Why Saints Still Need the Friend of Sinners

Well, this morning, the, the title of our message is Why Saints Still needed the Friend of Sinners. We're gonna be looking at various passages, but the Friend of sinners is a title that was actually given to Christ, by his enemies. Look, as he's quoting, Christ is quoting back to them, look a glutton and a wine bibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. If you were to do a, a Google search or look on YouTube, asking the question, why do Christians sin after their conversion, you're gonna get a whole plethora of articles and videos and responses.

In fact, if you survey church history, you're gonna find all kinds of different responses to that question as to why is it. That people who name the name of Christ, why is it that people are who are allegedly new creations, who've been washed in the fountain of the blood of Christ, who've been given a new heart, who've been buried and raised, raised with Christ, why is it that we still sin? And my guess would be that many of you, if not all of you, this last week or this last month, could probably recall some time in your life where you sinned, perhaps you were even having family devotions with your family and, and the children were not cooperating and you Sinn.

Perhaps right out of your quiet time, you went out of your quiet time just having rehearsed the scriptures and you fell into some sin.

Perhaps you were trying to have a conversation with your wife or a family member and it started out well, but then it ended in sin. Why is it that people who are called children of God, who are called saints still continue to sin? And the church has given various responses to that question over the years. There's the monastic solution.

The monastic solution was, is the problem is, is we just need to isolate ourselves and get away from the world, get away from everybody else. If we can just get out into the desert like Saint Anthony, then everything will be gravy, but that solution has failed. Then there's the motinous solution under Chertullian that basically said the church has grown carnal, and what we need is fresh revelation of the Holy Spirit. If we can just get fresh revelation, then we can begin to overcome this sin problem amongst saints.

Again, a failure. Then there's the medieval solution. That's the solution of let's give to the people of God the severn sacraments so that they can keep really refilling their justification tank. We get original sin is removed from us in our baptism according to medieval doctrine, but as we practice the seven sacraments, we can fill up the tank, but every time we sin, it diminishes some more, but the sacraments are there to help refill that tank, and then purgatory is there to help burn off whatever we can't refill in the end.

Again, that's a huge problem. But then there's also modern solutions that have been offered to this question. Some have suggested that we need a second work of grace. We need the secondary baptism of the Holy Spirit.

That was what I was taught when I was younger, if you just get baptized in the Holy Spirit, perhaps speak in tongues, then you'll be able to better overcome sin. There are those that have taught the eradication doctrines. They basically argue something like this that you really, you've been lied to. The traditional church has taught worm theology trying to make you feel like you're a sinner, when in reality, your entire identity has changed and you are not a sinner at all.

You are a saint, and if you would just believe that contrary to what the church has tried to impose upon you, then you would be able to overcome your sins. There are others who have taught that total depravity is not just a problem for unbelievers, but even as Christians come to know Christ, that total depravity still comes over into the heart of the believer, and therefore, therefore, we should not be overly troubled by the apparent lack of change in a Christian's life. Akuna matata.

this also is akin to the idea of, hey, I'm just Irish, that's what Irish people do, or I'm just Italian, I'm just a sinner.

And so what do you expect? That's just what we sinners do. Another modern way to try to deal with this question is the idea of false conversion, that really the church is just full of false converts that aren't really saved. You accepted Christ perhaps as your savior, but you didn't make him your Lord, or carnal Christianity would be another response to this.

The church is just full of carnal Christians, or you haven't made Christ your greatest treasure. He's not your greatest desire. If you truly would increase your desire for Christ, that would help you overcome your sins. And there is some truth in most of these solutions.

And honestly, the church has toggled back and forth throughout her existence. one thing these solutions, however, seem to have in common is that there's something that either you have failed to do or failed to experience. But let me ask a question. What if the love of God, what if the love of God, the love that God had for us before conversion is the same love that he has for us after conversion?

Could that make a difference? God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And our thesis this morning, and I, I know I'm walking a razor's edge. as I present this thesis, and I don't want you to get any impression that somehow after 2000 years of church history and toggling back and forth, that finally, Pastor Mike got on the pulpit August 27th, and we're going to settle all of these difficult questions.

But here's our thesis this morning. It's that the love he had for us as sinners, he still has for us as saints at war with indwelling sin. And that does make a difference. The love that God had for you before you came to Christ is the same love that he has for you now, and realizing that and keeping that as a realization makes a difference.

Because his love points us back to the ultimate demonstration of his love as we sung about this morning, the cross, followed up by the resurrection, and he's coming for you again. But what are we to do between the time of Christ's resurrection and his return for us? How are we to view ourselves and how does he view us between this time of our conversion and the time that he comes back for us? Is the friend of sinners still your friend after you came to Christ?

And I think the answer in the Bible is very plain. You came to church this morning, perhaps, and you looked around you, and perhaps there's some of you in this room that said to yourself, privately, there's nobody in this church that's as messed up or whose life is as chaotic as mine. And you are not the only one who probably said that. This question that we're raising this morning is very personal for me, and I think as we develop it, it's very personable, personable for you, personal.

One of the, Little memes that I was exposed to recently, this cartoon, all these people are walking around. Imagine this is you walking into church this morning. All these people seem to have it together and I still have no idea what is going on. I wanna suggest to you that when you show up on a Sunday morning, this is probably in a lot of people's heads.

There's a lot that's going on this week. There's a lot that's going on in this church and in people's lives, and you are not the only one that feels messed up. You are not the only one whose life gets chaotic, and I hope this morning that as we, as we review the, the doctrine this morning that you will be greatly encouraged. We're gonna make 5 doctrinal points this morning about this question.

Of why do Christians sin and how should, how does God view us and how should we view ourselves. And then it's, I, I'll just guarantee you it's only gonna raise more questions and we'd have to make more points, but we're gonna limit ourselves to 5. And here's the, the first one, and for some reason I forgot my little mirror or something, I can't see what's behind me. Is, is there a way to get it up there or no, we're, we're not doing that right?

OK, that's fine. Number one, the friend of sinners came into this world to save sinners like you. The friend of sinners came into this world to save sinners just like you. Sinners, the sinner that you were.

As it says in Romans 5:8. That God demonstrates his own love and that while we were still or yet sinners, Christ died for us. How does God communicate? How does he display?

How does he continuously show his love for us? By continuously pointing back to the death of his own son on the cross for you and I when we were still sinners. God didn't look at you on your best day and say, I'm gonna love that. He looked on you on your worst day.

When you were categorized as helpless, ungodly, and an enemy, Christ died for you. As a demonstration of his love back then, but Paul tells us this is present tense. This, the idea of Christ dying for us as sinners is a present tense display of his love for you right now, that he continues to love you, even though you sinned in terrible ways before you came to know Christ. Many of us in this room sinned in terrible immoral ways.

Many of us in this room sinned worse sins, the types of sins that Paul's gonna confess here in a moment, sins of self-righteousness and thinking that somehow we're better than others based upon what we've accomplished in our own moral, accomplishments. But the friend of sinners came into this world to save sinners like you were, but he also came in to save sinners like you are. Sorry, I'm gonna have to keep looking back here to see where I'm at. sinners like you are, as it says, Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:15, just an amazing admission.

He says, this is a, a faithful or believable word, worthy of all welcome and acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of whom I am chief or foremost, he puts in the Greek, Paul puts the word me at the end or I at the end of the sentence to put an emphasis that I am the foremost of sinners. I am the number one sinner. And there's a sense in which all of us can say this.

I think Paul is setting a good example that all of us can say in one sense that we are the chief of sinners because nobody knows your sins. Nobody knows the sins of Mike Barry like Mike Barry does, and so I can say I'm the chief of sinners. But I think Paul is applying them to himself, not just to be overly humble, but because he really did believe that he was the number one sinner. He got the top prize.

And, and it's not just that he was a sinner, he says, I am present tense, the number one sinner. Because Paul knew that he could never make up for what he had done. he was the Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was blameless in his keeping of the law.

If anyone could have been saved by his lawkeeping, it was Paul. And nevertheless, in spite of the fact that he knew the law so well and kept the law so well, he says, I'm the worst. I got the blue ribbon when it comes to sinners. Worse than Cain.

Worse than Ahab, worse than David, Solomon, Menessah, Jeroboam, Herod, Pilate, Judas, Paul says, I am present tense, the worst of all the ungodly people. And, but he, he derives some interesting hope out of this idea. Why does he share with us that he is the worst? One verse 16, he goes on to say, however, for this reason, I obtain mercy that in me, chiefly, Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

In other words, he says, the, the fact that Christ came and saved me as the worst sinner who's ever lived on the earth is a sketch and it should be an encouragement to all other sinners. That he saved me, he can save you. I am present tense, the worst of sinners, and he is saving me and loving me, and that is meant to give a great hope to the rest of the body of Christ as they read what Paul is saying. There are many other passages of scripture, we'll, we'll just hit a few of them.

That remind us that Christ is a friend of sinners and he came into the world to die for sinful people and, and that we are present tense sinners. First John 1:8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. that's a good idea when you're looking at various passages of scripture and you're trying to assemble a doctrine to also go back and look at what our brothers and sisters have said in ages past. How did, how did the great pastors and theologians of the past summarize their understanding of various teachings in the scripture?

And we see in the Westminster confession, This thought, the, the corruption of nature during this life does remain in those who are regenerated, although it be through Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself and all the motions thereof are truly and properly sin. So as brothers and sisters in the past looked at all the various passages of scripture, one of the conclusions that they came to is that this corrupt nature still remains in the heart of the regenerate. And there's other passages that we could also consider.

You might just want to jot a few of these down.

I hope you do take notes and, and also look with me at some of the passages of scripture, but Psalm 42, you have David who says this, Psalm 42 2, in your sight, no one living is righteous. That's David writing that. In the context, he says, hear my prayers, oh Lord, give ear to the supplications in your faithfulness, answer me, in your righteousness, do not enter, enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight, no one living is righteous. David includes himself.

David includes himself as the one, is one of the ones that would, this would be true of that no one living is righteous. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says there is not a just man on the earth who does good and does not sin. It goes on to say this, also, do not take to heart everything people say lest you hear your servant cursing you. For many times also your own heart has known that even you have cursed others, even you.

I think Solomon's being somewhat sarcastic there. But the fact is, is, is we could overhear somebody cursing us or saying mean things about us and Solomon, as he's writing this book, to believing Jews, says don't overly take that and dwell on that too long because guess what? You've done the same thing. Again, he's saying this to Old Testament saints.

Proverbs, Solomon says in chapter 20 verse 9, who can say I've made my heart clean, I am pure for my sin? Answer, no one. And there's lots of other passages that we could look at. You could consider Dave or Simon Peter before he started to follow Christ.

When he falls on his knees, he says, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. Is this a prayer that Peter would only pray before he was regenerate? Or is this a prayer you think Peter may have prayed later on? Let's, like say when he rejected Christ at his most needed hour.

Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. It's a good thing the Lord didn't answer that prayer and depart from him. In Luke 18:13, we have the tax collector, as Jesus is telling this parable, standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And as Jesus, is he sharing this parable, and is he relating this prayer of the tax collector as only a prayer that unbelievers would pray, or a prayer that Christians should be willing to pray as they beat their own brass and say, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner.

Other passages you could write down, look up on your own. well, there's the Lord's Prayer that we're, we're taught by the Lord Jesus, the disciples were taught to pray every day, the Lord's Prayer, part of which was forgive us of our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us and do not lead us into temptation. First John tells us that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar.

Do there are people in the church today that teach us that you should not confess your sins anymore? It's a very common teaching that people have said that because of Christ's death for you on the cross, that he's washed away all of your sins and now you're a new creation and you have a new heart, there's no more any reason for you to confess your sins and to confess your sins is to actually admit that you are a sinner. That is a common teaching at in some circles of the church.

But the writer of Hebrews says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.

That's written to Christians that you and I can be easily ensnared by sin. This is all to establish the idea that Christ is a friend of sinners, the sinner that you were, but also the sinner like Paul that you are. Here's what the, the Heidelberg catechism says. let me see, did I pass it?

I may just have to read it for you. the Heidelberg Catechism. Has this to say. Now, the Heidelberg catechism is another confession of faith.

It's considered one of the three forms of unity. It's a reformed Calvinistic confession. And, in answering this question, it says, what do you believe concerning the forgiveness of sins? As these pastors studied the scriptures and they wanted to teach their churches, what should we believe about the forgiveness of sins, here's how they assembled all the scriptures to make this concise statement.

Answer. That God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, nor the sinful nature with which I have to struggle all my life long, but graciously imputes to me the righteousness of Christ that I may never more come into condemnation. So what is forgiveness of sins? It's that your actual sins have been forgiven and that even the sinful nature with which you struggle throughout your life will no longer be called against you because you are no longer under condemnation.

And so we see that Christ is a friend of sinners who came into the world to save sinners like you, sinners like me, not just the sins I did in the past, but the fact that I am a sinner and there is a sense in which I think all of us should at least be willing to admit that we are the chief of sinners because we know our sins better than anybody else. And so the love he had for you then before you were saved as a sinner, ungodly, an enemy, I believe the scriptures teach he has for you now.

Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Let's look at a second point.

And that is this. That the friend of sinners called you to be a saint with all his righteousness. He called you and I to be a saint with all his righteousness. There are many passages, just a few that we'll look at.

First Peter 3:18, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that's me and you. That he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit. That's part of how this doctrine begins to develop. 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul says, God or he, the Father made him, that's Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.

Where is that righteousness of God? In him. That as we have been placed into Christ, we actually take on his righteousness, who came and died for our sins. It was Paul's desire to be found in him, not having his own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

God gives a gift to you and I of righteousness, of holy conduct, of obedience that Christ had won, that is granted to us, Paul says, and he wants to be found in that righteousness, not in the blamelessness that he had as a Pharisee, which he calls dung, by the way. He wants to be found in the true righteousness from God, that is the righteousness of Christ. Romans 5:18, 1 last scripture we'll look at here to demonstrate this point that Paul says, therefore, as though, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation.

Who is that one man, by the way?

Adam. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, that's Adam, many were made sinners, also by one man's obedience, many will be made. Righteous.

You and I have been made righteous, not because you and I picked up and did right where Adam failed. You and I have been made righteous because we have come into the second Adam who has been obedient and righteous and, and fulfilled the law on our behalf, and by faith, we come and believe that. That brings us to the what the Heidelberg has to say in regard to this question. Again, pastors who sit around and talk theology, these guys aren't just sitting around.

These guys are like doing serious ministry in their church, trying to help people who are struggling just like we are. And how do they come to summarize what the scriptures teach about this question? How are you righteous before God? Answer, only by true faith in Jesus Christ.

That although my conscience accused me that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God and have never kept any of them and I'm still prone always to all evil, yet God without any merit of mine or of mere grace grants and imputes to me the perfect. Satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ as if I had never committed nor had any sin and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ had fulfilled for me, if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart.

Amen. What a wonderful summary of what the scriptures teach.

I would highly commend you to go on and get the Heidelberg catechism, by the way. And read it and study it and drink this, sounds like the gospel primer. I, where did that guy get that material?. And it, so it just reminds us that the love that he had for us then as a sinner before conversion, he has for you now.

Christ came into the world to save sinners. Thirdly, we've, we've established that the friend of sinners came into the world to save sinners like you, like me, the friend of sinners called you to be a saint with his own righteousness. And so, the third point is kinda like joining those two truths together. The friend of sinners will not forsake you though you are simultaneously a sinner and a saint in this life.

Let's say that again. You and I are simultaneously. Saints and sinners in this life. Now, what are some passages of scripture that demonstrate this truth?

one would be, let's go back here, Romans 7:15 and following. Just, you could turn here or you could just listen. I'm reading from New King James, but listen to how Paul describes himself. Now he's just got through developing the doctrine of justification by faith alone, being dressed in Christ's righteousness.

The fact that understanding how we've died and buried and been raised with Christ helps us overcome sin. We're no longer in bondage to sin, and there's a guarantee that sin will not have dominion over us. And then you get to 15 and following, it says, for I am doing what I am doing, I do not understand, for what I will do that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good, but now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

We'll come back to that. Think about what Paul just said. It's no longer I who do it, but it's sin in me. It's almost sounds like Flip Wilson.

The devil made me do it. I don't know if anybody remembers Flip Wilson. It's an old reference, you gotta be from the 70s, that. but it's almost like Paul's declining responsibility, but that's not what he's doing.

It's no longer I, there's something else in me called sin, verse 18, but I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to well is pre to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do that I practice. Now, if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

It's the second time he's saying that. It's not me, it's sin. That almost sounds like Adam and Eve. It's not me, it's her.

But there's something going on here theologically that Paul wants you and I to get. Verse 21, I find in a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good, for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members warring for underlying that word, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity. What in the world are you talking about, Paul?

To the law of sin, which is in my members. And here's the way he concludes it, oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Period. And he doesn't say anything else after that, right?

No. What does he say? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the one who will deliver me from this body of death, and then he goes on to start talking about how there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and that we cannot be separated, and he begins to develop the power of the Holy Spirit.

So right in the middle of this stuff about justification by faith alone, and, and then on the other book in, the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul puts in all this negative talk that would almost seems to completely contradict what he has said on each side of the bookends. But notice how he applies these types of thoughts in a real church situation, not that Romans wasn't, but let's consider Ephesians 4, for instance. Notice what Paul says to the Ephesian church or the at least the group of churches.

He says to them, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. You've been sealed up by the Holy Spirit. You can't get out of that seal, for the day of redemption, but nevertheless, you can grieve the Spirit. There's two equal opposite truths going on here.

You can grieve the spirit, don't do that. Why? Because you've been sealed. Let all bitterness.

How, how would Christians possibly grieve the Holy Spirit? Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, let that be put away from you with all malice, get rid of that stuff, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, and forgiving one another. Why would Paul be telling the Ephesians to do, to stop these things and to do these other things? Why do you just take a gander.

Yeah, because there are people in the church who are expressing bitterness and wrath and anger, and they're not always always being kind to one another, and they're not being tenderhearted all the time, and, and so he exhorts them to forgive one another on what basis? Just as God in Christ forgave you for the very sins he just listed. You are forgiven, therefore, go out and forgive some people. Right in this section of of this paragraph of Ephesians, we see this war going on where you have sealed Christians who have clearly been forgiven of all of their sins and Paul has to remind them on that basis to put away bitterness and wrath and lack of forgiveness.

And so we have in the church, people, you and I, who at times can say, oh, wretched man or woman that I am. It's OK to say amen if it's about wretchedness. Oh, wretched man that I am, it's supposed to be a joke, and by the way, who will deliver me from this body of death? Well, it's Jesus Christ.

Where do we see different preachers in church history talking about this concept? Well, let's, just pull up one of my favorite guys. who it is, CH Spurgeon. I had found out that I have something in my heart which when I have bolted my doors and think all is safe, creeps forth and undoes every bolt and lets in the sin.

This is Spurgeon, who is just being honest from the pulpit that though he was a preacher saved from the time of 17, and knew the scriptures probably better than anybody in his church. It was a genius, by the way. His summary of scripture teaching and his own experience is that sin is still warring in his heart, and we really do need to find out who's been sabotaging our walk with Christ. Who is it?

It's you. You are this one who is sabotaging your walk with Christ. Nobody else. It is our own sin problem.

Well, what about those who have grown in grace or raise your hand if you're 60 or older. Or 70, 70 or older, or 80, OK? So surely you older saints can tell all of us younger people that the battle with sin is so diminished in your hearts that you're just one little step to, to, to jumping over into heaven. Well, notice what Spurgeon said when he talked to the elderly in his church.

We have heard it said that growing in grace will make our corruption less mighty, but I have seen many of God's aged saints and asked them the question, and they have said, no, their lusts have been essentially as strong when they have been many years in their master's service as they were at first, although more subdued by the new principle within. I love what he says at the, at the end there. There's the new principle that subdues the lust and, but you ask any, and I, I, I, I just, I'm looking at, I'm seeing heads shaking of some of our silver-haired people, and I have some of those myself and it's still, there's still this draw, this war that goes on within.

And when I think of my sanctification, I think of a video that Pastor Milton shared with me a few years ago that totally pictures my sanctification.

I don't know about yours, but this is me. Every time I see that video, I cry. Because there's, there's something, it's like the Lord is doing his work, you're sealed, you're forgiven. It's guaranteed, but it doesn't mean that we're not falling around, right?

And again, we'll get to this later. This doesn't make an excuse for us to sin against one another and harm one another, but it just is what it is. One of the things that Pastor Milton shares in the Gospel primer is this, reason 9. The gospel also reminds me that my righteous standing with God always holds firm regardless of my performance because my standing is, is based solely on the work of Jesus Christ, not mine.

On my worst days of sin and failure, the gospel encourages me with God's unrelenting grace toward me. On my best days of victory and usefulness, the gospel keeps me relating to God solely on the basis of Jesus' righteousness, not mine. The love that God had for you then, when you were a sinner without Christ is the same love that he has for you now as a saint sinner in Christ. Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

Let's talk about 1/4 point, and that is this, that the friend of sinners has guaranteed that your sin will be exterminated. Katie told me not to do this. in the next life. Sorry, Katie.

That exterminated in the next life. Consider what Romans 6:14 says. I spent a lot of time in Romans 6 when I was in seminary, and verse 14 just always blew me away, where Paul concludes a lot of statements by saying, sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. Sin loses.

Sin, while it remains and it wars, it will not have dominion over you. And the reason it loses is because you and I who have believed by faith are no longer under the condemnation of the law. We are no longer under the law as a system of righteousness. We are under grace having been placed in Christ by faith.

And yet, we need to keep this in mind because again, there's this apparent contradiction. If sin will not win, but you look at your life any given day and I'm, I'm sure many of you could walk up to me after the sermon and say, Pastor Mike, I'm not buying it. You're telling me that sin will not win. You should have seen me last week.

You should have seen me this last month. I'm behaving like the angels right now. And that's another joke in baseball it's because they're not playing well. So Sorry, angel fans, but, but keep this in mind as you look at the apparent contradiction in your life, is the Bible promises that, that all of Christ's enemies are under his feet.

We're talking about the enemies of death, we're talking about the enemies of sin, we're talking about the enemy of the world. All of it is already under Christ's feet. Hebrews 2:8 says, you have put all things in subjection. The Father has put all things in subjection under his feet.

That's Christ's feet, for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. There is nothing. Nothing that has not been placed under Christ's feet from an eternal and right now perspective, sin, the devil, death, it's all under his feet. He's got his foot on the neck of the serpent, on the neck of your sins.

It is all finished. And yet, the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, but now, we do not yet see all things put under him. What are you talking about? All things are under him, but you do not see all things under him.

This is what theologians called it already, not yet. It is so certain to occur eschatologically, the Bible speaks as it's all done, and in Christ, it is all done. Colossians tells us you are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. There's a sense in which it is so completely done and so completely guaranteed that we can speak of sin, death, and the devil as being under Christ's feet.

And yet with our eyes, with the eyes of the flesh, we do not yet see it. And so when you and I look at one another, and you look at your spouse and you say, Babe, I'm not seeing it. And she looks at you and says, back at you. There's, that's reality.

There are ways in which the clouds will cover up the glorious mountains of the image in which we have been made, but there are days when those clouds will part and we get to see some of the, the pre pre preescence of that, of that glory, right? But there is coming a day when you will step into heaven and when you see him, you will be like him. And we have to keep that in mind that there are days that we don't see it that, but we know it's true and we reckon it by faith and we count on it and we base our lives on it.

I, I have to make a confession to you and you might be shocked by this because I'm a pastor.

I've been a pastor for a lot of years now, but when I wake up in the morning, I always feel like open up my Bible. Don't tell anybody. I don't, there's times where I wake up and I don't feel like praying. There's times where I still get angry and there's sins that I committed as an unbeliever that I'm still committing as a believer.

And I, the, the, you could print that on YouTube or whatever, you could go ahead social media it out, but the fact is. is what helps you and what helps me gain hope is the fact that while we don't always feel it and see it, it is true nonetheless, and as we reckon it, that doesn't mean like I reckon, I hope so. It means as we count on the fact that it's true, that's actually what empowers us to become who we are in this world. Timothy George has this to say.

With respect to our fallen human condition, we are and always will be in this life sinners. However, for believers, life in this world is no longer a period of doubtful candidacy of God's acceptance. In a sense, we've already been before God's judgment seat and have been acquitted on account of Christ. Hence, we are also righteous.

If you believed in Christ this morning, if you've brought a mustard seed of faith to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, you are righteous, and I can say that on the authority of God's word, and I can say on the authority of God's word, you are forgiven. As Jesus said on the cross, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Luther had this to say in his intro to Galatians. He says, thus, as long as we live here, both remain.

The flesh is accused, agitated, saddened, and crushed by the act of righteousness of the law, but the spirit rules, rejoices, and is saved by passive righteousness. Why? Because it knows that it has a Lord sitting in heaven at the right hand of the Father, who has abolished the law of sin and death and has trodden all evils underfoot, has led them captive and triumphed over them in Himself. That is true, whether you feel it or not, whether you see it or not, it is true by faith.

And one thing is certain that when you die, you will be like him, or when he returns, you will be like him. Let's talk about a final point, and that is this. We've said up to this point that the friend of sinners. Came into the world to save sinners like me and you.

And the friend of sinners called you to be a saint with his righteousness. And he will not forsake you, though you are simultaneously a sinner and a saint in this life. And the friend of sinners has guaranteed that you will sin or that your sin will be exterminated in the next life. But lastly, the friend of sinners has promised to help you with your ongoing war with sin in this life.

He's promised to help you because he loves you. He loved you then, he loves you now, and he sent Christ Jesus into this world to die for sinners like you and me. There is a war. Paul tells us in Romans 7, I find a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good, for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

what that feels like, you want to do God's word, just like Psalm 119. But there's this evil, but I see another law in my members, that is my tongue, my will, my heart, my body, warring against the law of my mind and bring me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. But guess what? We have an advocate.

We have a helper. That's literally what advocate means. It's the same word that's used of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 14. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin.

I'm not, John or none of the gospel writers are writing these things. They're not saying, hey, go ahead and go sin, it's no big deal. They're saying, you go ahead and sin, that's what you do. And, but as you do that, if anyone sins, guess what?

We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. You wanna read a great chapter, read Dane Ortlin and Gentle and Lowly on the chapter on the advocacy of Christ. how that the Lord advocates for you when you sin. That's the whole purpose of his advocacy is to come alongside you and help you when you sin.

And so we have Christ as our helper, but also one of the ways that Christ helps us. He said, I will pray the Father to his disciples, and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. Jesus says, I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit's gonna abide with you.

How long? Forever. He's gonna continue to help you in this ongoing war with sin in this life. We have other promises that we see in John Romans 6.

Again, one of my favorite sections of scripture in Romans, where Paul says this as he's just got through talking about how we've died with Christ, we've been raised with Christ, in verse 11, he says, likewise, you also reckon yourselves dead. That doesn't mean kinda like pretend or hope or, I reckon. no, it means to count on the fact, to base your life on this fact. likewise, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin because you've died with him and alive to God in Christ Jesus because you've been raised with him.

So that's a true fact. You've died and you've been raised. It's true whether you see it or feel it or not. Based on that, he gives him this command, therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust.

I thought, Paul, you just told me that sin's dead. It is. And it's so certain it's true. Therefore, on that basis, don't let it rain.

Sin is in you. Sin is still there, rummaging around, trying to raise fresh rebellions, but you can and you should not let it rain in your mortal body, that you should obey it. It no longer needs to be obeyed. And he says, and do not present your members, your will, or your tongue, or your mouth, your ears of instruments to righteousness, but present to God as being alive from the dead, your members of instruments to righteousness to God.

Then again, verse 14, for sin will not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. He starts with the promise, he ends it with a promise, and yet there's a duty in the middle of that for us to reckon the truth that we don't always see and feel. Is this making sense? It's hard.

I'm not saying this is easy stuff, but this is what believers, what the church has been wrestling with for so long. Listen to what our Heidelberg pastors had to say, with this question. Did we already hit this one? I don't think so.

What do you believe concerning the forgiveness of sins? What do you believe? The summary of scriptures, according to the pastors at the Heidelberg, that God for the sake of Christ's satisfaction will no more remember my sins, nor the sinful nature with which I have to struggle all my life long, but graciously imputes to me the righteousness of Christ, that I may never more come into condemnation. It's a beautiful balance of what the scriptures teach.

That, that we have been forgiven of our actual sins and our sin nature with which we struggle our entire lives until we go to glory. There's also just the help, there's not just the help that Christ offers himself, and then through the Holy Spirit. There's the help that he also offers to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember in Galatians 6, right after Paul has been talking about the fruit of the Spirit, and, and telling them not to provoke one another, he says, brethren, if any man is overtaken in a trespass, you who are spiritual that is walking in the fruit of the Spirit, restore such one.

In a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. One of part of the help that the Lord has provided for you and for me is for us to be in the body of Christ, and that as we're warring with the flesh, and we have our, we have our sainthood and we have the fact that there's a flesh, and we feel that tension. There are times where somebody in this church is going to be overtaken in a trespass. That means they've got trapped.

Something has snapped on them, and maybe they've tried to get out of it privately, or they've tried to just, I don't wanna shame my family, I don't wanna shame my church. I'm just gonna deal with this by myself. And what happens when people do that? It just gets deeper, it's quicksand, right?

But when we come up, we see someone who's been trapped by sin, we come alongside of them and we don't say you should be doing that, you must not be a Christian. That's not what we do. We come along and we say, what, brother? I'm gonna come alongside you in gentleness.

I'm gonna watch out for myself because I could fall into the same exact thing. I, there's lots of ways I could fall here by judging you, being too harsh, maybe by not coming in and confronting the sin quick enough. There's lots of ways we can stumble, but you come and the Lord provides help for us in the body of Christ. Amen.

It's one of the ways that we come alongside one another. And I just love the fact that I've been very blessed to be here at Cornerstone since 1993 and to raise my family here and to be a part of this developing DNA that we see here at Cornerstone. We haven't always had this purpose statement, but it is something that the Lord, I think, has used our pastor and our elders and guided us in this idea that we are helping people journey from brokenness to wholeness through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

we teach here that the gospel is for Christians who are heading towards wholeness, who will one day be whole, but who are currently broken and messy.

And forgiven and loved. How about the pillars of our men's ministry? Our pillars of our men's ministry, a lot of the guys, they know what that means. we're talking about men as we come together, we're weak, ignorant, failures, we're willing to confess the above three, and we, we are serving a great savior.

We're believing in a great savior and we're praying to him in hope. That's the seven pillars. It sounds negative. Sounds like worm theology in some ways, but it's, it's honest, it's being honest with the scriptures, it's being honest with life that we come together needing help from the Spirit and Christ in his body as weak, ignorant failures who are willing to humbly confess those things in view of Christ's great saviorhood.

How about the doctrine statement that we have, the doctrinal statement at our church. Part of our doctrinal statement is this. the two natures of the believer. This is what that says in, in this part of our doctrinal statement.

We believe that every saved person possesses two natures with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old through the power of the indwelling spirit, and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural. And we have found that this idea, the, the, to maintain indwelling sin, the doctrine of indwelling sin, to maintain the righteousness that we have in Christ on the one hand, and on the other hand, the fact that there is really a war going on in the hearts of Christians is provides a good balance that actually does lead to much hope we're finding and much humility.

I love what the hymn says. When, through fiery trials, thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all sufficient shall be thy supply.

The flames shall not hurt thee. I only design the dross to consume and thy gold to refine. The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes. That so, although, although hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake.

The Lord has, he loved you then, he loves you now. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, and I think if you are sensible to your sins, you will be able to say the same, that you are foremost. Let's just talk. Let's take some thoughts away, just for meditation.

I don't, I don't believe our, our care groups, many of our care groups are meeting, but these are things that you could talk about over lunch with your family. Feel free to come up and, and talk to me after the service. I'd be glad to talk with you. I think one of the takeaways for me is that maturity in the Christian life goes downward.

If you see people that are growing in Christ, what you see is a downward movement towards humility. And I've seen this all in this church, but I would just think, and I just think back upon my own life, I was never more righteous than when I was 1415, 1617, 18 years old. I was one of the most righteous Christians you'd ever meet. But I remember taking a drive with a missionary in my 20s, a guy named Jim McVeigh, and we're driving across Mexico in the middle of the night, and he says to me, Mike, and this guy was 60 years old at the time.

He goes, sometimes I just feel like I'm getting worse. He was from the south. And I remember in my head thinking, you poor soul. That is, I am going to pray for you.

But I didn't have the life experience that this guy had. This guy was, an amazing evangelist, a prayer warrior, and yet he was in marriage counseling. They were going through challenges just being in a missionary on in Mexico. I know it's hard for some of you to believe, but missionaries are people too.

And, and yet this guy who was, in my view, he was such an amazing saint, and what was so amazing about him was his, to me, when I reflect back upon it was his humility and the fact that he had had enough life experience to know that he was not all that, but that Christ is all that. And that's, that's where Christian maturity takes us. maturity in Christ does not involve minimizing our sins. One of the ways that we can actually give power to sin is to minimize sin and act like it's not as bad as it really is or that we don't sin as much as we really do, and then not confess our sins as we should.

To confess ourselves as sinners or to not confess ourselves as sinners is to actually minimize sin and to play into sin's hand. And you don't wanna play into sin's hand. Confess your sins like the tax collector did, beating your breast, be merciful to me, the sinner. Confess your sins like Peter, depart from me, Lord.

He's not going to, by the way. I am a sinful man, or like Paul who says Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. But also do not minimize the fact that there are unseen realities that we don't always experience every day that are nevertheless true, that you have died, that you have been raised in Christ, that sin will not win because you are not under law, but you are under grace and Jesus Christ is coming back to get all y'all who have placed your your mustard seed of faith in him.

Let's also just remember that Romans 7, that Paul by the Spirit places in the book of Romans.

This is, it's interesting, it's placement and I believe, and you can evaluate this on your own, that Romans 7 is meant to help us comfort us that this is the normal Christian life, that we believe everything that's in 1 to 6, and we believe in everything that's in chapter 8 and going forward. But we experience very much what Paul also experienced in Romans 7, that there is this waging war within our hearts that do not in any way discount the truths in the rest of the book. And I think one of the reasons why the Spirit used the apostle Paul to put that in there is to give us great comfort and to remind us to look with the eyes of faith, not just with the eyes of sight.

To those of us here, who have believed that we have sinned and that our sins are great.

That our sins cast us corporately out of the garden. And put a whole curse. On the world That our sins flooded the world for 40 days and have sent our world into darkness for 6000 years. To those of us who have here believed that our sins deserve the same wrath that came upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

And that we, because of our sins, should have drowned in the Red Sea like the Egyptians. That your sins have caused you at times to wander in the wilderness. And yet we know friends and family sadly, who have died in their sins without Christ. To those of us who have here believed that your sins are no better than Samson's, and you're not as strong as him.

You're, you are no better than David and you are not as powerful. You are no better than Solomon, and none of us in this room can hold a candle to his wisdom. To those of us who have here believed that our sins sent us corporately packing into Assyria and Babylon. You can also continue to believe that your sins and mine were met by Almighty, holy, righteous God with love.

The love of a son who died. On the cross Where you and I deserve to die. To those of you who believe that Christ came to take away the sins of the world and that you are part of that world. That you live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and died for you.

You can believe by faith. That it is therefore true that you are righteous with the very righteousness of Christ. You have died and you now live. You are now his child adopted into his family, and you are an heir of eternal life.

You are loved with a love that can never fade, and you are held captive in the implacable grip of the triune God. Whether you always feel it or not. Whether you always see it or not, it is true nonetheless because it's not founded upon your faithfulness or your character or anything that is in you. It is founded upon the one who made the promise.

And he is faithful when you are not. His promises cannot fail, for they are made and sworn on account of his own name. So whether you see it or not, or feel it on any given day, believe it. Christ came into the world to save sinners.

He saved the chief of sinners, Paul, to give hope to secondary sinners. Like us. And if Christ saved and kept Paul, he can save and keep you too. Let's pray Lord, we thank you so much for the fact that you have By your grace allowed us to be in a church like Cornerstone where the word of God is preached and upheld.

We thank you for the faithfulness of our pastor and our elders, Lord, to proclaim the good news of the gospel. For hell deserving sinners through the person work of Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that you have been helping us along who are broken, bringing us to that wholeness that we find in Christ. Lord, we know that your Your children Though they The sin remains, they hate sin.

It is a pain and a misery to us. Lord, we make no excuses for our sins. But we come and plead the blood of Christ. We thank you, Lord, for the promises of being sealed by the Spirit, forgiven of all of our sins, both actual and in nature and original.

We ask God that you would help us, Lord, to believe the promises that we see in scripture that we've seen this morning and many others that we have not even covered. Lord, that You would help us to grow in grace, help us to grow in, in confessing our sins boldly. Knowing we are loved, that we would grow in forgiving people of their sins, knowing that they are loved. Lord, we pray that you would help our church be a greater witness, particularly in the way that we love one another.

In This mixed bag. That we call this life. We look forward to the day that we will see you face to face. When we see you, we will be like you.

We pray this in Christ's name. All God's people said, Amen.