Jeff Durbin: Dead To Sin & Alive To God

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Please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 6 Romans chapter 6 many have called the book of Romans the gospel according to st.

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Paul because this is the Apostle Paul's explanation of The gospel from really the bottom to the top.

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What is the good news? This is the explanation Romans Chapter 6 today in light of what

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God says about his people Related to what baptism is and our new identity in Jesus Romans chapter 6 starting in verse 1

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Hear now the word of the living and the true God What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

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By no means How can we who died to sin? Still live in it

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Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

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We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead

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By the glory of the Father we too might walk in newness of life

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For if we've been united with him in a death like his we shall certainly be united with him in the resurrection like his

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We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing

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So that we would no longer be enslaved to sin For one who has died has been set free from sin

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Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again

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Death no longer has dominion over him for the death. He died. He died to sin once For all but the life he lives he lives to God So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions

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Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as Instruments for righteousness for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law

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But under grace thus far as the reading of God's Holy Word and let's pray together as God's people father, please bless the proclamation of your word today

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Speak by your spirit God Let it not be the words of a mere man

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Open the eyes of the blind Turn hearts of stone to flesh save heal renew

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Strengthen weak hands and weak legs Give us an understanding

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God through your word by your spirit of what you've done this Marvelous and amazing thing you've done in saving your people and bringing us from death to life

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We pray all this in Jesus mighty name. Amen. So This is on the tail end

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Obviously of a conversation that the Apostle Paul has been having in the first five chapters about the condition of mankind

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Where are we at before God? Why is this gospel necessary? What did Jesus actually accomplish?

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This is after the Apostle Paul explains the good news and why Jesus died and how the law can justify

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Nobody because it simply exposes your sin and we've all Now experienced now this death this separation from God because of the wages of sin and he moves into this glorious Explanation about God has always saved people in the same way.

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It is through faith. It is a gift It has always been because of Christ and through Christ then he explains this union

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We have with Jesus and he moves now into okay. We have the gift of eternal life

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We've been justified. We have peace with God. And so what now he's answering

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What is a pretty common objection? People will hear this amazing gospel of God's grace

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How many guys have done this you've had conversations with the local Jehovah's Witness Just had some come to my door the other day.

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Actually, they'll actually have been coming a lot to my door It's just it's so awesome. When God brings the fish to your boat, isn't it?

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It's amazing And they're out and about now and I'm super glad about that but even talking to Jehovah's Witnesses or the

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Latter -day Saints or To a Roman Catholic who's really like sort of traditional

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They know Roman Catholicism what it really teaches and you give the gospel you explain what

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Paul is saying in Romans Chapter 3 and chapter 4 and chapter 5 and the response

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That people will often have to hearing this powerful gospel of grace on Merited favor all to God's glory through faith as a gift.

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They'll say so what? We don't need to obey God we can just go on sinning we can just do whatever we want now because we're saved in Jesus and God doesn't count our sins against us and He counts us righteous apart from works

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Isn't isn't it interesting that that that's a common theme? Since the time of the

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New Testament you preach the glory of the gospel of grace that it's all of God It's all a merited favor.

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It's a gift. It's a gift. It's through faith. It's got nothing to do with you It has always been this way even father.

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Abraham speaks to this. He has nothing to do with this He just trusts in God and God credits him righteousness and the response is always the same

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Oh, so you're saying that you can just go on sinning because why not?

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I mean the argument that Paul addresses here look at it again in Romans 6 Look at it again

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Romans chapter 6. He says what shall we say then?

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Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? Right.

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I mean, why not? I mean if God's the one getting all the credit for this if God's the one getting all the glory for this if he saves

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By his grace and all these sins being washed away by God makes God look so glorious Then why not keep sinning so he can add to the more grace that God is giving so he gets more glory

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It's an absurd kind of argument and it demonstrates you're not really listening to the Apostle Paul But people make that argument.

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You're gonna hear it as you proclaim the gospel of grace if you do it Accurately if you do it with the power of God's Word The comeback is gonna be the same one that Paul is addressing in Romans 6

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If you explain the gospel of grace clearly enough people will have the objection.

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Oh, so you're saying we could just keep on Going on sinning so we can increase that grace

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And Paul addresses that here with something that he's already touched on in chapter 5

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And that's that you and I and Jesus have a new Identity we are in Christ Something has happened

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Salvation is not this distance impersonal thing out there There is a joining together of the people of God of the individual to Jesus Christ You are in Jesus.

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You are so intimately connected with Jesus that scripture actually identifies Jesus death as your death his resurrection as your resurrection

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There's an old man crucified with Christ There's an old person dead and done away with that is how the gospel comes to us in Paul's explanation

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But I wanted to emphasize Something that leads into this discussion about the identity we have in Jesus So quickly go to our text that we are doing together as a memory verse in Romans chapter 5 verse 1

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And I want you to consider a couple things again a shorter message today Shorter message today because of all of our baptisms in which we praise

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God for But let's let's talk about what Paul says here in Romans 5 1 he says therefore

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Since we have been justified by faith. We have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ Just a couple things number one therefore He's extending now

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Because of the discussion that he just had all the way from the beginning of Romans all the way up to chapter 5 here

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He's saying therefore because of all of this because we've been justified through faith.

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We have peace with God Well, what was he talking about there? Reminded you that This week while we were out at the

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Capitol. I had the opportunity. I just I didn't expect it didn't plan on this opportunity

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Actually was there everyone knows to try to testify on the behalf of God's Word For justice for these pre -born children in the state of Arizona.

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So that was where my mind was. It was all on abortion bring the gospel there bring consistency that there's my mind was and As we were all sort of gathering in the front there as stuff was starting to happen you started to hear some noise coming from behind us and so we turned around and we saw a number of people a lot of people

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Surrounding a table that somebody had brought into the lawn and on this table was a statue of Mary statue of Mary and I like how

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Zach said it earlier this week. It was where was the center of gravity in that moment all eyes all faces all hands were towards this statue of Mary and they were

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Saying over and over and over and over and over again as they do

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Hail Mary Full of grace and they were saying it over and over a matter of fact

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My mother you'll remember I told you she turned to Christ The week before she died and so she's with the

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Lord now praise God she believed the gospel and trusted in Christ before she died, but The funeral stuff was set up at a local

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Roman Catholic Church and It was very very challenging to be a good reformed little boy in that moment

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Because my mom's funeral and Mass at her funeral started with this long long long

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Long, I'm trying to get it across to you long long absurdly long

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Moment of prayer to Mary And people were walking up to the statue of Mary and they were kneeling down before it praying

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They say not worshiping But I don't know what else you call that and prayers to Mary For such a long period of time.

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I felt bad for my atheists and unbelieving family. I was like, I'm really sorry He said is this normal I said no, this is not

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Christian But that's what was happening also at the

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Capitol all the center of gravity was around the statue of Mary and you had these Roman Catholics praying these prayers to Mary facing the statue and so I Had made a comment to the people we're with Isaiah talks about this where God mocks people for building idols out of the things that he has made

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Idols that cannot move they cannot see they cannot hear they cannot speak.

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They don't control the future They don't know the past They can't talk to you and people will build idols out of the things that God has made and they put them up at the

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Stand and it doesn't move It stands there and they bow before it they kneel before it

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And so I was making a comment about God speaks about this sort of a thing and a

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Roman Catholic gentleman walked up to me And he said do you have any questions about what's going on right now?

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I said, no, I don't have any questions I know what's going on right now And I said, this is idolatry and Mary is not a co -mediator with Jesus She is not a co -redemptrix with Christ.

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She cannot hear your prayers She will not help to save your soul and that started a good conversation and here's the point as As a

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Christian who believes in this powerful gospel of God's grace. This is where it lands

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Therefore Since we have been justified by faith We have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. How do we get there? How did Paul get there? How does he get to we've been declared righteous?

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We've been justified Through faith and we have peace with God His whole explanation of the glory of the gospel is that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God There is none righteous.

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No, not one. There's none who seeks for God. There's none who does good And he says there's no fear of God before their eyes.

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And so all of humanity Paul says Jew and Gentile are all Indicted by the law of God.

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It can only shut your mouth It will not save you will not justify you and Paul's whole point is that the power of the gospel

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What makes it so incredible? What makes it such amazing grace is despite that fallenness and that rebellion being a hater of God being an enemy of God Being somebody who is separated from God God has done in Christ what we could never do

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For ourselves ever and what God has done is that God has given Jesus as a propitiation

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He is the diversion of wrath where God owes us all justice

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He owes it to us. He is a just God and a holy God. He can't ignore his justice

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It has to be satisfied and because he's a perfect judge. It must be satisfied perfectly and So Paul's whole point in Romans chapter 3 is the law is not going to justify you it can't justify you

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All it does is expose your sin. That's you're a liar. That's you're a thief

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That's you're an adulterer that you're a drunk go down the line. The law will expose your sin

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It doesn't save you before God. It will not make you holy before God. There is none righteous

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No, not one and that means Moses not righteous Abraham not righteous

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David not righteous Peter not righteous James not righteous Paul not righteous.

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There is none righteous except for one The righteous one

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Jesus God's suffering servant and Paul's whole point is the law won't do it for you It's Jesus and Jesus alone and Paul says what

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God has done in Jesus is he set him as a propitiation For our sins so that he might remain just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus And so the wrath of God is diverted away from me the one who deserves it.

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It's absorbed fully into Jesus he takes that death and that full justice on behalf of his people and So Paul goes on to explain that father.

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Abraham was justified in the same way Think about Abraham's story for a moment and you understand this peace with God is truly glorious Father Abraham the one that God said he was going to send the

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Messiah through and bring Abraham to sentence as numerous as the stars How was he brought to peace with God?

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Genesis 15 6 as Abraham believed God and was credited to him as righteousness. That's Paul's whole argument

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Are you a child of Abraham? Are you really a part of the story of salvation Paul's saying well

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Then you have to have the same thing happen to you that happened to Abraham. How was he justified? Well, let's think about that in Abraham's life in the timeline of redemptive history

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Abraham was justified by faith credited righteousness before He did that amazing act of faith and obedience and offering his son

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Isaac on the altar. It's about 20 years before He had faith and was justified. Oh, by the way, it was also

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Hundreds of years before the law was given by Moses at Sinai So before this amazing act of obedience this work

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Abraham's justified back here Before the law is given Abraham's justified back here how empty hands

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Nothing. He just believes He trusts in God he believes and so Paul goes on to argue.

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You want to know how God does this? It's through that cross It's the propitiation that only exists truly in Jesus It's only that way

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It's only through faith and then he says but there's more God credits to you

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Righteousness apart from works and he goes on to say he will not credit your sins against you

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He will not count them against you. So there's two things that lead us to Romans 5.

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Are you ready? This is the glory of the gospel two things in terms of my status before God One God credits to me the wicked

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Righteousness apart from works. I have a Positive crediting of righteousness to my account.

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I'm not righteous in myself, but he counts the wicked Righteous through faith in Jesus and then he says

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That he will not count your sins against you So Back to my conversation with the

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Roman Catholics this week at the Capitol. What's the central issue? Yes Roman Catholics and the reforms

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We believe in the Trinity We have the same answer as to who is

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God We say the same terminology Jesus salvation grace faith cross resurrection ascension

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Final judgment we say the same things, but what's the central issue? It's this Romans 5 1 therefore

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Since we have been justified by faith We have peace with God Through our

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Lord Jesus Christ and when I said to them Said Rome has so distorted the gospel and the atonement and the meaning and the glory of the atonement

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Because the atonement according to Scripture brings us to peace with God nothing's left the way the writer of Hebrews talks about that cross and what

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God did on it is he says that this was a once -for -all Sacrifice and that it's able to perfect forever those who draw near to God through him

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That's how we can say we have peace with God And when

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I pointed out to them said you don't have peace with God Rome's distorted the gospel I said, oh no, we have peace with God.

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I said, are you going to purgatory? What's that about? You know, he tries to explain to say well, you see

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God will let us into heaven through our love of Jesus and our faith In Jesus, but like we need to go and I said be purified, right?

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He said well, I said you're not righteous enough to be in God's presence And so you have to go to purgatory

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To have all of these things fixed in you so that you can then be righteous enough to be in God's presence, correct?

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He said we have to be purified And then another very sweet Roman Catholic lady later said when

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I said what about purgatory for you if you have peace with God What's purgatory about? Isn't it about your sin?

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Isn't it about you having to become righteous enough to be in God's presence and she said well Justice has to be done and there it is

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Did you hear it? Justice has to be done Brothers and sisters, why is this gospel so powerful because justice has been fully done

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That's the glory of the gospel Now listen This is where it lands

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Either Jesus Received the justice of God For my sin and yours in full and it was fully satisfied or You are outside of Christ and you will receive the justice of God in full for your entire life every careless word every idle thought every sin

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Every act of hatred towards God and humanity you will answer to God for and that's why this is so glorious therefore

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We've been justified by faith. We have peace with God. That's the central issue but It leads into Romans 5 where Paul then begins to describe and I can't in this short message

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I can't begin to unpack all of this except to emphasize it for our baptisms today Paul then moves from the judicial act of God of declaring somebody righteous

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Even though they're not righteous because of what God has done in Jesus and here's the glorious benefits of the gospel

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He moves into this union with Jesus Theme that you see throughout the entire

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New Testament in Christ in Christ in Him there is an intimate union with our

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Savior not a distance between us and God Not some passing relationship where Jesus is out there

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But the Bible actually describes it as I am in Christ so united to him

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That I get to be identified with him in Romans 5 just go to look at some powerful testimonies here about what makes this so glorious in verse 8 of Chapter 5 the text says but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners

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Christ died for us Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood

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Much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God? There's that peace

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There's that peace. There's no more wrath. There's no more justice due to me the wicked because of how great a

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Savior Jesus is It says for if while we were enemies

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We were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more now that we are reconciled Shall we be saved by his life more than that?

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We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation therefore

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Just as sin came into the world through one man and death spread through sin And so death spread to all men because all sins for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given

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But sin is not counted where there is no law yet death reigns From Adam to Moses even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam who was a type of the one who was to come but the free

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Gifts is not like the trespass for if many died through one man's trespass

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Much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man

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Jesus Christ abounded for many and the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin

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For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification

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For if because of one man's trespass Death reigned through that one man much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness

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Reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ So Paul's point there after he explains

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Here's how the gospel saves us is to move us into this story of our new identity this new glorious Humanity you have that old humanity that old

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Adam death spreading to all condemnation there and In Jesus, it's something more glorious and beautiful.

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There is death and there is eternal life There is condemnation There is justification and Paul's whole point here in the gospel is you have peace with God You are no longer in Adam.

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You are in Jesus God's perfect humanity You are in him.

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You have his righteousness. You've been justified. You have the gift of eternal life where you used to have

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Condemnation and death and there's the glory of the gospel about our union with Jesus. We have this new identity

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We're in Jesus and so Paul moves from that judicial to intimate identity to Romans 6

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And you're thinking I don't know how you're gonna do this in five more minutes but watch

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Paul then Remarks, what shall we say then are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound by no means

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How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus are baptized into his death we were

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Buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that 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. This is how Jesus preached the gospel, by the way Right, but we don't do this very much in modern

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Context of Christianity in the West We like to talk about the gospel in terms of let's dumb it down a bit.

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Let's make a little more palatable Let's make a little easier to get converts. Let's just get sort of like bottom shelf stuff

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Let's not make this sound like, you know, we're to turn a whole lives to Jesus and come and die with him

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But that is of course how Jesus preached the gospel how Paul's explaining the gospel you'll remember in Matthew chapter 16 in Verse 24

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Jesus says this to people following him. He says Jesus told his disciples if anyone would come to me after me

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Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it

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But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and Forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in return for his soul

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Jesus preached the gospel like that He says come to me and die

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Take up your cross and come die. They knew what Jesus was saying We don't and we don't have people being whipped and scourged and going down the streets to their death

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Today in our modern context, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to us We don't feel the weight of it, but they did take up your cross

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Come follow me lose your life Jesus saying come to me and die

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Come to me and die and rise again And that's Paul's whole point is if you've been baptized into Christ You've been buried with him in baptism into death and you've been raised with him to newness of life.

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And so you have a new Status before God you are declared righteous. You are not condemned.

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God has already given that that Answer to his relationship with you.

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He's declared you righteous you have peace with God, but you also now Have this union with the

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Savior. So Paul's whole point is this if You are in Christ You've been baptized into his death and raised with him to newness of life.

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There's an old self That's why of course We're deeply convinced about The mode of baptism and what it's to look like and what it's supposed to show the immersion and the old

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And the new coming to life again Because if you're in Jesus You have peace with God you've been declared righteous, but you're also in him which means there's an old self crucified

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Which gives you hope for the future. Amen Yes That the power of your life and Jesus and all the transformation that God is doing isn't something that you're doing on your own

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Through your own strength with your own abilities. It's God who is working in you

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To both will and to do for his good pleasure. He says in his word. God has made you alive in Jesus There's an old self and so Paul's point is in all of his

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Praxis in terms of how do we actually work this out? You've died. You've been raised

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So don't go on presenting yourself as instruments of unrighteousness Now present yourselves as people who are alive to God now listen

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Final word on this if somebody says That doesn't make any sense to me

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I Don't feel the power of that. I Don't know if I really understand that but I've died and been raised again

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I would say you need to contemplate and meditate upon the words of the gospel because if you don't understand that there's an old self

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Crucified with Christ and there's an old life. You've turned away from towards God. Then maybe you never understood the gospel

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It's not to say that all of us understand Theologically every detail of what God has done and all the power of and all the glory of it at that moment of conversion

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Or even early in our days in our walk with Jesus But every one of us who truly knows Jesus and trusts in him has to have had that moment behind us at some

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Point the understanding that God is holy. I am NOT. I'm not righteous. I need

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Jesus He died for my sins and rose again from the dead and so God I turned and cling to only you

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Jesus save me have mercy upon me the sinner and You know that there was a turning away from that old life to Jesus.

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Did you do it perfectly? No No But if your heart was never broken over your sin

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If you never had a hatred for your life of sin for your rebellion against God If you thought

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Jesus was just some add -on to your life Then you never understood the gospel Because Paul can freely and he can freely express the gospel in this way.

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Here's all the benefits of salvation and How come we don't continue sinning because you should understand that you died

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You died and Now you're alive and you're in Jesus.

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There's an old self crucified Put it back there keep it back there put your sin to death

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Paul says when he explains in Colossians 3 how a person transforms he says

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You've been seated with Christ in the heavenly places and let me just tell you I've been in Christ for a long time

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I've been a pastor for a long time and I can't even begin to comprehend that You're seated with him in the heavenly places

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I mean, these are the words of God. I don't comprehend that. I know what it says. I can tell you that This is what

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God's Word says. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. That's where my life is hidden with God in Christ I'm seated with him and I've been raised and Paul's whole point is if you're in Christ, you're seated with him

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Therefore put to death. What is earthly within you? And he names some sin

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Like even sexual immorality calls it idolatry. He says mortify it put it to death

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Why because you're in Christ? Because you're in Jesus you're seated with him the dead man's back there.

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You're alive to God. You've been raised with Jesus You're seated with Jesus So put to death all these things.

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So today brothers and sisters, how close did I get? Two minutes over. Okay Today when we have this amazing privilege to witness these baptisms

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God has commanded us to be baptized Come to Jesus believe in Jesus to be baptized when we witness these baptisms.

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Let's glory in what it's shouting old self dead

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Alive to God. Amen. Let's pray father Thank you so much for this truth from your word

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Thank you for the new life. We have in Jesus Thank you for the miracle you just performed of this very short sermon