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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Alright, welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church. Thank you for coming out. Go ahead and turn your hymnal to song number 364, Standing on the Promises of God. Standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that cannot fail, when the hauling storms of fear assail. By the living word of God I shall prevail, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, bound to Him eternally by love's strong port. Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot fail, resting every moment to the Spirit's call. Resting in my Savior as my own little, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Amen. We're going to turn your hymnals to song number 169. Song number 169, Come Thou Fount. Song number 169, Come Thou Fount. On the verse. Come thou fount of every blessing, to my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodisonic, sung by flaming tongues above. Raise the mounds I'm fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise my habeneezer, hither by thy help I come. And I know by thy good pleasure, safely I'll arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God. Heed to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood. O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter, buy my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Hear my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Have a great scene. Go ahead and pull out your bulletins. If you don't have one, you can raise your hand and Brother James will bring you one. The verse of this week is Psalms 47, stick, sing praises to God, sing praises unto our King, sing praises. If you're able to quote that verse in your 1800, by next Thursday you'll get a free ice cream with your parents. Service time, Sunday morning at 10.30 a.m., Sunday evening 5.30 p.m., and a Thursday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. For church wide soul winning, we have a Sunday soul winning time at 2 o'clock p.m. Brother James, Thursday 5.15 p.m., Brother James, and Saturday 2 p.m. for the most. And also do we have any soul salvations to report for fun? There we go. Be sure to add that on there. Upcoming guest preaching, we have Pastor Steven Anderson on July 7th. Prayers for expecting ladies in the church. We have Pastor Tristan Darnell expecting in June, Clementine. And we also have Pastor Christian Rogers expecting to be a teacher to keep them in his prayer. So that the babies can grow and everything can go well in season. Upcoming events, we have May 21st, a soul winning marathon in Austin this Saturday. In August 18th through the 20th, we have the steadfast mighty men's conference prayer request. We also have a steadfast Baptist church, pastor Kelly in the new building. The Goodwin family, Brother Edward, Miss Liberty's daughter-in-law, while the mother's passed. That's just hard to say. Breast cancer, just pray for her, everything goes well. And Brother Joel, unspoken prayer, the first word, Baptist church, the blessing. And also just some church minders, just keep kids off the stage. Children are not allowed to run in the church, to be in distractions, to be taken out of the sanctuary. And children are not allowed to be in another baby room without their mothers present at all times. All right, with that, go ahead and turn your hymnals to song number 64. Shall we gather at the river? Song number 64, Shall We Gather at the River. Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Shall we gather at the river? Gather with the saints at the river, That flows with the throne of God. On the last soon we'll reach the shining river, Soon our pilgrimage will cease, Soon our happy hearts will river, With the melody of peace. Yes, we'll gather at the river, The beautiful, the beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the river, That flows by the throne of God. The Bible reads, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, That grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we, That are dead to sin, Live any longer therein? 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 us Christ was raised up from the dead By the glory of the Father, Even so we also could walk in the newness of life. For if we have been planted together In the likeness of his death, We shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, 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. 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. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, That ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, But yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, And as your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, For ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then, shall we sin, Because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, That to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, His servants to whom ye obey, Whether of sin unto death, Or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, That ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, Even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's pray. Amen. Alright, well great to see you all and thank you all so much for being in church this evening. Thank you Pastor Shelley for the opportunity again to preach this congregation here. I really do appreciate it. And we are here in Romans chapter 6 every once in a while. If I get a chance to preach down here on a Thursday, I'll preach through the book of Romans. Or if another subject is on my heart, I'll preach that. I'm not saying for sure I'm going to go through the entire book of Romans, but I do love the book of Romans. It is an amazing book. It is such a book that is just full of doctrine. Almost every doctrine in the New Testament is just hammered in the book of Romans. So I do love the book of Romans and I am honored to be able to go through this book and preach through it. But we are here in Romans chapter number 6. Let's start in verse number 1. Paul says this, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Of course we have to understand the context of this question and we covered it a little bit at the end of Romans chapter 5. But flip back to Romans chapter 5 and keep your place in Romans 6 throughout the entire sermon. But look at Romans chapter 5. Let's look at verse number 20. It says this, Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. We know that sin is the transgression of the law. And so the law enters so that we realize that our offense is abounding. We realize what a sinner we are. But even though we sin a lot, even though we are sinners, Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. God's grace is truly greater than our sin. Like the great song that we sing at this church. Look at verse 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So Paul knows and he's been hammering in the book of Romans that salvation is by faith alone. It's not by works. And no matter how much we sin, God's grace will always abound above our sin. But that begs the question, should we then just continue in sin just because we know that God's grace is going to cover that? And he answers that question in verse number 2 of Romans 6. He says, And you know, even though that we at this church believe that salvation is 100% free, not based on your works at all whatsoever, it's a free gift, we still believe in preaching hard against sin. And there's this weird interesting phenomena that I've noticed that churches that preach that salvation is by works are the ones that are not preaching hard against sin. Now the reason for this is Romans 3.31 says this. Do we then make void the law through faith? Are we just making the law of God null and void because we're saved by faith? He says, Now those that actually believe in salvation by faith alone, we're the ones that are establishing the law of God because we're not trying to lower the bar of God's word. We're saying, yep, God put the bar way up here. This is what's right. This is what God said. But guess what? We're never going to measure up to that. The people that believe in work salvation, what they want to do is they want to say, well, God's really not up here. Let's bring the bar down here. Well, as long as I just don't murder somebody that I'm saved. No, that is making the law void. And we as Christians should not try to make the law of God void through faith. No, we want to establish the law. And just because we're saved by faith, does that mean that we should just continue in sin? God forbid is what the apostle Paul said. He knew that this would be a question that would be on people's minds. And if you've ever been out soul winning, isn't that something that people often ask? So what are you saying? We should just continue sinning? No, that's not at all what we're saying. And there's many reasons for that. First, let's look at Romans chapter six. Let's look at verse three. It says this, 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, then pay attention to this, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Why is it that we do not want to just continue in sin? Even though we know God's grace will abound over our sin, even though we know we can never lose our salvation, we'll always be saved no matter what. Why is it that we don't want to do that? The reason why is because the purpose in our lives as Christians has changed after you got saved. Now, not every single person that gets saved realizes this truth, but whether or not someone realizes it, after a person got saved, their entire mission, their entire purpose in life has now changed. And look at the end of that, of verse four, it says, Even so, we also should walk in newness of life. Now, he brings up baptism, and baptism is a great picture of salvation. That's why this is brought up here. He says that we're buried with him by baptism, and if you've ever heard a pastor baptize someone, they say, you know, sister or brother so-and-so, have you trusted Christ for your salvation? They'll say yes, and he says, okay, by your public profession of faith, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of his death, and raised to walk in newness of life. Because what you're doing when you get baptized is you're identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and you're publicly professing that you want to have a new walk in your life. You have a new purpose in your life. That before, whatever it was that you were chasing, whatever it was that was your main goal and your main desire in life, now, after we're saved, we should want to walk in newness of life. That is the whole point of getting baptized. Yet, many Christians are not doing this. Many Christians haven't even gotten to the step of getting baptized, which is the first thing you should do after you get saved. Now, think about it. It's a picture of someone that's buried and that rises again. Imagine if someone was raised from the dead. You know, let's take Lazarus, for example, who was raised from the dead by Jesus Christ. What if Jesus commanded Lazarus to rise from the dead, and Lazarus gets up from the dead, and he just lays back down. He's like, I kind of like being dead better. That's about as silly as it is for a Christian who's born again to not walk in newness of life. It's like you've been spiritually raised again from the dead, but instead of deciding to walk in newness of life, you're just going to lay back down in the tomb. Because that's about how much worth you have on this earth as a Christian when you're not walking according to God's purpose, when you're trying to walk according to your own purpose. It's like you might as well just lay down in the grave if you're going to do nothing for God. No, the reason why we want to not just continue in sin is because we have a new purpose as Christians. When we get saved, we have a new purpose. Now, stay there in Romans 6 and turn to Colossians 3. Flipping the right to your Bible, Colossians 3. Colossians 3 says this in verse 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, now we know that we're raised again with Christ, 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. For ye are dead, and notice this, your life is hid with Christ in God. Our life as Christians is hid in Christ. Now, before people got saved, their life may have been hid in their muscle car in their garage. And you point at that muscle car and you say, that is this guy's life, is this muscle car. Or, you know, in Vancouver, Washington, there's an overpass bridge near where Shur Foundation Baptist Church used to be located. And every single Sunday, without fail, rain, snow, hail, no matter what, this guy was out there with his Seattle Seahawks flag and he's waving it from morning until night. Because, guess what, his life was hid in the Seattle Seahawks. Remember that, babe? She remembers. Or, yeah, absolutely it's lame. It's completely stupid, just like that muscle car. Your life being hid in that is stupid too. You know, people have their life hid in their money, or in their careers, or in their house, or in the stock market, right? There's all these things today that unsaved people, and hey, they don't know any better, but their life is hid in something today. But us as Christians, the Bible says that our life is hid with Christ in God. That's why I love when Jesus said, hey, if you lose your life, you'll find it. Because before you got saved, whatever life it was that you were seeking, whatever your life was hidden, why don't you just lose that? Because you're going to find your real life in Christ. And in the mission that Christ has for you, as a Christian. Now, let's go to, you're there in Colossians 3 again, let me read for you, Matthew 28, 19. What is our mission? We all know this verse. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. So our mission is to fulfill the great commission that God has given us, right? So if we just continue living in sin, is that, my question is, is that going to be helpful to fulfilling that great commission, or is that going to be harming it? Okay, it's going to be harming it. There actually are consequences for your sin, despite what the liberal churches want to teach today. And so, of course we shouldn't just want to continue in sin, because we realize that we have a great mission to accomplish, and if we do that, it's going to be harmful for that. Colossians 3, look at verse 4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Then it says, mortify therefore. So he's saying, because that Christ is our life, I want you to do what I'm about to tell you. He says, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. So he says, look, because Christ is your life, because you should be seeking those things that are above, not the things on the earth, this is why you should mortify your members. And what does that relate to? This relates to living a good life, living a clean life, repenting of your sins, not just continuing in sin. Now, of course, not for salvation. We've already gone over Romans 2, 3, 4, and 5. We've hammered very clearly that salvation is by faith. But he's asking the question, based on that truth that salvation is by faith, should we just continue in sin then? Absolutely not. Christ is our life, and therefore we should mortify our members in all these sins that he's listed. Look at verse 6. For which things, sake, the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. That was you and me before we got saved. We talked about how God's wrath is abiding on someone that is unsaved, whether they realize it or not. And that's just the truth right there. Look at verse 7. In the witch, notice this, Ye also walked some time when ye lived in them. This used to be us. This used to be every person before they got saved. This was the course of the world that everyone goes down, unless they have salvation in the word of God. Look at verse 8. But now ye also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, lie not one to another, seeing that ye have 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 before we were saved, we just walked according to the course of this world. We did all the same sins that the rest of this world does. And you know, you can't really fault the world for doing that because they're unsaved. Because all they have is the new man. The only difference is that since we have the new man, we actually have the choice now. We actually have the choice now to put off sins and to walk in the Spirit and not walk in the flesh. Now, of course, no one's ever going to be sinlessly perfect. Until we shed this flesh, we're always going to have some level of sin and we'll see that in Romans chapter 6. But hey, because we know our purpose, because we know what God has called us to do, and we know that if we continue in sin, that that's going to be harmful to that mission that God has given us, that's why we're going to still preach hard against sin. That's why we're going to still call out things like alcohol. Because do you think that anyone that drinks alcohol is helping the cause of Christ or harming it? Do you think that they are fulfilling their purpose as a Christian that God has called them to do more or less by drinking alcohol? I submit to you, there's been nothing good that has ever come from alcohol ever in any circumstance. There's nothing good that's ever come from it. And why don't we just turn to Proverbs 23 really quickly. Proverbs chapter number 23. Proverbs 23, verse 29. And like I said, leave your place in Romans 6 throughout the sermon. Romans 23, 29, these questions are asked, Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? Now let me ask you this. If I were to tell you, hey, there's this person that has a lot of woe in his life. He's got a lot of sorrow in his life. He's got a lot of contention in his life. He's got a lot of babbling. He has a lot of wounds for no reason, without cause. And he has lots of redness of eyes. And let me tell you something about this guy. He is just fulfilling the will of God in his life. He is just living up to the purpose that God has called him for. He is just knocking the Great Commission out of the park. What would you say to me? You're an idiot. You're a liar. But yet there's actually preachers that will tell you that it's a godly thing to drink alcohol. And that Jesus Christ himself drank alcohol. That he turned water into alcoholic wine. Which is a wicked lie. This is all the things, all these questions are being asked. Now, what is it about these people? What are they? Look at verse 30. It's they that tarry long at the wine, and they that go to seek mixed wine. These people are not living up to their purpose that God has called them for. Can these people continue drinking? And will God's grace still abound? Will they still be saved? Yup. But should we continue in sin? No, absolutely not. God forbid. Because you're hindering the purpose that God has called for your life as a Christian. Look at verse 31. Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. The Bible says it's best not to even look at it. Because looking often leads to thinking. And thinking often leads to doing. You know, when you just cut it off at the root, and you don't even look at the wicked stuff, then you won't be tempted to fall into the downward spiral that alcohol can lead you on, which we're about to read. Look at verse 32. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. It doesn't say that you're going to utter the gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't say that you're going to utter the gracious and wonderful words of life. No, it says when you drink this crap, you're going to utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I felt it not. When shall I awake? Notice this. I will seek it yet again. The addictive nature of alcohol, that's another reason why we got to preach against it. Because since it's so addictive, it's just going to constantly keep you away from your purpose. Constantly keep you away from fulfilling the Great Commission. How are you going to be preaching the gospel, like I said, when you're constantly uttering perverse things? So, of course, you're still going to be saved if you believe in Jesus Christ. Yea, you'll still be saved if you get drunk every day for the rest of your life. And it will be a short life, too, if you get drunk every single day, by the way. But you will still be saved. You will still go to heaven. But shall we continue in sin, that the grace of God may abound? Absolutely not. God forbid. I'll read for you 1 John 5. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. You know, God's commandments are always there to help us, and are always there to help us have a better life. And sometimes, especially when you're newly saved, and before, when your life was hid in your muscle car, when your life was hid in chasing after money, when your life was hid in fornication, when your life was hid in alcohol, sometimes the commandments of God can seem really grievous to you. But it's just because you're ignorant, and you don't know yet, that God actually has put these things in His Word to help you. And not only to help you, but also to help the Kingdom of God. Because if you're not focused on the mission that God's given you, these type of things will take you away from that. Go to Matthew 5. And we're going to read a warning for those that just choose to do nothing for God. Because like we said, when we're saved, when we get saved, the Bible says it's like a picture of us being raised again, to walk in newness of life. And I said, how silly would it be if you just decided to lay back down after getting resuscitated from the dead? That'd be ridiculous, right? Look at Matthew 5. 13, it says this, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savour. And before I go farther on this, one of the attributes of salt is that it's a preservative. And us as Christians, we're the preservative of this earth by preaching the gospel. The reason why Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, because there was not a single saved person in Sodom and Gomorrah besides Lot. That's a horrible situation right there. And guess what? Once that salt got removed, the city got destroyed, right? So we are the salt of the earth. We are what's preserving this world from God's judgement. God wants many people to be saved. But what if Christians aren't doing their job? What if they're not going out and getting the gospel? Look at what it says, But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, of men. The Bible says that a Christian that doesn't want to be the preservative, that doesn't want to be the salt of the earth is good for nothing. And what is the point of God even keeping us around on this earth if you're not fulfilling the mission that God has called you to do? There is no reason. And often times I think that's why God will take Christians home early. It's because of their stiff neck and their refusal to go out and preach the gospel. Because they're good for nothing. They might as well go to heaven. Like Lazarus, but they just laid right back down. That's how silly it is for a Christian to not walk in newness of life. Now, let's go back to Romans chapter number 6. Romans 6. And let's look at verse 5. He says, and really quickly just another note before I pass on. This is a Bible study. We can talk about lots of different subjects in this. Notice how in Romans 5-4 it says that like as Christ was raised up from the dead. And also in verse number, let's see. Verse number 5 it says, for if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death. You've got a lot of people that want to teach that baptism is a requirement for salvation. But notice it's talking about the likeness. Because baptism is a picture of salvation. Obviously we know it's not the actual thing that saves us itself. Now look at Romans 6-5. It says, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. So now Paul is bringing our attention and reminding us about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And here's another reason why we shouldn't just continue in sin. Is because we're going to spend a lot more time in eternity in our resurrected bodies in heaven than we are on this short little temporary earth with our temporary bodies here. We're going to be spending a lot more time in eternity so what we do now is really depending on how your future is going to be in heaven. If right now you spend all of your time on this earth just having your life hidden in your car and hidden in your stock market and hidden in all those things, none of that's going to profit you anything in the resurrection. He's bringing up the resurrection to remind us, hey, you're going to be spending a lot more time in eternity in your resurrected state. We should be living for the eternal. Go to Philippians chapter number 3. And we know the Apostle Paul was someone that definitely lived his life thinking about the eternal. And lived his life thinking about fulfilling his purpose that Christ gave him. Philippians chapter number 3, look at verse 9. It says, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That I may know him, and notice, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. He's bringing up his resurrection again. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after if that I may apprehend, that for which I, also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. So he's saying, he's trying to attain unto the resurrection of the dead. He's trying to live for the eternal. And he's saying, I haven't just apprehended that. I haven't arrived. I'm not 100% perfect. But he says, this one thing I do, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. And usually when this is preached, and I have no problem with this whatsoever, it's referring to your old life, your old wicked sins, and things you've messed up on. But notice, he says, forgetting those things which are behind, I think that's just talking about his worldly life. His life in this flesh. Just our existence on this earth. And reaching forth unto those things which are before. That's what's ahead of us, is the eternal, right? The resurrection from the dead, eternity in heaven, rewards in heaven. That's what's before us all. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. So Paul, he understood this. He wasn't just going to live his life serving himself and serving sin because he wanted to press for the high mark. He wanted to press for that which was before him. A lot of Christians want to live for that which is behind them. This life, this short temporary vapor life. No, we need to forget those things which are behind. We're not even going to remember the former things the Bible teaches. So we're going to just put those things behind. We have to reach forth to those things which are before us. Which is heaven, which is eternity. And it's so easy sometimes to lose our perspective on this life when you're busy with your 9 to 5. And you're busy paying your bills. And you're busy raising your kids. It's all important. Don't get me wrong. You're busy stuck in traffic for an hour a day. You're busy with all the things that you're busy with in this life. Sometimes it's easy to lose your perspective of how short this life is. How little time we have to do anything for Christ. And how everything that we do for Christ that's going to affect our eternity. And that's going to affect other people's eternity as well. So Paul had the right perspective on this. Go back to Romans 6. Romans 6 says this, 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 so this is where the concept of the old man and the new man comes in. In the Bible we see that our old man who is it? That's just our flesh. Our sinful nature. That's what our old man is. And that old man was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be destroyed. Someday when our body, when we shed this fleshly tabernacle, our sin will be gone at that point because our old man is the only reason that we're sinning. It says that henceforth we should not serve sin. So even now while we have the old man, if you have this knowledge, because the beginning of this verse says knowing this. If you know that you're going to lose this old man someday and this old man is going to be gone you're not going to sin, why would you serve that old man right now? If you know, hey, this old man is going to be buried it's going to rot, it's going to corrupt why would I even spend my life serving that guy right now anyways? If he's going to die, if this life is just a vapor and he's going to be gone, no, we should rather use the new man to do things that have eternal value because that's going to last. Because look at verse 7, for he that is dead is freed from sin. So once our body is gone the sin will be gone and praise God for that. That's why in Romans 8 talks about the groaning of creation to be clothed on with our new tabernacle. That's what we're all looking forward to. Our new bodies where we'll never sin again. And also, it says this is why Paul said that he dies daily. Because he that is dead is freed from sin. And so Paul daily crucifies that old man daily reckons that man is dead realizes, hey, that man's dead I'm not going to serve that old man today. He dies daily. And that's something that if you want to get victory over sin, you have to consciously know, hey, my old flesh, my old man that's what's wanting to do wrong right now. But guess what, he's going to die really soon and so I shouldn't just live my life pleasing him and serving that old man. And that's so much of what our culture wants to do today is since we've lost the spiritual aspect of our nation. Our nation is no longer spiritual no longer cares about the Bible. All we care about is the flesh and the here and now. And what we can feel, see, and touch and taste and all these things. But us as Christians we should be above that and realize, hey, even though our old man has these wicked desires we should just reckon that old man is dead and decide to crucify the old man daily. Look at Romans chapter number 6. Let's read verse 8. It says, Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing, again, it's this knowledge that we have to have. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more. So, by the way, Jesus Christ isn't being crucified every Sunday at the Catholic church when they take the communion, it's called transubstantiation or transubstantiation or something like that where they teach that Jesus Christ is literally getting crucified and that his body is literally turning into a cracker and that his blood is literally turning into a juice. No, that's blasphemous. The Bible says that he died unto sin one time. And it says this, that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. Now what is this talking about when it says death hath no more dominion over him? Obviously, we know that at one point death did have dominion over Jesus Christ. And what is that talking about? I believe that that's talking about him going to hell. That is what it is talking about. It's not talking about his physical death on the cross. The dominion, the death that had dominion over Jesus Christ was him going to hell. And I'm going to prove that to you. Look really quickly, skip to the end of this chapter and look at Romans 6.23. It says this, for the wages of sin is death. Now, what is a wage? It's our payment, right? The payment for our sin is what? Going to hell. That is our payment for our sin. For the payment for the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. Now, what's eternal life? Heaven. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, I've heard people say this, and it's not really a big deal, but I've heard people say, well, you know, for the wages of sin is death, sin is what causes a physical death, but the second death is spiritual. The second death is going to hell. And that is true that the reason why we die physically is because of sin. That's not what this verse is talking about. That's not what this verse is saying. This verse is contrasting two things. Eternal life, which is heaven, and death, which is hell. Now, I'm going to prove to you that death is talking about hell. Go to Revelation 21 8. Revelation 21 8. If you're a soul winner, this should be a really familiar verse for you. Revelation, the end of your Bible, Revelation 21 verse 8. It says this, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. So, the second death is when hell is relocated into the lake of fire. Now, let's look also at Revelation chapter number 20 verse 13. Revelation 20 verse 13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and notice this, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. So, what are the people that are in hell called dead? And what is the synonym for hell? Death. Okay? So, when death hath no more dominion over Jesus Christ, you kind of see where I'm going with this, but let's keep reading. Which were in them, and they were judged, every man according to their works, verse 14, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. So, that tells me, you know what the first death is? It's going to hell. That's what death truly is. Now, of course, there are times in the Bible where the physical shedding of our flesh can be called death. I have no problem with that whatsoever. But really, when you get down to it, what death is, is going to hell. That's what death is. What the second death is, is hell being relocated into the lake of fire. Hell, basically, death is basically a state of being, and hell is its location. And being in the lake of fire, the second death is that same exact state of being, just in a different location. Just like, you know, eternal life is a state of being, and heaven is its location, and someday, eternal life will be a state of being, and the new heaven and new earth will be its new location. It's the same way with eternal life. They both have different locations, but death in the Bible is talking about going to hell. So, go to go to Acts chapter number 2, and I'll read for you Hebrews chapter number 2. It says this. Hebrews 2.8 says, Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him, but now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Now, if you were to see someone get crucified, get tortured to death, would you describe that as, well, he kind of tasted it. He kind of experienced it for a short amount of time. No, he didn't just taste death, if that's how you're defining death. Jesus Christ fully died on the cross. He fully was tortured. He had a horrible, horrible death. But you know what he did just experience for a very short amount of time? Hell. For only three days and three nights. That's why the Bible says he tasted death for every man. He didn't just taste a physical death. No, he fully partook of that. But what he tasted of, what he only partook of for a short amount of time, was hell. Now, you're in Acts chapter number 2. Look at verse 23, it says, him, talking about Jesus, being delivered by the determinate council, in foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, notice, having loosed the pains of death. So, when was the pains of death relieved for Jesus Christ? When he was raised up. When he resurrected. So, if the death that had dominion over Jesus Christ, if that was talking about his physical death, how would that make sense that he was relieved from that pain when he was risen again from the death? If he just went to heaven, people who are in heaven are described as being at rest, those that are asleep in Christ, he wouldn't be in pain. He wouldn't have to be loosed from the pains of death if he was in heaven at his resurrection. No, the reason why he had to be loosed from the pains of death because the death there is talking about hell. Because Jesus Christ did go to hell. Look at verse number 25. It says, For David speaketh concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore, did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also, my flesh shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. So that was something that David wrote in the book of Psalms. But notice verse 29. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, so David is defined as a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. So David understood that the Messiah was coming through him. He understood the gospel. It wasn't a work of salvation in the Old Testament. He knew what was coming. He's seeing this before. What was he really talking about? He's seeing this before. Spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. So when David wrote this psalm saying, my flesh rests in hope, and I'm hoping that my soul isn't going to be left in hell, my flesh isn't going to be seeing corruption, the Bible defines what he was talking about, and what he was talking about was Christ. He knew that Christ was going to come of his loins, and what he was going to suffer, and what was going to happen to him, and when he wrote that psalm, he was talking about Jesus Christ. So the Bible says that Jesus Christ was not going to be left in hell. Guess what that reminds me of? Hey, death no more has dominion over Jesus Christ. It did have a dominion over him for three days and three nights. The Bible says that Jesus Christ became sin for us. And if the wages of sin is death, if the payment for our sin is going to hell, how would Jesus Christ have to pay that payment for us? He would have to go to hell for us. And what does the Bible say? That he did! But he was not left there. Death hath no more dominion over him and praise God, because that's how all of us can be saved. And that's why death does not have dominion over any child of God either. Praise the Lord for that. We don't have to experience death. We don't even have to taste death. We don't have to go there for three days and three nights. We will never see hell. We will never feel one lick of the flames of hell. Praise God for that. Jesus Christ is the one that went through that punishment for that payment for us. And a lot of Baptist pastors want to preach against this doctrine. But you know what? This doctrine makes me love Jesus more. And when I share this with people out soul winning, they never get offended with it. I always say, hey, isn't that amazing how much Jesus really loves you? That he was willing to go to hell to suffer torment and agony for you and for me. That's amazing. Revelation 1 18 says, I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. See, the Bible once again, those things are together. Hell, death. Hell, death. The second death is going to hell. The second death is going to the lake of fire. So when death had no more dominion over Jesus Christ, that's saying, hey, when he resurrected from the grave, the pains of death was loose for him. Death had no more dominion over him. And praise the Lord for that. Romans chapter number 6. Go back to Romans 6. Look at verse number 10. It says, 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. Again, it all comes to this knowledge, this understanding that if we know that our old man is crucified with Christ, if we know that we've been risen again to walk in newness of life, you know what we should do? We should reckon or regard or calculate or understand ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. We should regard ourselves as dead indeed unto sin and not view ourselves like the world does as complete slaves and complete servants to sin. We should view ourselves that we actually can have the choice to regard ourselves as dead indeed unto sin. Look at verse number 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. And see, what it really comes down to, what sin really comes down to after you're saved is your free will. It is a choice. People talk about, you know, willing sins, sins that are willing, sins that aren't willing. Look, every sin is a willing sin. Every single time that we sin, we are willingly sinned. It's not like you slipped on a banana peel and committed adultery. That's not how it works. People use this silly terminology. Someone fell into sin. No, no one falls into sin. No one just steps on a banana peel and falls into murdering someone. You don't just step on a banana peel and tell a lie. You don't just step on a banana peel and, you know, commit adultery, fornication, or any sin. It does not work that way. It is a choice. That's why he says, let not sin therefore reign. Reigning means being in charge. Don't let sin be in charge of your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Don't obey that old man. We talked about that old man is dead. We should reckon that old man is dead. We should crucify that old man daily and not let him have control of us. Not let him reign in our lives. Rather, what we should do, look at verse number 13, Neither yield ye, now what's yielding? Yielding is like allowing, right? Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Again, it all comes down to free will. You know, God does not want just robots serving him. He wants people to realize that we're sinners, realize that we have the old man, but just reckon that old man to be dead and decide to use our members, our physical bodies, our flesh, as instruments of righteousness unto God. Not instruments of sin unto death. Because we know the wages of sin is death. All that sin brings forth is death. There is no good thing that ever comes from sin, so we should just reckon ourselves dead unto sin and rather use our physical bodies to serve him. You know, it really is simple. And every single person struggles with sin and you will until the day you die, but it is really simple to stop sinning. It's a choice. It is a choice. Now, we're never going to make that choice completely, right? Because we're all sinners. We all have that old man. It is very simple. It doesn't mean that it's easy, but it is simple. Stop doing it. Oh, I'm just, I'm really struggling with getting a divorce. Don't get a divorce. I'm just really struggling, you know, with my anger. Stop being angry. I'm just really, really struggling with lying. Stop letting your tongue reign you. Stop letting that old man be the boss in your life. You know, I'm just really struggling with just watching horrible things, watching horrible movies and just living a bad life. It's like, just stop. That's really how easy it is. No, I'm sorry. That's how simple it is, but that's not easy, right? It's not easy for us to repent of our sins. It's very hard for us to repent of our sins, but the formula is there. You know, have that knowledge that our old man is crucified. Know that Christ, he's raised from the dead. Sin doesn't have dominion over him anymore. You know, reckon our old man to be dead indeed unto sin. We can do that. We can do that, but it's hard. It is hard. But it is a simple truth at the same time. Romans chapter number 6, look at verse 14. It says, We need to realize that this is a privilege for sin not to have dominion over us. Because guess what? Like I said, sin is a choice, but you know what? For the unsaved, it's not a choice. They don't have the option to be righteous. They don't have the option to crucify the old man. They don't have the option to walk in the new man or to be filled with the Holy Spirit because they're not saved. And so it's a great privilege for us when it says, For sin shall not have dominion over you, but ye are not under the law, but under grace. Every single other person that's unsaved, they are under the law because they're trusting in the law to save them. And when they do that, they're going to be judged extremely harshly and there's going to be no mercy and no grace. So they're always going to fall short. But us, we already read that the grace of God abounds where we sin. And so sin's never going to have dominion over us. That is a great privilege that not every single person gets to experience. It says this in verse number 15, it says, What then shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. So I think this is really funny because you have the liberals today and you have these hyper grace people like Joseph Prince, and they basically want to teach that just the law's completely gone, God is just okay with any sin, and if you preach against any of God's, if you preach God's laws and preach against any sin, they're going to be like, what are you doing? We're not under the law. We're under grace. You're trying to bring me back into bondage, right? But rather, we saw that really the bondage is sin. Being under the dominion of sin, that's the bondage. Being under the dominion of hell and of the law, that's the bondage, okay? And notice it says that because we're under grace, what then shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace, God forbid. This is the only time I believe, I believe this is the only two times in your Bible that the phrase under grace is found. And in this passage, it's saying, should we continue sinning because we're under grace? God forbid. And yet these liberal Christians will literally use the phrase, hey, we're under grace as an excuse to sin. It's ridiculous. It's like people that are unsaved, they always have this knack of just teaching exactly the opposite of what the Bible says. It's like Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, that we're saved by faith, not by works. It's like, but you have to have works. You're not just saved by faith alone. That's what they'll tell you. And then it's like the Catholic church will read where the apostles said, hey, Lord, teach us to pray. And then he says, our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. But before he said that, he said, hey, don't be like the heathen and just repeating vain and repetitious prayers. And they're like, this looks like a great prayer to just repeat. You know, and Jesus says, hey, when you're fasting, don't disfigure your faces like the heathen do. And then the Catholics are like, hey, it's Ash Wednesday. Let's just paint ash on our foreheads to tell everyone that we're fasting. And then it's like, oh, we're under grace. It's like, yeah, the Bible says because we're under grace, we shouldn't sin. It's like these people, they just have a knack for whatever the Bible says, they're going to teach the opposite of it because they don't have that new man. They don't have the understanding. The unsaved truly cannot understand God's law. It's just hilarious to me. It is hilarious to me. Go to Titus chapter number two. Titus chapter number two. But think about this with marriage, right? You know, didn't you enter into a covenant with your spouse? Didn't you vow that, you know, till death do us part for better or for worse, right? He's basically saying no matter what, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Well, that's like salvation, right? No matter what we do, no matter what, God's not going to forsake us. He's got our back. We're not going to be ashamed. He's going to take us to heaven. But does that mean just because that a spouse will never leave another spouse, that the other spouse should just be horrible to the other spouse? They should just sin against them. They should break their trust. They should treat them like dirt. Hey, because they said they'll never leave. That doesn't make any sense, right? Well, okay, just because we're under grace, praise God that we're under grace, just because his sin abounds, does that mean that we should just abuse the grace of God? Absolutely not. Only a fool would sit you down in marriage counseling and tell you you should just abuse your spouse, abuse their trust, because hey, they're stuck with you. That's retarded, okay? But guess what? A lot of Christian pastors are retarded. And a lot of these liberal churches don't understand what they're talking about when they condone sin by using Romans chapter 6. It's ridiculous. Notice Titus chapter 2 verse 11. It says, for the grace of God. What are we talking about? God's grace. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Teaching us. So notice the grace of God is about to teach us something. Is it going to teach you? Get a tattoo? Is the grace of God going to teach you? Hey, it's okay. I paid for all your sins. Drink alcohol. Hey, it's okay. I paid for all your sins. Be a whore. Hey, it's okay. I paid for all your sins. Be a faggot. Is that what God's grace is going to teach us? No. Look what it says. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. You want to know what the grace of God teaches us? It doesn't teach us to be wicked. It doesn't teach us it's okay now that Jesus is just cool with any sin. No, rather, God's grace teaches us that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. That's what God's grace teaches us. It's not what His law teaches us. People have this backwards. You know what the law teaches us? That we're damned. You know what the law teaches us? That we're sinners exceedingly. You know what the law teaches us? That we need a savior. You know what the grace of God teaches us? That we should live righteously. People have these completely swapped. Christian preachers have this completely swapped when they preach a work salvation and say, oh, the law, all that's just condemnation. All that is just horrible. But really, the grace of God, that way you can just do everything you want. No, you have it completely backwards, actually. Just like the Catholics with the prayer and with Ash Wednesday and work salvation preachers with Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, they have it completely backwards. Look at Romans chapter number 6. Go back to Romans chapter number 6. It says, Know ye not, verse 16, Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. You know, the truth is, we're all going to be somebody's servants. And you get to choose who that's going to be. And again, the unsaved, they don't get to choose. Guess who they're serving? Themselves. Guess who they're serving? The world. Guess who they're serving? The devil. But us, we actually have the choice and he's saying, don't you understand, don't you get this, that whoever ye obey to, whoever you obey, whoever you yield yourselves to, that is who you're making yourself a servant to. Do you want to do that to sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness? Obedience that's going to last for eternity in heaven. The spiritual things you do that are going to gain you rewards in heaven and the souls that you win to Christ that are going to be in heaven for forever, if you yield yourself to that, that's unto righteousness. But if you yield yourself to sin, now you're the servant of sin. Let me tell you, people that this Free in Christ movement where they say, oh, we're saved by faith so we're free in Christ, now we can just do whatever you want. No, look, you're a slave to the bottle. You're a servant to the bottle. Because we already read, hey, you know, when you awake, you seek it yet again, right? When you want to serve alcohol, it's not like, oh, I'm free in Christ so I'm just free in general. Okay, you can say that all you want, but now you're a servant to alcohol. Oh, you want, oh, it's okay, we can fornicate, bro, we're free in Christ. Okay, you're a slave to an STD. Oh, no, no, I could get a divorce from my wife. Okay, you're a slave to alimony and you're a slave to child support and you're a slave to the consequence, you're a servant to the consequences of your sin. That is the reality. Don't let these free in Christ liberals fool you into thinking that there's not going to be consequences of the actions of your sins, there absolutely will be. And every single time you make the decision to be servants unto God, servants unto righteousness, that is the right decision. And if you're waiting moment to moment in your life trying to make those decisions moment by moment, you're going to fail. If you wake up Sunday morning and that's when you're thinking about whether or not you're going to church, you're going to fail. If you're alone with a woman of the opposite gender and you're deciding whether or not you're going to commit a wicked sin against God, you're going to fail. You need to have these thoughts way, way beforehand and say, no, you know what, I want to reckon that old man dead, he's going to be put in the ground, there's nothing that he's going to do that's righteous, I'm going to reckon that guy dead, I'm going to yield myself to righteousness and you know what, I'm going to put up safeguards and plans in my life so that I could actually fulfill that. I'm going to say, hey, my family, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, we're going to church three times a week, I don't care what happens and I'm going to go make sure I get a job that allows that, I'm going to make sure that I structure my life in a way that allows that, I'm not going to go move out to the middle of the mountains in deep Canada or something hoping that I could find a church, no, that's a bad decision, right? You know, I'm not going to ever be alone with a member of the opposite gender because I just want to serve, I want to use my members as instruments of righteousness, not unrighteousness. And so, every single person, you need to be thinking about what it is that you want with your life way before you're ever in these situations. A lot of Christians, because they don't have hard preaching, they're not reading the word of God, they're just making this decision of whether or not to serve God or themselves or to serve God in the world on a moment by moment basis and it's a recipe for failure. No one is going to be successful doing that. No one is going to be steadfast doing that. Where are we? We're in Romans 6 17, I believe. It says this, But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. So he's reminding you, hey, before you were saved, you were the servants of sin. Remember, you didn't have this option before you were saved. It's a great privilege, it's a great blessing to even have this option now and why is because we obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Now, don't let this word obey scare you. Some people want to say, oh, see, look, you obeyed and that's why you're saved. No, look, obeying the gospel, what is the gospel? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Okay, you know, have they not all heard? Go to Romans chapter number 10 really quick. Look at this at the end of Romans chapter number 10. Verse number 15, and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things, but they have not all obeyed the gospel. Well, what does that mean? For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report. So don't, that's just a free one. Don't let that word obey scare you. People will try to say, oh, look, you're saved by works because you obeyed that form of doctrine. Yeah, that form of doctrine is a commandment to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And yep, I did obey that one. That doesn't mean it's works though. It's a completely free gift. I put my faith in him. It's not works. It's complete faith in him. Now go to, go back to Romans chapter number six, Romans six. Look at verse 18. It says this, being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so, now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. Now I think there's a couple ways that we can look at this verse. He's saying, look, this is what you used to do, as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity. But now he wants you to yield your members as servants to God. Now think about this. It kind of makes me think that no matter where you were in your life before you got saved, no matter how wicked of a life you lived, or how straight and narrow of a life you think you lived, it does not matter what your past was. It does not matter how wicked of a life you were living when you got saved. He's saying hey, you've done those things, but now yield your members as instruments unto righteousness, unto holiness. Now we have that decision. And a lot of times people are caught up not wanting to serve God because of what they did in their past. But look, all of that stuff is behind you. And guess what? Don't feel bad, because when you were unsaved, you had no other option. You couldn't walk in the new man. You couldn't crucify the old man because you didn't have a new man. All you had was the old man. Sometimes we get really frustrated it's like, why is the world so stupid and why are they doing all the things that they're doing? But you know what? That's why we've got to go give them the gospel. Because truly, they're just slaves to sin. Truly, they're just servants to sin. And truly, that's all that they can do. They really have no option to be righteous. We need to go give them the gospel. Another way I kind of look at this is he's saying, as ye have yielded so he's saying, in the same way that you yielded, in the same way you used to be this way, in the same way you used to sin and do all of these wicked things, now do this. It kind of makes me think this. Bring the same zeal you had Seattle Seahawks football guy every single Sunday. Bring that same zeal you had when your life was hid in football, when your life was hid in alcohol, when your life was hid in drugs. Bring that same zeal when all your life was just about sin. Why don't you bring that same zeal now and use your members, use your flesh as instruments of righteousness unto God. Man, what if we had a soul winner that was as committed as that Seattle Seahawks fan? And he's just out soul winning from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every Sunday. I mean, that's intense, right? And some people, they'll brag, oh man, when I was unsaved, this is how much I drank. They're real mighty to drink wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink and bragging about how strong they were. They have so much zeal when they talk about the things they used to do or about the college days and all the wicked things that they used to do. And they're real proud about how zealous they were for those things. It's like, hey, well, why don't you now bring that same zeal into serving God? What did God that we had people in America that were as excited about going to church as they were about professional sports? I mean, hey, the Texas Rangers, every time they have a game, there's thousands and thousands of people there. Weekday, morning game, night game, doesn't matter, they'll be there. You want to know in the Super Bowl, millions of Americans. You want to know the worst day of the year to go soul winning? Super Bowl Sunday. Almost no one wants to listen to the gospel on Super Bowl Sunday because they're zealous because their life is hid in the stupid Super Bowl. What did God do in people's life today? They could be zealous for the things of God and use their instruments as servants to righteousness unto holiness. Let's look at verse number 20. Verse number 20 says this, For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. Now, notice what the words just said on that page. Ye were free from righteousness. Some people have this really silly idea that there's unsaved people out there doing all these good things. That they're just living a good life and they're really righteous and they're doing all these great things. Some people I've even heard say that unsaved people can do really great things for God. But what does the Bible say? When ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. There was no righteousness there. The only righteousness you can get is the true righteousness which is the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. When you're unsaved, you don't have any righteousness. And I've even heard people go as far as to say that people like Judas Iscariot, the unsaved devil, can get more people saved and was getting more people saved than any other disciple, any other apostle. But I submit to you that Judas was free from righteousness. That Judas never did anything good. That Judas never preached anything good. Judas never did anything good. He was completely free from righteousness. Now, stay there in Romans. I'll read for you Proverbs 11 30. It says, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. You want to know what the fruit of a righteous person is? Winning souls. Getting other souls saved. With that in mind, look at Romans 6 21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? Paul's saying, did you have any fruit in that sin that you're now ashamed of? And by the way, all of us should be ashamed of the sin that we have had and that we still do have. We should be ashamed of it. Absolutely. He's saying, did you have any fruit in that? The answer is no. You did not have any fruit in that. And so, when Proverbs 11 30 says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, how are you going to say that unsaved people that have no fruit are somehow getting people saved? Are somehow doing good works for God? It's a lie. It's a false doctrine. Look at verse number 22. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't finish 21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. Verse 22, but now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And this verse really sums up the chapter. Hey, the payment for our sin is hell. What sin brings forth is always death. There is no fruit there. Thank God for the free gift of eternal life, of salvation through the grace of God, through Jesus Christ. But the question is, now we have the ability to become servants to God and to have our fruit unto holiness, unto everlasting life. I'm not saying you're earning everlasting life by your good works, but the good works that you do after you're saved will be carried with you into eternity. And that is really what matters. And what really the heart of this chapter is getting to, you know, the question that we started with shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Of course not. God forbid, but why is it that we would not want to do that? Well, it's because of the mission that God gave us, right? It's because that he's given us the great commission and when we continue a life of sin, that's going to be a hindrance to that mission. And also, hey, now we have this great opportunity that not everyone has to actually crucify that old man and yield ourselves as servants to God. Not everyone has that opportunity. But when you actually take that opportunity seriously, you're going to be greatly rewarded in heaven. And we should never have this short-sighted mentality where all we want to do is focus on the here and now. There are things in our lives that are more important than our jobs. There are things in our lives that are even more important than our families. And families are very important. Your marriage is very important. Your child ring is very important. Let me tell you what. God put us here to serve him above all. Above all. God should have the preeminent place in our life in every single area. And if you're following what God says, hey, you're going to be a good husband. You're going to be a good wife. You're going to be a good provider. You're going to be raising your children the right way. You know, if you're putting God first. And that is what's really going to make the difference in eternity is if you decide to hey, crucify that old man and yield yourselves as servants to God. It is a decision that you make. And God is not a communist. He's not going to reward everyone for the same regardless of how much work you do. No, he's going to reward every man according to his work. And so if we decide, the people that decide the most to not serve themselves, to not serve their carnal lives, but to serve God, they will be rewarded the most in heaven. That's a very important thing to remember. A couple verses here more. Get your place in 2 Timothy 2 and Matthew chapter 5. 2 Timothy 2 and Matthew chapter 5. 2 Timothy 2 and Matthew chapter 5. We're almost done this evening. 2 Timothy 2 verse 19. It says, Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Not, hey, you're free in Christ, bro, that means you can do whatever you want. No, if you name the name of Christ, depart from iniquity. But in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. What would be the vessels that are unto honor those that purge themselves from iniquity? What would be the vessels unto dishonor those that do not purge themselves from iniquity? And of course, I'm not saying that you can repent of all your sins or that you can live sinlessly perfect. Of course, we know that that is a lie. There are people that teach that. But the more clean of a life you live, the more that you do repent of your sins, the more a vessel unto honor that you will be for the Lord. Verse 21, If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and neat for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Hey, praise the Lord, you don't need any works for salvation, but you know who God is going to use the most in this world? Those that purge themselves from iniquity. And guess what? Every man, woman, boy, and girl in this room can do that. God, if he sees a housewife that is purging herself from iniquity, that is working hard, that is honoring the Lord, he will greatly reward that woman, not just someone that is standing behind the pulpit preaching the Word of God. Every single person in here, God will reward them greatly if they do that. If they choose to make themselves a vessel unto honor. Matthew 5 18, flip over to Matthew 5 18. Notice this. Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least, one of least, I'm sorry, good night. Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So like I said, God's not a communist, he's not going to reward every single person the same, right? If someone is breaking the least of God's commandments, and he's also teaching men to break God's commandments, that's a really wicked thing to do, right? He's going to be least in the kingdom of heaven. He'll save because he believes in Jesus Christ, he has his salvation, but he's going to be least in the kingdom of heaven. But those that actually do the commandments of God, that follow the commandments of God, and teach other people to do and follow the commandments of God, they will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And so what is this chapter emphasizing? Romans chapter 6, emphasizing the choice. Make the choice to serve God. I'll read for you one final verse that says this. Joshua 24 15. It says, And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. We know where Joshua stood on this. We know Joshua made the decision to serve the Lord. We know that the apostle Paul made the decision not to live for his fleshly desires, not to live for his own life, but to serve the Lord, to press towards the mark, to press towards the high calling of Christ, of God in Christ Jesus. To put away that old life. To not chase that dead man. To not let that dead man be the boss of us anymore. No, why don't we let the new man be the boss? Why don't we yield our members as servants of righteousness? And how can you do this in your daily lives? Hey, when you wake up, open your Bible. Don't yield to what the old man wants. Let me tell you what the old man wants. He wants four pieces of bacon and three cracked eggs and a nice black coffee. Hey, I get it. That's what the old man wants. But you know what? Tell that man to shut up. Read your Bible. Hey, the old man doesn't want to pray. He wants to watch TV. Oh, I haven't prayed today. Shut up. Crucify that old man. Pray. Pray to the Lord. Spank your children when they're being disobedient. You know what the old man wants to do? Do I really have to spank them again? I don't want to spank them. Why are they doing this? But guess what God wants you to do? He wants you to spank them. And so you want to yield yourselves to what God says, right? Hey, it's time to go to church. Oh, I really don't want to go to church. Shut up, old man. Go to church. I don't want to go soul winning. Go soul winning. I don't want to stop sinning. Stop sinning. Make that decision. Yeah, it's hard, but it's simple. And the more you do it, the easier it will become. The more you get victory in your life, when you start to see, like, wow, I actually have created a discipline to where I now can read my Bible every day and I'm not, like, forcing myself to do it. It's just, like, it's second nature now. And you've gotten that victory and you say, okay, hey, Bible reading I'm doing good on. And now you can start working on other areas of your life. And say, okay, man, I need to get my prayer down. And you pray and you pray and you pray until it's second nature, right? And you have a schedule. It's like, you go soul winning every week at this time. And when you wake up, you're not wondering what you're doing. You're going soul winning. Next thing you know, at any time, you're like, how did I get here? It's a habit, right? Sunday morning comes around, you're not thinking, oh, am I going to go wave a Seattle Seahawks flag today? Or am I going to go to church? You know what to do. So, look, it is hard, but it's simple. And the longer you do it and the more you do it, the easier it will get. So, you know, the challenge to you would be to try something. Try whatever it is that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about, something in your life that is a sin that you need to cut out or something that God wants you to add to your life and start attacking that thing with all that you have. Until it is a discipline in your life. Until it is a habit in your life. With that, let's close in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day and thank you for Romans chapter 6. Thank you so much, just that we have the privilege to even have the opportunity to serve you. That we even have the opportunity to walk in righteousness and in the new man. Even though it's very hard, Lord, I pray that you'd help all of us with your strength to crucify that old man daily and to decide to serve you with our lives. I pray that we wouldn't just try to make these decisions on a moment by moment basis but we would actually have the character and discipline in our lives to choose to serve you. We love you so much. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 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