Man, the part of the chapter I want to focus on is verse 17 where the Bible reads,
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new.
And the title of my sermon tonight is A New Creature in Christ.
A New Creature in Christ.
This is one of the most famous verses in the New Testament.
If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.
Old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new.
Unfortunately though, this verse is often misused, misunderstood, and misapplied and
it's used as a proof text to teach some false doctrine.
Now what we're going to do tonight is we're going to do a very thorough study by looking
at all of the scriptures in the New Testament that deal with this subject of a new creature
in Christ.
Instead of just taking one verse out of context and twisting its meaning, we're going to actually
look at all of the scriptures on this subject and get the big picture of what the New Testament
is teaching us about what it means to be a new creature in Christ.
Now before I jump into all those scriptures, let me just lay a foundation here about what
the Bible teaches.
First of all, the Bible teaches that our salvation is by faith, not by works.
So we are saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy,
He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
The Bible is crystal clear when it says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
So we are not saved by our works, but we are saved by our faith.
But then people will come along and say, well, we're not saved by our works, but if you're
really saved, you're going to have the works.
And if somebody doesn't have the works, well, then they must not be saved.
And we've all heard that before.
But the Bible is pretty clear in Romans chapter 4 verse 5, but to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
And as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are
covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
So the Bible tells us that it's possible to work not, but yet believe on him that justifieth
the ungodly, and if you do that, your faith is counted for righteousness.
The Bible also teaches in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 that, you know, it's possible that all of
our works are wood, hay, and stubble.
And if all of our works are wood, hay, and stubble, and we don't have any gold, silver,
and precious stones of good works that we've done in our life, if we've done nothing of
eternal value, then our works shall be burned and we shall suffer loss.
But the Bible says, yet he himself shall be saved.
He'll suffer loss, he'll lose reward.
Yet he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire.
And so the Bible is clear that salvation is 100% of faith and not of works.
A lot of people say, well, but the Bible teaches that if you get saved, there's got
to be a change.
And if there's no change, then you didn't get saved.
And if you're not doing works, then you're not saved.
And we've all heard these things before.
And one of the verses that they'll go to is 2 Corinthians 5, 17.
And they'll often quote it and they'll say, see, there's got to be some change.
Does this verse say some change?
This verse says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, old things are passed
away, be old, all things are become new.
That doesn't say some change.
That says a complete change to where every last thing has become new, all things have
become new.
So they're trying to make this verse about someone's lifestyle, well, if this were about
your lifestyle, then you'd have to be a perfect person after you're saved because all things
would become new, all of it, every part of your life.
And that would be a teaching that you're sinlessly perfect after you're saved, which is, of course,
a gross error and a false doctrine.
And when people teach this, they'll often say, I'm not talking about sinless perfection
now, but I'm just saying that all things are going to become new.
Well, OK, well, what's that supposed to mean?
Now let me just say this.
When a person gets saved, there is a change.
Of course there's a change.
I mean, look, we're not going to get up here and argue tonight and say, hey, when a person
gets saved, nothing changes.
That's not what we believe.
Here's what we're saying, that there's not always going to be an outward change when
someone gets saved.
Of course, a lot of things change.
Look, the moment that you get saved, a lot of things change.
Here's what changes the moment that you get saved.
The moment you get saved, your eternal destiny changes.
The moment that you get saved, your dead spirit is quickened.
Your dead spirit comes to life.
Not only that, the moment that you get saved, the Holy Spirit moves in and lives inside
of you.
Now, those are some pretty dramatic changes, right?
I mean, if you go from having a dead spirit to a living spirit, if you go from not having
the Holy Spirit inside you to now being entwilled by the Holy Spirit, not only that, the moment
that you get saved, it's like scales falling off your eyes because now you see things in
a whole new way.
The Bible calls salvation being enlightened.
Your eyes are opened.
You now see things differently.
Before you're saved, you can't understand the Bible, but after you're saved, you can
understand the Bible.
These are some pretty dramatic changes.
Before you're saved, you might be without chastisement.
You can go out and commit sin and get away with it.
After you get saved, the Bible promises that you'll be chastened.
Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
So you're no longer going to get away with sin like you used to because God will be there
to discipline you when you sin.
There are a lot of things that change when you get saved, so don't misunderstand me that
I'm telling you, hey, there's no change.
But when these people say there's got to be a change, what they really mean is there's
got to be a change that we can see.
There's got to be an outward change.
There's got to be works that we can look at.
And the purpose for this doctrine is that it's an attack on salvation by faith alone.
So we will point to someone who's saved by faith alone, and then they'll say, well, that
person's not saved because they're not doing the works.
But they can't see that person's heart.
They can't see that person's spirit.
They can't see what's going on in every aspect of that person's life, but they just assume
because they don't see a dramatic, immediate, outward change, they just assume that that
person didn't really get saved.
And then they'll attack soul winning and say, hey, soul winning didn't work because we can't
see an outward, immediate, dramatic change in all these people who are getting saved,
so they must not really be getting saved, and it's an attack on soul winning, and so
on and so forth.
And when they get up and preach about this, there's got to be a change.
There's got to be works.
What they end up doing is confusing people into thinking that believing's not enough.
And then people start doubting their own salvation, like, oh, I don't know, I mean, I believed
in Christ, but, yeah, I mean, I'm still struggling with some things, or I still have some sin
in my life, or, you know, there's still some things in my life that haven't been totally
made new.
Oh, you're not saved then.
And then people are, like, scrambling to repent of this sin and repent of that sin and get
this sin out of my life, you know, to try to earn their way to heaven.
People are confused today about the Gospels.
When we're out soul winning, we're constantly running into people that are mixed up and
confused because of bad teaching on this subject.
Listen to me.
You don't have to take my word for what it means to be a new creature in Christ because
you know what you're going to do?
You're going to sit there right now with your King James Bible in your lap, and you're going
to look at the Scriptures with me, and we're going to look at all of the New Testament's
teaching on the subject of a new creature, and you're going to see for yourself that
these people are completely wrong when they say, oh, that there's just going to be this
outward, dramatic lifestyle change, and if people aren't living right, they're not saved
and all this garbage.
No, you'll see that what the Bible actually teaches is that the new creature is what's
called the new man or the inward man, but that we've still got the old man, and that
after you get saved, you can either walk in the new man or you can walk in the old
man, and if you walk in the new man, of course, we're going to see a very dramatic change,
but if you walk in the old man, we're not going to see any change because the old man
doesn't change.
Mark that down, friend.
The old man does not change.
Look, the carnal mind is at enmity with God, and the carnal mind cannot be brought in subjection
to the laws of God.
So you can't reform the old man.
All you can do is put on the new man and put off the old man because your old man is always
going to be the same sinful person that you were before you were saved.
You can put on the new man, but the old man's always there waiting for an opportunity to
take over.
Let's let the scriptures speak for themselves.
We have, of course, the scripture that we just read.
Go to Galatians Chapter 6, Verse 15.
There's only one other verse in the New Testament that uses the exact term new creature.
So let's look at it.
But there are lots of other scriptures that talk about the new creature, and so we're
going to look at all of the scriptures that talk about being a new creature in Christ
and see what they say.
The Bible says in Galatians Chapter 6, Verse 15, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Now this particular scripture doesn't really give us a lot of detail about what it means
to be a new creature in Christ, but what it does do, if you get the context, is it just
confirms that the new creature is associated with salvation.
Just like in 2 Corinthians 5, if you're in Christ, you're a new creature.
Here he's talking about, if you get the context of Chapters 5 and 6, it's not circumcision
that saves you, it's not uncircumcision that saves you, it's being a new creature that
saves you, right?
It's being saved.
It's faith which worketh by love.
Go to Ephesians 4, and let's look at a more detailed scripture on the new creature.
Ephesians Chapter 4.
Now where do we find the new creature in this passage?
Well we're going to find it in Verse 24 of Ephesians Chapter 4.
The Bible reads in Ephesians 4 that you put on the new man which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness.
There's your new creature in Christ.
If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.
What does it say here?
The new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
So let's back up to Verse 17 and get the context of this passage.
Ephesians 4, 17.
This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk, not as other Gentiles
walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated
from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of
their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work
all uncleanness with greediness.
So in Verse 17 he's admonishing them and saying, look, don't act like other Gentiles act.
Don't walk like other Gentiles walk.
You're Gentiles.
Ephesians are Gentiles.
But he's saying, don't be like the other Gentiles.
You've not so learned Christ.
Verse 20.
He's saying, this is what you need to do.
He says, if so be that you've heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in
Jesus that you put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put
on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
So in this discussion of the new creature, he's telling them, look, you've got to put
off the old man, which is present tense, corrupt.
I'm saved though.
But the old man is still corrupt.
You need to put off the old man and you need to put on the new man, which after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness.
Let me tell you about the new man, the new creature.
The new creature is perfect and without sin.
The new man is created in righteousness and true holiness.
That's why if you put on the new man, then you're going to do the right things.
Whereas when you're walking in the old man, you're going to do all the wrong things.
You're going to commit a lot of sin.
Look what it says in the next breath in verse 25, wherefore put away lying.
So a minute ago he said, what, you know, put off the old man and then in the next breath
he says, Hey, put away lying, right?
Because that's something that the old man's associated with, right?
The old man is the type of guy who tells lies all the time.
Well, the new man tells the truth.
The new creature tells the truth, but we have both.
When we get saved, the old man is not just gone forever.
The new man moves in and now we have a war between the flesh and the spirit.
And we're going to get to that a little bit later in the sermon.
He says, put away lying.
Speak every man truth with his neighbor for we're members one of another.
Be angry and sin not.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the
thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needed.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.
Now look, just use a little common sense here.
If the new man or the new creature means that when we get saved, there's going to be a change,
everything's new, then wouldn't it just be automatic that we would do all these things?
Because we know that all we have to do to be saved is believe on Christ.
And a lot of people who believe in this mistake will say, yeah, that's right, all you have
to do is believe.
It's all by faith.
Okay, well then if I believe on Christ and have faith in him and I get saved and the
Holy Spirit moves in and God makes me a new creature, then if all things are passed away
and all things become new, then according to their logic, wouldn't it just be automatic
that I won't steal anymore?
Automatic that I won't lie anymore?
Automatic that no filthy communication will come out of my mouth?
Then why does Paul have to tell you, hey, you Ephesians need to not walk as other Gentiles
walk.
Well, if they're saved, I thought there's just automatically going to be this change.
I thought they're just automatically going to be doing the right thing because they're
a new creature now.
And if they're not just a new creature just rolling out of bed in the morning doing the
right things, then they must not really be saved.
But it doesn't make any sense, does it?
Because if that were the case, why does he have to tell them, hey, look, put off the
old man, put away lying, don't let the filthy communication come out of your mouth, don't
steal, don't follow the former lusts.
So if you actually get the context, whenever he brings up the new creature, the new man,
he's telling you, you've got to put some effort forth in order to put on the new man and to
walk in the new man.
He says in verse 30, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day
of redemption.
Is there any question that these people are saved?
They're sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption.
Look, it's signed, sealed, and delivered.
There's no question about their eternal destiny.
These people are sealed, but they have to be told, don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
Well, according to this goofball doctrine, that should just be automatic.
Because I mean, if they're grieving the Holy Spirit, if they're stealing and lying and
saying filthy things, well, then they must not really be saved.
Look, I've heard these false teachers get up and say this, these guys are still cussing
like they were cussing before they got saved.
They must not even be saved.
Who's heard that before?
If you're still saying all the same cuss words, really?
If you're still stealing, if you're still lying, if you're still stealing and you're
still lying, it's time for you to put off the old man and put on the new man.
But it doesn't change the fact that you're sealed by the Holy Spirit of God unto the
day of redemption.
You just might be grieving the Holy Spirit of God by doing all those things.
I mean, it's pretty easy to understand this when you actually read the Bible and don't
just cherry pick one verse, when you actually read the whole chapter.
Isn't it pretty clear what's going on in this passage?
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from
you with all malice and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even
as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
You know what that means?
That means it's possible for a saved, sealed, born-again child of God to steal, to be angry,
to have corrupt communication come out of their mouth, to grieve the Holy Spirit, to
be bitter, to have the wrong type of anger and clamor and evil speaking, to be unkind
and to be hard-hearted.
You know what?
A saved person could do all those things.
Otherwise, it would be meaningless to tell them not to do it.
Why would you tell someone not to do something that's impossible for them to do?
That makes no sense.
And so these people are just twisting scripture, and all it is is just a sneaky way to attack
salvation by faith alone, and it's a sneaky way to attack soul winning by creating this
straw man of, well, you guys believe in a salvation that doesn't change a man.
No, I believe in a salvation that changes the inward man.
I believe in a salvation that changes your heart.
I believe in a salvation that brings the Holy Spirit into your life.
I believe in a salvation that brings chastening into your life.
I believe in a salvation that creates a new man inside of you that's created in righteousness
and true holiness, but you know what?
I don't believe in a salvation that forces you to do the right thing and that automatically
causes you to walk in that new man or that automatically causes you to be filled with
that Holy Spirit.
You've got to make the decision to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
You've got to pray for the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
You've got to sing those psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
You've got to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom.
You've got to do the work.
You've got to read the Bible.
You've got to go to church.
And if you don't, you'll be just like you were before you were saved.
If you get saved and don't follow up with church and soul winning and baptism and prayer
and sing of hymns, look, of course you're going to go down a wrong path.
I mean, think about how many people get saved and they don't get discipled.
Well, guess what?
They're going to live pretty similar to the way they did before they got saved.
Why?
Because you're walking in the old man.
Church helps you put on the new man.
Reading your Bible helps you put on the new man.
Singing hymns helps you put on the new man.
Praying helps you put on the new man.
Hearing hard preaching helps you to put off the old man with his deeds.
It helps you to say, okay, I'm not going to lie.
I'm not going to steal.
I'm not going to be bitter.
I'm not going to be unkind.
But we need to put an effort toward these things.
You know, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed thereto according to thy word.
It's not wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way.
Well, just by getting saved and then the Holy Spirit does the rest.
You just sit back and everything changes.
That's a false doctrine.
And this isn't a gray area.
This isn't a doctrine that's tough to understand.
It's actually pretty clear.
And let's go to another.
You say, well, that's just one passage.
Okay, let's go to another passage.
Colossians chapter 3.
And notice I just read the context.
The key verse was verse 24 which covered the new creature.
We read from verses 17 to 32.
You see that?
So the key verse is verse 24.
We started in 17.
We read all the way to 32.
We got the big picture of what is being said in that chapter.
Let's get the big picture in Colossians chapter 3 as well.
That's the key verse in Colossians chapter 3 because we're looking for all the scriptures
that teach us about the new creature, the new man.
The title of the sermon is A New Creature in Christ.
Well, in Colossians 3, 9, we have this verse, lie not one to another, seeing that you put
off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him.
So again, by taking the words new man and him that created him, what do we have?
If we have a new man created, what do we have?
A new creature.
A man that's a new creature.
Because like I said, the only verses that actually say the words new creature are 2
Corinthians 5, 17 and Galatians chapter 6 verse 15 and neither of those give us a lot
of detail about what that means.
They basically just teach us, hey, if you're saved, you're a new creature.
So we go to Ephesians 4 and we figure out what does that mean?
A new creature.
What is this new man that's created by Christ in us?
What's this new man that's created according to Colossians chapter 3?
Well, why don't we back up and get the context?
Start in verse 1.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God.
Let me ask you this.
If you're risen with Christ, if you're saved, if your spirit has been resurrected as Christ
was resurrected, does that mean that, you know, God just changes your desires and you
just automatically seek those things which are above?
If so, then verse 1 would be meaningless.
Why would Paul tell you to do something that you're already automatically doing?
He's saying, no, if you are risen with Christ, then you need to follow this command.
This is an imperative sentence.
Seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Okay, what if I don't obey that?
What if I didn't get this letter from Paul?
Or what if I get this letter from Paul and I blow it up, then where are my affections
going to be?
They're going to be on this earth.
Unless I make the effort to do what?
To set my affection on things above, my affections are going to be by default on this earth.
We are born minding the things of this world.
The normal man, the natural man, has his affection on the things of earth.
When he gets saved, his affections are not automatically just switched to above.
No, he has to decide to obey this command here and say, you know what?
I need to set my affection on things above.
Now if anybody in this room tonight has their affection on things above, it's because they
decided to set their affection on things above.
And they made an effort to get their affection off of the things of this world.
Verse 3 says, for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ and God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Mortify therefore your members.
Now members means body parts, if you study that word members in the Bible.
Mortify therefore your members, which are upon the earth.
Mortify the flesh, is what he's saying.
What does mortify mean?
Well, what's a mortician?
Mortician is one who deals with dead people, right?
They clean them up and put them in a suit and put them in a coffin.
So it says, mortify your members.
What he's saying is, reckon them to be dead.
This is what Paul said, I die daily.
Die to self.
Mortify the flesh.
Put off the old man.
Put off the flesh.
Put on the new man.
Walk in the spirit.
Mortify therefore your members, which are upon the earth.
Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which
is idolatry.
Let me ask you something.
Is this person saved?
Well he said, in verse 3, you're dead and your life is hid with Christ and God.
In verse number 4, he said that when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
ye also appear with him in glory.
Look, if these people are going to appear with Christ in glory, is there any question
that they're saved?
Those which are asleep in Jesus, will God bring with him when he returns?
These people are saved, and yet saved people are being told that they need to mortify their
members upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and covetousness, which is idolatry.
What if they don't do it?
What if they didn't get this letter?
What if they ignore this command?
What are they going to do?
That means a saved person who doesn't get this message from Paul, or doesn't obey this
message from Paul, is going to do what?
They're going to fornicate.
Well, I just don't think a saved person would ever commit fornication.
Really?
Then why does Paul have to tell saved people don't do it?
Why?
Because that's what the flesh is capable of.
Mortify fornication.
I mean, look, if my kids are saved, is that just a guarantee they're never going to commit
fornication now?
Oh, dodged a bullet on that one.
Let them stay out all night.
Let them party and be unchaperoned and, you know, well, we know they're not going to be
in fornication because they're saved.
That's stupid, right?
Because we know that the flesh is weak.
And so we need to mortify the flesh.
My children need to mortify the flesh.
Your children need to mortify the flesh.
They need to decide that they're not going to commit that wicked sin of fornication that
will destroy their life, that is a sin against their own body, that will bring the wrath
of God upon them.
Why?
Because what does the Bible say in the next verse?
For which thing's sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.
So God's wrath comes on the unsaved because of these type of things.
In the which ye also walked sometime when ye lived in them.
But now also ye put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out
of your mouth.
He's saying, look, you guys used to do that stuff before you were saved, but you got rid
of that stuff.
You put that stuff off.
So don't go back to it.
Mortify your members.
It's possible to go back and do that stuff.
It's possible for a saved person to fornicate, to be unclean, to have inordinate affection,
to have evil concupiscence and covetousness.
Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, lies.
Look at verse 9.
Lie not one to another.
Look, it's possible for us to lie to each other.
Seeing that you've put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
He's saying, look, if you've put off the old man and put on the new man, you're not doing
those things.
But you better make sure to mortify the old man so that you don't go back and do those
things again.
Any saved person can turn around and do those things at any time as soon as they start walking
in the flesh.
The Bible says that the new man is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian,
Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all put on therefore as the elect of
God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, law
and suffering.
Look, a little bit earlier, he said in verse 10, you guys have already put on the new man.
So why is he telling them again in verse 12, hey, put it on?
Well, we already had it on in verse 10.
You know why he's telling put it on in verse 12?
Because you've got to put it on, put it on, put it on, put it on.
When you wake up in the morning tomorrow, you're going to have to put on the new man
again.
Oh, I already put on the new man yesterday.
You've got to put it on again.
Because if you don't put on the new man tomorrow, you're going to walk in the flesh.
That's why the first thing that you better do when you wake up in the morning is start
reading your Bible, praying to the Lord, singing a hymn, man, do something, do something, whether
it's prayer, Bible reading, singing, something to put on that new man.
You're not just going to default on the new man.
Well, I wish that were the case.
I wish we would all just be on the new man by default and it would, it would take a lot
of work to go back to the old man.
That would be great, right?
Just cruise through life as the new man.
But that is not life.
Paul said, I die daily.
Jesus said, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up the cross
daily and follow me, Christ said, daily.
It's got to happen day by day.
The Bible says, put on therefore as the elect of God.
Look, you're the elect of God, but you need to put on these things as the elect of God,
right?
The elect need to put these things on.
He talked about putting off all those sins.
Hey, put on mercies, put on kindness, put on humbleness, put on meekness, put on long
suffering, put on forbearance, put on forgiveness.
Verse 14, above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness and let the
peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts.
Lord, go to Romans 6.
Romans 6, you know what we're doing?
We're actually turning to the relevant scriptures about the new man.
We're turning to the relevant scriptures about the new creature in Christ, and we're reading
them in context, and we are seeing that they are admonitions about how we should be living,
but they are not guarantees that every saved person will be doing this, and if you're not
doing this, you're not saved.
Quite the contrary, saved people are capable of doing all those terrible things, which
is why Paul has to keep telling them over and over, put on the new man.
Don't do that stuff.
Flee fornication.
Don't do it.
Otherwise all you'd have to say is just get saved, and everything else will just happen.
Romans 6, we're going to back up actually into chapter 5.
The Bible says in verse 20, Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound,
but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
What shall we say then?
Verse 1.
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
God forbid.
So he's saying, look, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
God's grace is sufficient.
As the song goes, grace that is greater than all our sin.
Grace that is greater than all our sin.
So grace much more abounds.
Sin abounds, but grace more abounds.
But should we look at that and say, oh, we're saved by grace?
Well, let's just go out and continue in sin that grace may abound, let's just max out
on grace by maxing out on sin.
I mean, imagine the forgiveness we're going to rack up, since Jesus is going to forgive
us for everything we do.
God forbid that you would do such a stupid thing, he's saying, look, how can we do that?
He's saying, look, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
Verse 3.
Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death,
therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also will walk automatically in
newness of life.
Is that what it says?
No.
What baptism teaches us is that we should walk in newness of life.
You see, this is why we sometimes say when we baptize people, buried in the likeness
of his death, raised to walk in newness of life, or raised in the likeness of his resurrection.
Why?
Because even as Christ rose from the dead, what is pictured when we baptize someone is
that the old man is dying and that the new man is going to walk in newness of life.
It's a picture that we should walk in newness of life.
And you know what a person is saying when they get baptized?
They're saying, you know what, I want to kill the old man and I want to put on the new man.
Baptism pictures a lot of things.
It pictures, first of all, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, of course.
But it also pictures the fact that we are dead with Christ, the Bible tells us.
We just looked at that scripture, in fact, over in Colossians chapter 3.
You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.
And it says that we are buried with him, verse 4, by baptism into death.
That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, that's when we're dunked
under water, we're planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in
the likeness of his resurrection.
He's saying, look, Christ died and was buried and rose again and he gives us the power to
bury the old man and walk in newness of life and put on the new man, put on Christ, walk
in the spirit, and live the victorious Christian life.
He says that we should do that, but did he say that we're automatically going to do that?
No.
That's what we should do.
The Bible says in 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.
So from here on out, we shouldn't serve sin anymore, right?
We shouldn't do that.
For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing
that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth 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.
Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
That's what baptism is picturing, right?
He's saying, hey, we want to reckon ourselves to be dead and we want to be alive unto God
and we want to walk in newness of life.
Why?
Because baptism is the first step of obedience after you get saved, right?
After you get saved, the first thing you're commanded to do is to be baptized and that
first step of obedience shows God that you're ready to walk in newness of life because it
shows God, hey, I'm not going to disobey you, I want to obey.
Now of course that's not a one-time decision because the next day you're going to have
to obey again and the next day you're going to have to obey again and you're going to
keep learning new things and keep adding things to your life and adding new good works that
you learn about and then you're going to start learning that certain things that you've
been doing in your life are sins and maybe you didn't even realize they were sins and
so you're in a process of getting sin out of your life.
It's called Christian growth.
It's called sanctification and it takes a lifetime.
Look, you and I did not just get saved and just become amazing Christians the next day.
We slowly got sin out of our life.
We slowly added virtues into our life and it doesn't happen overnight.
Just as much as a baby doesn't become an adult overnight.
We were babes in Christ and we've slowly grown and matured and improved.
But some people don't grow and they don't mature.
That's why Paul rebuked them and said, hey, when for the time you ought to be teachers,
you have need that won't teach you again and are become such as have need of milk and not
of strong meat.
For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he's a babe.
He's saying you guys are on milk because you're babies.
You should be teaching people because you've been saved a long time.
You should be teachers for the time you ought to be teachers.
You know, based on how long you've been saved, you ought to be the preacher.
You ought to be behind the pulpit.
But you're a baby that needs a bottle in your mouth because you're not growing.
But according to this stupid repent of your sins crowd, growth is automatic.
Growth is just automatic, isn't it?
Oh yeah, you just get saved and you just, oh I just never said a filthy thing ever again.
And I just never craved a cigarette again.
And I just never drank any liquor again.
And I just never did this and I never did that.
And I'm so great and I'm so clean and I'm so wonderful and you're so dirty and you come
down to the altar and you bow down at my feet and get saved again because it must not have
worked the first time.
It's what these liars preach, don't they?
Oh, you're struggling with sin?
That's not biblical salvation.
Come to the altar and be saved a 50th time.
It's garbage.
And that lying phony hypocrite behind that pulpit is just as much of a sinner as anybody
else and he gets up and acts like he's so holy and righteous.
And you know, some of these guys are 100 pounds overweight.
That's called gluttony.
But then they're, oh I repent, I never drank again.
Yeah, you drank Kool-Aid again.
Oh, I never had to drink a liquor again.
Yeah, but you drank Coke after Pepsi, after Sprite, after Kool-Aid, after ice cream cone
and you gorged and gorged and gorged and gorged and gorged.
You must not even be saved.
But you know what, they pick and choose, don't they?
And look, you say, why are you getting on me, Pastor Anderson?
I'm overweight.
But you know what, I'm not getting on you because you're overweight.
Because you know what, you're overweight, but guess what, I have sins too.
Now my sin's not being overweight, but I have other sins.
And you have other sins.
And we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
And there's only one that's good and that's God.
And so I can't get up and say, hey, if you're still doing this sin and you're still doing
that sin and you're not saved, well you know what, then none of us is saved, including
that biscuit-eating southern preacher at his camp meeting telling us all how we need to
repent of all our sins.
Well you know what, everybody's got sin.
Now some men's sins are opened beforehand, going before the judgment, and some men they
fall after.
Likewise, also the good works of some are manifest beforehand and they that are otherwise
cannot be hid.
So yeah, some sins are open.
You know, some sins are just right out there in the open, right?
And other sins are secret sins, but you know what, every single person in this room is
a sinner.
And if you say that you have no sin, you're a liar and the truth is not in you.
And that goes for me and you and everybody else.
And you know, I heard one of these phony preachers say, you know, yeah, these preachers that
are against repent of your sins salvation, it's because they have sin in their life.
You got it right.
We have sin in our life.
Every one of us.
What is he implying?
That he doesn't have any sin in his life?
Oh, he must be Jesus.
He must be the second coming of Christ.
And we knew it not.
I mean think about that.
Now look, I'm not saying that we all have major sin in our life.
And I'm not saying that it's okay to have major sin in your life.
I'm not saying that it's okay to have any sin in your life.
I'm saying that the reality is that we are all sinners saved by grace and we all are
striving to grow and learn and you know what, sometimes the spirit's willing and the flesh
is weak and we give in to sin.
And if you say, oh, I can't believe you say that pastor, I can't respect you anymore.
Well, you know what, I'm just being honest.
I just can't respect you anymore.
Okay, well then go down to some holy roller Pentecostal church down the street, they'll
tell you that he never sins anymore.
Of course, we all know what his sin is, greed, because he gets in his Jaguar, he gets in
his fancy, you know, $100,000 automobile with the license plate personalized, God's man
in his $100,000 car and he's got all the gold chains and he's in a mansion.
You know what, he's not sinlessly perfect because we can see his sin exposed as greed.
Why doesn't he sell what he has and give it to the poor, have some treasure in heaven?
Why doesn't he walk around like the prophets of God in a rough garment, not some smooth
Armani suit?
I'm telling you that everyone is a sinner and after you get saved, you don't stop being
a sinner, you start putting on the new man and the new man is in conflict with the old
man and you know what, every day you got to fight that battle.
Every day you got to make the effort to do what's right and you keep on doing it and
fighting that battle and it's just these holier than thou preachers that lie, but you know
when you get to know them, they're not as perfect as they act like they are, are they?
These preachers that get up and talk about, you know, if you're living in any kind of
sin whatsoever or if you're still even struggling with sin, if it's even hard for you not to
sin, even if you don't sin but it's hard not to, it should be easy.
You know what, let's follow those guys around for a couple of weeks, right?
Let's sleep in the same room with them, let's get up and have breakfast with them, let's
follow them and watch everything that they do for weeks and you know what, let's scrutinize
them and let's get out the magnifying glass and let's see if these guys are really as
perfect as they act like they are and as they think they are, because I have a suspicion
that they're going to spend a lot of times just wasted, doing stupid things, sitting
around, wasting time and doing stupid things, saying stupid things, committing sins.
Say how do you know that?
Because they're a human being and especially since they're a false prophet, they're probably
worse than anybody in this whole room, because the false prophets are rotten people, super
rotten people and so if we could somehow become the invisible man and follow them around and
they didn't know we were scrutinizing them, boy, we'd see all kinds of rotten, horrific
things that they're into as they get up and preach all these lies.
It's not biblical, friend.
We as Christians need to make the effort to walk in the new man.
Go to Galatians 5, Galatians chapter 5 verse 16, Galatians 5 verse 16.
You say well you're giving people a license to sin.
You know what I've noticed?
I've noticed that the people who preach that salvation is free usually live the cleanest
life and the churches that preach that salvation is free and it's easy believe-ism are the
same churches that usually have the strictest standards and they usually preach the hardest
against it.
Some of these same people will complain that we're too harsh on sin and then in the next
breath it's like you're giving people a license to sin.
First of all, people don't need a license to sin, they do it unlicensed.
They don't need a license to sin.
The Bible says here in Galatians 5, 16, this I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
What's the implication?
If I don't walk in the Spirit, what am I going to do if I don't walk in the Spirit?
I'm going to fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Why?
Because the flesh lusted against the Spirit, verse 17, and the Spirit against the flesh
and these are contrary to one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you
would.
He's saying, look, you ever just feel like, man, I want to do what's right and I just
can't do it.
You know why?
Because the old man is there and he is sabotaging you.
Your sinful flesh is sabotaging you.
How many times did you just want to go out soul winning so bad and you're just like,
okay, let's go soul winning.
Ready?
Okay, we're going to get up at the count of three.
One, two, three.
I'm still sitting there.
It's like, all right, ready, go.
I've done it.
I've been there.
How many times have you said, all right, I'm going to read my Bible.
I'm going to read it.
And you get out the Bible and you set the Bible down on the table and you just kind
of look at it.
I can't even count how many times.
I've got out the Bible and just put it on the table and just stared at it for like five
minutes.
And I'm just like, man, I need to read the Bible.
I need to read the Bible.
I need to read it.
I'm not joking right now.
I'm dead serious.
I need to read the Bible.
I need to read it.
I'm just looking at it.
And then it's like you open it and you're, it's just like, and you know what?
Sad to say, there have been times when I just shut it and walked away, right?
I didn't walk away and pulled some fun book off the shelf and started reading something
fun, right?
Or just put it down and just hopped in the pool, right?
I mean, look, who's been there?
Of course you've been there.
You know, you just put it down and just, you know, something else.
And then you go back and you try again and it's just like, you just can't.
It's just like, now, according to these people, I guess I should doubt my salvation.
Even though, you know, nevermind the fact that I've read the Bible cover to cover scores
of time, you know, nevermind the fact other days I read the Bible for hours, but you know
what?
Some days, some days it's just the flesh is, you're just in the flesh some days.
Some days you're just in the flesh, right?
And you're trying to read the Bible and you can't and you, you know, you want to do what's
right and you can't and you just feel like an idiot and you feel like a loser.
And why am I not soul winning right now?
Why am I not reading my Bible?
Why am I not praying?
You know why?
It's because that's the flesh warring against the spirit and sometimes the flesh gets the
upper hand and we struggle, don't we?
This is the reality of the Christian life.
I mean, this, just this phrase, you cannot do the things that you would.
I mean, what do they do with that verse?
Well, I mean, if sin's a struggle for you, then I mean, you know, you're probably just
not even saved if you struggle with sin.
Well, I mean, how can it not be a struggle with sin if the flesh is lusting against the
spirit and the spirit's lusting against the flesh?
That sounds like a struggle.
And if I can't do the things that I would because I'm in the flesh and I'm just not
getting things done that I'm supposed to be getting done, I mean, this is what the Bible
says.
But if you be led of the spirit, you're not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest.
What does manifest mean?
Manifest means they're out in the open, they're exposed, they're obvious, they are apparent.
We know what they are.
We don't have to wonder what they are.
We don't be like, you know, what are the works of the flesh?
What would that look like?
They're manifest.
What are they?
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such
like of the which I tell you before as I have told you in time past that they which
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Now people will stop and say, oh right there, anybody who does any of these things isn't
saved.
Really?
Because we already looked at several other passages where people who were saved did those
things.
And we can show examples in the Bible.
So you're telling me that anybody who's saved never has wrath?
They never lose their temper?
They never envy?
They never say, boy, I wish I was that guy, or boy, I wish I had that car, or boy, I wish
I had that.
That just never happens.
You're saved.
That just never happens.
I mean, are you going to tell me, and such like, just anything like that, any work of
the flesh.
If you're going to take that interpretation, here's what you're saying.
Anybody who has any work of the flesh isn't saved.
Anybody who does anything.
He just said a minute ago, it's a battle.
It's a struggle.
You know what else the Bible says?
That all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.
You know what?
Nobody who does these things is going to inherit the kingdom of God.
Because the Stephen Anderson who is capable of these type of sins is going to die and
he's never going to make it to heaven.
The Stephen Anderson that is, and I'm talking about the old Stephen Anderson, the flesh,
the one that is capable of drunkenness, or envy, or murder, or reveling, and partying.
That Stephen Anderson is never going to make it to heaven.
The Stephen Anderson that you're looking at right now, this flesh, including my carnal
mind will not go to heaven.
Because when I die, this flesh will die.
And you know who's going to heaven?
The new man.
The new Stephen Anderson is going to heaven, not the old man.
Why?
Because if the old Stephen Anderson went to heaven, he'd stink up the joint.
If the old Stephen Anderson went to heaven, then it wouldn't be a perfect place anymore.
You see, when we die, the old man is permanently gone.
That's why, here's the blessed thing, when we get to heaven, we're never going to sin
again.
Why do we sin on this earth?
Because we're in the flesh.
But when we shed the flesh, we're without sin because it's just the new man.
Only the new man's on his way to heaven.
The old man's going to die.
Now here's the thing, the old man dies all the time.
The old man dies constantly, but one day he's going to die permanently.
And then I will finally be free from the flesh.
The carnal Stephen Anderson.
My evil alter ego.
Right?
Now here's the thing.
Let's say that I happen to be one of those that is alive and remaining at the coming
of the Lord.
Wouldn't that be a blessing?
Well, the old Stephen Anderson's still not going to heaven, because I'm going to be changed
in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.
And God will change my vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
And so thank God this rotten Stephen Anderson isn't going anywhere.
He's going to die and when the rapture happens, you know what's going to happen?
This rotten Stephen Anderson's going to be transformed into a brand new Stephen Anderson.
Now part of me is already new.
Which part of me is new?
The spirit.
See I am made up of body, soul, and spirit.
You're made up of body, soul, and spirit.
When I got saved, the spirit is saved.
The spirit was quickened.
The spirit is renewed.
The spirit is the new man.
But did my body become saved?
No.
That's why the Bible says we are waiting for the redemption of our body.
We're waiting for the salvation of our bodies.
Because look, think about the imperfections that we all have in our body.
Everybody's body is perfect, is it?
You know, I'm thinking of some of the imperfections in my body.
You know, I have a finger on my right hand that pops out of joint every single day.
It's painful.
It's annoying.
It messes.
If I do tasks with my right hand, I'm constantly just popping it back.
If I play piano, I'm like, play piano, play piano.
Okay.
It's really annoying.
The biggest thing that's wrong with my body is I have something wrong with my esophagus
that makes me choke on my food every single day of my life.
I'm constantly choking.
Who's ever been with me when I had one of those choking fits?
I have to run to the bathroom.
Yeah, it's very embarrassing for me when I'm in a social situation and I start choking
on my food.
So constantly as I'm eating and drinking, I'm praying that I won't choke on my food
because there's something wrong with my throat.
My brother has the same thing.
My dad has the same thing.
And so it's something that's hereditary.
It's just my esophagus is too small.
Right?
Everybody's got little imperfections and the older you get, the more you rack up physical
problems.
You know, you just kind of rack up injuries and physical problems, right?
But the moment you got saved, you didn't just get a new perfect body, did you?
It's not like, my finger, it's fixed.
My throat, I can just wolf down my food now.
You know, you still have the same physical imperfections, don't you?
Well guess what?
Part of your physical body is your brain.
Your brain is part of your physical body.
You did not get a new brain when you got saved.
God did not take out your old brain and put in a new brain.
You have the same gray matter, slimy brain in your head as the same one.
So guess what?
Junk that you looked at on TV before you were saved, it didn't just get erased.
The communication that you may have committed or drunken parties that you'd attended or
filthy jokes that you'd heard or told, that stuff's all still in your brain.
And you know what?
After you get saved, that stuff can still come back into your mind.
And the habits that you had before you were saved, let's say your brain has these deep
grooves that tell you to go to the casino and they tell you to go drink and they tell
you to smoke pot and they tell you to snort cocaine and shoot up heroin.
You say, no one would do those things that's a Christian.
But you know what?
What about people who did that before they were saved and their brains wired that way?
They didn't get a brain transplant when they got saved.
But what they did get when they got saved is a new spirit.
Now they have another mode that they can switch into, the spiritual mode.
They can flip off the switch or that flesh mode and switch onto the spirit and they can
sing those hymns and they can win those souls and they can read that Bible and they can
pray that prayer and they can serve God.
Why?
In the spirit they can do it.
Even the rotten drug addict and the drunk and the filthy sinner, when he gets saved,
he can put on the new man and be a great Christian and be a great soul winner and do great things
for God.
But you know what?
That old rotten brain is still there to haunt him day after day after day.
It's called the carnal mind.
What's carnal mean?
Physical.
The physical mind.
The brain.
You did not get a brain transplant.
Some of these camp meeting preachers think they got a brain transplant, don't they?
Well, when I got saved, I got all the way saved.
You got a lobotomy, if anything, but they think, oh, you know, I got my brain swapped
out with a brain that just wants to do all the right things.
That's garbage.
That never happened.
Now look, I was privileged to grow up in a Christian home.
I got saved when I was six years old.
So I don't have all of these, you know, horrible stories about before I was saved.
You know, I mean, before I was saved, I lived a rough life.
My mom told me I could only eat four cookies, I ate five, you know what I mean?
I mean, you know, I wasn't really able to sink that low when I got sick because I was
only six and I lived in a Christian home, you know.
So I wasn't able, you know, I couldn't go to the bar.
They wouldn't let me in, you know.
I couldn't drink.
They wouldn't sell it to me, you know.
I couldn't smoke, you know.
I wasn't 18.
So the point is that, you know, I don't have some radical testimony, but you know what?
I'm glad I don't.
Why would I want that?
Why would I want a brain filled with crap from before I was saved?
And you know what?
To get up and brag about that is just stupid.
Oh yeah, you know, it's so great.
I have this great testimony.
Shut up about your stupid testimony.
You know, the testimony of Jesus is what we want to hear.
That's the spirit of prophecy.
You know, I want to hear about Jesus and him dying on the cross, not about your gang life.
You know, isn't that what they say, oh, it's so powerful, this testimony is so powerful.
It's lies.
It's exaggerated.
Well, some of it's true.
Well, some of it's false.
But none of it's going to save anybody.
It's the word of God and the gospel that's going to save people.
These testimonies are overrated is what they are.
And you know what?
When people go into detail about their sinful past, you know, I've got something to say
to you.
You're corrupting my mind.
I didn't want to hear all those details.
I don't want to hear all that garbage.
And some of them brag about it like it's cool.
Man, I was already stealing cars when I was 16.
Oh, wow, you daredevil.
You know, they try to make it sound all cool.
I was mean.
I was bad.
I was running with some of the roughest people.
I was on death row.
You know, it's just, come on.
Where did we leave off in the Bible?
We need to get back to the Bible here.
Okay.
So he said, look, oh, you know, you're not going to inherit the kingdom of God if you
do these things.
Right.
That's right.
Because the old man, period, is not going to inherit the kingdom of God because all
liars shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Even if you tell one lie, you can't inherit the kingdom of God.
Revelation 21, verse 27, because it's the new man who's going to heaven.
The old man is going to die and thank God we're going to be through with him someday.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law, verse 24, and they that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
So some people, they'll just take that one verse and say, well, see, they that are Christ's,
they crucified the affections with lusts.
But look at the next verse.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
So we have to choose to do what?
Walk in the Spirit.
Which means what?
It's possible to not walk in the Spirit and to fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
And then he says, let's not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying
one another.
Meaning what?
That it's possible for us to be desirous of vain glory, to provoke one another, and envy
one another.
I got to hurry up.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time here, but go to Romans 7.
Let's close out in Romans 7.
And what are we doing?
We're turning to scriptures and we're reading the whole passage.
And we're getting the whole teaching, and the teaching is pretty consistent.
You got to put off the old man.
You got to put on the new man.
It's not a one-time thing.
It's a continual thing.
It's a struggle.
It's a battle.
It's something that's not automatic.
Romans 7.14, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin.
You know, these false teachers will often say this, there's no such thing as a carnal
Christian.
You know, one of these false teachers is called Paul Washer.
And Paul Washer said, there's no such thing as a carnal Christian.
Well, you know what the apostle Paul said?
I'm carnal.
So who are we going to believe?
The apostle Paul, who said, I'm carnal?
Or we're going to realize that Paul Washer said, there's no such thing as a carnal Christian.
Paul Washer, you're a rotten person.
And if we could follow you around as the invisible man, we'd see just what a rotten, filthy person
you are.
You go around holier than thou, telling everybody they're not saved because they're not as righteous
as you are.
Well, you know what?
I'll bet you that everybody in this room is more righteous than Paul Washer, because Paul
Washer is about as low as you can go as a person.
Because when you're preaching lies and damning people to hell with a false gospel, you're
like the scum at the bottom of the pool as far as how low you've gone.
He's like algae, spiritually.
We know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin.
For that which I do, I allow not.
It's like, hey, I don't allow that stuff, but I've done some of it.
Isn't that what he's saying?
How which I do, I allow not.
For what I would, meaning what I would do, what I wanted to do, that do I not.
But what I hate, that do I.
What does he want to do?
He wants to read his Bible, go soul winning, pray.
What does he hate doing?
Sinning.
But he ends up sinning.
And what does he say?
If then I do that which I would not, meaning I do the bad things, I consent unto the law
that 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.
So what's he saying?
Look, my flesh, my body, my physical brain, my physical body, there's nothing good about
it.
It's only the spirit that's good.
He's saying my flesh has no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform
that which is good, I find not.
He's like, man, I want to read my Bible.
I want to go to church.
I want to abstain from sin, but it's just like I can't figure out how to do it.
How to perform that which is good, I find not.
For the good that I would, I do not, verse 19.
But the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that, I would not.
It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
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, but I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which
is in my members.
O wretched man that I am, 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.
Now like I mentioned this morning, there's a stupid doctrine out there that says, oh
well, you know, this is people before they're saved.
Really?
Because this is Paul talking in the present tense.
It's all present.
This is what I do.
This is what I don't do.
So how do you get past tense out of this?
Well it's before they're saved.
Oh really?
Then why is he thanking Christ Jesus, his Lord?
And why does he say, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the
law of sin?
What do people do before they're saved?
So before they're saved, they serve the law of God with their mind.
Before they're saved, they delight in the law of God after the inward man.
They don't have an inward man.
Their spirit is dead.
There is no new creature.
There is no new man.
See here's the thing.
We that are saved, we have the old man and the new man.
You know what unsaved people have?
Just the old man.
Before you were saved, you had one nature.
One man, the old man, the unsaved man, the carnal mind.
That's who you were, just one person.
But when you got saved, now you are this dichotomy of the new man and the old man.
Now there's the spirit and now there's a battle between those two things.
Now that's not to say that unsaved people don't battle between whether they're going
to do right and do wrong, but it's just one person having that battle.
It's just one mind having that battle, whereas with a saved person, now there's the new man
and the old man.
Now there's a conflict between two different personalities.
You know, the personality of before we were saved versus the personality of the new man
created in Christ Jesus' drawings.
Look, if you're saved today, you're different on the inside than before you were saved.
So people say, hey, if you're saved, there's going to be a change.
Yeah, there is going to be a change inside, but that's not going to manifest on the outside
unless you put on that new man.
I mean, here's the thing.
If somebody, I'm trying to think of a good illustration of this, just on the fly up here,
but let's say somebody said, hey, I'm going to go become a police officer, and they go
and they get training and everything like that, and they get sworn in as a police officer.
They get sworn in as a police officer, but then let's say they walk out of there and
they're still in their plain clothes.
On the inside, they're a police officer now, right?
They've been hired.
Their name is on the rolls of the Tempe Police Department.
They're an employee, right?
Is everybody understanding?
Are you a police officer?
Yes.
Inside, they're policemen, right?
But if they're dressed in plain clothes, is anybody going to know that?
But when they put on the uniform, now we can see that they're a police officer, right?
And when they take off the uniform, they don't look like a police officer anymore.
And what if I see that guy snorting cocaine?
You know what I'm going to think?
I don't think that guy's a police officer.
But you know what?
He might be a police officer, because undercover cops snort cocaine sometimes.
And look, they shouldn't do that, but they do.
Who thinks that there's never been such thing as an undercover policeman who's ever snorted
cocaine ever?
It just doesn't happen.
Never going to happen.
It does happen.
Well, that guy snorted coke.
He can't be a policeman.
But he is, though.
He just doesn't look like one.
He's not acting like one.
So you know, it's the same thing when you're saved.
I mean, when you're saved inwardly, you're saved, right?
But you know what?
Some people might look at you, and you might look the same if you're looking the same way
as you were before you were saved, and they might not even know that you're saved.
But inside, you are saved, and your name's written down down at the police station up
in heaven, in that book of life, at the precinct of heaven.
So he says, look, I delight in the law of God with the inward man.
Look, if you're saved today, if you're saved today, you have the Holy Spirit living inside
of you, and there's a new man in there that wants to do what's right.
Now if you're sitting there, and you just say, you know what?
I don't give a flip about doing what's right.
I couldn't care less.
I don't even care.
You know what?
Then you're probably not saved if you actually just have no regard for the things of God
anywhere in your heart.
Yeah, then you're not saved.
Because, I mean, if you're saved, the new man is there.
The inward man is there, right?
I mean, people that are saved have a conscience.
If you just go out and just commit sin with no conscience, and you just go out and commit
sin, and you don't even care, nuts to it, you're like those psychopaths in that documentary,
then, OK, you're not saved.
But you know what?
People that are saved, and in fact, you can talk to people that are saved who've lived
a rotten life and get their testimony.
People who got saved and then lived rotten after they were saved, and you know what they'll
tell you?
Man, every day I knew I was wrong.
Every day I was like, man, why am I doing this?
Every day I felt bad.
Every day I felt guilty.
Every day I felt wicked.
But you know, unsaved people are just, woo, just, you know.
But saved people are like, oh, man, what am I doing?
I need to get right with God.
And it bugs them.
Look, I love the Lord.
You love the Lord on the inside.
All of us do.
Every saved Christian on the inside deep down loves the Lord and delights in the law of
God and wants to be a great Christian and wants to do what's right, that the spirit
is willing and the flesh is weak.
And so there's a struggle that's going on.
And I'm not preaching this sermon to tell you, hey, it's OK to just give in to sin,
join the club, we're all doing it.
That's not what this sermon's about.
You know what this sermon's about?
This sermon's about doctrine.
This sermon's just about what the New Testament teaches.
Now the application for the sermon, the application of all the chapters I showed you was telling
you what?
Hey, put on that new man.
Don't take this as a license to sin.
Put on the new man.
Because if you don't, you know what's going to happen?
God's going to chastise you.
God's going to chasten you.
God's going to scourge you.
God's going to punish you.
But you know what?
That doesn't make you have to doubt your salvation, though.
Because if you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're saved.
And if you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you know that down inside you, you
really do love the Lord and want to do what's right down there.
Right?
But just how to perform that, which is good, you find not.
Now if you search inside your soul right now and you can't find any love for the Lord anywhere,
and you can't find any desire to read the Bible anywhere, and you can't find any desire
to praise God, you know what?
Then you ought to doubt your salvation at that point if you don't have that inside you.
Because that's inside of every believer.
But we can't look at other people and just judge them as unsaved because we're looking
at the outside.
You know, for all we know inside, that person's going home and crying at night saying, God,
why am I doing this?
I need to get right with you.
And we see that, you know, they might be posing, you know, we see that backslidden Christian,
and we see their Facebook.
And we see them, you know, posing with alcohol.
And we see them posing, you know, scantily clad and looking like a hoochie momma and
a whore.
And they have a look on their face that says, I'm so cool, I'm so awesome, I don't care
what anybody says.
But you know what we don't see, though?
Is when they turn off the camera and go home and throw up their guts at the alcohol and
cry and say, I wish I would be back in church.
And why am I living this stupid life?
And why am I with some guy who's sleeping with me and he won't even marry me?
And why am I a loser?
And why am I wasting my life?
You know what I mean?
That's what you don't see.
Because Facebook is the best foot forward.
And you know what?
People like to gloat about their sin on Facebook.
And people look at it and say, oh, that person must not be saved.
You know what?
Maybe they're not saved.
But you know what?
Maybe they're just backslidden.
And we don't know what's going on in that heart.
And if people confess Christ as their savior, then, you know, we don't know.
But we can only go by what they tell us that they believe.
But living the Christian life is another story, isn't it?
It's work.
And you know what?
Tomorrow, all of us, all of us can go one way or the other tomorrow.
We can go the right way or the wrong way.
And you know what?
We need to decide right now.
We're going to go the right way.
We're going to wake up in the morning and roll out of bed and not reach for the Bloody
Mary, not reach for the remote control, right?
Not reach for the pack of cigarettes.
We're going to reach for what?
The New Testament.
We're going to reach for the hymnal, right?
We're going to reach for that which is godly.
And we're going to put on that new man.
And if we don't, we're going to walk after the flesh.
This is the Bible.
Father, we thank you so much for your truth and the gospel, Lord.
I pray that the sermon was understandable, Lord, and I pray that everyone who's here
would search the scriptures, Lord, and see the truth of these things and be solid on
the fact that salvation's free, salvation's by faith, and that salvation does not automatically
change our lifestyle.
It only changes our inner heart and our spirit, Lord.
But help us to tap into that spiritual power to do right and live for you, Lord.
And help us to fight the flesh and win that battle and read that Bible and serve you with
all our hearts.