Doers of the Law

Well, I'd like to begin with a story, as it's told, about a little Scottish boy who rejected his mother's instructions by refusing to eat his prunes. It was on a particular evening that the boy had been treated to prunes for dessert. I don't know if anybody, any of you, have had that dreadful discovery of prunes for dessert as a child. If you have, you may relate with this little boy. Well, he gave it a shot, and as he was working through his plate of prunes, he decided he just couldn't do any more, and he informed his mother in that effect. And she began to plead with him, as mothers do, and try to coax him into eating his prunes and finishing those that were on his plate. She even went to, as far as to say, you know, God doesn't like boys, little boys, who don't eat their prunes. Still, no effect to the little boy. She even told him that, said, God will distinctly be angry at you if you don't finish your prunes. But the little guy remained unmoved, just as the two prunes at the corner of his plate remained unmoved. They lay there as a kind of dark and wrinkled symbol of his rebellion. So eventually, the mother had no other choice but to send him up to his bed at that point. And as they worked up the stairs, she mentioned again, you know, God's not pleased with your disobedience. And, of course, God is not pleased with disobedience. She was correct in saying that. But just as she came downstairs, just a few moments passed when all of a sudden the heavens opened up and unleashed an unbelievable storm. The winds drove against the windows, the lightning flashed, the thunder clapped with just incredible noise. And she decided she better go back up to her sign. And she was expecting, of course, to find him unnerved by and upset by the outburst that was occurring from the heavens. She opened the door to find him on his bed, but he wasn't there, or even under his bed, maybe, but he wasn't there. She actually rounded the corner and found his face pressed up against the window. And he was looking out at the storm. And as she got closer, she heard him say, what a big fuss over two small prunes.

Now, I'm not sure what we can drive from that story. I just wanted to tell it, really.

But if we can't drive anything from it in the realm of obedience, it could be that when we think about obedience to God and in His law, we often, our minds come first to those lingering prunes, if you will, doesn't it, on the side of our plate, and understandably so. And we know that, just as the Scottish boy's mother said, that God is concerned, and He is interested in the obedience that we display in our lives.

So, I'd like to invite you to turn to the book of James. And this will bring us to our topic of our study today, the topic of obedience, James chapter one. And the title of today, today's message, is doers of the law. Doers of the law. Now, we know from previous studies in James that James's approach, in his approach in this letter, is dealing with those who said that they had faith, but really didn't need to show a life of faith. And, of course, James took that false idea head on. There were many in James's day that were all too happy to accept the grace of God, but then turned that into an opportunity for license.

And James wouldn't have any of that in his letter. So, to those James would say, and we'll see, that if I am a true follower of Jesus Christ, that I will not be tempted to believe that, belief in Him as my Savior allows me then to do whatever I good and well please. On that extreme, it's license, of course. But it's the path of truth, which James now endeavors to educate his readers on what he refers to as the law of liberty. We're going to see he refers to it as the law of liberty.

So, look for that phrase here as we read this passage. So, James chapter 1, and let's read verses 22 through 25. Be thinking about what the law of liberty means. What does that mean, you think? James 1, verse 22 through 25. He says, But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only deceiving yourself. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. Let's stop there. So, we're going to pay special attention here to this, what we could say, very practical instruction here of James.

In this passage, if you notice, he describes and puts forth this warning of a certain type of self-deception here. As it says, we can deceive ourselves there regarding the law. And he has urged upon his readers the importance of not only listening. We see that in verse 19, where he says, So then, my brethren, let every man be swift to hear. So that's verse 19. But now in verse 22, he warns them against merely listening. And to that, James now is going to reveal to his true followers of Jesus Christ, they're identified by what they do. By what they do specifically with regards to the perfect law. It'll be our actions.

It'll be our actions once we have heard the law that reveal whether we are Christians or not. And this is the principle in which James proposes today. So it's important to listen. Verse 19, verse 22, it's also important that you do not merely listen. There's something attached to the hearing. There's something that goes along with after, once you've looked into this perfect law. And verse 22, really, if you wanted a verse that surmises the whole of James's instruction, it is it.

This verse grounds his whole letter. Be doers of the word and not hearers alone. And there's great wisdom in that. Because it's possible for you and I to derive a certain measure of satisfaction from hearing. Whoever's teaching, if you have a teacher who is enthusiastic or engaging, you can kind of get caught up in that enthusiasm.

And you may even deem your time that you spent listening as worthwhile. And you go home and you say, that was a worthwhile experience. But after the Bible's closed, after the hymns have been sung, you go home and you still deemed it to be a good exercise to attend and listen. But only to remain unchanged by it. And it's to that individual who James says, that was really a useless exercise.

And he even goes as far to say it was actually a deceptive exercise to go to listen and remain unaffected by it, to remain unchanged. In other words, it's possible to be charmed by the Bible and not changed by the Bible. How many over the years, you think, have heard this word and were charmed but never changed?

Never changed. In the first century, there would have been those who would have attended these lectures. We see that in Acts. So many hearers came. So many hearers. They would listen intently, often. Active listeners. But so many who would never become disciples of the Word or of Jesus Christ. So here, described moving into verse 23, is the individual who, with a superficial glance, that individual looks into the mirror, looks into the perfect law, and then walks away and immediately forgets.

He or she fell to do anything about it. And it's the person who treats the law in the same way. Tasker, a New Testament commentator, suggests that the forgetting is purposeful. It's a purposeful forgetting. Look at verse 23 and 24 again. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

So this is not the forgetfulness of a lack of memory or lack of cognitive ability. It's a purposeful forgetting. Tasker wrote this, If the man does see glimpses on his countenance of the ravages being brought by sin, his instinct is to banish such an image quickly from his memory and turn once again to other things.

Does that make sense? Because we don't forget unless it's a purposeful forgetting. So in this example, we know what the law has shown us. We remember that image, but it's when we don't want to remember it. We deliberately put it to the side. We put to the side what's been revealed to us, the image that's been revealed by the law. We get on to other things to take up our time and our attention.

So we deceive ourselves in this way. James says, Thus after the Scripture is given, after the law is revealed, you get a pretty good idea of where that individual's heart and where their mind lies. Whether they have changed from, enacted from that image. So we can't forget about the sinful image. We must do something about it. And I don't say that to make anyone feel guilty, of course, because I'm just as good as that, as the next person.

I read these Scriptures. I even preach them. And then when I exercise purposeful forgetting, it's unbelievable sometimes, I think to myself, that I could still be doing that. But this is what James is wanting us to work on. But it is this forgetful glance of the law. It is to that individual in which James speaks. So James now moves very quickly from his illustration of the forgetful glance to the converse. Look here at verse 25. He moves from that onto one who looks with intent not to forget. Look at verse 25. Verse 25.

So this man, this woman, in contrast, looks intently into the perfect law of liberty and continues into in it, not forgetting what he or she just saw. Not forgetting that image, but his intent on doing it. And that is the man, that is the woman who was blessed. And if you think about it, the blessing comes from what he or she does after the hearing of the law. After the looking into the mirror, the blessing comes from the pathway of obedience.

That's what James is seeing there. It's the right response to looking into the law in a way that mirror in the image that it shows us. We want to look at this carefully today, and I had some discussions before church today, because this is very important. Because unless we get this, we will run into all kinds of difficulty. Because think of all those who have bought into the approach to a Christianity that uses this terminology, law of liberty.

They use that phraseology, but they misapply it. Think of all the brothers and sisters that maybe have sat with us in the past, who have run into this difficulty of reconciling what this phrase is and what this phrase means. So, for example, you routinely hear, we're not under law, but under grace. You hear that, right? Not under law, but under grace. Whole doctrines have been built upon that. They say, we have been given liberty or freedom from the law.

In fact, James uses those words. So, for example, they'll say, you're not under law, but under grace. And of course that's true. That's in the Bible. James even uses this law of liberty, that phrase. And to a significant number of people, they would say, this is what it means. There used to be an Old Testament thing going on about the law, and with the law and the Ten Commandments, but when you get to Matthew, and when you get to the Gospels, they say, then, we're finished with that.

And grace has now come, and it's all grace at that point. Under the law, you're supposed to do what you're told. That would be the Ten Commandments. There's no liberty in that, is there, they would say? There's no freedom in that. You do what you like. I guess you allow the Holy Spirit, they say, to move you in the direction that you feel. So really, they don't want anyone telling them what to do.

That's Old Testament stuff. And if someone comes up to you, they would say, and they give you instruction that you should adhere to the law, well, those are legalists, they would say. Don't listen to them. And ironically, they would say, that's the deceptive message. But they say, you've been freed from all that. You're no longer the law, but under grace. There's your liberty, they would say. Now, that might be broadly painted, but not very much. Not very much. But what is James saying? What are we reading here?

James clearly says to not only look, but look with the intent, the intention to do what? To continue in what it says, to do the law, to not forget. And we want to get to that phrase, not under law, but under grace. And so I think at this point, it is a good point to pass the baton, if you will, on to the Apostle Paul, who wrote those words, to further this discussion that James has introduced to us here.

And what we're going to see now, we're going to move on to Paul's writings, and we're going to look at that exact phrase, not under law, but under grace. And what we will see, though, is that the Apostle Paul, in giving that phrase unabashedly, will do so and leave no room for the licensor to continue in his license.

We will see that today. So where is that phrase found? Romans 6. Let's turn there. Romans 6. Romans 6. It's a fascinating chapter. And if you want to defend this truth that we're studying today, go to this chapter. Go to this chapter. So often, they pluck those that defend the heresy that the law has been done away with. They pluck a phrase out of a passage. It's a very useful deception technique that they use. We're going to read the whole passage here.

And leading up to this chapter, Paul established what it means to be justified by grace through faith. And in light of that, he's going to ask this question. Now, what should our response be to grace? See if you can pick up on the core understanding of what Paul puts forth here. Our response to grace. What should our response be to grace? Romans 6. Let's begin reading here in verse 1.

We're baptized into his death.

Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we should also live with him. Knowing that Christ has been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once and for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourself to be dead and to eat to sin. But alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Verse 12. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. But present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. Continuing, verse 15. What then shall we sin because we're not under law, but under grace? Certainly not. Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey? You are that one's slaves whom you obey. Whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness. But God be think that though you were slaves to sin, yet you obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine in which you were delivered. And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness. So now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin, having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness. In the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Let's stop there. You know, as a speaker you debate whether you're going to read a full passage or not. And so often we avoid that, but it's so important to take a look at this whole chapter where they use that one phrase that we read over. And you see how preposterous it is to come to any other conclusion than the conclusion that we're going to come to today with regards to the law. So let's give our attention to this. The essential question is at the very heart of this chapter is actually asked twice. First in the very first verse, and then again in the fifteenth verse there. And in asking this question and referring to the first verse, Phillips' commentator phrases it this way. Listen to this regarding verse one.

And then he says, We who have died to sin, how could we live in sin a moment longer? What does that mean? Paul is not suggesting that the literal impossibility for all those who are in Christ to sin. He's not suggesting that those who are in Christ, then it's impossible to sin from that point forward. We know that not to be true, of course. We recognize in our relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, we sin every day. While in Christ we continue to sin. So he's not addressing that, but rather he's addressing what a moral contradiction it is for someone in Christ to continue willfully in sin. A moral contradiction. If we who have died to sin, if we have been raised to a new life in Christ, how could we ever claim that the way I'm going to manifest the fact that I'm in Christ is by simply doing what I've always done? How could I ever claim that? That that would make sense. The way I'm going to manifest my life and that I'm in Christ now is to continue to do the old ways.

He's saying this, if we have died to sin and we have been raised to a new life in Jesus Christ, it's a ghastly notion to think that once you've become in Christ that you would continue to do what you've always done. Not adhering your life to the law. That goes under the guise of Christian freedom. It's under the guise of Christian freedom, but it's a ghastly thought, Paul says. And look at verse 16 and 18 through 18. Just after asking that question again in verse 15, should we continue to sin because we're not under law but under grace? Look what he says in verse 16.

Paul says, you want to talk about freedom? You want to talk about freedom? Let me ask you this. Do you know why you've been set free? Do you know why you've been set free in Christ? Do you know why you have been delivered and set free in Christ? He says, well, let me tell you. You have been set free to make now the right choice. You have been set free and delivered to choose righteousness. You have been set free to change from how you have been living and set free to make the choice of righteousness. Liberty has come to you. Liberty has come to you. And now here is the law of that liberty.

Liberty has come to you in Christ.

And now here is the law of that liberty. Here is the law of that liberty that you now live in. Verse 17 and 18 is the key to it all, really. It changes everything for a Christian. Verse 17 and 18. May God be thanked that though you were slaves to sin, you were. You obeyed from the heart, and having been free from sin, you now became slaves of righteousness. There it is. You were slaves of sin, slaves to breaking God's law. Now Jesus Christ has freed you. We have been set free from that slavery. Now you have the ability to choose righteousness.

We have the freedom to choose righteousness. Before, we didn't truly have this ability. The chains were too strong. Ah, but now in Christ. That's all changed.

You have been freed in order to live one way. That's righteously.

A true Christian cannot be in service to both masters at the same time. You can't be in service to sin, and you can't be in the service of obedience at the same time. You can't be out with your girlfriend, and be in the service of sin, and be in the service of obedience to God at the same time. You can't be thinking on pure thoughts. If you're thinking on pure thoughts, what master are you submitting to at that moment?

If you're thinking unkindly, or behaving unkindly towards others, what master are you submitting to at that moment?

A Christian cannot be in service of both masters at the same time. You just can't do it.

When a Christian sins, the law reveals that you have this marred image. The law reveals that you have that marred image. That's the beautiful thing about the law. That's what it provides to us. The two things will inevitably happen when we look into that mirror and see that image. One, we will either get on our knees, and we will repent, and ask God for that cloud of sin to be removed in our relationship. He'll do so, and we rise off of our knees to a new dedication. Or, when we see that marred image, we will walk away and try to put it out of our minds.

A purposeful forgetting.

But we can't do that. Once we become in Christ, there's an expectation now of righteous living. Once you accepted that grace, that love, there is an expectation of righteous living. There's an expectation that you're going to respond to what the mirror shows you. And so, if this morning we're sitting in the congregation, willfully sinning, choosing to obey sin, we've got to get it out. We've got to get it out. And not when it's conducive. Not when circumstances are conducive. But today. Because we know who we belong to when we sin. Don't walk away from that mirror and put it out of your mind. Because if we do that, and tell me if you've experienced this, I have. When you ignore it, after you've seen it, and you ignore it, and you walk away, eventually that image, which was so alarming at first, begins to fade. It's not so shocking anymore. That... I don't look too bad, you know. Have you noticed that? The more you continue in a sin, what was shocking to you at first begins to fade. It's not so shocking anymore. That image that's reflecting back to me.

It's a very dangerous thing to walk away from that mirror without the intent, the fervent intent to change. And both James and Paul are testifying to that fact. Are you in Christ or aren't you? You're either looking at this perfect law with intent to change or not. And we're either progressing in holiness, making headway along the journey, or not. If not, if we're not making progress, then on what basis do we make the claim that we're in Christ? On what basis do we make the claim that we're in Christ?

On what basis do we make the claim that we're in Christ? Today? No. It's what we do. That's the basis by which we can make the claim.

This is the issue being presented here. In verse 17, Paul moves us, though, toward a wonderful benefit about being in this position of Christ. Just when you feel overwhelmed by that image. We look at verse 17 and understand what's being said to us, where he says, But be thankful that though you were slaves to sin, yet you obeyed from the heart the former doctrine that you were delivered. Thanks be to God that although you were slaves to sin, you've now been set free from sin. You now have the power of the Holy Spirit, which gives you the ability to come out of sin's control.

So not only are we given the admonition, God is so loving to us, he gives us the ability to fulfill what's necessary. God says, here's what's necessary. And now I'm going to give you the power, the ability to fulfill what's necessary.

What a loving Father that is.

This is the loving description of a Christian. A Christian is someone who has undergone a great change. Those in Christ not only have the demand for righteous living, but with the demand comes the ability. And that is the New Testament Christian, if you will.

If you want to describe who you are as a Christian in the New Testament, describe it that way. I know God has given me the demand, but I have a loving Father and He's given me the ability to fulfill that demand.

All that other stuff going around where you can just continue along in your own journey. You can look at God's law with no intent. That's the deception. Plain and simple. Think of how many have heard God's Word from James and from Paul and were charmed but not changed. We can't let it be us.

A Christian is about looking into the perfect law of liberty with the intent to make radical change.

The Gospel. The Gospel that is shown to us in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Gospel is this. We need to be able to defend and describe ourselves. Who are you as a New Testament Christian? Well, it's this. The Gospel teaches us this. It is the teaching that man was a sinner and cannot by his own works be brought into a fellowship with God. And therefore, he is hopeless. And as he begins to ponder that, the good news of the provision of Jesus Christ comes along, and we discover that God has done what we couldn't do for ourselves.

The true Gospel. Man is a sinner. We cannot by our works be brought into a fellowship with God. We realize we're hopeless. But then the provision of Christ comes along, the good news, and we realize that God has done for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. And as a result of that impinging on his heart, he repents and recognizes that radical change must take place.

Boy, when you realize, when that impinges on your heart, what has just occurred?

It changes you. It has to. And what is the evidence of that change? What is the evidence of that change?

James and Paul says, you have been given liberty.

You've been given liberty. Now, here's the law of that perfect liberty.

Here's the liberty of that perfect law.

There is no way to substantiate the notion that continues to run around, whereby the individual says, I've got the forgiveness now, and I'll get to the, I'll get to what that mirror has shown me later. It's a false notion. I want the insurance that I have a life after this one. I want the insurance that I have everlasting life, and that I'm forgiven. But I'll just, I'll get to that marred image in just some point along the way.

It's not law or grace. It's law and grace. They work perfectly together.

The only way we can come to the saving grace of Jesus Christ is by bowing and acknowledging His Lordship in our life. And that's obedience. That's obedience. Obedience is the evidence that you've been freed.

How about that? Obedience is the evidence that you've been freed from the condemnation of death.

Verse 18 again, Verse 18 again, And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Verse 18, And having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. You have been set free from sin. That doesn't mean sinless perfection. It doesn't mean freedom from temptation. Rather, it means, as Phillips paraphrases it, you have been released from the service of sin. It's like this. You were once in another army.

You were discharged from that army as a result of the intervention of another. You took off your old uniform, and you trashed it. You burned it. And you put on a new uniform. And you began taking commands from a new commanding officer, and you walked on in that service. Therefore, it would be a ghastly thought, inconceivable, to go back and put that old uniform on, and go back to taking the commands of the old commanding officer. Inconceivable. Ghastly thought. You have been released from the service of sin, and now have entered into the service of righteousness.

And look at verse 19. Verse 19, I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.

For just as you have presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. So the miracle of it all is that God has not only redeemed us, but He's given us the ability to remain out of that which He redeemed us from.

He's given us the ability to keep out of sin, to keep sin out. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. But now your task is to offer your lives to slavery, to righteousness. Live according to who you are now.

Who you are now in Christ, live according to that. So, can I ask you this morning, are you living in accordance with what you profess to be?

If you profess to be in Christ, are you living in accordance with what you profess to be? Does your time concur with the profession of radical change as being called by Jesus Christ? Or are you living a life of sin at the moment?

Don't get discouraged by that. Whatever weakness has stayed with you, don't get discouraged by it. If you've been living a life of sin at the moment, just think to yourself, well, that was last moment. That was last moment. I've now heard this word from James and from Paul. I'm done with that. I'm done with it.

Keep your finger here. We're going to come right back, but I want to drive this home. I'd like to draw our attention to the seriousness of returning to a former life of sin after you have become in Christ. Look at 2 Peter 2. Keep your finger here again. We're going to come right back. 2 Peter 2, verse 20-22. 2 Peter 2, verse 20-22. Just two verses.

These verses here, 20-22.

If this doesn't drive it home and provide some motivation, I don't know what will. But it's same with regards to he or she who returns to a former way of life after they've been rescued by Jesus Christ and his death. Verse 20. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them to have not known the way of righteousness, than having known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them.

But it has happened to them according to the true proverb. A dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire.

That's what it's like. That's what it's like, Paul tells Timothy.

You know, Paul's a pretty good person to be instructing us on this. I'm sure he had many urges to return to that old way of life before he was struck down and called by God. And I know in many ways he's teaching Timothy, but he's teaching himself, you know. I can't return to that old way of life. It's as if a dog returning to his own vomit.

It's a horrible thought.

And Paul even continues. Let's go back to Romans 6.

Paul continues with that thought here back in Romans, in verse 21. I'm sure Paul was thinking deeply on these matters constantly. It's not only as if a dog returning to its own vomit. Look at Romans 6, verse 21. He says, and even think about it, that old way of life. What investment? What did that give you? What did you get back on your investment on that old way of life, when you invested your body and your mind to the services of sin? What did you get from it? Look at Romans 6, verse 21. What fruit did you have then in the things which you are now ashamed?

What was the end of those things? But the end of those things is death. Pre-calling, pre-conversion, think about your experience. It was pointless. It was so shameful, and it was deadly. But look, he says, now in Christ that's changed. Look at verse 22 and 23 again. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness. And let me tell you, in the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now you are employed by God. Now that you're employed by God, you owe no duty to sin. I like that in thinking in that way, that thought that you're employed by God now. You know, you can be employed to sin. You can be employed to sin. And make no doubt, sin does pay its wages. There will be a paycheck there for you every week. You can be employed by sin. What are those wages? Death. Or you can be employed by God.

What are the wages of God? He gives in gifts.

And the best gift you could think of? Eternal life. But there are more people filling their heads, involved in more bad relationships, involved in the absence of God's law with the mistaken notion that it's been done away with. But it's a trap. If you've been in that trap where sin offers, is offering you freedom, what looks like freedom, it's a trap. It's a trap. And you know that, and I know that. It's false freedom.

It brings death to you. You know, when I was in a former way of life, I was just slowly dying. Just parts of me were just dying off. And I kept striving for maybe what I thought was freedom. And it was a trap. It was a trap.

And so Paul is saying, you know, it's morally inconsistent for those who have been set free from the bondage of sin. It's morally inconsistent for those who have been held captive to live in it any longer. It's illogical. It's contrary to the freedom that you've been given through Jesus Christ. It's not that there's not an appeal in my heart still, or I don't feel drawn to sin. I just know that if I succumb to it, I put myself in a position that's diametrically opposed to who I am in Christ. Staying here in Romans 6, but going up to verse 4, here's the grounds of Paul's exhortation. And it's on the basis of our union with Jesus Christ. Chapter 6, verse 4. He says, therefore we were buried with Him, Jesus Christ, through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in the newness of life. We're raised also. Prior to that moment, we were a pitcher of sin, and we went down in the water, and were raised up to a new experience. Now, a new chapter. God's grace brought us a new reality.

And if God's grace is working in our lives, is it not just absolutely ridiculous to go back to old ways? That's what Paul is saying. It's a ghastly thought to live from that point as if somehow the old person is still with us. We buried Him. We buried her with Christ. Verse 5, for if we've been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we should also be in the likeness of His resurrection. So that's pretty incredible. Think about what that is telling us.

If we do these words and walk in the newness of life, the future promise is that we'll not only be in the likeness of Jesus Christ in this lifetime, but we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection. You know that He was raised. Well, He says likewise. We will as well.

I'd like to conclude with a passage of Scripture which is really just, we could say, the conclusion of it all. And fitly and rightly so, it's found at the very end of the Bible. So let's conclude today. Let's turn to Revelation 22. Revelation 22 in verse 12 through 15. We're going to conclude with this passage. Revelation 22, verse 12 through 15. And before we read it, let me ask, because Paul brought it to our attention, do you want to be raised at Jesus Christ's return? Do you want to be raised at Jesus Christ's return? He's coming quickly. He's bringing His reward of eternal life.

Do you want to be raised at His return? I think we could all say yes. Well, how do we know? How can we make sure that we will be there at the time of His return? Well, Revelation 22, verse 12, He says, Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. We'll stop there. Will you be raised at His return?

Well, don't be deceived, James would tell us. Don't be deceived.

Look into that perfect law of liberty, and look at it with intent for change. Are you doing His commandments? Let's all make a recommitment today. Do not merely listen to these words, but to do them. Be doers. Be doers of the perfect law of liberty.