Instruments of Righteousness: The Choice Before Us

take advantage of that.....we should be inviting people to church all year long but especially for easter services as many who normally say no will say yes

we will have breakfast at 9:30 am in place of sunday school followed by worship at 10:45 am

invite

Let’s Pray

I want to dive into Romans 6:13 as there is so much to digest and glean from this scripture

Last week we looked at vs 12 Let not sin reign in your mortal body because sin has no dominion over you as a Christian

This morning is some more of the how

how do I not let sin reign in my mortal body

Romans 6:13

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Romans 6:13 “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”

I want to look at the Greek for what I believe to be the key words in this passage

Present

To place beside or near, decision of the will

Members

limb or part of the human body

Sin

sin or offence

Instruments

any tool or implement for preparing a thing, utensil

Unrighteousness injustice, wrongfulness, iniquity

Righteousness

state of him who is as he ought to be, condition acceptable to God

I want to now look at these terms in light of the scripture because understanding them gives us much deeper understanding of the passage and truth as a whole

Present

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again means to place beside or near....decision of the will

This is an intentional decision

sin is always an intentional decision

Pastor Josh sin just happens

i sin before I even realize it

what about this one.....

I was just joking

cant you take a joke

i didn’t mean it

Listen you just sinned twice.....the original sin followed by justification or excusal of sin which is also a sin

sin is always an intentional decision of the will

it isnt a joke

it isnt an accident

you meant to do it

sin doesnt just happen

church those excuses are just not Biblical

James 1:13-16

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James 1:13–16 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.”

Sin is an inside job

temptation is an inside job

you are tempted by your evil flesh

you are tempted by your evil appetites

vs 16 states clearly that those who believe God temps them are deceived

again not something that just happens

no a joke

not something you didn’t mean to do

if you believe those you are deceived

You must stand on Truth my brothers and sisters

Now i want to stop here and share with you something God laid on my heart this week

I was in men’s bible study Monday night and we were in I Thessalonians and came across this verse

1 Thessalonians 3:5 “For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.”

I was rocked

not so much for the context of the verse in I Thessalonians but because God laid on my heart I may have a wrong belief and teaching about temptation and satan as the tempter

that phrase the tempter had tempted you jumped of the page and punched me in the face

If you have heard me preach or teach on this particular subject, temptation being an inside job you have heard me say God does not tempt you and satan cannot tempt you

I saw Paul call satan the tempter and i was rocked to my core

my heart was heavy and I began to search the scriptures as in that moment I realized I might have misunderstood scripture and in turn had a wrong belief and that wrong belief led me to teach you wrong

I was heartbroken and desperate to know the Truth

Curt I am sure did a fine job teaching Monday but I was not paying any attention as I was chasing this because I had to know

I want to share with you my digging and then let scripture speak on this topic

In I Thessalonians 3:5 we see satan called the tempter

this is not the only place in scripture

Matthew 4:3

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Matthew 4:3 “And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.””

satan again the tempter in this case tempting Jesus Himself

I Corinthians 7:5

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1 Corinthians 7:5 “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

so that satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control

at this point I am beginning to think man i may be completely wrong but as I studied and as I prayed I began to realize I was not wrong just didn’t articulate the entire picture

Galatians 5:17-21

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Galatians 5:17–21 “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

This shows that our flesh is at war with the Spirit

this is the inside job

James talks about our evil lusts and desires are enticed by sin

here you see those fleshly evil desires

fruits of the flesh is what this passage is typically called

this confirms that sin is in fact an inside job

so how do we reconcile that with satan as the tempter

Ephesians 2:2

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Ephesians 2:2 “in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—”

satan is the prince of the power of the air

I am going to borrow an illustration from our brother Gary Kurtz

Gary is a spiritual mentor to me and I reached out to him as I was working through this and he gave me some scriptures and thoughts

he said this

satan is the prince of the power of the air

when you couple the inside weakness that our flesh and blood bodies have

that means we are pre-programmed to sin with satan transmitting temptation to us through the air

think of it like this

we are all little radio receivers that are automatically tuned in at birth to satan’s transmitting station which coincides with Jesus’ teaching that sin actually starts in our minds

That is the moment that we must put ii Corinthians 10:5 into action

II Corinthians 10:5

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2 Corinthians 10:5 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”

taking every thought captive

satan is bound by space and time so therefore most of this is done by his demons because he can only be in one place at one time

here is what I want you to understand

satan cannot make you sin

you are the only person who can make you sin

satan and his demons can send signals....thoughts that are designed for you because he is the prince of the power of the air so what you speak he receives

he can put situations

he can put circumstances in your path that your evil lusts and desires will be enticed by

and at that moment you must be sober minded and reject that before it becomes sin

James is 100% correct and satan being called the tempter is 100% correct

satan uses situations and circumstances to entice our evil desires in an attempt to get us to fail and sin but he has no power to make you sin

that is why taking up the armor of God is a must....it is vital

Ephesians 6:10-20

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Ephesians 6:10–20 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”

God’s armor protects you from those flaming darts of the evil one designed to entice your evil lusts and desires to tempt you to sin

I want to give you one more scripture before we move on here

2 Corinthians 2:11

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2 Corinthians 2:11 “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

satan has not changed his tactics ever

we know how he works

we know now how to defend ourselves

the question is will you stand on scripture or not

sin is ALWAYS a choice

Present is the same Truth

it is a willful decision to place yourself in a position to sin

it is a willful decision to place yourself in an environment that entices your evil desires

if you have been delivered from alcohol the bar is probably not the best place for you to minister

your testimony will reach alcoholics for sure and you should minister to them but to present yourself at the bar is probably not the best way

when you go to where you used to sin you are setting yourself up to fail because you are presenting yourself...placing yourself in a position to sin

Church God takes this seriously

where you go

who you hang out with matters

who you are friends with and allow to influence you matters

your thoughts matter

your desires matter

present is a decision never a result of circumstance

I want to say that again

present is a decision never a result of circumstance

you decide to present your body....that is a decision of your will

Members

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pretty cut and dry here

your body

that is why where you go

what you support

where you walk

who you walk with matters

Instruments of unrighteousness or righteousness

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remember righteousness is a state acceptable to God

so that means unrighteousness is a state unacceptable to God

tools

you are presenting your body

making a willful decision to place your body to be used by God or against God

I pray you get this and I pray that situations and circumstances and beliefs and actions and words are coming to your mind either to edify and encourage you or to convict you

respond according to both!

tools are used to produce products

just this weekend we saw many tools producing products

we had the roof worked on as you can see from some of the tiles over the drum platform we had a leak

some wonderful men from Harrisonville came down and fixed it for us....if you would like to help with that expense please do so it was $1500 to fix the leak

while that was happening James was using the parking lot to work on his truck and Josh Hostetter was there helping with Richard as well as several others

they were using tools to fix James’ truck and they did...produced a product

you as tools of either righteousness or unrighteousness will produce a product

just like all of the tools yesterday none of them produced anything on their own only when they were in the hands of the worker did they produce something

same with you or me......we are tools and on our own will produce nothing but in the hands of our master

Jesus

satan and sin and evil and death

will a product be produced

so what are some of these products of the instruments of unrighteousness

Fruit for Death

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Romans 7:5

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Romans 7:5 “For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.”

when you make a decision of your will to present your members as tools of unrighteousness...

when you make a decision of your will to grow to be comfortable with sin....

when you make a decision to be a tool used to produce injustices

a tool used to produce iniquity

a tool used to produce fruit for death

We have looked at Colossians 3 a lot lately but I want to go there again

Colossians 3:5

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Colossians 3:5 “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

This gives us a very clear picture of some of the products produced by instruments of unrighteousness

Sexual Immorality

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adultery is for sure included in this.....if you are married and either lust after in your mind.....not my words...Jesus words in Matthew 5 or engage in sex or sex acts with someone other than your spouse that is adultery

God takes sexual sin very seriously because He created sex to be enjoyed inside of a marriage because when you have sex with someone you become joined to them

the Bible says two become one flesh

this is a spiritual joining together

the problem with sexual sins is you are not just having an affair but if you are married you are now joined with two women or two men spiritually

take this outside of marriage....anyone you have sex with you are spiritually joined together

adultery is a big deal

God can overcome it

you can unjoin what you have joined together through prayer and seeking God to release you from those unholy bonds

adultery never just happens

it is always the result of a willful decision to present your body as an instrument of unrighteousness

Sex before marriage is also included in sexual immorality

today society doesn’t even bat an eye at people living together and having sex outside of or before marriage

in fact most encourage it

i don’t care if you met at the bar or have been dating for 10 years

I dont care if you are an adult or a teen

sex outside of marriage is sin

God says so

Genesis 2:24

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Genesis 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Sex is only allowed inside of a marriage

you can justify all you want but your opinion doesn’t change the Truth

justifying a sin doesn’t make it a not a sin

sin is sin is sin

Notice here it doesn’t say a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his husband

a woman shall leave her father and her mother and hold fast to her wife

God created marriage one man and one woman

any sexual contact

sexual acts

sexual fantasies

sexual relationship that is not one man and one woman in a marriage is sin

While we are here society doesn’t get to define male and female because God already did

Genesis 1:27

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Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

All this gender confusion is evil

it is from satan and sin

again your opinion doesn't change the Truth!

another product of the instruments of unrighteousness is

Impurity

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this goes beyond sexual acts and includes evil thoughts and intentions

Jesus taught this as well

Matthew 5:28

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Matthew 5:28 “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

very clear my friends your thoughts and intents can be sinful

Sexual joking also falls into this

again don’t take my word for it

Ephesians 5:4

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Ephesians 5:4 “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

it is not just a joke

it is not just a comment

it is a sin

let there be no filthiness

nor foolish talk

nor crude joking

some of you need to really change your vocabulary and what you talk about

so many justify saying filthy, foolish things by saying I was just joking

well it was a crude joke and a sin so stop

Passion

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at first glance we see passion and think....i am supposed to be passionate about Jesus how is that a product of an instrument of unrighteousness

this passion is acting on impure thoughts

our flesh becomes consumed with evil desires and that leads to passion

acting on those evil desires

this is for sure sexual but goes beyond that to anything you are consumed with that becomes actions that go against God’s Word and Will

Covetousness

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to have more

to never be satisfied

always wanting more and more

that is covetousness

nothing is ever enough

why is this bad

because God provides

when one feels they never have enough they sin because they are telling God that His provision is not enough

this is idolatry because you want whatever it is so much

in fact more than you want God therefore it becomes an idol

James 1:17 tells us that all good gifts come from God Himself

therefore when you get a good gift but it is not good enough and you are consumed with gaining more and more and more and are never satisfied you are telling God His good gift is not enough for you

we must live content with what God provides

this is so hard in today’s consumer, consumption, instant society

every commercial on tv is designed to make you covet something

to make you not be content with what you have

Church this is serious and if you truly want to grow in Christ changes must be made

thoughts must be changed

beliefs must be given up and you must begin to allow the Holy Spirit to make you an instrument of righteousness because as a Christian You are to be an instrument of righteousness

what will you see when you present your members as an instrument of righteousness

what is the product of presenting your members as an instrument of righteousness

spiritual growth

you will see your mind being renewed

you will see your beliefs change

you will see your thoughts change

you will see your behavior change

not because of you but because you are presenting yourself to be used by God through the Holy Spirit

you will also see His, Holy Spirit’s fruit the products of tools of righteousness in the hands of the Holy Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

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Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

You will see all of these things because it is the Holy Spirit producing the fruit in and through you

I believe humans do not know how to love until they meet Jesus and feel His love and are taught to love by Holy Spirit

you have joy in spite of circumstances because your joy does not come from situations or circumstances but from Jesus Himself so you always have joy

Peace is not lack of conflict or chaos it is peace inside the conflict or chaos because you have Jesus and Jesus is peace

Do you see it

look at your life and see what your fruit is

ask your spouse what your fruit is

ask your kids what your fruit is

ask your brothers and sisters at church what your fruit is

most importantly ask God what your fruit is

ask God am I presenting my members as an instrument of righteousness or unrighteousness and then deal with what He tells you

you have that opportunity to do that right now

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