I want you to turn in your Bibles
back to Romans chapter 6, if you will, Romans chapter 6. And
you can follow me in your pastor's outline, which is in your bulletin,
Romans chapter 6. We are continuing after a brief
departure, although from a theological standpoint, it was no departure
at all while we considered the doctrine of baptism and all of
its implications, which is exactly where we are in our Romans study. the Apostle Paul seeking to establish
for the church the real clear and concrete grounds upon which
every believer has hope for eternity. He has labored extensively and
he utilizes the emblem and symbology of baptism to teach us of our
standing in Christ in the things upon which our soul hopes both
now and for all eternity. Romans chapter 6 is a watershed
portion of the whole of the treaties of the gospel set forth in the
book of Romans. It is a strategic point of emphasis
which for most scholars and theologians is very, very challenging in
terms of trying to explain what the Spirit of God is saying with
reference to the life of the believer upon fully comprehending
his standing justified freely by the grace of God in Christ.
And I shared with you a couple of weeks ago in one of our previous
messages around this subject of our justification that the
apostle has spoken for six chapters And he has uttered, by inspiration
of the Spirit, 137 verses, six chapters, 137 verses of information
that he gave to the church at Rome, and thus to us, before
he gave the church instructions as to what to do. What that means
is that it is important for you and I to know whose we are before
we can successfully even engage in doing what he called us to
do. 137 verses, 6 chapters, and he
doesn't even begin to tell us what to do until verse 11 of
chapter 6. What that also means is the gospel
of the grace of God in Christ is not a shallow gospel. You
don't learn the gospel in five minutes and you certainly do
not successfully walk in the grace of God the day after you
learn it. It is a process of education,
if I can use that term, by which the believer takes a great deal
of time Learning exactly what God has done for them to lay
a foundation for their eternity balance Oh, by the way, if you
heard this morning Sunday school, you were blessed I'm going to
force my elder to actually teach this class again two weeks before
next year's Resurrection Sunday So that y'all can actually get
it Uh-huh So just to let you know, that's what we will be
doing because it's a really good precursor to that class. It also goes to show you how
pervasive the gospel and the God of the gospel is in all of
human history. He's not just the God of data.
He's the God of the universe. He upholds all things by the
word of his power, and there's not a molecule in the universe
that does not submit to God's decree and purpose, including
time, including time. That's why we call him the Alpha
and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the
end. And thus it is with our redemption. It requires going deep with God
if we're going to get it. going deep with God. So today's
title is Alive Unto God Only Through Christ. Alive Unto God
Only Through Christ. And that's taken out of Romans
6 verse 11, where we are given our first set of imperatives
by the apostle. Likewise, reckon ye yourselves
also to be dead indeed unto sin But alive unto whom? Through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Now verse 11 is the text that
we have to pay careful attention to as we work through today's
message. The imperative, the command,
the set of instructions is that we would reckon ourselves also. In other words, the apostle is
establishing a parallel between us and something else. Now the
something else we already know is the Lord Jesus Christ. He
has used baptism as an analogy of what Christ himself did to
accomplish our redemption and he has told us that by way of
what Christ has done we therefore now have our identity in him. The man or the woman that is
going to successfully negotiate this world without being devoured
and swallowed up by the chaos that is presently and rampantly
bringing about confusion and destruction to the soul. The
man or the woman that's going to make it through this world
safely is going to learn what it means to make their identity
completely rooted in who Jesus is. If you are not clear on who
Christ is, you cannot be clear on who you are. And if you are
not clear on who you are, someone else can and will define you. This is why all sorts of fools
today are defining themselves and redefining themselves contrary
to what God has said. I want you to get this now. You
have no authority in yourself to define who you are. You have
no authority. You may say, I am this, that,
and the other, but your authority will not have come from God.
And the whole world is defining itself, but the people who do
know their God understand this, all that Christ is, I am in Him. All that Christ is, I am in Him. If that's true, I better learn
everything I possibly can about God's model, about God's paradigm,
about God's image, about God's Son, because everything that
He is, I am in Him. If I don't want to lose my soul
to hell, being washed away in this crazy world, being told
that I'm something that I'm not, because I have no clear understanding
of who I am in Christ, I am going to perish in this Babylonian
foolishness. Are you hearing me? Now watch
this. Here's the proposal. Men and
women are only truly alive to God in Christ. If you are not in Christ, you
are not alive. I don't care how much partying
you do, you're still dead. As long as a man or a woman or
a child or a family or a church or a denomination or a nation
is separated from the true and the living God, you have no life
at all. I am the way, the truth and the
life, and no one comes unto the Father but by me. And until you
claim your identity in the person of Jesus Christ, which, ladies
and gentlemen, requires so much attention to God, I promise you,
you will struggle with who you are and you will never have authority
to be able to stand on the ground of truth and say, I am that I
am by the grace of God. You'll never be able to do it.
So the man or the woman that's going to be able to solidly Tell
the world who God is and who they are in God is going to take
God serious at his word. You're going to do what the scripture
tells us and that is spend your time learning about Jesus all
the days of your life. Christ is the revelation of the
invisible God. Christ is the image of the true
and the living God. Christ is the source and grounds
of the life of every believer outside of Christ. You have no
authority to define yourselves. Are you hearing me? I want to
press that point home because the work that we're going to
be doing over the next several weeks is obeying or at least
hearing what the scripture says about the battle that you will
have to fight to make your calling and election sure. The battle
that you will have to fight to make sure that when you say you
are Christ, you are. If you are lazy, careless, indifferent
about who Jesus is, you will not make it. You are going to
have to take Jesus seriously when he said in Matthew chapter
11, verse 27 and 28, particularly 28. Come on to me. Every one
of you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you. You know what that means? Authority.
Control. Ownership. Take my yoke upon
you. Submit to the crown rights of
Christ and learn of me. Those are the instructions that
every believer is committed to. He's committed to taking the
yoke of Christ and putting it on his neck and submitting like
an ox to his master so that he can be led by his master in the
right direction. Are you guys following me? I
want you to hear this now as we talk about a concept called
freedom today. Please do not make the mistake
in thinking you are totally free. Don't pervert the grace of God. The only person in the universe
that has been, is, or will ever be totally free is God himself. All right, let's take up our
first point. Alive unto God only through Christ. Apart from Christ,
we cannot be alive. The commandment given to us in
verse 11 is for you and I to affirm the life of Christ in
you. A couple of weeks ago, I made
mention of this concept that you and I have to grasp. When
I dealt with union with Christ means he reigns, I said, what
is true of Jesus Christ is also true of you because of Christ
in you. You guys remember that? No, you
don't. What is true of Christ is true of you because of Christ
in you. So mark this now, what is true
of Christ is true of the believer who is in Christ because of Christ
in you. You follow that? It's important
for you to know. What is true of Jesus is also
true of me. That's the little also or likewise
in Romans chapter 6 verse 11. Likewise reckon you yourselves
also. Whatever Christ is reckon that
to yourselves and remember I dealt with the term reckon point number
one reckon That's a good old southern country term. We don't
use it in California because we're too sadiddy too smart to
use I reckon but country folk use the word reckon and the word
reckon means to reason through and It means to give account
of. It means to put to your account
or draw conclusions. It actually means to establish
a bottom line on your analysis or assessment of a thing. What
it means is, is to take data that's in front of you and to
analyze that data with the objective of drawing a conclusion. To give
an account is to answer what's in front of you with a conclusion. It's called in the proverbial
language that we use establishing a bottom line. You know how when
you're arguing or debating with someone or talking with someone
and you go, but the bottom line is this. Now watch what I'm about
to say. When you read the scriptures,
your job in mind is to be able to draw a conclusion that agrees
with God. Watch this now. And the only
way you can do that is when you study and read the scriptures
by faith. Only faith can bring you to a
bottom line conclusion in the word. You can read your Bible
forever and a day, but without it being mixed with faith, you
can never come to a biblical conclusion. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? That's why there are all sorts of people who are
ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth.
There are people who read their Bible every day and still don't
know who Jesus is, still don't know who the Father is, still
don't know who the Spirit is, still don't know redemption and
salvation, still do not know those essential things by which
the soul is saved. Why? Because they're reading
the Word of God, not mixed with faith. Are you guys hearing me?
Watch this now. Your job is to read and draw
a conclusion. to render a verdict by which
you say, yes, that's what God's Word says, I believe it. And
so what Paul is teaching us is this, the only way you and I
can be secure in our salvation, that is to make our calling and
election sure, is to read all the data. concerning the person
and work of Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit's aid, draw the
right conclusion. For instance, I have in your
outline Romans chapter 3 verse 28, which is one of the conclusions
that Paul draws after three chapters and 28 verses of explaining to
us who God is, what the world is, what false religion is, and
man's situation under it. Notice what it says in Romans
3, 28. Therefore we what? Stop right there. See? You know what
he did? He spoke for three chapters and
28 verses and drew a what? Conclusion. See, only faith can
do that. As you read the Word of God,
hear the testimony of God, hear his arguments, hear his reasonings,
hear his promises, hear his warnings, hear his overtures. If you do
it with faith, then then and then only can you draw the conclusion. Here's what his conclusion is.
That a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. It took him three chapters to
come to that conclusion. You see what I mean about having
to labor in the word of God? It took him three chapters to
sum up the state of man in terms of being justified by God. He
says, when I have done with Romans 1, 2, and 3, here's my conclusion,
that a man can only be justified by faith apart from the works
of the law. Now, everyone does not believe
that. There are a lot of people who think they're saved by the
works of the law. There are a lot of people who think they can
get to heaven any other way than Christ. There are lots of people
who read their Bibles and still fail to see the magnitude of
the finality of the cross work of Jesus Christ. There are lots
of people who go away from the cross, not drawing this conclusion. What Paul says is, if you call
yourself a Christian, you better read the word of God by faith,
which is a gift from God, and draw the same conclusions that
God does about you. You know how important that is?
Are you ready? Watch how important that is.
Your life situations will occur in such a way that it will oppose
what the scriptures say. And you will have to make a decision
whether or not you're going to believe what the Bible says versus
what you're experiencing. There are things that are going
to come in your life, and they're coming right now, which will challenge
your experience, challenge your situation, challenge your very
psychological disposition, our frame of mind, our feelings,
our emotions. And if your emotions are more
authoritative than the Word of God, you will not agree with
Scripture. How many of you know that what
I'm saying is true? There are times in your life When situations
bombard you, where you are forced to ask the question, why am I
thus? Why am I going through this?
Why is this happening to me? The Word of God says this, but
I'm going through that. Now, if you are not a man or
a woman committed to biblical truth as your identity, guess
what you're gonna do? You're gonna agree with your
feelings. which this is the reason why men are born with genitals
that clearly establish us as men and somewhere down the line
get washed down the river talking about I'm a woman. You better hear me. I'll explain
this further tomorrow night. You better hear me. The only
reason they draw those conclusions is because their authority is
their feelings and a world full of lost sinners who agree with
them and do not agree with the Word of God. Now, child of God, there are
days when you inadvertently slip into that camp. This is where you better learn
how to be committed to studying the Word of God mixed with faith. mixed with faith. And so we go
back to our point so I can work through this because I want to
at least get through three points today. Affirming the life of
Christ in you is the work of reckoning, assessing, drawing
a conclusion, coming to the bottom line that what the Word of God
says is true. In fact, chapter 4 of Romans
3 uses this term Logizomai, it's another tense, but Logizomai
11 times in chapter 4 and I want you to see how it's used just
so I can emphasize that you are not to read your Bible scantily,
but carefully because it's the Word of God. You want to not
only hear from God when you read it, but you want to believe what
God says to you when you hear it. Only then are you Abraham's
seed Abraham believed God. When God spoke, Abraham listened,
Abraham assessed that what God said he would do, he would do,
in spite of the circumstances. The circumstances were so contrary
to Abraham, you and me and everybody else. But God had said, Abraham,
you're going to have a son. You know what Abraham did? He
looked at the world, he looked at his own situation, He looked
at his girl and he says, I better believe God because there's nothing
else going on here. And what I'm getting at is this.
Until you are committed. to the pregnant, powerful potential
and promise of the Word of God, you will never have that hope
of glory. Until you are committed to the pregnant, pregnant, powerful
promises of the Word of God, you will never have that potential.
Because the just only and always live by what? That's exactly
right. Point number two, faith through
the scripture then purchases the promise of union with Christ.
I want you to mark that. I'm not going to stay there long
because the rest of our series will affirm this. Faith through
the scriptures. There is no other way to acquire
biblical and saving faith. You say, well, I have faith.
And I say, well, what is it rooted in my experience? Sorry, that's
not saving faith because saving faith is rooted in the word of
God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by what? Faith is
a gift from God and it must come by God and it only comes by God
through the Word. You don't have faith as an intrinsic
quality. If you do, it's not saving faith.
In other words, until you are under the preaching and teaching
of the Word of God, sound, expository, Christ-exalting, spirited preaching,
you can never have the faith that's necessary for you to be
able to say, I agree with God. The Word has to come first. The
Word of God has to come first. It has to confront you in your
need and show you what the remedy is. It has to convince you. See, faith for the believer is
a conviction. You know what that is? That's
being in the courtroom of God's argument and His testimony of
Scripture and you being persuaded that what God says is the truth.
Case closed! Did you get that? Case closed.
He won me over. The lawyer called the Holy Ghost
won me over through the Word of God. He convinced me that
God is right. Now watch this, and every man
is a liar. See, God is true and every man
is a liar. Are you convinced of that? You
may or may not be, but that's the solution to this crazy mess
that's going on in our world. Pastor, why are all these people
acting such a fool? Because God is true and every
man is a liar. Are you hearing me? See, I'm
giving you an anchor to deliver you out of the pit of the confusion
of this mass chaos and rebellion against the testimony of Scripture.
Why is the world doing what it's doing? Because it's a liar. God
said every man is a liar. I'm the only one that's true.
And if you're not able to embrace that proposition, the lie is
going to win you over. The only authority in the universe
that can actually militate against the trends of our culture is
the Word of God. And our world despises scripture. It despises the testimony of
God. It hates Christ. It hates the gospel. It hates
the Word of God. And it hates the people who are
committed to the Word. But if you are going to have
that faith that draws a proper conclusion as to god's testimony,
you're going to have to have a committed acquaintance Yay,
and absolute dependence upon the scriptures because they purchase
for you the promise of union with christ now watch this the
word in point number B is promise promise. Here's what the word
of god promises. Are you ready? First second corinthians chapter
1 verse 20 says all the promises of God all of them not some all
of them now if you're interested in the promises of God you got
to study them because there's a lot of them now you can learn
this verse and start quoting it and never have opened up the
book of God's promises to be able to learn even one see that's
what religious folk do they'll learn a Bible verse all the promises
of God are yes and amen in Jesus Christ to us through the glory
of God never ever looked up the promises What are those promises? That's what you need to do. Look
up the promises, but understand the proposal around them. They
are all yes in Jesus. Whatever promise there is, Lord,
I am with you always to the end of the world. It's only yes in
Jesus. I am the God of salvation. Look
unto me all ye ends of the earth and be ye safe, said the Lord,
for I am God. There's none beside me. It's only true in Jesus.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? I am a merciful God. Come to
me, confess your sins, forsake them, and I will show you mercy.
They're only true in Jesus. Do you understand that? Let the
unrighteous forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts,
and let him return unto the Lord, and I will abundantly pardon
him. That's a promise, but it's only
true in Christ. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
They're only yes in Christ. They're not yes in you. They're
not yes in me. They're only yes in Christ So
it's the promises that are purchased by the scriptures in the heart
of those who believe the scriptures John 14 19 Jesus says because
I live I You shall also live that's a promise, isn't it? Do
you believe that child of god because I live you shall also
live jesus is affirming verse 11 of chapter 6 That's our premise
text. I want you to get this you have
no life in yourself Your life is only found in your federal
head And in your savior jesus christ to live outside of christ
is to be dead to think Outside of christ is to be dead to act
outside of christ is to be dead Without me, you can do nothing. To live outside of Christ, to
think outside of Christ, to act outside of Christ, to function
independently of a radical committed dependence upon him as your life
and source is death. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
That's what John 14, 9 is teaching. That you and I have not even
a vestige of hope of calling what we are experiencing life
outside of christ He is the vehicle of life. He is the source of
life in him is the life And apart from him there is no life at
all. Do you see then how important it is for me to know him? Here's
the next promise verse isaiah 26 19. We used this one last
week. This is going to be my fundamental
So the point of consideration for today, you know what Isaiah
26 19 says your dead men Shall live together. My dead body shall
they live you guys remember me saying that last week? No, you
don't Isaiah chapter 26 verse 19. Yeah, you know, you're not
paying that much attention to the Word of God On your way out
after the message. Are you thinking about is what
you want to eat? and that's probably because you haven't been feeding
on the Word of God in service and Because when you're feeding
on the Word of God in the service, you're not that hungry after
the service. Because the soul is so satisfied
with having met God in the preaching of the Word. You really want
to do what Peter, James, and John said, Lord, it's good for
us to stay right here. You say, Pastor, I haven't experienced
that in a long time. That's my point. Isaiah chapter 26, 19. Your dead
men shall what? That's a future tense. He's identified
that the men by nature are what? Dead. But he says they shall
live. But they can't live on their own, can they? What does
the text say? Together with my dead body shall
they arise. Is that not the whole of the
doctrine of baptism? Is that not the whole of the
doctrine of baptism I've been teaching? Now I want you to see
how this works. Let's go on back. I need to move
forward now. What Paul is teaching, and what
we want to grasp here in Romans chapter 6 verse 11, is some critical
truths around this proposition of our union, our union with
Christ. Verse 11, likewise reckon ye
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ. He's describing for us what I
call in point C under our first heading, Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Was that in your outline? Okay,
good. Christ in you, the hope of glory. If you're a child of
God, if you've been born again, Christ is in you. Do you believe
that? Now watch this. He is called
in you the hope of glory. Now I've taught this church for
years that you and I have passed fulfilled promises upon which
we are able to securely base our standing before God. Past
promises. For instance, Christ died 2,000
years ago. And when he died 2,000 years
ago, I died. That's a promise fulfilled. Are you hearing me? And on the
basis of that promise fulfilled, I know that I have been justified
before God. I'm going to explain that here
in a moment. But I'm operating out of the baptismal paradigm,
for when you saw the people immersed in the water, it signified their
what? Death. That they died, but they
did not die to themselves, nor did they die by themselves. They
died with Christ, and they died in Christ, and that's the death
that we're talking about. If a man has died with Christ,
if he has died in Christ, he then has truly died. It's a past
act by which we are secure in our justification before God.
That's actually Romans chapter 6 verse 7. He that is dead is
free from sin. Is that what the text says? Your
Bible should be saying that too. You should be having your Bibles
open. But you know, we don't live in the age where people
bring their Bibles to church. Here it is. For he that is dead is
free from what? All right, see, that's another
what we call an indicative in Scripture. It means it's a state
of being. from God's vantage point of which
the believer needs to fully understand. Is he dead physically? Is he
dead emotionally? Is he dead in the sense of daily
dying through the mortification of his flesh and overcoming the
temptations that come into the mind and the heart? No! This
is a past tense death that really should be translated for he that
has died. For he that has died. That's
the way it should be translated. Meaning, in the past, an act
occurred. And this is his state in that
past act. He died. Well, when did I die? I died in Christ. And when Christ
died, I died. And because of my death in Christ,
it affected something. Do you know what it affected?
My freedom. It affected my freedom. Are you guys with me for a moment?
Don't be bored. Learn doctrine. Freedom only
comes through death What do you mean pastor the wages of sin
is what the wages of sin is what? Unless I die, I still am a debtor
to sin Watch this then if God has declared me to have died
in Christ 2,000 years ago. I am no longer a debtor to sin. I paid the debt in him. I The
debt is paid. The debt is paid. And because
of that, I am legally free from sin. Are you guys hearing me?
Are you hearing me? So, your freedom does not lie
in how you feel. It doesn't even lie in what you
do. It lies in God's view of you in Christ. Now, we are talking about a certain
kind of freedom today of which your points will show you. I
said earlier, you and I don't have absolute freedom. That's
going to be my second point. So don't take this term freedom
and mean you are at liberty to do whatever you want to do. You
will totally miss the point. There is a freedom that was won
for you at Calvary if indeed you are his. And that freedom
was the legal right to no longer be under the power and dominion
of sin, because the law of God was satisfied for you through
Jesus Christ so that it can no longer hold you in bondage. Are you hearing me? See, the
strength of sin is the law. So long as you and I are viewed
in the sight of the law as not having paid the sin debt, the
law has control over us because the law acknowledges, it affirms,
and it condemns all sinners. But if I paid the sin debt, guess
what the law says to me? You're free to go. Why? Because
the debt is paid. Why? Because now justice has
been satisfied. Why? Because the law stands as
an executioner of God's justice over against sinners who have
violated God's holiness and must punish sin. But if indeed I have
died, then the law has to let me go. Is that true? That's Acts
chapter 13, verse 39. I want you to see that here for
a moment. A couple of verses I want you to see around this
very truth. Acts 13. 39 the Apostle is explaining
to the crowd The state of the man who has just been healed
and here's what he says This is a powerful truth. That must
be known. I'm at verse 38 be it known unto
you therefore Men and brethren that through this man is preached
unto you the word of sins Who is that man? Christ through Christ
Preached unto you the forgiveness of sins now watch this ladies
and gentlemen and by him who was to him Christ all That believe
are Justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Do you see that the pastor? Why
are you? Using the term justify while
we're talking about freedom Because when you go back to Romans 6
verse 7, Romans 6 verse 7 literally says, he that has died to sin
is justified. Are you hearing me? That's literally the word justified. He that has died to sin, he that
has died is freed from sin, justified from sin. See the word free?
That's the word justify. Some of your Bibles are very
good translations and they have that word, dikeios, there. It
means to be what? Justified. Now, the net consequence
of justification is what? Freedom. Freedom. See, justification
is to stand right before God's law in a forensic court case
by which God has examined you and has seen that you have not
only paid the debt, but you have perfectly obeyed God's law so
that he must declare you righteous. Watch this now. He that is dead
is free from sin. This is an amazing thing. For
the one that has died is justified from sin. So if I have stated
that we have died not in ourselves but in Christ, and the death
that we died in Christ 2,000 years ago afforded us the grounds
of justification, which is our liberation, you and I could never
say that we were justified by our works. I'm going to say that
again because I know we're slow. If the text is true that I died
in Christ and because I died in Christ, I am justified and
therefore free. I could never say my freedom
or my justification as the grounds of it could have come by something
I did. Did y'all get that? Help me now.
Help me. I need to see. Did you get it? Raise your hand.
Did you get it? This is critical to your testimony. Your justification
could never have been the consequence of something you did. Because
the Word of God declares that your justification can only be
the merits of you having died already in Christ. This is what
we call the free grace of God in Christ. That's why Paul concluded
in Romans 3a that a man is justified not by the works of the law,
but by faith in Christ. So the promise of Christ Yielded
to the believer by the Spirit of God through the scriptures
gives him or her and them the joy of knowing that God has said
you are free You are free because you're justified. Are you guys
following that very important now child of God? You're gonna
learn that this is the battle. You're gonna be fighting all
the days of your life This is the battle you're gonna
be fighting all the days of your life If in fact God has made you born
again and dropped into your soul the incorruptible seed of the
gospel, and that seed is germinating and taking root downward and
bearing fruit upward, that word in you is going to be telling
you one thing while your experience is going to be militating against
it, while the world is going to be militating against it.
And you're going to have to learn how to follow the instructions
of verses 11 through verse 23 of Romans 6 in order to negotiate
maintaining your freedom. Are you hearing me? You got to
learn how to follow the instructions of Romans 6, 11 through 23 in
order to negotiate maintaining your freedom. Can I stay here
for a moment? We have many examples throughout human history where
people have been in bondage, been in captivity, been in slavery,
controlled and ruled by others in a rigorous, horrible, horrible
way, of which when an opportunity for emancipation occurred, are
you ready? Not only did they not leave,
being declared free. But in many cases, when they
left, they were brought back into bondage because they were
not fully persuaded of their freedom. And they let the authority
of their former rule bring them back into bondage to something
for which they had been legally liberated. I'm getting ready
to work on that because that's the battle you're going to be
fighting. You're going to be fighting the battle of believing
that sin no longer has dominion over you. Are you hearing? But that's not going to be an
easy battle to fight. You have to learn from the Word of God
how to fight the battle. of a taskmaster who wants to
send you to hell, who has had control of you over most of your
life and has ruled you in the most intimate sense and knows
your in and your out, your thinking, your impulses, your drives, your
passions, your predilections, everything about you. And that
pimp wants to bring you back into bondage so he can control
you all over again and exercise lordship over you. simply because
you are not committed to establishing your new identity in Christ. Are you hearing me? That's work
you're going to have to go through. Otherwise, you're going to be
in bondage. Don't be distracted. Listen to
what I'm saying. When we say that Christ is in you the hope
of glory, there's a hope that you have to grasp that's going
to help you establish sort of battle lines for this war you
have to raise. Christ in you the hope of glory
is Colossians chapter 1 verse 27. This is the great mystery
of the Gentiles. Christ in you. Christ in you the hope of glory.
Now remember what I've said? Hope is that which looks to the
future for a promise that has yet to be fulfilled. You guys
follow that? Hope is that which looks to the
future for a promise that has yet to be fulfilled. Faith embraces
hope because faith says there are things about the promises
of God that are not yet fulfilled in your life. Are you guys following
the logic? Don't buy into a Christianity that says that all that God has
promised you is fulfilled right now. There are lots of promises
that God has made for you that won't be fulfilled until the
future. Near future, long distant future,
and ultimately on the last day. I'm getting ready to call your
attention to a concept and a truth around the doctrine of the resurrection
that you must grasp. Here it is. You're going to have
to take a steady and committed focus on the doctrine of the
resurrection of the body as a future hope necessary for you to make
right choices in your life now. Let me drive this home. See,
we don't take the promise of the resurrection of the body
seriously. Can I tell you why? Because the
body, as I'm going to show in a little while, is your main
adversary. who has a way of bringing you
into bondage to it so that you never ever view your body as
something that needs to be controlled. But your body is your worst enemy. It's your Benedict Arnold. It's
your traitor. It's the one that will lead you
to hell if you let it. But now watch this. If you learn
how not to identify yourself with your body, like I'm telling
you not to identify yourself with the world, but identify
yourself with Christ. This is what you're going to
do with your body. You're going to say, body, you've been designated
to be redeemed and resurrected on the last day. My job is to
not pay attention to you as my authority because you still need
to be redeemed. Watch this now. This is very
important. The redemption of your soul raises you from the
dead spiritually, renews your mind, gives you passions and
desires that should be aimed towards God. But your body is
still riddled with sin. And because of that, your body
is your closest enemy. And if you do not reckon, reckon
with your body, you will find yourself impeded, hindered. Hindered thwarted in your purpose
of God because you have an enemy too close for you to see Stay
with me now stay with me now. You're gonna blame everybody
else around you for your problem You're gonna blame everyone else
around you for your problem. Will you hear me? You don't blame
the church You don't blame your pastor. You don't blame your
wife. I Now, only if I didn't have
her, I would do fine. No, that's not true. You're going
to blame your husband. Only if I didn't have him, I'd
do fine. That's not true. If I, if I could just get away from
California, sorry, California is not the problem. That's not
the problem. Are you guys following me? This
series is going to help you or it's going to condemn you because
I'm going to show you that ground zero, the theater of battle is
your flesh. This is the theater of battle.
This is where you have to get a handle on bringing him into
subjection so he can do the will of God. He's the only body you
have. And until you know his problem,
you can't get him to actually do what you need him to do in
order for you, who are a child of the living God, to be able
to execute and express through your body the will of God. Are
you hearing me? You're gonna have to learn how to wage war
against your body. See, when God saved you, He saved
you in two parts. Soul now, body later. Romans chapter 8 verse 11. Watch
this. Romans chapter 8 verse 11. I want you to get this. I'm
getting ready to go somewhere. Give me 15 more minutes. It might
be 30. Watch this. Romans chapter 8. You need to
hear this. You need to hear this. You need
to hear this. You need to hear what I'm saying.
Romans 8 verse 11. But if the Spirit of Him, who
is in Him? Christ. Raised I'm sorry the father but
the spirit of the father that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you you guys got that If the spirit of the father that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up
Christ from the dead Future hope shall also you got that quicken
your mortal bodies by his what that dwells where see verse 11
verse 11 is affirming a future hope of the resurrection of our
bodies. Is that true? Verse 11 is saying
that the same God that raised Christ from the dead is going
to one day raise you from the dead. Is that what it says? Now
watch this, ladies and gentlemen. This is a key verse that Paul
is using to help the believer understand how to wage this grueling
war against the flesh. See, he's already gone through
chapter 6, and then he's gone into chapter 7. And do you remember
what chapter 7 says? O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of what? Now we're in chapter
8. Know what he's doing? He's parsing between that soul
crying out for total liberty while recognizing it's in bondage
to a body that would sink him into hell. And that the promise
is one day that Christ which was raised from the dead by the
Spirit of the Father shall also deliver your body from the corruption
of sin. Are you guys following this logic?
Stay with me for a while because this is important. This is what
is being described in Romans chapter 6, verse 11. Go back
to Romans 6, 11. I want us to marinate on the promise now,
meditate on the promise here, and then I want to share with
you our second point, second critical point. I'll probably
only get to that today. Romans chapter 6 verse 11 says
likewise therefore Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin we can handle that verse now Can't we because we know
the death is not some kind of mental emotional spiritual mortification
But it's a death by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ and
it's a death that took place how long ago? 2,000 years ago,
right? So watch this so we are accounting
and we are reckoning and we are affirming what God says I am
in Christ and in terms of the past death that he accomplished,
right? So now it says, having said that,
likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
what? A lie. Unto who? God. Through who? Jesus Christ. Stop
right there. See, what that verse is describing
is two important things. A condition and then a relationship.
So I want you to see this now. He's saying, just as you have
assumed and concluded that you died in Christ, also assume and
conclude that you are now alive. You are spiritually alive. Why?
Because Christ rose and we rose with him. That's verses 1 through
9, by the way. He already argued that if Christ
rose from the dead, then we should also walk in newness of life.
He repeats things a lot because he knows we are slow. Stay with
me. If you are a believer, you are
alive. but your life is unto God. This is a directional term
that means you don't live for yourself. Are you hearing me? This is an important truth. I'm
going to lay down. Watch this now. Every man or woman that's been
born again has been born again to live Coram Dale. Every man or woman that's born
again is alive unto God, towards God. See, before you were dead
in sin and your life was contrary to God. But now you're born again,
you're alive and your life is towards God. Now the argument
for this truth is our analogy. And the analogy is that of Christ.
Let me show you what I'm saying. Backing up to verses eight and
nine, notice what it says. In fact, I'll start at verse,
yeah, I'll start at verse eight. Now, if we be dead with Christ,
see our argument? We believe that we shall also
what? Live with him. We've already
argued that in the promises, didn't we? John 14, 19. Because
I live, you shall also live. But this is a future tense. We
shall also live is a future tense, not a present tense. You know
what that means? Paul frequently argues for the
believer recognizing the totality of his life in the person of
Christ when he comes again. This is a critical truth. Watch
this. When the believer is able to
own the risen Christ as his life and knows that we shall ultimately
live when he comes, nothing in this life can threaten you. Now
stay there, stay there. I want you to get this. I'm going
to work this through. Because see, I know us. We're soundbite people. And we don't do well with things
a year from now. But believers have negotiated
this difficult world by one truth. Because Christ has been resurrected
bodily and he is in glory. All that I am, I am in him. And all that he is, he is for
me. It doesn't matter what happens to this body, one day I'm going
to live again. Watch this now. This is how our
brothers and sisters are able to suffer martyrdom and suffer
death around the world because they believe in the resurrection.
They believe in the resurrection. And this belief in the resurrection
has to do with owning your body's destiny before God. Watch this
now. Therefore, when a man or woman
knows that their body is owned and designated for the resurrection,
we are not afraid of death. Because all you can do is kill
it. One day this body is going to rise again. It's going to
rise again in a resurrection and in a glorious, glorious state
because my vouchsafe has already risen and he is in glory now.
See what he's doing? See what the believer is doing?
He focuses fully on Christ and not himself. I'm going to build
my argument around that now. That's our next point. And it
will be our last point. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with him. Paul clarifies this
future hope of the resurrection on many texts of scripture. But
I want to just call your attention to now point number two. This
is my last point. Point number two. Listen to the
proposition now, ladies and gentlemen. Are you there? Listen to it.
Now there's one man in the universe that has total and absolute freedom. That man is Christ. Listen to
me now. He has absolute freedom. We have
promised freedom. Christ has absolute freedom. Spirit of God help these people
see, help them see the glory of the man who represents them
in a state of absolute freedom so that they don't lie to themselves
about the mess that they're going through now and try to call it
freedom when nothing could be further from the truth. Because
just as Christ is your life, Christ is your freedom. Are you
hearing what I'm saying? Otherwise, you're going to deceive
yourself. Because you and I, you know we live bound like this
all the time. Our freedom is in Christ. And
our total and absolute, unmolested, unharmed, uninterrupted, pristine,
perfect, impeccable, absolute, exclusive freedom is found in
the Christ who stands before God right now in heaven. Are you hearing me? There's a
man in glory who represents us and represents the totality of
our freedom. How many of you guys are tracking
with me right now? Okay, good. I want you to get this now. I
want you to set your eyes on Him. Set your eyes on Him and
see Him because you're going to need to see Him in the day
of your trouble. in the day when the winds blow,
in the days when the waves go over your head, in the days when
you hear all of those voices, you're going to have to be able
to remember who you are in Christ. There's a man in glory who knows
absolute and total freedom. He knows a freedom that none
of us could ever know. He is free in the quintessential
sense. Christ has absolute freedom.
Verse 10, Romans 6, verse 10. For in that he died, that is
Christ, he died unto sin. How many times? We know that
because he ended it on Calvary by saying it is what? But in
that he lives. Who lives? Now watch this last
line. Coram Deo. In that he lives. He lives unto
God. Now Paul is not talking about
his excursion down here on earth in his incarnation. He already
did that. Hallelujah. And when he did that, he didn't
do that exclusively to God. He did that for us. He lived
in our mass. He left glory to live in our
mass that he might go back to glory so we can go to glory with
him. Stay with me now. But Christ is in a place. He's
in a state. He's in a dimension. He's in
a realm that you and I need to understand because this is a
promise to us. He's in a place of impeccable and absolute exclusivity
to God. Let me ask you the question.
Is there any better place for a soul to be than in the presence
of God? I'm talking in the presence.
I'm talking in the presence of the ineffable bliss. I'm talking
in the presence of the glory of God. I'm talking about being
accepted and qualified and prepared and made to stand before the
perfection of God's glory. There's nothing better. Ladies
and gentlemen, are you hearing me? This is what Christ prayed
to His Father in John 17, when He says, I'm ready to go back
now. I'm done with this mess down here, Father. I didn't pay
the debt. You didn't give it. You have
given them to me. They're mine. And I'm ready now to go back
to the palace. I'm ready to go back to that
place that I had with you before the world began. I'm ready to
now be a partaker of that glory by which you are glorified. And
I am glorified in you as the father and the son stand in the
presence of only themselves as God Almighty. Shining, outshining
as the blistering glory and source of everything made. Am I making
some sense? Let me see if I can help you. Let me see if I can
help you. I want you to get this now. Go with me in your Bible
to Hebrews chapter 9, verse 24. Hebrews 9, 24. I want you to...
I'm getting ready to give you an anchor. Now the term anchor
is used in Hebrews chapter 3 when the writer says we have an anchor
to the soul, an anchor for the soul, even Jesus Christ the righteous,
and he is the forerunner who has gone into where? Heaven for
us. So I'm down here in this mess.
Are you with me? I'm down here in this mess, but
I got an anchor to my soul that has me attached to a man in glory.
And this is what keeps me from falling. It keeps me from going
so deep. that I can never be retrieved.
Are you with me? And as long as I can see the
anchor, I know I'm all right. Because the Word of God has told
me all the promises of God are yes and amen in Him. Now, I don't
see Him because He's not down here. But by faith through the
Scriptures, I know exactly where He is. Read it. For Christ is
not entered into the holy place made with hands. Christ doesn't
come to your church or my church. which are a figure of the truth.
Christ is not in the tabernacle or temple to be in Jerusalem.
Forget it. He's not going to show up there.
That's an aside note. Watch this. But in heaven itself. For Christ is entered into heaven
itself. Do you see that? Christ has entered
into heaven itself. But it means nothing without
this last clause. now to appear before God for
us, for us, for us. Do you see the text? Do you see
the text? He's up there appearing before God for us. Now watch
this. The father is looking at the
son and guess what he sees? He sees me. He sees me. Do you see that? So stay there,
because that's what he does. Christ is my mediator. He's my
high priest. He represents all his elect.
So when the Father smiles on him, he smiles on me. And the
Father's happy to have him back home. You know what that means?
I'm back home already. Because the Word of God says
in Ephesians chapter 2, I've been raised with Christ and I'm
seated with Christ in heavenly places. In principle, not in
practice. Are you hearing me? But I want
you to marvel at this, because this is where your hope is. Seeing
Him. Ladies and gentlemen, there's
a man in glory right now. And he's in glory with your interests
in mind. In the presence of God for us. In the presence of God for us. In the presence of God for us. For us. Let me see if I can make
that a little bit clearer before I shut it down. Go with me in
your Bible now to first Timothy chapter 6 verse 15 What does
that look like preacher? I see where he is, but I don't
quite get the imagery I got two more passages to take you to
because I want you to see the glory Because I know if you're
a child of God and you're born again, you're tasting it, but
you don't see it yet What does it mean for him to be in the
presence of the father? Watch this in verse 16 which
in time past he shows he will show who is the blessed Watch
this now and only potentate king of kings and lord of lords. Who's
the king of kings and lord of lords? Jesus Jesus revelation
chapter 19 affirms that he is king of kings and lord of lord
He has a name on his thigh king of kings lord of lord. He rules
over all the monarchs of the earth You guys believe that we've
got a mighty king in Jesus God set him up in psalm chapter 2
and he says to you and me kiss the son Lest he be angry with
you. You guys got that the next verse
here. It is watch this watch this verse 16 who only have what
Who is that? But because I'm in Christ, guess
what I have? Immortality. But my immortality is not realized
right now. I only have it in Christ. Some
fool could come kill me right now. You too, but because I believe
the promises of God I am able to claim my immortality because
right now in heaven is my representative in vows safe He's already told
me because he lives I shall live also. Is that true? You see how?
Understanding who Christ is for us in the future Mitigates all
dangers down here Some of us are going through cancer and
and and going through all kinds of trials and we're being threatened
with death and sin with love To strip you of your joy And it will if you don't keep
your eyes on Christ. Can you see how many children
of God are laying in hospital beds, riddled with cancer, rejoicing
in Christ because they see this truth? Knowing that in a minute,
the heavens are going to open up and I'm going to fly into
my absolute and total liberty. Do you see it? Do you see it?
Stay there. He only hath immortality dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto. What kind of light
is that? My goodness! Whom no man has
seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlastingly. This is Christ in the presence
of his Father dwelling in communion as that ineffable light. Which
no man has seen, nor can see. Are you hearing me? One more
verse. Because what Paul is describing is the present state of the Son
of God in glory for us. He's dwelling there in a magnificent
light. It's an uninterrupted light.
Unmolested. Undeterred. Ain't nobody knocking
at his door. Ain't nobody calling him in the
middle of the night. Watch this now. I got a call last Sunday. Well, it's Monday. It was Monday
because it was 2 o'clock in the morning. 2.15 in the morning. What pastor doing? He ain't doing
nothing. Let me text him. 2.15 in the morning. You got to stay
with me a few more minutes. Let me text pastor. Pastor, pastor. He got
to answer. Now y'all know I don't answer, don't you? You know I
don't answer. But some brother thought he would text me and
the news had to be so good that I had to respond. I'm asleep.
My peace was molested. It was interrupted. Are you hearing
me? Now what's good news? We had a little daughter. Layla
came into the world. At least she was coming into
the world, knocking on the door. This was the Peterson family
passed. I'm headed to the hospital. Cool.
You could have told me that six o'clock in the morning Stay with
me for a moment. Stay with me for a moment. See you and I I'm
molested down here. Is that true? Our peace is molested. There are no phone calls in heaven
No text is in heaven. The devil can't get in angels
have no access there. That's the place of uninterrupted
peace, joy and bliss between the Father and the Son. That's
where we're going. Are you hearing me? That's where
we're going. That's where we're going. That's
where we're going. One more verse. Ezekiel, chapter
1, verse 26. Ezekiel 1, 26. That you might
know that the Son of the living God eternally existed with the
Father in this state that I am describing for you now. Ezekiel
saw this brother in glory in Ezekiel chapter 1. Now I need
to really start at verse 10 but I don't have time. I'm just gonna
read verse 26 and show you how the Lord Jesus Christ gloriously
stands as He always has and always will in the presence of the Father
as our mediator. And above the firmament that
was over their heads, this is the head of the four living creatures
of which Ezekiel described in verses 1 through 25. That four
living creatures who had the face of a man, the face of a
lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle. Remember
that? The four living creatures who are in the book of Revelation.
Those four living creatures are really symbology of the totality
of the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the ox. who labored
to pay for our sin. Jesus is the lion of the tribe
of Judah. Jesus is the man of God who brings
sinners into the kingdom of God. Jesus is the eagle possessing
that eternal veracity and perpiscuity that only God has. As God, like
an eagle, takes us up in his wings and brings us to safety,
what we are describing are the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John. describing the glory of Christ
in his fourfold manifestation of the redemption of his people.
Some of y'all got that, right? Some of y'all got that. Good.
Because this is all about the Son of God. Now watch this. It
says, above the firmament, over their head, was the likeness
of a what? Now watch this, ladies and gentlemen. You do not have
a proper gospel unless the man who rules over you is a king
sitting on his throne. You do not have a proper gospel
unless God is sovereign, sovereign, sovereign, sovereign, sitting,
ruling over the universe. All the prophets saw this throne.
All the prophets saw this throne. Every believer must see this
throne. Christ sits on the throne. He sits co-regent with his father,
ruling over everything. Is that true? Watch this now.
And I saw the likeness of the throne as the appearance of what? As a bright shining stone, glittering
stone. This is one of the descriptions
of the new Jerusalem in Revelation chapter 22. Watch this now. And
upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance
of a man. Who are we talking about? Ezekiel
sees Christ on this throne. This man in glory sitting on
this throne. Watch this now. As the appearance
of a man above it. Verse 27. I want to show you
something that's going to blow you away. Watch this. This is
crazy. Here it is. And I saw as the
color of amber. You know what the color of amber
is? Fire! Fire as the appearance of fire
round about within it from the appearance of his loins Even
upward and from the appearance of his loins even downward I
saw as it were the appearance of fire and it had brightness
round about it watch this now Ezekiel saw the Lord Jesus Christ
glowing upward and downward a beauty and splendor of glow, a brightness
of light. He saw the glory of Christ going
up and down on him, up and down. Do you see what I see? Up and
down, up and down. Ezekiel was tripping because
he saw the glory of God and he saw this man, glory going up,
glory going down. Was this brother flossing or
what? Up and down, up and down. Is Jesus bad or what? Is he bad
or what? Blossom! Is he glorious or what? The outshining of the glory of
God in the person of Christ in glory now for you. This is why
he uses the term the hope of glory. The hope of glory. See, this is symbolic language
describing the purity and brightness of the character of God, which
Christ shares being God with the Father. And that's where
you and I are going. It's that vision that you must
capture, which is the promise for you to help you legitimately
wage war, which we're going to talk about next week. I know
you're lazy, but you're going to have to learn
how to fight the good fight of faith. Now, you hear me? If you're going
to lay hold of eternal life, you're going to have to fight
this faith. Amen.