Holiness with joy

Let's go to the word of the Lord, brothers, in the Epistle to the Romans in chapter 6, Romans chapter 6, please. Rather than continue with chapter 7, I felt we should dwell on chapter 6 a bit more and continue to elaborate on this idea.

I think also the preaching last Sunday by Andrew Comiskey made me pause a bit longer, and conversations I've had throughout the week about God's call to the Church, that process of sanctification and greater surrender of our lives to the Lord and fully embracing and integrating the called by God through that process of death that occurs in the believer when he receives Christ, when he is symbolically baptized into the death of Jesus, and then lives as people who have been raised from the dead, which means a life of holiness, a life of good works, a life... of fruits of righteousness. The importance of the Church at this time in history when the world is moving more and more in the opposite direction to the holiness that God calls for, and the values of the kingdom of God, if the Church is going to point out sin in the world, you had better settle your affairs within your own home, and we in God's people face in a serious way God's call to holiness.

And so I want to dwell a little bit more on this chapter that we didn't really get the most out of it anyway two weeks ago when we went into it a little bit deeper. But look, in chapter 6, right there where we started last time, but in verse 5, verse 5 through 11, the Apostle Paul says, "For if we were planted together with Him in the likeness of His death..." Remember that we talked about... Paul talks about baptism, which is a public act carried out by the Christian, identifies the believer with the death of Jesus. When the believer enters the baptismal waters, and is submerged in the baptismal waters, the Apostle Paul says that this is a symbol of the believer's death. It is submerged It's like drowning. Christ saw his death on the cross as a baptism, in fact. He asked the disciples who wanted to sit one on his right, one on his left, he said, “Are you willing to be willing with the baptism that I will be baptized with? In other words, are you willing to be crucified like me if you truly want the glory that I am going to receive? There is an identification of death with baptism. So when the person is submerged in the baptismal waters, for a moment, being submerged, he identifies with the death of Christ. And when he comes back to the surface, he then identifies with the resurrection of Jesus, and he comes out of those baptismal waters to a new life.

Remember something, the first Christians in the first century, I told some brothers about this matter, actually from the people come forward and receive Christ as Lord and savior. It was not, in fact, the first way that was used for people to give public testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ. The way believers identified themselves in ancient times was through baptism. When they were baptized, they gave public testimony of their belief and their consecration to Jesus. And they were identified with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Paul develops all of that in chapter 6. For example, when he talks about, “Don't you know…” in verse 6, “Don't you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? ” You see that idea there. So look at this interesting process that the Bible identifies as the sanctification of the believer, getting closer to that pure life, that holy life that God asks of us by dying. If one has not died in the spiritual sense of the word, it will be very difficult for one to live a life that pleases the Lord. I have told you that the Apostle Paul also speaks elsewhere about considering ourselves dead to sin. That is to say, there has to be a mental transformation in us, that we say to ourselves, I already died to sin. I am no longer of this world, I no longer have the right to visit those places that I visited before, to see those things that I saw before, to practice those things that I practiced before, to have those friendships that corrupted me and those conversations that I had before. I already died to those things, and now I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. Amen.

It is important, brothers, that each believer when he enters the Christian life identifies with the death of Jesus Christ. That concept has not become so real to us, and that is why I believe that so many believers come to Church, remain in the gospel, but never take that step of completely sanctifying themselves, and seeking that pure life that God seeks. Otherwise we kind of live divided, schizophrenic lives. We have one foot in the world and the other foot in Christian life, and from time to time we take our little escape there, and we do this, and we do that. We have not died in our mind, not in our mouth, we have not died in our pocket, we have not died in the things we see, the things we read, the things we distract ourselves with, the conversations we have, the verbal habits we have . We have not died to those things, and we still allow that old man to continue to live, because we have not told ourselves, wait a minute, I, if I entered the gospel, died. It says… “old things have passed away,” and Paul always talks about that in the past. And these things you were, before, but now etcetera. This concept of death is so important, and is totally, closely linked to the concept of sanctification and holiness. And so that is why here in this reading that we have just done in chapter 6, he talks about whether we were planted together with him in the likeness of his death. So we will also be in his resurrection. How interesting.

It is not only the concept of death, which is important to keep in mind, but there is also the concept of resurrection. Note that the Christian life is not only a matter of negativities, dark things, we die, we are crucified, etc., no. There are beautiful things too. There is a call to life. And we not only stay dead, but we also rise to a new life, to a pure life, to a holy life, but also to a life of victory and blessing, and achievements, and growth, and spiritual development. , and of potentialities, and power. Marvelous. I want to talk a little about that.

That is, all these concepts: death, resurrection, baptism, are linked to each other. No? But there are also others. Of course, the concept of sin is very important there, because we die to sin, and rise to works of justice. There is another concept that I want to talk to you about as well, and that is the concept of slavery and freedom. There is also that sense here in all of this that when we are raised to that new life we also stop being slaves to sin. Sin no longer rules over us, says the Apostle Paul. What does it mean to "rule"? It means that sin no longer dominates us. It already loses its control over our life. It loses its inevitability. It is like when man falls into Christ, he is put in a cage, he is put in a cell, he is a slave, he is a prisoner of sin. He is doomed to sin, and has no choice, and is a slave to sin. His mind thinks sinful things, and man can't get out of it. You can't rebel against it. His inner being is occupied by sin. But when one is in Christ, that control, that domain of sin is already lost, and I now have the freedom to reveal myself against sin, and to live a life free of sin. Amen.

Look at what it says for example in verse 15, it says, or go to verse 14 in chapter 6, “…for sin shall not have dominion over you.” He will not rule. That is, it is a definitive statement that God says to you. Sin is not going to have dominion over your life. Amen. And you have to tell yourself that. When you are struggling with situations in your life, say, “Sin is not going to have dominion over my life in Jesus name,” and the discussion is over. Amen. You are not under the law, but under grace. Verse 16 says, "You do not know that if you submit to someone as slaves to obey them you are slaves of the one whom you obey, whether to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness, but thank God that even though you were slaves to sin …” Look at what he says: 'you were'. I was a slave to sin. "...Even though you were a slave to sin, you have obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine to which you were delivered, and freed from sin, you came to make deer of justice..." Here is also something very interesting with this... Do these see? terms? It is important to understand them, because they are repeated many times in writing.

When I am released from the control, the domain, the lordship of sin, it is not that now I am like a lawless goat, as they say out there, that I am jumping through the mountains doing what I want win. Oh, I'm free now. Glory to… No. Now you know what's up? That you change gentlemen. Amen. Yes or no? Now... Before the devil was your lord, sin was your lord, now Christ becomes your lord. Before you were a deer of impiety, of iniquity, of sin. Now you are what? Deer of what? Of justice, of holiness. It's not that… No, what happens is that you changed your citizenship, but now there is an authority over you. It is the authority of Christ. Before it was the yoke of sin that enslaved you, killed you, destroyed you. Now says the Lord Jesus Christ, take my yoke upon you, because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Before you had a foreman who whipped you and took the juice out of you every day there. I destroyed you. It didn't give you an outlet at all. Now you have a Lord who loves you, blesses you, exalts you. He tells you, look, I'm not even going to call you deer, I'm going to call you my friend, says the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to talk to you now.

When the Lord gives you His dominion, He gives it to you to bless you. He gives it to you to get up, so that you enter into your full potential, so that you have a fruitful life, so that you have the power to do the things that you have to do in your life. We're free. The Lord Jesus Christ says, for example, in the chapter, in Luke, chapter 8, he says that "if the son sets you free, you will be truly free." I mean, that's very, very important for us to understand. He says that, from certain to... I say that everyone who makes sin a slave is of sin. And the slave does not stay in the house forever. The son does remain forever. So if the son frees you, you will be truly free. The only way a person can be truly free is by serving God, by serving Jesus Christ, by serving justice. Remember that always. So all these terms are tied together: slavery, freedom, new life, baptism, resurrection, death, serving justice.

There is another concept that is used a lot in the Bible. It is 'deliver'. The Bible says, "Let us not give our bodies over to sin." And that is very important. Man without God surrenders his body to sin, surrenders his life to sin, but the son of God surrenders his life to Jesus Christ to do works of justice. We must give our life to the Lord. Look at what it says in verse 17, "But thank God that although you were slaves to sin, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered." In another passage later in chapter 12 in Romans it says that, “let us give up our bodies as a living sacrifice.” Yes or no? Do you remember this passage?

There is another, also that concept of 'presenting', that same idea of delivering. In verse 13 of chapter 6 he says, "Neither present your members to sin as an instrument of iniquity, except present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness." Go here the game is between justice deer, die, deliver, submit. Only when we enter the new life in Christ, we have to present our body, our lives for a blessing, not a curse.

I'm going to sum it all up this way. The Christian's death to sin includes the concept of resurrection. Now, resurrection includes the following concepts. I'm going to summarize everything I'm saying in four things. Number one, when I now rise to new life in Christ Jesus through death to sin, and death is in Christ with Christ identifying me, first, that resurrection now to new life includes the following: freedom from the empty rituals of religion death. You see when I am now raised in Christ and dead to sin, one of the things my death includes in my resurrection is freedom from the empty rituals of dead religion. Paul talks a lot about that.

For example, let's go to Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2 says, for example, there… Let's go to verse 12, Colossians 2-12. "Buried with Him in baptism..." Notice, in another book the same idea says. “Buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him…” Baptism includes death and resurrection. "...Through faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead..." includes that identification with the death of Christ and his resurrection, and you, being dead in sins and in the unincussion of your flesh, he gave life together with Him forgiving us all our sins” etc. So look what is the conclusion of that. The fact that he has given us new life, Christ Jesus. In verse 16 it says, “Therefore let no one judge you in food or drink, or in regard to feast days, new moons, or sabbaths, all of which are shadows of things to come, but the body is of Christ. No one deprives you...", that is, no one exempts you from your prize affecting humility and worship of angels, etc. Verse 20, "For you have died with Christ as regards the income of the world, because as if you lived in the world you submit to precepts such as do not handle, or taste, or even touch according to commandments and the goods of men things that all are destroyed with use.”

What is the Apostle Paul referring to here? I don't have time to go into all of this unfortunately, but Paul was referring to a doctrine that was going around in the church of Colosse, in the city of Colosse, where Christians were being confused and led to return to certain rituals of don't eat that, don't eat that, save this day, save the other day. And the Christian religion, which is a religion of freedom, has been becoming a religion of commandments, of religiosity. Brothers, let us be careful with this sterile religiosity that we can fall into it. I say, brothers, that the true Christian religion, I can identify where the spirit of Christ truly is, because where the spirit of Christ is, there is joy, there is freedom, there is laughter, there is joy. Brothers, the Christian religion is not a religion there of all fallen people and walking as fearful of this, fearful of the other. It is a religion of freedom, of joy, of celebration. There is that church where you enter, and you feel that you have entered a funeral, and I always think of those sisters when you shake their hands, they give you the tips of all four fingers. They put it on like a wedge like that, and they don't even tighten it because they're afraid of contaminating themselves with a man who shakes their hand. And I say, but where is the freedom of Christ? We live like fleeing from sin, looking behind so that the cuckoo doesn't catch us. And you have to be that careful with everything you do, and everything is a law here, and other things there, and everyone the devil, the devil this, the devil that. Where is the freedom in which Christ set us free, brothers? Brothers, the holiness of God is a holiness of joy, it is a holiness of joy, it is a holiness of celebration. Hallelujah. We must not walk with that fear with which many Christian people live, fearing the devil more than the heavenly Father who has set us free.

And when we enter into the resurrection that Christ makes possible, one of the things Yes, I don't call it a holiness, but I call it a holiness of joy, joy, celebration, friendship, enjoying life within the framework of holiness that God has established. You have to have a balance, that's what we say. No? And Christ frees us from that compulsive, unhealthy, psychological religiosity that what it does is create more sins, that many times there are churches where there is so much holiness here, things there, long skirts, and long necks, and long tongues. Sometimes, brothers, there is more sin than in other places, because it is a psychological holiness, it is a holiness based on fear, not on the freedom with which Christ has set us free. That is the resurrection. It's the resurrection.

I love a celebratory sanctity, a sanctity where people can laugh, and where they can eat good food, and watch a good movie, and listen to good uplifting music. Why not? Not all of them contain that sweety framework, and no, there's great music in the world that can be uplifting too. Now, choose something that is uplifting, that is within the values of the kingdom of God, not something that will impoverish your mind, but you have to enjoy. Everything that God made I bless, and God is good. The Christian has taken the sting out of death, and we can now enjoy a healthy life, a joyful life, a balanced life. So freedom from sin, as we see here, that death sets us free as well. He frees us from all those rudiments of religious life, that self-righteous one who does not know the joy of the Lord.

That's why the son who stayed at home in the prodigal word of God... I wish we had time to unpack all that stuff. The son, the brother of the prodigal son, is a type of dead religion, the religion that does not enjoy the closeness of the Father. And the son who stayed at home, who behaved well, who never did anything wrong, who never even broke a plate, when the prodigal son comes, and his father welcomes him, he says, “Kill the fatted calf. Let's have a party. Put some nice clothes on him, put a ring on him.” The good son says, “Oh,” and he gets upset, and he's over there tucked into a corner, and the dad says, “But what's wrong with you, son?” He says, "This boy spent all your money, he was embarrassed, and now you come and kill the fatted calf and throw him a party, and I always behaved well, I stayed at home, and this, and the other, and you have never even given me a little lamb to share with my friends.” And the father says, “But son, if everything I have is yours,” wanting to tell him, why didn't you take and kill not one but ten calves? They were there. Are yours.

And there are many Christians like that who have the blessing of God, the wealth of the inheritance of Christ, and do not enjoy the blessings, of the Christian life, and they are with this fear, this sterility, this anguish . Brothers, we have to free ourselves in the Lord. We have to tell things from the past, I am not going to live tied to a bad memory, to a trauma from the past, I am free in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. And I am going to live the freedom that is in Christ Jesus. I'm not going to keep licking my wounds and thinking about what was done to me or what happened in the past. I am now celebrating the feast in… Hallelujah. O holy is the Lord. There is a party that Christ makes possible, and you have to choose what you are going to live in, whether you are going to live in the barrenness of the past or in the glorious present that Christ has made possible through his death on the cross, and that you He has risen together with Him. Glory to the Lord. Long live the party that the Father makes possible. When you got into the gospel, Dad said, "Look, take all the calves, kill them all, put the best clothes on those people." That is why Paul says that he prays that our understanding be opened so that we may know the richness of the inheritance that we have in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah.

There is no room for a sterile and dead religiosity, because Christ has set us free. Hallelujah. That resurrection that comes after death, and that comes as a result of that holiness that Christ makes possible, another thing that it does to us is that it gives us spiritual authority. It gives us spiritual authority. In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 to 6, the Apostle Paul says, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead," look at the idea of dead, "...even when us dead in sin, made us alive together with Christ. By grace I am saved,” he says. And look here, here's the punch line, as it says, here it comes, it says, “And he raised us up together with him,” what we were saying, death, resurrection, “and likewise made us sit in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. ” Hallelujah. “He made us sit in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus.” Do you know that you are not sitting here in León de Judá right now? You are not sitting at 68 North Hampton Street. In the spirit, you are sitting on the heavenly throne up there with Christ Jesus. Remember that. When the devil wants to tell you, “No, you are my puppet. I control you. I can give you all the diseases that I want. I can steal your money whenever I want. I can send your children to hell," you say, "You were wrong. I have authority over you. I am seated with Christ in the heavenly places. You have to obey me. I am above you."

The word says that God raised up Christ, and gave him a name above all names, and we, sitting together with Christ, have that same authority that Christ Jesus has. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me, therefore go your way,” meaning, as I have it, so do you, so go and conquer. Make disciples of all nations. Conquer, establish the lordship of the kingdom of God over all places. You have to understand this. The position that you occupy spiritually that God has made possible through your resurrection with Christ, that gives you power, gives you authority. There are many Christians who are under the slavery of the devil, who have no power, who are always looking for the pastor to anoint them, for the pastor to work for them, for the pastor, the devil is doing this to me, the other, pastor help me It is because they do not understand that they are seated with Christ Jesus in heavenly places. He who understands that does not need, even. I'm not saying that, understand what I'm saying, but if you understand that you are with Christ in the heavenlies, you don't need anyone else in a speaking sense. They put you on a lonely island, and there you are the king. When you come to see, the gorillas are serving you and bringing you bananas every day, because you are the Lord, you are seated with Christ in heavenly places. If I am parachuted to the moon there with the help of the Lord, I will rule, because I am seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Hallelujah.

Wherever you are, Christ enters with you. You have power, brother. You have power, great power, because you in authority are seated in heavenly places. So you can't live a mediocre life. You cannot live a pusillanimous life, you cannot live a life adjusting to the circumstances and problems of life. You have to reveal yourself and say no. Christ seated me before Him. I am seated next to the King, at the same level as the King. I have authority over all circumstances in my life. Many Christians suffer for this, because they do not understand this great truth. That is why we are in crisis all the time, because we have not fulfilled ourselves. God has to do a lobotomy, and change our carnal brain and put a spiritual brain inside of us, that understands. That is why Paul speaks of him praying that the eyes of our understanding be opened so that we can understand how great is the power that God has caused to dwell within us, the same power that raised Christ from the dead. You have within you a war tank, a war tank engine. You don't have a small Volkswagen tank there. No. You have the engine of one of those big and powerful jet planes that fly through the air. That is what God has put inside of you, even more powerful than that. You are seated next to Christ in the heavenly places. Amen. Praise the Lord.

Remember that. I am sitting in authority. In authority I am up there. In the world I walk down here physically, but in the spirit I am up, and the spirit always reigns over the flesh, spiritual authority, freedom from religion dead and empty, spiritual authority. Other than Christ is freedom from ties. Say Amen in the name of Jesus, freedom from ties, from addictions, from compulsive sins, from sinful inclinations, from emotional illnesses. Christ has freed you from all these things. You can't say, “I either can't, I can't deal with this depression. This depression is killing me. This anxiety does not leave me. That wound from the past, what they did to me in the past…” And one is always splashing through that quagmire. No? “Oh, I can't break with this liquor. Ah, I cannot break with this mental addiction, with this problem, because..." No. Brothers, the Lord said, "Sin shall not have dominion over you."

First Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 13 says, "No temptation has come upon us that is not human, but God is faithful who will not cause you to be tempted beyond what you can resist, if not together with the temptation he will give the way out so that you can endure.” Nobody say to me, "I can't fight this sin." No. "It's already too late, I'm too old, already this and the other." Look, Christ has said, "I give you the way out." With every situation, with every temptation there is a way out. believe it. That's why no one can, should adjust to sin and say, “I'm not going to get out of this. I have to adjust to it." Because Christ always gives a way out in any situation of sin.

And in Romans 6, we already read it, chapter 14, it says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you.” And in verse 22 he says, "But now that you have been freed from sin and have become God's deer, you have sanctification as your fruit and eternal life as the end." That is one of the problems. With this issue of homosexuality, homosexuals say, "I am homosexual, and I cannot change, because that is my identity." And there are many churches that have said, "Okay, the poor, you have to accept them that way, because that's the way they are, and you can't get out of it." The Bible says, "Sin shall not have dominion." It says that we have been freed from the slavery of sin. No one can say, "I am doomed to this, and I can no longer change." You can always change, brothers. There is always a way out, there is always hope, there is always an answer, there is always a possibility in Christ Jesus, there is always a solution to every problem. I always tell them, "There is a solution." When there are problems in my life, I say, “There is a way out, a solution,” and I search, and I search, and I feel around until I find the exit door. It has always been like this. Even in family, emotional, economic, physical problems, sometimes there are things that I in my life, a construction problem or whatever, and say, "No, you can't." And I say, “Let's explore. Let's go search." And there are always ways out, brothers. There is always a solution to any life situation. This is what I say. We are free from bondage in Christ Jesus. Remember that. Never say, “I can't change anymore. I have to submit to this burden, to this problem.” The Lord told you, "You are free, and I have made you free." Hallelujah.

And Christ makes us free again, finally for a new life, fruits of righteousness, good works, sanctification, good things. I'll just have to read it because I've even gone too far, but these are such, such powerful things, brethren. O Glory to the Lord. You have to… Look at the verse, chapter 3 of Colossians. "If then you have risen with Christ, seek the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God..." You see that very idea of resurrection with Christ etc. “…Set your sights on things above, not on things on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” And then a whole list of things to do begins. In verse 5 it says, “Put earthly peoples to death in us,” fornication, uncleanness, etc. One of the things that this new life explains is putting to death all those low, vile things, those practices that drag us down. But it is not only sin like this, more fatty. In verse 8 it says, but now you also leave all these things. Because? Because there are many people who say, "I no longer commit fornication, adultery, I don't kill anyone, I don't kick old ladies in the street, so I don't have to do anything anymore." But notice. They still speak bad words, they gossip about people, they abuse their children. It says, "But now put off all these things, wrath, wrath, malice, blasphemy, dishonest words out of our mouths." There is a second level of sanctification, that level of those little sins, no, that contaminate our lives so much, and that sometimes because we are lazy we don't work on them as well. And we have to work on that level.

But you know what? There is still a third level, because the new life in Christ Jesus is not only putting off the bad things, but it is also putting on the new man. Yes or no? Look at verse 12. It says, “Put on then…” The first thing was to undress, but if you undress and don't dress, they put you in prison. Yes or no? Then he says, “Put on therefore as God's elect,” verse 12, “holy and beloved…”