Rich Wilkerson, Jr. — The Book of Romans: The Struggle is Real

you got a Bible tonight turn me to the book of Romans Romans chapter 7 just having fun we are continuing tonight our study on the book of Romans and if you haven't already gotten a romans journal I would encourage you to do so after service tonight out in the courtyard we always party after service don't leave too quick hang out for this for a little bit but there's a big black tent if you want to pick up one of these journals we'd love to get one in your hand for the summer we really decided to commit ourselves to studying and reading the book of Romans Romans has 16 chapters in it and it's so dense with theological truths talks about our justification in Jesus talks about the fact that we've been saved because of our faith because of his grace and it's a beautiful book of the Bible and so we're literally taking 8 weeks 8 Sundays in a row just to preach messages out of this book and of course we can't cover all of it but I believe that as we study and as we read together and as we hear these sermons I think God's doing something inside of us collectively amen and so I'd love you to get one of these journals but uh tonight is week four and this week in your journal you're gonna be reading Romans chapter seven and so I want to read a portion of Romans chapter 7 tonight and then I'm gonna kind of bounce around Romans six in Romans seven you read Romans six earlier in the week and I know a lot of you probably got a whole lot out of that and so I want to kind of go back a little bit in there Romans seven and really setting us up for next week and so let's look at Romans chapter 7 verse 14 I'm gonna bring it up on this big Bible if you don't have one follow along with me here but it says this this is Paul he's writing now watch this he says we know that the law is spiritual but I am unspiritual sold as a slave to sin I do not understand what I do for what I want to do I do not do but what I hate I do and if I do what I do not want to do I agree that the law is good as it is it is no longer I myself who do it but it is sin living in me for I know that the good itself does not dwell in me that is in my sinful nature for I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out I do not do the good I want to do but the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing anyone following this right now now if I do what I do not want to do it is no longer I who do it but in this sin living in me that does it so I find this law at work although I want to do good evil is right there with me for in my inner being I delight in God's law but I see another law at work in me waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me what a wretched man I am who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death I thought in week four we would we would we would really kind of talk on us tonight and I want to preach a simple message titled the struggle Israel the struggle is real look at your neighbors say the struggle but with some attitude say the struggle is real look at your other neighbor they say y'all the struggle is real the struggle is real let's pray let's believe the Lord's gonna speak to it slowly thank you so much that you brought us here thank you for church on a Sunday night in Miami thank you God for this community that you have put us in what a pray we'd never take not one not even a moment of it for granted well we believe that you've brought us here on purpose for a purpose we open up our ears and open up our hearts have your way tonight Holy Spirit we love you we praise you and if you believe it come on all of God's people said come on all of God's people said hey come on Sunday night church all over this house can we go ahead come on can we give Jesus a real round of applause come on a real shout of praise recently I was speaking at a conference and a lot of times you'll go to these conferences and you get a chance to kind of preach to a large gathering like this which I really enjoy but one of my favorite things is the chance I get to speak when we had talked to leaders and maybe a small or more of an intimate setting and many times they'll kind of set you up with it with a Q&A question-and-answer time and I was taking some questions from people in the audience and somebody they raised their hand they said pastor rich do you ever feel like there's two versions of you like like the public rich and the private rich I thought about it for a second I said no I don't think there's two versions of me I think there's like seven versions of me it's called Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday I don't know about you but like as I look at my life so often I feel this struggle going on I have a struggle for consistency but recently our team took this test it's called the strength finders test and you take it you answer all these questions and then they give you these answers and they kind of diagnose you and say what your strengths are and what your personality type is and when I got the answers back I liked my personality type I liked the strength that they gave me but I sort of had this feeling you know if I would have taken this test like on Wednesday I think I would have gotten different results because throughout the week I sometimes feel like a different person I mean I know can we just like I know it's hard but could we just try to be honest tonight a little bit like you know I'm not gonna make you raise your hand but let's just be honest a little bit that a lot of us we struggle with consistency Thank You member January this past year January 1 a lot of us we got up and said this is gonna be my year this is my year to move forward I'm losing 15 pounds you gained 15 pounds I'm going back to school I'm reading books I'm going to improve have you ever been to the gym in January it's more packed out than club live I'm telling us Pat is fire but come July that's a ghost town what cuz I think we had we have trouble fulfilling our commitments like if we're just being honest tonight like just just tonight if we could just be honest just tonight many of us we struggle with consistency we struggle with fulfilling our commitments and if we're really be honest a lot of us in this place we would say you know I believe in Jesus and I've surrendered my life to Jesus but rich if I'm being honest with you I still struggle with common sin in fact I want to land there for a moment and I want to try to encourage you tonight a little bit but have you ever noticed that like it's typically like one or two things that you struggle with like oh man I'm getting an A in that category and I'm passing that test but this thing will not leave me and the reason why I want to talk to you about this is because I see so many incredibly gifted graced called people who opt out of the faith journey because they find themselves struggling with a same struggle if you will the struggle keeps coming back up and we wonder to ourselves I must just be weak I must just not be good at this I must not be called I must not be strong but the reason why you struggle with the same thing over and over again is because the enemy he is not omnipotent and he doesn't have all the power he's not omnipresent meaning he's not everywhere at once he's not omniscient he doesn't know everything about you in fact the only thing the enemy knows about you is what you let him know and so if the enemy has a strength which I'm not really trying to preach message denied for exploiting his strengths but let me give you one strength of the devil that is he is consistent and he takes good records of your life and what happens is as he watches you make a mistake and he discovers your weakness and like any good boxer once he inflicts pain on a wound he doesn't target other areas but rather he focuses on the wounded area and he continues to inflict pain why because if he can't kill you in the fight he'll just look for ways to disqualify you from the fight and the fact that you have the same struggle is not an indication that God has left you but rather it's an indication that you are a threat to the enemy and if tonight if you could just be honest for a moment some of us in this place we're so concerned if we've lost all of our confidence because our deepest fear is that we would be called and considered a hypocrite can I just encourage you for a moment we're all hypocrites well no we're not rich you don't know me I am NOT okay you keep on telling your story here's the Apostle Paul this is the greatest apostle who ever lived wrote most of the New Testament and here he is in Romans chapter 7 and he sounds like a dr. Seuss tongue-twister conflicted man I don't do what I want to do and I do what I want to do I don't even what I'm talking about so confused and he's depicting for us this picture of a struggle he's depicting us for a picture that I have these convictions but my character doesn't match my convictions why is it why is it that I'm strong why do i why do I continue to struggle it's because the struggle is real and I would almost submit to you tonight and I'm not gonna almost I will submit to tonight that the only that makes you a hypocrite is behaving as if you don't struggle we all struggle we're all challenged the struggle is real it's interesting Romans chapter 7 which we're just kind of just getting a little taste of tonight it's a very misunderstood chapter out of the Bible part of it is because of its placement this past week if you're on the journal plane with us you read Romans chapter 6 in Romans chapter 6 is sort of this big massive like declaration that Paul makes as he proclaims yo I have died to sin you said we've died with Jesus meaning we've resurrected with Jesus we haven't just died but now he's living through us and so we have died to sin and but then all of a sudden you read Romans chapter 7 it's kind of confusing because Paul just makes this big statement how he's dead to sin but now in Romans 7 he's talking about how he struggles with sin many times when you read it you're just like why don't you just go from Romans chapter 6 to Romans chapter 8 Romans chapter 8 which we'll look at a little bit next week talks about the Spirit interceding for us talks about that famous verse that we are more than conquerors and it sort of seems like better writing would have been to go from Romans chapter 6 right to Romans chapter 8 but I'm grateful for Paul because he doesn't skip over humanity he actually wants to tell us that there is a struggle that there is this tension that we will all deal with in fact what he's really gonna pose in Romans chapter 6 is that we'd haven't just died to sin but he's gonna talk about something in Romans 6 and he's gonna lead into it in Romans chapter 7 which is even deeper he's also gonna tell us that we have also now died to the law and this is important that we understand this that every one of us in this place if we're followers of Jesus we haven't just died to sin but we've also died to the law and the way Paul will begin to illustrate this in Romans 7 is he's gonna give you a picture of a marriage and I'll just give you the illustration but I'll put it in kind of 2018 terms and kind of make it more personal um Donna and I even married next month we'll be 12 years holler at your boy 12 is a very biblical number twelve tribes of Israel I'm getting like like like Jesus had 12 disciples okay um well 12 years and my wife and I I believe we have a very passionate robust fun relationship in marriage yet the truth of matter is is that if I died tomorrow which I'm not going to but if I did and don't you remarry in ten years it made me laugh okay I'm sorry now you can wait too it would be cool anyways um it's like wait awkward um if she got remarried how silly would it be for her to live every day as if she was guilty for committing adultery how many of you know that once I died the authority of the marriage it died with it it would be silly every one of us in this place would counseled on Cherie going you don't have to feel guilty for adultery rich passed away this is the exact illustration that Paul will give you and I when it comes to the law you see we have died to the law therefore the law has no more weight or authority over your life you don't have to walk in shame you don't have to walk and guilt you don't have to walk in condemnation because the law no longer is the thing that will save you you said well rich then what is the point of the law you just think we should just scrap the law and get rid of the law no no no Paul is gonna lay out the purpose of the law the first thing that he's gonna show us about the law is that the law it exposes sin this is important that you see this because ultimately what the law is always doing is this it's exposing and it's multiplying sin look at what Paul says in Romans chapter 7 this is gonna be in your reading this week Romans seven verses seven through eight what shall we say then is the law sinful me look if the law itself bad certainly not nevertheless I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law so I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said you shall know covet butts in seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment produced in me every kind of coveting for apart from the law sin was dead what Paul is trying to get you to see is that the law it exposes and it multiplies sin he said I wouldn't even know what coveting was until somebody wrote the rule down now that the rule is there not only do I see the sin in my life but it's also increasing and multiplying the sin in my life have you ever noticed this before like some of us we're doing pretty good in life until somebody tells us not to do something like I remember when I was younger like I never wanted a girlfriend to my parents said you can't have a girlfriend the moment they said I'm like okay I need to get me a girlfriend you know when I was growing up I grew up in a really a really strong Christian home and like strict rules one about one of the rules that in my home was like a really big deal was like you were not allowed to dance it's probably why I danced so much now you know but like in my house you could not dance like we would go to weddings is a true story the reception would begin we'd all be hanging out but as soon as the reception party began any type of dance it could be the Macarena it could be it could be anything you know it could be like literally you know what's the one we go underneath the thing what's the thing with you yeah limbo no you know my dad that Wilkerson's were out and we have to leave the party you know when I was 13 like you story 13 after much time in prayer and fasting I went and found my mom cuz I knew my dad would never go for it and I begged and I pleaded with my mom I said mom I want to throw a dance party for my 13th birthday just feel like I'm a man now I got one armpit hair let's go you know she presented my request to the king and and they came back that I could throw a dance party under one condition that we would only dance to Christian music which isn't like that bad now Riley can demon yo like Lecrae you could kind of like throw down a little bit no I didn't have that back in 1994 you know my first slow dance was to our God is an awesome God [Applause] just like like and some of you like you know that song our God is an awesome God [Music] [Applause] the chorus is cool no joke but like some of you didn't really like if you grew up in church you would remember like the weird verses this is the worst the first verse and the Lord wasn't joking when he kicked him out of Eden our God is in awesome you got who writes a song about the wrath of God the rule didn't stop the sin it increased the sin but you can see this like all of our society when NWA put up their first record hello it was the first time that they put on it the parental advisory sticker on the CD they thought that that would slow down the sales I thought that would stop people guess what it did it did the opposite it increased the sales why because the law what it does is exposes sin and once it exposes sin it increases the sin that's why in church preaching the law will never ever ever produce a relationship with God it will produce religion but religion at best is just behavior modification and when push comes to shove behavior modification will not keep you through the tough times you're gonna need something deeper than that you're gonna need a relationship with God and therefore the law could never get you to God come on somebody give them a shout of praise see this is what you gotta get in your spare time the law didn't encourage obedience instead it magnified disobedience that's what it does some of us still in this place we're like okay I'm struggling you know what I got to do to fix this I got to keep more of the law it will never ever ever bring you peace it will leave you more and more frustrated Paul's gonna show us that it exposes sin but then what Paul's really gonna show us is that ultimately the law it directs me to God this is vital that we understand this as believers the law is not the vehicle to God it's the directions to God see when you start to study the law the law in itself is not bad if we're not careful like let's get rid of no no the law is a direction it's pointing you it's showing you that you need God to rescue you as you truly study the law every single time if you're really gonna try to keep the law understand if you tried a lot if you try to live by the law you will die by the law because if you're really keeping the law it will always Drive you to your knees in beg of mercy watch what Paul will say Romans chapter 6 verse 14 he says for sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under what because you are not under what but under but under so Paul says we're not under the law instead we're under grace so what does that mean to be under the law it means that I have to do something to get God but I'm no longer under that anymore now I'm under grace which means that God has done something for me watch this the law indicated the sickness but grace brought the Cure I don't live under the law I live under grace I could never keep the law I could never do enough good deeds the law does not get me to the God the law directs me to God where I beg for mercy I plead for grace and then God who's rich in kindness bestows on me all mercy listen if your good deeds could save you then Moses would have already done it for you but Moses wasn't enough because Moses was just prescribing the law and ultimately the law was just directing me to God to say I need a safe when we cry out to Jesus for salvation he saves us remember last week we talked about this I want to just recap you that when Jesus saves me there's an important theological word the word is justification everyone say justification and what justification means is it means in right standing with God so because of Jesus has sacrificed on the cross he paid the price for all my sin past present and future sins like some of you right now you don't believe that God loves you tonight because of what you did last night I just don't think he loves me anymore I gotta I gotta win him back friend don't you believe that when he died for you he already knew all the stupid stuff you were gonna do like I actually think it's proof positive if God loves you today it's proof positive you'll love you tomorrow and so God justified as Jesus when he died he put us in the right standing with God His righteousness number the word we learned was imputed meaning it was transferred into my account I didn't do anything to earn the righteousness instead it was a transfer into my account therefore because I'm justified now when God looked down upon me he doesn't see me for all my sin instead he sees his son Jesus come on somebody give God a big shout of praise but but there's a second word hell I want to teach you tonight is important second word is this word sanctification everyone say sanctification don't you love these words it's like Christianese you know how you don't rather sanctify less than highly favored blood of the lamb a lot of the what you know but but these words have real depth and the more you start to understand them you realize the truth that you can apply to your life sanctification this is the definition of sanctification the daily continual process of becoming more like Jesus so I want you to see this justification is immediate sanctification is a process justification is my eternal standing with God sanctification is my earthly standing with others justification does not change sanctification sure can why because the struggle is real but the word that I find rest in and the word that I find hope in is this word process becoming like Jesus is a process if you came last Sunday and you gave your life to Jesus in one moment you were justified you will spend eternity with God but every day after that here on earth you have to go through the process of being sanctified that's why the day when I was in growth track I talked to this dudes like y'all bro that was one F being good sermon I didn't look back and say by the way we don't use the F word here in our growth track why cuz it's a second Sunday at our church he's been justified but he has to go through the process of being sanctified cuz they won't get what I'm talking about a little bit tonight is that is that is that it's a process problem is we don't like the word process no no like you don't serve a drive-thru type of God you don't talking about like like he's got something deep that will take time it's funny because there's so many areas of our life that we appreciate process like aren't you thankful that doctors have to go through a process to become doctors you imagine going in its like you have brain surgery you're like doctor I need help don't you worry got my degree last night on line scalpel like no imagine taking a flight from Miami to LA tomorrow pilots like well folks how you doing I just have a I just have a passion for flying never done it before but I'm passionate about it you'd be like nah bro you need to go back to the pro I'm not getting in the air with you imagine if you gave birth to your son and when he came out of the womb he's I came on what's for dinner shut up you know dad let me borrow the car no no no we like process me having a son I did I see the process I was gone this week and I came home and my little boy Wyatt he's grown and I can see day by day that he he stretches and he grows and he's becoming a little boy and before you know it he'll start to walk and there's all this process why do we think our journey with Jesus is any different friends don't quit in the midst of the process sanctification is a struggle and just because you're not perfect today doesn't mean that God is not perfecting you right this minute the struggle is real but don't give oh come on somebody give him a shout of praise sanctification czar struggle my that little boy I heard about he was standing by the table in the kitchen his mom said sit down he said no she's I'm telling you you better sit down so I'm standing she said sit down now said no she said one he said no she said till he said no she said three he sat down I don't know why we wait till three but we don't want to find out what happens at three he sits down he says mom I just want to let you know I'm sitting on the outside but I'm still standing on the inside that's a lot of us right it's a picture of the struggle I mean consistent my personality I have a tough time fulfilling my commitments I got this same struggle what's the deal here I've died to sin why is it that I'm still sinning at times you know what maybe I don't belong in this church thing maybe I'm not called to lead maybe I should just go another path cuz I don't want to bring shame I don't want to bring guilt I don't want to bring something negative upon this thing I'm just not cut out for this thing because I'm struggling here's Paul he's writing to you and I and he's like you know I don't know why I don't do what I want to do and the things I do do it's not what I intended to do and I'm struggling in fact let's go back to what he's saying Romans chapter 7 this is our opening text tonight you're gonna read it this week so I find this law at work although I want to do good evil is right there with me for in my inner being I delight in God's law but what's he saying he's like yo I come to church and I hear the sermons and I love this stuff I got more notes than anybody I love the ways of God but I see another law working me waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin so he said I got this conviction in my mind in my heart but my character it's being challenged making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me watch this look at the statement what a wretched man I am who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death that's the question that's the question how do I stop the struggle how do I get through this or that the struggle is real I'm being honest about it I'm acknowledging I'm a sinner I'm acknowledging I got some stuff that's going on but who's gonna rescue me how do I get out of this watch what Paul says here he says this he says thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord I know I know it sounds simple but it's the simple thing that's the profound thing look what he says I my second time thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord in the midst of this debacle in the midst of this duplicity that he's going through he actually gives you the prescription he actually gives you the answer to your struggle here he is conflicted here he is being honest here he is admitting that there's two different people inside of him maybe seven different people inside of him and he says who on earth is gonna save me who will rescue me and right there in the middle of it he preaches the gospel he says thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ I want you to see this tonight because this is important whatever you focus on gets clearer and whatever you magnify gets bigger so what are you focused on and what are you magnifying because listen to me focusing on your sin will never ever stop it but rather focusing on your Savior is the path to a solution come on somebody give God a big shout of praise I want you to see this if you're struggling with sin talking about it thinking about it talking about it thinking about it that's not the answer you're magnifying it's all good bigger you're focused on it's only gonna get clearer you need to magnify and focus on something better stronger greater and he's got a name his name is Jesus Christ come on 6:00 p.m. make a little bit of noise in this house how am I gonna this I'm a wretched man I'm a million I'm guilty as charged who will save me thank you God for Jesus oh I want to just give you three things I think he's actually practical I don't think this is semantics at all I think this is the gospel and the power of the gospel and so if you're here tonight I'm not gonna make you raise your hand not gonna make you come forward but if you know the struggle is real I want to give you three things tonight that I want you to be in to focus on and magnify because they all come down to Jesus but I want to make sure that I'm accentuating some areas for you number one write this one down it's not what you have been redeemed from it's what you have been redeemed to this is important man I think so often all we talk about is all the things that God saved us from brought us up out of and I'm grateful for the things that God brought me out of but how many of you know I'm even more thankful to what he's taking me to but watch watch what Paul will say Romans chapter 6 verse 1 he's gonna say this he says say what shall we say then shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase because some people today they're like going you know like I guess it's all good I guess I can just do whatever I want God will always forgive me when you don't understand the heart of God and you definitely don't understand the love of God because legalism cannot compete with love and love leads to life change whereas legalism leads to frustration by no means we are those who have died to sin how can we live in it any longer or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death 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 here we go we too may live a new life that's the key verse right there it's not that I was just saved from sin shame guilt and condemnation that's that's that's good news the better news is that I was redeemed for a purpose I was redeemed for a future I was redeemed into confidence into humility God has a beautiful plan in store for me so often what we do is we just focus on what we gave up instead of what we have gained and you have gained far more than what you have given up and if you can start to shift your focus around and realize yes I have been redeemed some from some things but I'll let you know I've been redeemed to something even greater it sits like this imagine like you have a house that's in foreclosure and you've got this huge debt imagine someone comes and they pay the debt you would be thankful that'd be cool you paid my debt you redeemed me from this debt but then imagine the persons that you what we're also gonna renovate this house we're also gonna refurnish this house not with IKEA but with something real nice you know I'm buying you a new car putting it out front now all of a sudden you've been you've been redeemed to something that's exactly what Jesus has done with your life he hasn't just taken away the bad he's given you good he's blessed you and you need to know what you've gained in him it's not just about being redeemed from something it's about being redeemed to something you have been redeemed into a brand-new future when I was in church we sing this song look what the Lord has done look what the Lord has done and we figure out really good we start dance and you know look what the Lord and we would get into it you know he healed my body and he touched it was good song now like the song look what the Lord has done but I'm telling you if you want your struggle to subside you got to start to get focused on what God is going to do because what he has done is good but what he's fixing to do is even better come on is there anybody out there who knows what I'm talking about come on he hasn't just saved you he's anointed you he hasn't just forgiven you he's called you he didn't just die for you he wants to live through you I've been redeemed to something and the more I start to focus on what I've gained in Jesus the more my struggle starts to subside it's like people that know how to give just one part of their testimony yeah yo dude I used to be in the club man different chicks every night y'all was the man yo bottles anything anytime I wanted it bottles models and bottles like they ever hear people give testing was like this and then they go yep and then one day I met Jesus no it's cool I come to Sunday church every other week and I'm free really something you just glorified all the things you gave up let me tell you the better part of the testimony I was blind but guess what baby now I can see I was lame but now I'm walking I was deaf and now I can hear I was dead and now I'm alive come on is there anybody in this house who's alive tonight you need to know what you were redeemed to that's what I was redeemed from so what I was redeemed to secondly I want you to write this down is that it's not just about trying harder it's about trusting more it's not about trying harder it's about trusting more see here's what I've learned I've learned that if I can get my desires right my desires will direct me and so if tonight if you could start to make your desire more of Jesus rather than your desires sin you'll find that Jesus will direct you more than your sin will direct you but many of us what we do is we live our whole life just trying really hard so we come on Sunday we get a word then we walk on Monday gonna I'm just trying not to sin I'm just trying not to mess up it's only a matter of time before you mess up again it's cuz you're focused on it's because you're magnifying it so the truth is is that the Bible says that we have the Holy Spirit next week we're gonna talk about it in Romans chapter 8 that the Spirit will intercede for us and you actually cannot defeat sin in your life unless Jesus and the spirit leads you and the only thing you need in order for the spirit to begin to lead you is simply by asking him it's so many of us we take on every struggle in our own power rather than call upon the Holy Spirit to help us walk through it the other day I was I was flying home from Australia and it's a long flight it's like a 14-hour flight and I got on this flight I was in economy on the window-seat it was just like hot and I was next to this guy and you know I got on there and I fell asleep and I'm a weird sleeper I got you know it's it's never ever a safe thing for me to fall asleep next to anybody literally I woke up out of my sleep and my arms are around this guy Lily I wake up he pushes now I'm like I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'll god bless you and I just try to go back to sleep this way I felt so stupid if you hear about somebody complaining it was me and so but I was stuck in the window and like I don't know I get flying I don't want like I don't want to bother the guy it's a 14-hour flight and this guy's just totally asleep and so I was in my window seat I needed to go to the bathroom but I had to go like multiple times and so I just like you know what I'm just gonna climb over him you know so I'm like 6:1 you know and like literally I'm like I'm in the seat and I you don't have to cross over this guy and then I have to you know jump into the aisle well I do this one time very successfully I was like that was pretty I wasn't so bad you know this the second time it just didn't go as planned um I cross over this guy this is after I already hugged him you know one time I cross over this guy and as I cross over he opens up his eyes and looks at me I'm like sorry I jump into the aisle I came back to my seat he's like he's like hey man just just wake me up next time you don't have to do all that you know yeah I'm sorry I'm sorry it gave me such a picture of what a lot of us look like when it comes to struggling with sin because so many of us in this room we kind of feel like God is asleep to our situation and rather than bother him and rather than ask for his help we're kind of like going through life so awkward like yeah I got I kind of okay hopefully I can just sneak by this on my own and he's just saying won't you wake me up why don't you call upon my name why don't you trust in who I am it's not about trying harder on your own it's about trusting more and who I am it's about trusting it's not what I've been redeemed from it's might want to be redeemed too who will save me Jesus thank God for Jesus it's gotta be more than semantics it's gotta be supernatural there's got to be a key there to our struggle that we are under estimating I'm not saved by my works i'm not saved by my deeds i have justified I am eternally right with God I'm spending forever with him but Here I am on this earth and I am going through the process of sanctification and just because I struggle doesn't mean that I'm not called just because I struggled doesn't mean that I'm not graced and just because I struggle doesn't mean that I'm not anointed just because I struggle doesn't mean he doesn't love me but the fact that I struggle is an indication I'm being sanctified so I choose not to focus on my struggle but to focus on my Savior and what I gave up it pales in comparison to what I gained in him and if trying harder was the answer well then I could have saved myself so it must be about trusting more in him last night as we really close I know I'm preaching long but it's 6 p.m. and I feel like I gotta get this word out all the way last thing I want you to this in your heart it's not about beating yourself up it's about getting back up I feel like preaching this night the way that I feel it in my spirit because I think this is a word from the Lord for so many of you in this house you see repentance is the doorway to grace yet what does repentance mean many of us we grew up in a church and we think repentance is simply that little prayer that I lead us in at the end of service and don't get me wrong it's a version of it it could definitely be repentance for us but really repentance when you study it it simply means changing your mind I'm changing my mind I'm changing the way I view this the way I think about this thing I'm turning from that way and I'm following Jesus oftentimes not a lot maybe so when we first were launching this church we would get criticism from people people would come and they'd meet me at the front of stage sometimes up to church they'd say you know passwords I love the church I love the vibe of this place and it's so cool to see so many people giving life to Jesus but I gotta be honest with you I just wish you'd preach a little bit more about sin I wish you'd preach about repentance more just my old church we used to preach about repentance I always makes me laugh Lissette my old church I'm going then why'd you come here we just closed if it was so great go back anyways okay so edit that from the tapes save that for heart and soul you didn't come on a Sunday for that but you know what I've learned a lot people come and talk about that when they say why don't you preach more about repentance more about sin you know what they're really getting at they're really sending me rich why don't you make people feel bad but why don't you make people feel sorrowful why don't you tell people what's wrong with them it's because I firmly believe in my heart of hearts that everybody in this room is already crystal clear about what's wrong with them like nobody needs a sermon in here about where they're messin up you don't need a preacher to tell you where you've messed up you need a preacher that when you mess up will tell you how to get back up I feel the holy spirit in this place tonight you don't need someone to tell you all that's wrong with you you need somebody to tell you all that's right with God and vous Church is not going to be a house that when we walk in here we beat people up that's what the world is for this is the house of God where you're gonna get built back up we're gonna believe again we're gonna speak life again you know it's been said that Christianity is the only people that kill their wounded friends we know where we are coming up short and what happens is the enemy he wants to knock you down and he wants to put that struggle over in your life and say that's the identity of who you are but this is why Jesus came he came to remind us that we could never enter Heaven based upon our deeds or our effort but rather it's by the grace of God as we put our faith into him and tonight it's not about beating yourself up it's about getting back up I want to read the description to you and we're going to sing this thing but proverbs chapter 24 16 stay standing real close they says for though the righteous fall seven times that sentence like that doesn't really make sense like according to the world wait a minute he fell seven times doesn't that mean that he's now unrighteous he fell seven times doesn't that mean that he's a mistake doesn't that mean he struggles doesn't that mean he has issues he can't be righteous but what the Scriptures are trying it you and I to see is that my righteousness is not defined by how many times I fall but righteousness is simply about getting back up I think seven is on purpose because I fall on Monday I fall on Tuesday I tend to fall on Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday but baby you better believe because of the grace of God every single time I get back up and I'm telling you tonight whoever you are rise get up keep fighting don't quit come on if you believe it give God a shout of praise come on

Channel: VOUS Church

Views: 22,013

Rating: 4.9180326 out of 5

Keywords: rich wilkerson jr, vous church, romans, struggle, faith, justification, sanctification

Id: SR-ZonfDelE

Length: 47min 28sec (2848 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 16 2018