you
That's all greater far within your place morning. Thank you
you
All right, good morning everybody. Welcome to Mary Baptist Church. Take out your bullets in here today
And happy Independence Day. Independence Day is tomorrow and we will have a sermon themed on independence here today
But we are a family integrated church meaning children and infants are welcome during the services
We do have a mother baby room back there for your convenience as well as the ladies restroom
Men's restroom is up here in front
Remember no eating during the service
Maintain a professional atmosphere and keep the children from running making noise during the church service on the next page our service times listed first
Service is at 10 a.m. Then we have a short break in our 1115 service Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m
So many times listed 4 p.m. Meeting here at the church building on Wednesdays Saturdays
We have all day soul winning 10 to 12 lunch provided by church and then also 2 to 4 and then Sunday afternoons
We have so any around 145 here today, obviously as brother Marlon said weather permitted, you know, it's kind of unpredictable
But what I've seen from experience is when you think it's really gonna rain
It does not rain and since I think it's gonna rain it's probably gonna be great weather here later today
But we will find out but anyways
We have our salvation so baptisms listed there for the year as well as the month for all of our churches and Bible study fellowships
Birthdays and anniversaries down there below for the month of June on the next page our Bible memorization challenge
And so today is the last day to quote Matthew 2 verses 12 through 23 to get the prize
The one for next week is Luke 15 11 through 32 both sermons next week or Father's Day themed
And so we're out of Matthew at least for next week ages 8 to 10 memorizing 7 verses and below the age of 8 memorizing
Just one verse upcoming activities. We do have men's choir practice here today
And we have a soul in a marathon tomorrow weather permitted for Independence Day
You have the freedom to do whatever you want, but in that freedom, you know
You ought to go soul winning, right?
And anyways next Sunday is Father's Day. We have our Father's Day choir. We also have our Father's Day bowling event
So that should be a lot of fun same location as the ladies went for Mother's Day
Our monthly prayer meeting is in two weeks current and upcoming series. We are in the alphabet of Bible doctrines
And then also the book of Matthew as well information on a group chat and then on the back
There's a place for notes for both of the sermons here today
So I believe that's it for announcements what brother Marlon lead us in
Oh
Jesus
This time we'll take our Titan offering
You
Amen for us picture eating please open your Bibles to the book of Galatians Galatians chapter 5
Near the end of your Bible Galatians chapter 5
You have the book of John Acts Romans 1 second Corinthians Galatians
Galatians chapter 5 and we will only be reading verses 1 down to verse 13
Galatians chapter 5 we say amen if you're there
amen
Galatians chapter 5 verse 1
Stand fast therefore the Liberty will with Christ admit us free and be not entangled again with a yoga bondage
Bill I Paul said to you that if he be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing
For testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is debtor to the whole law
Rice has become a doe a pagan to you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law. You're followed from grace
For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith
For a Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything there uncircumcision
But faith which worketh by love you did run well, but it hinder you that you should not obey the truth
This persuasion cometh not of him that call to you a little leaven leaven in the whole lump
I have confidence in you through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded
but he that trouble to you shall bear his judgments whosoever he be and
I brethren if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?
That is the offense of the cross season. I would never even cut off which trouble you
For brethren you have been called into Liberty only use not Liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another
Let's the reading of God's word. Let's break
We're gonna have you think of our first day to give it to us a fair load should please bless those this day
I pray Lord should please give us good health and
For a soul winning later on and the proof for the truth. Please pleasure preaching and that we should go word Lord this day
All
Right, we're here in Galatians chapter 5 and tomorrow is Independence Day
So I do have one sermon themed on the topic of independence and the name of the sermon is freedom isn't free now
When I say freedom isn't free you could preach this in a political sense. I'm preaching in a spirit
Spiritual freedom isn't free now
We're in the book of Galatians and mainly will be in Galatians and Romans here today
And when you think of books that talk about salvation you think of the book of John you think of the book of Romans?
but Galatians is really the book that gonna goes into the nitty and gritty of the complicated situations where there's confusion of salvation in the
Church and so Galatians is the book we're gonna be in here for a while now notice what it says here in verse 1
Stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage
The Bible says that when you get saved you have liberty in Christ
You say what does that mean it means you can do whatever you want?
And you will still go to heaven because salvation is eternal life
Salvation is everlasting life, and there is liberty in the fact that no matter what you do
You are saved and on your way to heaven
I got saved at the age of 18
And I don't doubt my salvation at all because it's not dependent on what I do
It's dependent on the fact that Jesus was perfect
I believed on that and he gave me a gift and a gift means there's no exchange for us. It is eternal life
There are people coming into the church saying well
You know if you're really saved you should get your kids circumcised if you're really saved
You're gonna follow this law and that law and that law it's like look. We're saved by faith alone
Salvation is a free gift, and that's it. We don't have to keep the law to be saved
We don't have to keep the law to prove. We're saved because we're saved by grace through faith verse 2
Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law
Christ has become of no effect on you whosoever of you are justified by the law you're fallen from grace
And what he's saying there is similar to Revelation 21 8 where we say all liars shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone
It's not saying well if you tell a lie you're gonna lose your salvation and go to hell the fact that all liars go to hell
Means if you have one sin on your record when you die you're guilty
Meaning you better be saved by faith alone
You're not gonna work your way
And he's saying if you're trying to work your way by saying well you got to get circumcised you're a debtor to keep the whole law
Right every single bit of the law for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse
For it is written cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
Which are written in the book of the law to do them
And then the Bible says Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law because we cannot earn our way to heaven
We've all sinned and we are guilty. It's not saying in verse 4 you're gonna lose your salvation if you don't keep the law
It's saying people that are trusting in their works
They're fallen from grace and Christ is of no effect on you
But see when you get saved by faith alone it is eternal life that you get you become a child of God
Go to verse number 12
You see brother Stuckey
Why are you saying spiritual freedom isn't free if you just preached that when you get saved you have freedom?
well notice what it says in verse 12 I
Would they were even cut off which trouble you now when it says cut off. What are we saying there?
It's saying kill
It's saying to die and what Paul's saying is hey if any man preached any other gospel than that
Which we have preached on you let him be accursed as he said in chapter 1. It's like let him go to hell
Now look we don't hate people of other religions
But we hate the religions and those that are the leaders of it preaching false Gospels
It's better than they just died were cut off and went to hell then that they damn other souls to hell
I mean the majority of people in this country are Catholic. You know what we don't hate people that are Catholics
but we hate the Catholic religion and
We hate the ones that are the leaders of that religion. I don't hate the average unsaved Catholic, but I hate the Pope
And
What Paul's saying is I would they were even cut off so it's preaching a false gospel and
confusing people about salvation
Right now obviously most religions are false in this world most people are unsaved
but most people in religion are not really like promoting that religion and
Preaching that religion there are plenty of unsafe people around the world in different religions
But the ones that are the leaders of those religions that are doing it for the sake of money
Or because they hate the God of the Bible. It's like let them be cut off is what the Bible saying verse 13
For brethren you have been called on to Liberty so once again. We have Liberty we have freedom
Only use not Liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another you see here's the thing
You have liberty to do whatever you want, and you will still go to heaven if you're a saved person
It is eternal life and nothing can change that you have liberty only
Use not Liberty for an occasion of the flesh and what God's saying is you have freedom to do whatever you want
But there's also Commandments that God wants you to follow I
Mean my kids have liberty to do whatever they want and they are still my kids
Only listen to what mom and dad say now you're still my kids no matter what you do
But you better obey what I say, and if I was saying use not Liberty for an occasion the flesh so here's the thing yes
We have freedom in Christ. We're saved forever. It's eternal life, but don't take this attitude
Why can't just go out and do whatever I want and who cares because I'm saved by grace
It's like I've got freedom in Christ
It's like don't put me under bondage the Bible is not saying the fact that God has rules
He wants you to follow means that you are under bondage in Galatians 5 you got a group of people that are twisting salvation
I'm not twisting salvation because no matter what you do. You're still saved
I'm saying that as a saved child of God God has a plan for your life
And it's different than the plan of the world say brother Stuckey
They don't have to read the Bible every day
But you're a child of God and God says read there in all the days of thy life
And yes, you have freedom to do whatever you want
I preach a lot of things behind this pulpit
And it's up to you what you do you want to go out and listen to rock music go ahead
But I'm still going to preach against it and Paul the Apostle saying you have freedom, but here's a list of rules
You should follow right says in verse number 14
For all the law is fulfilled in one word
Even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself
But if you bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consume one of another this I say then
Walk in the spirit, and he shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh
When you get saved you get in dwell with the Holy Spirit of God
Right you have eternal life. You're in dwell with the Holy Spirit of God
However your flesh does not disappear
Your flesh still exists
Meaning if you're someone who lived a life as a drunkard and you get saved you're going to struggle with drinking probably until the day
You die because the flesh and the spirit they fight against one another
See as a safe person there is part of you
That is a desire to serve God and read the Bible and go to church and go soul-winning and obey God's commandments
Make no mistake about it. There's another part of you that does not want to do that
You've got a sinful flesh that is fighting against the
Bible saying you've got this choice in your free will will you walk in the flesh?
Or are you gonna walk in the spirit?
Because this morning you could have woken up and said you know what I don't feel like going to church
I think I'm just gonna watch TV. You know what that's called. It's called walking in the flesh
Right you have that free will choice, that's what it says in verse 17
For the flesh lust it against the spirits and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other
If the Bible says you cannot do the things that you want to do is that freedom
You understand what I'm saying you say brother suck you I have a desire to read the Bible one hour every day
But because the flesh fights against the spirit it stops you often
So here's the thing is that 100% freedom no, it's not all of us would say you know what I want to go to church
Go soul-winning love God serve God and do right, but you always do that. No you don't why you don't have
100% freedom and you will never have 100% freedom in this life
You have salvation that lasts forever, and you're free in Christ in the sense that no matter what you do. You're safe
However, it doesn't mean you're automatically gonna do what's right every day
Because the fact the flesh fights against the spirit, and it says he cannot do the things that you would
You're not able to do what you want to do see think of it this way
Let's say you wake up, and you know you start watching TV
You're listening to rock music, and then all of a sudden you say man. You know what I should read the Bible
Isn't it true that if you're kind of backsliding a little bit? It's hard to read the Bible
It's hard to do right. I mean literally you're sitting there saying man. I got to get through five chapters
You're through a couple verses and your mind's wandering five minutes later. What am I doing on Facebook?
You say why because when you walk in the flesh it fights against the spirit and the flesh will fight against the spirit until
The day you die, and you've got to make that choice every day am I gonna walk in the spirit
Or am I gonna walk in the flesh and if you walk in the flesh?
You cannot do the things that you would see here's what you have to understand the spirit wants something the flesh wants something else
Both sides cannot get what they want
Do you understand that?
Both sides can't get what they want, and it is a daily fight because you've got the spirit and the flesh until the day you die
Right go in your Bible to Galatians 6
Galatians chapter 6
As a child of God
You know what the Bible says you understand what you should do
You have guilt that will come upon you when you break God's commandments to the Holy Spirit in dwelling you
You have a Heavenly Father that is a child of God. You can go to God at any time in prayer
And he can help you through things you know you can quote the Word of God to overcome temptation
It's easier, but it's not easy
It will never be easy to do right all the time why because we're sinners with a sinful flesh until the day we die
Galatians 6 verse 7
Be not deceived
God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soeth that shall he also reap
For he that soweth to his flesh shall the flesh reap corruption
But he that soweth to the spirit shall the spirit reap life everlasting
The Bible says if you sow to the flesh you reap corruption you sow to the spirit you reap life everlasting
You get rewards in heaven that do not pass away. Now. I want you to think about this logically. Let's say for example
Somebody is a drunkard right lasting arrow shot every day. They drink and they smoke
Do most people that smoke cigarettes every day want to smoke cigarettes
I
Not mocking you if you're struggling with that sin of smoking cigarettes
I'm using an example that we can relate to in the fact that people that smoke cigarettes
They want to stop and they can't is that freedom if you don't want to smoke cigarettes
Yet you destroy your health and use up all your money on something you don't want to do is that freedom I
Mean you think of addictions if someone is addicted to a vice they're addicted to cigarettes addicted to porn addicted to drugs
Addicted to alcohol what it means is they want to stop and they can't
Because that addiction has a hold on them. Is that freedom?
Someone who gets drunk all the time and they want to quit because it's so expensive
And they just have to drink out of the hall. Is that freedom?
It's not freedom at all
Right, or how about this you drink every single day of your life?
But you want the freedom to be completely healthy and die at the age of a hundred
The greatest husband ever and the greatest parent ever while getting drunk every single night. It's not possible my friends
Actions you make have consequences and here's what I'm saying
If you serve the flesh and say I don't want these rules that God has for me
You're gonna find your life in bondage and corruption and you're gonna destroy your life
Right, you know you're in bondage meaning this sin has control on you
You don't have control over it meaning you don't have freedom
And what's interesting about this is when people say I don't want the rules of God to obey
What they find is they put themselves in bondage and corruption and they have less freedom
Right
You serve the flesh you sow to the flesh you reap corruption and you will lose your freedom in your life
Go to your Bible to Romans 7
Romans 7
Now you don't have to listen to me
I mean just go out and sin and do wrong and get arrested because you want to do drugs or whatever
Because you want to have so much freedom really so when you're in prison and they tell you when to wake up
Where to sleep what to eat? What kind of freedom do you have?
Do people in prison have much freedom?
Nope
They're told what to do. It's like you got two minutes to eat
How is that freedom?
It's no freedom and see here's the thing when you serve God and willingly put yourself under the commandments of God say, you know
I want to do right and serve God. You're gonna find great freedom in your life
But if you want to resist all authority and just do whatever you want
You're gonna find yourself in bondage
Romans 7 verse 12
Wherefore the laws holy and the commandment holy and just and good was then that which is good made death unto me God forbid
But sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful
We know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin now notice what Paul says in verse 15
for that which I do I
Allow not now what he's saying here is the things that I'm doing are things that I don't permit I don't say are okay
It's like these are things I preach against I say don't do this. Don't do this. Don't do this and yet
I'm doing exactly what I say not to do that which I do
I allow not and then he says for what I would meaning the things I want to do that do I not
But what I hate
That do I you see if Paul the Apostle was around today?
He would say you know what I want to memorize the Bible when I have free time
I want to spend my time memorizing the Bible meditating upon God's Word
But I've got this sinful flesh that keeps fighting against me
It's like I start memorizing the Bible and then all of a sudden all these things are fighting against me stopping me from doing
What I want to do the things that I would do I'm not doing
So look if Paul the Apostle
Struggled with fighting against the flesh every single one of us is going to struggle with this until the day we die
Then it says this in verse 16
If then I do that which I would not I consent onto the law that it is good now
Then it is no more I that do it
But sin that dwelleth in me for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing and by the way
Paul speaks in the present tense. He doesn't say the things that I used to do
He says no the things I do present tense
He still struggles with the flesh because this is a daily battle that every saved person will have to fight
until the day you die
Not not to keep your salvation because you have eternal life
I mean you get born into a family you only get born one time and your parents are always your parents
But in terms of trying to serve God and do right your flesh will fight against you until the day you die
Because your spirit wants to do right and the flesh wants to do wrong
Then he says for the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good
I find not for the good that I would I do not
But the evil which I would not
That do I and he's saying what I want to do I'm not doing and yet I'm sinning every single day
Right look every single person that saves sins every day of their life the thought of foolishness is sin
Unless you want to tell me you spend a day just 100% meditating upon God's Word not having a bad thought
Never covet just enough. I mean I don't believe that I
Believe that we're all sinners and we struggle
every single one of us
verse number 20
Now if I do that, I would not it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me
So what Paul's saying is I don't want to do this, so it's not my spiritual man. It's the flesh that's doing this verse 21
I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, and if you are saved
You delight in the law of God after the inward man
Your spirit wants to do right
Look, I'm sure that when you're in church. You know you're here in a sermon
You're singing hymns
You're walking in the spirit when you're in church
And you're kind of casting off the flesh for at least a few hours and when you're in church
You often probably think man. I want to read the Bible more
Nobody is in church. They hear a sermon man
I want to read the Bible less brother Stuckey motivated me to read the Bible less to go to church less
No, you're in church. You're like man. I want to read the Bible more meditate on God's word more
I want to pray more go so anymore. I want to spend less time on things that don't matter in this life
But once you walk out of here, and you go back to the world and you wake up tomorrow morning
You've got that flesh that says oh, you're going to start reading the Bible every morning
We'll see about that and the flesh is going to fight against the spirit until the day you die
Now I wish I could tell you the magic formula where you press this button, and it's easy to serve God
But it's not
It's not easy to serve. God. It's not easy to do, right
It's not easy to just wake up and read the Bible and memorize the Bible and serve God and do right because our flesh
fights against us
verse number 23
But I see another law of my members
Warring against the law of my mind and bring me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members
Oh wretched man that I was
No, he says oh wretched man that I am
He doesn't say a wretched man that I was before I was saved saying oh wretched man that I am I still struggle with sin
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God
But with the flesh the law of sin and as we often say the spirit is willing
But the flesh is weak
Right turn your Bible to Roman 6 Roman chapter 6
Here's a dictionary definition of the word freedom
The power or right to act speak or think as one once without hindrance or restraint
Well, we're gonna have hindrance and restraint from our flesh until the day we die
So that's the definition of freedom
It's like we don't have 100% perfect freedom because we don't always do what is right
We have resistance against us and I'm just talking about the flesh
Obviously the devil's doing everything you can to make it harder. Also
There are certainly resistance there are certainly restraint on us from doing what's right
And it's gonna be like that until the day that we die, you know
You use the terminology being in bondage to sin in bondage to drugs, you know
Paul uses the same terminology when he is in prison in
Bonds meaning he's tied up and he can't get out somebody who's in prison is stuck there
They can't get themselves out
Somebody has to let them out
Or time has to go by so their sentence is gone
They don't have freedom just to walk out of that jail whenever they want because they're in bonds
Somebody else is controlling them and what the Bible teaches is we can put ourselves
Under the bondage of sin where sin tells you what to do. Oh you say you don't want to smoke
Well, you know what? I want you to smoke
Right
That's what takes place. Oh you say you don't want to drink
Well, you know what? I want you to drink
So you're gonna drink and you find yourself doing wrong all the time and look when you're a saved child of God that does wrong
The guilt is horrible afterwards like man. Why do I struggle with this?
Because just simply being saved doesn't mean you have 100% perfect spiritual freedom
You have freedom in the sense that no matter what you do. You're gonna go to heaven. But wait a minute
Are you just always doing what you want to do all the time?
No
And look, this is we're not a Catholic Church. It's not a confessional booth. Okay, I don't want to raise them hands
It's like I'm not that type of preacher. Okay, but the reality is if we were honest, we'd all say yeah
You know what oftentimes I'm lazy
It's like you sing that song. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus like nope
It's like I've wondered if I've even come close to doing my best because God says I want you to be a living sacrifice
God gave you the gift of life and then he gave you the gift of eternal life and
For all of us in this room. He's blessed you in a multitude of ways
Now, I'm sure there's other people out there that might have better health than you but everybody in this room
There's also people with worse health
there's probably people that have a lot more money than you, but there's also people that have a lot less in life and
We live in a country that there's freedom to serve God. We don't live in ancient Egypt
Where we're not allowed to come to church, I mean did anybody arrest you this morning when you try to come to church? Nope
Right, we have a lot of freedom in a political sense to do what we want we have freedom to serve God
They don't have that in Muslim countries
You preach the gospel there goes your head
They don't have that in India
They don't have that in Buddhist countries countries with false religions. They don't just have freedom to do whatever they want
Russia is a Christian country where it's illegal to preach the gospel
They don't have freedom. We have a lot of freedom to do what we want in a political sense in this life
But we have the flesh that fights against us and even though we want to read the Bible
We want to go to church. We want to memorize the Bible yet
We find ourselves on a weekly basis struggling with the same things over and over and over again
Romans chapter 6 verse 6
Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth. We should not serve sin
For he that is dead is freed from sin and look when you get saved
You do have an ability to overcome sin in an easier way than before you're safe. It is not a guarantee
It's not a promise that it's gonna happen
But as a child of God, you've got the Holy Spirit of God inside of you
You can pray to God, you know the truth, you know, what's right, you know what you should do
But you're still gonna struggle with that because the flesh is fighting against the Spirit verse 8 now if we be dead with Christ
We believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ being raised from the dead diet no more death hath no more dominion over him
For in that he died he died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God
Verse 11 likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin
But alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord
notice verse 12
Let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body
When you think of a king like the king of England the king of a country we use the terminology
reigning
Right during the millennial
reign of Christ as
the king meaning you are the head you make the rules you say what gets done is the king and
the Bible says do not allow let not sin therefore reign what the Bible saying is you give sin an
Opportunity to get to the inside of you and sin will control your life
you get in the bondage of drinking and drugs and smoking and worldliness and laziness and addictions and
Sin will tell you what to do. We're basically you wake up and you know, I should do this
But man, I can't stop myself. I
Can't help myself
Now if all of us to some level of degree we allow sin to reign in certain areas of our life because we're not perfect
We understand that and when I get up here and preach I'm not sitting here saying hey, I'm perfect
You know, don't let sin reign be just like me because I never let I mean obviously we all struggle with this
But if I was saying those if you allow sin to get in your life sin will dominate your life it will control your life
Right, you know the quote where sin will always take you further than you want to go
You know
I'm misquoting this but cost you more than you're willing to pay keep you longer than you want to stay
We're basically saying hey, I'm willing to do this, but I'm gonna stop here
But wait a minute once you do that sin has control it says no. No. No, I want you to go one step further
I want you to go one step further
Right and the Bible says do not allow sin to reign or to control your life you say well
How do I do this brother sucky? Here's what you do. You wake up tomorrow morning and you start walking in the new man
You say I could take a break from Facebook for a little while
I can take a break from these other things for a little while
I'm gonna start my day by praying and reading the Bible so I can start walking in the new man
Instead of starting your day with sin and worldliness and then you try to start walking in the new man
Well, you you cannot do the things that you would because you've already strengthened the flesh
Think about think of it this way
Look, I've never smoked a cigarette in the day of my life. But from my understanding it's like one of the strongest addictions
That people have let's say somebody smokes every day and they decide that on June
11 2023 they're gonna stop
If that's you today
then you have a very very very strong desire to smoke a cigarette and
It's very hard not to do it
but let's say for example
You don't smoke today and you go one year and you show up here on June 11 2033
Which I know that's not a Sunday, but I have no idea which day will be
But a year from now basically in church
And you haven't smoked for a year is your desire to smoke gonna be as strong as
It was the first day you quit. No, it's not
Because you can basically kill off the flesh now. You're never gonna permanently
Destroy the flesh. Let me give an example when I first got saved. I listened to hard rock music
Aerosmith
CDC guns and roses Led Zeppelin and very sinful music and you know what?
I realized very soon after I got saved, you know what?
I don't think God wants me to listen to music that talked about, you know sex drugs and rock and roll as they say
It's like I don't really think that's what God wants me to listen to
But here's the thing. I didn't just immediately stop
You say why because I was under bondage of that music. I knew I shouldn't listen to it, but I just couldn't help myself
Right and it was a battle but you know what? Here's the thing
I fought that battle a long time ago. I'm not standing up here now saying man. I can't wait after the service
I got to hear this song from Aerosmith. I
Don't have that desire anymore
Now I'm sure it's down there to a little bit of degree you hear that old song you listen to 20 years ago
And all of a sudden, you know, your flesh is like, alright, let's bring it back right, but it's a lot easier
I don't find myself listening to rock music during the week
Like I used to you say why because of the fact when you fight that battle and you go without it for a long time
The flesh gets weaker and your desire for that gets weaker
So here's the thing. You're never gonna have perfect freedom
But if you fight this battle, you're gonna start to have more freedom
You say why because you have less of a desire to do wrong now because you've fought against it
But here's what I'm saying
Spiritual freedom isn't free
You got to fight for it. You want that freedom to do right and obey God's commandments
You got to fight against the will of the flesh
You got to fight to do right you got to choose to walk in the spirit and if you don't fight that fight
Bondage of sin will control you sin will tell you what to do. It will reign in your mortal body
Now look, we're all at different levels spiritually we fight different fights and we understand that but I'm sure that as I just talked about music
There's certain people in this room saying yeah, I know I shouldn't listen to it brother Stuckey's right
But I still am listening to whatever kpop whatever you're into
Right, whatever music you listen to
It's like, you know, yeah, everybody fights the battle against music and you know
There's a lot of people in this room that have overcome that battle also
It's not like I'm the only one a lot of people thought that and you're not listening to the wrong music anymore
But what you find is once you fight and win that battle, it's on to the next battle
You want freedom in your life? You got to fight for it every step of the way
And you don't have a hundred percent freedom and here's the thing if you choose not to fight. Well, then sin will reign
Sin will control you sin will tell you what to do and you're gonna be walking in the flesh
Not walking in the spirit. I was says let not sin therefore reign your board of mortal body
That you should obey it in the lustre of if you are obeying sin and you don't want to do that
Is that freedom?
No
You're doing what you don't want to do and
Then it says neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness on to sin
But yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God now
it's interesting the terminology uses with the word instrument because you think of a
Musical instrument and what the Bible saying is that when you walk in the spirit?
It's like you turn your body into an instrument of wanting to do righteousness
Whereas if you walk in the flesh
It's almost like you cause all of your body to just want to do wrong where it's designed for a certain thing
I mean you you build a piano or guitar or whatever
It's designed to do a certain thing and you start walking in the flesh
It's like you're designing your body to just do wrong, but if you walk in the spirit
It's like you're designing your body to do what's right. It says in verse 14
For sin shall not have dominion over you sin shall not dominate you
For you're not under the law but under grace now, of course Paul's saying it is possible for sin to dominate you
He's saying do not allow it
Don't allow sin to control your life
walk in the spirits fight against the flesh
Now, of course, this is difficult for all of us. I mean, I mean Jesus told his apostles I couldn't you watch with me for an hour
But the spirit is willing in the flesh is weak
It's hard you try to do something, right? It's difficult. I don't stand up here saying that I'm perfect and I never struggle
Let's give an example right now. I'm trying to memorize the book of Hebrews
I'm in Hebrews chapter 7 and I'll tell you what I desire to do tonight
I desire when I go to bed to spend one hour just memorizing the Bible before I go to sleep
But you know what takes place after like five minutes. It's like
How maybe that's enough? It's hard
It's difficult. I mean, I wish it was just really easy where it's like, hey, you know what?
I want to read the Bible for an hour and then just for an hour like this is the greatest thing I've ever done in
My life and no resistance but yet the flesh fights against you. It doesn't want you to do right. It's not gonna be easy
right
What then shall we sin because we were not under the law but under grace God forbid
So should we just go out and do whatever we want because we're saved by grace through faith
Well, of course not when we go soul-willing sometimes people accuse us of this
It's like why you're giving a license to sin by saying it's eternal life that you can't lose your salvation
and what's interesting about that is
our church
Preaches pretty hard against sin compared to the average church
We make salvation as free as possible because it's a gift
But then you come to this church
I mean a lot of people probably thinking man my old church never preached against what I wore what I listen to what I watch
And I come to Verity Baptist and you're saying I should do this and this and this keep in mind
I tell you what you should do, but I don't force you to do anything
You can listen to whatever music you want. I
Mean you I mean if you want to go out and just watch TV for hours and hours not you can go ahead and do
That now I'm still gonna tell you it's sin when you're in church
That's worldliness
It's wrong
But you have freedom to do whatever you want
Right and so but here's the thing
I mean you live that sort of life what you're gonna find is you always go further than you want to go and it controls
You know one of the big things that really kind of motivates me is I've got three young kids
And I'll tell you what before you have kids or when they're really young you kind of are like well
You know I know I have problems in my life, but it's not that big of a deal and as your kids start getting older
You're like wait a minute. They pay attention to everything I do
Everything I watch they're paying attention to
It's like I better make sure I'm setting a good example
And it kind of forces you to kind of step up your game a little bit because you want to pass on you know
Godly heritage not just salvation, but I told my kids recently I said hey the number one thing
I want one for you, and you're an adult is that you love God. That's your serving God
More than money or a great job or whatever the number one thing is that you love God
It's not good enough for me that they just get saved I
Mean yeah of course step number one get saved
But here's the thing I want more than that for my kids. I want them to be in church every week
I want them to read the Bible every day
I want them to be serving God
Whether my sons become pastors or not you know honestly it's not the biggest deal in the world to me because as long as they're
Serving God that's fine
But I want them to love God and be involved in church and be a sole winner and read the Bible and memorize the Bible
And pray to God that's what I want for the life of my kids
And kind of forces you say hey, I better step up my game a little bit because here's the thing yes
You can do whatever you want and go to heaven
There's repercussions
You drink and smoke and watch every movie. What do you think your kids are gonna do when they get over?
You do not have freedom to live a sinful life and have no effect on anybody else whatsoever
Because the Bible says none of us liveth to himself and no man died to himself
Meaning that the way you live your life it affects other people
Most specifically your family in a church sense Peter quits Church, and then others are like all right. I'll follow you
The life you live affects other people right, so what life are you living?
It says in verse 16 know ye not that to whom ye yield yourself servants to obey his servants
He are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or obedience on to righteousness
You are going to serve something you are going to obey something
It's either gonna be obeying God or obeying your flesh
Serving God or serving your flesh now none of us are 100% perfectly serving God
But I'm just saying it's foolish to take this attitude
I don't want to have a list of rules to tell me what to do and
want to wear what to wear and this and that it's like
here's the thing if you reject that then you're gonna be serving and obeying something else and
There are a lot of Commandments in the Word of God, but you get thrown in prison. They got more rules for you
Right I mean you work a job you've got rules. It's just the way it is
It's like well
You know what I want to have freedom to show up two hours late for work
Take a three hour lunch break clock out early and become the CEO in one year
That's stupid
It's not gonna happen if you want that you got to work for it
You got to be diligent you got to work hard. You can't just have everything you want in life without doing the work
right one thing that people can really relate to is New Year's resolutions because
The biggest New Year's resolution people probably have is something health-related. I would say now to church like ours
I'm sure there's a lot of spiritual
You know goals that you have like reading the Bible memorizing the Bible things such as that
But here's the thing you know oftentimes when it comes to like making changes and dieting and trying to lose weight
People want to live the same life. They've always lived. I want to eat the exact same food and
Just exercise the exact same amount and have different results
They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result
There's not gonna be a different result. I mean any goal that you work for
You've got to put in the time and effort
It's just not gonna happen where you just wake up, and it's like man my New Year's resolution. Just kind of happened I
Mean if you want to start reading the Bible every day. Hey that is a great plan to have
What do you need to do get a Bible reading plan to tell you what to to read
When to do it and where to do I don't have any rules telling me when and where and what?
Then you're not gonna do it
If you want to be successful in life, let me help you out give yourself organization and structure to tell you what to do I
On my phone I can go here. It's like on Monday. It's like this is what I do
This is when I make the bulletin. This is when I write my sermons
This is when I do this this is when I do that you say why because the spirits willing with the flesh is weak
And if I have free time without a list telling me do this next it's gonna be like all right. I'll just be lazy
If you're smart you would actually put yourself under a list of rules to help you out just in a secular sense and
Even more so with the Word of God because if you obey God's commandments, you're gonna have good success the Bible says
Where we at Romans 8 Romans 8 verse 15 Romans 8 verse 15
Bible says in Romans 8 verse 15 for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear
But you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father now make no mistake about it me preaching
You should obey God's commandments
I am NOT trying to put you in fear of the fact that oh I might lose my salvation
Or maybe I'm not saved that's not what I'm saying at all because salvation is a gift and it's eternal life
And I don't need to put you back in the bondage of fear because salvation is something you have freedom in Christ
And that's what he's expressing at the beginning of Galatians 5, but here's the thing I am trying to put you in fear of judgment
in this life I
Am trying to put you in fear of destroying your life
Now if your salvation it's secure if you believed on Christ, it's eternal life
But if you don't live your life with structure and organization and rules you're gonna find you accomplish
nothing
You accomplish nothing and you're gonna wake up 30 years have passed and you're gonna wonder. What did I do for God? I?
Wish I could just turn back the clock. You don't have the freedom to do that. I
Wish I could go back to every day of my life where it wasn't really serving God
Wasn't really meditating upon God's Word. I wish I could change every one of those days, but I can't
Now whatever age you got saved for me at the age of 18 before you're saved
It's like well if you don't even know how to go to heaven you can't really do anything
But after being saved I wish I could take back all those days of wasting time on things that didn't matter and just change them
But you can't
Those days are gone never to return. You don't have freedom just to roll back the clock
But you have freedom now a choice of what you want to do now the flesh is gonna fight against you
Against with the spirit once and you've got to make that choice to walk in the spirit on a daily basis
verse 16 the spirit of self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if children then heirs heirs of
God and join heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with them that we may be also glorified together now
Do you think of heirs you think of like?
Inheritance the heir to a throne is like being the prince where one day you become the king
But you're not the king now or the heir to a big inheritance is
Basically right now. You're just a child and while your parents are around they have that
But you will be the heir to that mansion or house or inheritance or whatever
Here's the thing being an heir to something means it's not happening now. Do you understand what I'm saying?
You don't have it now. I mean if you've got a major inheritance
That's gonna be passed down from your parents and your parents are alive. You don't have it now
It is one day and we are gonna be heirs and joint heirs with Christ
We are gonna rule and reign with Jesus Christ in the millennial reign of Christ
But not now
Right now
You're fighting against the flesh every single day
You don't have that right now
One day as a safe person you're gonna rule and reign with Christ
But the dependence on how much you rule and reign with Christ is what are you doing?
And if you're doing nothing for God, well
You're not gonna be doing a whole lot
And look, there's this expression and I like the expression
But let me just say this like, you know, I'd rather you know, it's from the Bible
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God and and I get that but here's the thing
What if you could be more than that?
by working harder, I
Mean of course in this life you try to be successful you want to get promoted things such as that
Well, if you want to rule and reign with Christ more, what's the secret read the Bible more?
Go so anymore
Fight against your flesh more obey God's commandments more. That's the secrets
Then it says in verse 18
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us
For the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God
Bible says the creature is waiting for meaning. It hasn't happened yet
We are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God
We are waiting for the end result that's going to be visible because when Jesus was here God was manifest in the flesh
He was manifest everybody saw that was here
We are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God you see when I got saved
It's not like all of a sudden
I saw a bright light from heaven and I became stronger and smarter and better-looking and in better shape
And that didn't take place when I got saved
I'm waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God and at the rapture you will not struggle with with sin anymore
You get that glorified body. You're not gonna be drinking anymore. You're not gonna be listening to rock music
You're not gonna be doing wrong anymore
But that hasn't taken place yet
The manifestation the sons of God will happen one day if you're saved as of now
It's a fight for spiritual freedom because the flesh is fighting against what you want to do
It's gonna be a fight until the day you die
verse number 20
For the creature was made subject to vanity
not willingly
If it's not willingly is that 100% freedom no
Our old man our sinful flesh it says not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope
Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bond of corruption
Notice this into the glorious liberty of the children of God
But do we have that glorious liberty right now?
No, we don't
Now we have freedom in the fact that no matter what you do
You're still saved and on your way to heaven. We understand that we preach that we make it clear
But in terms of 100% liberty where it's just always easy to do what's right and you never do wrong. You don't have that yet
None of us do we still sin we still wrong do wrong, but one day we will get that glorious liberty
This is why Paul says things like I'm in the strait for twits to having a desire to depart and be with Christ
But being here is more needful
And part of that is not just that heavens a better place
But one of the things that really frustrates you as a safe person is when you do wrong and you said and you're like man
Why can't I just obey?
Why is it so hard for me to read the Bible every day because you don't have 100% liberty yet
none of us do
Yes, we have freedom in the fact that we're saved and on their way to heaven. But when people make these statements man
I'm free in Christ. Don't tell me what to do
I can do whatever I want
That's a weird attitude
number one
What kind of attitude is a man? Don't tell me I can't get drunk and do drugs. It's like what's wrong with you?
But here's the thing it's just like you can do whatever you want and you're still saved because it's eternal life
But if you take that approach to life, you will destroy your life
If
You want to live a life with meaning and have true liberty it comes by fighting for it. It's not free
It's not automatic. You got to fight for it
spiritual freedom
It's not free. It's yes spiritual freedom in the sense that you're gonna go to heaven is free
But in terms of in this life, it's a fight
Where your flesh fights against the spirit now turn to Ephesians 4 Ephesians 4
Ephesians 4
And
For sake of time I cut out some of the verses there, but the Bible speaks about it's not just us
But it also says that people of this world the whole creation grown with in travail and pain together until now look
Nobody wants to age and get older and start having health problems
But this is just the way life is you get older. It's part of life. I would talk about the evil days in
Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and nobody is willingly doing that
Nobody wants that but that's just the way it is. It's not just us. So don't don't take this attitude man
It's so hard as a Christian. Look the whole creation groaneth and travaileth and pain together until now
Everybody has problems
Everybody if you leave church, it's not gonna help you
It's gonna make it worse. If you don't fight against the flesh, it's gonna make it worse
Now here's the thing though
The easy thing to do is the wrong thing
The easy thing to do is be lazy
The easy thing is always the wrong thing the right thing is the hard thing
But here's the thing if you just give in all the time and look obviously we're all sinners and we all
At least from time to time are struggling and sinning and doing wrong
But if you just just give in and let the flesh control you it's gonna take you further than you're planning to go
It's gonna end up worse for you. It's going to destroy your life
You got to choose to fight against the sinful flesh Ephesians 4 verse 22
Ephesians 4 verse 22
That you put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and by the way
This is not what takes place at salvation
Because you still have the old man
This is a daily thing and you say how do you know that because the next verse says and be renewed in the spirit of
Your mind so basically, you know, you live out in the world you live a worldly life or you hear worldliness
So you go home. It's like man. I got to renew myself by reading the Bible again
I got to renew myself and it's a daily thing where you're renewing your mind. You're renewing your mind
Otherwise, you're gonna find yourself walking in the flesh and doing wrong get out that daily renewal
Because I don't know about you but when I worked a secular job and I went to work
They weren't playing old-fashioned hymns at my job
When people came up to me to talk to me, they're not saying hey, I was reading the book of
Jeremiah and I was I was confused about this verse
Now when people came up to talk to me, they came talking about sports or entertainment or whatever. They were talking about Bible
And
So here's the thing when you're around the world that just kind of rubs off on you
I'm not saying we become like Amish and just avoid the world because you can't avoid the world. We're gonna be in the world
Right. I mean until you get to heaven you're gonna be around people that are talking about sin and worldliness and wakeness
It's the way it is here in the Philippines
You just go out in public on a day when it's not raining and a lot of women are just not gonna be dressed correctly
I
Wish that weren't the case, but it's a fact
Sadly here in the Philippines a lot of men aren't dressed correctly either. It's like hey that dress is for a woman, right?
There's a men's section in a women's section in a store as a guy. You don't go to the women's section to find your clothes
That should be kind of obvious to people but apparently it's not
right
Just in the world today if you just go out in public
It's like your mind gets defiled by the world and you got to renew your mind all the time
Bible says in verse 20 24 and
That you put on the new man, which after God has created righteousness and true holiness every day ask yourself
Am I gonna walk in the new man walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh and walk in the old man?
This is a daily fight now logically turn to Psalm 37. We'll close up Psalm 37 Psalms is right in the middle of your Bible Psalm 37
You
Logically it's best to start your day walking in the new man
Because of the fact if you start in the old man the flesh gets strong and then you cannot do what you would
It's better to get your momentum going for it
It's also better because the fact you've got free time use it wisely because you never know what's gonna come up later in the day
You put off your Bible reading then all of a sudden it's 10 o'clock already. I haven't read my Bible today
Because time just flies by
So start your day walking in the new man
But this is a daily fight and then of course you go out in the world and then you come back
It's like man. I got to renew my mind again
Because of the fact we live in the world. I wish that weren't the case, but it is the case
We don't have 100%
Liberty right now the flesh will fight against your spirit until the day you die
But I want to show you an encouraging verse to close in Psalm 37 Psalm 37 verse 4
Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine hearts
Bible says you delight yourself in the Lord and he's gonna give you what your heart desires
Does that mean he's gonna give you alcohol and drugs and all kinds of things?
No, but here's the thing when you start walking in the new man and you read the Bible
You know what you start to desire you start to desire what God desires also
Because your actions affect your heart now the world has this opposite. It's like, you know, just follow your heart
Well, here's what's stupid about that. Your heart follows your actions
Just think about it for a little while you read the Bible all of a sudden you start desiring it
You start going so when you desire it you start serving God you desire it
Look, I'll be honest with you when I first started reading the Bible 20 years ago. I'm just like man
I really don't want to do this, but God says to do it and
As I started to read it I started to desire it and as you do, right
What happens is your actions will follow? I mean your heart will follow your actions
You do right and then all of a sudden you start to desire it
I mean it's like this in a secular sense too as well if you're trying to get in shape and you've got yourself on a
Strict diet and exercise you start to exercise and get on that diet
You start to desire you no longer want the junk food. You want to do what's right?
You want to work out you want to be in shape, but the the feelings the heart follows the action. That's just the way it is
So here's the thing commit thy way unto the Lord as it says in the next verse and what's gonna take place
He's gonna bring it to pass
Because your desires are gonna match God's desires
So here's what I'm saying, even if you don't feel like it choose to walk in the new man wake up read the Bible
pray to God
Memorize the Bible and what you're gonna find is you start to desire that
Because all of you have at least a small desire if you're saved to serve God on the inside
but here's the thing you also have a desire to do wrong coming from your flesh and
As you start to do the actions of what's right
This desire starts to get stronger and this desire gets weaker
Now it's never gonna be perfect because even the greatest characters in the Bible. They still make mistakes
They still sin and all of us are going to until the day we die
What I'm saying is you start walking in the new man
You're gonna start desiring to do what's right and you're gonna be doing what's right because he desires
And what that's called it's called Liberty because if he's giving you what you desire, what is that?
It's Liberty and
If you want spiritual freedom, you got to fight for it. It's not automatic. It's not a guarantee
It's gonna happen you start to do right though
You know what you're gonna find you're gonna find yourself having a lot more freedom because you're gonna be doing what you want to do
God is gonna give you the desires of your heart. But here's the thing
It's not free
Say what I'm saying brother stocky. It's automatic. No, it's not
You got to fight for it
You got to strengthen the spirit strengthen the new man and weaken the old man
It's not a guarantee. It's gonna happen. You got to fight for it
What you should do is when you wake up tomorrow morning say, you know what?
It doesn't matter how much I desire this or this or whatever
It's like you know what?
I'm just gonna start my day reading the Bible start my day praying to God start walking in the new man
And you know what if you follow this pattern start doing it for a couple weeks having a daily walk with God
You're gonna find yourself starting to desire to do what's right and
Then you can't help but speak the things you have seen and heard and people like man something's changed about you
Yeah, what's changed is you're drawing nigh to God and all of a sudden that becomes your desire
You're gonna have a lot of great freedom in your life. Let's close the water prayer your heavenly father
Thank you for loud spear today and ask you to help us to apply the sermon our lives help us to fight against our
Flesh help us to try to do right and to serve you God and ask you to help give us
Liberty and freedom in our lives to do what's right and start to have that desire God help us to just on a daily basis
Cast off the works of darkness and fight against the flesh and walk in the new man. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen
Amen let's get our hymns for our last song. Let's turn to him number 207 him number 207
Sing the soul only is here
On the first not have a garden, but what I receive
Race have bestowed it since I have believed
I'm only a seeder saved by grace only a seeder
Saved by grace
This is my story to God be the glory
I'm only a seeder saved by grace
One second once I was foolish
Causing my footsteps from God to depart
I
Be my case
Saved by grace only a seeder
Only a seeder saved by
This is my story to God be the glory
I'm only a seeder saved by grace
Here's our remaining no merit that I
Or else I must die seen and army
Saved by grace only a seeder
Oh
Me a seeder saved by
I'm only a seeder saved by great alas
Suffer a seeder whose heart overflows
Nothing is eager to tell why
To tell it would I embrace
Saved by grace
Me a seeder saved by
To God be the glory I'm only a seeder saved by
I'm
Amen let's have a short break