Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Dying to Live │ Msg 14-44

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Dying to Live │ Msg 14-44 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: It was several years ago I was invited by the
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Speaker 1: Commandant the Marine Corps to address gathering of graduates their
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Speaker 1: Officers school. And it was at the National Cathedral, full
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Speaker 1: of men and women and dress whites with full medals,
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Speaker 1: and the Commandant and his regalia of officers sitting beside him.
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Speaker 1: It was an intimidating moment, to say the least, to
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Speaker 1: have those new officers to be on my left, and
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Speaker 1: then these filling the auditorium of the cathedral. And to
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Speaker 1: my surprise, someone had chosen that the bagpipes of the
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Speaker 1: Corps come in and kilts and all as the whine
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Speaker 1: of the bagpipes played, amazing grace, How sweet the sound,
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Speaker 1: And suddenly we were all on the same level. A
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Speaker 1: bunch of wretches. That saved a wretch like me. I
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Speaker 1: remember looking down at General Krulak, who was then the
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Speaker 1: four star Marine Corps, wiping the tears from his eyes.
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Speaker 1: If it's possible for you to sing that all the
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Speaker 1: way through without holding back the tears, there's something that's
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Speaker 1: missing in your life. This amazing grace brings us all
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Speaker 1: the same level. How good of God to care enough
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Speaker 1: for us to send us his son Roman includes a
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Speaker 1: passage that is unfortunately not known that well by God's people,
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Speaker 1: and it should be. We'll get into more of that later.
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Speaker 1: We've given you an outline for the message today, and
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Speaker 1: you can tuck it in your bible here. But for
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Speaker 1: a few moments, I want you to simply listen to
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Speaker 1: the reading of God's Word from the first fourteen verses
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Speaker 1: of Romans six. What shall we say, then, are we
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Speaker 1: to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May
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Speaker 1: it never be? How shall we who died to sin
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Speaker 1: still live in it? Or do you not know that
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Speaker 1: all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus,
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Speaker 1: have been baptized into his death. Therefore we have been
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Speaker 1: buried with him through baptism into death, so that as
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Speaker 1: Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of
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Speaker 1: the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
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Speaker 1: Or if we have become united with Him in the
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Speaker 1: likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in
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Speaker 1: the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this that our old
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Speaker 1: self was crucified with him in order that our body
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Speaker 1: of sin might be done away with, so that we
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Speaker 1: would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who
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Speaker 1: has died, is freed from sin. Now, if we have
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Speaker 1: died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
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Speaker 1: with him, Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead,
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Speaker 1: is never to die again. Death no longer is master
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Speaker 1: over him. For the death that he died, he died
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Speaker 1: to sin once for all, But the life that he lives,
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Speaker 1: he lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be
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Speaker 1: dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: do not let sin reign and your mortal body, so
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Speaker 1: that you obey its lusts, And do not go on
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Speaker 1: presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments
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Speaker 1: of unrighteousness. But present yourselves to God as those alive
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Speaker 1: from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
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Speaker 1: to God. For sin shall not be master over you,
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Speaker 1: for you are not under law, but under grace. The
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Speaker 1: work of ministry is the responsibility of the Lord God
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Speaker 1: to fill it with power, and then to move upon
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Speaker 1: his people to be in support of it. And so
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Speaker 1: when the offering is received, it's important that I explain
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Speaker 1: to you who are visiting with us, that if you
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Speaker 1: are without Christ, really we'd urge you not to give.
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Speaker 1: Do not give. Take this as a quiet moment when
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Speaker 1: you could open your heart and receive the gift of
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Speaker 1: eternal life through Jesus Christ. This is really the work
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Speaker 1: for God's people to carry on, not for you, and
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Speaker 1: is a great opportunity for you, and the quietness of
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Speaker 1: the time of offering to realize that there's nothing in
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Speaker 1: your hands you can bring that in any way, Please God,
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Speaker 1: So this is your moment to receive His son. Following
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Speaker 1: our meeting today in the prayer room, we have a
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Speaker 1: group of people who are happy to meet with you
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Speaker 1: without Christ and would be available to help you understand
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Speaker 1: what it means to come to know Him personally. We
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Speaker 1: love having you as our guests and we invite you back.
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Speaker 1: Feel no obligation at this point to participate. This is
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Speaker 1: a time for God's people to do that. So our Father,
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Speaker 1: we pause as we bow before you, our Father, to
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Speaker 1: be reminded that you are the master and we are
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Speaker 1: the servant, to put things right in our minds, to
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Speaker 1: remind ourselves that this is not about us. This is
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Speaker 1: all about you. And in an era when there is
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Speaker 1: such a spirit of entitlement pervading, we're quietly reminded that
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Speaker 1: there's nothing we bring that would in any way bring
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Speaker 1: favor to you or to us in return. And therefore
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Speaker 1: we calme today, acknowledging that we are among the wretched,
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Speaker 1: the blind, the lost, who have, by your grace been
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Speaker 1: found and given sight and the privileged position of being
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Speaker 1: known as members of your family. Modeling the things that
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Speaker 1: we believe in so firmly. Authenticity, joy, grace, humility. We
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Speaker 1: learn all of these our Father, from your son Jesus.
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Speaker 1: That's why our joy is made full when we are
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Speaker 1: able to give to you from the work of our hands.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for Jesus, the Lamb who took away the
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Speaker 1: sins of the world. We worship the Lamb today with
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Speaker 1: our gifts. In his name, we pray and give. And
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Speaker 1: everyone said amen. Chances are good that most of us
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Speaker 1: have never witnessed with our own eyes human slavery, not
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Speaker 1: in raw reality. Oh, I realize. We have all read
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Speaker 1: books about it, and perhaps seen live theater where such
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Speaker 1: subjects is that are portrayed, and no doubt watch television
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Speaker 1: docu dramas that presented. But we've never seen a human
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Speaker 1: being standing on a slave block bidded for by someone
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Speaker 1: purchasing him or her as he would a mule. I
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Speaker 1: can think, not think of anything that is more unjust,
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Speaker 1: brutal or ugly. As an American, I find myself on
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Speaker 1: occasion not just confused, but thinking of that as unconscionable
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Speaker 1: that our forefathers were brave enough to fight for our
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Speaker 1: liberty from the motherland of England, only to turn around
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Speaker 1: and most of them have slaves, enslaving others without the
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Speaker 1: slightest hesitation. Apart from the haunting specter of guilt, think
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Speaker 1: of it free citizens owning slaves. Frankly, the triangles will
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Speaker 1: never be mentally congruent. It took a bloody war between
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Speaker 1: the States to break the yoke of slavery. It took
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Speaker 1: a present with backbone, clear thinking, courageous at heart to
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Speaker 1: finally acknowledge the truth of it, and by New Year's
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Speaker 1: Day eighteen sixty three, releasing an Emancipation Proclamation announcing that
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Speaker 1: it would be made law that slaves be freed, not
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Speaker 1: only willing to declare it, but if necessary, and in fact,
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Speaker 1: he did to die for that. Interestingly, it was not
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Speaker 1: until long after his death December eighteen sixty five before
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Speaker 1: Congress finally brought it into action and the word became
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Speaker 1: the bold headlines of newspapers across these United States. Slavery
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Speaker 1: legally about read the headlines. The news swept across Capitol
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Speaker 1: Hill and down the Shenandoah, and over the Appalachians, to
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Speaker 1: the back roads of the Carolinas, deep into the plantations
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Speaker 1: of Georgia and Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, Texas the cotton fields.
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Speaker 1: The word was out, slaves are free. But there wasn't
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Speaker 1: a plantation owner that wanted to hear such a thing.
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Speaker 1: They had operated for a long time under the old motto,
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Speaker 1: you keep them ignorant, you keep them in the fields.
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Speaker 1: And so, with the threat of death upon those slaves,
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Speaker 1: the plantation owners held onto them as long as they
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Speaker 1: could heartbreaking stories. But to add tragedy to the scene,
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Speaker 1: many slaves, knowing that they had been freed, chose to
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Speaker 1: remain living in the shacks and squalor of slavery. Admittedly,
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Speaker 1: many of them would die if they attempted to escape. Remarkably,
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Speaker 1: they stayed there till they died, and even their children
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Speaker 1: as well. Isn't it amazing that those who had been
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Speaker 1: freed chose to remain enslaved? If you think that is tragic.
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Speaker 1: I'll tell you something that is equally bad, if not worse.
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Speaker 1: Christians who have been set free, choosing to remain enslaved,
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Speaker 1: finding more comfort and security in slavery than delight and
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Speaker 1: joy and the risks of liberty, we remain there. Some
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Speaker 1: of you, hearing my voice today, look as though you
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Speaker 1: were free, but you are enslave. Fact is, you know
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Speaker 1: more about your sin than you do about your righteousness.
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Speaker 1: Your preoccupation is with the things you do wrong, and
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Speaker 1: you anticipate it, and sure enough, the end of your
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Speaker 1: day is filled with going through a list of the
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Speaker 1: things that you have failed at, as you claim by memory.
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Speaker 1: First John one nine. Most of you know the verse
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Speaker 1: by heart. It's a wonderful verse. It's a marvelous verse.
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Speaker 1: But it's after the fact. How many of you know
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Speaker 1: Romans six thirteen by heart? Neither yield your your members
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Speaker 1: as instruments of unrighteousness, unto sin, but yield yourselves unto
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Speaker 1: God as those who are alive from the dead, and
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Speaker 1: your members as instruments of righteousness to God. You're no
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Speaker 1: longer a slave to sin. You are freed from its power.
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Speaker 1: The old plantation owner has nothing on satan, Satan has
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Speaker 1: been in charge of our lives all through our lost condition,
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Speaker 1: and he will hold on to us as long as
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Speaker 1: he can. He will make you afraid of his demons.
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Speaker 1: He will haunt you with specter of guilt and shame,
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Speaker 1: trying to get you to believe you're still under the
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Speaker 1: old master, when in fact you are not. You have
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Speaker 1: been freed. The great emancipator at Calvary has set you free.
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Speaker 1: You have come out of the grave with him, victorious
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Speaker 1: over sin and death. We who have no fear of
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Speaker 1: death often have to admit we still live under the
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Speaker 1: cloud of sin, thinking, well, it's inevitable. I am just
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Speaker 1: committed to it, and so the old things that once
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Speaker 1: bound me will still bind me. There's no escape from it.
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Speaker 1: I just know I'll get to go to heaven someday.
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Speaker 1: That is no way to live your life. When you
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Speaker 1: were converted, you were delivered from the power of sin,
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Speaker 1: placed into Christ. His authority became your authority, His righteousness
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Speaker 1: became your righteousness, and positionally you are as righteous as
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Speaker 1: he in the eyes of God, which means are you
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Speaker 1: ready for a shock? You can literally live days of
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Speaker 1: your life without succumbing to sin. In some circles. That's heretical.
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Speaker 1: You say, well, you don't know me. You could see
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Speaker 1: my track record. You know what, you don't know me,
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Speaker 1: it's no better than yours. The difference is information. If
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Speaker 1: you don't know you've been freed, then you'll live like
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Speaker 1: a slave. But once you know you're freed, you consider
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Speaker 1: it true and you act upon it by presenting yourself
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Speaker 1: to God. It is remarkable what a difference it will
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Speaker 1: make in your day. Rather than beginning it with the
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Speaker 1: dread that you will fall back into the same old
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Speaker 1: habits of yesteryear. What are you doing there when in
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Speaker 1: fact God's given you a brand new enablement you never
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Speaker 1: had before Son came into your life. And here, since
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Speaker 1: Romans five point twenty in the Bible waiting to be cleaned,
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Speaker 1: where sin abounded, grace super abound it. For sin increased,
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Speaker 1: grace overshadowed it. Where sin won the day, Grace won
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Speaker 1: the victory. For sin had its way, Grace eclipse eclipped,
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Speaker 1: eclipsed its power and authority. And the result is you
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Speaker 1: are able to live above the drag and the drain
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Speaker 1: of sin, if you only knew how to do that.
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Speaker 1: So here we are in Romans chapter six, turning point
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Speaker 1: in the passage in the letter. Up till now, it's
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Speaker 1: been all about sin, our depravity, Christ's death for us,
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Speaker 1: our salvation by grace. Apart from works, lest anyone should boast,
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Speaker 1: we are now freed from sin, We are now freed
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Speaker 1: from his authority. We are now in Christ. What does
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Speaker 1: that mean? There were some who read Paul's words in
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Speaker 1: Romans five twenty and thought, yep, there's Paul Antinomianism. That
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Speaker 1: he is believing as he does, that we can just
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Speaker 1: live as we please and let it all ride, just
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Speaker 1: do whatever. That's not grace. That's heresy. If that's your
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Speaker 1: idea of grace, you've not been well taught. In fact,
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Speaker 1: the latter half of Romans chapter six is about that.
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Speaker 1: The first half is just informing us that we are free,
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Speaker 1: urging us to live by that truth. In fact, there
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Speaker 1: are two questions when you get to chapter six that
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Speaker 1: I'd like you to note Verse one and verse fifteen.
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Speaker 1: They look alike, but they are different. Verse one, Are
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Speaker 1: we to continue in sin that grace may increase? Since
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Speaker 1: it says where sin abounded, grace abounds all the more
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty of chapter five Should I now live under
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Speaker 1: sin and under its authority somehow, hoping that Grace will
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Speaker 1: come to my rescue. May it never be, says the
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Speaker 1: Apostle as he begins verse three, verse two. May it
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Speaker 1: never be? Verse one of Chapter six of Romans is
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Speaker 1: a question that is addressed to those who fail to
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Speaker 1: claim their liberty and go on living like slaves. Six
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Speaker 1: Verse fifteen is another question, Shall we sin because we're
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Speaker 1: not under law but under grace. This question is asked
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Speaker 1: to those who take their liberty too far and miss
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Speaker 1: the whole point of grace. Verses one to fourteen are
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Speaker 1: about nullifying grace. Verses fifteen to twenty three are about
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Speaker 1: abusing grace. We'll get there, so give me time. Don't
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Speaker 1: leave today thinking I'm freeing you up to live as
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Speaker 1: you please. The Christian life is never about living as
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Speaker 1: you please. It's about living as Christ pleases, and that's
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Speaker 1: why Grace plays such a major role. You couldn't do
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Speaker 1: that without Christ's power. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
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Speaker 1: Let's mark a few words in Romans chapter six. Get
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Speaker 1: your pencil ready and mark the word no in verse three.
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Speaker 1: Do you not know that all of us have baptized
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Speaker 1: into Christ? Jesus have been baptized into his death. Mark
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Speaker 1: the word no Verse six, knowing this verse nine, knowing
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Speaker 1: that Christ. There's something we must know before the slave
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Speaker 1: could ever act on the emancipation proclamation. The slave needed
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Speaker 1: to know about the emancipation. Before you can ever act
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Speaker 1: on the freedom you have in Christ, you need to
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Speaker 1: know that you've been freed. Verses three through ten. Talk
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Speaker 1: about knowing that. Look at verse eleven, even so, mark
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Speaker 1: that word. Consider. Maybe your Bible reads reckon yourselves. Even so,
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Speaker 1: consider yourselves to be dead to sin. So in order
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Speaker 1: to carry out the victorious Christian life, we must know
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Speaker 1: some things Verses three through ten. Then we must consider
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Speaker 1: them as true. They're no longer theoretical their reality. And
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Speaker 1: then verse thirteen, do not go on presenting the members
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Speaker 1: of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but
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Speaker 1: present yourselves to God. The word present is the third.
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Speaker 1: There are some things we're to know, there are some
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Speaker 1: things where to consider, and there are some things we
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Speaker 1: are to present today. If you will gather, if you
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Speaker 1: will capture the truth of what's going to be taught
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Speaker 1: in Romans six one to fourteen, it will revolutionize your
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Speaker 1: walk with Christ. It'll take away the shame, It'll take
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Speaker 1: away the guilt, It'll remove the fear, it'll obliterate the worry,
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Speaker 1: because you will see yourself in Christ and therefore pleasing
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Speaker 1: to God. That will free you like you've never been
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Speaker 1: freed before. First of all, we need to understand that
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Speaker 1: there's been a change in management, a chain management. We're
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Speaker 1: now under new management. It's like the store has been rebuilt.
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Speaker 1: It's like the people inside are new people. It's like
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Speaker 1: a whole new restaurant has opened up in our lives.
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Speaker 1: It's like an entirely different cafeteria, an entirely different choice
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Speaker 1: that is now ours. We're under a new management. We're
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Speaker 1: no longer enslaved. A brand new thing has occurred. In fact,
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Speaker 1: verse two asks a question, how shall we who died
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Speaker 1: to sin still live in it? Meaning still live under
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Speaker 1: its authority? Great question. It raises another question, when did
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Speaker 1: I die to sin? I can just hear some of
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Speaker 1: you saying if you could read my journal, you wouldn't
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Speaker 1: read the story of a person who's died to sin.
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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, if you're a Christian, I
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Speaker 1: would be tragically reading your journal and realizing what you
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Speaker 1: don't know. Just as we were in Adam when Adam
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Speaker 1: sinned and his sinning impacted us, so when Christ died,
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Speaker 1: we were in Christ theoretically positionally, and his death over
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Speaker 1: sin became our death over sin. His resurrection from the
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Speaker 1: power of sin became our resurrection and enablement of power
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Speaker 1: from the sin that once controlled us and enslaved us.
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Speaker 1: Coming to Christ means that we take on the new
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Speaker 1: management of victory. Before we were addicted, before we were
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Speaker 1: swarming and lost and in the swamp of our old nature.
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Speaker 1: Now the old nature within us has a new authority,
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Speaker 1: a new master, and it isn't Satan, even though he
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Speaker 1: wants to, he wants you to think it is. So
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Speaker 1: we need to know this verse three. Do you not
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Speaker 1: know that all of us who have been baptized into
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, have been baptized into his death. Therefore we
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Speaker 1: have been buried with him through baptism into death, so
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Speaker 1: that as Christ was raised from the dead through the
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Speaker 1: glory of the Father, so we too might walk in
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Speaker 1: newness of life. Now, as soon as you read baptize,
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Speaker 1: you think of water. Unfortunately, that is erroneous. And if
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Speaker 1: you think of water, baptism as that which is referenced here,
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Speaker 1: you'll miss it. This is a spirit baptism. Some baptisms
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Speaker 1: in the Bible are wet, summerre dry. This is a
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Speaker 1: dry one. This is what happens when you are converted.
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Speaker 1: But you need to understand the meaning of the word
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Speaker 1: baptizzo or bapto, which means to dip. It was used
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Speaker 1: in the first century of one who worked with fabric clothing,
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Speaker 1: who would dip the fabric in a die. Let's say
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Speaker 1: the fabric was white and it's dipped in a blue dye.
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Speaker 1: He was said to have baptized the garment or the fabric,
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Speaker 1: and when it comes up out of the dye, it
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Speaker 1: has changed its identity from white to blue. When you
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Speaker 1: and I are converted, when we come to Christ understanding
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Speaker 1: he paid the full penalty for our sins, and we
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Speaker 1: are then trusting in Him for eternal life. We are
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Speaker 1: dipped into Him and we become identified with him. You
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Speaker 1: see it down in verse five. If we have become
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Speaker 1: united with Him in the likeness of his death, certainly
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Speaker 1: we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.
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Speaker 1: Force yourself to think. Force yourself to think, when I
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Speaker 1: came to Christ, happened that I didn't experience with my feelings.
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Speaker 1: But I now see in the scriptures this has occurred.
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Speaker 1: I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet
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Speaker 1: not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life
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Speaker 1: that I now live I live by the faith of
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Speaker 1: the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
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Speaker 1: for me. I now live under his power, under his authority.
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Speaker 1: I now have a new master, if you will, I
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Speaker 1: have a new husband. I have a new partner in life,
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Speaker 1: and it's Christ. And now that I have been buried
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Speaker 1: with Him, all of that power of sin has been removed.
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Speaker 1: Because it has no power over Christ, it has no
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Speaker 1: power over me. The difference in Christ and me is
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Speaker 1: that I still have an old nature, and I'm prone
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Speaker 1: to sin. I realized that so are you. But we're
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Speaker 1: not obligated to sin. We choose to sin Verse six,
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Speaker 1: knowing this that our old self was crucified with him.
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Speaker 1: Why in order that the body of sin might be
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Speaker 1: done away. Our body of sin is like the vehicle
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Speaker 1: carrying the nature, and that nature, that power that once
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Speaker 1: held over us, is no longer operative. Coming to Christ
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Speaker 1: means that power of sin has been rendered inoperative. In fact,
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Speaker 1: that's why he says, so that we would no longer
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Speaker 1: be slaves to sin, for he who has died is
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Speaker 1: freed from sin. Not only did dead men tell no tales,
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Speaker 1: dead men fall to no temptation, dead men have no
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Speaker 1: interest in that. How does this work work its way out?
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Speaker 1: I begin my day in this way. Lord, You are
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Speaker 1: my savior and my God. I am your child. I
28:08
Speaker 1: am liberated, and I am dependent upon you. For your power.
28:13
Speaker 1: Take control of me. I yield to you. I give
28:16
Speaker 1: you the controls of my life. I don't know what
28:18
Speaker 1: the day holds. You know everything that the day will hold.
28:21
Speaker 1: I don't know what temptations will come my way. You
28:23
Speaker 1: give me strength when I come into temptation. You give
28:26
Speaker 1: me the strength to restrain. And I'll remember, Lord, that
28:30
Speaker 1: your power is at work. I will not yield by
28:32
Speaker 1: your power. I'll say no to that. When I'm tempted
28:36
Speaker 1: to say what I shouldn't say, I'll be restrained from
28:38
Speaker 1: saying it. And I trust you to restrain me. When
28:42
Speaker 1: I'm tempted to worry about something that I can't control,
28:45
Speaker 1: I will trust you to take over and handle that
28:48
Speaker 1: which I can't change. I will trust you. I will
28:51
Speaker 1: lean on you. I am dead in Christ, and I
28:54
Speaker 1: have the power of His resurrection, and I claim that
28:57
Speaker 1: today see verse nine, owing that Christ has been raised
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Speaker 1: from the dead, is never to die again. Death is
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Speaker 1: no longer master over him. For the death that he died,
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Speaker 1: he died to sin once. For all the life that
29:08
Speaker 1: he lives, he lives to God. That's true of me
29:10
Speaker 1: as well. When Christ died, I died. When Christ was raised,
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Speaker 1: I was raised. So now how does it impact me?
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Speaker 1: Verse eleven. Consider yourselves dead to sin. Reckon it as
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Speaker 1: true in your mind, see it as a reality, count
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Speaker 1: on it, lean on it. Death no longer is master
29:34
Speaker 1: over me. And I tell myself regularly I am freed
29:39
Speaker 1: from that by the grace of God. And I now
29:43
Speaker 1: calculate this. I take it into account, and my sinful
29:47
Speaker 1: habits have therefore been defeated and disabled and deprived of
29:51
Speaker 1: authority over me. I am under a new master. While
29:57
Speaker 1: I was a seminary student, we had doctor Vernon McGee.
30:00
Speaker 1: I'm as a lecturer, and on one occasion he taught
30:03
Speaker 1: for two weeks on the Letter to the Romans. Was
30:06
Speaker 1: always delightful to sit under his teachings, and I got
30:09
Speaker 1: to know him personally later on in my years in California,
30:12
Speaker 1: but at the time I was a student and sort
30:15
Speaker 1: of said in all of his ministry, one of the
30:17
Speaker 1: wonderful things about McGhee is his stories, his illustrations. You
30:21
Speaker 1: just never forget them, he told one that day while
30:25
Speaker 1: teaching in Romans. I'll never forget. I wrote it down
30:27
Speaker 1: as a student, and I'll read it to you. It's
30:30
Speaker 1: the story of a lady who lived in the Deep
30:32
Speaker 1: South and had a close relationship with her childhood sweetheart.
30:36
Speaker 1: She fell in love with him, ultimately married him, and
30:38
Speaker 1: they had a life of faithfulness and joy together for
30:42
Speaker 1: many years. However, he was suddenly taken from her by
30:46
Speaker 1: a heart attack. Not being a part, not being able
30:51
Speaker 1: to part with him visibly, she decided to have him
30:54
Speaker 1: EMBALMD placed in a chair, sealed up in a glass case,
30:59
Speaker 1: and placed me imediately inside the front door of her
31:02
Speaker 1: large plantation home. I'll give you a moment to picture that.
31:09
Speaker 1: Every time she walked through the door to go up
31:11
Speaker 1: the stairs, she would say, Hi, John, how are you?
31:14
Speaker 1: Then she would just walk right up the stairs. I've
31:16
Speaker 1: often thought, why would she ask how he was? He's
31:19
Speaker 1: not going to answer. Things rocked along pretty normally month
31:23
Speaker 1: after month, and there he sat month after month as
31:27
Speaker 1: she acknowledged his presence with a smile and a friendly wave.
31:30
Speaker 1: A year or so passed and she realized she needed
31:32
Speaker 1: to get away, so she took a lengthy vacation in
31:35
Speaker 1: the continent of Europe. It was a delightful change of scenery.
31:39
Speaker 1: In fact, while she was there, she met a fine
31:41
Speaker 1: American gentleman who sort of swept her off her feet.
31:45
Speaker 1: It was a whirlwind romance. They got married in Europe,
31:49
Speaker 1: and they honeymoon all over the continent. She said nothing
31:52
Speaker 1: to him about old John back on the farm. You
31:57
Speaker 1: know where I'm going, don't you. Finally, they traveled back
32:01
Speaker 1: together to Dixie. Driving up the winding road to her home,
32:06
Speaker 1: he decided, this is my moment to lift my bride
32:09
Speaker 1: over the threshold, carry her back into her home, the
32:13
Speaker 1: wonderful place where we will live together forever. He picked
32:17
Speaker 1: her up, bumped the door open with his hip, and
32:19
Speaker 1: almost dropped his bride on the threshold. Who in the
32:23
Speaker 1: world is that, Oh, she said, that's John, my former husband.
32:29
Speaker 1: He's my old man from he's history. Said the new husband,
32:33
Speaker 1: he's dead. The new husband immediately dug a huge hole
32:39
Speaker 1: and buried her former old man in it. Case and all,
32:45
Speaker 1: that's exactly what Christ did for you and me when
32:49
Speaker 1: we were born into the You will never forget that story,
32:56
Speaker 1: and it will remind you the old man is dead.
32:59
Speaker 1: You have no reason to salute it, to bow to it,
33:02
Speaker 1: to agree with it, to cooperate, to walk in step
33:06
Speaker 1: with it. It has no authority over you. You are in Christ,
33:12
Speaker 1: and certainly Sin has no authority over him. Eugene Peterson
33:17
Speaker 1: paraphrases it. You must not give sin a vote in
33:20
Speaker 1: the way you conduct your life. Don't give it the
33:23
Speaker 1: time of day. Don't even run little errands that are
33:26
Speaker 1: connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly
33:30
Speaker 1: in full time. Remember you've been raised from the dead
33:33
Speaker 1: into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you
33:36
Speaker 1: how to live. After all, you're not living under that
33:40
Speaker 1: old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.
33:46
Speaker 1: How wonderful it would be if we, as a body
33:48
Speaker 1: of people who comprise Stonebriar Community Church really lived in
33:53
Speaker 1: the victory we have in Christ. We would be the
33:57
Speaker 1: most attractive people in the community. Folks would not know
34:02
Speaker 1: how to deal with us, and that curiosity would bring
34:05
Speaker 1: us to the one opportunity after another of sharing our
34:09
Speaker 1: faith that has made all the difference in the world.
34:15
Speaker 1: Some of you are jumping to conclusions and you're saying, Man, Chuck,
34:18
Speaker 1: I start living like that. Man, You have no idea
34:22
Speaker 1: how much I'm gonna sin? Are really I know? I
34:27
Speaker 1: don't think so. I don't think you'll push it too far.
34:32
Speaker 1: That's what Chapter six, verses fifteen to twenty three are
34:35
Speaker 1: all about. So come back next time. We'll go there. Now,
34:40
Speaker 1: what will happen is that you will realize a victory.
34:42
Speaker 1: You've missed, a new level of a plane that you
34:46
Speaker 1: could live on that doesn't have all the intimidation that
34:50
Speaker 1: was once your You're not a victim of sin. You're
34:55
Speaker 1: just listening to your old master. Who is this dead
35:00
Speaker 1: to you? Is that woman's first husband is dead to her?
35:05
Speaker 1: It says, consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to
35:09
Speaker 1: God in Christ. If it doesn't mean that, why does
35:11
Speaker 1: it say that? In fact, it even involves our will,
35:15
Speaker 1: do not let sin rein in your mortal body, so
35:18
Speaker 1: that you obey its lusts. I don't know how many
35:22
Speaker 1: times I've had guys say, and I'll tell you. I
35:24
Speaker 1: start to lust, it's just a downhill slide. I mean,
35:27
Speaker 1: I can't fight it. Man, I got such a strong drive, said,
35:30
Speaker 1: why can't you fight it? Christ didn't give into it.
35:34
Speaker 1: You have Christ. When that temptation comes knocking at the door,
35:39
Speaker 1: send Christ to answer the door. When that temptation is
35:43
Speaker 1: for you to flip that onto your screen or pull
35:45
Speaker 1: it up on the internet, send Christ to get control
35:48
Speaker 1: of the internet. He's never known defeat. When you're on
35:53
Speaker 1: your own and you're traveling and you find yourself for
35:57
Speaker 1: a few moments, a weakened or lust of Christ is
36:01
Speaker 1: right there. He's not a victim of that sin that
36:04
Speaker 1: you're struggling with. You tell the Lord right now, Lord,
36:08
Speaker 1: I'm yours. I will not yield to this. I'm going
36:12
Speaker 1: to trust you. I'm going to do what I've never
36:15
Speaker 1: done before. I'm gonna rely on you when the heat
36:18
Speaker 1: is high, and I know you're going to see me
36:22
Speaker 1: through this. I know you're gonna help me break this habit,
36:25
Speaker 1: and he will. In fact, that's what's involved in presenting yourselves.
36:30
Speaker 1: Verse thirteen. Do not go on presenting your members, the
36:34
Speaker 1: members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness.
36:39
Speaker 1: You know what the word instrument means. It's the Greek
36:41
Speaker 1: word for a weapon. Don't use your members as weapons
36:47
Speaker 1: to fight the battle for unrighteousness. No, here's the verse.
36:51
Speaker 1: This is the key verse. Present yourselves to God as
36:54
Speaker 1: those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments,
36:57
Speaker 1: are weapons of righteousness to God. Lord, I'm your warrior. Lord,
37:03
Speaker 1: give me strength to fight this, and he will. And
37:09
Speaker 1: you will not be intimidated as you once were. When
37:13
Speaker 1: I first began my years in the Marine Corps, I
37:15
Speaker 1: was under the authority of a dear man named a
37:18
Speaker 1: drill instructor. No, they are not dear men. They are intimidating,
37:32
Speaker 1: overpowering authorities that are breaking the wills of citizens and
37:40
Speaker 1: just simple little country boys and city slicking boys and
37:46
Speaker 1: long haired boys and strong willed boys and turning them
37:51
Speaker 1: into warriors. Drill instructor, they don't endear themselves to you.
37:59
Speaker 1: They tell you every removed to make They know when
38:02
Speaker 1: you have to go to the bathroom, so they tell
38:05
Speaker 1: you when it's time. They know when you don't, so
38:10
Speaker 1: they tell you you won't. They know when you're supposed
38:14
Speaker 1: to go to bed, so they tell you when to
38:16
Speaker 1: go to bed, and when it's three thirty in the morning,
38:19
Speaker 1: nobody gets to sleep in. They wake you up. They
38:23
Speaker 1: have a way of dealing with you if you don't
38:25
Speaker 1: get up at the time they tell you to get up.
38:29
Speaker 1: I was under that authority for a long period of time,
38:31
Speaker 1: and finally, when I was discharged honorably from the Marine Corps,
38:35
Speaker 1: I was no longer under the authority. Several weeks ago,
38:40
Speaker 1: I was at Dallas Fort Worth Airport and there was
38:42
Speaker 1: a group of young recruits who had just volunteered for
38:47
Speaker 1: the cores. There were two drill instructors there. It was
38:53
Speaker 1: great if people get in line. I'm just watching this
39:01
Speaker 1: from the sideline and smiling, and he looks over me.
39:04
Speaker 1: I say, what do you say, Gunny? How you doing?
39:07
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not under his authority anymore. It was
39:11
Speaker 1: a great moment. How you doing there? Sorry? Handing all
39:16
Speaker 1: these running those kids. I had a good time with him.
39:19
Speaker 1: Why because I've been discharged. He doesn't have authority over me.
39:25
Speaker 1: He just like any other man. He could tell me
39:29
Speaker 1: to do whatever he thinks I should do, and I'm
39:31
Speaker 1: not going to obey him. He's not in control of me.
39:37
Speaker 1: That's the way it is. You are not a helpless
39:40
Speaker 1: victim of your glands. You are not just kind of
39:45
Speaker 1: lost in your habits. We just kind of barely make
39:49
Speaker 1: it through in hopes of getting gabbing. Oh no, it
39:56
Speaker 1: says in verse fourteen, sins shall not be master over you.
40:04
Speaker 1: You're not under law. You're not under the old condemnation
40:08
Speaker 1: and demands and rules and regulations and a legalistic lifestyle.
40:13
Speaker 1: You must, you must not. You do, you don't. You're
40:16
Speaker 1: not under that, You're under grace. Now I need to
40:20
Speaker 1: warn you. When you determine you're going to live like this,
40:25
Speaker 1: you will not have a lot of advocates. Because there
40:29
Speaker 1: are legalists lurching, lurking in every corner. Every church has
40:34
Speaker 1: a few. We try to rid ourselves of them, but
40:38
Speaker 1: they tend to stick around because they like to control people.
40:42
Speaker 1: In fact, one man writes about them, there are people
40:45
Speaker 1: who do not want us to be free. They don't
40:48
Speaker 1: want us to be free before God accepted just as
40:52
Speaker 1: we are by His grace. They don't want us to
40:54
Speaker 1: be free to express our faith originally creatively in the world.
40:59
Speaker 1: They want to control us. Can I repeat it? They
41:04
Speaker 1: want to control us. They want to use us for
41:08
Speaker 1: their purposes. They themselves refuse to live arduously and openly
41:14
Speaker 1: in faith, but huddle together with a few others and
41:17
Speaker 1: try to get a sense of approval by insisting that
41:20
Speaker 1: we all look alike, talk alike, and act alike, thus
41:24
Speaker 1: validating one another's worth. They try to enlarge their numbers
41:28
Speaker 1: only on the condition that new members act and talk
41:30
Speaker 1: and behave the way they do. Without being aware of it.
41:35
Speaker 1: We become anxious about what others will say about us,
41:39
Speaker 1: obsessively concerned about what others think we should do. We
41:45
Speaker 1: no longer live the good news, but anxiously try to
41:48
Speaker 1: memorize and recite the script someone else has assigned to us.
41:53
Speaker 1: No thanks, if that describes you, you're still living under
42:00
Speaker 1: the law. I can't tell by watching that you've been liberated.
42:08
Speaker 1: When in fact, Christ never bowed under the authority of
42:13
Speaker 1: the legalists. They're the ones who nailed him to the cross.
42:21
Speaker 1: They are the ones who planned to get rid of him.
42:24
Speaker 1: Why because he didn't get in line, He didn't promote
42:30
Speaker 1: their religion, he didn't bow to their authority. You and
42:40
Speaker 1: I must train our wills to accept, to accept the
42:47
Speaker 1: fact that we are free. Sin is no longer my master.
42:54
Speaker 1: When I sin, I confess my sin, I claim his forgiveness,
42:58
Speaker 1: and I thank him for graciously forgiving me. But that
43:02
Speaker 1: is not my focus. I spent too many years of
43:06
Speaker 1: my Christian life focused on that, just waiting for the
43:10
Speaker 1: next time sin was gonna happen. I could confess it.
43:14
Speaker 1: What a terrible way to live. So I retrain myself
43:19
Speaker 1: to think I'm free, and then I train myself to
43:23
Speaker 1: tell myself I'm under grace and not under law. It's
43:31
Speaker 1: a very delicate balance. Grace does not mean I now
43:35
Speaker 1: do what I please. It means I do what Christ pleases.
43:43
Speaker 1: It means I don't please you. I please Christ. I
43:49
Speaker 1: don't please the guy who thinks he really ought to
43:52
Speaker 1: control me. I used to try to do that. What
43:56
Speaker 1: a waste of time because he never gets a enough control.
44:03
Speaker 1: So frankly, I'm liberated from that. It's a great way
44:08
Speaker 1: to live. I'm sorry I wasted so many years of
44:10
Speaker 1: my life worrying about what people said. I don't care
44:16
Speaker 1: what you say. I don't care what you think. What
44:24
Speaker 1: I care about is that you grow up and start
44:29
Speaker 1: thinking for yourself. Not following my list. You'll never hear
44:34
Speaker 1: one from me, by the way, unless it's in the scriptures,
44:36
Speaker 1: and then it's our list. I care what Christ says,
44:41
Speaker 1: I care what he thinks, but I'm telling you it's
44:46
Speaker 1: a dangerous existence because you be misunderstood. Dangerous in the
44:52
Speaker 1: sense of being misunderstood. It was our sixteenth president who
44:56
Speaker 1: borrowed from Melville the word picture out of Moby Dick.
45:00
Speaker 1: He said on August twenty six, eighteen sixty three, some
45:03
Speaker 1: months after releasing the Emancipation Proclamation. We are now like
45:06
Speaker 1: whalers who have been on a long chase. We have
45:10
Speaker 1: at last got the harpoon into the monster that we
45:14
Speaker 1: must now look how we steer, or with one flop
45:16
Speaker 1: of his tail, he will send us all into eternity.
45:23
Speaker 1: What a clear, thinking, courageous man, less than two years
45:28
Speaker 1: from his assassination. One of my prayers for Stonebrier Community
45:37
Speaker 1: Church is that we will become models of grace, really
45:41
Speaker 1: models of grace. That we will let others be that
45:46
Speaker 1: we will not expect others to look like us, or
45:49
Speaker 1: sound like us, or dress like us, or even think
45:52
Speaker 1: like us. We will guide our lives according to the scriptures,
45:57
Speaker 1: not according to traditionalism. I didn't say tradition some of
46:03
Speaker 1: the traditions of the scriptures are essential. Yeroslav Publican from
46:09
Speaker 1: the late Yeroslav from Yale wrote, tradition tradition is the
46:16
Speaker 1: living faith of those now dead. Traditionalism is the dead
46:19
Speaker 1: faith of those still living. Isn't that good? Get rid
46:25
Speaker 1: of the traditionalism, Stop paying so much attention to what
46:29
Speaker 1: people say you can never please them, and start realizing
46:37
Speaker 1: that Christ is your master and you do please him.
46:46
Speaker 1: Let's bow together. You have heard the Gospel several times.
47:01
Speaker 1: First you heard it during the offering or just before
47:04
Speaker 1: the offering. You've heard it in this message that Christ
47:08
Speaker 1: died for our sins all of them, paid them in full,
47:12
Speaker 1: picked up the complete tab, and has left you with
47:15
Speaker 1: a free gift to accept. It's yours to take. But
47:20
Speaker 1: he will never force his way in. He will work
47:24
Speaker 1: on you, he will win you and try to woo you.
47:27
Speaker 1: But it's your decision. It's your call. So I urge
47:35
Speaker 1: you to call on Him today. And if you're a
47:41
Speaker 1: believer who has lived your life under the thumb of
47:44
Speaker 1: other people, this is a day of deliverance for you.
47:47
Speaker 1: Get out from under the thumb. You live your life
47:53
Speaker 1: in Christ, not only a sin, no longer a mass
48:00
Speaker 1: of you, neither or other people, stop allowing that Lord
48:09
Speaker 1: help us today to draw a necessary balance and an
48:14
Speaker 1: appropriate lifestyle. In the midst of this find in us
48:19
Speaker 1: of people who have replaced fear with joy and intimidation
48:25
Speaker 1: with peace. Give us a relaxing spirit of grace with
48:32
Speaker 1: one another. Deliver us from the judgmental narrow strictness that
48:42
Speaker 1: puts people in a box for the purpose of control.
48:49
Speaker 1: May be learned to live as free men and women.
48:53
Speaker 1: And may it make such a difference that others without
48:55
Speaker 1: Christ cannot stay away. Thank you Father for liberating truths
49:03
Speaker 1: such as this. May it make a major difference in
49:07
Speaker 1: the way we conduct our lives from this day on.
49:11
Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, our Savior, our Master, our Victor.
49:16
Speaker 1: Everyone said Amen.
49:22
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Dying to Live was copyrighted in two
49:26
Speaker 2: thousand and seven, twenty ten, and twenty twenty five, and
49:29
Speaker 2: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty five by
49:33
Speaker 2: Charles R. Swindahul Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
49:38
Speaker 2: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.