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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
Fear Has No Legal Standing
Fear of change often paralyzes personal growth and ministry opportunities, keeping us bound to comfortable yet limiting religious traditions. We explore how the finished work of Christ removes all legal grounds for fear in the believer's life.
• Fear drives us to perform, but faith in the finished work frees us to serve
• Many Christians would rather cling to secure slavery than walk into scary freedom
• Romans 8:1 confirms there is "no condemnation" - not less, but zero
• Being "in Christ" is about position, not behavior - a covenant relationship that can't be broken
• The phrase "it is finished" means the entire system of earning and striving is completed
• Jesus didn't just forgive our sins - he removed our guilt entirely
• Hebrews 10:14 shows we are perfected "forever" through one offering
• Nothing can separate us from God's love - all fears that could disqualify us are addressed
• We don't live under probation, we live under promise
• Fear of others' opinions often prevents us from sharing truth that could set people free
Step out of living in fear and into the freedom Christ secured for you. Trust the Holy Spirit to give you the words when sharing these truths with others who need to hear them.
So I want to start out with a question this morning. I'll just ask you this. You got an answer. Just think about it. How do you respond when someone challenges a belief that you've always held, that you've always felt to be true, and then all of a sudden somebody comes along and they begin to challenge that belief? How does that make you feel when that happens?
Speaker 1:Because in today's world, I think especially in the church fear of change often paralyzes growth. Fear of changing will paralyze growth in us personally, but also in the church. We all want to grow. We all want to step into who god has called us to be and step into those things and begin to step into who God has called us to be and step into those things and begin doing the things that he's called us to do. But a lot of times I believe that fear causes us to not walk in those things. Sometimes it's just, and we're going to talk about some different types of fear this morning and I hope you will evaluate yourself because as I was going through this, I really looked and evaluated my own self, my own words and things that I say sometimes. What fears do I have in my own life? What things do I speak about that? I don't mean they don't mean to be negative, but really, if you look behind those words, those words may be based on fear. They may not be coming out of faith, but they're based on out of fear.
Speaker 1:I love something that Jamie Englehart said. I took this quote from him. He says many would rather cling to secure slavery. Listen to that. Many would rather cling to secure slavery than walk into scary freedom, and it's fear that keeps them locked up. So many people would rather just stay where they're at, in a place of slavery and being bound, than to let go and walk into freedom because it seems so different and it's so opposite sometimes of what we've always been taught. So many would rather stay over here and be comfortable and content than step into something that we've never heard before, or fearful because of how other people are going to look at us when we say it or we preach it. And I guess that's what's kind of got me going in this direction, because I mentioned that last week.
Speaker 1:God has built me this way. He has built me to go against the grain, to kind of come up against the tradition and the religion that we've always been so accustomed to, and I love that. I love that. I'm not one that can just settle in and just teach something because it sounds good but there's no growth. Teach something because it sounds good but it's not biblical. I don't want to be in that place. I've done that for a long time. I mean, I can tell you, I can look back at some of my old sermons and tell you I've done that for a long time because that's all I knew. But I want to go somewhere different. I want us to be deeper. I want us to move into a place now that maybe we haven't been in before, simply because now we have the understanding and the knowledge that maybe that word is not really saying what I thought it said, but we're opened up now to the truth and the context of what the word is really saying.
Speaker 1:So fear stops people from thinking, from growing and from stepping into the truth, especially when that truth challenges what we've always believed to be truth. When we start getting our truth, our beliefs, challenged, that's a difficult place to be. Sometimes it's hard. It's hard to talk to other people because we don't want to come across as that we're challenging their belief system. But God invites us to trust the Holy Spirit and walk in freedom. He says walk in freedom, not in fear. So this is really where this is going this morning.
Speaker 1:I want you to think about some of these things. Fear drives us to perform. Faith in the finished work frees us to serve. I want to be a servant, I want to serve. I want each person in this house to be willing and being able to serve, but sometimes, because of fear, we're not able to do that. Because we get, we get into this performance mode. Performance is not serving. There's a difference in that Performance, and going out and doing something just because that's what I'm supposed to do is not always serving. It can be, but those words are different there and the purpose behind them are totally different.
Speaker 1:Fear has no legal standing. That's what we're talking about today. What does that mean? We're going to dive into it. We're going to kind of pick it apart just a little bit and see what this really means. Let me start it off like this, because this is a good way to put it.
Speaker 1:Imagine that you were standing in a courtroom and I started thinking about this last week because I talked a little bit about that and I've always said I can remember years back when I really started getting an understanding of the finished work and how God looks at us and how he redeems us and all those kind of things. I would go back and I would look at the way things operated in a courtroom because, believe it or not, a lot of this stuff is done the same way. A lot of the court and the legal system is established after the biblical system. So you can see a lot of those parallels in there. So I begin to think about this.
Speaker 1:Imagine sitting in a courtroom and you're the defendant and the list of charges against you is getting ready to be read out Every sin, every failure, every secret shame. That's there everything that you've ever been through, everything that you've ever encountered in your life. It's getting ready to be read out and the judge enters the courtroom and you can imagine. You're thinking back already about all the things that you've been through. You ain't got to name it out. We all know what we've been through. It's been a little different for all of us, but we've all been there. If you hadn't, then you're just lying to yourself, because we've all been there. We've all done some things we're not proud of. We've all done some things that we wish we could go back and change. So you're sitting in this courtroom. It's getting ready to be read out.
Speaker 1:The judge walks into the room. Your heart is beating because you know what's fixing to be said and you're getting fearful. Because you know what's fixing to be said and you're getting fearful. But the judge sits down and he says three words it is finished. Think about that. The judge isn't pronouncing your guilt, he's announcing your freedom. The case is closed, the punishment has been paid. And in that moment here's the important part In that very moment, fear loses its footing. I have no reason to fear anything that I've done anymore, because the judge just walked in and he announced his verdict Not guilty, case closed, it is finished, which means you're not coming back here again, okay, and that's what really means something to a lot of people. I don't have to go back through this stuff over and over again. It is finished.
Speaker 1:It's easy to think about that and that's the reason I like to tell a story about like that in the courtroom, because it's easy for some of us to imagine that, because, let's be real, some of us has been there. Okay, but can we turn around and put the biblical side of it in that same scenario. Because the judge's job is to bring correction, why it's called a judge. And I know we always quote. As Christians, we look and you see the bumper stickers all over the place and says you can't judge me. But that ain't what the word says. The word says that we will judge. That means we will. That don't mean I'm looking at you, pointing my finger at you, telling you everything you did wrong and trying to make you look bad. Judge means to bring correction.
Speaker 1:So, as Christians, I should be in a place in my life to where, when I walk around somebody else who's not living the same way that I'm living, it's okay for me to bring correction to their living. It's okay for me to bring correction to their life. It's okay for me to look at their life and if they need answers, I should have the answer to give them. I should have something in me to share with them. There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1:But we've been taught for so long that judge is a bad word. You know why? But we've been taught for so long that judge is a bad word. You know why? Because we've been taught for so long that we're waiting to get somewhere and that he's sitting on a throne and we're going to stand before him and he's going to open up this book and every negative thing that you've ever done in your life is going to be read out and he's going to bring down final judgment on you. I worship a god of love.
Speaker 1:Judgment happened here. I know that goes against some of y'all's tradition and what you've been taught, because you're waiting on the judgment day. I'm not waiting on the judgment day because I was judged 2000 years ago when he climbed up on a cross and he said it is finished. That was my judgment. Now some people want to live and keep awaiting for some day in the future to be judged, and that's their choice. They can do that, but I choose to believe that Jesus crawled on a cross and judgment was brought upon my life at that point and he chose me before the foundation of the world. I didn't choose Him one day. I didn't find Jesus one day. Jesus was never lost. He found me before the foundation of the world.
Speaker 1:Now, at one point, I awakened to that reality. There was a time and I can remember the time. Specifically, I was sitting on the back of a four-wheeler in the middle of a field, and I remember it and I said God, I want you. I made the decision that day. What he did on the cross didn't change that day, but I made a decision that I'm going to awaken to the death, the burial, the resurrection and the ascension, everything that he did for me that day. I received it, but it didn't change nothing that he done.
Speaker 1:And we've got people waiting right now on Him to do something. Listen, he's not coming back to do it again. That's what finished means. It's complete, it's a done deal. But can we awaken to that reality? There's a kind of fear that seems to always be whispering to us. Have I done enough? Am I good enough? Sometimes it's just that little voice we'll hear Am I good enough for this? Should I really be here after what I know I done last week, or what I said or what happened in my life? Should I really be in church this morning?
Speaker 1:And there's people I'm telling you don't feel worthy to be in a church on Sunday morning. There's people who don't feel like they're worthy to walk in a place and sit around other people Because they've been taught you've got to get everything cleaned up, you've got to get everything just right. Well, if you're not depending on Jesus Christ to do what he's done and you're clean because of this, then it's your works, you're getting yourself clean and he ain't got nothing to do with it. You're trying to do this. What we've got to realize is it's already done through Him. I'm not going to live a perfect life, and neither are you. We're going to go through things, but guess what that's when I say I get up, I dust myself off and I keep going and I bring myself back to the awakening and the understanding that I'm already redeemed, forgiven, I'm loved and I forgiven, I'm loved and I just got to pick myself up and keep going.
Speaker 1:But maybe you've heard that voice before, maybe you've been in situations and that voice has spoke to you and said are you doing enough? Are you good enough? Maybe it told you that God is up there and he's keeping score. That's the picture that I get when I listen to some people that God is up there and he's keeping score. And it might just be that the odds fall against you because you know what you've done and you know where you've been and you know the stuff that you went through in your life and see, then it brings on fear. What's going to happen if he's keeping score of the good and the bad? What's going to happen when I stand before him? Those are the questions that we're taught in church and it produces fear. Think about it. It produces a fear because when I go and I stand before him, what is he going to say? And many people are so fearful that he's going to look at them and take the verse that's so twisted and told out of context and he's going to say Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. Oh, I never knew you. Kick you down into hell or you're going to burn forever. That's the fear.
Speaker 1:Now we break those verses down and we teach them in context and we teach that that is not what that's even talking about, but it's used to scare people into doing the right thing. It's used to make people stay morally in line. Now, don't get me wrong. What I'm saying. I'm not saying go out and live, however. You want to live and keep doing all the things that you do. We want to do morally the right thing, but I'm not doing it to try to get to a place. I'm doing it because of who I am and I live like that, naturally, because that's who I am. Am I going to slip? Yes, am I going to make some mistakes? Absolutely, but it's a natural thing in me.
Speaker 1:I said it the other day. I don't have to wake up in the mornings and say, god, help me to love these people today. Why? Because love is on the inside of me. It says God is love, the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of me, so naturally I am love. Now there's sometimes I have to battle with God on that. Let's be honest, because, listen, maybe you have, but I'm around some people. It's hard to love them, but it's natural. The natural instinct is love. Can I tell you I can love you and not like you. I can love you but I ain't taking you to lunch. I'm okay with saying that.
Speaker 1:Some pastors would get on me for saying that from the pulpit. But listen, there's some people that has to grow on you a little bit. But that don't mean that I can't love them out of the nature, out of who I am, because I'm not who I used to be. I'm not that guy I used to be because I went and I died with Him on the cross and a new creation come forth. So I'm not what I was, I'm something different. That's why seeing this and not just seeing Jesus as a substitute, but seeing that I'm included in the process, makes such a difference. Because if I'm looking at it and I'm just saying Jesus did this and Jesus did that and Jesus done this way off somewhere I'm just over here, poor little Brian, I'm just trying to make it. No, I died with him. It says it in the Word. It's biblical. I was buried with him, I was resurrected with him and now I'm seated with him in heavenly places. Everything was us doing this thing together. Why? Because he chose me from the very beginning and I'm part of the process.
Speaker 1:When I can look at it from that standpoint, it changes everything. It changes the way I look at people. It changes the way I look at myself. It changes the way I read the Word. It changes the way I see the Father. He changes the way I read the Word. It changes the way I see the Father. He's not angry and trying out to get me. He loves me and is trying to get me to awaken to the fact that he loves and cares for me, regardless of your past or what you've been through.
Speaker 1:But maybe you've heard that before. But maybe you've heard that before. Maybe you've heard that voice, maybe you've listened to it, maybe you've had that thought that I'm not good enough, but I want you to look at how Paul addressed this, because the same thing happened back then In Romans 8, verse 1,. The Apostle Paul is writing to a group of believers okay who still felt the weight of the law, and this is what he says to them. There is therefore now no condemnation. Break that word condemnation down. What does that mean? It means that I'm looking down on myself. Self-punishment is actually what it means in the Greek word for it Self-punishment. There is no longer no self-punishment, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Speaker 1:This is a pretty short verse here. Most people know this verse, most people in church can quote it, but it's got so much in it. If you just say I want to read this verse on the surface and it sounds really good, this is an incredible verse. Boom, walk out, and you're done with it. If you just say I want to read this verse on the surface and it sounds really good, this is an incredible verse, boom, walk out and you're done with it. But I'm the type I want to break it down. I want to break it apart. I want to say what does these little pieces in here really mean? What was the intent of what was being said right here? If you are one that wants to go deeper, there's more to this verse. You can just say it sounds good, great verse, and be done with it. Or you can say I want to go deeper and I want to just pull this thing apart a little bit, and I'm the type of person I want to pull it apart. I want to look at it a little bit more.
Speaker 1:So, when we look at this, the word first word in there, therefore, therefore, that word means something. You really got to look at that, because that therefore connects us to what Paul had just laid out in Romans, chapter 7. You can't really understand the importance of Romans, chapter 8. This is verse 1, this is starting chapter 8. You can't really grab on to the importance and the power that's in chapter 8 if you don't know what just happened in chapter 7. You got to read it in context. So he's saying, therefore, chapter 7, boom 7, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Speaker 1:Now, therefore, because of this, I'm going to lay this out for you. So therefore connects us to what Paul just laid out in Romans, chapter 7. That chapter reveals the inner struggle, with sin and frustration, of trying to live righteous through human effort. I just summarized chapter 7 for you. You can go back and read it. But there was a group of people who were struggling to live righteously because they was trying to do it through the flesh, through their own human effort, instead of relying on God, through their own human effort Instead of relying on God. So when Paul says, therefore, he is pointing to the solution, the finished work of Christ, not your striving, not your self-discipline, not your willpower. Those things are all great, they're great to have all those, but that's not what's going to get you to where you need to be at. It's going to help you when you get there, when you got self-discipline and willpower and all that, but that's not what gets you there. So that next word there's therefore now.
Speaker 1:I love this one because we're talking about the finished work and we're talking about context, and Paul was talking to a group of people that was sitting down in front of him and he said therefore, now, not 2025. I'm not talking to a group of people in 2025. I'm talking to you. Now we got to understand context. That's why we say the Bible was written for us, but it wasn't written to us. They didn't sit down and pause and say I'm thinking about Brian Taylor in 2025 when I'm writing this. No, he was talking to a group of Christians during that time period Still applies to us today. But he wasn't talking to us. He was talking to them. He said now it means the present reality, the present people that he was talking to, not somebody that he was talking to. Not somebody, not someday in the future, not after you clean yourself up, but right now is what he was telling them.
Speaker 1:No condemnation. You can break this thing down word for word and get understanding out of it. No condemnation doesn't just mean no punishment. It means no accusation can stick. No self-punishment. I don't beat myself up about the life I used to live. It don't stick anymore. If somebody comes up and says, brian, I remember when you was about 18, 19 years old. I remember when you done this. It don't stick anymore because that's not who I am now. I'm not the same person that I was In legal terms.
Speaker 1:It's the difference between being found not guilty and the charges being totally wiped off your record entirely. I said that the other day. There's a difference between going to court and being found not guilty and then the judge walking in and saying we're going to expunge this from your record. Big difference in that Not guilty means you're still not going to jail or you're not suffering any consequences, and that's great. But you know that record can still haunt you too. But if he says not only are you not guilty, I'm even going to make it like it never happened, it's gone. When they pull your record, they won't see anything. It's not going to be there. I'm going to totally eradicate it from your history. That's what this is talking about. Right here there is no condemnation. Everything that was has totally been erased. We can't see it like that, because the world won't let us, the people around us sometimes won't allow us to.
Speaker 1:Because I'm hanging out with folks who keep bringing up who I was See sometimes I've got to let some things go, let some people go, and I've got to hang out with some people who will pull the best out of me. I've got to hang out with some people who will see who I am now and not who I was. And that don't mean I can't be friends with them. That don't mean I've got to kick all my old friends to the curb, but that means sometimes I may have to have to distance, put some distance in there between them for a season. I always say it's like scaffolding. When you see scaffolding in a building, on the outside of a building, they're building it up. When they get through doing the work, they don't leave the scaffolding there, they take it down. It's only there for a season to build the building and then they remove it. Sometimes I'm only in a relationship with some people for a season. I may have to step out of it and get to where I need to be at, and then guess what? Here's the goal To go back into that.
Speaker 1:But I'm going back into it a different person now. I can go back around people now and impact their lives in a way that I never could before, and I could never impact them before because I was doing the same things they were doing, so I never had any influence on them. I was right there with them. But now I can go back because things have changed and I can walk back into those situations and now I have impact and influence with those same people. So there's no condemnation. This is the result of the finished work. Now you've got to catch it. Didn't say less, condemnation Zero. There is no condemnation.
Speaker 1:In to those who are in Christ Jesus. Break those down. This is covenant language. It's not about behavior. You've got to see this. It's not about the behavior. It's about position. You have been baptized into His death and you were raised into His life. You are now in him and he is now in you.
Speaker 1:Why does he say I'll never leave you nor forsake you? Because once you are joined together, it's impossible for him to leave. That's why I don't agree with the theory that a lot of people teach that the more I do over here, I'm separating myself. And then I do this and I'm separating myself. No, you can't separate yourself. Now, I'm not saying that he's always happy with the decisions we make, but if he says he won't never leave me nor forsake me, because he lives on the inside, my body is now his home. He dwells. Holy Spirit dwells on the inside. My body is now His home. He dwells. Holy Spirit dwells on the inside of me. There is no separation because of behavior.
Speaker 1:The only thing that can make me lose sight is my identity, is when I begin to see myself differently. And it's not that he left me, it's that I don't see myself, not that he left me, it's that I don't see myself in that same position anymore, nothing to do with him and everything to do with me. That's why it says to repent, to change your thinking. We've got to see ourselves in the same way that God sees us. Being in Christ means you are no longer represented by Adam, which Adam represents sin and law and death, but you're now represented by Christ, which is grace and righteousness and life. It's a legal and a relational shift. You've been given a new identity.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, but from a finished work perspective, this means Jesus didn't just forgive your sins, he removed your guilt. Can you imagine if I can stop for a minute and stop just looking and saying he went to the cross to forgive me of my sins? Yes, he did that. We're not denying that. But what if I said he didn't just forgive me of my sins, but he removed all guilt in my life? And when there's no more guilt in my life, there's no reason for me to condemn myself. So therefore, there is no condemnation. Why? Because I see myself differently now. I didn't. I see myself differently now. I didn't just see it as what Jesus done, but I seen it as what I done with Him. So he removed all guilt. He didn't just improve your chances, he secured your standing.
Speaker 1:You don't live under probation, you live under promise. It live under promise. It's different now. I'm not on probation and I've got to do everything. Listen, we know what it's like for somebody to be on probation. There might be some people here that's been on it. You know how strict those guidelines are. You've got to toe the line. You've got to do everything right. Why? Because you don't want that probation to be revoked. And then you've got to go back to jail because it was revoked and see, we've got the same mindset that if I don't just do everything right, then that salvation that I have is going to be revoked. That's why so many people are going to the altar and they done got saved 15 times this year Because of the mindset they think they got to keep getting saved. Why? Because God keeps revoking it. No, he don't. No, he don't, he don't do that. That's not the kind of God we worship. That's not the type of God we worship. That's not the type of Father who chose us. It's not like that.
Speaker 1:Picture for a minute. A runner, somebody's getting ready to run a race and all of a sudden they're at the starting line. They're in the blocks and all of a sudden, boom, they fire the gun, it goes off, they take off and within two steps they fall down. They get back up and they keep going. But by this time can you imagine what's going through their head? There's no way I'll catch up. There's no way I'll catch up. They're going to keep going. But the mindset is I'll never catch up. I'll never catch up. I'll never catch up with them.
Speaker 1:Some of us walk through life like that spiritually. We're haunted by past mistakes, we're beat down by everything that we've been through and we're replaying moments of failure like it's a broken record and it's like falling in a race. In your mind you're thinking I'll never get there, I'll never be good enough. I'm just an old sinner saved by grace. He's never going to let me in. That's the same scenario. You keep running, you keep striving, you keep running, you keep striving, you keep working. Why? Because you're trying to make up ground, because you know the life that you lived and you've got to do something extra to make up for some of that stuff you did. Why? Because we're taught that, listen, we're getting away from that mindset. We're getting away from the mindset that I've got to work myself to death to try to make Him love me.
Speaker 1:He loved you when he sent His Son to the cross and he didn't ask your permission to do it. He said I love Him so much that I'm going to send my son, and not just for them, but I'm going to include them in with it. That's how much I love you. You ain't got to do nothing to earn this. You can't earn a gift. If I give you a gift, that's what it is Now. You can take it and throw it away if you want to, but it don't change the fact that I gave it to you because I wanted to. I chose to. You didn't do anything. If you earn it, it's a way that means you work for it. You don't work for a gift. I give you that because I care about you and I love you and I want you to have it. The things he gave us is a gift. We never had to work for Him, but somewhere back in the old biblical times, somewhere it was turned around and perverted to tell people you've got to earn this, you've got to work for this and we've already talked about it many times.
Speaker 1:The reason that happened. You can go back if you like studying history. Go back and study biblical history and you'll see exactly when this took place and how it happened. Because they needed to be able to keep people in check, control. So we put in rules, we put in regulation and we're very strict on it. And if I put in rules, we put in regulations and we're very strict on it. And if I put in these rules, then I know who's following them. They're the good folks, they're the good Christians, and I know who's not following them. They're going to burn in hell if they don't change. So we put in a line of separation. God said I didn't call for separation, I called for unity.
Speaker 1:I come close to preaching a message and I may still do it at some point, because I've been researching some of this. I may preach a message on the things that Jesus would not come in here and preach. If Jesus walked in this building right now and said let me preach a sermon to y'all, it probably would sound nothing like the gospel that we preach. That is preached in most places, because a lot of what we teach and preach is so different than what Jesus said. It's not the same. So sometimes I just sit and think how would he respond to this? And that's kind of been my mindset going forward. That's why I'm so adamant on this that I will not change what we're teaching. Because I look at it now and I say what would Jesus say about what we're teaching? And I believe he would enjoy it because it's what he said. It really is. It's what he said. And what are we doing? We're speaking the same thing that Jesus already spoke, and there's a lot of places that cannot say that Used to, I couldn't say that I was preaching things and I'd go back and I'd look and say, well, jesus didn't say that Sounded good, it preached good, but it wasn't biblical.
Speaker 1:It sounded really good on Facebook, it got a bunch of likes, but it wasn't biblical. But I didn't have to say nothing because I didn't know that either. But now that we know it, we're accountable to it. Now that we've got some understanding that that's not biblical and Jesus never said that we've got to be accountable to it now. That's why I can't stop preaching this, because I know it, I believe it, I understand it, and anything that's going back. I don't think Jesus would be happy with it.
Speaker 1:And we're not doing this. I'm not doing this for listen. Do I look like I'm doing this for a crowd? I'm not doing it for the money. I want to teach what Jesus wants us to teach. We're to bring kingdom to this earth. That's what he says Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on this earth as it is in heaven. Be an ambassador. An ambassador only speaks the things that he was taught and the place that he was sent from. I can't speak what I want to speak. Sometimes I'd love to, but we've got to speak the Word.
Speaker 1:So when he said it is finished, he didn't just mean his suffering was over. He meant the entire system of earning and striving was completed. You no longer have to earn and strive for this anymore. I'm making the way. Right now. It's done, completed, finished. One more verse. Another verse I want you to look at Hebrews 10 and 14. Right now, it's done, completed. One more verse.
Speaker 1:Another verse I want you to look at Hebrews 10 and 14. This is a powerful verse. He says For by one offering, one. You know what that means. He ain't doing it again. By one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Speaker 1:I get so many messages when I start writing, doing something, and I start studying different things out and I mean I really want to preach the sermon too on the difference between, uh, sanctification and repentance. Big difference between those two We'll get on that later on but big difference in that. But when I read this verse, that's what made me think about that. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. That means your position before God is settled, it's settled. There's another verse I can't recall where it's at off the top of my head, it just popped into my head, but it says everything in heaven is settled. God's not up there.
Speaker 1:All of a sudden you come to the altar and you've got an emergency prayer that you need answered and you run up to the altar and you start praying God's not moving around, and trying to get people lined up and say, hey, get down there. No, finished, it's done. We're not trying to get God to move. And that's one of the biggest things that we've done over the years in the church. We've always done it. We've done it with preaching, we've done it with praise and worship, we've done it with the prophetic, we've done it with all kinds of different things is to try to get God to move. If it's finished, then he's already moved. He's waiting on us. We're taught to have a mindset to wait on Him. Wait on the Lord. He's waiting on we're listen. He's waiting on us to awaken to what's already the reality of our union with Him. We're not waiting on Him to move. He's already finished the work, the pressure to perform, dismissed.
Speaker 1:You are not defined by your problems and stumbles and all the things that you go through, but you're defined by His stride, what he did. You're not defined by your stuff anymore. There's another fear that's even worse than the fear of failure, and it's the fear of being alone. A lot of people struggle with that, the fear that if people, or even God, really knew the real me, then they would walk away. People would walk away from me, god would walk away from me.
Speaker 1:But look what it says in Romans, chapter 8, verse 38 and 39. Because we've been taught to believe this and again, some of the things we're taught have put this fear in us. But he says here, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to do what Separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord? This is a powerful verse. Right here. Romans chapter 8 is Paul's mountaintop assurance. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Romans 8 is so powerful can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Romans 8 is so powerful.
Speaker 1:But it's also one of those verses where you've got to go through there and put everything in context. You can't just read it and say it sounds really good. Again, this is a very familiar verse that most people in here. You may not be able to quote it, but you at least have heard it before. You're familiar with it. Okay, but Romans chapter 8 is a chapter rooted entirely in what Christ has already accomplished. You've got to understand that.
Speaker 1:About chapter 8. There is now no condemnation. God has done away with the law and he has done what the law could not do. We are adopted, not enslaved. Those he justified, he glorified, and nothing can stand against us because of Christ's work. Those are all things that it talks about in Romans, chapter 8.
Speaker 1:The list that Paul gives here is comprehensive and it's intentional and it includes all things that we fear that might disqualify us. If you went through and you asked a group of Christians and you got them group of Christians and you got them to be anonymous with it, because if you don't get them to be anonymous they probably ain't going to tell the truth with it. But if you got them to be anonymous and write it down and say what do you feel like could disqualify you from heaven? What's some of the fear? Everything that they would probably say is addressed in Romans, chapter 8. All the fears are addressed. Anything that could disqualify you is addressed right here. He dismantles every possible what if? Because the finished work leaves no loophole. There's no loopholes in it. It's finished, it's complete and it's done so. When Paul says in verse 38 and 39 that nothing can separate us from God's love, he's concluding an entire chapter that celebrates the certainty of salvation rooted in what? The finished work, that's what it's rooted in, the finished work of Christ.
Speaker 1:Let me give you an example right here. Imagine that a child was adopted into a family. He's been in and out of foster homes. He's been in the system and if you know people that's been there. It's rough In and out, in and out of different homes, pretty rough. And then all of a sudden there's this family that says we want to adopt him and they bring him into the home and I can imagine on day one this child might be feeling a little bit unsure, wondering if I do the wrong thing, are they going to kick me out? Are they going to send me back if I do the wrong thing? And then the parents come in and they said you're not a guest anymore. This is your home, no matter what you do, no matter what you go through, we're not sending you anywhere. This is your home forever.
Speaker 1:That's what God's done through the finished work. He's not waiting on you to mess up so he can send you back. He's not waiting on you to do something bad enough that he can take get excited about you burning forever. There's no excitement in that for God. How could you be excited about that? How could you choose somebody and love them unconditionally, which means without condition. That means listen. When I love you unconditionally, I love you through the hell. I love you when you don't deserve it. Why? Because you didn't earn it. I chose to give it unconditionally. He chose to love us unconditionally. That's what God has done. I love these examples because we've got to look at God differently than if we can look at. I love these examples because we've got to look at God differently than what we look at Him. There's no reason to fear that he's going to leave us or that he's going to cast us out. You are one with Him in spirit and he never breaks covenant. He never breaks covenant. He never breaks covenant.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you this Whose opinion has the most power? You ain't got to answer that loud. Just think Whose opinion has the most power over your emotions? The fear of what people think about us can really impact our lives. It makes you shrink back when God says step up. It makes you go quiet when God says open your mouth and speak, it really changes things. If somebody else's opinion is more important than God's. It makes you perform for approval that was never yours to earn. You're not trying to earn His love. You're not trying to earn His righteousness. You're not trying to earn His salvation. You're not trying to earn his salvation. You're not trying to earn the right to be holy, be redeemed, be sanctified. There's nothing you can do to earn that. The fear of what people think can have a major impact on you. We're asking this question because you've really got to. That's why I say don't do it out loud, do it to yourself. Ask how much does other people's opinion really matter? How much stock am I putting in? What other people are thinking about me? Do I not speak what I believe to be the truth? Because I'm scared of what they're going to say? I don't know somebody. We do it.
Speaker 1:I had a conversation Friday with somebody who was down at the Special Olympics Me and this person had to go put a sign up somewhere and I ain't going to call his name because everybody here would know him. I had the opportunity to speak with him. He opened the door and I spoke, and I spoke on kingdom and I spoke on inclusion and I spoke on what we're teaching here and by the time we got through he said man ain't nothing, you just said that I disagree with Nothing. He don't normally preach that. He pastors something. He don't normally preach that, but it changed his. Just the opportunity to say it to him caused him to think on it. Sometimes we're reluctant to do that I'll be honest with you. It went through my mind when I first started talking about it. I said I say too much, he's going to walk off, he ain't listening. I said, nope, I'll do it anyway. And I did. I was honest. It wouldn't just be preaching to him. We had conversation, we talked back and to. He asked a few questions and I answered them. It was really good.
Speaker 1:So the fear of what people think can impact our life if we let it, are you going to let it? But when you know your identity in Christ, when you know you've already been accepted by the only one whose opinion really matters, that fear gets really quiet. That fear almost diminishes. I don't worry about it anymore because it may come up, it may creep up, like I said. When I first heard it I said ooh, I got to kind of tone it down a little bit because I don't want him to just walk off and not listen to me. That was fear. I was scared that if I said it the way I wanted to say it, that it would run him off. But then I quietened that fear down and said, no, speak truth. And we had about a 30-minute conversation and then I walked by him later on and he even picked the conversation right back up again again.
Speaker 1:So we can't be fearful of speaking what we know to be true. You ain't got to have all the answers, you ain't got to know exactly which Bible verse to go to, you ain't got to be a Bible scholar or be a Greek theologian. I mean, you don't have to be able to speak the Greek words out and everything. Sometimes it's just saying well, you know in the Greek, it actually means this right here. You ain't got to know how to pronounce the Greek word. Sometimes that turns people off. But if I say you know in the Greek, it actually means this, and then I start explaining it. He was like whoa, that makes sense, makes a lot of sense, right? But I can't let fear stop me.
Speaker 1:Galatians 1 and 10 ask this question Am I now trying to win the approval of man or of God? The fear of man is like an everyday courtroom that never closes. I'm always worried about what man's going to think, but Christ walked out of His courtroom so that you could walk out of yours. I don't have to feel like that every day. Let's return. I'm going to finish up right here, but let's return back to where I started at, back to that original courtroom that I started with.
Speaker 1:The charges are read, everyone's silent, you're waiting, and then the judge speaks, not with condemnation but with a declaration. He says paid in full, case closed, you're free to go. Fear tries to reenter the room Because if you was in a courtroom let's be honest a minute If you was in a courtroom and you was facing some stuff and the judge says paid in full, case closed, you're free to go. Your next mindset thought is probably going to be what if they come back after me later? What if there was an error? It's something Fear always seems to pop up. That's where you've got to look.
Speaker 1:Okay, fear has no legal right anymore, not just in the courtroom, but in your life. Fear has no legal right in your life and I can imagine you know the judge, you know when that fear tries to rise back up, the judge starts looking and saying that you have no legal right to be here. You have no legal right to come back up Because of the finished work of Christ. The fear of judgment has been overruled, the fear of failure has been dismissed, the fear of separation has been invalidated and the fear of man has been dismissed, the fear of separation has been invalidated and the fear of man has been silenced. Every fear that you can have fear has no legal standing in your life. Are you going to continue to let it rule you? Are you going to continue to let it rule you? Are you going to continue to let opportunity be done away with because of the fear of what people may think?
Speaker 1:Listen, I know some of this stuff we're teaching is hard to talk to some of your friends and some of your family about. Easiest thing is just don't do it. That's the easy way out. Just don't do it. I don't want to make nobody mad, I don't want to cause a big family problem or I don't want to lose a friend over it. Or you could say Holy Spirit, I know this is the truth and I'm trusting in you. I'm trusting in you. I'm trusting you that I'll say it the right way. I'm trusting it'll turn out the right way because I trust in you. If I trusted myself, I'm going to mess it up. I tell you I'm going to mess it up bad, because I'm going to put my own slant on it and sometimes I can say it the wrong way. But if I trust the Holy Spirit. Lord, use me, use me as a vessel. Right now, speak this word. Help me to know how to say it. Help me to know how to say it right, and He'll do it, and positive will come to say it. Help me to know how to say it right, and he'll do it, and positive will come out of it. You may not change their mindset right then, but it's just causing them to say think a little bit. That's all we're trying to do.
Speaker 1:If it's truth to you, why would you not want to give that truth to somebody that you care about? I'm telling you, we're getting to a place. We've got to start doing that instead of dying away from it. And we've all done it. I've done it, you've done it. You know how. I know that? Because we had more visitors, because if we were sharing it, we would at least have some people to come and say you can listen, you can see what this is about. They might not stay, but they would at least be curious.
Speaker 1:I'm saying all of us I'm not pointing my fingers at nobody All of us. We've got to get to a point where we're willing to start sharing some stuff. If you believe it's the truth and if you're still here, so I hope I have to believe that you believe it's the truth. We've got to find a way to start sharing, because other people are bound by some stuff. And again, this is not a comparison. I'm not comparing us to some other church or denomination. I'm not saying they're wrong and we're right.
Speaker 1:It's a matter of going deeper and it's a matter of taking some of this stuff and saying I want it now. I want peace now in my life. I want joy now in my life. I'm tired of struggling, and I've heard it. You've heard it. You've heard people say I've been struggling for years, I'm just waiting on the Lord to take me home. So their mindset is I'm going to struggle all the way through until I get to heaven. Why, if we have the answers, why not give it to them? That's our job. That's what an ambassadorship is. We're going into those other countries because we want to form a relationship with them. We want our voice to be heard over there in that other country. We're not going to speak for that country. We're going in that country to speak for us, to have influence and to have impact and let our voice be heard.