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

Father, we thank you so much for the opportunity to be in your house once again on a Tuesday night. Thank you for those that have stopped everything in the middle of the week and made it a priority to come here on an off night. Help us all to get what we need from your Word tonight. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit as I preach. And just help every part of this service to honor and glorify you. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now in Romans chapter 6, I want to start in verse number 1 where the Bible asks this question, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And the title of my sermon tonight is this, Shall We Continue in Sin? Now, the reason that this question is being asked is that in the book of Romans, the apostle Paul had just spent several chapters making it very, very clear that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ, not of works, lusts, any man should oppose. Chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, he just hammered that over and over again. Now first of all, let me point out the fact that if we do continue in sin, grace will abound. The Bible says, Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? But go up just two verses to Romans 5-20. The Bible reads, Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. The Bible is clear that if we continue in sin, as believers, as those that are saved, the saints, if we continue in sin, grace will abound. We're not going to lose our salvation. Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. But Paul, after going on and on in these chapters about the fact that salvation is by faith alone, not of works, lusts, any man should oppose, he follows that up with a question, What shall we say then? What should be our response to that? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And of course, the answer to that is God forbid. Just because we're saved by faith, just because we don't have to do any works to be saved, just because if we continue in sin, grace will abound. Should we do that? Absolutely not. And that's what he's explaining here. You see, I love to preach on the fact that salvation is by faith alone. And there's so much confusion out there today, where people are trying to somehow mix in their own works, their own good deeds into the Gospel. And it's the same thing that's been going on for thousands of years, all throughout history. False religion always teaches us salvation by works. The Bible couldn't be any clearer that Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe sin and left a crimson stake. He washed it white as snow to God the next day. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And if there's one person who truly believes on the Lord Jesus Christ in this whole world, and that person goes to hell, then that verse is a lie. Because the Bible says that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. The Bible says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son should not see life with the wrath of God and bideth on it. The Bible says, But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. The Bible says, Verily, verily, I say to you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. I could go on and on, and we could go through all the great verses, and I'd love to just take a tour through the scores of verses in the Bible to make that so clear that salvation is by faith. Romans 3, I'll bring up one more where the Bible says, Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. But what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Many people will ironically take a portion of this chapter, go to chapter 6, verse 14, and they'll actually use this to teach a doctrine that condones sin. I don't condone sin, and no righteous preacher condones sin. Jesus Christ said, think not that I've come to destroy the law, or the prophets. He said, I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, you know, the little commandments, the nitpicky. He said, Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments, not my suggestions. And so we ought to believe and preach and follow the commandments of God's word, also known as God's law. But many people will misunderstand the scripture here in Romans 6, 14. The Bible reads, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Now the Bible is real clear in this verse that we're not under the law, but under grace. But people will take that and say, see, we don't have to obey God's law. Now keep your finger there and go to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. While you're turning to 1 John chapter 3, let me note that in the famous passage in 1 Corinthians 9, when the apostle Paul is talking about winning souls and preaching the gospel and trying to get people saved, and we've all heard the famous quote probably that said, you know, I've become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. But he said this, he said, under those that were without the law, he said, I became as without law, but he said, not without law, he said, to Christ. He said, I was under the law to Christ. Now, what does that mean? Well, look if you would at 1 John chapter 3, verse 4. The Bible says, Whosoever committed sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. So here we find a biblical definition of what sin is. Sin is transgressing God's law. Sin is breaking one of God's commandments. That is the definition of sin. Back to Romans 6. And Romans 6 is a chapter where almost every verse brings up the word sin. I don't know if you noticed that when we were reading it, but almost every single verse saying, don't sin, don't sin, don't continue in sin, don't live in sin, put off sin, walk in the new man, don't walk in the flesh, don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. And he says over and over again, don't sin, don't sin, don't sin, don't sin, don't sin. And then in the middle of that, they'll take this verse that says, you're not under the law. And then they'll say, hey, we don't have to obey God's commandments. But wait a minute, sin is the transgression of the law. So if we're not supposed to obey the law, if we're not supposed to obey God's commandments and God's laws, then why would he tell us, hey, in verse 15, what then shall we sin? Because we are not under the law, but under grace, God forbid. He said just because you're not under the law, he said you should still live by the law and follow God's law. He said, what does that mean that we're not under the law? Go to Galatians 3. This is kind of the foundation for the sermon. Galatians chapter number 3 explains what the Bible really means when it says we're not under the law. A lot of people say, hey, we're not under the law, therefore we don't need to obey God's laws. We're just kind of going through life in the New Testament. Freestyle. Just a freestyle. Just whatever we want to do, whatever's right in our own eyes, whatever we feel that the Holy Spirit is leading us is right to do, or whatever we feel that the Holy Spirit is leading us that we shouldn't do, that's our law. That's our rules because we're under grace and we're not under the law. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible's got some commandments. It's got commandments in the Old Testament. It's got commandments in the New Testament. And when the Bible says we're not under the law, what did he mean by that? Well, the Bible explains it in Galatians 3, verse 10. The Bible says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone that continue with God in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them, but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not a faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. What does it mean to not be under the law? According to verse 10, it's that we're not under the curse of the law. Now, being under the curse of the law is the curse that God put a curse in Deuteronomy 27 when he said, cursed be he that continueth not in all the words of the law to do them, and all the people said amen. But I got this for you, no one has continued in all the words of the law. That's why we need Jesus Christ. That's why we have to be in sin. Because nobody has followed that law to a T. For all have sinned and come short of the curse of God. And so the Bible is explaining to us, you're under grace, you're not under the law, you're not under the curse of the law, you've been redeemed from the curse of the law. You see, when it comes to salvation, it's 100% by grace, not by the law. And that's why he reiterated again here, when he said, and I lost my page, but he said, here we go, in verse number 11, but that no man is justified by the law on the side of God and is evident, for the just shall live by faith. So on one side over here we have salvation, totally by faith, totally by grace. And on this side we have, after we're saved, what God expects of us, what God demands of us. And you know what it is? It's works. And it's adherence to the law. So when it comes to salvation, it's nothing to do with the law. It's nothing to do with works. But does that mean that we just continue in sin? Does that mean that we don't do any works? No, it means that we should do works. And in Romans chapter 6 he said over and over again, let's look at it quickly at the beginning of Romans 6, he said, what shall we say then, shall we continue in sin that graced me about? 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? That doesn't sound like sprinkling. It doesn't sound like pouring. But we're buried with him by baptism into death. And to Jesus Christ we are baptized into his death, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should. Do you see that? We also should walk in newness of life. Do we have to walk in newness of life to be saved? No. Are we automatically, just because now that we're saved, we're automatically going to walk in newness of life? No. But he said, you know what, we should walk in newness of life. We should not continue in sin. We should live differently than the unsaved and the ungodly around us. We should be different. We should follow God's laws. We should not walk and continue in sin. Go to Titus chapter 2 if you would towards the end of the New Testament. Titus chapter 2. You see, God's plan for our life is not just to save us. It's not just get saved and then get other people saved and that's it. God has more of a purpose in our life than just getting us saved and just getting other people saved. Now I think the most important thing is getting saved. Because what is the main problem if you shall get in the whole world? So getting saved is the number one thing, but it's not the only thing. Getting other people saved, it stands to reason, would be the number one work that we should do, but it's not the only work that we should do. Because God's plan for our life and God's plan for believers is not just to be saved, but watch it in Titus 2.14. It says, who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. That's salvation. Redeeming us from all iniquity. The Bible says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. But look, it doesn't stop there. That he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good work. So his goal in dying for us was, yes, to save us, but it was also to purify us and it was also to put us to work. And so there's more to it than just being saved in life. That's just the beginning. Now that word, a peculiar people, is an interesting term if you follow it throughout the Bible. So if you would, do 1 Peter 2. The word peculiar is used in five places in the Bible. And peculiar basically means different. He's saying you're a peculiar people. He's saying you are to be purified, which, let's face it, if you're pure, you're going to be different than the people around you in this world. Because we don't live in a pure world. We live in an impure world. We live in a dirty or unclean world. And so if we're going to be purified, we're going to be different than the people around us. We're going to be peculiar. Now if you look at what it says there in 1 Peter 2 verse 9, it says, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. What's interesting about this is that if you go to where peculiar first starts being used, it's when the children of Israel are brought out of the land of Egypt. And in Exodus 19, you don't have to turn there, but in Exodus 19, God tells them, Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me, above all people. He's talking to the children of Israel that he brought out of the land of Egypt. For all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests. Are you looking down in your Bible there at 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10? Look at 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10 as I read these words to you from Exodus. See how it's a quote from Exodus. He says, Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. So this is something that God told the children of Israel. He said, If you'll obey me and keep my covenant, you'll be a peculiar people. You'll be a holy nation. You'll be a kingdom of priests unto me. In Deuteronomy 14, too, you don't have to turn there, but he reiterated it. He said, For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. Talking to the nation of Israel. And the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself above all the nations that are upon the earth. In Deuteronomy 26, 18, he said it again, And the Lord hath avowed thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldst keep all his commandments, and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made in praise and in name and in honor, that thou mayest be a holy people unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken. But I've got news for you. That nation did not obey God's commands in those scriptures. He said in Hebrews chapter 8, they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. And that's why when John the Baptist came on the scene, he said, Think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able these stones to raise up children unto Abraham, and now that the axe is laid unto the root of the tree, and every tree would bring it not forth to furnish you, now I cast it into the fire, and you see the children of Israel rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. And that's why Jesus said to them, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. You say, what nation is that? What nation is it today where the kingdom of God resides? Well, the Bible spoke to all believers collectively in 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10, and said, You're that holy nation. Look down at the Bible, and I'll prove it to you, because he says in 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and peculiar people. I've got news for you. He wasn't talking to the people that crucified Christ. He said, You're a chosen generation, a holy nation, and peculiar people. That ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You say, no, it's the Jews, looking for a sin, which in time past were not a people. They already were a people, but now he's talking to a group that was not a people. You see, it's not a particular nation. When he said, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation, He wasn't talking to just one specific geographic, like the United States. It's given unto the United States. No, he said, it's given unto the nation, which comprises believers. Basically he says, to all believers, you're a chosen generation, you're a royal priesthood, you're a holy nation, you're a peculiar people. The Bible says that he would call out a people unto himself out of all nations, out of all tongues, out of all kindreds. They would all be called out, and he said, there shall be one fold and one shepherd. That's what the Bible teaches. Unfortunately, many Baptists today are not following in the footsteps of John the Baptist, and they somehow think that the unbelieving Jew somehow has a free pass, because of a birthright, into the kingdom of God, or into the holy nation. Let me tell you something. You want to visit the holy land? You're sitting in the holy land. It's God's house. And honestly, I'm here to tell you tonight that salvation is what makes you the people of God. And people will still today try to hang on to the fact, and they'll even point to these exact verses in the Old Testament about the peculiar people, and try to apply that to unbelieving Israel today. It just isn't right. It's just not biblical. And I'm not going to sit here and tell you today that Jerry Seinfeld is one of the people of God. And you say, well, wait a minute, isn't he Jewish? Doesn't he descend from Abraham? But hold on a second. I've got two words for you tonight. Avoid genealogies. Did you hear me? How do you know Jerry Seinfeld is Jewish? How do you know that David Lee Roth from Van Halen is Jewish? How do you know that the three stooges, Larry, Curly, and Moe, are really Jewish? These are people that are Jews. So-called. But the Bible says, not in the confusion of the Bible, but the Bible says he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision is not that outward circumcision in the flesh. He says the circumcision, which is of the heart and of the spirit, whose breath is not of men, but of God. And the Bible is so clear tonight that we are the circumcision, Philippians 2, which worships God in the spirit and rejoices in Christ Jesus. And have no confidence in the flesh. We don't rejoice in some Messiah that's still coming. We rejoice in the Messiah that already came. And the Bible says, who is a liar, but he that denieth in Jesus Christ. He's anti-Christ, which denieth the Father and the Son. And so that was kind of a little diversion from the sermon about shall we continue in sin. But you know what? Maybe it will help you not to continue in sin when you stop and realize who you are. You're part of the Holy Nation. Don't look at somebody who's part of some other nation and think, oh I wish I were in that nation or I'm a second class citizen. Red and yellow, black and white, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not second class in his sight. You are the people of God. If you're saved tonight. And if you're a chosen generation, if you're a royal priesthood, if you're a Holy Nation, you better be a peculiar people. You ought to be different than the world around you. You ought to be purified as a peculiar people. Now back to Titus 2 if you would, just a few pages back to the left in your Bible. In Titus chapter 2, we were there a little earlier when we started talking about the peculiar people scriptures in the Bible. And the Bible reads in verse 14, Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Look at verse 11. The Bible reads in verse 11 of Titus 2, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Tell that to the Calvinist who tries to say he's only a few people that he died for. He died for everybody. He died not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. The Bible says in verse 12, teaching us. So not only did grace bring us salvation, but God also wants to teach us more than that, that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. I love that verse 12. I'm going to read it again. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Somebody said to me not too long ago, they said, What's this worldliness? What do you mean, worldly? Where do you come up with this worldly? They acted like that word is not a legitimate word. Have you ever run into somebody that thought that? You say, hey, that's pretty worldly, I don't want to be worldly, or we don't want worldliness. Worldliness? What do you mean, worldly? What is that supposed to mean? The sad thing is, a lot of Christians, they've never even heard that word. But there it is in the Bible, right? It says that we should deny ungodliness and worldly lust. Now, why is he saying worldly lust? If you want, you can turn there, but stay in Titus 2, but in 1 John 2, it says in verse 15, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world. The lust of the flesh, remember he said, worldly lust? He said, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world, and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. You see, being worldly is when you are conformed to the world. The Bible says, be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. You see, worldliness is when you live just like everybody else in the world. That's not saved, that's not living according to God's word. And so, if you're going to be a peculiar person, that's the opposite of being worldly. Being peculiar, being different, is the opposite of being worldly. And he said this, all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. You see, that's all that the world has to offer. That's every movie, that's what Hollywood's going to give you, that's what's going to be played across the TV screen. It's just lust, after lust, after pride, lust, lust, pride. Hey, what's on TV tonight? Lust, pride, ungodliness. And you see, today, Christians today think, oh, we're not under the law, we're under grace, therefore, let's just continue and say. Let's just keep on filling our eyes and our flesh with the lust that we crave with the old man. You see, it's not just wrong to commit sin, or to commit acts of lust in the flesh. You know, it's also wrong to fulfill and gratify the lust of the eyes. The Bible says that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her had committed adultery with her already in his heart. And today, we as believers need to say, like David of old, I was sent no wicked thing before an eye. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. You see, the things that you look at with your eyes, they cleave unto you, they stay with you, things go in, but they don't go out. You look and feast your eyes upon the flesh of scantily clad women across the silver screen and across the television, and you fill your mind with that, and it's going to corrupt your heart, and it's going to lead you into temptation and into sin, and sin, when it's finished, brings forth death, and we ought to be peculiar and different. Look, your average person today, they have no discrimination with what they watch on TV or what's in front of us. They have zero discrimination. It's just, oh, Hollywood has put out this movie? Let's watch it. Oh, this is the popular TV show? Everybody at work is talking about it? Let's just sit down and watch it. We're supposed to be different than that. And say, no, I don't need the world to entertain me, and there's a reason why it's called programming. It's sin. It's sin that's programming you. It's programming you to think that dressing like a hoochie mama is a way that God is going to allow you to maybe meet the right man in your life, or it's programming you to think that people go to bed after the first date. It's programming you to think that people go to bed after the first date. It's programming you to think that sin is fun. This bud's for you. They don't show you the dark side. I've often been accused of sheltering my children because I don't sit them down in front of the television. I have to put the lies upon every ungodly thing that the devil wants to serve up for them that day. But honestly, I don't believe in sheltering my children, and I don't shelter my children. You say, well, Pastor Anderson, how do you not shelter them from the world? Because the Bible says that we're... He said, I don't want to take you out of the world. I just want to keep you from the evil. And let me tell you, the best way to not shelter your children is to take them out soul-witting. Because get this. I take my children out soul-witting with me, and we go to the worst area sometimes. And let me tell you something. They see alcohol. They see drugs. They see promiscuity. But they see it in its true habitat, in its natural environment. You see, when you see sin on the screen, what you see is a perfectly clean house, athletically built individuals that are good-looking and wealthy and drive nice cars. And everything is as clean as a whistle as they wake up in the morning and drink hard liquor for breakfast. Or you see them, you know, just sleeping around, being a sodomite, being a queer, you know, doing all this stuff. And it's just all glorified. They don't show you the disease that's wracking the body of every sodomite because of all the filth that they've involved in. That's right. You're not going to see it. I don't want to see that. But as I was saying, they're not going to show that to you. They're not going to show you the effects of sin. But when you go out soul-witting, when you go into these neighborhoods, oh, you'll see alcohol. My kids have seen alcohol many times. But they saw drunkenness and they saw the dirty house. They smelled the smells of sand and filth. They saw the disgusting results of people who've just abused their bodies to the point where they're just wracked with the effect. And you ever look at somebody and say, hey, that person's lived a hard life. Yeah. And thank God for people who later on in life get saved or get right with God and clean it up. And of course, they'll get a brand new body when they get to heaven. Praise God. Amen. But let me tell you something, though. It's good for kids to see that and say, wait a minute. That's not how I want to be. That's right. That's not how I want to end up. That's not what I want to do. And that's the Budweiser commercial that I show in my church. Amen. That's right. I show them Budweiser in the ghettos. That's right. I show them the drugs. I show them all that stuff in its real environment. And we try to love and reach out and bring salvation to those people that are involved in that kind of a lifestyle. But I'm not going to glorify it to them. I'm not going to show them where it looks cool. Because it doesn't look cool. I mean, when you go out in the ghetto, beer and cigarettes and drugs and fornication, they don't look nearly as cool as they do on that billboard. When you see the realities of it. Go ahead. When you see the facts of sin. And back in Titus 2, I think that's where we are. If not, let's get there. But Titus 2 11, it says, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us the denying ungodliness. Jesus Christ said, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. That means say no to the things that you crave and the thing that the flesh wants. He said, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And so we have to deny ourselves the lust of the flesh. We have to deny ungodliness and worldly lust. And watch this. He said, We should live soberly. Now, a lot of people today will teach and believe that drinking is okay. Now, I don't believe that drinking is okay. And honestly, you'll run into a lot of Christians that will say, Well, you know, I believe it's okay to drink just so long as you don't get drunk. And you watch them just down one after another, after another, after another, after another. You know, I just drink, but I'm just not going to get drunk. I don't believe you should get drunk. It's true. And what's even the point? But here's the point. They'll say, Well, the Bible doesn't say not to drink. It just says not to be drunk. But you know what else it says? It says be sober. If you were to ask me tonight, I'm not an expert on alcohol. And I think personally it's probably different for everybody. If you were to ask me, How many drinks does it take to get drunk? I don't know. And there are probably some people who could drink more drinks than others before they become drunk. Right? There's a difference in everybody's body and their chemistry. And so you say, Well, Pastor Anderson, how many drinks does it take before someone's drunk? I'll be honest. I don't know. But I'll tell you one thing for sure. I know how many drinks it takes to be sober. Zero. The Bible does not just say, Don't be drunk. Yeah, it does say that. You're right. But you know what else it says? In 1 Thessalonians 5, 6, it says, Be sober. You know what it says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 8? Be sober. You know what it says in 1 Timothy 3, 2? Be sober. You know what it says in 1 Timothy 3, 11? Be sober. You know what it says in Titus 1, 8? Be sober. You know what it says in Titus 2, verse 2? Be sober. Verse 4. Be sober. Verse 6. Again, Be sober. He said, Where? Be sober. Be sober. The young need to be sober. The old need to be sober. That's what he said in Titus 7. In 1 Peter 4, 7, he said, Be sober. In 1 Peter 5, 8, he said, Be sober. Be sober. Be sober. That's right. He said, Well, I have to talk about being serious. That's part of it, but he mentions alcohol in the scriptures in the context of being sober. That's right. You're going to tell me that when you're drinking, you're sober? That's nonsense. Yes, it is. But that's why people justify sin. Right. I want to do it, so I'm being sober and being vigilant because my adversary, the devil, walked about as a rolling lion, seeking whom he may devour. And the Bible says in Proverbs 23 that when you drink, he says, Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thy mouth shall utter perverseness. Yes, sir. I don't want to say perverted things. That's right. I don't want to look upon strange women. Therefore, I do not want to partake of alcohol. Amen. I want to be completely sober. I don't want to be partially in this gray zone between sober and drunkenness. I would rather just be 100% sober all the time because I know that my adversary, the devil, is out to get you. I think of King Belshazzar in the Old Testament, the book of Daniel, if you know the story. King Belshazzar was having a great feast and a great party, and he called upon the servants to bring to him the vessels from the house of God. Because even drinking, and drinking emboldens you to sin. Things that you normally wouldn't do, it emboldens you to do those things. And so he calls for the vessels from God's house that he might drink wine in the vessels from God's house and praise the gods of gold and the gods of silver with his maidens, and he's got a girl on this arm and a girl on that arm, and he's drinking, and he's so bold, and he's so tough, and he's so emboldened to commit sin. But then if you remember the fingers from a man's hand began to write on the wall. And the Bible says that instantly Belshazzar's countenance or his face was changed. He wasn't so tough anymore. And the Bible says he began to shake and to tremble so much that his knees literally smote one another. That sobered him up pretty fast. But that's the same way that alcohol is going to affect you. Your eyes will behold strange women, your mouth will utter perverse things, and you'll be lifted up with pride. Pride. You'll be lifted up and haughty in spirit. And that's why the Bible says to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and that we ought to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Now go if you went to Matthew 28. Matthew 28, I mentioned earlier the title is Shall We Continue in Sin? I mean, shall we just continue to feast our eyes on the lust of the flesh? Shall we continue to gratify our lust in every way? Shall we, because we're saved by grace, because we're not under the curse of the law, because we're not under the law but under grace, because we're saved by grace, should we just continue in sin? Should we just continue to gratify the flesh or should we deny self, take up the cross and follow him? Should we just continue to live like the rest of the world around us? Should we just continue to enjoy all the same things that our unsaved bunnies at work enjoy? Should we just continue to have the same conversation, the same speech, the same lifestyle, the same pattern of life as all the ungodly people around us in this world? Should we enjoy all the same TV shows, all the same movies? Should we enjoy all of the same enjoyments and drinking and partying and reveling that the world around us enjoys or should we be a peculiar people? I told you to turn to Matthew 28. I changed my mind. I'll go there in a second. Keep your finger there. Come on. Go to James 1. You see, I mentioned earlier that we're under grace. We're not under the law but under grace in regard to our salvation. But he follows that up immediately with, okay, what shall we sin in? Shall we sin because we're not under the law? And what is sin according to the Bible? Transgressive law. So he's basically saying, okay, since we're not under the law, should we transgress the law? God forbid. Right. God forbid when Jesus Christ died for us, he loved us and gave himself for us and then he just asked us, if you love me, keep my commandments and we say, well, we don't have to. We're free in Christ. Yeah, you don't have to to go to heaven but you have to if you love God. If you're going to love Christ. You have to if you want to be blessed by God. But in James 1.27, I'll go there in a second but we talked about worldliness and so forth. But I was out soul winning and I knocked on the door of a guy and I was giving this guy the gospel. Turned out he was already saved. But he was a friendly guy and he wanted to talk a little bit so we were chatting a little bit. And I was explaining to him about why I only use the King James Bible. Why I don't use these monitors. I was showing him stuff and I was explaining stuff to him. And this other guy comes out, this real smug guy. He was like his roommate. He comes out and he had this shirt that I found very offensive. It was a shirt of like Jesus on the cross. I don't think he's had images of Jesus and God. The Bible says, you didn't see an image when you were in the mount. He said to Moses, you just saw a voice so don't make any image. And I've heard God's word. I'm hearing it tonight. I'm hearing it tonight. I read it every time in the Bible. But I don't see any pictures in here. So he had some long haired hippie looking Jesus hanging on the cross and so forth. And I didn't like his shirt. But he's standing there real smug. And he's listening to me talk. And I'm just explaining to him some stuff about what I believe from the Bible. And he just went like this. He said, you need to get free, bro. He said, you need to get free, bro. I said, excuse me? He said, you need to get free. I mean, it sounds like you're in some kind of bondage. You're under the law of grace. You're under the law of grace trying to bring us back into bondage. And I said, so I'm in some kind of bondage? Because I just believe that there's only one version of the Bible and that God didn't give us all these different contradictory versions and they're all right. Even though they say different stuff, they're all the same. I'm in some kind of bondage and so forth. See, that's the mentality today. When a preacher gets up and starts screaming about alcohol, screaming about TV shows, screaming about whatever worldliness and worldly lust, hey, you need to get free, bro. That's the mentality. You know what? The Bible says if you commit sin, you're the servant of sin. You're not free when you have to drink to have fun. You're not free when you have to smoke whether you want to or not because you're addicted to it. You're not free when you can't even go a few minutes without fumbling for the remote. You're not going to turn on the lights. You're not going all the time. It's not freedom. And so that's the mentality today. And I've seen this trend in whatever you want to call it, the liberals or the new evangelicals, everything basically that's the opposite of this church. This is the trend I've seen. They attack this word religion. Have you seen this? This is the cool thing about it. You know, I hate religion. I've seen stickers of it on people's cards. I saw a sticker the other day with just huge capital letters. No religion. So I'm thinking, okay, they're atheists. But I walk up to it, and in microscopic print, it said, no religion. And then in microscopic print, it said, just a relationship. Now, here's the thing. I don't know what they mean. People use words. Whenever you're using words that are not in the Bible, they can kind of mean different things to different people. When I was growing up, I'd heard people say, hey, you need to have a relationship with Jesus. I thought to myself, and they were talking about salvation, I always thought to myself, okay, that just means that I just need to be his son, and he's my father, so we're related. That's like a relationship, father to son. But see, a lot of people mean when they say have a relationship, they're talking about basically like I have an ongoing relationship with my wife where we talk every day, and we have fellowship one with another, and we're building a relationship, or maybe a relationship with friends or a relationship with family. Look, if that saves you, then that's not the gospel of Jesus Christ, because the gospel of Jesus Christ, you just believe on him one time. And listen to this. A relationship is a daily thing. See, I only got married once, and that just makes me married. I don't have to get remarried over and over again. I just got married, and I'm married. Now, is a relationship a one-time thing, though, with my wife? No. Or is that an ongoing thing? Ongoing. So the relationship with my wife is ongoing. It takes a lot of work. It takes effort. It takes money. The relationship is ongoing, but salvation is a one-time event. Salvation is in a moment in between. Whereas the relationship takes work and effort and time and effort. Now, here's the thing. If I don't talk to my wife and my wife doesn't talk to me, we're not going to have a good relationship. Are we married? Yes, we are. See what I mean? So, you know, if I don't talk to God through prayer, and if he doesn't talk to me through his word, we're not going to have a very good relationship. I'm still safe. But here's what they'll say. You know, hey, just a relationship, not religion. It's not religion. It's a relationship. This is what people are promoting today is Christianity. They want a religion-less Christianity. They want a religion that's a relationship, but they don't want... I'm sorry, I think I misspoke. They want a relationship with Jesus, but they don't want Jesus' religion. And here's why. Because here's what the Bible says religion is. You want to know why they're so against religion? This just will tell you right now. And there's a billboard up in Phoenix that basically says religion stinks. Giant billboard. It's put out by a church. Religion stinks. It actually says something worse than that. I'm just kind of toning it down for you today. But it says in James 1.27, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this. He's going to tell us what pure religion is. To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. This is what modern day Christianity doesn't want to do. They don't want to keep themselves unspotted from the world. They want to indulge in the lust of the flesh. They want to indulge in worldly lust. They do not want to live soberly. They do not want to live godly. They do not want to live righteously. So therefore their slogan becomes no religion. Because religion is about keeping yourself unspotted from the world. Religion is about keeping the Lord Jesus Christ's commandments. A religion is composed of commandments. And they don't want that. They want just the relationship. Now imagine this. What if my children, because we're God's children, right? What if my children said, Dad, I don't want religion. I don't want your rules. I don't want your do's and don'ts. I just want to have a relationship with you, Dad. I'd say you're about to have a relationship with my fellowship. Come on. Tell me you don't want to have my rules. Tell me you want to have a relationship with me. Dad, I want to talk to you. I want you to talk to me. I want to hang out with you. I want to spend time with you. I want to feel close to you. I just want to do whatever I want. I'm going to say, no, there is no relationship without rules. In my house, because I'm deaf. Now if we're friends, we can have a relationship without rules if we're on the same even playing field. But guess what? Jesus is not on an even playing field with us. He is our Lord. He's our Master. He is God. He is the Almighty. We bow our knees before Him and say, Yes, I will follow your religion. Not for salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith. But I will follow your religion because you've commanded me to do so. To keep myself unspotted. So don't get caught up in this. It's not as if you get caught up in it. Oh, yeah, religion is bad. No, it isn't. It looks pretty good to me in this verse. And so there are bad religions out there. But guess what? Religion is not bad. Religion is necessary to please God as a Christian. And we'll go to one last place. Matthew 28. Tonight, Matthew 28. The title of this sermon is, You need to get free, bro. No. The title of this sermon is, Shall we continue in sin? Is that what we're going to do? No. We believe salvation is by faith, so let's just continue in sin. Let's just live it up. Let's eat, drink, and be merry, because tomorrow we die. And you know what? Somebody even said to me, they said one time, Well, the Bible says, Give strong drink unto him that's ready to perish, and wine unto those that be heavy hearts. So, you know, that's me. I'm of a heavy heart. Are you ready to perish? Yeah, come on. Go ahead. Jesus said, Whosoever liveth it, believeth it, that he shall never die. He said, They shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Come on. But he says in Matthew 28, This is the great commission. Right. You come on. And last time I was here, I preached about soul winning, and I love the map here. It's filled in. Amen. You know, from soul winning. And it needs to be filled in a lot more, and so more people need to, Hey, the harvest truly is plenty, but the labor is a few. Come on. You know, we need more people knocking these doors preaching the Gospel, but did you know that the great commission is not just getting people saved? Now, getting people saved is step one of the great commission. Right. Look at it there in Matthew 28 and 18. It says, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations. That's preaching them the Gospel. Right. He says, Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost. That's the next step. Right. After you get saved, after you learn the Gospel and believe on Him, the next step is to be baptized. Right. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But watch the third part. Teaching them to observe all things. Amen. Whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you, I will be with you all the way, even at the end of the world. So according to that right there, the great commission is not complete until you've first gotten somebody saved and then they've been baptized and then you teach them all things that Christ commanded. Right. Not just salvation, but also purification. Amen. Not just redeemed from all iniquity, but purified unto Him a peculiar people zealous of goods work. You see, this takes a lifetime. Salvation takes a moment. Right. Baptism takes a few moments. Learning everything that Christ commanded us is going to take a lifetime. Right. It's going to go on. It goes on and on. So it's not just the great commission to go out and get people saved. Coming here on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and listening to God's word preached. Amen. I hope you learned some things tonight from the Word. When you're learning things, you are fulfilling this. And when Brother Jimenez gets up to preach, he's fulfilling the great commission when he riffs on sin also. Not just, you know, it's all about soul-willing and getting people to say, hey, that's great. That's number one. But you know what? When he preaches against sin, when he preaches against worldly lust, when he preaches against all the different things that we're supposed to avoid, he is also fulfilling the great commission. Right. He is fulfilling the last request of Jesus Christ before he ascended up to heaven from being on this earth when he said, teach all nations, give the gospel to all nations. He said, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all nations, he said in Matthew 24. And when he baptizes, he's fulfilling that. And when he teaches you, he's fulfilling that. And when you win people to Christ, you're fulfilling this. And when you bring them to be baptized, you're fulfilling this. And when you open your Bible and teach them other things from the Bible that can help purify, that can help give them the works that they need to do, you are fulfilling the great commission. Amen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word tonight and for salvation. I thank you that salvation is by faith because if we were to be weighed in the balances, we'd all be found wanting. None of us is good enough to go to heaven. And so thank you for the free gift of eternal life. But Father, help us to realize that salvation took place one time for us in the past. Help us to move forward with some purification. Help us to move forward with good works. Guide us and direct us as we seek to fulfill your laws and your commandments and to follow the true religion and undefiled of your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.