being free from sin. But you must give your will to the Lord, and give your struggles to the Lord, in order
to realize this perfect freedom. Being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit
unto holiness, and the end Á-? everlasting life!
are presented with the possibility of sin or of righteousness, you say Á-°I am a slave to righteousness. I have
no right to commit that sin. IÁ-?ve been bought with a price. IÁ-?ve been made free as regarding sin. There is
nothing compelling me to sin as long as I beg the Lord to help me.Á-? And the other is that when you are
presented with the possibility of sin, you think that the end of such things is death. Á-°And if I endure but
for a little while, I will have fruit unto holiness, and eternal life.
no right to sin. The Lord has told you. You donÁ-?t have a right to do it. He has told you that you must do
righteousness. You must follow Him. You must desire to be righteous. And He will help you. But you are
not a slave any more Á-? not of unrighteousness. So donÁ-?t think of yourself as such. And if you fall into
unrighteousness, then beg the Lord to forgive you, beg Him to strengthen your will, beg Him to bring to
your mind your sadness in this moment so that in the next moment you will recall it and you wonÁ-?t fall
into sin.
bit, as we are capable, gives us enlightenment. But He only enlightens those who are struggling, only those
who are trying, only those who know their position. And that is that they are slaves of Him. Now, He is a
benevolent Master, and He doesnÁ-?t require of us anything, but we had best think that we are required! As
soon as we turn towards righteousness even a little, He is there to help us. Let us turn to Him all the time,
so that He will help us.
today, I thought I wanted to talk about both of them. Well, I canÁ-?t do that exactly, but I want to say
something about Cornelius. A Centurion, he was a Roman. He was officially of a pagan religion. He
couldnÁ-?t go into the synagogue. He couldnÁ-?t say that he was a Jew. But he had Jewish sacred writings, and
he read them, and he loved the Jewish nation, and although he was an occupying soldier, the Jews loved
him because he loved them. So when Jesus comes into Capernaum, Cornelius meets Him and says, Á-°my
servant lies at home sick of the palsy, paralyzed.Á-? And Jesus says, Á-°IÁ-?ll come and IÁ-?ll heal him.Á-?
knows something about authority. He says, Á-°IÁ-?m not worthy that you come under my roof,Á-? partially
because he is a pagan, and a Jew is not to go into a paganÁ-?s household Á-? it defiles him. Á-°Only speak the
word, and my servant shall be healed, for I am a man under authority, and I have soldiers under me. And I
say to this soldier, Á-?go,Á-? and he goes, and to another, Á-?do this,Á-? and he does it.Á-? And the inference is, Á-°I
know how to do what IÁ-?m told, too.Á-?
Israel. Now that must have made the Pharisees quite angry, donÁ-?t you think? Pointing to an occupying
soldier, the hated enemy, of the army that they hoped the Messiah would annihilate, and have their blood
flow in the streets, and say, Á-°This man is more righteous than all of you put together.Á-? Why was he
righteous? Why did he have such faith? Because he knew about obedience. He expected those under him
to be obedient because he was obedient to those over him. So let us know something about obedience,
brothers and sisters; let us know something about authority. Let us realize that we are under the authority
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.