Chapter 6 and verse 12, we read, but yield yourselves unto God,
as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have
dominion over you. For ye are not under the law,
but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because
we're not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. but God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin, that you have obeyed from the heart that
form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free
from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Now this morning
I want to speak particularly to our dear sister, who is about
to confess Christ and believer's baptism. But for every other
believer here, as you listen, let today be as it were, all
over again, the first day that you're entering publicly into
the service of our Lord and Savior. Now each time that I've baptized
somebody, it's caused me to look back over my life as a believer. And doing so causes mixed emotions
in me. The first thing that I think
about is I'm thankful to God that He's kept me by His grace.
And it's all by His grace. The only difference that has
been made has been made by His grace only. And then secondly,
I have to confess that there There's a certain sense of regret
that I have. Regret because of mistakes that
I've made in my life whereby I dishonored God and my Savior
who's done nothing but good toward me. I'd like to be free from
the body of this death. I'd like to be totally free from
it. But then thirdly, it gives me
a sense of urgency for those that are being baptized. If I
could, if I could, I would like to cause you to just shut up
your senses to this world entirely and listen to nobody but God. Before our Lord was baptized,
we don't read of any account anywhere in the scripture of
Satan tempting him at all. But immediately after he was
baptized, the Spirit drove him into the wilderness and God permitted
Satan to tempt him immediately. Now that doesn't mean that a
child of God will not be opposed prior to being baptized But it
means that whenever God has called you and caused you to take a
stand with Christ, you can rest assured of this. Faith will be
tried. It will be tried. And when it's
being tried, always bear in mind that God is in complete control. He's in total control. So if
you're being tried, your faith is being tried. It's God that's
trying it. It's God that is proving to you
that you don't have any strength in yourself. And He's proving
to you that His grace is sufficient. He's proving to you that His
strength is made known through your weakness. That's the lesson. That's always the lesson in these
trials. With every step that I've taken
since God called me by His grace, there's been a warfare. There's
been a continual struggle between light and darkness. between good
and evil, between my flesh and the new man, between Christ and
Satan. And everything is working against
my inward man. Everything is working to try
to put a distance between the believer and the Lord Jesus Christ. And because of that, I wish I
had the ability to put into your heart the importance of not heeding
this world but of continually, only, always assembling together
with God's saints and hearing the Word of God, hearing the
preaching of Christ and Him crucified. I wish I could make you turn
a deaf ear, a total deaf ear to all the vain promises that
this world is going to make and make you hear Christ Jesus the
Lord. I wish I could force you to turn
a blind eye to that mirage that this world calls happiness and
cause your eye of faith to be set on Christ only, always. But I don't have the power to
do that. And so I cast myself on the mercy of God and I ask
Him, Lord, keep your people from evil. Keep them from evil. So
I want to speak to you this morning about some things that it would
be good for us to remember every morning when we wake up. This
is something that's good for the believer to remember every
morning when we wake up. When you open your eyes in the
morning, as a believer, it would be good for you, good for me,
to think immediately this thought. I am a child of God my Father. and I'm serving Christ in this
earth to bear witness of Him. And I'm doing so in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation among whom God says, I shine
as a light in this world. They're watching. They're looking
continually. Verse 12 says, Let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust
thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God. Now I want you to note
something right here. What assurance that God gives
here and the motivation to yield ourselves unto God here, He doesn't
turn us back to the law. Now, if he was going to tell
us to go back and check ourselves using the law given at Mount
Sinai, this would be the spot to tell us that, right here.
Because what he's talking about here is yielding ourselves to
God rather than to sin. Yielding our members as weapons,
instruments, weapons of righteousness rather than as instruments of
sin, but he doesn't turn us back to the law. This is where he
gives us assurance and this is our motivation. Look at verse
14. For, because sin shall not have
dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but you're
under grace. That's what I want you to get
today from the message. Believer, your motivation to
yield yourselves to God rather than to sin is because of the
assurance that sin shall not have dominion over you because
you're not under the law, you're under grace. That's an assurance
given by God and that's the greatest motivation that could possibly
be given to a sinner. I want to title this Assurance
and Motivation and I want us to look at these three things.
First of all, what does God mean when He says the believer is
not under the law? He says there in verse 14, sin
shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the
law. And then secondly, what does
God mean when He says the believers under grace? You're not under
the law, He says, but you're under grace. And then thirdly,
understanding what this means, what then shall we do? Verse
15 says, what then? Shall we sin because we're not
under the law but under grace? God forbid. Alright, first of
all, what does God mean when He says the believer is not under
the law? Verse 14 says, this is our motivation,
this is our assurance. He says, because sin shall not
have dominion over you, for you're not under the law. Now, look
over at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. The venomous sting that caused
our spiritual death is sin. The sting, that venom that went
in, that poison is sin. That's what caused our death.
And the strength of death is the law. The law of God. Now look here in verse 56. The
sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. You see, when it says you're
not under the law, it involves three things. It involves sin,
it involves death, and it involves the law. If the law is satisfied,
then I'm free from the law. If it's satisfied. If the law
has no sin to lay to my charge, I'm free from sin. And if I'm
free from sin, I'm free from death. Now, as long as a sinner
lives, As long as we live, the law has dominion over us. Turn
back to Romans and look at chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. As long as I live, the law has
dominion over me. Verse 1. Know ye not, brethren,
for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath
dominion over a man as long as he liveth. Now you see that the
law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. Therefore,
sin has dominion over him. And therefore, death has dominion
over him. It rules. It reigns over him. Sin, death, and the law. It has dominion over a man. Now
be sure to get this. The only way, the only way that
these three will cease to have dominion over a sinner Law, sin,
and death. The only way they're going to
cease having dominion over a sinner is for that sinner to pay the
law what it demands because of his transgressions. He's got
to pay what the law demands because of his transgressions. And what
the law demands is death. That's what the law demands.
So our text says, of those that are born of the Spirit of God
and called to faith in Christ, sin shall not have dominion over
you for you're not under the law. How so? Well, the next verse
back there in 1 Corinthians 15 and 57 is this. Thanks be to
God which giveth, He giveth as a gift to us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how these three are accomplished. Now, on behalf of all the elect
of God and the elect of God only. It's not in some sense that Christ
died for all men. That's a lie. That makes the
accomplished redemption of Christ to be of no effect whatsoever. that makes his death to be vain,
that makes his blood to have been shed in vain. For the elect
of God and the elect of God only, Christ Jesus, our representative
head, came into this earth and he accomplished for his people
salvation from the law, from sin, and from death. He accomplished
that by his work on this earth. Now first of all concerning our
sin, let's look at all three of these. This is what it means
to no longer be under the law. This is why sin will not have
dominion over a believer. First of all, concerning our
sin, look at Romans 6 verse 1. What shall we say then? Paul
had just been talking about how that by Christ grace will reign
through righteousness. And then he says, what then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? This is what
vain polluted, carnal, dead reasoning will reason from the truth that
Christ has freed His people from the law, sin, and death. They'll
say, well then, if through my sin, grace has much more abounded,
then let's just sin so much more so grace will abound that much
more. Paul said, God forbid. That's not what a true believer
desires in his heart. But now look at this statement.
How shall we, now watch this, that are dead to sin, live any
longer therein? How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? What does that mean, dead to
sin? Dead to sin means before the all-seeing eye of God, before
the judgment seat of the righteous judge of heaven and earth, those
in Christ died to the guilt and to the condemning power of sin
when Christ died at Calvary. Believers are not dead to sin's
influence. We're not dead to sin's presence
and we're not dead to sin's effects. You and I know that. We're not
dead to that, but we're dead to the guilt and condemnation
of sin. Christ was made under the law
because those He came to save were under the law. He was made
of a woman because those He came to save were flesh. Therefore,
He partook of the same. And He was made under the law
to redeem, to pay the price owed by the law, to redeem them that
were under the law from the curse. And to do that, He was made what
we were under the law, which was a curse. He walked before
that law, righteous and the just one, then willingly took all
the sins of all the elect of God upon himself. And he, his
own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree. And he
was made a curse for us. And by that, by God pouring out
justice upon him, he satisfied the law for all of his people. He completely, thoroughly answered
the demands of the law for all of his people. So then, God regards
the old man of sin, that's in all his people. That old man
of sin, when he's quickened us to life and he's given us life,
we have that old flesh, that old fleshly nature, that nature
we were born with in Adam. God regards our old man of sin
no more. No more. Look back at Romans
4 and look at verse 6. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without work. saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. He will not do it. He will not
do it. He said their sins and iniquities
I remember no more. He said they're cast behind my
back. He said they're cast into the depths of the ocean and I
remember them no more. The law only demands death once
and it's been paid. Look at verse 3. Know ye not
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death? When the Lord Jesus Christ went
to the cross, He was immersed in the judgment of God. That's
what baptism means. It means immersion. Baptism is
not a translation of immersion. It means immersion. That's what
it is. You couldn't translate that word. It means immersion.
Baptism means that. When Christ went to the cross,
He was immersed in the judgment of God. It engulfed Him completely. He died on that tree willingly,
gave up the ghost, laid down His life, and died on that tree.
And He was immersed in death. It was a complete death. And
He was buried. It was a complete burial. And
it says here in verse 4, Therefore we... And when He did that in
verse 3, all His people did it in Him. And so verse 4 says,
Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death. Now by water baptism, being totally
immersed in the water, baptized into this grave of water. That's what it symbolizes, it's
a grave. And we're going to baptize our sister in this grave of water. And she's going to go completely
under that water. And what we're showing in that
picture there is that we believe God that we are buried with Christ
into death. Buried. Buried. Out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind. It's
gone. Illegally accomplished. Everything's finished. So, first
of all, we're dead to sin. The believer's dead to sin. Sin
shall not have dominion over you because you're dead to sin. You're dead to sin. That's the
first thing that's included in this thing of not being under
the law. Here's the second thing. What about the law? Well, what
about the law itself? Remember what we just read in
verse 1? Look back at Romans 7 verse 1. The second part there,
the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. What did
we just see? We just saw that we died, didn't
we? Alright, look down at verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, you
also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. that you
should be married to another, even to him who's raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. That's
what married couples do. For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. We didn't bring forth any fruit.
No sinner's ever brought forth fruit who's tried to do it by
the works of the law. It's all dead fruit. He's a mercenary. He's in leagues
with a band of mercenaries and what they're doing is they're
doing a work for compensation. They want to be paid eternal
life. They want to be paid a reward. They want to be paid for a wage
that they've earned by their works. They want, this is the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the flesh wants for everybody
in heaven to throw their crowns down at their feet rather than
at Christ's feet. That's the lust of the flesh.
But this is the truth of the matter. All we ever brought forth
when we were doing our works of law obedience was death. That's
it. Verse 6. But now we're delivered
from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we
should serve in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the latter. So the law is paid in full for
all the elect of God by Christ's death on the cross. That's why
our text says, most emphatically, giving us the utmost assurance
in verse Romans 6, 14, Sin shall not have dominion over you, for
you are not under the law. Now how much more clear can it
get? You're not under the law. Not
under it. So we're dead to sin, and we're dead to the law. Now
we've got one more thing. Death. What about death? What
about that? We're dead to death too. The
believer's dead to death. We who are born of the Spirit
of God have been sanctified into newness of life. And right now,
right here where you sit, you who believe God by His grace
have eternal life. It's not something we're waiting
on. It's not something that we're going to get down the road. We've
got it now. Right now. Look here at verse
4, Romans 6, 4. Therefore, we're buried with
him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father. That's that power
we've been reading about, studying about over in Ephesians. The
glory of the Father, by that exceedingly great and mighty
power. Even so, we also should walk
in newness of life. For if we've been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection. Knowing this, now pay particular
attention to this, that our old man is crucified with Christ,
that the body of sin might be destroyed. That, henceforth,
we should not serve sin. Now don't let these words should
fool you. The word is you shall not. You shall not serve sin. You shall not be a slave to sin. That's what our text is saying.
Sin shall not have dominion over you. It won't be a slave master
over you anymore. Why not? Why will it not be?
This right here, the Spirit of God has moved Paul to talk to
us about our sanctification. That's what he's showing us here.
He's showing us that by the same one who justified us by his blood,
that same one also through him we've been sanctified by the
Spirit of God. Now watch this. The body of sin. You see that there? The body
of sin? That's that dead body. That old nature that our inward
man is carrying around. The old me. The old you. That new man is the new me. That
born of God. This is the old me. That body
of sin. And it says that Christ died
that it might be destroyed. I looked the word up. Destroyed.
It means that it might be made to cease to have reigning power. that it might be not able anymore
to be effectually reigning over us like it did prior to us being
regenerated. And that henceforth we should
not serve sin. It means we shall not serve sin. It means we shall not be the
slaves of it. Our text says sin shall not have
dominion over you. Later on in the chapter, Paul
gives an illustration using slaves, servants. He says, you were the
servants of sin, but thanks be unto God, you believe from the
heart, that new heart given by God, that form of doctrine which
was delivered to you. We thank God because He did everything
to deliver it to us. He did everything to give us
a new heart. He did everything to sanctify us and make us believe
what He said. It's not that a believer, this
is never the case, it's not that a believer saved against his
will. That's not so. Truly, Kristen and I were talking
about this yesterday, truly a believer is the only one that really does
have a free will. Really. Because we've been made
willing in the day of His power to freely come unto God, and
to freely be upheld by His grace, and to freely walk in newness
of life, to freely serve Him in newness of spirit, and not
in the bondage of that old dead letter, phony free will works
religion, so-called free will. We've been delivered from that.
So, this is what he's telling us, brethren. Through Christ's
work on the cross, the body of sins of our old fleshly man is
destroyed. It's been circumcised. It's been
put off. It's been made of no effect so
that it can't bind us in slavery to sin anymore. He's showing
us our sanctification is through the blood of Christ just like
our justification is. Turn over to Colossians chapter
2. Let's see how Paul says the same thing in Colossians chapter
2. He's saying the exact same thing
right here. And look how he says it. And
he uses circumcision because that's what, you know, the Judaizers
were saying, you've got to be circumcised. You've got to be
circumcised. You can believe on Christ, but now you've got
to be circumcised. And so he's using this to show circumcision
is that which is done in the heart. But it doesn't begin in our heart,
it began on the cross. Now watch this. Colossians 2
verse 11. In whom? In Christ. Also you
are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands and putting
off what? The body of the sins of the flesh. That's what he said in Romans
6. That the body of sin might be destroyed. The same thing
he said there in Romans 6. He said that it might be destroyed.
Here he says that the body of sins of the flesh might be put
off. by the circumcision of Christ. You see, by Him do it. Here's
how He did it. Buried with Him in baptism. That's not talking
about this water out here. That's talking about when we
were on the cross in Him. Buried with Him in baptism, wherein
also you're risen with Him through the faith of the operation of
God who raised Him from the dead. We were raised with Him when
He'd come out of that grave and went and sat down at the right
hand of the Father. And then, in you being dead in your sins,
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has He quickened together
with Him. He regenerated you. He gave you
life, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary
to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.
That means we've been justified through the blood of Christ,
and we've been sanctified through the blood of Christ. Look back
at Romans 6, verse 6. Because Christ justified all
those for whom He died, it means all those for whom He died must
be sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God. They must be born again
and sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God. This is important. Now
look at Romans 6, verse 6. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with Him. On that cross, through His blood,
we were crucified with Him. That, for a purpose, that. Not
only that we might be justified, but that we might be sanctified.
That's what He means here. Now look, when He says that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not
serve sin. Now here is the because. This
is what made it necessary that we be sanctified. This is why
When somebody says, well, I believe if a man's elected unto salvation
and Christ died for him, it doesn't matter if he ever hears the gospel
or not. Oh, yes, it does. Because God predestinated it. The adoption of children by Jesus
Christ. And this is the must that tells
us it has to be. He has to be quickened to life.
Here's why. For. See verse 7? For. That word's
because he that is dead is freed from sin. That means he's justified. He's completely justified. So
law has no claim on him anymore. So if he's not given life, if
he's not given life, it would be as if it would be God breaking
his own law. Because the law has nothing else
to say to him. Because his old man's dead. It answered to the
law when Christ died. So now he's got to be given life.
He's got to be. Alright, watch this, verse 8.
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe, now this is our statement,
this is our doctrine, this is what we believe right here, that
we shall also live with Him. That's right, we believe this
is our doctrine. Those justified by Christ must be born again,
they must be sanctified through His blood. Verse 9, knowing that
Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more. Now look at this next word, death
hath no more dominion over him. See, this is what we're looking
at. Sin shall not have dominion over you. You're not under the
law. Sin won't have dominion over you. The law won't have
dominion over you. And here we see death has no
more dominion over Christ. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our sanctification
was a must because Christ justified us. It was a must. So Christ
has taken over in the hearts of His people through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? That's what happens when He sanctifies
us. He makes us take all those works
we've been clinging to, all that owl walking we did when we was
back there in the free will, vain religion, all of that stuff
we've been looking back to and saying, but now that's my hope.
That's my hope. If you can't let go of it, it's
a vain hope, I guarantee you. If you can't drop it and grab
on to Christ alone, it's a vain hope. That's a false refuge,
is what that is. He takes us and He shows us Christ
and He shows us that we're so complete in Him by what He's
done. I've given you that illustration I heard from Brother Henry. I
just love it. About the little boy eating the corn cob. The
little boy had those old corn cobs. He'd been eating all the
corn off of it. He's sitting there just gnawing on that corn
cob, gnawing on that corn cob. He just wouldn't let it go. Butters
dripping all down his arm and his elbow and his parents trying
to get him to let go of that corn cob. It's time to go home.
And he wouldn't let go of it. That's how we were. We were holding
on to our works, holding on to our so-called righteousnesses
and what we had done in religion and all of that, holding on to
it. And Mr. Stoniker that owned the restaurant,
Marvin Stoniker's daddy, he walked up and he said, could I try something?
And he took a chocolate bar. and he held out that chocolate
bar in front of that little boy, and he dropped that corncob immediately
in the last hole of that chocolate bar. He gave him something better. And when God reveals Christ in
us, He gives us something better than all our vain works. When
He purges that conscience, now you know it's done. Sin has nothing
against... Law has nothing against me anymore.
There's no sin to charge me with. How free from death. And we have
no more conscience of sins. Now we do know that we sin and
from time to time it bothers us greatly. But we know we'll
never be forsaken of God because He has completely put away our
sin by Christ. That we know and we hold to Him.
And it's peace. It's peace that passes knowledge. It's peace that is beyond understanding. If you haven't had Christ, the
Spirit of God sanctify you in your heart, you just don't know
what I'm talking about. That's just fact. So, now do
we understand what this means? Sin shall not have dominion over
you. You're not under the law. The main sin Paul's speaking
about here in all his letters is turning back to your works
and to the law, obedience and to the letter of the law and
trying to shape up yourself by that. You can't do it. You just
can't do it. Let no man judge you in meat
or drink or respect of a holy day or of the new moon or of
the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come. That's all
they were but the body's Christ. If you've got Christ now, don't
go back, hold on to the shadow. Listen to this, the law, sin,
or death can never say another word to Christ, not ever. And therefore the law, sin, and
death can never say another word to us for whom Christ died. We're
not under the curse of the law. We're not restrained by law.
We're not motivated by law. We're not ruled by law. The law
is not our rule of life. Listen now, the just shall live
by faith. And the law is not of faith. But the man that doeth them,
the man that wants to have them for his rule, he's got to live
in them. He's got to do them all completely. The law doesn't have anything
to say to our new man, for with Christ abiding in us and with
us in Him, our inward man of His creating is as righteous
and holy as Christ is. There's no law against the fruit
of the Spirit, none whatsoever. The law is as satisfied with
us in Christ as it is with our Savior who fulfilled it in precept
and in penalty on our behalf. Now that's so. Now, brethren,
every one of us know, we know, you know and I know this, that
after conversion sin is still in us who believe. It's still
there. Sin still has a great power too. It entices us, it traps us, and
it brings us into captivity very often. Ask Noah. Ask David. Ask Peter. Ask Moses. And sometimes it makes
us to stumble so badly that it appears that it's had the rain
again. It's taken over again. Ask Lot. Most people in this
world don't even think Lot was saved. He was a saved man. He
was a saved man. Sin did not have dominion over
him. It did not ultimately prevail against him. Grace did. Grace
did. Alright, look here now this second
thing. I'll hurry along here. Second thing. What does God mean
when He says you're under grace? What does He mean? Here's what
He means primarily. Look here at Romans 5 and look
at verse 17. If by one man's offense death
reigned by one, it had dominion over us, much more, overflowing
in a much more brilliant manner, they which receive abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus
Christ. That means, look down here at
verse 20. The law entered that the offense
might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That is, sin hath reigned unto
death. Even so, and the word there is
shall, it's shall. Even so, shall grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The believer's been taken out
of the realm of the flesh, out from under sin, out from under
the law, out from under that carnal nature. He's been taken
out of that and he's been translated into the kingdom of God where
Christ rules and reigns over him and he's under grace. He's
not under the law. We're under the covenant of grace.
He hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things
insure, and this is all my salvation and all my desire." It's completed
from beginning to end by God. We're under regenerating grace,
sanctifying grace, keeping grace, so that sin will not reign over
us, not because of something in us, but because of His grace. His grace won't allow. He rules
us by grace and mercy and not by law. This is what He said,
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. And their sins and iniquities
I'll remember no more. When they sin and they stumble
because they're still in that old man of flesh, instead of
pouring out Justice on them. My justice is satisfied. It's
extinguished. Christ has drank that cup dry. So now, I'll be merciful to their
unrighteousness. And when I've been merciful to
their unrighteousness, I'm not going to keep bringing it back
up to them and throwing it back in their teeth. I'll remember
it no more. That's to be under grace. Grace
works a far more superior motive than law does. The love of Christ
constrains us, because we judge that if one died for all, then
we're all dead, and that he died for all, that they which live
should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which
died for them and rose again. That's what we believe. This is the will of God, that
with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men. Now that was what God did to us. We were the ignorant men.
and with well-doing Christ came to where we are and we didn't
deserve the least of God's favors and yet he saved us all by grace.
And so we read there, he said in 1 Peter, it's one thing to
do good, I mean to do, let me read it to you. This is thankworthy
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when
you're buffeted for your faults you take it patiently? You get
caught and you take it patiently. So what? You deserved it. But
if you've done nothing wrong and you suffer and you take it
patiently, that's acceptable with God. That's acceptable with
God. For even in hereto were you called
because Christ suffered for us. leaving us an example that you
should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, he reviled not
again, when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to
him that judgeth righteously. who His own self bear our sins
and His own body on the tree that we, being dead to sin, should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes you're healed. See? He
endured our grief. He endured being buffeted for
our faults. He suffered for us. He was reviled
for us. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree. He died in our room instead. And by Him, bearing
those stripes that we deserve, we're healed. And that is grace
that works in our hearts that'll make you not want to sin. It'll make you strive against
sin. It'll make you want to live for Him. It'll make you want
to do what you do for Him. Grace does. It's sovereign, free,
electing, redeeming, regenerating, preserving, resurrecting, glorifying,
grace from A to Z. That's the only reformer of men.
That's it. Grace comes from God down to
sinners, from the inside out. It implants the right motive,
and it gives strength, and it saves, and it loses none. This
is the grace we're under. You think about workers. I saw
this illustration the other day. You think about workers who are
out there working, it's hot, and they go to take a break,
a water break, and they go over there and they got one bottle
of water to drink out of. And they all start sharing that
bottle. While one's drinking out of it, the rest of them are
sitting around him and they're looking at him and they're just envying
him. Because they're thinking, what
if that water runs out? I'm thirsty. I want some of that
water. But then think about men like that. They're by a clean,
clear river of spring water. And they run over there to that
and they can all just kneel down and drink all they want out of
that river. and never have one worry whatsoever
that it's ever going to run out. That's the grace of God that
we're assured of by our Savior. Of His fullness. How full? Infinitely full. Of His fullness
have we all received grace for grace. Now thirdly, I'll hurry. What's that make you want to
do? Verse 15. What then? Shall we sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. And if what you've
heard today makes you want to sin, if it makes you say, well,
if all my sins are covered, they're all paid for, then I can just
sin all I want to because it's all covered. And God's grace
will just abound more and more. If that's what you think, that's
evidence. That's evidence to you that you
don't know God. It's evidence to you you have
not been born of the Spirit of God. First of all, here's what
it makes us want to do. Look at verse 12. How am I going
to do that? How am I going to not let sin
reign in my mortal body? I don't have any power against
it. Do you? Do you? Have you figured
that out yet? It's true. Well, you don't. We're
talking about thoughts. Thoughts. How am I going to do
this? The second thing that's said
right here. This is how you do it. But yield yourselves unto
God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as
instruments, as weapons of righteousness unto God. Here it is right here.
Watch this. This is how you do it. You're
having these awful thoughts come over you, and you're plaguing
you, and they're just taking you, and they're entrapping you,
and they're taking you into bondage. You're gonna yield to them? You're
gonna say, let's just, alright, I'm just, I'm gonna just go with
it. Take your members, here they are right here, and yield them to God. Pick up
his word, and read it. Read it. We pick up, turn to
a verse like Romans 6 right here, verse 14 and read, Sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but
you are under grace. Take these members and use them
to put a CD in and turn it on and listen to the gospel of His
grace. And use these members right here
on each side of your head to listen to it. That's yielding
to God. That's yielding to God. And He
says, by the Word of Truth, by the power of God, by the armor
of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. By taking
His Word, and by yielding yourself to His power to save you, that's
putting on the armor of righteousness on the left hand and on the right
hand, so that we're covered by His grace, covered by His power
so that He saves us. It's yielding to Him to save
you and not yourself. Now, let me just be very brief
here and I'll stop. Study the Word of God. Study
the Word of God. Attend the preaching of the Gospel
faithfully. If you don't feel like it, do
it anyway. Here's why. It ain't about you.
It's about your brethren. Your attendance there will make
your brethren thankful and encouraged to know that you're there because
God brought you there. There's somebody else that wanted
to be there. If nobody showed up, wouldn't
you be discouraged? If you got here today and it
was just me and you, wouldn't that somewhat discourage you? Where
did everybody go? How are we going to keep meeting
together? We can't pay for everything, just me and you. But see, when
you have others show up, it encourages you. Just their being there.
So let's don't be selfish about it and say, well, my being there
won't really matter. Yeah, it will. It will. But the
better thing is, even better than that, every time you come,
God's going to give you a blessing from it. Every time I've ever
come to the house of the Lord and heard a message preached,
I got some blessing. I left saying, I'm so glad. I
didn't stay home. I'm so glad I didn't yield to
my flesh. So glad. And be constant in prayer,
thanking God for His grace as much as asking Him for His grace.
We get to asking and we forget to thank Him. Thank Him as much
as you ask Him. Always try to treat others justly. God loves justice. He loves justice. Deal justly with others. and
show them mercy. Delight in mercy rather than
judgment. Do what's right toward them.
And when it comes to them offending you and doing something unjust
to you, delight in mercy rather than judgment. They'd like to
show mercy like God delighted to show you mercy rather than
bringing them before the judgment seat. And then, Look at Galatians
5.16. I'll end with this. This country... I was watching something yesterday.
This country is so divided. And this is what I think is the
case. Folks choose sides not based
on righteousness. That's not what it is. It's based
on what's going to put money in my pocket. That's what it's
based on. The love of money is the root
of all evil. And that's what it's based on.
Ultimately, in every case in the Bible, whenever a kingdom
failed, it was when justice ceased to be upheld among the people.
God turned them over. That was it. You know, the Senate and the
House of Representatives, it's been corrupted by money. The
Oval Office has been corrupted by money. The Supreme Court is
now corrupted by money. It was the last holdout. It's
corrupted too now. Justice is gone. Justice is gone
in this country. When you have to sign an arbitration
agreement to get employed by somebody so that the company
can hire somebody in their favor to arbitrate a case against them
so that you can't sue them legally and justly, justice is gone. It's gone. And when justice is
gone in a country, God's grace is off that country. It's gone.
Well, this is the case right here. This is what I'm saying
to you. Galatians 5.16. This I say then, walk in the Spirit,
and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,
and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot
do the things that you would. But, if you be led of the Spirit,
you're not under the law. You see that? You're not under
the law. Every time he tells us that you
can't do what you would like to do, even though in your inner
man you'd like to fulfill the law of God perfectly. Every time
he tells us you can't do it, he reminds us, but you're not
under the law. Watch now. Now he tells you what
the works of the flesh are. You can read those on your own.
But look down here, verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love. This is what it is to walk in
the Spirit right here. Walk in love and joy in peace,
in long-suffering, in gentleness, in goodness, in faith, meekness,
in temperance, against such there is no law. There is no law. And those that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts. That
old man's dead, it's what we just saw. And if we live in the
Spirit then, which we do, we're no longer in the flesh, we're
in the Spirit. So if we live in the Spirit, which we do as
believers. Let us also walk in the Spirit.
You see, walk in it too. And don't be desirous of vain
glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Be kind
one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. And be followers of God
as dear children. And walk in love as Christ also
has loved us and has given Himself for us in offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor. I like the fact that I still
have one now that when I sort of walk in to go into a place,
He'll grab my hand. That's walking as dear children.
That's what it is. Walk as a little child that's
not embarrassed to be clinging to God our Father, looking to
Him for everything. I want to read this lyrics to
a song and this will be the end. I found this writer on the internet. I wasn't familiar with her. Frances
Harvergal. Y'all ever heard of her? You
heard of her? I don't know who she is. I just like this song. And I like several songs she
has. But listen to this. This is what I'm saying. Take
my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments
and my days Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands
and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and
let them be swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice and let
me sing always only for my King. Take my lips and let them be
filled with messages from Thee. Take my silver and my gold not
a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect and use every
power as thou shalt choose. Take my will and make it thine. It will be no longer mine. Take
my heart, it is thine own. It shall be thy royal throne. Take my love, my lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure store. Take myself and I will be ever,
only, all for Thee. Amen.