"Overcoming Sin, (Romans)" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

continuing our study in this majestic wonderful book of romans that paul wrote to really summarize the plan of salvation and today we're on lesson number seven and it's on just the oh boy you know the gospel is about sin and salvation and our lesson today is overcoming sin it's really getting to the heart of the matter some people are cringing right now just by the title of the lesson i did not title the lesson this is the title of the lesson i appreciate it i'm glad for it when people think about overcoming sin they tend to recoil and cringe and cower because they think you're not going to like talk to me about sin and me stopping it it it kind of gets people's attention because our battle is with sin jesus came to save us from our sins and so we're going to be addressing that today and our study today we're talking about romans chapter 6 and we're also going to be dealing with uh first john 1 verses 8 through 1st john chapter 2 verse 1 our memory text today is romans 6 14. if you've got your bibles i invite you to say it with me i think it's from the authorized version romans 6 14 are you ready sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace we are not under the law but under grace what does that mean sin shall not have dominion over you now normally when i do a lesson i have one page of notes today i have one and a half pages of notes because this is a very important lesson there's a lot to say on it some people are going to challenge maybe some of what i'm going to say and i want to make sure i can back it up as well as possible let me tell you what i'm going to say then i'll say it and i'll tell you what it is i said i'm going to tell you that the grace of jesus is sufficient to not only cover your sin but to give you victory over sin so sin does not have dominion over you sin does not rule your life anymore he wants to save you from your sin now in some churches today they say that's legalism to talk to christians as though god expects us to stop sinning they say is legalism i am going to give you the evidence you draw your own conclusions today if god came and asked us to cut down on sin or to turn away from sin that's the question we're really talking about okay fair enough all right i remember you've got that verse in the bible matthew 5 48 be therefore perfect jesus is speaking even as your father in heaven is perfect how many here feel perfect as their father in heaven good i'm notice my hand didn't go up so did jesus mean what he said be perfect i remember one time i travel a lot stay in a lot of hotels and i don't remember all the circumstances but i stayed in this one hotel where it just was not a good night's rest i don't know if it was because the hotel window was right up against the interstate and i just heard cars all night long or it was too hot or something but i couldn't sleep and i tossed and i turned and i rolled and when i woke up in the morning uh you know they've got the the um cover sheet that they first put on the bed before they put the other sheets on and it sort of is what he calls a fitted sheet goes around the edges well i tossed and turned so much that i worked the fitted sheet loose and i actually had exposed the mattress underneath i mean i looked like i had been wrestling and um the mattress was clean enough but i noticed that i had uncovered the part of the mattress where the label of the mattress was and it said serta perfect sleeper and i woke up with a laugh i thought yeah right i said that was hardly a perfect night's sleep even though i was on a perfect sleeper i didn't sleep perfectly and who here feels perfect and yet god is calling us to perfection now if it'll make you feel any better you need to know something when jesus says in matthew chapter 5 verse 48 be therefore perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect you read luke 6 36 and he words it differently now we know he's talking about the same thing because the things that jesus says before the verse in matthew are the same discussion he has before the verse in luke so he's doing the same background discussion about loving your neighbor and all this but luke he says be therefore merciful even as your father in heaven is merciful so when god says be perfect what's he talking about he wants us to have perfect love perfect mercy now whatever christian perfection is all i know is the bible is pretty clear that as we are living on the borders of the second coming we need to have the kind of faith that shadrach meshach and abednego had where we are not going to bow down and worship the beast in his image are we all in agreement let's see if hands go up we need to have the kind of faith that daniel had when daniel said i'd rather go to the lion's den than break one of god's commandments do you agree with me so if you've got that kind of faith would you rather die than knowingly break one of god's commandments that's the kind of faith that god wants us to have that's what it means it means you love god so much you love it more than your own life later today we're going to be talking a little bit about the reformation and in preparing for that message i've been reading fox's book of martyrs and looking at what some of the reformers went through boy a lot of people died for the truth sometimes for very small parts of the scripture you know there are people who died to defend baptism by immersion as opposed to infant baptism they believed so strongly in it they died for it i mean that takes a lot of faith well the lord is wanting people to love him and his word so much that we'll rest our lives upon it ephesians chapter 5 verse 1 and 2 therefore be imitators of god as dear children and walk in love how as christ also has loved us and given us an example so the bible tells us that a christian is what what does christian mean when you say he's a christian what does that mean the model for their life is to follow jesus to just say we accept the blood and the sacrifice of jesus and then live our own lives or we pattern our life after his life right what kind of life did he live a holy sinless life so by god's grace we are to do our human best by faith to live the kind of life that jesus lived we still together is that legalism if you are trying to be like jesus if you're doing it to save yourself it is if you're doing it because you love him it's not if you're doing it because you believe in his power that's not legalism you with me am i right so we're not talking about you save yourself by doing it we're saying if you love him and you are saved this is your goal let me give you more verses john 3 15 jesus said for i have given you an example that you should do as i have done to you the bible tells us he's our example first peter 2 21 for to this you were called because christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps can that be misunderstood and first john 2 5 and 6 but whoever keeps his word truly the love of god abides in him he ought himself to walk as he walk now you know when it talks about walking as he walked in everybody's got a different gate when i say gate i mean a walk it's an old horse horsing term and yeah have you ever noticed some people walk funny you know some people they walk kind of real stiff some people they i mean everybody's got a different walk in the bible when it talks about the walk it's talking about your life it's not talking about your gate and so when it says we should walk like he walked it means when it says enoch walked with god noah walked with god christians walk with christ in the spirit and that means their lives reflect that amen all right let's keep going here now before you get totally discouraged let me just state a fact that is also biblical everybody has sinned except jesus the bible is pretty clear that the world is full of imperfect people the church is full of imperfect people and this is under the section in your lesson where it talks about sin abounding now someone for me in a moment is going to read isaiah 53 6 okay i'm going to read romans 5 20. moreover the law entered that the offense might abound but where sin abounded grace abounded much more can you think of places in the bible where god's grace abounded towards sinners noah found grace in the eyes of the lord because he was perfect no no one drank got drunk stumbled around naked the bible tells us that abraham obeyed god but was abraham obeying god when he lied and said sarah was his sister i think he did it twice yeah isaac did it once a matter of fact abraham goes to egypt and tells the pharaoh yeah he's she's just my sister the pharaoh takes sarah into his harem abraham doesn't do anything to rescue her he thinks oh well now i got myself into it he doesn't stand up and finally the pharaoh finds out that was his wife and he basically banishes abraham from egypt for his line sends them out with gifts because curses had fallen upon him and then later he takes hagar and takes a surrogate because he doesn't have faith that god's going to give him the son through sarah so you can point to abraham and say he wasn't perfect you can point to david where sin abounds grace abounds did sin abound at one point in david's life did god's grace abound he wrote psalm 32 psalm 51 now the one who i think of where sin abounded the most was manasseh manasseh great great great great great grandson of david was about the most wicked king who ever lived he killed the prophets he put idols in the temple he sacrificed his own children to into the fire gods and just it was just terrible what he did um worshiped all the stars and the hosts of heaven he was carried off to assyria and in his um in his affliction he turned to god he repented god forgave him and brought him back to the kingdom where sin abounded grace abounds mary magdalene out of jesus whom cast seven devils sin abounded but grace abounded she's the first one to announce the resurrection you can just go peter denied christ god's grace abounded you can see a lot of places where god's grace abounded how many of you have felt he's a grace abound in your life so we admit that go ahead read for us please isaiah 53 isaiah 53 6 all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all notice the words all everyone all have gone astray have sinned iniquity job 5 7 yet man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward it's a law of nature sparks go up in a fire and our nature's go down and it's just you know we're attracted to sin you can look at psalm 119 verse 176 i have gone astray like a lost sheep first kings 8 46 when they sin against you king solomon's praying here for there is no one who does not sin we all agree and you become angry with him he tells them what to do to atone for their sin this is solomon praying psalms 14 verse 2 and 3 the lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any who understand who seek god they've all turned aside they have altogether become corrupt there is none who does good no not one and there's a song we sing no not one no not one ecclesiastes 7 20 for there is not a just man on the earth that does good and does not sin the bible is pretty clear that all humans aside from christ have sinned now we get to romans 3 23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god jeremiah 13 23 can the ethiopian change his skin or the leopards his spots so then may you do good who are accustomed to do evil james 3 2 for we all stumble in many things this is new testament for we all stumble in many things now stumbling is a little different bibles to lay aside every sin and the weight it's almost like there's different categories there's just weights that we have and then there's sin first john 1 verse 8 if we say that we have not sinned we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us so that's just a few scriptures that i think established the point that humans sin that we the human race is a record of sin that you might say god can give all victory we're going to make that case in a moment but if a baby is born is that baby if it lives long enough and reaches the age of accountability will it sin do you all agree otherwise you couldn't say there's only one who has never sinned being jesus so god knows that we're born with this diseased dna man originally was motivated by love but because of sin in our nature that motivation was lost and now we're naturally motivated by selfishness the compass needle got turned around backwards and it's only through a miracle we get a new heart where we once again are motivated by love that's the conversion experience that's a new birth so when we come to christ we've got a problem where sin reigns in our lives selfishness reigns in our lives through conversion it's changed where love reigns in our lives now let's go on to that section about where sin reigns someone's going to read from me romans 6 12. all right just get ready and i'll read romans 6 6 first romans 6 is really where we're studying today knowing this that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves of sin now does he say there would never be an occasion or an incident of sin no what he's saying is when you're saved you are no longer controlled by sin you are no longer slaves of sin god please read that for me romans 6 12 let not sin therefore reign in your mother body that should obey it in the last day of and i'm going to add romans 6 14 for sin shall not have dominion over you so you've got enslaved to sin sin reigning sin having dominion those are words that are talking about being in ultimate control now in spite of all the problems we have in our government probably always have had problems in government i am thankful that we do not have a dictator that has dominion over the government that doesn't mean that you're not going to have petty crime we have a beautiful neighborhood where we live i was talking to my neighbor yesterday i said i'm so thankful we have a neighborhood that's so good you know something got left on the front porch and it's there two or three days later nobody bothered it and um they said yeah well occasionally we've had some incidents and this but it's few and far between where you know somebody had someone ransacked their mailbox or just you know little petty things but it's a safe place crime does not have dominion there your lives are like that who's on the throne if jesus is on the throne then christ reigns in your life he controls your decisions it doesn't mean there won't be an occasion of falling because you see that in the life of the apostles let me give you an example everyone likes to talk to peter peter of course the new testament example were the disciples thoroughly converted before jesus sent them out preaching after preaching jesus taught them three and a half years near the end of his life jesus says to peter get behind me satan and then he says when you were young you girded yourself and and you oh and that's not the verse i wanted he said uh peter when you're converted strengthen the brethren when you're converted strengthen the brethren peter might have been thinking when i'm converted what do you mean when i'm converted i'm out preaching and teaching and casting out devils and then peter was thoroughly converted there at his conversion uh and he went out and he wept bitterly but then the bible tells us that um you get to the book of galatians paul has to rebuke peter for peter being hypocritical so peter was a converted spirit-filled man but did he still make occasional mistakes see what i'm saying was paul thoroughly converted when he saw the lord and he wept and he was baptized filled with the spirit performing miracles he and peter both but then paul has an argument with barnabas and he says i'm not taking mark with me he's a quitter and they got so bad that they just they shook the dust off their feet walked away from each other barnabas took mark and paul took silas and god ended up with two missionary groups but it grew out of a an argument where they lost their temper were the disciples arguing among themselves which of them was greatest had the lord already sent them out performing miracles before they were arguing which of them was the greatest does the lord sometimes work through us in spite of our imperfections were they saved during that time i think so when they were following jesus and they said they said lord we love you i believe they were in a safe condition and god was still working in their lives and they had growing left to do but they had they had left everything to follow christ they misunderstood a lot of things first of all did they misunderstand the kingdom ah they were saying to jesus lord will you now establish your kingdom they thought that he was going to flex his muscles and overthrow the romans and sit on the throne of david and jesus they still didn't get it show us the father he said philip i've been with you this long and you don't know that i'm showing you the father and there's a lot they didn't understand thomas didn't even believe the resurrection after jesus said several times i'm going to die and i'm going to rise again but were they his church were they his followers were they saved because they were living up to the light they had the best they humanly could they were people the bible even says elijah was a man subject to all of the passions and struggles you and i have elijah prays and fire comes down from heaven he prays and rain comes down from heaven then jezebel threatens him and he loses his faith and runs was elijah saved but did he still have mortal weakness every now and then yeah he got scared he said god went under a broom tree out in the desert and prayed to die he got discouraged i'm going to show you where ellen white says that when we lose faith we're discouraged it's a sin god ended up taking him to heaven in a fiery chariot so friends i'm going to talk to you about god wanting you to be perfect don't be discouraged i think you all understand what i'm saying if god was to say anything less to you being a perfect god what do you want him to say he can he's a holy god he can only call you to holiness do you notice that we always we we siphon down to the lowest denominator god knows our natures if you know you don't have to pay your taxes until the 15th you start working on it just a day or two before we always and when god tells you what the standard is i've seen it so many times people say pastor doug can i just give up this and this how short can i have my skirt and still get to heaven can i have how about an inch shorter would that be okay and we're just always wanting to know how close to the edge can i get and still get into the kingdom is it okay if i do can i have a little bit and it's like you're saying human nature is we want to know how much of the world can we have and still squeeze through the gates should that be the attitude or should we be saying lord how close to you can i be instead of waiting until the 14th of april before you think about your taxes it's just something so god says come to me now live a holy life he gives us the perfect ideal because christ is our example was he perfect are most people perfect no how do you acquire justice what do you call it perfect justification let me explain what i'm talking about when the thief on the cross he's a thief the bible also says they were rebels bible also says that they were murders someone had been killed in one of their robberies evidently they were guilty it says you read all three gospels they are guilty of murder stealing rebellion incident in sedition and he turns to jesus and says lord remember me jesus said you will be with me in paradise was that thief perfect yes when he accepted the justification of jesus christ looked upon him with the perfection of his own son is that right god the father viewed him as perfect through the sacrifice of god the son his sins were covered by the blood of the lamb through his faith in christ so the first way we acquire perfection is by faith perfection and justification the same thing you're declared just how just he cleanses us from all unrighteousness by faith so if you're cleansed from all unrighteousness how much wrongestness do you have none right so if you're cleansed from all unrighteousness you're still with me you know the verses i'm talking about when you come to christ by faith and you're justified does the father see you as perfect you're almost afraid to say that aren't you i i got great bible arguments this is the story of the reformation he sees yeah he sees the the justification of his own son in us that's good news isn't it so that means you're a prayer away from perfection when you pray in faith and you repent of your sins and you confess your sins he sees and that's what the thief on the cross did he confessed his sin says we're getting what we deserve he confessed jesus is lord he said lord remember me when you come into your kingdom he did confess christ as king he did it publicly and christ publicly promised him eternal life based on his sanctification or his justification he came just like he was you know that song just as i am without one play so having established we believe in righteousness by faith we're first declared perfect by justification now after you've been justified here's where the problem comes in come to christ just like i am praise the lord i'm saved now what do i do about tomorrow i still got my old carnal nature and all these habits and things i've learned how do i live a different life that's where it gets tough sometimes i almost work wish lord help me you know confess you and then die right away like the thief on the cross it's not like dying for jesus it's so difficult sometimes it's living for him amen it's the little things too but he can give you victory in that area you spend your life doing wrong isaiah says you need to learn to do good there's a learning process he gives you a new heart your desires change am i right let me read something to you steps to christ page 47 this is an incredible quote what you need to understand is the true force of the will this is the governing power in the nature of man the power of decision or of choice god is given to man it's theirs to exercise you cannot change your heart you cannot of yourself give to god its affections but you can choose to serve him you can give him your will he will then work in you to willing to to to do according to his good pleasure thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the spirit of christ your affections will be centered on him your thoughts will be in harmony with him by surrendering your will to him how often you do that paul said i die daily we get the bread of life lord give us this day our daily bread we are born again every day we take up our cross daily on a day by day moment by moment basis you've got to be saying no to self and yes to jesus you surrender your will to him christ said therefore if the son will make you free you shall be partially free how free does he make us he'll be free indeed completely free you sin no longer has dominion right you are no longer a slave to sin you're made free indeed what about where it says not under the law but under grace we're still in romans chapter 6 i'm going to read the rest of 6 14 for sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace now some people misunderstand that they just read the part not under law they say i don't keep the law anymore praise the lord oh i feel such a burden i'm at peace i'm free i'm free in jesus i don't have to keep the law you ever heard it used that way that's not what he's talking about because just think about what that means ah praise the lord i am free in jesus i am not under the law i can just go to the store and shoplift now i don't need money anymore praise the lord i am free in christ i don't have to tell the truth anymore i'm free i'm not under the law i'm now under grace i don't have to be faithful to my spouse i can use god's name in vain this freedom is wonderful not under the law that's absurd really you know the people who use that typically don't have a problem with those other commandments they got a problem with the fourth commandment and so they want to be free well i have people used heard people who say ah there's nothing wrong with me drinking alcohol i'm not under the law now i'm under grace have you heard that yeah it's not what he's talking about you see when you break the law there's a penalty for breaking the law and we have all broken the law and the penalty for breaking the law is in romans the wages for sin it's death you are under a death penalty you're alive so he hasn't been executed yet so you're under a death sentence but through christ you're no longer under the penalty of the law you're now looked upon as grace through grace and it says in your lesson the person who supposedly lives under grace but disobeys god's law will not find grace but condemnation under grace means that through the grace of god as revealed in jesus the condemnation of the law the penalty of the law which inevitably brings sinner to sinner's death has been removed thus now free from this condemnation of death brought by the law we live in a newness of life a life that is characterized by and made manifest through the fact of being dead to self we are no longer slaves to sin which means there's a different life that we're living amen all right sinner obedience someone for is going to read from me uh job 2 3 in just a moment i'll read a couple first noah was a just and perfect man in his generations and noah walked with god that's because noah was superhuman they lived hundreds of years back then they could walk with god is that how noah walked with god or did noah have the same temptations that people have today sin was sin back then just like it is today genesis 17 1 god said to abraham i am the almighty god walk before me and be perfect so it's not just jesus making trouble for us in the new testament when he said be thou perfect but god here in the old testament said the same thing to abraham i am the almighty god walk before me and be perfect that's a pretty high standard genesis 26 5 because abraham obeyed my voice kept my charge my commandments my statutes and my laws notice that god says commandments statutes laws that's genesis 26 have the ten commandments been given yet where do you where do the ten commandments first appear gen exodus 20 right here we're in genesis 26 it says god's got commandments statutes and laws you know why they all passed them on orally they knew the ten commandments from the garden of eden they weren't cartified until exodus but did they know adultery was a sin what did joseph say before the ten commandments joseph said how can i sin and take your wife and take this man's wife uh did god tell cain way back in the beginning murder was a sin he said sin is at your door and he murdered his brother and so the ten commandments have always been there they were just finally cardified in stone by the time so abraham knew what those laws were he walked according to them because he loved the lord and god had said to them be thou perfect read for me please job 2 3 then the lord said to satan have you considered my servant job that there is none like him on the earth a blameless and upright man one who fears god and shuns evil and still he holds fast to his integrity although you've incited him against him sorry although you've incited me against him to destroy him without cause yeah so here job the bible calls him a perfect and an upright man he loves god and hates evil and he's living the kind of life where god can brag to the devil about job because job is sinless no had job sin yeah he says so even in his own book and when god reveals himself to job he says he were pins and ashes but he was a perfect upright man he lived a life that was consistent i didn't put the quote in my notes but if you look in the steps of christ the book steps to christ there's a beautiful quote there and it says it's not the occasional good deed or occasional misdeed that determines whose side we're on but it is the habitual words and acts what is the pattern of a person's life are they living for the lord doesn't mean that they have a moment or a weakness or they fall in some area so um deuteronomy 18 3 thou shalt be perfect with the lord thy god it's all through the bible what does that mean to be perfect with the lord god you don't get mad at pastor doug i didn't write it what is he saying it's in the bible what does he mean by that live a life where you're walking with god tell me the verses that say a little bit of sin is okay must be some because i hear people talk like that all the time in churches that god is asking us to sort of cut back that's not what he said if you look in john 15 14 afterward jesus found him in the temple and said to him you have been made well this is the man who had never walked 38 years sin no more lest the worst thing come upon you did jesus say try to sin a little less is that what he said he said live a holy life don't go back to your life of sin now i want you to look at a verse with me that sometimes is troubled people go to hebrews chapter 10 in the new testament this is uh often misunderstood and i thought we ought to just address it hebrews 10 and this is before the chapter of the great faithful in the bible and if you read in verse 26 for if we sin willfully after we've received a knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversary if we sin willfully that makes it sound like if you sin once deliberately now most of your sin is deliberate you think about the sins in your life you can't say i fell into the refrigerator and i ate that extra cupcake when i fell my mouth was open and it just fell on my mouth it wasn't deliberate is that how it happens are you consciously saying oh man i really shouldn't be doing this and usually it's not something as innocuous as a cupcake you know what i'm talking about we make a conscious decision i really shouldn't listen to that song i really shouldn't watch that program i really shouldn't go to that website i really shouldn't tell that joke and we do it and he said i did it willfully and here i read in the bible if i sin willfully there is no more sacrifice for sins i'm doomed i get questions like that people have you ever worried or you think right after i eat that forbidden cupcake i mean it even it's called devil's food cake and you knew you shouldn't right after i eat it i get hit by car i'm done for because i sin willfully people worry i've lost myself i am in an unsaved condition after the cupcake and i need to quickly repent and so a person says you've got a rollercoaster experience baptist or calvinist have a big problem with people who believe in free will they say because you guys every time you sin you think i'm lost until i repent again. and so you've got a saved loss save lost save lost save loft experience and that's over a course of an hour sin repent sing repent sin repent and they say once we're saved we can't be lost that's the other extreme both of those are wrong they're both misunderstandings those are extremes that are being abused god is not saying once you're saved you can't be lost and neither is he saying that once you're saved there may not be lapses and you lose your salvation i think that you must believe that when you've committed your life to the lord if you have not retracted that commitment that he that has begun a good work and you will perform it he's called the author and the finisher of our faith and you need to live with a certain joy how can a christian have joy if you go through your day say lost save lost save lost it's a it's it's a works oriented salvation and it's fearful perfect love casts out fear you've got to have faith that when you come to the lord and you really love him that you've got peace that he's going to finish what he started first of all going back to hebrews let me just tie this off when it says if we sin willfully the word sin there is not talking about an incident it's talking about an ongoing life if we continue to sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth there's nothing more that the lord can do for us that's what it's talking about it doesn't mean that if you fall through a willful sin and most of them are that then you cannot be saved um let me read a few more verses to you here on sin and obedience luke 1 6 talking about zachariah and elizabeth they were both righteous before god walking in all the commandments of the lord and ordinances blameless were they godly people the parents of john the baptist you still awake you with me were they saved did zechariah have problems believing the angel and was he struck dumb because of a lack of faith but was he still a walking with the lord he was a saint that says he they walk before the lord blameless they're they're doing everything they can humanly do to obey the lord because they love the lord not to earn their salvation they've got to make that clear philippians 3 15 let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded james 3 2 if any man offend not in word indeed the same as a perfect man it says watch what you say too if you can control your mouth you can control everything else now for an adventist that means not only what you say but what you eat we know the mouth works both ways if you can control the mouth you can control everything else if you can bring your appetite into submission and if you could bring your words into submission you're home free i'm paraphrasing sorry didn't we all get into trouble because of something that was eaten now at first glance we might assume that jesus is asking some of us to be angelic androids but a closer look of several examples provide a better picture what does perfect mean well in english it means conforming absolutely to a definition of an ideal type it means to be excellent complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement beyond improvement is that what we're saying when we are looking for christian perfection does paul say i do not count myself to have apprehended or to be perfect paul said but then paul says in second timothy i have fought a good fight i've finished the race i've kept finished the course i've kept the faith hereafter there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will give me that day and not to me only but to all them that love is appearing so one place you hear paul saying i do not count myself to be perfect but then in second timothy he says i have finished the race i am looking forward to my crown did he have assurance about his salvation i'll just let you sort that out in hebrew the word for perfect it's tomim it means entire integrity truth without blemish complete full perfect undefiled in the new testament the word perfect is teleos it means complete in labor growth something is at the right place it's supposed to be in its growth mental or moral character um if you are walking in the light that god has given you you will be in the kingdom walk in the light as he is in the light and the blood of his son cleanses you from all sin he doesn't ask you to take steps that are not in front of you he asks you to take the steps that are before you i expect to see martin luther in heaven martin luther i've been reading about them this week going to talk about them in half an hour martin luther was a godly man a bold and yet a humble man but then it goes on to tell us that martin luther drank beer now if i drank beer i'd be in trouble because i know better back then they didn't have clean water at least the alcohol cleansed the beer to some extent i expect to hear to see john newton in heaven john newton wrote um amazing grace he smoked until the day he died doctors prescribed cigarettes back then it's hard to believe isn't it they walked in the light that they had you see what i'm saying i expect to see david in heaven and solomon solomon repented of his sins they both had way too many wives now if i took extra wives i would die on two counts my wife would be first and then i'd be lost in the judgment my wife would be first to kill me is what i meant so because i know better so god expects us to to be perfect means live up to the light you have now we've got a lot of light in this generation amen free from sin what does that mean romans 6 let's read verse 16 through 18 do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey you are the slaves of the one you obey whether sin if you're obeying sin you're a slave leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness but god be thanked that though you were slaves of sin you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered having been set free from sin you became slaves of righteousness pastor doug do i need to be perfect before i'm baptized no you're never going to get to the place where you think you're good enough do i need to know everything before you baptise you should know and believe the fundamentals what do i need to do can i still get baptized if i'm smoking or drinking no because those things are things that have dominion over you people get addicted when you are addicted to some bad behavior you are not free yet sin shall not have dominion over you see what the difference is if the pattern of your life is one that you are you are chained in some area of your life to sin you are not free before i was baptized i studied this and i realized i need to i need to quit cursing i need to quit drinking i need to quit smoking those things had dominion over me god calls us to live lives of purity i understood because i was taught by a good old adventist pastor that you may fall afterward why do you think we have foot washing in our church if we believe that once you're baptized you're going to be perfect then why do we even bother with foot washing is that a good question we have foot washing because it's sort of understood that while you have been washed as a whole you may need a mini baptism to cleanse you for the failures along the way but sin should not have dominion over you sin should not reign over you do you understand the difference they're controlling jesus is lord of your life not the devil anymore and so there might be attacks along the way but christ is on the throne that's what paul is saying um let me read something this is an outstanding quote from christ object lessons page 331 but christ has given us no assurance that to attain perfection of character is an easy matter a noble all-round character is not inherited it does not come to us by accident a noble character is earned by individual effort through the merits and grace of christ it comes through christ god gives talents and powers of the mind we form the character it's formed by hard stern battles with self conflict after conflict must be waged against hereditary tendencies you can get your dna check and find out who to blame we shall have to criticize ourselves closely and not allow one unfavorable trait to remain uncorrected paul says let every man examine himself let no one say i cannot remedy my defects of character don't say that if you come to this decision you will certainly fail of obtaining everlasting life all things are possible through christ amen if you the impossibility lies in your own will if you will not then you cannot overcome the real difficulty arises from the corruption of an unsanctified heart and an unwillingness to submit to the control of god if you completely are submitted if you surrender you can i'm paraphrasing along the way hope you spot those spots remember that you'll never reach a higher standard than you yourself set you'll never reach a higher sin if you think my standard is less than christ then you will go to the lowest common denominator then set your mark high and step by step even though it be a painful effort by self-denial and sacrifice ascend the whole length of the ladder of progress let nothing hinder you someone's going to read from me romans 8 2. i'm going to read romans 6 23 first for the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life one of the best verses in romans 6 through jesus christ our lord you have two masters jesus and the devil two destinies life and death the wages something you will be paid you earn is death through sin but something you can receive by faith is eternal life through jesus go and read please for us romans 8 2 for the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death can you say amen living a spirit-filled life will free you from that life of sin and death that's i think good news i want to read something to you i got a couple of moments left i'm going to just pray our editors will find a creative way to keep as much of this as possible let me read something to you from um well jude 24 there's only um one chapter now to him who's able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before his presence of his glory with exceeding joy he is able to keep you from stumbling can you say amen here's a quote from adam clarke's commentary if men would spend as much time in fervently calling upon god to sanctify them as they spend decrying the doctrine of christian perfection what a glorious state the church would soon witness this moment we might be emptied of sin filled with holiness become truly happy the perfection of the gospel system is not that it makes an allowance for sin but it makes atonement for it not that it tolerates sin but it destroys it let all those who retain the apostolic doctrine press every believer to go on to perfection and expect to be saved while here below into the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of jesus are you weary of that carnal mind which is enmity to god can't thou be happy while you are unholy arise then to the birthright of every child of god and be cleansed from all sin to keep yourself unspotted from the world and so lived to never more offend his maker all things are possible to him that believes believe all things are possible to the infinitely meritorious blood and energetic spirit of the lord jesus that was written 200 years ago but it's still pretty powerful today i want to give you one more from the book acts of the apostles and i know we're out of time but i'm going to read it anyway i very rarely pull the senior pastor card but i'm playing it now before the believer is is held out the wonderful possibility of being like christ obedient to all the principles of god but of himself we are utterly unable to reach this condition the holiness that god's word decries declares that we must have before we can be saved is the result of the working of divine grace as he bows in submission to the discipline and restraining influences of the spirit of truth man's obedience can be made perfect only by the um incense of christ's righteousness which fills with divine fragrance every act of obedience the part the christian is to persevere in overcoming every fault constantly he is to pray to the savior to heal the disorders of his sin sick soul he has not the wisdom or the strength to overcome the these belong to the lord and he bestows them on those who in humiliation and contrition seek for help that's acts of the apostles 5 32. and i've got i've got a lot more i'll put my notes up online if anybody wants to see the parts i left out but this is some great quotes to encourage you that by the power of christ we can be holy blessed are the pure in heart they will see god and that's all that we're talking about today is purity of heart amen we're out of time i want to remind you that we do have a free offer and it's called is it possible to live without sinning by joe cruz and we'll send it to you for free ask for offer 187 and just call bless you 866-788-3966 we will study his word together again next week

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Length: 51min 53sec (3113 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 11 2020