Well, as I said, the title is
Wanted, Dead and Alive, and that's a description of God's people. We are both dead and we are alive. Now, how are we dead? Well, Paul's
been talking about that in Romans chapter six in verse four, or
verse three. Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death,
buried with him by baptism into death? The fact that our sins
were imputed to Christ and He died for them, for us, that's
our death to sin. And that refers to our legal
death. Verse seven, for he that is dead
is freed or justified from sin. What does it mean to be justified?
It means to be totally, completely exonerated. totally, completely
forgiven of all of our sins, based upon a just ground, it
means to be righteous, truly, purely righteous in God's sight,
based only upon Christ's righteousness accounted to us. And that's proven
in the next verses, so we're dead, we're dead to the law.
Now what does that mean? Does that mean that we're antinomians
or that we're anarchists? No, it means that the law cannot
condemn us because sin is not imputed to us. Whenever the Bible
speaks of anybody being under the wrath of God, you know who
it's talking about? It's talking about a sinner to
whom God imputes sin, charges sin, and therefore the law demands
justice. And the law, that means death. So we say, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. And I'll tell
you, that'll float your boat, won't it? I know it does for
me. And so we're dead in that sense. But at the same time, because
of our death to sin by Christ, and because of his righteousness
imputed to us, we're alive unto God. We're dead and alive. Dead
to sin, dead to the law, cannot be condemned. There's therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ, but we're alive
unto God. And that lie, there is a legal
aspect of that in his resurrection. Look at verse five. For if we've
been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall
be also in the likeness of his resurrection. So that we can
actually say, this is not pretense, this is not something that's
fake or unreal, but when Christ died, I died. When Christ was
buried, I was buried. When Christ arose from the dead,
I arose from the dead. In fact, the Bible says that
we were planted together. That's talking about all of God's
elect. Together as represented in Christ,
our surety, our substitute, and our redeemer. We were all together
in him. And that's why we confess Christ
in believer's baptism. We're confessing this truth right
here. You're saying, I understand this,
I know it's all of Christ, it's not conditioned on me, and I'm
confessing before my brethren, before the world, that when he
died, I died, when he was buried, I was buried, when he arose again,
I rose again. And that's what he's talking
about. So we're alive under God. Now the spiritual aspect of that,
is that we are in time brought by the spirit under the preaching
of the gospel and raised again in regeneration and conversion
which Christ called the new birth. You must be born again. Because
of what Christ did, this is the effect, the assured effect is
that we will be born again by the spirit under the preaching
of the gospel and the evidence of that is our faith in Christ
as he's identified here in these verses, and repentance of our
dead works. We cling to him and turn loose
of the flesh as far as having any recommendation for us unto
God. We count it all but done, dead works. And then he indwells
us with that spiritual life. And so he says, look at verse
eight, he says, now if we be dead with Christ, we believe
that we shall also live with him. And that's a statement of
the assurance that all for whom Christ died will be saved. There's not any possibility.
Let me tell you something, when preachers look at people and
say, Christ died for you, Now did he die in vain for you? They
are going totally against the scripture, totally against the
gospel. You need to understand that. Christ did not die in vain
for anybody. His death, the planting of the
seed, this is how he describes it in John chapter 12. He said
if you put a seed of corn or a seed of wheat in the ground
and it dies, it'll bear much fruit. And it says there in John
12, I think verses 32 and 33, that he's talking about his death.
He's just using an illustration. And what he's saying, because
he died and was planted in the ground, he established righteousness,
and that means life for all whom he represented, for all whom
he stood surety, for all whom he redeemed as their substitute. So we're assured of that. Now
look at verse nine. This is our verses for today.
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more,
death hath no more dominion over him. Now here's what he's saying
here. Christ's one death was enough. And he doesn't have to
do anything more as far as establishing the ground of salvation. All
that he accomplished, he finished the work, it is finished. Christ
is the end of the law, the finishing. His one death, Christ being raised
from the, and this is the proof of that, Christ was raised from
the dead. His one death. was enough to
put away all my sins. His one death was enough to establish
all the righteousness that a sinner like me has to have in order
to be saved and justified and recommended to God. And the proof
of that is he was raised from the dead. If he hadn't put away,
you know, somebody said, well, for example, you know, some so-called
Christians, they're not really Christians, but they'll say,
well, Christ died for my past sins, but not for my future sins.
Well, if that's true, you're a goner. And if that were true, he wouldn't
have been raised from the dead. You know why he was raised from
the dead? Because he paid the debt. Righteousness was established,
and righteousness demands life. Christ did not do a part work.
He didn't come halfway or 99% of the way and the rest is up
to you. He did it all, how do you know? Knowing this, that
Christ being raised from the dead, he dies no more. There's no more death for him. He was resurrected from the dead,
he ascended into the Father, he's seated at the right hand
of the Father ever living to make ever living now. to make
intercession for his people. And he's not gonna die anymore.
You know, you've heard of the Catholics. When they hold their
church service, they call it what? Mass. And essentially what
it is, it's re-crucifying Christ over and over again in their
minds. He dieth no more. Hebrews 10,
14. You know what it says, don't
you? For by one offering, he hath what? Perfected forever
them that are sanctified. And that's it. So he says, what's
the result? He says, death hath no more dominion
over him. He conquered death. He conquered
the grave. He conquered hell. He conquered
sin. It has no more, see now, how
did it rule over him? In a legal way, our sins were
imputed to him. It had dominion over him. He
had to die. Once Christ was made our surety,
he had to become incarnate, he had to die. Hebrews 2 talks about
that. I think it's verse 17 talks about
how it behooved him. And that word behoove is the
Greek word for debt. He had a debt that was placed
upon him that obligated him to obey as God-man, God in human
flesh, without sin, to obey unto death. He had to do it. He didn't
have a choice. Because once he, I guess you
could say it this way, once he made the choice, that was in
eternity past, I don't think we can talk in terms of time
on that, but he was obligated, the scripture says. He said,
I must, this is what I must do. And he said, if I go not away,
then there's no hope for you. And what is his going away? Well,
Hebrews, or John 16 tells us it was his going to the cross.
So he was obligated to do that. Well, once he died, and this
is the death of God in human flesh, and that's a mind-boggling
thing, death had no more dominion over him. That was it. He conquered death. Now, look
at verse 10. And so his one death is enough.
And if that's not enough, then we have no hope. So he says in
verse 10, listen, again, I keep harping on this, but listen,
if he died for those who end up in hell anyway, we will all
end up in hell. That's right. You might as well
face it. That's what this book says. In
verse 10, for in that he died, he died unto sin, how many times?
Once. But in that he liveth, he liveth
unto God forever. So he died under sin. What did
he do? I mentioned it last week, Daniel 9, 24. He made an end
of sin. He finished the transgression.
He brought reconciliation for iniquity. He brought in everlasting
righteousness. And all of this is so valuable
and so powerful because of who it is that died, God in human
flesh. So the gospel message in no way
presents a Christ who died for anybody conditionally. I mean,
he finished it. He met all the conditions. He
fulfilled all righteousness. And that ensures the salvation
of his people. Now here's something that, just
in reading it again, just sent chills up my spine again. Verse
11. Look at it. Now this is, I can't
get over this. And I hope I never do. Likewise. What does the word likewise mean?
In the exact same way. Reckon. Now the word reckon there
is often translated in the New Testament impute. Same word. Now what's he talking about?
Well he's talking about an accounting. Over in the book of Romans chapter
14 and verse 12, Paul was talking to believers who were passing
a wrong judgment against each other over the use or non-use
of things in Christian liberty. That's what he's talking about
in Romans 14. And he says, believers, we've talked about this. There
are things that God says in his word are forbidden to us, that
we shouldn't do. There are things that we should
do. But there are other things that we call indifferent things,
the use or non-use of them is immaterial. Now, the abuse of
anything is forbidden. But there are things, you know,
like what you eat. Somebody says, well, if you were
a Christian, you wouldn't eat pork. Well, that's not right. And if they see somebody eating
pork, or if you're a Christian, you wouldn't drink a glass of
wine. That's not right, folks. If they see about somebody drinking,
you know, I remember one time I was talking to a young man
up in Kentucky about that. And we were talking about sin,
and he used to be a pretty hard-living guy. And he, quote, got saved,
he said, and then he quit all that. And I told him, I said,
well, I said, I think you should quit being a, you know, some
kind of a... Immoral Drunk driver things like
that, you know, but I said, but let me give you something to
think about I said I said what if you walked into a restaurant
and you saw my wife and I there and We were having a glass of
wine. What would you think he said?
Well, I'd be appalled, you know, I'd be I Be offended you know
and I said, but you you got to understand that what we're doing
There is not so now if we walk you know we went in and got drunk
staggered out That's a different thing, but I'm just saying have
a glass of wine with her He said he'd be a pot and I told him
I said, but that's not sin That's not sin at all But I said, you
know, everybody around there pretty much, probably in that
restaurant, most of us anyway, I'll tell you what we are doing,
we're being gluttons, and that is sin, and we'd probably make
a joke about that. See, people don't know what sin
is. And so in Romans 14, they were judging each other over
this, and Paul says, stop it. And realize this, in Romans 14,
12, he says, every one of us is going to have to give an account
before God. Now, when you were in false religion,
and the preacher said, we're all gonna have to give an account,
what did you think of? Well, you thought about like
that pamphlet that I used to read, you know, where you get
before God a judgment, he's gonna flash a big movie screen up there,
and he's gonna, all your sins, you know, and all that, and then
blah, blah, blah, and he's gonna either judge you, you'll get
less rewards in heaven, or you're going to hell, whatever, you
know. Listen to me. You, you, you, you, every one
of us are going, me, we're going to have to give an account before
God. Well, what is our account exactly? Look here, Romans 6,
11. Likewise, in the exact same way
that Christ died unto sin, that's what he's talking about, reckon
account. This is my account now if I'm
a believer. If I'm a sinner saved by God, I count you also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Right there in that one verse
is every true believer's account before God. I'm to look at my
account, I'm to give an account, I'm to look at myself as being
dead indeed unto sin. That's really dead unto sin. in the exact same way that my
Savior died under sin. Now Christ didn't die under sin's
influence. He did not die under sin's corruption. He never had those things. He
did not die to sin's contamination in his flesh. He didn't die that
way because he didn't have those things. He died under sin imputed
to him. and brought forth righteous.
That's the way we died into sin. And there's no other way that
we've died into sin yet. I can't say that I've died into
sin's corruption because sin still corrupts everything I think,
say, and do. Or it's contamination. I'm a
sinner saved by grace. This is my story to God be the
glory. This is my account. I'm a sinner
saved by grace. Sin is not imputed to me. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? And that's what
he's talking about. This is how we're to see ourselves. This is how we're to look to
Christ for all salvation and see ourselves in him. And we're
not dead to sin's influence and contamination within our flesh. We still have a warfare, but
The victory's already been won because of this. So this is our
account. When the book is open, not the
books, plural, when we stand before God at judgment, the one
book, what book is that? That's the Lamb's Book of Life. If you're a believer in Christ,
if you've been brought by the Holy Spirit to faith in Him and
true repentance, your name has always been in that book. And
don't listen to these foolish preachers who say, well, God'll
erase your name out. That is not scriptural. I had
a fellow say that one time, big famous preacher, you know, thousands
of people, and he was talking about the Lamb's Book of Life.
And here's what he said, he said, we can speculate. Of course,
that's your first mistake. Just read the word of God, don't
speculate. But he said this, he said, when
you're born into this world, God writes your name in the land's
book of life. And then when you commit your
first sin, he erases your name out. And the moment you accept
Christ as your personal savior, he writes your name back in. Now, if you go over to the Books
a Million bookstore, that fellow who made that statement has a
Bible that's got his name on it, the so-and-so study Bible. I don't suggest you buy it. You see, that's not what the
Bible says. The Bible says, you know that
verse in Revelation 13, People argue, talks about, you know,
the Lamb's book, their names, talking about those who had perished
whose names were not written in the Lamb's book of life, the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Well, that's talking
about their names were written from the foundation of the world.
And Christ was set up to be the Lamb slain as their surety. But
what he's saying here is this. If your name's in the Lamb's
book of life, you're washed in the blood. You're clothed in
his righteousness. Sin cannot be charged. You have
righteousness, his righteousness, the righteousness of God, charged
to your account, and that's your account. That's my account before
God. Well, look at verse 12. He says
in verse 12, now on this basis now, here's what he's saying. On this ground, Not to be saved,
not trying to establish a righteousness that will justify you or get
you into heaven, but on this ground, let not sin therefore,
therefore, because this is your account now. Let not sin therefore
reign, rule in your mortal body. The mortal body is our fleshly
body, our hands, our eyes, our ears. And the reason he uses
that is because that is the instrument through which our fleshly appetites
will display themselves. And he says, let not sin reign
in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust thereof.
What's he saying here? He's simply saying fight sin.
Don't give way to it. Don't give in to it. And he's
not saying that we can become in ourselves sinlessly perfect,
because this battle that he's describing here is something
that we'll be engaged in as long as we're in this world. In this
body of death, Paul says, and he describes it over in Romans
7, the last half of Romans 7. In other words, don't take a
casual attitude towards it. Don't give it free reign in the
sense that, well, because I'm righteous in Christ and sin cannot
be imputed to me, therefore I'm just going out and sin the more.
Sin all I can, doesn't matter. Now, that makes sense if you
go back to verse one. Remember what he said? What shall
we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? And then look down at verse 15,
we're not gonna get to this verse, but he says, what then, shall
we sin because we're not under the law, we're not condemned,
but we're under grace, we're righteous in Christ, God forbid. In other words, somebody, and
you've had this, you know, somebody says, well, if I believe that,
you know, I wouldn't, I just go out and sin all I want to.
Well, you do anyway. I mean, you do have some restraints
on you, I know that. But anyway, what Paul was saying
here is that this beautiful, glorious truth of our death to
sin and our life in Christ is not to a believer, it is not
a license to be an antinomian or an anarchist or anything like
that. It gives us the only real godly
motive to fight sin and to seek to obey Christ. You see, religious
people, they have motives to avoid sin as they see it and
to be obedient and dedicated and serve as they see it. But
their motives are ungodly. You can't have a godly motive
until you see this truth of our death in Christ and our life
in him. Because your motive up until
you see this is legalism, mercenary. You know, it's legal in the sense
that it's ruled by law. In other words, if I don't do
it, I'm gonna get punished. And if I do it, I'll earn my
rewards or earn salvation. But Paul's saying, don't think
that way. He says, don't let sin in verse 13. He says, neither
yield your members, the members there are the members of our
human body, as instruments or weapons, your concordance might
say, of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto
God, his word, his way, submit to him, as those that are alive
from the dead, not to become alive, not to gain life or to
earn life, but because you're already alive from the dead because
of what Christ did, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. Now next week, Lord willing,
I'm going to deal with this phrase, instruments of righteousness
unto God. And what I want you to see there
is, he's not just talking about what we would look at as human
morality there. Because what you have to understand
is, here's an instrument of unrighteousness. You've got to understand, if
we're going to take a biblical worldview, as they say, is that
The person preaching salvation conditioned on sinners and the
people listening to that and believing that and operating
their lives upon that basis, they are instruments of unrighteousness. Now you can easily see how the
drunk staggering down the street or the prostitute or the drug
pusher's an instrument of unrighteousness. The natural man can see that.
But what the natural man will not receive is that person who's
religious and sincere and dedicated, trying to do the best they can,
trying to keep the law, but without knowing and believing this account. They're instruments of unrighteousness
too. Remember what Christ said to the Pharisees. You appear
righteous unto men, but inwardly you're full of hypocrisy and
unrighteousness, iniquity. Same point, instruments of righteousness. What does that mean? Well, we're
to be the most moral people we can be, but that's really not
covering it. An instrument of righteousness
is a person who seeks to bring his thoughts, actions, attitude,
his body under subjection to be used as a tool of the glory
of God. In other words, I want to glorify
God in all that I do. And I'm going to talk a little
bit more about that next week, all right? So we'll wait for
that then. OK.