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Voddie Baucham - Dead to Sin; Alive to God · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: As we continue our journey through the book of Romans,
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  Speaker 1: we have now come to Romans chapter 6, and today
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  Speaker 1: we'll examine verses 5 through 14. Really, we're looking at
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  Speaker 1: that section. This section is chapter 6, verses 1 through 14,
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  Speaker 1: but it was important to break off those first four
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  Speaker 1: verses on last week to help get a basic grasp
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  Speaker 1: and theological understanding of how Paul is connecting chapter 6
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  Speaker 1: to chapter 5. Also, we need to reiterate again and
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  Speaker 1: again that as we move through the book of Romans,
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  Speaker 1: a couple of things. One, that the book of Romans,
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  Speaker 1: like all the New Testament letters, was meant to be
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  Speaker 1: read in a single setting. It was not meant to
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  Speaker 1: be broken up into pieces per se in order for
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  Speaker 1: us to understand it. Now, it's important for us to
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  Speaker 1: understand the component parts so that we understand the whole better.
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  Speaker 1: But You have to understand it in light of the whole,
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  Speaker 1: which is why it's important that we remember where we've
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  Speaker 1: been and where we're going. Now, the first section or
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  Speaker 1: the first movement in the book of Romans is commonly
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  Speaker 1: understood to be the first four chapters. The entire book
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  Speaker 1: is about justification. In those first four chapters, we see
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  Speaker 1: our need for justification, and we also see the means
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  Speaker 1: by which we're justified. And so we see in chapter
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  Speaker 1: 1 that the Gentiles are in need of justification because
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  Speaker 1: they're sinful without the law. We see in chapter 2
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  Speaker 1: that Jews need justification because they are sinful under the law.
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  Speaker 1: We see in chapter 3 that all men... sinful and
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  Speaker 1: in need of justification and there in chapter 3 we
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  Speaker 1: see that God has made a way for that justification
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  Speaker 1: in the person and work of Jesus Christ there at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the chapter in chapter 4 we see
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  Speaker 1: that this is applied to us by faith those are
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  Speaker 1: those first four chapters that condense our understanding of justification
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  Speaker 1: we move then in chapters 5 through 8 to this
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  Speaker 1: application of justification and And specifically in chapters 5 through 8,
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  Speaker 1: we get a better picture of the outworking of justification,
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  Speaker 1: commonly known as sanctification. That's what's happening here in chapters
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  Speaker 1: 5 through 8. And it's important that we recognize what
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  Speaker 1: is happening here in chapter 6 by looking back and
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  Speaker 1: remembering what we saw in chapter 5. And that is
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  Speaker 1: the distinction between the first Adam and the last Adam.
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  Speaker 1: We have to grasp that and understand the federal headship
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  Speaker 1: of the first Adam and the federal headship of the
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  Speaker 1: last Adam in order to grasp what's being spoken of
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  Speaker 1: here in what is one of the most complicated chapters
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  Speaker 1: in the book of Romans. That is chapter 6. We
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  Speaker 1: understand in chapter 5 the federal headship of Adam in
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  Speaker 1: that because of the one man, sin entered the world
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  Speaker 1: and death through sin. So death passed to all of us,
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  Speaker 1: sin passed to all of us, because our federal head, Adam,
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  Speaker 1: our representative, sinned. He was our federal head, he was
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  Speaker 1: our representative, and he sinned. We've used this illustration before,
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  Speaker 1: but it bears repeating. Federal headship is best understood in
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  Speaker 1: the context of, say, for example, a monarchy. If we
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  Speaker 1: live in a monarchy, our federal head is the king.
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  Speaker 1: And if our federal head, the king, declares war on
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  Speaker 1: another kingdom, that means we, because we are under our
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  Speaker 1: federal head, are also at war with this other kingdom. Okay?
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  Speaker 1: That's federal headship. Our federal head. We have federal headship
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  Speaker 1: in a sense here. If our Congress, instead of a
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  Speaker 1: king declaring war, our Congress... Now, just forget... All of
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  Speaker 1: American history after World War II in order to hold
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  Speaker 1: on to what I'm saying here. But our Congress is
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  Speaker 1: the only body that can declare war. I know what
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  Speaker 1: you're thinking. We've been in war since World War II.
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  Speaker 1: We've never declared a war since World War II. But
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  Speaker 1: just leave that alone for a minute, all right? Our
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  Speaker 1: Congress is the only body. It's our federal head that
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  Speaker 1: can declare war. When our Congress declares war, we are
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  Speaker 1: at war because our federal head has declared war. Adam,
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  Speaker 1: our federal head, fell and sinned, and in him we
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  Speaker 1: fell into sin. But in chapter 5, we see the
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  Speaker 1: good news, that we have a new federal head in
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  Speaker 1: the last Adam, who succeeded where the first Adam failed.
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  Speaker 1: The last Adam is the federal head of all of
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  Speaker 1: those who belong to him and who are therefore in
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  Speaker 1: him by faith. You get under the federal headship of
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  Speaker 1: the first Adam by birth. Amen. By birth. That's how
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  Speaker 1: you get under the headship of the first Adam, by birth.
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  Speaker 1: It is not some act that you commit later on
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  Speaker 1: in your life. You do not make a decision later
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  Speaker 1: on in your life that you will align yourself with
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  Speaker 1: the first Adam. You are born in sin and shaped
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  Speaker 1: in iniquity. It is your birth that aligns you with
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  Speaker 1: your federal head, Adam. It is also birth that aligns
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  Speaker 1: you with your federal head, Jesus. It is the new birth.
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  Speaker 1: It is being regenerate or being born again that unites
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  Speaker 1: you with your federal head, Jesus Christ. This is incredibly
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  Speaker 1: important to understand. Because if we don't get this, we
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  Speaker 1: don't understand chapter 6. In chapter 6, verses 1 through 14,
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  Speaker 1: we see the picture of what justification does in granting
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  Speaker 1: the believer victory over sin. I almost hesitate to say
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  Speaker 1: the words. Because there's so many caveats that need to
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  Speaker 1: be offered. But justification grants to the believer victory over sin.
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  Speaker 1: Both eschatologically, there's that big word again, remember? Eschatology, eschaton,
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  Speaker 1: the end of the age, what we believe about the
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  Speaker 1: end of the age, ultimate reality. So eschatologically we know
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  Speaker 1: that we will ultimately have victory over sin. But also
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  Speaker 1: in a temporal sense, in the here and the now,
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  Speaker 1: we have victory over sin. And we understand what that
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  Speaker 1: means when we understand Romans chapter 6. This is crucial.
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  Speaker 1: But before we get there, let me help you for
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  Speaker 1: just a moment see why it is difficult for us
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  Speaker 1: this goes to the heart our understanding of the gospel
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  Speaker 1: and as we've said before we have a work understanding
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  Speaker 1: of the gospel because the culture in which we live
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  Speaker 1: we do not understand what the gospel is we do
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  Speaker 1: not understand what the gospel requires we do not understand
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  Speaker 1: what the gospel produces we don't speak gospel language And
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  Speaker 1: because of that, when you get to the ideas presented
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  Speaker 1: in chapter 6 and our victory over sin, we don't
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  Speaker 1: understand sanctification because we don't understand justification. Now, what do
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  Speaker 1: I mean by that? Here's what I mean. When you
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  Speaker 1: ask a person, what is the gospel? Most people in
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  Speaker 1: our culture will immediately begin to give you the plan
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  Speaker 1: of salvation. Not the gospel. They give you the Romans rule,
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  Speaker 1: they give you the plan of salvation, they give you
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  Speaker 1: something like that. Not a pronouncement of salvation. The redemptive
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  Speaker 1: work that God has accomplished in the person and work
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. The gospel is an
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  Speaker 1: announcement of what Christ has accomplished. That is the gospel.
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  Speaker 1: That is the good news. Okay? It's Christ and his work,
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  Speaker 1: not you and your work. That's the message of the gospel. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if we don't understand that, we don't understand sanctification. Okay?
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  Speaker 1: How does a person come to be in right relationship
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  Speaker 1: with God? Ask the average person in our culture and
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  Speaker 1: you'll hear phrases like this. You'll hear phrases like, they
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  Speaker 1: make a decision for Christ. Or you'll hear phrases like,
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  Speaker 1: they invite Jesus into their heart. Or you'll hear phrases like,
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  Speaker 1: I have decided to follow Jesus. Or you'll hear phrases like,
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  Speaker 1: I gave my life to Christ. Do you notice the
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  Speaker 1: consistent theme running through all of this? Okay? It's Frank
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  Speaker 1: Sinatra's salvation. I did it my way. Okay? It's what
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  Speaker 1: I did. I decided. I invited. I opened. I gave. I, I, I, I.
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  Speaker 1: That's the way we understand justification. Justification is achieved by
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  Speaker 1: me doing something in order to get in right relationship
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  Speaker 1: with God. That's the classic Arminian understanding. It's synergism. Synergy.
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  Speaker 1: Two forces working together. As opposed to understanding that justification
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  Speaker 1: is something that is granted to us by God Himself.
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  Speaker 1: by grace, apart from anything that you or I could
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  Speaker 1: ever do. That's how we're justified. God is. saves sinners.
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  Speaker 1: But that's not the way we talk about salvation. And
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  Speaker 1: the reason we don't talk about salvation that way is
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  Speaker 1: because we do not believe that we are saved that way.
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  Speaker 1: We are Pelagian to the core. Again, Pelagianism, the idea
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  Speaker 1: that in the fall there is part of us that
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  Speaker 1: is untainted enough for us to be able to reason
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  Speaker 1: our way back to God. For us to be able
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  Speaker 1: to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. For us to
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  Speaker 1: be able to decide for God. Not that we must
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  Speaker 1: be born again in order to even see the kingdom
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  Speaker 1: of heaven. Listen to this from Lorraine Bettner. I've quoted
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  Speaker 1: Lorraine Bettner's a classic work, The Reformed Doctor, The Predestination,
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  Speaker 1: a number of times. I would hope that you would
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  Speaker 1: get this, that you would have this, that you would
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  Speaker 1: read this. But listen to Bettner. He's quoting here, but
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  Speaker 1: he says, The contrast between Calvinistic and Arminian basis for
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  Speaker 1: morality is clearly stated in the following section of McFetridge.
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  Speaker 1: The two great springs by which men are moved are
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  Speaker 1: on the one hand conviction and idea and on the
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  Speaker 1: other emotion and sentiment. As these control, so the moral
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  Speaker 1: character will be shaped. Don't miss this. If we believe
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  Speaker 1: that you are justified or you are saved by you deciding,
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  Speaker 1: you committing, you giving, you opening, whatever the case may be,
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  Speaker 1: then what do we have to believe about how you're sanctified?
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  Speaker 1: You deciding, you committing, That has to be it. So
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  Speaker 1: if there is a sin problem in your life, how
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  Speaker 1: do you deal with sin on the larger scale, as
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  Speaker 1: in going from death to life? Well, I dealt with
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  Speaker 1: it by making a decision and devoting or dedicating my
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  Speaker 1: life to Christ. So if later on in my life
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  Speaker 1: I have another sin problem, what do I need to do?
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  Speaker 1: Rededicate my life to Christ. You follow that? I did
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  Speaker 1: it the first time. It didn't take. So I need
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  Speaker 1: to do it again. I need to redouble my efforts.
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  Speaker 1: I need to dedicate myself again. This alters everything. This
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  Speaker 1: alters the way we evangelize. If I believe, for example,
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  Speaker 1: that man is saved by his own initiative and inclination,
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  Speaker 1: then how do I evangelize? I have to get to
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  Speaker 1: that place in that man where I can motivate him
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  Speaker 1: to make the right decision. How do you help someone
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  Speaker 1: who's fallen to sin? Well, from an Arminian perspective, let's take,
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  Speaker 1: for example, someone who is violent. If someone is violent,
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  Speaker 1: what do you do? Well, maybe you give that person
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  Speaker 1: a proper outlet. What would that look like? A punching
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  Speaker 1: bag or mixed martial arts class. You need to go
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  Speaker 1: somewhere where you can get that aggression out. Your problem is...
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  Speaker 1: That you don't have the right outlet. So you get
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  Speaker 1: the right outlet, that will take care of your violence problem.
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  Speaker 1: Does that sound familiar? How about this? A proper understanding.
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  Speaker 1: You're violent because you don't understand. And what you need
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  Speaker 1: to do is learn how to sympathize with your victims.
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  Speaker 1: If you knew how your violence affected other people, you
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't be violent. Perhaps you need a proper technique. Learn
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  Speaker 1: how to count to ten. Learn how to take the
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  Speaker 1: time out. Learn how to do whatever. Again, or finally,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps you need a proper environment. You need to avoid
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  Speaker 1: the triggers that make you violent. This all ought to
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  Speaker 1: sound very familiar. And I'm not talking about outside the church.
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking about inside the church. All these things have
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  Speaker 1: one thing in common. We believe... that this is something
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  Speaker 1: other than a sin problem or worse. We believe it
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  Speaker 1: is a sin problem, but the way you overcome sin
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  Speaker 1: is by technique, understanding, will, etc., etc. But if on
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  Speaker 1: the other hand, we believe that salvation is a monergistic work,
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  Speaker 1: synergistic work, God and man working together to save man. Monergistic.
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  Speaker 1: God saving man by himself without man's help. If we
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  Speaker 1: believe that salvation is monergistic, that also changes the way
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  Speaker 1: we evangelize. If God saves sinners and God uses the
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  Speaker 1: foolishness of preaching and the foolishness of the gospel, what's
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  Speaker 1: my goal? My goal is to be as clear with
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  Speaker 1: the gospel as I possibly can because that's what God uses.
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  Speaker 1: Is my goal to somehow manipulate the man into making
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  Speaker 1: a decision? No, because I realize I cannot do that.
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  Speaker 1: Salvation is a work of God. So I proclaim the
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  Speaker 1: gospel knowing that the gospel is the power of God
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  Speaker 1: unto salvation, not my manipulation of man. It also deals,
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  Speaker 1: it also affects the way you help people deal with sin.
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  Speaker 1: Because if you were justified by God and His work
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  Speaker 1: in the gospel, you are also going to be sanctified
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  Speaker 1: by God and His work in the gospel. And that's
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  Speaker 1: Paul's argument here in Romans chapter 6, but he gives
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  Speaker 1: us the theological basis and foundation for it. This also,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, changes preaching. It does. It changes preaching.
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  Speaker 1: I was taught preaching from an Armenian perspective, not from
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  Speaker 1: a Reformed or Calvinistic perspective. So from an Armenian perspective,
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  Speaker 1: if man gets saved by him, you know, taking initiative
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  Speaker 1: with that part of him that's not affected by the fall,
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  Speaker 1: my job is to affect that part of him that's
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  Speaker 1: not affected by the fall. If man gets sanctified and
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  Speaker 1: gets better by him learning techniques or changing his environment
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  Speaker 1: and things like that, what do my sermons sound like?
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  Speaker 1: Five ways to have a happy life. Ten ways to
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  Speaker 1: reduce stress. Four ways to overcome depression. Techniques. Techniques. Skills.
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  Speaker 1: Some of those things may be good. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: the things that we talked about, you know, it might
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  Speaker 1: not be bad to have a punching bag. It might
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  Speaker 1: not be bad to learn sympathy or empathy. It might
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  Speaker 1: not be bad at all to learn to avoid certain circumstances.
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  Speaker 1: Those things are not inherently bad. But if I believe
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  Speaker 1: that they are the answer, I've missed the mark. So
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  Speaker 1: with that in mind, let's look here. We'll go back
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  Speaker 1: to verse 1. We'll read all the way through verse 14.
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  Speaker 1: But we'll concentrate on 5 through 14. What shall we
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  Speaker 1: say then? By the way, as we read, We're going
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  Speaker 1: to read this a couple of times. But as we
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  Speaker 1: read through the first time, because I want you to
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  Speaker 1: understand that there are two things going on here. Paul
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  Speaker 1: is talking about two separate ideas, two separate themes, two
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  Speaker 1: separate ways. And I want you to see how many
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  Speaker 1: times he reiterates this. So the first time we read
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  Speaker 1: through it, every time you see death or dead, I'm
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  Speaker 1: reading the ESV. So if you have the ESV, every
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  Speaker 1: time you see death or dead, would you read that
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  Speaker 1: aloud with me? Okay? Would you just read that aloud
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  Speaker 1: with me every time you see death or dead? What
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  Speaker 1: shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin
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  Speaker 1: that grace may abound? By no means. How can we
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  Speaker 1: who died to sin still live in it? Do you
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  Speaker 1: not know that all of us who have been baptized
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  Speaker 1: into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: with him by baptism into death, in order that just
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  Speaker 1: as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory
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  Speaker 1: of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
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  Speaker 1: For if we had been reunited with him in a
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  Speaker 1: death like his... We shall certainly be united with Him
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  Speaker 1: in a resurrection like His. We know that our old
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  Speaker 1: self was crucified with Him in order that the body
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  Speaker 1: of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we
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  Speaker 1: would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who
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  Speaker 1: has died has been set free from sin. Now, if
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  Speaker 1: we have died with Christ, we believe that we will
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  Speaker 1: also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised
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  Speaker 1: from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer
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  Speaker 1: has dominion over him, for the death he died, he
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  Speaker 1: died to sin once for all, but the life he lives,
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  Speaker 1: he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves
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  Speaker 1: dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to
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  Speaker 1: make you obey its path. Do not present your members
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  Speaker 1: to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to
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  Speaker 1: God as those who have been brought from death to
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  Speaker 1: life and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: For sin will have no dominion over you since you
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  Speaker 1: are not under law but grace. Do you think Paul's
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  Speaker 1: making a point here? Over and over and over and
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  Speaker 1: over and over again. Death, death, death, death. Now when
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  Speaker 1: we read again, we're not going to look for life.
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  Speaker 1: Because pretty much when you see death, the opposite of that,
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  Speaker 1: you see the life. Here's what I want us to
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  Speaker 1: look for as we read through it again. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to start again at verse 1. And when you see
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  Speaker 1: in him or in Christ, would you read that with me? Again.
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  Speaker 1: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in
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  Speaker 1: sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can
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  Speaker 1: we who died to sin still live in it? But
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  Speaker 1: do you not know that all of us who have
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  Speaker 1: been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
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  Speaker 1: We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death,
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  Speaker 1: in order that just as Christ was raised from the
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  Speaker 1: dead by the glory of the Father, we too might
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  Speaker 1: walk in newness of life. For if we have been
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  Speaker 1: united together, with him in a death like his, we
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  Speaker 1: shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
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  Speaker 1: We know that our old self was crucified with him
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  Speaker 1: in order that the body of sin might be brought
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  Speaker 1: to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved
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  Speaker 1: to sin. For one who has died has been set
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  Speaker 1: free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ,
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  Speaker 1: we believe that we will also live with him. We
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  Speaker 1: know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never
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  Speaker 1: die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For
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  Speaker 1: the death he died, he died to sin once for all.
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  Speaker 1: But the life he lives, he lives to God. So,
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  Speaker 1: you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive
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  Speaker 1: to God in Christ Jesus. Do you see that? There's
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  Speaker 1: a definite pattern here. There's the idea of death and
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  Speaker 1: the idea of life. By the way, that last statement
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  Speaker 1: in verse 14 also sums up the concept of death
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  Speaker 1: and life, but it gives you under law versus under grace.
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  Speaker 1: Under law, death. Under grace, life. So this is all
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  Speaker 1: about death and life. It's all about Christ and His
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: relationship to death and life and sin and But it
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: is about us in Christ and with Christ and what
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: that has to do, the implications thereof for our relationship
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: to sin. Let's grasp this. Number one, our victory over
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: sin is impossible for those in Adam. Victory over sin
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: is impossible for those in Adam. That's important to understand.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Look at verses 6 and 9. Look at verse 6.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: We know that our old self was crucified with him
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: in order that the body of sin might be brought
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: to sin. So before we were in Christ, we were
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: in Adam. And when we were in Adam, we were
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: enslaved to sin. Look at verse 9. We know that Christ,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: no longer has dominion over him. So death had dominion
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: over us because we were enslaved to sin. So as
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: one commentator writes, death and sin are sort of co-regents.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: And one cannot reign without the other. So death has
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: dominion over us because we're enslaved to sin. That is
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: the lot in life for those of us who are
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: under the first Adam and his federal headship, which is
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: everyone who has not experienced the second birth. That's everyone.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: All of us, apart from Christ, are slaves to sin
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: and under the dominion of death. Every last one of us. Now,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: as we say this, again, it's very important for us
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: to understand this doctrine of total depravity, what it means
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: to be a slave to sin. Does that mean that
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: a man is as bad as he could possibly be? No. No.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: By the mercy and common grace of God, men are
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: not as bad as they could be. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the Lord. Okay? Every time you see some crime that
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: is just absolutely heinous, and you ask yourself, how could
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: anyone do something like that? You know what? There are
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: a whole lot of things that you just learned. But
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: here's one thing that you just learned. People are not
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: as bad as they could be. Because that's not common.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: People are not as bad as they could be because
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: that's not common. You hear about something so horrendous that
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: you can barely wrap your mind around it. Listen, if
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: one human being could be that sinful, all of us
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: could be that sinful. But it is by God's grace
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: that we are not. And as bad as whatever it
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: is that you heard about is, it's still not as
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: bad as it could be. So if we're slaves to sin,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: what does that look like? Let's go to our confession,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: London Baptist Confession, chapter 9 on free will. Number one,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: God hath endued the will of man with that natural
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: liberty and power of acting upon choice. That it is
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: neither forced nor by any necessity of nature determined to
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: do good or evil. Okay? It's not determined that man
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: will do good or evil. Number two. Man in his
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: state of innocency had freedom and power to will and
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: but yet was mutable so that he might fall from it.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Number three. Man by his fall into a state of
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: sin have wholly lost all ability of will to any
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: spiritual good accompanying salvation. So as a natural man being
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: altogether averse from that good and dead in sin is
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: not able by his own strength to convert himself or
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: to prepare himself thereunto. It is impossible. For you to
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: please God. Apart from regeneration. It is impossible. It is impossible.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: You are fallen in your sin. And you do according
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: to your will. But your will is absolutely bent toward sin, evil,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and self-gratification. It's like the classic illustration of the carnivore
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: and the herbivore. You think about the herbivore. You know,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: he only eats plants. Is he free to eat meat?
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: It's the cow. The cow is an herbivore. Is the
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: cow free to eat meat? Yes. The cow is free
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: to eat meat. However, the cow's will will not choose
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: to eat meat. Why? Because it is contrary to his nature. Why?
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: So though it's there, he's not going to choose it
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: because it's contrary to his nature. It's the same thing
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: for those who are fallen in Adam. You are a
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: slave to sin. Righteousness is there. But will you choose it? No.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Because it is contrary to your very nature. And even
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: when you do things that appear to be good, because
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: lost men do things that appear to be good, it's
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: sort of like, you know, a cow who's an herbivore
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: who's going through and eating some grass, and there happens
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: to be, you know, a worm on the grass or
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: an ant on the grass or whatever that might get eaten.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Did it eat meat? Yeah. That wasn't its intention. Okay.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Did the man do something that outwardly looked good? Yeah.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: But righteousness wasn't his intention. Righteousness to the glory of
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: God wasn't his intention. Two soldiers both fall on a
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: grenade and save their respective units. Did they act out
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: of righteousness? Was it necessarily a good act and a
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: righteous act? You can have one guy who fell on
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: the grenade because literally he valued the lives of those
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: around him and desired that they be saved and rescued.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: And by God's grace, he did that act to the
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: glory of Almighty God. You can have another guy who
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: was just tired of the war. Can a man do something?
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: A man who is in Adam, a man who is
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: completely lost, can he do something that looks like a
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: righteous act? Yes. He does it all the time. But
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: if his motives are self-glorification, self-gratification, and not the glory
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: and honor of Almighty God, that act, though it appears righteous,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: is actually sinful. Victory over sin is is impossible for
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: those who are in Adam. There is none righteous. No,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: not even one. Turn with me to the right. We'll
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: get there eventually in chapter 8. Look at chapter 8
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: and let's begin at verse 5. For those who live
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: according to the flesh set their minds on the things
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: of the flesh, but those who live according to the
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: For to set the mind on the flesh is death,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: but to set the mind on the Spirit is life
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: and peace. For the mind that is set on the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Indeed, it cannot. Those
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: who are in the flesh cannot please God. I don't
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: write the mail. I just deliver it. The Bible says
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: that if you are in Adam, it is impossible for
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: you to please God. There's nothing that you do that
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: is righteous. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. By the way, this is
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: why it is such a travesty to preach moralism and
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: not the gospel. You have a man who's lost in
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: his sin. He is in the first Adam. He is
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: not in the last Adam. There is nothing that he
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: can do to please God. But you set him in
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: a church and give him five ways to have a
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: happy life, ten ways to reduce stress, six ways to
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: be a better husband, so on and so forth, so
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: that he then goes and attempts in the flesh to
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: do that which is impossible and feels better about himself
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: while he's on his way on the express train to hell.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Because we somehow communicated to him that all God's interested
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: in is you following the right steps. The only thing
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: that matters is for you to be good in these ways. No.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: If you have not been born again, it is impossible
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: for you to please God. Nothing that you do is
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: pleasing to God. On your best day, you deserve hell
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: and the grave. Hear me on this. For the sake
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: of your soul, hear me on this. It is just
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: as true, however, that victory over sin is inevitable for
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: those who are in Christ. Look at 6-10. Look first
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: at verse 5. Verse 5 is the connector between the
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: first paragraph, 1-4, and the second paragraph. And so, verse
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: 5 says, And we'll talk more about verse 5 in
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: a minute. Verse 5 says, For if we have been
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: united with him in a death like his, we shall
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: We know that our old self was crucified with him
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: in order that the body of sin might be brought
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: to sin. So we were slaves to sin, but now,
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: because of the death of Christ in which we are united,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: we're no longer slaves to sin. For one who has
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: died has been set free from sin. Now, if we
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: have died with Christ, we believe that we will also
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: live with Him. We know that Christ... Being raised from
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: the dead will never die again. Death no longer has
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: dominion over him. For the death he died, he died
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: to sin once for all. But the life he lives,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: he lives to God. There is the truth and the
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: reality about us that Paul is communicating. He's also communicated
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: this earlier if you look in verses 1 through 4.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: sin that grace may abound? By no means. May it
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: never be. How can we who died to sin still
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: live in it? Do you not know that all of
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: into His death? We were buried with Him in baptism
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: into death in order that just as Christ was raised
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: from the dead by the glory of the Father, we
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: too might walk in newness of life. It's impossible. It
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: doesn't work. It is inevitable that those who are united
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: to Christ will have victory over sin. Amen. It's inevitable.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: 1 John chapter 3. Let's go there. 1 John chapter 3.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: Look beginning at verse 4. 1 John chapter 3 beginning
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: at verse 4. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: appeared to take away sins. And in him there is
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: of the devil. No one born of God makes a
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: of God. It is inevitable that those who have been
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: born again, who are in Christ, will be victorious over sin.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: It's inevitable. That makes us uncomfortable. And I don't mean
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: it makes us uncomfortable just because we don't understand what
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: it means. In the one sense, it can make us
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable because we can say, well, wait a minute, are
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: you saying that there's sinlessness? We heard on last week
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: that that's not what Paul's communicating here. But even beyond that,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: even if we know that Paul's not talking about sinlessness
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: in this life, it still makes us uncomfortable. One of
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: the reasons it makes us uncomfortable is because this little fact.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: We've heard this gospel. The wrong way. For so long.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: And the gospel the wrong way is, you are the
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: one that did the work. Now some people will go
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: so far, you know, they'll say, now God does 99%
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: of the work. But you do the 1% that's, you know,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: the deciding factor. That's Billy Graham's famous line. D.L. Moody's
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: famous line. And D.L. Moody's famous tract. He had this tract.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: And on the outside of the tract... was this. It
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: was a ballot. And it was God, Satan, and you.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: God has cast his vote. Satan has cast his vote.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Now it's time for you to cast the deciding vote.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: That's how we understand salvation. I cast the deciding vote.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: I do the deciding work. How do we understand sanctification?
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Sanctification is, God has made it available for me, but
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: I've got to go learn the steps and work the
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: steps to so that I can do the sanctification thing.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Because we've been in that so long, when people talk
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: about victory over sin, there's a little alarm that goes
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: off in the back of our minds. And that alarm
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: that goes off in the back of our minds says, oh, no, no, no,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: don't do that, because then you get into that once saved,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: always saved, and people won't strive for righteousness. Danger, danger, danger.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: People won't strive for righteousness. You only worry about that
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: if you believe that sanctification is the result of people
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: striving for righteousness. I don't believe that. Your sanctification is
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: not the result of what you strive for. Paul is
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: making clear that your sanctification is a result of what
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Christ has done and applied to your life. So my
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: hope is not that you would leave here with a
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: worry on your mind that is significant enough to keep
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: you working the steps. It works if you work it.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: That's not my worry. My worry is that you leave
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: here remembering the source of your righteousness. The person and
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: work of Jesus Christ that you keep Him in the
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: forefront of your mind because that's your only hope of
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: victory over sin. It guarantees it. It guarantees it. It's
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: about our mindset. Thirdly, victory over sin is guaranteed by
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: the work of Christ applied to believers. It's guaranteed by
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: the work of Christ applied to believers. Let's look a
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: little more closely here at this text. Three types of hope.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Our forensic hope, our eschatological hope, and our immediate or
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: temporal hope. First of all, our forensic hope. When you
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: talk about justification from a forensic perspective, that is when
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: we talk about justification as in God has declared us righteous.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: That forensically or legally, God has justified us. He has
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: put us in right relationship with himself. So that's the
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: first hope that we have. We saw that in Romans
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: chapters 1 through 4. And really we saw it in
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: Romans chapter 3. That our hope, our forensic hope, is
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: in God declaring us righteous by the finished work of
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. That's our forensic hope. Our forensic hope, by
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: the way, gives us hope. Freedom or deliverance from the
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: penalty of sin. That's our forensic hope. I have freedom
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: from the penalty of sin. I'm not going to die
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: and go to hell because God has declared me righteous.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: There's also, however, our eschatological hope. Our eschatological hope is
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: hope that we will one day be delivered from the
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: very presence of sin. Not just the penalty of sin,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: but the presence of sin. That sin will be no more.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Where does that hope come from? Well, there's that connector,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: verse 5. For if we have been united with him
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: in a death like his, we shall certainly be united
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: with him in a resurrection like his. That's our eschatological hope.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: There is a time coming when I am going to
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: be free from the very presence of sin. I will
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: sin no more. That time, however, is not now. It
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: is a future hope. This point right here in verse
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: 5 clearly demonstrates that Paul is not teaching that believers
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: come to a place where they are perfectly sanctified before
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: their glorification. That is not true. That is an eschatological hope.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: We don't have what is called an over-realized eschatology. An
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: over-realized eschatology is one that brings those things that are
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: future into the present as though they are complete realities now.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: That's an over-realized eschatology. But I do have a hope
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: that I will one day be delivered from the very
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: presence of sin. But hold on. Why? Look carefully at
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: verse 5. For if we have been united with him
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: in a death like his, we shall certainly be united
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: with him in a resurrection like his. If someone had
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: asked you before coming in here, on what do you
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: base your hope for resurrection? What would your answer have been?
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: Just think about that for a moment. What would your
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: answer have been? Well, my hope is based on, well,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: let's give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. We would
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: have given the right answer. It's based on Christ and
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: his finished work. No. It's based on, because Christ and
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: his finished work got him a resurrection. Amen? How do
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: you know it's going to give you one? Well, because
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: I believe in Christ and his resurrection. So does the devil.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: He was there. Amen. What's the difference between you and him?
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: You are in Christ. That's your hope of resurrection. You
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: are in Christ. We read it earlier, did we not?
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: In Him. With Him. In Christ Jesus. With Christ Jesus.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: You are united with Christ. You are in Christ. The
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: most beautiful picture of this. You know where I'm going.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: Go to Ephesians chapter 1. We've got to go to
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter 1. And listen to the language of the
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: same author here in Ephesians chapter 1 as he explains
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: this picture. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning at verse 3. This
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: is critical. It's the key to unlocking this doctrinal issue
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: that can be so confusing. Blessed be the God and
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: In Christ, with every spiritual blessing, in the heavenly places.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: of the world. That we should be holy and blameless
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: before Him. By the way, we were elected unto what? Holiness. Holiness.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: If there's no holiness, you're not one of the elect.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: So we do, we get uncomfortable when we say, oh,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, our victory over sin is guaranteed, you know,
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: it's inevitable for those, but yeah, it is. It is.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: blessed us in the beloved. Beloved. In Him we have
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of our trespasses according
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: to the riches of grace which He lavished on us
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: in all wisdom and insight making known to us the
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: mystery of His will. According to His purpose which He
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: of time to unite all things in Him, things in
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: heaven and things on earth. You are in Christ. You
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: are united with Christ. The closest picture that we have
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: to it is marriage. By the way, Ephesians 5 makes
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: that clear, doesn't it? Here's what's interesting. When I die,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: I've said this before, but just let me say it again.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: I die and they notify my next of kin. They
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: are not going to notify the woman who bore me
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: in her womb, the woman who nursed me from her breast,
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: the woman who cared for me, clothed me, fed me.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: They are not going to notify my mother because my
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: mother is not my next of kin. My wife is.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: How does that happen? Through that covenantal union that we
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: have that mirrors the union between the church and Christ.
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: We are in Him, which is why all that is
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: His is ours, because we are united with Him. Therefore,
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have a resurrection from an eschatological hope,
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: but I also have a temporal hope. Why? Follow through
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: in verse 6. Follow the logic. Now in verse 6
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: he says, We know that our old self, again, we
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: have hope of resurrection. When I die, I'm going to heaven. Amen.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: That's great. I'm glad you believe that. But what we
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: have a harder time believing is that we're going to
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: have victory over sin and that we're going to live
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: in righteousness. But the same principle that gives you hope
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: of resurrection is the principle that gives you hope of righteousness.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: Look at verse 6. We know that our old self
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: was crucified with him in order that the body of
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: sin might be brought to nothing so that we would
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: died has been set free from sin. Who died? Christ.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: Where were you when he died? In him. Which means
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: that that accrues to you. His resurrection accrues to you.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: to you, but also this freedom from bondage to sin
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: accrues to you as well. We know that Christ, verse 9,
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: no longer has dominion over Him. Why do we believe
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: That we're going to have a resurrection because we believe
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: that death no longer has dominion over us because we're
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: in Christ. Next verse. For the death he died, he
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: died to sin once for all, but the life he lives,
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: he lives to God. He did not just give you
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: an eschatological hope. He gave you a right now hope.
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: That right now, because you are in Him, you live
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: a life to God, which is a life of holiness
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: and righteousness that you did not earn for yourself, but
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: it was earned by the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: That's your victory over sin. It is a theological reality.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: It is a theological truth. It is as real as
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: your hope of a coming resurrection. So, Okay, so what
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: do I do? Just sit there and let it happen?
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: Here's the beauty of Paul's writing. Those are the indicatives.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: Now come the imperatives. The indicatives, that's what's true about you.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: The imperatives, it's what you do in light of and
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: because of what's true about you. in light of and
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: because of what's true about you. So now we get
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: to verse 11. So you also must, there's four things here.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: Number one, consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: God in Christ. Now, before we go here, let's just
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: back up for a moment. Before we look at these
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: four imperatives, let's back up for a moment so that
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: we don't undo what we just did. Because we could.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: We could undo what we just did. And here's a
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: list of four things that you've got to go do.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: Go work hard for your sanctification. Okay? Hold on. These
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: things we do because of what Christ has done. These
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: things we do as a result of what Christ has done.
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: So when he gives us these imperatives, it's sort of like,
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: there's two illustrations here. It's sort of like, in order
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: to understand this, and I'm going to use these two
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: illustrations because of words and phrases that the apostle uses. Okay? Okay?
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: One is a military illustration because he uses military terms
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: here when he says that we offer ourselves to God
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: as tools for righteousness. It's a military term. It's weapons
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: for righteousness. So it's a military term. And so we've
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: all seen the films. It's D-Day, World War II, greatest
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: military assault in the history of warfare ever. And the speeches,
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: there's always the speech that happens right before you storm
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: the beaches. Or the speech that happens right before Easy
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: Company goes and jumps out of the airplane. They get
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: the speech. And in the speech, there's always that moment
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: where the commanding officer says something like, Remember your training.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: You are ready for this. You are prepared for this.
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: Remember your training. Now, is the commanding officer saying that
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: the act of you remembering your training is what really
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: makes the difference? No. The training is what makes the difference.
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: He's just trying to encourage these soldiers to rely on
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: that thing that matters most. Rely on the training that
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: we get. Now, for us as believers, it's not remember
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: your training. It's remember your victory that you have in Christ.
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: So here in verse 11, look at what he says.
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: He says, so you must also consider yourselves dead to
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Remember your training.
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: Don't be afraid. Don't worry about the outcome. Do what
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: you've been trained to do. That's what the commanding officer says.
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: What we're being told is Christ has won the victory.
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: You consider and you reckon yourself in Him. That doesn't
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: make you in Him. It just reminds you of what
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: is true. Remember what is true. Your victory over sin
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: comes when you remember what is true. The other illustration
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: is the illustration of slavery. Slavery. It runs throughout this
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: whole chapter, the idea of slaves to sin. We have
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: in our nation's history a vivid illustration of this truth.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: Amendment 13. Slavery abolished. December 6, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: So we just passed the 145th anniversary of the ratification
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: of the 13th Amendment. And by the way, it was
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: the 13th Amendment, not the Emancipation Proclamation, that ended slavery.
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: The Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave. It
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: was the 13th Amendment that ended slavery. But listen to
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: the 13th Amendment. By the way, the 13th Amendment only
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: ended certain types of slavery. Listen to the 13th Amendment.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime,
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: wherefore the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude. Now, if you take that
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: middle clause out, then you do get a complete abolition
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: of slavery. It reads like this. Neither slavery nor involuntary
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: servitude shall exist within the United States or any place
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: subject to its jurisdiction. But there's that clause. Except if
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: somebody's convicted of a crime, then they can be put
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: into involuntary servitude or slavery, which we call penitentiary. Okay? Now,
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: December 6th, 1865. You're a slave. You're a slave on
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: a plantation in Mississippi, Alabama, or New York, or Pennsylvania. Okay?
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: And it's December 6th, 1865. And in that moment, you
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: have your forensic freedom from slavery. It's the law. You're
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: no longer a slave. Okay? But every bone in your
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: body knows nothing else. Every fiber of your being that
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: was born on the plantation, born into slavery, and spent
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: every day as a slave knows nothing else. So if
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: somebody would then say to you, you're free. Live like
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: a free man. Consider yourself free. Is your considering yourself
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: free what made you free? No. It's this declaration that
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: made you free. But if someone says consider yourself free,
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: they're just saying you need to think about yourself in
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: accordance with that which is true. Regardless of what you
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: feel or regardless of your circumstances. Secondly, look at verse 12.
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: make you obey its passions. There's the second one. Don't
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: let sin reign in your mortal body to make you
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: obey its passions. Don't let sin reign in your mortal body.
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: Don't do it. Don't let sin reign in your mortal body. Now, again,
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: is this saying... Your victory over sin really comes as
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: a result of you girding up your loins and not
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: letting it be. No, go back to the illustration. The
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: commanding officer. When those doors open up, everything in you
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: is going to want to stay on those boats. Stay there,
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: you die. When the door opens up, do not listen
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: to your fear. Move forward toward the beach. To the slave.
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: All you've ever known is slavery. All you've ever known
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: is yourself as a second class citizen. But you are free.
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: Remember that you are free. And do not act like
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: a slave anymore. Why am I reminding you? Because this
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: is the source of your freedom? No, I'm reminding you
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: because everything in you has been conditioned in the opposite direction.
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: And so I'm reminding you of what's already true. Because
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: you're conditioning in the opposite direction. Same thing with sin.
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: You were born in the first Adam. Paul's reminding you,
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: consider yourself according to what God says is true. He's
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: reminding you, do not give yourself to that to which
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: you no longer belong. Thirdly, verse 13. Do not present
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: yourselves to God as those who have been brought from
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: death to life and your members to God as instruments
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: of righteousness. It's militaristic terminology here. You're a weapon of righteousness,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: not a weapon of unrighteousness. There's a connection here. It's
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: not just don't give yourself over there, but give yourself
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: over here. Don't let sin reign in your mortal body.
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: Give yourself to God. That's how you don't let sin
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: reign in your mortal body. Give yourself to God. You
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: come to the cross again and again and again. That's how.
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: That's your victory. It's the cross. Remind yourself. Consider it
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: to be true. Don't give your members over there, but
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: give your members to God. How do you give your
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: members to God? Those ordinary means. That's why you need
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: to come to church and hear the gospel preached again
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: and again and again. That's why we have the Lord's
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: Supper to remind us of His death and resurrection again
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: and again and again. That's why the goal of our
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: singing is to remind you of that which is true
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: again and again and again. That's why you worship in
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: your families on a regular basis because you need this
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: again and again and again. And to the degree that
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: we give ourselves over and over and over to God
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: and remind ourselves again and again and again of that
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: which is true. And here's the fourth thing. I love this.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: You get those imperatives and just in case you're about
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: to run off the deep end and think that this
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: is just about you and it's not about the indicatives,
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: how does he sum it up in verse 14? He
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: goes back to the indicatives. Look at verse 14. For
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: sin will have no dominion over you since you are
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: not under law but under grace. Sin will have no
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: dominion over you. Because you're not under law, you're under grace.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: You don't live there anymore. That is not your hope.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: This is not works righteousness. You're not Israel under the
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: old covenant. Your covenant is not based on you standing
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: there and saying, all these things we will do. No,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: your covenant is based on this. This is the new
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: covenant in my blood. Christ has accomplished it. So does
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: this mean that we're free from the law? No. The
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: law is good. We'll see that in chapter 7. But
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: we're free to obey. We weren't before. We didn't have
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: what it required before. We were under the old Adam
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: and everything in us was herbivore. Now our nature has
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: been changed. And you're a cow that can eat steak.
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: Your nature's changed. You're not the same. So here's what
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: Paul does. Here's all the theology. To help you understand
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: who you are in Christ and the victory that you have.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: Now here's what you do with it. First thing he
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: tells you to do with it is consider it to
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: be true of you. Secondly, don't give yourself to the
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: camp that you don't belong to anymore. But thirdly, give
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: yourself to the one to whom you belong. And right
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: after it he says, because all that theological truth that
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: I told you before is true. Here's the truth. Here's
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: what you do with it. And oh, by the way,
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: you do it because it's true. The indicatives and the imperatives.
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: You do it because it's true. When the doors open,
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: you get out and you head toward the beach. Your
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: body's going to be saying, but wait a minute. That's
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: where the guns are that are shooting at me. Don't
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: listen to your body. Listen to your training. You do
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: what we've taught you to do. Not what your old
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: reflexes tell you to do. Because doing what we've taught
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: you to do is your only hope of survival. You're
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: free now. You're not a slave anymore. But wait a minute,
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: I was born a slave. All I've ever known is slavery.
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: I'm in a different class of people than this person.
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: I belong to this person. No, no you don't. You're free.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: Don't act like a slave anymore. Although every fiber of
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: your being has been conditioned to act like that and
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: like nothing else. There is another truth and another reality
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: that overrides. Live in accordance with that truth and that reality.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: Those are the two illustrations that run through this passage.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: Paul uses them both to say to you and to me,
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: you are no longer under the last Adam. You are
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: no longer a slave to sin. You are no longer
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: under death's dominion. You are no longer under the law.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: You are now under the federal headship of the last Adam, Christ.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: And in Him, you have been victorious over death. In Him,
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: you will ultimately be freed from the very presence of
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: sin in your own bodily resurrection. And in Him, in
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: the meantime, you live a life unto God. And whereas
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: every fiber of your being has been conditioned for your
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: whole life to go in the opposite direction, you believe
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: what's true, not what you were used to. You live
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: in accordance with what's true, not with what was necessarily
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: comfortable for you at a time. In his book, The
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: Mortification of Sin, John Owen uses this illustration. Owen says,
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: when a man is being crucified, at first he yells
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: out and his cries are great. But eventually, they become
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: fewer and farther between. Not as noisy anymore. Oh, there
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: may be moments when he musters up the strength to
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: cry out again in agony, but they won't continue. Eventually,
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: when blood and life is gone, he will lie there dead. This,
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: Owen argues, is what the mortification of sin is like.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: When there is a sin that's used to controlling your
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: life and you nail it to the cross, it will
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: cry out in agony and its cry will be great.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: But if you leave it there, eventually those cries become
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: fewer and farther between. They have less steam in them,
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: less energy in them, less power in them, and eventually
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: their life force is gone. And they die there on
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: the cross. That's the reality. Those of us who are
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: in Christ. Your sin is nailed to the tree. Don't
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: have pity on it. Leave it there. Let it die.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: Because you are in Christ. And that's not yours anymore.
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: Let's pray.