Romans 6_20-7_4 (#23.2025.05.25)

Scott Keffer:

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there'll be a link to the episode website at beholdingbibletruth.com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Scott Keffer:

Hey. So we consider our journey through the book of Romans, end of Romans six heading into Romans seven. If you could stand with me as we read together. Romans six twenty through seven four. Four, when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore, what benefit are you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? To the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to god, you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification, and the outcome is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of god is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our lord.

Scott Keffer:

For do you not know, brethren, for I'm speaking to those who know the law, that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives. For the merry appointment is bound by law to her husband while he's living. But if her husband dies, she's released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living, she is joined to another man, She shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brother, you were also made to die to the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for god. The word of the Lord. Thanks.

Scott Keffer:

Thanks be to God. Well, here we are walking through the book of Romans, and Paul's continuing to expound and enlighten us on the difference in what's been before and what's been after. And so he reminds us that you were you were, past tense, slaves of sin. You were slaves of sin. To which I remember hearing this for the first time and thinking, I wasn't a slave. I was doing what I wanted to do. I was living the life I wanted to live. I was making my choices.

Scott Keffer:

I was captain of my own ship. I was master of my own destiny. I was free to do what I wanted to do. And, of course, Paul reminds us that that's not so because there was a power that would have worked within you, the power of sins, and it was a powerful power. And then as a result of that, righteousness had no place in your life. Righteousness. The righteousness of God. Literally, the Greek word means you had no obligation to to pursue righteousness.

Scott Keffer:

No desire to and no obligation. It had it had no place in your life. And so it says that sin had a fruit. It's a in the New American Standard, the word is benefit, but literally the word is fruit. It literally means fruit. So sin's benefit, sin's fruit was what? Death. Shame and death. Shame and death.

Scott Keffer:

I started thinking about that. Shame. Shame on you. You ever hear that when you were growing up? I hate that. Right? Yes. I ain't thinking about that. That was you used to say that. Shame on you.

Scott Keffer:

Shame on you for doing something Wrong. Yeah. Something bad, something's wrong, something you shouldn't have done. I was thinking about that. Shame. Shame. What does that mean? Literally means to to the the Hebrew word means to to be ashamed, to to pale, to we would say to blush or to to to lower your head in that sense. Right? So before the fall, what was the deal? They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.

Scott Keffer:

So before the fall, there was no shame. There was no shame before the fall. They were not ashamed. They didn't there was nothing no reason to pale, no reason to be ashamed, no reason to lower their head, no reason to be disappointed. Then, of course, when the woman saw the tree was good hey. Tree is good. And it was a delight to the eyes. Wow.

Scott Keffer:

It looks really nice. And that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took. She took. So I knew I meant she took. She gave also to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were, underlined, open. They were open. Right? And they and they knew that they were naked.

Scott Keffer:

They knew that they were naked. So the fall is the entrance of shame into the human race. The fall is the entrance of shame into the human race. Their eyes were open. That desire to eat of the knowledge of good and evil and then to realize that we have no capacity to handle it. We have no capacity to handle the knowledge of good and evil. Shame enters the human experience for the first time. And so what did they do? It says, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

Scott Keffer:

So that was their attempt to cover shame. Their attempt to cover their shame. The fig leaves. The first man's been doing that ever since in all sorts of ways. So psychology today has many articles, five ways to silence shame. There are practical ways that you can silence shame and guilt. Let's get rid of it. Right? So psychology says do these things to get rid of shame.

Scott Keffer:

And then, of course, each of us figures out ways to do that. We can numb shame. We can turn up the music louder and ignore it, like, pay no attention to it. We can, numb it through, excessive alcohol, drugs, whatever that might be, sex, whatever that is. All of that is our desire, right, to cover to find our own way to cover our shame, which is either pay no attention to it, right, or or find ways to get rid of the feeling when in fact we can't. It's our attempt to cover shame. And I think about, so where's the lord in all of this? Where's the lord in all of this? They heard the sound of the lord god walking in the garden. They heard the sound.

Scott Keffer:

Does the lord make a sound when he walks? Apparently apparently so who is the sound for? Them. Them. Them. It was for them. So the lord god made a sound. He doesn't need to make a sound. He rides upon the winds. He does say the whole place is there all times.

Scott Keffer:

So the lord god made this the sound of the lord god, Yahweh God, walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife Hit themselves. Hid themselves. So the result of our shame is we wanna cover it or we wanna hide. And we particularly want life well, there's the lord. Right? Yeah. We wanna hide from the lord. We wanna hide ourselves from what? It's like The presence of the lord god among the trees. Hey.

Scott Keffer:

Let's go over here. Maybe you won't See us. See us. Isn't that funny? If you came to Christ as an adult, you remember, like, hiding from the Lord. Right? Either I don't wanna I hear the sound of him in the garden. In other words, he shows up, and he makes sounds in your life. And you say, I remember thinking, yeah, right, whatever that is. Right? But I don't wanna deal with the Lord.

Scott Keffer:

I don't wanna deal with him, so let's hide from him. Run faster away. Do more. Right? Whatever that is. Right? So he he shows himself. Mhmm. They hear it, and and they experience it, and he does it because at that point, we're living outside in. We live by our senses.

Scott Keffer:

Right? We're now we're now slaves to our our flesh. So God speaks at first to their flesh. Right? He's speaking. He's showing himself to their flesh. Here's where I am. It says, from the presence of the Lord among the trees, but the lord. I love that. But the lord.

Scott Keffer:

So they're running away from the lord, but the lord. And what the lord god do? On all. He called to them. So god's response? Grace. It's his grace. He initiates. Grace initiates. He comes he comes after them, if you will.

Scott Keffer:

He comes after them. Isn't that stunning? We're doing hard stuff, trying to ignore the Lord, trying to trying to run from him, but the Lord shows up. How many had a but the Lord showed up in your life? I wasn't seeking the Lord. I I was I was, you know, a thousand miles an hour going the other way, and all of a sudden, the Lord shows up in your life. You're like, what? But the Lord. And then he calls to you. Grace. And he says to them what did he say to them? Where where are you? Where are you? Was that a was that a, a physical question, like, are you among the trees? They're not.

Scott Keffer:

Right? Is god wanting to know where they are? What's the question? Where are you in relation to me? Where are you in relation to me? What are you doing hiding from me? I'm the sore I am life. I'm the source of life. Right? I I I gave you the very breath. I breathe my breath into you. Where are you? Are you glad our god initiates? Are you glad he comes after us? Are you glad he asked that question? Where are you? Where are you? So once you become a believer, it becomes clear, but we can wander, can't we? We can wander away. And then the lord shows up, and then he says, where are you? Like, why are you over there? What are you doing far away? Where where are you? Relationally, not spatially. He's not asking a spatial question. You're just saying, where are you? Lord, keep my ear always open to hear your voice.

Scott Keffer:

Always open. So he he awakens us says in Isaiah, he awakens us morning by morning. He awakens our ear to listen as a disciple. So you pray for an ear that's always open, Lord. Right? Wake me up. Do you have trouble getting up to have time with them? Say, Lord, wake me up. You'd be surprised. He's a he's an eternal alarm clock.

Scott Keffer:

He will wake your soul up. But more importantly, wake your a awaken our ear to listen. Need to have a an ear to listen. But our god initiates. His response is grace. Well, despite that grace, he says there are consequences to sin. Not not just for you, but for the entire human race. For women, he's saying, here it is.

Scott Keffer:

I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. How many have felt that consequence? Yes. You're, in pain, you will bring forward children, yet your desire will be for your husband. He will rule over you. Right? And so the brokenness that comes inside of relationships. Right? Who's who's in charge and how does it work and all of that. Right? Consequence of sin. Then he says to Adam, because you've listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree which I commanded you saying, you shall not eat from it.

Scott Keffer:

Cursed is the ground because of you. Cursed is the Ground. Ground. Then he says, in toil, you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles, it will grow for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face, you will eat bread till you return to the ground, because from it, you were taken for you are dust, and to dust, you shall return, which explains why is work so hard? There is. Did you ever wonder? Why is work so hard? Because it's cursed in the sense. Work is from the Lord.

Scott Keffer:

Right? That's what he's called us to do, but the resources are now working against us as as opposed to with us. In the garden, it was be fruitful and multiply. The resources were in unity with the man and the woman. Now the resources thrive with the ground. How are you gonna do it? You're gonna sweat, and it's gonna be thorns and Thistles. Thistles. So don't be surprised. Why is work thorns and thistles? Why is it that you sweat? It's hard work.

Scott Keffer:

Right? That's part of the curse. The ground is being cursed. The ground work is still good, but resources are gonna work against you, not with you. That make sense? So the consequence is a sin. There are consequences for the human race and for creation. That's why the whole of creation says in Romans groans. Right? The creation's groaning, waiting for the suns to be revealed. Creation.

Scott Keffer:

The earth groans. Right? The universe groans waiting for the so we have the consequences of sin, and then we have the answer, which is the covering for their SIN and shade. Covering. Covering for their sin. The lord god made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothe them. This is god's answer to their to cover their sin and shame. He made garments, for skin, and, of course, they were temporary garments and a picture of what was to come. And so the lord god said to the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.

Scott Keffer:

He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. He will bruise you on the head. First gospel message. Right? This is the gospel. So the promise of the Messiah, there will be one to come. There will be one to come, and he will be of the same nature as these garments. Right? Of the same nature. That would be a picture.

Scott Keffer:

Garments which would clothe them, right, covering their sin and shame. One would come one day who would cover their sin and shame by death who would show up. And, of course, in Romans 11, it says, for the scripture, it says, whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. New American Standard has that shame, disappointed. It said to not be disappointed, but it literally means to shame. It literally means to shame. God will make a way to remove our shame. Well, the world system tries to remove the consequence.

Scott Keffer:

Shame, you can't do it. Right? You can numb it. You can try and cover it. But at the end of the day, shame is designed, right, to be the consequence of sin and to drive us where? Back to God. Back to God. To drive people to God. Drive people to God. So you he said you were slaves of sin.

Scott Keffer:

Don't you know who you were? Remember who you were. Understand that's your identity, but something has happened here. No more shame. So, like, if you flip over, just kinda compare. He says you were a slave of to sin. Now you're a slave to god. Well, I don't know if I'm anybody's slave. Isn't that by its nature? Then they kinda go against your grain? I think I don't wanna be a slave.

Scott Keffer:

I don't wanna be a slave. So the core of that is what? Pride. That's pride. I don't wanna be a slave. I don't want my identity tied up in something else. Right? Particularly, like I said, if you if you're American, we are independent. We are by nature protestants, which we protest. That's who that's our nature.

Scott Keffer:

We protest. We we we are protestants. Right? We protest. We stand on our own. We are unique. We are our own. Right? That's our nature. Right? We all so we get it from Adam, and we get it from our history.

Scott Keffer:

We are we are bred, if you will. Right? Do not wanna be a slave. But he says you're a slave. If you're their slave to sin, you're a slave to God. So a slave to sin result in eternal death, spiritual death, eternal separation. Right? And you had freedom from righteousness. There was no call of righteousness on your life. No call of righteousness.

Scott Keffer:

Maybe you wanted to be kind of a good person. Yeah. Do things a little bit better, but there was a righteousness had you had no obligation for righteousness. It's not god's righteousness. Right? Being a little better, but, of course, you never wanted to be a goodie. Two shoes. What are you trying to be? A goodie? Two shoes. You ever hear that going up? You don't wanna be too good.

Scott Keffer:

See, we count little good, but that's too good. So we had no obligation. We had freedom from righteousness. And what was the result? Shame. We lived in shame, guilt. The actions of sin brought shame. And so we serve sin. We serve sin.

Scott Keffer:

Serves sin. I thought I had control. Thought I did what I want. I thought I was in charge. But sin had a power over me. Right? Unproductive and harmful, and we were under the judgment of God. You're under the judgment of God. So so that's who you were.

Scott Keffer:

If you're a believer, that's who you were. I think it's impossible to understand the depth of what God has done until we understand the depth of what we've been saved from. Not only that we're saved. Right, Jack? But what have we been saved to? Yeah. What have we been saved from? What have we been saved to? Right? So it's impossible to understand the glory of what's happened unless we understand the depth of where we were. You were a slave to sin, which is at the heart of the gospel. Can you save yourself? Can you fix yourself? Can you seek God on your own? Can you find your way to him? Did you have the power to overcome sin in your life? To finally say yes to God. That's the that is at the heart of what we believe.

Scott Keffer:

Well, who who gave you the yes? Where did the yes come from? The result is a slave to God. So he he's reminding us you can't be anything other. Because in between, if you're a believer, you were saved from sin. If you're a if you wanna be a slave to yourself, you're still a slave to sin. So he said if the in between, right, you gotta say, well, yeah, I know I was a slave to sin, but now I serve god. But, you know, I kinda do my own thing. But he's saying, you know, you can't do that. You can't ride two horses.

Scott Keffer:

And the result is when you try and serve yourself, you will serve sin, flesh, the old man. So he's reminding him this is who you were. It's not just what you did, but it was who you were. By nature, you had an identity which was tied to sin. So he's saying a slave to god leads to eternal life, of course, freedom from sin, freedom from sin through the lord Jesus Christ. So you now have freedom to pursue righteousness. Freedom to pursue righteousness. Righteousness had no obligation before, but now you've been set free and empowered to pursue righteousness, which, of course, is sanctification.

Scott Keffer:

We're now set apart. We go from shame to sanctification. Right? So we can pursue. We grow in holiness. And of course, we don't serve sin. We serve God. Being a slave to God. Paul called himself a bondservant of Christ Jesus.

Scott Keffer:

He would open his letters, a bondservant of Christ Jesus. Imagine here's my card. I'm a bondservant of Christ Jesus. Just even that nature of bond service. I don't wanna be a bond servant. I don't wanna serve. So our pride says, yeah, say, free to live, free to do what you want. Of course, in today's world, it's for you to just be yourself.

Scott Keffer:

Be yourself. Find yourself. Right? Find yourself. I met myself. Not a good thing. Go inside and find yourself. I've been inside. It's not a good place.

Scott Keffer:

It's not a good place. Serve God. Again, productive and beneficial, and we move from the judgment of God to the gift of God. The judgment of God, the wrath of God, the wages of sin. Right? Judgment of God is what we deserve. The wrath of God is what should come to us. Wages, the payment for our sin is death. Here, here's how I write a check.

Scott Keffer:

Right? You wanna get paid for your wage the wages that you're due. Now we have the gift of God, eternal life, really given through Jesus Christ to those who are in him. So he's saying, it's not just what you did, but it's who you were, who you were. Now you have a new identity, and you have a new relationship a new relationship, which is not just a restoration of what Adam lost. It's really a transformation to an identity and a relationship which are not the same. It's not like we got when Adam lost. No. We got what Jesus earned.

Scott Keffer:

Wow. Let that sink in for a minute. It's not like we we got back when Adam lost. We now have received what Jesus Christ earned and that the his relationship with the father at the right Hand. Hand, the first born, the first to inherit, first born from the dead. Our death in Jesus Christ is the death to sin and to law. We've been set free from the power of the law, from the power of sin. We're now united to Christ, so we have a new identity.

Scott Keffer:

So at the same time, I am So Paul says I'm a bond servant, right, of Christ Jesus. And yet at the same time, I'm a son of the most high. It's the same thing. I'm a son of the most high. I have an identity and a relationship. I have a new identity and a new relationship. I have sonship. I have sonship in the sun.

Scott Keffer:

He says, think on that one for a little while. Let that infuse itself into you. Recognize if any man is in Christ, he's a New creature. The oldest passed away. He's passed away. New has come to become, to belong, to be. Everybody's running around. What's my identity? Everybody wants to know, what's my identity? Who am I? Who am I? He says, here's who you are.

Scott Keffer:

Here's where you belong. Here's where you belong. Yes. I reverse that and say whose you are because the emphasis is on him, not us. Yes. Whose you are. Whose you are. We are his.

Scott Keffer:

Who am I, and to whom do I belong, and to what group am I part of? See, at the core, we wanna know who we are and do I belong. Right? Do I belong? What group am I in? How many experience the growing up? This is the group, and you're not in it. I've been in that. Right? This is the group, and you're out of it. And then then then CS Lewis used to write about that. He said, once you got in it, then you don't wanna let people in either. Now I'm in this group. Whereas, go to Mark said, I don't wanna be a member of any club that would have me as a member.

Scott Keffer:

That's a little bit. Right? That if I belong here, then it must not be a great group. Right? So we all bounce because we struggle with identity. We struggle with who am I and where do I belong? Who am I and where do I belong? He's saying, this is who you are, and this is who you belong to, and this is where you belong eternally. Eternally. For I'm convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor thing present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate you from the love of Christ, which is right? The love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. There is no separation, no unidentifying. There is no reversing the identity which has occurred when you're in Christ.

Scott Keffer:

There is no removing you from the root. It's just not possible. Right? That beg beg the question, can you lose your salvation is a crazy way to ask the question. Can you unbirth yourself? Can you ununite yourself? It just does no. I mean, if you start to think about it, it doesn't make any sense. He's giving us so many illustrations. You can't because your identity has been transformed. Can you untransform yourself? You have been transformed.

Scott Keffer:

You have been united to Christ. So he says, be really clear. You're a slave to sin or a slave to God. This is not to live for self. You haven't been set free to oh, now I can be and do all that I wanted to do. So he says it's not to live yourself, but to to Christ. So he says for me for me to live is Christ. Christ, proceed.

Scott Keffer:

You need to die is Gain. Gain. To die is gain. Grant, to die is gain. They're in gain. They're they're in glory. They're they're rejoicing. In his presence is fullness of joy.

Scott Keffer:

At his right hand are pleasures forever. That's where they are. Meantime, for us to live as Christ. So he summed up this passage Pay pay attention to these kind of phrases in order that, so that. These are about, right, these are about ultimate. Right? These are about ultimate. Right? The summing up. Right? These are about this is what this is for so that in order that so he says that back in our section.

Scott Keffer:

He says, so that in order that we might bear fruit to god, in order that we might bear fruit, actually, for god, in order that we might bear fruit for God. So slave to sin, slave to God has a purpose so that we might bear fruit for God. So he had said to the disciples, you did not choose me. You did not choose me, but I chose you, and I appointed you. What's it mean to be appointed? Yep. Yes. Selected with a purpose. I appoint you to this position.

Scott Keffer:

I appoint you. Right? I called you, and I appointed you with purpose. God does it with purpose. I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. Fruit that remains. Right? That that remains. Fruit that remains. That whatever you ask of the father in my name, he may give you.

Scott Keffer:

Fruit that remains. So we tend to get confused here about fruit because there's the fruit of the spirit, but this is different fruit. This is different fruit. He says, go and bear fruit. That's not the same. Right? It's not the same. He said, well, how will I do that? Well, he says, I'm the vine. You're the branches.

Scott Keffer:

He who But I abides in me and I am him, he bears much fruit. He bears much fruit. You've gotta be connected, if you will. Right? So two kinds of fruit. On the left hand side, we display spiritual fruit. So the top of that column, it's displayed spiritual fruit. On the right hand side, we produce spiritual fruit. Left hand side, we display spiritual fruit.

Scott Keffer:

On the right hand side, we produce spiritual fruit. So what's the difference? Right? Because you have bear fruit. You think bear fruit? Well, on the left hand side, it's internal character internal character. This is transformation from the inside out. On the right hand side, it's external actions. So inside out transformation, on the right hand side, it's outside acts of deeds. Right? Actions, deeds, impact that we have. On the left hand side, it's fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.

Scott Keffer:

It's the fruit of the spirit fruit of the spirit. On the right hand side, it's gifts of the spirit, empowerment for service, for ministry. Right? So fruit of the spirit, though internal, external, fruit of the holy spirit, gifts of the holy spirit. On the left hand side, it's godly character. Right? We're conformed to the image of his son. On the right hand side, it's godly outcomes. It carried out the ministry, through service, through leadership, through evangelism, whatever that might be. Well, how does that work, god? Whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies.

Scott Keffer:

Underline that. So that god may be glorified through Jesus Christ in whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. So on the left hand side, we display spiritual fruit. The the the the fruit of the spirit as the spirit of God transforms our inner character, our heart, our soul, and our life comes into conformity, and there are outside actions. So this is the inside out. Our outside actions are still gifts of the spirit. So we're transformed by the fruit of the spirit, gifts of the spirit into our outcomes.

Scott Keffer:

Any questions between the two? So one is displaying, and the other is producing spiritual fruit. Any questions on the difference? That helpful at all? Do you think go and bear fruit? That's what you're talking about, that that you go and bear fruit. That's not go and fruit of the spirit. That's go and produce, if you will. Go and produce spiritual fruit. And it's all by the strength which god supplies. So thought, as you think about, right, particularly those two, that can often be a disappointing experience, can it? Like, man, I got these little berries, you know, in my life. I've had fun.

Scott Keffer:

Around these people with these big honking. Right? Right. Right? Sometimes you feel like that. Right? Or they're doing this, and I'm doing this. Right? So what he says, dwell in the land, cultivate faithfulness. Dwell in the land, cultivate. So no plot envy, which means no gift envy. Oh.

Scott Keffer:

No gift envy. Particularly when it comes to producing spiritual fruit. So he says there are a variety varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. Spirit. Varieties of Mhmm. Ministries, but the same Got it. Lord. Variety of varieties of effects.

Scott Keffer:

Gifts, ministries, effects. But the same Yeah. God who works all things and all persons. This is really important. Well, do I have a gift, Or do I have gifts? Right? Do you ever wonder sometimes? Yes. Really? Do I? He said, yes. But to underline each one, which literally means everyone is given what? Manifestation. Manifestation of the spirit, not for you.

Scott Keffer:

Not for you to compare your gifts, not for you to feel good about your gifts. It is for the Common good. Common good. And he says the recipe, the mix, the combination of the gifts that you have along with my the way I've wired you produces a unique result that can only come through you. Forget it? The unique result that can only come from you. The the the great way I think about this is how does the holy spirit write? Think about that. Because who's authored scripture? The holy spirit. Right? The holy spirit.

Scott Keffer:

Right? Written from God. Right? As men spoke from God, moved by the holy spirit. How does he write? Well, he writes sometimes in poetry. He writes sometimes in black and white. Yes or no. He writes some why is that? Because he's writing through men with different wirings, different personalities, but it's the same spirit. So the for do what he produces is very different. John is black or white, light or dark.

Scott Keffer:

Paul is very logical, very deeply logical. So the same spirit is writing. It's just authored through all of them, but you look very different outcomes. That make sense? That's a picture for us to see. God is going to produce through you a unique fruit that can only come through you based upon how he's wired you. He also needs, right, not in a sense that god can't do it without us, but everyone has a place. Your unique set of gifts have a place in the body, and it is for the Common good. Common good.

Scott Keffer:

Common good. And I used to we'd say to the kids, look. It doesn't matter whether you're nine volt or 90,000 volts. If you're up on the shelf, it's irrelevant. Because a nine volt battery running a, you know, a detector on the heart is more valuable than a 90,000 volt sitting up on the shelf. Your gifts are not made to be on the shelf. You gotta think about, like, if there's an odometer for how many mileage you're using the vehicles, just go watch. Right? Am I are are they parked, or are they at work? The gifts are to be at work for the common good.

Scott Keffer:

They ain't for you. Right? They're for us. They need you. They're for us. They're for us. So think about it. You've got an odometer on your how how often are you running the machines, if you will, that god has given you through to the spirit? I wrote down the word seasons because the reality is there are seasons in our life where we're hobbled or stuff is going on, and you're not expecting, you know, Bob Gilbert to be fruitful at the moment because he's hurting. He's wounded, right, at the moment.

Scott Keffer:

So there are seasons. You just don't want seasons to extend into, right, patterns over time. So we've been given gifts for that common good. No gift envy. No gift envy. No gift envy. How are you employing the gift that god has given you? Employing the gift. Right? Employing the gift, it says in in Peter.

Scott Keffer:

Right? Whoever serves, god may be glorified. Mhmm. And lastly, just through it and then, let us continually offer up. What are we offering up? Sacrifice. A sacrifice of Praise. Praise to god. That is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name, and do not neglect the doing of good and sharing for with such sacrifices, god is pleased. What is he saying? They're both worship.

Scott Keffer:

Mhmm. They're both worship. Praise and thanksgiving is worship, but at the same time, the the the sacrifice of your gifts into good works and sharing is a life of worship and sacrifice. The life of worship and sacrifice. A life of worship and sacrifice, which is a combination of, lord, display spiritual fruit display spiritual fruit and produce spiritual fruit. Lord, do do both. Do both. Lord, display spiritual fruit and produce spiritual fruit.

Scott Keffer:

And sometimes, that's hard, isn't it? Sometimes that's hard. It's that combination of work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who's at work in you both to will and to work his good pleasure. That combination of how do we do this together. Doctor John Piper used to say Piper would say, fruit of spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, and sleep. Because if you're not if you're not healthy, if you're not sleep, right, you're you're not gonna have a whole lot of of fruit. Right? But no, lot of spiritual fruit. Right? Week after boot camp, I don't display much spiritual fruit at all, but I have to tell you. I'm edgy and cranky and tired.

Scott Keffer:

I'm just tired. Right? So it's that combination of working out our salvation with fear and trembling for its god who's at work as we're in in in a partnership, Adam, because we're united. We're united with Christ. It's our now our identity as well as the relationship and the power. He literally says, this is how it comes. Right? A branch doesn't have life in itself. It comes from the vine. The vine comes life comes into the branch.

Scott Keffer:

So that picture of what do I do? Go. Fruit fruit. What's the what's the branch doing? I mean, the picture would be, how am I impeding the life of Christ in me? Lord, remove. Remove. Right? And I love the fact he says, for those who water will be watered. He says, you and you you wanna be right? You wanna be ministered to minister. Because if you're if you're a a pipe through which if you're a vessel through which, right, your tube, if you will, through which god flows, you will be watered. You will be ministered to.

Scott Keffer:

Right? As he moves through you, he will move in you. As he ministers through you, he will minister to you. So it's a life of worship and sacrifice. And then it's it's all to be the praise of my glory. Right? Yes. To lift myself up, to magnify me and my name. What's it say in the song? Not to us, oh lord, not to us, but to your name be glory. Right? So he said this is all to the praise of god's glory, his name.

Scott Keffer:

Yes. He gets he gets the glory. He's the gloried one. He's the one with the glories. And he said, I will display myself in and through you in order that, right, people would see me, in order that people would see me. To the end, that we who are the first to hope in Christ Jesus should be to the praise of his glory, to which we'd say, what? So Paul says, you have this magnificent power in an earthly toilet. Certainly. Not exactly kind of a rough translation, but pretty close.

Scott Keffer:

In earth and he says in earth and vessels. It's the glory of God in the toilet, if you will. Sorry. Right? So we're just broken vessels through which the glory of God shines, and people say, well, what is that? It doesn't look like you. Oh, it's not me. Right? You know, brokenness so he's often think about that broken vessel. The glory of God is shining out. Think about the mount of transformation.

Scott Keffer:

He's shining out through our cracks, through our brokenness. His light shines out. It's not like we're perfect. Right? It's not like God is saying, okay. Now you have to be me. No. You be you, and I will shine through your cracks. And people say, how's that happen? What is that? What's going on there? Through brokenness, oftentimes, through our brokenness, isn't it? Through our brokenness that god gets the most glory.

Scott Keffer:

What is that? What's going on? He shines through our cracks. And then he this is a promise to the end that we who were the first, he's given us the down payment of his spirit. Right? The engagement ring, if you will, the deposit that the full payment will come. The full payment is one day, the cracks will be gone because I'm gonna transform the body of your humble state into conformity with the body of my glory, and all of that will be gone. And it isn't it isn't a restoration of what Adam lost. It's a transformation of what the son purchased, and you get to share in his inheritance. Isn't that awesome? It's awesome. Is that good news? Great news.

Scott Keffer:

No. It's great news. Great news. Alright. Write that on the inside. You get I'm gonna share some insights once you get May god the father who united, you to the lord Jesus Christ, may he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you.

Scott Keffer:

Maybe he grant you his shalom deep in your soul, and may the the love of of the lord Jesus Christ, the fellowship of the holy spirit, and the grace of almighty god be with you now and always. Amen. Amen. Happy Easter. Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the god of the bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

Scott Keffer:

And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you.