Good Works Are The End of Your Legal Union with the Son

Well, please turn your Bible to Romans chapter 4, excuse me, Romans chapter 7. So last week we looked at half of Ephesians 2 .10. I said that this week the plan was to look at the other half of Ephesians 2 .10.

I still do intend to look at the other half of Ephesians 2 .10. When we speak of union with Christ, which refers to all those verses that talk about being in Christ, there are two different kinds of union.

There is a legal union and there is a spiritual union. Ephesians 2 .10 talks about that spiritual union which is established by the Holy Spirit in our hearts, by which we are grown in holiness and more and more have the capacity to follow after God.

But before that, prior to that, and so typically treated before that, is a legal union that is created with Christ Jesus where we are identified in Him apart from, or not necessarily apart from, but not on the basis of any kind of work of the Spirit in us.

It seemed important to speak of that first and how that relates to good works. So today we are looking at Romans 7 .4 which speaks of this reality. For our scripture reading, I'll read verse 1 through 6, but preaching text is simply verse 4.

Please stand when you have that for the reading of God's Word. Likewise, my brothers. Amen. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the union that we have with Christ. We pray that you would help us to understand this union more deeply from this passage and this would help us to bear fruit that we would not be hindered by our ignorance of this union, but we would be helped by our knowledge and understanding of it.

In Jesus' name, Amen. So there are many people in this world who think that they live very fruitful, very profitable lives. You look at it, you look at the things they're accomplishing, it seems that they are living very fruitful lives.

But in God's economy, this is not the case. They are not living fruitful lives at all. They are slaves to sin. How can they even do work for God, do those works which really matter? And if they have a debt to pay for their own sin because they have sinned against Him, because all have sinned, and have a debt to pay down, how can any of their works be profitable if the only thing that they could do, even in theory, is to pay down debt?

And since each of our works are imperfect, all it actually does is accumulate more and more debt. So many people who think that they live profitable, fruitful lives live very fruitless lives. There are others who recognize that they don't live fruitless lives, but they don't know how they could live a fruitful life, and the answer is through Jesus Christ.

And there are others, I'm hoping many of you today, most of you today, are in Jesus Christ. You have the capacity for good works because you are in Him, but to the degree that you do not understand this identity in Him, this legal union that we have in Him, is the degree to which you may be hindered in bearing fruit for God.

So I'd like us to look at this passage to understand that legal union that we have with Him, the basis of that legal union, and then how that leads to a communion with Him that helps us to bear fruit for God.

And putting all these together, I'm hoping that it will embolden you to bear fruit for Him without fear and with a clear identity of who you are in Jesus Christ. So just to read this passage one more time, this verse, Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

So this speaks of the law as a sort of husband, speaks of Christ as an alternative husband. Now what this means when it talks about us belonging to the law is not just that there is an obligation to obey the law, even as a Christian, even as one who is united to Christ, there's still an obligation to obey the law.

As Paul explains in the previous chapter, in this chapter, and elsewhere in the book, all are obligated to obey the law. Even Christians are obligated to obey the law. So this isn't about obedience. What this is talking about is being united to the law as a covenant of works.

In other words, as a means of obtaining life. Those who are not in Jesus Christ, those who are not united with Him, those who have not been joined together with Him, they are united rather to the law, so that the only way that they could live is by their complete obedience to the law.

This is the only means by which they could have life. And of course, since everyone has sinned, that means no one has any real means to have true life. And yet they remain married to this entity that demands of them what they cannot fulfill.

But being moved from having that covenant to the covenant of grace, Christ's covenant, having Christ as your husband, He is one who fulfills the law on behalf of His people, so that they may be counted as righteous.

And He has done this perfectly, so that we can be free from obligation to fulfill the law perfectly as a means of life, but free to serve Him, obeying the law, knowing that He has provided life perfectly.

So this is that transition that it's describing. Now, how does that transition take place? How can it take place? Well, using this analogy of a marriage, the previous passage explains it. A marriage covenant lasts as long as the husband is alive.

So long as the husband is alive, the wife is bound to that husband. And so you think, well, there seems to be a problem here. How are we to be free from this law if the law never perishes? Jesus said, not a jot or a tittle shall ever be removed, right?

This is not something that perishes. On the other hand, if we were to die, then this doesn't help us at all because this doesn't give us life. The whole reason we would want this fixed is to have life, but if it were just us that would die, we would instead be dead.

So what happens is Christ dies on our behalf that we may be dead to the law in Him and then raised with Him so that we can be alive in a way where we can be united to Him. So this is the master plan. It's rather than the law dying, which would be impossible, rather than us dying, which would be counterproductive, Christ dies on our behalf in order that we may be dead, we may die with Him and raised with Him to newness of life, joined to Him in marriage, no longer bound to the law as a covenant of life, but rather bound to Him, the one who gives life perfectly.

And this is the plan of salvation. Now, what that implies for us is a union with Him that would be a fruitful union. The church is the bride of Christ and us individually united with Him. Our union with Him is to be one that is fruitful.

This is not like a widow who lives how she pleases because she's no longer united to a new husband and so must obey and must bear fruit for him. Now, a widow, what kind of fruit can she bear? Especially if we're talking about the fruit of children.

She can only bear illegitimate children. There are no good works that could come from if we were to die to the law but then not be united to Christ, that would not sufficiently solve the problem. But in being united to Christ, we have the capacity to bear fruit using this analogy of a marriage, to bear legitimate children, to be fruitful for God, to pursue good works, those things which please God.

We are free to do that through our union to Christ. Now, this union that I'm speaking of, as I explained a moment ago, is different than the spiritual union that we have to Him through the Holy Spirit.

What I'm talking about here is a legal union. You can see later on this passage, it transitions to speaking about the spiritual union and a lot of passages, it talks about the work of the Spirit in our hearts, uniting us to Him that we may be transformed.

Today, I am not addressing that. I am addressing the legal union that we have with Him. This is an accounting of His statuses to us, of His titles, His qualities to us, His righteousness to us. Many people think that our righteousness comes by virtue of having the Holy Spirit within us.

This is not the case. It is not on that basis. Now, yes, no one receives that righteousness of Christ apart from the Spirit's work. However, it is not on the basis of the Spirit's work in us. Consider what it says in Romans 4, verse 5,.

If the Spirit is working in us, producing some kind of faith, producing some kind of godly quality in us, and that were the basis upon which God is justifying us, is He justifying the ungodly? He would not be justifying the ungodly.

He'd be justifying those who have become somewhat godly. So that faith is not the basis on which He is justifying us. And then consider also Romans 3, verse 24, which says, It is a gift. It is not on the basis of anything that is in us, including faith, not on the basis of anything in us.

Okay, so this is how He credits these things to us, is not on the basis of faith, but only by virtue of His goodwill and pleasure. Now, if you think about a tradesman, right, a tradesman might take on an apprentice, and he might give that apprentice free lessons about how to do the craft.

And then eventually, he might make him a journeyman. Now, if he gave him free lessons, someone might think, okay, well, he is giving him the status of journeyman for free. No, he wouldn't be doing it for free, because it would be on the basis of the fact that he learned some things.

Even if he only taught him one lesson, it would be on the basis of the fact he learned some things. Even if he just gave him tools, and then on the basis of that, gave him the status of a journeyman. But this is not how Christ imputes His righteousness to us.

This is not how He counts us in Him. It is not on the basis of anything that He has done in us. It is not on any kind of work that is wrought in us. It is only by His free will and pleasure that He counts us as righteous in Him.

And this is important in order for us to bear fruit. So hopefully that analogy makes sense, that none of those situations would be one where that status of journeyman is imputed freely, is credited freely to that apprentice.

It would be only if nothing is done in the apprentice, and he is counted as a journeyman. This is how it is accomplished in us. Now, yes, we are given faith. You might ask, well, what I thought we were saved by grace through faith.

This is not our own doing, right? We're saved by grace through faith. How can you say it is not on the basis of faith? Through faith does not mean on the basis of faith. Through faith means that faith is the instrument by which you are able to receive and recognize the righteousness that Christ has given.

It is declared in heaven before the court in heaven that you are righteous, and then simultaneously you are given faith so that in the court of your conscience you can recognize yourself as righteous.

And God never declares someone as apart from also giving them faith so that they can recognize it, but it is not on the basis of that faith. Otherwise, it would be on the basis of something wrought in us.

It would be something about us, but he gives us freely as a gift without any kind of reason in us. So these things happen together, but it does not happen on the basis of faith. It happens with faith as an instrument so we can recognize and receive that righteousness.

Now, what is this word I've used, imputation, this crediting to us, this legal union? You think about other kinds of legal statuses that you can have that aren't necessarily reflected in reality, and maybe they become reflected in reality over time, but at the time of their pronouncement they aren't necessarily considered.

You can adopt a son, and over time you more and more bond with that son, but there's not a biological sonship that makes that adoption—it's not the biological sonship that makes that adoption valid. That's declared valid by the government apart from any kind of working.

And then consider, you know, we have a fictitious business name here at this church. We're called Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church. Our official name is Lakewood Village Baptist Church, and so there's this legal status we have to be called by this other name that is not the real name of this church for the purpose of business.

And, you know, you can go on and on with different examples. Corporations are considered as people, so by a legal declaration, you know, the government ends up making entities that can be sued, that can be treated as having assets like people, even though they are not people.

So you have different kinds of things in government where there are legal statuses so that these titles or qualities are attributed to something that don't necessarily have that inherently. Those things may develop over time.

So that is the kind of imputation that we are talking about here, that Christ imputes, he credits his righteousness to us. Our sin is credited to him. His righteousness is credited to us. Our sin is cred to him so that when he dies, he is bearing the penalty for our sin, and his righteousness is cred to us so that as he is raised up, we are able to be raised up with him.

This is spoken of a number of times in scripture. Second Corinthians 521 says, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So though he knew no sin, he made him to be sin.

Our sin was credited to him so that in him we could have his righteousness. And consider the words just from the previous chapter. The previous chapter says in verse 5, for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

So that union with him in his death where our sin is credited to him so that he is dying on our behalf, and then he is being raised up on our behalf, us being united with him so that we may have his righteousness.

This is that imputation that's happening, that double imputation. Our sin to him, his righteousness to us in both directions. Now many people find this to be very unjust, especially if you talk to anyone who's Eastern Orthodox.

And I don't know if this is just a feature of Eastern Orthodoxy in the United States or if this is a global feature of Eastern Orthodoxy. I have reasons to suspect this is just a U .S. thing. But especially if you talk to people in Eastern Orthodoxy, a lot of times the thing that drew them to Eastern Orthodoxy was that they found this idea unjust, that Christ would die on behalf of another.

Rather they say, yes he dies for our benefit in order to produce some kind of restoration in us, you know, that work of the Spirit that I talked about, but not any kind of any other kind of righteousness, any other kind of legal status.

That he is not suffering for our sins. That would be a problem in their eyes. And a lot of times they will say, well that's a very Western view of things, and if you had an Eastern view you would see it otherwise.

This sounds like a very, that is something that makes people think. It's like, oh wow, do I have a biased Western view because of the way that I've grown up? But then you read all these verses that speak so directly this way, even Romans 7 -4, you have died to the law so that through the body of Christ, through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another.

These are all legal statuses that these are talking about. This is not some Western invention that opposes equally valid Eastern thought. These are the words of Scripture itself, that this is a legal status that we have in Jesus Christ.

And this is necessary in order to produce good works for the reasons I've mentioned before. If we are constantly indebted to God, how can we be profitable? If we are constantly, if we are a slave to another, how can we serve Jesus Christ?

You can't. You can only serve one master. And so all these things are necessary in order to bear fruit for God. Now this imputation of Christ status to us comes in two forms. Okay, well it produces a communion with God.

If you've ever, if you've always wondered what do we mean when we say union with Christ and communion with Christ, or union and communion with Christ, what is that? A lot of people think by communion, it's some kind of like quiet time or sweet fellowship with Him or something.

And the word fellowship is actually connected to the idea of communion. But communion, think with a com, think common. It is things we share in common with Him. So the union is the actual bond. Here we're talking about the legal bond.

Communion would be the things He shares with us in that bond. Okay, so it is the statuses we receive from Him. These would include His titles. They would include His qualities that are credited to us.

And it is through this communion that we are further enabled for good works. So considering just His titles, now using this analogy of a wife, you know, when a wife marries her husband, she'll take his name.

You know, my wife is now an Owens. She was a Reeves before, right? This is a title that she has received by marrying me. If I had already owned a house, she would have considered herself an owner of a house when she married me, even though her name wasn't on the title.

That title would be credited to her in a legal way because she would know that she has authority over these things. Okay, so titles can be credited. Think about the various titles that Christ has that are credited to us.

Okay, He is called in Scripture the only begotten Son of God. Okay, He is the Son of God. He has perfectly obeyed the Father. There's a sense in which Adam was called the Son of God, but any kind of sonship that we could have in Adam was lost in Him so that Jesus even calls some sons of the devil, right?

There is no sonship from God that you can have apart from being in Jesus Christ who is truly the Son of God. So we are counted sons of God by adoption, by this legal status, not independent of Christ, but in Him because He is the Son of God.

His status as Son is counted to us so that we are also sons. Consider His status as being Israel. In the Old Testament, in Isaiah, we're getting to a lot of passages as we preach through Isaiah. We're getting through a lot of passages that will talk about Israel being a servant of God, and we've seen some of those already, but there will be others later where it talks about the suffering servant that you may be familiar with, and there are a number of passages that do this that speak of the Messiah as being the ultimate fulfillment of this idea of a servant of God, one who does not fail to serve, but one who actually serves.

You see Him fulfill this in a number of ways, even being in the wilderness for 40 days successfully, suffering trials, whereas Israel unsuccessfully went through their trials in the wilderness for 40 years.

You see Jesus form a nation by appointing 12 disciples where Israel had 12 tribes, Jesus communicating that He is the fulfillment of that nation of Israel, and so in Him, we have status as being true Israel.

You know, in Hosea 11 .1, it says that out of Egypt, I called my Son. This speaking of Israel, but Matthew interprets that prophecy as ultimately being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Out of Egypt, I called my Son, and so Jesus is this fulfillment of Israel, and then we have in Galatians 6 .16, this statement about the Israel of God, which seems very evidently to be referring to the church, and frequently the church is referred to as Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, right?

We have status as Israel in Jesus, who is the fulfillment of Israel, and then beyond that, He is our great high priest. In Him, we are counted priests. Peter talks about us being a royal priesthood, and at that royal priesthood, we are kings.

Jesus is king. We are kings in Him. We are seated in the heavenly places, as it says in Ephesians. We are placed with Christ, seated with Him on the throne, so that we would have that status as kings.

Now, how are these things necessary for good works? How are these things necessary in order to bear fruit? Well, consider each one of those. If God has called us to serve as sons, how can you serve a son if you are not a son?

If you do not have the status as a son, how can you obey any of your filial duties? Filial meaning as a son, right? How are you supposed to love the brothers with brotherly love if you are not a brother of them?

That status is needed. How are you supposed to pray, our Father, if you are not legally adopted, if you are not a son of the Father? And then beyond that, the qualities necessary in order to obey, those things which would embolden you, having a certain inheritance so that you can suffer loss in this life, knowing that you will not lose the love of God because a son does not lose the love of his father.

These are things that are necessary in order to be emboldened for good works. And then how are we supposed to be a light to the nations if we are not in Christ, that true Israel, right? This is what Israel is commanded to be, a light to the nations in order that others from the nations can join with that nation.

If we do not have status as a nation, how can we be the light that Christ has commanded us to be in order for others to join together with us in any kind of status as a nation? And how can we offer right worship to God unless you have the status as a priest?

How can you offer prayers without the status of a priest? How can you make judgments in the house of God without having the status of a king? They would all—it doesn't matter whether or not you're wise or unwise, these things are rendered invalid.

You see, like, an unwise king can still make legitimate judgments if he is a king, and a wise king or a wise person, if he is not a king, cannot make legitimate judgments. It's not just about wisdom. We need the status of being a king to make judgments in the household of God.

First Corinthians 6, 2, speaking of this, says that don't you know that one day you will judge the world? That we are supposed to, we are supposed to be able to judge things in the household of God because one day we will judge the world.

Is our status in Jesus Christ reigning with Him on His throne whereby we do that? Now, there's a sense in which that reign is not completely manifest yet. It explains in 1 Corinthians 4 that we don't reign yet in that sense.

However, it does say that we are seated with Him in the heavenly places. We have status as kings to make these kinds of judgments. We're told to test the spirits. We're told to even anathematize false spirits.

That means to declare them as cursed. How can you make authoritative judgments on God's behalf without a status of a judge, a king being essentially the highest judge in the land? How can you make that status—how can you make those judgments without the status of a judge or of a king?

You need the status in order to do these good works that God has called you to. Now, this is also the case with the qualities that are imputed to us. So those qualities, if you think about the various qualities that Christ has that are imputed to us, a very good verse to talk about this is 1 Corinthians 1 .30.

Might as well turn there, but I'll once again apply this analogy of a wife and a husband. A wife might say, we are rich because our husband's quality as rich applies to her. My wife might say, we're well-respected, even though that she might be primarily referring to what's true of her husband, that quality is attributed to her as well.

A lot of times people will do this in reverse in weird ways that I find odd. You know, a lot of people say, we are pregnant. I've had nine kids. I've never been pregnant. So this primarily works with the husband's status being imputed to the wife, those qualities.

And so this passage in 1 Corinthians 1 .30, and because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So it talks about us being in Christ Jesus.

It's talking about that union. He became to us, that language of becoming to us doesn't require, doesn't speak of transformation. You know, he talks about transformation elsewhere. It speaks of that status being imputed to us.

He became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. These are all his qualities that are attributed to us. We are counted wise in him. Colossians 2 .3 says that in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Colossians 3 .3 says that we are hidden in him. So if all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him and we are hidden in him, we have that quality of having all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

And think about, if you're familiar with this part of Corinthians, think about what he's claiming. He's not claiming that the Corinthians are acting wise. There's a lot of ways that they are not, and he's telling them constantly about how foolish they're being.

But he's saying if Christ is your wisdom, then you do not need to try—that removes any kind of motivation to appeal to earthly wisdom, because you have the status of having God's wisdom. So he begins by appealing to having the status of God's wisdom in Christ Jesus before he talks about developing the actual wisdom itself.

And then he speaks of sanctification. Now, or sorry, righteousness. Righteousness, this is known as justification where Christ's righteousness is credited to us so that we are counted as perfectly blameless even though we have sinned.

Also talks about sanctification. And when we think of sanctification, a lot of times we're thinking about the growth in holiness. We're thinking about transformation. Remember, the Bible is not using all these words in a textbook style.

It's not using the words every time to mean the same thing. Here it's talking about something positional, just like later on in 1 Corinthians 6 -11, it says, but such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were.

These are like past things that have happened, who've been made fit for service. This is what has to happen to the priests, right? They have to be sanctified, they have to be consecrated for service. Jesus even consecrated himself, right?

And so he said in John 17 that he has sanctified himself by his own blood, right? It is something that he has accomplished. He has purified, as a priest, just like the Old Testament, he has purified themselves with blood in order to be able to offer right worship.

Christ has purified himself, or rather by that I mean sanctified himself, set himself apart for this particular use, by his own blood in order that he can be this high priest. And we in him have that status of being sanctified, of being made fit for holy uses.

And it says redemption. Once again, we tend to think of redemption as being, well, bought out of a slavery that Christ was not in. But once again, there's a reality to this that's worth considering. In Isaiah chapter 63, it speaks of Christ having accomplished redemption.

It says in Isaiah 63, 4, for the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. This is Christ speaking. It talks about him having trodden the wine presses, that hymn that we occasionally sing, who is this who comes from Edom, all his garments drenched in blood.

That's talking about this passage. This is Jesus Christ. This is his day of redemption. What it's talking about is removing from oppression. So he has fought the battle. He has removed himself from oppression.

And then we in him have that status of being removed from oppression. We have that quality of redemption. Now, how are all these things necessary in order to pursue good works, in order to bear fruit?

Well, if you do not have righteousness, if you are not counted as righteousness, any good works you do are simply paying down a debt that you can never repay. And as I said before, all your works are imperfect, and so they are actually increasing your debt.

They're not accomplishing something. They are fruitless. If you are not sanctified, if you do not have that quality of having been been set apart for holy use, how can you worship God as you ought? How can you do the things that God has called you as you ought?

You are not set aside for holy use at all, so you can't do anything holy. What about redemption? Well, there will always be the fear of death that pervades your life that keeps you from being able to pursue those things which God has called you pursue, because there wouldn't be a promise of life that would free you up to take the great risks that he calls you to take.

These are things that you would not have. And then if you were not wise, if you didn't have the status of being wise, then all of your work should be dismissed out of hand anyway. Proverbs 14 says, leave the presence of a fool, for there you will not meet with words of knowledge.

God wouldn't even tolerate your presence if you had the status of a fool. Now, once again, I'm not even talking about having actually grown in wisdom, but without having had the quality of Christ's perfect wisdom imputed to you, God would dismiss you out of hand.

He would dismiss all your works out of hand. He would dismiss you out of hand. You would not be permitted into his presence. Ecclesiastes 5 .1 says, to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

The sacrifice of fools is an evil thing, unless you are counted as someone who is wise. And the only way you can be counted as perfectly wise is in Jesus Christ. All your sacrifices are worthless before God.

They can only be counted as something if you have the status of a wise man, and you have the status of a wise man in Christ Jesus. And so, all of this is accomplished not on the basis of anything that we have done, not on the basis of something that has been done in us, but on the basis of God's election.

It says that in Ephesians 1 .4, that in him, that he chose us in him, that in him language is the language of legal union. In him, before the foundation of the world, that's the beginning of our legal union.

And then, like you see in this passage, when it says, through his body, when it says through his body, it's talking about the need for the incarnation, right? It was only through becoming man that he is joined to humanity.

And then, afterward, through his death, burial, and resurrection, that he accomplishes these things, and we are united to him in them, that those matters can be credited to us. His death, taking away our sin, because it's paying the penalty for sin.

Him being raised from the dead, so that we would have his status of righteousness imputed to us. Him ascending on high, so that we would have the status of being kings with him. All those things, all those things are happening, yeah, are happening through Jesus Christ.

It says in Romans 4 .25, he was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. All of these things that are accomplished are accomplished not because of anything done in us, but something that he has done, and they are imputed to us, not on the basis of anything wrought in us, not even on the basis of faith, but faith is the means by which we receive and recognize the status that we have.

Now, what does this imply for you in pursuing good works? First of all, you need to identify, you need to identify as being in Christ. Because the thing that will inhibit you from pursuing good works is not recognizing that legal status.

If faith is the means by which you recognize this legal status, then the degree to which you recognize that legal status is the degree to which you will be able to operate and act in it. So the first way that someone should identify as being in Jesus Christ is simply through baptism.

Many people delay baptism unnecessarily. There's all kinds of reasons that people do this. They don't think it's important. They have fears about the kind of oppression they'll receive, the kind of persecution.

But this is the primary way that we are called to formally identify with him. The previous chapter, Romans 6 .3, says, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. So baptism is the the primary ceremony by which you identify with Christ as being united with him in his death, burial, and resurrection.

This is the first way that you identify with him. And there's also by membership into his body. A lot of people are baptized apart from membership. I believe the biblical model is to be baptized in a way that includes you into membership, but many people are baptized without any kind of notion of membership.

You should join with his body. How can you say that you are part of the body of Christ globally when you're not part of his body locally, that institution that he has created? This is another way that you are called to identify with him.

You are to reject any kind of sinful identity. Okay, a lot of people have these sinful identities that they label themselves with. 1 Corinthians 6, 9 -11, talks about different things that people once were.

That passage I just quoted, these things you once were, but you have been washed, you have been sanctified. So if you count yourself as having some kind of sinful status, these things are at odds with pursuing an identity in Christ.

I'll read that passage. 1 Corinthians 6, 9 says,. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkard, nor revelers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Now it's very interesting because this doesn't come out completely in the ESV because it groups a couple of these together, but this is a tenfold list. It's very interesting that he's talking about the law being condemning.

The law is a means of life being condemning with this tenfold list, and given that God has given a tenfold law. None of these will inherit the kingdom of God, and such were some of you. This is an identity that is no longer.

This is an identity that has passed. There are a lot of people who embrace sinful identities. There's a lot of people who will say things like, I'm a homosexual Christian. This thing that it started off with, talking about, nor men who practice homosexuality, etc.

A lot of people identify as, I'm a homosexual Christian. I'm not even talking about those who would be practicing it. There's this theology known as Side B Theology. If you've never heard of that, that's the idea that identifying as homosexuality is not a problem.