Study the Word

Guest (Male): Pointing to a higher principle and aerodynamics still illustrated critical spiritual truth. Here's pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: There's a principle called Bernoulli's principle that says that air flow over a curved surface takes longer to get there than over a flat surface and that creates lift which is what allows a wing to lift up. You can go through the rest of your life letting this be theory to you and never apply it and you're going to struggle against that sin monster the rest of your life. Not only you're going to struggle, you're going to lose. You might have better days than others, but you're not going to beat him.

Guest (Male): The sin monster it's a fitting name and learning how to slay this dragon is our focus today. Welcome to Study the Word with pastor Tom Keller. We'll be looking once again at Colossians chapter two and Romans chapter seven. Here's pastor Tom with the message first delivered at Calvary Chapel Lebanon.

Pastor Thom Keller: 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 have discovered this principle in life. The one 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 the 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. Second 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 into Christ Jesus were baptized into 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 this 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 to say. I don't want it to be 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. First 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 two 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's 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. And all nearly all of you have no doubt experienced this at one time or another. At one time, something went on, someone said something and you responded in a way that wasn't the way you normally do. Maybe it was an accusation or a verbal attack and you responded in a Christ-like way. That was this taking place. And do you know who it was that won that day? It was not a better version of you. It wasn't you on a good day. No, it was Christ.

Listen, Colossians 1:27. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles too. And here is the secret. Wow is this the secret. Christ lives in you. This gives the assurance of sharing his glory. And the ESV adds this thought to it. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ living in you is the hope of glory. And Greek the word for glory is doxa, d o x a, doxa.

And here it is the opinion or view of someone. Strong's Concordance says quote, in the New Testament, doxa is always a good opinion concerning someone resulting in praise and honor and glory. So the Bible says that Christ living in you brings about the hopeful expectation of other believers having a good opinion of you resulting in praise and honor and glory to God. So here's another really cool reality. The longer you live this way, the longer you do this, the more natural it will feel to you to go down the right course, down the right pathway.

Again, the sin monster will never die, but in Galatians, Paul says this in verse 17. Remember this. The sinful nature wants to do evil which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants. And the spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. Here it is. These two forces are constantly fighting each other so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. The sin monster will never die. You will never free be freed from its influence, but but but it's kind of like a wagon train. You know, when a wagon train runs a certain pathway, it begins to form ruts in the road and those ruts go deeper and deeper and deeper.

And some of you have lived some of us have lived in a life of sin that our lives have ruts that we fall into, specific patterns of sin, behavior that are sinful and not godly. And those ruts our wagon train gets pulled into those ruts. But when you live in Christ, he living in you will allow that your wagon train to be pulled out of those ruts and you will start to establish new ruts, new patterns. And through lack of use, those old ruts will begin to will begin to fill in. And the new ruts will feel more natural to you than the old through lack of use.

And folks, I've said this before when I've taught on this, but this principle is so vitally important. I've said that if I had children and they were saved and I had a terminal illness and there was just one message that I could give them, a tape that I could ask them to play once a week for the rest of their lives, it would be on this subject, on the matter of the exchanged life Christ living in me because this is what you are actually doing to learn to trust that this works because until you apply this, until you try this, until you live this way, folks, listen, it will remain just theory to you.

You have to reckon yourself to the dead to sin. You have to consider that Jesus meant what he said, that his standing offer is not just to come along and walk beside you, which is what people say Jesus come with me. He wants to live in you, not theoretically, reality. You know, I said this before, but if you took King David and you brought him brought him up until the 21st century and you put him in the cockpit of a 747, picture the pilot sitting there and King David behind with his arms in either of their shoulders, his big 70 lb crown on his head and he's watching this playing with down the the runway and it's going faster and faster and faster.

There trees the end runway he goes, stop this, stop this, stop this. No, no, no, it's okay. No, it's not. No, it's not. Oh, it's okay. This is going to go up in the air. This big piece of metal you're saying is going to go in the air? You're crazy. Stop this thing now. Well, who's right? Well, from his perspective, he's right. But the truth is since King David's time, there's a principle called Bernoulli's principle that says that air flow over a curved surface takes longer to get there than over a flat surface and that creates lift which is what allows a wing to lift up.

David didn't know that. He's never experienced it. But it was a principle as real in David's day as it was today. He just never applied it. You can go through the rest of your life letting this be theory to you and never apply it. And you're going to struggle against that sin monster the rest of your life. Not only you're going to struggle, you're going to lose. You will not beat him. You might have better days than others, but you're not going to beat him. And then Paul makes the application for us in chapter two verse 20.

You have died with Christ. This is our verse today. 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 teachings about things that deteriorate when we use them. This redundancy is the state of something no longer being needed. It's pointless. What Paul is saying here is that the law is pointless. The law is redundant. For those who have crucified their flesh, for those who are in Christ, the law is redundant.

It's like this photo you send the old man packing. How so? Galatians 3:24 says this. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came. It protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as guardian. You see, the reason is because once I'm in Christ and Christ is living in me, if Christ is living in me, I don't need the law because Jesus is going to do the right thing. You think Jesus needs to go to the law to know what I should do today?

It is his nature to do the right thing. That's why we don't need the law when we're in Christ. It's redundant. It's not necessary. Romans 8:5 says this. Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower nature live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God. You see, when you live the exchanged life, you simply find yourself doing those things that please God. So the law becomes pointless. The spirit leads you effortlessly. It would be like the state of Pennsylvania passing a law that says that every husband has to love and provide for his wife.

Now that law to me would be pointless. I don't need to be told that that law even exists. That law doesn't could not possibly affect how I treat my wife because it's in my heart to want to do that. I don't need law. It's in my heart because my heart leads me to love and care for her. And then Paul goes on and points out the damage done to those who do not live in the spirit, who do not crucify their flesh, who try to attain righteousness by keeping the law. Verse 23 he says this.

These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-discipline and bodily severe bodily discipline, but they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires, conquering the sin monster. Again, we see that the law forces from the outside. The law is designed to show us our problem, but it it is not designed to show us the solution. And here the solution is that the spirit draws us, compels us, prompts us internally to do what is right, whereas the law is like an electric cattle prod. A cattle prod might modify your behavior, but it won't touch your heart.

The spirit, however, creates within us an obedient heart that wants to obey God. Listen again to Romans 8:5. Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God. And on top of this, there's an additional reality, a really ugly consequence of using the law to control me. Colossians 2:23 it says this. It says these rules may seem wise because it requires strong devotion, humility, severe bodily discipline, but they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person's evil thoughts and desires.

And here I like what the living Bible says. In living Bible says, it only makes him proud. And there is practically nothing as unattractive as a self-righteous Pharisee. Oswald Chambers said this, yielding to Jesus will break every form of slavery in any human life. Until we believe this, we will not listen. Until we believe this, we will not find victory ourselves or be effective in helping others find victory in Jesus. So how does today's lesson apply to me? Just one. Listen, folks. Here it is. Try this. Remember King David hurdling down the runway. You would never convince him that this hunk of metal isn't going to crash and burn at the end of the runway until he experienced it.

You will never convince yourself that this is going to work until you practice it and experience it. You think God's up in heaven saying, oh, Keller, you're getting me in all kinds of trouble. People are going to try this and it's not going to work. You think he's saying that? Of course not. He wants you test me, try me, see if I won't. You know, people tell me all the time, I want a Christian experience. I want to feel God's presence. I don't feel his presence. You want to feel his presence? Here it is. Christ in you.

You talk about feeling his presence. You're gone. He's in. That's sensing his presence. Are you in? You want to do this? You committed.

Guest (Male): Pastor Tom Keller ending today's Study the Word with a challenge to take God at his word and commit yourself to him. 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. Give us a call at 717 273 5633 or write to Study the Word 740 Willow Street Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. You can also email us through the website at ccleb .com Study the Word is made possible through the generous support of listeners just like you.

And thank you for helping us reach out with the love and truth of Jesus Christ at a time in human history where people really need biblical encouragement. You can give online at ccleb .com or call 717 273 5633. We hope you'll visit us sometime here at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. For our service times and more information, go to ccleb .com on the web. You can also watch our live stream there at ccleb .com or on our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. Study the Word with pastor Tom Keller is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

May God richly bless you as you study the word.