or that all have sinned. Sin
and spiritual death go together. One man's sin entered the world
and death, death by sin. And sin and spiritual death were
both at that time imputed, reckoned and charged to every human being
at that particular time. Imputed, charged, reckoned to
every one of us. And at that time, sin and death
was imparted to all of us. In 1 Corinthians 15, I want you
to turn over there and just hold that scripture along with Romans
5 for a few moments. It says in 1 Corinthians 15,
verse 21, since by man came death. Since by man came death. In verse
22, for as in Adam, all die. It's universal. Sin, spiritual
death, because of Adam's transgression, our representative, passed to
the whole human race, imputed, imparted to us. Now watch this
next statement in Romans 5. In Romans 5, verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience." That's
Adam. He's called the first Adam. The
first Adam is of the earth, earthy. The second Adam is the Lord from
heaven. But by that first Adam, the many were made sinners. So,
as and so. I want you to remember those
two words. As and so. As, by one man's disobedience,
the many were made sinners, imputed, imparted. By the perfect obedience
of one shall the many be made righteous. Now back to 1 Corinthians
15 again, verse 22. For as in Adam all die, spiritual
death, condemnation, sin, all die, so as in Adam all die, so,
even in Christ shall all be made alive. As sin and spiritual death
were imputed to me, charged to me, and imparted to me in Adam's
transgression, so spiritual life and holiness and righteousness
were imputed to me, reckoned to me, imparted to me when Christ
died. As and so, as spiritual death
was imputed by Adam's sin, so righteousness, holiness, and
life are imputed by Christ's obedience. Two meanings. And
it says here in 1 Corinthians 15, in verse 45. Turn over that, watch. And so it is written, the first
man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam was a quickening
spirit. The first man, Adam, was of the
earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. In Adam, the first man, we were made sinners by his disobedience. In the second Adam, Christ, we
were made righteous. In Adam we died, spiritually
died, dead to God, dead in trespasses and sins. In Christ Jesus, we
are made alive forever, and I would watch as we read that. In verse
45, so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul,
the last Adam a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first, which
is spiritual, but that which is natural. The first Adam was
revealed before the second Adam, and afterwards that which is
spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthly. The second
man is the Lord from heaven. Christ Jesus, our Redeemer. As
is the earthy, such are they that are earthy. That's all men,
the many. We are in his loins. God didn't
make but one man. And he gave that one man his
law. He made a covenant with that one man. Keep this and live. Eat the fruit and die. He ate
and died. He represented us. We were in
his loins. We were his children. We're born
from him. As he's earthy, we're earthy.
As he's dead, we're dead. As he's a sinner, we're a sinner.
As he's separated from God, we're separated from God. As is the
earthy, such are they that are earthy. And as is the heavenly,
such are they that are heavenly. He's righteous, we're righteous.
He's holy, we're holy. He lives, we live. Because I
live, he said, you live. And as we are born in the image
of the earthy, were just like him, came from his loins, have
his genes, have his wickedness, have his evil heart, his sin.
We are born in the image of the earthy, we are little atoms.
Thank God we shall one day bear the image of the heavenly. Whom God foreknew, he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son, he called. And whom
he called he justified, whom he justified he glorified. When from the dust of death I
rise, to take my dwelling in the skies, even then this shall
be all my plea, Christ Jesus lived and died for me." That's
it. Verse 19. disobedience. Be many. Be many, many, many, many people
of all nations, tribes, kindreds, tongue unto heaven from their
centers. Not a one mystic. Not a one mystic. Every one born dead in sin. So, in God's purpose and grace,
by the obedience of one, the Lord from heaven whom he sent,
shall the many a multitude which no man can number. God said to
Abraham, as the stars of the skies and the sands of the seashore,
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and people unto heaven,
shall be many, many, many, many, many, be made perfectly righteous. And Adam dead, and Christ alive,
righteous. And Adam wicked, and Christ whole. What's the next verse? Moreover,
the law entered. The law entered. God's law was
given to Moses, given to Israel. The law entered that the offense
might abound. The giving of the law didn't
make us sinners. People say, where there's no
law, there's no sin. Oh, yes, there is. Yes, sir. The law entered to reveal sin. The law didn't make us sinners,
the law entered to reveal that we are sinners and to make apparent
and crystal clear the sin that's in us, the wickedness that is
ours. The law of God makes apparent
our wickedness and our sin and takes away from us all excuses
and all alibis and reveals unto us what we are before God. Turn to Romans 3, verse 19, and
listen. In Romans 3, verse 19, our Lord
said this in John 3. He said, The Son of Man didn't
come into the world to condemn the world. He's already condemned. The law didn't come into the
world to make us sinners. We're already sinners. The law
was given to make apparent what we are. To reveal to us what
we are. To shut our mouths. Listen, verse
19 of Romans 3. Now we know that what things
have the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law.
Well, who's that? That's everybody. That's the many in Adam. That
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty
before God. So that's what he's saying here
in Romans 5.20, the law enters. It didn't make us sinners. It
revealed what we are. It made apparent what we are.
That's what Paul says over there. If you look across the page in
Romans 7, verse 9, Romans 7, 9, he said, I was alive without
the law one time. I thought I was a pretty good
fellow. But I didn't understand God's law. It hadn't been revealed
to me, the spirituality of the law. But when the commandment
came, to my understanding. Sin revived and I died. I died. The law revealed what I was,
shut my mouth, stripped me, broke me before God. And that's what
he's saying here in verse 20. The law entered that the offense
might abound, that the offense might be revealed, that the offense
might be shown to be what it is. abounded, sin overflowed,
sin contaminated. Sin reigned in us. Now watch
the next line. But where sin abounded, where
sin overflowed and contaminated and reigned in us, the grace
of God did much more about it. The grace of God did much more
justify and sanctify and regenerate. and make us whole. Where sin
possessed us and contaminated us and ruined us, the grace of
God came in and gave us life. Turn to Colossians 1, 22 and
listen to this. Colossians 1, 22. Verse 21, and
let's read verse 20. Colossians 1, verse 20 through 22. And having
made peace through the blood of his cross,
by him, by Christ, to reconcile all things unto himself. By him,
I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven,
you and you that were at one time alienated enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through To do what? To present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in his sight. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might be revealed to be what it is. What it is,
abounding sin, overflowing sin, contaminating sin. But where
sin abounded, God's grace did much more abound. Much more. Now verse 21, that as sin hath
reigned on the death, the nature of sin is so powerful, it is
so powerful in the sons and daughters of Adam that it's said here to
reign, to rule. Sin reigns and rules in the sons
of Adam. Look at Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians chapter 2, the first
few verses, this gives you a little insight into the reign of sin. In Ephesians 2 verse 1, And you
hath equipped them who were dead in trespasses and sin, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air. contamination
of sin, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all, all of us, had our conversation, our
behavior, our lifestyle, in times past in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind, and we
were by nature children of wrath, even as others. Sin reigns unto
death. It just keeps reigning until
it destroys everything. Even so, now watch this, but
when the Spirit of God regenerates us and reveals Christ in us,
even so might grace reign. Where sin abounds, grace did
much more abound. Where sin reigned under death,
grace reigns under righteousness, under eternal life by our Lord
Jesus Christ. Where self was the governing
principle, Christ becomes the governing principle. Where we
insisted on our way, we now follow his way. That as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might the grace of God reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. All right, in those
three verses, what is Paul setting forth? He sets forth in no uncertain
terms, in no uncertain terms, that salvation is by the grace
of God, that eternal life is of the Lord, is the gift of God,
is not of works, lest any man should boast. It's freely given
to us by the obedience of our Lord and by the sacrifice of
our Lord. By his perfect righteousness
we are made righteous. By His blood we're cleansed from
all sin. It's the gift of God. By grace
are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should go. It's
not a cooperative effort between the Lord and us. It's His work,
completely His work, from start to finish, from the beginning
to the consummation and glory. It's the gift of God. 1 chapter 6. Paul anticipates an
objection. And it always comes when you
preach this message of free and sovereign grace. It always comes.
This objection always arises. Someone always presents this.
When you say that when we preach that salvation is of the Lord,
in its planning, in its execution, in its application, in its keeping
power, In its sustaining power, in its ultimate perfection, it's
the gift of God, it's by the grace of God, it's through the
blood of Christ. Man gets no credit, no praise, no reward,
for he does nothing to redeem his soul, either before God saves
him or afterward. It's the gift of God. Were everyone
here saved, just like the thief on the cross, the man who hung
beside our Lord and turned and said, don't you fear God for
they're the thief? seeing we're in the same condemnation,
but this man's done nothing amiss. Lord, you're coming into a kingdom. You're not going to stay dead.
When you come into your kingdom, would you think on me? And our
Lord turned to him and said, I say unto you, today you'll
be with me in paradise. That man was made holy, justified,
sanctified, redeemed, taken to glory with Christ. He never walked
for Christ. He never witnessed for Christ.
He never washed in a baptismal pool. He never worked in a church.
He never gave a dime. He never won a soul. He's saved
by grace, and grace alone. And there's not one doubt in
my mind that he'll be englobed because Christ said so. You and
I are saved the same way. That's what these three verses
are saying. All of grace. Now, immediately, here comes
a response. Here comes an objection. Here
comes an objection. Now, what shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? If I am justified and sanctified
and made a son of God, by God's grace alone, apart from any works
of my own, What's to keep me from just keeping on sinning,
continuing in a life of sin and a life of rebellion? If where our sin is the worst
and our guilt is the greatest, God's grace abounds. Where sin
did overflow, God's grace did much more overflow. Where sin
did reign, God's grace does reign, if that be true. And God is glorified. Turn to Romans 3, verse 5, listen
to this. If our unrighteousness commend
the righteousness of God, if our unrighteousness glorifies
the righteousness of God, if saving the chief of sinners,
like Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners, if saving the chief
of sinners from murder and killing and thievery and all these things,
if that glorifies the grace of God, well, what shall we say then?
Is God unrighteous when he takes vengeance? Can we keep on sinning
that grace may abound? Well, let me answer it this way.
Sin does not glorify God. Sin is the cause of wrath and
judgment. Sin, no way can man glorify God
by sinning. It's not the commission of sin
that glorifies God, it's the forgiveness of sin. That's what
glorifies God. In other words, if you take a
diamond, go in a jewelry store to buy a diamond, and the first
thing a fellow will do is take out a velvet, black velvet piece of
cloth. You lay it on the counter, and
then you lay those diamonds right on that black cloth. Well, that
black cloth doesn't make that diamond what it is. It just reveals
the beauty of the diamond with the background of that black
cloth. It shines more. And sin doesn't glorify God. The commission of sin doesn't
glorify God. It's the forgiveness of sin.
It's the grace of God manifesting to the chief of sinners against
the backdrop of our wickedness The love and mercy and righteousness
of Christ is glorified. God is glorified in forgiving
sinners. God is glorified in changing
the sinner. God is glorified in breaking
the power and the reign of sin. God is glorified by enabling
men and women to be what they weren't, to love what they hated
and hate what they loved. But this is a common objection
to free grace, and everywhere that you preach the grace of
God, somebody will make this statement. Well, if I believe
that salvation was all of grace and not of works, I'd sin all
I want to. But Brother Groover gave the
best answer to that objection. He said, I sin more now than
I want to. Even in the most spiritual circumstances,
the believer says, I sin more than I want to. No believer wants
to sin. And when we preach that salvation
is by the free grace of God through the blood and righteousness of
Christ, and someone says, if I believe that, I'd sin all I
want to, you mark this down. That is the objection of an unregenerate
heart, of an unbelieving sinner. because no believer wants to
sin. That's exactly it. You remember
that. When anybody ever says that to you, like, shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound? If I believe salvation was the
gift of God, not of works, I've sinned all I want to, put it
down. The person is an unbeliever.
Because no true believer wants to sin. He wants to be holy. He wants to be like his Lord.
That's his ambition. That's his goal. That's his future,
to be like Christ. Well, listen to Paul. How does
he answer that question? Verse 1 says, What shall we say
then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, that God
may be glorified, that his grace might be magnified? God forbid. God forbid. Now, Paul frequently
uses this expression to convey shock and abhorrence of anything. Let's go back and see where he
uses it a few times. Romans 3, verse 3 and 4. He talks about in chapter 3 of
Romans, in verse 1, what advantage then hath the Jew? What profit
is there in circumcision? Why, much every way. chiefly
because to the Jew was committed the oracles of God. They had
the prophets, they had the tabernacle, they had the mercy seat, they
had the priesthood, they had the prophets. A lot of profit
in being a Jew. Well, what if some of them didn't
believe? Does their unbelief make the faith, faith of God
of no effect? Does that, does that, does the
Jew not believe in God? Does that destroy and defeat
his purpose? God forbid. See, Father, of course. Imagine even considering such
a thing. God forbid! Let God be true and every man
a liar! God forbid! All right, here's another time
he used it, verse 31 of chapter 3. Somebody objects and says, faith
makes void the law. You've got to preach law, not
just faith. And Paul asks this question, do we then make void
the law through faith? God forbid! established the law. Christ said, I didn't come to
destroy the law, I came to fulfill it. Faith doesn't destroy the
law, faith recognizes it and honors it. Faith in Christ glorifies
the law. Yes, sir. Here's another time to use it,
Romans 6, verse 15. Look at this, Romans 6, 15. Verse 14 says, Sin shall not
have dominion over you. You're not under the law, you're
under sin. Well, what then, shall we sin because we're not under
the law? The preacher says the law is not our rule of life.
Christ is our rule of life, and if we don't have a rule of life
in the law, that's sin. God forbid! God forbid. God forbid. Know ye not that
whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, that's whose servants
ye are. That fellow said, I believe in grace, I've sinned all I want
to. He tells you whose servant he is. He's the servant of sin,
not the servant of God. Let's look back at verse 2 again,
Romans 6, verse 2. Now, shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that
are dead to sin, live any longer therein? What does it mean to
be dead to sin? All right, listen to me. There
is a sense in which we are not dead to sin. You have to be honest. There is a sense in which we
are not dead to sin. Number one, we are not dead to
its influence. Paul said that in Romans 7, verse 18. Listen. We are not dead to its
influence. In Romans 7, verse 18, Paul said,
I know in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now,
the will is present with me. I will to do good, always. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not. The evil I would not do, that I do. It's powerful
influence. Sin's a powerful influence on
our thoughts, on our persons. We're not dead to its influence.
It's still there. Secondly, we're not dead to sin's
presence. I know that because Christ, when
the disciples ask him to teach them to pray, is a very short
prayer. My Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,
forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. The
Lord taught his disciples to pray daily, daily. One of the old writers said,
every morning I wake up and I say, Lord, keep me from sin this day.
Don't let me say things I shouldn't say and think things I shouldn't
think and do things I shouldn't do. Keep me from sin. He said,
I pray that every morning and every night. I say, Lord, forgive
me my sin. End of the day. So we're not
dead to its influence. We're not dead to its presence.
And we're not dead to its effect. It has effect upon us. Paul said,
oh, wretched man. who shall deliver me from this
body of death." It makes me sad. My sins make me sad. My sins
have an effect upon me. Don't they, you? David said,
my sins are ever before me. God doesn't see them, but I do.
Christ's blood cleanses them, but I'm aware of them. So we're
not dead to its influence. We're not dead to its presence.
We're not dead to its effect. But I'll tell you this, three
things. We're dead to its guilt. and
his penalty, Scripture says, who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies it. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them,
but thank God Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law
being made a curse upon us. So we're free from the guilt
of sin, We're free from the penalty of sin. I'll tell you something
else. We're free from the reigning
power of sin. That's right. Sin is not our
master. Christ is our master. I've turned
to Romans 6, verse 11, what Frank was reading a moment ago. Romans
6, verse 11. Likewise reckon ye yourselves
to be dead indeed under sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. And let not sin therefore reign. Sin unfortunately remains, its
effect is there, its influence is there, but it's not reigning,
not my master. Let not sin reign that you should
obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield, don't yield to
sin. Don't yield your members as instruments
of unrighteousness and sin. Yield yourselves to God. He's
your master. He's your Lord. He's your Father.
As those alive from the dead and your members as instruments
of righteousness. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. Christ has dominion. We're dead
to its guilt, we're dead to its curse, we're dead to its penalty,
we're dead to sin as a master. It is not our master. Christ
is our Lord. Let me show you that also in
2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Christ is our master. 2 Corinthians
5 verse 8. And our desire is to please our
Lord, not ourselves. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 8,
we're confident, and I say, and willing rather to be absent from
this body than to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor,
we endeavor, that whether present with our Lord or absent here
on this earth, we labor that we may be accepted of him. That's
what we want. We're not going to make a statement,
if I believe salvation by grace, I'd sin all I want to. We don't
want to sin. We want to please our Lord. We labor to accept
it of him, to please him. Now, the third thing. In what
sense are we dead to sin? We're dead to guilt, to penalty,
to curse, to reigning power. Christ is our Lord. We're dead
to sin as a way of life. There was a time when sin was
our way of life. Now turn to Romans 8. We dare
to sin as a way of life, Romans 8. You see, people who live in sin,
over whom sin reigns, this is a description of them. They give
themselves up to it. They yield to its influences
and to its temptations. They have been upon it. They
pursue it. They find pleasure and delight
in sin. They offer no resistance to it.
And they usually justify it. They've got legitimate reasons,
at least to them, why they do it, and why that's their course
of life, why that's their walk of life and their way. But not
the believer. Listen, Romans 8, verse 1. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh. That's not their walk. That's
not the bend of their will, that's not the tenor of their life,
but after the Spirit. That's how they walk. Look at
verse 5. This is what I just said. They
that are after the flesh, they mind the things of the flesh.
They give themselves to it. They bend on it. They find pleasure
and delight in it. They offer no resistance. They
mind the things of the flesh. They think on the things of the
flesh. But they that are after the Spirit, they mind the things
of the Spirit. To be carnally minded, to be
fleshly minded, that's death. But to be spiritually minded,
to think on the things of God, the Word of God, the life of
God, that's life and peace. And the carnal mind is enmity
against God. The carnal mind is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So that they're in this
flesh, walking in this flesh, cannot please God. All right, let's go back to my
text now. I want to finish these couple of verses here. All right, verse 3 and 4. In these two verses, Paul shows
us That's the sanctification of a believer, the life of a
believer, the holiness and sanctification and conduct and conversation
of a believer, his sanctification. It rests on the same foundation
as his justification, and that's his union with Christ. That's
what 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, of God are you in Christ. union with Christ, who of God
is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Our sanctification, our righteousness, our conduct, is from the same
source and on the same foundation as our justification. And that's
our union with Christ. Now, I'll show you that in these
two verses. And the two baptisms here now,
listen. Know ye not? You see, in verse 2 he said,
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
We can't any more than Christ can live in sin and be satisfied.
Because, know ye not, that so many as were baptized into Jesus
Christ were baptized into his death. Now this is not a figure,
this is not a picture. This is an actual experience.
We are literally baptized into Jesus Christ. That's right. The Spirit of God has made us
one in Christ. We're in Christ, Christ in you,
and you in Christ. Let me show you that in some
scripture. First of all, in 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12. We are baptized into Jesus Christ. Literally, actually, experimentally,
into Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12
and 13. You see here, we've talked about
Christ as a head, we're the body. Christ as a vine, we're the branches.
The vine and the branches are one. If you pass a grape arbor,
you don't say, there's a grape vine and the branches. No, there's
a grape arbor. If you pass a person, you don't
say, there's a head and there's a body. No, there's a person.
One. A head and a body are one. Put
a picture on the wall, you don't put a picture of a hand or a
foot or an elbow, you put a picture of a head. That's the whole person.
And here it says, as the body is one and has many members,
And all the members of that one body, being many, are one body,
so also is Jesus Christ. For by one Spirit are we all
baptized, submerged, immersed into one body, whether you're
Jew or Gentile, whether you're bond or free, whether you're
male or female, whether you're old or young, we've been made
to drink into one Spirit, one body. We have been literally
baptized into Jesus Christ. Galatians 2.20, listen to this.
Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ lives in me. I am one with Christ. And the
life which I now live in this body, in this flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. And I do not frustrate the grace
of God, If righteousness comes by the law, or by works, or by
decisions, or man's efforts, good deeds, Jesus Christ died
in vain. Not seriously. One more scripture. We are baptized
into Jesus Christ literally, actually, experimentally, experientially,
we are baptized into Christ. We're accepted in the Beloved. Remember John Chapman brought
a message on that one time. He didn't make us acceptable,
he accepted us in the Beloved. John 17, verse 23, listen. I in them, thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one, that the world may know as thou hast
sent me and love them as you love me. into Jesus Christ. And we can no more be an ally
of sin than he can. We can no more be in league with
Satan than he can. We can no more be at one with
evil than he can. All right, here's the second
baptism. Verse 4, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism
into death. That like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. That's the meaning of baptism. The first meaning is this. We're
confessing his substitutionary sacrifice. We're confessing that
we believe he died for our sins and we died in him. We're identified
with Christ in his death, in his burial, in his resurrection.
Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies. Who is he that condemns? It's
Christ that dies. Christ is risen. Christ is ascended. Christ intercedes. God hath made him who knew no
sin to be sin for us that we might be literally made righteous,
the righteousness of God in him. That's what we're sent when we're
baptized. When he died, we died. When he's buried, we buried.
When he arose, we arose. When he ascended, we ascended.
And we're seated in him at the right hand of God, one with Christ.
Here's the second thing we're saying with baptism. We're confessing
that we're dead to this world. We're dead to the old life. And
we rise to walk as new creatures, with new principles, with a new
heart and a new life. That's what verse 4 says. We're
buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ, was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was raised from the dead, and those sins he bore on the
cross, he didn't have with him anymore. He had a glorified body,
and we are raised to walk in newness of life. I'll look at
verse 5 and then I'll close. Now, baptism is a burial. Look
here at verse 4. It says we're buried with Christ
in baptism. Buried. It's a burial. Look at
verse 5. Planted together in the likeness
of the dead. When a person dies, it's a burial. It's a burial. One buries the
dead. Even our Lord was buried. After he bore our sins on the
cross and died, he was done with this life. He was done with this
life. He was done with the sins he
bore. And then he was raised. And the person who's buried is
not going to stay there, he's going to rise. And when we go
in the baptismal pool, we don't leave him there, we bring him
up. That's the point of being buried with Christ, is to be
risen with Christ. The goal of burial is resurrection. Risen to walk with him. And here's
another goal. I'm not telling the truth tonight,
so I'm not going to stop that verse, but let's just read a
couple more. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with
Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and henceforth
we should not serve sin, for he that's dead is freed from
sin. Well, I hope that's a blessing.
It was a blessing to me to prepare it for you, and I hope it's a
blessing to you. My brother Earl Wooten and his wife Peggy, have
requested baptism, fellowship with this body of believers.
Brother Wooten told me his experience is much like the experience of
Saul of Tarsus, many years in false religion, false profession
of religion. But the Lord led him to where
the gospel was preached, and God was pleased to reveal to
him and to his wife Peggy the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord was
pleased to reveal his Son in me and in them. And that's what
a person wants to do when God is pleased to reveal Christ,
is fulfill this scripture right here, bed with him in baptism,
in that likeness that as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we're raised to walk in newness
of life.