Short Sermons

From death to life, you were saved to serve. In Ephesians 2, Paul teaches us that every single person who is living outside of Jesus Christ is spiritually dead and living in a graveyard named "trespasses and sins." The bounding thing on this graveyard, however, is the three locks keeping so many people in: the world, the devil, and the flesh. These three things are a lot like chains and many people are wearing these chains, and trust me from experience, it is a very heavy weight to carry. Chains are generally easy to take off but the restricting thing on these, however, is the locks on them that we, in our flesh, have no power to unlock. But God has the master key for them all and if you allow Him to, then He will unlock and break every chain that is keeping you from walking with Him. He will then give you the Holy Spirit who will go to live inside of you and help guide your life rather than weighing it down with heavy chains (John 14:26.) So now, let's break down those three locks keeping you in the graveyard.

 

The first lock that tries to bind you is the world who actually hates Jesus because He decided to not be of this world (John 15:18.) So as servants and followers of Jesus, do you think the world is going to like you any more than your master? No. It does not. This world may paint a pretty picture for you to enjoy your life and have fun when you are a part of it, but when you turn from it and decide to not be of this world, it will treat you just like it did our Father, with persecution and hatred. From John 3, though, we know that God loved this world, so do not think that He did not, but through love He sent His Son into this world to save it. And John tells us, as Christians, to not love this world or the things in this world, and if you do, then the love of the Father is not in you. This world and the lust of it will pass away but the will of God abides forever. The world, however, is not all about saying you love it or not, it is also about not conforming to the culture of it. This world presents a culture to us that can deceive you into thinking that the wrong things are acceptable and okay by God. It tries to tell you that you can ignore a few scriptures from the Bible, that you can not love an enemy because they really really hurt you, that you can go party one night but you'll repent in the morning, and so many more false ideas. You absolutely cannot conform to the culture or the "normal" that this world presents you. There are real false christs and false prophets leading so many people astray into this world, however, the One who is in us is greater than the one who is in this world so we have to be confident and know that we have the Spirit of truth living in us and we have the power to resist the things of this world (1 John 4:4-6.) 

 

The next lock we are breaking is the devil. The immediate verse that comes to my mind when I think of the devil is Ephesians 4:27-"and give NO opportunity to the devil." In this passage, Paul talks about living your new life in Christ and not going back to any sin that may cause you to give the devil a chance to put that chain back on you. Now what I say next may rub you in the wrong way, but it's scriptural so hear me out. If you are practicing sin, then you are a follower of the devil (1 John 3:8.) You may wonder, "hmm am I practicing sin, because I definitely don't want to be considered a follower of the devil?" Well here are some things that would mean you are: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, enmity, strife, sorcery, jealousy, fits of anger, envy, drunkenness, not loving an enemy, etc. I am not saying that if you commit one of these sins then you are going to hell; I am simply saying that if you make a practice of these sins then you are follower of the devil, but hallelujah because God says that if you confess your sins then He will be faithful and just to forgive you. God's forgiveness paved a way for us to steer clear of any trap the devil may have for us, and in our obedience to God, we can find true peace.

 

The last lock and the one that I believe can be the most bounding is your flesh, or in other words, the desires of your flesh. The flesh, to some, may be confusing to understand, especially new believers, but it simply is our earthly bodies. Our flesh desires the things of this world: riches, fame, lust, fitting in, etc. Our Spirit, however, is much greater than that and you can walk in the Spirit just like you can walk in the flesh. In Jesus, we have freedom but he pleads for us that we do not use our freedom as an opportunity to entertain our flesh, and sadly that can happen to the best of us so easily if we do not continuously ask God for strength and guidance. The absolute only way to deny our flesh is to walk by the Spirit which gives us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, and anything that you may need to crush your flesh.

 

So now that you understand the three locks that are keeping you in the graveyard and also understand that God is strong enough to unlock and break those for you, if you allow Him to, then I encourage you to stand up for Jesus and never wear those heavy chains on your back again! Walk by the Spirit and reflect Jesus' love everywhere you go and you'll too have the power to help a friend unlock and break those chains on his back.