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SIN / SELF

Dead to the Law

Matt Montgomery · Sunday, 20 July 2025 · Romans 7:1-12 · 36:50 · 6,239 words

Romans S13 · 7:1-12

Listen to this message

Law, grace, and life in Christ are explored through a study of Romans 7. The preacher explains that believers have died to the law through Christ’s body, freeing them from its binding power and allowing them to belong to the risen Lord. He warns that living by the law leads to works, while God’s grace gives victory over sin. Listeners are challenged to rate the influence of sin in their lives, seek newness in the Spirit, and grow in love, righteousness, faithfulness, compassion, courage, gentleness, and patience, ultimately following Jesus.

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.

law 83 death 43 sin 75 incapable 6 burial 7 commandment 13 newness 8 beholden 4 christ 52 binding 5 matt's 4 bond 5

Topics

Sin 19 The Law 13 Prayer 3 The Body of Christ 2 Righteousness 2 Assurance 1 Death & Resurrection 1 Grace 1

Scripture referenced 8

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

Romans 7 3:17 Romans 7 3:24 Romans 7:1-12 3:24 Romans 7 5:41 Romans 6 27:55 Romans 6 28:06 Romans 6:12 28:56 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 32:01

Transcript

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

Today we're going to talk about three things, and as we get into it, I have some introductory

things I kind of want to look at or talk about.

Death and life.

In life, we have certain things.

We know that when we go to a wedding, and you attend a wedding, they always say, till

death do we part.

And that's because it's a contractual agreement between husband and wife before God that they

are going to stay married forever.

Now I don't want to step on toes, because I know divorce happens, and there's things

and there's other circumstances, but it is truly a binding agreement that upon death,

they're free.

There are other things that stay with people for life.

I know that I've been lucky enough, I'm in government security, I've done a lot of security

details for multiple presidents, not to toot my own horn, but it's been an interesting

part of my life, and when I meet them, we are always to refer to them as Mr. President.

And when you think about it, that happens during life, and that happens after death.

They will always be Mr. President.

When I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of President Reagan.

When I think of Donald Trump, I think of Mr. President.

So we know that there are certain monikers or certain things that stay with people throughout

their lives.

For me, one of the biggest things is pastor.

The pastor in the church that I grew up in, I will always call him pastor for the rest

of my life.

It is what it is.

In life, in death, it doesn't matter, he's always going to be my pastor.

And knowing that, we know that these things last for a lifetime.

We're also going to look at the scripture this morning, where we know certain things

are separated by death.

And certain things give us life.

And using those little monikers, I just kind of wanted to go into it as we talk about Paul's

continuing his discussion about sin, about law, about grace, about the gospel of Jesus

And he does so, and when he does so, he's talking about the dead to the law, being dead

to the law, and being alive in Jesus Christ himself.

So today, when we looked at the sermon series, when I first saw it, the church had put it

in there as self-incapable of the relationship of the law of Christ.

Or the law of God.

We know that we're incapable.

But for me, this message is more about, are we dead or alive?

Are we dead or alive because of law?

Or against the law?

So before we go any further, I kind of want to just open up.

We're going to pray this morning, so if you would, bow your heads.

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord.

We lift you up, we honor you, we praise you, we give you all glory.

I pray that as I give this message this morning, you will speak 100% through me, that ears

and hearts will be receptive to your word.

It's not of me, Lord.

It's 100% because of you.

And as we study the fact that you took away the burden, and that we can truly follow you

and try to be Christ-like, Lord, and to give us salvation, I thank you so much for that.

And as I talk to the church body this morning, just bless us and keep us.

Let us follow your word.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So if you would, we're going to turn to Romans 7.

I am getting much older now, so I actually have to wear these, so I apologize.

But we're going to go to Romans 7, and we're going to look at verses 1 through 12.

Or do you know, brothers, for I am speaking unto those who know the law, that the law

is binding on a person only as long as he lives.

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives.

But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

Accordingly, she shall be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband

But if her husband dies, she is free from that law.

And if she marries another man,

she is not an adulteress.

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died in the law through the body of Christ, so

that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that

we may bear fruit for God.

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at

work in our members to bear fruit for death.

But now we are released from the law, having died, to that which held us captive, so that

we may live in the flesh.

We serve in a new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

That we, or that when, what then shall we say that the law is sin?

By no means.

Yet if it is not been for the law, I would have known sin, for I would not

have known what it is to covet if the law had not said you shall not covet but sin seizing an

opportunity through the commandment produced in me all kinds of covetousness for apart from the law

sin lies dead I was once alive apart from the law but when the commandment came sin came alive and

I died the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me for sin seizing an

opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through though it killed me so the law is

holy and the commandment is holy and righteous righteous and good so we're going to kind of look

at these things so as we look at these scriptures we see here in Romans 7 there's three different

things I want to talk about today the first is death to mankind right so he kind of does this

through marriage and if you would he says the very first point we're seeing here is we understand

that he says

or do you know brothers for I am speaking to those who know the law so he knows that they know the

law he knows that they're trying to apply the law to their lives as so many people do how many times

have you heard oh I'm trying to live really good life you know I do really good things you know I

think I'm going to get to heaven um I've been really good I've given to the poor I've given

of my time but the law says otherwise when you compare yourself against law there's no man that's

good we are incapable as human beings of keeping the law so he says here

Paul's saying in his message hey we can see that he is merely just trying to make a point

of using a husband and a wife because he knows by law that marriage is binding right so he says

if the husband dies then she's free to go marry she's not breaking the law but if she chooses

to break that bond while they're married well now we have a problem right I know in my own life

that wouldn't go over real well you know and that would make her what and an adulterer and

it says that in the scriptures so as he's moving along he's trying to use these

things specifically for us to understand that death does have a separation from certain things

that bind us meaning the law so he also understands during this passage that Paul

and Jesus both spoke about marriage you know what does Christ refer to us as his bridegroom

why is that so important because he won't ever break that bond that bond that seals us together

with Jesus Christ forever is the fact that we are married you know it's it's conceptual

but when we are called the body of Christ there's two separate things here you know he's going to

go in he's going to talk about the body of Christ or or a true body of Christ right his death burial

and resurrection but he's also talking about the church where we are married to him and he says

that many times now in previous messages throughout this chapter multiple chapters on

Romans we understand we've been beat up already that for all of sudden comes short of the glory

of God right and and we know that for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God

is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord we know that there's a penalty that needs to be paid

we know that we all sin there's not one person here that can raise their hand and say they're

sinless I wasn't sinless this morning I broke the speed limit who broke the speed limit coming to

church this morning not that I want to I just do right and then I look down I'm like I'm going

over the speed limit right and it's really hard now with 75 because now it's down to 60 and I

I don't know if I can do 60 guys I'm just trying to be honest with you so I know I sin this morning

and I'm like that's great you're going to

preach now you're a sinner you're great way to be that guy but I know that it just creeps in so

easily and sin so easily besets us as Paul says we know that that sin can just so easily come in

and just become part of a routine or be a normal part of our life because that's what sin does I

mean the easiest thing when you look at Genesis even on the very first sin I think it's a problem

of two things number one is pride and number one is knowledge because all he said to her was oh

Christ said you couldn't eat of that tree weird

that's because you'll be like God if you eat that fruit and then that all of a sudden that pride

kicks in oh I want to know more I need to know more he didn't totally lie to her she knew a lot

more after eating that fruit not something she wanted to know and that was sin and the burden

of sin on your life

If it wasn't so, they wouldn't have gone and covered themselves, knowing that they were naked, right?

So we know sin can just bind us.

It can beat us up.

And he's saying here, you know, like it's just like marriage, right?

If you become dead to it, you're no longer beholden to it.

So the example of him using this is so important because if I were to die tomorrow, my wife can go out and marry whoever she wants.

I'm not saying she would.

I'd like to think I was so good she'd never find another one, but I know that's a big lie.

But the truth is she has the freedom to do so because she's not bound by that law anymore.

But he goes a little further when he gets in the next part of the scriptures here.

And that is what is truly the death of Christ do for us, right?

See, Paul has to explain that the death of Christ, we have to die to the binding of that law.

His death is taking that bound purpose of the law and taking it off of us.

We're no longer beholden to it.

And that is so extremely important.

So we look at this in verse 4.

He says,

Likewise, my brothers, you have also died to the law through the body of Christ.

And when we refer to the body of Christ, this is not the church.

This is actually truly the body of Christ, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead.

You know, I love Paul.

I study Paul a lot.

One thing I love is, you know, God himself says I'm a jealous God.

You know, he wants us.

We're his.

We're his creation.

And one of the things I love is when Paul's talking about dying to send daily,

or dying to self daily, he said,

I was in bondage to sin, but now I am Christ.

Right?

So when we look at this, we know that the death of Jesus Christ is taking away this bound,

just need for the law.

Right?

Our need to fulfill the law.

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by law,

we're at work in the members to bear fruit for death.

So, you know, as we look at work, our works, or the things that we do in 4 and 5,

we know that we're at work in the members to bear fruit for death.

We know that we were living in our flesh, in our sin, in our sin nature.

Right?

We know that he's been raised from the dead to take that away.

Can I let you know, the Jewish religion, if we were to live by law,

how many laws were given to the Israelites originally?

Ten, right?

Today, in the Jewish religion, in the mitzvah, or the commandments, or the law,

there are 613 that need to be followed.

And as I studied those 613 this week, I realized there is no way in the world,

in the world, any of us are keeping those laws.

How do you know that it's okay?

Like, if you have 613 laws, and you have to live,

and it gave me a new appreciation for rabbinical law,

but I also understand that God has freed us from that.

That's the reason he came and died for us, is to take our sins away.

Right?

So as I read those 613 rabbinical laws, or all the laws that are there,

I thought, these are so man-made, and it's impossible to live up to them.

You know, there are a couple different church groups.

I study cults and other religions.

I study other religions to make sure that I protect my people

from falling into the snares of the devil.

But as I studied those cults and those other religions,

I realized they have the highest suicide rates.

Why is that?

Because we are incapable, incapable of keeping the law.

We're incapable of pleasing God.

We can't do it.

Everything we do is to understand that it is because the grace of God

that is applied to our life is that we have an existence.

And there's no sweeter feeling than being in the grace of God.

No matter what I do, I know God can bless me.

I'm going to fail.

I'm going to sin.

I'm going to be rejected at times.

You know, people will reject me because of my sin.

But God always looks at you through the love of Jesus Christ,

through the blood of Jesus Christ.

I like to call it the real rose-colored glasses.

He's looking through the blood of Jesus, knowing that we are his children.

And we are honored to be called that because of salvation.

So as we know, we put death into the relation of the law.

And as we see that,

truly, the only way that it can be successful is through the body of Christ.

Without that death, we're nothing.

And why is that? Why is this a result?

Well, so that you may belong to another.

You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

When you start thinking about that, I have a hard time with society today.

When you look at people that are having life problems,

or you look at people, and I'm not saying people with psychological problems,

I'm not making fun of that, I know there's problems.

But what does the world say?

If you're going to love anybody, you've got to love yourself first.

You know, you need to fix you.

That goes so against God's word, so backwards.

Because God says, love others, and you'll feel love, right?

Loving self is pride.

Pride is the biggest reason sin happened in the very beginning.

So if we can just wrap our heads around law, pointing out our sin,

but trying not to fall in love with that sin, because sin leads to sin.

And only through the glory of Christ can we be separated, right?

So we're looking at this, and we're like,

such a miraculous, supernatural work of the gospel here.

Jesus is doing all these amazing things,

but the only reason we can accept it is because of the death, burial, and resurrection.

We have to die to self.

We have to take ourselves out of this.

So because we have died, or we die in Christ, it gives him power over us.

And I have a lot of people that want to fight that even.

If we truly belong to Christ, we shouldn't want the things of the world.

And it becomes an ongoing fight daily, over and over again.

And why is that?

Well, I think Paul kind of spelled it out in 5 and 6.

Verses 5 and 6, he says,

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law,

we were working on our members to bear fruit of death.

We wanted what we wanted.

We wanted those things.

But now we are released from the law, having died to that which has held us captive,

so that we serve in a new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

So we know, hey, we have ability to get away from this constant need of trying to fulfill.

However, Paul takes it a step further.

You know, in verse 6,

I love the fact that he says that we live in newness of spirit.

I sometimes wonder if we as Christians are really living in newness of spirit.

Or is it just mundane?

Has it become the same thing, a grind, over and over again?

You know, we were talking about this on the way here.

I don't know why, but we were talking about just even the standard platform of a church service.

It becomes, you know, this is how we're going to go through the church service.

This is what we're going to do today.

And I'm in ministry, right?

My wife's in ministry.

People are in ministry.

It just becomes rhetoric.

And I hate that, you know.

And I've...

I will truly tell you, there are people here that are in my class.

They kind of follow me around when I preach.

I appreciate them.

But they teach a lot of classes, and we have a lot of groups that we are in front of.

And one of the things I say I have to do every day, or I'm miserable,

is I literally go before God and say, please let me die to Matt today.

Matt's no good.

Matt's going to screw it up.

Matt's going to do something stupid.

Matt's going to make everybody mad.

I need your grace and compassion to lead me today.

And when I don't do that, I have the worst days of my life.

And when I do that,

I see things go quite smoothly most days.

It's hard enough without me getting in the way of it.

But unfortunately, my law, or my concerns, become more important than God's grace.

So Paul's saying, we need a newness of spirit.

We need to feel that.

We're becoming dead.

We're not alive in Christ.

I go to a lot of churches, and you hear the music going on, and you hear this,

and, you know, people are just standing there.

Can't wait for this to get over.

Oh, how long is this message?

Do we have any more points?

I've got to get to lunch.

I've had people say it out loud.

Like, I've heard it.

Like, I've heard couples in front of me saying,

I hope he hurries quick.

I want to, I need to get to lunch.

Not saying I haven't felt it.

I've been there.

Thought it many times.

I am so hungry.

I just want to get out of here.

But that's the worst, because we're not newness of spirit.

We need that newness.

to know that we're in the presence of God every day. So when we think about where we're at and

what's being applied to our life and how we approach Jesus on a daily basis, dying to that

self is so important. That law is not binding me today, Lord. I'm going to go do what you want me

to do. I'm going to live my life as Christ-like, and I'm going to try to please you. That's what's

important. So that leads me to my next thing, death of sin. You know, Paul says in verse 7,

What then we say that the law is sin?

Well, the law itself is not sin.

If I break the speed limit, like I said earlier today, that law is not a sin.

I'm the sinner by breaking the law.

So the people here were always trying to compare that, well, the law is not fair, so it's sin.

Well, no, the law was created to point out sin.

So he's going to say, by no means yet, if it had not been for the law, I would have not known sin.

When you're born and your parents bring you up and they're rearing you,

and I like to call it rearing, grammatically correct,

because I know that I needed some rear action to make myself do the right things.

When I tell you, I would not have known sin, I would not have known anything had I not been taught.

If I walked over to a stove and I wanted to put my hand on the burner, my mom yelled, screamed, stop.

And if I decided not to, I was going to pay for it.

And that's what he's saying.

The law is not wrong.

Trying to fulfill the law is wrong at all times.

Because if the law becomes more important and we replace,

we replace God with the way of nothing.

So he's trying to say, hey, you know, what, say you then, right?

He's calling him out.

And he even takes it a step further.

He gets very personal here.

He says, I, I wouldn't have known sin.

Like, if there's no law, I don't know sin.

So now he gets personal with everybody.

He wants to let you know, I'm a sinner.

I'm a sinner saved by grace.

And he says, you shall not covet, but sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment produced in me all kinds of covetousness.

For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

Guess what?

Paul wasn't perfect.

I don't know what he coveted, but obviously he was, had covetousness.

He's telling us, I'm a sinner.

Sin's in my life.

But because of God, I've been made a whole.

Because of the death, burial, and resurrection, I have freedom from that.

So then again, is law sin?

Well, absolutely not.

We know it's not.

You know, the thing I like to think about law or anything that points out the law,

it's kind of like looking in the mirror, right?

It shows you how sinful you really are.

You know?

And if I'm going to run down this path, I have a very good friend.

He's a Messianic Jew.

His name's Elber David.

One of the things I loved was studying the word or talking about the word with him

because he said he never knew he was wrong until he really realized who Jesus was.

But they were never allowed.

They were only allowed to be beholden to the law, the first five books of the Bible.

But when he got into Isaiah and Daniel and he really started studying the word of God

and understanding that Jesus was the Messiah, the Messiah, it changed his life.

But he's like, how do we not know this?

It's so specific.

It's so spelled out that Jesus Christ was proclaimed thousands of years before

and died exactly the way it said it was going to happen.

But yet my people won't believe.

Because when they stand in front of the mirror, what they're seeing is,

well, I'm trying to do the right thing, so I guess I'm okay.

Stand in front of the mirror.

I read a great book years ago called Man in the Mirror.

And it's hard.

Man, if you want to be beat up, read the book Man in the Mirror.

It's a reflection.

On is sin tearing my life apart?

How much is it tearing me apart?

And knowing that we'll never be perfect, it's all about Jesus Christ.

So he's saying here, hey, you know, if it weren't for the sin and the law,

I wouldn't know I was doing wrong.

So it's not wrong, but it is wrong.

And now we just got to replace it with Jesus, right?

So he's like, let's get rid of the law.

We're not beholden to it anymore.

And you have to understand where he's coming from.

He's speaking to Jews and Romans alike.

that's what they're studied in that's what they know so he's trying to tell them the new message

is the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ he's hitting them where they believe

and what they know so now what interestingly paul shifts his language there he goes to the

first person he makes it personal he tries to let them know he's a sinner which is if you know

judaism especially when it came to religious zealots or church leaders they never admitted

to their sin in fact what do we see in scripture when the sadducees and pharisees would pray or

the sadducee really was praying he's like oh god thank you i'm not a sinner like this guy

thank you for your glory and then jesus says wait a minute greater is he that is trembling and giving

you know a penance for his sin than this sadducee who thinks he's better than everybody see there's

a difference so he said i would not have even known that there was sin if it weren't out for

the law but he also says it's like to me it's almost like a sign over a door that says do not

touch but sin can tear you apart don't touch right he's telling you don't go under grass don't touch

it's hot it's sin go away from it because it's pointing out to the fact that we shouldn't do it

that jesus christ is replacing that so as we go a little further in the remaining verses paul speaks

about how sin latched on to what is good and the order to use it is completely sinful and i've seen

that multiple times throughout churches throughout christians lives here's a really small one or really easy one

really need to pray for pastor john did you hear terrible let's pray for the sin in his life

because uh you know he really needs our prayers people aren't praying because they cared about

pastor john those people are praying because they want to spread the rumor right had nothing to do

with christlikeness if it was they wouldn't have mentioned the person they would have just said

listen we need to pray we need to uplift someone right we need to bring this person before jesus

there's a difference on how we approach things and there's a difference between the law and there's a

difference between sin and actually truly being christ-like through those moments so in verse 11 he

says this he says i'm going to go to verse 10 first the very commandment that promised life

proved to be death unto me so knowing that those commandments and those things that he was doing

they were killing him it was death because he already said in chapter 6 for the wages of my

sin is death but now he's going to get to the best part the gift of god is eternal life through jesus

christ my lord which he already said in chapter 6 now he's saying it again for sin is eternal life

through the commandment deceived me and though it and though it killed me so the law is holy and the

commandment is holy and the righteous and it's righteous and good and i'm going to sneak in a

verse from next week because i love it did that which is good then bring death to me by no means

it was sin producing death in me though what is good in order that sin might be shown to be sin

and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure and he's saying hey

these sins when they're pointed out i need to just look to christ i need to fulfill that through

jesus christ he already said be dead to this sin cling to christ so if we know that the law is holy

in verse 12 and the commandment is holy and just and good then we need to apply it to our lives

problem isn't a law again the problem is that sin through law is now revealing our problems

desperately needing for us to be rescued desperately for us to seek for the freedom of sin

and that can only be done through the death of god so i'm going to sneak in a verse from next week

through the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ so then the law is not the problem

sin is the problem right and i can tell you the death of sin and the sting of sin is a problem

if we die to sin we're okay if if we let that continue to nurture itself or fester in us

we know that that sin will overcome us there's none of us strong enough to be able to survive

you know and satan knows how to use that against you

I find so many people falling away from Christ because they just get to the point where they're

so utterly depressed or so out of pocket that they're like, Jesus couldn't even love me. I'm

so bad. I'm horrible. You don't know what I've done. You don't know the things I've done. I've

seen it. We were talking about this this morning. I had 14 kids that I grew up with. One is alive

today because of drug abuse, drug overdoses, drug use. And it breaks my heart because you know the

one guy that survived, what does he have that separates all the other 14? He found Jesus. He

found Jesus. And Jesus became more important than the drugs he was putting in his body. And I grew

up in an affluent area, a nice area. It wasn't a bad area. I mean, my dad was a pastor. We had a

good life. These kids just fell victim to it and couldn't overcome it. Why? Because they didn't

have anything to fulfill their life. They were living to the law. They were living to what I

need. They weren't living for Jesus Christ. The thing that supplants or makes a purpose,

for every one of us. Every day, I know that if I strive to be Christ-like, everything good in my

life happens. People are put in my way that are hurting, suffering, that need Jesus. I can't tell

you how many times we've been in a restaurant and somebody will say, will you pray for me? Because

they see us praying. Or tell me about this Jesus. Or what do you think of this? Like we've actually

built a bond with some waitresses now. We go in and talk and they talk about the Bible and about

Jesus. It's weird to me, right? I didn't ask for that, but I was in the right place at the right

time letting go. I didn't ask for that, but I was in the right place at the right time letting go.

And Christ worked through me. Out of me. I have absolutely nothing to offer. I am a sinner saved

by grace. And in my concluding thoughts, I want you to think about this. I want to go to Corinthians.

Corinthians chapter 15, 56 through 57. This is what it says. The sting of death is sin and the

power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,

knowing that in the name of the Father, and in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy

that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. We have a job to do. And when he calls it labor,

it's labor. Sometimes it takes work. Those works won't save you, but they're required because Christ

said faith without works is dead. We need to put our time and our efforts into knowing that we're

serving Christ, knowing that our church is living for the ultimate bond of Jesus Christ himself on

our lives, that we know that he is in control. Again, the law wasn't the problem. Knowing the

law is the problem.

A song that used to be sang, and it was called, the words kind of go this way,

death in his grave on Friday a thief on Sunday a king laid down in grief, but awoke with the keys

to hell that day. The firstborn of the slain, the man Jesus Christ put death in his grave.

You see, the death of Jesus brought us the death, the sin, the only way it could have been done.

I was talking to Joel before service, and he said, thank God we live in the time of Jesus.

I said, me too, man. You know, after his death, I said, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.

death. Life before that was so difficult. We have it so easy, guys. We have it so easy. We can go

directly to him. We can pray every day. We can lift our lives up for him. We can approach the throne

of God itself through prayer and lay it at his feet, but we refuse to do so sometimes. Why? Because

that sin, that law becomes more important. There's one thing I could say to you today, and when I'm

summarizing this, is the bottom line is the power of the law and sin is dead. We can get rid of it

today. The power of Jesus needs to live in us, and if we can just proclaim the grace of Jesus Christ

himself, and we know that we can be hand in hand serving him, challenge yourself this week. I

implore you as a church, rate the power of sin over your life. See where you're at. Do the litmus

test. Sin is in your life, and I'm doing that.

the same in my own life. When I'm doing this, I've got three fingers back at me, guys. I know that

this week I want to look and challenge myself. I want to rate what is the power of sin in my life.

Number two, ask yourself how much newness is in my life. If it's just mundane and it's just a daily

grind, stop it. Change it. Find the joy of Christ. Be happy to be here on a Sunday. Find out where

you can fill in. Find out how you can be a part of somebody's life. It'll change your life as well.

Living in the Spirit, are you trying to be all that God can make you be? Power in Christ? How

much newness is your life, guys? How much love do you have? How much righteousness? How much

faithfulness? How much compassion do you have in your life? How much courage do you have to stand

up for Christ? Gentleness do you have when people really truly need love? Last but not least, the

hardest one, how much patience do you have? Because it's a grind. Do you feel newness? Do you feel

like your life is changing on a daily basis or are you just doing the natural grind?

This message beat me up too. So in closing, I'm going to say be a follower of Jesus because first

sin brought death to me, but now sin can be dead to me through the death, burial, and resurrection

of Jesus Christ.

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