Now open your Bibles again with
me to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. Let me make,
before I get into the four things that I mentioned this morning
that I'd be dealing with, they are, number one, what does this
scripture, what it does not mean, free from sin, there's a sense
in which this is not true. the sense in which it is true,
how did it come about, and then what are the results. But let
me point out some things that need to be dealt with before
we get to those four things, beginning with verse one. What
shall we say then, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Now let's set the record straight once and for all. In these verses,
these early verses, the apostle proves that the gospel of justification
by faith does not lead to a life of sin. Justification by free
grace, justification by faith, a vital union with Jesus Christ
not by works, not by merit, but by grace alone does not, cannot,
must not lead to a life of rebellion and a life of sin. It's just
not so. The man who says, Let us continue in seeing that grace
may abound. He is not a believer, he's a
fool. The man who says, I'm saved by
the grace of God, it does not matter how I live, is not a believer,
he's a fool. He neither understands the grace
of God nor loves the grace of God. It's just not so. If there's anybody here tonight
who advocates continuing in a life of sin because of the free grace
of God, you have misunderstood it, you have misapplied it, and
you've just flat missed it, because that's not so. Now in verse 4
and 5, he gives the reason. Therefore, well verse 2 says,
God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer
in that to which we're dead? Verse 4, therefore we're buried
with Christ by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we've been raised
to walk in newness of life. In other words, our union with
Christ, this living, vital union with Christ, this relationship
with the Son of God, not only justifies us before the law,
and I'm interested in that, vitally interested. But here that union
with Christ not only justifies me before the law and justifies
me before the court of heaven, but that union with Christ, that
vital living union, that relationship with Christ implants and imparts
in me a new heart and a new nature. We not only believe in imputed
righteousness, reckoned our account, charged our account, wrought
out for us by another, but we believe in imparted righteousness
wrought out in us by the grace of another. And a man does not
have imputed righteousness who does not have imparted righteousness.
You can't separate justification and sanctification. You can't
separate faith and obedience. That's what James is saying.
He says, show me your faith without your works. It cannot be done.
It cannot be done. I'll show you faith by works.
Now, faith is not the product of works. Works is the product
of faith. Don't get her backwards. You can't separate belief and
obedience. You can't separate trust and
conduct. It cannot be done. God, when
he justifies us before the law, and before justice and before
his throne also implants in us and imparts to us a new nature
and a new heart that grows in faith and grows in grace and
grows in love and grows in holiness. The Apostle Paul is writing about
the justification of the soul. It's apart from works. It's without
works. It's by grace alone. The book
of James deals with the justification of faith, not of the soul, of
faith. Paul deals with, in Romans, the
justification of the soul before God. James deals with the justification
of faith before me. I justify my faith before you
by my conduct, by my conversation, by my attitude, by my spirit.
And that does justify faith. As a result of our relationship
with Christ, two things are true. Number one, we're dead to sin,
we're dead to self, we're dead to the world, we're crucified
with Christ. And the second thing is, we're alive under God, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. We're alive under God. If any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Now look at verse 13.
Do not yield your members. We're talking about our members.
What are our members? Our bodily members, our faculties. What are my bodily members? Well,
I'm holding two of them out here now. I'm standing on two of them. I've got one on each side of
my head, ears, eyes. Here's this one right here. James says is the most dangerous
one of all that I got in my mouth, I'm carrying around with me,
called a tongue. He said it's a little member,
but it's like the rudder of a ship. It can turn the ship many different
ways. It's like a fire. It doesn't
take a very big fire to start a big fire. This tongue here,
that's a member, a heart, mind, all of these things. So he says
here, here's what he's saying in verse 13, we do not continue
If we've been risen with Christ, if we're seated with Christ,
if we've been redeemed with Christ and for the glory of Christ and
by the grace of Christ, we do not continue yielding our bodily
members and faculties to sin as tools of wickedness, but we
yield ourselves to God as those who have been raised from the
dead, presenting our members as instruments of righteousness.
In other words, my heart ought not be filled with bigotry and
prejudice and anger and hate. I'm not going to yield my heart
to those things. If I'm one with Christ, if I'm
in joint union with Christ, in a vital union with Christ, I'm
not going to take this heart, this human member, this bodily
member, and continue to yield it to those evil enemies of our
Lord. Rather, my heart is going to
be yielded to love and kindness and gentleness. Our thoughts
are not to be on flesh and materialism and self. Our thoughts are to
be, as I quoted this morning, on things pure and lovely and
of good report. Our tongues should not be used
in gossip and criticism and murmuring. And cutting people to pieces,
our tongues ought to be used in prayer, in praise, in encouragement,
in witnessing, as the Apostle says, let our language be seasoned
with grace. Well, it's not going to be unless
we bring these tongues into captivity and quit yielding them to saying
hurting things and harsh things and critical things. Our feet
and our hands ought to be swift to serve. and swift to lift burdens
and swift to supply needs. So these are the members. We
don't continue yielding our members to self and sin and the world,
and any man who says that we do does not understand the grace
of God. Nor is he a partaker of the grace
of God. Verse 14, For sin shall not have
dominion, control, over you. It shall not have control. Sin
shall not reign. It shall not have dominion. You're
not under the law as a covenant. You're not under the law as a
curse. You're not under the law as a condemning master. You're
under the reign of grace. We're under the reign of grace.
True holiness is not the result of law. True holiness is the
result of grace. True holiness is not promoted
by law, it's promoted by grace. The believer is under new management.
The believer is motivated by new principles. The believer
belongs to a new master. And the believer can say with
John Newton, I'm not what I ought to be. I know that as much as
anybody. I'm not what I want to be. I'm
not what I expect to be someday. But he said, I thank God I know
I'm not what I used to be. God has made a difference. God
is making a difference. He has delivered us. He is delivering
us. And by His grace, He will deliver
us. Now here's a blessed promise,
verse 18. Being then made free from sin. Being then made free from sin.
He doesn't say you ought to be made free from sin. He said you
are free from sin. You are free. And you became,
you have become, it's not something you ought to do, it's something
that has taken place. You have become the servants
of righteousness. Now, I'm free from sin. What
does that mean? Well, the first thing I want
to deal with is this, what it does not mean. being made free
from sin, what it does not mean. Now I'm going to speak tonight
as candidly, I'm not going to talk about what I want to be
and what ought to be and set forth a standard that shall someday
be by the grace of God, but I'm going to talk to you tonight
just exactly as things are. This is as they are. There's
a sense in which this is not true. We are not free from sin.
Number one, we're not free from the presence of it. There's not
a person in this building that's free from the presence of sin.
Not one. Not one. Oh, how very real, how
very real are the motions of sin in the mind, in the heart,
and in the will. I don't care no matter how you
hate it, it's still there. No matter how you despise it,
it's still there. No matter how you fight it, it's
still there. No matter how we despise it,
we know it's very real, and it's not ever far from any of us. The motions of sin, they're there.
Listen to Paul. Turn to Romans 7. Romans 7, verse
15. Romans 7, 15. Listen to this.
For that which I do, that which I do, I do not approve of it. And what I would, that do I not.
And what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent to the law that is good. Now it's no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me,
that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. The will is present
with me. How to perform that which is
perfect, that which is good, I find not. For the good that
I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not,
I'm talking about this is thinking, this is attitude, this is imagination.
Paul wasn't a drunk. Paul wasn't a thief. Paul wasn't
a murderer. Paul wasn't openly a liar. He
was talking about things that go on within. Within. And we hear so much preaching
today about staying out of the movies and staying out of the
places that serve liquor and staying out of this and not doing
this, not doing that, that these sins of envy, jealousy, pride, ingratitude, covetousness, covetousness,
dissatisfaction, anger, bigotry, prejudice, malice. These are
the things Paul's talking about. Paul's talking about the enemies
that live in here. And brother, they're not very
far from you and from me, no matter what we say. Paul, they
were real to him. They were real to him. The good
that I would, I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I
do. Now, if I do, That I would not, verse 20. It's not I that
do it, but what does he say, Charlie? Sin that dwelleth in
me. So number one, there's not a
person here that can challenge me on this right here. We are
not free from the presence of sin unless you are already ascended. Because Paul here says, sin dwelleth
in me. You know what he's saying? That's
exactly what, sin dwelleth in me, Paul said. He could stand
before the congregation and say, sin dwelleth in me. What in the
world would that holiness church down the road do if the pastor
got up and said, sin dwelleth in me? What would you do if your
pastor said, sin dwelleth in me? Well, you'd have to say,
that's so, because it dwells in me. So we're not free from
the presence of sin. Secondly, we're not free from
the awareness of it. Turn to 1 John 1. That's right. Now, I'm talking about believers
now. I'm not talking about Pharisees. I'm not talking about Pharisees.
If there's a Pharisee here tonight, you won't get anything out of
this. You'll resent it. It'll cause you trouble. But
if you're a believer here tonight, you know Christ, you're going
to agree with these things as I pour. You have to agree with
the first one because Paul said, sin dwelleth in me. It dwelleth
in me. I'm the chief of sinners. All
right? 1 John 1 says, verse 8, if we
say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth's not
in us. Verse 10 says, if we say that we have not sinned, we make
God a liar and his word's not in us. So my friends, the second
thing, we're not free from an awareness of sin. I'm aware.
I'm not only not free from its presence, it's here, but I'm
aware of it. I know my faults. I know my infirmities. I know
my afflictions. I'm aware of them. Constantly
aware of them. Sure, we have secret sins. David
said, Lord, deliver me from secret faults. But most of them aren't
very secret. We know them better than anybody
else knows them. I don't know why we're so critical
of others when we're so full of faults, I say. Do you know
why? David said, my sins are ever
before me. My sins. Against thee and thee
only have I sinned. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am. We don't talk that way. We say,
O wretched man that John is. We say his sins are ever before
me. I'm worried about Jay. I ain't
worried about Jay. God'll take care of Jay. I'm
worried about me. Are you? My sins are ever before
me. I'm not free from the awareness
of God may block them out. God may cleanse them. God may
cast them behind his back. God may drop them as far as the
east is from the west. God may remember them no more,
but I'll never live a day without an awareness of my sin until
he takes me home. And then when I get there, I'm
going to thank him for putting them away. I'm not free. Thirdly, this may shake you up. But I think if you'll stay with
me, I can prove it. I said, let's go back to the
text so you'll know what I'm talking about. Romans 6 says,
we're made free from sin. Free from sin. Some of you are
going to be encouraged here, some of you are going to be shocked.
But we're not free, number one, from the presence of it. True? Paul said, sin dwelleth in me.
We're not free from an awareness of it. I quoted David and John
both. David said, my sins are before me. John said, if you
say you don't have any, you're a liar and the truth's not in
you. That's pretty strong. Would you say thirdly that we're
not free from the pleasure of it? Now think a minute. Think a minute. Although we know
that there's pleasure in sin for a season, there's no lasting
pleasure in sin, there's no profit in sin. Sin leads to ruin, separation
from God. It leads to, like David said,
take not thy Holy Spirit from me, but every honest person here
will have to confess that it's kind of fun getting evil. Now
come on. Huh? Come on now. A fella does
you wrong and something ill befalls him and you say, well, the rascal
got what he deserved. And you feel so good How many
of us, when we get even with somebody, lay down and cry our
eyes out? I wish that hadn't happened to
him. You old sorry thing, you. Huh? There's a lot of joy in
being right. Oh, I tell you. We have an argument
with somebody, you know, and find out later he's wrong or
he's right. Boy, I tell you, that's satisfaction to no end. I was right. Did you rather him
be right? the believer, the true godly
perfectionist had rather he be right and you be wrong. There's
more joy in seeing him gain than you say, come on now. There's
still a lot of fun in achievement, personal achievement. I watch
some of you play games. I don't see any of you letting
the other fellow win. There's flat fun in winning.
Number one, the blue ribbon, first prize, the trophy, huh? The man with the broken heart
and the true love for the other would rather him win. Come on
now, I'm telling the truth. There's pleasure in sin. Well,
I ain't talking about those things pretty well. Now, God talks about
those things. It's the little foxes that spoil
the vines. It's not the lion. It's the little
foxes. There's a lot of joy in pouting
or folks wouldn't do it so much. I just won't speak to him. You
ever do that at home? You and your wife have a little
fuss and you stick your lip out, you or her woman, and go around
not speaking. You enjoy it. Enjoy it to no
end. You watch him and you're hurting
him and you know it. You know you're hurting him and
you're getting a lot of joy out of that sorry no count stuff. But that's it. It's pleasure
in sin. You know, some people, I hear people talk about, well,
my wife and I fuss all the time. I think you enjoy it. I believe
you enjoy it or you'd quit it. I really do. I think it's people
that flat enjoy arguing. They enjoy quarreling. They enjoy
having their way. They enjoy pouting. They enjoy
sticking a knife in somebody. They enjoy it. Or they wouldn't
do it. So I'm just saying there's joy
in lusting. Yes, sir, there is. No matter
how wrong you know these things are, there's still that flesh,
there's joy in it, there's pleasure in it. We may rue it ahead, we
may regret it ahead, we may weep over it ahead, we may mourn over
it ahead, but right now we enjoy it. Huh? That's the truth. That's the truth. We're not free
from the pleasures of sin, so I've settled that. That's so.
We're not free from its presence, we're not free from its awareness,
and we're not free from its pleasure. Fourthly, and I guarantee you
I can make good on this, we're not free from its effects. We're
not free from its effects. There's not a person here that
hasn't or will not be sick. And before sin came into this
world, there was no sickness. There was no sickness. I'm not
saying that misfortune is a result of misconduct. The disciples
came, Job's friends thought that, and they were wrong, Jay. I'm
not saying that at all. And the disciples were wrong
on that score, too. They saw this man blind from
birth and they said, well, who sinned, him or his parents? Said
he was born blind. Our Lord said neither, but that
the purposes of God might be fulfilled. I'm saying sickness
generally. I've got a human body and it's
going to get sick. It's going to get old. It's going
to get wrinkled. It's going to get weak. And that's
because of sin that dwells in me. If I had no sin, Becky, I'd
never get sick. Never. That proves to us that babies
are born in sin. If they weren't born in sin,
Cecil, they'd never die. Death is a result of sin. Depression. Anybody here who's free from
depression of spirit? Anybody here free from depression
of heart? Anybody here free from sorrow,
sadness? Anybody here who hasn't wept
lately? That's because of S-I-N-C, the effects of sin. Old age is
the effects of sin. Death is the effects of sin.
So the effects of sin are always prevalent and present. They're
always upon us. So in that sense, there's nobody
here can say, I'm free from sin, because we just aren't. The person
that loves God the most, the person that's been redeemed by
the grace of God and knows it and has confidence and assurance
is not free from the presence of sin. Sin dwelleth in you.
You're not free from its awareness. Actually, you're more aware of
it than anybody. You're not free from its pleasures. You want
to be and you strive to be, but you're not. And you're not free
from its effects. Well, then, preacher, how are
we free from sin? All right? According to the Word
of God, we are free, and that means set at liberty. We are
totally free from the condemnation of sin. Turn to Romans 8.1. Romans
8.1, the condemnation of sin. In Romans 8.1, there is therefore
now Now back here in the preceding verses, Paul, I just read him
to you a while ago, he talked about, oh, I do the things I
shouldn't do, and I don't do the things I shouldn't do, and
verse 24 says, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? In verse 25 he said, I thank
God, through Jesus Christ the Lord, I've been delivered. So
therefore, he comes into verse 1 of chapter 8 and says there,
therefore, because of Christ, no condemnation to them who are
in Christ. No condemnation. My sins, O the
bliss of that glorious thought, my sins, not in part, but the
whole, are nailed to the cross, past, present, and future. I
bear them no more. I am free from their condemnation.
Look at Romans 8, verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Look at verse 34, Romans 8. Who
is he that condemneth? Christ died, yea, rather is risen
again, who is also, who even, even, is at the right hand of
God who also maketh intercession for us. There is no condemnation. I am free from its condemnation.
Back there in the Old Testament, the priest of Israel would put
his hand on the head of what they called the scapegoat, and
there he would press down and confess the sins of Israel, just
as a whole, the bulk of them, the greatness of them, the evil
of them, confess them on that goat's head. And then a designated
man would take that goat. The people were all out there
in the courtyard of the tabernacle. It was an impressive ceremony.
See, that scapegoat is a picture of Christ. They'd take a bullock
and slay it and put the blood on the altar, and then they'd
take the scapegoat and confess the sins over his head. And that
man would take that goat, and the people would part, and he'd
lead it out. And quietness would prevail over
that whole throng as that man walked with that goat way out
there, and they'd watch him. He'd get a half a mile away,
and a mile away, and they'd watch him on the sands of the desert.
And after a while, just two faint, small little figures would be
seen, and then nothing. And they'd just stay there in
that crowd, and they'd wait. And a long time later, they'd
see one figure coming back, coming back. And there's the man. He
gets large. Finally, he walks Charlie into the mist without
the goat, and consequently without the seal. He bore our sins away. He separated them from us as
far as the east is from the west. That's a picture of Christ bearing
our sins. That man didn't bring that goat
back. He didn't bring the sins back. We have no sin. That's just so. And that's what
he means by being made free from sin. There is no condemnation
to them who incrise Jesus, so I'm free from condemnation. Call
that word judgment. That's the reason purgatory is
an invention of man's mind to raise money for religious purposes.
There is no such thing. Our sins have been purged, they've
been put away, they've been pardoned. There's no condemnation. No judgment. All right? Secondly, I'm not
only free from its condemnation, I'm free from its guilt. As we
cannot be condemned, we cannot be accused. Look at Romans 8,
verse 33. It says, Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that what? Justifies. You know what that word justifies
means? Now, if a man is accused of a crime and you pardon him,
he's not justified. You forgive him, you're not justified. You parole him, you're not justified,
still guilty. He's a guilty man on parole.
He's a guilty man out on pardon. He's a guilty man who served
his sentence. Say he serves five years and you set him free. He's
a guilty man set free, but he's still guilty. You know what justification
means? When the court sends down and
gets him and says, we made a mistake, you're not guilty. go free, and
we offer an apology. That's justification. Am I right,
Cecil? That's justification. Just as if I had never seen it.
And that's what this means. I am not guilty. I'm not guilty
and pardoned. I'm not guilty and forgiven.
I'm not guilty and released. In Christ, I'm not guilty. Isn't that what justification
means? If you don't know that, you don't know what justification
is. Justified means not only free from condemnation, not only
pardoned and forgiven, but considered in the eyes of God as one who
has never sinned. Now, wait a minute. I can't explain that. I don't
even hope to be able to explain it. I just know it's so. or God
couldn't have anything to do with you, or me either one. That's
absolutely right. God can have no, God can have
no dealing with anybody except as they are like Him. Two can't
walk together except they be agreed. God can have no dealing
with any man except a perfect man. Well you say that He can
have no dealing with us. Now wait a minute, in Christ
we're perfect. In Christ, we are perfect. We're without sin.
I can't explain that. Since we're so conscious, you
said a while ago, Preacher, you're so conscious of your imperfections,
you're constantly grieving over your slow growth and over your
infirmities, constantly, and now you're saying you're not
even guilty. That's exactly right. In Christ, I'm not. In Christ
I'm accepted, in Christ I'm risen, in Christ I'm seated at God's
right hand, and Jim, near, so near to God, nearer I cannot
be in the person of his Son, I'm as near as he. Is that right? Yes, sir, that's right. I'm as
holy as God's Son because I am in Christ, God's Son. Now are
we sons of God. Free from condemnation. free
from guilt in Christ. That's the beauty of the blood
of Christ. That's the ugliness of human merit, because you'd
never be free. The man here tonight who's resting
in Christ alone is free from condemnation and free from guilt.
The man who tonight is resting in his merit or works is never
free from them and never will be. And you've got a cause to
be troubled. You've got a cause to be despondent.
You've got a cause to be depressed. You've got no cause to rejoice
because you can only rejoice in the Lord. See? Free from its
guilt. I'm not guilty. In Christ. That's so. In Christ there is
no sin. You know what scripture says?
In Christ there is no sin. All right? Thirdly, we're free
from sin's punishment. We're free from its punishment.
We'll never die. Christ said, he that believeth on me shall
never die. Never die. Now I know we're thinking
about lying down and closing our eyes and our hearts stop
beating. That's not death, that's sleep, Christ said. We'll never
die. Secondly, we'll never be judged.
Now you can go for all this seven judgments, five judgments, four
judgments, or three judgments, but in Christ I'm not going to
be at any of them. I may be there as a witness, I will not be there
as a participant because I have no sin in Christ. My sins have
already been judged. They were judged and punished
at Calvary. That's exactly right. You can
talk about judgments of nations and judgments of Christians and
tears in heaven and rewards meted out for service rendered, all
you want to, that's your business. But in Christ there is no judgment.
There is therefore now no judgment. Our sins have been put away.
How can you judge a man that's not guilty? How can you judge
him? You can't condemn him because
there's no condemnation in Christ. He's without sin. He's got God's
righteousness. Who's going to judge God's righteousness?
Here stands a man clothed in God's righteousness in Christ.
Who's going to judge him? See how foolish it is? He's perfect. He's perfect. There's no judgment. I will not be judged. I'll never
hear God say depart from me. He cannot cast Christ out. We'll
never be cast away. We'll never know any pain or
punishment for sin. Never. Never. We're free from
sin's punishment. And then last of all, how is
this true? We're free from sin's reigning
power. Now there was a time when sin
and self did reign. I know it remains. I know there's
a battle. Turn to Galatians 5. Let me show
you something over here. I got a little light on this
one time and gave it to my Sunday school class. In Galatians 5
verse 17, Paul said, the flesh lusteth. That is, it makes war
against the spirit. It conflicts with the spirit.
The flesh conflicts against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh. And these are contrary one to the other so that you
cannot do the things you would either way. Either way. What would you do? When you rise
in the morning, what is your determination? I'm going to walk
this day in total perfection. I'm going to live this day without
sin. I'm going to live this day for God's glory. No, you're not. And you know why you're not?
Your flesh is not going to let you. You can't do what you would. You just can't do it. Because
your flesh won't let you. It's going to battle that spirit. It's going to battle those vows.
It's going to battle that determination. It's going to cross your path
and conflict with your will, and you're not going to live
without sin. Your flesh won't let you. All right, you lose
your temper. And you say, I'm going down there
and punch him right in the nose. That's exactly what I'm going
to do. You're mad. I'm going down there and just literally
wipe the floor. No, you're not. Your spirit won't
let you. See what I'm saying? The grace
of God in you won't let you. Well, I'm just going to quit.
I'm going to quit. I'm going to throw this Bible
aside and quit. No, you're not. Your spirit won't let you. You
can't do the things you would. See what I'm saying? Either way.
Either way. This old nature, this flesh battles
against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. You can't
do the things you would. Either way. Your spirit is not
going to let you give way, give full bent to your flesh. It's
not going to do it. And your flesh is not going to
let you walk in perfection. Your flesh is going to bring
you down and hold you, keep you from achieving spiritually what
you would want to achieve. But that brings me to this next
point there, the fourth point. We are free from its reigning
power. It does remain in us. It does
battle us. It is there. It's a convict.
Let's pray for one another. Let's help one another. Let's
assist one another. Let's encourage one another.
Let's don't get down on one another. Let's remember that we're all
flesh. He remembereth our frame and knoweth that we're dust.
Why don't we ought to know it as well as God knows it. He's
merciful and kind and forgiving. We should be. But there was a
time when sin reigned. Righteousness was distasteful.
Prayer and praise was a burden. You remember that time? You remember
when prayer was a burden? Praise was a burden. Church was
a burden. The Bible was a burden. You know
what reigned? Flesh and sin and self and materialism
and humanism and all these other things were. They were your cup
of tea. But not anymore. Not anymore. Your happiest moments now are
where? In the presence of the Lord. I'm not saying that you're
without any bent, any other direction or any bent of the wheel. I'm
just saying your happiest moments are in the presence of the Lord.
Therefore, sin does not reign. If sin reigned, your happiest
moments would be in sin. When are you accompanying? Well, whose company do you seek?
Whose company are you most happy in? Who are your friends? Those
who love Christ? If you were a servant of sin,
then you wouldn't spend your happiest moments with them. Your
happiest moments would be with rebels. David said, I delight
to do thy will, O God. The songwriter says, I hate the
sin that made thee mourn and drove thee from my breast. Listen
to this. Charles Wesley wrote this in
1749. I thought it was so good. Though I have most unfaithful
been of all who have thy grace received, ten thousand times
thy goodness I've seen, ten thousand times thy spirit I've grieved.
Yet, O Lord, the chief of sinners spare. in honor of thy great
high priest, nor in thy righteous anger swear to exclude me from
the rest." Charles Wesley, 1749. Isn't that beautiful? I'm free
from sin. I'm not free from its presence.
I'm not free from an awareness of it. I'm not free from its
pleasure. I'm not free from its effects. And I'm a lot weaker, tireder,
depressed, going to die. I'm not free. But I'm free from
its condemnation. There's no condemnation. And
I'm free, I'm free, totally free from its guilt. I'm not guilty.
I'm not guilty. I'm free from its punishment.
I'm not going to appear before His judgment. Christ's already
been there and borne it away. And brethren, I'm free from its
reigning power. I delight in the law of God,
don't you? I delight in the will of God.
Oh, I do. I love His word. I love His people. One of the evidences to me that
I know Christ is I'd rather be here than anywhere else in the
presence of the Lord. I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go to the house of God. Weren't you glad? I'd rather
be a doorkeeper here than to dwell in the governor's mansion. Really have. I know that so.
How did these blessings come to be? Let me give you four things
and I'll promise to quit. Being made free from sin. Being
made free from sin. I didn't inherit it by birth,
by nature. I was made. Somebody made me
free. Somebody made me. So let me give you these four
things. You remember them. They all start with a P. I was
made free from sin by divine purpose. Let me give you a scripture,
2 Timothy 1, divine purpose. It started with, not with me,
it started with God. 2 Timothy 1, 9, watch this. Who saved us and called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Jesus Christ
before the world began. That's where it started. My freedom
from sin started with God. He purposed it. He purposed it. All right. Secondly, he purchased
it. He not only purposed it, but
he purchased it. Paul said, feed the church of
God, which he purchased with his own blood. He purchased my
freedom. Thirdly, he applied it by power. The same power that raised Christ
from the dead raised my spiritual self from the deadness of sin
by the same power. The Holy Spirit quickens us and
brings us to Christ by His power, the power of God. And then this,
turn to John 1. This blessing came to me by purpose
of God, by the purchase of His Son, by the power of His Spirit,
and my, my, my, it's the most blessed privilege anybody's ever
had. So it says in verse 12 of John
1, as many as received him, to them gave he the privilege, that
word power, privilege, privilege, the blessed privilege to become
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And being
made free from sin, you became what? Servants of righteousness. Our Father, make this message to be a blessing
to someone here. There are those here tonight
whose hearts are hungry, weary, broken, contrite, with a full
awareness of sin, an awareness of inability, an awareness of
humanity, an awareness of thy greatness and thy glory and thy
perfect righteousness. There are those here tonight
who are not playing games. They're not hiding in a refuge
of lies. They're not lying on a bed that's
too short, under cover that's too narrow. They're just standing
before your throne asking for mercy and seeking to know thy
way. Lord, show me thy way. Show me
thy glory. Reveal thyself unto me. Deliver
me from hypocrisy and vain presumption. and religious hypocrisy and playing
the game of church. Let me be honest and truthful,
truthful before thee and before the people, before the congregation,
and honest with the word and deal with it as it is, not as
it seems to be, and with men and women as they are, not as
they profess to be. Let us be truthful before thee
and before one another, encourage and exhort and help one another
and pray for one another. Oh, the beauty of Christ, let
it be seen in me. The righteousness of Christ,
let me be clothed therein. The holiness of Christ, and that
righteousness imparting, give it to us. And Lord, give us a
growth in faith, and in grace, and in love, in truth. Speak to our hearts by thy word,
and thy power, and thy spirit. Make this a blessed week. We
pray for Christ's sake, amen.