Would you turn with me to Genesis
chapter 25? While you're turning there, when we were in Mexico
visiting with the Groovers last month, I was watching them always
opening up that gate. They'd stop, unlock a gate, open
it, pull their car in. And I thought, I'd like for us
to be able to get them a gate opener. Walter and Betty and
Winna and Cody, So if you can give toward that, that would
be a blessing to them. I know. Genesis 25, beginning in verse
21. And Isaac entreated the Lord
for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated
of him and Rebecca, his wife, conceived. and the children struggled
together within her. And she said, if it be so, why
am I thus? She couldn't understand this
struggle within her. She didn't know that twins were
in her. She'd gone through the full term
without knowing that she had twins. Leanne, did that happen
to you? She went a full term with twins and didn't know she
had them. And I can imagine, well, I can't
imagine what was going on, but she went to inquire of the Lord
and the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb and two
manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one
people shall be stronger than the other people. and the elder
shall serve the younger. Rebecca didn't realize that she
had twins. And the scripture says there
were two manner of people within her. And one was going to be
stronger than the other. Now, what a fit description of
the believer. Two manner of men are in you
right now. And one is stronger than the
other. It'd be awful if the other was
stronger, but he's not. One is stronger than the other. It was said of the Shulamite
in the song of Solomon. What will you see in the Shulamite? As it were, the company of two
armies. Now that's the description of
the believer, two armies at battle within. In Galatians chapter
five, verse 17, Paul said, the flesh lusts against the spirit
and the spirit lusts against the flesh. And these two are
contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things
that you would. I know you're familiar with Romans
chapter seven, but let's go ahead and turn there for a moment. Paul says, beginning in verse
18, For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, that old man dwelleth no good thing. For to will is
present with me. I would never sin again. But
how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good
that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now, if I do that I would not,
it's no more. I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me, I find in a law. I mean, this is a law that when
I would do good, evil is present with me. Do you find that law? He said in verse 22, for I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
Oh, wretched man that I am. Who should deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So then with my mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now, if you are a believer, you
have a holy nature given to you in the new birth. And that man is stronger than
the old man. The nature that's described in
the scripture as incorruptible, that does not and cannot commit
sin. actually referred to as being
a partaker of the divine nature, the new man, the inner man. And you also have the old nature
and all it does is sin. It is corrupt, deceitful, evil,
the one Paul called the body of this death. you have two men
within you. And because of this, there is
a battle in there. There's great conflict. Two manner
of men at war with one another, two armies in battle, holiness
fighting sin and sin fighting holiness. Now I've entitled this
message, Encouragements in the Battle. And I pray that God will make
it so to me and you. Encouragement in the battle. Back in Romans chapter five,
we looked at this a couple of weeks ago. Paul said in verse
20, moreover, the law entered God's holy law. And here's what
happened with the inference of the law that the offense might
abound, overflow. If you and I ever see what God's
law really means, we're going to see that the offense, the
sin in us abounds. It bubbles up. It's all we do. What is the greatest sin? Very well could be a question
we ought not be asking, but if we were going to answer it, what
is the greatest commandment? Well, the Lord said the greatest
commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength. And if that's
the greatest commandment, I suppose it could be said that the greatest
sin is to fail. to love the Lord your God with
all your heart and all your soul and all your strength. That means that me and you are
always in the commission of the greatest sin. Because what not
one time have we ever loved God with all our heart and all our
soul. and all our strength. Now, this
is what the God's holy law teaches us. Offense abounds, but Where
sin abounded. This is the glorious promise
of the gospel. Where sin abounded. You find
me a place where sin abounds. And here we have this precious
promise. Grace does much more abound. Overflows like a bucket of water
over a match. It overflows. That as sin, verse
21, hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now,
what shall we say then? What do we got to say about this?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? You know, Paul,
so wise, Lord made him that way, but he knew what every natural
man's response would be. When we hear of grace abounding,
the natural man will say, Well, that'll lead to sin. You've taken
away all motive for obedience. You're giving people an excuse
to not be responsible to be obedient. That's what you're doing when
you say grace abounds like that. Why, that'll lead to sin. Somebody else says, why, if that's
so, I can sin all I want. Don't need to worry about it.
Grace is going to abound. Let's continue in sin that grace may
abound. Now that is the natural man's response to grace, either
legalism or licentiousness. One of those two, the natural
man always responds that way. Now, a believer does not respond
that way. Oh, he sees in his flesh legalism. He sees in his flesh licentiousness. He knows that's the direction
he'll go apart from the grace of God. But he doesn't respond. He does not look at grace as
an excuse for sin or a justification in sin. He just doesn't do it. But he's still left with this
struggle. This struggle that I just read
about that was going on in Rebecca's womb. He's still left with this
battle going on inside. The struggle is his battle with
sin. Now, somebody may think, if you're
saved, why is there a struggle? If your sins are forgiven, why
do you struggle with it? I mean, if they're forgiven,
why think that way? If you have a new nature, a holy
nature, you are appalled by the old nature. That's why. You're appalled by it. You despise
it. Now, if my response is, I don't
need to worry about it. Well, that's close to antinomianism. And it also could smack of a
Laodicean spirit. I'm rich, increased with goods,
and I have need of nothing. I'm in good shape. I'm OK. I'm
fine. I have fellowship with God. Or
it could be that you just don't have a new nature. Could be,
couldn't it? But to that person that really
struggles, that has this conflict that Paul
talked about going on in Romans chapter 7. Here's some encouragements
in the battle. In verse five of Romans chapter
six, we read, for if we have been planted, united is the word,
that's what the word means, united. For if we have been united together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection. Jesus Christ died. Look in verse 3. Know ye not that so many of us,
as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his
death? Therefore we're buried with him by baptism into death,
that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we should also walk in newness of life.
Now, Christ died. And when he died, He had every
one of his people in him. And that's among the many mysterious
things of the scripture. I don't understand it, but I
believe it. When he died, I did too. When he went to the cross, I
did too. When he suffered the wrath of
God as the sinner substitute, I did too. I was baptized into
his death. Just the thought of Him dying,
I think, is so mysterious. Him who is alive. He's God. He's man. And He died. He died
because the sins of His people became His, that the body of
sin might be destroyed. He died. And if we've been planted
together in the likeness of His death, we shall, for sure, for
sure. This is not a hope so. We shall
be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Jesus Christ was
actually literally resurrected from the dead and we shall be. Nothing can prevent this. We
shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. If this is not,
I hope so. We shall be. Verse six. Knowing this. Knowing this. Beloved. We know what we believe we know.
We know it. Our knowledge is not salvation.
He's our salvation. And we know that, don't we? We
know that. I love the we knows of the scripture.
We know this is not speculation. This is not, I hope so. We know. You see, when God saves somebody,
he puts his spirit in their heart. They know. They know. When they hear the truth, they
know it. They know. Knowing this, Paul
said. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. That henceforth we should not
serve sin. The body of our sin became his
sin, and that's why he was crucified. And when he died, the body of
our sin was destroyed. It was put away. When He said it is finished,
sin was destroyed. Like when the high priest laid
his hands on the head of the scapegoat, and the scapegoat
was led away into a land not inhabited. Sin was destroyed. It was put away. Well, that almost seems too good
to be true, doesn't it? My sin is actually no more. destroyed, put away, that henceforth,
he says in verse six, we should not serve sin. You see, you can't serve or be
controlled by something that's not. That's dead. that's put away, it's impossible
for sin to have dominion over a believer. In verse 14 of our
text, it says, sin shall not have dominion over you. Didn't
say it should not. It says it shall not. This is
the heritage of every believer. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. For you're not under the law,
but under grace. Verse seven. for he that is dead,
he that's dead. Now, I was born dead in sins. That's what scripture says. Now, what's that mean? Well,
doesn't mean mentally dead, I can think. Doesn't mean I don't have
a will and affections and all those kind of things. It doesn't
even really mean morally dead. A man dead in sins can be a moral
person, pay his bill, be good to others, be kind to others,
give towards charity and so on. Dead in sin means spiritually
dead. I was born dead in sins. And that dead man that I was
born with was nailed to the cross. And now I'm dead. I'm dead. What? David, you are dead and
your life is hid with Christ in God. He that is dead is freed. And my marginal reading says
justified, and that's the actual word. He that is dead is justified
from sin. What does the law have to say
to a dead man? Nothing. I'm dead. Look what
Romans 7 verse 4 says. Wherefore, my brethren, you also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you
should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God, justified
from sin. He that is dead is freed from
sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justified them. Who is he that can condemn? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. He that's dead is justified, freed from sin. That means my
sin has been put away. Now that battle I'm talking about,
that inner struggle, turned Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40, verse 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned for she has received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. Now that's what it means to be
justified from sin. Justified, justified, freed. Iniquity has all been pardoned.
She's received of the Lord hand double for all of her sins. Warfare
is accomplished. And I think it's interesting.
I got in my notes, your victory has already been determined.
And then I looked at that and I thought, that's not right.
And I marked that out. Your victory has already been accomplished.
The war is already over. It's history. He that is dead
is freed from sin. Verse eight. Now, if we be dead
with Christ, We believe that we shall also live with Him.
Now this is a fact. I'm crucified with Christ. This
is not talking about what is. If we be dead with Christ. If
I was in Christ and He died, I died in Him. When He was raised,
I must be raised in Him. Hold your finger there and turn
to 2 Timothy chapter 2. This is a hymn of the early church. Verse 11. It's a faithful saying. For if we be dead, with him,
we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign
with him. Now, if we deny him. He also will deny us if we deny
him. Deny him as all in our salvation,
that's what that means. That's not really talking about
that time when you don't confess Christ publicly as you should,
and that's a horrible thing. Hasn't it made you feel bad when
you knew you should confess Christ and stand up for his glory and
you kept your mouth shut when you should? That's a horrible
thing. That's a horrible thing. Who in here hadn't done it? Anybody? I'd like to know you. Who hadn't
done it? That's not talking about that.
That's talking about if we deny he is all in our salvation. I heard somebody say this recently.
It meant so much to me. Somebody came up to a preacher
and said, Jesus is all we need. He said, no, he's all we've got. You believe that he's all we've
got. And we don't deny that. Do we?
He is our salvation. I love what verse 13 says. If
we believe not. Yet he abideth faithful. You know, I love the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never changes. He's utterly
predictable. He's utterly reliable. You know
exactly how he's going to be. He's going to be as he always
is. He's utterly faithful. That's why God is faithful and
just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He never changes. He's utterly faithful. He cannot
deny, look at that next word, himself. You see, if he denied
me, you know who he'd be denying? Himself. That's how close this
union with the Lord Jesus Christ is. If he died, We died. If he raised from the dead, we're
raised from the dead. Now, this is one of the reasons
it's so important to bring out Christ's effectual redemption
for the elect. It's this is if he died for everybody
without exception. And some of those people he died
for don't end up raising with him and they end up going to
hell anyway. You've taken away the gospel for me. My only hope
is that he died for me and put away my sin and that I must be
raised with him. And that's what's being taught
in Romans chapter six. Identification with him. Verse
nine. Knowing. that Christ, being raised
from the dead, dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over
him. The reason death has no more
dominion over him is the sin has been put away. Now, when
he was bearing our sin, the Son of God died. Death had dominion
over him at that time. That's why he died. But there
was something about his death that was unlike my death and
your death. He saw no corruption because
he completely satisfied the justice of God when he died. And death
has no more dominion over him because the question of sin has
been eternally dealt with. It's gone. There is no more sin. Verse 10, for in that he died,
he died unto sin once. Now once. In the end of the world hath
He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. By
one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
For in that He died, He died unto sin once. And the reason
it's once is He got the job done. Whatever it was He intended to
do, that is what He did. Isn't that wonderful? For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. And oh, how he lives unto God. Verse 11. Likewise. Reckon ye
also yourselves. Believe this regarding yourself.
See yourself only like this. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed. Truly. unto sin, but alive unto
God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, reckon yourselves to be
dead to sin. Now, this is not some kind of
pseudo-psychology, where you're just telling yourself something
that isn't so. This is not playing mental gymnastics. This is not
positive thinking. This is not believing something
that really is not so. When he says reckon yourselves
to be dead into sin, indeed into sin, there's only one reason
why he'd say that. Because you are dead indeed to
sin. Did Christ put it away? When he said it is finished,
was it finished? then beloved you yourself are
dead indeed to sin. And this is spoken of in the
form of a command. God commands you, God commands
me to reckon ourselves to be what we are in fact, dead to
sin. Sin has absolutely nothing to
say to anybody who's dead. You see, the law only speaks
to lawbreakers. It doesn't speak to the dead.
It doesn't speak to people who have no guilt. Now, every one
of us has flinched when we see the lights in the rearview mirror.
Flinched. But man, isn't it a great feeling
when you look down and see you're not breaking the speed line?
Oh, it feels so great. He didn't have anything to say
to me. Not a thing. Not a thing. You see, My sin's
gone. It's paid for. I'm dead in Christ. Law has nothing to say to me.
I'm dead to sin. In Christ, I am justified. I've
never done anything wrong. And I've always done that which
is right. And I am looking forward to Judgment
Day when my story is told and it's all going to be good. He
is just like the Lord Jesus Christ. He's never sinned. He's always
done that which is right. That's what justification is.
Doesn't it become more mysterious and glorious the more you see
of it? justified by Christ. In Christ, I'm justified. Perfect
in Christ. Look what he says. Likewise,
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, how alive
is Jesus Christ to his father? Oh, I love to think of the father
looking upon the son sitting on the throne and being so pleased
with him. He's pleased with me. I'm alive
unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, God would never
tell you to reckon something that was not true. He'd never
tell you to reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin unless
you were not in fact dead indeed into sin, but alive unto God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 12. Now, in light of that,
In light of the fact that we are, in fact, dead to sin but
alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul says, Let
not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should
obey it in the lusts thereof. Now, this is a command. You're
dead to sin. Believe yourself to be. Do not
let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its
commands. You don't let it reign because
it does not reign. This is not some, you pulling
yourself up by the bootstraps and just saying that you don't
let it reign because it does not reign. Now there was a time
when it did reign. And you know what, you know,
when it, when it, when it rained, when you didn't know it rained.
That's when it rained. When you didn't know it rained.
And you thought if circumstances were right, you were put in the
right position, you could turn things around, you could straighten
up, and you're always waiting to tomorrow when you would turn
things around and when things would get better and you'd stop
this sin. At that time, you were under
its complete dominion and control. You didn't even know it. It had
complete sway. And then God taught you what
you could not do. He taught you, you couldn't believe.
He taught you, you couldn't repent. Your hard heart wouldn't do it.
He taught you that you couldn't come to Christ. And when you
found out you couldn't, that's when you did. Not until then. You didn't even know what it
meant. That's when sin no longer had dominion over you. You don't
let sin reign because it doesn't reign. You've got a new man that's
stronger than the old. Now, look what he says in verse
13. I love this. He says, Neither let not sin reign in your mortal
body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof. It can't
reign if grace reigns. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto sin. Now, what's that mean?
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteous
to sin, but yield yourself to God." Now that word yield is
quite often translated present. Remember in Romans 12, 1, I beseech
you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice. Present. What do you do when
you present? What do you do when you present? Here I am. Here I am present and accounted
for. Here I am. Now an unbeliever presents himself
to sin. Here I am. Use me in whatever
way you see fit. Here I am. I'm presenting myself
to sin. Here I am. A believer presents
himself to God. Here I am. Oh, our father, I'm
your child. Our father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Your name is holy. Thy kingdom come. Here I am,
I'm a subject of your kingdom. Thy will be done. This is what
I want. I want your will to be done. Whatever it is, here I
am. Here I am. Give me what I need. Give us
this day our daily bread. Here I am, and I'm totally dependent
upon you. Here I am, whatever I have, it's
gonna have to be what you give me. Here I am. Whether spiritually,
materially, here I, give me what I need. Lord, here I am as a sinner.
Forgive me of my sins. Forgive me of my sins and forgive
me as I forgive those who sin against me. A believer is a sinner. He's
a forgiven sinner who forgives other sinners. Here I am. I'm
presenting myself to be. Lord, here I am. Don't let me
be tempted. I'm so weak, I'll fall before
temptation if I'm tempted, so don't let me even be tempted.
Put a hedge about me. Here I am. Don't let me be tempted. And oh Lord, here I am. Deliver me from evil. Deliver
me from evil. Now that's what a believer does.
The prayer of the believer tells you what he is. And he presents
himself to the Lord. Lord, here I am. I'm not presenting
my instruments as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. Deliver
me from that. I'm presenting myself to you.
Here I am. Present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this world. Don't listen to
what this world has to say. It's wrong. But be ye transformed
by the renewing of your minds that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And here's our promise in all
this, verse 14. Four, here's why you're not gonna
let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it
in the lust thereof. Here's why you're not gonna yield
your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but you're
to yield yourselves unto God, present yourselves as to God,
as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God. And here's why, this
glorious promise, four, sin shall not have dominion over you. And here's why, you're not under
the law, but you're under grace. And this is God's promise. Now,
this is a prayer. It's a promise, and it's turned
into a prayer. Lord, you said, I didn't say
this, you said it. I'm counting on your word. You
said sin shall not have dominion over you. Don't let it have dominion
over me. You said that. You live up to
what you said. Do what you said. That's not
acting as though maybe he wouldn't. I wouldn't want to in any way
imply that. But here's my plea. Lord, you said sin shall not
have dominion over me. You promised it. And that's my
plea. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. And one simple, splendid, God-glorifying reason was given
You're not under law. Law is due. Grace is it's done. You're not under law. You're
under grace. If you're under the law of sins,
your Lord, it has complete, absolute dominion over you. The strength of sin is the law,
but sin shall not have dominion over you because you're not under
law, but under grace. The reign of grace. You see grace,
understand this about God's grace. It's saving grace. It's saving
grace. That's the only kind of grace
there is. Grace isn't some kind of offer God throws out there and you
can accept it or reject it. No, no. God's grace is saving
grace. By grace, you're saved. Grace
that does not need help. All flesh has no place in the
purpose of grace. None at all. Grace, the only
reason for God's blessing. Grace where you do nothing and
He does everything. Don't you love it being that
way? Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul, my life, my all. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under law. You're under the grace of God. Let's pray.