If you can stand up, let's stand up and read Romans 12. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, Lord, we need you in this hour for sure. And Lord, I want to give you promises to fulfill. Call them to your attention. Promises, Lord, that I would not minister today like Moses who used to put a veil over his face. but with the Holy Spirit and with power and with much conviction. Lord, we have been made sons and daughters of you. And Lord, we are here today to know something of this that is called the mercies of God. how it is to operate in our Christian life, and how it is to move us, how we're to be moved by this mercy. So Lord, I pray, first of all, that You would, by Your Holy Spirit, help us in our deadness, in our weakness, to comprehend what the Holy Spirit has inspired here. And that You would help us in our wills to be stirred to be moved, to work in us to will. So Lord, we give you this time and we ask you as believers, we just want to be believers, Lord. Common brothers, sisters gathered here today because we want to know more about your mercies. We wanna know Romans 12, one. We wanna get up out of the bed in the morning and feel something and what it means to say, by the mercies of God, help us, Lord, we pray. You inspired Paul to say this long ago, and he is not here, but you have sent the helper. to come alongside and help us with this text. Lord, we ask you to help us. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, we come for the second time now to this amazing material, section Romans 12 to Romans 13. And I haven't just been calling it I wonder if you've considered just how unbelievable the Christian life is described in here. Just let me give you a sampling. It's described as doing the will of God without even looking at the law of God. That's amazing in and of itself. It's described as persevering in tribulation, being devoted to prayer, giving preference to one another in honor, boiling in spirit. Think of that. It's possible to be boiling in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, practicing hospitality. It's possible that some of us may be led to bake cookies or whatever. It's described as weeping with those who weep. rejoicing with those that rejoice and never paying back evil for evil. It's described as paying your taxes, feeding time of the year, of owing everyone love, of fulfilling the whole Bible by this love. It's described as laying aside the deeds of darkness. Can you think of anything more amazing than that? It's described as putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's described as making no provision for the flesh, putting on the armor of life, walking properly as in the day. And so we read this whole section last time and we said, what do we do with this? You're shocked at the amazing nature of all this material. What do you do with it? What do we make of it? And we said that there was a specific situation in which Paul wrote this. And so I gave that analogy once again of seeing the husband beating his wife with the towel and not knowing why until you see the full picture. Well, just to come just to Romans 12 and 13 and just read Romans 12 and 13, is to just see Paul slinging the towel and not know why. And so we stepped back last week and we said actually when Paul wrote the book of Romans, there was something that was a front burner issue both for him and them. For him, we said he's on his way to Jerusalem to give a gift from the Gentile churches to the Jewish churches in Jerusalem. And then he's going to be coming to Rome. And what's going on at Rome? Well, Rome is made up of both Jews and Greeks figuring out how to live with one another. And so the front burner issue, the front burner issue in Paul's life and in their life is this issue of the gospel. and the Greeks, how do they relate? And one of the issues they were having was, read about it in Romans 6, if we part from the law, how will we not end up living lawlessly? They were wondering that. Shall we sin because we're not under law? That's why he asked that. And so Paul has to finish his argument before he can move on to the agreement and then move on to his advancement to Spain. And the last part of his argument is to finish with explaining why the Christian life, why your life and my life, can result in doing the will of God even though it's not focusing on the law of God. That's the last thing he has to argue for. That's why all this is just so general, you know. He's not saying like, husbands love your wives, just general Ethical material, you know, devoted to prayer, practicing not just... He's showing the Christian life leads to all this stuff. And so, the first reason he gave, that it results in doing the will of God, we saw last time was urging. Pericleo, to call from the side. And so I gave the picture of Annabelle and me going up that hill, and she needed some more encouragement to go up the hill. I was beside her, I wasn't on top of her, banging down on her, commanding her, exhorting, encouraging, comforting, whatever I had to do to get her, persuading her to finish it. And that's what Paul's doing here. He's persuading us, and that's what this urging, and that's the first reason he gives. It has urging. Now, we saw then that to urging. We have to let other brothers and sisters know what's going on so that they can urge. We went through all those tests on all the reasons to urge, and so we have to be opening up our lives to it and giving it to others. Well, today we come to the second reason that He gives. And it's in the text we read. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God. So I want you to notice, negatively first, Paul was not given to screaming and yelling in some kind of hollow sense. He was not given over to that. He was not, or as Steve Lawson said, all sizzle and no steak. He had content. He had truth he was urging with. He didn't, in other words, he wasn't just screaming and hollering and yelling and preaching and just passionate and had took a positive view on life. It had content to it. It had truth to it. It had doctrine, substance. So the kind of urging he's talking about is urging by the mercies of God. That modifies that verb urging. It tells us what kind of urging he had. So I just want to remind you. When I said last week we need to be urging and receiving urging, what I didn't mean is we just need a bunch of fanatical wigging out on one another. We need Both light, the Puritans used to say you want a fire. It has both light and heat, both. John the Baptist was described as a burning and a shining light, both. So light gives off heat and it also reveals truth. And that's what we're talking about. So over and over, we've seen this in scripture. Just find excursus here, little parenthesis, if you will, Some of us have been brought up thinking, you know, there's a difference of preaching and teaching. But in Scripture, there's not. After the Sermon on the Mount, you know what Matthew wrote? After the Sermon on the Mount, it says, they were amazed at His teaching. So Jesus wasn't given just to raging. It had truth to it. It had content to it. Paul in Romans 2, which we've already read, verse 21, he says, you therefore who teach, you shall not steal. Do you not teach yourself? And then he says, you who preach, do you not preach to yourselves? See, it's almost like synonyms, they go together in scripture. In 1 Timothy 4, 13, Paul said, when we gather together like this, he said, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, that's number one, to exhortation and teaching. So we're to give attention, so when we're urging someone, or receiving urging, it needs to be not, it can't be all head and no heart and all heart and no head. It needs to be, if we draw a little stick man of the urger, he doesn't need to have a big head with a little bitty body. You don't need to have big passions and emotions with a little shrunken head. It needs to be balanced. So what is the light then that Paul has in his urging, his passionate urging? He says, I urge you by the mercies of God. Now this obviously argue for it briefly because some think it may mean something else. It could possibly have two meanings. This phrase, by the mercies of God. It could mean by means of the mercies of God. Or it could mean by reason of the mercies of God. Now here's the difference. If he meant by means of, he would mean that His urging is the mercies of God. Now that's true. It's merciful for God to send us an urger. But I don't think that's what He means. I think it's the second meaning. I think He means on the basis of the mercies of God. And what I think tips it that way is the word therefore. He says, therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God." In other words, the mercies of God are something behind Him that He's already talked about. See that? So, a better translation would be something like this. Because of the mercies of God, by reason of the mercies of God, on the basis in view of or in light of I urge you." So that's what he's saying. Let me give you a word picture of what Paul has in mind that I think will help us. How many of you have ever been caught in a downpour with no umbrella? I know just about all of us. I mean, you're out somewhere and it just monsoons rain. And you know what it's like. When you get caught in a downpour, you get drenched. You're soaked, drenched. There's no fibers and cotton left in all your material that's not full of water. And so when you come walk in the house, there better be towels, there better, or you just gonna just slosh water everywhere. You can't sit on the furniture, you got it all wet. You surely can't get anyone a hug. You get them all wet, you can't even shake anyone's hand, you know, good to see you, and they're just dripping everywhere. Well, what Paul is doing in Romans 12, 1 is dripping the mercies of God he's been drenched in in Romans 1-11. What that means is, whoever urges us needs to have first stood up under the downpour of the mercies of Romans 1 to 11, and then basically come amongst us and just drip. Drain it out everywhere. You know? He can't even give us a hug without... And so if you're going to sit beside a believer on the bench and comfort and console, you ought to get them wet. Just dripping. You can't get close to them. And so what's the point? No one should ever urge us dry. You ought never be dry. Ravenhill said, if a man can't preach with passion, he shouldn't preach at all. And it's true. But look at the content. Paul has something to set before us and he's dripping with it. Now here's an important thing to see. This is huge difference. between lots of things out there that pass for Christian motivation. He's motivating us. He's coming at us, and he's been drenched, and he's coming, and so I call it mercy-drenched urging. That's what Paul has. He has passionate pleas for us, but it is drenched in Romans 1 to 11. It's drenched than what's already been done. He can't speak without some backflow, some spewing going on when he opens his mouth. He's full, he's drenched, he's dripping everywhere. Meaning, this is the motivation for the Christian life. The mercies of God. Now contrast that with what's passing for a lot of motivation today. Take the example of the humanist. There's actually a group in our area called the Alexandria Free Thinkers. This is becoming more popular, you know, it's groups of atheists and people like this, they say we don't need God to live the good life. And so they're out picking up trash, adopting the highway, doing things like this. Now, that ought never be equated with Christian living. Because they're not doing what they're doing motivated by the mercies of God. But some people look and say, well, they're living it. No, they're not living the good life because it's not motivated by the mercies of God. Take another example. Politicians in social movements, figures in these movements. For example, I'll touch the golden calf here, Martin Luther King, Jr. The man denied the resurrection, denied the virginity of the virgin birth, He denied the deity of Christ, and yet people say, well look at that good Christian testimony. Now look, I'm thankful for any kind of social thing that went the direction of good versus evil, just as much as anybody. But that's not Christianity. He didn't do what he did based on doctrine. It wasn't based on the mercies of God. So it's not the motivator. It's not Christian. Think about the prosperity gospel. They're urging people by prosperity. I urge you, but Paul didn't do that. Notice this. What are people doing? Look, if you keep these certain principles, then something will happen in the future. Paul's urging us based off the past, something that's already done. That's all he's putting on the plate. Think of the person that just comes into church. I mean, I think sometimes people come into churches. I've seen it. It's almost like you walk into a room where here's these little girls, they're doing their little dance routine. And you kind of come in, you kind of look and see, and you start kicking your leg and doing what everybody, and you don't even know why you're doing it. You just kind of get in the gospel nets, read my Bible, pray, come to the meeting. You don't have a reason why you're there. You're just there. It's the thing to do. And Paul said that ought never happen. We ought to have a reason. We don't bypass the intellect. Think about how much modern day evangelism, it don't even, look, about two minutes to describe, let's not worry about all that doctrine, just take your decision for Christ, come forward, make a decision, sign the card. No time on the mercies of God. The great motivating thing. Then you have youth groups. If you come to the meeting and you bring the most kids, you win the free iPad or whatever. Justin smiling as we were talking. I don't know whether to bring that up or not. I wasn't going to, but he smiled. I'm going to have to start using some illustrations that shame me and not just... Providentially, Justin was a youth minister when he was lost, and he was sharing the other day. I mean, really, this is glorious. It shows the power of the gospel. The brother was once luring youth to come, he says, Like the first ever so how many get a sucker? Justin. So behold the power of the gospel. So many, we were all living foolishly, Paul says. So, but it's a good example. They're doing, I've seen it. Whoever comes, you get the free iPod or whatever. I mean, you just, is that what Paul did? How many youth would come if you said, we're gonna have a meeting and a conference and we're gonna have teaching after teaching after teaching on Romans 1 to 11, the mercies of God. No lights, no sound, just the mercies of God. Let me ask you this, if someone held a conference in Alexandria and they put it everywhere, they said, we're gonna have a conference on sanctification. Few. And what does Scripture say? Without it, no one will see the Lord. Some are motivated in order to get the mercies of God. They're living the Christian life. They're doing all the things they really don't want to do and avoiding all the things they really want to do so that they get the mercies of God. So we see here the great principles, you shouldn't take a step in the Christian life of obedience except already having the mercies of God. Others are using psychology to motivate people. This is very popular. There's more joy in God than fornication. It's just general, it's Pavlo's dog, that's all it is. Well, if you put dry dog food and canned dog food, which one's he gonna go to? And people are getting all into the psychology of people, trying to help them out of sin. And why are you doing this and that and the other? And it's all naughty. And it's just, no, you urge people by the mercies of God, that's it. Some people are going overseas and adopting children. Having lots of children, adopting kids, taking, it's pure humanitarianism. They're not motivated by the mercies of God. They just watch the TV show, it looks sad, let's go get some kids. We ought not ever equate such a thing with Christianity. Because it's not motivated by the mercies of God. Christian parents, or children of Christian parents are trying to live the Christian life to make their parents proud. Their parents will even tell them things. You know, you're doing good. Well, you just, y'all, you made me so proud or whatever. We shouldn't motivate our kids that way. If our child is going to pray and read the Bible and sing a hymn, it needs to be by the mercies of God that they can Paul Washer once said the first time I ever heard him preach was on this text in person. And he quoted this hymn, I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. Need nothing else put on the plate to motivate us. Do we need to know this? It's like Jeremy's sermon. And I'd text him, I'd listen to half of it. And my soul was just boiling. I wanted to hear the gospel. And I just told him, I said, I'm about to listen to the last half. And then I told him, I feel like it's like our minds are a teaspoon and God's grace is an ocean. And you just can't, you can only kind of keep one thought at a time in your mind. It's like, you just have to go over and over and over back to it. And so he was saying some things I already knew. But I was glory, I gloried in Christ while I listened to it. Think, there I was on the back road, no sign. And then behold, I have all these jewels. Well, in other words, what we're saying, put it this way, it's not what. That's how we do it. Paul did what he did not mindlessly. Very specific reason. The mercies of God. The man was drenched in it. And every time he exhorted a Christian, he was dripping with it. And so let me do some dripping for the rest of this message. What I really wanna do is, we were duck hunting, use another example of being drenched, and I fell in. It's not the first time I fell in. I didn't ever think Justin was gonna help me. He just watched me just, what felt like for about five minutes. Finally, he was coming over there to me. But I mean, I fell in twice, up to right close to my neck. And so what happens when you get drenched like that? You go for the swim, you know, when it's 30 degrees in the slew. Well, when you finally, when I took my waders off and you peel them down, it's just, just water everywhere. What I would like to do this week, starting Wednesday, because I can, to some degree, read Greek, I got out my book of Romans, Word for word, if I didn't know the word, I looked it up. All the way, coming all through Romans 1 to 11. What I'd like to do is just slosh out the mercies of God that I've encountered this week as I've been under the downpour. And maybe some of us should go back and re-listen to messages. Now that you know why, this is what should motivate us. But anyway, the mercies of God. Let me try to outline them. What are the mercies of God from Romans chapter one? Well, verse 28, just as they did not see fit, I'm gonna give it to you in a literal translation as you can see it, to value having God in knowledge any longer God gave them over to a disvaluing mind. It's an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth judgment. He's saying, you didn't use your mind, you knew me, you saw me, you had the revelation, you rejected it, you used your mind for an unfit purpose, and I have given you over to an unfit mind. And the result of that is doing the things that are not fitting. And so one preacher called And all of a sudden, someone cuts the lights out. You wrecked. We passed a truck on the way to Tennessee. I don't know what happened. He fell asleep or whatever. But you could see way, a huge 18-wheeler went down into the woods down there and wrecked. And everybody passing by was saying, look at that guy. He wrecked. Do you realize? You could have been a proverb for men. They could have passed by and said, Don't do like Jeremy. You could have been a proverb for people. Don't live like David lived or Charlie. The point is your mind was broken so within you, you had no hope of going the right direction. You had to be regenerated. The lights had to be cut back on for you to see. That's Romans 1. Is that not the mercies of God? We think we wrecked our lives. You could have become a homosexual. You could have been intimate with animals. Do you know human beings have done that? It's in the law. Like when you go into the land of Canaan, don't be like these people and lie with animals. So you see, sometimes we rob ourselves of the grace of God because we refuse to look at the sins of men. And we don't paint a black enough picture. And so what does the jeweler do? He puts his diamond on black velvet that you might see it in all its beauty. Romans chapter one, Paul is putting the velvet down. This is who we were. Jeremy's talking about the Gentiles. These are the Gentiles, rejecting the revelation on their way, lights out on the road to hell. But then, what are the mercies of God in chapter two? Well, it's this. It's a, you are the man moment. Like when Nathan came to David, he told him this story. He said, oh yeah, the guy that did that. Then he put to death and he said, well, actually you're the man. So the Jews, and some of us are kind of like that. You know, we've grown up in a miracle. We're a Christian nation. We've got the Ten Commandments. We raise our kids to say, yes ma'am, and no sir, and one hand under the table while you eat, and put your dishes back in the sink, and say your prayers before you go to bed, and use the number two pencil at school. Obey all the rules. What Paul says in Romans 2, look how it ends. Romans 1 ends, it says, and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do them, but they give hearty approval. You see, the mind is broken of the Gentile. Why do you think people are approving? We can't give arguments to people who do abortions and all these things. We can't give arguments to people who are covetous. Their mind is broke. and there are lights out on the road to hell. Nothing but regeneration can help them see. So the Jews took back and said, well, we have the law. We're not like those Gentiles. You know, we have the Bible. We had the catechism. We memorized scripture. I memorized scripture growing up. You know, my little Sunday school verse, put it on a nice little laminate thing, magnet, give it to mom so she could be proud. on the refrigerator for all the family to see. Jeffrey memorizes scripture. The burden of Romans two, all the way beginning in verse one to 24, simply this, although you know better, you do not do better, period. So you know what the Gentile doesn't know, you have this law, but you're not doing it. Now the 21st century American church member would say, how? How? How am I like the Gentiles? Well, the last half of Romans 2 from 25 to 29 is basically saying this, the secret to who we are is who we are in secret. So Paul is saying, whose praise comes from God, not from men. In other words, here's the point. This goes back to the Sermon on the Mount. Men in this country wear their suits and coats to church, and they don't outwardly commit adultery, but they inwardly live in a dream world. And Paul says, you are just as guilty as the Gentile. The same sin in his heart is in your heart. And so he says, Now think about this, Chali told me the other day when she, about how if you're a true Christian, inwardly you seek the praise of God. What that means is when no one else is around, I still am who I am because He sees. And that's all I'm really focused on. So my behavior is consistent, not hypocritical. You know, almost man-pleasing. You wanted someone to acknowledge what you were doing. And then the Lord comes with this piercing exhortation and says, do everything that you do in secret. And don't even let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. And you fast wash your face and clean up before you come out in front of people. So those are the mercies of God. I mean, we used to be man pleasers, do you remember? So with no hope of righteousness inside any of us, the mercies of God in Romans 3, God has acted outside of us in history 2,000 years ago to work out a righteousness whereby we can be made right. Verses 21-26 of Romans 3 are just that. But now, almost like a dark delight at the end of a tunnel, verse 21, but now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested. But now, now that Nebuchadnezzar has lived, and Canaan has lived, and the Gentiles have gone wicked, and the Jews have gone wicked, Now that it might be plain that all men have failed, now the righteousness of God is revealed. Totally, completely fulfilling the law in both its positive and negative aspects. Positive, do this and you will live. He did it. Negative, do this and you will die. He did it. He died. He lived for us. He died for us. Completely fulfilling the law and then Paul says, So let me give you a picture. Alex wanted to go take pictures when Casey was having the birth of Truett and she was trying to go in behind them and she got put out. This word literally is locked out, shut out. And so did she come in there and the nurse said, you can't be in here. She was put out and had to come back to the waiting room. Paul says works of any kind are locked out of the gospel. They're put out, they're sent away, they have no place. It's like Isaac was him. When I surveyed the wondrous cross in which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count as loss and for contempt on all my pride, where then is boast? when you see it. I've used the illustration before of cutting the grass. It's all cut. It's all finished. The brother sits down on the tailgate, glass of sweet tea, says, I'm done. It's foolish and vain to pull up an all-nighter, isn't it? Nothing can be done. And Jesus, He sat down at the right hand of the throne of life because it's done. Now what's so glorious about this? something done outside of us 2,000 years ago. That brings me to the mercies of God in Romans 4, namely this, God's best name. You know how people like to boast that they know God's names? You know, Jehovah, Jarrah, and they get all into this. Well, here's one name most of them have never learned. Him who justifies the ungodly. If it's based on something done outside of me, then it means that God can justify the ungodly. It means I can come to Him trusting in something outside of me, something that was done outside of me. So maybe you remember the street sweeper analogy. That's why it's the mercies of God. The street sweeper can come. The filthy, vile street sweeper. And you will not come any other way. He won't receive you. So, Horatius Bonar in that little booklet, he says at the very beginning, how shall I go to God? It is with all my sin that I must go to God. I have nothing else to call my own. and one which we're slow to learn. The first step, think about that. Like when you think of God receiving you, are you praying first? Are you reading first? Are you helping someone first? Are you performing acts of love first? What is the first movement of your soul? Faith is not to go anywhere but just to collapse for mercy. To him who collapses, He justifies the ungodliness. That's the Gospel. And that's why He calls it the mercies of God. Now what's so glorious about this? That you can come to God as a street sleeper, as filthy, as vile. It's like Fanny Crosby's hymn, the vilest offender that truly believes that moment from Jesus. A pardon receives. What's so glorious about this? Well, the mercies of God in Romans 5, that it leads to hope and assurance. Because my prayer life and my reading and my basking in the glories of Romans 1-11 goes like this. Part of the week is really well, part of the week is not as well, but performance does this. You just don't have to do that. Now he mentions it at the end of chapter 4, verse 16. For this reason, it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed. Think of that. It has to be by faith, so that it has to be by grace, because only then will it be guaranteed. And it's certain. So, back to Spurgeon. You must throw the anchor outside of the boat for security. And we must put our hope outside of ourselves in Christ for security. Look at it. This is what he does in chapter five. He says, hope we've obtained, verse one, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we've obtained our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. The Christian stands before the throne of God, unlike the wicked in Psalm 1 that will not stand in judgment. You know what it's like when you go before a judge and you're guilty. It's kind of like this, you know, as he's looking at me, and you're skittish about walking in the judgment hall. The Christian stands. He can stand in the judgment hall. Pays in fame. We have this access in which we stand and exult in what? Hope. So he mentions it once. Then you get it in verse 4. All this perseverance leads to hope. And then in verse 5, more hope. And watch how verses 6, 7, and 8 grow into hope. If He died for us when we weren't praying, how much more shall we be saved? At least the more hope. Who can forget 12 to 21? Two men and all men. It can't anything motivate hope more than that. And basically saying your deeds don't condemn you or justify you. They play no role at all. You're either an Adam or Christ. Ultimately speaking. But is that it? No, that's not it. So like the hemlock of ages, it says, be for sin the double cure. Save me from its guilt and power. Right? And like the other grace that will what? Pardon and cleanse within. So you get Romans 6, the work of God outside of us in Christ has ripple effects, existential, experiential ripple effect throughout time, and that's why we're here. That's why we're here today. Christ died, and it had a ripple effect. That's why we're here. So let me give you some Bob Jennings outlines Romans 6 to 14 this way. Verses 1 to 10, no. Verse 11, so. Verse 12 to 14, go. All he's saying in verses 6 to 10 is, don't you know this? Don't you know what happened? And then based on what happened, he says, so, draw a conclusion, and then based on that conclusion, don't go on letting sin reign. That's all he's saying. So let me give you some pictures that has been used that I think has been helpful. I'm going to fire hydrant you, but go back and listen to the audio later if you need to. One of them has been this illustration of the soldier who's fighting in the war that's already been won, and he don't even know it. And so he's submitting, he's being held captive and jerked around and everything, and the news just hadn't quite spread to him yet that the victory's already been won. And that's what the believer's doing when he's letting sin pull him around. And you have to say, did you hear the news? The victory has been won? Christ died? This thing no longer has authority over you? It's like Annabelle had Goldie on her back that time. I think I used that before too. And she never, if she had more power than that dog, she could sling it off it all throughout the yard, just crying, just, oh, she's on me. And just ever so often, I'm having to go outside and pull the dog off. And I'm just trying to exhort her, Annabelle, throw the dog off. And you've been, the believer's been used to lust raining over him, anger raining over him, bitterness raining over him, all these things, and you're used to it! You were born in it, and Paul says, swing it off, it shall not have dominion. Negative example, at the end of the Lord of the Rings, when they go in, to, I forgot the name of the place now, but they finally go in and get the victory, and it's just like, all these bad guys fall out. The cross has that ripple effect on the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. At the last final victory, everyone's thawed out. The cross has that ripple effect. Lloyd-Jones used this example of two slave masters, a big, large fence, In between two fields, he says, we were over here. We were bought and paid and transferred into the other field. But sometimes your old master hollers at you through the fence. And because you've been submitting to him so long, you think you have to. It's like running into your old boss at Walmart. You've been submitting to him for 30 years, and you just kind of cower when you get around him. He says, no, he has no more authority over you. The sinner can call, the Christian can call sin's bluff like Gandalf did to that demon. It's raging. Everybody's trying to tell me I have to submit to it, but it shall not pass. False theologies are abounding, but read Romans 6. It shall not have to be submitted. And then you can go further. can pull Clint Eastwood into this thing. You remember the movie, Good, Bad and the Ugly, I think it was. But I saw this scene, I was reading through Colossians one day and he has disarmed the Romans. He's disarmed and I was thinking, what's a good picture? How can I grip this thing? And I remembered, I guess the Lord, I mean, I remembered, use this picture. You remember the do you feel lucky scene? He's got this guy there, and there's been a shootout, and he only had six rounds that could fit in this gun. He's at the shootout, and the bad guy, the last guy's laying there, his gun's about, shotgun's about four feet away. And he's sitting there, and there's this scene, they're looking at each other. And he says, I know what you're thinking. Do you shoot five times or six times? And you tell him to tell you the truth, and all the excitement, I don't know. But since this is the 44 Magnum, it'll blow your head clean off your shoulders. You have to ask yourself one question. And he goes through this scene, and the guy doesn't do it. He don't call his bluff. And then the cops pull up and they're arresting him. He hollers at him. Hey, he turns around, he says, I have to know. He points it at him, pulls the trigger, click. There's nothing there. And Paul says, when you submit to sin, that's what you're doing. There is nothing in that going. Don't let it rain. Call it's bluff, is what he's saying. Don't let it rain. Remember the flow in 619 to 21, two years ago, we did this for New Year's resolution. We said, look at this resolve in verse 19. The Christian is to be zealously serving God with equal zeal that what he zealously serves Satan. Just as he presented his members over here, he's to be presenting them over here. And what's the great motivation? Well, this is the difference between Christian and non-Christian resolve. Lost people are resolved in order that they might get free from something. They're straining, trying to get out of some bind. Paul says, look at the flow, look at the four in verse 20. Do all this, four, and then he goes into saying, you were slaves to sin, but now, verse 22, having been freed from sin. So in Prince Caspian, some of the men get separated As the wall, the gate, the city gate of this castle flows down and they get separated and the ones that are inside, they look at this gate, they realize there's, and they just turn around and go die, get defeated. And the others realize that the gates close and they're on their own. you have been set free from sin. So take off. That's the difference. Between the Christian, Paul prayed for the Ephesians, Jeremy was preaching from it, they might know. If that means anything, it means I sometimes don't realize it. And I need to know. And I need the Lord to show me this. So these are the, is that not the mercies of God? You used to be slaves to this. And now He's telling you, look, urge, go hard, run. Here's the reason, you've been set free. Now sin and law go together. They're a deadly team. And so there's mercies of God in Romans 7 with regard to the law. He says, you died to it, but noticed through the body of Christ. So 2,000 years ago. He died. I died in Him. So just this week, I told someone Chance was having a baby. He wasn't really having a baby, but it came out of my mouth. He had a baby. And I had to write, actually, too, he had a baby. Don't we talk like that? The Bible's not using strange language when it says because we're joined to Christ, we died. We're with Him. So in God's sight, I don't have anything over my head telling me I didn't do this thing right, I do do this. If I didn't do something right, I lived in Him. Be quiet. If I now have done something wrong and I deserve some kind of punishment, I died in Him. I don't have to listen to it. The believer never has to listen to that ever again. Now who can sum up the mercies of God and the great aid? Romans 8. Surely that's sufficient. Insufficient. Let me just make an attempt. What do you do with Romans 8 too? Isn't that a glorious mercy? He says, there you were. Justin always says it when we have these conversations, just getting up and running harder to fall back down again. Like that's how it is when you're under law. You're trying your best to do what you know you should do and you're just a slave. I once read an article by an alcoholic. She was in Alcoholics Anonymous. They were telling her a bunch of idiotic things. And she wrote the article. It was called, I do not want to be the alcoholic that I am. Amazing confession. But Paul says in Romans 8-2, the law of the spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death. were on this plane, they hit turbulence, they were dropping, how many thousand feet was it? Don't even wanna think about it, so now I use a different illustration. No, but when they caught, when they were dropping, what was operating? What law? The law of gravity. When it stopped, what had kicked in? The law of aerodynamics. If you hit the wind in a certain way, if you go at a certain speed, at a certain trajectory, at a certain weight and all this stuff, you will rise higher than the law. It's a higher law than the law of gravity. You know what Paul was saying? You know what was happening to us? We were just falling and a power kicked in, in our life. The law, the spirit of life. And now we find ourselves soaring. in places we never could before. Being kind, being gentle in ways we never could before. And even more than that, we are walking according to the Spirit instead of the flesh. And why? Because we set our minds on the things of the Spirit. Now catch this. Remember, this is not a command. It is an indicative verb, indicated reality, which means you woke up this morning thinking about the things of the Spirit. You fall asleep tonight thinking about this. Sure you have earthly things to worry about, but when you have a free moment, where does your mind go? You see, true saints, true believers are often, if they're mothers, they're frustrated because they can't listen to enough sermons. Earthly matters I'm trying to deal with. And if they're a man working, he's like, I've got to work. I can't listen. They're frustrated. They're wanting to go to the spiritual realm. Always. So I like the illustration of the thermostat. You set a thermostat, and it gets below there. It kicks in and keeps it at that spot. God has set our mind on the things of the Spirit. And don't you find often, this has been too much earthly talk. I need some grace. I want to witness to somebody. I want to hear something. Your mind is set. It's an amazing thing. You're not working to do something, you're just in this realm. Well, there's so many other things. I guess I'll mention some of these others. It seems the Lord's helping to some degree. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit, first of all, think of it. watching a movie, go to bed, thinking about money or whatever, no spiritual thought at all. We used to do that. You know? You woke up in the flesh, operated in the flesh, fell asleep in the flesh, could have perished. Now you wake up in the Spirit, thinking about it. Think of this in Romans 8, 10. in 11, and we see here the Holy Spirit that's been given to us is for two purposes. Not only to assure us we've been justified, because He's given to us as the demonstration that we've been justified, because that is life. But then we saw here, we gloried for a while here in the fact that the Spirit guarantees our resurrection. And that you can actually look at it, because it's the same, this is the way, think of this, The thing that raised him up from the dead is in you and me, if we're believers. Let that set in. And that's why we come up with that check the score analogy. So I get cancer. And? I mean, really? I have the spirit of God and of life. You know, you take an old vehicle and you put a brand new 350 or whatever hot rod engine in it, it doesn't matter what it looks like on the outside, that thing can run. And I know our bodies look weak. I know Justin just had a cold and had to go to, you know, urgent care or whatever, but what he has in him is the power of God. And Paul's, and you know, you could say the same thing for the Christian man that Peter said of Christ. It was impossible for death to hold him. That may be my sermon text. If I'm living a lot before, if one of y'all die before me, I think it's so glorious just to look over the grave and say, it's impossible that death could hold me. Think of it in the realm of prayer. Look at this mercy, Romans 8, 26. The Spirit helps our weak prayers. Do you remember that word, help men to grab the opposite side of? So Tony does some building. I mean, Tony, is it good to have a helper? I mean, somebody that'll, you're trying to build something by yourself, sometimes you can't hold the whole board up. You say, grab, this is helpful. Grab the other end. He may not do nothing, hardly. that just kind of holds some things in place. Well, think of this. How would it be to have an omnipotent helper? And he says we can pray, and you see, this is what's so good about it. We don't have to come up here and fake something. I already know David has weak prayer life. And Jeremy has weak, pitiful prayer. I already know that. So we don't need, and I have weak prayers. And none of us are going to do any good But that's not why we meet and pray. We pray because he's gonna grab the other end of our prayer and help. And haven't you experienced it? You've been praying and just, and sometimes you actually start praying and it's energized by the Holy Spirit. Amazing thing, help and prayer. Romans 8, 28, that's a response to our prayers. God is working everything together for good. And you remember the little girl and the princess puzzle? Well, Dad, that piece is black and I don't like it. It doesn't go there. And you say, trust me, it goes here. In the end, you'll see the picture. And you know what? We don't like autism and death and cancer and suffering. But God says it works together. It fits together. And when it's done, you will have the very picture you always wanted. You're not going to get to heaven and in the new creation have any fault that I wish you would have done just a little bit differently. You're going to say, it came together according to my innermost desires. Exactly what I would have wanted. He's worked in every vein Together, together, not in and of itself, but together. And think of this word, predestined. Do you remember it? You probably don't. Let me tell you, predestined. Herezo. It means to mark out a territory. So you're reading in the gospel, you say, well here Jesus went to the district of whatever. That's the marked out territory. To predestine, destined means to mark out beforehand. So here's what it is. God drew a circle around you. You were marked out beforehand. But here's how it was marked out. Here's the right and wrong picture of election. Annabelle and I, each other, were watching Toy Story one day. And you know this thing gets, what is it, buzzed? He fell into the thing of the toys where his little claw goes in and pulls him out. And so I just thought about it when I saw it. He's being pulled out of there. And you know, like all the other little space, little alien looking thing, they're saying, you've been chosen, like when he's coming out. This mechanical, just raw, just like you've been chosen. That's not Paul's view. Here's a picture of Paul's view. When you get a camera out, you're taking pictures of your kids. And like, there's something called aperture. I learned this when we got our camera. It's those great pictures, you know, where it falls and blurs out everything else, but the person you're looking at is made clear and protruded. Those wonderful pictures. That's what we have here, of a father aperture-ing everything out, marking out his children. God did that to you from the beginning. Marks you out. Notice Paul saying in Ephesians, in love he predestines us to adoption as sons. Amazing thing. I don't know what your thoughts are when you look in the mirror in the morning, but that should be one of them. Marked out in love beforehand. And then, what do you say about this golden chain? I mean, everybody has justified, been called, and everything is glorified. None are left out. There's no dropouts. No one gets held back a grade and fails, and everybody passes. Everybody that's been called, look at it in verse 30. These whom he predestined, he also called. These whom he called, he also justified. So if you got any, you're going to be glorified, which means you're going to be raised up from the dead. Have you ever thought about it? What's that dirt going to feel like? Have you ever been on the beach and you get covered in sand and the moment of coming up, you just feel all this stuff rolling off of you? I don't know where I'll be on earth. Maybe I'll see one of y'all as soon as I come up. Think about it. What's it gonna be like when you feel the Spirit of God raising you from the dead? And you see it all. He says it's gonna happen. There's no dropouts. If you've been justified, you will be glorified. And look at what I call the logic of heaven in verse 32. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him over for us all, howly not also with him. to freely give us all things. Justin and Casey could probably identify with this. Chance and Tootie could identify with it now. I think Jeremy and Summer still could to some degree with Mercy. You have young kids, sometimes we can with Abram. He's been sleeping good lately. But I've always said it this way. This is the logic Paul's using here. If a mother who's lacking in sleep would get up at 2.30 in the morning to tend to the needs of her baby, what do we think we should do, she would do when it's easier, when she's fully rested, she's had all her organic vegetables and vitamins, and she's been able to exercise and be the en vogue mom, kicking on all cylinders, and her son just says, can I have a glass of water? What would she do? That's what Paul is saying. When it was hardest for His love to reach us, when it cost Him the most, He gave His Son away. Now what are the needs in our lives right now? Are they harder than that? If He did the hard thing, do you need a job? Is that it? Really? A cold? Sick? Whatever? His love will reach us. And then we see the resurrection, this great receipt of everything that's been paid. And then I didn't point this out when we were here, so I'm gonna point it out. Verse 37, but in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer. Y'all know the word is Nike for conquer? Now think of this. I mean, what's the most popular pair of Nikes ever been sold? Jordans. And he conquered a lot of stuff. I mean, what, in all sports and everything that he did. Man, we're talking about people conquering death. being victorious over blades cutting their heads off. We're talking about nothing shall separate, neither things present, things to come, death nor life. Who's been victorious over angels and demons? Principalities. Well, Romans 9, 10, and 11 The God who says, I'll have mercy on whoever I'll have mercy, chose to have mercy on some of you. He says, I will have it on whom I have it, Moses. Like that, sink in, he had it on you. We're the Bilbo Baggins of salvation history. Remember when he found the rings? He's like, huh, ring. Paul says Gentiles, it wasn't even seeking for righteousness. attain righteousness. We weren't looking for it. It fell in our lap. And what's he doing with the Jews? He's giving them a period of disobedience just like us. That he might ordain one great Shawshank redemption and have everybody come out at the end glorifying God for his mercy. And Paul says if you sit up under this rain cloud and get drenched in just some of the thoughts that I've been you'll have no problem living a Christian life. I could've just give you one of those. I need no other argument. Need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me and all else that Romans 1, 11 says. I urge you, whatever we may be urging, It's by the mercies of God. That's the motivation. Let's pray together. I want to, Jeremy, if you feel ready for us. Father, in the light of these