The No Condemnation Concept

Date: July 13, 2008

Scripture: Romans 8

from the series Romans

Introduction

As I'm sure all Redlanders know by now—one of my goals for this year is to preach through the entire book of Romans. I don't know if you've ever counted—but there are sixteen chapters in Paul's letter and today we are studying the eighth chapter—which means after this sermon we will be halfway done—and it's only taken us three and a half months to get this far! My! How time flies when you're having fun!

One thing I want to point out as we begin—is that this eighth chapter is considered by many to be the single most important chapter in all of Paul's writings. This is quite a distinction when you realize that Paul's writings compose two thirds of the New Testament—so to highlight this one chapter is saying something!

And—it's easy to understand why this chapter would be so highly esteemed—because it contains so many "classic" portions of Scripture—so many VERSES that so many PEOPLE have memorized and clung to amidst the storms of life. If we had time, we'd stop at this point and I'd give you 10 minutes or so to read through the chapter and call out your favorite verse—but since we do have time constraints—I've done that for you. Here are some examples of these CLASSIC verses—and let's read them OUT LOUD together. In fact, feel free to increase your own level of enthusiasm if one of these verses is particularly dear to you:

Verse 1 -"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Verse 15 - "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'"

Verse 18 - "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

Verse 26 - "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

Verse 28 - "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Verse 31 - "If God is for us, who can be against us? He Who did not spare His own Son...will He not also freely give us all things?"

Now we come to verse 35—and I don't know about you but when I START verse 35 I can't STOP until I get to the end of the chapter! Read it with me:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"

STOP...Now say that next word LOUDLY!

"NO!

In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any power, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Whew! Is this a WONDERFUL chapter or what?! Isn' t it chock full of CLASSIC words that you can CLING to and COUNT on?!

Sermon

Now—one thing I have learned over the years in preaching through various books of the Bible—is that it is often difficult to decide how far to go in each message...how best to break the verses down into bite-sized sermons. And—when it comes to THIS chapter most pastors tend to break it down into three, four, or even five sermons—but I've decided to do it in ONE—not because I'm prideful or because I'm in a hurry to finish this series—but rather because in my mind all these much-loved verses combine to answer ONE main question. And—it's a question that is on the mind of every human being—which may explain why so many of the verses that make up this chapter are so very popular.

In order for you to understand why I say this we need to back up in Paul's letter and review a bit. So that's what we're going to do. Last Sunday we looked at chapter 7 where Paul testified as to how frustrated he was when he failed in his attempt to live righteously...a kind of failure he experienced over and over and over again. Do you remember his honest confession? He said, "I do what I know I shouldn't do—and don't do what I know should. There's a war raging inside me and I let the wrong side lose all the time. I hate this! Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me? Who will help me win this INFERNAL internal struggle?"

I mean—in chapter seven we are looking at one frustrated Christian. Paul is AGONIZING over the fact that he has been born again—but over and over again he still yields to temptation and does things that KILL the joy of his new life. He's perturbed because even as an APOSTLE—even as a witness of the Risen Christ—Paul still gives in to sin.

We all know that kind of feeling. This is why so many of you raised your hands last week. Unfortunately we ALL have a plethora of experience when it comes to failing to live out our faith, because, like Paul, we ALL have this inner war going on—a war between the old nature and the new. Plus—we give in to the old nature over and over again...and when we do we feel the same agony of guilt and remorse that Paul felt. As I said last week, these are NORMAL actions and normal feelings for every Christian. They are not honorable—they not to be aspired to—but they are commonplace. And you know, even after hearing and agreeing with last week's message—I imagine that during these past seven days some of you STILL SAID some things you didn't want to say or DID some things that hurt some people—things you wish you hadn't done.

I bet some of you THOUGHT some things that you are now ashamed of. I bet you BOUGHT some things you shouldn't or ATE some things you shouldn't or WATCHED some things on TV or the Internet that you shouldn't....or SHARED SOME GOSSIP you shouldn't. And even now as the sin of this past week comes to mind you condemn yourself and think, "What a wretched, weak, JERK I am! Why did I do that? It was foolish...it was sinful. How could I mess up like that AGAIN?!"

Perhaps as you sit here this morning you are feeling like Paul in that you are experiencing mental agony over a lack of RIGHT-doing or an abundance of WRONG-doing or wrong-thinking. And if that describes you then please listen to these words from a fellow struggler! Don't give in to that kind of anguish—don't hang your head in defeat because the thing I want to make sure you understand about all this is that the evil one—our adversary—satan absolutely LOVES IT when we feel this way. He loves it when we feel defeated.

In fact, one of his favorite pastimes is to come to us as we are kicking ourselves over our sin and shortcomings and do all he can to make a BAD situation WORSE. Revelation 12:10 tells us that satan does this so much that it has earned him a nick-name—and here it is. He is called, "the accuser..." because he "stands before the brethren day and night accusing them..." In other words, one of satan's main strategies is to take the normal guilt and shame that we feel when we sin—and intensify it—exaggerate it.

You see, as Bill Hybels puts it, "the evil one knows full well that a THOROUGHLY DISCOURAGED Christian is an UTTERLY USELESS Christian."

So whenever a believer does something he regrets, the evil one swings into action immediately and starts intensifying the shame by saying things like, "Now you've done it. That was the last straw. God has had it with you. His patience is ended. His grace is used up. You think YOU'RE upset about your actions? Well, let me tell you, GOD is sick and tired of your mistakes... your premeditated foul-ups and sins." And when satan's tactic works and we fall deeper and deeper into the pits of despair, hating ourselves more and more for our failures—he turns the screws even tighter and says, "Wake up pal—you are now condemned in the sight of God—and no amount of pleading or penance will ever be enough to make God change His mind about you. You're history. You're out of the family. You are condemned. Give it up. See you in Hell."

Have you ever "heard" words like that?

Have those thoughts ever entered your mind—just as you were kicking yourself over some past sin, such that you went from feeling guilty—to feeling like just giving up? It could be something you did yesterday or thirty years ago—but satan has accused you and made you feel like digging a hole, crawling in, and covering yourself over. I can't tell you how many times I have felt that way. I know by experience that the evil one loves to intensify my shame over sin—even sin that is decades old. Those kind of accusations hit me where it really hurts. It's like pouring salt on a wound that's already throbbing. Do you know what I'm talking about?

We feel this kind of despair in our gut and we think, "It's probably true. God is no fool. God is not mocked. I FEEL like giving up on me—surely God does as well. After all, who wouldn't GIVE up on a FOUL up like me!?"

Well, suffice it to say that this kind of demon-inspired despair can be very effective when it comes to stopping us in our tracks.

We become incapacitated and we feel useless to God and useless to other people. We lose our desire to worship or serve and as I said, that's exactly what the accuser wants.

Now—I'm not saying that we shouldn't feel bad for doing wrong.

Being convicted for our sins is a good thing because if we let Him, God can use that bad feeling—that Godly sorrow over our sin—He can use it to spur us on toward true repentance and spiritual maturity. But excessive guilt can imprison our thinking and our doing—it can paralyze us and make us give up.

Well, Paul apparently knew all about this highly effective strategy of satan—because right on the heals of the section where he talks so candidly about the agony that comes from doing what you don't want to do...right after chapter seven, Paul writes chapter 8—one of the single most important sections in all of the Scriptures. And in it he underscores three truths that will help FREE us from the ENSLAVING accusations of our adversary. Paul says, that because Jesus came—because He died on the cross for our sins and rose again...

(1) We can be free from JUDGEMENT.

Look at verses 1ff:"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN CHRIST JESUS because through Christ Jesus...the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature.....God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering."

In these BLESSED WORDS...Paul is saying, "Don't listen to the adversary—ignore his accusations! You and I can't be condemned for our sin because Jesus already was." And praise God, Paul is right! The punishment—the condemnation—we deserve for of our sins, past, present, and future, was given to Jesus two thousand years ago. Let me put it this way. The trial for our crimes has already been held. Judgement has been pronounced and the sentence has been carried out. It's over—it's done. As Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished!" Hebrews 10:12 refers to Jesus' atoning death on our behalf when it says, "When this priest had offered for all time once sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God...by [that] one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy."

At this point I'm reminded of the "double jeopardy" law—a law that says a man cannot be tried twice for the same crime...because Jesus was tried and condemned for our crimes against God...our sins...so we can't be charged for them! He was already condemned for our failure to obey the law. And this is WONDERFUL news because as I told you last week, the law CAN'T save us. It can ONLY condemn us—it can only show us that we are sinners, who deserve eternal death and separation from our Holy God...sinners who desperately need a Savior.

Well—because of His great love God sent His only Son to be our Savior. He sent Jesus to do what the law was and still is powerless to do. So, as Jesus said in John 5:24, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life and he will NOT be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life."

Paul has a favorite phrase that helps us to understand this "no condemnation concept."
I say "favorite" because Paul uses these same two words 164 times in his writings. Paul says that once we put our faith in Jesus—once we confess our sin an claim the forgiveness He made possible on the cross...Paul says that from then on we are "IN CHRIST" and when we are IN CHRIST we are protected from God's wrath over our sin...because as I said earlier the wrath we deserved for our sin fell on Jesus. Since we are IN CHRIST, there is no more condemnation for our sins—past, present, and future. The punishment for all our sins was placed on Him. He ATONED for them—paid for them—when He died on the cross.

It's interesting to note that the word "atonement" is the same as the Hebrew word for "pitch" — that tar-like substance that God instructed Noah to use in building the ark. That pitch kept the flood out of that ark making it dry and safe inside. That pitch protected Noah and his family from God's judgement—and Christ's atonement does the same for us. We are now IN CHRIST—just as Noah was IN THE ARK. We are safe—we are no longer condemned.

Here's another way to look at it. When we come to faith in Christ our family status changes as we are REBORN IN to God's family.

The moment we admit our sin, believe Jesus was God's Son, and confess Him as Lord, He claims us as His children and as proof of that He sends His Spirit to live in us. In verse 14 Paul says that, "...those who are led by the Spirit of God are Sons of God...who no longer have a spirit of fear but of sonship and cry 'Abba, Father.'" So you see, once we have been justified by faith in Jesus, we are IN CHRIST—we are IN God's family and because of that there is now no condemnation, only love and acceptance.

Jesus' parable of the prodigal son helps us understand this because it tells us that God is like a father who grieves over his son's sin...and instead of longing to condemn, He longs to forgive. You remember the story. The son asks for his inheritance early—in essence saying, "Dad, you are worth more to me dead than alive. I want to enjoy my inheritance now before you can spend it all so gimmee!" Well, this selfish son doesn't take the money and build a life—no—instead he takes it and squanders it on deadly, sinful living. He spends it on alcohol, gambling, and prostitutes. He parties until every dime is gone. When his bank account collapses, so does his life and this Kosher Jewish boy is forced to get a job feeding pigs. Imagine that!

He gets so desperately hungry standing there in the pig sty that he thinks about going back home as a hired hand. He was sure that with his behavior he had forfeited his right of sonship...so sure of his father's condemnation. He was so sure that his father would throw him out of the family...that all he wanted to request was a bunk in the servant's quarters and I can imagine Jesus' first listeners were thinking that the story would end just like that, but Jesus says, "Surprise! The father is so fiercely committed to his son that not only is there no condemnation..there is a celebration!" The father runs to embrace his wayward son and sends the servants off to prepare a party and I can picture him putting his hand on his son's mouth saying, "Shhh...what is all this talk about being a hired hand? Don't talk that way. You're my son!" You will always, always, ALWAYS be my son! Yes...you will be occasionally wayward, periodically foolish...you'll be stupid now and then...but...I love you son. And my love can handle your folly. Shhh...stop all this talk about the bunk house!"

Hybels points out that with this beloved story Jesus was saying, "ONCE a SON...ALWAYS A SON." But, you know, He was saying something even more important that. He was also saying, "Once a FATHER....always a FATHER." He was saying, "Your sin can't negate God's love...ever."

As you know, I was a youth pastor for many years—24 in fact! I admit, when I saw them off yesterday I felt a longing to go with them to World Changers! Well, back in my youth ministry days every so often a student would come to me and confess a foolish mistake. They would be filled with remorse for something they had done and they'd say something like, "Mark, I know I messed up. I feel so stupid. Plus I'm scared! My parents are going to kill me...dad is going to disown me. I can't possibly tell them what I've done!" And I would say, "Shh...stop that kind of talk. That's nonsense! I know your dad.. Sure, he's going to be disappointed...but your dad would never entertain the thought of disowning you. He's not like that." And time and time again the students would be shocked to discover that I was right. Sure—their parents would be upset and hurt—but they always lovingly welcomed the repentant child and worked to help them.
You see—there is no condemnation in a healthy father on the part of his children. "Once a son—always a son....once a father...always a father."

Do you remember David's words in Psalm 103, "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always ACCUSE, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the havens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him." In John 3:17 Jesus affirms the fact that the Heavenly father didn't send Him into the world to condemn the world. God could have done that long distance without Jesus' involvement. No—our Heavenly Father sent Jesus to save us—to redeem us and restore us and bring us home. God does not function with a spirit of condemnation. That's not His nature. Our Heavenly Father has an enormous capacity to forgive and receive back into fellowship His children. So fellow Christian, heed Paul's words! Don't listen to the accuser! There is now NO condemnation for those who are IN CHRIST Jesus.

Now obviously there are people who ignore God and suppress the truth and exchange it for a lie.
These people bring condemnation on themselves by refusing to be adopted into God's family. But that's not what Paul is talking about here. He's talking about believers who have stumbled... and who have repented of that but they have fallen into piles of discouragement and shame and have been victimized by the evil one who is always busy intensifying exaggerating the shame and the guilt. Paul is saying, "Christian, don't buy into his condemnation lie...don't ever allow the evil one to incapacitate you through guilt. Don't allow him to enslave you with a fear that God won't forgive you. God's not like that."

Max Lucado shares the story of a young boy who was shooting rocks with a slingshot one day in his grandmother's yard. He and his sister were apparently staying with her for the summer. Well, this kid could never hit his target—but as he was about to give up he spied his grandmother's pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit, and the duck fell dead. The boy panicked and hid the bird in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister, Sally, watching. After lunch that day, Grandma told Sally to help with the dishes. Sally responded, "Well, Johnny told me HE wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn't you Johnny?" And she whispered to him, "Remember the duck!" So, Johnny did the dishes. What choice did he have? For the next several weeks he was at the sink often. Sometimes for his duty, sometimes for his sin. "Remember the duck!" Sally would whisper when he objected.

Finally, weary of the chore, he decided that any punishment his grandmother would meet out would be better than washing more dishes, so he confessed to killing the duck. Giving him a hug she said, "I know you did, Johnny, I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave out of you." This little boy had been pardoned, but he was enslaved to the belief that punishment was coming. Why? He had listened to the words of the accuser. Well, when you sin—don't make that mistake. Don't listen to the accuser. Instead, talk God. Confess your sin to Him. Never underestimate His love because remember, once a father always a father...and our Father has freed us from condemnation through Jesus Christ.

Here's a second fact Paul has given us in this beloved text. He says that because of Jesus...

(2) ...We can have freedom from DISCOURAGEMENT.

When we give into temptation AGAIN—we feel defeated. We feel like giving up—and, as I said, satan only encourages that kind of thinking...encourages it to the point that as verse 23 says, "...we groan..." I mean, in times of personal failure we long to do better. We're frustrated that we don't...so there's this inner GROANING...this feeling that we're never going to get where we want to spiritually. It's like putting together one of those beds from Ikea and you're on step 12, after hours of work, when you realize that on step six you used the wrong bolts and you GROAN knowing you have to take it all apart and start all over. You think, "I'm never going to get this done!"

Well Paul says we mustn't be discouraged like this because nothing can stop God's final PURPOSE for each of us—and do you remember what that purpose is? Here it is. God wants you become more and more like Jesus. That's His purpose—and, understand, this is nothing new. It's been God's plan from the very beginning of time. The book of Genesis records the fact that when God first made man, He said, "Let us make man in Our IMAGE." Of course the Genesis account also tells us that man sinned and because of that, God's image was distorted. So Jesus came to earth to finish what was started at the dawn of time. He came to make it possible for God's image to be restored in each of us. When you became a Christian and God's Holy Spirit came to live in you, He got to work right away—making you more and more like Jesus—God in the flesh. And in this 8th chapter Paul underscores the fact that nothing stops this transforming process. God works in every thing that happens to you in life—both the good and the bad—He works in ALL things—even the TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS we go through—He even works in these TOUGH TIMES to make us more like Jesus.

Look once again at verse 18. Paul says that when we get to Heaven for the biggest "reveal" of all time—when we are finally home and God's purpose for us is finished...Paul says that on this day our "present sufferings will not be worth comparing" with the glory of that moment when time ends and eternity begins. To me, this wording suggests a scale or balance. On one side of the scale is the suffering we go through....the surgeries, the rejections, the funerals, the financial woes, the heartbreaks and difficulties and on the other side is the end product...the glory of being like Jesus. In 2nd Corinthians 4 Paul says in a comparison like this, our toughest time will seem light and momentary...like a bowling ball compared to a hand full of BB's. You could fill one side of the scale with BB's and the bowling ball wouldn't move. So—no matter what life throws our way, no matter how painful and pervasive suffering can be, we can look to the future with confidence...knowing God uses everything in our life to mold us, sculpt us, polish us, shape us into the image of Jesus. God is working in everything that happens in your life toward that magnificent goal!

In fact when we repent and let Him—God will even use our failures and sins to push us toward that goal! Now—do you grasp the importance of that fact? Do you understand the security you have as a believer? Even when you make dumb decisions—even when you sin...God has the power to use even that stuff for His purpose. God's grace is indeed greater than our sin. As Philippians 1:6 says, we can be confident, "...that he Who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ."

I mean, if you are a believer, God will never give up on you. What He starts in your life, He will finish and doesn't that make you feel more ENCOURAGED and less defeated?! Look at verses 28ff again where Paul says, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son..."

Paul even goes so far as to say that the Holy Spirit helps us PRAY in ways that speed us toward spiritual maturity. Look at verse 26. "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Think of that! God's Spirit prays for you!

Have you ever been too angry or hurt or discouraged to pray? I know I have. There have been
numerous times when I couldn't find the words to express what my heart was feeling. Well, Paul says, in times like this when we don't know how to pray, the Spirit prays for us. He takes our prayers and translates them, so to speak, and presents them to the Father on our behalf. He prays for what we need—and this is great because we usually don't really KNOW what we need! It's like a child who comes to his mom and says, "I'm hungry. Give me a candy bar." And the mom says, "No problem—here's an apple." The Holy Spirit helps us by praying for those things we need to be more spiritually healthy—more like Jesus. In the Holy Spirit, we have an all-powerful, all-knowing prayer partner. So, we have no reason to be enslaved by feelings of judgement...or discouragement and defeat.

Finally, Paul says that because Jesus came...

(3) ...We can have freedom from FEAR.

In verse 31, he asks, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" And please note—the question is not, who can be against us. [As Lucado points out] Anyone could answer that question because in this fallen world there's a lot that is against us. Here's a sampling: disease, inflation, corruption, exhaustion—all potentially terrifying things that are against us—but that's not Paul's question. The actual question Paul asks is this, "if GOD is for us—who can be against us?" Those first five words change everything don't they?! Consider the fear-squashing comfort of that phrase. Let's borrow an idea from Max Lucado and say it together four times—emphasizing a different word each time—starting with the first. GOD is for us. God IS for us. God is FOR us. God is for US. Doesn't that feel wonderful? Funny how those four words can INCREASE your courage level while at the same time decreasing your fear level. Lucado writes,

"God is FOR you—not 'may be,' not 'has been,' not 'was,' not 'would be,' but 'God IS! He is FOR you—today at this hour at this minute. No need to wait in line or come back tomorrow. He is with you. His loyalty won't increase if you are better nor lessen if you are worse. Your sin can't stop Him being FOR you. Turn to the sidelines; that's God cheering your run. Look past the finish line. That's God applauding your steps. Listen for Him in the bleachers, shouting your name. Too tired to continue? He'll carry you. Too discouraged to fight? He's picking you up. God is FOR you. Had He a calendar, your birthday would be circled. If He drove a car, your name would be on His bumper. If there's a tree in heaven, He's carved your name on the bark. We know God has a tattoo, and we know what it says because in Isaiah 49:16 He declares, 'I have written your name on my hand,'"

So—NOTHING can be against you! Not death—not disease—not job loss—nothing can thwart God's purpose for you. If all the demons of Hell try, they will be defeated. Because you see, you are loved by ALMIGHTY GOD HIMSELF and one plus God equals an unbeatable majority.
This fact should turn Christians into the most confident people in the world. As Hebrews 13:6 says, "We say with confidence, 'The LORD is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Indeed! Nothing can separate you from God's love. You are eternally secure—so there is no reason to EVER be afraid.

In John 10:28 Jesus said, "You are in My hand and no man can pluck you out." and I like George Beverly Shea's paraphrase of that promise, "God's grip don't slip." James Montgomery Boice tells of a time that he received a letter from a man whose homosexuality had cost him everything...his wife and children...his job...his health. In fact, he had AIDS and he was writing to tell Boice that during his illness he had found the Lord and wanted to see if he could receive his Sunday services on cassette tape. The man wrote, "Unfortunately I am losing my eyesight due to AIDS. I'm reading your books as fast as I can, before I find myself unable to do so.
Your tapes will enable me to continue my studies after the light fails. Dr. Boice, I have become obsessed with God. I can't get enough of His Word. He literally has become my sole incentive to live. I have lost so much already and I am losing everything else, but I cannot lose Him."

Invitation

Fellow sinner—aren't you glad that is true? I mean the fact that in spite of our sin we cannot lose the love of God—a love He expressed by sending His only Son to die on the cross for us—doesn't that fact dispel your fear—no matter what it's source? I mean, the cross proves once and for all that GOD's love for us is more than a feeling—it is an integral part of His character that prompts Him to always ACT on our behalf. And Paul says, NOTHING can separate us from that love—so nothing else matters, no matter how big or bad it seems! In fact, let me ask you a few questions here to illustrate the comfort of this fact.

• Can the rejection of friends—can loneliness and grief separate us from God's love? NO!
• Can financial problems—can the price at the pump separate us from God's love? NO!
• Can diseases as devastating as cancer separate us from God's love? NO!
• Can governments—can earthly powers no matter how corrupt—can they separate us from Gods love? NO!
• Can war separate us from God's love? NO!
• What about demonic powers—can they separate us from God's love? NO!
• Can anything in life separate us from God's love? NO!
• Can death do that—surely it can— NO!
• Your answers are correct—NOTHING—absolutely NOTHING can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So you see...Jesus' coming negates ALL of the accuser's attacks...because it frees us from judgement...frees us from discouragement...frees us from all fear.

Let us pray.

In the event of any technical difficulty with this e-mail, please contact the sender or email to nibymbaby@gmail.com

All of us want to be loved. All of us want somebody to love us, Well , I want to tell you that God Loves you. He loves you so much that he gave us his Son to die on the Calvary cross for our sins. And he loves you so much that he will come into your life and change the direction of your life and make you a new person, whoever you are.
Are you sure that you know Christ ??
Jesus Christ is my Master.

Why Do I Do What I Don't Want To Do?

Date: July 6, 2008

Scripture: Romans 7:1-25

from the series Romans

Introduction

I'm not much of a golfer. As you can see, I have a set of clubs and a nice bag stuffed with golf balls and tons of little wooden "T's." I have a leather golf glove with a snap that comes off to mark your ball on the green. I have this towel to wipe my hands if they get sweaty so they don't slip when I swing. I even have this pair of fairly snazzy oxford golf shoes. But usually all my golf gear is stuffed in a corner at the back of the garage covered in dust and spider webs because, I only actually PLAY golf when I HAVE to play golf.

For example, I have a very good friend that I have known since my seminary days and he loves the game so whenever we get together—I play golf.

It gives us a good chance to talk and catch up.

A few years back—to build staff unity and comradery—Hugh, Aaron, Steve, and I decided to play nine holes together over at Needwood—so I dusted off my clubs for that "staff meeting" and headed for the fairways.

Now, don't get me wrong—I do have fun when I play golf. It's just that when I measure the amount of frustration I experience against the amount of fun I have—well, the frustration always seems to come out way ahead. I'm sure it's because I haven't played enough golf to develop my skill but the fact is that pimply little ball will simply NOT go where I want it to go—and that can be SO frustrating!

I remember playing an obligatory game with friends years ago—and the tee off area at the 12th hole was at the precipice of a deep narrow valley with the green directly opposite on the other side. I watched my friends use their drivers to easily lob their balls across the valley to land over on the green but when it came my turn, I topped the ball and instead of soaring over to land on the green, it rolled down into the bottom of that valley. I hiked down there and took a whack with my 5 iron and the ball went high—and in the right direction—both major miracles for someone of my level of "skill" but it didn't quite make it over the rim of the valley. Instead it landed on the edge and then started rolling back toward me. It picked up speed and rolled all the way back down, coming to a stop just a few feet from where I stood. I tried over and over again with various irons—and each time the same basic thing happened. The ball would go up...but never quite far enough...and would roll right back down to where I was steaming—I mean, standing.

Now—my friends had a lot of fun with this. From their perch above, they thoroughly enjoyed watching my feeble attempts down in that valley to get that little ball up on the green but I have to tell you—I was NOT having fun! After about 15 tries I finally gave up and stomped on to the next tee. It was just one more example of the kind of frustration I have experienced over and over again in this maddening game...and I say "maddening" because golf almost always makes me mad!

I mean, the thing I want to do with that golf ball I just can NOT do...and the thing I do NOT want to do—well, that is the very thing I do—over and over and over again!

Sermon

Now—do the words of that last sentence sound familiar? They should because they are almost a direct quote of one of the most popular parts of Paul's letter to the church at Rome. In fact, the late Ray Stedman once jokingly said that this portion of Romans is proof that Paul was a golfer! Take your Bibles, turn to chapter 7 and let's read these words together. Our text includes the entire chapter but because of time constraints we'll begin with verse 14.

14 - We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

15 - I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.

16 - And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

17 - As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

18 - I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

19 - For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

20 - Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 - So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22 - For in my inner being I delight in God's law;

23 - but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

24 - What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

25 - Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Well, would you say that Paul's words are "on par" with your experience as a Christian? Do you ever find yourself ashamed....because you did something you knew you shouldn't have done, AGAIN, or discouraged because didn't do something you know you should? The hands of all honest Christians should be raised at this point—because we all go through times like this. In fact, some of you probably experienced this kind of frustration just now—because you knew you should have raised your hand but you didn't! Well, in this familiar text, God has used the Apostle Paul to convey some basic facts that we need to grasp as Christians if we are to deal with this kind of discouragement.

(1) First we need to remember the true PURPOSE of the law.

You see, many times our feelings of despair over those times we fall short in our attempts to live Godly lives—our despair comes from our belief that by obeying the law, we either save ourselves or at least make ourselves more worthy of God's salvation. We fail in some area of life—an area where we have repeatedly failed before—and we think,

"Well, that's it. God's not going to forgive me this time. I've messed up like this over and over again and I just don't DESERVE to ask for His forgiveness again."

Now—don't get me wrong. I'm not excusing sin. To use Paul's words from the prior chapter, BY NO MEANS! But if you've ever thought that you didn't deserve God's forgiveness—or if you're thinking it right now—then let me ask: Who told you that you DESERVED His forgiveness the FIRST time? Because you didn't. There never has been and never will be a time when God forgives us because we deserve it or earn it. His grace doesn't work that way. Plus—when you became a Christian—when you came to Christ initially and asked for His forgiveness, He knew every sin you had committed and every sin you would commit right up until the end of your life. So Jesus saved you, knowing all that! He WAS willing and STILL IS willing to call you His child. Nothing can change the BLESSED ASSURANCE of that comforting fact.

In his book, The Grip of Grace, Max Lucado writes,"Your temptation isn't late-breaking news in Heaven. Your sin doesn't surprise God. He saw it coming. Is there any reason to think that the One Who received you the first time won't receive you every time?" Of course not!

And the fact that you feel convicted about your failure—well, that in itself is a good sign—because it indicates that you still have a desire to please God.

In any case, this thinking that when we fail to obey the law....when we fail to DO what we shouldn't and DON'T DO what we should—thinking that this kind of behavior makes us lose our salvation...thinking that our failures—even our repeated ones...cause God to cast us aside and stop loving us—well this is all FLAWED thinking. It's not Biblical because, God's law was never meant to SAVE us. It was meant to GUIDE us.

It's purpose first and foremost was to help sinful people like you and me know what sin is. You see sin has warped us such that it even affects our moral perceptions. Sin leads us astray in every possible way. And so God gave us His law as a "plumb line" of sorts to show us how crooked our paths can become. He gave the law for us to use as a mirror so we can see things as sin that we wouldn't see otherwise. In verse 7 Paul refers to this fact when he says, "I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'Do not covet.'"

Well, with His law, God is saying to us—that this kind of behavior is not acceptable. Coveting is wrong. It will only bring us and others pain. It is far short of His holy standard. It is sin. And, we NEED God's "legal" guidance in all areas of life. We need it in our perceptions and attitudes and actions—we need Him to show us the difference between right and wrong. We need Him to teach us what sin is—because we ARE flawed beings—whose sin extends to the point of our trying to cover over our rebellion. This is seen in our tendency to excuse our sin or to camouflage it by giving it more respectable names. John Philips writes,

"Men say someone is 'an EXTROVERT with a lively imagination.' God says he is a LIAR. They speak of a certain book as being 'DARING.' God would call it FILTHY. They say a man has had 'an AFFAIR.' God says he has committed ADULTERY."

And he's right. We don't call certain things "sin" anymore do we!? Of course not—to do so would sound too harsh. God's law was given to correct that kind of folly and expose sin for what it really is.

But, in any case, God's law was never meant to save us. It's purpose was to help us to see that we are sinners in NEED of saving. The law shines the light of God's holiness on our actions and attitudes and in so doing shows how desperately we need a Savior.

A second thing we need to understand in order to deal with the frustration that comes from our failure to live Godly lives is this...

(2) We need to understand WHY the Christian life seems like such a struggle.

When we became Christians, God's Spirit came to live in our hearts. That's the new nature Paul is referring to when he says in verses 18ff,

"There is a wishing in me now...a new desire for the good...now I WANT to do good .."

And all believers have this NEW nature—this NEW yearning to do GOOD but we since we still live in this flesh we still have the OLD nature as well—the old fleshly yearning to do BAD and as Paul says in verse 23, our old evil nature constantly WARS against the new nature. The Christian life seems like a struggle because that's exactly what it is!

Robert Louis Stevenson was once asked, "Where did you find the model for your character of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." and he said, "I found it in my own nature." Stevenson was a Christian who had learned that inside of every child of God there is indeed a BEAST of sorts. Every believer has an OLD beastly "Mr. Hyde self" waging war against a new godly self. This is what Paul is talking about in verse 20 when he says, "If I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it." Martin Luther once said, "When I became a believer I thought I had drowned the old man in me but the rascal knew how to swim." Well Luther was right. Our old nature is still around and it never gives up on this side of Heaven. It never stops trying to get the best of you. It works against your desires to be holy. It tries to sabotage your efforts to be good.

In verse 8 Paul says that sin, "seizes every opportunity..." and that's what the sin nature—the flesh—the old nature—or whatever you want to call it. That's what it does. It looks for every opportunity to be sinful. It never stops trying to get the best of you. Paul points out that one evidence of this "rascal" — this sinful "beast" within us—is the fact it goes so far as to make us look at God's law as nothing more than another opportunity to sin. In verse 8 he says, "sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, ['do not covet'] produced in me every kind of covetous desire."

Can you relate to Paul's statement? When you see a sign like this what do you want to do? I don't know about you but a voice inside me says, "Push that button. You know you want to. Push it. See what happens!" When I'm on the interstate headed out on vacation and I see a speed limit sign—I think, "How fast can I go and not get a ticket? Is it five miles over or is it twelve?"

This week I read about a hotel on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico in the Galveston area that put this notice in each room: "No Fishing from the Balcony." In spite of that sign, every day, hotel guests were seen throwing their lines down into the water below. So the management decided to try a different approach. They removed all the "no fishing" signs. When they did, the fishing stopped immediately. The sign had apparently "ignited" the guests' desire to sin. It was "bait" that those vacationers just could not resist.

I'm reminded of a story about a woman who objected to her church reciting the 10 Commandments because, and I quote, "Those commandments put too many ideas into people's heads." And in a sense this woman was right because our sinful fleshly self has never seen a law it didn't want to break.

But—I want to underscore the fact that the problem isn't the law. As Paul puts it in verse 7, "Is the law sin? Certainly not!" No—the law is not to blame for our sin—WE are. In the immortal words of that old Sunday Comic strip character, Pogo, "We have met the enemy and he is us." Look at verse 14, where Paul says, "..the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin." If you were to read chapter 7 and count, you would find that some form of the personal pronoun, is used 41 times. So it's clear that Paul is saying, "Hey...we ALL have an 'I' problem." The issue here is not SIN but SELF—it's that old nature—the flesh. Whenever we fail—whenever we do what we don't want to do—what we know we shouldn't do—it's because we give in to the desires of the flesh. Remember what Jesus said in the Garden of Gesthemane when He saw His disciples napping in the hour of His arrest? He said, "The SPIRIT is willing but the FLESH is weak." (Matthew 26:41)

This reminds me of a story from a tremendously theological book entitled Frog and Toad Together. Allow me to share an excerpt:

Toad bakes some cookies.

"These cookies SMELL good," said Toad. He ate one. "They TASTE even better," he said.

Toad ran to Frog"s house.

"Frog, Frog," cried Toad. "Taste these cookies that I have made." Frog ate one of the cookies.

"These are the best cookies I have ever eaten," said Frog.

Frog and Toad ate many cookies one after another.

"You know, Toad," said Frog with his mouth full. "I think we should stop eating. We will soon be sick."

"You are right," said Toad. "Let"s eat one last cookie and then we will stop."

Frog and Toad ate one last cookie.

There were many cookies left in the bowl.

"Frog," said Toad, "Let us eat one VERY last cookie and then we will stop."

Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie.

"We must stop eating," cried Toad as he ate another.

"Yes," said Frog, reaching for a cookie. "We need willpower."

"What is willpower?" asked Toad.

"Will power is trying hard not to do something you really want to do." said Frog.

"You mean like trying NOT to eat these cookies?"Asked Toad.

"Right," said Frog.

Frog put the cookies in the box. "There, now we will not eat any more cookies."

"But we can open the box," said Toad.

"That is true," said Frog.

Frog tied some string around the box. "There. Now we will not eat any more cookies."

"But we can cut the string and open the box," said Toad.

"That is true," said Frog. Frog got a ladder. He put the box up high on a shelf.

"There," said Frog. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."

"But we can climb the ladder and take the box down from the shelf and cut the string and open the box," said Toad.

"That"s true," said Frog.

Frog climbed the ladder, took down the box from the shelf, cut the string, and opened the box.

He took the box outside and shouted in a loud voice, "Hey, birds, here are cookies!" Birds came from everywhere. They picked up all the cookies in their beaks and flew away.

"Now, we have no more cookies to eat," said Toad sadly. "Not even one." "Yes," said Frog. "But we have lots and lots of willpower."

"You may keep it all, Frog," said Toad. "I"m going home to bake a cake."

So many times—we do what we shouldn't do—because like the Toad here, we let our old fleshy "cake-loving" nature win. And—one implication we should take from this uncomfortable fact, is that we need to learn to feed the NEW nature and starve the OLD. It's like the man who confessed to a friend that he had this inner conflict going on all the time and when asked to describe it he said it was like two dogs inside him fighting all the time. His friend said, "Well, which dog usually wins?" and the man said, "The one I feed the most."

Well, be honest. Which do you feed the most? I mean, do you have some favorite sin—that you're not ready to let go of—so in those times when you are weak you feed it? Listen! Don't be a fool! Starve that sinful desire—whatever it is! For example, if you've got a hunger to be in the know—don't feed it gossip. Mind your own business! If you yearn for instant physical pleasure to make your life seem less boring—don't feed it sexual images! If you have a weak ego that longs to feel important, don't feed it compliments you don't deserve. And if your trust in God is weak—don't feed your fear. In every way possible, STARVE your old nature. Avoid places where you will see things you shouldn't or be tempted to do things you know are wrong. AND—don't stop there—FEED your NEW nature. Feed it with daily prayer and Bible study and corporate worship. As Paul puts it in Philippians 4:8-9, "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable...if anything is excellent or praiseworthy...think about such things....FEED YOUR NEW NATURE SUCH THINGS....and the peace of God will be with you!"

But—whenever you feel discouraged or defeated as a disciple of Jesus—remember—there's a reason for that feeling. There's a war being waged inside your heart.

And—it may make you feel better to know that you're not the only one who has waged this war. In fact, I can say that in all truthfulness, you are in some pretty good company. The best proof of this is seen in remembering who it is that is writing this letter and confessing his own failures. Who is it? Right! It's none other than the Apostle Paul. And note—he's writing in the PRESENT tense. He's not talking about something that happened back in his immature early days as a believer. He says, "I DO not—right now—understand this....it IS sin living in me..."

He confesses, "I DO not DO the good things I want to do..." not "It DID not do the things I wanted to DO." "I SEE—not I SAW—I SEE another law working in my body." Paul anguishes, "What a miserable man I AM—not WAS..." He is writing in the present tense. For all we know Paul was engaged in spiritual combat even as he wrote this letter...he was battling sinful desires at the same time God was using him to write the Bible. And when you think of it, what more strategic time would there be for the adversary to attack? I'm sure satan feared the fruit of these Scriptures.

Well, what about your own struggles? Could it be that you are under an attack of some sort—could it be that you are struggling with temptation right now because satan fears the fruit of your walk with Jesus? Could he be prodding your sinful nature in an attempt to frustrate something important that God wants to do in and through you? Could he be encouraging your hunger for some WRONG thing—to keep you from doing some RIGHT thing? I would say—yes—that is VERY possible! In any case, remember—you are in good company. Peter struggled with this inner battle. Paul did. As I said a moment ago, Martin Luther did.

And once again—I am not condoning sin—but there is a way in which your AGONY over sin authenticates your commitment to Jesus. I mean—think about it—unbelievers are the ones who can sin without blushing...so it's a good sign that your sin bothers you.

So...do deal with the frustration of the times when you fail to obey God:

—remember the purpose of the law—it was not meant to save you but rather to show that you need saving.

—understand the Christian life seems like such a struggle because it is a struggle,

(3) ...and finally, and most importantly, HUMBLE yourself and admit that you can't win this struggle on your own.

I mean, winning this inner war that we all wage—well, it's not about your TRYING as much as it is about your TRUSTING. You see, to win you have to rely on Jesus' power more than your own. Now—some veterans of this inner conflict advise that you do nothing—turn it all over to God. Others say you need to exert willpower. They say that to win requires personal effort. Well, neither of these options works. I like what Jerry Bridges says. He writes,"For years I struggled back and forth between the self-effort and the no-effort approaches to personal holiness. Finally, I realized the neither was Biblical. I came to what I call DEPENDENT RESPONSIBILITY. I am responsible to obey God, but I'm dependent on the Holy Spirit to enable me to do that."

Bridges is right—to win this struggle requires DEPENDENT RESPONSIBILITY. We need to obey God—but we need to humble ourselves and depend on God's Spirit living in us to do so.

Paul underscored this fact over and over and over again. In Colossians 1:27 he said, "It is Christ IN YOU...the hope of Glory." In Philippians 4:13 he said, "I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST Who strengthens me." And in verse 25 of our text he says, "Who will rescue me from this war that I am losing? Christ Jesus our Lord!" In other words you and I can't win this inner battle between the old and new natures on our own. We'll fail every time we try. We need outside help—or more accurately INSIDE help. We need to rely on Jesus' power.

Now, I'm not a life guard but I'm told that a drowning victim cannot be saved until he stops trying to save himself. Sometimes the life guard even has to knock a guy senseless to save him. Only then will he relax so the life guard can do his job. I read this week that some life guards will actually wait until the person gives up and starts to go under for the last time before he even attempts to save them. They know that a person who is flailing has adrenalin flowing through their system giving them enormous strength....so it's best to wait for them to give up before they attempt a rescue.

Well, at the end of this chapter Paul says he feels like he is about to go under. He says, "I'm doomed. What a wretched man I am! I'm worn out! I'm sick and tired! I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. What am I going to do? Who will rescue me from this sinful flesh—this body of death?" Then as I said, he answers his own question in verse 25 saying, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Paul is saying that the only way to live the Christian life is to let Jesus Christ live it through you. You cannot live it on your own power. You're doomed to failure if you try. Let me put it this way. The Christian life is not a hard life—it is an impossible life. You can't do it without the power of God's Spirit. You can't live the Christian life on your own strength anymore than you can walk on water on your own strength.

Invitation

Now—I'd like us all to close our eyes for a moment so we can each think more clearly. Here's the question I want you to consider. What is that main bad thing that you do—that thing you don't want to keep doing but you do? I know tons of answers may pop in your head. You may be thinking of a number of bad things you do that you don't want to do...but just think of the bad thing pops to the top of the pile...and even now you know what I'm talking about—it's your one besetting sin...the behavior you can't—or won't give up. Keep your eyes closed but raise your hands and snap your fingers....because I want you all to HEAR that you are not alone.

Now—if you don't feel guilty about that one sin—well, that's a very bad thing. I mean if you have hardened your heart and are justifying some behavior that God calls sin...well in a very real sense it is as if you have deserted and gone over to the other side...so if that describes you, then right now I strongly encourage you to pray David's prayer. "Create in me a clean heart Oh God and RENEW a RIGHT spirit in me." In other words, you need to say, "God, my thinking is all mixed up—I'm actually justifying the sin that Jesus died to pay for. Help me...heal my thinking....renew a right spirit in me. Help me to feel bad about this."

Now—let me talk to those of you who DO feel guilty about your failure. I would remind you that this is a good thing. You should feel bad for doing bad. But I would also remind you that God forgives. As 1st John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So let's all do that—confess your sin to God and ask for His forgiveness. Then commit to quit fighting Him over this sin in the future. Ask Jesus to take over—to empower you to say NO...to whatever sinful behavior you are thinking about.

LET US PRAY

Father God,

Thank You for loving us—while we were still sinners—lost in our sin. Thank You for sending Your Son to die in our place so we could be forgiven.

Help us to feel Your forgiveness this morning—for these sins that beset and enslave us.

Free us Father—and empower us to live truly righteous lives.

I ask this in JESUS' name. AMEN

As we stand and sing, I invite you to respond publically in any way you feel led. Come and profess your faith in Jesus...come and ask to join our church...but come as God leads.

BENEDICTION:

Let the PEACE OF CHRIST rule in your hearts
since as members of one body you were called to peace.

Let the WORD OF CHRIST dwell in you richly
and whatever you do...in word or in deed

Do it all in the NAME OF CHRIST giving thanks to God the Father
through Him.

In the event of any technical difficulty with this e-mail, please contact the sender or email to nibymbaby@gmail.com

All of us want to be loved. All of us want somebody to love us, Well , I want to tell you that God Loves you. He loves you so much that he gave us his Son to die on the Calvary cross for our sins. And he loves you so much that he will come into your life and change the direction of your life and make you a new person, whoever you are.
Are you sure that you know Christ ??
Jesus Christ is my Master.

What Does a Grace-Driven Christian Look Like?

Date: June 29, 2008

Scripture: Romans 6:1-23

from the series Romans

Introduction

If you're our guest this morning then you may not know that since earlier this Spring I've been preaching through Paul's letter to the Romans. In fact, this is the sixth sermon in our study—but we've had a few weeks worth of interruptions lately so before we continue, I think it would be wise for us to stop and review the main thrust of Paul's letter thus far. And ,as I prayed this week in deciding how best to refresh our minds on all we've learned, God reminded me that, in His providence, a review of our study of Romans has already been built into the worship schedule, because today is Communion Sunday and Communion is a powerful object lesson that underscores the central message of the verses we've studied together thus far. As we partake I would remind you that all Christians are encouraged to join us—even if you're not a member of this church. After all, if you are His, this is yours.

[ COMMUNION SERVICE ]

Prayer:

Father God, Thank You.

Thank you for sending Your only Son to do what the law could not.
Thank You for making the forgiveness of our sins possible.

Thank You for giving us what we don't and could never deserve.
Thank Your for Your grace....expressed in sending Jesus to die in our place.

I pray in His name...AMEN

Sermon

Now, with the review that this picture of God's amazing grace has given us fresh in our minds, let's continue with our study of Romans. Turn to chapter 6 and follow along as I read.

1 - What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

2 - By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

3- Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

4 - We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 - If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.

6 - For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

7 - —because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8 - Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.
9 - For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him.

10 - The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.

11 - In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 - Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

13 - Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.

14 - For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

15 - What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

16 - Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

17 - But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

18 - You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19 - I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

20 - When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

21 - What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

22 - But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Many of the commentators that I read this past week say that when it comes to helping us understand how to live the Christian life, there is no more significant passage of Scripture in the New Testament than the one we just read—and I would agree. In fact, I think this part of Paul's letter answers a very important question—especially for this particular church family...namely, "What does a grace-driven Christian look like?"  Or to put it another way, "How should the Christian life be lived?

Now—if you were to re-read the portion of Romans that comes before today's text, you would see that everything up until now has been foundational and propositional. At this point in his letter things change. From here on out we will move into faith and practice...or to put it another way, we will move from JUSTIFICATION to SANCTIFICATION. We will go from focusing on that moment when we are saved from our sins through our individual faith in Jesus...to the years that follow and lead up until that moment we get to heaven and experience GLORIFICATION.

Now—I know that JUSTIFICATION, SANCTIFICATION and GLORIFICATION are familiar words—but to make sure we all are on the same sheet of music let me briefly define them. Justification is what happens in that moment when we understood what Jesus did on the cross and admit to God that we need His forgiveness. In that prayer of confession we are forgiven...our sins are washed away...and we are JUSTIFIED. We are made pure in God's eyes. It's JUST-AS-IF-I'D never sinned. GLORIFICATION is what happens the moment we die and enter heaven as we are finally made like Christ. Think of it as the "finish line" of the Christian life. SANCTIFICATION is what happens in the time that we live between those two other "ATIONS."  It's defined as, "...the gracious and continuous operation of the Holy Spirit by which He delivers the justified sinner from the pollution of sin, renews his nature in the image of God, and enables him to perform good works."

Now, I know that's a mouthful and there won't be a test to see if you remember it all—but there are a couple things I want you to be sure and understand.

• JUSTIFICATION is an act. SANCTIFICATION is a process.
• JUSTIFICATION is a moment-in-time transaction. SANCTIFICATION is a lifelong journey.
• In JUSTIFICATION God declares you to be a righteous person.
• In SANCTIFICATION God develops you into a righteous person.

Does that make these concepts clearer?

This morning I want us to look to this sixth chapter of Paul's letter for three things that help us to know that, as Christians, we are indeed making progress when it comes to the process of SANCTIFICATION...three things that indicate that grace is indeed molding us to be more and more like Jesus...as we get closer to the finish line of life. So, once again, "What does a growing, maturing, GRACE-DRIVEN believer look like?"

(1) Paul reminds us that a growing Christian considers themselves DEAD to the power of sin.

You see, foundational to living the Christian life is this understanding that when we put our faith in Jesus—when we were JUSTIFIED—our old sinful self died and no longer needs to control us. As Paul puts it in verse 6, it was crucified with Jesus on the cross so its dead—powerless. Think of it this way—DEAD MEN DON'T SIN. They don't do they! And maturing believers know that their old self is dead. It is lifeless and no longer has any real POWER over them. They know they don't have to SIN—that, thanks to what Jesus did FOR them on the cross and offers to do IN them every day, they can be free from the control of sin.

Look back at verses 6, 7, and 11 where Paul says, "...we know that our old self was crucified with [JESUS] so that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

 Have you heard of those "hidden pet fences?" It's a wire under the ground that goes around the perimeter of your property and it's used to keep your dog in your yard. Your pet wears a special collar and if he ever crosses the point where that wire is buried, he gets a friendly jolt that makes him think twice about leaving the yard in the future. Well, there's a yard like that in our neighborhood. I know because the owners have a sign saying it is there and I can testify that it works. This family has a big red very hyper Irish Setter and whenever Sue and I walk by it comes running at us barking all the way but it always stops short of that invisible fence. It's a slave to that electronic marvel. 

I am told that after a while you can turn the invisible fence off, and your dog will still stay within those boundaries because he is "enslaved" to the fear that he will be shocked if he doesn't. He can't help himself...he'll bark like crazy and run full-tilt toward people who walk by the house or a cat that happens comes near...but the moment he gets to that "invisible fence" he'll put on the brakes. In my mind, sin is like that—it controls our actions such that we can't help ourselves. In those days before we come to faith in Jesus when given the option—more often than not, we always stop short of God's best. We can't help ourselves. We always tend toward the selfish...the sinful. But—when we accept Jesus' offer of grace—when we invite Him into our hearts and lives...well that "old sinful self" dies. As Paul says, it is crucified with Jesus on the cross and because it is dead, it need no longer control our actions. Well, truly grace-driven believers understand this. They know the "switch" on the power of sin has been turned off. There's no voltage in it anymore. Their experience of grace FREES them to live for Jesus instead of self. So, when confronted with temptation—when they approach that "hidden fence" that used to dictate their actions—they think,  "No...I don't have to sin. I don't have to stop short of Godliness—not anymore. That's my old self. That's not me anymore. It's dead! I'm a new person and with Jesus' help I can choose not to sin."

 St. Augustine, who was converted as an adult, was once approached by a woman who had been his mistress. When he saw her he turned and walked away quickly but she called out after him,  "Augustine! It's me! It's me!" Quickening his pace, this new believer called back over his shoulder, "Yes, I know. But it's no longer me." Augustine knew that because of his experience of grace because of his faith in Jesus, his old self was dead. He had "died" to that way of thinking. He could now choose righteousness instead of sin. He understood that as Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians 5:17, "If anyone is IN CHRIST, he is a NEW creation. The old has gone, the NEW has come."

 Well, what about you? Do you COUNT yourself—CONSIDER yourself dead to sin? To you understand that as a Christian...as someone Who has been graced by God ...you don' t have to sin? Or are you still allowing your "dead" self to dictate your actions?

 This leads to a second characteristic of GRACE-DRIVEN believers.

 (2) Like Augustine, they have learned to decide every day to stop allowing sin to rule their lives.

 Look back at verse 12 where Paul says, "Therefore—do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."

 The "THEREFORE" means that because of the fact that we consider the old self dead...we do something. We stop allowing it to rule our thinking and acting. You see, it's not enough that we COUNT ourselves dead to sin, we have to consciously decide to live a different kind of life—a life that is set free from the power of sin. The early church fathers called this "the MORTIFICATION of sin,"—referring to the daily decision to put sin to death—and maturing believers embrace this way of living. This can involve changing your lifestyle by dying to sin in general or it can mean dying to one particular sin...some behavior or attitude that you really struggle with. But, in any case, Psalm 119:133 is a prayer that maturing believers learn to pray every day, "[God,] keep Your servant from willful sins; may they not RULE over me."

The fact is many of us haven't learned to make this decision. I say this because many of us are way too cozy with sin. We're saved...but our daily decisions to yield to temptation in one form or another constantly hinders our spiritual growth...slows our sanctification. I'm reminded of the little boy who fell out of bed one night. His mom heard him crying, ran into the bedroom, picked him up and put him back in bed. After tucking him in, she asked, "Honey, why did you fall out of bed?" To which he answered, "I guess I stayed too close to where I got in."

Well, are you making that mistake? Are you staying too close to where you "got in" to Christianity? Are you letting your old self—your DEAD self—rule? Do the words of this anonymous poem describe you?

"I lived for myself alone, for myself and none beside...
Just as if Jesus had never lived, and as if He had never died."

Look back at verses 1 and 2 where Paul asks, "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? This phrase "by no means" is as blunt, forceful, and absolute as it can possibly be in the Greek. It literally means, "May it NEVER be!" The KJV translates it, "God forbid!" Phillips' version says, "What a ghastly thought!" I guess in modern slang it would be, "No way!" Paul is saying it should be UNTHINKABLE that someone who has experienced the grace of God would decide over and over again to continually yield to sin.

In his book The Grip of Grace, Max Lucado writes, "How can we who have been made right not live righteous lives? How can we who have been loved not love? How can we who have been blessed not bless? How can we who have been given grace not live graciously?"

Paul is stunned that we would think an alternative would even exist. And wouldn't you agree? I mean, how could grace lead to anything but gracious living? I'm sure you're all thinking—of course it should! And—by the way pastor—I'd never treat God that way. I'd never cheapen His grace. But we do don't we?! We do—DO the unthinkable! Over and over again we persist in letting our dead old self rule and when we do...when we sin...we are saying to God—not "by NO means," but rather..."By ALL means, I choose to do this wrong thing, because I know that when I confess it to You, Your grace will about and You will forgive me...and then I can go and choose to sin again."

Friends, if we are to grow spiritually...if we are to progress toward Christlikeness, we must learn that as Titus 2:11-12 says,  "Grace...teaches us not to live against God nor to do the evil things the world wants us to do.  Instead, that grace teaches us to live now in a WISE and right way and in a way that shows we serve God."

And it is WISE to resist sin—it makes sense to live righteous lives. Look back at verse 21 & 22 where Paul says, "What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."  In other words—Paul is saying it's a no-brainer!

I like how Lucado puts it. He writes, "Do you miss the guilt that sinning brings? Are you homesick for dishonesty? Do you have fond memories of being lied to and forgotten? Was life better when you were dejected and rejected? Do you have a longing to once again see a sinner in the mirror? It makes no sense to let sin rule." And it doesn't!

A third principle of spiritual maturity we find here is this...

(3) Growing believers choose to yield their whole body—every part—every aspect of life—to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

To review...grace-driven Christians UNDERSTAND that they are dead to sin's control and because of that knowledge, they decide not to let sin rule and then finally, moment by moment—from head to toe—they choose to live for God. Look at verse 13 where Paul says, "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life."

As I inferred a moment ago—every day—a hundred times a day—you face the choice to serve sin or to serve God. Think of it like this. As Brian Bill, pastor of Pontiac Bible church says, "The parts of your body can be used for ROTTENNESS or RIGHTEOUSNESS." So let me ask you some particularly personal questions...questions that will determine whether or not you have yielded every part of your body to Jesus. Let's start with YOUR MIND. What thoughts do you entertain? Colossians 3:2-3 says, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Is your MIND set on things above? Or—do you dwell on earthly things? Is Jesus happy with the extent to which you have yielded your mind to Him?

What about your HEART? What do you value most...cherish most? On what are your emotions centered?

Let's "look" at your EYES. Have you been using them to look at things you should not be looking at? Men—do you need to make the kind of pledge Job did in Job 31:1 when he said, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl." Women—do you need to make a similar covenant with Jesus or have you truly chosen to yield your eyes to Jesus?

Okay—what about your MOUTH? What kinds of statements come out of your lips most of the time? Proverbs 13:3 says, "He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin."

Let's move on to the EARS...have you been listening to gossip, or slander? Proverbs 18:8 says, "The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down into a man's inmost parts."

What about your HANDS? Are you grasping the things of the world or are yo using your hands to serve?

Consider your FEET. Are they taking you where you shouldn't be going or are your soles surrendered to the Savior? Psalm 37:31 says this about a righteous person, "The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip."

What about your INTIMATE PARTS? 1 Corinthians 6:13 says, "The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." Is Jesus Lord of that part of your body? Is He pleased with your attitudes and actions in that area of your life?

One pastor put it this way, "When your lips become His, your eyes become His, your ears, your hands, your feet, all become His, do you know what's going to happen? You'll be His."

And he's right—it all comes down to a choice—a choice as to who you will serve in life? Who will be your master? Sin or righteousness? Self or Jesus? Maturing believers grow in their love of Jesus such that they change from the former kind of slavery to the latter. The more they understand and experience God's grace—the more they experience the freedom that His rule brings—the more they grow in their love for God—well, the more they are compelled or ENSLAVED to live in ways that please Him.

Lucado writes,

"Of all the names I've been called, no one has ever accused me of being a neat freak. Some people have a high threshold of pain; I have a high threshold of sloppiness. Most of my life I've been a closet slob. I was slow to see the logic of neatness. Why make up your bed if you are going to sleep in it again tonight? Does it make sense to wash dishes after only one meal? Isn't it easier to leave your clothes on the floor at the foot of the bed so they'll be there when you get up and put them on? Is anything gained by putting the lid on the toothpaste tube tonight only to remove it again tomorrow? I was as compulsive as anyone, only I was compulsive about being messy. Life was too short to match your socks, just buy longer pants! Then I got married. Denalyn was so patient. She said she didn't mind my habits...if I didn't mind sleeping outside. Since I did...I began to change. I enrolled in a twelve-step program for slobs. ('My name is Max...I hate to vacuum') A physical therapist helped me rediscover the muscles used for hanging shirts and placing toilet paper on the holder. My nose was introduced to the fragrance of Pine Sol. By the time Denalyn's parents came to visit, I was a new man. I could go three days without throwing a sock behind the couch. But then came the moment of truth. Denalyn went out of town for a week. Initially I reverted to the old man. I figured I'd be a slob for six days and clean up on the seventh.

But something strange happened, a curious discomfort.  I couldn't relax with dirty dishes in the sink. When I saw an empty potato-chip sack on the floor I—hang on to your hat—I bent over and picked it up! I actually put my bath towel back on the rack. What had happened to me?"

Indeed—what had happened? Max had entered into a love relationship with someone who had a higher standard than he and he allowed this relationship to change him. He'd become enslaved to cleanliness. This is the heart of Paul's argument. He's saying that when we truly let Jesus move in to our lives—things change. We put our houses in order out of love for Him. Grace drives us to do this. We find ourselves wanting to do good—to grace as we've been graced...to live in ways that please the God we love. As Paul puts it in verses 17-18, "In the past you were slaves to sin—sin controlled you. But thank God, you were freed from sin and now you are slaves of goodness."

Invitation

Okay, let me ask you—how GRACE-DRIVEN do you look? As you hold your life up against these three descriptions of a maturing Christian—how does your life compare?

Let us pray.

Father God, In the moments that are to come, open our eyes so that we can look clearly at our lives—help us to understand Who or what is truly our master in life. Help us to be free of the control of our old dead sinful self...so we can taste the true freedom and life that comes from being a slave of righteousness. Show us those parts of our lives that we need to turn over to Your control so that we will acknowledge Your reign in every aspect of life. But most of all Father—constantly remind us of Your grace—and use that reminder to compel us to live in ways that show how much we love You. I ask this in Jesus name. AMEN

As we stand and sing, I invite you to respond publically in any way you feel led. Come and profess your faith in Jesus...come and ask to join our church...but come as God leads.

BENEDICTION:

Let the PEACE OF CHRIST rule in your hearts
since as members of one body you were called to peace.

Let the WORD OF CHRIST dwell in you richly
and whatever you do...in word or in deed

Do it all in the NAME OF CHRIST
giving thanks to God the Father through Him

In the event of any technical difficulty with this e-mail, please contact the sender or email to nibymbaby@gmail.com

All of us want to be loved. All of us want somebody to love us, Well , I want to tell you that God Loves you. He loves you so much that he gave us his Son to die on the Calvary cross for our sins. And he loves you so much that he will come into your life and change the direction of your life and make you a new person, whoever you are.
Are you sure that you know Christ ??
Jesus Christ is my Master.

Planned for God's Pleasure

Scripture: Mark 12:30 from the series 40 Days of Purpose

Introduction:

I'm sure that by now most of you know I'm a Star Trek fan and the truth is, I've been one since the very beginning. When I was a teen I remember my dad encouraging me to join him in watching the pilot episode that first introduced Captain Kirk and the pointed-eared Mr. Spok. And both of us were faithful fans until we got the disappointing news that the show was to be cancelled. Then, a few years later, when I was in college, people began to talk about a feature film that would re-unite the entire cast. When it finally came out I stood in line to see the first showing. And, I wasn't disappointed. From my perspective as a true "trekker" it was a great movie! Well, this week as I began my study, the plot of that first feature Star Trek film came to mind. I remembered that in the first few minutes of that movie we learned a GIGANTIC space craft of some sort had entered Federation space-and was destroying everything in its path. It was on a direct heading for Earth and who do you think Starfleet Command called on to save the day? Well, it was Captain Kirk of course! He assembled his old crew, seized command of the nly re-fitted Enterprise, and headed out to meet the approaching alien craft at high warp. When they rendezvoused with the invader Kirk and his crew discovered that it was not really an alien space craft after all-but that in actuality it was an old space probe that had originally been sent out by NASA hundreds of years earlier-a probe named Voyager.

On its travels this old probe had apparently fallen into a black hole and been damaged. Then it drifted until it was found and not only repaired but greatly enhanced by an advanced civilization hence it's huge size and incredible power. Well, Kirk and his crew learned that Voyager was now returning to earth to find it's "creator" so that it could download the information it had gathered in its travels and ask for new instructions. In essence this old space probe had come home in search of PURPOSE. It needed an assignment. It needed to know what it's "creator" wanted it to do.

Well, for a machine, this old space craft was pretty sharp-because as Bill and I pointed out in our skit a few weeks ago-if you want to discover something's purpose you have to either consult its Creator or look in the owner's manual. We were of course CREATED by God and for God, so to discover our purpose-our assignment in life-we have to go to Him-or to The Bible-the "owners manual" He has provided. Until we do this our lives won't make sense. We'll just drift aimlessly through life like that damaged old space probe.

Sermon:

Now, in last week's message I told you that God had FIVE reasons for creating us-five PURPOSES for each of us to fulfill in life-and today we're going to open the Bible-this instruction manual He has given us and look at the FIRST of these purposes which is this-to LOVE GOD.

Our study has already taught us that God's motive in making us was love. He made us to love us.

And so I guess you could say this week we are looking at the FLIP of that because God wants you and me to love Him back. A great proof text for this principle is found in Matthew's gospel where it tells us that one day Jesus was walking down the street and a man came up to Him and said, "Lord, what's the most important command in the entire Bible?" And Jesus replied, "Here it is. Love the Lord your God. This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matthew 22:37-38)

Now, I want to draw your attention to the words "first" and "greatest" in this verse...because by using these words Jesus-God in the flesh-was saying this command is of PRIMARY importance. In essence He was telling us, "Here is the most important thing to do in life: you are to learn to love Me back, because I made you to love you and I know you. And I want you to know and love Me back."

Another thing: you can summarize this command-this first purpose we are to fulfill-in one word, "WORSHIP." And I say this because worship is basically KNOWING and LOVING GOD. Go ahead and write this in the blank provided in your outline: "My 1st purpose in life is to: WORSHIP God."

Now, did you ever think of worship in that way? Have you ever thought of worship as simply knowing and loving God?

If you haven't don't feel bad because these days misconceptions about worship abound. Many Christians just don't understand or have forgotten what genuine worship is. When many of us think of "worship" we think of going to church, or singing a hymn or a praise song, or listening to a sermon, or praying, or taking communion. And that's not completely wrong-I mean each of those things can be EXPRESSIONS of worship but the truth is worship is not limited to these things. I say this because, worship is not just what we do IN CHURCH. There's far more to it than that. I think the best verse to go to for help in getting a proper understanding of TRUE worship is Romans 12, verse 1. We studied it on day ten-this past Tuesday. Let's read it aloud together. "Because of God's great mercy to us... offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His service and pleasing to Him. This is the true worship that you should offer."

Now, I'm not going to go into great detail about this verse because, as I said you've already studied it, but I do want to take a quick look at two words-"because" and "offer." You see these two words tell us two very important things about genuine worship.

A. First, genuine worship is MY RESPONSE to God's love.

Write that in your outlines. Worship is responding to the love of God. Here in Romans 12 it says "BECAUSE of God's great mercy-BECAUSE of God's great love," we OFFER ourselves. So, worship is RESPONDING to the love of God.

B. The second thing I want to point out is that WORSHIP is GIVING BACK to God.

Write that in your outlines as well because whenever we give back to God...whenever we OFFER anything to God, that's WORSHIP.

Now, the question is, what are we supposed to OFFER God?

What do you give back to God? He already has everything! I mean, if you think finding Christmas gifts is hard for some people, what do you give a God Who already has everything? After all, He made the world. He made you. He made the universe. What do you give Him? Well the Bible tells us what to give God-we give Him YOUR LOVE. In fact, Jesus is very specific in telling us HOW to give our love. In Mark 12:30-our memory verse for this week-He tells us that there are three ways that we are to LOVE God. Let's say it together once more: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength."

Now, this morning I want us to follow Warren's outline and examine 3 ways that this verse tells us we are to fulfill our first purpose: WORSHIP-3 ways God wants us to give Him our love.

First, God wants us to love Him thoughtfully. This is what Jesus means when He says we are to love God, "with our mind."

Second, God wants us to love Him passionately-as Jesus said, we are to love God "with all our heart and all our soul."

And Third, we are to love God practically-"with all our strength" or with all our abilities.

You see, the truth is....even though God created the entire universe including me and you, there are three things He DOES NOT HAVE unless we give them to Him. He doesn't have our ATTENTION unless we give it to Him. That's loving God with our mind. He doesn't have our AFFECTION, unless we give it to Him. That's loving God with our heart and our soul. And God doesn't have our ABILITY, unless we give it to Him. That's loving God with our strength. And whenever we give these three things back to God in response to His love for us that is the heart of worship. Okay, let's go back now and focus a little deeper on each of these ways we are to worship or love God.

1. First, worship is FOCUSING MY ATTENTION on God.

Write that in your outlines. Worship is focusing our mind, our thoughts, our ATTENTION on God. And I should point out that this is different from what many world religions teach when it comes to worship. You see, many religions say you have to put your mind into NEUTRAL and sort of LOSE your mind to the universe. But that's not what the one TRUE God says. No, He says the kind of worship that pleases Him is when we FOCUS our minds on Him-when we use the energy it takes to concentrate our thoughts on Him-and Him alone. Now, be honest-how many of you have a hard time doing this? For example, how many of you have ever drifted off mentally in a worship service? Have you ever zoned out during a sermon-not here of course but you know what I mean, the pastor starts preaching and you kind of drift in and out of what he says and before you know it you notice that everyone around you is standing for the invitation!

How many of you have ever sung the doxology without really thinking of the words? "Praise God from Whom all hm...hmm...hmm.....hmmm...hmmm...hmmm....AMEN" Have you ever sung a hymn or a chorus like that-such that you didn't really pay attention to the lyrics? I remember once in my college church I was leading the congregation in singing a hymn and my mind wandered while we were singing the chorus and then I panicked because I couldn't remember which verse we had just sung. So, I made an educated guess and led them in singing the last verse-but the look on everyone's fact told me that was the one we had just done. Well, I wasn't worshiping God with my mind that day was I?! I wasn't focusing my attention on Him.

What about other worship times? Have any of you ever prayed the blessing on "auto pilot?"

You know what I mean. You bow your head and begin to pray and say AMEN. But if you kids were to ask you what you said you wouldn't know because you just winged it? Have you ever started talking to God in your private prayer life but something distracted you and you left Him hanging "on the line" as you began to think of something you needed to do at work and you went off to do it without finishing? Well, any kind of worship-corporate or private-where we don't focus on God doesn't please Him-because He doesn't want us to just go through the motions of worship-No, He wants us to focus our thoughts on Him. He wants our mental attention! And do you know WHY God wants this? Do you know why He wants our focus? God wants your focus because He is focused on us. Look at what Psalm 139 verses 1 through 3. "You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and You know all about me. You know when I am resting or when I am working." Now, would you read this last part with me: "You notice everything I do and everywhere I go."

Well this text and others like it tell us that God constantly focuses His attention on us. He never takes His eyes off of us. He never stops thinking about us. And He does this because, as I said last week the reason is He made you-His motive behind creating you-is to love you-so He watches everything you do. When my kids were born sometimes I'd do nothing but watch them.

It gave me great joy just to look at them....watching them learn how to use their hands...learning how to roll where they wanted to go and then eventually to crawl. We'd call the grandparents to give them regular reports on things we had noticed. And that's how God is but to a much greater degree because we are never out of His eyes for even a moment. Our Heavenly Father is always focusing His attention on you and me. He loves us so much that He is always looking at us so, one of the greatest expressions of our love for Him is to look back-to give Him our focused attention. This is a form of TRUE worship because this makes God feel loved!

Wives-you understand this principle don't you!? You want your husband's full attention, especially when he is talking to you. I mean it's a common scene. A husband and wife sit at the breakfast table. The husband is immersed in the newspaper while the wife is pouring out her heart. Frustrated she complains, "You're not listening to me!"

"I can repeat every word you said," is the standard response and the husband proceeds to demonstrate. Well is the wife satisfied? NO....she doesn't want him simply to be able to replay her words. After all, a tape recorder could do that. No, she wants him to be fully present. She wants him to put down the paper, look her in the eye, and pay attention to her. Only then does she feel loved and valued and wanted. Well, that's the way it is with God. He is always focused on us, and He wants us to focus our heart and our attention on Him. And that's difficult sometimes because the easiest thing human beings like you and me to do in life is to lose our focus. We're not like one of those auto focus cameras that you might have, you point it at something and it focuses. No, we have to DECIDE to focus. We have to CHOOSE to focus on things. Now, how do you do that? How do you learn to FOCUS on God?

A. Well, the best way to do that is by establishing a daily time with God.

Just a few minutes during the day in which you DISCIPLINE yourself-TRAIN yourself to focus on God. I hope that doing this for 40 days will help you develop this holy habit-I hope this practice settles itself into your routine such that you continue doing it every day for the rest of your life because if we are to fulfill our God-given purposes we need to learn to stop everything else at a certain time each day to just be with God-a time to FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION on Him. This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 6:6 when He said,

"Find a quiet secluded place, so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace."

Notice that Jesus said we need to find a "place" to be alone with God and give Him your full attention. And that PLACE doesn't have to be the church. You can worship God anywhere: in your car on the way to work, in your backyard under your favorite shade tree, anywhere. I also want you to note another word that Jesus used, the word, "simply" to remind us that we don't have to use fancy words or a special ceremony. We are to be with God simply. And then Jesus also said we are to be HONEST with God. In other words, we don't have to try to be "spiritual" whatever that means. God wants us to just be real with Him.

B. Now, there's a second thing that we can do to focus on God, and that is learn to develop a CONSTANT conversation with Him.

Look at this next verse. The Bible tells us in Psalm 105, verse 4, "Worship Him continually." You see God wants more than an APPOINTMENT with you-He loves you so much that He wants to be a part of ALL your life experiences! So we need to learn to carry on a constant conversation with God. This is what David meant when he wrote Psalm 34:1 and said, "I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise will ALWAYS be on my lips." This is what 1 Thessalonians 5:17 means when it says, "Pray without ceasing."

Now-I do that all the time. When I'm having trouble with a particular sermon point I say, "God, how should I word this? Where do You want me to go with this point?" When I'm counseling someone and they share a problem that is so complex, I don't know how to advise them I pray, "God, help me. What should I say? How can I help this person?" When I sin, I pray, "Forgive me God. I'm sorry. Help me not to do that again." When I'm alone, I pray like this out loud. When I'm in a crowd, I pray it silently-mentally. And we can have this CONSTANT conversation with Him because the truth is we don't have to COME into the presence of God. We are already in His presence. When we learn to do this it is like we literally walk through life with God-just as Adam and Eve walked with Him in the Garden of Eden.

And as we learn to carry on this ongoing conversation with our Creator and Redeemer we begin to reap some amazing benefits.

You see, when we focus on self-well, the inevitable results are thoughts of...worry, insecurity, anxiety, guilt, fear, discouragement. But when that focus shifts from us to God all of a sudden, we begin to sense gratitude and hope and confidence and love. Plus, we never feel alone-NEVER. No matter where we are-no matter what we are going through-we come to actually SENSE God's constant abiding presence with us. And that is an incredibly comforting feeling. This past week I was watching the old war movie, A Bridge Too Far while I jogged. It's the true story of a plan during WWII by the allies to capture several bridges in German-held territory...to bring a quick end to the war. Well it worked-they captured all but one bridge which led the allied commanders to say they had attempted to go "a bridge too far." Well, the division at the farthest bridge had to retreat under cover of darkness-and they couldn't take their wounded with them. They had to leave them behind. Perhaps they hoped these men would have a better chance in a German hospital. And one of the last scenes of the movie shows these wounded, bandaged men-hundreds of them-sitting together, waiting to be captured by the Germans. As Hitler's troops came over the rise one soldier began to sing and soon all of them joined in and here's the song they sang. If you know it sing it with me:

"Abide with me: fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide:

When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me...

I need Thy presence ev'ry passing hour; What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's pow'r? Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be? Thro' cloud or sunshine, O abide with me!

Well, the truth is life often feels like a losing battle doesn't it? And the way to feel comfort and peace is to learn to constantly practice the presence of God....to ABIDE with Him throughout life by giving Him our focused ATTENTION. As Isaiah 26, verse 3 says, "You, Oh God, will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, whose thoughts are fixed on You!" So, do whatever you can to develop this constant running conversation with God. Think of yourself as a secret service agent with one of those combination mike/ear piece deals who is in constant contact with His superior officer.

This will not only benefit you-but it will make God smile because He considers any time we give Him our full attention WORSHIP that is acceptable and pleasing in His sight. Now, not only is worship focusing my attention on God,

2. it's also EXPRESSING MY AFFECTION to God.

And, as I said earlier, this is loving God with our heart and soul. It's expressing our deep love FOR God TO God. Now, saying "I love you" is a very risky thing HUMAN to HUMAN isn't it?

I mean, when you say it the first time you're kind of going out on a limb because if the other person doesn't say, "I love you too"- it's embarrassing PLUS it hurts deeply doesn't it? Well God has taken away the risk in our relationship with Him. As 1 John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He has first loved us." And God has taken the initiative in telling us of His great love in a thousand ways. He did it when He made us. He does it when He provides for us. And, the clearest expression of His love of course was when He sent His only Son to die for us. As Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this; While we were still sinners Christ died for us." So, God loves us all deeply. Exodus 34:14 puts it this way. It says, "He is the God Who is passionate about His relationship with you." Well, God waiting for our reply...He's waiting for us to say, "I love You too God!" And this is another form of worship that is pleasing to Him. As He says in Hosea 6:6, "I don't want your sacrifices-I want your LOVE I don't want your offerings-I want you to KNOW Me." Richard Foster writes, "Today the heart of God is an open wound of love. He aches over our distance and preoccupation. He mourns that we do not draw near to Him. He grieves that we have forgotten Him..." And Foster is correct. Not only does God want our attention. He wants our affection.

He wants us to express our deep love FOR Him TO Him. Now what if a husband walked up to his wife and said, "Honey, here are some flowers for you. And I am giving you these flowers for three strategic reasons: Point No. 1, I am your husband. Point No. 2, it is our anniversary. Point No. 3, husbands are supposed to give their wives flowers on their anniversary. So here." Sounds like something Mr. Spok would do!

Well would this wife be thrilled? No-and any husband who thinks so hasn't been married long. She would not be pleased at all. In fact she would be offended and hurt because a wife wants her husband to love her passionately. She doesn't want duty. She wants desire. And God is the same way. He doesn't want our duty. He wants our desire. God doesn't want - "Oh, okay. I better go worship." "Oh, I love you, God..." No. He doesn't want ritual and religion and rules and regulation. He wants a relationship. And He's passionate about it!

Now-how do we do this? How do we express our affection for God? Well, saying it is good-or singing it as we have done already this morning. But I think another way to express our love for God is by just saying "thanks."

Wednesday of this week I was taking Sarah to school and it was a dark cloudy overcast morning.

But, as I pulled out of Magruder, the sun came up UNDER the overcast sky such that it painted the bottom of those dark clouds red. It was so beautiful....that I just blurted out, "THANK YOU GOD! That is spectacular. I love Your creative power God. Thank You for loving me enough to give me eyes to see something this beautiful!"

I would encourage you to do the same. To express your affection for Him, THANK HIM. Thank him for your family and for your country and for your church and for His Son! Join with the Psalmist and, "Give THANKS to the Lord for He is good! His LOVE endures forever!" (Psalm 107:1) In fact, right now let's do that...each of you think of one thing to thank God for and on the count of three let's say it together. "Thank You God for...ONE...TWO...THREE..." Now, that's expressing affection to God! That makes God feel loved! And this leads us to our third point...because the best way to express affection to God is the third form of worship, which is...

3. ...Using our ABILITIES for God.

This is what Jesus meant when He said we are to love God with ALL our strength. With these words our Lord was literally saying that we are to do everything as an offering of worship to God-ALL our abilities are to be used in ways that we know would make Him proud. You see, the truth is genuine worshipers see every task of every day as an opportunity to worship God so they do everything as if they were doing it for Him. Colossians 3:23 says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people."

And Romans 12:1 also teaches this principle. I love The Message paraphrase which puts it like this, "Take your everyday, ordinary life -- your sleeping, your eating, your going to work,

your walking around life -- and place it before God" -- as a what? -- "an Offering." There's that word again. Remember? We said to OFFER BACK to God is the essence of genuine worship.

You know, real purpose-driven living doesn't happen in a church. It doesn't happen in a Sunday School class. It doesn't even happen in your personal quiet time with God every day. No...it happens in the ordinary, routine, mundane, things of real life done for the Glory of God. It happens at work...and as you drive to work. It happens as you go to school....as you do your homework...as you chat in computer chat rooms. WORSHIP is EVERYTHING....we do...doing everything for God. It's obeying HIS will in every area of life.

Mark Twain once encountered a businessman from Boston during his travels that said, "Before I die, I will go to the Holy Land and when I get there I'm going to climb Mt. Sinai. And from the top I will shout, each of the Ten Commandments at the top of my voice." Unimpressed, Twain responded, "I've got a better idea. STAY in Boston, and OBEY the Ten Commandments!" Well I would agree with Twain because the true God-pleasing worship is a life-style. As J. C. Ryle said, "The best public worship is that which produces the best private Christianity."

You know I do about 6-8 weddings a year on the average and I consider it a great privilege to be a part of these events as a man and a woman joyfully follow God's will into matrimony. Like most pastors I require pre-marital counseling and in that time with the couple I often point out that weddings are easy-where as staying married is extremely difficult. I tell them this because couples understandably want to plan a wedding service, but I want to help them plan a marriage.

They want to know where the bridesmaids are going to stand. I want to help them learn where to stand when their relationship undergoes the inevitable stress that comes when two people share their lives. Now, I can do a wedding in about twenty minutes with my eyes closed. But a marriage takes year after year of wide-eyed attention.

Don't misunderstand me. Weddings are important. They are beautiful, impressive, emotional, and sometimes expensive. We need to be careful to be at the right place at the right time and to say the right words. Every detail of the service is important....but all the same WEDDINGS really are easy.

MARRIAGE on the other hand is often complex and difficult. You see, it's in marriage that we work out every detail of the words and the promises and the commitments that we speak at the wedding. In marriage we develop the long, rich life of faithful love that the wedding promises and announces. And, the EVENT of the wedding without the LIFE of the marriage doesn't amount to very much. You see, if there is no DAILY love shared...no CONTINUAL tenderness...no forgiveness asked for and received...no ATTENTIVE listening...no creative giving....no LIFESTYLE of blessing each other as husband and wife.....well then the wedding service will have been a sham and the marriage will be an empty charade.

I point this out because in the same way, if WORSHIP does not translate into a changed life, where we LOVE GOD WITH ALL OUR STRENGTH...in EVERYTHING WE DO...then it too is a sham. As Russell Shedd says, "The New Testament projects a vision of worship that infuses ALL OF LIFE with the presence and glory of God." You see, God is not as much interested in the activities of WORSHIP as He is in the ACTIONS of life-as Paul says in Romans 12, "....this is the most spiritual act of worship." Christians who want to experience genuine worship respond on Sundays' as did Isaiah by saying, "Here I am send me....take my life and accept it as an offering to You. Use it as You see fit."

Invitation: And that is why we close each time of corporate worship as we do...by singing a hymn during which we encourage people to worship by giving all their ABILITIES-all their lives...to God. As we sing let's all give God our attention-let's ask Him if there is any part of our lives that we need to offer to Him this morning....any part of our day-to-day existence. God may be calling you to dedicate your marriage to Him....or your parenting...or your career...or your relationships with neighbors. He may be leading you to join this church, giving Him your life to use here in helping us fulfill our purpose as a local body of believers. Or...you may be here this morning and are not a Christian and you realize that you have never experienced true worship.

Well, this is because we cannot worship...we cannot commune with God unless we do so through Jesus. Ephesians 3:12 says, "For through Him we have access to the Father by one Spirit. And having come through Christ, we can approach God with confidence. Hebrews 10:19 says, We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus." If this describes you then I urge you to come now and offer your life to God...commit to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord.

As we sing, I encourage you to continue to worship by responding as God leads.

"I in them."

- John 17:23

If such be the union which subsists between our souls and the person of our Lord, how deep and broad is the channel of our communion! This is no narrow pipe through which a thread-like stream may wind its way, it is a channel of amazing depth and breadth, along whose glorious length a ponderous volume of living water may roll its floods. Behold he hath set before us an open door, let us not be slow to enter. This city of communion hath many pearly gates, every several gate is of one pearl, and each gate is thrown open to the uttermost that we may enter, assured of welcome. If there were but one small loophole through which to talk with Jesus, it would be a high privilege to thrust a word of fellowship through the narrow door; how much we are blessed in having so large an entrance! Had the Lord Jesus been far away from us, with many a stormy sea between, we should have longed to send a messenger to him to carry him our loves, and bring us tidings from his Father's house; but see his kindness, he has built his house next door to ours, nay, more, he takes lodging with us, and tabernacles in poor humble hearts, that so he may have perpetual intercourse with us. O how foolish must we be, if we do not live in habitual communion with him. When the road is long, and dangerous, and difficult, we need not wonder that friends seldom meet each other, but when they live together, shall Jonathan forget his David? A wife may when her husband is upon a journey, abide many days without holding converse with him, but she could never endure to be separated from him if she knew him to be in one of the chambers of her own house. Why, believer, dost not thou sit at his banquet of wine? Seek thy Lord, for he is near; embrace him, for he is thy Brother. Hold Him fast, for he is thine Husband; and press him to thine heart, for he is of thine own flesh.

“And when he thought thereon, he wept.”

"And when he thought thereon, he wept."

- Mark 14:72

It has been thought by some that as long as Peter lived, the fountain of his tears began to flow whenever he remembered his denying his Lord. It is not unlikely that it was so, (for his sin was very great, and grace in him had afterwards a perfect work. This same experience is common to all the redeemed family according to the degree in which the Spirit of God has removed the natural heart of stone. We, like Peter, remember our boastful promise: "Though all men shall forsake thee, yet will not I." We eat our own words with the bitter herbs of repentance. When we think of what we vowed we would be, and of what we have been, we may weep whole showers of grief. He thought on his denying his Lord. The place in which he did it, the little cause which led him into such heinous sin, the oaths and blasphemies with which he sought to confirm his falsehood, and the dreadful hardness of heart which drove him to do so again and yet again. Can we, when we are reminded of our sins, and their exceeding sinfulness, remain stolid and stubborn? Will we not make our house a Bochim, and cry unto the Lord for renewed assurances of pardoning love? May we never take a dry-eyed look at sin, lest ere long we have a tongue parched in the flames of hell. Peter also thought upon his Master's look of love. The Lord followed up the cock's warning voice with an admonitory look of sorrow, pity, and love. That glance was never out of Peter's mind so long as he lived. It was far more effectual than ten thousand sermons would have been without the Spirit. The penitent apostle would be sure to weep when he recollected the Saviour's full forgiveness, which restored him to his former place. To think that we have offended so kind and good a Lord is more than sufficient reason for being constant weepers. Lord, smite our rocky hearts, and make the waters flow.

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me."

- John 6:37

This declaration involves the doctrine of election: there are some whom the Father gave to Christ. It involves the doctrine of effectual calling: these who are given must and shall come; however stoutly they may set themselves against it, yet they shall be brought out of darkness into God's marvellous light. It teaches us the indispensable necessity of faith; for even those who are given to Christ are not saved except they come to Jesus. Even they must come, for there is no other way to heaven but by the door, Christ Jesus. All that the Father gives to our Redeemer must come to him, therefore none can come to heaven except they come to Christ.

Oh! the power and majesty which rest in the words "shall come." He does not say they have power to come, nor they may come if they will, but they "shall come." The Lord Jesus doth by his messengers, his word, and his Spirit, sweetly and graciously compel men to come in that they may eat of his marriage supper; and this he does, not by any violation of the free agency of man, but by the power of his grace. I may exercise power over another man's will, and yet that other man's will may be perfectly free, because the constraint is exercised in a manner accordant with the laws of the human mind. Jehovah Jesus knows how, by irresistible arguments addressed to the understanding, by mighty reasons appealing to the affections, and by the mysterious influence of his Holy Spirit operating upon all the powers and passions of the soul, so to subdue the whole man, that whereas he was once rebellious, he yields cheerfully to his government, subdued by sovereign love. But how shall those be known whom God hath chosen? By this result: that they do willingly and joyfully accept Christ, and come to him with simple and unfeigned faith, resting upon him as all their salvation and all their desire. Reader, have you thus come to Jesus?