Don't look back.There's no benefit to that.
And then verse 23, this is just salvationin a sentence writes grace.
Verse23 says, for the wages of sin is death,
(35:30):
but the gift of God is eternal lifein Christ Jesus our Lord.
Remember, we can't.
We couldn't pay that penaltyfor our trespasses.
We couldn't pay the cost.
It's great. It's too great.
But our God did pay it.That's the reality.
He did pay it.
And we get eternal life with him.
And we should live as such here on earth.
We should live in a way
where we have that full confidencein that full assurance
(35:51):
that the Holy SpiritI have in me a new in you.
It is a depositguaranteeing our inheritance.
But it's a it's a depositthat he's saying I want to use right now.
I want to cash in right here, right now.
I want to use you in the spaceor in the ranchos or wherever you live.
I want to use you now.
Right.
It's not just foryou look into eternity. It's.
No, it's like,what are you doing for me here and now?
2025.
(36:13):
We're going to have options.
We're going to live for self, for God.
We dead to sin. Are we dead in sin?
I want to end with a couple things.
Pastor Carl brought this up last week.
Which federal had.
Are you going to live under? Right.
He talked about Adam, which leads to deathor Jesus, which leads to life,
and it leads to, peace with God and accessto God's grace and even suffering.
Right?Even even glory in our suffering. Right?
(36:34):
These are the thingsthat Christ offers us.
And I would ask the same thingthis morning, like,
not maybe as a federal headbutt, butbut what's
what are you going to believe thethe declaration,
the truth that you're dead to sinor the lie that you're dead in sin?
What are you goingto believe this morning?
I hope it's that you're dead to sin.
You're not dead,and then you're not stuck anymore.
(36:56):
God has redeemed you fully and forever.
And we have the freedomto live in that truth.
So as we wrap up,I just want to put back up
our four steps right to know,to reckon, to resist and to replace.
Maybe ask the question,where are you right now on this list?
Where are you? Where do you find yourself?
Are you still in the no stage where you'relike, I need to know what God's Word is.
(37:17):
I need to unpack it and processin and walk and people to walk
alongside me to, to go through it.
Or have you gotten through that?
And you know it.You feel like you know it.
And now you're like, I need to, you know,I need to have deep conviction, right?
I need to believe that it's true.
Not just know what it says, but like,I need this.
I need to apply this to my life.
Or yet therewas this stage where you'll be like, how?
(37:38):
And actively trying to be proactiveand seek God and and resist.
Or you just replaceand you're building up.
You're having good spiritual habit, habitsand disciplines to to protect yourself
with one
maybe most resonates with youand which one feels most foreign.
I think that's also an important questionto ask.
Because. Because why is it foreign?
Why does it feel far off?
Why does it feel like it's somethingthat you you don't quite understand or me?
(38:02):
It's a good questions to ask.
You know, Pascale,we were talking about this.
This, you know, this chapterthat the last couple weeks and
and he was saying, I think the Christianlife is often, often,
it's like,you know, we're all swimming in a pool.
We're all hanging out or,
you know, swimming andand sometimes we have, you know,
(38:22):
some of us are on the sidelinejust kicking our feet in the water.
And we're saying we're swimming.
We're notwe're just we're still on the sideline.
And our God is fully inviting us
into this relationshipwith him and saying, let me lead.
Let me guide, let me help you.
Let me, let me influence your thoughtsand your mind and your desires.
Let me do that for you.
You need to know and you need to reckon.
You need to resistand you need to replace.
(38:43):
That's how we live out.
Jettison in life, in Christ.
Pastor Carl always asks,you know, he said, reread
six with this frameworknow, but read seven.
He'll be with us again next Sunday.
Read seven, but I want in with this.
Our series is greater than right, greaterthan whatever, greater than your sin
or whatever you're talkingwith. And I would say this morning,
grace is greater than your stubborn sin.
(39:05):
Grace is greater than your stubbornnessin the thing that holds
you back,the thing that is just like that,
that lie in your head,the thing that just caused you to stumble.
Grace is greater than that.
Your stubborn, annoying, irritating sin.
Don't live a lie that you are deadand then you are dead to sin.
I hope that has been encouragingto this morning.
I'm going to pray for us
(39:26):
and we're going to sing one more songwith the band.
Father, we thank you for this morning.
We thank you for everyone here.We thank you for your word.
We thank you that you pursue usand that you seek us
and that you have declared things overus, these these truths, Lord.
But I pray that we would have a heartto open up
your words, that we know these truths.
Father,
give us eyes and ears and toes and hands
(39:47):
and and help us to be so intentionalwith members of our body
that we can say, this is howI glorify you, this is how I glorify you.
This is how I serve you.
This is how I how I further your kingdom.
We are grateful for Pauland how you spoke through him,
and we pray that we would havea deep conviction this week.
(40:08):
So to know that we are deadto sin and alive in you, Jesus,
please be with us this week.
Bring us back next week.
So we continue to further understandyour word and continue
to further grow in our
our role here in this community.
Please convict our hearts this morning.
Lord in love for you.
Visiting in Jesus. Amen.
Morning, church.
How are we doing?
Morning, morning.
Happy Super Bowl Sunday.
Who we ruined for?We room for the three. Pete.
Yay! Anyone out there?
No. How about for the Eagles?
Yeah, a little bit.
How about just.
We don't care who's winning.
We don't want our team next year. Right?
Although I will saya couple of our high schoolers
who are on the platform this morning.
(00:26):
Syd on drums, which she's awesome.
Come get up for.
Said and Asher over here on basslike their die hard Chiefs fan.
So for their sake,I hope they get the three peat.
But it was interesting.
I was reading about the three peat andand if you've heard the name Pat Riley,
he's an NBA guy. Legendary kind of figure.
Looks like the Godfather.
He, he he coined three.
He trademarked that.
(00:47):
And so he'sdefinitely rooting for the three peat
because if that happenshe is getting a huge payday from the NFL.
But this morning we're going to continuein our series in the book of Romans.
So if you have your Bibles, turn to Romanssix while your smartphone's Romans six,
pastor calls did an amazing job,
going through chaptersone through five and and unpacking that.
(01:07):
There'sso much in the book of Romans, so much.
And we won't get through all of chapter
six today,even we're going to hit on most of it.
But I encourage you to go backand read it, this week sometime.
And I did this last time I was up here.
And so I'm going to do it,I think every single time I'm up here,
if you have Pastor Kohl's number,send him a text.
Right now.
I'm just going to continuethat that that tradition.
Just tell him you're thinking about him.
(01:28):
You're praying for him. He's with family.
He's visiting grandkids.
Cinematheque.
Tell me you're thinking about him.
You're praying for him.
I know that he he loves getting awayand spending time with family,
but he loves being here.
Like,he has a real gift to to unpack God's word
and to share it with, with the churchevery Sunday.
So, I'm definitely humbled to be up herein his space.
(01:50):
My Bible titles, chapter six and know whatyour Bible titles it mine says
Dead to Sin and Alive in Christ, deadto sin and Alive in Christ.
And those.
That's pretty bold statement, right?
That we can believe fully andwith confidence that we are dead to sin
and alive in Christ.
And so this morning,
I want to I want to present to usa four step process as I was reading
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through the text and processing it, and,and just kind of
praying about how to, how to,how to walk through it this morning,
a four step processso we can start living a new life.
So I want to put on the screen.
We will
we'll go through each step individually,of course, but I want to put them up there
so you can start thinking about them.
And the first step is to know
(02:32):
how you and I, as followers of Jesus,we have to know what God's Word says.
I'm not sure we can follow Jesusand in his ways.
If we don't open up the Bibleand know what the text says.
So that's step one, right?
Very practical.
And then step two is to reckon,
reckon yourself, which is a wordwe don't use, but it's just to decide.
It's one thing to knowwhat the Bible says.
It's another thing to decide to followin what it says.
(02:54):
That's like that belief part, right?
That head knowledge versus heart knowledgethat this is
this is for me, I believe it,I believe it to be true.
I reckon it to be true.
I've decided it is truth.
And then that third stepalmost feels natural.
We have to resist, right?
We have this desire to live for selfand to play God and to be on the throne.
And so we have towe have to push back that urge of, of, of,
(03:15):
of being God and playing,you know, Savior and realize that,
you know, we have to we have to push backagainst it, against the culture
and against the things that distract usand that influence us in a negative way.
And then fourth step is to replace, right.
What are we going to allow in?
What are we going to allow toto speak to us?
What are we going to submit to?
What are we going to allowto be an authority in our lives?
(03:36):
And so know, reckon, resist and replace iswhat we're going to unpack this morning.
And as I was thinking, as I,as we, as we jump in dead to sin and alive
in Christ, I was thinking this weekabout this statement
that that the Christian life is a battle
and I thought you.
But it feels like a battle to me,and it's one that we cannot give up on,
especially as a spouse, as a parent, as anand an uncle, whoever.
(03:59):
You know that anyone that serves
this next generation, it is so vitalthat we realize that it is a battle
if we're doing the things that that Godasks of us, if we if we are sacrificing
and we are tithing,and we are giving our time
and our talents and our resources,
if we are submitting to Godand being in Scripture,
if we are in prayer,if we're letting our kids go out
and just trustingGod with their lives like it is a battle
(04:22):
and it's one that we can't give up on.
We can't cut corners.
We can't, you know,shave a little off this year.
We have to be so intentional
with the with the life that that Jesushas given us, the Holy Spirit, the life
that he has redeemed
and I found
I stumbled on this quote this weekfrom from Charles Spurgeon.
I'm just going to paraphrase.
I'm not going to read the quote,but it says this.
It says when someone is born again
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through faith in Christ,
their life immediately day one, it entersinto a spiritual battle against sin.
And the world is not like,get your bearings right, find a church,
find you know, understand Scripturea little bit like a certain saint.
Day one.
There's this immediate battlethat you're thrust into because
now you're not deadanymore. You're made alive.
(05:04):
And when you're alive, you have choice.
And when you have choice and you havethe Holy Spirit, it's this decision.
Are we going to live for God?Are we going to live for self?
And that's the tension
I think Romans is presenting iswho are we going to live for?
And that Spurgeon is talking about?
I don't mean it happened day one
and you were with us in the fall.
Pastor Carl took us through judges.
It was a great series,great study, a lot to pull from it.
(05:28):
And he shared this with the church,and I was thinking about it a lot
the last couple weeks
that that you and I can be tired in itand we should be tired.
And if if we're living for othersand we're sacrificing
and we're we're doing whatwe're supposed to do, we should be tired.
But we can't be tired of it.
That's the charge. As a Christian.
Don't get tired of it.Don't get lazy in your faith. Right?
I was talking to our our high schoolstudents.
(05:48):
We're going through the book of Hebrews.
When we talk aboutour faith is like a spectrum where
maybe we hear it's very legalisticand we kind of add things to the cross
over here. It's very lazy. Our faith.
We don't want to be either extremes.
We want to be right in the middlewhere Jesus is our fixed reference point.
And as we live thisChristian life, we don't.
God doesn't mind us being tired.
And itwe should be, but we can't be tired of it.
(06:10):
Because when we're tired of it, thingsget sideways.
Sin creeps and temptation creeps.And bless you.
When we get tired of it, we stop fighting.
We stop doingthe things we're supposed to do.
We stop.
We stop inviting God into our livesand asking for his strength and his wisdom
and his discernmentand his his, his, his what he has for us.
Right?
And so, as cheesy as it is,we have to be vigilant.
(06:32):
We have to be fighters, right?
Otherwise,
life can get a little bit weird on us.
As I was processing
the text, the Bible,I think the Gospels this shares that
although our spirits regeneratedor made new, our flesh is not right.
And that means we have a warring, meanswe have conflict.
We have tension within us
(06:54):
because we certainly want to serve a Godwho loves us, who came down and took on
flesh and lived a life and then diedand paid the penalty that we couldn't pay.
We want towe want to serve and we want to love him.
We want to live for him.
But then if we're being honest,we also want to live for self
and other things that I want and I want topursue and I want to be in control.
I want to have the authority.
I want to me, me, me, me, me.
(07:15):
I think as we get marriedand we have kids and we,
we are getting further removedfrom that, you know, hope hopefully. But
but we have this conflict
and I think we have to acknowledgethe conflict that exists within us.
We don't ignore itand we don't say it doesn't exist.
It does exist.
Bless you. Yep.
So as we jump into five, or chapter sixthis morning, I,
I want to remind us, PastorKrall shared with us that
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that the first five chapters has shown usthat all nations are guilty.
There's not anyone that doesn't that thathasn't fallen short of the glory of God,
which is the beauty of, ofof of the cross.
Right.
And it's the beauty ofwe don't look sideways and say,
you know, look at you and look at you,
and your sin is greaterand your sin is less, right.
And we're supposed to focus on the plank
in our own eye,not the speck in someone else's eye.
But chapterfive has showed us that all are guilty.
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All nations, all peoples were guiltyas charged.
Humanity is guilty.
But the good news isthat Jesus took the penalty for our crime.
He took it away. He made us righteous.
That's an amazing thingthat that Jesus became what we are
so that we could become what he isblameless in the sight of God,
righteous because of the cross,we are made new.
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It's an amazing reality.
And so before we jump in,
I just want to put this on the screenfor you to think about chapters 1 to 5.
They they talk about being dead insane.
We're dead in our sin.
And what can you dowhen you're dead in sin?
Not you can't do anything right.
But then it's sneaky.
You just sub one word in and one word out.
Chapter six seven, eight. It shifts.
Paul shifts his language.
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He says, now we're dead to sin.
It's a big difference.
And this feels like it's our response.How do we respond, then, to the sin
that is still in our livesand in this world?
And so we're no longer dead
in Saint Paul's going to argue in chaptersix, we're dead to sin.
Right.
And so it's that's very proactive.
Now, what are we goingto do with our life?
What are you going to do with the lifethat God has blessed us with and given us?
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So I want to start with thatfour step process, and we'll start with
the first word is to knowfor the note takers, I'm talking about no.
And before we jump into six we got toI got to remind you,
David just referenced it during communion.
Chapter five ends in this wayit says, but where sin increased,
grace increased all the more.
It's important to note, certainly worsethan increased grace has to increase
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because the cross is complete,it has to increase.
We can't outspend the cross right.
And so Paul, with that in mind,is going to jump in to six
and acknowledge that right away.
So I want to readthe first couple scriptures.
It says this
in six verse oneit says what shall we say then?
Shall we go on sendingso that grace may increase?
Verse two.
He says, by no meanswe are those who have died to sin.
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How can we live in it any longer?
Verse three says, or don't you know thatall of us
who were baptized into Christ Jesus,we were baptized into his death?
Verse four says,we were therefore buried with him
through baptism into death, in orderthat just as Christ
was raised from the dead
through the glory of the father,we too may have a new life.
So, Paul,why is he talking? Any objections?
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He's easy.
He's right away saying,
now we're just because grace increasesand grace abounds doesn't mean we.
We want to lean inand live a selfish lifestyle.
Augustine said, love the Lordyour God and do as you please.
Right?
And Paul's saying nowhen he's fighting every objection
here, he's saying, no, that's nothow we're supposed to live our lives.
All right?
We're not.
We're forced to push back to any desire
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to live for self and to please self,to think that sin right
should, should, should rule in our livesand then we should give in to it.
Now it's important to know, doesunlimited forgiveness for standing exist?
Of course it does. It does.
But it doesn't mean we continueto live in that space any longer.
But I liken it to likethe jail cell has been open
and we're just choosing to livein that cell.
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Like, why are the doors wide open?
We might walk out for a little bit
and then we find ourselves rightback in that cell. But the door is open.
We're dead to sin.
It means we should look andlive and act a different way.
But unlimited forgiveness for sindoes still exist.
Grace does abound.
But I think why Paul makes this argument,why we're not supposed to live
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in our old, brokenways, is because of the cost of our sin.
We couldn't pay that cost.
So Jesus came down.
He paid that penalty for our trespasses.
I mean, I and I
just think of my own shame, my own guilt,my own struggles, my own disgust at times
that Jesus bore that for meon the cross times all of us
and the 8 billion people that liveand has ever lived and will ever live.
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I mean, I just thinkmine can be suffocating enough.
The things that I struggle with
and things I try to push back onand and try not to indulge in.
And yet it's billions and billionsand billions of people more that
Jesus experienced that hurt on the cross,that guilt, that shame, that disgust.
And so, in my view,I'm just like, I can't keep living there
because in some ways it's like,am I even valuing the cross?
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Then am I even valuing the
the gift that is grace and salvationand eternity with God?
It's like I have to start living right?
Your will be done on earth as it is inheaven, right here, right now, in my life
as it is in heaven, and flip sideslife as it is in heaven.
So we have to push back. We have to fight.
And I think what Paul's is
getting out here is this, that you and Iare supposed to walk in newness of life.
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That's what
that's what verse three talks about, says,or don't you know that all of all of us
who were baptized into Christ Jesus,we were baptized into his death.
It was actually really importantto reflect on.
Right?
And we have to be prettyconvinced of this.
We have no theology.
We have to know what this is saying,because so often
I think we say, no, I'm going to addJesus to my marriage, which is good.
I'm going to add Jesus to my finances.
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I'm going to add Jesus to my parenting,which are all good things,
but we don't add Jesus to us.
It says we're fully immersed in him.
I mean, you know, think of baptism, right?
Oh, we do baptism here in Carl'spool, right?
Full immersion.
Jesus was fully immersedwhen he was baptized.
And so we have to not fallen to the trapof, oh, I'm going to add Jesus to me now.
We're fully immersed in him.
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That means in all aspects of life,we should have Jesus as our
as our reference point, as our as our,you know, glasses that we look through,
like whether I'm at workor at home or ballgame or
with my family or my friends or churchor whatever, that Jesus is
on mymind always because I'm fully immersed.
You are fully immersed in him,and it's easy to live contrary to that.
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And that's why I think Paul'shitting at this.
Don't forget, you're dead to sin.
You're dead to sin, not dead in sin.
And so we need to be mindfulthat when we're immersed in Christ's death
right throughhis, this baptism into his death.
And so Paul's again,he's just hitting the point.
How can we live in sin any longer?
He's saying, you know, God, you knowthe miracles, you know the teachings.
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You know how he lived his life.
And in light of that,and you know the cost of the cross,
how can we live there any longer?
And I want to say it one more time.
Again, we don't look left and right,front and back.
We we look we search our own hearts whenit comes to the sin issues that we have.
The plank in my eye is the same size,the plank in your eye.
But your eyes will look like a speck to mebecause I'm not focused on yours.
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I'm focused on my own.
I'm focused on me, doing better. Me,me, me.
Growing in my faithand living that out through my marriage
and my parenting in my,you know, youth pastoring.
And so we're called to walkin newness of life.
I'm going to continue.
We're gonna jump into verse five.
It says, for if we have been unitedwith him in a death like this,
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we will certainly also be unitedwith him in a resurrection like this.
For we know that our old selfwas crucified with him,
so that the body ruled by sin,it might be done away with.
We should no longer be slaves to sin,because anyone who has died
has been set free from sin.
Now, if
we died with Christ, we believe thatwe will also live with him.
For we know that since Christ was raisedfrom the dead, he cannot die again.
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Death no longer has mastery over him.
The death he died,he died to sin once for all.
And this is important.
But the life he lives, he lives to God.
It's one thing to believethat we're forgiven and experience that.
It's another thing to live our life
to God, to dedicate that life to God.
Christ as he lives this life,he lives to God.
We are called to live to God,to seek holiness because he is holy.
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Right.
Verses 5 to 10 I think they share with usthat Christ died and rose again,
that Scripture assures that when he died,we died.
And when he rose, we rose.
And so there's something really magical,something really important,
something really mysteriousabout the cross.
Because the cross,what happened 2000 years ago.
But in 2005, I experienced the crosswhen I accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.
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And you experienced
and whatever you're you experiencedthat you became a believer.
So in that way,the cross will be alive forever.
Because once we become a believer, once,once the Holy Spirit regenerates
us, we experience that death and thatresurrection is really this magical thing,
that God is a giftthat he allows us to say.
That's a reality for mein 2005 and beyond,
and for all of youand whatever year you came to faith,
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it's quite wild.
But if we do believe that we died with himwhen he rose again,
and we do believe
that the sins of our lives andthe lives of those around us are forgiven,
and that means the power of our sin.Nature also died.
The power of our sin nature is dead.
The power is gone. We don't need again.
Go back in and out of that jail cell.It is gone.
It is done. We are dead.
It's interesting
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if you think about rightthis older self, this older Michael before
I was a believer and then you have towe have to view him as dead.
I am a new person in Christ.
So that old versionof me is gone, is dead.
Our our junior highers are in Genesis.
We're going through the book of Genesisand Revelation.
We're kind of like bookending scripture.
And we're going through
how God is using Abraham, Isaac and Jacobto bring about the Messiah.
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And and we just got through Esauand Jacob twins.
But they're so differentin every single way.
He's always hairy.
He's a man of the country.
He connects better with his father.
Jacob is smooth skinned.
It says, he stays among the tentsand he connects with his mother.
And there's some family dynamics.
There's some hurt and brokenness. But.
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But what we seetalked about here in Romans
six was actually firsttalked about in Genesis with our story.
God told Rebecca, their mother.
He said that the older Esauwill serve the younger,
just like my old self,my sinful self, my broken self, my dead
self is going to serve my new,younger self.
That is spirit led and spirit driven.
And so we see this.
That's how we have to be in Scripturebecause we see this connection,
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the old version of me as Esau, he'sgoing to serve the younger version of me,
which is Jacob, right?
The oldest there, the new has come.
And so we're called in that wayto, to, to to reckon myself dead.
And we'll talkabout reckoning in a minute.
But we have to get this donewith the Norse theology.
We have to know that scriptureand all the connections
and all that end in the out,because God talked about this very idea
back in Genesis, whatever, 20 something 26but if we don't know
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this, we're going to miss it.
And so our
old self should serve our younger self,the broken flesh, and serve the spirit.
It's a really coolconcept, really cool idea.
And I think the one way to sum that upis just to say this, that
that sin is rendered powerless.
The sin you have in your life that stillexists, it's still there, right?
Just because we're saveddoesn't mean we still don't have sin.
Pop up here and there,but it's rendered powerless.
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I think, as I processin, I think the reality is
that we should spend lessas we as we mature in our faith,
and so we should sin less, but it shouldalso hit us more, should hit us harder.
It hit us heavier because wewe know how much we've been blessed.
We know how much God has done for us.
And so, although we have less than,it should almost be like
we're more convicted and we're more hurtand we're more broken over our sin,
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less means more insome weird spiritual way,
because we don't want towalk in that way any longer.
But sin is better, powerless.
Verse five.
It shared that the body of sinshould be done away with, done away with.
Think of it like it's void.
It's completely void.
It's abolished.
It's out of business.
That old version of me, it's gone. Why?
Because we were baptizedinto Christ. Death.
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That old nature is voided.
It is gone.
But like I just said, the realityis that our old self
still lingers around, still fighting forits life, still wanting to find life.
Wanting to find out that hold on us,wanting it, wanting
to kind of jump back into the picture.
And so I think very practically,
we just have to say, all right, God,I need you more than I need me.
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I need to get off the throne.
I can't keep playingGod. I can't keep going for self.
And verse 11 speaks of that.
It says in the same way, count yourselves
dead to sin,but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
So the first step,
I think, to, to, to living this new lifeis to know what Scripture says, to know
the connection to the Old Testament,the new, to know what Jesus said,
to know that our God has ultimate victory.
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Although the Christian life is a battle,a daily battle for you and for me,
we know the victor.
Our God is the victor.
And so we have to believe this stuff.We have to.
We have to rather we have to know it.
And that's going to leadhopefully to this, this deep conviction
and this belief.
And so that's what step two is,I think this morning is to reckon yourself
never use that word in my lifebefore preparing this teaching.
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I don't reckon, I've used that.
But you have to reckon yourself,
you have to decide that you're deadto sin.
Yeah. Stupid joke.
If you decide that you're dead to sin,you have to reckon it fully.
I am dead to sin and I'm alive to Christ.
And you have to own it.
If the first step is knowing,
the second self is believing fully,all in wholeheartedly.
This is true.
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As I wanted it.
I was thinkingI wanted to give us a definition
for reckonjust because it's not a word we use.
And so reckon is this.
It's a firm conviction reached by rationalthought on the basis of the gospel.
So the gospel is theis the is the foundation.
But I love the first couple words.
It's a firm conviction.
To reckon that we're dead to sinis to be all in fully believe it.
1,000% convinced.
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It's not like I'm kind of lukewarm.Or maybe it's true.
Maybe it's not. No, it's we're fullythere.
It's a it's a firm convictionby by rational
thought on the basis of the gospel.
So reckon it's to count yourself to countthis deed already completely done.
This deed is done.
I am dead to sin.
Say it over and over if you need to.
I am dead to it.
And I think how I've.
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I've come to unpackthis is we have to believe that.
That this new life is totally disconnectedfrom our past life, right?
This, that when you were placed in Christ,
you were completely disconnectedfrom your past. Right?
That Grand Canyon
seems like we are completely disconnectedin this world and how we live.
It's hard to get rid of our pastand the mistakes and the hurt
because we see the same peopleor we experience the same things.
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But but the hurt in Christ,the hurt towards
God that existed,it is fully erased because of the cross.
It's gone.
And we don't have to live in that hurtspace any longer.
All the stuff, the crap that maybeis coming to mind that you like.
I still maybe struggle with this.
Give it to God and you are dead to it
fully and forever dead to it.
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Now Galatians 220 is a great scripturethat speaks this truth.
It says, I have been crucified with Christand I no longer live.
I don't live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the bodyI live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me,gave himself for you.
I think you can see this played outreally in a really cool way
through Isaiah the prophet Isaiah.
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If we go, if we jump in the Old Testament,I'm not going to read per se,
but I want to give you kind of a pictureof what happens. Isaiah.
He sees a vision of the Lord.
He sees the cry of the servant,and he sees that God is holy
in light of who he is.
You see, God is so holy.
And when Isaiah got this revelation,he saw God's beauty and his majesty.
But it's important to knowhow did he respond?
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Isaiah says, woe is me,
woe is me, for I am lost.
A man of unclean lips.
Isaiah responds to God's holiness
for seeing himselffor what he really is sinful, wretched,
right, dirty.
And Isaiah cursed his own selfright in light of just who he is.
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And that juxtaposition of like, Godis there and I am so far away from that.
I can never get there.
He was broken over his sinful natureand the things of his heart.
And this morning,
I think in the same way, we have to bebroken of the things of our heart.
We do our hardest.
It's not always oriented towards God.
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Even though we have this nowheart of flesh, it's still not always,
you know, focus in the right directionas we broken over our sin.
Not in a way that leads to guiltand shame, but in a way that leads to us
pursuing Christ more and in in
like an act of thanksgiving.
We have to we have to believe,
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that that nastinessthat Isaiah describes is real.
And we have to reckonthat we're going to live for Christ.
Verse 14 or sorry, verse12 speaks to this.
He says therefore, which means witheverything we've talked about in mind,
do not let sin reign in your mortal body
so that you obey its evil desires.
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First step is to know Scripture, to knowGod's Word.
Second is to reckon and believe.
It is fully and wholly true,
not to live in guilt and shame,
not to live looking left and right,
but to say, God,help me with the plant in my eye.
Help me to look more like you.
And so our third step this morning
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is to resist.
It's to resist.
And so maybe this scripture comes to mind.
Maybe not.
But James four seven says, resistthe devil and he will flee from you.
Resist the devil, he will flee from you.
So as a as a believer, if we're just goingprogression right, we know Scripture.
We got to know it. We got to believefully. We got to be all in.
Then we got to resist.
We got to act.We got to do something. Now.
But Isaiah or James ratherfour seven actually starts,
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you know, different than what I just read.
It doesn't start with resistthe devil. He will flee from you.
It starts submit yourselves into God.
Submit yourselves, then to God.
Resist the deviland he will flee from you.
The order of operation is important
because I believe that thing.
If we do not submit,
the ability to resist is not possible.
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And I know as Americanswe love our freedom.
If we do not like this submit,
we do not like even the word submissionfeels kind of nasty at times.
I think we attach negative things to it,but we're we're talking about submitting
to a God who was holy and justand righteous and good and sacrificial.
Christ suffered on our behalf
because he never gave in to temptationand sin.
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And so submitting to Christ is bestcase scenario, because his yoke is light,
his burden does not exist.So where's ultimate freedom in Christ?
And so I thinkas I as I process this week, if I want to
resist, I have to submit.
And if I have to submit,I have to seek God.
And if I'm seeking God, then then that'swhat we call sanctification, right?
Big church, fancy word.
But but it just means to separate,to be set apart,
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set apart from sin, and ultimatelyprogressively becoming more like Jesus.
That sanctification
that you and I over our lifetimeare going to look more like Jesus,
you know, in ten years and in 20 yearsand in 30 years than we do today,
hopefully, you know, over the next,you know, couple years,
maybe the next month or two.
But but the goal is to look more likeJesus
every day,which means he has to be on our hearts,
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and you have to be on our minds,
and you have to be someone we seekand something we someone we interact with.
The result of submitting to seeking andseeking, I think, leads to sanctification.
And sanctificationleads us to this scripture.
It's it's second Corinthians 318.
It says, and we knowand we all who with unveiled faces
we should contemplate the Lord's glory.
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Why? Because in that way we're goingto be transformed into his image,
and we're going to experience the everincreasing glory
which comes from the Lord,who is the spirit I.
But as I look at it
right, we're supposed to contemplatethe Lord's glory, seek his face,
and then it talks of this ever increasingglory like the more we seek him.
I mean, there should just be morerevealing and more understanding and more,
more, more grace and more more of a freedom that we get to experience in Christ
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growing in the Christian life.
Is it saying no to self and yes to Christ?
It's saying yes to repentance,yes to Scripture, yes to prayer.
Yes to accountability.
Looking left and right and saying, hold meaccountable.
I need you to hold me accountable.
As long as today is called today, Hebrewssays we should encourage each other,
especially as believers,
because we're working so hardand trying to please God and
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and trying to do his workand further his kingdom.
But it's difficult.
So we need to encourage each other.
But we're called to sanctify ourselves.
We're called to seek Godand submit to him.
You know, I like,sometimes I'm going to the gym.
I want to lift heavy weights.
You know, I want to be mindful ofwhat I'm listening to.
And so
I have I call it aggressive worship.
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Music, aggressive worship.
So it's it's like screamo singing music,but it's the Christians that that lead it.
And I wanted to share.
I wanted to share one of their,lyric with you.
It says this, it says you're born again.
You're a new life.
You are a new creation.
But there is to be progress.
There's to be growing.
There's to be growinginto the likeness of Christ.
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We have to begin to conquer the fleshlittle by little, day by day.
As you live, there is to be a progressin in conquering the flesh.
This new life, this new man,this new person that you are
has to begin to grow.
When we're placed in Christ,we're separated from our past of
has to begin to grow.
I love that right.
You don't hear much of that either.
Google it because he'sjust screaming the whole time.
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But it's there.
It's there, the promise. It's there.
If you want the playlist,I'll send it to you.
It's really good, I promise.
It's awesome.
I initially convicted me this week.
I want I want this for myself,but I want this more for my family.
And so I wanted to talk to the parentsor grandparents
or aunts and uncles, whoever
has kids in their lifethat they get to influence.
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Right?
Because you know this, we can't takeeverything into heaven with us.
We can't take the cars,the house, the fancy toys, the nothing.
We can't. It's that's not how it works.
But we can stand before God, armswide open and say,
look what I did with the livesyou blessed me with.
Look, I do with seal, Jude, Levi, Logan.
I do with the lives you bless me with.
And in that waywe have to sanctify ourselves.
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We have to seek God, because if we don't,we will not do those things well.
You know what's true?
I think there'swhat one generation sees as optional.
The next might see is unnecessary,
and we don't want our kids to see seekingGod and sanctifying ourselves
and knowing Scriptureand being in prayer and being in community
and encouraging each otheras optional kids, not it's not optional,
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something that we have to havethis deep conviction in
deep like, love for
because life is busy and it is loud.
And sometimes you can look upand like I have off my Bible in a week,
we have to take this seriouslyand spend time in here in this thing,
and I loveI was one pastor, I was, I was listening.
There are a coupleI follow online on social media and and
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and he was talking about sanctificationand he any, any
he shared threadsand I want to share with you this morning.
Oh, skip that one. My bed.
Oh wait. Where am I at?
There it is.
Sorry. I'm all over the place.
So the 3D god declares,
Satan denies and we have to decide.
I think back to the garden.
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God declared,
how many of you are safe?
You're taking care of your goodlike you're provided for.
I want to walk in the coolness of daywith you. Trust me, trust me.
I'm your God. I'm.
I'm your creator. I want to,I want to do life with you.
But that one treewhere they're just a tree.
I'm not going to believe that one alone.
You don't need that. It's not.There's no benefit to you.
I'm your God, and I'm going to.I'm going to take care of you.
Trust me.
God declared these things,and then Satan denies as we know, right?
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He's like, I, can you believeGod is trying to be in controlling here?
Why would he?Why would he keep something from you?
You know,I just want you to be like him, right?
He just denies he tweaks it. Twist.
And then Adam and Eve had to decide.
And we know how that went. Right.
And so I guess the same thingapplies to us, right?
God is declaring these things to us.
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And Satan might deny.
He might twist, he might turn.
He might say, Michael,you can't really serve, right.
You I mean, you know whatyou thought and done and things
that are of your own heartand the brokenness that exists.
And then I have to decide,am I going to believe those lies,
although they once were true?
Am I going to believe those lies and say,well, God can't use me because I have
made mistakes in my life? No.
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So we haveto decide, are we actually dead to sin?
Are you dead to sin?
Scripture is declaringthat God is declaring it.
You are dead to sinand you're alive in Christ.
Don't believe anything short of that.
And so I think a good way.
It's sobering.
It's it's humbling
to to say, am I dead to sin or am I deadin sin is to look at your lifestyle.
What does it show?
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Is God's Word trustworthy to you?
Is is community valuable right?
Am I the king? Is Christthe King? Who's leading this, this?
This thing?
Who's leading this show? You know.
Look at that lifestyle.
Look at what you pursue and the thingsyou are and who you're becoming.
Are you dead to sin?
Are you still dead inside?
My hope is my prayeris that you are dead to it.
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So in Corinthians is the scripturethat I come back to all the time.
It's something I,I use when I was baptized at 21.
It says, therefore,if anyone is in Christ,
a new creation has come, the old is gone,the new is here. It's amazing reality.
It's amazing truth.
That means I'm not defined by my old self.
That means I'm not definedby my own mistakes or my sin.
I'm not the same dude anymore.
I'm a new creation.
And if I'm a new creation and you're a newcreation, let's start living that way
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with authority I.
We're defined by the cross,and that's been our hope
and our faith and our trust inJesus for the forgiveness of our sins.
And so much so that Paul in verse 13 here,
he's going to he'sgoing to make it super personal.
He says, do not offer any part of yourselfas an instrument of wickedness,
but rather offer yourself to God as thosewho have been brought from death to life
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and offer every part of yourself to himas an instrument of righteousness.
So when we talk about us being baptizedinto Christ, death, that's like full body.
But now we're talking about every memberof our body, every member,
like hands, eyes, toes, knees,you know, whatever.
Like he's asking, what are you doing withall these different members of your body?
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How how are you pursuing me? How are you?
How are you living for me?
How are you using your hands and your eyes
and your earsfor my righteousness and for my glory?
Right is very personal.
It's very specific.
Our God wants us to be so intentional withour faith that we answer that question.
And we can say, here'show I use my hands for your glory.
Here's how I use my eyes for your glory.
I'm your ears for your glory.Here's how I do these things.
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To not just go through lifeand not process how I'm being intentional.
Living for God.
It's important to process this now.
Our fourth pointthis morning is to replace,
and I'm not going to read the lastall the last scriptures here,
but I want to jump into 16in a couple others real quick.
It says in verse 16, don'tyou know that when you offer yourselves
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to someone as obedient slaves,you are slaves of the one you obey?
Whether you are slaves to sin,which leads to death,
or to obedience,which leads to righteousness.
I think verse 16 is asking the question,
like which nature are you feeding?
Which nature?
Like who are you living for?
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Are you feeding the slavethe sin that leads to death,
or of obediencethat leads to righteousness?
Because what we feed is going to grow,
it's going to grow inour life is going to manifest itself.
It's going to be known,and it's going to be visible.
So what do you allow in inwhat do you like to influence you?
What are you consuming?
What's what's what's
what's that look like for youthis morning?
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It's importantto know what nature in my feeding.
And we jump into verse 21.
It says, what benefit did you reap at
the time fromthe things you are now ashamed of?
So I think he's referring to,like from your former life before you
and before you knew Jesus, that you wereashamed of what benefit was there, right?
What benefit did you reap at the timefor the things you are
now ashamed of,the things that result in death?
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And so I think as I processthis scripture, it's
it's really challenging us to say,
don't look back at your lifebefore knowing Jesus with nostalgia.
Like, don't look back. It led to death.There was nothing.
I mean, sure, you might have good memoriesor good moments
and God redeemed some thingsand guided you.
I'm not saying they're not valuable,
but don't look back at that old lifeand think, I wish I had
what once I did before Christbecause it was leading to death.
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There's no value.
Paul saying, he's saying, look forward.
Have your fixed reference point on Jesusgoing forward.
Don't focus on where you were,who you've been,
but where you're goingand where God wants to send you
what's coming next and include you.
Don't look back.There's no benefit to that.
And then verse 23, this is just salvationin a sentence writes grace.
Verse23 says, for the wages of sin is death,
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but the gift of God is eternal lifein Christ Jesus our Lord.
Remember, we can't.
We couldn't pay that penaltyfor our trespasses.
We couldn't pay the cost.
It's great. It's too great.
But our God did pay it.That's the reality.
He did pay it.
And we get eternal life with him.
And we should live as such here on earth.
We should live in a way
where we have that full confidencein that full assurance
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that the Holy SpiritI have in me a new in you.
It is a depositguaranteeing our inheritance.
But it's a it's a depositthat he's saying I want to use right now.
I want to cash in right here, right now.
I want to use you in the spaceor in the ranchos or wherever you live.
I want to use you now.
Right.
It's not just foryou look into eternity. It's.
No, it's like,what are you doing for me here and now?
2025.
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We're going to have options.
We're going to live for self, for God.
We dead to sin. Are we dead in sin?
I want to end with a couple things.
Pastor Carl brought this up last week.
Which federal had.
Are you going to live under? Right.
He talked about Adam, which leads to deathor Jesus, which leads to life,
and it leads to, peace with God and accessto God's grace and even suffering.
Right?Even even glory in our suffering. Right?
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These are the thingsthat Christ offers us.
And I would ask the same thingthis morning, like,
not maybe as a federal headbutt, butbut what's
what are you going to believe thethe declaration,
the truth that you're dead to sinor the lie that you're dead in sin?
What are you goingto believe this morning?
I hope it's that you're dead to sin.
You're not dead,and then you're not stuck anymore.
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God has redeemed you fully and forever.
And we have the freedomto live in that truth.
So as we wrap up,I just want to put back up
our four steps right to know,to reckon, to resist and to replace.
Maybe ask the question,where are you right now on this list?
Where are you? Where do you find yourself?
Are you still in the no stage where you'relike, I need to know what God's Word is.
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I need to unpack it and processin and walk and people to walk
alongside me to, to go through it.
Or have you gotten through that?
And you know it.You feel like you know it.
And now you're like, I need to, you know,I need to have deep conviction, right?
I need to believe that it's true.
Not just know what it says, but like,I need this.
I need to apply this to my life.
Or yet therewas this stage where you'll be like, how?
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And actively trying to be proactiveand seek God and and resist.
Or you just replaceand you're building up.
You're having good spiritual habit, habitsand disciplines to to protect yourself
with one
maybe most resonates with youand which one feels most foreign.
I think that's also an important questionto ask.
Because. Because why is it foreign?
Why does it feel far off?
Why does it feel like it's somethingthat you you don't quite understand or me?
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It's a good questions to ask.
You know, Pascale,we were talking about this.
This, you know, this chapterthat the last couple weeks and
and he was saying, I think the Christianlife is often, often,
it's like,you know, we're all swimming in a pool.
We're all hanging out or,
you know, swimming andand sometimes we have, you know,
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some of us are on the sidelinejust kicking our feet in the water.
And we're saying we're swimming.
We're notwe're just we're still on the sideline.
And our God is fully inviting us
into this relationshipwith him and saying, let me lead.
Let me guide, let me help you.
Let me, let me influence your thoughtsand your mind and your desires.
Let me do that for you.
You need to know and you need to reckon.
You need to resistand you need to replace.
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That's how we live out.
Jettison in life, in Christ.
Pastor Carl always asks,you know, he said, reread
six with this frameworknow, but read seven.
He'll be with us again next Sunday.
Read seven, but I want in with this.
Our series is greater than right, greaterthan whatever, greater than your sin
or whatever you're talkingwith. And I would say this morning,
grace is greater than your stubborn sin.
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Grace is greater than your stubbornnessin the thing that holds
you back,the thing that is just like that,
that lie in your head,the thing that just caused you to stumble.
Grace is greater than that.
Your stubborn, annoying, irritating sin.
Don't live a lie that you are deadand then you are dead to sin.
I hope that has been encouragingto this morning.
I'm going to pray for us
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and we're going to sing one more songwith the band.
Father, we thank you for this morning.
We thank you for everyone here.We thank you for your word.
We thank you that you pursue usand that you seek us
and that you have declared things overus, these these truths, Lord.
But I pray that we would have a heartto open up
your words, that we know these truths.
Father,
give us eyes and ears and toes and hands
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and and help us to be so intentionalwith members of our body
that we can say, this is howI glorify you, this is how I glorify you.
This is how I serve you.
This is how I how I further your kingdom.
We are grateful for Pauland how you spoke through him,
and we pray that we would havea deep conviction this week.
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So to know that we are deadto sin and alive in you, Jesus,
please be with us this week.
Bring us back next week.
So we continue to further understandyour word and continue
to further grow in our
our role here in this community.
Please convict our hearts this morning.
Lord in love for you.
Visiting in Jesus. Amen.
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