Series Title: The Line in the Sand
Message Title: The Finishing Line
Scripture: Romans 6:15-23
The process of cabinet-making. or any wood crafting for that matter, is an interesting procedure to watch. First you draw up the plans for the piece of furniture or cabinet that you have in mind. You then choose the type of wood you would like to use. Each type of wood, remember, is good for certain types of furniture. Then there’s the cutting and the planing (smoothing the surfaces) of the wood. Next, you refine the surface, route the edges and corners, and cut the joints that go together. Now you put the pieces together. This is followed by sanding, oiling, and finishing the surface of the piece, maybe more than once.
Where is this taking us? You were planned long before you were born. You were chosen to be a Christian. Chosen by God to spend eternity with Him. Your being here today is no mistake because you’re in His plan. You are in His ‘cabinet making’ plan, so to speak, for your life. Yet, unlike that piece of wood, or any piece of furniture, you have a say about how long you stay at a particular step during the sanctification process. You have a voice in how refined you become along the way. And, you have a say about whether or not you’re going to be used by the owner.
Yes, it’s up to the potter to form the pot. And, it’s up to the potter whether to make a fancy pot, or an average looking pot, or just a plain old ‘utility’ pot. But, unlike the pot, which has no say in whether it wants to be used or not, Christians, have a choice. You have a choice on just how much, if any, you want to be used by the potter. Again, you have no say in what kind of pot you are, but you do have a choice in whether or not you want to be used.
Romans 9:21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
This scripture tells us that each one of us has a purpose in God’s plan. Whether for noble purposes or common, each one of us has a position to fill in the body of Christ.
Now, with that said, we move on to the next stage of development, becoming like Christ.
Did you know that it is the Holy Spirit’s job to produce Christlike character in you? You are incapable of reproducing the character of Jesus on your own. Sure, you can make your New Year’s resolutions, or take a course in controlling your will power, or be part of a positive thinking seminar, but those are all based on human reasoning, upon human habits, upon you being in control of your life. They’re not based on God’s will for your life. Listen to this:
Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Paul tells us that we need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s work. It’s the Spirit of God at work in you that makes you who you are in Christ. Do you remember Paul’s vision of a man standing and begging him to come over to Macedonia? What did they do when they realized what the vision was? Did they get a committee together to discuss the missionary possibilities or the support they may need to go to Macedonia? No, they cooperated with the Holy Spirit and went to Macedonia.
If the sum of your habits is to question God’s will for your life, your habits need to be changed. Your character is essentially the sum of your habits. What kind of habits do you have that are defacing your character? Would one of those habits be, not listening to the Spirit’s direction for your life?
Here’s a familiar story from the Old Testament about trusting the Spirit of the Lord:
Joshua 3
13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap."14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
It is absolutely essential to submit to the Holy Spirit in allowing Him to make you more and more Christlike each and every day. To allow you to cross the rivers and streams of this life without getting your feet wet. That’s what we call sanctification. Listen to 2 Corinthians 3:18, first from the NLT, and second, from the NIV…
(2Corinthians 3:18, NLT) So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.
(NIV) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Are you becoming more and more like Him every day? Or, are you becoming more and more like you every day?
If you answered yes to the latter question, then you are not following the three step failsafe plan in Ephesians 4:
Ephesians 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Putting off your former way of life (vv. 22), change your thinking (vv. 23), and put on a new self (vv. 23). All of which can only be accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit!
This is the finishing line! No, we’re not talking about a line that we cross when we finish a race. What we’re talking about is a line that we’ve submitted to be in so that as we progress through that line, we receive a constant finishing process through the Holy Spirit!
Our scripture passage today, Romans 6:15-23, brings us back into focus on what we were, where we’re at, and where we’re going in the sanctification process of the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at those verses:
Romans 6:15-23
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Master/Slave=Lessons in Communication
In these verses, Paul undertakes to teach us a quick course on essential communications for the Christian. What do you know about communication? This mother thought she knew how to communicate with her two year-old daughter. She says,
Returning home one afternoon with my two daughters, Kimberley, age two, and Kristi, six months, I pulled into my driveway and stopped to check the mailbox. But when I returned to the car, I found Kimberley had pushed the locks down on both doors and I had left the key in the ignition. For an hour I tried to explain to Kimberley how to pull up the door handle. I was on the verge of tears. My husband wasn’t home, and since we live in the country, there were no neighbors to help. Finally Kimberley stood up and softly tapped on the window. As I looked down at her, she said, "Mommy, do you want me to roll down the window?"
Almost everything I do, no matter what role I’m in, whether it’s as a friend, husband, father, network administrator, computer technician, or pastor, I’ve always believe there is a simpler way to do things. The simple way is the best way. No matter how you sort it, categorize it, classify it, catalog it, or group it, the simple way is the best way. Paul tells us exactly that. Simply put, when you offered yourself to Jesus, you became His slave. You are free from sin. That means you don’t have to listen to the old sin nature anymore. Remember last week we said that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross made your sin nature a quadriplegic? Sin doesn’t have the same pull on your life as it once had.
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
The Master/Slave=Lessons in Communication are thus:
1. You’ve offered yourself.
2. Now you’re obligated to obey [if you’re sincere about the offer.]
3. Obey the Word to which you were entrusted and be set free TODAY!
Sanctification=Some Assembly Required
When you gave your life over to God, you were immediately set free from sin and immediately free to pursue a life given over to God.
Let me ask you this…has your Christian life become just a little boring? Has your walk with the Lord lost some of the initial luster that it once had when it was brand new? Well, then, it’s time to sing…
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
Refrain
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Refrain
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Refrain
When you first became a Christian, you needed more care, more revelation, more assurance, more instruction in your walk with the Lord to establish a foundation that could not be shaken by the upheaval of the world around you. You needed a foundation that couldn’t be shattered by the winds of the world that attempted to engulf a bewildered, young Christian. But, as you grew older in the Lord, upon that foundation was built a stronger faith through His help and His direction; unbreakable pillars of trust were reinforced by HIs Word; resilient layers of belief were laid one on top of the other through constant prayer and communication with the Father; permanent and indestructible framework was raised up through His empowerment and encouragement as you focused on and followed His will for your life.
Sanctification come with some assembly required. Let’s go through that list again…
When you first became a Christian, you needed more care, more revelation, more assurance, more instruction in your walk with the Lord to establish a foundation that could not be shattered by the winds of the world. As you grew older in the Lord, upon that foundation was built a stronger faith through His help and His direction; unbreakable pillars of trust were reinforced by HIs Word; resilient layers of belief were laid one on top of the other through constant prayer; permanent and indestructible framework was raised up through His empowerment and encouragement as you focused on His will for your life.
This is your brain on the world…[picture]
This is your brain on God…[picture]
This is your brain on sin…[picture]
This is your brain on Jesus…[picture]
It’s been said that the average computer will use around 90 watts of power, while the human brain, when it’s engaged in deep thought, uses only 14 watts of power.
Sanctification=some assembly required.
Set Point=Advantage Jesus
In the game of tennis, if each player has won three points, the score is described as "deuce" (from the French meaning two). The player who wins the next point after deuce is said to have the advantage. Though an odd comparison, and by no means doing Him any justice, Jesus, with His finished work on the cross at Calvary, has won the next point; Jesus has the advantage. And, we’re told in the Bible, and we know in our hearts, that He will win over the world after He raptures His church from this world.
But, in the meantime, what benefit do we have from this advantage Jesus? A benefit that leads to Holiness! Now when I first glanced at this, I simply and quickly read that the benefit was holiness, but it’s not. …the benefit you reap leads to holiness, that is what it says. The benefit of becoming a slave to God, the benefit of allowing God’s Spirit to indwell you and sanctify you, the benefit of allowing the Spirit of God to convict and educate you according to the will of God for your life, WILL lead you to holiness, which will lead to eternal life.
These are the things that God wants for you [note: I said for you and not from you.]
Matthew 22:37-40
(Jesus replied:)
"’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Psalm 9
1 For the director of music. To the tune of "The Death of the Son." A psalm of David. I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. 3 My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you. 4 For you have upheld my right and my cause; you have sat on your throne, judging righteously. 5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever. 6 Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished. 7 The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. 8 He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice. 9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. 11 Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done. 12 For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted. 13 O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death, 14 that I may declare your praises in the gates of the Daughter of Zion and there rejoice in your salvation. 15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. 16 The LORD is known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion. Selah17 The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God. 18 But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish. 19 Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence. 20 Strike them with terror, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah
