Episode Transcript
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Please remain standing if you're able,
and let's hear God's word from Romans Chapter
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six. I've decided to read just
a few more verses than are printed in
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your bulletin. I'm going to read
from verse one through verse fourteen Romans Chapter
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Six. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that
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grace may abound? By no means, how can we who died to sin
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still live in it? Do you
not know that all of us who have
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been baptized into Christ Jesus, were
baptized into his death? We were buried,
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therefore, with him by baptism into
death, in order that, just
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as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the father, we
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two might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with
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him in a death like his,
we shall certainly be united with him in
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a resurrection like his. We know
that our old self was crucified with him
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in order that the body of sin
might be brought to nothing, so that
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we would no longer be enslaved to
sin, for one who has died,
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I'd has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with
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Christ, we believe that we also
live with him. We know that Christ,
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being raised from the dead, will
never die again. Death no longer
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has dominion over him, for the
death he died he died to sin once
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for all, but the life he
lives, he lives to God. So
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you also must consider yourselves dead to
sin and alive to God. In Christ,
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Jesus, Let not sin therefore reign
in your mortal body to make you
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obey its passions. Do not present
your members to sin as instruments for UNRIGHTEOUSNESS,
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but present yourselves to God as those
who have been brought from death to
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life, and your members to God
as instruments for righteousness, for sin will
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have no dominion over you, since
you are not under law but under grace.
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May God bless his word to us. Please be seated. Paul begins
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with an objection. He begins chapter
six with an objection that comes from those
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who scoff and deny the truth of
God and our first hymn, two hundred
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eighty six, we sang. Doubt
may lift its head to murmur, scoffer's
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mock and sinners jeer, but the
truth proclaims a wonder thoughtful hearts receive with
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cheer. He has risen, he
has risen now receive the risen king.
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The Hymn speaks to this truth,
that there are doubters, there are scoffers,
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there are those who jeer at the
grace of God. What shall we
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say then? If God's grace is
super abounding, above the law and above
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sin, well then I guess we'll
just send more. That grace may abound.
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If that's your point, Paul,
if the way we are to think
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about the Christian life is to think
about it in terms of this super abounding
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grace that covers all sin, well, what motivation will people have to work?
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What motivation would people have for righteousness? Indeed, I think perhaps we
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should just sin even more, that
God's grace would be displayed anymore. Hows
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that sound, Paul? Doubt may
lift its head to murmur, scoffers mock
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and sinners jeer, but the truth
proclaims a wonder. Thoughtful hearts receive with
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cheer. What is that wonder?
Christ is risen. He has risen.
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Now receive the risen king. What
shall we say then? Are we to
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consent continue in sin that grace may
abound? By no means exclamation point,
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are you crazy? Exclamation point this
way, that Paul speaks here. Says,
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how could you think such a thing, and indeed he asks that kind
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of question. Next he says how
can we who died to sin still live
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in it? In Our corporate prayer
of confession, there was a phrase that
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we used in our prayer and said, let me reckon my old life,
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dead because of crucifixion, and never
feed it as a living thing. Imagine
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feeding a dead body. It's a
grotesque thing, isn't it? It's a
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crazy kind of thing. It's a
give you the shivers kind of thing to
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take a dead body and open its
mouth up and try to put food inside.
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It's disgusting. How can we who
have died to sin act as though
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it's alive and try to feed it
and try to live in it? It
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simply doesn't make any sense. It's
grotesque, it's disgusting. Should we continue
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to sin that grace may have bound
what how can we who died to sin
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still live in it? And then
Paul speaks. He asks another question than
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in verse three. He asks the
question and he speaks to these Christians,
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baptized Christians, those who have received
this sign and seal of God's promises.
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He says do you not know that
all of us who have been baptized into
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Christ were baptized into his death?
That's what it's above out. That's what
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baptism is about. It's about being
baptized, being identified and united with Christ
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in his death, in his burial, as is mentioned in verse four,
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in His crucifixion, as is mentioned
in verse six. Every aspect of Christ's
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death is one in which we were
involved in we died in him, but
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we also live in him, as
Paul says in Verse Four. We were
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buried, therefore, with him by
baptism into death. In order that Justice
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Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the father, we two
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might walk in newness of life.
So this is Paul's basic point. There's
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this thing that has happened. When
Jesus Christ died on the cross, US,
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was buried and rose from the dead. When that historical event happened,
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all those who have been baptized in
his name, who receive the promises of
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that baptism by faith, all those
who are united by him, are united
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to that same death, that same
burial, that same resurrection, and because
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of that it has this effect on
our lives, not in just this kind
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of teaching power, but we are
objectively different. We have been changed,
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and so when this accusation comes to
Paul, well should we continue sending then
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he kind of says, well,
don't you know the history? Don't you
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know what's happened? Look at the
own baptism with which we have been baptized,
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these promises that you have been given. It's kind of like someone sort
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of saying that they're still married to
someone they're no longer married to, or
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someone saying that they have a job
that they no longer have. I imagine
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being fired, let's say, from
your workplace, and then you walk in
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the next day and you try to
swipe your badge to get in and you
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try to, you know, act
as though everything's fine and everything's the same.
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You go to the Human Resources Department
say I'm not receiving much check anymore.
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I don't understand what's going on.
It doesn't make any sense. Or
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take the marriage example. Imagine that
you have us, your spouse dies,
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but then you continue to go on
acting as though they were alive and though
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you're still married. It doesn't make
any sense. Well, that's what we
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do when we sin. We act
as though we still live according to this
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principle, as though it still has
power over us. Paul is calling us
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to the truth. First, there's
this fact that you have died to sin.
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Let's focus on that. One way
you see this is in his baptism,
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in our baptisms. Here is God's
Seal of our union with Christ,
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purification. It happens, by the
way, one time. We aren't baptized
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over and over again, just as
Christ died once and we are brought into
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him. But there's more that's going
on here as well. He speaks to
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the death which of a sin and
the death of sin, and what was
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accomplished there. Notice the purpose of
it. That's mentioned in verse six.
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We know that our old self was
crucified with him in order that the body
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of sin might be brought to nothing. Well, we know that God didn't
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go to the cross to forgive sins, in order to do something and then
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failed at that task. Jesus never
failed at anything. When he wanted the
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wind to stop and the sea to
calm down, he simply said it,
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and it was so. When Jesus
wanted demons to come out of someone,
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he simply said it, and it
was so. When he wanted a limb
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to be healed or someone to rise
from the dead or someone to follow him.
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He simply said it and it was
so. Jesus never failed at anything.
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So when Jesus went to the Cross
to die for sins in order that
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the body of sin might be brought
to nothing, that happened, you can
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count on it. Jesus didn't raise
from the dead. It say, Oh,
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that's right, I forgot to do
that one thing. I meant to
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put the body of sin and bring
it to nothing, but maybe I'll try
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again. No, Jesus did exactly
what he intended to do. It's promised
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in many ways, and the very
victory that he has over death in his
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resurrection proves it. Well, what
does that mean for you? Well,
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it means that, if you were
in Christ, the body of sin that
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you have been enslaved to has now
been brought to nothing. The lusts that
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come up inside of you and try
to pull you down into unrighteousness, they're
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not as powerful as they would like
to pretend. The fear of death and
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the curse that lingers in this world. Satan tries to trick us with these
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things. He tries to tell us
that our sins are our art, our
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temptations are lusts are more powerful than
they are. He tries to insert doubt.
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Doubt may lift its head to murmur, scoffers mock and sinners jeer.
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There are these voices of doubt that
say, what about death? What about
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corruption? What about misery? What
about all these things you have done?
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Did Christ really bring? Did Christ
really save? Did he really bring the
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body of sin to nothing? We
believe the truth of the word of God.
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Yes, he did. He brought
that sin, brought the body of
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sin to nothing so that we would
no longer be enslaved to sin. Christians,
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you're no longer enslave to sin.
Isn't that good news? When you
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feel tempted to sin, when you
feel anger welling up, or sexual desire,
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sinful sexual desires, or desire to
steal or be greedy, or any
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number of things that were listed in
Effesians five, these things that are contrary
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to the light, the things that
are of the darkness, remind yourselves what
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God's Word says here. You are
not enslave to them. They don't rule
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over you any more. Imagine this
in a political context. Imagine somebody who
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was a slave has been set free, and then that slave master comes and
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says to that former slave, hey, I need you to get back to
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work. Come on, let's go. It's scary maybe to say no.
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It's hard to refuse. You remember
the former power. But Christians remember you
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are free, you are no longer
enslave to send. You don't have to
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follow, you are not forced to
follow. But for you were, not
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because that was a good thing,
but because of the corruption of your nature.
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You had no other choice. Like
a moth that keeps trying to get
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out of our room and slams up
against a window and slams up against a
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window and slams up against a window. It's trapped. And you were like
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that too. You are trapped,
you were enslaved. Or maybe a better
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example would be a dog that has
been trained to do bad things. Sometimes
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dogs are another animals are trained to
do a lot of harm for evil people.
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In some ways we were like that. We were trained, everything in
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US was designed to do this one
or these many bad things, evil things,
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dark things, and it's what we
love to do, it's what drove
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us, it's what brought up desire, it's what we were, what were
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rewarded for and felt good about.
But that's not true anymore. We're not
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that kind of animal anymore. We're
not enslaved to sin. In fact,
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we are no longer enslaved. This
is what it means to have died to
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sin, to no longer be enslaved, to not be under its dominion anymore.
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It means that obedience to unrighteousness doesn't
have to mark your life, and
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in fact it doesn't. And if
it does, if obedience and slavish obedience
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to sin does Mark Your Life,
then you're not a Christian. Paul will
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talk in Chapter Seven about there are
these internal contradictions in Christians, this desire
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to do good, a changed,
harder, renewed life, and yet corruption
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that remains. But that's different.
We're not talking about that. What I'm
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talking about, and what I want
you to do, what God wants you
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to do, is listen and check
your heart, check your conscience. Are
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you enslaved to sin? If you
are enslave to sin, that you do
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not belong to Jesus Christ, because
those who belong to Jesus Christ are those
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whose sin has been brought to nothing. The Dominion of Sin, the Great
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Power of sin, that once ruled
over them no longer does. That's the
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flip side of this. Jesus doesn't
just bring sin to death, but he
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brings righteousness to life. Paul makes
this contrast throughout this passage. How can
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we who died to sin, still
live in it in verse two and then
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Verse Five? For if we have
been united in him in a death like
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his, we shall certainly be united
with him in a resurrection like his.
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Jesus, when he went to the
cross to do what he intended to do,
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to bring sinto nothing, to conquer
death and misery and hell. He
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not only did that, but he
rose again from the dead. He entered
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into new life. Now, Jesus
never sinned. Jesus conquered our sin,
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our death, our curse, and
we see that in his resurrection. And
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this is what part, this is
what God has done for you. He
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has made us. God has made
us, as he says here, alive
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to him. In Christ Jesus,
he change is our wills so that they're
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no longer entirely bent toward evil,
but now they long after and pursue what
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is good. They desire our wills. Now, as Christians, desire the
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things of God. We want to
please him, we want to satisfy him,
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we want to obey. We stand
in triumph over our sins. As
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Christians, we don't cower and and
and and and fear our sins, but
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we look at him in the face
and we say no, not me.
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I belong to Jesus Christ. I
walk in the newness of life. I
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know what it is to live in
the light and I will live. Using
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the marriage example, there's this powerful
section. It's powerful's not the best word.
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A memorable section. Perhaps it's powerful
to in the mirror of modern divinity.
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One of my favorite books. I
think there's a copy of it on
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the back table. But Edward Fisher, he describes this scene of union with
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Christ in terms of marriage, a
biblical metaphor, and he he says,
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if you have been married to Chris, if you are married to Christ and
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you enjoy this intimate relationship with him, and Satan walks into the bridal chamber,
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you don't invite him in, you
don't say Oh hey, nice to
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see you, come on here be
with me and my husband as we spend
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this intimate time together. They say
get out, you have no business being
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here. Christ is mine and I
am his. We belong to one another.
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Something has changed on the Cross.
That's our attitude towards sin. We
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don't play with it, we don't
feed a corpse, we don't invite Satan
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into our marriage. We say get
out, you don't rule me, you
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have nothing to do with us.
My Lord has defeated you, conquered you.
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I live in that life now.
This attitude must be ours. This
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is what Paul says in Verse Eleven. So you also must consider yourselves dead
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to sin and alive to God,
in Christ, Jesus. This is a
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matter of faith. It's a matter
of faith. It's something that we must
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believe now. It's not a big
leap in the dark. We believe it
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because it happened, because Jesus did
die, because Jesus did rise again from
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the dead. Trust him, receive
him, believe that when Christ rose,
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he proved victorious over sin and death, dominion over it, conquering the curse
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and that, and believe the promises
of God, that this cross of Christ
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isn't this isolated historical event some time
in history, but it's something that's given
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for you and for all who believe. Isn't that amazing that this thing that
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Jesus has done on the cross is
available to you. This resurrection, life,
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defeat and over sin is available to
you. How do you receive it?
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By receiving it by simply accepting and
believing the promise of God, and
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in that we are mysteriously, wonderfully
eternally connected with the life of our Lord
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and Savior, Jesus. So you
see how important this is and you see
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how much it puts to death or
puts down to this objection about Christians desiring
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sin or thinking that sin is okay. It's important to say Christians there,
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because it's not just outsiders that doubt
and Scoff and mock the Gospel, but
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it's insiders and even inside our hearts
we doubt, we mock and we wonder.
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Paul says in Verse Eleven, you
must also consider yourselves, or reckon
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yourselves, dead to sin and alive
to God in Christ Jesus. But we
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don't always do that, do we? We reckon things differently. We reckon
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ourselves. We say so. We
might change it sometimes and say so.
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You also must consider yourselves fundamentally good
and capable of helping yourself if you try
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hard enough. So you also must
consider yourself worthy of great honor because of
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the privileges under which you've been born. So you also must consider yourselves fundamentally
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good people and part of a great
country which will go on forever and ever.
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The Bible doesn't say any of those
things. The Bible says you must
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consider yourselves dead to sin and alive
to God. Not In yourselves, not
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in your birth or your country or
anything like that, but in Christ Jesus.
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Believe in Christ Jesus, consider yourselves
dead to sin and alive to God,
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in him, and because when we
do that, by believing, trusting,
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resting on his work and his righteousness, that's how we enjoy his glory,
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that's how we enjoy his life.
How are we set free from the
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slavery of Sin? Not by running
away from it, but by running to
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Jesus and finding our salvation, in
our freedom in him. For the world,
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this is, of course, foolishness. They don't believe Jesus, they
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don't believe what he has done.
But for the Christian Who Sees The resurrection
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of Christ, who believes the promises
of God, this is life. To
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stand and walk and rest in him. It's to enjoy the resurrection life.
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Even now, even before Jesus comes
in, our bodies themselves are resurrected for
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all eternity. If you do not
believe the Gospel, if you don't believe
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this good news that is being promised
to you, then know that you will
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remain enslaved in your sin. You
will you will remain captive to the lusts
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of your flesh, to the sin, to the curse of death. But
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if you have believed in Jesus Christ, then count yourself as a freed person.
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And when you face temptation, and
when you face Satan's temptations and wooing
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of you, say no more.
I belong to Jesus and let not sin.
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Therefore reign in your mortal bodies to
make you obey its passions. Don't
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go back to a slave master who
no longer owns you. Do not present
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your members, the members of your
body, to sin as instruments of for
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unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God
as those who have been brought from death
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to life. Take your bodies and
give them to the Lord, your hands,
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your feet, your ears, your
eyes, give it all to the
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Lord, for he has bought you, he has freed you. So now
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work in his service to freedom and
glory in Life and Resurrection for sin will
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have no dominion over you. Don't
worry about that any more because you are
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not under law any more. You
are under the grace of God, the
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powerful, superabounding grace of God.
Let us pray
