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The River ChurchSermons

Romans 9-16

A Wonderful Gospel

Justin Dean · Sunday, 16 November 2025 · Romans 13:11-14 · 48:35 · 7,269 words

Romans S30 · 13:11-14 Davison

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What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

transformation 26 put 46 provision 15 deficit 9 cut 16 barn 7 transform 22 carefully 8 colossians 9 wake 13 ephesians 11 lulled 4

Topics

Sin 11 Salvation 5 Sanctification 3 The Gospel 2 Prayer 2 Atonement & Sacrifice 1 Government & Authority 1 The Body of Christ 1 Faith 1

Scripture referenced 26

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 13 4:21 Romans 11 5:07 Romans 12 5:07 Romans 12 5:35 Romans 13 7:27 Romans 13 8:10 Romans 13 8:27 Ephesians 5 11:56 Ephesians 5 11:56 Ephesians 5 11:56 Ephesians 5 13:28 Ephesians 5:15-17 13:28 Ephesians 5:15 13:37 Colossians 3 28:46 Colossians 3 29:01 Colossians 3:5 29:43 Colossians 3:5 29:59 Colossians 3:6 30:16 Ephesians 4:22 30:54 Romans 13:14 39:22 Ephesians 4 41:31 Ephesians 4 41:31 Ephesians 4:22-23 41:31 Romans 12 42:09 Colossians 3 42:47 Colossians 3:12 42:47

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

So one of the things that we wanted to do this morning, take a second before we jump into Romans,

we wanted to do as a church, is I know many of you receive, you know, different monthly stewardship

and giving emails. One of the things you may have seen on there, or one of the things you maybe have

heard in passing, is this year we are currently in a budget deficit of about $175,000, which is

under our 2025 spending plan. So we're in that deficit. And so one of the things that we wanted

to do as a church is we want to be good stewards of the money that God has given us, but we're also

called to do ministry. We're also called to care for those in our community who are needy. We're

called to be the church, right? And some of that requires finances. And so as a church, we're called

to give, right? That's not just,

you, that's us as well. And so one of the things that we wanted to do is look at, okay, how can we

make up that budget deficit, right? How can we be good stewards of what God has given us? And so

one of the things that we are going to ask is that, so last week we had roughly 5,000 people

between all of our nine locations. And so we want to challenge us as a church to make up that

deficit. And so

you may have seen some of the posters coming in, but there's this initiative that we're starting

called 1,000 x 100. And so the idea is 1,000 people, which is 20% of last week's attendance,

we're asking to give $100 just as a one-time gift above and beyond what you would normally give.

And the hope is that with that, we will begin to cut into some of that deficit, that $175,000

deficit. And so like I said, we're going to make up that deficit, and we're going to make up that

deficit. And so 1,000 people, we're asking 1,000 people, 20% of last week's attendance to give

$100 above what you would normally give. And if you want to give more than $100, you're more than

welcome to. But what we really want to do is say, hey, this is the body of Christ participating,

right? We don't want just one person to cover that need. We want as the body of Christ to come

together and to cover that need. And so you'll see them around, right, over the next, till the end of

the year, really.

Those 1,000 times 100, and that's what that is, is we're focusing on how can we as the church

meet the needs of the community, meet the needs of the local body of Christ. And so

if you want to give to that, you can go online to our Give tab, and you'll see there's another

dropdown that says 1,000 times 100. That's what that is for. So you can make sure that that is

recorded. And then over the next several weeks till the end of the year, we will give updates

periodically on that and say, hey, here's how we're going to cover that need. And so that's what we're

going to do. Here's how the church has met that need. Here's how the church has come together to

take care of that deficit. And if you want to leave it at guest services or that black box at the back

of the lobby, right, if you're giving cash or check, just make sure you clearly mark on there

1,000 times 100 so that we know that that's what that goes to. But let's pray as we jump into God's

word this morning. Lord, we thank you for the many ways that you provide. Lord, and we know that

finances can be a really difficult thing, Lord, specifically in our families, but then by

extension of that, our church family. Lord, and I just pray that you would help us to be what your

word describes as generous givers. Lord, it can be so easy to live in the anxiety and not be

obedient to your word, which calls us to give, give sacrificially. Lord, I pray that you'd help

us to give and to care for the church, Lord, and to care for the ministry that you're doing.

In Davison, the ministry that you're doing here in Michigan through our river church, through our

nine locations, Lord, and I just pray that you would move us to hearts of generosity. Lord, we love you

in your precious and holy name, Jesus' name. Amen. So let's jump into Romans. We're jumping into the end of

Romans chapter 13. Last week, we had our government officials here, which was super great. I know you

guys got to see them a little bit, right, as I welcomed them from the stage, but getting to hear from them afterwards was super

encouraging. I know you guys got to see them a little bit, right, as I welcomed them from the stage, but getting to hear from them afterwards was super encouraging.

Lord, that we looked and we followed what the Lord called us to do, which was to honor them. And I

know that they felt extremely encouraged, honored, got to have some really unique conversations with

them. And so, good job. Good job being obedient to God's word. Sometimes we don't get to see that

all right away. And last week, we had the chance to do that together as the

body of Christ. And so, super thankful for your part in that. And so, we've been talking about

right as we reach the end of Romans 11 into the beginning of Romans 12, this reality of

transformation, right? Maybe some of you are tired of hearing me say the word transformation because

I've been saying it a lot every Sunday, right? But that's the reality is Paul talks about our lives

as a living sacrifice and that as we give our lives as a living sacrifice, we are transformed. And then

throughout Romans 12 and

13, he talks about the transformation process. He talks about how does this transformation look as

the body of Christ. As you as individuals are all transformed together, right? As he's writing to the

church in Rome. As you as the Roman church are transformed together, these are some things that

should begin to look different amongst you as people, as a corporate body of Christ. And then

he moves into the individual, right? Here is how you individually should be transformed, living

as individuals. As individuals in your family, as individuals as you go out and you work in your

jobs, as you interact with the community, as you interact with people, right? Your extended family,

right? All these different things. Your friendships. Here is how that transformation should begin and

should look throughout those things. And then he continues into last week that talks about how to

practically live out that level of transformation. That it's not just something where we go out and

we say, hey, we are transformed. We are transformed. We are transformed. We are transformed. We are

transformed. But that we actually are transformed. It's more than a declaration. It's true life

change lived out in the practical. And so he talks about specifically how to do that with

authorities within the government, right? As he knows that government is not something that you

can avoid. Here is how you should interact with that. And as many people rub, government rubs

them the wrong way, or there's a friction that's caused by that. This is how you should interact

in those moments, right? Here is how to practically live out that sacrificial, self-disciplined love

that we've been talking about. And so this week, as we reach the end of this chapter of Romans

chapter 13, we're going to talk about how this transformation looks, helps us to look different

in reference to how we handle sin, right?

There's a call as believers to be pious,

moral people. As Christ has called us to live differently, we should live differently. And not

just in the areas that are external, but specifically in the ways that we handle and fight against sin.

And so how do we just, not just be a better person, but how do we exemplify Christ? And that means eradicating

sin in our lives. And so pick up with me in Romans chapter 13. Keep your finger here. We're going to be

in a couple of different books, and I will tell you when to keep your finger there too. So maybe

you get a couple of scrap pieces of paper so you can stick them different places. But we're going

to be here in Romans 13, taking it kind of chunk by chunk. So starting in verse 11, Romans chapter

13, starting in verse 11 says this, besides this, you know the time that the hour has come,

for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

The night is far gone. The day is at hand. So let us cast off the works of darkness

and put on the armor of light. And so here, right away, Paul has this call to the urgent.

He says, wake up people, right? That's what he's saying. Wake up people,

do not get lulled to sleep. Do not think that this day of salvation is far off. Do not think

that this day when Christ returns is far off. Because you don't know when Christ will return,

one. And you don't know when Christ will call you home and you'll die. And so the reality is,

wake up people. Don't be lulled to sleep. This gospel is necessary for your life. It is your

eternal salvation, right? Your eternal salvation.

Eternal destination relies on the gospel. You alone will only be saved through the name of

Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection, through your confession that he is Lord and your

belief that he is risen from the dead. That is alone your pathway to salvation. And so he calls

them. He says, he says, first, this salvation is nearer to us. Believe, believe, wake up and believe.

You don't know what is coming. You don't know what's around the corner. You don't know when

that corner will happen. And so be transformed by the gospel. Be transformed by the gospel.

Believe in the gospel. This gospel needs to be central, center to your life, because who knows

how long that life will be. Wake up. And then when he, then by extension, he begins to talk about

this transformation process. Really, that's what he talks about in the gospel.

Verse 12, the night is far gone. The day is at hand, right? A sense of urgency again. So then let

us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Not only is it crucial that we

turn to the gospel for salvation, not only is that, that we look at Christ's death and

resurrection as the payment for our sins, and we turn to him for forgiveness of those sins,

for an eternal salvation, right? That our eternal destination is no longer hell or

heaven. But then also, this transformation process is not something to put on the back burner. That

salvation should not be just your get out of hell free card. It should not just be your fire

insurance card, right? That keeps you out of hell. That the gospel should lead you for transformation,

towards transformation. And that this transformation is not something that you should put off to the

future. But it's something that you should put off to the future. And that this transformation

is not something that you should put off to the future. But it is something that you should lean into now. Because it's for our good now. And Paul encourages us in Ephesians chapter 5. If you want to turn there, Ephesians chapter 5. We're going to be elsewhere in Ephesians, so you can leave your finger here. But in Ephesians chapter 5, Paul, he's writing to the church at a place called Ephesus, right? And so,

as he writes to this church in Ephesus, he is once again talking to them about the need of the now

to be transformed, right? This isn't something he was just saying to the Roman church, like the Roman

church was somehow in danger. He was saying this to many churches. And that's why when we look at

the different letters that Paul writes this morning and how they correlate together, you're going to see

this was not just a Roman thing or a Roman church thing. This was a believer thing. This is a believer

thing. That Paul is writing this to all the believers that he's interacting with. And he's

saying, he says, this is crucial. Don't think that this can be something that you can put off,

that you can save for later. Don't think that there's just plenty of time. Don't think that

this is just not important or that this can fall down on the priority list. This needs to be

priority one. And so here in Ephesians chapter five, verses 15 through 17, he emphasizes this

again. Says this, starting in verse 15, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise,

but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be

foolish, but understand what the will of God is. And so once again, he says a couple things. He says,

first of all, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Once again, that time

has this way of lulling us to sleep, putting things on the back burner. Time has this way of

telling us that our spiritual lives are not important, that other things need to be more

important. But he says, look carefully then how you walk. It's funny, as my daughter is beginning

to walk more and more, she's starting to get more and more careless. What do you think?

How she's walking, right? Those first steps, it was just like every bit of focus was on simply

moving her feet, right? And she was so focused on, am I going to fall? Am I going to fall? Right?

Keeping her hands out like this. Now she's walking around. She's a lot of times running around,

right? And she's chasing after the dog. She's focused on all these other things. She's walking

around with a bottle in her mouth or something, and she's not focused on what she's doing. And

guess what? She ends up toppling far more than those first steps. Why? Because she's not walking

carefully. Because she has gotten used to, over time, been lulled to sleep over time, that walking

is easy. Paul says, don't get lulled to sleep. Don't get into your mind that this spiritual

process of transformation is this easy thing that'll happen naturally that you can just do. That just

happens. That just shows up in your life. Walk carefully as if you are continuing to take

first step after first step after first step. What Paul is saying here is be careful,

be intentional, and avoid spiritual procrastination. A word that we all hate,

because we all, at some level, identify with being a procrastinator, right? That's me. I'm a big,

big procrastinator. I remember my dad came up with a rule in our house specifically regarding

science fair projects, that in the last 24 hours, he would not help with science fair projects,

because, you know, what I would do is wait till those last 24 hours to do my science fair project.

And so he was like, hey, I'm not doing this anymore. After, like, the second one, he's like,

I am not helping. I'm not getting put into this mad scramble. If you want to do this, right, and you want

to do it well, then you're going to have to do it ahead of time, right? And so we have this tendency

to have this spiritual procrastination. I have salvation, so is being transformed really that

urgent? We would never say that question, but I think many of us think that question. I've been

saved. I believe in God. I'm going to heaven when I die. So is that transformation in my life

really that important to me? I should be able to live however I want and be as reckless as I want,

walk as uncarefully as I want, and yeah, maybe I'll do a couple things that God tells me I should

do here and there. I'll give God a bone here and there, right? Toss him a bone. And I'll go to

church maybe once or twice or for periods of life, periods of my life, right, where things might be

really hard. But when it comes to the grand course of my life, I'm going to be able to live

when it comes to a real focus on transformation in my life. How necessary is that really? I think

it's interesting, right? Typically, people are driven to church when their lives are on the

brink of collapse. Whether it's something in the world that causes them to feel this internal

anxiety or fear of what's coming, or maybe it's something personal that's happened,

a situation or a circumstance or just a realization of

brokenness, right? And they walk into church and they are just completely at their lowest. They

have nowhere else to turn. And it's important that you know that there's nothing wrong with this,

right? I'm actually extremely gladdened in my heart when someone shares that with me because

I'm so glad that church was the first place that they thought to turn to when they had nowhere else

to turn, right? So there's a deep gladness in my heart, a joy when someone who is hurting and at

that breaking point steps into a place where they're not going to be able to turn. And I'm

so glad that you turned to Christ in this moment. But there's also a part of my heart that breaks

for them because many of them look and they tell me, oh, yes, I believed in Christ for a long time,

or I've believed that God is real for a long time. And my heart breaks because I desperately wish

that they had built their lives on solid ground before the storm had hit. I wish so

deeply that a pastor or a mentor or a deacon or someone in their life had grabbed them before,

before things collapsed and said, this is the time when you should build your life on Christ.

This is the time when you should look for transformation so that when this intense

moment of brokenness or fear or hardship hit, you had a foundation. You had sturdy walls to

hide behind. You had a shelter. Now you are turning to Christ. You are turning to Christ.

You are turning to Christ, which is beautiful, but you're sitting on the rock of salvation

in the bitter wind and storm because you've built nothing there yet. And so where there is such

beauty in that, right, of God showing up in the middle of the storm, my prayer for each one of

you is that you look at this transformation process and you say, oh, this is not something

for me to lock in the vault until I have a difficult time, until something goes wrong.

But you look and say, let's put in the work.

Work now. Let's put in the work now. Let's build on the foundation of Christ now. So when the storm

hits, yes, the walls creak. Yes, it's hard. Yes, there's still some fear. There's still some anxiety.

But I know that I am deeply rooted in Christ because of the transformation that he has produced

in my life in the easy times and the hard times. And so we look and we say, this is what we are

called to do.

Wake up and be transformed. Wake up and be transformed. Walk carefully. Do it now. Not

in five months. Not when you feel like you are afforded the time. Not when your kids are in

kindergarten or when your kids are out of the house or when you have some time. Not when your

work calms down. Because we know, guess what? Something else fills in that time. Something else

shows up. And we say, oh,

I guess it'll have to be a couple more months. Paul says, wake up and be transformed. It has to

be priority one now. And so then he continues. He says, this is that walk. Back to Romans chapter

13. He says, here is this picture of waking up now. And here is how it should look specifically

in our fight against sin. That sin, right? As the days are evil, as this world is evil, as sin is in

this fallen world, that sin is in this fallen world. And so he says, wake up and be transformed.

That time around sin is going to be the thing that pulls us away. And so, like he said, he said,

take off that which is the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. And so he expands upon

that in verse 13. He says this, let us walk properly as in the daytime. Not in orgies and

drunkenness. Not in sexual immorality. Not in sensuality. Not in quarreling or jealousy. Right?

And so he lifts off.

He lifts off all these sinful areas of our lives. And he says, these sins have these roots out in

the world. And so we need to walk carefully. And actually, if you continue down into verse 14,

he says, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he once again refers back to that sinfulness

and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. And so here he's saying,

there is all this sin in the world. There's all this, this muck and filth that we are around in

our lives because we are in the world, but not of the world. We've been made righteous. We've been

cleaned by Christ. And so we exist in the world, but we have to be careful not to let those things

become, get roots into our lives. And so he says, sin is not okay. Be careful. Watch out for these

things. Watch out. The world will try to tell you there is not, they're not that big of a deal.

The world constantly is trying to downplay specifically what Paul, a lot of the things

that Paul talks about right here. Sexual sin, drunkenness, quarreling, jealousy. Those are

all things that in the grand scheme of things, they're not that big a deal or they should be

celebrated. And what Paul said is sin is not okay. Sin is a big deal and no provision must be made

for it. And I know sometimes you can look at the things that Paul tells us and be like, man,

Paul is just kind of a big jerk, right? Paul is just kind of judgmental. He constantly is telling

us all these things that we shouldn't do or we should steer clear from. He's, he's telling us

all these things that the world is telling us are fine and not a big deal. And he's telling us that

they're horrible and bad and evil. Why is Paul so judgmental? Why is Paul constantly condemning

these things? Why does he always just talk about the love of Christ and how God's love just

overcomes and the forgiveness overcomes? And, and, and we look at Paul and say, he is demonstrating

a true love. We talked about several weeks ago, this idea of let love be genuine. And so there's

a reality of genuine love and false love. And Paul has this desire for genuine love. And so what

Pastor, Pastor Jason from our Waterford location, who's one of our elders, he shared with me a quote

this week that puts so eloquently that idea of genuine love versus the false love that the world

talks about. And so when Paul shares about this love or specifically here, he shows about the

things to watch out for, to be wary of, to put off, to get rid of, he's not sharing them as a,

with a heart of, of judgment. He's sharing them with a heart of love, a desire to protect. And

as I preach God's word, this is my heart as well, as I look to love us as a body of Christ.

There's a quote by Tim Keller. It says this, any love that is afraid to confront the beloved

is not really love, but a selfish desire to be loved. It is afraid to do what is right,

because it risks losing the beloved's affection. It makes an idol out of the beloved. It says,

I'll do anything to keep him or her loving me. This is not loving a person. It is loving

the love you get from that person. In other words, it's loving yourself more than that person.

So any love that cuts corners morally or fails to confront,

is not really love at all. Paul desperately loves these churches. He desperately loves

believers. And he looks, and he says these things not out of judgment, not out of a desire to be a

jerk or tell people that they're wrong and wrong and wrong and wrong. He looks with a genuine love

and says, I cannot love you without sharing with you the dangers of what you're walking into.

As a pastor, I do not preach these things to be,

hateful or alienating. My heart is for each and every person to come to know the salvation that

comes from Jesus Christ. And as you come to salvation in Jesus Christ, my heart for you is

that you grow deep and avoid the destructive nature of sin in your life. And so Paul, he demonstrates

his love time and time again as he writes to different churches. Here in Romans, he says these

things,

watchful, be wary, look at these things, walk carefully, and do not fall into these evil things.

And then in Colossians chapter 3, Paul says similar things. Turn with me over to Colossians.

We'll be in Colossians again. So once again, grab your other bookmark, put that here in Colossians.

Colossians chapter 3, Paul talks about this new self versus this old self. This transformation

that happens, right? You, before you were believers,

you were dead, a walking dead, a zombie. And now you have been, you've died to that old self and

you've been raised to this new self, a new creation for Christ. And so there's this old self and he was

wearing these dirty, nasty rags. And now you've been raised to a new life and you need to get rid

of those rags and you need to put on this new self, these new clothes that don't smell like death and

you. And so he says this in Colossians 3, 5. We're just going to read the very first verse here and

then we're actually going to jump down a little bit later. So I know you may be like, wow, he had

his turn here for a couple words. I did not. We're going to read something else later. But it says

this, Colossians 3, 5. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. And he continues with some

of those same things, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetedness, which is

idolatry. On account of these things, the

wrath of God is coming, right? That's verse 6. And so here, once again, Paul says, stop doing them,

not just because they're icky, but because they will lead you to death. They are your old grave

clothes. You need to put on new clothes. And so you need to put to death these things. Don't even give

them room to breathe. Choke them out of your life. And then we go to Ephesians. Hopefully you heeded

my advice and left.

Your bookmark in Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 22. Paul says a very similar thing. Ephesians

4, 22 says this, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is

corrupt through deceitful desires. Here, once again, Paul says there's this old way of life,

these old sins, these old things in your life, these constant pieces of sin that try and creep

their way into your life. And they aren't just not a big deal. They are a huge deal because they will

keep you living in your old life rather than being transformed, rather than being renewed,

rather than living differently. And he says, make no provision. That's what he says back in Romans.

And I love that idea of provision because, you know, I'm, I'm an old fantasy nerd, right? I love,

I love that idea of, of wanderers and adventurers, right? And so where a wanderer and an adventurer

would go, right? Sometimes they would be without food. And so they would go to, to some local

farmers and they would ask them for provisions. Hey, do you have some spare food? Can I spend the

night in your barn? Right? And so they would go and they would stay there. And so the, the farmers

and these people, they didn't know who these adventurers were, but they, they were like, hey,

we can extend a little bit of kindness here.

We can, yeah, maybe they won't stay in the house, but they'll stay in the barn. And so that idea of

provision is, is very much that idea, right? As wanderers around, right? There is these provisions

that are given to make sure that they're taken care of. And what Paul says is some of us are

lending provisions to sinfulness in our lives. Some of you are lending provisions to sinful

desires and temptations in your life. He, what he's not saying is, oh, you're welcoming them in

and making them part of the family and sitting down to a nice meal with them. That's not what

he's saying. Cause that's obvious, right? He says, obviously sin should not just be a core tenant of

who you are. And he hopes that we would understand that. He goes, but the problem is some of you are

letting sin stay in your barn on the outskirts of your property, just close enough to keep it near

by. Some of you are feeding your sin just enough to keep it alive because it's in need. It's close

to death. And he says, make no provision. Do not let your sin eat. Do not show your sin hospitality.

Sin and you cannot even be on speaking terms. Some of you are like, well, me and my sin, we're not

friends. Good. I'm glad that

would be a really big problem, right? But you're like, I can be nice to my sin, right? I'm still

going to be friendly. The reality is what Paul says here is put off, kill. Elsewhere in scripture,

do not give a foothold, make no provision. Your sin is your enemy. And so what is it that you need

to cut out in order that no provision can be made for sin? For some of you, you may not be friends

with your lust, but you allow lustful things to stay in your barn. Social media, movies, TV shows.

Some of you are saying, oh yeah, I got to deal with my anger. But you still follow those things

on social media that love to incite rage in you. Those people on social media that love to post

controversial takes that just absolutely light a fire of anger in you. You may not repost those

things. But you still follow those things that love to incite rage in you. Those people on social media

but you're keeping them in your barn. Man, you have friends who, yeah, you may not interact the exact

same way that they interact. But when you're around them, your jokes start to get a lot more

inappropriate. You may not curse all the time. But when you're around those friends, then curse words

start coming out of your mouth. You don't gossip all the time. But then when you're around those

people, you got to give them a little bit of gossip. And you can look at all these different

things. And then when you're around them, you can look at all these different things. And then when you're

around them, you can look at all these different things. And then when you're around those people,

our entire world is set up to be jealous of one another. We're setting out a banquet in the barn

for jealousy. Kill, put off, do not give a foothold, make no provision for sin. That's what Paul says.

I didn't have it in my notes, so it's not gonna be on the screen. But one of the passages that I love

in scripture where Jesus talks about this is he's preaching and he says, if your left eye causes you

to sin, pluck it out. If your left eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. If your left eye causes you to sin,

if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. And I always make the joke, and you've probably heard

it before if you've heard me talk about this passage, he said, I mean, Jesus is not wanting

a bunch of spiritual pirates, right? With, you know, eye patches and hooks for hands. What Jesus

is saying is, take sin extremely seriously. It is better for you to be without sight and not sin

than it is to be with sight and sin. It is better for you to be without hands and not sin

than to have all your limbs and be living in sin. Take temptation that seriously. That's Jesus' way

of preaching exactly what Paul preached, exactly what Paul wrote. Actually, Jesus said it first,

so Paul is taking what Jesus said and he's putting it in his words. But really, it's the Holy Spirit

teaching the same thing. Temptation cannot be allowed. Temptation is not sin. Don't hear that.

We will be tempted regardless, but we give ground to,

and that's where Paul says, that's where you're in extreme danger. Don't. Wake up. Walk carefully.

So then Paul makes this last statement. He says, okay, here's the deal. You've been told all these

things not to do, these things to take off. He says, but then what do you do, right? If we're

supposed to be cutting all these things out of our lives, right, that's a lot of time that's now just

open and free. And so he's not just saying, don't do these things. He's saying, don't do these things

sometimes. We think that Christianity is just a list of don'ts, that God's word is just a list of

don'ts. Paul says, no, no, no. The act of transformation is not just losing. The act of

transformation is also growing and gaining. And so it's a transformation, not just a reduction.

And so we see in verse 14, it says this, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he starts

off with. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's this reality that we are not just supposed to cut out vices,

but we're also supposed to instill in ourselves virtues. Sometimes we get so focused on the

don'ts. Don't do this. Don't do that. Don't do this. And we cut these things out. And what do

we fill those things with? Other sin, bitterness, frustration, anger. I always will give, so I'm

the recovery pastor down in Waterford, and I'll always give some of the recovery guys

a little bit of a hard time, because they'll look at me and say, you know, I stopped smoking

cigarettes. And I say, oh, that's really awesome. And they're like, yeah, I started vaping. And I

look at them, and I'm like, that's great. I'm glad that you were able to stop smoking cigarettes,

but help me see the difference, right? It's still an addiction either way. I'm glad you're seeing

success in these ways. Don't let me diminish that. But you cut one thing out to fill it with another

thing. And so sometimes we, yeah, we cut the lust out, and we fill it with bitterness and frustration

and anger. And so sometimes we, yeah, we cut the lust out, and we fill it with bitterness and frustration and anger.

Yeah, we cut the gossip out, but now we just hold everything in, and we're just this

furious, angry person. Or yeah, we cut the anger out, but the way that we cut the anger out was by

taking it out on other people. And it's not just those things, right? We have to look and say,

how do we cut the vices out and put on the right clothes? It's this picture of clothes, right? When

you put off sin, what are you putting on? And so Paul gives these beautiful pictures of what

that looks like. He expands upon what he wrote to the Romans in verse 14, that put on Christ.

In Ephesians 4, Ephesians 4, he says this in verse 22 through 23. He says,

And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self created after the likeness

of God in true righteousness and holiness. So here, he says, not only putting off of the old self, but putting

on of the new self. And what does this look like? A renewed spirit of mind, which is what he talks

about in Romans 12, giving yourself as a living sacrifice to be transformed. How does that

transformation start? The renewing of your mind. And how does that look like? It's created in the

likeness of God. We have this beautiful picture of Christ and his example in the gospels. When

someone comes to me and say, I'm a new believer. I want to know what to read. I look and say, read the

because it's the example of Christ. And he's the image of who we're supposed to be. He lived in the

example that we're supposed to follow. He set that example for us. And then elsewhere, Paul dives

deeper in Colossians. Colossians chapter 3, starting in verse 12, says this. Put on then.

Right? So here, he says, all right, you've taken these things off. You've put them off. You killed

them. Right? You've not given satisfaction to the flesh. He says, so now put this on. Put on then as

God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience,

bearing with one another. And if one has complained against one another, forgiving each other as the

Lord forgave you, so you must also forgive. And above all these, above all of these, put on love,

which binds together in perfect harmony, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. So

what he's doing is giving a character description of Christ. This compassionate heart of kindness

and humility and meekness and patience who bared with us, who forgave us, who had this deep love

for us, which bound us together. And so as you live transformed and you begin to put off sin,

starve sin, kill sin, you should see these things start to take their place. As you uproot

the weeds of sin in your life, these are the things that should be growing in your garden.

And so watch, look, look for them. So we have this picture. Take off sin, put on Christ. Take

off the flesh, put on salvation. Be transformed from dead to alive. And so my question that I

leave you with this week is, is really two parts, right? Cut out the vices, put in the virtues of

Christ. So the first question is, what hospitality do you need to have? What hospitality do you need

to refuse sin? What sin is living in your barn? Is living in your garage? What's that thing that,

yeah, you may not be giving into it every day or every week, but you're definitely keeping some of

the old practices around and it's just seems to be hanging there over your head. What, what

hospitality do you need to refuse sin? What do you need to give up in order for your sin to starve?

And then the second question is, what needs to take its place? What needs to take its place?

Which of these things, these, these spiritual characteristics, this example of Christ,

what needs to begin to take it, take its place? Is it humility? Is it kindness? Is it a compassionate

heart? Is it patience? Is it forgiveness? What is it that God is saying, hey, you need to cut this

out and graft this in from me? I'd encourage you this week to think through that question as you

would turn on the normal shows you'd turn on. When you'd, when you start scrolling on the normal

pages that you're scrolling through.

When you go to work and you're listening to the same music that you've always listened to,

start to think what is giving hospitality? What is giving provision to sin and what needs to take

its place? Let's pray together. Lord, I am so thankful that you have this genuine deep love for

us. A love that cares more for us than our response to you. Lord, that you love us enough to teach us

truth even when it's hard. Lord, I pray that you would help us to recognize that love, that we're

called to forsake sin, not because it's a means of controlling, but because it's what's best for us.

Lord, I pray that this week we would fight against our sin, starve it out, make no provision, give no

foothold, kill our sin. And this week we would fight and strive to exemplify you in its stead.

That we would put on the clothes of righteousness, of holiness, and we would begin to live as

examples, or live in the example that you provide us as your

son, Jesus Christ. Walk this earth as he taught, as he cared for people immensely, as he preached

good news, and as he demonstrated that in his life, specifically as he went to the cross for us.

Lord, we love you and we thank you so deeply for our salvation and the transformation. I pray that

you'd help us to wake up and make that transformation urgent. Lord, we love you in your

precious and holy name, Jesus' name. Amen. Won't you please stand and join us for our last song?

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