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[0:00] All right, if you have your Bibles, then open them up.

[0:14] 2 Corinthians chapter number 5, one of my favorite chapters in all of the Bible. Well, sometimes I've been asked, what's your favorite chapter, singular, and I cannot answer that question.

[0:33] Sometimes I've been asked, what's your favorite book, and I cannot answer that question. I guess I could say the Bible, but they mean what favorite book of the Bible.

[0:43] But I do have a verse that has become, I suppose, a favorite verse of mine, one that the Lord has used.

[0:54] That's why. He's used it to deal with my heart more than one time. And so I want to read that verse with you this morning. 2 Corinthians 5, it's verse number 15.

[1:07] The Bible says, And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.

[1:22] I'm having a little deja vu standing here quoting that to you, because in November of 2019, pretty sure, almost three years ago, I flew out here with my wife and stood here in this pulpit, and I want to say it was on a Sunday night that I gave a little testimony, and that verse was the jumping point of it.

[1:48] That's the one. That's the one that God has used in my life. And if I have a life verse, that would be it. If sometimes I'm asked to sign things, just ministry-related signs and things, I'll put that verse underneath it.

[2:02] That's the one that means something to me. Some men say everybody should have a life verse. I don't say that. I don't know that that's true. The only reason I have this is because God gave it to me, so to speak.

[2:13] God dealt with me. And some men are of the opinion that however God deals with them, then that's what God's going to do for everybody. And I have consciously fought that, and I don't want to ever stand up and tell you, you need to do this because that's how it happened in my life.

[2:29] I want to give God the liberty to deal with you the way he sees fit and not be so programmed and stuck in some rut and think that only one church, only one school, only one verse is what God uses.

[2:42] That's stupid. I know better than that. God's way bigger than that. And in his word, he shows himself to be a God of diversity and calling men of different vocations and of different ways.

[2:55] But however, back to the verse. It's not a bad thing for you to have something that you hold on to from the scripture. I do believe you ought to have some things in this Bible that you've memorized because they're personal to you.

[3:08] And I think I can say this with confidence, that if you're a Bible reader, that God will speak to you from his book. He will make certain verses and phrases stand out to you and mean something to you personally.

[3:21] And if your heart's open to him and you want to please him and you long for him, then those things are things that they're real. They're a connection to God. They're a connection to him through his word that you hold on to, that you quote, that you pray, that you memorize, that you tell others about.

[3:36] And I have one and it is 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 15. I wonder if you have one. I wonder if you've gone, whatever year you are in your life, I wonder if you've gone that far without having something that God has spoken to you about in your life.

[3:56] It's pretty wide open of what he could or couldn't use. If you need an answer, if you're looking to children, marriage, college, decisions, or just sin, or just an understanding of him, there's so much, this is a revelation of God.

[4:14] He will reveal himself to you and his will for you. If you open your heart, you'll get in there and read. I've read through this chapter more than one time in my life. As a teenager, I was reading through this chapter, and I'm reading 11 and 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and wait a minute.

[4:32] What was that? And I went back to 15. It was as if God was just, those words just, they jumped and they grabbed me as I just read past them, and they said, go back and read it again.

[4:43] And I read that phrase, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. That phrase, that spoke to me. It may not speak to you, but I know me, and God knows me, and I was ready to live my life for myself.

[4:57] There was nobody else in this world that mattered more than me. And that's what God needed to show me, was that this isn't about you. You're little. And without me, you can do nothing.

[5:09] You're pathetic. You're a filthy sinner. Your motives and your desires are going to take you straight to hell if it wasn't for Jesus Christ. Your motives and desires will take you to a destroyed, unhappy life.

[5:22] And God showed me, I want you to live for me. I want your life, son. I want you to live for me. And as a teenager, I felt God from a youth, and then even confirmed as a teenager, the Lord saying, I want your life to be surrendered and dedicated to me.

[5:39] And then later in life, I got away from the Lord, and I got into some mess and sin. And along the lines, I got back in church. The Lord dealt with me about some things and got into some trouble and ran and got scared and ended up in my Bible again reading and reading through this chapter yet again and not thinking, okay, God, I'm going to go to Bible school or I'm going to go surrender to preach.

[6:02] I'm just going to be whatever you want. I wasn't thinking of that at all. I was just kind of trying to get out of the mess I was in. And I'm in my Bible, and I come through that 13, 14, 15, 16, 16. Wait a minute.

[6:14] Go back and read that again. I felt that same drawing back to verse 15, and I read that phrase again, and the Lord was saying, I still want you to surrender yourself to me and to give your life to me and to live for me.

[6:29] I want you. It was like God placed a calling on my life since I was young, and it was just confirming it and reaffirming it time after time. And that verse is special to me. And you could take my Bible from me, but you can't take that verse from me.

[6:44] It's stuck inside of my heart. By the grace of God, maybe I'll lose my mind one day, but that book's in me. At least that part is in me. I know what God wants for me. Now, I want to preach out of this verse.

[6:56] I preach a message here. It's pretty simple, but you'll get the idea pretty quickly. I want to preach a message. I'm just calling it Living the Christian Life. This was God using this verse to call me from not living for myself, but living a Christian life, a better life.

[7:12] And I don't think there's going to be much new about what I say here. I don't think you're going to be blown away by anything, but I pray that God will just use these thoughts to draw you and convict you and to point your life toward living for him.

[7:25] The first thing I want us to consider here is that in order to live a Christian life, there's a prerequisite, a prerequisite, a requirement, in order to be living the Christian life.

[7:39] It's in the verse. It says he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. Is it talking about somebody that they which are alive or breathing? No, he's talking about a specific group of people when he says they which live.

[7:53] It's they which have life. Do you understand what that means? Turn to Ephesians chapter 2. If you haven't been here in Sunday school, you haven't been following this teaching. It's been a bit of a theme lately.

[8:05] Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1. When God says in that verse we read that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.

[8:26] He's speaking to a people who have been given life, eternal life. Chapter 2 and verse 1 of Ephesians, the Bible says, And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.

[8:40] Who were dead. He died for all. And we judge from the Bible in Romans chapter 5, we thus judge that if he died for all, then we're all dead. Or is that in Ephesians?

[8:52] No, that's in the next verse there. Sorry, I'm just thinking ahead. That's in a previous verse in 2 Corinthians 5. All were dead. And Christ died for all. But it's not all that are alive.

[9:04] The Bible says, He that hath the Son hath life. And if you've received the gift of God, you've received eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[9:15] And if you're born of the Spirit, you're saved by the grace of God. You've been quickened or given life. Ephesians chapter 2, it says it later in verse 5, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.

[9:29] By grace, ye are saved. Now come back to our passage in 2 Corinthians 5. You understand this. Jesus Christ said, Ye must be born again.

[9:41] A dead man cannot please God. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. I hope everybody in here is saved. I hope you've been quickened and you understand, completely understand what I say when the Bible says that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.

[9:57] But if you're confused about that, then you need to go to the Bible and you need to let God show you that as a sinner, you're more than just separated from Him. You're dead to Him. You're an enemy of Him as we read earlier today in Romans chapter 5.

[10:11] You're an enemy of God that needs to be reconciled to your Creator. And the only way to do that is by the death of His Son. The blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse you from all your sin. And He can pass you from death unto life when you believe on His name.

[10:28] There's a prerequisite, a requirement to living the Christian life is you've got to be a Christian. You've got to be saved. You've got to be made alive in Christ.

[10:39] You can do a lot of good works. You can call yourself a Christian. You can go to a lot of churches. You go to every church in this area and that might make you feel good about yourself. Like you've really tried and you put forth the effort and you did something that most people don't do.

[10:54] You could get up every Sunday morning. You could chase church for the rest of your life. And it doesn't make you a Christian. It doesn't make you saved.

[11:05] When I was in high school, I played basketball for our team. And we were a smaller school and we didn't have a whole lot of guys to pull from. So we had about six guys, well, really five starters that were solid.

[11:21] Like we had a good team. And then it went to six and seven that were okay. And then after that, it just dove. The talent level really dropped. And it's just the way it was.

[11:31] But we had a team of 10. So the last three guys were just, let's just say they wouldn't have made a team anywhere else. But they were on the team. And they suited up and they went to practice and they ran the sprints and they did the work.

[11:45] And there was one guy who was a tall guy. I mean, tall and stocky. The trouble was he was just very, very, very soft. He had the size for basketball, but he didn't really have the mentality or the grit or the drive.

[12:01] And he was just a very feminine guy. I mean, very. When he ran, his elbows were in and his wrists were bent out. And you could picture it. It just wasn't very intimidating.

[12:12] It wasn't very masculine. Now, he got in the game. We were blowing out this other team pretty bad. And so he got in the game to play. And as soon as he got in, they were running some kind of out of bounds play.

[12:24] And I think I'm just sure that he just had his mind a little bit scrambled, having just gotten into the game. The fans are there. The score, the lights, everything's on. And the ball comes in. Somebody throws it up. And it comes off the rim.

[12:35] And he's taller than anybody on the floor. He's a tall guy. He just reached out and grabbed it and threw it right back up, bounced off the backboard, off the front of the rim, and then rolled in. And he just turned around and ran back the other way with both hands up going, Whoa!

[12:51] Just a long, all the way to half court scream. And just cheering and clapping. And just, he was so fired up. And everybody's laughing. Because he put it in the wrong basket.

[13:03] And the only person that didn't know it was him. And it was kind of a funny thing. And it was one that he got ribbed on and, you know, didn't live down for quite a while. But, you know, he did a good thing.

[13:15] And if he did that 50 times a game, he'd have had 100 points. But it was for the wrong team. And so for the wrong team, it did nothing. For us, it didn't accomplish anything.

[13:27] And the truth is, in this life, you can do a lot of good things. They can appear good to you. They can sound good to the world. Donate. Give your time. Get a vaccine.

[13:38] Save a tree. You can buy the whole line and do everything you want to do. And it can be all good. The world could say, That's good. That's great. You're a good person. But you're not on the team.

[13:50] Or you're doing it in the wrong way. It's not counting for anything for Christ. God's ignoring it. You know what the Bible... Look at this verse, in case you haven't ever seen it. Look at Isaiah 64.

[14:02] I can quote it, but it's better for you to see this and know what God says here. This is the mind of God about men's good works. Your good works. The best you can do.

[14:14] Look at Isaiah 64. And in front of a holy God, look at verse number 6.

[14:28] The Bible says, But we are all an unclean thing. And all, all, all of our righteousness, bring it all together in one pile, every good thing we've ever done, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

[14:47] What does a holy God want with filthy rags? What does he want with your good works? If you're not saved. What does he want with your morality? With your faithfulness and devotion and attendance and giving?

[15:01] What does he want with any of that? They're just to him repulsive. You're a filthy sinner in God's sight. So you need the Lord Jesus Christ to wash you of your sins, to make you clean and make you accepted in the beloved.

[15:17] And now you can start your life of good works. And again, that's Ephesians chapter 2. He ordained you as Christians to walk in good works.

[15:28] Now coming back to our passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, there's a prerequisite to the Christian life. You've got to be saved. It's not do good, because that's the Christian thing to do, is be kind and love your neighbor.

[15:41] That's the world's misinterpretation of the truth. The Christian life is lived by Christians, by those who have been born again. If you're not a Christian according to the Bible, your righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

[15:56] God's not interested. That repulses him. You're still an enemy. And you're going to drop dead one day and end up in hell. And that's not something that brings me pleasure, and I'm not some tough guy who likes to bark and say those things.

[16:08] It's the truth that you need to consider if you're not saved. If you've never trusted Christ alone for salvation, if you still think you're a good person, you're missing out.

[16:18] There's a prerequisite to living the Christian life, and that is you've got to be alive in Christ. You've got to be saved. Jesus Christ is called the author and the finisher of our faith.

[16:30] He's the finisher, not you. God's not interested in what you can do for him to get you saved. And this life, again, is not about doing good for others or fixing the planet or being some kind of aid to humanity or having a conservative voice.

[16:47] This is about Jesus Christ and you submitting to him. So the prerequisite is you've got to be alive, that they which live, in verse 15. Coming back to the verse, there's something else.

[16:59] That he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him. Unto him. Who's that? Him which died for them. I think it's pretty plain who that person is.

[17:12] And so not only is there a prerequisite to the Christian life, but there's also the person of the Christian life. The person is the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see those six letters, the first six letters of Christian?

[17:23] If you don't have Christ, you can't be a Christian. And if you're not living for Christ, then your life is not a Christian life. This is important for you to get this.

[17:36] It's not just I'm saved, so I'm a Christian, so I'm living the Christian life. No, the Christian life is about living for Jesus Christ. And if your decisions in life are not based on what does he want from me, it's not a Christian life.

[17:49] It's about you. No, that was my trouble from a youth all the way through was it was about me. I'm saved. I'll take the eternal life. But right now, I'm going to make some decisions that I like.

[18:00] I don't care what other people think about me. I got this stupid little went through those years of like, I don't care what you think about me. I'll make my own choices. I don't care what anybody thinks.

[18:11] And what a fool, because I did care. Inside, I cared so much what people thought about me. Sadly, I wasn't caring what Jesus Christ did for me and what God wanted from me until I turned my life over to Jesus Christ and began living the Christian life.

[18:29] If you're living the Christian life, then the person that you're living for must be the Lord Jesus Christ. The verse says that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.

[18:41] You might have desires and goals and plans. You might have thoughts for your life. Is Jesus Christ the number one? Is he the priority?

[18:52] Have you surrendered your life to him? If you're thinking, I want this, I should be able to do that. I've put my time in here, so now I'm going to take some time for me. And you start thinking along those lines.

[19:02] Because you're not even considering what the Christian life is about. The decisions you make should be after consulting Jesus Christ, if it's the Christian life.

[19:13] Look at something Paul says in Galatians 2. It's really just a few pages away to the right. The next book is Galatians chapter 2. Another pretty popular verse here.

[19:29] One I find myself quoting a lot here. But worth looking at and reading. If it's a Christian life, then it's going to be living for and considering the Lord Jesus Christ.

[19:43] Paul says this in chapter 2, verse 20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I. But Christ liveth in me.

[19:55] That's a Christian life. Christ liveth. We just sang it. In me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Yet not I.

[20:08] It's not henceforth unto myself. It's unto him. Yet not I, but Christ. Not I, but Christ. The Christian life. Come to your right a little bit further and look at Colossians chapter 3.

[20:22] Just a book or two over to the right. Colossians chapter 3. And in this passage we'll see wives and husbands and children and fathers and servants.

[20:42] And you'll understand. Verse 17. The Bible says, There's the Christian life. Giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

[20:55] Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it's fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things for this well-pleasing unto the Lord.

[21:07] Fathers, provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyes, services, men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.

[21:18] And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance. Notice these six words. For ye serve the Lord Christ.

[21:31] That's the Christian life. It's whatever you do. Word or deed. In the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks. Serving the Lord Christ.

[21:42] Whether it's your personal relationships, your employer-employee relationships, your home relationships, it's pleasing Christ, serving Christ, submitting to him, and then to others as well.

[21:55] There's a person of the Christian life, and it better be Jesus Christ. Don't tell me you're a good person and you're nice to people. I don't care, and neither does God. Unless you're living and doing it for Jesus Christ.

[22:08] Unless your heart is in love with him. When I was young, we lived on a... When I was real young, we moved out to the country a little bit and got an acre lot of land out in a nice kind of countryside area, some fields across the street.

[22:26] There was a horse farm behind us. And we had an acre lot, and it was all grass, and when we started there, we had to pick out all the rocks. And one of the jobs that my parents gave us kids during the summer, our first summer, and probably the next few after that, was fill a five-gallon bucket of rocks every day.

[22:42] Because there was rocks on this acre just everywhere. And so just little by little, they worked us like slaves, and we got it taken care of. And back in the little point of woods beside the horse pasture was a rock altar.

[22:56] It was just a big pile of rocks where we dumped them all, and I could still take you there probably to this day and see them all there. Now, as that grass grew in and thickened up, we had quite a bit of yard to mow.

[23:08] And there was a time where we had a rider mower that broke down, and all we had was a push mower that we used primarily just to trim around the house and the bushes and trees. And so there was a good while until that mower got fixed that we, the three kids, had to push mow the entire acre.

[23:25] That might not sound like a lot to you, but we were pretty young. Well, not too young, but probably sixth grade, somewhere in there, maybe seventh grade.

[23:36] I'm not positive. But at this time, we had kind of figured out that it was the kid's job while we were home during the summer, not at school, to mow the yard, and we had it broken into thirds.

[23:48] We all three had a third. And that sounds simple enough, right? So I have a younger sister who just, she just didn't like to do her third or complete her third.

[24:00] And when she got close to where we kind of, the not exact marker, but where we kind of figured, the laundry pole or something, when she got close enough to say, that's about enough, she stopped.

[24:12] She didn't want to make another trip across and another trip across because it was a pretty big lot. And so there were times where one wouldn't do their full part. But then there were other times, and this is just, I don't think my sisters ever did this, but there were times where I'd mow and I'd do my third, and instead of stopping, I thought, I'll just go another time, there and back.

[24:32] And that really didn't look like I did much, and I'll go another time, and there and back. I'm going to show them, I'm going to do more than them. I'm going to do more than them, and I'm going to show them that I'm doing more than anybody, that I do more work than anybody around here.

[24:44] And that was literally my motivation, was not to be a nice brother, or help them, or hey, don't worry about it, I'll do more. I just really thought, I want everybody to know that I'm doing more than them, I'm doing a better job than them.

[24:56] That was my stupid, selfish pride that wanted to be recognized. You know who I was living for in that moment? Me. Just for a little bit of acknowledgement from my sisters or my parents that I'm doing better.

[25:10] That I'm better than them. What a stupid thing. What a stupid thing. But it shows up all over the place, even when you're mowing the grass. You want to show people you're better than them.

[25:21] You can do it better. You're better. You know what that is? That wicked pride inside of me, it's inside of you too. And it shows up all over the place, whether you know it or not. It shows up maybe at your job.

[25:34] Now of course you want to do a good job and be seen and you've probably heard preached to you that you should be better than the lost with more character. Maybe so. But sometimes, what you want is to be recognized, me.

[25:47] Not Christ, but me. Look what I did. It's my name. Give me that extra money. Show them, or let me be in charge of this thing. And we want to take over.

[25:58] Unless we're living for Jesus Christ and their motivation is the C-H-R-I-S-T, then we're living the Christian life.

[26:10] And the Christian life is yet not I, but Christ. I hope that's the person that you're living for today. And I hope when you make decisions in life that you're choosing, you're deciding based upon what would Jesus Christ have me do in this situation?

[26:26] What does His Word say? How can I please Him before I please me? The Bible says, who His own self bear our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.

[26:45] The Christian life is serving Jesus Christ. I want to say another thing here. Come back and we'll be done here in a moment. There's two more quick points I want to make from this verse again. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 15, that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again.

[27:06] Thirdly, there's the price of the Christian life. There's the price. There's a price. If you're going to live a Christian life, you better believe there's a price twofold. There's a price that's been paid.

[27:17] And then there's a price, I want to say, there's a price that's owed. And the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for you to live a Christian life. The life of the flesh is in the blood.

[27:28] And He died for us and gave His blood to pay for our sins. A severe cost. The Bible says you're bought with a price. And it was an awful price.

[27:40] He gave His back to the smiters. He was nailed. I read this week that they plowed His back, that He made long as furrows. And I don't have any illusions about Calvary and about myself and thinking that I earned it or deserve it.

[27:56] I understand completely I am a filthy pig of a man compared to the holy, righteous Son of God. And He gave His life for me.

[28:07] There was a price that He paid to keep me out of hell. When I was knowing that these are sinful things, knowing that it's wrong and against God, I still want them and I still do them.

[28:19] And Christ took all of that willingly and voluntarily. He took it and He paid an awful price. He paid the price to give me the option to please God.

[28:31] He made it available. It wasn't available. And He paid for it with His blood so that now I could know God and now I could fellowship with Him and now make choices to walk with Him.

[28:42] And so then, I think there's another price. Another side is that there's a price that I owe. And the verse says that we would not live unto themselves but unto Him. His price was paid and now it's yours to pay.

[28:57] We say, Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. There's a price that we pay. Sadly, some think, Jesus paid it all.

[29:07] Salvation. Ten percent to Him I owe. That's what He asked me to give ten percent. Not grudgingly. And as long as I give ten percent then He should be satisfied.

[29:20] I think He deserves more than a little bit of money every week. I think the Lord God deserves your heart. He deserves your body and your spirit which are God's. In Romans chapter 12, we're told to give ourselves or offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.

[29:39] We read about the disciples when they were called of Jesus Christ. They forsook their jobs. Matthew, a government job, a publican, he forsook it and followed Jesus Christ. I don't think that that was just an easy thing to do.

[29:54] Don't think that there weren't people that mocked and ridiculed Him and thought, you crazy nut, you've got it made and you're going to go follow this weirdo? He's nobody. You've lost your mind.

[30:07] Those other disciples that were fishermen left their boats, left their nets, left their father and their business, their livelihood, their families even in the sense that Christ was calling them to follow Him for that time and they did and they owed that price.

[30:22] The Bible says, He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it and I wouldn't be surprised if there's somebody in here that doesn't need to lose their life and find it in Jesus Christ.

[30:36] Lose their life and pay the price of laying down what you want for yourself so that you could live the Christian life. You can serve Him without giving everything to Him but it's only to a point and eventually that point is going to be brought loud and clear in front of you whether it's in your own private devotions or in a service.

[30:59] Somewhere God is going to say, okay now, I want it all and that's where you're going to say, well I was only willing to give up this much. That price is too much. There's been, God help me, I don't want to have to deal with anything like this but there's been men that have had to give up their children.

[31:21] There's been men that have had to give up their marriages because they had to serve God. They had to live the Christian life and the spouse or the children or others said were not living that and they had to let it go because they were going to serve Christ first.

[31:39] As we read, living the Christian life costs something and it's so much better if husband and wife and children all decide we're going to serve together as for me and my house will serve the Lord.

[31:53] That's their ideal family but it doesn't always happen that way. It doesn't always work. Selfishness and sin and pride and some say I'm not paying that price.

[32:04] I'm not giving up what I want and I'll serve myself instead. And finally this morning the verse closes by saying that we should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again and rose again.

[32:21] I want to say finally there's a promise of the Christian life that Jesus Christ rose again and there's something in there. Look back to your left a few pages to chapter 15 of the previous book 1 Corinthians 15 and look at verses 55 through 57 1 Corinthians 15 verse 55 where the Bible reads O death where is thy sting?

[32:50] O grave where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through Jesus through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[33:03] God gives us a victory over sin over death over the grave here through Jesus Christ through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[33:14] The Bible says we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life.

[33:26] Romans 6 verse 4 the promise of the Christian life is that you can have victory you can live a victorious Christian life Jesus Christ proved it when he rose from the dead and he says now you can walk in newness of life as a new creature raised from the dead alive in Christ and so God asks two things of you one he asks you to be willing to obey him willing to submit and obey him and then he asks you to trust him and that's a tough thing for some it's tough but what you need to believe and realize is what God says is right where God leads is right and you can trust him he'll never lead you astray he'll never do something wrong in your life if you want to live the Christian life you have a promise that he will take you and pick you up and carry you and lead you even through some tough stuff perhaps but it's always right and you can trust him he'll never leave you nor forsake you there's a lot of promises in the Christian life you ever take a basketball or a volleyball you ever take a ball and to a swimming pool you ever have one and try to hold it underwater do you ever just push it you know they're always floating on the top do you ever try to put one down and let go and just shoots right up do you ever try to take it down to the bottom of eight feet and hold it down there

[34:53] I mean that's almost impossible to do I don't know if it's impossible but boy would that be hard to do to take a ball fill with air and hold it down on the bottom of a pool eight feet deep that ball just wants to in the worst way it is struggling against you if you let it go it just it just it darts straight to the top and that's like the spirit of God inside a believer who ends up getting down where it's darker and colder and pressure on the bottom of the pool it God does not want to stay down there he wants up he wants to get above that he wants to get way up let him go sadly it's you and your filthy sin and your flesh that tries to drag him down there and make him stay down there where you want to be sometimes let him go some of you in here might need to get up because living on the bottom is no place for you there's someone inside of you you're sealed till the day of redemption that spirit of

[35:56]  God inside he wants to be up he wants to walk up there where it's clean where it's air where you can live and breathe the bible says that the just man falleth seven times and riseth up again there's a promise to this christian life that like jesus christ rose again you too can get up when you fall into sin maybe somebody here needs to get up tonight maybe somebody needs to get up and get back to the christian life maybe you've just gotten a little bit distracted and you're like you know i've been i've been worried about my life i've been trying to do these things and line these things up and i've got plans i've got thoughts maybe you just need to step back from it and say god is this what you want for me is this your will for my life because i'm kind of making plans here i'm thinking i want this is it the christian life if it is it's going to be about jesus christ and those decisions that you're making you'll be able to discern and maybe you need to pray about it are they for me or are they for christ or is christ leading me in this way if it is then it's right if he's leading you it's right then go for it both feet but maybe you need to analyze some of the thoughts of your heart or you live in the christian life i'll read the verse again and dismiss or close here in verse 15 we read and that he died for all that they which live is that you if you're alive in christ that they which live should not henceforth henceforth from this day forward should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again let's pray