Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. It's hard to be a sinner. It's hard work. It's hard work. It's hard work to be bitter.
I'll tell you, part of the reason I just don't live with much bitterness is I just don't have the energy for it. How can people do that? You've got to have such a good memory.
My brain, I cannot remember all those things. It's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Belonging to God, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.
877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.
Here is Alan Wright. One of my worst jobs as the head of the household is to remove disgusting things. So I go, I get a shovel, and I go, I'm going to find it. It's going to be in the corner of the sunroom. So sure enough, there's a dead chipmunk over there, just putrid dead chipmunk.
Who knows how long he's been there, stinking to high heavens. And I get the shovel, and I'm just trying to like get as far away from it, get out of here. And I am having the greatest difficulty of getting rid of this thing because the dog is fighting me for it. The dog wants to come over and lick it. The dog wants to sniff it, taste it, bite it, and if had an opportunity would roll around in it. Do you know there have been studies and they cannot figure out why is it if you wash a dog and let it loose in the backyard, it will find the most foul thing in the yard and roll around in it. Why do dogs want to roll around in septic water if they can?
They just, we can't figure it out. And I watch this dog of ours, who this is probably the most disgusting smell I have ever smelt in my life. And to my dog, it must have smelled pretty good.
Isn't that something? All I'm saying is he's got a sense of smell a hundred times more sensitive than mine, and something in him he thinks that smells good, smells attractive. And to me, I'm like, get away from that is the most disgusting thing in the world. We had two different natures. I'm not going to get Reecey to smell a dead chipmunk the way I smell a dead chipmunk unless he's going to become a human being.
And I'm not going to smell it the way he does unless I become a beagle. We just have different natures. We just have different natures.
What Paul's saying is that before you accept Christ, you're born an Adam and you have Adam's nature. You have a sin nature. It doesn't mean that everything in your life is wrong if you're just exploring it. It doesn't mean that you don't do some wonderful things in your life.
I mean, you do. But I was just saying that inevitably, though, you're going to, well, you're going to smell things through your sin nature. So some things that are really actually toxic and ultimately destructive might smell enticing to you.
But if you come to live out of a new nature, then some things that might have smelled enticing before are disgusting to you now. And what Paul's saying is that the way out of a life of besetting sin and just in victory in general is not to try to go back and live out of the old nature under the law and try to be better at it. That doesn't work. You don't take and say, well, here's the law. Here's the law. The law is appealing to the old nature's attempt to be a religious person, to do the right things. I will try hard to be a good person.
It doesn't work. He's saying instead the reason that you can come into freedom from sin is because you have a new nature as one who is under grace. And when you live out of that new nature, things begin to happen that radically change your life.
Let me just tell you what happens in, I think Paul's talking about both these things here in Romans chapter six. When I say that your new nature, your born again nature, your spirit's alive to God and there's fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life and it changes the way you look at things. It changes what you think is fun.
It changes what you think is the nature of freedom. Your eyes get opened to truth like this. You know, it's so funny that to say, so some people, they say, well, you know, I've even talked to people before, they hesitate to become a Christian because they're like, they're afraid that God's going to make them let go of some things, you know, in their life. And I'm like, do you see? You see how silly this is because it assumes that sin is just wonderful, that it's fun.
It's not. I've got to give you a couple of examples. I got to laughing so hard many years ago when an Australian evangelist was here and he preached a sermon one time called It's Hard to Be a Sinner. And he got me laughing so hard and he was talking about how committed you got to be. It's hard work to be a sinner.
And I was thinking, you know, I agree with this. Even as a young man, even back from high school and college, I was a Christian and I had so many of my friends, even some of my Christian friends, and they loved to go and get drunk. And I'd watch these people, I watched them my freshman year in college, and I thought, that's hard work. I mean, you got to be so committed and it is hard work. You got to spend a lot of money that, you know, a college freshman doesn't even have, but you got to find a way to spend that money and get all the beer or go pay, you know, you're a part of the keg and all that stuff. And I watched them, they go, because first place, it's hard, you got to get committed, you got to spend that money, and then you got to go and you got to drink it. You got to drink it over and over when you're not thirsty.
And it's hard work. And then you got to do all the dumb things that people do when they're drunk. And, you know, people when they're drunk and they think people are laughing with them, no, they're laughing at them.
No, you're doing dumb things and you're saying dumb things. And then I'd watch them, they'd come back to the dorm and they'd throw up. I hate throwing up. Throwing up is disgusting. It's hard work. Have you ever, I'm sorry this summer is so gross, but we are talking about sin.
We are talking about sin. And you got to throw up. And it's nasty.
Sometimes they didn't make it down to the bathroom down the hallway and then right there in their own bed. I'm just, this is disgusting. This is nasty.
And then they can't wake up the next morning, Harley, and their heads hurt so bad. And I just looked at that and I'm like, is that fun? It's hard to be a sinner. It's hard work. It's hard work. It's hard work to be bitter.
I'll tell you, I just, you know, part of the reason I just don't live with much bitterness is I just don't have the energy for it. How can people do that? You've got to have such a good memory. I mean, my brain, I cannot remember all those things.
I cannot remember them. I mean, I've only got so much hard drive space up here and I cannot remember everything if I'm having to remember everything wrong everybody ever did to me. How could people go around concentrating that hard? I just like to relax more than that. I don't want to go around remembering every bad thing everybody did to me. It's hard work to be bitter. I tell you, it's hard work to be covetous. It'll drain every bit of energy you've got to be covetous. Oh, mercy, to walk around and always have to compare yourself to somebody else.
And when you do finally get a little bit of happiness that comes your way, and you've got to concentrate to turn your attention to what somebody else has that's better than you. And it's hard work. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. I don't want to pressure my kids, and I sure don't want to shame them, but I do want them to try hard and be all they can be.
That's the desire of every well-meaning parent. For over a decade, Alan Wright has been teaching all over the nation about the toxic effects of shame and the amazing power of the gospel of grace to heal and set free. Now, for the first time, Alan has been joined by his wife Anne to produce a video series about shame-free parenting. It's called Good News for Parents, raising grace-filled kids in a pressure-filled world. The eight DVD video sessions are chock full of humor, deep gospel insight, and loads of practical advice.
Use them for personal growth or with your spouse, and they're also perfect for use in your small group. The DVD album comes with a detailed step-by-step study guide as well. When you make your gift this month, we'll send you the DVD album as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Make your gift today and start raising kids by the power of the gospel. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.
Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Part of what Paul is saying here is that don't be deceived into thinking that sin is actually something that is life-giving when it's the opposite. That's part of what he's saying. And out of your new nature, you see that.
So you don't just have a command from the Lord to forgive and not let a bitter root spring up, blessed defile many as Hebrews says. You have an invitation to freedom. Who's the one that's more free? The one who is bitter or the one who has forgiven? Who's the one who's more free? The one who has to gossip and put other people down? Or the one who's just so secure they don't have to?
Who is more free? So what he's defining for us is what freedom really is all about. There was a man, he still has this ministry, Hank, I think his last name is Howe. He has trained some of the most obedient dogs in the world. He had one dog, I don't know if he still has them, I don't know if you heard them years ago.
It was named Isaiah 40-31. And he's saying to Isaiah 40-31 because this dog won a lot of the obedience contest nationally and they'd call out the winner is Isaiah 40-31. So he wanted people looking that up to say you shall run and not faint. This dog is so obedient that he could put the dog's favorite treat down at 100 yards away and call the dog and the dog would be going at a full sprint and then 50 yards on the way he'd blow a whistle and that dog would just stop just frozen. And then he could do anything he wanted for as long as he wanted. That dog would not move even though his favorite treat is down at the end down there. And what he would do is a little object illustration. He'd go over behind a big rock and he'd pull out a rubber snake and he said I wonder if the fact was I knew there was a snake he was getting ready to come upon. Because I can see things that the dog can't see.
And he used this to say which is more free? The dog that's obedient or the dog that's not obedient? I can tell you firsthand, Reecey, our precious dog, we did not socialize him with other dogs when he was little. It's a big mistake not to socialize your dog with other dogs. I didn't know.
I read it in a book. He said be sure and socialize your dog with other dogs. But I did not obey that and I didn't have time to socialize with it. We only socialized with one other dog. And therefore he only liked one other dog. He would just bark his head off. He'd try to attack another dog. So I like to walk the dog but it's just miserable because you're walking the dog and if you see another dog he's going rawr rawr rawr and he's pulling on the leash. Just a little beagle. Everybody thinks he's a cute little beagle and he turns into the Tasmanian devil. And so we'd be like, my daughter and I, she's a little girl, we're walking the dog.
And I was like, Abby, we're going to turn a corner up here. You run up ahead and see if there's a dog coming down that way. I mean, it's just bondage, you know. Which dog is more free? The dog who's so obedient that it'll just walk right alongside its master or the one that'll pull and follow every scent and chase down every other dog. Well, the dog that's that obedient, you don't even need to put a leash on it. I have coveted those dogs. I've seen people walk.
I've seen them down at the beach before. They're just dogs not even a leash. The dog's just walking along beside of them. Other dogs barking at them, everything else. The dog's just walking along. I'm thinking if that was my beagle he would be a half mile away already now.
He'd be gone like a hunt. Look at this again. I hope this is beginning to make sense to you. You have a new nature and that's why it's important that you identify yourself, Christian, as a saint rather than a sinner.
Live out of your new nature. It's important that you understand, therefore, that you're dead to sin and that sin will have no dominion over you. Verse 14, sin will have no dominion over you.
Instead, what he's saying is you have a new loyalty. See, the picture of the scripture to say that you're free is not to say you're free in the sense that the spirit of our age wants to say freedom where it doesn't matter what you do, but it's saying that freedom is defined by utter and complete submission to God. It used to bother me when I read Romans 6 and he says, now you're a slave to righteousness. I'm like, no, we're not slaves. But see, what he's using is not the image of, oh, you're a slave and the sense of being whipped and fearful and all that, but what he's using now is the image to say the thing to which you are gladly, willingly, ultimately, permanently, fully submitted such that I've come to see as one of the greatest desires in my life, that I'd be a slave to righteousness. You know what he's saying about that? He's saying that you just would be, it would just so, the things of God would just take over your life so much that everything else just smells putrid to you.
And once something smells putrid to you, you don't have to work at staying away from it. Do you hear me? The way, if you're struggling right now, beloved, in a particular area of your life, the way that you're going to come out of this is not by law but by grace. Because it is in grace that you find you are in a whole new covenant that is not of your merits but of the merits of Christ. And therein, you find yourself utterly submitted to God.
What is worship? I present my body to you as a living sacrifice. I worship you.
I love you. I'm praying that the things that you want are the things that I want. This is the pathway to true liberty. Live out of who you are as one who has been made holy. And what this news means to me, it is so glorious and so wonderful to think of this, that the things that are toxic that might have allured you in the past don't have to allure you.
Is that not glorious news? And it is so wonderful if you're not a Christian, I hope at least you wish it were true. That at least you would want it to be true. That a higher sovereign joy occupies your soul.
The way of freedom is the kindness of God that draws you into a submitted relationship with the one who loves you more than anyone could ever love you. And who knows everything that is best for you. Who died for you. Who intercedes for you. Who reigns in power for you. Who fights in the heavenlies for you. Who took on sin for you. Who became obedient even unto the torture of the shame of the cross for you.
That one who loves you perfectly to fall into submission to him. That is freedom. I said honey, this wren, he's God's little creature, I don't want to do anything, but we can't just have forever a bird flying around our room. She said don't you harm that bird. I said okay, well I'm going to try to throw a towel on him.
Bye. Well the bird was hiding somewhere and I said I'm just going to get real quiet. And I said Lord, I do not want to harm, this is your little creature and I don't know why he's in my bedroom, but he needs to get out of here and I'm just going to ask you to take him out of here.
I said because I'm either going to pray him out or I'm going to swat him out and I don't want to, I don't want to. And I got real quiet and all of a sudden the little fella hopped out from under the bed and he looked up at me and I just looked at him. I didn't say anything, I just real quiet. And then I became the bird whisperer. I said hey little fella, you don't want to be in this bedroom.
There's a whole big beautiful world out there with a big blue sky, trees, you can make nests out there. I'm telling you the truth, this is not a lie, this is what, and he started hopping. He hopped a little bit towards the door. I said oh thank you Jesus, just keep on hopping little bird I said. And I took a little step behind him, I had laid the broom down.
I'm not going to hurt you. And then he hopped again and he started hopping out the door. I had the two front doors wide open and he hopped down the hallway and got to the precipice of stepping outside. I thought once he sees that bright blue sky out there he's going to just poof, off he goes. But he went and he stood up at the edge of the doorway and he looked out and he turned around and he looked back at me like he's trying to make his mind up. At that point I said shoo, get out of the house.
And I thought he was going to fly away but instead he hopped out on the front patio and he just started hopping around looking up at me and I said I got to close the front doors, he's going to try to hop back in the house. And I sat down, he jumped up, caught a little moth out of the air and we sat there and talked to each other for a while and I had a new friend because kindness leads to repentance. You're not going to come out of your sin by getting more and more scared. You're going to come out by realizing the fullness of what Jesus has done for you.
You have a new nature. Live out of that and you will live free from sin. And that's the gospel. Alan Wright and good news as we come to the conclusion of our series belonging to God and this teaching freed from sin. Alan is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and a final word today. I don't want to pressure my kids and I sure don't want to shame them but I do want them to try hard and be all they can be.
That's the desire of every well-meaning parent. For over a decade Alan Wright has been teaching all over the nation about the toxic effects of shame and the amazing power of the gospel of grace to heal and set free. Now for the first time Alan has been joined by his wife Anne to produce a video series about shame free parenting. It's called Good News for Parents, raising grace-filled kids in a pressure-filled world. The eight DVD video sessions are chock full of humor, deep gospel insight and loads of practical advice.
Use them for personal growth or with your spouse and they're also perfect for use in your small group. The DVD album comes with a detailed step-by-step study guide as well. When you make your gift this month we'll send you the DVD album as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Make your gift today and start raising kids by the power of the gospel. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website pastoralan.org. Alan, at the risk of being criticized by some as just being positive thinkers, we are really looking at the gospel for what it means and what it does for our attitude.
I think of those coaches who coach singers and those who use their voice and always talk about having good posture. And I think of the gospel doing that. It gives us this posture and being freed from sin, you walk taller. That's a good image, Daniel, because it's like something you take in. Then you are filled with a new sense of hope and expectancy. So much as we were just learning of the power of the gospel is in the hope that comes with it. And you get a new nature in Christ and you get a new hope. And I think that's so much what we're talking about, Daniel, is hope. When people lose their hope, they don't care so much. And that's when most income. So anxiety and hopelessness is causing most of our sin.
And I think we try to attack it sometimes from the wrong way. And what we're inviting people into today is a greater trust that comes from a greater and greater dwelling upon the gospel. And in that trust, the receiving of a love that's a perfect love and that perfect love casts out fear. And I'll tell you, when we start having our anxiety left, a lot of our sin is going to go with it. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.
