Are you ready? Are you sure you're ready? We're going to preach, be preaching the word this morning, and we're excited about what the Lord has laid upon our heart. And I trust that you have been praying for this service because the message that I'm going to be preaching is for every one of us. It's not for the young only, the middle-aged only, it's for everyone that is in this service, and everyone that is watching either by YouTube or by Facebook. How many of you have realized in your Christian life that all have sinned? Well, that goes right along with the scripture, doesn't it? All have sinned. There's not one person that hasn't sinned. And our righteousness is as what? Filthy rags. But the good part is if we confess our. Ooh, we get shy about that word, don't we? If we confess our, He is faithful and just to forgive us our and forgive us of all unrighteousness. Same as sin, same as transgression. It all means the same. But as a believer, I think we need to realize some things about sin. Sin is not our friend. Sin will cost us more than we ever wanted to pay. It will keep us in chains longer than we want to stay. And sin can become an addiction. There are so many things I could name. But sin is simply missing the mark. It's like someone that's an archer that has a bow and arrow and there's a target in front of them, and their goal is to hit the bullseye. But what happens is their arrow veers off and they miss the target. That's what sin is. But it's a willful decision. It's a willful transgression. Sin is an abomination. And the scripture is filled with characters throughout the Old and New Testament that missed the mark. Some of them lived a lifestyle of missing the mark and disobeying God's commandments and going against God's law and God's word and God's desire for them. So today I'm going to be teaching on how to keep from sinning. Would you be interested in a message like that? Are you interested in knowing what Jesus did because he never sinned? And does that mean that we never will? No, we already have. We've already been guilty of it. We've already brought it to the foot of the cross. Whether you were a boy or a girl or a teenager or middle-aged, hopefully you have given your life to Jesus by confessing your sin to him. For we know when when we confess our sin, he is what? Faithful and just to forgive us our sin. And I'm so grateful for that. In that while we were yet sinners, Christ loved us right in our sin, right in our ugliness, right when we were living a filthy lifestyle, contrary to the word of God. The word of God tells us that God loved us while we were yet in sin. Let me tell you, I don't know some of you well enough to know whether you're born again or not, but I will tell you this: even though you are still living in sin, God's love is commended toward you. If you're doing things that you know are not pleasing to him, contrary to his word, he still loves you. And God so loved us that he gave his only son, his one and only. Then whosoever believes on him will not perish, but have what? Everlasting life. And that's what we want. That's our goal as believers. Amen. Well, the Lord won't let me get away from Romans chapter 6. Two weeks ago, I think it was maybe three, the Lord laid on my heart to preach on the different baptisms in Scripture. If you didn't hear that, go back on your YouTube channel or on Facebook and listen to it again. It's very interesting. But the greatest of all the baptisms is to be baptized into Christ. So we're going to be looking at Romans chapter 1, or 6, verses 1 through 23. And we're going to be looking briefly at each of these verses, time permitting, and giving you some insight on what this death, burial, and resurrection idea is all about. You know, as I was preparing this study, I looked back at my life several years ago. I had a pain in my tooth in the back. It was one of my wisdom teeth. Did you ever figure out why they call them wisdom teeth? When they pull them out, that must mean we lose our wisdom. No, that's not the way. But I've always wondered why they were called wisdom teeth when they weren't even necessary. One of mine was growing backwards against the molar in front, or forwards against the molar in front, and it had caused decay. And that tooth was very dangerously being uh creating abscess in my jaw, which can be very deadly. So as I went, I discovered that that wisdom tooth needed care, and I took myself to a dentist, and I thought, man, I'm gonna have this tooth that's driving me nuts, pulled, or something, because the x-rays show that it was really dangerous. And sure enough, the abscess was under the tooth, and it would have eaten away my jaw if I had left it and not done something about it. But the surgeon was so graceful as he pulled that tooth and removed that pain, and in a few weeks it was healing up. But I thought about my message today from Romans 6, and because the area of my mouth was so infected and had to be have a tooth removed, did I tell that oral surgeon that he was such a great surgeon? Maybe he'd like to pull the rest of my teeth as well, because he's so good at what he does. Isn't that a foolish thought? No, that doesn't mean I should have had the other teeth pulled out in order to show the great skill of the surgeon. I didn't need to do that. But that is what we call the false logic of some people's thinking when it comes to sin. In Romans chapter 5, Paul had just finished declaring how the law came about to show us how we've missed that mark, that target. The arrow went the wrong way. But we've missed the mark with sin. That's what sin is. It's not following God's word, but it's doing our own thing. But that even, though the existence of a standard makes us realize how much we don't measure up to God's grace, his unmerited favor, was even more powerful to provide forgiveness. So Paul answers a question that seems to be silly. Because if I was going to have that surgeon pull all of my teeth because I had one abscess, it doesn't seem to make sense because in that false logic, some people determine, well, suffering is bad, I'm suffering, so I must be bad. Or God doesn't love me, or when I sin, God doesn't punish me, so maybe it's okay to sin. Is that true? No, it's false logic. And these would be known as faulty cause and effect. And we'll get to that a little bit later in our message. But let's look at the first verse of Romans chapter 6. Paul asks, What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? Shall we have all of our teeth pulled when we've had one pulled that seemed to help us out a lot? That's what that means. By no means, he said. He said, We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Father, I thank you today for your word. It's quick and powerful as a two-edged sword, piercing to the delighting of joints and marrow. And Lord, it's it's a discerner of thoughts and the intents of the heart. I pray that you'd use this message today to draw us nearer to you so that we will cleave to you and to your wisdom and to your ways and to the things that you expect of us as believers. Help us to be yoked up with you, Lord, and become servant of the Most High God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So when we deal with sin, sometimes we act like that silly tooth analogy. God has shown his infinite skill in identifying and then removing the sin from our lives. But does that mean then we want to show more of his skill by sinning more so that he can heal us more? Absolutely not, Paul says. We don't need more sin. We need more of his presence. Can anyone agree with that this morning? He can heal us. No, we don't need more sin. We need him in our lives in a stronger and more intimate way than before. And we don't need sin in order to get that. Paul introduces us to a life principle. And it's right here in Romans chapter 6. The life principle says, You're dead. That's an interesting thing for him to say. But look at verse number three. Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. So we were baptized into his death. Isn't that interesting? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Now, this doesn't mean that the act of baptism itself saves us. We're born again because of the blood of Jesus. It's just an outward sign of an inward change, and that is when you accept the Lord Jesus Christ, you go to the cross with him, and then you go to the grave with him, and your old man dies, then comes back to life with him. Well, what do you mean, Pastor Greg? My body is still the same, my personality is still the same, I still feel the same and don't feel different at all. What's different is that the Holy Spirit has come to live inside of us and changed our heart and gave us new life. If any man be in Christ, they're a new creature. Old things are passed away. And behold, all things have become what? They become new. It's about becoming new on the inside, in the mind, in the body. Verse 5. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be done away with. That's the old man. That we should no longer be slaves to sin. Verse 7 says, Because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. So we were slaves before. People think, well, I don't want to come to Jesus. I have to become his servant to come to him. Well, you were the servant of the devil. I'll tell you what, the odds are in your favor by being the servant of the Lord. Amen. Some people don't mind being in slavery to the devil. What he says they do. Go to that gambling casino, they go. Go to that racetrack. Go tell a lie. Deceive, steal, commit adultery. They do it. He is their God. He is their master. And I you know what? He loves to dominate innocent people that don't know any better. But he even loves to dominate people that do know better. That go back on what God's word says. So if you execute someone for a crime, you can't put them to trial again. And Jesus was executed for our sins so that they are forgiven. But that not only be forgiven, but that we might escape the hold, the stronghold, the chains, the bondage that had been put upon us. So before we come to Christ, we were slaves. We couldn't help it. But Jesus came to set us free by dying on the cross for our sins. And every drop of that innocent blood that he shed covered me and covered you. There's only one condition. We have to tell him to forgive us. We have to commit our sins to him and confess our sins to him so that he can heal us and forgive us at the same time. Before we come to Christ, we were slaves. But Jesus set us free. Going on, verse number eight. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. How many of you believe you'll live? Amen. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over him. Verse 10, the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. Verse 11. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Jesus Christ. Here's the scripture that verifies that. Nevertheless, I live. So I'm dead, but I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So it's a two-part thing. Die with Christ, we're dying to sin. Live with Christ, we're living for God. In the old sacrificial system, there would need to be death to cover sins. And in some ways, that was great for us. We feel this need to see that process of sin, the confession, the penance, the sacrifice, the forgiveness. But in fact, Jesus only had to die one time, once, for everything that every human being on the face of the earth that has been, will be, and is, he died once and for all. His blood satisfied the wrath of the Father. So when we realize all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and we run to him and surrender, and we confess our sins to him, we die out to the old man, and we live a life of newness, surrendered to our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. And because of that, verse 12, therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. And offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. Yes, God wants to use you. He's filled you with things that no one else has. You can do things that are very unique in the kingdom of God, but don't use those instruments as instruments of sin. Use them as instruments of righteousness and give him the glory for it. Verse number 14 for sin shall not be your master, because you are not under the law, but you're under grace. Now the old flesh that we still live in is known as our mortal body. But it's going to try to entice us back into doing the things that are not in agreement with God's word and God's character and God's will for our lives. What Paul is telling us is that we have a choice. See, God's made us free. We're what's called free moral agents. We choose our morality. If we don't want to live for Jesus, every one of us can walk out these doors and say, I give up on that. I'm going to do what I want. Doesn't that seem to be the watchword of today's culture? Every man and woman doing what's right in their own eyes? Well, really, it's not what's right to God, it's what's right in their own eyes. And that's why they're deceived. So many times in Scripture, not only Jesus warned us, but Paul over and over in this last days, he gave us warning. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. We need to recognize that we can be deceived by hanging around the wrong people. We can be deceived by watching the wrong movies and listening to the wrong music. That's all a message, friends. You think it's just music? No. The music that you choose to listen to has a message in it. Oh, there's something that's so vile. Even the world recognizes it, and they put a big E beside it, which means explicit. We know what that means. It's something that a child shouldn't listen to. And you know what? If a child shouldn't listen to it, neither should I. But that's the way the enemy works. He puts these things in our minds through media and through the choices that we make because God has given us the free will to choose what we do. When temptation rears its ugly head, did you know that you and I have the ability to say no, devil? Come on, church. Say it with me as loud as you can. Ready? On one, two, three. No. And you know what Jesus did when he was tempted? He used the scripture. So say, no, it is written. Can you say that with me loud? No, it is written. And you know what happens when the word is used against Satan? He has nothing more to say. It stops him in his tracks. But you have to choose to say no. You have to choose to resist the devil. Make a choice. And remember, it's God's grace and unmerited favor. The Holy Spirit will give us an anointing, and he will order our steps, and he will correct us with his still small voice. And he will convict us by the power of the Spirit and say, that's not a place that you need to be looking. You know what we do? We linger. We linger on that movie rather than turning it off, the first curse word. We linger in that book, that romance novel, oh, soap operas. That used to be the big thing. Maybe they still have them, I don't know. They have worse. When we linger, when we think too long on that desire, and we'll talk about that in just a moment. So verse 15, hurrying along, what then? Shall we sin because we're not under the law, but under grace? Here's another argument. Grace means I can do whatever I want because no one's counting things against me, right? That's that false view of God. Well, God's not punishing me, so I must be doing okay. I can lie, cheat, and steal and get by with it and then claim grace. No, that's not the grace the scripture's talking about. It's the grace that saves us, but it's the grace that keeps us from sinning once we're in the kingdom of God. Paul says, by no means. Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. Oh Oh, verse 17, but thanks be to God. Though you used to be slaves of sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin. Can you say that? I am set free from sin. Hallelujah. And have become slaves to righteousness. Now don't look at that word wrong about slaves. That means that we're servants of the Lord. That means we've changed from bondage and chains of true slavery by following the enemy of our soul, the devil. But now we are servants of the Most High God. And because we're servants of God, we become servants of his people. We have the food pantry. We have ways that we can reach out to our community. We can come to prayer meetings on Tuesday mornings. We can come to Sunday night services and find out how we can grow spiritually by studying the book of Colossians. And I'm teaching it. So I know it's going to be good if you come. You'll learn something about yourself when you study the Word of God. Why? Because the Word of God even says, study to show yourself approved unto God. A workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. It's crucial. You know what the name of this church is? Course you do. It's Bible center. That's the center of all we do. Every decision we make is based on that foundation of truth. Now, did you know that when you offer yourself to do what God has revealed is of the flesh, rather than walking by the Spirit, that you become a slave of that thing? As I said earlier, we call that an addiction. Think of all the addictions that we have in the world today. People are addicted to alcohol, they're addicted to drugs, they're addicted to gambling, they're addicted to pornography, they're addicted to money. What? You got to deal with money? I said, no. It's not money that I have a problem with, or that God has a problem with. It's the love of it. That's called greed. So money is one of the addictions. I got to have more, more, more, more, more. Eating can become an addiction. Computer games can even become an addiction. Television can become an addiction. There are so many addictions we really don't have time to name them all. We get fooled into thinking that we can handle it. But that's deception. And the enemy knows if you give in, pretty soon he'll have you as a slave. Not that you'll go to hell, but you will be ineffective for God's kingdom. You see, sin separates you from God's presence. It doesn't separate you from God's love, but it affects the relationship. You see, Romans 8 tells us nothing can separate us from the love of God. Height, depth, principalities, but our sin can affect our relationship. When you start to grow cold and you start to feel that, you know, there's just not much joy in your life as a believer anymore. You struggle with coming to church and reading the Bible and praying and hanging out with friends that you should be hanging out with from the church and those that love God too. But then you find yourself choosing friends that maybe aren't loving Jesus like you want to. But it affects your relationship with Jesus. That's why I tell people that prayer produces intimacy. Prayer produces intimacy with the one I'm praying with. Any two shall agree is touching anything? The one I'm praying to, that's to God. I have intimacy with Him. And the one I'm praying for, I have intimacy with Him. Even though they might be a thousand miles away, prayer is producing us a bond. Now we have a choice. Verse 19. I put this in human terms, Paul says, because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery or servanthood to righteousness leading to holiness. Verse 20. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21. What benefit did you reap at the time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. Verse 22. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is everlasting life. How many of you choose life instead of wickedness and eternal damnation? Oh, I know I do. It's a smart choice, it really is. We think I'm the captain of my own destiny. I belonged to no one, and that's not true. Before you came to Jesus, you belonged to Satan. Amen? And the ship captained by your master is going down. But the freedom from sin bought by Jesus comes with the price as well. Did you know that when you gave your heart to Jesus, you became a slave to Jesus? It's not the type of slavery that whips you and abuses you. It's the kind that bonds us together so that we submit to him because he loves us, that's beneficial to us, because we cleave to him and follow him and worship him and surrender unto him. Now the last verse is one of the single most important verses in Romans and probably the entire Bible. But I want to break down two words in Romans 3.23 or 6.23 rather. For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord or in Jesus Christ our Lord. Now look at that first part of it. The wages. That's something you earn, isn't it? So sin pays you. You earn it. The wages of sin. But the gift, gifts are free. Amen. The gift of God is what? Eternal life through Jesus Christ or in Jesus Christ. So if you're a slave to Satan, you'll get wages, but the payment is death. Eternal separation from God and misery and suffering in the bargain. God doesn't owe us anything, but as a gift, paid for by the blood that Jesus shed for you and me, we have eternal life. Simple as it can be. Confess to him your sin. Believe that God raised him from the dead and you shall be saved. It's as simple as one scripture. He that believeth has everlasting life. That's how simple God made it. How much more simple can it be? Let me share something else with you. It's important that we understand about four different parts of sin and what leads us to sin. Number one, don't confuse forgiveness with permission. Sin is still sin, it's just forgiven sin. Hello? Just because you don't have to bear the penalty of sin doesn't mean God doesn't pay attention and doesn't care what you do. Let that soak in. It's important that you understand that. Because Hebrews 8:12 tells us, for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. But, Pastor, what about the fact that God doesn't punish my sin when I sin? Doesn't that make it all right? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wrong thinking, that's false thinking. That's thinking that's not from God. You gotta cleanse your mind and have the mind of Christ. That's foolishness. When you say I'm not being punished for it right now, so I can go ahead and sin, that's the folly and the lie of the devil. And that's why so many people are perishing every day because they believe that lie. Don't confuse, number two, don't confuse your freedom with anarchy. What's anarchy? Anarchy is absence or denial of authority. Just because you're free to sin doesn't mean you should sin. Amen. Anarchy is saying I don't need to submit to the authority of the police officers. I don't need to submit to the authority of our president or the Congress or the Senate or those that have leadership in our church. I don't need to submit to any authority at all. I'm just going to call freedom anarchy. Well, that's not what it is. First Corinthians 6 12 says, everything is possible for me, but not everything is beneficial for me. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. I think we should repeat that last line. Come on, lift up your hand and say it. I will not be mastered by anything, and we'll add this, except Jesus. Come on. I will not be mastered by anything except Jesus. He's my Lord and master. He paid the price for my eternal life. He shed his blood and suffered and was beat almost to death for me, for me, for me, he died. We are free, but it doesn't mean freedom from something as much as freedom to something else. Whom the Son sets free. Is free indeed. We talk a lot about freedom around here. We sing a lot about freedom, don't we? We have freedom of the spirit in this church. I'm grateful for that. We can clap our hands and shout hallelujah. We can come to the altar and pray. We can be prayed for. We can have the gifts of the spirit in operation. We can see those things that God promised us come to pass. That's freedom. That's being free indeed. Acting right leads to life. Acting in the flesh leads to death. So the point is we need to not think about whether we can do something, but whether what we do will lead to death or life. That's the right thing to do. The decisions that you make, the desires that you have, if they are not from God, there's a remedy I'll get to in a moment. Thirdly, deny sin the attention it demands. It's not worth that five minutes of pleasure. It's not worth that drink. It's not worth that drug. It's not worth that casino at the gambling table. It's not worth it. Deny sin the attention it demands. Matthew 5, 29, listen, if your right eye caused you to sin, what do we do? Gouge it out and throw it away. It's better for you to lose a part of your body than your whole body being thrown into hell. Romans 8, 13, if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you shall live. Well, how, Pastor? Well, there's three ways. First, there's a filter. You've got to learn to filter those desires and those temptations. You've got to learn to think about it before you act upon it. Romans 16, 19. Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I'm full of joy, Paul writes to the Romans, over you. But I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. Sometimes a person will come to me and say, Hey, have you seen this movie and they name it? I say, No, I've never even heard of it. You know why? I'm wise to that which is evil. I know what's evil and I avoid it. I run from it. I deny it. I say no to it. I say, the word says that's what we need to do. Jesus said in Matthew 10 that we are to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. It's the same Greek word that means unmixed. What about the environment or the friends that we keep? Does that make us mingle wool with linen? The Bible forbids that. You can't serve two masters. Either you love one and hate the other, or you cling to one and despise the other. You can't love God and the world at the same time. It doesn't work. You can't do it in God's kingdom anyway. Jesus said in Matthew 10, the very reason we need to avoid those things that titillate our senses. An alcoholic who watches hours and hours of Budweiser commercials is going to fall sooner or later. I'm not saying to turn off your mind, but put a filter on it and allow in especially the things that God has given you in his word. And quote the scripture and learn it and memorize it and use it in your business and use it in your family and use it in your personal decisions. Second, you won't like this one, but you'll understand it in a minute. You need to suffer. You need to suffer. And here's why. 1 Peter 4, 1 and 2. Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. Wow, that's a powerful scripture. Suffering leaves scars. And they're okay as a reminder. Jesus has them. Now, I don't mean to go out and hit your head against the wall and then scream, boy, am I free from sin now. That's not the way you get it. Suffering leaves scars. But what happens when we suffer is we get back up. And then we resist the suffering. I'm going to talk about resisting in a moment, but if we can focus on what God is doing in us through that suffering, that is he's freeing us from sin. Paul said it this way in Philippians 3.10, that I may know him. He's talking about Jesus. Paul wanted to know Jesus. He wanted to be intimate with Jesus. The first thing was in the power of his resurrection. But the second one is going to shock some of you. Hold your toupee real tight and your false teeth so they don't fall out. You ready? And the fellowship of his sufferings. Wait a minute. Let me look that up again. Paul says that I may know him, Randy, in the fellowship of his suffering, but he didn't stop there. That I may know him being made conformable unto his death. That I may die with him. Well, eleven of the twelve disciples did. Why are we any different? And what that really means is I'm going to live my life for him. Yes. I will live my life for him. I will give my life for him. I will not deny he is my Lord and Savior. Peter said, No, don't crucify me on a cross like my master. I'm not worthy of that. Turn the cross upside down and crucify me. Because I'm not worthy to be crucified like Jesus. You see, when you fall in love with Jesus and you give your life to him, you serve him because you love him. It becomes a matter of focus. Jesus knew suffering would come and that he had a job to do. And in Hebrews 12, it says, He endured hardship looking ahead at the joy that was before him. He endured the cross and its suffering for the joy that was before him. And I don't believe that was a selfish joy. I believe his joy is you and me and us. He loved us so much. He was suffered, but still looked ahead at the joy. Oh my goodness. The third one is you gotta resist. 1 Peter 5, 9, resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. Resist means to stand against. The trouble is suffering isn't bad, it just feels bad. Don't confuse the reality of suffering with the reasons why it happens. I can tell you in my own life firsthand that the sufferings I've gone through physically, the sufferings I've gone through in the ministry, the sufferings I've gone through in relationships has made me love Jesus more and made me stronger and more persevering, and I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. Oh, I've been hurt by people too, just like you, but it made me stronger, and I can resist what comes at me. When I find that the enemy fires his fiery darts at me, I know that I can stand. And lastly, let me share with you focus instead of the suffering. Focus instead on offering your life up to God. Hebrews 13, 15, through Jesus, therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips that confess his name. Focus number one is on worshiping God. When you worship God with hands lifted and a heart that's pured and covet his presence and welcome his presence into your life, that worship seems to diminish all the cares of this world and the problems that you face. When you worship the Lord, the things of this earth begin to disappear. I know we say it a lot, but if you're focusing on worshiping God, you're focused, you're not focusing on sin, temptation around you. Philippians 4.8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are pure, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is true, lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things. Not only should we filter out the bad stuff, we need to find the good stuff to focus on, the real good role models, good books and music to read, good relationships. Titus 1, verse 15, to the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are corrupted, corrupted rather, and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciousness, consciousness is corrupted. There's a way to live where you see things differently. You see a grape and you think about what Jesus says. I am the vine, you are the branches. Rather than seeing a grape and wondering if it's a fermented wine that I can get high on, you think of the vine that blesses us every day. Now I say all this realizing one fact. 1 John 8, 1 John 1, verses 8 and 9. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There's a way to keep from sinning that Jesus gave us, because Jesus was tempted. James said very clearly, let no man say, when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God. God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and he's enticed. Verse 15 says, Then when lust is conceived, that means made alive, it brings forth or gives birth to sin. When lust or desire is another word for it, when lust is conceived, in other words, when lust is made alive. It brings forth sin or gives birth to sin. But what does sin result in? James said it clearly. And sin, when it's finished, brings forth death. Don't put yourself in an environment that's going to tempt you. If you've been saved out of gambling at the casinos, by all means, don't go to the casinos with a friend. If you've been caught in the trap of adultery, don't let your eyes wander to male or female. And when you're married, you need to stay faithful to your husband and your wife. That's what we do to keep from sinning. When Jesus was tempted, he used the word. Use the word when you're tempted and say, No, I'm going to resist the devil. Why? Because when I resist the devil, James 4, 7 says, He will flee from me. Let me give you one more scripture. Paul said in Romans 12, 1, he said, I beg you, I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies. Yes, he said, bodies. This flesh, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Sacrifice means death. You die to your body, you present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conform to the things of this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your what you have the trouble with, right there. The renewing of your mind, that's your soul, your emotions, your passions, your decision making, your desires, your temptations, your lust. By the renewing of your mind, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That's the mindset we need. By the renewing of your mind, that you may prove, yeah, we prove to God, we prove to God that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, perfect will of God. You can do it. You can keep from sinning because Jesus did. And as God, when He was tempted as our high priest, he was tempted from Hebrews 4, verse 15. In every point that we are, Jesus was tempted with every sin that we are tempted with, yet without sin. Father, I thank you for the loving kindness that you display to us in your character. That you will forgive anyone that humbles himself before your feet and says, I'm sorry, God. I've offended you, and I bring my sin to you, and I confess it, and you wash us in the precious blood again. We're in you. So when God looks at us, he sees the righteousness of you. And I thank you for your covering today. As heads are bowed and eyes are closed and no one's looking around. I'm going to give an invitation to this altar to come and to do what you need to do if God, the Holy Spirit, is calling you. Everyone stand, please. I'm going to make it easier. If you need to get up and come to this altar, we'll pray for you. We'll ask God to touch you. We'll pray over your loved ones that are lost, whatever you need. But this altar is open to anyone that needs to come. Lord, thank you for our time together in the Word, and may it be blessed unto our hearts and minds, and may we grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To you be glory both now and forever. In Jesus' name.