Why does God Beg?

[0:00] Good morning. It's good to see you all. We were here last September and visited with you all. And we were here for the family conference last September. We'll be back this October for the family conference again.

[0:14] But it is wonderful to be with you all. And yes, we are excited about Vacation Bible School. And I'll put in a plug now and I'll put in a plug later.

[0:24] I had sent out a promotional video and in the video it said, because Bible School is not just for the children anymore. So if you are free at all during the day, and I know being a morning Bible School, a number of you will be working.

[0:39] But if you're not working and you want, we do an adult Bible study all week long that coincides with what the children are learning.

[0:51] And so our thought was that the adults should be learning the same thing that the children are learning. We have dumbed it down for the adults to understand.

[1:02] But the thought behind that was, if we want it to truly be a family Bible school, we want parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles to be learning the same things that the children are learning for a very important purpose.

[1:22] Because God ordained the family and the family was God's design. He designed it the way He did so that parents could teach their children the things of the Lord.

[1:34] And so that grandparents could teach their grandchildren the things of the Lord. And so wouldn't it just be a wonderful idea for parents and grandparents to be learning the same thing as the children and grandchildren so that when you leave Bible school and in the days and weeks afterwards, you can discuss the things that you've learned and your children won't be telling you something and you have no clue what they're talking about.

[2:00] And you can teach your children things that they've already been made familiar with. So it was by design we did it that way. So I would really encourage you this week, if you are able, to be here.

[2:13] Yeah, even if you don't have kids here, by all means, come. Because while you may not have biological children and grandchildren in the church, to children in a church, you are still aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas.

[2:30] They still look to you as older adults as examples. And so to be able to talk with the children of your church about those things.

[2:41] And I don't know if that will be recorded. If there is an adult Bible study this week, if that will be recorded, I'll leave that up to Roger over there to figure out what he wants to do. Are you in charge of that, Roger? No?

[2:52] No? That's probably best for the church if you're not... Yeah, right. Take your Bibles and open them to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1.

[3:16] Romans chapter 1. And let me ask you a question before we pray. Let me ask you a question. How many of you feel like you are fairly familiar with the book of Romans?

[3:27] No judging here, just curious. If you feel like you're fairly versed in the book of Romans. You have an understanding. Maybe you've read it. You've studied it a little bit.

[3:38] All right. Let's pray. And I want to share something with you this morning from the book of Romans. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this morning. Lord, thank you for the chance to be here in Springfield this morning and this week, Lord.

[3:50] And we do pray for just a wonderful time together with the saints here and a chance to be in the Word of God together. Lord, I pray that this Sunday school hour and this morning's message and this morning's service, Lord, I pray that it, I pray that your Word, that your Holy Spirit working through your Word will convict us, correct us, and instruct us in righteousness.

[4:18] And Lord, I thank you for the opportunity, for the privilege of being your faithful servant. And Lord, I pray that these words challenge us. It's in your Son's name I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ.

[4:32] Amen. Amen. The theme for this week's Bible School is revival or bust, and I'll be sharing a little bit more about that in this morning's message. But I want us to look at, very quickly, I want to have an overview of the book of Romans.

[4:50] And I know that doesn't sound like maybe the most exciting thing to do this morning, and it's not a lot of time to give an overview of a book. But I want to show you something, and I'm going to give you a little bit of a back story to this.

[5:02] I grew up in a grace church. I was in a grace church, a mid-acts dispensational grace church from the time I was 10 days old. We were in church all the time.

[5:15] I was raised hearing the Word of God rightly divided. I didn't grow up and have to unlearn things that were not true. I didn't have to unlearn doctrines that went against the Word of God.

[5:28] I was blessed with growing up in a grace church. And with that, we spent a lot of time in the book of Romans. Romans. And I thought, when I went away to Bible school, because I felt led to be in full-time ministry, and so I went to the Berean Bible Institute, and one of the first classes I had to take was Romans.

[5:56] Sixteen weeks on the book of Romans. I thought, what are we going to talk about for sixteen weeks? And I thought, this is going to be the easiest class I have all semester.

[6:09] Because I've grown up in a grace church. I know the book of Romans. I've read all the verses that are important in the book of Romans. I know the Romans road.

[6:20] And I remember getting about three weeks into that class, and I thought, my word, I know about nothing about the book of Romans. I know the cliff notes of the book of Romans.

[6:30] I know Romans 3.10, 3.23, 5.8, 6.23, 10.9, and 13. And 16.25. And beyond that, I've got some learning to do.

[6:43] And then I remember finishing that class and thinking, now I've got an understanding of the book of Romans. Because in sixteen weeks, you can cover it all, right?

[6:56] And then I was in ministry for a number of years. And at our church, what we did was I would preach through books of the Bible.

[7:08] And in our midweek study, we were just preaching through the Bible, teaching through the Bible. And so when I came there 20 years ago, we were in, I think, Psalms. And when I left, we were in 1 Corinthians.

[7:19] So it took us a long time over 20 years to get that far. And I remember teaching through Romans on Wednesday nights and thinking, man, I took a 16-week class on the book of Romans.

[7:31] I thought I had it figured out. And then I started to realize there is so much more in the book of Romans, and in all the Word of God, but in the book of Romans to understand. And so this is not going to be a thorough study of the book of Romans, but I want to share with you some important details.

[7:48] Look at Romans chapter 1. In Romans chapter 1, it begins typically like many of Paul's letters. This introduction is a little bit longer than some of his other, all of his other letters.

[8:01] But he begins, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. And that's his introduction. And we come down through here.

[8:12] We know who writes the letter, who's the human author of the letter, Paul. But we come down to verse 7. Actually, let's look at verse 6.

[8:23] He says, These people were called out. By the way, do you know what the word church, The Greek word for church is ekklesia.

[8:39] Do you know what the Greek word ekklesia means? It means called out. Called out. Ek means out.

[8:51] Kleo is the second part of that word. It means called. The Greek word means called out. Oftentimes people say, well, it means called out group. Well, that's not exactly accurate.

[9:03] It just means called out. And I want to emphasize that because this is a church building. This is the church.

[9:17] You are the church. You are the called out. And sometimes the called out ones get together in a group. And when you get together in a group, then you are the called out group.

[9:29] You are the called out assembly. But you are a called out group because you are made up of individuals who are called out. And so Paul writes here in verse 6, Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ, To all that be at Rome, beloved of God.

[9:46] They were beloved of God because the moment they had trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, They were taken out of sin and placed into Jesus Christ.

[9:57] Jesus Christ was, is, what did he say in the Gospels? This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. So when he says there, To all that be at Rome, beloved of God, They were beloved because they were in Christ.

[10:14] So you're starting to see this identity that Paul is communicating to these saints at Rome. And then he says that next. He says in verse 7, Called to be saints.

[10:24] And to be is added for clarity. I always find it takes away from the clarity. They weren't called to be saints.

[10:35] They were called saints. That was their identity. That was who they were. Whether or not they were acting like saints or not, They were called saints. And so we see this identity being given to these believers in Rome.

[10:48] He calls the called of Jesus Christ, beloved of God, called saints. That is the identity that the Holy Spirit, through the pen of the Apostle Paul, Gives to these people in Rome.

[11:02] Now this is very important for everything else that we're going to talk about this morning in Sunday School. Because in verse 8 he says, First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all.

[11:15] You who are called, you who are beloved, you who are called saints. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. Now look very closely at verse 8, the second part.

[11:25] These were not your typical Christians, if we compare them to many of the other churches that Paul wrote to.

[11:42] He says something very interesting about them. He says that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. So what can we understand from that statement?

[11:58] These people had a testimony, right? I mean, they had a pretty powerful testimony. Now we can understand that at that time it was a true statement that all roads lead to Rome.

[12:12] And so if all roads lead to Rome, all roads also lead out from Rome. So these people had a testimony in Rome, but people as they traveled out from Rome were talking about these individuals.

[12:27] Obviously, their ministry, whatever it was they were doing, was having an impact so powerful that when people left town, they left town talking about these beloved saints, called out saints in Rome.

[12:43] As they traveled the highways and byways out from Rome, they were being talked about. Not that it's about people talking about you, but shouldn't it be our desire to have a testimony that leaves people talking about you because your testimony is that powerful?

[13:09] Because people can see Christ in and through your life, your words, your actions. Shouldn't it? Shouldn't?

[13:21] I mean, God has called us to be a peculiar people, Titus chapter 2. A peculiar people zealous of good works. I know it's unheard of today to be considered peculiar.

[13:35] You don't want to be considered peculiar, right? And yet, the Holy Spirit says that God desires us to be a peculiar people zealous of good works.

[13:50] I find it strange in 2024 that often it is difficult to differentiate between the saved and the unsaved in this world in which we live.

[14:05] Because far too often the saved aren't living and acting and speaking that much differently than the unsaved.

[14:20] And so these Romans had this testimony that was spoken of throughout the whole world. Verse 9, For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.

[14:41] Verse 10, Now, if you heard of some group of believers somewhere who had a testimony that the whole world was speaking of, and speaking of them because they had a genuine testimony.

[15:06] They hadn't gone off the rails. They weren't caught up in some false teaching. They had a genuine powerful testimony that the world was talking about. And you had a desire, how did it say that?

[15:20] That I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. If you were going to see some group of people that had a powerful testimony, what do you think your purpose in visiting there would be?

[15:35] Fellowship? Right? You want to have some fellowship? Maybe curiosity? You want to see, wow, what are they doing? What is going on over there?

[15:46] I've got to go check this out. Paul writes to them through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And he says, He wants to have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come and see them.

[15:58] Verse 11, For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift. To the end you may be established. Does anybody read that and just think, Wow.

[16:12] These people had a testimony and Paul's saying, I can't wait to come see you so that I can establish you. If they have a testimony, my first thought would be, these people are established.

[16:23] They've got it together. They're grounded. They're growing. They're doing all these things. And Paul writes to them and he says, I want to impart unto you some spiritual gift that you might be established.

[16:37] You see, this is an important lesson for us all to learn. You know, we sometimes think we've got it all together. That we've got it figured out.

[16:48] That we've got it going on. Maybe Grace Bible Church Springfield doesn't have any problems. If you do, that would be a miracle because all churches have problems.

[17:03] Okay? Just truth be told. And I don't know what your problems are. I don't need to know what your problems are. I mean, there's always something. But maybe at this moment in Grace Bible Church Springfield's history, things are going very well.

[17:20] And I pray that they are going very well. And everybody in church seems to be headed the right direction, has their focus where it needs to be. And it's in that moment that we can sometimes think, we've arrived.

[17:38] We've got it together. I mean, we've got a testimony in the community. We're reaching out into Springfield. The church is growing. People are being saved.

[17:49] But it's in that moment we need to be reminded, I believe, of Romans 1, verse 11. That there is a need continuously to be established.

[18:03] To have something more given to us. Some spiritual gift imparted unto us. Paul wanted to go and feed them spiritually.

[18:15] He wanted to see them growing spiritually. To the end they may be established. And so Paul writes this letter through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And as he writes this letter through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the message is very interesting to me.

[18:33] When you look at it from the perspective of who these people are, who the Holy Spirit recognizes them as, and their testimony.

[18:46] I mean, the Holy Spirit is recognizing all of that. And yet, Romans is our, it is that founding document almost of the gospel of the grace of God.

[18:58] It's, you introduce somebody to grace, you want them to understand the glorious gospel of the grace of God, you walk them through the book of Romans, verse by verse, passage by passage. And so to these people who have this testimony, Paul writes to them to establish them.

[19:14] Now go over to Romans chapter 3. We know verse 23, right? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But verse 21 this morning is the verse that I want to use moving forward here.

[19:30] He says, Think about what he just wrote to these people.

[19:43] Their testimony, their identity. And he writes to them and he says, The righteousness of God without the law is on display. It's manifested.

[19:55] Where is that righteousness of God on display today? Where was it on display in Rome? In them, right? 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21.

[20:09] He took our sin and offers his righteousness in place of our sin. That's 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. And so he writes to these Romans and he says, The righteousness of God without the law is manifested.

[20:24] It's on display for the world to see, not through the law, but through you. And he continues on down through here.

[20:37] And I want to give you the other end and then we'll look at the middle. Romans chapter 8. In Romans 3.21, he begins this argument about the righteousness of God being on display without the law.

[20:52] Romans chapter 8 is the climax of that argument that began in Romans 3.21. He says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

[21:04] So to these Romans, to these called ones, to these saints, to these ones who are beloved in Christ Jesus, to them, he says, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

[21:20] Seems to me like that's the place you want to be, right? It's a location in Christ Jesus. You see, in the middle between Romans 3.21 and Romans 8.1, we find Romans chapter 6.

[21:36] Romans chapter 6 is this passage that explains, explains our identity, explains, really it explains the gospel.

[21:50] What do you have to believe today to be saved? That Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead for your sins.

[22:06] Have you ever wondered why that's the gospel? Because there's all kinds of gospels that are shared today.

[22:16] You just have to believe in Jesus. You just have to love God. You just have to love the Lord. There's all these options that are out there that are referred to as the good news, as the gospel.

[22:29] But when you go to scripture, you find that the gospel of the grace of God is believed that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead for your sins. Why is that the gospel?

[22:41] Why is it not just Jesus died for your sins? Why is it all three parts? Romans 6 answers that question. Romans 6 answers that question in the midst of the argument of the righteousness of God is on display today apart from the law.

[23:00] That was the premise that brought us to Romans 6. And Romans 6 is the argument that then brings us to Romans 8, how there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

[23:14] How is there no condemnation today? Do we not do anything wrong? Right. Good luck with that one. If you don't think you do anything wrong, the first thing that we need to address is pride.

[23:28] Right? So we come to Romans 6, and it says, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Again, with the idea that the righteousness of God is on display in us apart from the law.

[23:45] We're not under the law, we're under grace, so should we just continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, verse 2, that are dead to sin live any longer therein?

[23:59] And then he begins to unpack why the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection. He says, Know ye not that so many of us, as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death?

[24:14] I love the phrase, Know ye not? Are you ignorant? That's really what he's saying to them. Are you ignorant? These people who have this testimony that's going out from Rome, the Holy Spirit writes to them and says, Are you ignorant?

[24:32] Not in a derogatory way, but just the simple question of, Do you not know? Do you not understand? You know, I praise the Lord that the gospel today is believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose from the dead for your sins.

[24:47] And if I believe that, where am I going to spend eternity? The questions get harder. Where am I going to spend eternity if I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and rose from the dead for my sins?

[25:03] With Him in heaven, right? I am secure in Christ. I praise the Lord that that is the simple gospel. I praise the Lord that I don't need to understand all of the details that He's about to explain in Romans 6.

[25:18] But at the same time, it is a powerful, powerful message to understand what it is, when I believed that Christ died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, what it is that took place in that moment.

[25:34] He says, Know ye not? Are you ignorant that so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into His death? Baptism has the idea of thoroughly immersed, completely identified.

[25:50] He's not talking about water here. He's talking about identification, thoroughly immersed in His death. When Christ died on that cross, He died for our sins.

[26:04] He paid the penalty for our sins, and we are thoroughly identified with His righteous blood being shed for our sins. Thank you, Lord.

[26:16] And then He says, Therefore, because we were completely identified with His death, thoroughly immersed in His death, therefore, because of that, we are buried with Him by baptism into death.

[26:34] There's the burial, the burial, what is it, burial or burial in Ohio? In Pennsylvania, where I grew up, it was burial. It's burial? See, that's what it is in Wisconsin, where I live now.

[26:49] And so, when I would say burial, they'd all snicker at me, right? They'd laugh. That's all right. I can handle it. Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.

[27:05] What's that? It's the resurrection. Even so, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, again, there's your burial, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

[27:36] I'm going to jump down just a little bit here. Verse 11. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[27:49] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

[28:08] He's showing that there should be this transformation, right? Kevin Sadler has what? What's the name of their thing on YouTube, their show on YouTube?

[28:22] Transformed by Grace. It's a great name. Why? Isn't that what should happen in all of our lives? Because we've been completely identified with His death, burial, and resurrection.

[28:38] And the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power that takes us out of sin and places us into Christ and gives us this newness in Christ.

[28:52] And so we come back down through here and He says, don't yield yourselves as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Now verse 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you.

[29:07] Now, you get the inside scoop because in my message this morning, and actually I will tell you full confession, I just discovered this this morning. I woke up this morning and I was, last night I was very restless in bed.

[29:21] I don't know, I just didn't sleep well. And I woke up this morning and I thought, I need to read my Bible. And I got up and I went out and I was in here and then I was out there sitting in a lawn chair and I was reading and I was, I wanted to look through Romans chapter 6 and I came to verses 9 and 14 where it talks about having dominion.

[29:43] Sin should not have dominion over us. This morning we're going to be in Mark chapter 10. We're going to look at something in Mark chapter 10 where those rulers and leaders, the Gentile rulers and leaders, exercise lordship and exercise authority over the people.

[30:05] And Jesus is using that as a teachable moment for His disciples. It's interesting, the Greek word in Mark chapter 10 for exercise lordship is the same root word that this word is.

[30:20] Exercise, having dominion. Sin should not have dominion over us. So I'll explain that more in church this morning. But just this idea, sin should not have dominion over us.

[30:33] It should not be lording over our lives. Why? Because Romans chapter 6 verses 3, 4, 5, and 6, what took place in that moment with our identification with His death, burial, and resurrection.

[30:52] It should just be the natural result of that identification with His death, burial, and resurrection in our lives. And so then you come to Romans 8, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

[31:10] And He comes on down through there and we come to Romans chapter 11. I told you this was going to be a whirlwind. Romans chapter 11 verse 32.

[31:30] Romans 11, 32 says, For God hath concluded them all, referring to Israel, in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all, upon everyone, including them.

[31:46] You see, they have the same opportunity you and I do today, don't they? Everyone is afforded the same opportunity to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead for your sins.

[31:59] Everyone in this world has the same opportunity to come to Christ. by the same means, by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.

[32:13] And then verse 33 says, Oh, the depth, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.

[32:26] Do you think that's the best way to read that verse? It's really the culmination of everything that He's been building to. Remember, He's writing to these beloved ones in Christ Jesus who are saints, who are called, who have this testimony.

[32:43] And He's writing to them about the righteousness of God on display without the law in them. He explains to them their identification with His death, burial, and resurrection.

[32:55] And therefore, sin should not lord itself over them. Sin should not have dominion over them. And that there's no condemnation. There is no condemnation if you're in Christ Jesus today.

[33:07] No matter how you live your life, there's no condemnation because you are in Christ Jesus. You are in His righteousness.

[33:19] And then, you come to Romans 11, 32, and He says, God has concluded them all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all. You know, I'll just add this right here. A lot of times, Romans 9, 10, and 11 are presented as this parenthetical passage in the book of Romans.

[33:39] And that has led to what I believe is a false teaching about Romans 9, 10, and 11 that somehow that was written to the Jews and the other part is written to the Gentiles in the body of Christ.

[33:55] Please don't believe that. Please, I beg of you, please don't believe that. You go through the book of Romans and throughout the book of Romans, you see Paul's heart for his fellow countrymen.

[34:09] He wanted desperately for his brethren, his Jewish brethren, to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. There may be emphasis, but I'm telling you, when you study, when you get right down to it in the book of Romans, throughout the book of Romans, you can see Paul's heart and really, let's be honest, the Holy Spirit's heart for them to be saved as well.

[34:32] Remember, this is the Holy Spirit's words. Paul's just the human author. And so you come down through here and verse 32 is really, 33, 32 and 33 are really the culmination of everything he has said from Romans 1, 1 to this point.

[34:48] He wants these, remember, he wanted to give them a gift, a spiritual gift that they might be grounded and he just unloaded on them Romans chapter 6.

[34:59] He's just unloaded on them that there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And then he says in verse 32, God has concluded Israel, all them, in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all.

[35:11] The mercy that those Romans have and the mercy that we have today is a result of the fact that God has concluded Israel in unbelief. And it's on that statement that he says, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

[35:35] How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. Let me give you the PSV, the Paul Standard version of what that says.

[35:46] He's saying, yeah, he's God and you ain't. That's not my version, but that's a good version too. What is he saying here?

[35:57] This is unbelievable. What we have, the opportunity that we have been given today is unfathomable. I can't even begin to comprehend what we have been blessed with today in this dispensation of the grace of God.

[36:13] So let me show you what totally confuses me. Shouldn't confuse me, but does.

[36:23] Chapter 12, verse 1 says, I beseech you. What's beseech mean?

[36:37] Yeah, I plead. I beg you. I beg you. The Holy Spirit is writing to these people who we've already covered everything. I beg you.

[36:49] After everything he has just told them and the fact that these people have a testimony already that the world is talking about, he writes to these people with a testimony and he says, I beg you.

[37:01] I beg you. By the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Does anybody else, and we shouldn't, I guess, scratch our head at this because we can look around at the church today who have the same blessing, who have the same blessing today that the Romans had there.

[37:22] And yet, how much of Christianity today is about the Christian? It's about what we want, what we like, what feels good to us, what sounds good to us.

[37:35] We don't want to be offended. Don't hurt my feelings. Don't say those mean things that might actually bring conviction and correction and instruction and righteousness.

[37:46] Just let me listen to some good music. Let me hear a really entertaining speaker give the message and I can say on the way out the door, that was some really good singing. I really enjoyed the message, Pastor.

[37:58] Now I can go home and live my life the way I want. Does that pretty much summarize Christianity today in many ways? And listen, I'll pick for just a minute. You know, some churches, Christianity has become very much an entertainment industry.

[38:16] Now when I say that, many of you are thinking, that's right, that music that's out there. I mean, people just want to be entertained with the Christian music. And that's a fair statement. I'll give you that.

[38:27] But how many of us who make that statement could also maybe be guilty of I'm never going to sing those songs in church.

[38:39] That's not the place for those. But I really want the speaker, the preacher, to preach a really good message this morning because while I won't say it out loud, I find that to be entertaining too.

[38:52] What did the Apostle Paul say about his speaking ability to the Corinthians? He wasn't good. I don't come to you with wisdom. I'm not good at speaking. In fact, one guy fell out of the upstairs window listening to him to preach because he fell asleep and died.

[39:11] I'm just saying. So are we guilty at times of maybe finding entertainment in the church in a different way than is it really about entertainment or is it or is it about we have this opportunity, this mercy that has been extended to us today that is unimaginable and he says, the Holy Spirit says, I beg you, don't make it about yourself.

[39:44] Isn't that Romans 12.1? Be a living sacrifice. sacrifice. How much does a sacrifice, how much of a sacrifice is about the sacrifice? How much of a sacrifice is about the one to whom the sacrifice is given?

[39:56] It's about him, right? He says, I beseech you be a living sacrifice. How many minutes do I have now, Roger? All of them.

[40:12] Thank you for your assistance. Look at Romans chapter 13 and I'll end with this. He says in Romans 13.11 that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

[40:32] The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. We who have the mercy upon us, we who have the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we who are called, we who are beloved, we who are accepted, we who are set apart saints have to be told to cast off the works of darkness.

[41:08] If anything is unimaginable to me, it's that. And yet, how often do we find ourselves needing to do that very thing?

[41:25] It's interesting, the word sleep there is, the Greek word means subsilience. Subsilience is a combination of resilience, which is a good thing, right?

[41:39] Resilience is a good thing. We have the righteousness of Jesus Christ, so we should be resilient. When we're called out, we should jump and say how high on the way up, right?

[41:51] That's what my mom always told me. When I say jump, you say how high on the way up, right? So we should be resilient, we should spring back. But the other part of subsilience, you have resilience, you can hear that in there, the other part is subsistence.

[42:07] What's subsistence? We just came from Ashtabula, there's a homeless encampment in the gorge that goes through town. We would probably say that those living in that homeless encampment are subsisting culturally, right?

[42:23] They're living at less. than who they are. We have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And yet, how often do we find ourselves living at less than who we are?

[42:38] And he finishes Romans 13 with verses 13 and 14. He says, let us walk honestly. When we're not living out that identity that we have in Christ, when we're not living out that righteousness which we have in Christ, we're living a lie.

[42:57] The opposite of honesty is lying. We're living a lie. Let us walk honestly, he says. I think it's also interesting that Paul writes, let us walk honestly.

[43:08] He's including himself in that, isn't he? And then in verse 14, he says, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't come up with a list of do these things and you'll be walking honestly.

[43:22] He doesn't come up with a list and say do these things and you'll be righteous. He says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust, to fulfill the cravings thereof.

[43:38] I so appreciate verse 14 because he doesn't, in verse 13 he gives a list of all the things they shouldn't be doing. That they were doing. If we're going to be honest, we shouldn't be involved in those things.

[43:49] But verse 14 doesn't come back with a list of do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, because that's many times what Christianity has become today. You hear a really enjoyable message on three things you can do for your best life now.

[44:04] The Apostle Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit just says, put on Christ. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and don't make any room for the flesh.

[44:15] Make no provision for your cravings. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this morning. Lord, thank you for the time that we can spend here in Sunday school. Lord, we look forward to the morning worship service and the time that we can spend there singing praises to you, lifting our voices in praise to you, Lord, and spending time again with your word being at the center of all that is said and done.

[44:41] may you be honored and glorified this morning. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.