Pastor Jonathan Morgan - Dead to Sin - August 17, 2025

Sundays at 8:30 & 10:30 AM

We are branded by the fire of God. We carry the fire of God to ignite our generation to burn for Jesus.

Find us:
www.fuquayrevival.com
www.facebook.com/cornerstonefuquay
ig: @cornerstonechurch.fv

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

So the book of Romans, praise the Lord, the book of Romans. Romans, we'll look into Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6, we'll begin reading with verse 5. In the book of Romans, we have a clear and concise revelation of the redemption of Christ. Paul obviously wrote this by the Holy Spirit. give us great detail into God's or into the finished work of Christ and the grace that God made available to us through that finished work. Amen. Amen. Uh, you know, out of Paul's writings, it's been said if the whole writings of Paul were like a mountain range, then a book of Romans is, is the, is Mount Everest on that mountain range. It's the gold standard. It's what really digs in deep and tells us all about what Christ provided for us that we can then begin to receive and take advantage of. And in the writings of Paul, beginning with Romans, about the middle of Romans chapter 3, he talks about justification, talks about being justified by faith, that word justification literally means to be made righteous. So that is a work of God's grace that we put our faith in Jesus, his death, burial, and resurrection, and put our faith in him, repent of our sin, put our faith in him, then he by his grace makes us righteous. Amen? For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. Romans 5, 1, therefore being justified, made righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Right? The Bible says in Romans 1, verse 17, it said, the just or the righteous shall live by faith. And we went through that before and showed you that really what that verse says, which is what Martin Luther discovered when he started the Reformation is, is those that are righteous by faith shall live. Those that are righteous by faith shall live. Amen. And the word live there is zoe, which means resurrection life. eternal life, the nature of God. Hallelujah. Amen. Over history, over history, it's been shown that every great revival. Now, when I say revival, I don't mean, you know, five nights of good services. I mean, transformation of the church, the community, the nation, their whole package. That every revival began with a revelation of the book of Romans. And would you go back to Martin Luther and what's called the reformation? Martin Luther got a revelation out of what I just said. Romans chapter one, verse 17, the righteous by faith shall live. He got that revelation, started preaching it and set Europe on fire. And so the whole thing just began to, you know, traveled all over the globe. About two centuries later, there's a man named John Wesley. John Wesley is sitting in a meeting and he's listening to someone teach out of the book of Romans. And his testimony was, is that while they were teaching, he said, my heart was strangely warmed. In other words, the fire of God ignited inside of him. And so he set Europe on fire and then crossed the ocean and came and he set America on fire. Amen. So the two great revivals, and we look back in history, both of them started out of a revelation out of the book of Romans. And sometimes it's easier to read the gospels You know, the stories and the teaching of Jesus, and we kind of skip Romans, but really Romans is giving us the in-depth understanding of what Jesus accomplished in his death, in his peril, in his resurrection, and the grace that God has made available to us in our life. And so, you know, sometimes we just gotta take some time and read it and study it, and it's awesome. So we have in Romans chapter three, Romans chapter four, Romans chapter five, The teaching about justification by faith, being made righteous by faith, which is a work of God's grace. Amen. What a wonderful revelation. That's foundational to my life. And really, that position of faith, that position of faith gives God legal permission to begin to work in my life. Gives God legal permission to begin to work in my life. And now the Holy Ghost starts doing all kinds of glorious stuff inside of me. Amen. Amen. Amen. So, you know, so if you were taught, if you were taught, well, you know, we're, we're, you know, we're, I'm saved, but I'm still a sinner. I'm saved, but I'm still a sinner, but I'm saved by grace. I'm a sinner saved by grace. No, you were a sinner. Then you got saved by grace. Now the Bible says you become the righteousness of God. To say that you're a sinner, you got saved, but you're still a sinner. There's no faith to that statement. I was a sinner, got saved, but still a sinner. Where's the faith? What do you believe? You believe you are a sinner? No, you're still a sinner. Where's the change? Right? I mean, in essence, what you're saying is Jesus died on the cross, and his death, burial, and resurrection did not accomplish any more than an animal on an altar in the Old Testament. No, the blood of Jesus was effective, and we were born again. Amen? We became, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, we became a new creation. In Christ Jesus. And that new creation has the nature of God. And I was a sinner. I got saved by grace. And now, therefore, being justified by faith, I believe that I've become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I accept that. I embrace that. So, well, pastor, I did too, but I'm not perfect. Well, see, that's the problem is it's by faith. Amen? You're considering your life. You're looking at yourself to determine as to whether you're saved or not or looking at yourself. You know, if religion, let's just say the devil, he really wants you to look at yourself. He wants you to look at yourself because what he wants you to do is look at yourself, over-examine yourself because you'll always come to the conclusion and you'll always disqualify yourself. When God doesn't want you to look at yourself, he wants you to look at Jesus. He wants you to look at Jesus, because Jesus is your righteousness. Amen? And while we're looking at him, all of his grace and power comes flowing into our life, and he does in us what we can't do for ourself. Amen? I mean, it's a story of Peter walking on the water. I mean, that's the perfect analogy. That's the perfect illustration. While he's walking on the water, in other words, he sees Jesus. He sets his eyes on Jesus. And while he's looking at Jesus, he's focused on Jesus. Then the same power in Jesus is also in him. And at that moment, he can do everything Jesus can do. Jesus can walk on water. Now he can walk on water. That is if his focus is on Christ. Now the moment he gets his eyes off Jesus, looks at the wind and the waves, You know, that power stops working and he starts sinking. Isn't that right? So really, that's the way it works. You get your eyes off yourself, get your eyes off yourself, and you put your eyes on Jesus. You put your eyes on Jesus because you can't save yourself. You can't change yourself. Amen. Only he can save you. Only he can change you. So just look at him. Let his grace pour into your life and revolutionize and change your life. I mean, there's another story in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, you know, there are snakes coming into the Israeli camp, and they're biting people, venomous snakes, poisonous snakes, biting the people, right? And the people are dying. And so God sent Moses praise, and God said, Moses, this is what you do. You make a bronze or a brass serpent, put it on a pole, and lift it up. And as it's lifted up, everybody that looks at that bronze serpent on a pole will live, right? And the word look doesn't mean just a glance. No, it means to take your eyes off of your wound, take your eyes off of your snake bite, and put your eyes only upon that which is on a pole, which is a symbol of Christ on the cross. Right? So you can imagine, here's an Israeli. He just got bitten by a poisonous snake, and at that moment, there's poison in his flesh. So what does he do? He's frantic. He's trying to get the poison out of his flesh. He's squeezing it. You know, I thank God I never had to do this. He sucks it, hallelujah, and spits it out. He's trying to get the poison out of his flesh. He's fighting the poison in his flesh. And guess what? The more he fights the poison in his flesh, the more inflamed it becomes. And it spreads and it spreads and it spreads and he fights it and he tries to beat it. He tries to beat it. He knows he can beat it. He tries to be positive. I can beat it. But the only way for him to beat it is to abandon his own efforts to save himself and look only, to Christ on the cross. And when he takes his eyes off of himself and off of the poison in his own flesh and puts all of his attention on Christ on the cross, there's a grace, there's a power that comes into his life that just totally destroys the venom. Hallelujah. And he's delivered and set free and healed. Praise the Lord. And that poison in your flesh can be sickness, obviously, but it can be sin. There's a poison in your flesh. How do I get rid of that, pastor? This thing's got me down. How do I get rid of that? I'm fighting it. I'm really fighting it. You know, as odd as this may sound, I'm just telling you, stop fighting it. You're inflaming it even worse. Get your eyes off of it and put your eyes on Jesus. Put your eyes on Jesus. Put your eyes and your focus and your attention and your confession on what Jesus did for you on the cross and let your mind be absorbed in what he did. And there's a power in him. There's a power in him that will cure your condition. It'll change your life. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise the Lord. You said, Pastor, I'm a strong man. I can beat it. I can beat it. Listen, I've been a lot stronger than you that couldn't beat it. Read the history of the Bible, right? Right. Hallelujah. And so Paul really is talking about that here in the book of Romans. He goes from talking about justification by faith and then gets into chapter six and he talks about another work of God's grace, which is sanctification. Justification means to be made righteous. Sanctification means to be made holy. And so God's intention through the work of his grace, the power of his Holy Spirit to make you holy. Amen. Amen. The Bible said without holiness, without holiness. The Bible said pursue holiness. Pursue holiness, right? Pursue holiness. Make it a pursuit. Amen. Follow after holiness. Follow, that's Hebrews somewhere. Follow after holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. So the word follow means to run swiftly after in pursuit of. Right? Well, sanctification is the work of God's grace. And we receive that through the work of Jesus, intentionally by faith, receive that provision of his grace that deals with sin in our life. And so God delivers us, sets us free, and fills us with the power of his Holy Spirit. Amen. All right. Now look here in Romans chapter six, verse five. I'm gonna read a couple of verses here. All right, and we're gonna continue. Verse five, for if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, I'm reading New King James, we've been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Point there is, you can't bypass the death to get the resurrection. The only way to get the resurrection is by way of death. So God's plan is to fill you full of resurrection life. But in order for him to fill you full of resurrection life, you've got to go by way of the cross, and you've got to experience a death in yourself, a death to sin, right? That's what he's saying. Knowing this, verse 6, knowing this, know this. You've got to know this. Knowing this, that our old man, we mean old man, the old person I used to be, right? The old man. Or we say old woman. I'm not supposed to say that. That old person. That old person. And that old person with everything that's bad. The sin, the sickness, the poverty, everything else. That old man. He said, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him. And I always like to say this. Nobody ever survived a crucifixion, so he died. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be done away with. The old King James says, there it is, that the body of sin might be destroyed. So there is something profound. There's something profound that happens inside of your life. Hallelujah. There's something profound that happens inside of your life. Amen. Amen. That the body of sin might be destroyed. that might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. That is the point, right? For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. So you die with Christ, then you come back to life with the resurrection life of Jesus. That's beautiful, amen? Now, as you read Romans, As you read the book of Romans, understanding what it is, as Paul is the golden standard, if you're talking about the finished work of Christ, if you read it enough and you think about it, you'll come to recognize that there's some words missing. There are words missing that we use a lot in church. And one of the words that's missing is the word forgiveness. Forgiveness. He's only found one time in the book of Romans, that's Romans chapter four, when he's quoting the Old Testament, he's quoting King David, who said that blessed is the man whose sins are covered and whose iniquities are forgiven. The only time Paul never used the word forgiveness in the book of Romans. Amen? He never used the word. He never talked about it. He talked about righteousness, and then he used this term, and he talked about being dead to sin. He never talked about forgiveness. He talked about being dead to it, being dead to it. So you say, why is that? Because here's the thought about forgiveness, all right? Forgiveness. Here's somebody is that, you know, go through the course of their day and they said something wrong. They did something wrong. They get to the end of their day. And so they, they pray prayer. Lord, I pray the Lord. My soul to keep us less. I should die in my sleep. Lord, let me go ahead and tell you, Lord, I'm sorry. Sorry for what I said. Sorry for what it did. Let me get that covered. Let me get that covered. So I can go ahead and go to sleep now. And if you come in the night, I get to go in the rapture. Now I'm just talking to people in first service, not you. Right? Or like this, you know, here is, you know, I'm not being critical of anybody with a Catholic background, okay? And I'm not really, but here's somebody comes to a confessional, right? They come to the confessional and they confess their sin, right? Then what do they do? They go back to their life all week long, and it's not everybody, but then they live the same way, get to confessional, and they're confessing the same sin. Then next week, it's the same thing all over again. Are you with me? See, the problem with the word forgiveness is that we don't attach any idea or thought of personal transformation. And God's intention is not that you live a life in a cycle. It's you live a life in a cycle where you get forgiveness and you live that same cycle again. You get forgiveness, you live that same cycle again, and you get forgiveness. That's not God's plan for your life. God says that the power of Jesus and the power of his grace and the power of his blood has the power to break that cycle, to break that cycle and utterly, profoundly transform you. Hallelujah. So the sins you were committing, you do what? According to Romans, you died to them. You died to them. Something left your flesh. Something went out of your body. Something was destroyed in your life, and you stopped living that way. Hallelujah. Paul only uses that word. It shocked me. I realize he doesn't even talk about forgiveness. And I realize the modern concept of forgiveness is that it becomes a deception without any expectation of transformation. Amen. Understand that that's not a Christian life. Amen. Amen. And so here in the Scripture, Paul begins to describe sin as, And the way he describes it sounds exactly like an addiction. Because really, that's what sin is. Sin is an addiction. Sin is an addiction. Something that's got a hold of you, right? Something that's got a hold of you, but you keep coming right back around and doing the same thing again. It's like an addiction, which is really what Paul said. You become a slave to sin. It's like an addiction. Now look here in Romans chapter seven, verse five, Romans chapter seven, verse five. He's talking about, he's talking here about sin. He said, for when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the law were at work. Word work is energize or energize. We're at work in our members to bear fruit to death. So Paul says there was something working in my flesh. There's something working in my flesh. It was working in my flesh. It was aroused by the law, but there was sinful passions. That same Greek word is found in Romans 1 26, talking about the sin of homosexuality. And in that scripture, he calls it vile affections. He uses that word. There are vile affections. There are affections. There is passion. Put the old King James up there because he uses a different word here. He says, he talks there in Romans chapter seven, five, The old King James, for when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, the motions of sins, or the emotion of sin was in my flesh. He's talking like sin is an addiction, and that's really what it is. It's got a hold of that person. It's got a hold of that person, right? Sounds like an addiction. Like a person, you know, like a person that's addicted to, you know, you can name a bunch of stuff. You're addicted to cigarettes. They're addicted to cigarettes. And so they decided they were going to quit. And they made a new year's resolution. I'm quitting. Amen. Next thing you know, there they are buying another pack. It's an addiction. It's seen as an addiction. It may not be an addiction to nicotine or cocaine. Maybe it's an addiction to lust. Maybe it's an addiction to lust. Maybe it's an addiction to a certain behavior. Maybe it's an addiction to you getting angry and cussing and throwing stuff. Y'all are quiet for Sunday morning. Amen. I didn't think any of y'all were guilty of this, really. I told the Lord, I said, these people don't even need this. I don't know why I'm preaching this.

UNKNOWN: 21:07

Amen.

SPEAKER_00: 21:07

Amen. I said, are you sure? Amen. All right, look in verse 14. No, verse 15. Romans 7, because he goes into deeper description. For what I am doing, I do not understand. I don't know why I keep doing that. I decided I wasn't doing that anymore. What I'm doing, I don't understand. For what I will to do, that what I want to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do. See, there it is. There's a cycle. There's a cycle. And then you have to add in there the self-hatred. There's a person that's addicted to lust. They decide they're not doing that anymore. And then they are. They say, I don't understand that. I don't understand why I keep doing that. I don't understand why I keep doing that. And then there's the safe self-hatred. I just hate myself for that. You know, here's the person that, you know, there's a person that's addicted to drugs. You know, I knew a young lady one time years ago in pastoral work, and she was addicted to crack cocaine. And she got pregnant. So now she's pregnant. She's got this addiction to crack cocaine, but she can't quit. She loves this baby she's bearing, but she can't quit. And so the law steps in and they confine her in a hospital room where she can't get cocaine, crack cocaine. So there she is in that hospital room. They're keeping her there until what time the baby will be born because obviously she's going to kill this baby. She can't help herself. She can't help herself. And her husband snuck cocaine into the room. He snuck the crack cocaine into the room. There she is. She told me the story. She said, there I am in the bathroom and I'm crying, but I can't stop myself smoking it. I can't stop myself. I don't have the ability to stop myself. And she hates herself. Amen. Amen. Addicted. It's amazing. It's amazing that most addictions, you're addicted to plant life. Amen. The lowest form of life on this planet is vegetable life. The highest form of life on this planet is the human person who God made to be king over the earth. And now the man has fallen so low that he's in captivity to plant life. The tobacco, the, you know, whatever you make liquor out of, I don't know, the grapes or the barley or whatever it is. right? He's addicted to that. The cocaine came from a plant. It's all plant life. Can you imagine? Here's the guy who's called and destined to be king. And you can see like a vine wrapping itself around him. It's plant life. It's gutting. But God says, I've got a plan to set you free. I've got a plan to set you free. I've got a plan to set you free, deliver you where that That passion, that affection, that captivity to sin is forever vanquished. Forever vanquished from your life. Hallelujah. Amen. Come on, give God a hand. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Now, you might be sitting there right now saying, Pastor, you're reading my mail. You really, I'm going to give up. That's exactly what the devil wants. He wants you to give up. You've fallen, you've gotten up, you've fallen, you've gotten up, and you're about to give up. But God says, don't give up. He said, I'll never give up on you. But he said, I've got a plan for your life. I've got a plan for your life. He said, there is grace for you. There's an anointing for you that will deliver you and break the bondage of that addiction off of your life. Amen? Amen. So go back with me to Romans 5. Go back with me to Romans 5. In Romans 5, Paul says something here that's very interesting. Hallelujah. Romans 5, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also, let me say also, we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Stop right there. So it means me, you, having been justified by faith, made righteous by faith, I have a standing with God in grace. I've got a standing with God, right? It's what he said. Not only do I have a standing with God, but in that place of standing, I have access. You know, I was studying one guy who was a Greek commentator, and he says that that access gives the picture of a portal. Now, I'm a charismatic, so I love the word portal. There was a portal that opened up. Hallelujah. Well, according to this scripture, the moment that you believed that you were the righteousness of God by faith, there was a portal that opened up. And that portal is an open window of access into grace. Into grace. Because what we come to recognize is, I know that I'm saved. I know that I'm justified by faith. But God says, my grace is still available to you. My grace, the same grace that saved you will administer to you death in your flesh. Amen. And so he says, you've got access to grace. He says it again in Romans, but I don't have time to deal with every scripture there. All right. So what are the two things? The moment I heard the gospel, the simple gospel, the simple gospel that well, which I got saved, there were two key elements to that. What were they? The cross and the resurrection. Right? The cross and the resurrection. Well, that's what got me saved. And here I am standing in a place of grace. I'm the righteousness of God by faith. It's by grace. But from that place, I have access. I have access to grace. And the first grace has to do with the cross. And so from the cross, there is power. From the cross, there is grace that pushed to death. The sin that's in my flesh. Right? Yeah. That's what it is. It puts to death. It puts it to death. So what do I do? How do I access it? I access it by faith. I access it by faith and my confession of the finished work of Christ and my identification with Christ on the cross. I receive into myself the grace and the power of his death in my flesh. Did you hear what I just said? I receive into myself the grace of his death. There's a death from him that comes into me. I'm partaking of the grace of his death. What dies? Sin dies. Sins die. I die. Jonathan Morgan dies. Jonathan Morgan dies. Hallelujah. Ooh, glory, hallelujah. Jonathan Morgan dies. Amen. Therefore being crucified. Paul said in Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ. Ah, ah, ah. Ego. That's Greek word, ego. That's interesting. Ego was crucified. I died. Jonathan Morgan died. Jonathan Morgan died with his sin, with his sins, with his sickness, with his disease. That man died. That man died. Jonathan died there of the cross. Amen. Amen. I heard Benny Hinn say it. Went to a Catherine Coleman meeting and there he's hearing Catherine Coleman preach and preaching, you've got to die. And he said, I didn't know what she meant. So he went back home to his room. He got on his knee and said, Jesus, kill me. Amen. But he later learned. He preaches about being dead. Amen. We went down to the river. Down there just outside of Rodney Howard Brown's big pavilion, there's a gravestone about this tall. It's got his name on it. Rodney Howard Brown died. There's a gravestone there. Nathan told me the first time he went to the river, he went down there to start Bible school and saw that gravestone. He said, oh, no. The man of God died. I've come to go to college here and he died. Oh no, I didn't hear. No, it's, it's us identifying ourself. For example, for example, let's just say you are sick. Let's just say you are experiencing symptoms of sickness. You know, first Peter two 24 by stripes, I was healed and I received the grace and the power that's provided through the finished work of Jesus. Right? Well, it's the same principle. Christ, I am crucified with Christ. The Greek word literally means co-crucified. Co-crucified. He was crucified. I was crucified. I identify myself with his crucifixion. That becomes my confession. And I receive. And I say it just like that. Lord, I receive the grace of your death. I receive the power of your cross into my life. And I declare that I'm dead to sin. I declare I'm dead to sins. Hallelujah. I receive that. And I promise you that has a profound effect on your life. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. That's simple. That's so simple you'll miss that. I go to the cross. Jesus isn't there anymore. The cross is empty. But I go back to the cross because the cross represents the grace of his death. As a part of me, In order for me to experience the fullness, the best that God has, there's a part of me that has to die. See, while you're praying, while you're praying for the blessing of God, while we're praying for revival, there's a part of you that's resisting it. While you're praying for more of the anointing, there's a part of you that's resisting it. And that part of you has got to die. That part of you's got to die. You've got to surrender that to the death of Christ. It's got to die. And if you'll surrender that intentionally by faith in the cross of Jesus, there's gonna be a grace gonna come into your life and that thing is gonna be extinguished. It's gonna be broken. Hallelujah. And the moment you experience that, the next grace is the empty tomb. It's the grace of his resurrection. And there's new life, resurrection life that comes up inside of us, filling every cell, every tissue, every organ of our body. Hallelujah. Amen. Dying to sin, resurrected with the life of Christ. Wow. That is the most glorious thing to begin a victorious life. Praise the Lord. And you'll be amazed. that some of the things you've struggled with over the years would just seem, would just vanish. And I don't even, I'm not even interested in that anymore. I don't even know why I ever wanted that. I don't get it. What did I ever see in that? Oh, I'm so thankful I'm free. So thankful I'm free. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So thankful that I'm free. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. I want you to bow your heads, please close your eyes. Heavenly Father, thank you today, Lord, for the power of the blood of Jesus, power of the cross of Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for your freedom. Thank you for your freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom. Thank you for your peace. Thank you, Lord, that the driving power of that addiction is removed. It's extinguished completely out of the lives of your people. Father, I just want to thank you for that right now. In the name of the Lord Jesus.