Living in the light of Eternity
Part 1
August 12, 2001
Romans 6:16-23
We’re here this morning because we love God, we love the souls of men and women.
We’re putting every bit of our strength to see God’s kingdom go forward.
We want to see the Church of God blossom forth in all of her glory and power.
We want to see every honest heart anywhere reached with the precious gospel truth.
We want to be able to rejoice in the experience of salvation that we’ve found.
I want to study with you this morning in Romans the 6th chapter.
You read in the Bible over and over where Peter said I want to stir up your pure minds in way of remembrance.
Even though you already know these things.
There are things, my friend, that will become clouded.
We can just get so busy living and tied up with the things of life that some of the things of God that we need to remember kind of goes dim in our mind and we don’t think upon them as we ought to.
So we want to just study again this morning.
Romans 6:16 beginning “Know you not that to whom you yield your self-servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey.”
And I want to read that again in the New Living Translation and it reads Romans 6:16
16 Don’t you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval.
And I might just stop there a moment.
I say these things need to be brought to our remembrance.
Why?
We see people, my friend, that know the truth, have been around the truth a long time, dabbling around with sin and the things of sin yet turn around and tell you, Brother Pruitt, don’t worry about me.
I’m not going to do this or that.
You need to be reminded again this morning.
There’s only two masters and you are serving one or the other!
And you are going to do what your master wants you to do.
I know it’s old time simple truth but it is profound truth and we need to be reminded of it.
Why?
The enemy today is working on the minds of too many people.
I want to repeat.
Making them feel I can handle myself. I’ll guide my own step.
Don’t you worry about me, preacher. I’ll make it all right.
You need to be reminded this morning.
There is just one thing you need to know for sure! Who you are serving!
And then the next thing that you need to know is this!
You’re going to end up doing what he wants you to do, not what you want to do!
This is why penitentiaries are full, hospitals are full.
People are in sad conditions and wondering how they got there.
I can tell them how they got there. Most everyone of them.
Because, my friend, they were following step by step, a devised plan of their master.
Brother, the Devil has only one thing in mind for us this morning and that’s destruction! That’s destruction!
First of every good moral principal we’ve got.
A destruction of honesty, sincerity, all the good principals that God put within you, the devil is out one by one to destroy them and bring you to a place of complete destruction soul and body, if he possibly can.
So I say we need to pick up are ears this morning and once again be reminded of the fact that to who ever we yield our self servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey whether sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness.
And I want to just tell you this morning you just might as well quit putting your time and efforts in trying to follow any religious leader this morning that presents you any kind of righteousness without obedience!
Brother there is countless millions deceived today right in church houses, that are made to believe that they got a righteousness by faith, all they have to do is believe in Jesus Christ and no matter how they live they will be eternally saved.
But righteousness begins by faith and you go to greater righteousness by obedience!
And there is no way to reach that greater attainment of righteousness without obedience to God’s eternal word!
Now let’s finish reading our scripture,
Romans 6:17-23
17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you.
18 Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.
19 I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is easy to understand. Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy.
20 In those days, when you were slaves of sin, you weren’t concerned with doing what was right.
21 And what was the result? It was not good, since now you are ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.
22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now, let’s don’t allow the enemy to use our mind one moment mixing sin and righteousness together.
I know known evangelists are getting on the television and telling you that they live a righteous life but yet they are a sinner.
Brother, it’s a lie against God’s word!
When you are in righteousness you are free from sin!
And when you are in sin you are free righteousness!
We’re talking about inseparable things this morning.
The devil’s move in these last years is just to mix everything together.
He wants to take away the black as it were, the blackness of sin and the whiteness of holiness and mix the two together and bring us into kind of a gray condition!
That would take everybody in.
But God is speaking again in his word this morning.
Friend, when you’re living in sin there is no righteousness about you!
And when you are living in righteousness, there is no sin about you!
Well, somebody said, “When does the great change come?”
Well, I just read it to you but I’m going to take time and read it again.
He said in verse 17, but God be thanked,( and he is the one to thank) you were the servants of sin, but you will pay from the heart that form of doctrine which delivered you being then made free from sin!
When would you set free from sin?
When you obeyed the word of God.
When the gospel was preached to you. Told you to repent.
Come and confess your sins to God.
Commit your life into God’s hands! Give up! Let another master take your life!
Right then you were set free from sin and became a servant of righteousness.
Now he goes right on and said when you were the servants of sin you were free from righteousness.
Romans 6:18-23
18 Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.
19 I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is easy to understand. Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy.
20 In those days, when you were slaves of sin, you weren’t concerned with doing what was right.
21 And what was the result? It was not good, since now you are ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.
22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
I want you to notice in verse 21 and 22 we want to pick up a little there.
My friend, he begins to say for the end of those things is death.
Verse 21 and 22 he deals with the end of those things.
I want to talk with you this morning and study with you for a while about the thought of living, in the light of eternity.
Living in the light of eternity. Paul talks about the end of those things.
And I want to say this morning every man who is wise and every woman who is wise will consider the end of their actions.
Now we know the enemy of souls and our flesh will not cause us to consider the end of our action, but Paul tells us there in verse 21 and 22 that there’s two ends that everyone should consider.
Friend, if we are going to go on and live after the flesh, and just do the things that are pleasing to the flesh, and live in sin, he tells the end of those things is death.
Then he goes on to tell us thank God if we have been truly born again and we have really been saved, if we yield our members to God and live in obedience to God.
Thank God the end of that will be everlasting life.
So he sets forth two kinds of people before our minds this morning.
We want to study them a little bit to the servant of sin, the one still living in sin, the end of those things is death.
And when he speaks of death, he is not talking about physical death, but he is talking about spiritual death, separation from God eternally.
See the Bible tells us right now the soul that sinneth it shall die.
God told Adam the day you eat of that tree you’ll die.
Well, he lived quite a number of years and raised a family but there was a death that took place.
He was driven from God’s presence. He was not allowed to have fellowship with God.
My friend, his communion, his fellowship with God was completely cut off.
And this is exactly what sin does with us yet today.
My friend, it brings about spiritual death, brings about a separation from God as Isaiah said in Isaiah 59, the Lord’s ears are not heavy.
He still sees. He still hears.
But the reason he don’t hear your prayer is because your sin and your inequity has separated between you and your God.
So the end of listening to sin! The end of following sin!
Being the servant of sin is eternal separation from God.
See, sinner friend, your separation from God right now.
And all you need to do is nothing to be eternally separated from God!
You’re separated from God right now for time, and all you need to do to let physical death come on you, or this world will come to an end and you will be separated from God eternally.
Now he reverts to the other thought of the servant of God.
And I want you to see there are just two kinds of people.
We are either serving sin or we’re serving God.
He just deals with two kinds of servants here.
Everyone of us have one master or the other in out lives!
And everyone of us are servants of one or the other.
So he let’s us know the servant of sin, the end of him for him will be eternal death!
To the servant of God, the end will be everlasting life and here life is just the opposite of death.
Spiritual death separates you from God. Jesus came to bring you life.
Bring you back in fellowship with God!
In right fellowship with God and if you will be his servant you can have eternal fellowship.
Or eternal life. You will never have to be separated from God.
Here during the hours of death, after the hours of death or through eternity!
You never have to be separated from God!
So, I say, may God help us this morning. To lift our eyes and look.
Take a look at where we’re going to end up.
Somebody said, why do you want to spend time on that?
Because the devil today charms men’s mind.
He let’s them live right in the hog pen of sin!
And yet have a hope that somewhere out here, we’re going to get it worked out.
My friend, in other words, I’m saying, it’s hard to find people that will own the fact I intend to be eternally lost.
I intend to go to Hell. That’s my intentions.
No, no, no, Hell is full of people, my friend that had good intentions.
But he ended up in a lost condition with all the good intentions.
We’ve got to come right down to facts this morning.
We’re the servant of one or the other.
We’re on the road that leads to Heaven or we’re on the road that leads to Hell!
And all we have to do is just let time, time work days go by!
Hours go by! Weeks go by!
My friend, we’re closer to the end of our road this morning than we were last Sunday.
We’re closer than we were yesterday.
I say may the Lord help us this morning lift up our eyes.
And look, see it’s one of Satan’s leading devices this morning.
Somebody said, you said a wise man. That’s right.
It’s just not wise to allow the enemy to cause us to look at just present conditions and not look how it’s going to affect us in the end.
That’s most unwise.
If the Devil can just get us to look at present condition, there is many things that look best for the present.
But when we put them in the scale and weigh them in the light of eternity, how it will effect us in the judgment, it put a different light in it altogether.
Somebody said, you say the wise man is one, my friend, whose values are determined in the light of eternity? That’s right.
The wise man said in Ecclesiastes 8 and 5, a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and the judgment.
I just want to say this morning.
There will be lots of things that wouldn’t be said and lots of things that wouldn’t be done,
If before they speak or move, they would weigh it in the light of the present time and the judgment.
Now the wise man said, I want to repeat, a wise man, discerneth his heart discerneth both time and the judgment.
We can take a little time this morning and go back in the Bible and see that one of Satan’s leading devices is to blind the eyes of men and women in relation to the final outcome of their actions.
This is one of Satan’s strong devices today.
He gets men and women so busy living for the present and blinds them to just what it will cost them in the end.
And he gets them so busy enjoying the present that all the feeling of judgment of the future is removed from the mind.
This has been one of his devices ever since he has been a devil.
We can begin hurriedly with Adam and Eve.
Satan caused Adam and Eve to see only the pleasure, the present benefit of partaking of that which God said let alone,
My friend and remove from their mind by his conniving and telling a half-truth he removed from their mind the thought of punishment whatsoever.
Brother, if the thought of punishment had been there like God intended to when he said don’t touch that tree.
The day you eat it, you will surely die.
If that thought of the final outcome had been on their mind as it ought, no doubt they would have never partaken.
But the devil’s move was to turn their minds completely to the pleasure and the benefit that they would derive right at the present and to blot out the thought of punishment for disobeying God in the end.
And I say he not only worked that way there but he works that way yet today.
We could take a jump through the scripture to David that committed adultery.
He looked over and saw that woman bathing on the housetop and made arrangements even to committing murder to have that woman to the satisfaction of his flesh.
We want you to see the devil worked the same way on him.
He caused David to see only the sensual satisfaction of having his fleshly desires fulfilled.
He never showed him the pangs of a troubled conscience!
He never showed him the prophetic denunciation, where he had to be held in the position of a criminal.
He never showed him the death of a little child that tore his heart strings asunder.
The devil never showed David weary days and sleepless nights.
Little did David know, that God would put such judgment on him in the end.
That the sword would never leave his house or putting it in Bible language, he would have a battle for the rest of his life over that one bit of little satisfaction he gained for the flesh.
And, friend, I can update that today.
Men who have allowed the devil to move on them strongly.
Men and women who once known God move on them strongly.
And, my friend, the flesh began to move and desire satisfaction and the devil turned right around and amplified the satisfaction of the flesh and blind them to the punishment of it.
And today, even though their lives are straightened out, they still have a battle.
The sword has never left their house.
They have something to battle every day they live.
The devil will use it against them.
It never could have been used against them if they hadn’t been guilty of it. Sure, they can be saved.
They can have victory but they got a battle that they never would have had if they haven’t committed the sin!
Friend, we need to see this morning that the devil is still alive!
The devil is still paints false pictures! The devil only tells half truths!
Certainly when he pictures that sin in front of you and said there is going to be pleasure in that.
The Bible said there is pleasure of sin for a season.
But it’s only half-truth!
The same Bible said, remember, while there is pleasure in sin for a season, that God will bring you into judgment for every evil way!
I say it again this morning.
My friend, we need to lay hold of the privilege that’s ours.
I’m speaking of predominantly to Christian people this morning and then there will be something for the rest.
But, friend, we’ve got a privilege that world hasn’t got.
See, if you have been illuminated, if you have been truly born again, my friend, eternal realities.
See the Bible said spiritual things a natural man can’t see them.
Their foolishness to him.
But, friend, when you are truly born again, eternal realities light up!
Eternity becomes real! You know it’s there! It is a reality!
And so I say we have a privilege this morning, Christians, that the world don’t have.
To live in the light of eternity!
But if we are not careful, my friend, and truly yield ourselves, the members of our bodies even, in servants to God the enemy certainly will hoodwink us and blind us.
We come right on look at Akin.
My friend, when God told him that everything must be left alone in Jericho when they took the city.
All Akin could see was the glitter of the gold and silver.
The beautiful Babylonians garments, and the devil amplified that until he overstepped God’s law and took him, you know and put him in his tent.
But that devil never shown him the terrible smitten conscience he had.
Oh, my God, I can see this thing in reality and yet when God said, get all Israel out here and go through them one by one until you find the one that’s got a hold of the cursed thing.
And I can see a congregation of people yet.
When God takes the word of God and puts it forth as a search light going through every one, one by one until he find that accursed one. Aman,
That’s disobeyed God. Oh, what a terrible service to be in.
Oh, Akin was in two or three of them services before he finally got pointed out.
But what a service to be in and have the conscience smitten.
The devil never told you a thing about that.
The devil never told him one time about the terrible defeat he would bring on Israel.
Nowhere in the picture the devil gave him was the picture of an early fresh grave.
Not only him, but every member of his family being stoned to death, publicly.
Falling under the curse of being stoned to death and a pile of stones set there in remembrance!
It don’t pay to fool around with the devil when God says don’t touch something!
I say the devil never told him those things.
We jump hurriedly to the rich young ruler in the new testament.
He saw only the glory of abundance of earthly things.
All the time he was blinded to his true poverty.
He failed to get a picture of his true poverty and the condition of his soul in hell.
He allowed the enemy to blind him to these things.
He had the opportunity of talking to the master himself, face to face.
What am I trying to bring out to you? How these things can so blind you.
My friend, we need to be a little more fearful of them.
I say again, we need to take heed to God’s eternal word.
The word of God still says in the 1st Corinthians 10th Chapter, let him that think he standeth take heed while he be ready for a fall.
The very minute I, you or anyone else gets the idea I can stand.
Don’t worry about me, preacher.
You’re ready for a fall. You are within inches of the precipice.
Why? We only stand by the grace of God!
And the grace of God comes by obedience to the word of God’s grace!
When we raise up and refuse to disobey.
Friend, we’re headed for trouble.
So that rich young ruler, my friend, was blind to his true poverty.
He failed to get a picture of the perdition of his soul in hell.
You come just a little farther.
Satan came to the prodigal appealing to him with the dazzle of the city life. And of the world.
But never once mentioned to him the destitution of the end of the way.
The loneliness, the disgrace, the hogs or the smell of the hog pen.
But, friend, that was in the picture. God knew it was in the picture!
And I just want to tell you as one who loves of your soul.
Somebody said they don’t like to hear you say that. I must say it.
Friend, when you are walking in disobedience and rebellion to God when you refuse the laws and teachings of Father’s house!
You’re heading for one place, the hog pen!
The devil may be picturing you a place of a beautiful mansion and things wonderful but you’re heading for one place, you’re heading down!
When he came to himself he got the picture. What picture did he get?
He got the picture that he ought to have seen all the time.
We could save ourselves a lot of trouble.
If we’d get our mind off the flesh in a greater way.
And get it set in obeying God.
I say we reached a danger point of our lives when we allow things that are visible to take precedent over things that are invisible.
And this is a battle. This is what the Bible calls living by faith.
And, we’ll have some more to say about faith and probably won’t have time to get it in this morning.
Turn with me to the 73rd Psalm real hurriedly.
There is a picture there that no doubt you have read and you have said it lots of times, but we want to look at it again.
May God help us to see what he wants us to see.
I say we reached a danger point of our lives when we allow things that are visible to take precedence over things that are invisible!
Now, we got to mark this down, that every one of us that’s Christians this morning.
And with that note I will close this morning and pick up on part 2 next week.
Let us pray,
