Classic Christianity – Thanksgiving Part 5 (11-26-21)
Give Thanks, Your Sins Have Been Forgiven
As the Thanksgiving season is here, consider how much we have been freely given. If you are in Christ, you are free. You are free from the law. You are no longer under the law of sin and death, the law with it’s demands that you could never keep. Sin was your master and owner. In Christ, you are no longer a prisoner of the law. You were once locked up until faith should be revealed. Has faith been revealed to you? Can you now call God your Father because you have become a child of God, a new creation in Christ?
Even before the law was given, sin was in the world. All of us were born dead spiritually. The law was powerless to save you nor could it. We were already weak in our natural selves, being dead already. We keep doing what we know we ought not do and we do not do what we know we should. And when we fail, there is guilt under the law. Then why was the law given? The law was added so that man may see his condition of spiritual death and seek a Savior. You were once empty inside, and at one time so miserable, you came to understand the mercy and grace of God and were transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Have you come to the end of the law? Has the law done it’s job for you so you may see your need of new life in Christ Jesus?
The battle is in the mind. Now, you who are in Christ Jesus, now that you are free, do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Do not put yourself back under the law. Do not let the law dictate to you as your instructor in living. For the law’s purpose is not for you to live by it, with all it’s rules and regulations. If you fail to live up to it, do you see God as a harsh task master? Then you are living under the law. You live by a personal relationship with the living God, who internally leads you and guides you. The letter of the law kills but the Spirit gives life.
It is for freedom that Christ came to set you free. You were once enslaved to sin, trapped in the weakness of your flesh. You are not under the law of sin and death any more. You are under grace. You are now under the law of the Spirit of life. You are no longer instructed by the law, but by your Father who lives in you and guides you into all truth. You have come to know your Father who loves you so perfectly and unconditionally. He will never let go of your hand. He walks with you day by day, and never even counts your sins against you. Never ever does he look at you in regards to the law of sin and death. The Holy Spirit has been placed inside you, sealed in you, a constant companion. Oh, what abundant peace and freedom!
Transcript
Let us turn to Romans 5, beginning at verse 12.
Romans 5:12-13
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned –13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given,
Again, all through this book of Romans, it is the law, the law, the law, and we ignore that.
Romans 5:13-14
but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
In other words, the wages of sin is death, whether you were under the law or not under the law. Before the law came, even though there was no law, still the wages of sin is death. So what he is saying here is that we all died. All of us were born into this world dead spiritually. What keeps us dead? The law. We have to see. Go back over to verse 14 in chapter 6.
Romans 6:14
14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
So as long as you are under law, sin is your master. Now, again guys, we are over here in law land. Sin is your master. Why? Because you are under the law. If you are under the law, what is the wages of sin under the law? Death. That is a problem, isn’t it? God had to free these people. I am just using this as an example, you understand.
God had to free these people from the consequences of sin, which is spiritual death. You have natural man and you have spiritual man. You have natural birth and you have spiritual birth. We are talking about spiritual things. They had to be saved from the consequences of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life eternal. They are under the reign of sin and death. They have no choice.
Romans 7:17-20
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[or my flesh] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
The things they want to do, they do not do. The things they do not want to do, they do any way. You look in the mirror like I did for 36 years and say, “What is this thing in the mirror looking back at me? What is wrong with me? Why can’t I be the kind of person God wants me to be?” Because I am under the law. Did I know I was under the law? I did not know it. I did no pay any attention to it, but it still was true.
I was under a death penalty. I am still empty inside. I did not know I was dead spiritually. But I did know I was empty inside. Even though I went to church and gave a dollar a week, if I felt generous that week. So you can play church over here and feel your emptiness over there. Why? Because scripture tells you that the purpose of the law is to manifest your sinfulness and to show you that you are sinful and to show you that there is a consequence for sin called death, and you are dead spiritually and in need of spiritual life. That is the purpose of the law.
The law is not to be used as a standard of holiness because you cannot keep it. But to show you that you are dead. Death is final. There is no spiritual life over there. You can play church. You can dress up. You can go to church every Sunday. You can give tithes and offerings. You can play religion. In fact, that is what Satan gets you to do. Satan says, “I sure the heck am not going to teach you that you are dead and there is spiritual life available to you. So I will teach you how to go to church, how to dress up and look good, teach you how to lie, teach you how to evangelize. I can teach you anything.” You can be taught anything but you are dead.
It is not the case of how bad you are or how good you are. It is how dead you are. All through scripture, the wages of sin is what? Death. Sin shall be your master which means that when you are under the law, sin is your master. He is your owner. You are just like a slave with an owner, a mean one, that takes you, manipulates us, coerces in every way, shape and form. Satan came to steal, kill and destroy. That is your master over there.
John 10:10
10 The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
What is salvation? This what many people say. “Oh, you sinned. You need your sins forgiven.” Do you know we have never gone beyond that? “You sinned and you need your sins forgiven.” That is what is taught as salvation. To this day, that is the major teaching in Christendom, that all you need is your sins forgiven. The premise is that you are basically a good person. No. You are dead. You are a stinking corpse. You are dead. I do not care how nice you look. I do not care how much perfume and deodorant you put on. You are dead. People say, “No. No No. You have to be politically correct. That is not nice to say that about those sweet people. There are some nice people sitting over there.” I respond “Yes, but they are dead. Probably some nice corpses around, but they are dead.”
We have to understand what God had come to do. He did not come just to take away your sins. Your sins is what caused your death. Jesus in essence is saying, “So if I did not take away what caused your death, why would I give you life? Because if I did not take away what caused it, and I gave you life, the next time you sinned, you would be dead again. I had to free you from that whole realm over there, the whole realm that you live in, the whole realm of it, that you were under the control of, a prisoner to, locked up, until what? Until faith in Christ should be revealed.”
Now, guys, who in the world is going to be capable of taking you out of that state of death into life? Is Buddha going to do it? Is Mohammad going to do it? Is any man you know going to do it? These people who get up and say this religion. They are bold. Religion. All of it is junk. All of it, including the Christian religion, if that is all you have is religion. Paul calls that dung compared to that of knowing the only one whose life was capable of being laid down, totally taking away the sins of the whole world.
Philippians 3:8
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ
Jesus death on a cross, his shedding of blood, did not merely cover sins. His sacrifice took them all away. But Jesus did not stay dead. He was raised from the dead so that you and I could be raised from the dead, to be given a new citizenship. As an example, you have a map of the United States. At the lower end of that map, do we have that map on the computer? On the southern end is Mexico and on the northern end is Canada. Now, suppose you were born in Mexico. Now this is an illustration, just an example to explain spiritual truth. In Mexico it is a tough life. You have a tyrant as your master. He reigns, does he not? As long as you are there, he reigns. But one day somebody comes and gets you. He picks you up and moves you over to grace land. No longer over here. That is why it says that you used to live there.
Romans 6:2
2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
We died to sin. Shall we live in it any more? You do not lie there any more. You do not live under the sin principle. God is not dealing with you as someone under the law of sin and death as a born again believer. James, I wish you guys would get up and move again. Would you do that for me? In fact, let us all of you move out of there. All of you who are born again, move out of there.
What I am saying is that you are under the law? So when you move, you are moving out of the law. So get out of there. Empty that place out. You are over there now in grace land. I can see you better, too. Now, we have one couple back there that wants to stay dead. And if they want to stay dead, that is their choice. But you are dead under the law and if you stay there, you are going to go where you want to go. Because you do not want to go to grace land. You want to stay under the law, dead. And you got a privilege. You have the right to do that. And you have a choice to do that.
But to those who said, “No. I do not want to live under that law. It kills me. I want to live under grace. I want to be led internally by the Spirit of God.” Now, they are over here, a brand new place. They move out of Mexico and now they live in the United States. In the United States, you can choose many, many places to live. That is why they call it the United States because it is states that are united one to another. Even though different states can have different laws, they are all under the one law called America. The United States of what? America.
Philippians 3:20
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
1 John 3:1
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
You are now children of the living God. You are now not a Baptist or a Presbyterian or a Methodist. Your identity is not where you park your body on Sundays or Saturdays. Your identity is who you are. You have been made into a new creation. You are over here now. You are no longer over there. Now, you say, “Well, can I go back?” No, you cannot go back. You absolutely cannot go back any more than a butterfly can go back to being a caterpillar. He is a new creation. But you can visit close by. That is what a lot of Christians do. This is what so many Christians say by their behavior, “I know I cannot go back, but I am going to sit on this aisle over there, where Gene is. As close as I can get to the law but realizing I am not under it, but I am close to it. Because it was my friend.” Heaven forbid. Let us read this.
Romans 6:1
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
In other words, where the law is, grace increases. Where sin increases, grace increases all the more.
Romans 6:2
2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
You are over here. You died where you lived. Sin and death are over there. Do you realize that God is no longer dealing with you on the basis of sin and death? Do you realize that He is not dealing with you on the basis of sin? Not if you are over here. A person says, “God, I did it again.” God says, “Did what again?” “What sin? The sin I committed yesterday.” God replies, “Well, it was taken away.” “Well then, what about the sin I will commit tomorrow.“ God again says, “Well. It is taken away. What are you coming to Me for with the sin issue. I have dealt with. I dealt with it 2000 years ago. I dealt with it at the cross. Your sins were judged. The verdict was guilty. The punishment was death. I took it all. That is why there is none left for you.” That is why there is no more condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1-2
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death
Why is it that there is no condemnation awaiting you? I deserve some condemnation. That is not the issue. The issue is, God said, “I dealt with it. I dealt with it in the most harsh way I knew. I crucified my Son so that blood was shed for you, could be put on you, and you could be identified with him, and through that identification, be freed from sin. What can control does that have over you? The wages of sin is death. We are not under that any more.
Romans 6:13
13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
Why? Look in your bibles, folks. That is where you are going to find this.
Romans 6:14-15
14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
This is meaning that if you are under the law, sin is your master. Someone says, “Well I know a lot of people that are under the law but they sure are nice acting people.” I do not care how nice they act. That is not the issue. The issue that the bible says is this. If you are under the law, sin is your master. You are being mastered by someone other than who came to master you, and that is God. The next question is then asked.
Romans 6:15
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
In other words, if we are no longer under the law, then should I just live it up. I mean, should I just do everything that I used to do when I was under the law? He is saying. Hold on a minute. It appears to me, the reason you are over here is because when you were over there, you were so darn miserable that you could not stand it. And you were crying out. If I remember correctly, you were crying out for help. So why would you want to go back to where you were crying out for help? Why do you want to go back to live a lifestyle that makes you so miserable that you wanted to be saved to begin with? To a degree, it is almost a thing of insanity, where you know what you are doing does not work, but you do it any way. It is a case of a little bit of insanity going on there. But you are not under the law.
Romans 6:15
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
Here is what he is saying.
Romans 6:16
16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin,
What made you a slave to sin? You were without the Spirit of God living in you. Who is the old man? Me. Who is the old man? Bob George without the Spirit of God living in me. What makes me different than I was? God lives in me. I live in Him. That is what makes me different. So over there I was a slave to sin.
Romans 6:17-18
you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
You moved. You are no longer over there. You moved.
Romans 6:19
19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations.
He is talking here to people who are Christians, and he is saying you are weak in your natural selves. What good do you think it does to you and me to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and get ourselves all nicely cleansed up? He says that is not going to get it because you are weak. So guys, do you think we are ever going to grow in our knowledge of Christ to the point where we are sinless? Does any one think that they will ultimately get to a point of never sinning.
That is what people teach with progressive sanctification. If you just keep setting yourself apart, you will get to the point that you do not even need Jesus any more. How many of you in here are over 60? How many of you have been in the Lord over 30 years? How much better are you in your flesh? “Well, I do no cuss quite as much as I used to.” That is about as good as you can do: “I am a little better than I used to be but I am sure am not what I ought to be.” Do you think that shocks God? Do you think God looks down and says, “What you did, that just shocked me? I did not know you were capable of that?”
Guys, do you realize that I do not care if you have been a Christian for a year or a hundred years, that you are never going to get perfect in His sight. Quit beating yourself up. Each and every one of us will have frailties until the day that we die. I tell people that if you really want to get rid of his sin that you are so concerned about, pray for death. That is when it will happen. In the meantime, we live under the grace and the mercy of God, the wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin. That is where we live, always being grateful for the fact that God delivered me from there over to here. That is where I live. All people live a little differently. All people still have weaknesses. Your weakness is different than his. Different weaknesses. Different things but we are all alive in Christ. Is that good news, guys?
Romans 6:20
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
Over there you were absolutely free from righteousness. You were free, free from righteousness.
Romans 6:19-20
Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
So many times we fail to realize there is a repercussion to sin. You go out and you say, “Why would you teach a child that you are better off not to start drinking?” Because you could become an alcoholic, that is why. There is one way to ensure in life that you are never going to fall off of the ladder. Do you know what it is? Never get up on the ladder. Turning to being controlled by something other than Jesus, you forfeit your body. And there is guilt connected with that. Do not tell me otherwise. There is guilt connected with it. So there is repercussions with these.
Romans 6:21
21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?
If you were not ashamed of it, you would just say, “I just did this last night. I did this and I did this and would not be ashamed of it.”
Romans 6:21-22
Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Look at this guys and then we will close.
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Colossians 1:12-14
12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Again, transferred from the law and it’s demands upon us, held prisoner by it, under the control of it, and God lifted you up and delivered you over into grace land. You leave behind what killed you. Recall what the apostle Paul said: “It is through the law that I died to the law.” Now if you are lost, you belong over there because the law has not done it’s work yet. The law is not for the righteous. The law is for the unrighteous, to show you your need for righteousness. Now if you are over here then you are free. But if you are over there you are under the law.
Galatians 2:19
19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
1 Timothy 1:9
9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,
God did not abolish the law, not for the lost. It is applicable today as it has ever been. That is why we have a law supposedly. We used to have them at the court house. Every law that we had in this land comes from those 10 commandments. It is for the lost. It is to show you that you are a sinner that you may turn to Christ for your salvation. Guys, you have got to go free. You cannot be free co-mingling in these two. You cannot be free visiting over there, getting as close to that realm as possible. The more legalistic you are as a Christian, the more closer you are to that highway. You cannot get over there, but you might as well be there because you are dominated by it.
Romans 7:11-13
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
Dead to the law. Alive to Christ. Anything wrong with the law? No. Paul said nothing wrong with the law. It is holy and good. What is the problem with the law? It was opposed to me. It kills me. It does not get you out of fellowship. It does not get you out of relationship. It does not mean God has turned his back on you. Forget all that stuff. People picture God as if God spins around up there like he is on a top. It is death. In your own mind, if you hang onto that law long enough, you will forget all about the fact that you are living over here in grace land. Law again, will dominate your life if you let it. It can’t. You are not under it. But in your mind, it can dominate you. So go free. Go free. Let Jesus Christ lead you and guide you and direct you.
Galatians 5:1
1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
John 8:32
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
We are going to be celebrating Thanksgiving. I hope as we celebrate this season of Thanksgiving that our minds go further than just the freedom that we have in America. Thank God for the freedom, but it is being threatened. Thank God we have got freedom but that is not the freedom you and I are rejoicing in. I am rejoicing in the fact that I have been made free in Christ. You have been set free, my brothers.
Galatians 5:13
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
We are free to serve one another and to be thankful.
So, when Thanksgiving dinner is served, I trust you are not going to gobble up all the food before the rest of the people get there. You are going to serve one another in love. That is what the season is all about. Thank God for this provision of grace that someone will never take advantage of. But those of us who have, do you realize how privileged we are? How unbelievably privileged we are. We sometimes forget it. But guys, do not forget it. It is the privilege that God has given us to be able to say that God is my daddy. He is the one I crawl up in his lap and call him daddy, Father.
