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Guest (Male): With inside end and an illustration eluding to the problem of sin. Here's pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: I reckon myself, I consider myself, I believe myself to be dead to sin. Listen, it's like if I take a body that has been dead for two days and rigor mortis has set in, and I prop that body up against that pillar, and I bring a group of women in bathing suits right across in front of him, he will not look. Will he? No. Why? He's dead. Sin, it's an age-old problem of life and handled in one of two ways. One is to deny its existence and the other is to defeat it. Both pose real and practical challenges.

What's the answer? We're about to find out on Study the Word with pastor Tom Keller. As we pick up in Colossians 2, we come to a very timely issue. You're now with today's lesson is pastor Tom. A blonde man calls a hospital and frantically yells into the phone, my wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart. The doctor asks, is this her first child? No, he shouts. This is her husband. You know, today the Bible tells us how we can have victory over besetting sin. Those anger issues and those kinds of things in our life.

So let's take a look. We pick up in verse 20 today, but in verse 16, it says, so don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. Paul started out by saying, don't let others condemn you when you exercise Christian liberty. Now Paul grabs the other end of the stick and takes to the other side of that equation and we pick up in verse 20. You have died with Christ and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world.

So why do you keep on following the rules of the world such as don't handle, don't taste, don't touch? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because it requires strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires. Paul begins at the only place where true liberty, true peace is achieved by our identification with Christ's death and resurrection. In verse 20 by itself, the first part it says, you have died with Christ and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world.

Paul says, you have died with Christ and it is due to that fact, that fact that you have died with Christ, that sin has actually truthfully lost its power in your life. Listen to Romans 6. Paul says this, well then should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not. Listen, since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Jesus Christ in baptism, we joined him in his death. For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.

And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. He goes on. Since I have been united with him in his death, listen, since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power. This is what we said earlier, that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin.

And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin. You, you and me. So you, you sitting here should also consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Let's look at verse seven again by itself. For one who has died has been set free from sin. So you are dead. You are dead. And just as death breaks the legal bond which binds a wife to her husband, in the same way our dying with Christ breaks the legal bond which binds us to our sin.

And Paul makes this exact point in Romans chapter seven, verse one and two. Now dear brothers and sisters, you who are familiar with the law, don't you know that the law applies only when a person is living? For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. Paul is saying what we all know that every wife is legally bound to her husband while he is alive, but when he dies, she's set free from that bond.

And so how does that apply to you and me? In Romans 7:4, it says this. So my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point. You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. You were united with him in his death. Now you are united with him in his life and as a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. However, however, prior to that event, prior to coming Christ, we were controlled by, dominated by our old nature, our flesh.

Very next verse, Romans 5 7-5 says, when we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds resulting in death. And in Ephesians, Paul describes this old pre-Christ life this way. Ephesians 2:2. You used to live in sin just like the rest of the world obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is a spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. Listen, all of us used to live that way following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature.

By our very nature, we were subject to God's anger just like everyone else. That's not a pretty scene. Before we were saved, we felt fine running with the world even though there were negative consequences that came with that. That is until until the light of God's convicting truth broken upon us. Romans 7:9 describes that. At one time I lived without understanding the law, but when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life. At one time I lived without understanding law, but when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life.

Look, it's like this. Let's say this friendly monster represents your flesh, your sin nature prior to you coming to Jesus. We're going to call him the sin monster. Now here's a question. Before you were saved, how did you and the sin monster get along together? Famously, literally famously, you were best buddies. The sin monster cohabitated with you and urged you on to do what he and you both wanted to do. And you cooperated willingly and you felt just fine except for the consequences that would follow some of that behavior. The sin monster controlled you. Romans 6:20 makes this point.

When you were slaves to sin, when you were living with the sin monster, you were free from the obligation to do what was right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. So the Bible says that in those pre-Christ days we were slaves to the sin monster, but but then you got saved. And what happened next is that the Holy Spirit entered into your heart and he began convicting you about some sinful activities you were involved in. Things that never seemed to bother you before, but now they bothered you.

That's because your conscience became alive, your conscience became sensitive to God's heart on these issues when the Holy Spirit entered you when you received Christ. And so in response to the conviction you were feeling, you tried to restrain the sin monster. You tried to lead him in a new direction. And how did that work out for you? It didn't. It won't. The sin monster who is used to be your best buddy suddenly turns on you. This former smiling friendly sin monster of yours who used to walk with you arm in arm to and from the bar, to and from watching porn on the computer, to and from the drug alleys.

When you try to resist him, all of a sudden he digs his claws into your arms demanding that you do what he wants you to do. And the Bible describes this new conflict this way in Galatians 5. The sinful nature and the sin monster wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the spirit, that new spirit within you wants. And the spirit gives us desires that are opposite of what the sinful nature desires, of what the sin monster wants. Listen, this is for the rest of your life. These two forces are constantly fighting each other.

So you are not free to carry out your good intentions. So before, when you used to cooperate with the sin monster, he was your friend. But now you see him as your enemy and you try to take him on. And if you're new to all of this, let me give you some insights that will save you a lot of time and frustration and crushing defeats. Here it is. It is pointless for you to try to defeat your sin monster. Why? Because he is stronger than you are and he will always be stronger than you are.

And even the apostle Paul admitted this clearly. Listen to Romans 7. This is the strength of the sin monster in his words. I really don't understand myself for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. This is Paul. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong. It is sin, sin monster living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my sinful nature.

I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't. Did you understand this? I sure do. I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don't want to do, listen, it is I am not really the one doing it. It is sin, the sin monster living in me that does it. I've discovered this principle in life that when I want to do what is right, see this is what he's talking about, trying to defeat the sin monster in your own strength, your own power.

I've discovered this principle in life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I counted the number of eyes in this. I think there are 32 eyes in this section of scripture. It's the whole problem. I I I me me me trying to beat the sin monster. I can't. I've discovered this principle in life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart, but there is another power within me that is at war with my mind.

This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am. Who will set me free from this life that is dominated by sin and death by the sin monster? Thank God. Here it is. The answer is Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is. In my mind I really want to obey God 's law, but because of my sinful nature, I am a slave to sin. He says the answer is Jesus Christ our Lord. So how do I win this battle with my personal sin monster?

Well, do you shoot the sin monster to kill him? Well, he can't be killed. He is immortal. Do you get on steroids and bulk yourself up in an attempt to overpower him? No, he will always be stronger than you are. Do you learn some new wrestling moves to take him on? No. It's actually much easier than any of that. You simply open the door that Jesus unlocked to the cage that you and the sin monster have always cohabitated in. And you simply walk out of the room leaving the sin monster alone back in the cage separated from you.

Because when you leave that room, when you die and let Christ live in you, listen, when you die and let Christ live in you, you walk out of that room and the sin monster cannot follow you. And next point is a crucial point of this imagery. Before you were saved, there was no door out of that cage. It was just you and the sin monster. And really neither one of you wanted a door. That's why you got along, but the moment you got saved, Jesus put a door in that room. A door without a lock, a door that you can go through, a door that the sin monster cannot walk through after you.

But the key, but the key is you need to leave that room. You need to get out of dodge. So how do you walk out of that room and leave the sin monster behind? Well, the old man needs to die because the truth is the truth is your flesh cannot be redeemed. You cannot exercise yourself into a better version of the old you. It can't be done. In essence, that's like listen, that's like you trying to convince the sin monster not to want to sin. That will never happen. Never. No, you need to die. In the Bible this is called crucifying the flesh.

Galatians 5:24. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. And when you do that, this is what allows Christ then to live in you instead of you. Galatians 2:20 says this. My old self has been crucified with Christ. This is you walking out of the room. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And again, this is called the exchanged life. The Bible refers to this as being in Christ.

Whenever you read in the Bible that you are in Christ, this is what it means. Christ living in you instead of you. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says this. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is passed away. Behold, the new has come. And here's the fine print on this subject. Romans 6:3. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized in the Christ Jesus were baptized in his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism in the death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, listen, here's the new life.

Here's in Christ. We too might walk in newness of life. So I've covered the subject before, but folks, it is so vital for us to understand this principle in order to live a victorious Christian life. So practically Tom, practically, how do I do this? Explain this. I've said it before, but if you've you know, it's funny how many times I'll say something and someone will say, you know, what you said today was really good. I never heard that before. And they've been here for 20 years and I've said it 20 times, but so it may be some of you.

So here's how you do it practically. You wake up in the morning, this is what I do. I wake up in the morning and I say, Lord Jesus, I don't want Tom Keller out on the streets today. If he goes out on the streets today, there are going to be body bags everywhere because that's just how he deals with life in the flesh. I don't want that. You don't want that. My wife doesn't want that. My friends don't want that. Nobody wants that. I pray instead Father, what I do is I crucify my flesh. I put the old Tom Keller to death.

And I pray instead Lord Jesus that you would live your resurrected life in me and through me. You look through these eyes and look at what you want to look at. You take your feet, these feet and walk them where you want to walk. You let this mouth say or not say what you want to say or don't want it say. I don't want it to me. I want to get out of that room because I am not going to beat the sin monster. This is why Paul said, I die daily. 1 Corinthians 15:31. I protest brothers by my pride in you which I have in Christ our Lord, I die every day.

Listen, it would be really cool if you could get saved, pray this prayer one time and that's it. This is a daily prayer. You have to crucify the flesh every day because that sin monster, as it says in Galatians, he isn't going anywhere. He's going to he's going to stay there and he's going to roar, roar and growl and want your attention and try to pull you back into that old life. That's why Paul says, I die every day. That's why Paul said, those things that I don't want to do, I do. Who will free me from this vicious cycle of sin?

Praise God, Jesus Christ has done it. The key is Jesus, him living in you and through you. And to do this, I must crucify my flesh daily. Again, Galatians 2 is kind of the cornerstone for this. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And I do this folks. I do this by reckoning myself dead to sin and alive to Christ. So I reckon myself, I consider myself, I believe myself to be dead to sin. Listen, it's like if I take a body that has been dead for two days and rigor mortis has set in and I prop that body up against that pillar and I bring a group of women in bathing suits right across this in front of him, he will not look.

Will he? No. Why? He's dead. He is dead. It's truthfully, practically that way. Listen to Romans 6:11. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. So again, Jesus take these feet where you want them to go. Take these eyes and look at what you want to look at. Let these fingers touch what you want to touch. Let this mouth say what you want to say. And if I stay crucified, if I put the old man to death today and let you live in me and through me, it is going to be and folks this is true.

It is going to be a very, a very good day. Pastor Tom Keller encouraging us to have a daily prayer of consecration. Give it a try and know Jesus will answer your prayer. We'll hear more on this next time we're together and this is Study the Word. You can hear this message again online at ccleb.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. If you'd rather have a CD copy, call us at 717 273 5633. Have you been helped by the ministry? Let us know that. It would be so encouraging to pastor Tom and the team.

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