(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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