Now, in the book of Romans chapter
6 that Brother Joe read there, I want to take the first part
of this passage, and this is the second message in a series
that I've entitled, The Planting of the Lord. And I have four
messages that I want to preach on that subject. Last week, I
dealt with the first planting of the Lord. which was in the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ from John chapter 12, in which
the Lord used the symbol of a farmer planting a seed, a seed of wheat,
to refer to his death, to illustrate his death. He said, except a
seed of wheat or a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it won't bring forth any fruit. But if it goes into the ground,
planted into the ground, and essentially it dies, then it
bears much fruit. And he was speaking of his own
death in John chapter 12. He was simply teaching a lesson
of the success of his finished work on the cross to save his
people from their sins. In everything that the Bible
teaches, from Genesis to Revelation, it teaches us that the ground
of our salvation and the assurance of our salvation is totally wrapped
up in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not
in what we do for Him, but in what He did for us. And that's
what He was teaching. He said there in John chapter
12, He said, And I, if I be lifted up, meaning lifted up on the
cross to die, He said, I will draw all men unto Me. Now, who are the all men there?
It's all for whom He died. that is evidenced by their coming
to Him in that drawing. They believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They rest in Him as their Savior
and their Redeemer and their Lord. They submit to Him and
His righteousness as that which alone recommends them to God
and entitles them to the whole inheritance of grace and glory.
Christ is their all in all. And as I preach this message
this morning, I would ask us all to consider that question
in our own minds, in our own hearts. Is Christ truly my all
in all? Is He truly my salvation? Or
is it Christ plus something? Christ plus my works. Christ
plus my faith. Christ plus something. You see,
in salvation, it's Christ plus nothing. And everything that
happens to us by way of experience, everything that we do by way
of faith and good works is the fruit, not the cause, it's the
fruit of what Christ accomplished on Calvary. And that's what he
meant by that, the planting of the Lord. Christ is that seed
of wheat that went into the ground. He died, was buried, and raised
again the third day. for the salvation of his people.
Now, in Romans chapter 6, I've taken this second message in
that series from verse 5 of Romans 6 where it says, For if we have
been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall
be also in the likeness of his resurrection. So today I want
to talk about the planting of the Lord in God's elect planted
in Christ. God's elect planted Now, I want
to just begin here at verse 1 of Romans 6. I'm just going to go
through these verses and refer to some others. But Paul begins
this passage here with a question. And somebody says, well, it may
be a strange question, but I want you to notice the context. Look
at what he says. Here's the question, verse 1.
What shall we say then? Now, what shall we say in light
of everything else that's been said up to this point as he'd
written in the first five chapters of the book of Romans? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Now, why would anybody
ask that question? Well, I'll tell you why. It's
because when the self-righteous works-oriented religionist Here's
the reality of God's grace. I'm talking about true, free,
sovereign grace in Christ. How God saves sinners. Not by
the works of men. Not by the efforts of men. Not
by the free will of men. But totally by His grace in Christ. Whenever a self-righteous religionist
hears that, it always, in his mind, It removes every incentive,
every motivation that would inspire him to live right, to be obedient. In other words, you've just knocked
out all my props. You mean God saves me without
any consideration of my free will or my good works or my doing
or my suffering? Yes, sir, that's exactly what
grace teaches. God saves sinners who don't deserve
to be saved. who cannot earn salvation, who
have done nothing to merit it, who don't even desire it by nature. That's what the Scripture teaches
about sinners. By nature, we don't even desire
it. Not salvation God's way. We desire our way, don't we?
Somebody said, I want it my way. The Bible says there's a way
that seems right unto a man. It's the way of death. It's the
broad way that leads to destruction. It's the way that exalts the
flesh. It's the way that exalts sinners. But you see, God saves
sinners in ways that exalts Christ and Him crucified. And it puts
the sinner in the dust where he belongs. When God saves a
sinner, in the Old Testament, it's likened to God reaching
down and lifting a beggar off of a dung heap. Now, you think
about a beggar who loves the dung heap. That's strange, isn't
it? And yet it's so. So when God
saves a sinner, it's not based upon works of righteousness that
we have done, are doing, or intend to do. When God saves a sinner,
it's based on a righteousness that He sent and provided and
worked out totally by the obedience and death of His Son. Nothing
added. That's the ground of salvation.
Now, that's what he talked about back up here in chapter 5. Look
at verse 18 of chapter 5. He says, therefore, as by the
offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation.
Now there's another strange saying, isn't there? What's he talking
about? The offense of one. Who is the one there? Well, he's
talking about Adam. He made that clear back in verse
12 of Romans chapter 5. The sin of one. The offense of
one. Adam offended God. And by the
offense of this one man, Adam, he says, judgment, and that means
God's judgment against sin, condemnation, came upon all men to condemnation. Now, who are the all men in that
verse? Well, it's all whom Adam represented. You see, Adam in the garden wasn't
just a private person. He was a representative. He stood
for other people. Who were they? All his posterity. All that would come from Adam.
Born in Adam. That's you, that's me, that's
all of us. All men by nature. Men and women by nature. And
it says, by the one sin of the one man who represented all men,
judgment came upon all men to condemnation. That means this,
you were condemned in Adam before you were ever born. Now somebody
says, well, that's, I don't like that. Well, it doesn't matter
if you like it or not. We're not asking, we're not asking
for a vote here this morning. How many like it or how many
don't? I mean, this is the truth as
it is in God's word. Now there was a time I didn't
like it either, but I didn't try to, you know, I just told
somebody, I said, well, I just don't believe God's word. But
now I see it's true. That's representation. And I'm
going to tell you something. When you truly see the reality
of Adam's sin in the garden, how it brought the whole human
race under condemnation, you will then begin to see the reality
of God's grace in salvation. Look at the next line. Even so,
or in the same way, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. Now he speaks of righteousness
there, as opposed to offense. Adam brought an offense. This
other one brought in righteousness. Now, who is this one? Well, it's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's the representative of
a people. It says, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift, not an earned gift, gifts cannot be
earned, but something that is free came upon all men. Now,
who are the all men here? All whom Christ represented on
the cross. all who come forth from him as
the fruit of his death, all whom he draws unto himself, who come
unto him, all who believe." That's what he's talking about here.
It says this free gift came upon all of them, and this free gift
is what? Look at it, unto justification
of life. The free gift that comes upon
them is justification of life. He's not talking about anybody
here who's going to go to hell. You can't receive the free gift
of justification of life and end up in hell. That's impossible. To be justified before God is
to be clear. It's to be made righteous. It's
to be saved by his grace. And he says it, justification
of what? Not death. Hell is death. Heaven is life. It's justification of life. So
who was condemned in Adam? All whom Adam represented. Who
are justified in Christ? All whom Christ died for. And he says in verse 19, he goes
further, look at it, Romans 5, he says, for as by one man's
disobedience many, and in the original language it would read
this way, for as by one man's disobedience the many were made
sinners. When Adam sinned, the many, how
many, however many Adam represented, I don't know how many there are.
There's a bunch yet to come. But however many Adam represented,
it says they were made sinners. In other words, they were brought
under that condemnation and they are born in sin. They are one
who commits sin. That's what a sinner is. It's
one who sins. Now, that takes in all of us
here today, doesn't it? And then he says, so by the obedience
of one shall many, the many, Be made righteous. Now that's
talking about the obedience of Christ. And he's the one and
the many. However, how many? However many
he represented, they'll be made righteous. They'll be justified. That's what that means. They
are accounted righteous before God. And he says, look at verse
20. Well, somebody might say, well,
if that's so now, if salvation is not by my works and efforts
towards God, If salvation is not by my trying to do good,
then why did God give the law? He says in verse 20, moreover
the law entered. Now why? Why did God give the
law to Moses on Sinai? That the offense might abound.
That offense that Adam committed, that was given to us, and that
we were born into, Born in sin, spiritually dead, the law exposes
the reality of sin. That's why it was given. The
first purpose of the law is to bring the sinner in guilty. To
show him his need of grace. To show him that he cannot be
saved by his works. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified or made righteous. And so he says, but God didn't
give the law just to leave us there. He didn't give the law
just to beat us down and to make us despair. He says, but where
sin abounded, literally that means where sin overflowed me
like a flood, drowning in a sea of sin, he says grace did much
more abound. Now what is that? Verse 21 gives
you the answer. Here it is. That as sin hath
reigned unto death, sin demands death, Even so might grace reign
through righteousness." Whose? Unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. It's in Christ, not in the sinner. It's in his righteousness, his
obedience, his suffering, his death, his burial, his resurrection. Not in ours. Well, if that's
so then, it doesn't matter what I do. I don't have to seek to
be obedient to God then, is that right? Huh? What shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? If grace abounds where sin abounds,
then should I just sin the more so that grace might abound? Is
that the way it is? Now, that's the reasoning of
a self-righteous religionist. He's just, as I said, had the
props removed out from under him. You've given me no motivation
now. I can't earn my salvation. I
can't earn my rewards now. You've taken all my props." Well,
let me tell you something. That's exactly what we need.
Because all those motivations are evil. They're wicked. They're self-righteous. As I
said, they exalt the flesh. What is the sinner's motivation? The sinner's saved by grace.
What is his motivation? What is his inspiration? What
is to drive him to seek to be like Christ and to be a good
citizen, a good husband, a good wife, a good mother, a good father,
a good church member? I'll tell you, he just said it. It's grace. It's grace. And the rest of this, he gives
the answer. Look at verse 2. Now listen to this. Here's the
answer to the question in verse 2. Here's the question. Shall
we continue and sin that grace may abound? Well, here's the
answer. Verse 2, God forbid. Don't even think such a thing.
That's what Paul's saying here. It is wicked to even consider
such a thing. That your sinning is what makes
grace abound. It's not our sinfulness or our
sinning that makes grace abound. Now, he did say where sin abounds. Grace did much more about it.
What he's teaching there is this. There's no sinner who is too
sinful that God's grace in Christ cannot save him. You say, oh,
you don't know what I've done. No, I don't. But God does. He
does. He knows exactly what you've
done. He knows what you are. He knows your thoughts. He knows
your motives. And I'm telling you, based on
his word right here, there's not enough sin in a sinner. that God's grace and power in
Christ cannot save that sinner. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto the Father by Him, no matter who they are.
Our Lord taught that lesson throughout His earthly ministry all the
way through. The Pharisees, they thought,
well, if He's the true Messiah, surely He'd fellowship and consort
with us. We're not sinners, but look,
He's over there eating supper with publicans. And with harlots,
with sinners, well, that's the kind of folks he came to save. He came to save sinners, such
people. He told them, he said, the whole
don't need the physician. The well don't need the doctor.
The sick need the doctor. What is the church? It's a hospital
for sinners, for those who are sick with sin. and who need the
cure, Christ and him crucified. So he says, God forbid. And listen
to his answer, verse 2, How shall we that are, now listen, dead
to sin, live any longer therein? Dead to sin? Now what does that
mean? Now that's what this message
is going to answer. This planting together with Christ. Dead to sin. Dead to sin. It doesn't say dead in sin. But to be dead in sin means to
be condemned, means to be lost. But it says dead to sin. Now,
if you're honest, and if you know the scriptures any at all,
you'll know that even after salvation, even after we're born again by
the Spirit, we're still sinners. When God comes to you and shows
you your sinfulness and drives you to Christ and causes you
to submit to Him in faith and repent and gives you that holy
desire to look to Him and to follow Him, to live for Him,
do you stop being a sinner then? Now, there's a lot of denominations
that say, yes. Yeah, I'm no longer a sinner.
Well, my friend, you're just lying to yourself and everybody
else. You may get a group of people around you who agree with
you, but I'll tell you what, they probably know better if
they stay with you any length of time, if they want to be honest. Oh, my fact, I'll tell you what,
when you're born again by the Spirit of God, I believe you
see yourself even more as a sinner than you did before. And as you
grow in grace and knowledge, don't you see that even more?
Be honest. The Bible says to God's people,
if we say we have no sin, we are liars and do not the truth. Paul in Romans chapter 7, over
across the page there, beginning at verse 14. Look at verse 14
of Romans 7. Listen to what Paul the Apostle
says. He says, for we know that the law is spiritual. That means
the law just doesn't reach to what I do and what I don't do.
It reaches to the heart, to the motive, to the thoughts. But
he says, but I am carnal, that's fleshly, sold under sin. What he's saying there, in my
flesh, I'm a slave to sin. Even now, some people say, well,
Paul's talking about when he was lost there. No, you need
to read the rest of the chapter. A lost man doesn't talk like
that. A lost man doesn't see the exceeding sinfulness of his
sin. He doesn't see the spirituality
of the law. He doesn't see the glory of God's
grace. But Paul's saying this in Romans
7. He's saying even as a saved sinner,
even as a regenerate, born-again person, I'm still plagued with
sin. It mars and contaminates everything
I think, say, and do, even now. So what's my hope now? Well,
he ends it up. Christ and Him crucified. That's my only hope, even now.
So how can we say we're dead to sin? Well, look at it. Go
back to Romans 6. Now, in the next verses, he gives
the explanation. And here it is. He says in verse
3, Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized or are baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Now, when you
see that word baptized, immediately you think about water baptism.
You think about the church ordinance that we did last week. And that
is baptism. It means immersion. That's what
the word means. But here, baptism is not referring. Being baptized here does not
refer to water baptism, the ordinance. Somebody said this is one of
the driest chapters in the Bible. And it is. Are God's children
when they're born again by the Spirit and come to faith in Christ. Are they to be baptized in the
ordinance in water? Yes, they are. They're to confess
Christ in believer's baptism. That's true. We don't deny that. We don't belittle it. Don't lessen
it. But that's not what he's talking
about here. He's using baptism here as a symbol. And what it
means is union with Christ. That's what it's talking about.
It's a union with Christ. Now that's what water baptism
is a confession of, isn't it? When a believer gets into the
pool to be baptized, to be immersed in water, he or she goes down
into the water and comes up out of the water, that's believer's
scriptural baptism. What he's doing is confessing
his union with Christ. And he's saying this, that when
Christ died, I died. Now, how can we say that? Well,
it's the doctrine of substitution and representation. In other
words, Christ did it for me. You see what I'm saying? And
when Christ was buried, I was buried. And then coming up out
of the water, he's confessing when Christ rose again, I rose. He did it for me. That's what
he's saying. He's my representative. He stood in my place before a
holy God. He took my sins and bore them
away. He paid the debt that I owed
to God's law and justice. And when He did it, He did it
for me." How do you know He did it for you? Because I believe
in Him. I trust Him. I submit to faith, the new birth.
Faith in Christ, repentance are evidences that He did it for
me. All for whom He did it. will be drawn unto him. He said
if that corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it will bring
forth much fruit. What is that fruit? It's the
salvation, the redemption, the justification of his people on
the cross. And it's the regeneration and
the conversion, the new birth of his people, when God the Holy
Spirit comes to them, brings them under the preaching of the
gospel, and they see their sinfulness, they see their impotence, and
they see the glory of Christ on the cross who did the work,
who established righteousness and justified me from my sins.
That's what he's talking about. When we were baptized into Jesus
Christ, we were baptized into his death. He's speaking of our
redemption and our justification before God at the cross. When
our sins were charged to Christ and his righteousness charged
to us. How do you know that? We'll look on, verse 4. He 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." What he's saying here is this.
When Christ died, I died. When Christ was buried, I was
buried. When he was raised up from the
dead, I was raised up from the dead in him. And it was by the
glory of the Father. In other words, in the finished
work of Christ, the Father is glorified. And therefore everything
that the Father determined to declare of himself in his glory
was finished and manifested right there in Christ on the cross.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." In other
words, everything you want to know about the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit is revealed right there in Christ and him
crucified. Every attribute of God honored,
glorified, his mercy as well as his justice. His love as well
as His truth. His grace as well as His holiness. Everything about God brought
together, working together to save a sinner in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he says, even so, we also
should walk in newness of life. Now, what is this newness of
life? That's a state of grace. A state of justification before
God. What he's saying is this. I'm
not to go around walking like a condemned man, because I'm
not condemned. Do you know how a condemned man
walks in religion? He's trying to work his way into
God's favor. He's trying to do penance in
order to pay God for his sins. He's trying to earn his rewards
in heaven. That's a condemned man. He's
trying to do things that will recommend himself unto God. But
you see, in Christ, that's already taken care of. I don't have to
do works to earn my way into heaven. Christ is my way. That's how I'm going to walk.
I don't have to make myself better in order to earn God's favor
and God's blessings. I'm blessed in heavenly places
with all spiritual blessings in Christ. He's my all. That's
how I'm going to walk. Look over at Romans 7 and verse
4. Look at this. He says in verse 4, Wherefore,
my brethren, you also are become dead to the law. Now, to be dead
to the law means this. It means the law no longer has
any charge against you. Do you hear that? The law of
God. Now, that's good news to a sinner. What is sin? Transgression of the law. So
if I'm dead to the law, that means the law no longer has any
charge against me. I'm going to tell you something.
Have you ever been accused of a crime you didn't commit? And when all
the evidence comes out and you're set free, doesn't that feel good?
Well, the law will accuse you of a crime that you did commit.
Many crimes. Many crimes. And yet here, Those
who are in Christ are dead to the law. Now, in Christ, the
law has no charge against me. Now, you want to know why? Because
Christ took all those charges on Himself. He became charged
for my sin. That's what the Scripture teaches.
That's the doctrine of imputation. He legally became responsible
for all my debts. I no longer owe anything to God's
law in the order of payment. In the order of satisfaction,
Christ paid it off. Jesus paid it off. All the debt
I owe, sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as
snow. The slaves claim, I'm dead to
the law. You say, well, shouldn't we do
our best to love our neighbor, to love God? Yes, we should.
But not in order to be saved. You see the difference? That's
walking in condemnation. We're to do it because we love
Christ. We're to do it because of His
grace. We're to do it in gratitude and love and thanksgiving. That's
newness of life. You see the difference? What
motivates those who walk in newness of life? Grace, love, gratitude. What motivates those who walk
in the flesh? They're trying to earn their
way. It's mercenary. It's legal. You see the difference? And look here, now, He says you're
dead to the law. Verse 4, how did you become dead
to the law? Well, because you did enough.
You finally made it. You've been working hard all
your life. You got the Sunday school pen. And they've given
you the key to the city. And they put you in the who's
who of religion. And now you're dead to the law.
Is that what it says there? No. How did a sinner saved by
the grace of God become dead to the law? Look at it. By the
body of Christ." What's that talking about? That's his death.
You became dead to the law by Christ finishing his work, keeping
the law for me. And he says, why? Now, why did
you do that? That you should just go out here
and be on your own and do whatever you want to do in your sinfulness?
No! That you should be married to another. Now, this is speaking
of Christ and his church. He's the bridegroom. The church is his bride. He's
the husband. We're the wife. That you should be married to
Christ, even to him who's raised from the dead, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. So that we're not fruit producers.
We're fruit bearers. He's the vine. We're the branches.
Go back to Romans 6 now. Look at verse 5. Now, here it
is. Here's the planting. For if we've
been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall
be also in the likeness of his resurrection." When Christ died,
when he was planted, all whom he represented, all for whom
he died, were planted with him. When he died, we died. When he
was buried, we were buried. That we should be also in the
likeness of his resurrection. We've been resurrected in the
new birth spiritually, but we'll be resurrected in glory When
Christ comes again, that's right. And that's a sure thing. Not
because I'm so good, or you're so good, or we're going to keep
on keeping on. It's because Christ is our surety. That's what the
Old Testament calls Him. He's our surety. He was made
surety for His people. He sits on the throne. So he
says in verse 6, look at verse 6 now, he says, knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now
you know the Bible uses that term old man in a lot of different
contexts, but here what he's talking about is this. The old
man here, and it says is crucified, that's past tense. And the tense
of the verb is this, it's a past act that was completed that has
eternal implications. In other words, what was completed
in the past works just as much today and will work forever and
ever and ever. You see what I'm saying? Now,
that's a great act, isn't it? You know, you may finish some
work. Like you fellas, we go out and we cut grass. We've got
to do it again. You see, that's a past act, but
it's never completed. But here, this meaning here is
a past act that was completed, and it stays completed, and the
benefits of it just carry on through eternity. That's something
here. Now, whatever act he's talking
about, it's really something. It's something that is great
and good. What he's talking about is the death of Christ. And the
old man here is our former standing in Adam, condemned. And that former standing, that
old man that I was in Adam, has been crucified, finished. I'm no longer condemned. And
I can never be condemned, and I will never be condemned. Now
why? Why? Because of what Christ accomplished
on Calvary. It's because of His precious
blood. His precious blood that cleanses me from all my sins. It's because of His glorious
righteousness that justifies me before a holy God now and
forever. I'm still a sinner, but my sins
cannot condemn me. That's what it means to be dead
to sin. Though I sin, my sins are not
charged to my account. He said it over in Romans chapter
8, for who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather He's risen again
and seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to
make intercession for us. Do you realize that in Christ
you can never be condemned? You can never be lost. The old
man's dead. I'm no longer in Adam condemned.
I stand in Christ to be in Christ. Think about that. If you're in
Christ, that means God chose you before the foundation of
the world elected you in Christ. To be in Christ, that means God
redeemed you by His Son on the cross, paid the redemption price
fully, and left nothing else to be paid. If you're in Christ,
you were justified at Calvary by Him taking your sins upon
Himself and dying for those sins and giving you in exchange His
glorious righteousness, which will last forever. Better than
what Adam had before the fall. because it's unchangeable, it's
eternal, it's the righteousness of God. If you're in Christ,
God has birthed you again by the Spirit and brought you to
faith in Him. And you stay in Him because He
keeps you. He keeps you. He preserves you.
Look at this. He says, verse 6, knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed. The body of sin is everything
of all the sins of Christ's sheep that were laid upon him, and
he says, might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not
serve sin. This is not an excuse for us
to go on sinning. We're sinners. Sin's going to
plague us, but we're to fight it. We're to war with it. It's
the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. And he says in verse
7, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, that word freed
is justified in the original. justified. And that means that
in God's eyes, you are no longer charged with sin. In the eyes
of his law and justice. Look at verse 8. Now, if we be
dead with Christ, we believe that we should also live with
him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no
more, death hath no more dominion over him. Christ only died one
time. He doesn't have to die again.
That's why we don't hold Mass. You know, when they hold Mass,
that's what they're doing. They're crucifying the Son of God again. We don't
need a Mass today. We have Calvary. God forbid that
I should glory saving the cross of Christ. When we take the Lord's
Supper, we're not crucifying Him again. That doesn't turn
into His body and His blood. We're just testifying through
those symbols that the work's been done. It's finished. And
we're saved. Death hath no more dominion.
Now, he cannot die again. Now, let me tell you something.
If you died in him, death hath no more dominion over you either.
You say, well, this old body here now, it's getting worse
and worse, and I'm going to die physically. Yes, but you know
what the Bible calls that? That's a sleep for a believer.
Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?
You see, we'll die the physical death, but that's a passing over
for the believer, for those who die in Christ. And then verse
10, for in that he died, he died unto sin once. That's our sins
imputed to him, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Now,
let me, I'm going to conclude here, verse 11, but I want you
to see this. He says, likewise, what does that mean? It means
in the exact same way or in the exact same manner, reckon you
yourselves, you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Now, that word,
reckon, is an interesting word. Nine times in the New Testament,
it's translated, think. We just studied a little bit
in Philippians chapter 4 on how Christians should think. And
that's what this is. Likewise, reckon. This is how
we're to think. That's what he's saying. Eight
times in the New Testament, the word, reckon, is translated,
impute. It's illegal accounting. Here's
how you're to look at yourself, think of yourself, and account
yourself. It's not how you feel within
yourself. It's not how you are within yourself, because you're
still a sinner. This is how you're to account
or impute. You see? Six times it's translated
the word reckon. Five times it's translated count. This is how you're to count. You can count on it. Two times
it's translated suppose. Now suppose it doesn't mean something
that you don't know or for sure. It's a supposition based upon
a reasonable truth. One time it's translated reason
and one time it's translated number. Likewise, number yourselves. In fact, the time that it's translated
number is in the book of Mark when he is quoting from Isaiah
chapter 53. When it says of Christ, he was
numbered with the transgressors. So what is it talking about?
Our union with Christ. That's what it's talking about.
So he says, likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now here's what he's saying. in the same way that Christ died
unto sin. That's the way we died unto sin.
We're still sinners in ourselves, but we're dead indeed unto sin.
It cannot condemn us. It cannot even control us in
the sense of keeping us from looking to Christ. Oh, it still
bothers us. It still contaminates us. We're
not sinlessly perfect within ourselves, but we are sinlessly
perfect in Christ. That's what that means. Now,
that's what being planted together with Christ means. When He died,
I died. When He was buried, I was buried. When He arose again, I arose
again. And that ensures my eternal,
glorious resurrection from the dead.