Dead to Sin (Romans 6:1-11)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:07.830 Please remain standing if you're able, and let's hear God's word from Romans Chapter 2 00:00:07.870 --> 00:00:14.310 six. I've decided to read just a few more verses than are printed in 3 00:00:14.390 --> 00:00:22.500 your bulletin. I'm going to read from verse one through verse fourteen Romans Chapter 4 00:00:22.739 --> 00:00:33.060 Six. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that 5 00:00:33.219 --> 00:00:40.369 grace may abound? By no means, how can we who died to sin 6 00:00:41.409 --> 00:00:45.250 still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have 7 00:00:45.369 --> 00:00:52.240 been baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death? We were buried, 8 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:56.840 therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that, just 9 00:00:57.079 --> 00:01:00.759 as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we 10 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:07.750 two might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with 11 00:01:07.829 --> 00:01:11.030 him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in 12 00:01:11.150 --> 00:01:18.390 a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him 13 00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:23.260 in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that 14 00:01:23.379 --> 00:01:29.540 we would no longer be enslaved to sin, for one who has died, 15 00:01:29.700 --> 00:01:33.650 I'd has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with 16 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:38.730 Christ, we believe that we also live with him. We know that Christ, 17 00:01:38.849 --> 00:01:42.170 being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer 18 00:01:42.250 --> 00:01:48.840 has dominion over him, for the death he died he died to sin once 19 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:53.840 for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So 20 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:00.709 you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. In Christ, 21 00:02:00.750 --> 00:02:07.829 Jesus, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you 22 00:02:07.909 --> 00:02:14.110 obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, 23 00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:20.020 but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to 24 00:02:20.180 --> 00:02:25.219 life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness, for sin will 25 00:02:25.259 --> 00:02:30.930 have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 26 00:02:34.009 --> 00:02:45.520 May God bless his word to us. Please be seated. Paul begins 27 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:53.759 with an objection. He begins chapter six with an objection that comes from those 28 00:02:53.879 --> 00:03:01.030 who scoff and deny the truth of God and our first hymn, two hundred 29 00:03:01.110 --> 00:03:07.030 eighty six, we sang. Doubt may lift its head to murmur, scoffer's 30 00:03:07.229 --> 00:03:15.860 mock and sinners jeer, but the truth proclaims a wonder thoughtful hearts receive with 31 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:21.900 cheer. He has risen, he has risen now receive the risen king. 32 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:30.409 The Hymn speaks to this truth, that there are doubters, there are scoffers, 33 00:03:30.889 --> 00:03:36.490 there are those who jeer at the grace of God. What shall we 34 00:03:36.650 --> 00:03:40.639 say then? If God's grace is super abounding, above the law and above 35 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:46.639 sin, well then I guess we'll just send more. That grace may abound. 36 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:49.680 If that's your point, Paul, if the way we are to think 37 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:53.639 about the Christian life is to think about it in terms of this super abounding 38 00:03:53.800 --> 00:04:00.150 grace that covers all sin, well, what motivation will people have to work? 39 00:04:00.710 --> 00:04:04.590 What motivation would people have for righteousness? Indeed, I think perhaps we 40 00:04:04.710 --> 00:04:09.750 should just sin even more, that God's grace would be displayed anymore. Hows 41 00:04:09.830 --> 00:04:15.539 that sound, Paul? Doubt may lift its head to murmur, scoffers mock 42 00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:21.139 and sinners jeer, but the truth proclaims a wonder. Thoughtful hearts receive with 43 00:04:21.220 --> 00:04:28.449 cheer. What is that wonder? Christ is risen. He has risen. 44 00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:33.970 Now receive the risen king. What shall we say then? Are we to 45 00:04:34.089 --> 00:04:40.720 consent continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means exclamation point, 46 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:46.959 are you crazy? Exclamation point this way, that Paul speaks here. Says, 47 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:51.199 how could you think such a thing, and indeed he asks that kind 48 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:59.829 of question. Next he says how can we who died to sin still live 49 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:04.829 in it? In Our corporate prayer of confession, there was a phrase that 50 00:05:05.550 --> 00:05:11.060 we used in our prayer and said, let me reckon my old life, 51 00:05:11.139 --> 00:05:19.220 dead because of crucifixion, and never feed it as a living thing. Imagine 52 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:28.850 feeding a dead body. It's a grotesque thing, isn't it? It's a 53 00:05:28.970 --> 00:05:32.930 crazy kind of thing. It's a give you the shivers kind of thing to 54 00:05:33.129 --> 00:05:38.879 take a dead body and open its mouth up and try to put food inside. 55 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:47.800 It's disgusting. How can we who have died to sin act as though 56 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:51.269 it's alive and try to feed it and try to live in it? It 57 00:05:51.709 --> 00:06:00.310 simply doesn't make any sense. It's grotesque, it's disgusting. Should we continue 58 00:06:00.389 --> 00:06:08.259 to sin that grace may have bound what how can we who died to sin 59 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:14.500 still live in it? And then Paul speaks. He asks another question than 60 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:18.170 in verse three. He asks the question and he speaks to these Christians, 61 00:06:18.610 --> 00:06:25.529 baptized Christians, those who have received this sign and seal of God's promises. 62 00:06:25.569 --> 00:06:30.889 He says do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into 63 00:06:30.889 --> 00:06:36.160 Christ were baptized into his death? That's what it's above out. That's what 64 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:43.759 baptism is about. It's about being baptized, being identified and united with Christ 65 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:47.829 in his death, in his burial, as is mentioned in verse four, 66 00:06:48.790 --> 00:06:56.110 in His crucifixion, as is mentioned in verse six. Every aspect of Christ's 67 00:06:56.189 --> 00:07:01.139 death is one in which we were involved in we died in him, but 68 00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:05.420 we also live in him, as Paul says in Verse Four. We were 69 00:07:05.500 --> 00:07:12.060 buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death. In order that Justice 70 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:15.009 Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we two 71 00:07:15.089 --> 00:07:24.569 might walk in newness of life. So this is Paul's basic point. There's 72 00:07:24.649 --> 00:07:28.649 this thing that has happened. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, US, 73 00:07:29.209 --> 00:07:32.360 was buried and rose from the dead. When that historical event happened, 74 00:07:33.399 --> 00:07:39.120 all those who have been baptized in his name, who receive the promises of 75 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:44.040 that baptism by faith, all those who are united by him, are united 76 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:51.149 to that same death, that same burial, that same resurrection, and because 77 00:07:51.230 --> 00:07:56.230 of that it has this effect on our lives, not in just this kind 78 00:07:56.269 --> 00:08:01.819 of teaching power, but we are objectively different. We have been changed, 79 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:09.180 and so when this accusation comes to Paul, well should we continue sending then 80 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:13.769 he kind of says, well, don't you know the history? Don't you 81 00:08:13.850 --> 00:08:18.529 know what's happened? Look at the own baptism with which we have been baptized, 82 00:08:18.569 --> 00:08:26.680 these promises that you have been given. It's kind of like someone sort 83 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:35.480 of saying that they're still married to someone they're no longer married to, or 84 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:39.440 someone saying that they have a job that they no longer have. I imagine 85 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:43.149 being fired, let's say, from your workplace, and then you walk in 86 00:08:43.190 --> 00:08:46.350 the next day and you try to swipe your badge to get in and you 87 00:08:46.549 --> 00:08:50.350 try to, you know, act as though everything's fine and everything's the same. 88 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:54.990 You go to the Human Resources Department say I'm not receiving much check anymore. 89 00:08:54.029 --> 00:09:00.659 I don't understand what's going on. It doesn't make any sense. Or 90 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:05.019 take the marriage example. Imagine that you have us, your spouse dies, 91 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:09.899 but then you continue to go on acting as though they were alive and though 92 00:09:09.899 --> 00:09:15.730 you're still married. It doesn't make any sense. Well, that's what we 93 00:09:15.850 --> 00:09:22.090 do when we sin. We act as though we still live according to this 94 00:09:22.250 --> 00:09:28.440 principle, as though it still has power over us. Paul is calling us 95 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:33.679 to the truth. First, there's this fact that you have died to sin. 96 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.710 Let's focus on that. One way you see this is in his baptism, 97 00:09:39.350 --> 00:09:43.710 in our baptisms. Here is God's Seal of our union with Christ, 98 00:09:43.990 --> 00:09:50.470 purification. It happens, by the way, one time. We aren't baptized 99 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:54.620 over and over again, just as Christ died once and we are brought into 100 00:09:54.659 --> 00:09:58.980 him. But there's more that's going on here as well. He speaks to 101 00:10:00.059 --> 00:10:03.059 the death which of a sin and the death of sin, and what was 102 00:10:03.139 --> 00:10:07.850 accomplished there. Notice the purpose of it. That's mentioned in verse six. 103 00:10:09.289 --> 00:10:15.289 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body 104 00:10:15.330 --> 00:10:20.769 of sin might be brought to nothing. Well, we know that God didn't 105 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:26.960 go to the cross to forgive sins, in order to do something and then 106 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:31.559 failed at that task. Jesus never failed at anything. When he wanted the 107 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:35.110 wind to stop and the sea to calm down, he simply said it, 108 00:10:35.269 --> 00:10:39.990 and it was so. When Jesus wanted demons to come out of someone, 109 00:10:39.070 --> 00:10:43.870 he simply said it, and it was so. When he wanted a limb 110 00:10:43.990 --> 00:10:48.429 to be healed or someone to rise from the dead or someone to follow him. 111 00:10:48.590 --> 00:10:50.980 He simply said it and it was so. Jesus never failed at anything. 112 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:56.820 So when Jesus went to the Cross to die for sins in order that 113 00:10:56.860 --> 00:11:01.899 the body of sin might be brought to nothing, that happened, you can 114 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:05.850 count on it. Jesus didn't raise from the dead. It say, Oh, 115 00:11:05.970 --> 00:11:09.730 that's right, I forgot to do that one thing. I meant to 116 00:11:09.929 --> 00:11:13.649 put the body of sin and bring it to nothing, but maybe I'll try 117 00:11:13.649 --> 00:11:20.080 again. No, Jesus did exactly what he intended to do. It's promised 118 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:22.879 in many ways, and the very victory that he has over death in his 119 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:28.759 resurrection proves it. Well, what does that mean for you? Well, 120 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:33.549 it means that, if you were in Christ, the body of sin that 121 00:11:33.669 --> 00:11:41.429 you have been enslaved to has now been brought to nothing. The lusts that 122 00:11:41.870 --> 00:11:48.340 come up inside of you and try to pull you down into unrighteousness, they're 123 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:54.740 not as powerful as they would like to pretend. The fear of death and 124 00:11:54.860 --> 00:11:58.620 the curse that lingers in this world. Satan tries to trick us with these 125 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:03.129 things. He tries to tell us that our sins are our art, our 126 00:12:03.169 --> 00:12:09.490 temptations are lusts are more powerful than they are. He tries to insert doubt. 127 00:12:09.169 --> 00:12:13.330 Doubt may lift its head to murmur, scoffers mock and sinners jeer. 128 00:12:13.450 --> 00:12:20.240 There are these voices of doubt that say, what about death? What about 129 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:22.200 corruption? What about misery? What about all these things you have done? 130 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:28.679 Did Christ really bring? Did Christ really save? Did he really bring the 131 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:33.909 body of sin to nothing? We believe the truth of the word of God. 132 00:12:35.029 --> 00:12:39.190 Yes, he did. He brought that sin, brought the body of 133 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:48.019 sin to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Christians, 134 00:12:50.059 --> 00:12:56.860 you're no longer enslave to sin. Isn't that good news? When you 135 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:05.370 feel tempted to sin, when you feel anger welling up, or sexual desire, 136 00:13:05.409 --> 00:13:11.889 sinful sexual desires, or desire to steal or be greedy, or any 137 00:13:11.929 --> 00:13:15.960 number of things that were listed in Effesians five, these things that are contrary 138 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:20.759 to the light, the things that are of the darkness, remind yourselves what 139 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:28.669 God's Word says here. You are not enslave to them. They don't rule 140 00:13:28.830 --> 00:13:35.509 over you any more. Imagine this in a political context. Imagine somebody who 141 00:13:35.990 --> 00:13:41.580 was a slave has been set free, and then that slave master comes and 142 00:13:41.740 --> 00:13:45.740 says to that former slave, hey, I need you to get back to 143 00:13:45.860 --> 00:13:52.139 work. Come on, let's go. It's scary maybe to say no. 144 00:13:54.139 --> 00:14:00.850 It's hard to refuse. You remember the former power. But Christians remember you 145 00:14:01.009 --> 00:14:07.330 are free, you are no longer enslave to send. You don't have to 146 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:13.000 follow, you are not forced to follow. But for you were, not 147 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:18.720 because that was a good thing, but because of the corruption of your nature. 148 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:22.159 You had no other choice. Like a moth that keeps trying to get 149 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:26.629 out of our room and slams up against a window and slams up against a 150 00:14:26.710 --> 00:14:30.629 window and slams up against a window. It's trapped. And you were like 151 00:14:30.830 --> 00:14:35.509 that too. You are trapped, you were enslaved. Or maybe a better 152 00:14:35.549 --> 00:14:41.059 example would be a dog that has been trained to do bad things. Sometimes 153 00:14:41.179 --> 00:14:45.700 dogs are another animals are trained to do a lot of harm for evil people. 154 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:48.779 In some ways we were like that. We were trained, everything in 155 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:54.250 US was designed to do this one or these many bad things, evil things, 156 00:14:54.289 --> 00:14:58.649 dark things, and it's what we love to do, it's what drove 157 00:14:58.769 --> 00:15:01.210 us, it's what brought up desire, it's what we were, what were 158 00:15:01.570 --> 00:15:07.840 rewarded for and felt good about. But that's not true anymore. We're not 159 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:13.919 that kind of animal anymore. We're not enslaved to sin. In fact, 160 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:22.190 we are no longer enslaved. This is what it means to have died to 161 00:15:22.350 --> 00:15:26.629 sin, to no longer be enslaved, to not be under its dominion anymore. 162 00:15:28.669 --> 00:15:33.590 It means that obedience to unrighteousness doesn't have to mark your life, and 163 00:15:33.669 --> 00:15:41.940 in fact it doesn't. And if it does, if obedience and slavish obedience 164 00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:50.250 to sin does Mark Your Life, then you're not a Christian. Paul will 165 00:15:50.730 --> 00:15:58.049 talk in Chapter Seven about there are these internal contradictions in Christians, this desire 166 00:15:58.370 --> 00:16:02.250 to do good, a changed, harder, renewed life, and yet corruption 167 00:16:02.409 --> 00:16:07.960 that remains. But that's different. We're not talking about that. What I'm 168 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:11.360 talking about, and what I want you to do, what God wants you 169 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:18.710 to do, is listen and check your heart, check your conscience. Are 170 00:16:18.870 --> 00:16:23.190 you enslaved to sin? If you are enslave to sin, that you do 171 00:16:23.309 --> 00:16:29.950 not belong to Jesus Christ, because those who belong to Jesus Christ are those 172 00:16:30.230 --> 00:16:33.980 whose sin has been brought to nothing. The Dominion of Sin, the Great 173 00:16:34.139 --> 00:16:41.740 Power of sin, that once ruled over them no longer does. That's the 174 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:52.169 flip side of this. Jesus doesn't just bring sin to death, but he 175 00:16:52.289 --> 00:17:00.049 brings righteousness to life. Paul makes this contrast throughout this passage. How can 176 00:17:00.090 --> 00:17:03.839 we who died to sin, still live in it in verse two and then 177 00:17:03.880 --> 00:17:07.799 Verse Five? For if we have been united in him in a death like 178 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:11.319 his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 179 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:17.950 Jesus, when he went to the cross to do what he intended to do, 180 00:17:18.190 --> 00:17:23.829 to bring sinto nothing, to conquer death and misery and hell. He 181 00:17:23.950 --> 00:17:30.180 not only did that, but he rose again from the dead. He entered 182 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:37.900 into new life. Now, Jesus never sinned. Jesus conquered our sin, 183 00:17:38.660 --> 00:17:45.490 our death, our curse, and we see that in his resurrection. And 184 00:17:45.650 --> 00:17:48.849 this is what part, this is what God has done for you. He 185 00:17:48.930 --> 00:17:52.730 has made us. God has made us, as he says here, alive 186 00:17:52.930 --> 00:17:57.289 to him. In Christ Jesus, he change is our wills so that they're 187 00:17:57.369 --> 00:18:04.680 no longer entirely bent toward evil, but now they long after and pursue what 188 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:11.839 is good. They desire our wills. Now, as Christians, desire the 189 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:15.630 things of God. We want to please him, we want to satisfy him, 190 00:18:15.670 --> 00:18:23.069 we want to obey. We stand in triumph over our sins. As 191 00:18:23.109 --> 00:18:30.660 Christians, we don't cower and and and and and fear our sins, but 192 00:18:30.779 --> 00:18:34.660 we look at him in the face and we say no, not me. 193 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:41.009 I belong to Jesus Christ. I walk in the newness of life. I 194 00:18:41.210 --> 00:18:48.009 know what it is to live in the light and I will live. Using 195 00:18:48.049 --> 00:18:55.569 the marriage example, there's this powerful section. It's powerful's not the best word. 196 00:18:55.609 --> 00:19:00.119 A memorable section. Perhaps it's powerful to in the mirror of modern divinity. 197 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:03.920 One of my favorite books. I think there's a copy of it on 198 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:10.789 the back table. But Edward Fisher, he describes this scene of union with 199 00:19:10.869 --> 00:19:15.109 Christ in terms of marriage, a biblical metaphor, and he he says, 200 00:19:15.150 --> 00:19:18.069 if you have been married to Chris, if you are married to Christ and 201 00:19:18.150 --> 00:19:25.660 you enjoy this intimate relationship with him, and Satan walks into the bridal chamber, 202 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:30.019 you don't invite him in, you don't say Oh hey, nice to 203 00:19:30.140 --> 00:19:33.579 see you, come on here be with me and my husband as we spend 204 00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:38.250 this intimate time together. They say get out, you have no business being 205 00:19:38.450 --> 00:19:44.329 here. Christ is mine and I am his. We belong to one another. 206 00:19:44.890 --> 00:19:49.529 Something has changed on the Cross. That's our attitude towards sin. We 207 00:19:49.609 --> 00:19:53.559 don't play with it, we don't feed a corpse, we don't invite Satan 208 00:19:53.680 --> 00:20:00.160 into our marriage. We say get out, you don't rule me, you 209 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:06.720 have nothing to do with us. My Lord has defeated you, conquered you. 210 00:20:07.549 --> 00:20:17.069 I live in that life now. This attitude must be ours. This 211 00:20:17.230 --> 00:20:25.140 is what Paul says in Verse Eleven. So you also must consider yourselves dead 212 00:20:25.500 --> 00:20:30.819 to sin and alive to God, in Christ, Jesus. This is a 213 00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:37.369 matter of faith. It's a matter of faith. It's something that we must 214 00:20:37.369 --> 00:20:41.769 believe now. It's not a big leap in the dark. We believe it 215 00:20:41.890 --> 00:20:47.049 because it happened, because Jesus did die, because Jesus did rise again from 216 00:20:47.049 --> 00:20:53.480 the dead. Trust him, receive him, believe that when Christ rose, 217 00:20:53.839 --> 00:21:00.640 he proved victorious over sin and death, dominion over it, conquering the curse 218 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:07.230 and that, and believe the promises of God, that this cross of Christ 219 00:21:07.309 --> 00:21:11.710 isn't this isolated historical event some time in history, but it's something that's given 220 00:21:11.789 --> 00:21:18.309 for you and for all who believe. Isn't that amazing that this thing that 221 00:21:18.430 --> 00:21:22.500 Jesus has done on the cross is available to you. This resurrection, life, 222 00:21:23.019 --> 00:21:27.180 defeat and over sin is available to you. How do you receive it? 223 00:21:29.500 --> 00:21:33.650 By receiving it by simply accepting and believing the promise of God, and 224 00:21:34.809 --> 00:21:44.049 in that we are mysteriously, wonderfully eternally connected with the life of our Lord 225 00:21:44.049 --> 00:21:52.599 and Savior, Jesus. So you see how important this is and you see 226 00:21:52.640 --> 00:22:02.509 how much it puts to death or puts down to this objection about Christians desiring 227 00:22:02.710 --> 00:22:08.509 sin or thinking that sin is okay. It's important to say Christians there, 228 00:22:08.589 --> 00:22:18.019 because it's not just outsiders that doubt and Scoff and mock the Gospel, but 229 00:22:18.140 --> 00:22:23.619 it's insiders and even inside our hearts we doubt, we mock and we wonder. 230 00:22:26.380 --> 00:22:30.250 Paul says in Verse Eleven, you must also consider yourselves, or reckon 231 00:22:30.450 --> 00:22:34.289 yourselves, dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. But we 232 00:22:34.369 --> 00:22:38.490 don't always do that, do we? We reckon things differently. We reckon 233 00:22:38.569 --> 00:22:42.210 ourselves. We say so. We might change it sometimes and say so. 234 00:22:42.849 --> 00:22:48.440 You also must consider yourselves fundamentally good and capable of helping yourself if you try 235 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:56.559 hard enough. So you also must consider yourself worthy of great honor because of 236 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:03.990 the privileges under which you've been born. So you also must consider yourselves fundamentally 237 00:23:04.069 --> 00:23:07.869 good people and part of a great country which will go on forever and ever. 238 00:23:11.710 --> 00:23:15.700 The Bible doesn't say any of those things. The Bible says you must 239 00:23:15.700 --> 00:23:21.700 consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. Not In yourselves, not 240 00:23:21.940 --> 00:23:26.660 in your birth or your country or anything like that, but in Christ Jesus. 241 00:23:26.650 --> 00:23:33.769 Believe in Christ Jesus, consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God, 242 00:23:33.450 --> 00:23:40.529 in him, and because when we do that, by believing, trusting, 243 00:23:40.690 --> 00:23:45.279 resting on his work and his righteousness, that's how we enjoy his glory, 244 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:52.039 that's how we enjoy his life. How are we set free from the 245 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:59.470 slavery of Sin? Not by running away from it, but by running to 246 00:23:59.549 --> 00:24:07.910 Jesus and finding our salvation, in our freedom in him. For the world, 247 00:24:07.990 --> 00:24:10.859 this is, of course, foolishness. They don't believe Jesus, they 248 00:24:10.859 --> 00:24:17.220 don't believe what he has done. But for the Christian Who Sees The resurrection 249 00:24:17.339 --> 00:24:22.859 of Christ, who believes the promises of God, this is life. To 250 00:24:23.059 --> 00:24:30.130 stand and walk and rest in him. It's to enjoy the resurrection life. 251 00:24:30.650 --> 00:24:38.200 Even now, even before Jesus comes in, our bodies themselves are resurrected for 252 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:48.039 all eternity. If you do not believe the Gospel, if you don't believe 253 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:52.230 this good news that is being promised to you, then know that you will 254 00:24:52.349 --> 00:25:00.069 remain enslaved in your sin. You will you will remain captive to the lusts 255 00:25:00.150 --> 00:25:08.019 of your flesh, to the sin, to the curse of death. But 256 00:25:08.140 --> 00:25:15.259 if you have believed in Jesus Christ, then count yourself as a freed person. 257 00:25:18.500 --> 00:25:30.890 And when you face temptation, and when you face Satan's temptations and wooing 258 00:25:30.049 --> 00:25:42.039 of you, say no more. I belong to Jesus and let not sin. 259 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:48.759 Therefore reign in your mortal bodies to make you obey its passions. Don't 260 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:56.029 go back to a slave master who no longer owns you. Do not present 261 00:25:56.190 --> 00:26:00.029 your members, the members of your body, to sin as instruments of for 262 00:26:00.069 --> 00:26:07.539 unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death 263 00:26:07.660 --> 00:26:15.380 to life. Take your bodies and give them to the Lord, your hands, 264 00:26:15.619 --> 00:26:21.930 your feet, your ears, your eyes, give it all to the 265 00:26:22.089 --> 00:26:27.849 Lord, for he has bought you, he has freed you. So now 266 00:26:29.130 --> 00:26:36.440 work in his service to freedom and glory in Life and Resurrection for sin will 267 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:41.079 have no dominion over you. Don't worry about that any more because you are 268 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:47.309 not under law any more. You are under the grace of God, the 269 00:26:47.509 --> 00:26:52.869 powerful, superabounding grace of God. Let us pray