Romans 2 part 2 (v15 -end) MirrorWord Bible Study

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Alright, here we go. Romans, the second part, chapter 2. And I'm gonna start in 15. In fact, I think that I might I might just read. I'm gonna do I'm sometimes I'm gonna flip over to the amplified just for time, okay? And I just want to read the 15th verse because it's such a good verse. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God onto salvation. It's the revelation of righteousness, right? And that's the most that's from faith to faith, from God's faith, because God is the author of faith to our to his belief system to our belief system, and he's even given us a gift of faith. He's given us, you know, like I look, uh Baxter said this, and then Godfrey wrote a song, Inside of Us as a Real Believer, right? I mean, it really touches our heart. The true gospel really penetrates our heart, whether we want it to or not. The problem is we we've heard a mixed gospel, and mixed gospel is, you know, if you have law and grace, you still have just law. If you have a do-it-yourself system with a grace system, you still have just a do-it-yourself system. So anyway, we start at 15. So the law is so much more than a mere written code, its presence in human conscience, even in the absence of written instruction, is obvious, condemning and commending personal conduct. Remember Romans 8.1, it says there's now code, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but those who are not, there is condemnation. Not because you know God's condemning them because they just don't believe properly, that's all. And notice, and I always like to say this. Remember that the law came when Moses, you know, went up to Mount Sinai. Before that, from Abraham all the way to Moses, there was no law. But there's still featured in their mind. Because it was handed down by the forefathers, by Adam. That same do-it-yourself tree was handed down into their conscience. If you do this, they're commended. If they do this, they're condemned. Alright. Verse 16. I love this. This is an interesting verse. He says, every, you know, some of these verses you really gotta go slow. It says, every hidden conflicting thought, I'm just gonna read it, then I'm gonna go back. Every hidden conflicting thought will be disclosed in the daylight of the gospel scrutiny, based on the good news of Jesus Christ that I proclaim. First of all, he says, the good news that he proclaims, and I think I did this last week, but I'm gonna say this scripture again in 2 Corinthians 12. He says, it would be inappropriate for me to boast about anything as though I achieved it by my own doing. This is Paul talking. My confident persuasion is what I have received by the revelation of the Lord is not to be confused with arrogance. I know of an encounter in Christ 14 years ago where a person was translated into the third heaven, into a different dimension, and that person was Paul. He's saying in the third person. Only God knows whether it was in or out of the body. It does not really matter. I love this. This person was caught up into paradise. Remember, the kingdom of God is in you and all around you. The kingdom of God here, where are we going? We're going to paradise. That's where he never says we're going to heaven. He says, Today you'll be with me or to the thief of the cross in paradise. The kingdom of heaven is in and all around you already. He says, The person was caught up, this person was caught into paradise. I love this. There he heard words that could not be articulated in language. He understood a conversation that did not originate in human thought. That is the Apostle Paul, that is Romans. Every hidden, conflicting thought, every thought you have hidden. Remember, you just said in the last verse, condemning and commending, every hidden thought conflicting, which means what? Thought that is conflicting with the thoughts of God will be disclosed or unveiled or uncovered in what? In the daylight of God's scrutiny. In other words, his examination. The gospel is the light. He says, based on what? The good news of Jesus Christ that I proclaim. That I proclaim. That's why I read 2 Corinthians 12. The good news that I proclaim. He even had to go and in Acts of 6, 15th chapter, he had to go, he took Titus with, and they went up to talk to the Jerusalem church to present the gospel because they're having such a struggle with Jewish believers coming to slap the law on everybody again. So Paul went, and he says, even Titus wasn't inspired to get circumcised. And he even says that the Pharisees said, they must obey the Sabbath and the law. And then they had this long conversation. He talks about it in Galatians and he's over in the Acts of the 15th chapter. It's beautiful stuff. If you want to reference it. Okay, the commentary here, I love this. The ineffectiveness. Do you guys like things that are ineffective? I don't. The ineffectiveness of the good intentions and self-discipline to produce what? Lasting change. Isn't it amazing in our world? There's so much help, self-help books, and all kinds of things to live longer, to be better, to better marriage, to better be a better man, to be a better woman, to be a better parent, to be a better this, to better that. How well do they work, by the way? I've done a lot of them. I don't do, I don't do them anymore. I don't think any of them have helped me. Says the ineffectiveness of good intentions and self-discipline to produce what lasting change, maybe short-term change, but not lasting change. Which, you know what's interesting to me? I never think it thought about this. When I I came to the Lord on a boat, okay? I met the Lord in a meeting outside the church, but I told God to go to H E double toothpicks, basically. Oh, I was 20 years old. Okay, now I know you're real, but you're boring. And you have 10 things that mean I can't have any fun. So what I usually said this in my mind. This is my prayer. I said, you know when I'm 40, I'll be married, be boring, I'll get religious. That's what I said. I'll be boring then. I'll just get religious. There's nothing else to do, but right now I'm water skiing every day and I'm partying. Well, uh, you know, a couple days later on a boat, I evangelists went, but my dad took a fishing, and we were talking about giving ourselves to the Lord, and I knew God was real. That was the first time in my life. And I went to church every Sunday since I was like zero, because I was Catholic, right? We just went every week. I mean, I spent at least 20 minutes out on the back porch or the front porch getting spanked every week because I was too restless, but that's another story. And but I remember, and he got up and said, Let's do it right now. And here's what I thought. I just didn't think about this till right now. I thought, eh, this will work for two weeks, and I'll just go back to the way I was before. That's what I thought. And I gave myself to the Lord and yada yada, and my life radically changed to this day. And I always tell people, I wouldn't know this woman if I wouldn't know you, I wouldn't have been a doctor. I mean, like all the things that happened to me because of that encounter with Christ that caused permanent change. He says, in okay, I'm just gonna start over, the effectiveness of the good intentions and self-discipline to produce lasting change will be exposed, ineffectiveness, exposed as worthless in contrast, the opposite, something that does produce lasting change to the impact of the message of Christ's death, resurrection, and representing man's death and new birth as our what ultimate reference to our redeemed identity and innocence. Say, I am innocent and my identity has been redeemed. I am the son of God and the son of man. There's no male, no female. I am an image bearer because God says so. My actions at times may be contrary to what I think I should be, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm a child of God and I'm an image bearer. That produces lasting change, the message. And I like lasting change. It is amazing because it was effortless. As soon as I started trying in my Christian wand, it all went south on me. You know, the best way to learn is do it wrong. Make mistakes. It's okay to make mistakes as long as you don't kill yourself or hurt somebody else. It's okay to make mistakes. God allows you to make mistakes. You learn from mistakes. And I did it. Alright. Now, you know, remember in the beginning of the chapter, he was talking about anthropos, about mankind. Now he's switching more to the Jewish people here. Your Jewish identity does not make God your exclusive property. I can say this, you know, now in Christendom, since we have a mixed message, which basically is souped up in Judaism, it's still a do-it-yourself system, you can say the same thing about Christian identity. Your Christian identity does not make God your exclusive property. He's the property of everybody. Your Jewish identity does not make God your exclusive property. Man, this is a Jew telling the Jews this. This is the Apostle Paul. Even though you boast in the fact that you have the documented desire of God published like an instruction manual in the Torah. Don't we love instruction manuals? How many people have you go to work and there's you have an instruction manual? We love instruction manuals. But you know, God's got a better way of doing that. Where's where are we going here?

unknown 9:32

Five.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

He says, No, notice, notice he says, even though you boast, he's like God boasts, he says you boast in the fact that you have the document, desire of God, published like an instruction manual in the Torah. Instruction manual. And I like over here in Ephesians 5.1, it says, Mere God. You're his offspring. I was thinking telling Pam today, I said, and I've said this before, the human beings are the only living things on the planet that don't act like themselves, that try to be somebody else. And it's funny because if you think of a lion, a lion knows how to mate. A lion just born knows that it likes meat, it doesn't like vegetables. I mean, there's other, and I'm just using the lion as a species, right? But it does mirror its parents. It learns how to hunt, it learns how to pack hunt. And we have in the scripture the Son of God in writing and also in our minds, and we're mirroring him. We're mirroring love. Anyway, I just love this. He says, no, he's talking to the Jewish people, right? The Jewish, these would be Jewish people and maybe Jewish believers. He says, you promote yourself confident as a guide to the blind and a light bearer for those groping around in darkness. I love that groping. A light bearer. You promote yourself, he said. He said, you boast. You promote yourself as a light bearer to guide to the blind. Listen, you feel yours, you feel yourself so superior to the rest of the world that you promote yourself as a kindergarten teacher. I just want to stop there because something popped in my head. I've been to Israel several times. And there's a certain messianic church that we go to. And every time I go and they see non-Jewish people, they always they always preach out of Romans 11 how you were grafted in and da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Every time. Every time they see us, you are grafted in. We are the chosen, but you were grafted in. You feel yourself so superior to the rest of the world that you promote yourself as a kindergarten teacher to the mindless. The mindless and instructor of infants because you believe. Because this is the reason you think you're superior, you're a kindergarten teacher, and the other people are what? Mindless infants, blind, because you believe that in the law you have knowledge and truth all wrapped up into a nutshell. You believe. No, because I just love the Bible so much, and I do. I love the scriptures. I want to go to Hebrews, the fifth chapter. And this is a little off the subject, but it's on the subject. Let's see. Because it talks about you know, but the book of Hebrews, believe it or not, it's to Hebrews. So when you're reading that, it isn't written to you, Gentiles. It's written to Hebrews. But unfortunately, because the Christianity has been washed down with so much legalism, we can actually relate to it, unfortunately. But he's talking to Hebrews here. Now I just want to read this because he talked about a kindergarten teacher here. All right. Let's see here. Where did I want to start? 11. This is Hebrews 5, verse 11. On this subject, there remains so much to be said, and I'm not going to read the rest of it, how difficult it is to explain something to someone who hears with indifferent attitude. You don't care, right? But now you Jews should have been professors. I mean, you have teachers, you have teachers with master's degrees, and you have PhDs. That's a top thing. You should be professors able to teach the rest of the world, but you are still struggling with the ABCs of God's messianic language. The ABCs, that's the basics. The first thing you learn in school is the ABCs. The difference between now, listen. Because I just cringe. Every time I hear something, now we're really going to get to the meat of the word. I look, oh yeah, here we go. You're going to really learn what meat and meat and uh and milk is right here. The difference between the prophetic shadow and the real. The prophetic shadow is all the prophecies of Jesus, and the real is He showed up. He is the incarnate Christ. He's the fulfillment of all the scriptures. It says this. The real is that between milk and meat in your diet, the milk is the prophetic shadow, the meat is the reality of Christ and the finished word. You cannot live on baby food for the rest of your lives. Now listen. The revelation, the unveiling of righteousness is the meat of God's word. Did you hear that? The revelation of righteousness is the meat of the word. What is the revelation of righteousness? Boy, we just read it in the 15th chapter for God. 115. I'm reading out of the Amplified again. Romans 115. Where is that? That's 115. Oh, 16. For I'm not ashamed of no, okay. 17. That's what I meant to read the first time. I apologize. Romans 117. For in the gospel a righteousness which God ascribes. Not one that we ascribe by ourselves, one that he ascribes. This both springs from faith and leads to faith. Springs from what God believes, and all of a sudden we believe what God believes, and that's righteousness. And back in the Genesis, the 15th chapter, the first verse, it says, and Abraham believed God. And it was reckoned his account as righteous. Say, I believe. Therefore, I'm righteous. That is the meat of the word. I'm just gonna I'm gonna go into six just because it's a little fun here. This is the nourishment of the mature. Those who have, this is the 14th verse, have their faculties and perceptions trained by gymnastic precision to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant. Remember? And then if you go to the next verse, here's the irrelevant, chapter 6, verse 1. Consequently. As difficult as it may seem, he's talking to the Hebrew people, he's probably talking to Hebrews that believe. And at this time, they're still having the temple worship. It's not gone yet. I believe anyway. You ought to divorce yourself. Now think about that. He could say separate yourself, remove yourself. But he says divorce yourself. When you go through, I mean, I've been through a divorce, but many people have, it's not fun. I mean, you get you gain some things, you lose some things. You know, no other people have divorced. I know I have I know somebody that had an affair and then he kept on doing it and he lost millions of dollars over that deal. But I'm just saying, divorce is an interesting word there because I mean that means you have to, I mean, it's a vi it's almost a it's a fight, it's a violent separation in a sense. You have to divorce yourself from your sentimental attachment to the foreshadowing doctrine of Messiah. In other words, the Old Testament foreshadowing of Jesus. Why? Which was designed. What was here's the reason. It was designed to carry us like a vessel over the ocean of prophetic dispensation. Where? Where was it to carry us? Into the completeness of the fulfilled promises that Jesus says in Luke and all the gospel, he said, We're going to Jerusalem, and all the prophecies of Messiah would be filled. A mind shift from attempting to oppress God by your behavior, they should be happy for this. This is good news right here. You ready? I love this news. A mind shift from attempts to impress God by your behavior to realizing the faithfulness of God is fundamental. There's no life left in the old system. You hear that? There is no life left in the old system. Do I have to say it again? Is there's no life left in the old system? But yeah, we keep digging it up. It is dead and gone, and you have to move on. He's talking to the Jewish people here. And back in the Acts the 15th chapter, when Paul and Titus and Barnabas bring up what their message, the the Pharisees, there's a group of Pharisees that are believers, they said, they gotta obey the Sabbath, they gotta obey the laws of Moses. That's what was that was the problem. All the Jewish teachings, all you know, isn't it amazing that a three-letter word has such a definite meaning? All the Jewish teachings about ceremonial cleans or baptisms, the laying on hands to what, in order to identify with the slain animal sacrifice, as they laid hands to pass the sins on, and all the teachings pertaining to sin consciousness, all the teachings, including the final resurrection of the dead, in order to what? Face judgment are no longer relevant. And that, my brothers and sisters, is the milk right there. That's the milk. The meat is the revelation of righteousness. I only said that because the kindergarten teacher, I couldn't help it. But I'm gonna I'm gonna start back in 20 again. It says, You feel so superior to the rest of the world that you promote yourself as a kindergarten teacher to the mindless, that'd be me, and instructor of infants, me, because you believe in the law, you have knowledge of truth all wrapped in a nutshell. The law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, John 1.17. It didn't say the law came through Jesus, and grace and truth came through Moses. Moreover, the real reason, verse 21, more however, so not more, however, the real question is not whether you are a good teacher, how good a student are you? What's the good uh what's the good of teaching against stealing when you yourself steal? You speak against adultery while you cannot get your own mind off sexual sins. It just doesn't make sense, does it? You say adultery stinks, yet you steal stuff from pagan shrines. You can go right back to the teachings of Jesus. Did you guys you ever commit adultery? They all said no. Well, if you thought about it, you did it. You ever murdered anybody? No. If you ever called anybody stupid, you did it. Well, we all do that. Is he making a doctrine here? No, he's just saying any action you have buries you. If you you disobey one I owe to the law, it's like you blew it all. It's impossible to keep the law, period, to be righteous. That's the point. He's not making a new doctrine here. That's what we oh then, keep your mind off this. No, he's just he's saying he's just trying to show them that look, you can't do it. Alright, where am I? 23? He says, I love this. You're proud. Association with the law is ruined every time you dishonor God by dodging the doing. You know what's interesting? I was just thinking about Matthew the 25th chapter the other day. I love that. I love the I love the great white throne judgment. You know, and it says, I was reading Mark says, and when the Son of Man appears, he'll set up his throne. Has he appeared? Uh-huh. Then it goes on to talk about the sheep and the goats. And isn't it ironic that he said, what you know, they I'm not gonna go through the whole thing, but remember the the the sheep said, When did we, when did we see you in prison? When he says, when you did it to the least, just did it once, you did it unto me. The other people said, When didn't we see you? Yeah, we when when you did it, when you didn't do it once, it was like you didn't do it at all. That's grace. You know, when you didn't, when you're under the law, that's law and grace. Those are the Pharisees, the religious people, the goats, not the what we call these wicked sinners, the other people are just loving people. These are the ones he says, if you don't do it once, you do it 99 times, but not one time, it's like you didn't do it at all. Do you want that system? Nummy. In the other one, he says, you didn't do it 99 times, but you did it once. How many times do you walk by the guy begging? Like me, and I walk by all the time. I hardly ever give people the money on the street. I don't. And I'm not gonna feel bad about it. But once in a while, my heart tags and I do. And I get it's like I did it every time. You're 23. Your proud association with the law is ruined every time. Anytime, every time, you dishonor God by dodging the dude. Just one time. This has been going on for hundreds of years. Now listen this. It is all recorded in the scripture. You don't do it. No wonder the Gentiles think that your God is no better than any other gods and philosophies when it comes to living the life the law promotes. In other words, it doesn't look like anything I want. Unfortunately, I hate to say it, but Christianity is kind of like that right now, too. Yeah, it's no better than this, it's no better than that. And you know, people, how many people you talk to people that don't go to church, and then what do they say about the believer? Oh, they're a bunch of hypocrites, self-righteous, judgmental. And they're right. Pretty sad, but it's true. Metallica sad, but true. Anyway, the fact that you are circumcised. Oh, okay. 25, the real value of circumcision is tested by your what? Ability to keep the law. He says the real value of circumcision is tested by your ability to keep the law. Now remember, circumcision was an outward sign to Abraham of his righteousness being reckoned to him. And I know this maybe is disgusting, but every time he peed, he'd have to be a reminder that he was righteous. I know that sounds crazy, but God is, I mean, God's all, I don't know about you, but to me, I'm sure it's the same way. He's always reminding me, reminding me, reminding me, and reminding me, reminding me and reminding me and reminding me about everything. Why? Because I have to continue to be reminded. And I do. I can't imagine you're any different, but maybe you are. The real value of circumcision is tested in your ability to keep the law. If you break the law, you might as well not be circumcised. Who the fact that you are circumcised does not distinguish you from the rest of the world. It does not give you superhuman power to keep the commandments. I don't know, was it Moses? I can't remember. I was looking, I was looking at Genesis when Abraham circumcised himself and Ishmael and everybody else, but there's one circumstance, I think it's Moses, when he had to circumcise his kids all later on for a couple days. Can you imagine that scene?

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Oh! Oh!

SPEAKER_00 24:57

But it didn't give him superhuman strength to keep the law, did it? Also, just I'm gonna circumcise my Christian boy, and now he's got supernatural power that can do the law perfectly. Does not give you circum superhuman power to keep the commandments. If it is not about who is circumcised or not, but rather who keeps the law or not, then in that case, even the uncircumcised people can judge the ones who claim to know it all and have it all. On the one hand, you have those who I love this, who feel naturally inclined to do what is right. Isn't that interesting? Mere God. Christ is the example of the real you. He is the word incarnate in the flesh. He is the word of God. Could you go to 1 John 4 9 for me? 1 John 3.9, excuse me. I should do it over here too. Excuse me. Just hold on for one sec. I love this. On the one hand, you have those who feel naturally inclined to do what is right, yet none of them are circumcised. Circumcised. Then you have the circumcised who know the letter of the law but fail to keep it. You know, we're gonna get to seven, and I've say this a million times, I'll keep saying it. Paul says, you know, before the law came along, I was doing fine, and then the law said, do not covet, and I start coveting. And the very thing I want to do, I don't do, and the very thing I don't want to do, I do. And he's now just you realize this is Mr. Grace, faith, apostle the Gentile talking. He's talking pre- in Romans 7 there, he's talking pre-Christ conversion. And you know, I I mean I hate to say it, but in my life, I used to, yeah, I really I thought that was afterwards, and I thought, well, I relate to that. Yeah, the very thing I want to do, I don't do, and the very thing I don't do, I don't want to do, I keep doing. Oh, wretched man that I am, not realizing that I've been separately in Christ. All right. In uh when I talked about naturally inclined to do what is right, I just wanted to read 1 John 3 9. And I'll read I'm gonna read it in Amplify because and in the mirror both because it's great, and it's just a little different. It says, to discover one's authentic sonship is to discover true freedom from sin. We are born of him, and his seed remains in us. This is the only possible reference to sober up the mind from the intoxicating influence of deception. That's a mouthful, isn't it? Say this to discover my authentic sonship in God, as I discover it, I just I discover true freedom from sin. How if I'm discovering my true sonship? So Hamatia without form. Metamorpho with form. Wow, I'm gonna say that again. To discover my authentic sonship in God is to discover my true freedom from sin, because sin is not knowing who I am, judging myself by my actions, and not about what God says, who God says I am. Says, I'm gonna say this, Peter do the confession with me. I am born of him, and his seed remains in me. This this is the only possible reference to sober up my mind from the intoxicating influence of deception. In other words, deception to to believe a lie about myself based on my actions. That's what happened to Adam and Eve. I must say 1 John 3 9 in the Amphibite, because I like it. It says, No one born or begotten of God. What does begotten mean? Lions beget lions, dogs beget little dogs, pigs beget pigs, and God begets little gods. That's what it means to be begotten of God. You've been birthed from above. He says this: no one who is begotten knowingly or practically practices sin for what? God's nature abides in him. I love this. This is amplified. His principal life, the divine sperm. Now we all oh what's perhaps? No, I mean his DNA, the essence of his being, his genetics remain permanently within him. He cannot practice sinning because he is born from above. Say this. I cannot practice believing a lie about myself because God's very nature lives in me. Isn't that wild? What verse was I have, sweetheart?

SPEAKER_01 29:52

28.

unknown 29:53

28.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Oh my god. And I want to just flip over to Ephesians to top this off just a little bit. This isn't that good stuff. Oh my lord. Ephesians 5. For some reason I ended up at Ephesians 5 the other day. It's just so dang good. Says mirror God, you're his offspring, okay? 5-1. Mirror God. In other words, you're looking at Christ as an example, not for you, but of you. Son of God, son of man. This is how. This is how to mirror him. Let the love of Christ be your life. Remember how he abandoned himself to us. His love is, I love this. His love is contagious. Man, and you know where in 1 Corinthians 13 says, love never fails, and it's contagious. Imagine we preach the love of Christ, the real love of Christ. It's contagious, like the flu, and there's no vaccine, thank God. He says, Where are we here? His love is contagious. His love is not reluctant but extravagant. Sacrificial love pleases God like sweet aroma of worship. Now listen this love has nothing in common with lust. Nothing in common with inner moral acts or greed. Woo! I mean Jesus' behavior. He wasn't controlled by money, power, he wasn't controlled by sex. He was controlled by the Holy Spirit. And his relationship with the Father, and he's given you the very same relationship, the very same Holy Spirit, the same face-to-face related union with Christ, face to face with the Father right now. Woo! Verse 28. So it is not about who you appear to be on the outside that makes you a real Jew. Could you flip this over to Colossians 2? Thank you. It is not who you appear to be on the outside that makes you a real Jew, but who you really are on the inside. Remember, talked about David, you know, getting anointed by Samuel. Jesse called all his kids, sons but him. First one, whoa, man, look at that guy. Surely God has anointed him. And God said, You look at the outside, I look at the inside. Even David's father didn't even have him come. I mean, that's he must have been, I don't know, that's a for another day, but interesting thought. He said, No, this is for you to know, this is important. Catch this verse, 29. For you to know who you are in your heart, inside, not your head, your heart, is the secret of your spiritual identity. This is the true circumcision. It is not literally outward appearance that distinguishes you. It's not outward experience that distinguishes you. After all, it is what? God's approval. And not another opinion. Another's opinion that matters most. People see skin deep, God knows the heart. Say it's God's approval. God knows my heart. I know my spiritual identity. I'm the son of man, I'm the son of God, just like Jesus is. He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, but I'm the little king and the little Lord. He's my brother. I've joined seeding with him. I mean union in his death, union in his uh resurrection, union in his ascension before I even knew I was drowning in my sin. And anyway, I'm gonna go to Colossians 2 and just talk about circumcision a little bit in the in the now, here and now. He says, Colossians 2.11. He says, You were in Christ when he died. Say I was in Christ when he died. In God, everybody was in Christ when he died. We weren't even here yet, but in God's mind you died. He says, You were in Christ when he died, which means, what does it mean? That his death is your true circumcision. Say, his death is my true circumcision, because when he died, I died. This is not hypothetical. This is the real deal. Thus, sin's authority in the human body was stripped of its control over me. Say this. Thus, because of my death in Christ, that's my true circumcision, thus, sin's authority in my human body was stripped of its control, of its control over me. Verse 12. In the same parallel, your co-circumcision in his death, your co-burial and joint resurrection is now demonstrated in baptism. Your co-inclusion in Christ is what God's faith knew when he powerfully raised him from the dead. Say this I was co-included in Christ when God raised Jesus from the dead. That's Phesians 2. Woo! Say, I was once spiritually dead, as confirmed in my constant failure, being bound to a lifestyle ruled by distorted desires of the flesh. But now, wow, but now God made me alive together with him. Say, I'm alive together with Christ, and thus graciously restored to my innocence and dignity. Say, I've been restored to my innocence and my dignity. Woo! Having forgiven all of my shortfallings, past, present, and future, all done in one soup on the cross. And all God's children said, Amen.