City Life Church San Diego
Welcome to the City Life Church Podcast, where faith meets action in the heart of Mt. Hope. We are a diverse family of God, united by Jesus, led by Scripture, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are committed to caring for both the spiritual and tangible needs of the lost and hurting. Through inspiring messages and practical lessons, we seek to equip and encourage you to live out God’s calling in everyday life. Join us as we grow in faith, serve our community, and share the hope of the Gospel with the world.
City Life Church San Diego
Romans 7:7-25 I Hate What I Do
We often look at God's law as a harsh taskmaster that makes us feel inadequate, but it's actually a mirror showing us what's already in our hearts and why we need Jesus.
• The law is like an X-ray—it diagnoses our condition but doesn't heal us
• Sin wants us to stay in darkness, away from truth and good advice
• Even the Apostle Paul struggled with doing what he hated and not doing what he wanted
• Our ongoing battle with sin isn't a sign we're failing—it's normal for all Christians
• Shame drives us away from God and others, while healthy guilt draws us toward help
• Being honest about our struggles creates space for others to do the same
• We don't have to pretend to be perfect to be accepted by God
• Even when we feel powerless against sin, God is not
• Jesus offers rescue from our "body of death" through his grace
Remember, when you see your reflection in God's mirror, don't blame the mirror—seek the One who can transform what you see.
If you see someone near you that speaks Haitian Creole, the sermon is in Haitian Creole in papers right there on the side of the room. So if you see somebody that speaks Haitian Creole and they don't have one, please give them one. Today we're going to be in Romans 7-7. Romans 7-7. If you don't know what Romans is in your Bible, that's okay, just go to the front. Oh, you can see it right in order, right there, and it's going to be Romans 7-7. If you don't have a really nice Bible, we would love to give you one. We have really nice Bibles over on the side over there. We have them in English, we have bilingual English-Spanish and we have them in Haitian Creole. Tenemos Biblias bilingües disponibles en los postales de la sala. Buen día, bienvenido lúdeme y creole a ti. Well, last week in our message, we talked about how the law could not save you. No matter how much we wanted the law to save us, it could not do it. And I don't know if you remember when we talked about how you were once married to the law, but when you died to the law, then we realized that it could have never saved you in the first place. And Paul, the Apostle Paul, compared marriage, where a person dies and you're no longer married to that person as to the law and us, and so we're going to pick up there, and usually, after we make a statement or Paul makes a statement, he asks a question, and so we're going to be in Romans 7, 7, where Paul will pick up with a question.
Speaker 1:So, are you with me? Do you have your Bibles? Anybody have a physical Bible? My favorite? Oh, I love to see those. I just love to see them. Take them with you wherever you go, read them where you go. It's amazing how often people will ask me what I'm reading, but when I'm reading my Bible on my phone, people just think I'm on Instagram. So it's cool to have one of these sometimes. So if you don't have a really nice Bible, please let us give you one over on the wall. Please don't let us give you seven. Please take one, put your name on it, keep it, keep bringing it. Okay, so I hope you're with me in Romans 7. Seven. I'm going to read it to us.
Speaker 1:What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not, but I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said do not covet. And sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind, for, apart from the law, sin is dead. Once I was alive, apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me, resulted in death for me, for sin seasoning opportunity through the commandment deceived me and, through it, killed me. So then, the law is holy and the commandment is holy, adjusting good Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not, but sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that, through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.
Speaker 1:You know, I just think this is so simple, you guys, that you already probably all have this right. I just read this and I'm like man. This dude speaks in run-on sentences endlessly, doesn't he? And you're like I mean, it's a different culture, it's a different people group, it's a, you know. But I just tell you, like every time I read some of these long ones to you guys, I know some of you who do not, who are not used to the Bible are much like me when I go to math class in high school and I would just my eyes would glaze over. And I would just my eyes would glaze over and I would just say I can never get this. And I just promise you you can get this. So I'm still there. I'm in verse 14. But I just want you to know you can get this. We can break this down together. The longer you do this too, the easier it becomes. So, verse 14, stay with me.
Speaker 1:Don't be like me and Matt, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. For I do not understand what I do because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that with the law that it is good. So now I'm no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me, for I know that there is nothing good lives in me, that is in my flesh, for the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it, for I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now, if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is sin that lives in me.
Speaker 1:I am so afraid of saying doo-doo. I don't know about you kids, I don't know If you catch me saying doo-doo, you know, just raise your hand. It's an accident For my inner self. I delight in God's love, but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Christ Jesus, our Lord. So then, with my mind, I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin.
Speaker 1:This is God's word. Would you pray with me, friends, father, thank you for that and thank you that we could probably spend months studying that and still just get to the tip of the iceberg. But thank you that your word is so amazing that your word is like a beach where you can just wade in, where little toddlers can play and hundreds of feet out, somebody could be surfing a wave 100 feet. God, your word has so much depth and it's so easy and it's so difficult, and it's something children can understand and it's something that old men who have studied it for their entire lives can't fully understand. It's amazing. But, god, I just want to say thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for your word, and it is our joy to belong to your family. We realize how very blessed we are. We know the unnecessary suffering we would be forced to endure without you. We know the pain that we would feel without you. But even still, many present today grieve and we feel the burdens that we were never meant to carry. Some of us are so enslaved to our addiction that we ask that you would deliver us. Some feel so much grief that we ask never meant to carry. Some of us are so enslaved to our addiction that we ask that you would deliver us. Some feel so much grief that we ask that you would comfort us. And as the days grow shorter and the nights grow darker, lord, there's just so many of us who are tired and we ask that you would help us to remember your life, your warmth and your comfort. Above all else, your hope. Please give us hope for a brighter future with you. Please teach us from your word this morning. We love you. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this, all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:So today I'm going to give you three points on the law and sin, three points on the law and sin. Three points on the law and a law of God and sin. And my first point is this the law is a mirror, not a jerk. The law is a mirror, not a jerk. Like going back to verse seven now I'm going to paraphrase for you. So if you want to read along and see if I got it right, that's great. But I'm going to paraphrase this for you, verse 7. So is the law sin? No, the law taught me what sin was. I would not have known jealousy was a bad thing. That turns my soul dark if the law didn't tell me when my sin realized it was wrong. Because of the law's instruction, I became all the more jealous and I craved everything I could not have. Without the law, sin would have no power. Before the law I was alive, but when the law came. My sin rendered me powerless and I died. The very thing meant to save me was used by sin to lie to me and kill me. Okay, so the law is a mirror. It shows us who we are.
Speaker 1:Now, you guys may or may not know this about me. You may or may not know this, but there are gangs everywhere, everywhere. You think that there are gangs in Southeast. There are gangs other places, especially in the ocean. Actually, I surf several times a week for my mental and physical health, but I have to be really careful because there is a predator in the ocean that seeks me out. There's a gang of predators that seek me out when I'm in the ocean and I know some of you are thinking sharks, right? No, I've never had a problem with sharks. No, it's stingrays. If you know me and have known me for a few years, you would know that there are certain people that when I see them, my nickname is Stingray. They call me Stingray why? Because I have some kind of biometric magnet built into me that stingrays know. When I enter the water, these gangsters chase me down. It's like when I get in the water, there's something that goes out Like a homemade beacon.
Speaker 1:One time my family said what do you want to do on Father's Day? You want to go surfing, let's go. So I went to the closest beach and it was terrible. And then I fell off my surfboard once and then I got stung in the foot and I fell and then it stung my hand. I was like are you serious? Stingrays know me that well that they know exactly what to do. And the thing is it was so bad and it took so long for me to heal from it like a month from it, like a month.
Speaker 1:But actually this March I was out surfing and I was trying to decide one more wave or maybe I should be done. So I'm standing in the water and I just think I'm just going to turn around and go home. And when I went to turn, apparently I was already on a stingray and I didn't know. And that thing put its stinger right up the arch of my foot and that took like almost three months to heal and it was so painful. And I got into the parking lot and there's like blood everywhere. It's all over my surfboard. We couldn't wash the blood off my surfboard. The blood was dripping all over my car and some lady comes up to me and she's like can I see it? I was like, are you a doctor? She's like no, I just want to see it. I was like, get away from me.
Speaker 1:And so you know, the rest of us, those of us who are scared of stingrays, we got something called a stingray shot. Now, those of you like kids and stuff that play in the water. There's so many kids around you playing that the stingrays are scary. But where surfers go is we go where there's no one on purpose, because there is a riptide that you don't want to be near, and that riptide is like a ski lift. It takes me right out into the waves. It's really nice. But we do something called the stingray shuffle. So you'll see people walking out with their surfboards like this. You'll see me doing this and this is so I don't step on a stingray. So it's the stingray shuffle. And it's because when you step on a stingray, that's when they get scared and that's when they sting you. And so you see me out there. People are like running past me, they're getting there like surfing for 20 minutes. I'm still just slowly doing this the whole time because I'm terrified of stingrays.
Speaker 1:So then what happens? You get stung. Has anyone here been stung by a stingray? One, two, three, four man, when I baptized you we saw like four, didn't we? The stingrays are rough, they're bad, and don't be scared of sharks, be scared of stingrays. Just kidding. Don't be scared of stingrays, kids. It's great, they're fine.
Speaker 1:But what happens is when you get stung by a stingray, usually unless it goes right up into your arch, when you get stung by a stingray, usually it doesn't hurt that bad. So you just hang out in the water for 10 more minutes. You're like I don't know what these people are talking about. This is fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. About 10 minutes later you are crying on the ground Like the pain the poison has infected you and suddenly it doesn't matter how strong you are, no matter how powerful, whatever your pain threshold is, you are crying and usually being made fun of by everybody around you. That's a real stingray sting.
Speaker 1:So what you have to do is you have to get your foot into the hottest water. You can stand the hottest water. You can stand as soon as possible, because the hot water neutralizes the poison. I promise you this has something to do with what we're talking about. So for me, what that means is, I have to go to the urgent care in Pacific Beach Because you know what you want to go to a place that they know about stingrays, right, you don't want to.
Speaker 1:I mean, I had a doctor once when I went with my stingray to a different place and he was from New Orleans, and I was like no, no, no, no, somebody else, somebody else. I don't want this guy Because he didn't. He's like stingrays. No, let's look at the book. And I was like no, no, no, no, somebody else. So, but if you get Dr the PV Urgent Care, he's always there and he knows what to do. He has removed many stingray barbs that have been in people's feet and he knows what to do. So normally what he does is he'll try to get your foot in something hot with some iodine or something. I don't know what that's about, but he does that and then they will do an x-ray on your foot.
Speaker 1:I have had many x-rays because I've been stung probably, I think, seven times. Now Seven times Two counts that one time counts as two, though. So you go to the doctor and they do an x-ray and they put it under light, right Like radioactive light, and they look at it to make sure the larva's still not in there, to make sure it's okay. Now, what does the x-ray do for my foot? Does it make it better? No, what does the x-ray do? It reveals, it diagnoses, it sheds light on the issue radioactive light. And so there, I know it's not radioactive, come on, it's okay, you scientists.
Speaker 1:But the real key was not to get under the extract. The real key is to get it taken care of, to get the hot water to neutralize the poison. The whole thing is painful, but it's what needs to be done. And then usually somebody just did what I do. All they go, good job.
Speaker 1:Usually they will give me two types of antibiotics, Two types. One is for, like, animal infections, which is so weird to think of that, and then the other one is for sewage, which is also kind of gross to think about. But you know, we live in San Diego. But the x-ray doesn't do anything to help. The x-ray only diagnoses what is already there. And you see, the law is an x-ray. The law is not going to fix you, the law just tells you what's already happening. The x-ray is no way to deliver me from a broken bone or from an x-ray. It diagnoses us If we want to be healed, we need something else, something better. A good doctor, to start, may be Dr Huang in the urgent care office at the beach, where he will inevitably say the same thing again and again Dale, nice to see you? Well, not nice to see you under these circumstances. He says it every time.
Speaker 1:The author of this letter to the Romans, paul. He knew the law. He knew the law before he knew who Jesus was. He knew do this, do this, do this, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, do this correctly. And then, after all that, sacrifice animals in the temple and God may cover your sins and accept you. Paul knew this. He's a Jewish leader. He was trained under a great Jewish leader. The looming problem with the Jewish temple at that time was that it was going to be destroyed soon. No more animal sacrifices in the temple to cover their sins, which meant he was going to actually have to be perfect after that. Now you have to be exactly perfect, and Paul and his contemporaries they tried.
Speaker 1:They memorized the first five books of the Bible that we call the Pentateuch, and some of you guys complained to me that you can't even read those books. Like you get to the book of, like I don't know, you get to Exodus and you fall asleep. These dudes memorized that. They memorized the names of people, like long lists of names of people. They memorized it. These guys were pros.
Speaker 1:The Pharisees limited their day, their steps. On a day of rest they said I'm only going to take this many, and if I go too far then I'm not doing anything. I'm stopping because I need to rest. Now you may say that's going too far, but I just tell you that's going a lot further than us and that's doing a lot of cool things, trying to follow the law. They tithed on their pocket lint.
Speaker 1:Okay, I mean, if you guys met them, you would not have said, ooh, pharisees, those guys are the worst. You would have said, wow, I wish I could be like them For real. You would have said that. Or you would have said, like, I will never live up to these guys. I want to be like them.
Speaker 1:See, the Pharisees were actually not as bad as you might have thought, but the rest of us who don't have the Pentateuch memorized, jesus had something for us. This is what Jesus said in Matthew 5. I tell you that, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, thank you for that, jesus. Wait, we've got to be better than those guys that memorize the Phrygian Bible. This would have caused those guys to fret too, wouldn't it?
Speaker 1:Because they knew their thoughts right, like they put an outside front but on the inside they knew what was happening. They knew all the places they were corrupt on the inside that nobody else knew about. They also knew how. They knew how they did pious things, but they also knew the way that sometimes they took advantage of the poor. They knew how hard they tried to project a sinless image and always failed. They knew that they were fallible, imperfect, prone to sinfulness.
Speaker 1:The best way I can describe a Pharisee is they were beautiful on the outside. They were religiously beautiful on the outside, where everybody would have looked up to them much like an influencer. Right now, you see their Instagram and you're like, wow, I could never look as beautiful as that person, and it's because they got all those filters on. They're faking the fun, like they pretend to be happy, but they got filters on that too, don't they? You got filters that can make you smile now, like for real. You got filters that can make you smile now, like for real, like they were faking. They knew that they were fakers and because of this, just like me, just like you, paul, a Pharisee, a good Jew, would be lost to death.
Speaker 1:No-transcript. You see, the law is that x-ray of our heart. The law only confirms what we already know in our hearts. Don't get mad at the Pharisees. Just like them, we can never match. The goodness of God. We were lost but Jesus Now? A lot of times we get mad at the law because it tells us things we don't like. Is there anybody else that feels that way?
Speaker 1:Sometimes I've noticed when I want to sin in certain ways, I want to tune God out. I don. I want to sin in certain ways, I want to tune God out. I don't want to hear good advice when I want to do bad things. Am I the only one?
Speaker 1:No, now let me tell you this my therapist, he once told me he could tell one of the first signs that a pastor would cheat on his wife. He told me he could figure out what the first sign is. Guess what it was Strip clubs, tinder app. No, no, no, no. It was long before that. The biggest sign was when he stopped reading the Bible for his personal time, and he was only reading it for church. That was his biggest sign, because when you want to go wild, you don't want to hear what God has to say about it. You don't want to hear it. Is the law bad, though? No, it just reveals to us what's already there, what's in our hearts, and the devil is a dictator. He doesn't want you to spend time with God. He knows it will turn you back to God when a country like North Korea tries to brainwash their country into believing propaganda and I'm just going to be real with you.
Speaker 1:I have read five books this year on North Korea. It is interesting. The only thing that you can do to destroy that regime, though, is truth. That's it. So what North Korea does is they close their borders. You cannot leave, because they don't want you to hear from somebody on the outside what life can be like, guess what. They also don't let people in that speak Korean. Why? Because they don't want them to tell you what life can be like. They can't talk to ordinary people for fear that they would share the truth. They won't allow people from the UN in if they speak Korean. It's the same with sin.
Speaker 1:Sin loves you to stay in the dark. Sin loves it when you hide from truth and good advice. It loves the propaganda that our world is sharing with you right now. It tells you not to listen to the timeless truth of God. Why? Because if you watch Game of Thrones and other God dishonoring shows and movies, it will twist your mind. It will twist you away from good. If you watch TikTok all day and Instagram people talking all day to you it will twist your mind and you know what. I will even tell you to be careful, because when you are on YouTube right now, you will see something that's really good, and they have built something into YouTube where it will start to introduce things that are really bad to you slowly, very slowly.
Speaker 1:That's what the algorithm was created to do, friends, if you listen to certain rappers and musicians, they are going to tell you that sex outside of marriage is fine. They're going to tell you excess and immodest wealth, showing off what you have, is good. Sometimes they will tell you drugs and drug dealing is fine, but remember it's the slavery of sin that leads to death, not joy, not goodness. But then, if you listen to God, he's not going to tell you what you want to hear. Man, I'd like to be with people who tell me what I want to hear, but eventually I find myself walking towards death. God just tells you the truth. Does that make the law bad, though? No, it just means we're not perfect. Some of you don't like hearing things from the law, do you? It makes you feel bad, and so you find excuses not to listen. It's okay, I understand, I'm the same way.
Speaker 1:Coming to church sometimes may make you feel bad because you're in sin. Does that make the church bad? No, it is the sin in you that wants to pull you out of the community. It is the sin in you that doesn to pull you out of the community. It is the sin in you that doesn't want you to read the Bible. I think sometimes I'll get a Bible. Some pastors are going to tell me what to do. I don't need church, which is funny, because I'm fighting my own sin also. But also your sin is the one that's bossing you around and telling you that lie. You are still being bossed around by somebody, and you know what? You don't got to listen to me, but you do got to listen to the Bible.
Speaker 1:The sin says why should you feel guilty? Do what you want. It tells you what you want to hear. But you have to remember the motive of your sin. It is a liar. It will consume you. It will spit you out. It wants you in slavery. It wants you to be ashamed.
Speaker 1:Don't be brainwashed. The only way to be saved is in Jesus and there is no other way. Don't be brainwashed into thinking. Church is full of judgmental people who hate you because of your sin. The church is full of judgmental people who sin Because they're, like you and me, friends. This is a hospital. I am your Dr, kwame. There is no shame in recognizing your illness. We are full of people struggling with sin right now. Today, if I have food on my face and nobody tells me I don't have friends, I look silly and I have no idea. But if I have food on my face and I look in the mirror and I still decide to do nothing about it, I'm the one who has the issue. The mirror is not the problem.
Speaker 1:The law is good. It teaches us where we fall short and why we need Jesus. Make it the cornerstone of your life. If your job causes you to miss out on reading of the Bible and being in church community. Start looking for your next job If your job causes you to sin. Find a new job. Focus on the good law of God, and you will consistently see why we all need Jesus. Oh, the biggest reason, though, is because we are really good at sin. We are like we are Olympic athletes at sin. We're good at it, and this is where we get to our second point. Christians still desire sin. Even if you are saved, you will still be an idiot Like me.
Speaker 1:Okay, verse 15. I'm going to try and say this to you again, because you've got to hear it one time, for I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. This is hard to read out loud, so now I am no longer the one doing it, but sin living in me, for I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my flesh, for the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it, for I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. I'm going to stop there Now.
Speaker 1:This is the translation that I've heard lots of people say before. I do the exact thing I hate. I hate the exact thing that I do, but that's good. That means there's an internal struggle. That means something positive is happening. So sometimes, when you feel guilt and it draws you to community and it draws you to God, that is a good thing. When you have shame and it draws you away from God and it draws you away from community, that is bad. Now, the late Eugene Peterson translated it this way. He said what I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary. That's good, that's fine.
Speaker 1:Okay, friends, who in the room has been a Christian longer than six months? Raise your hand. That's good. How about a year? Okay, how about five years? Who has been a Christian longer than five years? Okay, it's getting a little shorter, that's cool. Who has been a Christian longer than 10? Keep your hands up. Okay? Who has been a Christian longer than 20 years? Okay, why are you all ashamed? This is amazing, it's all right. Who has been a Christian longer than 30 years? I don't think I have no, okay, awesome. I don't think I have none, okay, awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:Guys, you are seasoned saints. You are probably less likely to follow a pattern. Seasoned saints of certain sins. Okay, we probably won't see you at a club in TJ taking shots off somebody's body, right? You're past that. You're past that. You're past that. You might not toss people out anymore. Maybe you might. You might not use the same drugs that you used to use, maybe. But even though you are a saint, you still sin, don't you?
Speaker 1:Yes, and the challenge for you and me is that, because we sin differently, now we might start to think we are good, or that we are like this because of our hard work, but if you recall Romans 3, and you recall Romans 6.23, we know that, for no man is righteous, not even one, for all have sinned and all fall short of the Lord, our God. All, even seasoned saints, even seasoned saints. And Jesus points out that even our sinful thoughts, our selfish, our angry or lustful thoughts still disqualify us from presenting ourselves perfect in God's sight, perfect on our own merit. We cannot do it Now. Even these seasoned saints, your deacons, your elders, we sin and without Jesus we stood no chance at salvation. So, friends, when you feel shame, when you feel like you've done the wrong things, remember your leaders sin.
Speaker 1:Dr Tony Evans says Paul agrees that he is doing wrong. He simply can't break free. Was this because Paul was especially sinful? Probably not. The closer you get to God, the more sensitive you are about your own moral failure. Show me a Christian who does not feel the pain of this sin and I'll show you someone who isn't close to God. Wow, now, I love that Paul brings in this idea here. Like, paul is an OG, he's a big dude in our faith and he has struggled. It's like when you see someone you look up to struggling in something just like you, like that always encourages me. Like when a really good surfer falls off his board, like once or twice, it gives me hope because I fall off every time. Did you know that Samuel L Jackson started acting in earnest to help with his speech impediment? Did you know actor Bruce Willis also had a stuttering problem? You know current President Joe Biden used to stutter terribly. If I had a speech impediment and I wanted a career in politics or acting, these guys would give me so much hope to know that they struggled. In the same way, I think we can have hope when we look to super apostle Paul and say this dude had issues with sin.
Speaker 1:Paul wrote like a third of the New Testament of our Bible and he struggled to overcome sin. This would be like Manny Machado coming out to one of your baseball games in high school. Man, I can't believe. You guys struggled with the curve too. Don't worry about it, you'll get it. That's my Manny Machado impression, but he's good at baseball. If Machado was saying I struggled there too, it makes me feel like you know what? Maybe I'll overcome this like Machado did. If he struggles in the same thing, then maybe you'll be okay.
Speaker 1:When I hear certain pastors that have it all together, I'm annoyed with them. That's why, when I come up here, I'll be like hey, I yelled at my wife this morning Because I want you to know that we still struggle, that when you struggle, you're going to have problems too. Pastors have problems. The apostles of sin have problems. We are sinners. We don't embrace sin intentionally because of this, by no means. But we also don't have to run away from God and his church when we're struggling with sin, or if we're struggling with our faith, it's in all of us, all of us Now.
Speaker 1:Congolese pastor, dr David Casale. He says this Although we believe in Christ, we still have a sinful nature that pulls us towards things we do not want to do. Both good and bad dwells on us, guys, but even when we feel powerless against sin, god is not, and that's why you read your word. That's why you join us for worship. That's why we gather together to study the Bible. As a church, we need to know the voice of God.
Speaker 1:I hear people, though, that say this to me all the time God told me. Now, why does that concern me? I will tell you why. No one can argue with you when you say God told me. No one can. But as a sinner, you can be lying to yourself and to me. If it's wrong and things go bad, you're going to cause us all to question the word of God. Wrong and things go bad. You're going to cause us all to question the word of God If God told you to marry him and it turns out that he's a bad guy, then what's God's deal? So we have to be really careful. The only time we should say God told me, is when we say this. And then when we say I feel like God might be impressing upon me, I feel like God might be showing me, it's okay to have humility and say, maybe, probably. What do you think? Do you think this is biblical? Because we don't want to do that.
Speaker 1:We are sinful people, friends, followers of Jesus. You have God's Holy Spirit in you, but remember, you have sin in you, okay, and he can't really mix up with that. So he's changing things tearing, tearing out walls and things like that. But that means that the holy spirit will speak and he goes through the worst filter and the nastiest filter, like, like you have that coffee filter sat out for a few weeks and you started pouring in fresh mountain spring water to to put coffee through. It's still going to be nasty, isn't it? Because, because you have sin in you, so be careful that you don't speak for God unless you are holding Scripture. The moment you think you speak on behalf of God, the moment you think you are less sinful than others, the moment that you think you are holy and your opinions are without error. That's when the devil will use you.
Speaker 1:This is why I need to surround myself with wise people who speak Scripture to me. So who do you spend your time with? Wise people who don't always buy what I'm selling. That's who I try to spend my time with. Wise people who can stand up to me. I don't like it, but they're there. Wise people who know my blind spots. That's what your elders do to me, and you know what. Sometimes they need to tell me you're in sin here. You need to tell me you're in sin here. You need to apologize. Your pastor can be in sin. You need to apologize a lot. Now, most of you know me so you know that's true. Church saints, seasoned saints, stay humble. You're still sinful Now.
Speaker 1:2 Corinthians 12 says for if I want to boast, I wouldn't be a fool because I would be telling the truth, but I will spare you. This is Paul saying his credentials, so that no one can concern me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me. So that I would not exalt myself Concerning this. I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But he said to me my grace is sufficient to you, for my power is perfected in weakness. Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weakness so that Christ's power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ. But when I am weak, then I am strong. See, here Paul is recognizing in his weakness God can be strong. Be honest, friend. God is redeeming us and changing us, but there's still a lot of us in there, isn't there the late RC Sproul?
Speaker 1:This dude, rc Sproul. You heard me quote him. He's written book after book Big old church, amazing dude. I have not found anything that he's done yet. He's already passed on. But I'm always scared to find out that somebody did something terrible. So far nothing has come out that he's done something terrible yet, but he's one of the most respected theologians in the 20th century. God used him as a pastor and evangelist to save thousands of souls for Jesus. I encourage you to listen to what he has to say here.
Speaker 1:Sproul says that our pursuit of holiness is quote, a lifelong pursuit. None will achieve perfection until we enter into glory and all the remnants of sin and the flesh are removed from us. He goes on to say listen to this part. It took 25 years from the day I became a Christian to the first time I went 24 hours without smoking, and it took another 10 years to go a month without smoking, and it was at least another 10 years after that that I got rid of it altogether. Rc Sproul this is the dude, and like he's just being open, like, yeah, I couldn't get over smoking for this long.
Speaker 1:But, guys, even when we feel powerless against sin, god is not. Guys, stop following into these shame spirals because you aren't good enough. This happens so often, where someone will be on fire for God and then they sin and then I don't hear from them. I'll be calling them showing up at their house. I don't always show up at their house, but I'll be calling people trying to get a hold of them. You'll be checking in on them and they feel so much shame because they're not doing as well right now and I'm so sad for them because it's all of us. Stop falling into shame spirals where you know you're not good enough. Accept the grace of God, pick yourself up, own your sin, repent of your sin, seek to follow Him and if you mess up, do it again. You should never be alone in this, though. Don't deal with this by yourself, because even when we feel powerless against sin, god is not. Jesus made the perfect sacrifice so one day we could be free from sin forever.
Speaker 1:Did you know that in certain Nordic countries the depression rate is so low, but in Greece and Italy the depression rate is high? Interesting, kind of like the real places versus the like, the, the, the. Okay, I'm not going to judge this place, but here's the thing I'm going to tell you the suicide rate in the Nordic countries, where everybody is not depressed, is so much higher. Do you know why? The reason is is because when they look around them and they see everybody's happy but them, then they end their lives. But when you're in Italy, everybody would be like my life sucks. Oh, my life sucks too. I'm good, I'm okay.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you need to be able to come here and say I'm sinning. Sometimes you need to come here and say I am struggling. Sometimes you need to come here and say I am struggling, and you know why? Because somebody else is struggling and they need to hear you say it too. Especially you seasoned saints, speak up. And if it makes you look weak, good, because remember what Paul just said your strength is bigger in my weakness. So it's okay to be honest. Let's be real with each other. Let's not make it to where people got to come here, put on a mask and pretend to be okay. That is so fake, that is so not biblical.
Speaker 1:When you show up at a Bible study or Sunday service and you're struggling with sin, you give the right to other people to be there. When you're struggling with depression and you're open with it, you help others, feel not alone anymore. Is it good that you sin? No, but I want God to help you overcome it and I want your brothers and sisters around you to help you. And until that day, if you continue to fight it with the church on your side, when you fight it with them, you help them, just like how Paul helped us, just like how manning a child would help me too. Nepalese pastor, dr Ramesh Katri. He says we have to be grateful to Paul for exposing his own struggle against sin. If we have really battled against sin, we can identify with him and say Paul is describing me Now.
Speaker 1:There's cults out there right now that want you to believe that you will be holy and perfect the moment you are saved by God. They are cults. I haven't studied it, they are cults. We have had. These cults try to take control of people in our church with destructive theology. And I just want to tell you where it started TikTok. It started with TikTok, like, oh, just listen to this, then listen to this, then go to this church and now you have to be holy and you have to marry who we say For real.
Speaker 1:These cults espouse the idea that you can be perfect now on this side of heaven. And I get the draw. It feels so comforting that you can have that victory now. But let me warn you, these churches break from Orthodox Christian faith and, while it may sound comforting, there is no room for you in a church like that. Why? Because you will have no confidence and you will sin.
Speaker 1:If I knew that every time I left a mess in my house, that my wife would think I never loved her man, I would give up. But what if, instead, I could continually approach the throne of grace with confidence? Guys, you're going to sin. I know it's easier to think that we can't sin, but it's an awful way to live, because every time you do, you will question that God loves you. You will question that God saves you. Don't question If Paul could sin, so could you. God is not so quick to turn on you in your struggle. When you can see God and you follow the sin, you can still belong to God.
Speaker 1:What kind of marriage would I have if I left out my dirty socks and my wife didn't love me anymore? That's a bad marriage. What kind of loving husband would I be if my wife forgot to kiss me goodbye and I decided that I should never be married to her anymore? That's a bad marriage. That's a bad husband. A ridiculously insecure husband, by the way. But Jesus is the better husband. Jesus is the better husband to his bride, which he calls the church. Jesus calls himself the groom, the good groom. He calls his church his spotless bride. If you've ever been around here for a minute, you'd know that we aren't spotless, are we? I mean, hey, our carpet looks like somebody threw up all over it. I'm glad we replaced that. But we are not spotless, are we? We are not, and that's okay If you think God can't handle your mess.
Speaker 1:You'll constantly think you're not good enough to be saved and you will think God is not strong enough to save you, the sinner. But God is way stronger than your sin. Guess what? God has so much power over your sin? He knows what you've done, he knows what you will do and he accepts you with open arms. Still, he still loves you, he still has grace for you. Lift your head, sinners. Look up. That's where you're going to find Him, even when you feel powerless against sin. Even when you feel powerless against sin, god is not. The King of glory made a way for you, not because you were good, but because he already loved you. The King of glory made a way for you because he is the conqueror of sin and death, not you, which brings us to our final point. Our God is stronger than our sin, verse 24. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, from Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Speaker 1:Guys, the Christian life is a slog. You know what slog means. Slog is like feels slow, feels like bureaucracy. It feels like you're walking through mud. Oh, maybe Doing a little bit of a stingray shuffle. Bring it back, that's right, bring it back and it'll feel like walking through mud. There are moments that things will get slow and disheartening and frustrating, and God will use it for his glory.
Speaker 1:If life with Jesus was like driving on the 5 freeway at like 1pm, straight, no stopping, we might start to think that it was us doing the work. We might start to be complacent and doubt our need for it. We might take our eyes off the road. But instead Christian life is more like driving south on the 5 at, say, 5 pm. When I'm stuck in traffic, I turn for help. I have Waze, I have Google Maps, I have Apple Maps all trying to help me. I might listen to the radio so I can hear the traffic update, maybe tell me to go a different way.
Speaker 1:Sometimes life is like driving on the 163. It's always going to be slow, all stopping all the time, and when you are stopped you just got to listen sometimes and you might be thinking God, when do I get a break? And when we suffer? And when we stop and we turn to him for help, that's when he is good to respond. You just have to say yes today, friends, that's when he is good to respond. You just have to say yes.
Speaker 1:Today, friends, we wrestle with sin. Today, it's a reality of this broken, fallen world. We have strayed from God's command and we suffer because of it. But there is a day, a glorious future, where we will not need to wrestle anymore. Sin will be defeated, the devil will be cast into hell. He's not ruling anything. He will be cast into hell and we will be in the presence of our Lord. There will be no more war, there will be no more tears, no more sorrow. Death will have been defeated, and that is all because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:This idea that we understand is that God left the perfection of heaven. Jesus left heaven for you, lived the perfect life that we could never live, sacrificed himself on the cross, rose again on the third day to show that he was the ultimate sacrifice. But also, when he rose again in his resurrection, he showed that he was bigger than sin and death your sin, your death, my sin, my death. You got some issues in your life. He's bigger than that. You got some worries, some fears. You're embarrassed, you keep sinning. God is bigger than that and he loves you more than you can sin. You just have to say yes to him. And if you have never said yes, or you said yes and you've just been walking away from him, it's not too late. There will always be people in the back to pray for you, or you can have me come pray for you, to rededicate yourself, to remind yourself that he is the way, the truth and the life. You just have to say yes, Sing that church.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we might look into the mirror and we won't like the reflection that we see. That is no reason to throw out the mirror. Sometimes we can look to the law and we won't like the reflection either. And instead of making changes for once in our life, we ignore the mirror. We pretend the law is bad.
Speaker 1:A great poet once said we gotta make a change. It's time for us, as a people, to start making some changes. Let's change the way we eat. Let's change the way we live. Let's change the way we treat each other. See, the old way wasn't working. So it's on us to do what we've got to do to survive.
Speaker 1:But, guys, we're going to try to make a change when we fail and we're going to want to give up. But don't give up. Don't give up. Yes, you are still going to desire sin. You are still going to sin, even when we feel powerless against God. God is not powerless. Jesus made the perfect sacrifice, so one day we can be free from sin forever.
Speaker 1:Say yes to him today and let us pray. Father, thank you for your goodness and thank you that you offer us salvation, even though we offer you a broken, messed up life sometimes. God, we praise you for your goodness. We thank you for your goodness and Lord, we ask that when we go and run back to sin A we wouldn't like it that you would help us to overcome the sin by your spirit, not by our power.
Speaker 1:Father, in this moment of silence, we want to confess our sins to you. Silence, father. We thank you that you forgive us. We thank you that you pursue us, that you chase us down, because you have that kind of love for us. We thank you that as far as the east is from the west, so our sin is from your son. That when you look upon us, you see the righteousness of your son, jesus. God, we ask that, as we move forward today, that you would give us the strength to overcome sin, but that when we fail, we would not give up, but we would turn back to you, that we would apologize, that we would repent, that when we struggle, we would not separate ourselves from your word or from community, but that we would fight back by the power of your spirit, not by our power. Lord, we love you and we thank you that you are here, that you are present, that you are doing a work. We pray this all in Jesus' name.