Total Destruction — Robert B. Thompson

As we come unto you, it is with profound thanksgiving and praise, Lord, because you are so good to us, Lord, so good to us. We thank you, Lord, for the numerous deliverances, some we know and some we don't, but, Lord, we appreciate each one.

We pray, Lord, for those in Kosovo tonight, Lord, and in Yugoslavia, Lord, we know there are many fine people there, many, many fine people. We see their pictures in the paper, Lord. And our heart goes out to them, Lord, and we just ask that this will, that you will ease their suffering, Lord, and bring them to Jesus, bring them to a knowledge of salvation.

Somehow, Lord, all these people, oh, God, have mercy on them and help, Lord, whether they're Mohammedans or whatever they are. Just help them and bring relief spiritually and physically to them, we pray, Lord.

Pray for each family represented here, Lord, that your blessing will be there, your hand of protection and help for each family member, Lord, and as we continue, we ask for the Holy Spirit to illumine our minds and hearts and add to us that which we have need of, nose and tape land, in Jesus' name, amen.

I'm a little hoarse, but no pain, no pain, just the aftermath of a cold, which, by the way, I may not be breathing on you people. Now, I want to call your attention tonight to a scripture. We've been over this before, but this is much on my mind.

Freedom from Sin in Romans 6

It's Romans chapter 6, verses 5 through 7, and I want you to give very careful thought to this. It kind of epitomizes what Romans 6 is into. I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. Now, one thing that's very important to remember when reading the New Testament, and it's new to us, and we haven't been sensitized to it, is this idea where it says in Romans 6, in this passage here, verse 7, he who has died has been freed from sin.

I want you to consider that. Exactly what that means is kind of difficult to nail down, but I'm going to take a shot at it. You can put in your two cents. But our problem when we read the New Testament, and we see the expression freed from sin, we think of guilt, and that's what confuses us.

We think of freed from the guilt of sin. The reason is because for 2 ,000 years, the gospel has been preached primarily that its purpose is the forgiveness of our sins. The Christ came to forgive our sins.

When it says, for example, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, we interpolate guilt, the guilt of the sin of the world. We're not really into the idea of the removal of sin itself. Of all the times you pick to leave.

I'm going to have to explain all this to her. Here, I'm laying the groundwork. We're on Romans 6 -7, and we're talking about the expression freed from sin. I pointed out that when we see that, because for 2 ,000 years the church has been taught that Christ came to forgive our sins, we interpolate this idea of freed from the guilt of sin.

What is your take on that? It's a hard expression to understand. Very hard. Because we know we're bound with sin. What would be wrong with regarding it as just freed from the guilt of sin? What would be wrong with that?

You didn't have to be freed from guilt. Of course, the teaching, you know, is that you're free from guilt regardless of how you behave. That is the prevailing doctrine.

Yes, Chief? If it was just a problem of guilt, then the old covenant would suffice. We could go and have sacrifices and go off and be free of sin. That's very true.

Bill? This says if we die, but the other is based on Christ's death. So you've got three people. You've got us, and you've got Christ. It doesn't work both ways. Either Christ died and our sins are forgiven, or we die and our sins are forgiven.

Leave it to an engineer.

Okay, those are all good. Yes? It says above that, it says we'll no longer be slaves to sin. Before Christ comes into us, we are slaves to sin because Satan has cast us out. That's exactly right.

And the answer to the question is, it can't be referring to the guilt of sin because of that term slavery. See, it wouldn't make sense. If you look at it, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. See, it makes no sense talking about guilt here.

We're talking about the behavior. The bondage of the behavior. Also, the text, the sixth chapter of Romans, the idea of it is a, I can't remember the term now, but it's not a rebuttal, but it's put in there to cover the fact that in chapters three through five, Paul had talked about the forgiveness of our guilt through the righteousness of Christ.

Rather than keeping the law of Moses. So, where is the disclaimer? Romans chapter six is a disclaimer. Because some people were already teaching that if, you know, if grace is doing so good a job, then let sin, that grace may abound.

See, that was already being said. And you can deduce that. So, Paul, so when Paul in Romans six is issuing a disclaimer, he's issuing a disclaimer in terms of behavior. What then, shall we sin? See, that's how it starts off.

That grace may abound in Romans six. So, it's not, in rational thinking, it's not talking about guilt, it's talking about behavior. So, Romans six, the statements in it must be regarded as behavior. Any comment, any question about that?

Do you see that in Romans six one? Should we then sin, do you see that? In Romans six one? God forbid. So, in the context, right down through to Romans six twenty three, the wages of sin is death. It's talking, one, to Christians.

It's not just the unsaved. Romans was written to the saints. Two, it's saying that if a Christian continues to sin, he will die. Wages of sin is death.

It has nothing to do with the unsaved. I'll hold the four pieces together tonight.

Excuse me, please. I've been battling this thing for five days now. Now, I'm going to push a little harder here. When it says anyone who has died has been freed from sin, then, if we're not talking about guilt, what does it mean?

Wages of sin. But is that true? Isn't it true that, right now with Diane McIntosh, what we're doing is dealing with the fact that we still do have compulsions to sin, even though we have received Christ, we have not been freed from the compulsions to sin.

I haven't actually been freed from them.

Yes, Bill? Well, if I understand properly, you're actually saying that coercion means you don't really have a choice in the matter, whereas what I hear you say is we're still tempted.

To do something about the temptation. I think that's very true and very close to the meaning. Yes.

Freed from the bondage in that we have to sin.

Is that all true? Sandra? Well, isn't part of it that our eyes are now being allowed to be open to the behaviors that are sinful, that at one point our eyes are not open to that, and once that is, then we can ask God's help in removing that.

But it's looking for us in a different manner.

Yes, I believe that's true. We're talking about Romans 6 verse 7. The meaning of the phrase freed from sin. And the NIV says freed from sin. I don't know what King James says. Yes? In the way you're free from sin,.

Sin is not reigning over you in any way. You're not letting that be the end of the world. So you're free from it. You still have compulsions and worries, but you're free from it and have the power to deal with that as long as you're following what you're supposed to do.

And then if you're not, if it's not reigning and you're not delivered from that, then you just keep going without it to find out what you need to do.

Yes. All of you are reflecting a certain sophistication that may not be as widespread as we could wish. Let me make some suggestions. I'm going to see what you want to do with them. But they don't really differ from what you've said.

First of all, we know that in Romans 7, Paul says that when we die, and this is all predicated, this whole discussion in Romans chapter 6 and 7 and 8 is all predicated on the fact that we actually are inwards, Adamic nature, our first personality has been crucified with Christ.

Romans 6, 7 and 8 are based on this assumption. If you take that away, none of it is relevant. None of the argument is relevant. It's all based on, we're freed from sin because we have been crucified with Christ.

Death to the Law of Moses

Okay. First of all, we're free from the law of Moses. People still do not understand that today. Why are we free from the law of Moses? That's true. And Romans 7 tells us why we're free from the law of Moses.

We're permitted to be married to another, right? Yes, we're permitted to be married to another because we are free from the law of Moses. But why are we, on what basis are we free from the law of Moses?

Because it's in the Baptist script. Huh? The law of the script. Because according to the law of God, I am free to be married to another. Because the law of Moses only governs you when you are alive. It only governs the living.

Which tells us that even as a Christian, if you have not been crucified with Christ, you're still under the law of Moses. The law has dominion over a person as long as he is alive. And that's very clearly spelled out in Romans chapter 7.

Okay. So the first dimension of the meaning as freed from sin is that we're free from that which always was in Paul's mind such things as you can't eat pork or you can't wear two kinds of clothing together like linen and wool.

See, that was against the law to wear clothing made of two different fabrics. And many such regulations and stipulations. And those laws govern living people. They do not govern dead people. And so when we have died this is all explained in chapter 7 of Romans when we have died on the cross with Christ that's the basis of Romans 6 we're crucified with him therefore the law no longer has any dominion over us because it only has jurisdiction over the living.

Is there any question about that? Okay, that's the first one dimension of the expression in Romans 6 -7 is freed from sin. Okay. Because anyone who has died has been freed from sin is based on our having died.

If we haven't died, we're not freed from sin. The second dimension that I would suggest and it was really not different from what you're saying is that this is not Romans 6 is not a prescription for deliverance from sin.

It's been used that way. There are people who have put out books doctrines, denominations that have used various passages, some from Romans 6 to show that sin no longer can control a Christian. Some of it will say kind of grossly without much reference to the text that was finished on Calvary so I'm freed from sin.

Meaning kind of a combination of freed from guilt and freed from his power and freed from everything. That's all settled. I'm on my way to heaven. Back I remember a man named Maxwell from Prairie Bible Institute in Canada wrote a book some years ago called Born Crucified.

And the idea is that when we are born as a Christian, we are already born dead. And people were using I don't know if Maxwell did, but people were using Wrecking Yourself Dead as a formula for deliverance.

As a prescription for deliverance. Wrecking Yourself Dead. What do I do about the sin in my life? I reckon myself dead. That is not intended to be a prescription for deliverance. God did not mean Paul was not writing this as a prescription for deliverance as far as I can see.

What Paul was saying is because you have died to sin with Christ on the cross you are no longer required to sin in terms of an expectation. Now let me show you the same thing if you look at Romans 8 .12 Someone read Romans 8 .12 and you see exactly that stated.

Very important, Romans 8 .12 Very important to our understanding of Romans 6 .7.

Does anyone have Romans 8 .12? Yes. It says you have no obligation whatsoever to do whatever your sinful nature urges you to. See that is what I was saying.

That is what he means by that. It is not a prescription for deliverance it is merely a statement that in view of the fact that you have died with Christ it is no longer necessary. Not that you won't sin or that you don't have a compulsion to sin.

You say well why is that so relevant? Because if you will stop and think the human cry of Evangelicalism and that is what we are as Evangelicals but I say that to differentiate from the many many Christian movements that view things in all kinds of ways.

Covenant thinking and so on. But we are all Evangelicals and Pentecost is an Evangelical movement like the Baptist movement and that is what we are. The blood wash we believe in the born again experience and so on.

That is why I use the term. I am not downing Evangelicals I am just saying that our tradition needs to be modified and the human cry of Evangelicalism is as long as we are in this world we have to sin.

Anybody ever hear that? As long as we are in this world we have to sin. And there is a thought there that there is an expectation almost a requirement that until we die there is no use talking about perfection because we have to sin.

Has only two people ever heard that? Emily has heard it? Have you heard it Eddie? Sandra has heard it? You guys of course never heard that did you? As long as we are in the world we have to sin. You see how there is an expectation almost a requirement well that is what Romans 8 .12 is saying is that you don't owe that to your carnal nature to sin.

You don't owe your carnal nature that. He still has not given us a prescription merely an orientation. Now in Romans 6 .7 Paul is saying you have died with Christ sin is no longer appropriate that you should live in it but he is not telling us what to do about it.

He is just saying you don't owe your flesh anything that you should continue in sin. Probably the closest thing that Paul gives us as a prescription is in the next verse in Romans 8 .13 and I think you all have this memorized by now you use it so much for if you live after the flesh you don't owe your flesh anything people because if you live after the flesh you are going to what?

Die and obviously this is not physically because we all die physically so he is talking about spiritual death as is also true in Romans 6 .23 the wages of sin is death. He is saying now that you have been saved you have eternal life now it is up to you to choose righteousness it is up to you to be a slave of righteousness and if you do it says in Romans 6 .22 the result of the righteousness is holiness and the result of that is eternal life that is how you gain eternal life is by choosing righteousness.

But then when we try to do it we find this immense battle and Romans 8 .13 as I said is the closest Paul comes to giving us a prescription. Now he does allude to a kind of a prescription in Romans 8 .13 verses 5 ,6 ,7 where he talks about the carnal mind wars against God and the mind of the spirit follows God in his life and peace which is kind of prescriptive.

And then again in Galatians 5 .13 and I believe it is verse 16 it is either 15 or 16 for sure he said live in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of your flesh. So he gives us this prescription live in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of your flesh.

That is a prescription for deliverance. Then again we have 1 John 1 .9 if we confess our sins he has faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Again we have a prescription for our deliverance.

So in Romans 6 we have the thought that based on your death you are not obligated to sin. And to do so is just contrary to everything you are professing by faith. And if you continue to do so you are going to die spiritually.

But he doesn't give it. We would wish Paul would in many places for example in Galatians 5 around verse 24 he says those of Christ have put to death the carnal nature and so on. But you know 1 ,2 ,3 ,4 ,5 you do it as we engineers like that we like a prescription.

We don't like these vagaries. We don't like it. So I've pondered that why God do you give us the whole basis for it in logic you might say or in our stance in Christ but not tell us how to do it. And I'll tell you what I think the answer to that is.

But I think the answer to that is in Exodus chapter 13 verse 17 Exodus chapter 13 verse 17 anyone has that?

God did not do what was sure for God said if they faced war they might change their minds.

And return to Egypt and I think that's been true for 2 ,000 years. I think the reason God has not brought his church into a direct confrontation with the enemy is that we were not prepared now. You want to remember Israel fought some very significant battles in the wilderness.

Remember the one where they held up Moses hand that happened almost immediately. They were from Egypt. They had other wars that had nothing to do with their land of promise. They were just battles in the wilderness.

So it wasn't that they had no conflict they did. But when it came to entering the land of promise see God could have taken them out. They could have gotten from Egypt if they followed the caravan route which was just along the south end of the Mediterranean Sea.

They could have got to the promised land in a matter of weeks. And instead when they left Egypt they went south down toward Mount Sinai and then wandered around and fiddled around and God says you are not ready yet to hit a really entrenched enemy.

You are not ready for that yet. Skirmishes. Ok but you are not ready for war yet. And I think that we have come in 1999 to a step forward in the kingdom and I think the Lord is going to take the scriptures that are already there and direct us in warfare.

I think the time has come to drive Satan out of God's creation and it will begin with those who are closest to the Lord out of their personalities. We have nothing to do yet dealing with anybody else.

It is with ourselves where the problem is and of course we are doing that in one phase with Diane but I think this is a turning point and I think our eyes are being opened to the fact that no this scripture teaches us we are not obligated to sin.

We are prayed from sin and now I think the Lord is ready to take those verses and lead us and I think the time has come. We have a 2000 years of church history. We know we had everything in the first century and we lost it as God knew we would because it had not been developed in us.

It had all been given to the apostles and God knows you can't give people stuff like that. It has to be built up in them a lock and a bar at a time that has taken 2000 years to do. Now we are at Pentecost, after Pentecost comes trumpets we are ready now, we have that background and God has some things to say to us.

Spiritual Warfare and the Conquest of Sin

I want to go now to Deuteronomy the 7th chapter. God has some things to say to us and I can tell from the writings of the prophets on the internet, the different people of prophetic ministries that God is speaking the same thing to his people.

I mean we are in a new day people. The whole Bible is a book of war. The whole Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, the difference is under the New Testament we are warring against spirits not against people, but the whole Bible is a book of war.

It's not a book of peace, it's a book of war and the reason is, because God has a war in his creation and he has brought forth man and filled him with Christ so that man can drive sin from God's creation.

I mean lock, stock and barrel. I don't mean kinda, sorta. I mean all sin forever, driven from the creation of God until even it's memory is blotted out. Yeah that's where we are people and we just read in Romans 6 verses 5 -7 that this is entirely scriptural.

He died with Christ so we are not under any obligation to sin but instead of giving us a prescription he is giving us a living leader the Lord Jesus. When the prescription, we blow it and become self confident.

Deuteronomy 7. Ok, so stay there and I'll just read you another verse and I'll tell you where it is, so it will be on the tape so you can check it out. It's Daniel 9 .24. Seventy sevens, that means weeks.

Seventy weeks, seventy in quotes sevens are decreed for your people in your holy city to finish transgression to put an end to sin to atone for wickedness to bring in everlasting righteousness scriptural that for your amazement is Daniel 9 .24.

Now, let's look at Deuteronomy 7 one of my very favorite Deuteronomy 7 and the first three verses of 8 are my favorite of all favorites. When the Lord your God brings you in into the land you are entering to possess, he's not talking about the skirmishes in the wilderness with Midian or anything.

He's talking about the enemy in the land. We've had a lot of skirmishes in our Christian life, but now we're preparing to enter the kingdom. What a day, what a day. Alright and drives out before you many nations the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites seven nations larger and stronger than you.

And when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you now, first of all notice in verse 1 the Lord is going to bring us into the land, and the Lord is going to drive out the many nations. Ok but we know that when Israel went in Israel had to fight.

But we know also two things were true. First of all, the captain of the Lord's host was with them, fighting with them pushing over the walls of Jericho and doing a few other neat things. And also God was helping by raining hailstones down from heaven and he was guiding them city by city but they had to do the fighting.

Excuse the people on the tape. I'm sorry I know Emily will be coming next week with boxes of herbs to cure my cold, because that's the way she does. Alright, now now I want you to notice something very careful in verse 2 because I believe there is a prescription here or at least a model, let me put it that way now notice there's three things here when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you, that's the first step in deliverance from sin, is that God has to point out to you, the enemy in your life and he doesn't do them all at once.

I mean if he did, ooo just gives you one city and in the meanwhile the Canaanites are keeping the farms going and keeping the animals at bay. In other words, they are keeping your land in trust until you're ready to go in and that's the way it is with your personality my personality, all of us have things that ten years from now we'll look back and say oh Lord, was I like that but you are but you don't see it, and God doesn't want you to see it.

He only wants you to deal with the thing that he is delivering into your hand. There's a reason for that, because otherwise if he delivers you all at once and all those demons come out of you and then they're going to look and there's a house all decorated but it's not occupied and they go again.

So the idea is the evil goes out and Christ comes in the evil goes out and Christ comes in the evil goes out and Christ comes in and that way, you know the ratio keeps operating like that Christ increases, we decrease and then there's no way in which that which is driven from us can enter back into us.

But if he took it all out at once before Christ was born in us, we'd be a house empty and decorated. The Lord warned us about that. What you just described is the process of salvation. That is the process of salvation and it's not oriented particularly toward heaven or any place it's oriented toward entrance into the kingdom of God and particularly on the earth.

That's exactly right. That's what salvation is. We're not saved in order to do something we're saved in order to be acceptable to God for His purposes that fellowship with God and to be reconciled to Him not to go somewhere yes?

The names of these nations the Hivites and so forth. A friend of mine did a study of those and they actually have meanings of things like preeminence and lust and so forth. There's their actual meanings of their names.

Larry's always coming up with those too Larry, did you know about those? I don't. Alright so first of all, the Lord our God has delivered now the second two are extremely important because this is where we get snagged.

Number two is you have defeated them so here we have that the Lord has shown it to us and now we have attacked it and we've defeated it. Let's say for example we were cheating on our wife or cheating on our husband okay, so the Holy Spirit points this off to us, many Christians do this, they're in delusion they think they're really doing the Lord's will and God one way or another brings it to their attention that that's wrong it's sinful, they have done a sinful thing or are doing a sinful thing so they get down, it's not easy, they get down and pray and they get the victory over this it's goodbyes, it's you know, you're gone, I'm going back to my honey and that's the end of that so they they defeat them, okay now look at the third one this is where we get messed up then you must destroy them totally now that's where Israel blew it, that's where Israel blew it, and they're suffering to this present hour because of it they went in, they defeated Jericho, they defeated Ai and then they went from city to city, victory to victory under Joshua but they did not finish the job they did not finish the job God told them, you can make slaves of people outside of the land, but when it comes to the land, where you are you are to utterly destroy everything that breathes young and old, male and female, when it's in your land you put it to death because otherwise you're going to be seduced into their God the worship of their God.

What happened was, when the Jews went in, they made some very good progress under Joshua but after that it began to feter out and you say why, when God told them so clearly and when they were winning every battle it's just human nature it's just human nature and we have to watch out for that see there's social pressure, we don't realize, they let some of the Poles stand the worship of lust, the goddess the Greeks called Aphrodite they burned their children in the fire at Amalek they should know better than that you remember, a good example is when God told Saul to attack Agag because what was he, an Amalekite Amalekite because Amalek had attacked Israel in the rear when they were going through the desert and cut off stragglers and killed them and God said I have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

I want them wiped out. I want everything destroyed don't take anything of theirs. I want Amalek finished see, totally destroyed. I just finished a booklet Mark called Total Destruction isn't that a wonderful title.

Oh thanks Sandra.

I'll probably finish both of them before I get through here. Alright see that's not in our sight.

And Saul did what he thought was proper. He was a brave man, Saul was brave. He went out there, he wiped them out but he saved the king alive. And he saved the best of the livestock. And see God said kill it all.

Well you know, you're looking at them and you think that's a lot of money there you know, there's no need to kill them. I mean that's carnal reasoning. Carnal reasoning doesn't follow God's reasoning.

God said kill them all. God means kill them all, he doesn't mean any other thing. Well Samuel comes. What means the bleeding of these sheep. You did what I said oh yes I'm afraid the Lord your God. Well what means the bleeding of these sheep.

Well I mean Saul's kingdom was gone right at that point. That was it, God was stern obedience and nothing except that. And so in our own, now what would you do. We talked about a man we'll say who had repented of his adultery.

Okay. But then it isn't enough that he's got the upper hand. That has got to be destroyed and he's not to go back to his concubine and say oh I'm so sorry it didn't work out. You know he's not to, if you think that would be wisdom just have him ask his wife if he should do that, he'd find out in a hurry.

You have done with office flirtations, you have done with telephone sex, you have done with pornography you have done with every hair and claw that has to do with lust. You destroy it totally, so you don't just gain the upper hand over it, you destroy it.

And that harshness that merciless attitude towards sin is not pleasing to people in a culture such as ours you want to remember, we think, we read about for 500 years how they let the Asherah's poles stand and how they worship the veils and so on, how could they do that.

And not, isn't the.

Phone ringing up there, it's because of social pressure.

We think if I was there I'd have done like Hezekiah, oh I'd have smacked down all the poles and I've done this, you remember when Gideon knocked down Baal's altar there the uproar there was the next morning.

Bring out your son, they said to his father we may kill him, he's knocked down Baal's altar see there's social pressure there, I mean we can read it by armchair generals and say oh if I was there I'd do so and so there's enormous social disapproval when you try to do what God says, because human nature is, well you get it started in the right way, well you know, I'm okay, you're okay let's live a little, you don't have to be that hard.

That's what's wrong. God brings it up to us we defeat it, but we don't totally.

Destroy it, and that's a.

Very important thing about sin it's not just enough to get the upper hand over something in your life. You've got to stay with the Lord and follow the Spirit until every aspect of that thing has been destroyed, and you say well that's not an American attitude, we don't think like that, and that's what I'm telling you, we don't in order to deal with sin and I'm not talking about sin in other people.

If we get rid of the sin in our own life we'll be compassionate and patient toward other people because the reason we're not is because we have sin in our life. I'm talking about the sin in our life not in other people or in the government or anything else, in our life we are to be absolutely merciless give it no quarter of any kind and see that is going to take some change in the psyche of the church, I used to say some of you have been here a long time can remember, I used to say do you want all sin driven out of the world.

Oh yeah, even all of your sin you know, and then it makes a difference because we begin with all sin now wait a minute, whoa not so fast.

Not so fast. Yes is this what Jesus was referring to when he said.

If your right eye offends you pluck it out, if your hand offends you cut it off. Because it's better to join the kingdom without this than to have the whole body perish.

That's right, he showed us by that parable or that statement as you will, how utterly important it is that we obey the Lord in every respect. Now you want to stop and think, if you think I'm pushing it too far we have had in our globe the world, planet earth six thousand years of insane howling agony because of one.

Sin, my God.

It wasn't that they sinned for four years and God finally, you know like in the time of Noah, one sin and everybody died. That's how important it is and you will find over and over in this chapter, totally destroy totally destroy totally destroy.

And when God says that, he doesn't mean almost now it must have been hard for them because they were dealing with human beings children, elderly people but we're dealing with spirits but even so we find in ourselves a reluctance to really attack sin that totally.