Summer of Romans 2018 (Part 10): Think (Part 1)

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Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth.

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Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

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Over the years, I've had quite a few different surgical procedures and operations and things like that.

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You've got your gown on, there's all kinds of nurses and doctors, and usually an anesthesiologist comes over with a needle full of Versed, and then they look at you and they say, here comes the good stuff.

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What they mean by good stuff is it knocks you out, but it also makes you forget, gives you amnesia.

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I'm quite certain that the problem in the Christian life for sanctification, for a holy living is forgetting what you're supposed to remember.

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Of course, also remembering what you're not supposed to remember, supposed to forget.

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Let's turn our Bibles to Roman chapter 6 and see what the key to holy living looks like through the inspired apostle

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Paul. Maybe the antidote for spiritual Versed. You're going to find this very fascinating passage in Romans chapter 6, when you talk to people today, how do you get rid of sins?

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How do you live a sanctified life? You know, most people will say, lay back and let

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God. Usually when they say that, they pronounce God G -A -W -D, but that's another sermon. Just lay back and let

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God. Is that really the key to sanctification? Let me put it another way. Would you like to sin less?

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Would you like to grumble less? Would you like to rejoice more? Would you like to say no to some of the sins that you dabble with?

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I think the answer is yes. So what's the key? Run back to Mosaic law?

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Have the Ten Commandments over you again? Is that the key? I don't think Romans 6 is going to say that. Is it try harder?

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You know what's wrong with this church? There's just not enough sweat and toil and labor. Work harder.

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What is the key to sanctified living? We want to honor the

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Lord with our lives. What's the key? And the key is we're going to learn today in Romans chapter 6, one word maybe could summarize everything, and it's a hard thing to do.

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Maybe that's why so few people do it, one man said, and the answer is think. You've got to think.

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What do you mean think? I like to emote. I like entertainment. I like amusement.

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Amusement means what? Amuse means to think. You put an alpha in front of it, an

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A in front of it, and it means not to think. We live in a culture that thinking isn't to be tolerated because once you start thinking about things,

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John Owen said, a pastor has only two problems. Persuading unbelievers they are under the dominion of sin and persuading

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Christians they are not under the dominion of sin. And that's

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Romans chapter 6. What's happened so far in the book of Romans? Hasn't it been exciting so far to see the book of Romans unfold?

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Chapter 1, 2, 3, all the way through verse 20 of chapter 3. We're sinful and we don't have any righteousness.

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The righteousness which a righteous God reveals doesn't come through what we do.

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We don't have the righteousness to get to heaven. Mark it. God is infinitely gracious, but he is inflexibly righteous.

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And we just don't saunter on up to God and say I'm here because of Adam's sin and consequently our own sins.

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We need righteousness. Whether you're a legalist, a moralist, a Jew, a Gentile, you need to be saved by the righteousness of God.

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Now God didn't owe anyone righteousness. He didn't owe the angels righteousness, did he? And he didn't give them any righteousness.

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But because God is kind, he is gracious, he is loving, he provided a righteousness that people lack.

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Chapter 3b, 4 and 5, justification by faith alone, giving people the righteousness that Christ has earned.

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Adam, do this and live. He couldn't do it. Jesus, do this and live. And he did. And since he's

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God, he's got enough righteousness to bestow on all those who believe. The simple outline in Romans is this.

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Chapters 1, 2 and 3a, sin. Chapters 3b, 4, 5, salvation.

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And what comes after salvation in the Christian living? Once you are justified, what started right then and will continue until you get glorified?

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Sanctification. So now we come to sanctification. What does the Bible teach about it?

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And here's what Paul's going to say. You used to sin because you had to.

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Now you don't have to sin because the power of indwelling sin has been broken. So don't sin anymore.

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You had to sin before. Unbelievers only can sin. There's a road and that road goes into the ditch.

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And when they read the Bible, they sin. When they sing, they sin. When they give money to the church, they sin.

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When they go to work, they sin. When they provide for their children, they sin. Because without faith in Christ, it's what?

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Impossible to please the Lord. Everything's sin. It's the one road. It's just the one way road.

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But when God saves you and justifies you and gives you, based on His love and mercy,

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Christ's righteousness, then there's a why in the road. And Christian, you don't have to sin.

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You don't have to sin. Sin's dominion is broken in your life.

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What do the Proverbs talk about? You know, you get a pig and you rub that pig and you clean that pig.

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And you, I don't know, you could probably put some special oil voile on that pig.

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And what does the pig do? The pig goes right back into the mud. Gunk returns, wallowing its own mire.

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What else does the Bible use for a vivid picture? And if you're a young kid, like I see a couple kids right there, one looking at me right now, sometimes dogs have a tummy ache.

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Dogs throw up. And you better pick up that dog, because if you don't pick up that dog, that dog's going to take a couple sniffs and it's going to look around.

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Then that dog's going to do what to that throw up, young man? He's going to return to its own vomit.

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Two biblical pictures, the pig and the mire and the dog and its vomit. And because salvation is so great,

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Paul is going to try to tell the Christians, dear Christians, don't go back to sin, because it's like a dog going back to its own vomit.

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A dog has to go back. You can just tell it's in them. But we don't have to go back.

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There are sins that enslave unbelievers, that because of what Jesus Christ has done, can be broken.

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If you say to yourself, I struggle with pornography, I struggle with bitterness, I struggle with lack of forgiveness,

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I struggle with all these things as a Christian. Friends, there's hope for you. You don't have to do the same things you've always done.

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And what's the key? Try harder, more accountability. Here's the key.

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Think. That's the key. It's all about thinking. Westminster Larger Catechism says,

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Wherein do justification and sanctification differ? Answer, although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ in that God in justification imputes the righteousness of Christ, chapter 3, 4, and 5 we've learned about.

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In sanctification, His Spirit infuses grace and enables to the exercise thereof.

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In the former justification, sin is pardoned. In the other sanctification, it is subdued.

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Our outline for Romans chapter 6 this morning is basically two key questions. He asks a lot of questions, but there's two key questions.

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One is found in verse 1 and the other is found in verse 15. Two key questions that Paul provides the answers for that if you understand this, this is the normative

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Christian life. This is how Christians deal with their lives. This is how Christians say no to sin and yes to righteousness.

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It's a hard chapter in the sense that you've got to think. That's funny. A chapter on thinking is about you have to use your thinking cap.

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But I think if you'll try to think through it and ask the Lord to help you, you're going to see that grace motivates.

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Here's the argument. You mean to tell me that based on nothing that I did, nothing that I earned, before I was born,

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God decided all this, and then in time, Jesus earned my salvation. It's credited to my account.

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My sins were credited to Jesus' account. It all worked because God raised Him from the dead. It's all a work done by God, the immutable

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God, the faithful God. He doesn't undo what He does. There's nothing I can do to lose my salvation because I couldn't earn my salvation.

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You mean God graciously graced me, so you know what? That kind of living, that kind of thinking, that kind of salvation is going to produce a bunch of licentious people.

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Tell everybody they're forgiven based on the work of another, and you can't undo your salvation. I'll show you a bunch of people who are going to run around like crazy people.

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But Paul's going to teach us in Romans 6 today that it's the opposite. Grace motivates you.

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Christian, do what you please. Now the question is, what pleases you? What pleases the

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Christian? So two key questions followed by answers, as Paul uses imagery of baptism, of slavery in chapter 7, even of marriage.

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James Boyce says of this passage, to understand Romans 6 is the key to understand how to live a holy life.

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How to live a holy life. Two key questions. First key question is found in verse 1.

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He ties it together with Romans 5 with the first question, which isn't the key. What shall we say then?

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Now here comes the key question that will help us please the Lord in response to His great grace at Calvary.

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Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Philip's prayer paraphrases, shall we sin to our heart's content and see how far we can exploit the grace of God?

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If everything is by grace alone, then probably that kind of doctrine is going to motivate people to sin.

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Furthermore, look at verse 21 of the last chapter. So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our

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Lord. Verse 20 it even says where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. I get it.

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God likes to forgive. I like to sin. And as one author said, the world is admirably arranged.

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That's God's job. That's His business. But friends, Paul is going to teach us justification by faith alone is never a license to sin.

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It teaches you liberation from sin. Voltaire said

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God will forgive. It's His business. No. What does a father or mother do after he or she has been sinned against by her parents?

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Grants forgiveness. Does that child think if he's thinking rightly or she's thinking rightly,

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Oh, I got dad's forgiveness on this one. I'm just going to go do it some more. No. Justification by faith leads to holiness, not to sin.

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But it's a fair question. Are we to continue that sin in sin that grace might abound?

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Listen to Lloyd -Jones. And here's what he's going to say. If you don't preach the real gospel, nobody will ever ask that question.

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If you preach a gospel that says do good, try hard, get baptized, stay at it, keep going, no one would ever say, shall we continue in sin that grace might abound, because you can't keep doing that, because that's how you get saved.

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But on the flip side, listen to Lloyd -Jones. The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it.

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There's no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you're saved by grace alone, it doesn't matter at all what you do.

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If a man preaches justification by works, no one would ever raise the question. If you want to be Christians and if you want to go to heaven, stop sinning, be good, do good works, reconcile yourselves to God.

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Lloyd -Jones says, obviously a man who preaches in that strain would never be liable to this misunderstanding. Lloyd -Jones then says,

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I would say to all preachers, by the way, if you like to evangelize, I say this to you as well. If your preaching of salvation has not been misunderstood, then you better examine your sermons again and you had better make sure that you're really preaching salvation as offered in the

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New Testament to the ungodly, to the sinner, to those who are dead in trespasses and sins and to those who are enemies of God.

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There's a kind of dangerous element about the true presentation of the doctrine of salvation. Verse 2, take a look at what the passage says.

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By no means, no, it's inadmissible. You can't do this. How can we who died to sin still live in it?

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God forbid. Ten times in Romans, may it never be, may it never be. God forbid.

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J .B. Phillips translates this. I wish I could have an English accent, it'd sound better. What a ghastly thought.

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After all that God has done in chapter 3, 4, and 5, our response to salvation, our response to Jesus on the cross, our response to the resurrected

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Christ, yeah, I'll just keep on sinning. No.

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Now, it's interesting here. What does the text say? How can we who died to sin still live in it?

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You can learn a lot if you look at the sun and the moon and the stars, but you can't figure this out unless you have this text.

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At Calvary, God reckoned that you died, if you're a Christian, you died with Jesus.

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By divine accounting, by divine reckoning. When you, when Jesus died at Calvary, you died at Calvary.

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And you go, I don't feel, I didn't feel it. Wasn't born. By divine reckoning, when

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Jesus died at Calvary, you died at Calvary. Sin's claim on Jesus is done after he died.

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Sin's claim on you was done because you died in him. This is the union of the Christian with Christ. No legal claim on Jesus anymore at Calvary because he said it is finished.

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No legal claim on you now if you're a Christian because it is finished. You're dead to it. Can't live in sin, can you, if you're dead to it?

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And this is the theme of chapter 6. Verse 2, died to sin. Verse 3, into his death.

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Verse 4, into death. Verse 5, of his death. Verse 6, crucified. Verse 7, died.

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Verse 8, died. Verse 11, dead. Verse 13, dead. He's not saying you can never sin with sinless perfection.

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He's saying you have no more domination of sin in your life. I can put it very simply if you're younger.

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You now can say no to sin. Say, you know what? I like that sin. I still struggle with that sin.

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Here's the good news. You could say no to it. Thoughts of the mind, heart, hands, body, you can say no.

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Before you were a Christian, you couldn't say no. Now you get to say no. And here's the sad part. Here's our shameful part as humans.

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Christians don't sin because they have to. They sin because they want to.

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You don't have to sin. Domination of sin is taken care of. Many people will teach that at Calvary, rightly so, the penalty of sin is taken care of.

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In heaven, there's no presence of sin. But for the Christian based on Romans 3, 4, and 5, the power of sin is broken.

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I mean, what does it take when a collections person comes knocking at the door of someone who's died?

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What claim does a collection agent have on a dead person? And then he explains the new identity the believer has as he or she has died to sin.

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Verses 3 and 4. By the way, there's the word baptism you'll see. And even though we'll have a baptism or two tonight, there are waterless baptisms in the

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Bible. Jesus was going to baptize with Holy Spirit and fire, John the

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Baptist said. We're baptized into the body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12. There are waterless baptisms.

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1 Corinthians 10, baptized into Moses, identified with, associated with, immersed into.

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This is a waterless baptism here, verse 3. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ, placed into Christ, union with Christ, were baptized into His death?

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See, he just explained to me what he said in verse 2. We were buried, therefore, with Him. Because if you die, then you're buried.

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By baptism into death, in order that, why? Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the

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Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Here's the analogy of baptism.

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Teaching the spiritual reality of believer's union with Christ. What's he go on to say in verse 5?

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How are we free from sin's tyranny is the question. Here's Paul's answer. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, by divine reckoning, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

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This is Christian's sure victory over sin. A resurrection to a new kind of life.

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The old you is gone. Freed from sin's tyranny. Powerless.

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Look at verse 6. We know that our old self was crucified. By the way, aren't you glad it doesn't say your old hands were crucified?

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Your old mouth was crucified. Your old will was crucified. Your old emotions were crucified. No, everything. That old you,

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I'm positive. Maybe some of you don't like me that much now even, but if you would have met the old

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Mike, you would have said, Praise the Lord. That guy's gone.

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And frankly, I'm glad I was gone too. That whole old self. The disposition and tendency.

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Everything. The person himself. Gone. Was crucified with Him. Again, this is all divine accounting.

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Divine reckoning. This is how God sees it. You're to see things like God does. That the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

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For the one who has died has been set free from sin. No claim over that person anymore.

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Why go on living like you used to? You show me a person that says, I'm a

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Christian and I still live like I used to, then what do we say? A, may it never be, and B, you ought to ask yourself the question, are you really a

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Christian? Christ was crucified for the purpose of destroying sin and freeing His people, so how can you live in it anymore?

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We sin, not because we have to, but because we want to. Augustine had four categories of sinful people.

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Or potential sin. Before the fall, Adam, was, Augustine said, able to sin.

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After the fall, Augustine said, Adam was not able not to sin.

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In heaven, you're not able to sin. And on earth,

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Romans 6 teaches, you're able not to sin. Now when you sing this song, when you start thinking of Romans 6,

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Charles Wesley's hymn, he breaks the power of cancelled sin and sets the prisoner free.

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If you're a Christian, you don't have to yield to the things that you used to do before.

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It holds nothing over you. Speaking of Augustine, remember he was a profligate and a sinner and was with all kinds of loose ladies.

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And he got saved by the grace of God, reading Romans 13, by the way. And there was a woman who was a prostitute and she saw

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Augustine and she said, Augustine, Augustine, it is I. It is I.

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And he thought, I'm sure, about the truth of Romans 6. And then he ran like Joseph would run.

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Sometimes it's just good to run, by the way, guys. Just run, ladies. And he ran and he ran away shouting, it is not

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I, it is not I. Because that old person was dead. Now here's the thing,

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Christian. You probably think you sin more now than you did when you were an unbeliever. Why is that?

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Shouldn't Christians sin less? Right, the slogan is Christians aren't sin less, they just sin less and less.

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But before you were a Christian, you didn't know who God was, you didn't know His holiness and His transcendence and how great

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He was. You didn't know the Word and what He required in His Word. Yeah, you knew the big sins and adultery and stuff like that and murder, hatred.

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But it is a sign of maturity where you say, you know what? I think I'm sinning less in one sense, but I think

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I'm sinning more because I just see God's holiness and who He is. Paul just keeps adding verse 8 and 9, now if we've died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.

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We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over Him.

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Can't go back to an old life of sin and Adam. Verse 10, for the death

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He died, He died to sin once for all. But the life He lives, He lives to God.

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How many people like Rock of Ages by Top Lady, the song? I love it. How many times have you thought about the lyric, be for sin the double cure?

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What do you mean the double cure? Be for sin the double cure. What's the double cure for sin?

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Saved from wrath and made me sure. No longer the penalty of sin, Romans 3, 4 and 5.

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And no longer the power of sin, Romans 6. And here we come to this verse, verse 11.

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So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

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Now here's where we get to thinking. Right here. Just think about maybe some sin you struggle with and now what's your plan of attack?

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How do I get done with this sin? Maybe I have an accountability person. Maybe I get some block on the internet.

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Maybe I have to call my friend. Maybe I have to pray more. Maybe I have to study more. Maybe I have a slogan, no devotions, no breakfast.

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Maybe I go to summer camp. Maybe I go to Awana and be a leader. Maybe I serve more. I don't want to sin like this.

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What do I do? Answer? Think. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

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We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org

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or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.