1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,380 Speaker 2: if your teacher didn't grade your homework, would you still do it? 2 00:00:05,039 --> 00:00:08,399 If you, have you ever been in a class like that or if you knew your teacher wasn't 3 00:00:08,399 --> 00:00:11,610 gonna, oh, she doesn't grade the homework, I'm not gonna bother doing it right. 4 00:00:12,239 --> 00:00:15,419 If my teacher doesn't, doesn't grade this. 5 00:00:15,540 --> 00:00:16,049 No point. 6 00:00:16,049 --> 00:00:16,680 Right. 7 00:00:16,769 --> 00:00:22,680 I knew a guy, um, he was in a class where his professor wouldn't read his essays 8 00:00:23,070 --> 00:00:26,130 and so he just started putting random stuff in the middle of his essays just 9 00:00:26,130 --> 00:00:27,210 to see if a professor would read it. 10 00:00:27,419 --> 00:00:28,499 Never, never got caught. 11 00:00:28,499 --> 00:00:30,360 He would just put random sentences. 12 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:32,909 You just start like in the middle of page three, just like. 13 00:00:33,525 --> 00:00:33,975 Whatever. 14 00:00:33,975 --> 00:00:37,905 I love chocolate ice cream, or this class is the worst class ever, and 15 00:00:37,905 --> 00:00:41,265 just put random stuff in there and professor had ever read the essay. 16 00:00:41,265 --> 00:00:43,245 So anyway, but the whole point, right? 17 00:00:43,245 --> 00:00:46,455 If your teacher doesn't do your homework, you wouldn't do or 18 00:00:46,455 --> 00:00:47,205 doesn't grade your homework. 19 00:00:47,205 --> 00:00:49,485 You wouldn't do it because the consequences are gone, right? 20 00:00:49,485 --> 00:00:51,585 You can't, you're not gonna, you're not gonna lose points for it. 21 00:00:51,585 --> 00:00:52,545 You're not gonna fail the class. 22 00:00:52,545 --> 00:00:54,645 You're not gonna, you know, get in trouble with your parents 23 00:00:54,645 --> 00:00:55,695 because the teacher isn't great. 24 00:00:55,695 --> 00:00:57,165 It doesn't matter, right? 25 00:00:57,255 --> 00:01:02,714 Um, what I found with school is that once the consequences get removed. 26 00:01:03,074 --> 00:01:05,655 You find out if you really like something or if you don't. 27 00:01:06,225 --> 00:01:06,555 Right? 28 00:01:06,764 --> 00:01:11,085 Because in school, the teachers force you to do things by grading them, right? 29 00:01:11,085 --> 00:01:12,134 Because there's consequences. 30 00:01:12,134 --> 00:01:16,455 If I don't get, uh, an A on this class, or I don't, don't do well 31 00:01:16,544 --> 00:01:19,245 on this test then, or I don't turn my homework in, then my grade's 32 00:01:19,245 --> 00:01:20,414 bad and I have consequences, right? 33 00:01:20,414 --> 00:01:24,075 You get grounded, you don't graduate, and then nothing happens with your 34 00:01:24,075 --> 00:01:25,515 life apparently if you don't graduate. 35 00:01:25,695 --> 00:01:26,985 So things like that, right? 36 00:01:26,985 --> 00:01:29,775 There's consequences and when those consequences happen, you're like, 37 00:01:29,805 --> 00:01:32,414 oh, um, those force me to do work. 38 00:01:32,789 --> 00:01:35,340 Then if the consequences go away, would you still do the work? 39 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:37,950 Well, you would if you really liked it. 40 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,770 But if you don't like it, no consequences. 41 00:01:40,950 --> 00:01:41,580 You're not gonna do it. 42 00:01:41,820 --> 00:01:42,090 Right? 43 00:01:42,539 --> 00:01:43,860 That's what school taught me. 44 00:01:44,430 --> 00:01:44,880 School taught me. 45 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,820 If there's no consequences and I don't like it, I won't do it. 46 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,940 But if there's no consequences and I do like it, I'll make time for it. 47 00:01:50,940 --> 00:01:51,180 Right? 48 00:01:51,300 --> 00:01:54,450 You make time for a lot of really interesting and sometimes 49 00:01:54,450 --> 00:01:55,979 really dumb things, right? 50 00:01:56,190 --> 00:01:58,110 Because you like them, you enjoy them, so you're like, oh, 51 00:01:58,110 --> 00:01:59,220 I'm gonna make time for this. 52 00:01:59,430 --> 00:02:01,500 Even though if you didn't do it, nothing bad would happen. 53 00:02:02,039 --> 00:02:05,310 But because you like it, you're like, oh yeah, I'll do that. 54 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,060 So once you remove the consequences, it shows you whether you really like 55 00:02:09,060 --> 00:02:10,978 something or don't like something. 56 00:02:11,130 --> 00:02:14,370 And that's a question that we're running into here in the book of Romans. 57 00:02:14,370 --> 00:02:17,850 A question that a lot of people have about God's grace. 58 00:02:18,315 --> 00:02:21,704 What we learned about so far in Romans is that everyone's 59 00:02:21,704 --> 00:02:22,515 guilty of their sin, right? 60 00:02:22,515 --> 00:02:24,825 Romans one, we all are under God's wrath. 61 00:02:24,855 --> 00:02:26,984 He, um, is righteous. 62 00:02:27,045 --> 00:02:31,484 It's he's good for him to actually oppose us and our sin because 63 00:02:31,545 --> 00:02:32,750 we're rebelling against him. 64 00:02:33,420 --> 00:02:34,470 We're breaking his rules. 65 00:02:34,470 --> 00:02:35,280 We're all guilty. 66 00:02:35,370 --> 00:02:36,840 That's what Romans two and three say. 67 00:02:37,050 --> 00:02:39,329 All of us fall short of God's perfect standard. 68 00:02:39,390 --> 00:02:41,490 None of us are good enough to make it to heaven on our own. 69 00:02:41,490 --> 00:02:43,320 We're all guilty before God. 70 00:02:43,650 --> 00:02:45,870 But then we see Romans three, Romans four. 71 00:02:45,870 --> 00:02:47,670 We talked about Abraham, right, and his faith. 72 00:02:47,850 --> 00:02:51,480 And we saw that God justifies people by faith, not because of what we 73 00:02:51,510 --> 00:02:53,160 do, but because of what Jesus did. 74 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:58,410 And so nothing that we do contributes to our righteousness before God. 75 00:02:59,310 --> 00:03:01,230 That's what we call justification by faith, right? 76 00:03:01,230 --> 00:03:02,040 Not by works. 77 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:07,080 And a lot of people that causes them this question, well, if God doesn't, if God's 78 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:08,520 just gonna forgive all my sin, right? 79 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:13,140 If all my sin just goes away, why not just keep sinning, right? 80 00:03:13,710 --> 00:03:17,820 If, if God's gonna forgive me anyway, I could just keep sinning. 81 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:20,070 If God's gonna forgive me anyway, what's the big deal? 82 00:03:20,700 --> 00:03:22,650 Does God really even care anymore about my sin? 83 00:03:23,190 --> 00:03:24,180 That's the question you might have. 84 00:03:24,180 --> 00:03:26,550 That's a question a lot of people have about Christianity. 85 00:03:26,550 --> 00:03:27,660 They say, well, what's the point then? 86 00:03:28,050 --> 00:03:31,260 If God's just gonna justify you because of Jesus, then you can 87 00:03:31,260 --> 00:03:32,249 just do whatever you want, right? 88 00:03:32,249 --> 00:03:32,970 God's gonna forgive you. 89 00:03:33,210 --> 00:03:35,579 That's what a lot of people say, and that's what a lot of 90 00:03:35,700 --> 00:03:38,309 people ask about the gospel. 91 00:03:38,700 --> 00:03:41,280 But what I want you to see with that idea of if the consequences 92 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:43,410 are gone, it shows you whether you really like something or not. 93 00:03:44,910 --> 00:03:49,020 If you're okay with your sin, if you're okay with going 94 00:03:49,079 --> 00:03:50,249 on and, and disobeying God. 95 00:03:50,744 --> 00:03:54,105 If you're okay with rejecting God, if you're okay with loving other things 96 00:03:54,105 --> 00:03:57,465 more than God, if you're okay with not ever talking to God, if you're okay 97 00:03:57,465 --> 00:04:02,924 with living as if God didn't exist, just because, well now there's no more 98 00:04:02,924 --> 00:04:07,725 consequences for my sin that shows you you really don't love God, right? 99 00:04:07,725 --> 00:04:10,965 If the only thing that gets you to do things for God is, well, 100 00:04:11,054 --> 00:04:12,255 I might go to Hell if I don't. 101 00:04:13,455 --> 00:04:15,660 That's like you doing homework just because, oh, I might fail the class. 102 00:04:17,010 --> 00:04:19,200 But once the, the failing the homework, right? 103 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,329 Your life's not being graded anymore because you're 104 00:04:21,329 --> 00:04:22,590 forgiven, you're under grace. 105 00:04:22,620 --> 00:04:24,000 You're not under the law anymore. 106 00:04:24,210 --> 00:04:25,830 Your life's not being graded anymore. 107 00:04:25,859 --> 00:04:27,870 By God, you're, you're forgiven, you're righteous. 108 00:04:28,710 --> 00:04:30,570 And if you say, well, that's fine, I'll just keep sinning. 109 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:33,750 It shows you that you don't really love God that much. 110 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:37,770 Maybe you might not even love him at all because the only thing that 111 00:04:37,770 --> 00:04:39,810 motivated you was the consequences. 112 00:04:40,590 --> 00:04:42,155 So if, if you're looking for. 113 00:04:42,794 --> 00:04:44,504 If you're, if you say you're a Christian, you're saying, well, how 114 00:04:44,504 --> 00:04:46,334 much can I sin and still be a Christian? 115 00:04:46,905 --> 00:04:49,364 Or how much can I get away with and still say, saved? 116 00:04:50,294 --> 00:04:51,405 You're asking the wrong question. 117 00:04:51,433 --> 00:04:53,894 What you're showing about yourself is you don't really love God that much. 118 00:04:53,924 --> 00:04:55,364 Maybe you might not even love him at all. 119 00:04:56,294 --> 00:04:59,174 'cause what you're trying to do is, is keep your sin and just 120 00:04:59,174 --> 00:05:00,794 take the consequences away. 121 00:05:01,424 --> 00:05:04,514 You don't actually love what you're living for. 122 00:05:04,514 --> 00:05:05,744 You don't love God. 123 00:05:06,885 --> 00:05:12,015 If there's no struggle against your sin in your life, if you're just out there and 124 00:05:12,015 --> 00:05:16,755 you say, yeah, I'm a Christian, but my sin is just, it's here and I'm okay with it. 125 00:05:16,935 --> 00:05:17,565 It doesn't bother me. 126 00:05:18,104 --> 00:05:21,164 It doesn't bother me that I disobey God. 127 00:05:21,164 --> 00:05:22,875 It doesn't bother me that I gossip. 128 00:05:23,085 --> 00:05:26,145 It doesn't bother me that I have impure thoughts. 129 00:05:26,145 --> 00:05:28,185 It doesn't bother me that I'm selfish. 130 00:05:29,234 --> 00:05:30,195 That's showing you, you. 131 00:05:30,195 --> 00:05:31,604 You don't really love God. 132 00:05:31,724 --> 00:05:32,685 You're okay with your sin. 133 00:05:33,405 --> 00:05:35,054 A real Christian is. 134 00:05:35,580 --> 00:05:37,980 Not just getting rid of their sin because there's consequences. 135 00:05:37,980 --> 00:05:40,590 They're getting rid of their sin because they actually love God. 136 00:05:40,590 --> 00:05:43,260 And that's what we're gonna see here in Romans six. 137 00:05:43,260 --> 00:05:45,420 We're gonna, our points are gonna be questions. 138 00:05:45,450 --> 00:05:48,360 They're gonna be questions to ask yourself, am I following Jesus because 139 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,110 I want to, or am I just trying to follow Jesus because I have to, because 140 00:05:52,110 --> 00:05:54,750 my parents are making me or because I think it's the right thing to do? 141 00:05:55,409 --> 00:05:58,230 Am I following Jesus because I want to, because of who I am? 142 00:05:58,380 --> 00:05:59,159 I love Jesus. 143 00:05:59,775 --> 00:06:00,405 Am I following Jesus? 144 00:06:00,405 --> 00:06:04,784 Just because all the outside forces, my parents, my friends, my church 145 00:06:04,784 --> 00:06:07,124 is just making me do it right. 146 00:06:07,124 --> 00:06:09,224 My life's being graded, so I feel like I have to do it. 147 00:06:09,914 --> 00:06:14,294 That's what these questions are going to help us figure out. 148 00:06:14,324 --> 00:06:17,744 Alright, so we're actually gonna start, um, not at the 149 00:06:17,744 --> 00:06:18,914 beginning of this paragraph. 150 00:06:18,914 --> 00:06:21,030 We're gonna start at the bottom of the paragraph here. 151 00:06:21,369 --> 00:06:25,874 So open your Bibles to Romans chapter six, and instead of starting in verse one, 152 00:06:26,054 --> 00:06:28,304 we're actually gonna start here in verse. 153 00:06:28,754 --> 00:06:29,594 13. 154 00:06:29,775 --> 00:06:30,134 Okay. 155 00:06:30,134 --> 00:06:31,544 This is gonna be a little different than what we normally do. 156 00:06:31,724 --> 00:06:33,374 We're gonna start in verse 13. 157 00:06:34,754 --> 00:06:39,854 So what's happening here in verse 13 is Paul, the writer of this letter 158 00:06:39,854 --> 00:06:45,074 of Romans, he's, he gives, uh, don't do this, but instead do that. 159 00:06:45,224 --> 00:06:46,574 A lot of times in the Bible you'll see a command. 160 00:06:46,574 --> 00:06:47,294 It says, don't do this. 161 00:06:47,384 --> 00:06:48,164 Instead do this. 162 00:06:48,164 --> 00:06:50,744 Here's what he says, don't present your members. 163 00:06:50,744 --> 00:06:52,094 That means like your body, right? 164 00:06:52,244 --> 00:06:55,484 Your arms, your thoughts, your decisions. 165 00:06:55,724 --> 00:06:57,674 Don't give those to sin. 166 00:06:58,634 --> 00:07:01,184 As an instrument, like a, a weapon. 167 00:07:01,335 --> 00:07:03,134 That word could be translated weapon. 168 00:07:03,465 --> 00:07:07,244 Um, don't give your members your, your, your body yourself to sin as 169 00:07:07,424 --> 00:07:11,294 a weapon for unrighteousness, for bad things, but present yourself. 170 00:07:11,294 --> 00:07:15,765 Give yourself to God as people who have been brought from death to life and 171 00:07:15,765 --> 00:07:19,275 your members, your body, parts to God, goddess instruments for righteousness 172 00:07:19,634 --> 00:07:21,374 as weapons for righteousness. 173 00:07:21,374 --> 00:07:23,234 So what what's happening here is. 174 00:07:23,924 --> 00:07:28,994 We're seeing that people are always giving themselves to someone 175 00:07:29,054 --> 00:07:30,104 like that word present, right? 176 00:07:30,104 --> 00:07:31,304 Like a present is a gift, right? 177 00:07:31,304 --> 00:07:34,364 Like Master Uwe said the present is a, today is a gift. 178 00:07:34,364 --> 00:07:35,744 That's why it's called the present, right? 179 00:07:36,224 --> 00:07:37,965 Um, that's what Master Uwe told me, right? 180 00:07:37,965 --> 00:07:38,384 Present. 181 00:07:38,624 --> 00:07:43,395 You're, you're always giving yourself as a gift to something. 182 00:07:43,874 --> 00:07:47,414 Remember, last week we talked about how sin is like a, a power. 183 00:07:47,444 --> 00:07:48,824 We talked about sin is reigning. 184 00:07:49,183 --> 00:07:49,933 Over people. 185 00:07:50,085 --> 00:07:55,215 And then when Jesus came, he breaks the reign, the ruling power of sin and death. 186 00:07:56,145 --> 00:08:02,205 So you're either giving yourself to sin to do whatever it wants with 187 00:08:02,205 --> 00:08:06,135 you, or you're giving yourself to God to do whatever he wants with you. 188 00:08:06,855 --> 00:08:08,835 So those are your only two options. 189 00:08:09,284 --> 00:08:13,155 You're either giving yourself to your sinful desires or 190 00:08:13,155 --> 00:08:14,715 you're giving yourself to God. 191 00:08:14,924 --> 00:08:16,544 That's what people do. 192 00:08:17,340 --> 00:08:20,280 We're always giving ourself to serve someone. 193 00:08:20,700 --> 00:08:22,470 So the first question I want you to ask yourself tonight 194 00:08:22,679 --> 00:08:25,230 is, what am I giving myself to? 195 00:08:26,730 --> 00:08:28,289 What am I giving myself to? 196 00:08:28,409 --> 00:08:30,120 Am I giving myself to sin? 197 00:08:30,179 --> 00:08:31,919 Am I following my sinful desires? 198 00:08:32,309 --> 00:08:36,240 Am I saying, Hey sin, here's all my thoughts. 199 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:39,120 Think about whatever you want with my thoughts. 200 00:08:40,740 --> 00:08:42,120 Here's all of my feelings. 201 00:08:42,150 --> 00:08:43,919 Feel whatever you want with my feelings. 202 00:08:44,970 --> 00:08:45,845 Here's all of my decisions. 203 00:08:47,925 --> 00:08:50,354 Do whatever you want through my decisions. 204 00:08:51,915 --> 00:08:55,064 You're either doing that or you're, you're doing the opposite and 205 00:08:55,064 --> 00:08:57,704 you're, you're going to God and you're saying, God, here's my body. 206 00:08:58,094 --> 00:09:01,035 Do whatever you want with my words. 207 00:09:01,185 --> 00:09:02,594 Do whatever you want with my thoughts. 208 00:09:02,805 --> 00:09:06,015 Do whatever you want, God with my feelings. 209 00:09:06,224 --> 00:09:07,814 I wanna feel the way you want me to feel. 210 00:09:07,814 --> 00:09:09,494 I don't wanna feel the way I want me to feel. 211 00:09:10,155 --> 00:09:12,045 I don't wanna give myself to my sinful desires. 212 00:09:12,224 --> 00:09:15,770 I wanna give myself to your desires, God, what you want from me. 213 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,080 What I want you to ask yourself is what am I, what am I doing? 214 00:09:19,290 --> 00:09:22,560 Am I giving myself to sin or am I giving myself to God? 215 00:09:22,590 --> 00:09:24,660 'cause you're giving yourself to one or the other. 216 00:09:24,660 --> 00:09:26,580 Those are your only two options. 217 00:09:26,580 --> 00:09:29,820 You're always giving yourself over to someone. 218 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:35,310 Everything you do is almost promoting one thing or the other thing I want you to 219 00:09:35,310 --> 00:09:40,200 think about, almost like everything you do is voting either for God or against God. 220 00:09:41,730 --> 00:09:43,740 Almost, almost like you're casting a vote, right? 221 00:09:43,890 --> 00:09:47,910 I'm gonna either vote for God, God is great, or I'm gonna vote. 222 00:09:48,150 --> 00:09:48,450 God. 223 00:09:48,450 --> 00:09:49,080 Isn't that important? 224 00:09:49,830 --> 00:09:51,090 God isn't worth my time. 225 00:09:52,290 --> 00:09:54,420 God isn't trustworthy. 226 00:09:55,470 --> 00:09:57,840 Every time you decide something, that's what you're doing. 227 00:09:58,439 --> 00:10:00,450 You're voting either for God or against God. 228 00:10:00,990 --> 00:10:02,400 And so I want you to ask yourself, what do I do? 229 00:10:02,700 --> 00:10:03,840 What does my life look like? 230 00:10:04,230 --> 00:10:07,770 Am I someone who's voting for God or am I someone who's voting for myself? 231 00:10:09,180 --> 00:10:11,010 Who am I giving myself to? 232 00:10:13,380 --> 00:10:16,650 The way this passage is gonna describe people is probably a way you've 233 00:10:16,650 --> 00:10:18,209 never really thought about before. 234 00:10:18,750 --> 00:10:22,469 Um, but we see it here in verse 14 when we continue reading. 235 00:10:22,620 --> 00:10:25,170 It says, sin will have no dominion over you. 236 00:10:25,319 --> 00:10:25,949 Dominion, right? 237 00:10:25,949 --> 00:10:27,810 Think of the word dominate, right? 238 00:10:28,199 --> 00:10:30,060 Um, dominion. 239 00:10:30,270 --> 00:10:32,040 It has power control over you. 240 00:10:32,339 --> 00:10:33,870 So he says, don't let it do that. 241 00:10:34,229 --> 00:10:36,329 Since you're not under the law of under Grace, we talked 242 00:10:36,329 --> 00:10:37,319 about this last week, right? 243 00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:44,189 Um, grace has power and um, that power is what frees you from the power of sin. 244 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:50,160 So, um, the point here is sin is trying to dominate people and sometimes it's 245 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:51,449 successful and sometimes it's not. 246 00:10:53,189 --> 00:10:55,770 What you give yourself to is a big part of that. 247 00:10:55,979 --> 00:11:00,300 Am I giving myself to sin and being dominated by sin or am I giving 248 00:11:00,300 --> 00:11:03,510 myself to God and being, being. 249 00:11:04,244 --> 00:11:05,444 Following him, right? 250 00:11:05,655 --> 00:11:09,314 Is he ruling me or am I letting my sin rule me? 251 00:11:11,744 --> 00:11:15,974 Because here, so to help you kind of picture this, um, I didn't come 252 00:11:15,974 --> 00:11:19,035 up with this, but here's like a kind of a illustration or like a 253 00:11:19,064 --> 00:11:20,295 word picture of how this works. 254 00:11:20,324 --> 00:11:20,624 Okay? 255 00:11:20,864 --> 00:11:23,744 So I want you to imagine that you're like a fortress, okay? 256 00:11:23,954 --> 00:11:25,694 So you're like a fortress or a city. 257 00:11:26,384 --> 00:11:29,925 Um, and in that city there's a throne. 258 00:11:31,004 --> 00:11:32,234 And on that throne. 259 00:11:32,849 --> 00:11:35,010 Is either God or sin. 260 00:11:35,609 --> 00:11:38,425 They're, one of them is ruling, one of them is reigning, one of 'em 261 00:11:38,430 --> 00:11:39,870 is in control, dominating, right? 262 00:11:40,439 --> 00:11:47,550 Um, so God is obviously the rightful ruler, and sin is like a rebel, like a, 263 00:11:47,550 --> 00:11:49,349 who came over and, and conquered the city. 264 00:11:49,704 --> 00:11:49,925 Now, 265 00:11:52,349 --> 00:11:56,490 in this city, there's um, you can call 'em generals, you can call 'em governors, 266 00:11:56,490 --> 00:11:57,300 you can call 'em whatever you want. 267 00:11:57,660 --> 00:12:02,490 Um, and these are your desires, and they serve whoever is on the throne. 268 00:12:03,435 --> 00:12:07,334 So whoever's on the throne, they're in control of these generals and they tell 269 00:12:07,334 --> 00:12:08,505 the generals, Hey, you should do this. 270 00:12:08,505 --> 00:12:09,615 You should do this, you should do this. 271 00:12:09,795 --> 00:12:13,305 And so these generals, these desires, they make things happen. 272 00:12:13,425 --> 00:12:16,425 They're, they're the things that run the city in your life. 273 00:12:16,425 --> 00:12:18,824 Your desires are the things that run your life. 274 00:12:19,275 --> 00:12:20,685 You always do whatever you want. 275 00:12:20,805 --> 00:12:21,555 You ever thought about that? 276 00:12:22,125 --> 00:12:26,895 You always do exactly what you want to do, even if you don't think 277 00:12:26,895 --> 00:12:27,824 you want to, don't wanna do it. 278 00:12:27,824 --> 00:12:27,915 Right. 279 00:12:27,915 --> 00:12:29,985 Even if you're like, oh, I really don't wanna do my homework, but I did it anyway. 280 00:12:30,675 --> 00:12:32,985 Well, you did your homework because you didn't want to suffer the 281 00:12:32,985 --> 00:12:34,185 consequences of not doing your homework. 282 00:12:34,185 --> 00:12:38,475 So really you wanted to do your homework because you wanted to not get punished 283 00:12:38,475 --> 00:12:39,285 for not doing your homework, right? 284 00:12:39,435 --> 00:12:41,985 So you, you always do what you really want to do. 285 00:12:42,135 --> 00:12:44,355 'cause if you really wanted to do it, you would do it. 286 00:12:44,745 --> 00:12:46,995 If you really didn't wanna do it, you wouldn't do it. 287 00:12:46,995 --> 00:12:51,525 So you always do what you want, kinda like, like working out, right? 288 00:12:52,005 --> 00:12:55,694 Um, you don't necessarily like the process of working out, but you like 289 00:12:55,694 --> 00:12:57,555 the results of working out, so you think it's worth it so you do it 290 00:12:57,855 --> 00:12:59,265 right, or practicing your instrument. 291 00:12:59,970 --> 00:13:00,300 Whatever. 292 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:00,630 Right. 293 00:13:00,839 --> 00:13:03,870 You, you do the practice, the thing you don't like to do the thing you want 294 00:13:03,870 --> 00:13:04,860 because that's what you really want. 295 00:13:05,579 --> 00:13:07,560 So you're okay with doing the thing, the mini thing. 296 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:09,360 You don't want to get to the big thing you want, right? 297 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:15,209 Anyway, all I have to say, your desires rule, so there's the throne, there's 298 00:13:15,209 --> 00:13:20,454 the, the generals, the desires that, that make everything happen and these desires. 299 00:13:21,824 --> 00:13:23,505 Control what we called. 300 00:13:23,505 --> 00:13:28,035 Remember our, um, instruments, the weapons, so your desires, um, they 301 00:13:28,035 --> 00:13:32,145 control your, your, these instruments, your weapons, which is like your body, 302 00:13:32,265 --> 00:13:34,035 your thoughts, your decisions, right? 303 00:13:34,275 --> 00:13:37,755 You, those are always under the control of what you want, right? 304 00:13:37,755 --> 00:13:39,584 Your body is under the control of what you want. 305 00:13:40,574 --> 00:13:42,734 Your thoughts are under the control of what you want. 306 00:13:45,885 --> 00:13:48,405 Your actions are under control of what you want. 307 00:13:48,405 --> 00:13:50,265 And so these, um. 308 00:13:50,700 --> 00:13:56,640 Desires can make these weapons in the city serve either God or serve sin. 309 00:13:57,150 --> 00:13:57,390 Okay. 310 00:13:57,390 --> 00:13:58,170 Does this make sense? 311 00:13:59,100 --> 00:13:59,850 It's okay if it doesn't. 312 00:13:59,910 --> 00:14:01,710 You can shake your head and say, no, it doesn't make sense. 313 00:14:01,710 --> 00:14:02,610 Please explain it better. 314 00:14:04,380 --> 00:14:06,210 But no one's doing that, so great. 315 00:14:06,660 --> 00:14:07,080 Alright. 316 00:14:07,170 --> 00:14:10,890 Um, you don't have to nod by the way, if, if you don't, if something's confusing, 317 00:14:10,890 --> 00:14:13,350 please look confused, shake your head. 318 00:14:14,100 --> 00:14:15,000 That's helpful to me. 319 00:14:15,090 --> 00:14:16,860 If I know you're confused, that will help me. 320 00:14:16,980 --> 00:14:17,340 Okay? 321 00:14:17,730 --> 00:14:18,090 Anyway. 322 00:14:18,570 --> 00:14:18,990 Um. 323 00:14:22,395 --> 00:14:25,545 So you are so God's on the throne, right? 324 00:14:25,814 --> 00:14:26,984 Or sin is on the throne. 325 00:14:27,255 --> 00:14:31,185 And then there's these generals, these desires that run the city and 326 00:14:31,305 --> 00:14:33,915 those desires control these weapons. 327 00:14:34,214 --> 00:14:38,204 And the weapons can be used either for God or against God. 328 00:14:39,224 --> 00:14:43,484 So, um, and those weapons are like your actions, your thoughts, 329 00:14:43,484 --> 00:14:44,925 your body, all that stuff. 330 00:14:44,984 --> 00:14:45,344 Okay? 331 00:14:46,515 --> 00:14:48,990 Now how do you know? 332 00:14:50,130 --> 00:14:53,520 What desires are calling the shots in your life? 333 00:14:53,550 --> 00:14:57,600 What generals are in control of your life, of your city? 334 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,260 Well, you, you asked the question of our point. 335 00:15:01,260 --> 00:15:02,430 What am I giving myself to? 336 00:15:03,390 --> 00:15:07,560 Because you give yourself to whatever you want, right? 337 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:08,520 Just, just evaluate yourself. 338 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:09,450 Think about what do I do? 339 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,150 What do I think about, what do I feel? 340 00:15:12,270 --> 00:15:13,530 How do I feel about these things? 341 00:15:14,490 --> 00:15:15,720 That's what you're giving yourself to. 342 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:17,430 Your desires will show you. 343 00:15:18,510 --> 00:15:22,350 What you really love and what you don't love and what your desires do is 344 00:15:22,350 --> 00:15:27,000 they take control of your actions, the weapons in your city, and they use them. 345 00:15:27,300 --> 00:15:30,180 And so you look at your life and you say, how is my life being used? 346 00:15:30,750 --> 00:15:33,900 Is my life being used to vote for God or vote against God? 347 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:36,569 Does my life make God look good? 348 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:37,949 Or does it make God look boring? 349 00:15:38,730 --> 00:15:41,819 Does my life make God look uninteresting or not worth it? 350 00:15:42,689 --> 00:15:42,900 Right? 351 00:15:42,900 --> 00:15:45,420 If you're, if you're anxious all the time, maybe it's your life 352 00:15:45,420 --> 00:15:47,040 is making God look untrustworthy. 353 00:15:47,954 --> 00:15:50,925 If you, um, are really angry all the time, maybe your life 354 00:15:50,925 --> 00:15:53,084 looks like God isn't in control. 355 00:15:54,104 --> 00:15:59,834 If you are always looking to make yourself happy with video games or watching 356 00:15:59,834 --> 00:16:03,974 things on online or whatever, maybe your life is saying God isn't good enough. 357 00:16:03,974 --> 00:16:05,564 I need all these other things to make me happy. 358 00:16:06,824 --> 00:16:10,694 Your desires show you what's really important in your life, 359 00:16:13,935 --> 00:16:14,204 so. 360 00:16:15,105 --> 00:16:17,505 When you ask yourself, what am I giving myself to, right? 361 00:16:17,505 --> 00:16:19,215 Who's on the throne of my life? 362 00:16:19,275 --> 00:16:21,495 Your desires serve whoever's on the throne. 363 00:16:22,275 --> 00:16:26,445 What you want is a product of who's controlling your life. 364 00:16:28,094 --> 00:16:32,084 And so if you aren't a Christian, sin is on the throne of your life, 365 00:16:32,775 --> 00:16:38,205 and so all your desires are sinful desires, and so your sinful desires 366 00:16:38,205 --> 00:16:39,824 these sinful generals in your city. 367 00:16:40,155 --> 00:16:41,949 They're just running around telling you what to do. 368 00:16:43,425 --> 00:16:50,564 You're a slave to sin Your body, your thoughts are enslaved to sin. 369 00:16:53,445 --> 00:16:57,015 So when we talked about that option of either sin is 370 00:16:57,495 --> 00:16:59,594 dominating you or not, right? 371 00:16:59,594 --> 00:17:04,335 If you are an unbeliever, if you're not a Christian here, you're really not free. 372 00:17:05,204 --> 00:17:08,295 You're not free from God doing whatever you want, living however you wanna live. 373 00:17:09,435 --> 00:17:11,494 Your sinful desires are telling you what to do. 374 00:17:12,598 --> 00:17:16,829 You're almost, in a sense, you're almost like an animal because you 375 00:17:16,829 --> 00:17:18,780 have no control over what you want. 376 00:17:19,348 --> 00:17:24,450 Your heart is sinful and just taking you wherever it wants you to go, right? 377 00:17:24,450 --> 00:17:26,940 Your sinful desires are just ordering you around, telling you 378 00:17:26,940 --> 00:17:28,650 to do exactly whatever you want. 379 00:17:28,650 --> 00:17:29,520 You're, you're not free. 380 00:17:29,550 --> 00:17:30,210 You're stuck. 381 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,030 You're enslaved to your sinful desires. 382 00:17:34,740 --> 00:17:38,340 And the only way for someone if sins on the phone of their life to. 383 00:17:38,685 --> 00:17:42,615 To get free from that slavery of, of those generals, right? 384 00:17:42,645 --> 00:17:46,425 Ordering them around those sinful desires is they need God to 385 00:17:46,425 --> 00:17:47,835 come in and take over the city. 386 00:17:49,125 --> 00:17:50,445 They need something to happen to them. 387 00:17:50,445 --> 00:17:53,565 They need God to come in and take over the sinful, de the sinful 388 00:17:53,565 --> 00:17:57,525 city and change those generals and, and make them godly desires. 389 00:17:57,525 --> 00:17:58,635 You need new. 390 00:17:59,129 --> 00:18:00,690 God Godly desires. 391 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:02,250 I need desires from God. 392 00:18:02,460 --> 00:18:04,080 I don't just need to start reading the Bible more. 393 00:18:04,230 --> 00:18:05,190 I don't just need to pray more. 394 00:18:05,340 --> 00:18:06,930 I don't just need to start going to church or start paying 395 00:18:06,930 --> 00:18:07,800 attention better in the sermons. 396 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:09,240 I don't just need to memorize books of the Bible. 397 00:18:09,570 --> 00:18:12,629 You need God to come in and and take over your life. 398 00:18:13,860 --> 00:18:16,650 And maybe that's not a way you've thought about how salvation works, 399 00:18:17,070 --> 00:18:20,010 but that's the picture we're seeing here is you're either a slave to sin 400 00:18:20,790 --> 00:18:24,690 or you are under God's management. 401 00:18:25,185 --> 00:18:28,185 Either sin is on the throne or God is on the throne, and that's 402 00:18:28,185 --> 00:18:29,625 where your desires come from. 403 00:18:30,525 --> 00:18:35,415 So the second question I want you to ask is, who controls my desires? 404 00:18:37,215 --> 00:18:38,205 Who controls what I want? 405 00:18:39,075 --> 00:18:42,585 Are my desires controlled by sin or are they controlled by God? 406 00:18:46,065 --> 00:18:47,805 What's the biggest influence on what you want? 407 00:18:49,545 --> 00:18:51,615 Is it, I want whatever I want? 408 00:18:52,785 --> 00:18:52,905 Right? 409 00:18:52,905 --> 00:18:53,625 Because we talked about. 410 00:18:54,255 --> 00:18:56,985 How that's actually you saying, God, I don't want you, I want me. 411 00:18:57,195 --> 00:18:57,405 Right? 412 00:18:57,405 --> 00:18:57,945 So that's sin. 413 00:18:58,515 --> 00:19:02,745 Rejecting God who controls my desires. 414 00:19:02,745 --> 00:19:03,405 Let's look at verse 12. 415 00:19:03,405 --> 00:19:07,485 I know we're going backward here, but verse 12 says, don't let 416 00:19:07,485 --> 00:19:09,855 sin reign in your body, right? 417 00:19:09,855 --> 00:19:14,565 Don't let sin be on the throne of your city to make you obey its passion. 418 00:19:14,565 --> 00:19:19,155 So sin right has these sinful desires, these passions, these generals 419 00:19:19,365 --> 00:19:21,465 that control and make you obey. 420 00:19:23,700 --> 00:19:25,740 Sin is reigning sins in control. 421 00:19:26,610 --> 00:19:32,760 If you're an unbeliever and it's making you do whatever it wants you to do, 422 00:19:32,910 --> 00:19:36,090 right, whatever you want to do, your sinful desires, you just carry 'em out. 423 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:40,710 So who's on the throne of your city? 424 00:19:40,860 --> 00:19:41,850 Who's on the throne of your heart? 425 00:19:42,270 --> 00:19:43,140 Is it sin or is it God? 426 00:19:43,530 --> 00:19:44,610 Those are your only two options. 427 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:49,920 If you say me, that's, that's probably means your sin is in control. 428 00:19:50,970 --> 00:19:51,330 Right. 429 00:19:52,650 --> 00:19:57,900 And it's the same thing we see here in these two verses here in the middle. 430 00:19:58,890 --> 00:19:59,340 Um, 431 00:20:02,220 --> 00:20:07,140 so our old self was crucified with Jesus in order that the body of sin might 432 00:20:07,140 --> 00:20:11,010 be brought to nothing, um, so that we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 433 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:16,110 So we'll talk about this part later, but right here, um, 434 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:19,500 everyone starts out like this. 435 00:20:20,025 --> 00:20:21,195 This is the default setting. 436 00:20:21,195 --> 00:20:22,515 We talked about this the last couple weeks, right? 437 00:20:22,515 --> 00:20:23,085 Romans five. 438 00:20:23,655 --> 00:20:26,325 Everyone starts out under the power of sin. 439 00:20:26,715 --> 00:20:29,115 Everyone's born wanting to sin. 440 00:20:29,505 --> 00:20:32,205 Everyone's born with sinful desires in control of their life. 441 00:20:33,225 --> 00:20:37,545 And so if this doesn't happen to you, if, if God doesn't come in and take over 442 00:20:37,545 --> 00:20:41,715 your city, this is, you're not neutral. 443 00:20:41,715 --> 00:20:44,835 And then, oh, well, I grew up in church, so God was in control of 444 00:20:44,835 --> 00:20:48,210 my life, but then now I'm really starting to not want God anymore. 445 00:20:50,129 --> 00:20:53,790 Actually, you started out enslaved to sin and you probably just hung around 446 00:20:53,790 --> 00:20:58,470 church people and kind of enjoyed it 'cause your friends were there and then 447 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:00,780 now sin is actually saying, guess what? 448 00:21:00,780 --> 00:21:02,040 I've actually been in control this whole time. 449 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:03,720 That's probably what's happening. 450 00:21:04,770 --> 00:21:06,510 So everyone starts out enslaved to sin. 451 00:21:06,510 --> 00:21:08,640 Everyone needs to be set free from sin. 452 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:14,430 The default setting starts out, sin is on the throne, so God has to come in and 453 00:21:14,430 --> 00:21:17,190 and do something to free you from that. 454 00:21:18,900 --> 00:21:22,890 The reason Christians are free from sin is not because Christians are good people. 455 00:21:22,980 --> 00:21:24,600 It's not because Christians try really hard. 456 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:27,600 It's not because Christians read the Bible a lot. 457 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,840 It's not because Christians have good parents. 458 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:33,360 It's because God came in and did something. 459 00:21:33,630 --> 00:21:34,740 God took over the city. 460 00:21:34,740 --> 00:21:38,730 That's why Christians are free from sin because God came in 461 00:21:38,820 --> 00:21:39,720 and did something about it. 462 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:43,530 Someone else is on the throne, right? 463 00:21:43,530 --> 00:21:45,720 Jesus came in and and killed sin. 464 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:47,940 He put it to death, right? 465 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:52,770 And so if you are a Christian, you're not enslaved to sin anymore 466 00:21:52,770 --> 00:21:54,300 because your desires changed there. 467 00:21:54,300 --> 00:21:58,140 There's new generals in the city now, and so then they take the 468 00:21:58,140 --> 00:21:59,400 weapons of your life, right? 469 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:03,030 Your body, your thoughts, your emotions, your your decisions. 470 00:22:03,030 --> 00:22:05,070 They take those weapons and instead of using them against 471 00:22:05,070 --> 00:22:06,240 God, they use them for God. 472 00:22:06,990 --> 00:22:09,960 So you're whoever's on the throne of your life, right? 473 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:13,440 God comes in and he takes over and he puts in new desires in your heart. 474 00:22:13,995 --> 00:22:14,925 That's what changes you. 475 00:22:15,045 --> 00:22:17,865 That's why Christians live differently than before. 476 00:22:18,345 --> 00:22:19,965 It's not because they tried really hard. 477 00:22:20,685 --> 00:22:24,255 You do have to try really hard, but you try really hard because you have these 478 00:22:24,255 --> 00:22:26,535 new desires that came from God, right? 479 00:22:26,775 --> 00:22:29,745 The Holy Spirit comes in and changes what you want. 480 00:22:30,375 --> 00:22:31,905 The fancy word for that is regeneration. 481 00:22:31,935 --> 00:22:32,685 You're born again. 482 00:22:35,535 --> 00:22:38,685 So that's why if you're a Christian, sin isn't in charge of you anymore. 483 00:22:39,855 --> 00:22:41,420 So if you feel like you're stuck in a sin. 484 00:22:43,275 --> 00:22:44,835 That feeling isn't true 485 00:22:47,325 --> 00:22:49,455 because sins dead. 486 00:22:50,385 --> 00:22:51,165 God kicked him out. 487 00:22:51,585 --> 00:22:53,085 God killed him, right? 488 00:22:53,085 --> 00:22:54,885 He's not on the throne of your life anymore. 489 00:22:55,725 --> 00:22:59,655 So if you're a Christian, you are free from sin right past tense. 490 00:22:59,655 --> 00:23:01,065 This is why grammar in the Bible matters, right? 491 00:23:01,335 --> 00:23:06,285 Whoever for the one who has died has been set free from sin, not will be 492 00:23:06,285 --> 00:23:10,995 set free from sin, not is starting to become set free from sin is has been. 493 00:23:11,355 --> 00:23:11,955 Past tense. 494 00:23:12,195 --> 00:23:13,455 It's already done, right? 495 00:23:13,455 --> 00:23:15,450 So if you're a Christian, you feel like, man, I'm really stuck in this sin. 496 00:23:15,455 --> 00:23:16,170 I can't beat this sin. 497 00:23:16,305 --> 00:23:17,385 I can't stop watching that. 498 00:23:17,385 --> 00:23:18,375 I can't stop thinking about this. 499 00:23:18,375 --> 00:23:19,455 I can't stop feeling this way. 500 00:23:20,175 --> 00:23:20,985 It's not true. 501 00:23:22,395 --> 00:23:22,935 It's not true. 502 00:23:23,925 --> 00:23:27,945 And that's the first step in killing sin is admitting that, you know what? 503 00:23:28,905 --> 00:23:32,205 This sin doesn't control me the way I feel doesn't control me. 504 00:23:32,205 --> 00:23:32,295 Mm-hmm. 505 00:23:33,495 --> 00:23:35,205 The way I feel isn't in charge of my life anymore. 506 00:23:35,265 --> 00:23:36,500 God is in charge of my life now. 507 00:23:39,975 --> 00:23:42,345 Sin isn't in charge of Christians anymore. 508 00:23:43,455 --> 00:23:45,645 So why do Christians still sin then? 509 00:23:45,645 --> 00:23:45,945 Right? 510 00:23:46,155 --> 00:23:47,055 Maybe that's the question you're thinking. 511 00:23:47,055 --> 00:23:49,275 Why do Christians still sin if sin isn't in charge of Christian's life? 512 00:23:49,365 --> 00:23:50,625 I know plenty of Christians and they sin. 513 00:23:51,465 --> 00:23:52,245 So what's up with that? 514 00:23:52,485 --> 00:23:52,965 Well, 515 00:23:55,935 --> 00:23:59,295 if you're a Christian, uh, remember this verse from verse 12. 516 00:24:00,630 --> 00:24:02,415 Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal body. 517 00:24:02,415 --> 00:24:07,275 So Paul is telling Christians, he's saying, Hey, don't let sin take back over. 518 00:24:08,535 --> 00:24:10,605 Your, your desires anymore, right? 519 00:24:10,605 --> 00:24:14,595 Sin is gonna come and try, try to come back into the city and 520 00:24:14,655 --> 00:24:16,515 take control of, of the generals. 521 00:24:17,595 --> 00:24:22,605 These generals, the desires can be turned against God. 522 00:24:22,605 --> 00:24:23,745 God stays on the throne. 523 00:24:24,735 --> 00:24:29,115 But in a Christian's life, sin can come back and, and try to turn 524 00:24:29,115 --> 00:24:30,585 the generals into double agents. 525 00:24:31,845 --> 00:24:33,705 In your city, God still runs the city. 526 00:24:33,705 --> 00:24:34,515 You're still a Christian. 527 00:24:35,025 --> 00:24:37,365 But what happens when you sin is. 528 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:43,620 Your desires get captured by sin, and instead of using their weapons 529 00:24:43,980 --> 00:24:45,720 for God, they use 'em against God. 530 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:48,300 But this time, God's not outside the city. 531 00:24:48,300 --> 00:24:49,470 He's inside the city, right? 532 00:24:51,450 --> 00:24:55,380 So every time a Christian sins, they're willingly allowing, right? 533 00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:56,280 They don't have to. 534 00:24:56,700 --> 00:24:57,090 They're free. 535 00:24:57,420 --> 00:25:01,590 They're willingly allowing a desire to be captured by sin. 536 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:06,630 Your willingly desire, you're willingly allowing your desire to be captured. 537 00:25:07,245 --> 00:25:07,995 By sin. 538 00:25:07,995 --> 00:25:09,075 Think about it like this, right? 539 00:25:09,465 --> 00:25:12,975 Um, you have a good desire to rest, right? 540 00:25:13,095 --> 00:25:15,555 God made you as a limited human being. 541 00:25:15,585 --> 00:25:17,835 You have to sleep, you have to eat right, you have limits. 542 00:25:17,865 --> 00:25:18,495 You need to rest. 543 00:25:19,215 --> 00:25:20,595 Good desire to rest, right? 544 00:25:20,595 --> 00:25:26,775 It's a good thing sin can come capture that desire in a Christian and turn it 545 00:25:26,775 --> 00:25:30,435 into an evil desire to be lazy, right? 546 00:25:30,915 --> 00:25:34,905 So now instead of that desire serving God, that desire, serving sin, 547 00:25:34,905 --> 00:25:36,585 it's, it's become a double agent. 548 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:39,450 That general has turned against God. 549 00:25:39,690 --> 00:25:43,830 God's still the throne, but Christian being lazy means, hey, the desire 550 00:25:43,830 --> 00:25:52,140 to rest has been hijacked, double agent ified to rebel against God. 551 00:25:54,570 --> 00:26:00,360 So good desire gets captured by sin, and now it's using the weapons of your body, 552 00:26:00,630 --> 00:26:04,440 your emotions against God to be lazy. 553 00:26:04,445 --> 00:26:04,665 Right. 554 00:26:05,850 --> 00:26:06,780 That's kind of how that works. 555 00:26:07,860 --> 00:26:14,910 So the point here is that sin is, if you're a Christian, sin is trying to 556 00:26:14,940 --> 00:26:18,510 convince you that you're still a slave. 557 00:26:19,260 --> 00:26:21,300 Sin is trying to convince you, Hey, you're actually not free. 558 00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:23,250 You're stuck, right? 559 00:26:23,250 --> 00:26:23,940 You're hopeless. 560 00:26:24,180 --> 00:26:26,280 You can't actually stop being anxious. 561 00:26:26,490 --> 00:26:28,980 You can't actually stop thinking impure thoughts. 562 00:26:29,129 --> 00:26:32,280 You can't actually stop being angry and impatient. 563 00:26:33,120 --> 00:26:33,870 That's just who you are. 564 00:26:33,900 --> 00:26:34,740 That's just how you're made. 565 00:26:35,310 --> 00:26:35,879 You're stuck. 566 00:26:36,690 --> 00:26:38,940 Sin is is telling that to you all the time. 567 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:39,540 All the time. 568 00:26:40,889 --> 00:26:44,160 That's why verse 11 says, you must consider yourself 569 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:45,600 dead to sin and alive to God. 570 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:46,290 This is really interesting. 571 00:26:46,290 --> 00:26:49,590 So basically what happens, we're going backward, but one verses 572 00:26:49,590 --> 00:26:52,950 one through 10 are just a bunch of like information in theology. 573 00:26:54,540 --> 00:26:59,220 This right here is the first command Paul has given in the entire book of Romans. 574 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:04,200 The first command Paul gives after six chapters is, Hey. 575 00:27:04,950 --> 00:27:06,270 Believe what I just told you. 576 00:27:07,950 --> 00:27:10,050 Why does he, why, why does he have to say it? 577 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:10,680 Right? 578 00:27:10,740 --> 00:27:13,740 You think if Paul just wrote, Hey, here's all this information, he, 579 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:15,150 he kind of expects you to do this. 580 00:27:15,210 --> 00:27:16,440 He kinda expects you to believe it, right? 581 00:27:17,820 --> 00:27:19,500 But he thinks it's so important. 582 00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:20,520 He makes this the first time. 583 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:21,750 He tells you to do something in this whole letter. 584 00:27:22,650 --> 00:27:23,760 Hey, you need to believe this. 585 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:24,900 You really need to believe this. 586 00:27:25,260 --> 00:27:27,270 You're not a slave descend anymore. 587 00:27:27,870 --> 00:27:28,830 Who you are is changed. 588 00:27:30,075 --> 00:27:32,205 You don't have to keep thinking those anxious thoughts. 589 00:27:32,415 --> 00:27:35,145 You don't have to keep saying those unkind words. 590 00:27:37,005 --> 00:27:39,075 You're not stuck in that anymore, 591 00:27:41,685 --> 00:27:43,065 and that's because of Jesus. 592 00:27:44,025 --> 00:27:46,545 He came in and conquered your city, and we'll talk about more 593 00:27:46,545 --> 00:27:48,525 about how to do that next week. 594 00:27:48,525 --> 00:27:50,475 Next week we're gonna look at just 11 to 14. 595 00:27:50,475 --> 00:27:50,895 How does it look like? 596 00:27:50,895 --> 00:27:52,965 What do I do to consider myself the dissent? 597 00:27:52,965 --> 00:27:58,335 How do I present myself to God as a, uh, for righteousness and not for unright? 598 00:27:58,335 --> 00:27:59,325 We'll talk about all that next week. 599 00:27:59,325 --> 00:27:59,865 The specifics. 600 00:28:00,045 --> 00:28:01,575 This is more of how do people work? 601 00:28:02,205 --> 00:28:09,375 Well, we have desires and they're either serving sin or they're serving God. 602 00:28:10,740 --> 00:28:14,160 The only way to get those desires to serve God is for God to come in and 603 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:20,070 do something to take over my city and change my desires to serve him. 604 00:28:20,700 --> 00:28:25,560 And how that happens is that we get connected to Jesus, right? 605 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:28,740 So we look at verses five through seven here, okay, 606 00:28:31,170 --> 00:28:34,590 being connected to Jesus, United with Jesus. 607 00:28:34,590 --> 00:28:37,020 Or maybe the Christian needs is in Christ, right? 608 00:28:37,350 --> 00:28:38,850 Is how this change happens. 609 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,100 How does God come in and take over the city? 610 00:28:41,550 --> 00:28:42,150 How does he do that? 611 00:28:42,210 --> 00:28:44,040 How do I get free from all my sinful desires? 612 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,630 Well, right here we have been united with him connected, right? 613 00:28:48,780 --> 00:28:49,800 That's what it means to be in Christ. 614 00:28:49,860 --> 00:28:50,700 I'm united with him. 615 00:28:51,150 --> 00:28:54,870 Something happened to me, right when I became a Christian, something happened. 616 00:28:54,870 --> 00:28:59,700 We, me and Jesus, we got, we got stuff together somehow, right? 617 00:28:59,700 --> 00:29:04,560 Not literally, obviously, but we got united and there's specifically some 618 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,500 things that I got connected to Jesus in. 619 00:29:07,890 --> 00:29:08,310 Okay. 620 00:29:08,910 --> 00:29:10,470 First thing is his death. 621 00:29:11,070 --> 00:29:12,540 I got connected to Jesus' death. 622 00:29:13,740 --> 00:29:16,170 And the picture of this is water baptism. 623 00:29:16,230 --> 00:29:16,350 Right? 624 00:29:16,350 --> 00:29:17,340 That's how you visualize it. 625 00:29:17,460 --> 00:29:19,560 So think about when someone gets baptized, they go down into the 626 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:21,990 water, it's like they died, right? 627 00:29:23,820 --> 00:29:25,110 What's that supposed to symbolize? 628 00:29:25,110 --> 00:29:25,560 Why do we do that? 629 00:29:25,590 --> 00:29:27,660 Why do, why have Christians done this for 2000 years? 630 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,880 Because what they're showing is, hey, the old you, the, the you, that's 631 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:35,040 enslaved to sin, that you's dead. 632 00:29:36,750 --> 00:29:37,230 He's gone. 633 00:29:37,950 --> 00:29:38,880 She's, she's dead. 634 00:29:40,230 --> 00:29:41,220 She doesn't exist anymore. 635 00:29:42,450 --> 00:29:43,710 Not enslaved to sin anymore. 636 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,190 That's what we mean when you say We died with Christ. 637 00:29:49,020 --> 00:29:52,170 United, with Jesus in his death, and then also we're united 638 00:29:52,170 --> 00:29:53,310 with him in his resurrection. 639 00:29:53,340 --> 00:29:54,990 That's why you come back up outta the water, right? 640 00:29:54,990 --> 00:29:56,580 That's why they don't just leave you down there to die. 641 00:29:57,870 --> 00:30:04,500 You come back up out of the water because it shows us that now the new me is alive. 642 00:30:04,650 --> 00:30:05,340 Old me's dead. 643 00:30:05,340 --> 00:30:05,965 New me is alive. 644 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,000 And that's what these verses explain, right? 645 00:30:09,330 --> 00:30:10,740 If you're dead, you're free. 646 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:11,879 The old you's dead. 647 00:30:11,879 --> 00:30:12,570 You're free from sin. 648 00:30:13,620 --> 00:30:14,879 You're not enslaved to sin anymore, right? 649 00:30:14,879 --> 00:30:17,220 If you, if, if a slave dies, are they still enslaved? 650 00:30:17,700 --> 00:30:18,030 No. 651 00:30:18,210 --> 00:30:18,480 Right? 652 00:30:19,050 --> 00:30:20,730 So old you is dead. 653 00:30:21,330 --> 00:30:22,350 New you is alive. 654 00:30:22,350 --> 00:30:24,389 And that's because of your connection to Jesus. 655 00:30:24,570 --> 00:30:25,800 'cause it happened to Jesus. 656 00:30:26,190 --> 00:30:28,950 And so it happens to you spiritually, right? 657 00:30:28,950 --> 00:30:30,690 Your, your old you is dead new. 658 00:30:30,690 --> 00:30:32,129 You is alive. 659 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:35,670 So the third question to ask yourself is, well, why do I keep 660 00:30:35,670 --> 00:30:36,750 sending over and over, right? 661 00:30:36,750 --> 00:30:38,280 Why do I not love God very much? 662 00:30:38,700 --> 00:30:41,100 Well, I want you to ask yourself, have I been connected to Jesus? 663 00:30:42,750 --> 00:30:44,940 Has God really come in and taken over my city? 664 00:30:46,350 --> 00:30:46,500 Right? 665 00:30:46,500 --> 00:30:51,120 Because if you find yourself thinking, man, I, I just don't love God very much. 666 00:30:52,290 --> 00:30:54,750 I just don't have any righteous desires in my life. 667 00:30:55,380 --> 00:30:57,180 I don't get excited about singing the God. 668 00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:58,920 I don't get excited about reading the Bible. 669 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,020 I don't enjoy sharing the gospel with people. 670 00:31:02,895 --> 00:31:06,375 Maybe it's because your desires are still under the control of sin, 671 00:31:06,405 --> 00:31:08,265 because sin iss on the throne, not God. 672 00:31:09,765 --> 00:31:11,385 So we start, right, evaluate your life. 673 00:31:11,385 --> 00:31:11,625 What? 674 00:31:11,775 --> 00:31:12,885 Who am I giving myself to? 675 00:31:14,235 --> 00:31:16,305 Well, maybe the reason you're giving yourself over to sin all 676 00:31:16,305 --> 00:31:20,025 the time is because your desires are still under the control of sin. 677 00:31:21,165 --> 00:31:23,205 Because sin is on the throne of your life. 678 00:31:23,445 --> 00:31:24,465 You're not connected to Jesus. 679 00:31:24,525 --> 00:31:26,985 Your old self is still your yourself. 680 00:31:26,985 --> 00:31:28,905 Currently, there's no new you. 681 00:31:29,115 --> 00:31:29,925 There's just the old you. 682 00:31:31,635 --> 00:31:36,015 And maybe that's because you've never been connected to Jesus and 683 00:31:36,015 --> 00:31:37,125 that's how this passage starts. 684 00:31:37,455 --> 00:31:39,255 Should we go on sinning? 685 00:31:40,485 --> 00:31:42,015 That Grace May abound, right? 686 00:31:42,015 --> 00:31:42,585 Increase. 687 00:31:42,795 --> 00:31:43,665 Should I keep sinning? 688 00:31:43,995 --> 00:31:46,065 Because it doesn't matter anymore, right? 689 00:31:46,065 --> 00:31:49,035 If God forgives people and God loves to forgive people, shouldn't 690 00:31:49,035 --> 00:31:50,625 I just keep letting him forgive me. 691 00:31:51,225 --> 00:31:53,505 Shouldn't I just keep, if God's so excited about forgiving me, 692 00:31:53,925 --> 00:31:55,155 shouldn't I just let him do that? 693 00:31:56,325 --> 00:31:57,585 If I sin more, there's more grace, right? 694 00:32:00,555 --> 00:32:03,015 This is why you don't keep sinning just because the consequences 695 00:32:03,015 --> 00:32:04,005 of sin are gone, right? 696 00:32:04,005 --> 00:32:06,645 Like we talked about in the beginning, this is why you still do your homework, 697 00:32:06,975 --> 00:32:09,585 even though there's no consequences for not doing the homework right? 698 00:32:09,915 --> 00:32:12,495 Even though your homework's not graded, you still do it as a Christian, even 699 00:32:12,495 --> 00:32:17,565 though your life's not graded, you still live for God because you're different. 700 00:32:17,775 --> 00:32:19,485 Who you are is fundamentally different. 701 00:32:19,575 --> 00:32:20,295 You're dead to. 702 00:32:21,375 --> 00:32:21,525 Right. 703 00:32:21,525 --> 00:32:23,295 When someone's dead to you, you don't keep talking to them. 704 00:32:23,475 --> 00:32:23,745 Right. 705 00:32:23,985 --> 00:32:26,085 You know, when someone, like you said, you know, you have that like fight 706 00:32:26,085 --> 00:32:28,365 in fourth grade on the playground and you're like, you're dead to me. 707 00:32:28,755 --> 00:32:30,375 You know, like, you probably did sin in fourth grade. 708 00:32:30,375 --> 00:32:30,825 Hopefully you didn't. 709 00:32:31,155 --> 00:32:36,855 But the point is, you're dead to sin you and sin cut off no more 710 00:32:36,855 --> 00:32:39,105 relationship instead, right? 711 00:32:39,105 --> 00:32:40,125 You died with Jesus. 712 00:32:40,125 --> 00:32:42,855 That's what this phrase baptized into Christ Jesus means. 713 00:32:43,515 --> 00:32:49,785 Um, the word baptized, it just kind of means like, think of like dunked dipped. 714 00:32:50,340 --> 00:32:50,700 Right. 715 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:55,290 Um, I always think of like, so it's just weird. 716 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:56,880 I always eat chicken nuggets with a fork. 717 00:32:57,750 --> 00:33:02,460 Um, because chicken nuggets are like, 'cause chicken strips are 718 00:33:02,460 --> 00:33:03,660 way better than chicken nuggets. 719 00:33:04,260 --> 00:33:07,350 One, there's more chicken, right? 720 00:33:07,350 --> 00:33:11,070 Obviously you can, you can weigh it way more chicken in the chicken strip. 721 00:33:11,070 --> 00:33:12,570 Like if you go to Chick-fil-A, should I get the chicken 722 00:33:12,570 --> 00:33:13,740 strips or the chicken nuggets? 723 00:33:14,130 --> 00:33:19,065 Obviously the chicken strips because one more chicken, two more dips. 724 00:33:19,950 --> 00:33:22,230 Per chicken, right? 725 00:33:22,980 --> 00:33:23,550 Chicken nugget. 726 00:33:23,550 --> 00:33:27,030 You get like one dip and it's super awkward and sometimes you drop the 727 00:33:27,030 --> 00:33:29,100 nugget in the sauce, you know, and you can't get it out and it gets all 728 00:33:29,100 --> 00:33:30,389 your fingers and it's really messy. 729 00:33:30,389 --> 00:33:32,639 And anyway, that's why I eat it with a fork 'cause I don't 730 00:33:32,639 --> 00:33:33,690 wanna deal with that, right? 731 00:33:34,170 --> 00:33:35,190 Chicken strips way better. 732 00:33:35,190 --> 00:33:37,170 You get like three dips per strip. 733 00:33:38,159 --> 00:33:39,570 Way more. 734 00:33:40,590 --> 00:33:41,130 Way more. 735 00:33:41,190 --> 00:33:44,340 Anyway, all that to say, I think of a chicken nugget 736 00:33:44,340 --> 00:33:45,090 when I think of this passage. 737 00:33:46,815 --> 00:33:50,685 I want my chicken nugget fully covered in the sauce, right? 738 00:33:51,225 --> 00:33:52,365 That's why I use the fork. 739 00:33:52,605 --> 00:33:54,465 I don't want half the chicken nugget covered in the sauce. 740 00:33:54,495 --> 00:33:55,875 I want the whole chicken nugget covered in the sauce. 741 00:33:57,074 --> 00:33:58,605 When you think of being baptized now, you're always 742 00:33:58,605 --> 00:33:59,415 gonna think of chicken nuggets. 743 00:33:59,415 --> 00:34:05,594 Hopefully for better or for worse, you're placed into Christ Jesus, right? 744 00:34:06,105 --> 00:34:08,264 Jesus is right. 745 00:34:08,264 --> 00:34:11,110 The the ketchup or the ranch or whatever, and you are the chicken nugget. 746 00:34:12,270 --> 00:34:12,989 Or Chick-fil-A sauce. 747 00:34:12,989 --> 00:34:13,290 There you go. 748 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:14,820 Cane sauce is better, but that's fine. 749 00:34:15,210 --> 00:34:19,259 Um, one time I tried putting cane sauce on a Chick-fil-A 750 00:34:19,259 --> 00:34:21,360 sandwich, which sounds amazing. 751 00:34:22,199 --> 00:34:22,739 Not good. 752 00:34:23,790 --> 00:34:27,389 No, it just mentally threw me for a loop 'cause it was like I was expecting 753 00:34:27,389 --> 00:34:30,210 Chick-fil-A sauce and it just didn't work. 754 00:34:30,270 --> 00:34:35,219 One time also, I ate, um, a double double from inn out with fries from McDonald's. 755 00:34:35,580 --> 00:34:36,980 Because I was like, that's good, that's good. 756 00:34:36,980 --> 00:34:37,000 That's good. 757 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,810 I was like, this has gotta be, this is the best fries in the world and 758 00:34:39,810 --> 00:34:40,830 the best hamburger in the world. 759 00:34:41,190 --> 00:34:43,650 So also didn't go very well. 760 00:34:43,655 --> 00:34:44,320 No, no, no, no, no. 761 00:34:44,730 --> 00:34:51,090 Because my mind associates the chicken, the, the, the fries of inn 762 00:34:51,090 --> 00:34:54,120 out with the double, double, you know, like the more like potatoey fries, 763 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:57,630 the real potatoes, not like the, or lab grown potatoes from McDonald's. 764 00:34:57,960 --> 00:34:58,260 Right. 765 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:00,450 Anyway, I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore. 766 00:35:01,065 --> 00:35:02,805 Sorry for your small group time leaders. 767 00:35:02,805 --> 00:35:03,464 That's my fault. 768 00:35:03,855 --> 00:35:06,069 Um, we're talking about chicken nuggets. 769 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:08,109 We're talking about Chick-fil-A. 770 00:35:10,770 --> 00:35:13,214 You saw chicken nugget being baptized. 771 00:35:13,335 --> 00:35:13,935 That's what we're talking about. 772 00:35:14,924 --> 00:35:18,915 So this isn't talking about, probably not talking about water baptism here. 773 00:35:19,665 --> 00:35:20,115 Right? 774 00:35:20,355 --> 00:35:22,665 Probably not talking about wire basket we're talking about. 775 00:35:22,845 --> 00:35:26,115 Because if, if I just said, oh, um, do you know that all of us who've 776 00:35:26,115 --> 00:35:28,870 been dunked, you say into what? 777 00:35:29,850 --> 00:35:31,470 Into water, into Christ. 778 00:35:31,770 --> 00:35:34,860 So when you think baptized, don't necessarily think of into water. 779 00:35:34,860 --> 00:35:38,490 Like the sermon this Sunday from Pastor pj, he talked about baptism saves you, 780 00:35:38,490 --> 00:35:42,390 but not really water baptism, but like actually getting saved is what saves you. 781 00:35:42,630 --> 00:35:45,600 So, um, all of us who are baptized into Christ, we're baptized into death. 782 00:35:45,630 --> 00:35:46,860 We're placed into Christ. 783 00:35:46,860 --> 00:35:47,940 We're united to Christ. 784 00:35:48,060 --> 00:35:48,750 We're connected. 785 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:50,010 We, that's the whole point. 786 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:50,760 Um, 787 00:35:53,010 --> 00:35:54,450 this changes who you are. 788 00:35:54,795 --> 00:35:56,444 Old Jews dead, new you's alive. 789 00:35:56,625 --> 00:35:58,065 That's what happens when you get connected to Christ. 790 00:35:58,065 --> 00:35:59,205 That's what it means to be in Christ. 791 00:35:59,654 --> 00:36:00,464 Old me is gone. 792 00:36:00,585 --> 00:36:02,654 New me is here, right? 793 00:36:02,745 --> 00:36:04,214 Uh, two Corinthians five 17. 794 00:36:04,484 --> 00:36:05,714 But you hold anyone is in Christ. 795 00:36:05,714 --> 00:36:06,645 He's a new creation. 796 00:36:08,234 --> 00:36:08,984 Old has passed away. 797 00:36:08,984 --> 00:36:10,634 The newest come right. 798 00:36:10,634 --> 00:36:12,555 Some of you probably should had that verse memorized. 799 00:36:13,185 --> 00:36:16,995 Um, sorry, that was the inside joke for one person in the room. 800 00:36:16,995 --> 00:36:17,415 That's okay. 801 00:36:17,805 --> 00:36:19,125 Um, that happens. 802 00:36:19,575 --> 00:36:20,234 Sorry, Weston. 803 00:36:20,685 --> 00:36:23,145 Um, anyway, so some of you. 804 00:36:23,985 --> 00:36:27,795 When, when you become a Christian, you, you get changed. 805 00:36:28,095 --> 00:36:30,884 Old you's gone, new year's life, you're not enslaved to sin anymore. 806 00:36:32,384 --> 00:36:33,465 Who you are changes. 807 00:36:33,465 --> 00:36:34,725 So what you want changes. 808 00:36:34,725 --> 00:36:35,595 That's the point I'm getting at. 809 00:36:36,315 --> 00:36:37,935 Who you are changes. 810 00:36:37,935 --> 00:36:39,465 So the things you want are different. 811 00:36:40,725 --> 00:36:44,985 Um, I don't know if you've ever heard of athletes that have like 812 00:36:44,985 --> 00:36:48,525 an alter ego or like some athletes, they do this when they compete. 813 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:52,230 Um, to get themselves like in the zone for sports. 814 00:36:52,500 --> 00:36:56,220 They'll like come up with a fake personality to help them 815 00:36:56,460 --> 00:36:57,900 be better at their sport. 816 00:36:58,410 --> 00:37:02,100 So this one guy, um, his name is Brian Dawkins. 817 00:37:02,130 --> 00:37:05,850 He was a safety for the Eagles, um, one of the like coolest 818 00:37:05,910 --> 00:37:07,440 football players ever in history. 819 00:37:07,650 --> 00:37:07,980 So. 820 00:37:08,610 --> 00:37:12,630 This guy, he'd come outta the tunnel and like crawl on the ground 821 00:37:12,630 --> 00:37:16,830 and like yell and all this smoke and look super cool and scary. 822 00:37:17,130 --> 00:37:21,540 And he would like bark and uh, he would like knock people out. 823 00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:22,110 Right? 824 00:37:22,259 --> 00:37:23,310 Very scary dude. 825 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:30,480 If you just met him, like normally super nice, super calm, super 826 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:34,529 friendly, um, religious guy like. 827 00:37:36,435 --> 00:37:38,385 Not this guy, right? 828 00:37:38,385 --> 00:37:39,135 Not this dude. 829 00:37:39,585 --> 00:37:44,175 Um, but the point is, is he, he does, he called himself weapon X. 830 00:37:44,205 --> 00:37:45,405 That was like his alter ego. 831 00:37:45,855 --> 00:37:52,965 Um, and his, his point was to get into this mindset of I'm a, 832 00:37:53,025 --> 00:37:56,205 I'm a safety, I'm gonna get, go out here and kill people, right? 833 00:37:56,925 --> 00:37:58,425 Because he's normally a nice guy. 834 00:37:58,605 --> 00:38:02,265 So to do this kind of thing would be very unnatural for him. 835 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:03,360 Right. 836 00:38:04,110 --> 00:38:06,480 Think of like if my wife decided to play football, right? 837 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:07,740 Which she wouldn't 'cause she's smart. 838 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:13,440 Um, but think about like what Shea would have to do to get 839 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:15,900 into like this zone, right? 840 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:23,310 The whole point is like who she is has to change for her to change, right? 841 00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:26,490 She'd have to like put on, so the whole point is this guy is putting 842 00:38:26,490 --> 00:38:31,080 on this alternate identity to help him do the things he wants to do. 843 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:32,370 Right. 844 00:38:34,109 --> 00:38:38,400 When you become a Christian, it changes who you are. 845 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:44,490 And so instead of being right before you're a Christian, maybe 846 00:38:44,730 --> 00:38:49,529 you, you're gossiping and then you become a Christian and it changes. 847 00:38:50,220 --> 00:38:52,920 You change, and so what you want changes instead of wanting to use your words 848 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:55,859 to tear people down, now you want to use your words to build people up. 849 00:38:57,555 --> 00:38:59,775 Right because of who you are changed. 850 00:39:00,195 --> 00:39:02,385 You didn't just try really hard, say, I need to stop gossiping. 851 00:39:02,385 --> 00:39:04,935 I'm gonna start encouraging who you are changed. 852 00:39:04,935 --> 00:39:06,075 And that's why that changed. 853 00:39:06,675 --> 00:39:09,915 So if you don't see any change in your life, maybe it's because you 854 00:39:09,975 --> 00:39:15,075 aren't connected to Jesus, maybe it's 'cause you, you've never had a 855 00:39:15,075 --> 00:39:16,335 relationship with God in the first place. 856 00:39:17,085 --> 00:39:22,485 So these three questions hopefully are helpful for you to, um, evaluate. 857 00:39:22,605 --> 00:39:24,075 Why, why do I keep sinning? 858 00:39:24,135 --> 00:39:25,305 Why am I not very excited about God? 859 00:39:26,775 --> 00:39:30,735 I want you to ask yourself, am I, am I really a different person or 860 00:39:30,735 --> 00:39:35,295 am I just the same person trying really hard to do the right thing? 861 00:39:36,405 --> 00:39:39,075 Because the only way you become a Christian is if God changes you. 862 00:39:39,735 --> 00:39:42,645 So let's pray and we'll talk about this more in small groups. 863 00:39:43,545 --> 00:39:47,265 God, we're grateful that we don't have to save ourselves, uh, because we can't. 864 00:39:47,655 --> 00:39:53,025 So I pray that if anyone here is feeling the, uh, pressure. 865 00:39:53,430 --> 00:39:58,470 Of trying to escape slavery to sin by their own effort that they 866 00:39:58,470 --> 00:40:01,500 would finally admit that they can't, they can't be good enough. 867 00:40:01,980 --> 00:40:03,210 Um, they can't try hard enough. 868 00:40:03,690 --> 00:40:06,600 Um, but rather they need to trust you to change them. 869 00:40:06,930 --> 00:40:08,370 And so I pray that that would even happen tonight. 870 00:40:08,370 --> 00:40:14,520 There'd be people here who would, um, realize that they need you and 871 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,880 they need you to, to come in and, and take over their life and change them. 872 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:18,960 We pray this in Jesus name. 873 00:40:19,140 --> 00:40:19,440 Amen