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Voddie Baucham - Romans 6 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: No one had a Bible. Just pause and think about
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  Speaker 1: that for a moment. In the New Testament church, no
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  Speaker 1: one had a Bible. No one came to church clutching
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  Speaker 1: their leather-bound copy of the Scriptures. No one could afford
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  Speaker 1: a copy of the Scriptures. And so when these letters
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  Speaker 1: would come, this letter from the Apostle Paul, when it
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  Speaker 1: showed up at the church, it would be read for
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  Speaker 1: all the believers to hear in its entirety in one sitting.
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  Speaker 1: Because it was meant to be read like that, it
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  Speaker 1: was written like that. And so in order to understand
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  Speaker 1: the argument properly, in order to understand the way Paul
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  Speaker 1: is thinking, it would be very important to at least
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  Speaker 1: read it through and follow along. Now, we don't have
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  Speaker 1: time to do that. But what we can do is
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  Speaker 1: recognize what's happened up to this point. That in chapters
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  Speaker 1: 1 and 2, Paul is introducing the idea of sin
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  Speaker 1: and guilt. Not just for the Gentile world, but also
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  Speaker 1: to the Jews. In chapter 3, He brings this point home.
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  Speaker 1: This idea of sin and guilt. And he introduces the
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  Speaker 1: idea of justification. Justification by faith. And then in chapter
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  Speaker 1: 4 we have Abraham who is our example of justification
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  Speaker 1: by faith. That Abraham believed God and it was credited
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  Speaker 1: to him as righteousness. Then in chapter 5 we have
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  Speaker 1: this theological explanation of how sin came into the world
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  Speaker 1: and then how sin was dealt with. In chapter 5,
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  Speaker 1: we have this picture of the first Adam and the
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  Speaker 1: last Adam. The first Adam, sin enters the world because
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  Speaker 1: of the first Adam, because he disobeyed God. And then
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  Speaker 1: the last Adam brings deliverance from sin because of his obedience.
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  Speaker 1: Then we come to chapter 6, and we get this
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  Speaker 1: instruction on the question of baptism. So we have to
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  Speaker 1: remember that in this sort of narrative context. Another thing
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  Speaker 1: I want you to see, if you'll look back, for example,
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  Speaker 1: in chapter 3. In chapter 3, we have the beginning
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  Speaker 1: of a series of questions. These questions are not just
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  Speaker 1: rhetorical questions. These are questions that people often ask, when
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  Speaker 1: they are confronted with the truth of the gospel. Because
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  Speaker 1: the gospel just doesn't make sense to a man who
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  Speaker 1: doesn't have the mind of Christ. Amen? It's foolishness. It's folly,
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  Speaker 1: Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, that it's folly. It, however,
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  Speaker 1: makes sense to those who are being saved, those who
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  Speaker 1: grasp it. And so, To individuals who don't understand the
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  Speaker 1: essence of the gospel, there are questions that come when
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  Speaker 1: you hear about Christ dying for sin. When you hear
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  Speaker 1: about Christ dying a substitutionary atoning death for sin. When
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  Speaker 1: you hear about faith in Christ being the answer to
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  Speaker 1: our sin problem, people have questions. So in chapter 3
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  Speaker 1: verse 1, Connecting to chapter 2, he says, then what
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  Speaker 1: advantage has the Jew? That's a great question, especially from
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  Speaker 1: his Jewish audience. If chapter 1 and chapter 2 make
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  Speaker 1: it clear that everyone is guilty before God, then the
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  Speaker 1: Jew would naturally ask, right, what advantage then is there
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  Speaker 1: to being a Jew? He says that there are many,
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  Speaker 1: but he explains why. why it's significant. And it's not
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  Speaker 1: because of anything according to the flesh. Then in verse 5,
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  Speaker 1: what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict
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  Speaker 1: wrath on us? In other words, people hear about being guilty.
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  Speaker 1: They hear about being guilty for sin, but having a
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  Speaker 1: sin nature that causes that sin. And if you've had
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  Speaker 1: a conversation with anyone who's outside of the faith about
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  Speaker 1: this theological truth, they've probably asked you this question. Well,
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  Speaker 1: is God wrong? Then why would God hold me guilty
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  Speaker 1: if he made me this way? A classic example of
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  Speaker 1: this question being asked today is with homosexuality and transgenderism.
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  Speaker 1: God made me this way. So how can you Christians
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  Speaker 1: condemn me for being this way if God, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: made me this way? That is a modern version of
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  Speaker 1: the same question. And the essence of the question is
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  Speaker 1: to impugn God's character. To say that your God, the
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  Speaker 1: God that you read about in your Bible, is an
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  Speaker 1: evil person. wicked God because essentially he made me this
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  Speaker 1: way and then he calls me sinful again Paul answers
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  Speaker 1: that and then in verse 9 what then are we
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  Speaker 1: Jews any better off he answers that in the coming
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  Speaker 1: verses chapter 4 verse 1 he does it again what
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  Speaker 1: then shall we say was gained by Abraham and our
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  Speaker 1: Father according to the flesh. Again, if this is true, right,
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  Speaker 1: that it's justification by faith, as he says in chapter 3,
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  Speaker 1: then what was gained by Abraham? This is a very
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  Speaker 1: important theological question as well because there are many, even
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  Speaker 1: many Christians, even many good solid Christians who actually believe
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  Speaker 1: that in the Old Testament people were saved by keeping
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  Speaker 1: the law, but in the New Testament after Christ comes,
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  Speaker 1: They're saved by faith. Nothing could be further from the truth,
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  Speaker 1: and Paul demonstrates that here in Romans chapter 4. Abraham
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  Speaker 1: was not saved by anything he did. No one in
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament was saved by anything that they did.
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  Speaker 1: There is only one way to be saved. There's never
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  Speaker 1: been another way to be saved. Salvation is by faith alone. Amen, somebody?
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  Speaker 1: It is by faith alone. Abraham believed God, and it
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  Speaker 1: was credited to him as righteousness. Folks, if Abraham was
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  Speaker 1: saved by anything other than faith, he ain't saved. Because
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  Speaker 1: he was not the most obedient man. Amen? Last time
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  Speaker 1: I checked, if you lie and tell somebody that your
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  Speaker 1: wife is your sister when she's actually your wife, That's
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  Speaker 1: not righteousness. That's a lie. Amen. Last time I checked,
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  Speaker 1: if you go into a woman who's not your wife
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  Speaker 1: and have a child with that woman who's not your wife,
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  Speaker 1: that's not righteousness. That's adultery. Amen, somebody. So Abraham was
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  Speaker 1: a lying adulterer. He was not saved by keeping the law.
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  Speaker 1: He was not saved by being good enough. He was
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  Speaker 1: not saved by doing more good than he did bad,
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  Speaker 1: because none of us does more good than we do bad.
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  Speaker 1: Not when you recognize the fact that you are judged
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  Speaker 1: for every thought and deed. So no, Abraham and no
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  Speaker 1: one else has ever been saved by their own personal righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: And Paul makes this clear In Romans chapter 3, where
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  Speaker 1: he says, there is none righteous, no, not one. All
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  Speaker 1: have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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  Speaker 1: That's when we get to this question, what then shall
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  Speaker 1: we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to
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  Speaker 1: the flesh? That's the question. And the answer to that is,
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  Speaker 1: he was saved by faith and by faith alone. Now,
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  Speaker 1: with that in mind, let's get to our text here
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  Speaker 1: in Romans chapter 6, which begins with another one of
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  Speaker 1: these questions. What shall we say then? Are we to
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  Speaker 1: continue in sin that grace may abound? Again, you may
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  Speaker 1: not have been asked that question exactly like that, but
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  Speaker 1: you've been asked a version of that question. A version
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  Speaker 1: of that question that may go something like this. Well,
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  Speaker 1: you know, if you believe in Jesus does that mean
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  Speaker 1: that you can just live any way you want to
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  Speaker 1: live anybody ever had that question or a question like
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  Speaker 1: that asked of them that's the question that we're asked
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  Speaker 1: and Paul deals with this question here in Romans 6
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  Speaker 1: And he deals with it by addressing the issue of baptism.
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  Speaker 1: Because baptism happens at the intersection of sin and grace.
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  Speaker 1: We know that we are sinners. And if we're sinners,
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  Speaker 1: how is that sin dealt with? And one answer that
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  Speaker 1: we want to give to that is, it seems to
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  Speaker 1: make sense, right? If sin is the problem, then then
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  Speaker 1: not sinning is the answer. Amen? That's the legalist response. Okay?
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  Speaker 1: You're a sinner. So what do you need to do? Well,
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  Speaker 1: I need to keep all of these laws. I need
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  Speaker 1: to do all of these rituals. Again, that was the
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  Speaker 1: trap that Israel often fell into. Believing that their salvation
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  Speaker 1: was tied up in these things, these outward things that
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  Speaker 1: they did. Which is where you get legalism from. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if I've told you this before, but even
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  Speaker 1: if I did, it's worth telling again. But I've been
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  Speaker 1: in Israel a number of times, and one of the
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  Speaker 1: things that strikes me often there is the bondage of legalism.
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  Speaker 1: And nothing, nothing brought that home to me more than
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  Speaker 1: one day when I got on the wrong elevator on
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  Speaker 1: the Sabbath. Shabbat is very important in Israel. It's huge.
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  Speaker 1: It's everything. I mean, it's so important that if you
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  Speaker 1: go into a restaurant, there are two sets of dishes.
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  Speaker 1: There's one set of dishes for all the other days
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  Speaker 1: of the week and one set of dishes for the Sabbath.
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  Speaker 1: You don't even use the same dishes. Okay? And on
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  Speaker 1: the Sabbath, there's the Shabbat elevator. Shabbat is Sabbath in Hebrew.
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  Speaker 1: There's the Shabbat elevator. And One day, I got on
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  Speaker 1: the Shabbat elevator in my hotel. Didn't realize it. And
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  Speaker 1: what happens in the Shabbat elevator is the elevator opens
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  Speaker 1: on every floor. So here I am, waiting to get
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  Speaker 1: up to my floor. But at every floor, you had
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  Speaker 1: to stop, doors open, doors close. Next floor, stop, doors open.
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  Speaker 1: Doors close. Next floor. Stop. Doors open. Doors close. Until
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  Speaker 1: you get off the elevator and learn your lesson. Don't
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  Speaker 1: get on the Shabbat elevator anymore. The reason you get
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  Speaker 1: on it is because it's the one sitting down there
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  Speaker 1: with his doors already open. But why? Why does the
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  Speaker 1: Shabbat elevator open its doors on every floor? So that
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  Speaker 1: observant Jews don't have to do the work. Of pushing
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  Speaker 1: the button. That is the heart of legalism. You can
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  Speaker 1: ride the elevator. Just don't push the button. That's the
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  Speaker 1: answer of someone who says that the way you deal
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  Speaker 1: with sin is with not sin. The way you deal
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  Speaker 1: with breaking the law is with keeping the law. That's
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  Speaker 1: a person who does not understand the essence of what
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  Speaker 1: it means to break the law. And Jesus deals with
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  Speaker 1: this in the Sermon on the Mount. You've heard it said,
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  Speaker 1: don't murder. And you think you're not a murderer because
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  Speaker 1: you've never taken someone's life. But I say to you,
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  Speaker 1: if you hate your brother, you've broken that commandment. You've
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  Speaker 1: heard it said, don't commit adultery, and you think you're
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  Speaker 1: not an adulterer because you've never actually engaged in and
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  Speaker 1: physically consummated a relationship with a person who's not your spouse.
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  Speaker 1: But I say to you, if you've looked at someone
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  Speaker 1: and lusted after them, you've violated that commandment. Jesus makes
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  Speaker 1: it clear that we break the law in our hearts
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  Speaker 1: first and that breaking the law in our hearts is
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  Speaker 1: enough to make us guilty. So the answer to sin
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  Speaker 1: can't be not sin. The answer to sin has to
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  Speaker 1: be something else. And here we see that the answer
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  Speaker 1: to sin is grace. It's the only possible answer. Because
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to righteousness, you and I can't get
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  Speaker 1: there from here. So let's read this, beginning at verse 1,
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  Speaker 1: and then come back and make some observations here about baptism,
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  Speaker 1: about what we witnessed earlier. What shall we say then?
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  Speaker 1: Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
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  Speaker 1: By no means. How can we who died to sin
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  Speaker 1: still live in it? Do you not know that all
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  Speaker 1: of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
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  Speaker 1: and to his death. We were buried, therefore, with him
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  Speaker 1: by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ
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  Speaker 1: was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
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  Speaker 1: we too might walk in newness of life. For if
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  Speaker 1: we have been united with him in a death like his,
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  Speaker 1: we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection
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  Speaker 1: like his. We know that our old self was crucified
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  Speaker 1: with him in order that the body of sin might
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  Speaker 1: be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer
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  Speaker 1: be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has
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  Speaker 1: been set free from sin. Now, if we have died
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  Speaker 1: with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
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  Speaker 1: We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will
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  Speaker 1: never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him.
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  Speaker 1: For the death he died, he died to sin once
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  Speaker 1: for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God.
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  Speaker 1: So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and
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  Speaker 1: alive to God in Christ Jesus. Now there's a lot
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  Speaker 1: to unwrap there. But as we unwrap it, you have
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  Speaker 1: to understand a couple of things that this is symbolic
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  Speaker 1: language and simultaneously literal language. The reason it's literal language
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  Speaker 1: is because it's literal language about an event that is
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  Speaker 1: symbolic in nature. So we have these two things happening.
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  Speaker 1: Number one, we have baptism, which is symbolic in nature.
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  Speaker 1: But it's a symbol that points to something that is real,
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  Speaker 1: just like all symbols do. But what is it a
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  Speaker 1: symbol of? It's a symbol of a number of things.
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  Speaker 1: Number one, it's a symbol of our union with Christ.
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  Speaker 1: We see that there in the text. We see that
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  Speaker 1: there in verse five. So the beginning here is in
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  Speaker 1: the middle. Verse five, for if we have been united
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  Speaker 1: with him in a death like his, we shall certainly
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  Speaker 1: be united with him in a resurrection like his. We're
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  Speaker 1: united with Christ. That's why, look there at verse 4,
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  Speaker 1: we were baptized, or we were buried, therefore, with him
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  Speaker 1: by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ
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  Speaker 1: was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
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  Speaker 1: we too might walk in newness of life. We're united
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  Speaker 1: with Christ. So baptism is a symbol of our union
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  Speaker 1: with Christ. Now, baptism doesn't create our union with Christ.
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  Speaker 1: It is a symbol of our union with Christ. Our
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  Speaker 1: union with Christ is actually a mystical union. And when
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  Speaker 1: I say mystical, I don't mean like sort of New
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  Speaker 1: Age mystical. By mystical, what I mean is something that
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  Speaker 1: God does that is real, but we don't necessarily see.
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  Speaker 1: That's what I mean when I use that term. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, this is not something that's odd to us.
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  Speaker 1: We see this in ceremonies all the time, don't we?
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  Speaker 1: Let me give you a couple of examples. A graduation ceremony.
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  Speaker 1: A graduation ceremony. Does anything really happen at a graduation ceremony?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, do you become another person? And when you graduate,
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  Speaker 1: you know, oftentimes graduates will give the same testimony, right?
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  Speaker 1: You go to your graduation. You go through the ceremony.
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  Speaker 1: After the ceremony, or during the ceremony, they call your name,
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  Speaker 1: you walk up, they hand you your diploma, you shake hands,
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  Speaker 1: you go sit down, you put the tassel on the
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  Speaker 1: other side, then there's this proclamation that's made, and you
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  Speaker 1: stand there going, I still feel like the same person
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  Speaker 1: or you say I hope nobody asks me a question
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  Speaker 1: about what I just got a degree in because I
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  Speaker 1: don't necessarily know all the answers So nothing actually happened
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  Speaker 1: to you or did it. It's a ceremony that has
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  Speaker 1: real meaning. And forever after that ceremony, when people ask you,
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  Speaker 1: when did you graduate, you will tell them not the
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  Speaker 1: day that you passed your last exam, but the day
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  Speaker 1: that you had the ceremony. Amen? Let me give you
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  Speaker 1: another example. Military service. Military service. What do you do?
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  Speaker 1: You go, you sign up, and then there's a ceremony
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  Speaker 1: where you raise your right hand and you repeat an oath.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily, I mean, you don't, you know, the
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  Speaker 1: skies don't part and, you know, no, none of these
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  Speaker 1: things happen. However, from that moment on, if you leave
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  Speaker 1: your post, you're a deserter. If you do it during wartime,
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  Speaker 1: you get shot. Because the ceremony pointed to something that's real.
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  Speaker 1: I'll give you the ultimate example. When you put a
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  Speaker 1: ring on it. Amen? When you get married, it is
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  Speaker 1: a ceremony. When we make our oaths and our vows, does...
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  Speaker 1: you know, does something just come over you or does something? No,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't. But from that moment, there is a mystical
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  Speaker 1: union between you. An incredible thing happens. My next of
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  Speaker 1: kin is not related to me by blood. Wrap your
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  Speaker 1: head around that one for a moment. My closest living
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  Speaker 1: relative is is not related to me by blood. My
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  Speaker 1: closest living relative is not my mother, it's not my father,
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  Speaker 1: it's not my brother, it's not my sister. My closest
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  Speaker 1: living relative and my next of kin is my wife,
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  Speaker 1: who by definition and by law is not related to
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  Speaker 1: me by blood. Amen? So we get this idea. So
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  Speaker 1: baptism is a ceremonial recognition. However, there's something else. Like
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  Speaker 1: other ceremonies, it is an outward picture of an inward reality.
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  Speaker 1: It is an outward picture of an inward reality. So
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  Speaker 1: when we watched people being baptized today, we didn't watch
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  Speaker 1: them being saved. And there are some people who argue that, right?
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  Speaker 1: They argue for what's called baptismal regeneration, that baptism that
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  Speaker 1: baptism itself is the salvific act, which, again, number one, well,
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  Speaker 1: there's several problems with that. Okay? Let me just give
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  Speaker 1: you a couple of problems with that. Problem number one
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  Speaker 1: is that the Scriptures make it clear that salvation is
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  Speaker 1: by faith. Amen? Salvation is by faith. If it's by baptism,
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  Speaker 1: then it's by definition, not by faith. I'll give you
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  Speaker 1: another problem, is that one of the most famous salvation
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  Speaker 1: stories is a story of the thief on the cross,
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  Speaker 1: to whom Jesus said, today you'll be with me in paradise. Now,
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  Speaker 1: unless they let him down off the cross and baptized him,
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  Speaker 1: and then put him back on the cross so he
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  Speaker 1: could finish dying, then he wasn't saved by baptism. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: It just, it doesn't work. And even in our text,
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  Speaker 1: if you pay attention to our text, it makes it
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  Speaker 1: clear that we're not talking about baptismal regeneration. Look at
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  Speaker 1: it again. What shall we say then? Are we to
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  Speaker 1: continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means.
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  Speaker 1: How can we who died to sin... still live in
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  Speaker 1: it do you not know that all of us who
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  Speaker 1: have been baptized into christ were baptized into his death
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  Speaker 1: we were buried therefore with him with him and by
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  Speaker 1: baptism into his death in order that just as christ
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  Speaker 1: was raised from the dead by the glory of the
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  Speaker 1: father we too might walk in newness of life what
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  Speaker 1: is this here this is symbolic language about what we
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  Speaker 1: do because we are in christ notice here that in
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  Speaker 1: the first part of this he's not talking about what
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  Speaker 1: happens in the water Verse 3, look at it again.
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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: That's the spiritual reality that happens by faith. We are
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  Speaker 1: baptized into Christ Jesus. We are united with Christ in
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: this spiritual baptism. And then the physical baptism is an
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: outward expression of of that inward spiritual reality that has
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: already taken place through faith. Interestingly enough, these other ceremonies
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: that we talked about are exactly the same. Graduation is
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: just an outward expression of an inward reality. It's an
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: outward expression of and a public ceremony telling people about
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: something that's already happened. Amen? Your military service, you raise
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: your right hand, right, and swear your oath, you've already
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: signed the paper. When you get married, right, you've either
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: already signed the paper or you've already essentially committed yourselves
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: to one another, which is why you're there at the
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: altar in the first place. Amen? If there's no commitment
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: that's taking place, and you're standing there, I mean, weddings
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: would be a lot more interesting. Amen? Baptism is the same.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: There is a spiritual union that has taken place by faith,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: through repentance and faith, that has united you with Christ.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: And this physical expression is an outward expression of an
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: inward reality that has already taken place. That's why when
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: we're there in the water, the question is asked, right?
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: The question is asked about repentance and about faith. Have
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: you repented of sin? Have you placed your faith in Christ?
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: In other words, has what we are about to symbolize
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: really taken place in you? Because if it hasn't already
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: taken place in you, then we don't need to be
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: symbolizing it here. So it's an outward expression of an
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: inward reality. So not only does it symbolize this union
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: with Christ, but it's also a symbol of cleansing from sin.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Baptism is a symbol of cleansing from sin. You know,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: it's powerful. passage of scripture in the New Testament Peter
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: preaches his Pentecost sermon there in the temple and thousands
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: are added to the church thousands are baptized here's a
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: question how do you baptize thousands I mean you see
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: what we had to do just to get four right
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: We get up, we go out there, and there's four.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, what would we do if we had to
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: baptize thousands? Well, interestingly enough, before you go into the temple,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: there are these pools. They're called mikvahs, and they're all
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: around the temple in Jerusalem. Because what would happen is,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: before you went to the temple, you would cleanse yourself
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: through baptism. Baptism is not a new thing. The Jews
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: would cleanse themselves through baptism before ascending the stairs up
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: to Solomon's porch and then going into the temple where
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: sacrifices were made, which, again, were about sin and cleansing
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: from sin. So baptism is symbolic of cleansing from sin.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: But there's an amazing thing that happens here. because of
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: the person and work of christ you see before christ
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: comes you come to the temple and outside of the
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: temple you go into the mikvah and you're baptized so
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: that you can then go up into the temple and
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: see the sacrifices that are made for sin. And you
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: do that over and over and over again in Jerusalem
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: at least three times a year. Over and over and
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: over again. But when Christ dies for sin, it's once
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: for all. So we reverse the process. So now Christ
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: dies for sin. Notice that the veil of the temple
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: is torn in two when he dies. Because that's where
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: the Holy of Holies is, where the high priest, one
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: day a year, goes to make a sacrifice for the people. Well,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: when Christ dies for sin... Now sin is atoned for,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: so no longer does anyone ever have to go into
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: the Holy of Holies because Christ, the Lamb of God
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: who takes away the sins of the world, has atoned
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: for sin. Not only that, but now we get baptized
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: after this work that he does, and we don't do
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: it every time we go into the temple. We only
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: do that one time as well. And it's symbolic of
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: the cleansing that has already taken place Because of the sacrifice.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Look at our text again. Verse 6. We know that
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: our old self was crucified with him in order that
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: the body of sin might be brought to nothing so
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: when it was died has been set free from sin.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: So we were crucified with him to deal with sin.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Turn with me, if you will, forward and look at
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter 10. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. The author
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: of Hebrews is going to tell us the same thing
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: that I said earlier about saints before Christ. For since
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: the law has but a shadow of the good things
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: to come instead of the true form of these realities,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. The
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: law can't save you. sacrifices can't save you. No one
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament was ever saved by keeping a
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: law or making a sacrifice. No one, ever. Salvation has
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: always been by faith alone. In the Old Testament, they
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: had faith in the Savior who was to come. And
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: what they did was a shadow of what was to come.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Now that the Savior has come, we have faith in
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: the Savior who has come. But it's the same faith.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Verse 2. Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered?
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices there
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: is a reminder of sins every year. For it is
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: away sins. Again, let me read verse 4 one time,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: one more time. It is impossible for the blood of
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: bulls and goats to take away sins. Again, if you
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: feel like I'm belaboring this point, it's because I am.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: Because I meet Christians all the time who have been
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Christians for decades who still believe that the saints in
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: the Old Testament were saved by keeping the law and
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: making sacrifices. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 4, it is impossible
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5. Consequently,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: offerings you have not desired, but a body have you
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: preserved for me. And burnt offerings and sin offerings you
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: come to do your will, O God, as it is
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: written of me in the scroll of the book. When
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: he said above, You have neither desired nor taken pleasure
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: in sacrifices and offerings, and burnt offerings and sin offerings...
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: These are offered according to the law. Then he added, Behold,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: I have come to do your will. He does away
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: with the first in order to establish the second. And
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: by that will we have been sanctified through the offering
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Amen. Hallelujah.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: Praise the Lord. All of those things merely foreshadowed and
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: pointed to the coming of the Lamb of God, who
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: is the only one who could take away the sins
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: of the world. God made a promise in Genesis chapter
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: 3 and verse 15. Right after the fall, His promise
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: came in the form of His curse to the serpent.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: When He said to the serpent, I'll put enmity between
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: You will bruise His heel, but He will bruise your head.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: There is a promise that one was going to come
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: to crush the head of the serpent, that one was
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: going to come to deal with the fall that was
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the result of Adam's disobedience, and that one is none
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: other than Jesus Christ himself. So baptism is symbolic of
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: cleansing from sin, but it's cleansing from sin by the
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: blood of Christ, not by the water itself. Thirdly, it's
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: a symbol of freedom from sin. It's a symbol of
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: freedom from sin. Back in our text, verse 7. For
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: one who has died has been set free from sin. Now,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: if we have died with Christ, we believe that we
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: He died to sin once for all, but the life
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: he lives, he lives to God. So you must consider
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Dead to sin. There is this death that happens, this
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: death to sin. Now, again, we have to remember that
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: this is symbolic language, right? Because what people want to
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: do is they want to take this symbolic language and
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: then define their theology as though this language is not symbolic.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: So being dead to sin, people argue that, well, that
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: should mean that you never sin again. Amen? That should
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: mean that you never sin again. Actually, it doesn't. Our
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: salvation is an already not yet reality. In other words,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: there are three aspects of sin that we have to
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: deal with. We have to deal with the penalty of sin.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: We have to deal with the power of sin. And
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: we have to deal with the presence of sin. Now,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: the penalty of sin is physical death and also spiritual death.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: Separation from God in hell. Now, the way we deal
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: with that penalty of sin is through justification. That's what
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: we saw in Hebrews chapter 3. That we place our
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and we are justified.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: We are declared righteous. In chapter 4, what happens with Abraham?
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: He was declared righteous, even though he was a lying adulterer.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: By faith, he was declared righteous. Now, there's a second issue,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: and that is power of sin. Now, the power of
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: sin is progressively broken in our lives through what's called sanctification. Sanctification.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: where we are conformed to the very image of Christ.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: We see that in Romans chapter 8, where Jesus is
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: the firstborn of many brethren, and that we are conformed
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: to his image. Turn there with me, if you will,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: to Romans chapter 8. And look at verse 29, Romans 8, 29.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: conformed to the image of His Son in order that
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Those whom
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: He predestined, He also called. Those whom He called, He
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: also justified. Those whom He justified, He also glorified. So
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: this is a process. Predestined, called, justified, glorified. And in
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: the midst of that, conformed to the image of Christ,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: which is sanctified. It is sanctified. Then there's the third issue,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: which is the presence of sin. And this we experience
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: in glorification. When ultimately we are with Christ in glory
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: and we shall be as he is. When we shall
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: literally be resurrected as Christ was resurrected. when our bodies
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: shall literally be made new as Christ's body was new.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: And then we will be saved not only from the
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: penalty of sin and the power of sin, but also
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: from the presence of sin. In the meantime, there is
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: this ongoing process of being conformed to the image of Christ.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Day by day. Better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today. Amen?
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: never achieving perfection in this life, but only in the
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: age to come when we are ultimately united with Christ
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: in the consummation of all things. And so baptism is
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: symbolic of our freedom from sin. And finally, baptism is
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: symbolic of our new life. We've seen it there several
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: times in the text. Look at it again. Verse 6,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: We know that the old self was crucified with him
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: in order that the body of sin might be brought
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: to sin. There's old and new. Look at verse 9.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: We know that Christ being raised from the dead will
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: For the death he died, he died to sin once
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: to God in Christ. You have a new life. In
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: your new life, you're dead to sin. You're no longer
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: a slave to sin. You are free. In your new life,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: you are alive to God. You are free. Is this easy?
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: Is it automatic? Well, one very familiar Bible story. I'll
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: answer that question for you. Moses goes to Pharaoh and says,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: let my people go. Pharaoh won't do it. Ten plagues come.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: On the tenth plague, Pharaoh agrees. He lets the people go.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: The people are delivered out of Egypt. Not only are
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: they delivered out of Egypt, but they're delivered across the
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: Red Sea. And after they're delivered out of Egypt, and
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: this is the picture of salvation. Amen? This is symbolic
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: of salvation. They're delivered out of Egypt. They're delivered to
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: the Red Sea. God has delivered them. They sing a
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: song of praise to God who has saved them and
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: men within a matter of days. Moses is up on
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: the mountain. He's taking too long and they build a
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: golden calf just like they had in Egypt. Why? Because
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: it takes longer to to get Egypt out of Israel
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: than it did to get Israel out of Egypt. You
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: lived in Egypt for much of your life. You were
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Sin was all
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: you knew and all you loved. Your flesh desired sin
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: so much that you didn't even recognize it as desires.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: It was just life. And then you come to faith
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: in Christ and you live in that same body and
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: you live in this same world. So you are simultaneously
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: a new creature in Christ and a creature who is
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: at war with your old self. By the way, that's
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Romans chapter 7. That's where Paul goes in Romans chapter 7.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: New life. Not a perfect life. Again, I'll go to
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: the other examples. Military service. You sign up. You raise
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: your hand. You take your oath. And then what immediately happens?
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: Basic training. Why? Because you took your oath and you
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: have now been initiated. You are now a part of
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: that body. That ceremony is real. Real. but you still
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: have to learn how to live in your new reality. Amen?
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: Now let's go to the wedding. In marriage counseling, I
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: tell people, your first, like, big dust-up is probably going
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: to happen somewhere within 48 hours, one side or the other,
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: of the wedding. If you can't say amen, you ought
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: to say ouch. Why? Because... This union is not real? No.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: Because it is. And it's spiritual warfare. Amen? So you
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: don't get all that you need to get as a
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: husband or a wife on the day that you say,
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: I do. On the day that you say, I do,
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: people often cry. Why do they cry? Why? One, because
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: they're happy, and two, because they know that you have
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: no idea what you just did. And yet, 30, 40, 50,
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: 60 years later, by God's grace, you're finishing each other's sentences. Amen? Amen?
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: Or one of you can't finish their own sentences anymore
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: and the other one will do it for you. There's
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: an amazing reality that has no scientific explanation. But it
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: has a theological one. And that is this. Oftentimes people
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: who've been married 50, 60, 70 years will die within
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: very close proximity to one another. One will go, and
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: shortly after that, so will the other. Almost as though
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: their lives had been so inexorably joined together for so
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: long that the other can't stay once that union is broken.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: It's just real. But listen, it's the same union that
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: happened on day one, but it grows and matures and
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: deepens over time. Amen? Listen, you have to understand that's
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: what we see in baptism. And some of us have
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: horrible theology because we don't just look at what's obviously
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: before our face. What's obviously before our face is that
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: this is an outward expression of an inward reality. Yes,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: it is real. It's real immediately. It's real progressively. And
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: it's real ultimately. So no, baptism does not mean that
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: you'll never sin again. Hear me, those who were baptized today.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: Baptism does not mean that you won't have those thoughts
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: ever again. Baptism doesn't mean that you won't necessarily fall
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: into things again. But just like a soldier or a
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: graduate or a spouse can have a bad day and
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: still be a soldier and a graduate and a spouse.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: A Christian who has been transformed and united with Christ
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: by faith. Saved from their sin because of his person
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: and work. Justified, sanctified, and ultimately glorified. You can have
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: those days. You can even have those weeks. And not
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: negate the reality of who you are in Christ. Your
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: sanctification is progressive. So when people come to me and
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: they say, you know, I've sinned and I worry if
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: I'm really saved because I sinned. Almost inevitably, the first
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: thing I say is, I'm not worried about you. And
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: I say something like, wait, no, you don't understand. I
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: haven't even told you what I did. No, you haven't
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: told me what you did. But what you told me
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: is that you're concerned about it. What you told me
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: is that it breaks your heart. What you told me
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: is you don't want to live like that. The person
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: I'm worried about is not the one who sins and
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: then comes and is broken over it and worried about it.
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: and hates it. The one I'm worried about is the
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: one who sins and then justifies it and never loses
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: any sleep. That's who I'm worried about. Because that's a
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: person who's living like they have not been united with Christ.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: Like they have not died to sin. Baptism is beautiful.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: our union with Christ. It symbolizes being cleansed from sin.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: It's this outward expression of an inward reality. It symbolizes
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: our freedom from sin. And it symbolizes the new life
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: that is ours in Christ. And because of that, it
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: is praiseworthy. Praiseworthy. among those who belong to Christ. We
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: should be grateful that the Lord is still saving sinners. Amen?
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: We should be reminded. Every time you witness baptism, you
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: should be reminded of your own and what it symbolizes
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: and what it means and what its significance is. And
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: every time you see baptism, it should encourage you to
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: pray and work all the more so that Christ might
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: indeed have the fullness of the reward for which he died.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: Let's pray. Father, we praise you and we thank you
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: for the glory and the beauty of baptism. For its
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: glory and its beauty only exists because of the glory
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: and the beauty of the death, burial, and resurrection of
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And the glory and beauty of his death, burial,
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: and resurrection is in the fact that He conquers sin
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: and death on behalf of all of those who place
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: faith in Him. Grant by Your grace that we might
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: rest in this truth and that we might proclaim it.
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: We ask this in Christ's name and for His sake. Amen.