I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to Romans 6. Romans 6, if you will, which
is where we will spend all of our time today reflecting upon
a few passages in this text. Romans 6. The title of our message
today is, Union with Jesus Christ Means That He Reigns. Union with
Jesus Christ Means That He Reigns. The writer to the Roman church
is seeking to impress upon the hearts of those who raised the
question that we considered last week, shall we sin that grace
may abound? And his answer is summed up in
the title of our message. And when a person, when a pastor
gives a title to a sermon, generally and ostensibly, the title ought
to have something to do with the text. It ought to. And it ought to
be a title that really reflects the central theme of that text
and message that he is conveying. And because we are doing a series
through the Book of Romans, we are not disjointed in our thoughts. We are not helter-skelter in
our opinions. When you do a verse-by-verse,
book-by-book, chapter-by-chapter development of the Scriptures,
you get to follow the mind of the Spirit of God. You have the
privilege of following His mind. And what that means is you don't
have to worry about what you are going to be dealing with
next Sunday with a pastor who actually expounds the Scripture.
You don't have to worry about whether or not you're going to
find yourself in Timbuktu or on some weird, bizarre excursion
of his own mental framework because you're going to be in the Word
of God dealing with the text in front of you. This gives you
several advantages. It gives you the advantage of
preparing the week before by reading the material that's in
the text and in your outline. Hint, hint. It really is the occasion for
which I am going to be pressing home a very salient point today. When the writer addresses what
he anticipated was a question that came out of a very, very
logical deduction around the nature of justification, we discovered
and we agreed, did we not, last week, that when a man understands
that the immediate blessing that comes out of being justified
by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, That the net effect,
the immediate net effect is freedom. Freedom. And that freedom lends
itself to our contemplating what shall we do now. And because
Paul was so thorough in his explanation of how we obtain this freedom
by this work of justification, because of the proprietary work
of Christ on Calvary, it only followed for some, and this was
particularly his Jewish brethren, was it not? that since we have
been so freely secured by the grace of God in Christ as to
never ever be worried once again about our eternal destiny and
it was not a consequence of our keeping the law then should we
not just go on sinning that grace may abound and I told you that
for their thinking under the law that makes all the sense
in the world The problem is they weren't contemplating the purpose
for which Christ liberated you. They were only contemplating
the grounds upon which you were liberated by the free grace of
God, by the work of Jesus Christ, apart from you and apart from
law. They weren't anticipating the
question that you and I now are going to consider. And that is
this. What now? Since I am free, what
now? Since I am a free man before
God, a free woman before God, how shall I now live? For them to jump over that question
belied that they were still stuck on their dependence to the law
covenant system and their own personal obedience. They had
no framework of reference in their mind as to how could a
person who has been enslaved to a legal system that threatens
you on every hand be free from that legal system and live right. They didn't know how you do that.
They didn't know how you do that. And a lot of Christians today
don't know how you do that. And I gave you Jeremiah chapter
7 to let you know that some 700 years before Jesus, the people
struggled with freedom too. Did you read it? They said, we're
delivered. We're delivered. We're liberated
to do all these abominations. What was their trust in? Their
trust was in the fact that they went to church. Their trust was
in the fact that they were people who worshiped God every Sunday.
Remember what they said? The temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. And as we press
into Roman six today, I've got two more messages, maybe one
out of Roman six before we get to Roman seven, because I want
us to think deeply, think deeply about what God says is the purpose
for him, him having freed you from all of your sins. Think deeply with me today. Shall
we send that grace may abound. God forbid union with Christ. means that he reigns. See, Paul understood that freedom
from the prison house of sin and the wrath of God means union
with Jesus Christ. So what I wanna do today is make
sure that we understand a few passages in Romans six around
this. Let me call your attention first
and foremost to the framework of chapter six. Maybe you will
appreciate this as I did. You know, when you read your
Bible, sometimes it's good to read a chapter and then read
that chapter over two or three more times before you proceed
further so as to assure yourself that you at least heard what
he said. You know how we read? You know how we read our Bibles?
We read our Bibles as we do when we are on the computer with several
screens open. You know what that means? We
may have a central screen open, but we're contemplating other
things as well. And when you do that, you miss
what's being said in the main screen. So sometimes you gotta
go back and read it again to make sure you understood the
gist of it. And if you understood the gist of it, then you may
proceed further. Otherwise, when you get down
the road and you hear something said that sounds strange, you
won't know why it's strange because you failed to understand the
connection between that which is in chapter eight and nine
and that which was given to you in chapter six. So I want to
build a framework for you around chapter six. And then I want
to call your attention to four things that are going to be relatively
involved. But hopefully they will open
your understanding to why I say union with Christ means he does
what reign. So let's talk about the framework
of chapter 6. It's beautiful. Chapter 6 is filled with 23 verses.
That's not a lot. I know we went to government
school. 23 is a challenging number for us. But chapter 6 is filled
with 23 verses, and they're broken up in categories. The first set
of categories I will call your attention to are five questions
in chapter 6 that Paul raises. He raises five questions out
of 23 verses. Now what that means on a numerical
level is that every four verses he raises a question. Every four
verses he raises his question. In other words, while he's dialoguing
with you about things he understands, he pauses for a moment and says,
what do you think about this? Then he proceeds to dialogue
with you about things he understands, and he gets down the road a little
bit and raises another question. Now he does that to connect with
you. Sometimes people ask me, Pastor,
why do you walk across the stage when you preach? First of all,
because I'm a kinetic preacher. I'm just a kinetic preacher.
There are what we call kinetic folks and non-kinetic folks.
I'm a kinetic preacher. That means I function best as
I move with my body. But the main reason I walk across
the stage is to connect with some of you in the audience.
Because see, it ain't always effective for me to be talking
straight up front, like that group over there doesn't exist
and that group over there doesn't exist. And when I'm kind of inclined
to make sure that that group needs to hear it, I'm gonna come
on over there and talk to this group over here. Because I think
there's something for you to hear. Now when the Apostle Paul
goes, I have a question for you, he's connecting with you. Because
you can passively listen to what someone's saying and therefore
not really understand what they mean. So in the 23 verses of
Romans 6, there are five questions and those five questions are
all related. They all say the same thing.
in different ways with some progression. They are one singular concern,
and we'll talk about that in a moment. But then he gives us
what I call indicatives. There are 10 verses that are
indicatives, and they go from verses 3 through verse 18. Now, indicatives are facts. They
are facts about what actually is. Like, you are people. He is a man. She is a woman.
He is a child. Those are indicatives. These
are statements of facts about what it really is. That's all
it is. And so what Paul has done is
explained to us the state of the believer having been liberated
from Christ over ten times. And then he gives us, as you
see in point six, six what? Imperatives. They're called what? Commands. Now why does the Spirit
of God give you and me commandments? Because he's Lord. He gives commandments
to His people because He's Lord of our life, is He not? Why call
ye me Lord, Lord, and do not what I tell you to do? Now having
said that, mark this now, there are 10 indicatives, five questions,
that is 15 verses before he gives you and I imperatives. What that
means is he lays a solid foundation for his case so that you are
clear on what he's talking about so that when he gives you a commandment,
you are not ignorant as to why you are to heed the commandment.
Nothing is worse than being told to do something and not know
why you're doing it. Nothing is worse to being told
to do something and not know how to do it And so the Apostle
under inspiration of the Spirit of God and this is really the
Spirit of God is speaking to us He gives us six imperatives
our commands in these 23 verses and again, so six commandments
are six instructions in 23 verses. Again, that's a very gracious
way to approach a text. Point D, there is one powerful
Christ-exalting promise. One powerful Christ-exalting
promise in verse 14. And then finally, finally, he
closes with two eternally critical warnings. Chapter 6 of the Book
of Romans is worthy of 23 sermons. Chapter 6 is worthy of 23 sermons. Every line is worthy of full
development. But I live in the 21st century
where people can't hold two thoughts together cogently for five minutes
without getting the heebie-jeebies. And as a consequence, all we
can do is parse it, touch on it a little bit, and I know it's
to the detriment of our soul. I know it's to the detriment
of... Let me call attention to a couple of things that's absolutely
fascinating about the book of Romans. I want you to get this.
In the book of Romans, do you know that Paul does not lay out
a commandment or an imperative or an exhortation to obey Christ
until Romans chapter 6 verse 11 and 12? That from the opening
of the book of Romans all the way to chapter 6 verse 11 and
12, he does not tell you and I what to do he doesn't say now
do this do that do the other thing for six chapters ladies
and gentlemen the apostle paul is compelled to teach doctrine
for six whole chapters he is compelled to instruct us in the
way of the gospel for six whole chapters He utilizes 148 verses
to teach us what we call a complete biblical worldview before he
says, now obey God. I want you to think about the
implications of that. Think about Paul's careful study
and understanding of human weakness. To lay down such a solid foundation
of absolutely six chapters, 148 verses. And after that says,
now do this. What's even more remarkable is
what he says in the imperative, which I'm looking forward to
challenging you on. But the point is this, if you
don't already get it, you and I must be rooted in solid biblical
theology in order to be able to do the will of God well. You and I must be rooted in solid
biblical theology in order for us to do the will of God well. He does not tell them what to
do for six chapters. He simply teaches who God is. He teaches creation. He teaches
the fall. He teaches the wrath of God.
He teaches the depravity of man. He teaches the proprietary work
of Christ on the cross. He teaches the declaration of
God's righteousness by Christ in him crucified. Then he teaches
how God imputes that righteousness freely to sinners by his grace. And then he begins to teach us
that all this flows through two streams the federal head of those
who will perish under the wrath of God in Adam 1 and the federal
head of those who will see eternal life in the last Adam Jesus Christ
that's chapter 5 is it not so what he does in Romans 1 through
5 is to back us up way way back to the beginning of time School
us in who God is and why God has a right to demand of his
creatures what he does and why God has a right to Punish as
he does and then he begins to school us in this truth If you
are on a course to heaven if God's saved you by his grace
You need to be the happiest person on planet Earth Because if he
did, it's because he chose you in Christ before the world began,
gave you a federal head and leader named Jesus, who is absolutely
outstanding in everything he did for God on your behalf. You
ought to be the happiest person on planet Earth. Because if this
is the way that God saves sinners, you fully are persuaded that
without God having chosen you and called you and graced you,
you could not be saved. You could not be saved. With
the enormity of the work that God did in Christ to secure our
eternal destiny and place the whole of our salvation in one
man, so liberates me. from any ultimate responsibility
of my destiny that it should bring about in my soul a perpetual
and unending gratitude to God. There should be nothing bleeding
through my veins but gratitude because the grace of God in Christ
is amazing. It's stupendous. It's unbelievable. It's unspeakable. I can hardly
believe it. How about you? When I properly
comprehend what God did in Christ, it makes no human sense. But what I do know is that I
believe it with all my heart. And I want all of the benefits
of the justifying work of Christ to fall out to me, one of which
is Paul's argument in chapter six. So if I have your attention,
I want us to work through our points very carefully if I have
your attention. Some of the five questions go
like this. Verse one, part B, Romans six. What shall we say
then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? That's a very important question
to Paul. Verse two, God forbid, how shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? For him, that's a retort to the
first question. Verse 15. What then, shall we
sin because we're not under law? See a progression of his argument
on the same topic. But under grace, what's his retort
once again? God forbid. Verse 16. Know ye
not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants
you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or obedience
unto righteousness? You see what he's doing? He's
dragging out an argument of which he's about to build on a set
of circumstances that already exist, of which the children
of God at Rome have already experienced in a form, but apparently they
do not understand its implications. The imperative then that's given,
the first imperative or command that's given is over in verse
11 and 12. This is what's going to move
us into our consideration today. Listen to what he says in verse
11. Likewise then, reckon ye yourselves to be what? Dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Mark verse 11 and do this. God commands me. Believe this
God commands me to believe this this is not an option. This is
a command He commands me to think this way Okay, and then he gives
us verse 12, which I won't deal with quite right now I want you
to mark then the powerful Christ exalting promise in Romans chapter
6 is verse 14 This is an amazing promise. Are you there for sin? shall not have dominion over
you. For you are not under the law,
but under grace. This is a promise. For sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, you are
under grace. For Paul, this is a promise. This is a major promise. Now, if you take it lightly,
child of God, if you take it lightly, you missed the point.
If you take this lightly, you missed the point. Because for
me, all the promises of God are yes and amen through Jesus. You know what that means? Not
only am I comfortable with what God has done in Christ as my
grounds of justification, but I have a decree from God that
nothing will ever threaten my soul with eternal damnation again. For you shall not be brought
under the dominion of sin. Now, the other reason why that
might be a problem to you is because that's not your experience.
Right? We're getting ready to get into
a very sort of emotionally charged metaphor. And that has to do
with slavery and bondage. But what the apostle states is
for those who are objects of the grace of God, sin will never
have dominion over you. You know what you're supposed
to be saying right now, child of God, in your soul? Father, let it
be so. Father, let it be so. That's what you're supposed to
be saying. That's what you're supposed to be saying. This is
a promise, a powerful Christ-exalting promise. Where does it come from?
Chapter 5, verse 17. We're going back to our head
because, see, the promise is based on our head. The promise
is based on our head. The reason why sin shall not
have dominion over me is because the promise is based on my head.
It's not based on me. It's based on my head. Romans
chapter 5 verse 17. For if by one man's offense death
did what? Reign by one, much more they
which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one even Jesus Christ. That's the connecting
factor there. The connecting factor is that
grace will reign. Grace will reign because you're
not under law. You're under what? And grace
will reign, but it will reign through whom? Christ and his
righteousness. I am stuck in between the past
work of God in Christ and the future promises of God in Christ.
I'm simply the object of it. I'm the object of it. And what
God is saying to me is, don't worry, if in fact you know the
grace of God, sin will never have dominion over you. It will never have dominion over
you. That's the critical, I mean, the essentially powerful Christ-exalting
promise that I want you to get a handle on. And I raise the
question in my outline, who reigns in your life? Who reigns in your
life? Does grace reign or law? Does Christ reign or sin? Aren't those good questions?
Who reigns? Because see, what we're getting at now is the heart
of why Paul will stand in horror at the notion that you can be
saved and still continue in sin. So we're getting ready to work
through that. I want you to follow the logic of this argument now.
And so finally, the eternally critical warnings which are given
in verse 16 And in verse 23 in verse 16, it says, no, you not
that to whom you yield your sales servants to obey his servants. What you are to whom you obey. This is a very good verse to
think through because what this verse says is you and I don't
have to pretend we're something that we're not. If we are yielding
ourselves to sin, he's our master. See, what Paul does with that
little, no you not, is reminding them that they're not stupid.
Do you remember I talked to you last week about how Christ set
down the imperative, either let the tree be good or let the tree
be bad? Because in religion we like to play what? Hypocrite.
So what Christ is saying is, for my sheep, I don't want you
dumb. I don't want you pretending that you don't know. I don't
want you embracing the duplicity of hypocrisy when actually a
thing is one way, but you're calling it something else. Not
in the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God, you tell
it like it is. You admit the truth. You call
it for what it is watch this now if you are an object of grace,
we can handle the truth in this place See, but if you don't know
the grace of God, we got to take that dead tree and buy ornaments
and put on it We got to put lights on it. We got to make that thing
look like it's alive. We call that false religion It's
dead in spirit, but we put on a superficial life. So it appears
like it has something You don't have to do that when you come
to the gospel of the grace of God. God has a provisio for sin. He has a provision for sinners.
He has a grace that can handle your sin, but you better be ready
to tell the truth. You better be ready to acknowledge
your need of Jesus Christ, which is where I'm driving you as well
as the Apostle Paul. So the critical warning in Romans
6, 16 is if you find yourself completely acquainted with and
given over to and in love with this pimp called sin, I'll talk
about that a little later. You're in trouble. No, you're
not that to whom you yourself service to obey his service you
are to whom you obey whether of sin under doubt Our obedience
unto righteousness see the two strands again Adam 1 Adam 2 you
see the two strands Adam 1 Adam 2 Did not our last verses Romans
6 23 a warning in Romans 6 23 for the wages of sin is what?
But the gift of God is what? right, so those are the two eternal
paths that proceed from the mind of God of which all human beings
have to reckon you have to reckon with a God's eternal purpose
of grace in Christ. And you have to reckon with the
fact that every one of us are going to stand before him on
the last day. You got to reckon with that. Those are the eternally
crucial warnings. And don't do like the Israelites
did. Don't say that simply because I go to church I'm safe. Okay,
don't do it. Let's go to work now. Here's
the first, the second point that I'm about to raise is really
at the heart of what I want to develop. The second point that
I'm about to raise is at the heart of what I want to develop.
And so I'm going to expand on it by two or three other points,
but here's at the heart of what I want to develop. Here's my
proposition and it comes out of verse 10 and 11. Listen to
it. What is true of Jesus Christ is true of you because of Christ
in you. What is true of Jesus Christ
is true of you because of Christ in you. Do you guys accept that
statement at point blank right now? At face value? Now I want
you to hear it again and so I'm going to argue for its force
and legitimacy and its necessity. What is true of Jesus Christ
is absolutely true of you if indeed Christ is in you And it's
impossible for you to be a child of God and Christ not being you.
So I want us to work with this. What is true of Christ is true
of you because of Christ in you, child of God. Every day of your
life, you must think this way. You must learn to think this
way. The problem that we have is we
do not think God's thoughts after him The challenge that we have
is learning how to believe God Listen to the proposition. Let's
begin to work it through What is true of Jesus Christ? Is true
of you Because of Christ in you, you know what that demands of
me by inference. I better learn all I can about Jesus I better
learn all I can about Jesus. I better learn all I can about
Christ, because to the degree that I know Him deeply and profoundly
and efficaciously, I know myself. To the degree that I know all
that Christ is, I know myself. I've shared this with you before.
All that He is, I am in Him. All that I am he was for me get
a hold to that axiom Because see this is gonna actually help
you learn what it means to live unto God For me to live is Christ
For me to live is Jesus Christ Child of God listen to it again
all that Christ is we are in him What is true of Christ? It's true of you because of Christ
in you, and you must learn to think this way. You and I must
learn to think this way. Look at verse 10 and 11. I'm
sorry, yes, 10 and 11. For in that he died, he died
unto sin, what? Once. But in that he liveth,
he does what? Lives unto God. Now watch what
Paul does. He takes verse 10, which is an
indicative, a statement about Christ, and then he gives us
an imperative based upon the indicative, our statement about
Christ. What is he doing? He's demanding that we understand
our union in Jesus. He's demanding that we understand
that all that Christ is, I am in Him. Verse 11, likewise reckon
ye yourselves to be what? Dead indeed unto sin. Why? Because Christ is dead to sin.
Because Christ is dead to sin and I'm in Christ, I'm dead to
sin too. Powerful. Powerful. Now it's only powerful if you
start thinking that way. You have to think that way. See,
now when he uses the word reckon there, I'm fine with the word.
It don't work in some countries, but I'm fine with the word. It's
a country word, reckon. It actually came from Texas.
I'm kidding. It's a country word, reckon. But I'm going to go to
work on this because I want to press something home. The men
and women that don't spend their time reckoning will never, ever
know the power and the grace of God and Christ in them. The
men and women that do not spend their time reckoning will never
ever know the power and grace of Christ in them. Because the
power and grace of Christ in them is to metabolize. It's to infiltrate and conform
us through the mind. It's through the mind that I
come to know and experience my union with Christ. It does not
happen by osmosis. Sorry. It does not happen by
you just getting older. All you do as you get older is
get heavier and grayer. That's all you do. You don't
get wiser. You don't get more humble. You
don't grow in a knowledge of God. You're not finding yourself
more compliant to his will. You're not giving deeper insight
into the purposes of God The secret of the Lord is with them
that fear him and he will show them his covenant These are people
that want to know God that want to go deep with God. I mean real
deep with God You're just getting old Because you're not using your
mind With your job objective for which God saved you He wants
you to think his thoughts And in order to do that, you've got
to reckon. Reckon. Reckon. In the Greek culture,
the word reckon is literally the Greek word from which we
get the root word logistics. It's a accounting term. And what
you do in an accounting term is you add things up. You add,
you subtract, you deduce. You draw conclusions and you
make assessments and you give final statements about that whole
accounting process. And what we are called upon to
do in the cause of the gospel is to think through deeply, add
up, take away, draw conclusions, deduce everything that God has
said about Jesus Christ, because everything that God has said
about Christ, he said about us. So I have to actually go to work
laboring in the word. Are you hearing me? I gotta go
to work, I gotta begin to reckon. I wanna share with you some verses
that underscore what I mean. So now when I say you gotta think
this way, I'm not talking about a fleeting sort of momentary
reflection. I'm talking about a disciplined
mindset that is committed to fixing its thoughts on God. Philippians
chapter 4, verse 8 is the first verse I want to call your attention
to around this. You guys know this verse. You
have seen it before, but I want it to resonate in your mind as
a thought. Philippians 4, 8. Now watch what
it says. Finally, brethren, Whatsoever things are what? True. Whatsoever
things are what? Honest. Whatsoever things are
what? Just. Whatsoever things are what? Pure. Whatsoever things are what? Lovely. Whatsoever things are
what? Of good report. If there be any virtue and if
there be any praise, stop right here. Now you know You don't
spend much of your day disciplining your thoughts along the lines
of those adjectives. That's part of your problem.
That's part of your problem. That's part of your problem.
Are you ready? Junk in, junk out. Junk in, junk out. Junk in, junk out. If you fill your mind with folly,
you will never know God. If you fill your mind with the
fleeting ethereal things of this world, which are nothing but
distractions, distortions, delusions, deceptions, and destructions,
that's what the devil wants to do. You can never know who Christ
is deeply. Am I making some sense? Now watch
the last line. Think on these things. The word means to dwell on them. to fix your attention on them
as a commitment, as a way of life. Are you hearing me? Now,
I like the way Paul phrased these, because basically he's giving
us inanimate, non-personal adjectives with which to contemplate. But
every one of these adjectives is a description of Jesus Christ.
Every one of these. This verse, chapter 4, verse
8, is saying, think on Jesus, because that's who he is. That's
who he is. See, Jesus is true. Jesus is
honest. In fact, he's the only honest
person in the house. I'm talking about right now.
Jesus is just. Jesus is pure. Jesus is lovely. Is he lovely? Jesus is good,
isn't he? Jesus is the best reporter in
the world, is he not? See, and if we are thinking on
Christ, if we're thinking on Christ, our minds will be renewed. The word logistics, and I'm taking
it into the English context, it's not really logistics, but
it means that way. The idea of logistics are logis,
they is the Greek word. We get the word logizomai, which
means to reason, to work through. It's also translated in this
sort of economic term as to put to the account, credit to your
account. It's the word that means to number.
Remember when Jesus was numbered among the transgressors? Remember
when he was numbered, you know what happened? Jesus was assessed
by the court system and they weighed out all that he had said
and all that he had done and guess what? They said he's guilty
Hallelujah Pastor what you're saying when the court system
weighed out me and saw all that I had done and God had traded
places between me and Christ and stuck in front of the court
system of his divine justice all of the works of Christ and
The court system said righteous, righteous, righteous. The court
system had taken every necessary account, everything that was
credited to my slave. And when it summed it all up,
it said righteous, righteous. So the idea for us to be dwelling
on and reckoning. It's for us to draw a conclusion,
to sum up by biblical testimony. Are you hearing me? Everything
that the word of God says is true. What that means is you
read the word of God with the objective of persuading your
own mind that the word of God is right. You do not read the
word of God with the objective of going away saying, I don't
care about that. Your job is to make a judgment. The Word
of God demands that you bring a verdict on its propositions.
And when you and I learn about the grace of God in Christ, we're
supposed to agree with God. That's exactly right. That makes
all the sense in the world. That's exactly what the term
means. In fact, we use this term in Romans chapter 4. Go to Romans
4. This is the last time I'll be going there. The word is translated
in Romans 4 to impute. To impute. Remember how that
Paul had stated that Abraham Found righteousness before God
by faith apart from the works of the law Remember that and
how David entered into the conversation and boasted with the phrase around
Romans 4 verse 3 or 4 blessed is the man to whom God will not
Impute will not impute his sins. You know what David was saying
when God looked at David There was nothing on the ledger that
allowed God to credit to David's account sin so as to send David
to hell. That is so good. What that means
is that God deliberately not looked at his sin, choosing rather
to look at Christ's righteousness, to weigh out all that Christ
did and then to take what Christ did and lay it on the ledger
of David. It's to put to the account. Now,
this analogy will help some of you broke folk like me. I have
to try to come up with analogies for broke folks. So like in your
bank account, you know how we get down to 10, $20 and we hoping,
Oh, Oh, I hope I don't get one of those notices. You know, that,
that, that, that my money is running low and I'm going to
go into the negative. Right. And then to your surprise, you look
into your account and find $10,000 in there. I know we're dreaming.
I know we're dreaming. But I'm just saying, you look
in there and you find $10,000 in your account. Now watch this. Someone credited
to your account that money. And that crediting to your account
doesn't matter where it came from. The only thing that matters
is you got money in the bank. I mean, for real. I mean for
real. See, broke brothers are happy
right now. Lord, let it be so. Let it be. Put some money in
my account. Well, that's what he did when
he saved your wretched soul in the person of Jesus Christ. That's what he did when he saved
your wretched soul in the person of Christ. Now you have to learn
how to go to the bank and make deposits. But you first got to
believe it. You've got to believe this thing.
You've got to believe this thing. Some folk act like the bank account
of grace ain't got a dime in it, so they never go. They talk like it and they act
like it. I got a bank account in heaven
that's filled with inexhaustible riches and it's got my name on
it. And every time I go, I can make
a withdrawal to the blessing of my soul. I am rich in Christ,
wealthy in Christ, blessed in Christ with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places. I have reckoned it so. I have
weighed out what the word of God says, and it makes all the
sense in the world to me. And this is what we are meaning
by our text. So what he does in our account, and I want to
move back to the analogy, what he does is he addresses an analogy. He addresses a metaphor that
we cannot avoid In response to the question, shall we sin that
grace may abound? And that metaphor is addressed
in its imperative by you and I being called upon to think
this way. So let's go to work. We are now
considering point number Three but stay with point number two.
Let me just run through the last two Observations under point
number two. Are you there under point number
two? What is true of Christ is true of you because of Christ
in you point a therefore the question Let us sin that grace
may abound is to be what rejected because it is theologically what
I love that I don't care if you don't agree with me. I know it's
true. I know it's true. It's theologically impossible.
I For me to have experienced the grace of God in Christ and
to go on living as if I didn't it's not possible Christ saw
to it that that would not happen and therefore it's theologically
impossible Secondly, his response is God forbid, isn't that what
he says? God forbid. Now in the English,
that's a terrible translation. It's just, I know what they did.
They basically wanted to make sure that you understood the
highest authority of opposition to that conclusion, so that you
would also push back against the assumption that you can live
like hell and expect to go to heaven. But really all the Greek
says is, It is an insult to God, may it never be so. Literally
in the Greek, may it never be so. Shall we send that grace
mail bound? May it never be so. Now, if that's a request, if
that's a prayer, if that's a hope of the believer, you better put
your hope in God so that it may never be so. that it may never
be so. That's my prayer. Isn't that
your prayer? May it never, may it never, never be so. See, at
least right now we can start changing our minds about the
way we behave. Because in the Christian church,
like I told you last week, I know a whole bunch of people who live
on that false assumption of verse 1. Let us sin that grace may
abound. I see the tragic lives of people
who say, let us sin that grace may abound. I see the devastating
consequences of people who say, let us sin that grace may abound.
The pastors and elders have to often deal with people who have
just chosen to presume upon the grace of God. And I've told you
about both the practical implications of it, as well as the spiritual
and the psychological consequences of it. And so it brings us to
our third point, which is going to be the point now that I lay
out as a basic framework today, going back to point number three,
going back to point number two, point number two. I'm at my last
point under point number two. It brings us to our third point
under point number two. Are you ignorant? I need to stop
right there. Are you ignorant? Allah. What I love about John the Baptist,
the Lord Jesus, and Paul, those brothers are not politically
correct speakers. They're kind of like your pastor.
Either you like me or you don't. Because I'm going to tell you
things that don't particularly come off real easy. Are you ignorant? Are you ignorant of the meaning
of baptism? Are you ignorant of the meaning of baptism? Now
we're captivated by an analogy of which I'm gonna work through
for the rest of the message. And Paul is bound by this framework
for the whole of chapter three. The whole of chapter three is
around him explaining, I'm sorry, the whole of chapter six is around
him explaining what baptism is. What he's gonna tell you and
me is, if you actually heard the gospel and then responded
by entering into the waters of baptism, and you told people
you understood what baptism is, If you understand what baptism
is, the question would have never been raised. Shall we sin that
grace may abound? Would have never been raised
if you understood baptism. This is why when we baptize people,
we teach them first before we baptize them. Because what we
say to people is, if you don't understand baptism, you weren't
baptized. Baptism is a doctrine. It's a
teaching. And it's a full illustration
of what it means for Christ to have died for your sins. and
you to have died with Christ and that all of the subsequent
benefits of who Christ is in your baptism are to be realized
in your life. What that means is if you say
I'm going to sin that grace may abound, you either denied the
doctrine of baptism or you were ignorant of it. Can we go to
work now? We gotta go to work for a little while. I'll let
you go here shortly. Let's deal with this. Are you
ignorant? Now, when Paul uses that phrase,
I hope you know by reading your Bible, he loves to tell people,
brethren, do not be ignorant. Because religious folk love to
be ignorant. Yeah, we do. We think that as
long as we don't know, it won't hurt. But we're here to tell
you It hurts anyway. Right? Ignorance is no excuse. So in Romans chapter 1 verse
13, Paul says, brethren, I would have you to know. I would have
you to know. And he was talking about his
own desires to come to Rome. In Romans chapter 11, 25, he
says, brethren, I would have you to know the mystery of Israel.
And you and I have talked about it many times. The mystery of
Israel is that God allowed the vast majority of them to perish
under the wrath of God because they tried to get to heaven by
their own good works rather than by the grace of God. But God
always had an election according to his purpose of grace of whom
he would save. That's the mystery of Israel.
And so what he was telling the church in Rome is don't be ignorant
while the vast majority of the Jews are perishing. It's because
they're under law instead of under grace. Then I love the
way Paul puts it in the book of 1st Corinthians chapter 14
verse 38 You know what? He says if any man be ignorant,
let him be ignorant There's a time when we get tired of telling
you the truth and you don't want to hear it He's dealing with
one of the most difficult churches and that's the church at Corinth
Now the church at Corinth was messed up. I Because while they
had great preachers in the church at Corinth, they were still living
radically, radically defiant lives against God. And so Paul
is trying to straighten out this mess called tongues in 1 Corinthians
chapter 14, and this mess where women are taking, usurping authority
and exercising dominion in the church. And what he says now,
after having expounded for 14 chapters, he says, but if any
man be ignorant, let him what? Do you understand what that means?
That means there's a point in time when the Holy Ghost stops
pricking your conscience with biblical truth and he leaves
you to yourself. Jesus put it like this. Don't
cast your pearls before swine. When you discover that all they're
going to do is rend your truth, stop talking to them. And the
warning that you and I are to receive is you're not going to
be under the gospel in perpetuity and it not change your life.
Or your heart hardens so hard that you're no longer interested
in the gospel. You're not going to be under
the true gospel and it not change your life. Or your heart hardens
itself so hard that you can't stand that preacher or that preaching
anymore. One of the two is changing. One
of the two is changing. Either the Word of God is going
to have authority over your soul and conform you to the image
of Christ, and I'm going to become to you a really good preacher. You know, that preacher is getting
better. Yeah, he's getting better. All
it is, is God is changing you and causing you to hear truths
that before were hurting your soul because you were living
in rebellion against God. Am I making some sense? This
is important. I'm talking for all gospel preachers. Because just like Jeremiah, and
just like Ezekiel, and just like Isaiah, and just like all of
God's servants, we have to deal with what is an impossible task. An impossible task. It's impossible
for me to convey to you eternally bound truths and they do anything
for you unless God works. It's impossible. I can be sure
that at the end of me telling you the truth, that you're not
going to like me. I can be sure of that. If God's
not working, if God's not working, you can't receive what I'm teaching. Are you hearing me? But you know,
when we were back at think this way, you know what the Bible
says? The Bible says the natural man
does not receive the things of the spirit. The carnal mind cannot
receive spiritual truth. That's 1 Corinthians chapter
2. But it closes out by saying this. But we who are spiritual
receive the things of the Lord. Watch. Now watch. Now watch.
This is what it says. Because we have the mind of Christ.
Wow. Wow. Wow. We have the mind of Christ. So
if God is giving you the mind of Christ, you are in agreement
with God's word. by just a natural gift of disposition
of soul, you receive God's word. Is there a conflict? Yeah, because
you got an old man. But is there a reception? Yes,
because you have a new man. And is there a promise that the
new man will rule? This is what I just said. Union with Christ. Union with Christ means that
he reigns. So you know what God is doing
in the preaching service every week? Can I tell you what he's
doing? He's marshalling rebel sinners into one place like a
herd of cattle. I'm just fabricating this analogy. Watch this. He's marshaling rebel
sinners into one place like a herd of cattle. And they're more than
cattle. We got cows in here. We got bulls. We got hippopotamuses. We got goats. We got rams. We got all kind of obstinate
creatures. under the hearing of the Word
of God, and he works to change them into lambs before they leave. Before they leave. Before they
leave. That's right. That's right. That's
the goal. Only the Spirit of God can do
this. Because we come into church not prepared to hear God. And you forced to listen to me
for an hour and 15 minutes every Sunday. I don't even know why
you come back. I have no idea why you come. I have no idea
why you come back. But are you following what I'm
saying? Doesn't the analogy make some sense? Because we are a
bunch of rebels. I mean, we are a mess. We're
a mess. And what you and I get to do
is measure over the long term whether we are sitting in church
being distracted week in and week out. and going to hell at
the doors of the church every week. Going to hell at the doors
of the church. The Spirit of God is laboring
through the teaching to help you understand the Word of God
and you are allowing yourself to be distracted from God's truth
and going straight to hell. Isn't that a plausible assumption?
Very plausible. Now to secure that that does
not happen, you've actually got to think God's thoughts after
him. So let me share with you a few principles in close. Baptism
is a glorious analogy that assures that the person who is a believer
in Christ is everything that Christ is for them. Going back to point number three
then, illustrated in baptism. illustrated in baptism. This
is where I'm going to stop. I can tell that I need to stop
here. It's illustrated in baptism,
Paul's argument that it's impossible for us to say that we are justified,
that sin may abound. And he starts with verse three.
Are you there? Listen to what he says in verse three. Do you
not know that so many of us, as we're baptized into Christ,
we're baptized into his what? Mark that, this is the first
of his arguments as to why it's impossible for you to go on sinning.
You're dead. That's the first of his argument.
That's the first of his argument. Why is it impossible for me to
go on living a lifestyle of sin? It's because I'm dead. I'm dead. And a dead man can no longer
do what a dead man did before he died. This is the force of
his argument. This is a beautiful argument.
Remember verse 11 and 12? Look at verse 11 and 12 again.
See the connection in verse 11? Verse 10, I'm sorry. For in that
he died, who died? Christ. He died unto sin. How many times? But in that he
lives, he lives unto God. Likewise, reckon ye yourselves
to be what? Ah, there it is. See the connection?
The connection of your death is in Christ's death which was
signified by your what? Baptism. When you were baptized,
what you were telling everyone is you died. Now the word is
used in three different ways in verses three through five.
And I want you to see the ways in which it's used. In verse
three, it says, know you not that as many of us were baptized
into Christ, we were baptized into his what? That's right.
The word is were, were. We were baptized as a past tense
phrase. Now look at verse four. Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into what that's the second time so it goes from
were baptized to are Baptized do you see that we were baptized
we are Baptized now look at verse 5 watch verse 5 for if when we
have been planted together in the likeness of his death We
shall also be in the likeness of his what? Oh The first line
says we have been planted together in the likeness of his death.
Marked in the unique statements. We were baptized into his death. We are baptized into his death. And we have been. The force of
his argument is around a work that happened one time and it's
final and unchangeable. Literally, in the original language,
it's one tense. And it goes like this. I want
you to get this. You are dead. The Aries tense is what we call
an aspect verb. And what that means is when you look at it,
it is what it is. I love this truth. Because for
God, every believer is dead. Dead. This is such a profound
truth. This is what gives God right
to bless you. Cause you did. See, if you're
still alive, he'd have to punish you and send you to hell. Hallelujah. He looks and sees that you're
dead and your death signifies what was necessary to pay for
your sin. The wages of sin is what? You didn't already pay
that. Hallelujah. How did you pay it? In the person
of Christ. What is your standing before
the law of God? Dead. What does that mean? I'm free.
Verse 7. Verse 7. Look at verse 7. I want
you to see it in verse 7. Here's what he says in verse
7. For he that is what? Is what? Stop! Stop! I want you to see it. Hallelujah!
See it for what it says. Paul's argument is so solid around
our standing in Christ and the necessity of us to think that
way. He says if a man is dead, he's
free. The word free there is the Greek word justified. If
a man is dead, he's justified. What Paul is doing is giving
a solution for the power of sin of which I'm going to have to
deal with next time. He's given a solution for it. It's not possible
for me to any longer live in sin since I have what? Died. And because I'm dead, I'm what?
Free. Free. That's what baptism teaches. Baptism teaches freedom from
sin through death. Freedom from sin through death. I know right now that on an experiential
level. This is hard to grasp It's hard
to grasp and this is where I treat it in our last point, but I really
don't have time to treat it But it's because it's hard to grasp
because you're being told things that on an experiential level
You don't know Is that right coach coach? Yes it right. I
So stay with me now. Stay with me for a minute. But
what the Bible never does is tell you to exercise mind over
matter. See, because the Bible is not
a book of myths. It's not a book of lies and it's
not a book of incantations. It's not just wheel your way
into simply believing things that are really not so. It's
not saying that. What God is saying is, see it
the way it really is, if in fact you are a believer, because critical
to your conduct is your understanding. If you don't believe that you're
dead to sin, then you don't believe the gospel. And if you don't
believe that you're dead to sin, then there's no way you're going
to walk out of the prison house of sin into the liberty of the
grace of God. And if you don't believe that
God has justified you once, once and once for all, that you don't
ever have to worry about going back into the prison house of
sin, you're not going to live right when you get out. We talked
about this last night. I'll wrap it up here. We talked
about this last night in our men's meeting. We talked about
our brothers who are what we call institutionalized criminals. You know what that means? They
don't even know how to live free. They do their time in prison
and they get out. And in a year, they're back in.
How come they're back in? Do you know why? Because they
don't know how to live like free men. There are some of us who
are born and raised and we are so dysfunctional in our conduct
that the only place we're comfortable is in prison. There are men who
will tell you they don't want to get out because they don't
want to have to hazard trying to work through the maze of a
free system. Oxymoronic. Because you know
we ain't living in a free system. You know that, right? My brothers
coming out are entering into a war zone, are they not? But
now stay with me, stay with me. This is the analogy I'm going
to build. Here it is. When Christ lets you and I out of the prison
house of sin from under the wrath of God and the curse of the law,
he lets you and I out into a warfare. You're in a warfare. You're in
a warfare. And your job is to learn how
to negotiate this warfare until you get to glory. Now what Paul
is doing is teaching us how to do that in Romans chapter 6.
He's saying first, you've got to think right. You've got to
think that you're dead to sin. Because if you're Christ and
Christ is in you, everything He is, you are in Him. Did Christ
die to sin? How many times did He die to
sin? And in that He died to sin, what was the net result? He lives
unto God. Isn't that what Romans 6 verse
10 says? He lives unto what? He lives
unto whom? He lives unto God. Now mark this,
if in fact I'm in Christ and Christ is in me, if in fact when
he died, I died, then if in fact when he rose, I also rose, if
in fact he actually is living unto God, then guess what I'm
doing? Stay right there. Stay right there. You got it?
Stay right there. You got to stay right there. You got to
stay right there. You got to stay right there. You got to
stay right there. See, the believer doesn't understand
the purpose for which he has been liberated is to live unto
God. The other thing that believers don't understand is how to live
unto God. So I'm going to lock this in right here. You have
to learn what it means to be in union with Christ. The key to living unto God is
for you to be in Christ. You have no power in yourself. You have no power. Stay with
me. Stay with me a few more minutes. Here's the problem with some
of my brothers and sisters. When you got out of the water,
you left Jesus. That's right. You didn't get
out with him. You got out wet. A little dirt
came off. But not a whole lot. Stay with
me for a moment. Are y'all tracking with me? Raise
your hand if you're tracking with me. Okay, stay with me for a minute.
Stay with me for a moment. I just want you to get this because
this is key. I'm done here. But I want to press it because
see I'm getting ready to leave on vacation. And if I, listen, and if I never
see you again, I want to make sure you get this because if
you die or I die, we're going to meet before God on the judgment
throne. And I'm not going to be guilty of not telling you
the truth as it is in Christ. So stay here. I'm talking to
everybody in the house. I'm talking to everybody in the
house. Listen to me. Some people get out of the water
and they start living for themselves. And because you live for yourself,
you have no power. You and I have to learn what
it means to be in Christ and to think that way and to live
in dependence of being in Christ. The life that you and I are living
now must be a life that's in Christ. To have the Father, you've
got to have the Son. The work of the Spirit of God
is to place a man in Christ. In Christ is your life. It's
not you. It's Christ in you. It's you
in Christ. In Christ are all the resources
of godliness and life through a knowledge of Him. The only
way you can live to God is in Christ. And it starts with your
mind. The goal of God is that your
mind be renewed. It must be changed. It must be
transformed. You must think God's thoughts
after Him. And here's the first fundamental
principle. I can do nothing without Christ. I can't do it without Christ. I can't live one second without
Christ. One day without Christ. One month
without Christ. I cannot do this God thing without
Christ. You got to get this. You got
to get it. Now, now, now, now watch this.
Stop talking. Stop talking, because some of
my brothers and sisters talk. You're not living unto God. You
spend your whole 24 hour period all over La La Land. So what Paul begins to introduce,
which I'm going to leave for next time, is the war. He said, when you got out and
you didn't get out by yourself, God let you out. These are all
passive verbs. They're powerful. I want to take
the time to work them through. Because you were a slave of sin. That's
verse 18. You were a slave of sin. And
when he delivers you, you became a slave of righteousness. Those
are passive verbs. Do you know what that means? One authority
came and got you out and put you in another situation. You
didn't do nothing. God did that. He made you a slave
of righteousness. You didn't do nothing. God did
that. But it was because you were conformed to the doctrine
of verse 17, which verse 17 is nothing but baptism explained.
You were brought into union with Jesus. by the Father. You entered
into the waters of baptism by confession of faith. You died
with Christ by the grace of God. You rose again with Christ by
the grace of God. You live with Christ only by
what? The grace of God. Now watch this,
watch this. So every day of your life, you
go about making your own decisions, doing your own thing, making
your own plans, building your own agendas, living your own
life apart from Christ. You are doing nothing for God.
You're dead. I want you, saints, I want you
to hear it. It's dead apart from Christ. Can you guys hear me?
It's dead apart from Christ. See, he didn't let you go to
just live your life. This is the secret to enjoying
God. The freedom is only in Christ. Whomsoever the Son shall set
free will be free indeed. If you are my disciple, you will
continue in my word, and you will know the truth, and the
truth will liberate you. No liberation apart from Christ. Only bondage. I don't care how
wide the world is and how free you're going. I'm living large.
Can I get some honest folks in the house? Tell the truth for
me for a moment. That outside of Christ, it's all bondage. Isn't
it true? Outside of Christ, it's all sin. Outside of Christ, it's
all defeat. Outside of Christ, it's all death.
You're disconnected from Christ. Amen.