September 27, 2024 • 38 mins
The Christian life will have its share of temptations. That’s because when a person trusts Christ as Lord and Savior, his or her spirit is regenerated but not the flesh. The flesh is constantly at war with the spirit so that the spirit wants to please God, but the flesh wants to please self.
In Romans 6-8, Paul gives us a few directives about how to overcome sin and temptation.
00:00 - Getting Victory over Sin
16:44 - 1) KNOW and rely on the fact that on the day you trusted Christ as Savior, your old SELF died (was rendered powerless) when Christ died.
22:14 - 2) CONCLUDE that you are indeed dead to sin, but alive in Christ.
29:06 - 3) DO NOT let sin DOMINATE, but instead DEDICATE yourself, and every part of your body, completely to God.
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The struggle between our regenerated spirit and unregenerated flesh is an ongoing battle for every Christian. Drawing inspiration from 19th-century evangelist D.L. Moody, we reflect on how conversion is just the beginning of our spiritual warfare.
By examining scriptures like 1 Peter 2:11 and 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, we gain insights into the spiritual tools necessary for victory. Paul's writings help us transition from understanding our positional righteousness in Christ to practically living out our faith. Through the symbolism of Christ's death and our unity with Him, we uncover how to navigate this internal conflict.
Notes: https://assets01.cornerstonechapel.net/documents/studyguides/20240310.pdf
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Pastor Gary (00:00):
Romans, chapter 6 is where we're going to be today
.
If you have your Bibles therenow, I'm going to read the first
14 verses from Romans, chapter6, starting at verse 1.
Paul writes what shall we saythen?
Shall we continue in sin?
That grace may abound?
Certainly not.
How shall we who died to sinlive any longer in it?
(00:22):
Or do you not know that as manyof us as were baptized into
Christ, jesus were baptized intohis death?
Therefore, we were buried withhim through baptism into death,
that, just as Christ was raisedfrom the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we alsoshould walk in newness of life,
(00:42):
for if we have been unitedtogether in the likeness of his
death, certainly we also shallbe in the likeness of his
resurrection, knowing this thatour old man was crucified with
him, that the body of sin mightbe done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves ofsin, for he who has died has
been freed from sin.
(01:02):
Now, if we died with Christ, webelieve that we shall also live
with him, knowing that Christ,having been raised from the dead
, dies no more.
Death no longer has dominionover him, for the death that he
died, he died to sin once forall, but the life that he lives,
he lives to God.
Likewise, you also reckonyourselves to be dead, indeed to
(01:25):
sin, but alive to God, inChrist Jesus, our Lord.
Therefore, do not let sin reignin your mortal body, that you
should obey it in its lusts, anddo not present your members as
instruments of unrighteousnessto sin, but present yourselves
to God as being alive from thedead.
Dead and your members asinstruments of righteousness to
(01:47):
God, for sin shall not havedominion over you, for you are
not under law but under grace.
All right, your attention for amoment.
Paul ends chapter 5, if you werehere last week with the
statement that where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.
And what he said there inchapter 5 was that, no matter
(02:09):
what the level of our sin or thedepth of it, that God's grace
is greater still and he canforgive any of our sins.
But he anticipates Paulanticipates that this might lead
to a question or a thought thatwell then, paul, since you say
that where I sin, grace aboundseven more, I might as well go on
(02:31):
sinning, seeing as how there'splenty of grace, and even more,
to cover my sins.
That's why he opens chapter sixhere by saying what then Shall
we sin so that grace canincrease?
By no means, certainly not.
So he doesn't want people toabuse grace.
He wants us to understand gracein its proper sense and
definition and not to takeadvantage of grace and just keep
(02:54):
on sinning because, well,there's plenty of grace to go
around.
And so here in chapter 6, heshifts gears and he says because
I don't want it to come acrossthat you should just go ahead
and sin because there's plentyof grace I want you to
understand how to fight the sinbattle.
I want you to understand how toget victory over sin.
(03:18):
And that's where we're headingnow, today into chapter 6, and
in the following weeks intochapter 7 and 8.
But let's for the moment prayand then we'll dive into this
passage together.
Father God, thank you for thistime we can share together in
your house.
We pray, god, you would usethis passage to speak to our
hearts.
Thank you, lord, that you havegiven us your word, and I thank
(03:40):
you, lord, for every person hereand those watching online and
those who will later watch thisBible study.
We just pray that you wouldhelp us to understand how to
fight this battle, that theflesh is weak.
The spirit is willing and weneed to understand, lord, how we
can fight the battle that rageswithin, and so we need your
(04:05):
help today.
Use your word to encourage andchallenge us.
We ask these things in Jesus'name and everybody said amen.
Well, there was a man who prayedthis Lord.
So far today, I've done allright.
I haven't complained, I haven'tlost my temper, I haven't
(04:26):
lusted, I haven't been greedy,grumpy, nasty or selfish.
I'm very thankful for that.
And now I pray, lord, thatyou'll help me as I get out of
bed.
You ever felt like that, like,for a Christian, the best time
of your day is before you getout of bed.
And then, once you get out ofbed, it's like every temptation,
everything that can go wrong.
(04:47):
You're fighting a battle.
Dl Moody, the great evangelistof the 1800s.
He wrote this quote when I wasconverted.
I made this mistake.
I thought the battle wasalready mine, the victory
already won, the crown alreadyin my grasp.
I thought the old things hadpassed away, that all things had
(05:10):
become new and that my old,corrupt nature, the old life was
gone.
But I found out after servingChrist for a few months that
conversion was only likeenlisting in the army, that
there was a battle at hand, endquote.
And Moody was right there is abattle at hand.
(05:31):
Peter writes about it this wayin 1 Peter, 2.11.
He says Paul would also usesimilar language in 2
Corinthians, 10, 3, and 4.
He says for though we walk inthe flesh, we do not wage war
(05:54):
according to the flesh, for theweapons of our warfare are not
carnal, they're not natural,they're not physical, but they
are spiritual for the pullingdown of strongholds.
So in the Bible it helps us tounderstand that living the
Christian life will be a battle.
When you get saved, that is tosay when you put your faith and
(06:15):
trust in Jesus, your spirit isregenerated, but your flesh is
not.
One day, when our spirit leavesour body of flesh, that is when
we die and our spirit leavesand our body returns to dust.
And then in Christ we get aglorified body later.
But only then, when the spiritleaves the body, will we be free
(06:38):
from the fleshly desires.
So what happens is when onegets saved, comes into a
relationship with Jesus, yourspirit is regenerated, your body
is not.
And thus you have a conflictyou desire to do things to
please the Lord, but your bodywants to do things to please
yourself.
And here you are, halfregenerated your spirit wants to
(07:02):
God, your flesh wants to pleaseyourself.
And therein is the battle.
And Paul is basically going todescribe this here between
chapters 6, 7, and 8.
And because we are in a battle,we need to understand this as
Christians.
The question becomes why is itso hard?
Why is it that temptation is soreal and the battle is so
(07:24):
difficult?
How can we get victory over sin?
And Paul's going to talk aboutthis here, starting in chapter 6
.
Understand this.
He makes a pivot here inchapter 6.
First five chapters of the bookof Romans.
Paul writes about our positionin Christ.
First five chapters arepositional who we are in Christ.
(07:46):
Chapters 6, 7, and 8 arepractical how we are to live out
our lives for Christ.
First five chapters positional.
Chapters 6, 7, and 8 arepractical.
Paul in the first five chapterswhen he talks about our position
in Christ, he uses the wordjustified or justification, 14
(08:10):
times in the first five chapters.
It's a legal term We've definedit before that we have been
formally acquitted by Godwhereby he pronounces a sinner
to be righteous because of thesinner's faith in Christ.
(08:31):
So we stand guilty before God.
We're all guilty, but becauseof our faith and trust in Christ
, god acquits us and sees us asrighteous through his son, jesus
Christ.
And that's an easy way toremember, justified, because as
far as God is concerned, when hesees us in the righteousness of
(08:52):
his son, it's just as if I'dnever sinned, and he sees us in
that kind of a righteous way.
But he understands and knowsthat we still have this internal
struggle.
Our spirit wants to please God,our flesh wants to please
ourselves.
And so Paul in the first fivechapters establishes this fact
of who we are in Christ.
And then he said then he turnshere in chapter 6, 7, and 8, he
(09:14):
says now we've got to learn howto live our lives for Christ.
In the first five chaptersPaul's argument is we are dead
in sin, we're all dead in sin,all have sinned.
Chapter 6, 7, and 8, he says weare dead to sin.
We have to make a decision thatwe're not going to walk in the
(09:35):
ways of the old self.
Now, in the passage that Iopened up with you, and read
chapter 6, first 14 verseschapter 6, first 14 verses, paul
uses the words died, dead ordeath 15 times in the first 14
verses.
You might have noticed it as Iwas reading through it.
He talks a lot here about deathand dying and died.
(09:56):
And he's talking here herepeats the word often because
he's talking both about Christand how Christ died on a cross,
rose again, and he makes thisconnection between the death of
Christ and what Paul says herein chapter 6.
It's very profound and it issomewhat hard to grasp, but he
(10:19):
tells us that a miraculous thingoccurred when Christ died on
the cross.
A miraculous thing for all whotrust in Christ as their Lord
and Savior.
And what Paul says here is whenChrist died, we died too.
You say, wait, what that was?
2,000 years ago, when Christdied, we died too.
(10:40):
Can't make sense of that.
What he means here is the powerof our sin.
Nature died when Christ died.
It is a profound mystery.
It is a miraculous thing.
But grasp this when Christ diedon the cross 2,000 years ago,
what he did in the past takeseffect in the present whenever
(11:02):
anyone trusts him as Lord andSavior.
And thus, when Jesus died on across 2,000 years ago, on a day
you decide to trust Christ asyour Savior, what Paul says here
is you're a person that waspreviously just sinning against
God and disobeying God andliving for yourself.
That person got crucified withChrist and that person's dead
(11:26):
and we need to understand thisin order to have victory over
sin.
Because he says here in chapter6, look at it, I'll just read
it to you in black and whitehere, chapter 6, verses 5 and 6.
He says in verse 5, for if wehave been united together in the
likeness of his death,certainly we also shall be in
(11:47):
the likeness of his resurrection.
Verse 6, knowing this and itcould almost be a colon right
there Knowing this, that our oldman was crucified with him,
that the body of sin might bedone away with, that we should
no longer be slaves of sin.
Now I'm reading from the NewKing James Version and there, in
(12:11):
verse 6, paul says Our old manwas crucified with Christ.
Now, I know some of you refer toyour dad as old man.
Okay, you're like.
Well, the old man doesn'treally know what he's talking
about.
The old man in this verse isyou Okay?
Or the old woman is you?
In other words, when you cometo know Christ as your Savior,
(12:32):
there's a new you and the oldyou, as far as God is concerned,
is dead.
The old you was crucified withChrist in this miraculous moment
of when Christ died on thecross.
The old you was crucified.
You know, before you came toknow Christ, you were on the
throne of your life.
You were your own Lord.
(12:55):
You did what you wanted to do,you said what you wanted to say,
you went where you wanted to go, you dated who you wanted.
To date it was all about youbecause you was on the throne.
And then you get saved and yourealize you can't be on the
throne anymore.
There's only one person who canbe king in your life.
It's either going to be Jesusor it's going to be you.
And when you surrender yourlife to Jesus, you realize he's
(13:17):
Lord of my life.
Now I got to count that oldperson dead.
The old person that sinnedagainst God, that ran around,
that did what everybody wants todo, before you have any
conviction about right or wrong,because you're just living
however you want to live.
And then you come intorelationship with Christ and you
realize that's some sinfulstuff, and so you have to
(13:38):
realize the old person's dead.
Now, for those of you who areChristians and that's probably
the majority of you and you'rehere today and you're like wait
a minute, the old person of meis dead.
Why am I still struggling,right?
Have you ever thought that,like I'm supposed to be dead?
And yet I still struggle withsin every single day?
Why is that?
Here's why Because every timeyou willfully disobey God,
(14:07):
you're giving CPR to the old man.
That's what you're doing.
You're like, wait, the oldman's dead, yeah, but every time
you sin against God, it's likeyou're going.
That's what you're doing.
You're reviving the old man orthe old woman, and that old man
and that old woman wants todominate you.
Okay, because therein is thebattle.
Hey, my spirit's regenerated.
I want to please the Lord, yeah, but the old man, the old man's
(14:27):
supposed to be dead.
You keep giving CPR, and oxygentoo, because you like doing
what you like to do and itdoesn't please God.
And Paul says you want toreally live for the glory of the
Lord.
You're going to have to learnhow to see that old man, that
old woman, dead and stop givingCPR, because you need to be
living a new life in Christ.
You don't want to be missingout on what God has for you.
(14:49):
So don't give power to the oldman, don't try to revive the old
man.
Don't try to resuscitate theold woman.
Let them lie dead.
Let them be dead.
Now notice here in verse six.
I want to make this clear.
In verse six he says, knowingthis, that our old man was
crucified with him, that thebody of sin might be done away
(15:11):
with.
Now, if you have an ESV Bible,it says that your old self might
be brought to nothing.
It is a single word.
In the original Greek language,it's karageo.
Andatergeo means to renderuseless or inactive.
Why is this important?
Because the old you doesn't getannihilated.
(15:32):
The old you becomes powerless,rendered useless.
Katergeo is the word here.
So it means that we have torecognize the old man.
The old woman is renderedineffective, powerless because
of what Christ did on the cross.
Unless I give power to that oldman, unless I revive that old
(15:55):
woman, the old self, I need tosee the old self as dead.
And so Paul wants us to learnthat, in order to have victory
over sin, in the sin battle thatwe all have every single day,
we must understand a few things,and the first thing comes from
the first word of verse six Lookagain in your Bibles and circle
(16:17):
the word, knowing.
There are three imperativeswe're going to see that Paul
gives us.
If you really want to be ableto have victory over sin, the
first imperative he says inverse 6, is knowing this,
knowing this.
And then again, it's like colonthat you have been crucified
(16:38):
with Christ, you're dead.
So you have to know this, youhave to understand this, you
have to know this.
So for you, note takers, thisis point number one.
How do we get victory over sin?
Number one know and rely on thefact that on the day you
trusted Christ as your Savior,your old self died, that is, was
rendered powerless, when Christdied.
(16:58):
That something Christ did inthe past takes effect in the
present whenever we trust Him asLord and Savior.
We were crucified with Him.
That's just a fact.
And Paul says I want you toknow this.
It's going to go a long way tohelp you fight the sin battle.
Paul would say it this way inGalatians 2.20.
Just listen.
(17:19):
He says I have been crucifiedwith Christ.
He says it is no longer I wholive, but Christ who lives in me
, and the life which I now livein the flesh I live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me andgave himself for me.
So this has to be a dispositionof every Christian.
Paul says I've been crucifiedwith Christ, there in Galatians
(17:42):
2.
Here in Romans 6, he says youhave to know this.
The Greek word is gnosko.
You have to know, you have toget this as fact, because it's
important.
This is going to help you fightthe sin battle.
Now listen, please, everybody.
I want your attention becauseI'm going to give you a new
four-letter F word you are notto use.
(18:03):
All right, that you are not touse as a Christian as it relates
to your salvation.
A new four-letter F word.
Are you ready?
Feel.
Stop saying I feel this.
I feel that I feel this aboutmy life in Christ.
Feel this and I feel saved.
And sometimes I don't feelsaved and sometimes I feel like
I mess up and then I feel Badand then I should probably get
(18:25):
more in touch with my feelings.
No, you should get more intouch with Jesus and understand
the facts.
Stop relying on your feelings.
Stop relying on your feelings,can you?
Can you imagine if Jesus talkedabout feeling instead of
knowing?
There's a great verse in John 8,32.
Many of you are familiar withthis verse.
If he had said it this way,wouldn't it sound hilarious if
(18:48):
he had said and then you willfeel the truth, and the truth
will set you free.
Feel the truth, doesn't thatsound?
Oh, that sounds so happy,doesn't it so pleasant?
Let's feel the truth.
No, jesus said and then youwill know the truth, and the
truth will set you free.
What if Paul had done the samething, like substitute, in
(19:08):
different verses.
Feel for know, like Romans 8,28,.
That's a great verse, isn't it?
For you know, we know that allthings work together for good to
them that love God and arecalled according to His purpose.
What if he said well, we feelthat you know all things work
together.
We're good, it just feels thatway.
No, you got to know this, yougot to know this.
(19:30):
He calls us to knowledge.
2 Timothy 1.12,.
Paul says I am not ashamed, forI know whom I have believed and
I am persuaded that he is ableto guard that which I have
entrusted to him until the dayof Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 2.12,.
Now we have received not thespirit of this world, but the
spirit, who is from God, that wemight know the things that have
(19:51):
been freely given to us by God.
2 Corinthians 5.1,.
For we know that if our earthlyhouse that is, this tent, is
destroyed.
We have a building from God, ahouse not made with hands kept
in heaven for us 1 John, 2, 3,.
Now, by this, we know that weknow him if we obey his commands
(20:11):
.
All through the Bible, it'sabout know.
We have to know this.
I think it was Ben Shapiro whosaid facts, don't care about
your feelings.
All right, and it is true.
We got to get out of thismindset as Christians.
I feel this.
I feel that I feel this.
I feel that, like, don't waffle, know.
And this is the first thingthat Paul calls us to.
(20:31):
If we have victory over sin,it's because we know this in
verse 6.
We know this.
We have to know the facts.
And the fact is that when youput your faith in Christ and
trusted him as your Savior, aspiritual phenomenon took place
Not only were you saved, butyour old self was nailed to the
(20:53):
cross, and the power of the oldself was rendered useless on
that day.
Which brings us now to pointnumber two.
Look in your Bibles at verse 11.
Here's another imperative thathe gives us here, verse 11,
likewise, you also reckonyourselves to be dead in deed to
(21:13):
sin, but alive to God in ChristJesus, our Lord.
Now again, I'm reading from NewKing James.
So it says there in verse 11,reckon yourselves to be dead.
Now, paul doesn't mean that inthe way that people would say
that in Alabama.
You know, like I reckon weought to hunker down.
Looks like a storm's a-brewing.
(21:34):
You know it's not.
Reckon like I reckon it is.
In fact, niv translates it evenbetter from the original
language count yourselves.
Count yourselves dead to sin,but alive to God in Christ Jesus
.
The Greek word there islogizomai.
Logizomai is an accounting term.
(21:55):
It's an accounting term and itmeans to count, conclude, number
or take inventory.
So Paul is saying here listen,when you know that your old self
was nailed on the cross withChrist.
That's important.
It starts there.
You got to know this as a fact.
He says.
But then I want you to and heuses this accounting term.
(22:18):
I want you to add it up, I wantyou to calculate it.
It's number two and I want youto conclude that you are indeed
dead to sin, but alive in Christ.
Conclude this.
We have to get this mindset Now.
Here's why this is critical.
When you look all through theBible, and in particular it
(22:41):
started in the Garden of Eden,you will see this common pattern
God declares, then Satan denies, and we have to decide.
That's the way it works.
God declares to decide.
That's the way it works.
God declares, and then Satancomes along and he denies, and
(23:05):
then we have to decide who we'regoing to believe.
And when you look back at thetragic story of the Garden of
Eden, god declared he saidinitially to Adam by himself,
before even Eve was formed.
And God said you're free,you're free to eat from any of
these trees in the garden.
We talked a little bit aboutthis last week and God gave Adam
the gift of free will becausehe says you're free to eat from
(23:26):
any of these trees, but there'sone in the center of the garden,
the tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil.
You cannot eat of that tree,for in the day you eat of it,
you will surely die.
And God declared this likeyou're good and you're safe and
it will go well with you, justfollow this one instruction.
And Satan comes along and hedenies it and he says you know
(23:48):
God doesn't mean what he saysand he's holding back on you
guys.
And you know he knows, if youeat of the fruit you're going to
be wise like he is.
Your eyes are going to be open.
He's a killjoy.
Don't believe him.
And he denies what God declares.
And, unfortunately, adam and Evedecided to believe the lie
instead of the truth that Godhad declared, and it cost them
(24:09):
dearly and, by extension, we aresuffering for their decision,
for their decision, and we haveto decide, when we are following
Christ, that what God declaresis right and true and good.
And I'm going to decide, then,that my life is dead, the old
(24:29):
self, and I'm alive in Christ.
And I'm going to believe whatGod says and I'm not going to
entertain what Satan says,because Satan denies everything
that God declares.
And I got to decide that I'mgoing to believe what God says
and I'm not going to entertainwhat Satan says, because Satan
denies everything that Goddeclares.
And I got to decide that I'mgoing to trust what God says and
I'm going to live a new lifefor him.
Because Paul says here I wantyou to conclude this, I want you
(24:49):
to take inventory, I want youto add it up God has declared
that the power of the old selfis dead.
And we have to decide, then,that we're indeed dead to sin,
but alive in Christ.
We can't just know this, wehave to live it.
In fact, as much as Paul talksabout death in these chapters,
(25:12):
he also talks about life.
He uses the word live, or lifeor alive, eight times in these
14 verses.
Paul emphasizes that theChristian life is not only about
dying to the old self but it'sabout getting on with living,
living a new life in Christ.
And Paul even connects waterbaptism to help us understand
(25:36):
that we are to be dead to theold self and we're to live a new
life.
Because in verse 4, notice,back up in verse 4, he says
therefore we were buried withhim, with Christ, through
baptism into death that just asChrist was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, evenso we also should walk in
newness of life.
God wants us to walk in newnessof life and Paul says this is
(26:00):
what water baptism evensymbolizes, because when a
person is baptized in water andthey go under the water, they
are identifying with the deathand burial of Jesus.
And the person who's beingbaptized is in as much saying
I'm dead to that old person, mylife that I used to live before
Christ, I'm dying to that oldlife and you come up out of the
(26:22):
water and just as Christ rosefrom the dead, you are in as
much saying and I'm going tolive a new life for the glory of
God.
I'm going to walk in newness oflife because Christ is my
savior now and I want to pleasehim and I want to live a new
life for his glory.
And when you decide not only tocrucify the old self but to
live a life alive in Christfriends, you know this if you've
(26:46):
experienced this, you have newjoy, you have a new perspective,
you have new peace, you have anew comfort, you have a new
sense of confidence and securityand you have this sense of
being right with God andforgiven.
And it drastically changes youbecause of what Christ has done
(27:08):
for you.
And Paul says I want you toreckon this, I want you to
consider this, calculate this,see what God has done for you,
die to the old self and live anew life for the glory of God.
That's why Paul would say in 2Corinthians, 5, 17,.
Therefore, if anyone is inChrist, he's a new creation.
(27:29):
The old is gone.
Behold, all things are made new.
He's saying there's thisnewness of life that we have now
in Christ.
So know, that's the firstinstruction know that we are
dead to Christ.
We were crucified with him.
The old self, the old man, ispowerless.
(27:49):
Don't give life to the old manand then we have to live the new
life in Christ that he hasgiven to us.
And here's the last point.
If you look at verses 12 to 14,the last point of verse 12, he
says Therefore, do not let sinreign in your mortal body, like
don't give CPR to the old man,that you should obey its lusts,
(28:11):
and do not present your membersas instruments of
unrighteousness to sin, butpresent yourselves to God as
being alive from the dead andyour members as instruments of
righteousness to God, for sinshall not have dominion over you
, for you are not under law butunder grace.
I'm going to read verses 12 and13 from a different translation
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.
I'm going to read it again fromthe NLT.
Just listen to what it says inplain language.
Verse 12 going to read it againfrom the NLT.
Just listen to what it says inplain language.
Verse 12, do not let sin controlthe way you live.
Do not give in to sinfuldesires.
Do not let any part of yourbody become an instrument of
evil to serve sin.
Instead, give yourselvescompletely to God, for you were
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dead, but now you have new life.
So use your whole body as aninstrument to do what is right
for the glory of God.
Point number three, last point,is do not let sin dominate, but
instead dedicate yourself andevery part of your body
completely to God.
No-transcript as to what or whois going to be in charge.
(29:29):
What or who is going to be incharge?
Will sin reign or will thespirit of God reign in my life?
That's it.
That's just a decision.
Who's going to be in charge?
Now?
One of my one of myfavorite-time movies is Remember
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the Titans.
How many of you have seen thatmovie?
It's a good football movie.
For those of you who lovefootball, it's a true story
about TC Williams' footballprogram back, I think, in the
70s.
Tc Williams is not too far fromhere, in Alexandria.
The head football coach of TCWilliams was played by Denzel
Washington.
He was Coach Boone in the movie.
Williams was played by DenzelWashington.
(30:10):
He was Coach Boone in the movieand Coach Boone.
There's a scene where CoachBoone is a brand new coach for
the team and he's trying to getto know the players, and there's
racial tension too that he'strying to smooth out.
And there's this one starplayer of his that he's getting
to know and his name is GaryBertier.
And the team is loading up onthe bus to go to summer training
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camp and Gary's still standingoutside of the bus and Coach
Boone comes up to him and hegoes Gary, you have your parents
here.
And Gary says, well, my mom isover there.
And he points over in thedistance and Coach Boone looks
over at her, smiles and nods andhe says all right, gary, now
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when you get on that bus, yourmom isn't going with you.
You're not going to have yourmom on that bus, he says to him.
He says all you're going tohave on that bus are your
brothers, your teammates andyour daddy, gary, who's your
daddy?
That's what he says to him.
And Gary Bertier doesn't answerand he goes if you want to play
on my football team, you'regonna have to answer that
question, gary, look at me,who's your daddy?
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And he just says it a few timesuntil finally, sheepishly, like
Gary Bertier, looks up and hegoes you're my daddy.
He goes, that's right now.
Get on that bus.
Straighten up that tie.
Get on that bus.
The idea is who's going to be incharge.
It's going to be either you orit's going to be coach.
It's going to be either Jesus,right, or we're going to try to
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take charge of our lives and itwill not go well for us.
It's a duplicitous life tothink that I can be a follower
of Christ and me still be incharge of my life, living a
Christian life is a battle andthe battle is constant.
Don't give up the fight.
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I liken it unto this game.
You know, thank God, my kidsnow they're all three are grown
and I hope I never have to everstep into Chuck E Cheese again
and I hope I never have to everstep into Chuck E Cheese again.
It's just demons and pizza.
And if my grandkids want to gothere, we're like you know what.
We don't go there anymore andlet's go to Dunkin' Donuts
instead.
Much better, much better.
(32:25):
But there was this one game whenI had to take our kids and we
would take them to Chuck E ECheese.
There was this one game calledwhack-a-mole.
You know that game,whack-a-mole, love that game and
it would take out myfrustrations because, like, I
don't like being here, bam, bam,you know, like this is a dumb
place and that rat looks really,you know, sick and scary.
That rat would just walk aroundand scare kids.
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They need to get a new mascot.
I don't know when they'llfigure that out, but that
whack-a-mole is because theselittle prairie dogs stick their
heads up and you know, and justwhen you whack one, there's
another one that comes, whack,whack, whack, whack, whack, and
you're just constantly justtrying to knock the next prairie
dog.
And friends listen, in asimplistic way, that's the way
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the Christian life is.
Just when you think like I'veconquered that one sin, boom and
I'm doing better, and thenanother sin boom.
Oh no, I thought I had victory.
No, boom and boom.
That's the way your life'sgoing to be.
Get used to it until you die.
That's the way it's going to be.
Get used to it.
But see, the point is but don'tgive up the fight.
Don't be just like ah, there'sa bunch of prairie dogs, you
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know, I'm just going to let themtake over.
Don't let them take over.
You have to fight the goodfight of the faith.
You have to know.
Know the facts, don't go byyour feelings.
Know the facts.
When Christ died on the crossand you accept Christ as your
Savior, your old man, your oldwoman was crucified on that
cross with him.
So consider your life dead,reckon all that, count it all up
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, understand that you are a newperson in Christ and then walk
in newness of life, live a lifethat glorifies God.
And Paul says here and let metell you what is a good help to
motivate you to live a holy life.
He ends verse 14 by saying forwe are not under law but under
grace.
That's the last part of verse14.
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We are not under law but undergrace.
How is being under grace betterfor the sin battle than being
under law?
I tell you.
I'll tell you how.
Because the law is an externalmotivator by the rules.
Grace is an internal motivatorby the rules.
Grace is an internal motivatorby a relationship.
You see, we can all be goodChristians if we follow the
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rules.
But that's not a good motivatorand that won't really last long
.
What is a more enduringmotivator is when we understand
the grace of God and how much heloves us and the relationship
we have with Jesus.
His love and his grace motivateme to holy living.
I'll illustrate it this way andthen we'll close.
As a parent, if your child doessomething wrong and you say to
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that child don't do that.
And the child says why?
Because I said so and that'sthe rule and don't question me.
Okay, you might get compliance,but not very willingly.
It'll be begrudgingly.
However, if the same child doesthe same thing and you say,
don't do that, and they say why?
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And you say because I love youand I want what is best for you
and you're going to get hurt ifyou do that, they're more
motivated to do what is rightbecause of the relationship
versus the rules.
Now, let me just say that's nota very adequate illustration.
Always, sometimes, the rulesare necessary and just listen to
the rules and you know you maynot understand or comprehend,
(35:46):
but I'm just saying, generallyspeaking, when we lead with love
instead of laying down the law,leading with love always
creates a better response thanjust laying down the law.
You'll have a lot of resentfulpeople.
You know a lot of resentfulChristians.
Like you know, god's got allthese rules and these laws.
I guess I got to do this inorder to get to heaven.
Well, that's not the rightperspective.
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But if we understand how Godtalks to us, I love you, I want
what is best for you and this iswhy I say don't do some things
because it could hurt you, butdo these other things because
it'll bless you.
And we hear that tone of ourfather that motivates us to holy
living.
I pray you'd hear that voice ofyour father because he loves
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you and he wants what is bestfor you and he wants to spare
you heartache for the thingsthat'll hurt you.
So together can we pray and askthe Lord help me, lord, in my
daily battles to serve and honoryou and to die to self In
Jesus' name.
Amen.
Father, we commit this toprayer.
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Now.
We ask you, lord, to help us inour battle, the battle against
sin.
The old man, the old womanwants to dominate, wants to take
over, but that old self died onthe cross with you 2,000 years
ago.
Cross with you 2,000 years ago.
(37:14):
Help us, lord, not to revivethat old self, but help us to
die to self and to live for you.
But we admit we can't do it inour own strength.
Lord, we have this internalbattle.
Our spirit wants to please you,our flesh wants to please
ourselves, and so we cry out foryour help.
More grace, lord, more power,more strength of your spirit
this is our heart's cry.
We want to please you, we wantto honor you, but our flesh
(37:36):
wants to go in another direction.
So we ask you, lord, would youplease hear our prayer?
I'm sure there's a lot of peoplehere here in this Bible study
and they're struggling day inand day out to walk in a way
that honors you.
But, lord, you are our helperand you are our father, and a
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father helps his kids becauseyou lead with love instead of
just laying down the law.
So thank you, lord, for beingour loving father.
We ask for you to continue tostrengthen us and help us and
forgive us when we fail, becausewe want to please you, we want
to honor you and this is ourprayer, lord.
(38:20):
We ask for your help and yourstrength by your Spirit, In
Jesus' name, and all God'speople said amen and amen.
God bless you all.
Romans, chapter 6 is where we're going to be today
.
If you have your Bibles therenow, I'm going to read the first
14 verses from Romans, chapter6, starting at verse 1.
Paul writes what shall we saythen?
Shall we continue in sin?
That grace may abound?
Certainly not.
How shall we who died to sinlive any longer in it?
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Or do you not know that as manyof us as were baptized into
Christ, jesus were baptized intohis death?
Therefore, we were buried withhim through baptism into death,
that, just as Christ was raisedfrom the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we alsoshould walk in newness of life,
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for if we have been unitedtogether in the likeness of his
death, certainly we also shallbe in the likeness of his
resurrection, knowing this thatour old man was crucified with
him, that the body of sin mightbe done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves ofsin, for he who has died has
been freed from sin.
(01:02):
Now, if we died with Christ, webelieve that we shall also live
with him, knowing that Christ,having been raised from the dead
, dies no more.
Death no longer has dominionover him, for the death that he
died, he died to sin once forall, but the life that he lives,
he lives to God.
Likewise, you also reckonyourselves to be dead, indeed to
(01:25):
sin, but alive to God, inChrist Jesus, our Lord.
Therefore, do not let sin reignin your mortal body, that you
should obey it in its lusts, anddo not present your members as
instruments of unrighteousnessto sin, but present yourselves
to God as being alive from thedead.
Dead and your members asinstruments of righteousness to
(01:47):
God, for sin shall not havedominion over you, for you are
not under law but under grace.
All right, your attention for amoment.
Paul ends chapter 5, if you werehere last week with the
statement that where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.
And what he said there inchapter 5 was that, no matter
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what the level of our sin or thedepth of it, that God's grace
is greater still and he canforgive any of our sins.
But he anticipates Paulanticipates that this might lead
to a question or a thought thatwell then, paul, since you say
that where I sin, grace aboundseven more, I might as well go on
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sinning, seeing as how there'splenty of grace, and even more,
to cover my sins.
That's why he opens chapter sixhere by saying what then Shall
we sin so that grace canincrease?
By no means, certainly not.
So he doesn't want people toabuse grace.
He wants us to understand gracein its proper sense and
definition and not to takeadvantage of grace and just keep
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on sinning because, well,there's plenty of grace to go
around.
And so here in chapter 6, heshifts gears and he says because
I don't want it to come acrossthat you should just go ahead
and sin because there's plentyof grace I want you to
understand how to fight the sinbattle.
I want you to understand how toget victory over sin.
(03:18):
And that's where we're headingnow, today into chapter 6, and
in the following weeks intochapter 7 and 8.
But let's for the moment prayand then we'll dive into this
passage together.
Father God, thank you for thistime we can share together in
your house.
We pray, god, you would usethis passage to speak to our
hearts.
Thank you, lord, that you havegiven us your word, and I thank
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you, lord, for every person hereand those watching online and
those who will later watch thisBible study.
We just pray that you wouldhelp us to understand how to
fight this battle, that theflesh is weak.
The spirit is willing and weneed to understand, lord, how we
can fight the battle that rageswithin, and so we need your
(04:05):
help today.
Use your word to encourage andchallenge us.
We ask these things in Jesus'name and everybody said amen.
Well, there was a man who prayedthis Lord.
So far today, I've done allright.
I haven't complained, I haven'tlost my temper, I haven't
(04:26):
lusted, I haven't been greedy,grumpy, nasty or selfish.
I'm very thankful for that.
And now I pray, lord, thatyou'll help me as I get out of
bed.
You ever felt like that, like,for a Christian, the best time
of your day is before you getout of bed.
And then, once you get out ofbed, it's like every temptation,
everything that can go wrong.
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You're fighting a battle.
Dl Moody, the great evangelistof the 1800s.
He wrote this quote when I wasconverted.
I made this mistake.
I thought the battle wasalready mine, the victory
already won, the crown alreadyin my grasp.
I thought the old things hadpassed away, that all things had
(05:10):
become new and that my old,corrupt nature, the old life was
gone.
But I found out after servingChrist for a few months that
conversion was only likeenlisting in the army, that
there was a battle at hand, endquote.
And Moody was right there is abattle at hand.
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Peter writes about it this wayin 1 Peter, 2.11.
He says Paul would also usesimilar language in 2
Corinthians, 10, 3, and 4.
He says for though we walk inthe flesh, we do not wage war
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according to the flesh, for theweapons of our warfare are not
carnal, they're not natural,they're not physical, but they
are spiritual for the pullingdown of strongholds.
So in the Bible it helps us tounderstand that living the
Christian life will be a battle.
When you get saved, that is tosay when you put your faith and
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trust in Jesus, your spirit isregenerated, but your flesh is
not.
One day, when our spirit leavesour body of flesh, that is when
we die and our spirit leavesand our body returns to dust.
And then in Christ we get aglorified body later.
But only then, when the spiritleaves the body, will we be free
(06:38):
from the fleshly desires.
So what happens is when onegets saved, comes into a
relationship with Jesus, yourspirit is regenerated, your body
is not.
And thus you have a conflictyou desire to do things to
please the Lord, but your bodywants to do things to please
yourself.
And here you are, halfregenerated your spirit wants to
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God, your flesh wants to pleaseyourself.
And therein is the battle.
And Paul is basically going todescribe this here between
chapters 6, 7, and 8.
And because we are in a battle,we need to understand this as
Christians.
The question becomes why is itso hard?
Why is it that temptation is soreal and the battle is so
(07:24):
difficult?
How can we get victory over sin?
And Paul's going to talk aboutthis here, starting in chapter 6
.
Understand this.
He makes a pivot here inchapter 6.
First five chapters of the bookof Romans.
Paul writes about our positionin Christ.
First five chapters arepositional who we are in Christ.
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Chapters 6, 7, and 8 arepractical how we are to live out
our lives for Christ.
First five chapters positional.
Chapters 6, 7, and 8 arepractical.
Paul in the first five chapterswhen he talks about our position
in Christ, he uses the wordjustified or justification, 14
(08:10):
times in the first five chapters.
It's a legal term We've definedit before that we have been
formally acquitted by Godwhereby he pronounces a sinner
to be righteous because of thesinner's faith in Christ.
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So we stand guilty before God.
We're all guilty, but becauseof our faith and trust in Christ
, god acquits us and sees us asrighteous through his son, jesus
Christ.
And that's an easy way toremember, justified, because as
far as God is concerned, when hesees us in the righteousness of
(08:52):
his son, it's just as if I'dnever sinned, and he sees us in
that kind of a righteous way.
But he understands and knowsthat we still have this internal
struggle.
Our spirit wants to please God,our flesh wants to please
ourselves.
And so Paul in the first fivechapters establishes this fact
of who we are in Christ.
And then he said then he turnshere in chapter 6, 7, and 8, he
(09:14):
says now we've got to learn howto live our lives for Christ.
In the first five chaptersPaul's argument is we are dead
in sin, we're all dead in sin,all have sinned.
Chapter 6, 7, and 8, he says weare dead to sin.
We have to make a decision thatwe're not going to walk in the
(09:35):
ways of the old self.
Now, in the passage that Iopened up with you, and read
chapter 6, first 14 verseschapter 6, first 14 verses, paul
uses the words died, dead ordeath 15 times in the first 14
verses.
You might have noticed it as Iwas reading through it.
He talks a lot here about deathand dying and died.
(09:56):
And he's talking here herepeats the word often because
he's talking both about Christand how Christ died on a cross,
rose again, and he makes thisconnection between the death of
Christ and what Paul says herein chapter 6.
It's very profound and it issomewhat hard to grasp, but he
(10:19):
tells us that a miraculous thingoccurred when Christ died on
the cross.
A miraculous thing for all whotrust in Christ as their Lord
and Savior.
And what Paul says here is whenChrist died, we died too.
You say, wait, what that was?
2,000 years ago, when Christdied, we died too.
(10:40):
Can't make sense of that.
What he means here is the powerof our sin.
Nature died when Christ died.
It is a profound mystery.
It is a miraculous thing.
But grasp this when Christ diedon the cross 2,000 years ago,
what he did in the past takeseffect in the present whenever
(11:02):
anyone trusts him as Lord andSavior.
And thus, when Jesus died on across 2,000 years ago, on a day
you decide to trust Christ asyour Savior, what Paul says here
is you're a person that waspreviously just sinning against
God and disobeying God andliving for yourself.
That person got crucified withChrist and that person's dead
(11:26):
and we need to understand thisin order to have victory over
sin.
Because he says here in chapter6, look at it, I'll just read
it to you in black and whitehere, chapter 6, verses 5 and 6.
He says in verse 5, for if wehave been united together in the
likeness of his death,certainly we also shall be in
(11:47):
the likeness of his resurrection.
Verse 6, knowing this and itcould almost be a colon right
there Knowing this, that our oldman was crucified with him,
that the body of sin might bedone away with, that we should
no longer be slaves of sin.
Now I'm reading from the NewKing James Version and there, in
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verse 6, paul says Our old manwas crucified with Christ.
Now, I know some of you refer toyour dad as old man.
Okay, you're like.
Well, the old man doesn'treally know what he's talking
about.
The old man in this verse isyou Okay?
Or the old woman is you?
In other words, when you cometo know Christ as your Savior,
(12:32):
there's a new you and the oldyou, as far as God is concerned,
is dead.
The old you was crucified withChrist in this miraculous moment
of when Christ died on thecross.
The old you was crucified.
You know, before you came toknow Christ, you were on the
throne of your life.
You were your own Lord.
(12:55):
You did what you wanted to do,you said what you wanted to say,
you went where you wanted to go, you dated who you wanted.
To date it was all about youbecause you was on the throne.
And then you get saved and yourealize you can't be on the
throne anymore.
There's only one person who canbe king in your life.
It's either going to be Jesusor it's going to be you.
And when you surrender yourlife to Jesus, you realize he's
(13:17):
Lord of my life.
Now I got to count that oldperson dead.
The old person that sinnedagainst God, that ran around,
that did what everybody wants todo, before you have any
conviction about right or wrong,because you're just living
however you want to live.
And then you come intorelationship with Christ and you
realize that's some sinfulstuff, and so you have to
(13:38):
realize the old person's dead.
Now, for those of you who areChristians and that's probably
the majority of you and you'rehere today and you're like wait
a minute, the old person of meis dead.
Why am I still struggling,right?
Have you ever thought that,like I'm supposed to be dead?
And yet I still struggle withsin every single day?
Why is that?
Here's why Because every timeyou willfully disobey God,
(14:07):
you're giving CPR to the old man.
That's what you're doing.
You're like, wait, the oldman's dead, yeah, but every time
you sin against God, it's likeyou're going.
That's what you're doing.
You're reviving the old man orthe old woman, and that old man
and that old woman wants todominate you.
Okay, because therein is thebattle.
Hey, my spirit's regenerated.
I want to please the Lord, yeah, but the old man, the old man's
(14:27):
supposed to be dead.
You keep giving CPR, and oxygentoo, because you like doing
what you like to do and itdoesn't please God.
And Paul says you want toreally live for the glory of the
Lord.
You're going to have to learnhow to see that old man, that
old woman, dead and stop givingCPR, because you need to be
living a new life in Christ.
You don't want to be missingout on what God has for you.
(14:49):
So don't give power to the oldman, don't try to revive the old
man.
Don't try to resuscitate theold woman.
Let them lie dead.
Let them be dead.
Now notice here in verse six.
I want to make this clear.
In verse six he says, knowingthis, that our old man was
crucified with him, that thebody of sin might be done away
(15:11):
with.
Now, if you have an ESV Bible,it says that your old self might
be brought to nothing.
It is a single word.
In the original Greek language,it's karageo.
Andatergeo means to renderuseless or inactive.
Why is this important?
Because the old you doesn't getannihilated.
(15:32):
The old you becomes powerless,rendered useless.
Katergeo is the word here.
So it means that we have torecognize the old man.
The old woman is renderedineffective, powerless because
of what Christ did on the cross.
Unless I give power to that oldman, unless I revive that old
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woman, the old self, I need tosee the old self as dead.
And so Paul wants us to learnthat, in order to have victory
over sin, in the sin battle thatwe all have every single day,
we must understand a few things,and the first thing comes from
the first word of verse six Lookagain in your Bibles and circle
(16:17):
the word, knowing.
There are three imperativeswe're going to see that Paul
gives us.
If you really want to be ableto have victory over sin, the
first imperative he says inverse 6, is knowing this,
knowing this.
And then again, it's like colonthat you have been crucified
(16:38):
with Christ, you're dead.
So you have to know this, youhave to understand this, you
have to know this.
So for you, note takers, thisis point number one.
How do we get victory over sin?
Number one know and rely on thefact that on the day you
trusted Christ as your Savior,your old self died, that is, was
rendered powerless, when Christdied.
(16:58):
That something Christ did inthe past takes effect in the
present whenever we trust Him asLord and Savior.
We were crucified with Him.
That's just a fact.
And Paul says I want you toknow this.
It's going to go a long way tohelp you fight the sin battle.
Paul would say it this way inGalatians 2.20.
Just listen.
(17:19):
He says I have been crucifiedwith Christ.
He says it is no longer I wholive, but Christ who lives in me
, and the life which I now livein the flesh I live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me andgave himself for me.
So this has to be a dispositionof every Christian.
Paul says I've been crucifiedwith Christ, there in Galatians
(17:42):
2.
Here in Romans 6, he says youhave to know this.
The Greek word is gnosko.
You have to know, you have toget this as fact, because it's
important.
This is going to help you fightthe sin battle.
Now listen, please, everybody.
I want your attention becauseI'm going to give you a new
four-letter F word you are notto use.
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All right, that you are not touse as a Christian as it relates
to your salvation.
A new four-letter F word.
Are you ready?
Feel.
Stop saying I feel this.
I feel that I feel this aboutmy life in Christ.
Feel this and I feel saved.
And sometimes I don't feelsaved and sometimes I feel like
I mess up and then I feel Badand then I should probably get
(18:25):
more in touch with my feelings.
No, you should get more intouch with Jesus and understand
the facts.
Stop relying on your feelings.
Stop relying on your feelings,can you?
Can you imagine if Jesus talkedabout feeling instead of
knowing?
There's a great verse in John 8,32.
Many of you are familiar withthis verse.
If he had said it this way,wouldn't it sound hilarious if
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he had said and then you willfeel the truth, and the truth
will set you free.
Feel the truth, doesn't thatsound?
Oh, that sounds so happy,doesn't it so pleasant?
Let's feel the truth.
No, jesus said and then youwill know the truth, and the
truth will set you free.
What if Paul had done the samething, like substitute, in
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different verses.
Feel for know, like Romans 8,28,.
That's a great verse, isn't it?
For you know, we know that allthings work together for good to
them that love God and arecalled according to His purpose.
What if he said well, we feelthat you know all things work
together.
We're good, it just feels thatway.
No, you got to know this, yougot to know this.
(19:30):
He calls us to knowledge.
2 Timothy 1.12,.
Paul says I am not ashamed, forI know whom I have believed and
I am persuaded that he is ableto guard that which I have
entrusted to him until the dayof Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 2.12,.
Now we have received not thespirit of this world, but the
spirit, who is from God, that wemight know the things that have
(19:51):
been freely given to us by God.
2 Corinthians 5.1,.
For we know that if our earthlyhouse that is, this tent, is
destroyed.
We have a building from God, ahouse not made with hands kept
in heaven for us 1 John, 2, 3,.
Now, by this, we know that weknow him if we obey his commands
(20:11):
.
All through the Bible, it'sabout know.
We have to know this.
I think it was Ben Shapiro whosaid facts, don't care about
your feelings.
All right, and it is true.
We got to get out of thismindset as Christians.
I feel this.
I feel that I feel this.
I feel that, like, don't waffle, know.
And this is the first thingthat Paul calls us to.
(20:31):
If we have victory over sin,it's because we know this in
verse 6.
We know this.
We have to know the facts.
And the fact is that when youput your faith in Christ and
trusted him as your Savior, aspiritual phenomenon took place
Not only were you saved, butyour old self was nailed to the
(20:53):
cross, and the power of the oldself was rendered useless on
that day.
Which brings us now to pointnumber two.
Look in your Bibles at verse 11.
Here's another imperative thathe gives us here, verse 11,
likewise, you also reckonyourselves to be dead in deed to
(21:13):
sin, but alive to God in ChristJesus, our Lord.
Now again, I'm reading from NewKing James.
So it says there in verse 11,reckon yourselves to be dead.
Now, paul doesn't mean that inthe way that people would say
that in Alabama.
You know, like I reckon weought to hunker down.
Looks like a storm's a-brewing.
(21:34):
You know it's not.
Reckon like I reckon it is.
In fact, niv translates it evenbetter from the original
language count yourselves.
Count yourselves dead to sin,but alive to God in Christ Jesus
.
The Greek word there islogizomai.
Logizomai is an accounting term.
(21:55):
It's an accounting term and itmeans to count, conclude, number
or take inventory.
So Paul is saying here listen,when you know that your old self
was nailed on the cross withChrist.
That's important.
It starts there.
You got to know this as a fact.
He says.
But then I want you to and heuses this accounting term.
(22:18):
I want you to add it up, I wantyou to calculate it.
It's number two and I want youto conclude that you are indeed
dead to sin, but alive in Christ.
Conclude this.
We have to get this mindset Now.
Here's why this is critical.
When you look all through theBible, and in particular it
(22:41):
started in the Garden of Eden,you will see this common pattern
God declares, then Satan denies, and we have to decide.
That's the way it works.
God declares to decide.
That's the way it works.
God declares, and then Satancomes along and he denies, and
(23:05):
then we have to decide who we'regoing to believe.
And when you look back at thetragic story of the Garden of
Eden, god declared he saidinitially to Adam by himself,
before even Eve was formed.
And God said you're free,you're free to eat from any of
these trees in the garden.
We talked a little bit aboutthis last week and God gave Adam
the gift of free will becausehe says you're free to eat from
(23:26):
any of these trees, but there'sone in the center of the garden,
the tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil.
You cannot eat of that tree,for in the day you eat of it,
you will surely die.
And God declared this likeyou're good and you're safe and
it will go well with you, justfollow this one instruction.
And Satan comes along and hedenies it and he says you know
(23:48):
God doesn't mean what he saysand he's holding back on you
guys.
And you know he knows, if youeat of the fruit you're going to
be wise like he is.
Your eyes are going to be open.
He's a killjoy.
Don't believe him.
And he denies what God declares.
And, unfortunately, adam and Evedecided to believe the lie
instead of the truth that Godhad declared, and it cost them
(24:09):
dearly and, by extension, we aresuffering for their decision,
for their decision, and we haveto decide, when we are following
Christ, that what God declaresis right and true and good.
And I'm going to decide, then,that my life is dead, the old
(24:29):
self, and I'm alive in Christ.
And I'm going to believe whatGod says and I'm not going to
entertain what Satan says,because Satan denies everything
that God declares.
And I got to decide that I'mgoing to believe what God says
and I'm not going to entertainwhat Satan says, because Satan
denies everything that Goddeclares.
And I got to decide that I'mgoing to trust what God says and
I'm going to live a new lifefor him.
Because Paul says here I wantyou to conclude this, I want you
(24:49):
to take inventory, I want youto add it up God has declared
that the power of the old selfis dead.
And we have to decide, then,that we're indeed dead to sin,
but alive in Christ.
We can't just know this, wehave to live it.
In fact, as much as Paul talksabout death in these chapters,
(25:12):
he also talks about life.
He uses the word live, or lifeor alive, eight times in these
14 verses.
Paul emphasizes that theChristian life is not only about
dying to the old self but it'sabout getting on with living,
living a new life in Christ.
And Paul even connects waterbaptism to help us understand
(25:36):
that we are to be dead to theold self and we're to live a new
life.
Because in verse 4, notice,back up in verse 4, he says
therefore we were buried withhim, with Christ, through
baptism into death that just asChrist was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, evenso we also should walk in
newness of life.
God wants us to walk in newnessof life and Paul says this is
(26:00):
what water baptism evensymbolizes, because when a
person is baptized in water andthey go under the water, they
are identifying with the deathand burial of Jesus.
And the person who's beingbaptized is in as much saying
I'm dead to that old person, mylife that I used to live before
Christ, I'm dying to that oldlife and you come up out of the
(26:22):
water and just as Christ rosefrom the dead, you are in as
much saying and I'm going tolive a new life for the glory of
God.
I'm going to walk in newness oflife because Christ is my
savior now and I want to pleasehim and I want to live a new
life for his glory.
And when you decide not only tocrucify the old self but to
live a life alive in Christfriends, you know this if you've
(26:46):
experienced this, you have newjoy, you have a new perspective,
you have new peace, you have anew comfort, you have a new
sense of confidence and securityand you have this sense of
being right with God andforgiven.
And it drastically changes youbecause of what Christ has done
(27:08):
for you.
And Paul says I want you toreckon this, I want you to
consider this, calculate this,see what God has done for you,
die to the old self and live anew life for the glory of God.
That's why Paul would say in 2Corinthians, 5, 17,.
Therefore, if anyone is inChrist, he's a new creation.
(27:29):
The old is gone.
Behold, all things are made new.
He's saying there's thisnewness of life that we have now
in Christ.
So know, that's the firstinstruction know that we are
dead to Christ.
We were crucified with him.
The old self, the old man, ispowerless.
(27:49):
Don't give life to the old manand then we have to live the new
life in Christ that he hasgiven to us.
And here's the last point.
If you look at verses 12 to 14,the last point of verse 12, he
says Therefore, do not let sinreign in your mortal body, like
don't give CPR to the old man,that you should obey its lusts,
(28:11):
and do not present your membersas instruments of
unrighteousness to sin, butpresent yourselves to God as
being alive from the dead andyour members as instruments of
righteousness to God, for sinshall not have dominion over you
, for you are not under law butunder grace.
I'm going to read verses 12 and13 from a different translation
(28:33):
.
I'm going to read it again fromthe NLT.
Just listen to what it says inplain language.
Verse 12 going to read it againfrom the NLT.
Just listen to what it says inplain language.
Verse 12, do not let sin controlthe way you live.
Do not give in to sinfuldesires.
Do not let any part of yourbody become an instrument of
evil to serve sin.
Instead, give yourselvescompletely to God, for you were
(28:57):
dead, but now you have new life.
So use your whole body as aninstrument to do what is right
for the glory of God.
Point number three, last point,is do not let sin dominate, but
instead dedicate yourself andevery part of your body
completely to God.
No-transcript as to what or whois going to be in charge.
(29:29):
What or who is going to be incharge?
Will sin reign or will thespirit of God reign in my life?
That's it.
That's just a decision.
Who's going to be in charge?
Now?
One of my one of myfavorite-time movies is Remember
(29:49):
the Titans.
How many of you have seen thatmovie?
It's a good football movie.
For those of you who lovefootball, it's a true story
about TC Williams' footballprogram back, I think, in the
70s.
Tc Williams is not too far fromhere, in Alexandria.
The head football coach of TCWilliams was played by Denzel
Washington.
He was Coach Boone in the movie.
Williams was played by DenzelWashington.
(30:10):
He was Coach Boone in the movieand Coach Boone.
There's a scene where CoachBoone is a brand new coach for
the team and he's trying to getto know the players, and there's
racial tension too that he'strying to smooth out.
And there's this one starplayer of his that he's getting
to know and his name is GaryBertier.
And the team is loading up onthe bus to go to summer training
(30:32):
camp and Gary's still standingoutside of the bus and Coach
Boone comes up to him and hegoes Gary, you have your parents
here.
And Gary says, well, my mom isover there.
And he points over in thedistance and Coach Boone looks
over at her, smiles and nods andhe says all right, gary, now
(30:54):
when you get on that bus, yourmom isn't going with you.
You're not going to have yourmom on that bus, he says to him.
He says all you're going tohave on that bus are your
brothers, your teammates andyour daddy, gary, who's your
daddy?
That's what he says to him.
And Gary Bertier doesn't answerand he goes if you want to play
on my football team, you'regonna have to answer that
question, gary, look at me,who's your daddy?
(31:16):
And he just says it a few timesuntil finally, sheepishly, like
Gary Bertier, looks up and hegoes you're my daddy.
He goes, that's right now.
Get on that bus.
Straighten up that tie.
Get on that bus.
The idea is who's going to be incharge.
It's going to be either you orit's going to be coach.
It's going to be either Jesus,right, or we're going to try to
(31:37):
take charge of our lives and itwill not go well for us.
It's a duplicitous life tothink that I can be a follower
of Christ and me still be incharge of my life, living a
Christian life is a battle andthe battle is constant.
Don't give up the fight.
(32:03):
I liken it unto this game.
You know, thank God, my kidsnow they're all three are grown
and I hope I never have to everstep into Chuck E Cheese again
and I hope I never have to everstep into Chuck E Cheese again.
It's just demons and pizza.
And if my grandkids want to gothere, we're like you know what.
We don't go there anymore andlet's go to Dunkin' Donuts
instead.
Much better, much better.
(32:25):
But there was this one game whenI had to take our kids and we
would take them to Chuck E ECheese.
There was this one game calledwhack-a-mole.
You know that game,whack-a-mole, love that game and
it would take out myfrustrations because, like, I
don't like being here, bam, bam,you know, like this is a dumb
place and that rat looks really,you know, sick and scary.
That rat would just walk aroundand scare kids.
(32:47):
They need to get a new mascot.
I don't know when they'llfigure that out, but that
whack-a-mole is because theselittle prairie dogs stick their
heads up and you know, and justwhen you whack one, there's
another one that comes, whack,whack, whack, whack, whack, and
you're just constantly justtrying to knock the next prairie
dog.
And friends listen, in asimplistic way, that's the way
(33:07):
the Christian life is.
Just when you think like I'veconquered that one sin, boom and
I'm doing better, and thenanother sin boom.
Oh no, I thought I had victory.
No, boom and boom.
That's the way your life'sgoing to be.
Get used to it until you die.
That's the way it's going to be.
Get used to it.
But see, the point is but don'tgive up the fight.
Don't be just like ah, there'sa bunch of prairie dogs, you
(33:29):
know, I'm just going to let themtake over.
Don't let them take over.
You have to fight the goodfight of the faith.
You have to know.
Know the facts, don't go byyour feelings.
Know the facts.
When Christ died on the crossand you accept Christ as your
Savior, your old man, your oldwoman was crucified on that
cross with him.
So consider your life dead,reckon all that, count it all up
(33:52):
, understand that you are a newperson in Christ and then walk
in newness of life, live a lifethat glorifies God.
And Paul says here and let metell you what is a good help to
motivate you to live a holy life.
He ends verse 14 by saying forwe are not under law but under
grace.
That's the last part of verse14.
(34:14):
We are not under law but undergrace.
How is being under grace betterfor the sin battle than being
under law?
I tell you.
I'll tell you how.
Because the law is an externalmotivator by the rules.
Grace is an internal motivatorby the rules.
Grace is an internal motivatorby a relationship.
You see, we can all be goodChristians if we follow the
(34:38):
rules.
But that's not a good motivatorand that won't really last long
.
What is a more enduringmotivator is when we understand
the grace of God and how much heloves us and the relationship
we have with Jesus.
His love and his grace motivateme to holy living.
I'll illustrate it this way andthen we'll close.
As a parent, if your child doessomething wrong and you say to
(35:04):
that child don't do that.
And the child says why?
Because I said so and that'sthe rule and don't question me.
Okay, you might get compliance,but not very willingly.
It'll be begrudgingly.
However, if the same child doesthe same thing and you say,
don't do that, and they say why?
(35:25):
And you say because I love youand I want what is best for you
and you're going to get hurt ifyou do that, they're more
motivated to do what is rightbecause of the relationship
versus the rules.
Now, let me just say that's nota very adequate illustration.
Always, sometimes, the rulesare necessary and just listen to
the rules and you know you maynot understand or comprehend,
(35:46):
but I'm just saying, generallyspeaking, when we lead with love
instead of laying down the law,leading with love always
creates a better response thanjust laying down the law.
You'll have a lot of resentfulpeople.
You know a lot of resentfulChristians.
Like you know, god's got allthese rules and these laws.
I guess I got to do this inorder to get to heaven.
Well, that's not the rightperspective.
(36:07):
But if we understand how Godtalks to us, I love you, I want
what is best for you and this iswhy I say don't do some things
because it could hurt you, butdo these other things because
it'll bless you.
And we hear that tone of ourfather that motivates us to holy
living.
I pray you'd hear that voice ofyour father because he loves
(36:29):
you and he wants what is bestfor you and he wants to spare
you heartache for the thingsthat'll hurt you.
So together can we pray and askthe Lord help me, lord, in my
daily battles to serve and honoryou and to die to self In
Jesus' name.
Amen.
Father, we commit this toprayer.
(36:52):
Now.
We ask you, lord, to help us inour battle, the battle against
sin.
The old man, the old womanwants to dominate, wants to take
over, but that old self died onthe cross with you 2,000 years
ago.
Cross with you 2,000 years ago.
(37:14):
Help us, lord, not to revivethat old self, but help us to
die to self and to live for you.
But we admit we can't do it inour own strength.
Lord, we have this internalbattle.
Our spirit wants to please you,our flesh wants to please
ourselves, and so we cry out foryour help.
More grace, lord, more power,more strength of your spirit
this is our heart's cry.
We want to please you, we wantto honor you, but our flesh
(37:36):
wants to go in another direction.
So we ask you, lord, would youplease hear our prayer?
I'm sure there's a lot of peoplehere here in this Bible study
and they're struggling day inand day out to walk in a way
that honors you.
But, lord, you are our helperand you are our father, and a
(37:57):
father helps his kids becauseyou lead with love instead of
just laying down the law.
So thank you, lord, for beingour loving father.
We ask for you to continue tostrengthen us and help us and
forgive us when we fail, becausewe want to please you, we want
to honor you and this is ourprayer, lord.
(38:20):
We ask for your help and yourstrength by your Spirit, In
Jesus' name, and all God'speople said amen and amen.
God bless you all.
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