All right, let's look at Romans
6. We've been going through this.
This is such a fundamental and I guess basic truth that to me
brings us to understand the whole realm of salvation. Salvation
which is of the Lord. Because it speaks of the holiness
of God the justice of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God,
in light of the sinfulness and the depravity of all people by
nature, all of us by nature, and the only way of salvation
that God has freely and fully provided for his people. And
I open this up in verse 17. What does it take to save sinners
from their sins? Now, one of the things I believe
that people today are grasping when it comes to, when they think
of salvation. When they think of save, they
think of something they did where, usually in your youth, when you
were at a so-called revival meeting, And some preacher was standing
down in front. Y'all been there, haven't you?
They stand down in front and you hear, he said, the organist
keeps on playing, every head bowed, every eye closed, all
that. And then they tug upon your emotional
heart strings to get you to walk an aisle and accept Jesus as
your personal savior. And that's what they call salvation.
Now, the problem with that is this, it's not biblical. You
don't see that in the Bible anywhere. That's a modern method of evangelism,
they call it. It's not really evangelism. Evangelism,
you know, means the good news, spreading the good news. When
I ask this question, what does it take to save sinners from
their sins, what I'm asking is what does it take to bring a
sinner, for God to bring a sinner into the full experience and
realization of salvation that brings that sinner to final glory
in heaven. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm not talking about just something you did when you were a teenager
at some meeting, you know. You ask people today, or you
say, well, I accepted Jesus back then, or I was baptized. That's
not salvation. Salvation is the fullness of
the blessings and benefits of what God has for his people that
brings them unto glory. So I put down here three things
that must be accomplished to bring a sinner to salvation.
And I put in here, I want you to understand it's not one of
these three things can be accomplished or settled or made assured by
sinful people. In other words, these are three
things that you can't do. Three things that I cannot do.
And that's what this Romans 6 is about. And here it is, it is
all the work of a sovereign God. You've heard the term monergistic
and synergistic, have you ever heard those terms? You know,
when you get in these theological debates, they throw around these
terms. Synergistic is a work that God can only do if you cooperate. God's done his part, now you
do yours. How many times have you heard
preachers say, God has done everything he can do, now the rest is up
to you? Well, that's synergistic, and
that's not biblical. Monergistic means it's a work
of God. And I sum it up, I'll tell you
where you can sum it up, just don't turn here, I'll just quote
it for you. It's Ephesians 2, eight through 10, where he says,
for by grace are you saved, Through faith, and that not of yourself,
even that's not synergistic. That not of yourself, in other
words, you didn't believe because you had a spark of goodness or
a willingness to cooperate. No, it's the gift of God. That not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And
what's the boast there? I made the difference. In other
words, Christ did all he could, now I make the difference. I
seal the deal. Well that's, you don't have that
right. If you're truly saved, you don't have that right to
boast. All you can do is thank God. And verse 10 says it this
way. For we are his workmanship. Not our own workmanship. It's
not me and Jesus got a good thing going, as the country song says.
It's we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
not because of, but unto good works, which God hath before
ordained. Now when did God ordain this?
Before the foundation, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. Now that's monergistic, that's
God. It's salvations of the Lord.
That's what it says. Well here's the three things.
Number one, sinners must be legally justified and legally freed from
sin before God. Let's put it this way, the law
accuses us. What are we? We're sinners. What
is it to be justified? It's to be found not guilty. It's to be forgiven of all our
sins. It's to be declared righteous
in God's sight. Now how is that possible for
me, a sinner? Well, that's what the first part
of Romans six is about. Look back up at verse three.
Romans six. Know you not that so many of
us as were baptized into Jesus Christ. Now baptism there in
memory is not talking about water baptism, not talking about the
baptismal confession. The word baptism, which means
immersion, it literally means placed into. As many of us as
were placed into Jesus Christ, now when were we placed into
Jesus Christ? Before the foundation of the
world. God chose us in Christ, Ephesians 1, 2 Timothy 1, we
could go all through so many scriptures. Now what did you
have to do with that? What did I have to do with that?
Nothing. That's God's work, isn't it? So God placed us into Christ. Now what does that mean? It means
he chose us in Christ and Christ was set up in the everlasting
covenant of grace to be our representative, our surety. What is a surety? One who takes accountability
and responsibility for the debt of another. Christ was set up
to be our surety. The Bible calls him the surety
of a better covenant. And it's better because we didn't
have anything to do with it. See, a covenant that's conditioned
on us, what does that equal? Failure. You say, not with me,
you think too highly of yourself. You see what I'm saying? You
say, well, you know, people go back, I've heard people actually
say this. They say, boy, I wish I could
have lived back during the times of Moses. And I say, are you
kidding? Do you understand what you're saying? Oh, we'd be under,
the Jews, the Jewish nation failed as a whole for 1,500 years to
keep that covenant. You think you'd do any better?
Well, if you do, it's because you think too highly of yourself. Just like the old preacher, one
up in Ohio, who's talking about the death of Christ. And this
was, I think, around Easter Sunday or something like that. And he
was describing Christ going to the cross, describing it graphically,
and big tears rolling down his eyes. And he looked up at the
audience and he said, oh, if I'd been there, I would have
stopped it. I thought, good night. What a fool. Do you realize that
Christ went to the cross by the foreordination of God the Father? Didn't Peter say that at Pentecost?
You say, well then we're not responsible. He said, oh no,
you did it with wicked hands. You had hatred in your heart.
But it was all the work of God. So what I'm saying is that we're
baptized into Christ, we're baptized into his death. What does that
mean? That's talking about we were placed into him in redemption. When he died, who did he die
for? He died for his sheep. He died for his church. I'm gonna
talk more about this in next week's message, but I'll talk
about it a little bit today when it talks about Christ's taste
of death for every man, which literally is everyone. That's
not talking about everyone without exception. He goes ahead and
identifies them. They're his brethren. They're
the many sons whom God has determined to bring unto glory. So he says,
look here, he said, we're baptized in it. When he died, he died
for me. When he was buried, he was buried for me. When he arose
again, he arose again for me. That's what that's saying. You
weren't there personally, if you're one of his children, but
you were there in the person of Christ. He was your representative,
your substitute, your surety. Verse four says, therefore we
are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. In other words, the
reason that we are brought to spiritual life and walk by faith
in Christ is because of his death. And the reason it's because of
his death is because in his death he satisfied the justice of God
for the sins of his people charged and counted, imputed to him. And how do you know he got the
job done? How do you know he paid the debt in full? He didn't
stay dead, did he? He arose from the dead. Now why
is that? Because righteousness was established.
If you're righteous, you cannot be dead. Righteousness, the wages
of sin is death. Christ paid the wage. But the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then
look at verse five. For if we've been planted together
in the likeness of his death. Now this proves what I'm telling
you is the truth. Because how can, and this is
talking about all the people of God. And it says, we've been
planted, look at the word, together in the likeness of his death.
Now he's not talking about the new birth here, because we weren't
born again all together. But what was it that we were
all, what happened to us all together? God chose us all together,
and God the Son died for us all together. We shall be also in
the likeness of his resurrection. Verse six, knowing this, that
our old man, the old man is our connection with Adam in sin and
death, is crucified with him, with Christ, that the body of
sin, everything that sin is against us, might be destroyed. How? Well, sin's gone. Is it? Are you still a sinner? I am. In fact, I'll tell you
what we're doing this morning. One old sinner's just talking
to other old sinners. Isn't that right? This church is a hospital for
who? Sinners. The righteous, they don't need
what I'm telling. I'm talking about those who are righteous
in themselves, who count themselves, they're lying to themselves.
The holding not of physician, that's what Christ said. But
he says that henceforth we should not serve sin, in what sense?
Now look at verse seven. Now remember what we talked,
to be saved, we must be legally justified, legally freed from
sin before God. And this is what verse seven,
for he that is dead is freed. That word freed is justified
from sin. That's the legal declaration
of God, that sin cannot be charged to me. Why? Because it was charged
to my Savior. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father,
making intercession for us. See, my sin, did you hear what
Jesus said to me? My sins are taken away. How? In a legal way. They're
paid for. They cannot be charged to me.
God keeps no record. That's what he means when he
says I'll remember their sins no more. God doesn't forget anything,
he never changes. But he keeps no legal record
against his people because their names are written in the Lamb's
Book of Life, the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of
the world. Washed in the blood, that's what
that means. Are you washed in the blood,
in the soul-cleansing blood? That's what that means. It's
not just feeling and emotion. It does well up emotion in you,
doesn't it, when you think about it. And that's why the psalmist
said, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, if you charge
iniquities, who among us would stand? Job, you remember what
he said, who's gonna contend with the Almighty? He said, if
I bring one point of defense for myself, God Almighty can
bring a thousand charges to counteract that. So what do we need? We need a
surety, we need a substitute, we need a mediator, we need a
redeemer. And that's the first thing that has to happen. We've
got to be free. Now here's the second thing.
Sinners must be spiritually liberated from the darkness and deception
of Satan. And the darkness and deception
of our own sinful and fallen human nature. Now what am I talking
about there? Spiritual. Well, I'm talking
about spiritual life. Spiritual life has to be given
to those whom Christ has justified. And see, spiritual life, that's
the new birth. You must be born again. Why? Because by nature, we're born
spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Now, what is spiritual
death? It's the absence of spiritual
life. And you know the biggest indicator of spiritual death,
people have all kinds of ideas about this. But let me show you
this. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
one. Somebody said, well, how can
I know if I'm spiritually dead or spiritually alive? How can
I know if I've been born again? The Bible, Christ said, except
you be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. What
do you mean you can't see it? It means you don't have spiritual
eyes. You can't grasp it. You can't
value it. Except you be born again, you
can't enter the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. Remember
what he told his disciples in the kingdom parables? When they asked, why do you speak
in parables to these unbelievers? He said, because it's a judgment
against them. They believing, they seeing, see not. They hearing,
hear not. But blessed are your eyes, you see. Blessed are your
ears, for you hear. Now every one of us who are believers
today, we know that today we see things differently than we
saw them before, isn't that right? I'm talking about in salvation
now, in religion. I know how I used to think when
I was a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I know
how I think today, and it's a lot different. In fact, it's the
exact opposite. Turn my world upside down. Well, look at 1 Corinthians 1,
look at verse 18. He says, for the preaching of
the cross, That's the preaching of the glorious person in the
finished work of Christ, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed,
is to them that perish who are in the state of perishing foolishness. But unto us which are saved in
a state of being saved, it is the power of God. How do I respond? How do I receive the preaching,
the true preaching of the cross? I'm not talking about just a
piece of wood or something you wear around. I'm talking about
the person and finished work of Christ. Who he is, what he
did, what he accomplished, why he did it, where he is now, the
gospel. And then go on down to verse 23, or verse 24. But unto them which are called,
this is the calling of the spirit in the new birth, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, Look across
in chapter two at verse 14. But the natural man, now what
is the natural man? That's us as we are naturally
born, fallen, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to
him. Neither can he know them because
they're spiritually discerned. They're spiritually understood.
And you know what it is that the natural man really cannot
receive? Look back up at verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 2. He says
here, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but
the spirit which is of God. Now look at this, that we might
know the things that are what? freely given to us of God. Now what are the things that
are freely given to us of God? Everything of salvation is freely,
unconditionally, without a cause, given to God's people. Now if you have to meet a condition
to get it, it's not freely given. And that's what the natural man
doesn't understand. So go back to Romans six now.
We have to be spiritually liberated in our minds to know Christ and
believe in Christ. Being spiritually liberated does
not mean that we no longer sin. We're sinners every day of our
lives. You want me to prove it to you?
Have you done anything this past week, now listen to me, whether
it's in read your Bible, pray, give money to charity. Now, any of those things, if
you've done any of those things or any of those things that men
admire and highly esteem, would you say that your act of doing
those measured up to the perfection of righteousness that can only
be found in Christ? Well, absolutely not. I hope
you wouldn't say that. Well, that means it's sinful.
Now somebody might ask, well, how does God receive it? How
does he accept it? Just like he receives and accepts
any sinner, washed in the blood. Washed in the blood of Christ.
Christ is our intercessor. Remember in the tabernacle, they
had the steam going up, what is the smoke
going up? I was trying to think of smoke.
You know, where they would burn. It was the prayers of the saints
that went up unto God based on the merits, not of their prayers,
but of the merits of the high priest. We have a great high
priest. That's how. Now, that's what
Romans 6, 17, and 18 are talking about. Look at verse 17. But
God be thanked that you were or that as you were the servants
of sin. Now what is a servant of sin?
In this context, a servant of sin is one who is an unregenerate
unbeliever. They could be religious. They
could be moral in the eyes of men. Sincerely dedicated to whatever
good cause that they think in their minds. But what do they
miss? What do they miss? They're missing
Christ. They're missing the gospel. They're
servants of sin. Here's Paul before he was saved. What was he doing? He was trying
to keep the law. He was trying to be a good person.
He was trying to be dedicated and sincere toward God. But he
said, I count it all but loss, even but dung, that I may win
Christ and be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law. but that which is through the
faithfulness of Christ. You see, a servant of sin is
an unbeliever. No matter what else, no matter
whether you say, well, what about those who are in abject immorality? Well, those who are in abject
immorality, if they don't believe the gospel, they're servants
of sin. But look what he says, but you have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Now this obedience
from the heart, if you take the context of the Bible, what is
he talking about? What is the heart? It's the mind,
it's the affections, it's the will, it's the inner person,
the inner man, Paul called it. That's what the heart is. You
know how, you've heard, you've seen and known people who outwardly
pretend to be one thing, but inwardly there's something else.
That's hypocrisy. That word hypocrisy comes from
words that were applied to actors. They're acting apart. Preachers
all the time talk about people who just come to church on Sunday
and then live like hell on Monday, you know, that kind of thing.
You've heard that. Well, there are those. But the heart here
is the heart of a born-again person. It's the new heart that
God gives in the new birth. It's the heart of penitence.
It's the repentant heart. What does he say? A heart that
is contrite over sin. A heart of faith cleansed by
the blood of Christ. It's the conscience cleansed
by the blood of Christ. What relieves the guilty conscience?
Only the blood of Christ. And it's the new heart. Ezekiel
said in the covenant of grace, God's going to give them a new
heart, a new spirit, a new mind, new motivations. Whereas before
you were motivated by legal fear of punishment or mercenary promises
of earned rewards. Now you're motivated by what?
Paul said, the love of Christ constrains me now. In other words,
his unconditional love for me. It's grace, it's love, it's gratitude. That's the heart. And from the
heart, you believe from the heart, obey from the heart, that form
of doctrine, that word form is an interesting word. It means,
it's talking about an identifying mark. That's what it's talking
about. One illustration used it this way. You've heard the
term the die is cast. Somebody who's a tool and die
maker and the die is cast. Usually they talk about that
when they talk about something they form that cannot be changed,
that everything works off of. And that's what this word form
is. And what is this die that is cast? It's the doctrine of
Christ. What is doctrine? It's the teachings of Christ.
It's what he says about God. It's what he says about us. Somebody
said, you know, just like somebody said, well, I don't, you know,
what do you think about that election business? Well, it's in the Bible.
That's what I think about it. How about that? And I believe the Bible's God's
word, isn't it? So it's part of the doctrine of Christ. What
do you think about this thing of the total depravity of man?
Well, it's in the Bible. What does the Bible say about
the natural heart? The heart is deceitful, desperately
wicked. Above all things, who can know
it? Jeremiah 17. Dead in trespasses and sins,
that's what the Bible says. What do you think about this
issue of sovereign grace? It's in the Bible, there's no
other kind. What do you think about this issue of righteousness
imputed? That's the whole ground of salvation,
it's the righteousness of God revealed in the God. You see,
this is the doctrine of Christ. And he says the doctrine of Christ
which was delivered you, now it's certainly preached to us.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But literally
what that means is which you were delivered to. What he's
saying here is that God sovereignly in his providential power brought
us under the preaching of the gospel. He brought us there. Now he may
have used different circumstances to bring people to hear the gospel. But he's gonna bring you. And
that's what Christ meant when he seeks his sheep. And he's
gonna find his lost sheep. And he's gonna pick them up and
he's gonna bring them into the fold. That's what happens. They're
lost, they don't know the way. But what happens here, it says
in verse 18, being then made free from sin. Now the word,
remember over in Romans 6-7, the word freed is justified,
that's our legal freedom, based on the righteousness of Christ
imputed. Here in verse 18, the word free is liberated, being
made free from sin. Now, how have I been made free
from sin? Not in the sense that I've stopped
sinning now, but only in the sense, look over
at 2 Corinthians 4. Let me show you a good verse
to define this for you. 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. Here's
this liberation, which is spiritual liberation. In verse 3 of 2nd
Corinthians 4. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. Now, can you think back and remember
when you first heard this gospel, this gospel now, and how you
reacted to it? All right, what was wrong? You
were blinded. Not only blinded by Satan, you
can't just blame it all on the devil. You were blinded by your
own self, me too now, I'm talking to me too, blinded by our own
self-righteousness, our own self-love, our own religious pride. All
right? So he says, lest the light of
the knowledge of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. Verse five of 2 Corinthians
four, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. And here's this liberation,
verse six. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's what's changed. There's
the liberation. I'm still a sinner. I still don't
have anything in myself or of myself to recommend me unto God.
And I see that now. I see this that I didn't see
before. If God were to judge me right now based upon my best
efforts to obey him, I would be damned forever. But my hope
is not built on me. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock I stand.
My hope is in Christ. And that's what he's talking
about here. And so when that happened, Romans 6, 18, you became
the servants of righteousness. Now what is a servant of righteousness?
It's a believer, following Christ, believing in Christ, resting
in Christ for all righteousness. Doesn't mean that what we do
is righteous enough to recommend us unto God now. It means that
we have Christ who is the Lord our righteousness. We believe
in him, we rest in him, and we follow him. That's what a servant
of righteousness is. A sinner saved by grace. And that's the second thing that
must happen for us to be saved. The third thing is this. Sinners
must be spiritually preserved under glory by the grace of God. We must be legally justified,
legally freed. That's a work of God in Christ. His righteousness imputed. We
must be spiritually liberated. That's a work of God. That's
right, the Holy Spirit. Christ sends the Holy Spirit
to give us life, bring us from the dead. Thirdly, we must be
spiritually preserved unto glory. In other words, and this is a
work of God in Christ by his spirit who indwells God's people
continually and causes us to persevere. That's a monergistic
work too, it's of God. Because if he didn't keep us,
we wouldn't be kept. We're kept by the power of God,
the scripture said. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. Now what have I committed
unto him? My whole salvation is committed
to Christ. And he's able to keep it. He
is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him.
I'm not able. I'm not able to work out righteousness
to legally justify me. I'm not able to give myself spiritual
life. I'm not able to keep myself.
It's all Christ and his ability and his word and his promise
and his power. All right.