Sold Into Slavery

Real life presents the Jack Kibs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. I can honestly tell you that I don't hate anybody but if there's somebody I dislike the most on this planet you're looking at them. I am my problem. Whenever I've made a dumb decision to dumb thing, it was me. Was it you? And when you face that, there's freedom. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to Jack Kibs.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying, amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now, open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Kibs. Keep this in mind. Three things. I'll enumerate them in a second. Everybody get this down. Remember, some scholars say Paul is talking about the man who's not born again yet. This is a carnal individual, not a Christian. I disagree. Some will say, no, he's actually talking about somebody who is a Christian, but living a carnal life. I disagree. I actually believe that Paul, the Apostle, is talking about a Christian revealing to us the great struggle. Listen, of a mature believer's life. This is the word of a man of God who is honest enough and transparent enough to tell you, this is what it's like to live a life that is torn between two wills. And it's the born again you. It's the new you, fighting with the old you. There's the new Jack that's Paul that's pulling and being pulled by the Holy Spirit. And sometimes I agree with them. And then there's the old Jack that is being pulled by the flesh and the world of Satan. And sometimes I agree with him. And I'm torn between two. I submit you today that only a mature believer can acknowledge that discovery. Think about it. It's brilliant. Three things. Let God's law be your judge. We learned that in verse 13. Let God's law judge you. Stop listening to people and don't let someone or something judge you nothing but God's word. Let God's word be your judge. By the way, if you let God's word be your judge, you'll never be condemned. Think of that. Man will condemn you. Satan will condemn you. Your psychology will condemn you. God's word will never do that. God's law will always point you to the cross. Always. Secondly, we saw that God's love will be your assurance. I like this. God's love will be your assurance. You don't need the approval of anybody so long as you have the approval of God. Do you know beyond a shadow of it out that God loves you? And do you know that he has forgiven you of your sins? That gives you an assurance that cannot be in any way separated from you. Listen, there's nothing in this world economy that can separate you from the love of God. The Bible tells us not even a balloon. Not even a bomb. No terrorist. No imprisonment. Nothing. Because our God is everywhere. And remember, he's promised to dwell in you, which we looked at the third thing. Let God's light be your guide. Remember, did I do it in this service? Did I shine that high beam light? Right now in this room we have ambient lighting. That is ambient or atmospheric lighting. It's it's this organized light. You're not thinking about that. But it's very disorganized, which serves the purpose. It's just filling the room. It's it's just here. And it's very, very non-directed light. But I held that beam up to you last week and shined it right in your face. What was happening? A very, very powerful beam was being generated to be delivered right at your pinpoint seat location. And what that means is it was no longer ambient lighting. It was direct lighting. It would be like if I held a laser out to you where that could have done damage. That light was bright that I had. But just super defined lighting and frequency and directional power would be like a laser. And you could put it right on your chest or right on your forehead. What's going on? All of that light has been controlled and brought down to a point. And you can be in a church service just like this right now. And the truth is going out and you're here. But then God moves sovereignly. We don't know how and when it happens in your life. And all of a sudden you sense as though God is pointing you out and calling you right out of the audience. It's as though God is pointing to you. There can be a room of thousands of people on all of a sudden you feel like you're the only one in the room. That's God shining that light. And he's taking what is common and bringing it into your life to make it relatable to you. And that's when he begins to stoke life. Romans 7, 14 says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal. Sold under sin. You have to mark those words. Those words I'm bound to sin. You and I, I don't mean bound like I have to. I mean I'm tied to it. I was born this way. If anybody ever has an excuse, sorry, I was born this way. It's you and I being sinners. Funny people always, oh, I was born this way or you were born that way. And then you really tell the truth about it. The truth is we're all born sinners. And people get all upset at you for dealing the truth. The Bible says, David said I was conceived in sin. That doesn't mean David's mom was goofing around or something. And it means that the you and I are sinners. We listen, we naturally think thoughts that are not pleasing to God. And you just have to, you just, you and I have to own that. It's real. Baby's lie. They steal. They're cute as a button, but they'll rob you blind. They'll lead every cookie. If they could reach the drawer, they'd eat every cookie there is. They'll lie to you. Thank God, they have horrible motor skills because they get so angry instantly. Can you imagine if there was a, can you imagine if your baby had a gun in his diaper? You know how they're like, they're having crazy in the next moment. They're grinding their gums and they're about ready to attack you. Can you imagine if they had a 45 in their underwear? That'd be a, that'd be a bad day. Man, they put that shoot you and then they cry about, oh, mommy, they're emotionally crazy. Why? Because we're sold into sin. We're humans. But we received that what I said last week was S.I.N. positive condition from Adam and Eve. And then you guys all got real quiet when I said, and also S.K.D. and people went, what spiritually transmitted disease is called sin. And the Bible says that God's law points that out like a beam of light and begins to speak to us. Galatians 5, 24 said, and those who are Christ, notice possessive. Those who Christ owns have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. What does that mean? By the way, it's in the continuous. It's very interesting. We're owned by Christ past tense. I belong to him. But I currently have to crucify my flesh because it keeps popping its head up. I want to live for God. And the moment I embark upon that, my mind goes off into the weeds somewhere. Or my flesh has some dumb idea. And I've got a war going on inside of me. And again, if you're not a real Christian, you don't even know what I'm talking about. You may be very religious, but you don't know what I'm talking about. I can honestly tell you that I don't hate anybody, but if there's somebody I dislike the most on this planet, you're looking at them. I am my problem. Whenever I've made a dumb decision to the dumb thing, it was me. Was it you? And when you face that, there's freedom. Is that truth shines in you? And it drives you to Jesus. And you say, Lord, forgive me. I ask you to forgive me. We've been deceived by sin. Listen, Satan's smart. Number one, as a Christian, listen, Christian, your name is written down in heaven. You're going to heaven, Christian. Satan lost you. Isn't that a beautiful thought? He lost you. You've been plucked as it were at black, some black, you think about some black pebble as it were, some little black rock in Satan's crown. Christ plucked you from Satan's crown and he washes you in his blood and you turn out to be an incredible gem. You've been, listen, the salvation of Christ has captured you and delivered you out of Satan's realm of glory, but just because he lost you, doesn't mean he gives up and quits, because listen, everybody, if you're a Christian, the number one thing that Satan has against you now is to silence you. He lost you. So what does he do now? Is he pack up and go home, cry all the way, stuff his little tail between his leg, cry all the way home? No? He does everything to get you to be quiet now. The worst thing he can do, by the way, that's why new believers are such a threat to Satan. You can't shut a new believer up. They get saved and they're just like shooting their mouth off everywhere. They're all excited. I'm sure that demons are like freaking out because that teenager so excited about Jesus. Why? When we share Christ with somebody, that's a threat to the kingdom of hell. Satan's kingdom, listen, Satan wants to silence you. He wants to keep you quiet. He doesn't want you to speak up. If, listen, I'll prove it to you. Don't raise your hand. Ask yourself, are you a Christian? If you answer yes, and my next question is this, do you tell people about Jesus? Do you know why there's a pause? Because Satan has you wrapped. You may be Lazarus with new life, but you're still wrapped in your grave cloths. The reason why you don't tell people about Jesus is because you're embarrassed. You don't want people to think you're crazy. It's a very funny thing because Satan will lie to us to keep us quiet. Don't tell anybody then think you're nuts. Listen, they already think you're nuts. Most people think we're crazy. Ask your friends. What do you think of me? Listen, it's not important what they think. Tell them about the love of God. Tell them about the cross. Tell them about the empty tomb. Tell them that God loves them. Tell them that there's a day of judgment that God wants you to escape through the blood of Christ. Tell them that. They need to know they should know. But Satan will say, don't say that. Have you noticed? He says that. See, I'm going to tell that person. And then you hear this thought in your head. Don't do that. You look like a crazy Jesus freak. Don't do that. And then your flesh watch, your flesh goes, yeah, let's not do that. We don't want to go overboard on this. You know what I'm saying? Versus the spirit. The spirit side of you, when God is speaking to you, he'll say, what did you go tell that person? And you still get nervous. Your throat gets dry. You get, I don't, listen, I don't care who you are. You get nervous. But God says, and here, Satan talks so slick and then God talks so soft. I wish God would yell sometimes. Jack, the person on the red jacket, that one. But he goes like this. Jack, that person right there, tell them that I love them. And now I'm going back and forth. Oh my goodness. You hear him saying, this is that conflict, remarkable. The realities of salvation are also these found in verse 15. And that's frustration for what I am doing. He says, I do not understand. I don't get it. Paul is telling to us, this is incredibly deep for what I will to do that I do not practice. But what I hate that I do. He is not talking to us about a life where Paul never did what God wanted him to do. He's talking about the honesty of a life where you and I no matter how close we walk with God, we still trip up. Listen, friends, he's not using this as an excuse to harbor your sins. He's telling us the reality of the warfare that we're in, the frustration. But for us as believers, it's a beautiful frustration because I never had it before until it became a Christian. Frustrated because I love God. And as soon as I say I love God, I feel like a fool for saying it. Are you with me? Am I going too personal here? I love him. But when I say it, I feel like a fool because he deserves so much more love from me. When I think about the hell that I will never see, the loneliness I will never know, when I think about the isolation from all that is human in hell forever, I'm never thankful enough. I'm like a spoiled little kid running around. And my love for him is so weak. There's a frustration in that, but then there's a glory in the frustration. It's like, Lord, I'm not finished and you're not finished. We're on the move. We're growing, which leads us to this. Look at verse 16, it's God's amazing grace. The reality of salvation is this amazing grace. You guys don't remember. Grace means that it's God's favor that he places upon you. Imagine, I don't have anything. Imagine if I had something to throw at you right now. Imagine if I had a hula hoop or something. And I'm throwing it like that and it goes around your head and shoulders and I've got your head and shoulders. And I just cling it out like that and it lands like that. And you don't know, but I may be aiming for you, but you don't know. But it lands on you. And if it lands on you, you get all of these things. It's a good thing. You don't have it land on you and say, I don't want this. Or it's nice that it landed on me, but why didn't it land on him? What do you care? God's grace landed upon you. Now, let me make a direct. God's grace lands on each and every single one of you here. Even if today you're a non-believer, you have no idea. The amount of amazing grace that gets you through one day as you curse his name, cuss his name and raise your fist as it were and he's still in his patience because judgment time has not yet come. He's blessing you. That's why he says the rain falls on the just and the unjust at the same time. God says, look, the just and the unjust, they have a harvest. They live, they breathe. The atheist is breathing God's air right now. Every time I think of that, it'd be awesome just once to watch. Hey, God, can you just cut a supply off? 50%. So somebody's cursing God and gets a little, you know, like Darth Vader. You just, I know it's carnal. You just want to see it, though, for once. It'd be kind of awesome. But no, God's grace is good. God's grace overrides all of that. Bless is the person that's cursing them. Not for long, but he does. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree that the law that it is good. Oh, yes. Yes, my Jewish friends listen. The law of God is perfect and beautiful, spectacular. And I revere it. Paul the Apostle, the great Jew said the law is awesome and excellent. So long as it's used lawfully, didn't he? You know what that means? It means the law illuminates to all of these realities that the law cannot save you. Only Jesus can save you. The law is to drive you to Christ, to drive you to Messiah. The amazing grace of God is remarkable.