Romans #13 - Good Gifts: New Life

[Music] [Music] well howdy y'all i am really excited to see you we're in romans chapter six i know it's christmas season we should have trees on the stage i should be wearing a red shirt we should find some elves and give you a candy cane instead i'm gonna yell at you for an hour through the book of romans we're in chapter six it's been a horrible year amen been a horrible year we've lost a lot of freedom so let's start with this little discussion what freedoms have we lost or seen reduced this year the right to assemble we apparently disagree with that but yes some people are experiencing that if you're watching on the internet there are people in a room it's crazy crazy next level crazy uh as well what are some of the freedoms you've seen eliminated or reduced this year freedom of speech i'm gonna fix that no music no worshiping we're gonna bring the band up sister it's gonna get loud and we're gonna get proud it's gonna be fun what else have you lost for freedom this year or seen reduced the freedom to breathe in public there is now just literally as we were singing there was a new edict sent forth you're not allowed to breathe outside of your home when you leave your house you have to hold your breath until you come back that's just a new rule okay any other freedoms you've seen reduced or eliminated privacy we've lost it they have a tracking app on your phone they follow you everywhere you're going if that doesn't scare you you're not paying attention right for those of us who are libertarians you're like i'm throwing my phone away okay we have lost some freedoms this year and what a lot of people are struggling with is this reduction or elimination and freedom amen and so what we need to know is this that we can't control all of the freedoms out there but god wants to increase the freedoms in here and so that's what we're going to talk about today that i can't control what's out there but the spirit of god can control the freedom that we enjoy internally in here and so he's going to juxtapose for us the apostle paul will in romans 6 we're going right through a book of the bible it's awesome he's going to talk about three four times versus slave this is his comparison contrast and juxtaposition you're either a slave to someone or something or you're set free in jesus christ would you like to study the bible with me we got nothing else to do if you've got a bible go to romans 6 and if not i've got it on the screen romans 6 15 freedom we're going to talk a lot about freedom what it is what it is not what we're free from what we're free to who we're free from who we're free to romans 6 15 what then are we to sin because we are not under law by grace by no means what he's saying is freedom is not freedom to sin but freedom from sin if you're under 25 write this down as most most of us think that freedom is freedom to sin right so if we just got rid of dads and parents then we'd be free and if we could just decriminalize drugs and get high then we'd be free and then if we could just vote for socialists to pay for it all then we'd really be free and the truth is that ultimately we live in a world where freedom is just another path to slavery and you choose sin and that's not freedom we're not free to sin we're free from sin that's exactly where paul the apostle is taking us and what he's saying is this that ultimately you're either under law that's what he's saying or you are under grace this is going to be a very complicated concept for some of you for others of you it'll be very offensive and if you're offended just wait it's going to get worse so this is only the beginning ultimately we tend to think of ourselves particularly as americans as radically independent fully autonomous captain of my fate master of my destiny i make my own decisions and what he says is no we're all under someone or something under law is you minus jesus in judgment and he says under grace that's you plus jesus under blessing think of it in this way there is someone or something that rules over you we'll call it your master to use the language that master controls your emotional well-being your spending your behaviors and your decision-making it's your master you are loyal to it you are the slave of it i'll prove it to you we tend not to think in these terms if you can't stop working and your master is your work you are a what a workaholic the workaholic has work as their master they have to keep working they can't be healthy because they need to work they can't go home and love their wife because they have to work they can't enjoy their kids because they have to work they can't be in god's presence in church because they have to work work becomes the master that beats you like a slave and robs you of joy and life let's do another example let's say that your master is money wealth finances that ultimately your god is as jesus says mammon which is money and you are a lover of money and all your decisions are based upon the profits so ultimately you can't be generous because you want money you can't love people by giving them money you use people to make more money because at the end of the day we either love people and use money to love them or we love money and we use people to make money and this is why some people are very greedy and they're very stingy and they're not generous because for them the master is the dollar and it literally says on our dollars in god we trust it should say in this god we trust for some people it is someone not of something but a someone that is in that position of master for you let's say for example there is someone that you fear you're like i don't want to make them angry i don't want to disappoint them i need to keep them happy you're not looking above them to the lord you're looking at them as the lord and all of your making is to please them and not endure their wrath we also have codependent relationships i need you to need me and if you need to be needed and if being needed is your master you're going to pick up broken people hurting people needy people and the assumption will be i am a good savior you need me and i need to be needed many of the decisions that we make are in regards to the master that we have and what happens is they become a master over us we become a slave to them so the alcoholic is not free they're a slave to the bottle the drug addict is not free they are a slave to the high the sexual person who struggles with their perversion they are addicted to the lust of the flesh they are not free because we're not free to our sin we're free from our sin and what he's saying is this if anyone or anything but jesus is over your life as your master has you in the position of servant or slave above it or them is god's law to judge it or them and ultimately to judge you the option is jesus okay over your life you could have jesus and if jesus is over your life as your new master now some of you think no no i want to be my own master let me tell you this jesus has a better plan for your life than you have for your life jesus is a better leader of your life than you are of your life that jesus has better intentions for you than you have for yourself if you really believe in jesus if you know jesus if you trust jesus if you've experienced jesus you know that it is much better to have him in charge of your life than to have you in charge of your life amen any christians agree with me and testify okay and what happens then is we still make money we still go to work we still have relationships we still have sexuality in our marriage covenant we still have a life but that life is under whom it's under jesus so jesus what do you want me to do with your money uh jesus you said to take a day off so i'm gonna do that uh jesus said you you said to enjoy marriage but don't do anything outside of marriage so that's what i'm gonna do jesus you said that the fear of man is a trap or a snare in proverbs 29 25 so i'm not going to live in fear of people i'm going to live in fear of god and all of a sudden having jesus as lord over all of your life as the master who rules over all of your decision-making all of a sudden now you are free financially you are free sexually you are free morally you are free relationally because jesus is a god of grace and he loves you and he forgives you and he blesses you and he helps you and part of the problem that we often have is we believe that if we just got what we wanted our life would be good the truth is when we do get it our life is still bad because even a decent person is still a bad master he then continues freedom is not doing what you want but doing what god wants do you not know that if you present this is the language of worship this is showing up to serve yourselves as anyone so let me just hit this point let's just pull the car over get out and talk about one word okay just one word obedient slaves to anyone what this means is oftentimes the master we choose is not just our success it's not just our beauty it's not just our pleasure it's not just our convenience it's not just our comfort it's someone that we put in god's place we live for their approval we fear their rejection and punishment and as long as they are pleased with us then we believe that we are blessed a good person still makes a bad master some of you are you're still trying to live as if your boss was your master you're still trying to live as if your spouse was your master you're still trying to live as if the approval of others was your master some of you are still living as if your parents were your master and what he's saying is that we tend to pick someone and we tend to present ourselves as obedient slaves just you tell me what you want and i will do that and then you will bless me it's a counterfeit of the relationship with jesus okay he goes on either of sin which leads to what death or of obedience which leads to righteousness but thanks be to god that you were once slaves of sin you picked a master who would destroy you but jesus is a master who has chosen you you've become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed and having been set free from sin really good news right there set free from sin and become slaves of righteousness so we are set free from sin to righteousness and what many of us have done let's just be totally honest we've been set free from one sin and then we pick another one i used to drink and i'm just angry and i was angry and i'm sleeping with my girlfriend and there it's just trading one master for another it's not freedom unless you're free to be righteous so some of you will say i smart i disagree i'm free he says freedom is freedom from sin to righteousness so i would say prove me wrong demonstrate your freedom never sin again only the truly free are free from sin and what he wants us to do is to ask ourselves am i living as a slave to someone or something or have i bet been set free by my new master jesus who gives me grace and he's talking here about righteousness so let's talk about that righteousness in our day it gets a real negative rap because we put a word before it what is it self right you know i don't want to be self righteous oh congratulations you're not okay so and you're not righteous so the goal is not to be unrighteous or self righteous but righteous he said what is righteousness thank you for asking it is first of all god puts holiness in you that's a condition it takes out your old heart gives you a new heart takes out your old nature gives you a new nature takes out your flesh gives you the holy spirit okay so this is what he's been driving at chapter one through five in romans now righteousness is you making decisions out of your holiness so god changes you in here and then your decisions change out there it is your nature and then your actions jesus says a good tree bears good fruit god makes you a new tree and then you bear new fruit and what he's saying is righteousness is in those very practical moments so my question to you friend would be what's your struggle what's your thing is it pride is it anger is it beauty is it sex is it money is it power is it people pleasing is it comfort convenience is it anger what is your thing in those moments where you have a decision to make the question is will you pick unrighteousness or righteousness will you do what the old master tells you to do or the false master tells you to do or will you do what jesus the new master tells you to do and if in those moments and those very practical decisions what you do with your mouth what you eat what you drink what you say what you spend what you click on what you look at what you think and what you feel and where you go and who you touch in those moments the decisions you make can be unrighteous or righteous they can be going back to an old master or going forward to the new master and he's talking about decision making very practically and oftentimes what happens is we like to make excuses rather than decisions we like to excuse the bad decision we made then make the decision to decide differently and when you make those decisions that is an act of righteousness and it is how we overcome sin so he's talking about righteous decisions that overcome sin so we'll talk about sin sin is the human problem it's the problem under all the problems it's the god size problem you can't fix it with a doctor's prescription you can't order it on amazon you can't elect someone to remedy it that ultimately the sin problem is the problem under all of the problems and what he's saying is that we've been delivered from sin to righteousness and let me say this that you need to figure out where your sins are so you can be set free from them into the new life that jesus has for you and there are two categories of sin so we're going to talk about these there are the rebellious sins and the religious sins which one do you want to talk about first i don't care i got nothing to do religious first okay let's talk about the religious sins first first of all how many of you your sins would be more rebellious more rebellious not religious rebellious raise your hand okay do you notice they didn't raise their hand did you notice that a couple of them did but they don't know because the rebellion were like nah i'm not doing what i'm told that's your problem okay just to point it out that's your problem you don't do what you're told now you're religious people i'm gonna ask you and now you're gonna you're gonna raise your head because you're like well we're supposed to do we're tall so if you're religious how many of your sins would be more religious look at all those hands go up some and the really religious people did this both hands so they voted twice right welcome to georgia so anyway so anyways uh so oh just seeing if you're still with me okay what good is it to preach about grace without using a little okay so for those for those religious sins what are more common religious sins self-righteousness i'm better than you i was reading the bible i found all the things that you're not doing and i highlighted it for you you'll notice it's pretty much all yellow okay you're welcome happy to help okay what other things are religious sins meddling oh there's something happening well somebody should be involved i'm sure god would want me to do it so lord i have this you're welcome i'm here i have to give i have the spiritual gift of meddling so i give myself in other people's business and tell them what to do and i tell the holy spirit to stay home because i got this okay that's you other religious sins gossip okay now gossip you mean prayer request that's what you mean says sister i know you're like pray for tony he's he's just a mean nasty drunk and his kids are demons they're just terrible pray for him i shouldn't have said that at all um and while you're gossiping no no no pray for them it's a prayer request religious people they pack gossip in a prayer request it's their trojan horse for the delivery what other what other religious sins are there judgment like i was reading the bible it says that god judges people i could do that too pride i'm better than you i'm smarter than you i'm holier than you if you were like me i would like you okay one of the reasons i yell say crazy things and wear jean jackets is to find the religious people okay this always works it always works you're like he doesn't seem like he's the holy man of god and he yells and he's wearing denim and i think he said a bad word yes it's like i just want to see the gophers come out of the hole that's all i'm doing i'm looking like huh okay so so let's talk about the rebellious people okay rebellious sins what are they give me some examples sex outside of marriage i'm gonna do it my way you can't tell me what to do some of you i just explained you're teenager all right other rebellious sins what's coming come on guys we're between old town and casino think about it you got options all over the place gambling drugs what's that lying stealing drunkenness there's rebellious sins there's religious sins here's what always happens if you're in the church and the pastor preaches against rebellion what do you get a bunch of religious people they're super fun by the way oh so fun so fun okay if all you do is preach against religion what do you get a bunch of rebellious people how many of you this explains your life how many of you grew up in a religious home and you're like i'm not doing that i'm not wearing pants and how many of you you were very rebellious you wrecked your life so you became really religious we do this righteousness is not being rebellious it's not being religious it's having a relationship with jesus and he says it here this is what he says it's obedient from the heart so there's a story of sin in the bible it's one of the most legendary it's the story of the prodigal son it's about a dad who's got two boys one is rebellious he takes all of his dad's money he runs away from home he's at the casino he's at the strip club he's smoking pot he's voting for bernie sanders he's a situation okay it's in the greek trust me i'm a professional okay okay right now there's some 22 year old kid on the internet going that's offensive okay just you know so so there's this other brother [Laughter] there's this other brother he's very religious he's up at eight a.m he tithes he memorizes verses in the king james bible he's trying to make israel great again he's right down the fairway shots fired both ways friends that's how we're going to do this and then the the rebellious brother wrecks his life because sin leads to death so he comes home and what does the father give him grace love grace forgiveness mercy embrace generosity the religious brother sees this what's his emotional response he's offended because religious people are offended by grace religious people are they don't deserve it yeah that's why it's grace well they did the wrong thing that's why it's grace well they should get punished they're not that's why it's grace the brothers one outwardly looked righteous the other looked unrighteous the point is they were both unrighteous and the problem was not so much with the older brother what was in his life it was what was in his heart he didn't love the father and he didn't love his brother and he didn't love grace the answer to sinful rebellion and the answer to sinful religion is a relationship with a savior named jesus who delivers us from rebellion and religion and some of you are here and you know your thing ain't working but you don't want to be religious i have good news we're not here to convert you to religion we're here to introduce you to jesus okay and that relationship with him he loves you he gives you grace he forgives you he embraces you he blesses you he loves you so much he'll take you as you are but he loves you too much to let you stay as you are and what he does then how many christians would agree with me on this he changes your heart all of a sudden you're like i don't want to do that anymore i want to be closer to jesus you know what i i don't i don't like my old masters i like my new master i don't want to be in charge of my life i want jesus to tell me what to do because he knows more than i do and he's better than i am and what he's talking about here paul says his righteousness is overcoming sin by obedience from the heart so let me say if you're here right now and there's even something happening in your heart you're like huh i'm interested in jesus i wonder if maybe i wonder if maybe my problem is sin i wonder if maybe life would be better if jesus was the lord and not someone or something including myself then what god is doing right now friend is a supernatural miracle he's starting to change your heart okay and let me say when you have obedience from the heart when god changes your heart this is the great truth of the christian faith that the non-christian doesn't understand i say this all the time the christian life is not what we have to do it's what we get to do because once god changes our heart we want to obey you know why you're here you want to learn the bible is it true you want to you know what that god changed your heart you want to learn about jesus that's why we're running over 200 it's crazy we're like tell me about jesus okay that means that god has been doing something in your heart people are coming in saying i want to make a life change how does jesus change lives god's doing something in your heart and let me tell you this that ultimately we're not wanting you to be rebellious or religious we want you to have a relationship with jesus where he gives you grace and his heart changes your heart and your heart wants to obey him so that the relationship can be sweeter and deeper because that master is a loving gracious forgiving and good master amen and one other thing i want to just hit here as well um i hit a couple things god doesn't need you to obey but your neighbor does god's going to be fine whether or not you obey your neighbor is implicated in your decisions if you're married the decisions you make they involve your spouse if you're a parent the decisions you make they involve your children if you're a grandparent it involves your extended family if you're a friend or relative or a co-worker or a neighbor we're not islands unto ourselves part of the obedience from the heart is out of love for neighbor because some people say i'm an adult i do whatever i want it's like yeah but other people are being implicated in your decision making people are being broken and burdened by the devastation that you cause from the decisions you make number two you don't need to obey to be saved but you do need to obey to be free as soon as i preach this message to people like we read earlier in romans say by grace not by works it's old jesus not me i don't need to do anything you don't need to do anything to be saved jesus did everything he said on the cross it is finished he did all the work he died in your place for your sins all you got to do is just receive the gift that jesus gives but if you want to be free you need to obey you could be saved by doing nothing but to be free you got to obey and some of you are saved but you're not free because jesus has done what only he can do but you have not done what he has told you to do you're living in disobedience which is why you don't live in freedom and ultimately he says that people are the product of their teaching he talks about the standard of teaching that's what the apostle paul here is saying so your mom used to tell you physically you are what you eat what's true physically is also true spiritually i would tell you that this is a season where you need more protein in your diet and healthier nutrition okay what they tell us is that the average person consumes 1500 to 3 000 calories a day an athlete consumes more an olympic level athlete consumes considerably more i remember watching the olympics a while ago michael phelps the swimmer he was burning 12 000 calories a day he's eating in a day while we eat in a week and he's skinning you know then he's exercising amen this is the kind of year for your soul you need healthier nutrition and you need more nutrition you need more teaching not less more bible not less more worship not less more prayer not less more jesus not less more holy spirit not less amen it's the standard of teaching okay then he continues freedom is not choosing to go down but god choosing to pull you up we choose our master and it drags us down jesus is the master who overrides our decision and pulls us up romans 6 19 he says it this way i'm speaking in human terms he's going to use an analogy from their culture that was familiar to them because of your natural limitations for just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity it's amazing how so much impurity in our day parades as freedom and we should be proud no it's slavery and we need to be set free just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness it goes from bad to worse so not present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification now when he's talking here about slavery you and i will immediately think in terms of our american history and the original sin of slave trading it's sinful it's wrong it's ungodly it's evil it's demonic the bible lists slave trading as was practiced in america among the most heinous sins in the list of sins in the new testament if we go beyond america back a few thousand years to the roman empire which was the recipient of this letter the roman empire was about 120 million people and they would grow through conquering other nations it was military expansion at some point in their life upwards of 50 percent of the citizens of the roman empire would be in the legal category of servant or slave you would find yourself in that category in two ways it was imposed upon you or it was invited by you let's say for example the roman army marched in your army lost they take you as a pow now you're a slave it's imposed on you the second category was one that was not imposed on you but invited by you it was servitude and so what you would decide is i'll work for you if you'll house me and feed me and provide for me so you're giving up your freedom in exchange for provision this could be for a short period of time or a long period time it often times wasn't a lifelong category now we tend to think of this as a bad thing but let's just be honest we still have some form of this how many of you are in the military okay thank you for your service we love you and appreciate you you were fighting for freedom but you didn't really have any amen true did just do you like that explains the military you're not free because what you've said is i'm signing up and you will now be my master and i will do what you tell me to do in exchange for food and medical care and housing and maybe uh college help how many of you in the military you realize you didn't have a lot of freedom you had a master he was called a sergeant you're like yeah i prayed about it i don't do jogging don't do that he's like i don't care i don't care push-ups yeah not my thing naps my thing what does your master say you do what you're told i don't believe in authority you will you will you will that we still have these similar categories but here's the big idea some of the problems in your life they were imposed on you many of the problems in your life they were invited by you oftentimes the masters who roll over us enslave us force us to serve them are not bad things that defeated us they were good things that we invited and let me say this a good thing in god's place becomes a bad thing sex is good but it's a bad god money is good but it's a bad god relationships are good but they're bad gods success is good but it's a bad god let me ask you this and just be very honest with me the biggest problems in your life is it because of decisions you made okay one honest person chuckled okay it's true right because we like to blame everyone and everything so what are some of the excuses we make my parents it's always good rock paper scissors mom and dad you know we've all got fallen parents who made mistakes and if you want to blame them you can it's easy you're like they were not perfect neither were you that was the right family what a fit what other excuses do we make they did it they did it i'm a victim we're all a victim you know what we're not only a victim of their choices we're also a victim of our choices what other excuses do we make it's too hard no one understands i'm too busy i don't have time i know i should do it but that's i just i can't it's a government it's a government man it's a government my favorite is always my personality that's our new one i took a test i'm not nice i said so i am i came out as a a really profound j-e-r-k that's just my personality and what he's saying is this that oftentimes the master that we choose is not one that brings life it brings death but we have no one to blame but ourselves because that's the master we chose okay now the good news is this there is another master named jesus and he comes in and he defeats the old master he lives without sin he conquers satan sin death hell the wrath of god the old master and then what he does he liberates you and frees you to live under his grace so you can have life and what he's saying is this that ultimately things get better or they get worse you go up or you go down he says that lawlessness leads to what lawlessness and he says that righteousness leads to sanctification which means growth and change now when you meet jesus you're not perfect but you are new and now in a change process by the grace of god and the power of the holy spirit called sanctification where god is working to make you more and more and more and more like jesus your new master and let me just say this i want to encourage you because you're not who you will be when jesus is done with you but you're not who you were when jesus started with you i know many of you personally i love you very dearly it's an honor to be your pastor thanks for putting up with the hot mess minus the hot okay [Music] but at the end of the day i'm seeing progress in people's lives i'm seeing them learn i'm seeing them grow i'm seeing them change i'm seeing them mature i'm seeing more of jesus and less of the old master and and what he's saying is this that the great lie of sin is this here's the great lie you ready sin lies and says that it's willing to be your slave is sin ever willing to be your slave and let you be the master no sin always demands to be the master who's the slave you are so when he says that lawlessness leads to lawlessness what he's saying is once you choose sin to be your master the illusion is you can control it you can't it controls you [Music] the illusion is you can manage it you can't manage it it manages you the illusion is you can hide it you can't eventually it exposes you how many of you when you chose sin you thought i'm gonna be the master it'll be my servant or slave i can control it and the next thing you know it's the master this is the human story not just yours jesus comes defeats that master sets you free from that master so that instead of going from lawlessness to lawlessness you can go from righteousness to sanctification things get better or they get worse your spiritual life has no pause it's forward or backwards it's either progress or retreat that's what he's saying and some of you are experiencing this and some of you your sin choice and your sin master it is turning on you and you need to be set free so you need to give your sin to jesus and you need to be in relationship with jesus and you need your new master to conquer your old master and set you free into your new future and what he's saying here then is that freedom is not falling back but it is running forward for when you were slaves of sin we all were we all start there you were free in regards to righteousness but what fruit were you getting at that time from the things that you are now ashamed how do you know that you have been set free from your old master to your new master the things you used to be proud of you're now ashamed of is that true how many of you you used to brag about things that now you repent of man i got so hammered you're like what was i thinking i slept with so many people you're like who was that there are because what happens is if you don't believe that there is a new master and a good master all you do is celebrate the old master this is where we get tolerance and diversity and pride and parades and this is who i am and god's like you should be ashamed of that and as soon as i say that people are offended how do i know i was on facebook this week if you want to find wisdom don't go to facebook i'm just telling you i posted a little clip about some things that the bible says about sexuality a couple million people later literally everybody's like you're trying to shame us you're trying to shame us you should be ashamed right i had a guy come to recently he's like you make me feel bad i was like you're bad i mean if somebody came up and said you know i am not ashamed you should be ashamed because he told us earlier in romans the holy spirit just brought this to mind i am not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ for it is the power of god to anyone who believes okay what it means is this if this is what you're doing don't be ashamed of the gospel and eventually you'll be ashamed of what you were doing you're either going to be ashamed of the gospel or ashamed of your behavior because the gospel of jesus christ is the new lord and commands and demands change in the behavior so rather than celebrate it's better to repent and rather than being ashamed of jesus it's good to be ashamed of who we are and what we do okay so i would just ask you if you've met jesus there are some things that you look back can we just be honest you're like i'm just ashamed of that i should have never posted a picture of myself in a bikini on instagram i'm a grandfather [Laughter] it shouldn't have been the key is to sneak it in that's the key it's the surprise element and we just found the religious people we just did i'm going on facebook and talking about that okay and what he's saying here is really quite beautiful and remarkable let me speak to two kinds of people here these are the two kinds of people that he is referring to let me read it all the way through for when you were slaves of sin you were free in regards to righteousness but what fruit were you gathering at that time from the things that you are now ashamed for the end of those things is what your new master is going to kill you it's gonna be like he said it'll be fun it'll be fun on the way to hell and then it's not fun the conga line ends up in an incinerator but now that you have been set free from what sin and to become slaves of god the fruit you get leads to sanctification and in itself ends in eternal life so let me speak to two kinds of people these are the two people that the apostle paul is speaking to some of you you're slaves but you think you're free you're like that's mark i'm free i do what i want that's not freedom that's slavery okay and it leads to death this death is spiritual you're disconnected from god it then becomes physical you die and then it becomes eternal you go to hell it's a threefold death you're one third of the way through the process what that means is you're as close to heaven as you will get and all that away to is not only pain in this life but pain in the life that never ends see i love you my job is to tell the truth your job is to make a decision all right i can't pick your master you got to pick your master but ultimately some of you think you're free but you're slaves you think you're free but you're slaves and you know what you need you need to be set free there's only one who can do that that's jesus see we live in a day right now where everybody's like if the election goes my way i'm free if the vaccine works i'm free if they just let us take the mass off we're free if the stock market bounced back we're free if all those things happen that's out here not in here we're still slaves we're still slaves to sin and death so what i would ask you is if you think that you're free let me just tell you really our slave and only jesus set slaves free and only jesus conquers the old master and only jesus is the good new master so this is this is where some of you right now you need to literally give your sin to jesus have him conquer your old master of sin and set you free in newness of life okay and this is only something that jesus christ can do so this is where right now friend you need jesus you need to give him your sin and you need to receive him as your savior and your new master secondly some of you you're free but you think you're a slave let me talk to many of you christians jesus has set you free but there are things in your life that you still believe that you are a slave to yeah i know i'm a christian but that's not going to change that's an old habit that's a deep root that's that's just part of who i am no it's part of who you are you don't have to work around it you don't have to tolerate it you don't have to control it you don't have to minimize it you don't need to hide it you can kill it because jesus died for it and what happens oftentimes with god's people they're set free but they still think and act like slaves i'll give you an example in the old testament the book of exodus is a book of slavery god's people were in egypt for more than 400 years they were ruled over by this demonic counterfeit king named pharaoh he literally enslaved and abused god's people and the new master shows up yahweh the god of the bible he conquers all of the other masters he sets his people free he kills the soldiers he sends the plagues he parts the red sea god's people walk into freedom and choose slavery god sets you free but then you need to live free all of a sudden they start talking about the good old days when they were [Music] slaves oh i miss i miss the old days furthermore they start going back to slave-like behavior they worship demon false gods they build a golden calf paul tells the corinthians they get drunk and they're all sleeping together and it's total mayhem and the point is this god can set you free but you need to live free and if you're not a slave you could still think like a slave and act like a slave we're going to get there later in romans instead you start to think like a son and act like a son okay for those of you who are christians let me just say this you're free that behavior can stop those patterns can stop those addictions can stop those lifestyle choices can stop that brokenness can be healed that addiction can be conquered that slavery can be ended okay that there is new life in jesus christ and whom the sun sets free is for indeed lastly he says that freedom is not freedom from god but freedom to god for the wages of sin is death but the free gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord he's talking here about the two ways wages and gifts sin pays wages and the only wages that sin can pay is death you need to know that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of god that ultimately god knows all of our sins this includes your thoughts your mind it includes your words your deeds it includes your motives and intentions it includes sins of commission where you have done wrong and sins of omission where you have failed to do right god's standard is holiness it is referred to here as his law it is over all people's times places and cultures there are no excuses and there are no exceptions that in the presence of a holy and righteous god sinners will be silenced and sin will be judged and hell will be full and punishment will occur do not be deceived god will not be mocked we will all reap exactly what we show okay now i can see you see your face somebody like you're scaring me good that's what i was trying to do pastor mark you're scaring the hell out of me but zynga that's what i was shooting for bad news good news jesus doesn't give wages that you earn he gives gifts that he's earned jesus went to the cross and he paid our debt to god he paid the wage the wage was death and jesus lived the life that we have not lived the life without sin he died the death we should have died the death payment or sin and here is jesus dead and buried and it looks like satan sin death demons has conquered our master and then he comes forth the newness of life and then he walks out of his grave our master conquers sin our master conquers death our master conquers hell our master conquers satan our master conquers demons our master conquers condemnation our master conquers everyone and everything and he walks away from it and he says i choose you and i choose you and i choose you and he sets free and he makes free here's my last verse it's awesome if the sun sets you free you are free indeed number one we're not free jesus is free jesus makes us free everyone looking for freedom is looking for jesus whether they know it or not here's what i'm telling you there's freedom for you in this life there's freedom for you through this life there's freedom for you after this life you are set free from sin and set free to jesus and who the son sets free is free indeed it matters not what happens in this world we are the children of god we have freedom in christ we have power in christ we have new life in christ we don't need to stay buried we can live lives that are resurrected amen let me pray for you to tell you what we're gonna do next jesus our minds are blown our hearts are filled and our hope is lifted god we live in a world that has taken away or restricted a lot of freedom and lord jesus thank you that there is a freedom within us that it cannot be taken there is a freedom within us that cannot be restricted there is a freedom within us that is made possible by our new master and jesus we just say you're a better master than we are you're a better lord than we are you have a better plan than we do and you give gifts jesus we don't deserve forgiveness but we receive it we don't deserve relationship with you but we receive it we don't deserve eternal life but we receive it we don't deserve righteousness but we receive it we don't deserve justification but we receive it we don't deserve a second chance but we receive it we don't deserve 120 second chance but we receive it jesus just keep our eyes open to the gifts you give and please change our hearts that we would know the love of our master and that we would obey him because he's good and he's right and he's loving and he's kind he's wise and he's faithful jesus we don't have words to say how wonderful you are so we just say jesus in jesus name amen all right i'm going to invite the band up here's what we're going to do we're going to baptize new christians how's that so if you're new baptism is where we show jesus died and then he came forth and he conquered satan sin death hell and all of the old masters as he walks in freedom and life we follow him in freedom and life if you've never been baptized we would love to baptize you so you go to the back we've got people that would love to pray with you and some of you are like i don't have the right clothes god didn't tell you you're going to get saved and baptized because he knew he wouldn't come but he told us you were coming so he told us to get you towels and shirts and shorts so we're ready for you if you have questions about jesus you're ready to make that decision to belong to jesus and to follow jesus and to obey jesus go meet with someone right now this is the day of salvation do not delay amen you've been a slave long enough time to get free amen okay and what you're going to do you're going to stay because there's nothing else open and there's nowhere else fun so you may as well stay and then we're going to sing and celebrate we're going to show the baptisms on the screen and we're going to rejoice and we're going to celebrate because many things are closed but heaven is open and we have decided that jesus is essential

Channel: Real Faith by Mark Driscoll

Views: 4,085

Rating: 4.9191918 out of 5

Keywords: Mark, Driscoll, ministry, thetrinitychurch, scottsdale, arizona, bible, teaching, gospel, theology, jesus, biblestudy, faith, bibleverse

Id: hdR4j4jMLOI

Length: 54min 59sec (3299 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 07 2020