Systematic Theology: Existence Of God (part 2) by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Law, Sin-Consciousness, and Yielding

Until God gave Adam and Eve a law, Satan had no room to tempt. He entered through the law: "Did God really say?" Where there is no law, there is no sin. This is why sin-consciousness produces more sin — it amplifies the very thing you are trying to overcome.

The consciousness you ought to carry is the consciousness of God's righteousness and your positional holiness in him.

Jesus did not take away the capacity to sin. He took away the ability to enjoy it.

That nature has changed. So now you begin to yield your members. Just as you practiced sin into a habit by repetition, you practice righteousness into a nature by repetition. It is not trying to stop sin. It is investing more time in righteousness.

What God Gives Is Light, Not Rules

When Christians come to a pastor, what they often want is a rule: "Tell me how to stop this." But commandments are law, not life. What God gives to solve problems is light — a word. In Genesis 1, God's solution was always "Let there be light."

What a preacher can give you is principles. What only God can give you is the quickening — the light that shows you the alternative to what the devil has presented, and makes the inferior look inferior.

You will know your deliverance has come when God puts a light in you that makes the alternative to sin look more glorious than the sin itself.

The Calling: Who God Calls and How

A called person can call. Moses was told to pick 70 men, and God said: "I will put the spirit that is upon you upon them." The early church said: "Find among you seven men of honest report, bring them to us, and we will commission them."

You enter trouble when someone God did not call calls you into a calling. But a genuinely called man can bring you into his calling.

There is what is called a stream. Anyone whom God has raised is reaping where they did not sow. Strangers do not follow that stream easily. When you identify your stream and align with it, people begin to hear your voice — not because you are shouting, but because it is familiar to them.

• John the Baptist's calling came through his mother Elizabeth, who was of the lineage of Leah. That stream was already running.
• James, the brother of Jesus, became a leader in the early church. He was never one of the Twelve. But by virtue of being raised in the same household as Jesus, he had personal stories and proximity that gave him special weight.

Calling is not self-appointed. And it is not transferred just by association — it flows through streams that God has already established.

The Two Natures of Holiness in Practice

Romans 6:19 — "As you yielded your members as servants to uncleanness and to lawlessness... now yield your members as servants to righteousness for holiness."

Before salvation, you practiced unrighteousness. Every repetition deepened the groove. After salvation, you now practice righteousness the same way. This is not instant. It is progressive. Do not doubt your salvation because the urge remains. The urge remaining is not the same as the nature remaining.

The life in Christ is a life of surrender, not performance. What you surrender to grows in you.