Let's open our Bibles to Romans 7:11-13.

God’s law reveals the holiness of His commandments and the utter sinfulness of sin so that we will hate our sin

God’s law reveals the holiness of His commandments

God’s law reveals sin as sinful beyond measure

Sin is rebellion against our loving and kind heavenly Father

Sin takes a good thing and uses it to kill us

Sin involves deliberate violation of God’s good and perfect will for us

Sin is sinful beyond measure because it uses deception to kill us

How Sin Deceives Us

Sin deceives us into thinking that outward obedience alone pleases God, whereas we need to please Him on the heart level

Sometimes sin changes its tactics and tells us that everything is hopeless, so we might as well keep sinning

Sin deceives us to presume on God’s grace

Sin deceives us into thinking that it will bring true and lasting happiness, while holiness will bring us misery

Sin deceives us into thinking that we have a right to happiness, while we forget that we have a responsibility to holiness

Sin deceives us by getting us to discount the consequences of willful disobedience

Sin deceives us into thinking that we’ve earned some free passes to sin because of all that we’ve done to serve the Lord

Sin deceives us by getting us to swap the labels and call it something much more acceptable

Sin deceives us by making us think that we’re normal when we sin and to think that holy people are weird

Sin deceives us by working by degrees, so that eventually that which would have shocked us is now accepted as normal

Sin deceives us by making us angry at the law, feeling that God is against us when He prohibits something

Sin deceives us by making us think very highly of ourselves

Sin deceives us by telling us that the law is oppressive, keeping us from developing the gifts and talents we have within us

Sin makes righteousness look drab and unattractive

Sin deceives us by getting us to compare ourselves with other sinners, rather than comparing ourselves to God’s holy standard

The practical result of understanding the holiness of God’s commands and that sin is sinful beyond measure is that we should hate our own sin

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 7:7-11.

God gave His law to convict us of our sin and bring us to the end of ourselves so that we would flee to Christ for salvation

Our culture tells us we are not sinners. We have to see the depth of our sin before we will trust Christ as savior. Paul's main concern is to exonerate God's law from any hint of being evil.

The law is not sin, but it does reveal our sin (7:7)

The Jews believed that God gave the law to give us life and make us holy

Paul claimed that the Law aroused us to sin, resulting in death

This raises the question, "Is the law sin?"

His answer is, "By no means!" The Law functions to reveal our sin

As an example, Paul uses the tenth commandment

This is the only commandment that explicitly condemns evil on the heart level

Jesus pointed out that all of the commands go deeper than outward action

The commandment made it explicit: "Paul, you are a sinner!"

The law provokes sinners to sin (7:8)

The law stirs up the rebel in us making us want to assert our right to do as we please

The forbidden thing furnishes a channel for the assertion of self-will

Before God brought the law to bear on Paul's conscience, as far as he knew, he wasn't in sin

The law, through our failures to keep it, brings us to the end of ourselves (7:9-11)

When was Paul ever "alive apart from the law?"

Once, he thought that he was alive and doing quite well in God's sight

He saw himself as blameless with regard to the righteousness of the law

When the commandment came, Paul suddenly realized that his sin was very much alive and he was dead

Spurgeon: He died in that he saw he was condemned to die

He died in that all his hopes from his past life died

He died in that all his hopes as to the future died

He died in that all his powers seemed to die

When you see God's holy standard and how miserably you have violated it, you then see your need for a Savior

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 7:1-6.

Through our union with Christ, we have died to the law so that we are free to bear fruit for God in the Spirit

Through our union with Christ, we have died to the law, which only produced sin and death

Dying to the law does not mean that we are free from specific moral commandments

By being identified with Christ in His death and resurrection, we died to the law so that we are legally free to be joined to Christ

Dying to the law means that we are free from the demands of the law as an impersonal system for approaching God

The system of law brought everyone who tried to live by it under a curse because no one could keep the law perfectly

Dying to the law means that we are free from the condemnation of the law

The law brings the knowledge of sin and puts us under God's wrath

Dying to the law means that we are free from the inability of the law to produce obedience

The power of the law to arouse our sinful desires is broken

The Holy Spirit now gives us the power to obey

Having died to the law, we are now joined to Jesus Christ, which produces fruit for God in the Spirit

Our union with Christ is a transforming relationship

"But now" points to the great change from before we met Christ to now

Our union with Christ is a love relationship

Our motive changed from duty that condemns us to love that accepts us

Our union with Christ is a liberating relationship

Before Christ we were in captivity in every sense of the word

Our union with Christ is a fruitful relationship

We learn what is pleasing to the Lord

Our union with Christ is a powerful relationship

The Spirit enables us to put to death the deeds of the flesh

Our union with Christ is a holy relationship

We are freed from the law so that we may be enslaved to God

Let's open our Bibles to Revelation 22.

The purpose of the book of Revelation was to encourage the believers in 7 churches that sin will be vanquished and Jesus will reign forevermore.

We must remember that when we live, work, and share the Gospel, that sin will be vanquished Christ will reign forevermore.

I. The Garden is Restored (1-5)

II. This Word is Trustworthy (6,8,10,18-19)

III. Continue in Gospel Living (7-9,11-17)

IV. Come, Lord Jesus (20-21)

Let's open our Bibles to Luke 2:8-21

Who is Jesus?

The Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, being of the same substance with the Father; through him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

Redemption Announced

The announcement of redemption went to shepherds first.

vs 11 and vs. 15 both refer to Jesus and God as "Lord."

Redemption in the Flesh

They went with haste.

They left glorifying and praising God.

Redemption Without Fault

The term for ponder has a bit of wonder and astonishment to it.

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 6:19-23.

To win over sin, give yourself as a slave to righteousness in view of your spiritual past, present,and future

To win over sin, give yourself as a slave to righteousness

Slavery is an imperfect, yet useful analogy

"Present" means to give oneself as a servant or slave

When tempted to ask yourself, "Whose slave do I want to be?"

Will you serve sin that leads to destruction and death or serve God that leads to righteousness and life?

Keep in mind that Paul is describing a process, not a once for all decision

There is no spiritual experience that will transport you beyond sin and temptation

Sanctification is a lifelong process that requires a daily battle against sin and temptation

To win over sin, remember your shameful spiritual past as a slave of sin

Unbelievers sin because they want to sin

To be delivered from sin, God has to give you a new nature through the new birth

Giving yourself to impurity and lawlessness doesn't satisfy your needs

What did you gain from having sin as your master?

Let the memory of former sins humble you so that you deal graciously with fellow sinners

To win over sin, keep in mind your blessed spiritual present as a slave of God

Your present spiritual condition is due to a great change that God has made in your life

Your present spiritual condition rests on your new position in Christ

Your present spiritual condition includes the many wonderful benefits of satisfaction

To win over sin, look forward to your glorious spiritual future: eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord

God's free gift comes to us "in Christ Jesus our Lord"

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 6:15-18.

Either you are a slave of sin, resulting in death, or you are a slave of obedience, resulting in righteousness

1. If you think that being under grace means that you are free to sin, you do not understand God's grace

a. Legalists - they put people back under the law by emphasizing rules for what they consider to be holy living

b. Licentiousness - if we are under grace then sin doesn't matter

c. Both are two sides of the same coin whose operating principle is the flesh

d. The result of God's grace is to make us slaves of righteousness, not lawlessness

2. The only options are: You give yourself to be a slave of sin, resulting in death; or you give yourself to be a slave of obedience, resulting in righteousness

a. The master you obey shows whose slave you are

b. Obedience is not the means to salvation, but rather the result of it

c. Everybody serves somebody or something

3. The only way that you can change from being a slave of sin to being a slave of righteousness is for God to free you from sin by changing your heart

a. Salvation is neither a human project nor a joint human-divine project; rather, salvation is of the Lord

i. Slaves of sin are not able to free themselves by their own efforts

b. The way God changes us is by bringing our mind, heart, and will into submission to His word

i. The evidence of this change of mind and heart is that our wills gladly obey the truth

c. The teaching is not committed to the Christians, but rather the Christians are committed to the teaching

i. Being a Christian means being put under the authority of God's Word

d. When God saves you, He frees you from sin and makes you a slave of righteousness

i. We no longer live under sin as our master

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 6:12-14

Don't let sin reign by following your lusts, but give yourself to God to live righteously under His grace

1. To apply these commands, you must understand and apply the truths of Romans 1-6:11

a. We all have sinned

b. God sent His Son to bear the penalty that we deserved

c. God graciously justifies the ungodly person who believes in Jesus as their sin bearer

d. We are now united with Christ in his death and resurrection

e. We are to consider ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ

2. Sin is a tyrant that will reign over us if we allow it to do so (6:12-13a)

a. Sin still has a strong appeal, even to those who are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus

b. Sin's Goal is not to assist you with your program for happiness and success

c. Sin seeks to dominate us through our bodies

d. For sin to reign, you must allow it to reign by giving your body to it as a weapon for unrighteousness

3. In Christ, exercise your will to say no to sin and yes to God (6:13b)

a. We have an active responsibility to stop the reign of sin

b. Victory over sin begins by personally giving yourself to God

c. Victory over sin is only possible for those who are spiritually alive from the dead

4. God promises victory over sin to those who are not under the law but under grace (6:14)

a. There is no such thing as a Christian who consistently lives under the lordship of sin

b. The law commands, but it contains no power to obey

c. Grace frees us from condemnation, motivates us by God's undeserved love, and empowers us by His Spirit

Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him

Psa 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Heb 13:15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name

How can I as a sinful person have peace with a righteous God?

Jesus came and suffered and died and rose again from the dead to pay the price for our sins

How can I know that beyond the grave there will be life and joy and not a fearful prospect of judgment?

Hell - where the worm never dies, and the fire never goes out

Jesus spoke twice as much about hell as he did about heaven

Jesus is the only way to heaven

How can I have the deepest longings of my heart satisfied?

The appetites of our hearts were made for God and they will not be satisfied until we feast on fellowship with God

How can I know God personally?

The God who created the universe is unspeakably great

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us

God in the person of his Son has become flesh (human)

Jesus told Phillip, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father"

Jesus is God reaching out to us

Is there a power to love?

Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me

The disciples went from being a bunch of wimps in the Garden to some of the boldest people on earth and turned the world upside down

You can find more information about John and Mollie's ministry here: http://wellsministry.com/.