Placed in Christ

What does it really mean to be placed in Christ?

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Well, good morning again, everyone. It is uh great to be here where we can freely come together and worship, we can celebrate our communion service about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We can get into his word, we can sing praises, we can do all of these things. It's just wonderful to be able to do that, encourage one another, and then enjoy a meal together afterwards. So why don't we start with prayer and then we'll get into God's word? Father, thank you for all that you've done for each and every one of us by sending your son to die on the cross to pay for our sins, that we can be forgiven and have a relationship with you. So, Father, uh, I do want to thank you for this nation, that we can live in and meet together and worship you freely without threat of persecution. So thank you. And Lord, as we get into your word, I do ask that we would have attentive minds and hearts, that we would understand what you've laid out in Scripture, that we would apply it to our lives and live it out, that we would be relying on you each and every day, moment by moment. So, Father, I do ask too that you would use me this morning to communicate your message clearly. Thank you again for all the things you've done for us in Jesus' name. Amen. We're gonna start in the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter two, as you're turning there. You ever play the game uh have you ever where you start asking different questions? Have you ever done this and have you ever done that? Well, we're gonna start off with a little game of have you ever. So uh if you if you've ever done what I'm about to say, just go ahead and raise your hand. Um, have you ever flown before? Have you ever flown? Oh, a lot of hands there. Okay, have you ever um ever hear of a baptism without water? A couple of have heard of that. Uh have you ever had an operation? Wow. Have you ever been buried alive? Buried alive? Oh. That yeah, those cheater. Well, as we get into this passage, I think you might be surprised at some of the answers that we get right and get wrong. Uh Colossians chapter 2, verse 11 says, you know, in whom also you were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands and the putting off of the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. So last week we talked about this, the concept of a circumcision without hands. In other words, this wasn't a physical, this is a spiritual circumcision of God. What God did is separating us from the power of sin. We call that sanctification. That is for every believer. And he says, he's remember how Colossians, the context of Colossians chapter 2, we have all things, we are complete in Him, we have all of these things, and don't be led astray by enticing words, don't be led astray by traditions of men, by the rudiments of the world, all of these things. Don't let them take you away from Christ. We are complete in him. We have everything we need to live the life he's called us to live. And so we've been separated from that body of sin, the flesh, in verse 11. Uh, we don't have to serve flesh. And then he says, buried with him in baptism. Now, this is talking about our position in Christ. This is talking about our spiritual position. We are placed in Christ. Most people, when you try to ask them, uh, what does it mean to be in Christ? They just think, well, that means you're saved. Well, you have to be saved to be placed in the Christ, but this is something different. This is something that no Old Testament saint or believer could say, I've been placed in Messiah. Could you imagine Abraham? I'm placed in Messiah. Or David, or no, none of them. This this is something that Paul, the Apostle Paul, is revealing to the church. This is something different. We've been placed in the Christ. Now, I asked you a little while ago, have you ever flown? And many people raised their hands. Oh, I don't, I don't really believe you. I've never seen anyone fly. I mean, do you start flapping? You've you've probably been in an aircraft and the aircraft flies, right? Without the aircraft, you're in trouble. All right. That's a very tangible thing to understand. Well, you've been placed in Christ. You get to enjoy the benefits of everything that Christ has done and will do. In other words, uh, it's going to go on to say we've been placed in his death, his burial, in his resurrection. Okay, we are in Christ. This is something different than anyone in the Old Testament could claim. He says, buried with him in baptism. You've been buried alive. You've been placed into him. I remember years ago uh growing up on the farm, we had this uh well and a little pump handle. We'd turn it on and drink when we were doing hay and thirsty, and the water tasted great. It was full of iron. I mean, like literally, you could see like chunks of rust floating out of the water. We drank it anyway, and and uh it had a leak. We had to, we went dad wanted to get down and and get to the pump, and so he he gave my brother and I the job of starting digging down and finding it, figured it wasn't too deep. I was about nine years old at the time. My brother would have been like 11. And so we started digging and digging and digging and digging and digging. And I don't know, we were we were beyond 15 feet, maybe 20 feet down. You know, it was down to where you get lowered down with a rope in a bucket, you'd fill the bucket, the other guy would take it out. And uh I was digging down in there, and my dad was up running the bucket, and all of a sudden the whole side dropped down and smashed me up against the two pipes that were going up, and I couldn't move. The dirt was like up to here. And uh dad dropped the rope real quick and told me to get that around my my arms, around my shoulder under my arms, and I did, and and he pulled me up. He's a very strong man, left my shoe behind, and it's still buried there. And uh soon as I got out, another chunk came down, and I would have been totally buried alive. And uh dad said, Okay, enough of that. Just pushed the dirt and said, it's gonna stay the way it is. We're not doing that. But here it says, we're we're buried with him. With him. Now, how does that take place? Well, if you remember the concept in from Hebrews chapter 7, when the the writer of Hebrews was comparing Melchizedek to the priesthood of Aaron, said, well, Melchizedek, uh his priesthood is superior to the Aaron's priesthood. Why? Because when when Abraham met Melchizedek, Abraham paid tithes, gave a tenth to Melchizedek, showing that Melchizedek was over, was greater than Abraham. And he says, therefore, Levi, the Levitical tribe, paid tithes to Melchizedek because Levi was in Abraham. Okay? So when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, Levi did, showing that Melchizedek was superior to the Levitical priesthood. It's the same concept. You've been placed in Christ. So you're buried with him in baptism. Now, this is an interesting thing. So verse 11 talks about the circumcision made without hands. Here, verse 12 is talking about the baptism without water. Baptism without water. Now, don't get me wrong. I think that if you're a believer, uh you should get baptized to symbolize what has taken place in your life. But this is not talking about a water baptism. This is talking about something that has taken place with every believer. In fact, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 is one of the largest baptisms ever recorded in the scriptures. I think you'd have to go to the flood of Noah to find one that has more people. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that all of our fathers, meaning the Old Testament Jews, all of our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. So what is he saying here? He's saying, uh, what when God delivered the nation of Israel from the Egyptians, it's a picture of baptism. Now, what took place there? Well, they were slaves. They were in bondage in Egypt. They didn't have their own. All they could do is what Pharaoh told them to do. They couldn't say, Well, I'm thinking I'm going to take a vacation or go on. No, they couldn't do that. They were slaves. Pharaoh said, make bricks, they made bricks. And God delivered them with the Passover. Remember that? The ten plagues, the final plague being the death of the innocent lamb that had this blood had to be shed, the blood had to be applied with hyssop, like Zach was talking about. And anyone behind the blood, they were saved. Judgment passed over. Anyone outside of the blood, if they were the firstborn, they perished. They were under judgment. And God delivered them from Egypt, brought them to the Red Sea, as we'll get into in a moment, opened it up and let them pass through. And the apostle Paul says that was a picture of baptism. Now we'll go into that a little bit more in depth, but let's finish off here in 1 chapter 10 and go down through verse 6. It says, All did eat that same spiritual meat. So notice, he's talking in a spiritual sense. They ate that same spiritual meat. They all drank of that same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So notice what Paul does. He's taking these pictures of the Old Testament and showing, look, that was showing something. That was something to learn from. Remember the rock that Moses struck that poured out water? The nation of Israel, they desperately needed that water to live. Right? They were dying of thirst. They were thirsty, and they were complaining to Moses. And God tells Moses, take that staff in your hand. Now, you remember that staff of Moses? What happened when Moses threw the staff down? Become a snake, right? Become a snake. And then he could pick it up and it become a staff. And Moses, go to this, go to this rock. Remember that huge, huge rock? They actually know where it's at. It's out in Saudi Arabia. And strike it at the at the base, right? At the foot with that staff. Now 1 Corinthians 10 says that rock was who? That rock was Christ. What does the Bible say about the serpent striking the foot, the heel of Christ? See, it's another picture. And what happened? Life-giving water came out. Jesus references that when he talks about him being the living water and so on. So that that rock that followed was Christ, he's using spiritual terms, something that physically literally happened back then. But he's saying, look, God set this up so he can teach us something. In fact, he goes on to say in verse 5 and 6, but many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these were things were written for our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted. So he lets us know those things were recorded and given as examples for us. So we have these pictures, right? There was a baptism. Let's go down to Exodus 13. We'll take a little bit, look at this a little bit more in depth. Exodus chapter 13, verse, start with verse 17. The crossing of the Red Sea. Exodus 13, 17 came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although it was near, for God said, Let's preventure. So right after God's delivering them from Egypt with the Passover, the death of the firstborn, and all of that, he says, I'm going to bring them out, but I gotta take them a different way. If I take them straight to their place of service, the land of Canaan, if I take them straight there, there's gonna be this battle, and they're gonna lose heart and they're gonna run back to Egypt. So I'm gonna take them a different way. I'm gonna take them the long way. So he does. God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up, harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And they took the bones and so on. And look at verse 21. The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them by the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go day and night. He took not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and that they turn and encamp before Pi Hitharoth between Migdal and the sea, over against Baal Zaphor, before you shall camp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say unto the children of Israel, They're entangled in the land, and the wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them. And I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all of his hosts, and the Egyptians may know. So the whole purpose, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled, his heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this? We have let Israel go from serving us. No, notice, God isn't even in that equation. They didn't say, Well, their God took them out, delivered them. No, we let them go. What did we do that for? They were to serve us, they were to be our slaves. We want them back. You know, that's no different than our flesh and Satan. And we get delivered by not the blood of a lamb of a Passover lamb, but the Passover lamb, Jesus dying on a cross, shedding his blood, the perfect Lamb of God, dying in our place, paying for our sins to set us free, to pay for the penalty of sin, to break the power of sin. And what does Satan, what does our flesh want to do? I want them to serve me again. I want them back. And so what is going to take place here? Uh look at uh verse six. So he made his chariot ready, and he took the people with him, and he took six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, the captains over uh every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with a high hand. But the Egyptians uh pursued after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them by the sea, uh, beside the the Pi Hitharoth and by Baal Zephyr. And Pharaoh drew close, and the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. And they were so afraid, and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, and he said unto Moses, Because there was no graves in Egypt, you have taken us out to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Oh, why did you deliver us? You just bring us out here so we could die? Look at what they're saying. They're saying, We don't appreciate what you did. We don't like being out here, we don't want a battle, uh, we're gonna die in the wilderness. We do not trust you, even though they were promised that God would bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. Is it not that the word that we did tell you when we were in Egypt saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it'd be better for us to serve the Egyptians that we should die in the wilderness. What was Israel's problem? We want to return and be slaves. We want to return to our old life. We want to live like we've always lived before. We don't want to trust God and follow Him and let Him take care of us and serve Him. We want to go back and serve the Egyptians. If you know much about the history of Israel through the book of Numbers and so on, they constantly wanted to go back to their old life. Moses said to the people, Fear not, fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you this day. For the Egyptians whom you've seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. God is going to permanently destroy the power that Pharaoh has over you. And he says, The Lord said to Movis, Wherefore thou criest unto me, speak now of the children of Israel and go forward. But take thy rod and lift it up, stretch out your hand over the sea, divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of it. I guess I might have skipped it. Look at verse 14. The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. The Lord is going to do this battle. The Lord is the one doing it. He didn't say, Moses didn't go out there and say, Okay, um, people of Israel, Judah and Asher and Nephtali and Manasseh, uh, you guys go find some rocks. And uh some of you other tribes, Ephraim, uh, you go get some pointed sticks. Uh he didn't do any of that. You are not to fight this. You are to just stand there, you are to hold your peace, you are to see the salvation of the Lord. You're gonna have to rely on what God is going to do. Verse 17. And behold, I will harden the hearts of hearts of the Egyptians, and they will follow, and they shall follow them, and I will give me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all the hosts, and upon the chariots, and the horsemen, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, upon his horsemen. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed, and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud went from before their face and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud of darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these, so that one came not near the other all night. So God is making this division, he's protecting the nation of Israel from the Egyptians. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them, unto their right hand and to their left, and the Egyptians pursued and went in after them in the midst of the sea, even all of Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen. And it came to pass that in the morning watch the Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the hosts of the Egyptians, and they took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. So you can imagine this account. The sea is opened up, the nation of Israel, they get to they get to walk through on dry ground. Uh finally the pillar is removed, and here comes Pharaoh's uh chariots, his army, his power. We want to capture them, we want them to come back, we want them to serve, we want their life not to change, we want them to return back to their old life of bondage. Now the Egyptians notice the nation of Israel, they go down into the water, it's a wall of water. To them, and they're going to go out of the water. Remember, Paul says that's a picture of baptism, going down in and out. Your old life is gone, you have a new life to serve, and sin's power to control you, to make you the slave is going to be destroyed. So the Lord said unto Moses, verse 26, stretch out your hand over the sea, and the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength. And when the morning appeared, the Egyptians fled against it. And the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the water was returned, covered the chariots and the horsemen, and all the hosts of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. There remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry ground in the midst of the sea. And the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. A long time ago, Becky and I used to watch the old Charlton Heston Ten Commandments. And that was always the kind of a nail biter scene, you know, where when they're they're coming through the Red Sea and one of them has a wagon and it gets stuck in the mud, and here comes the Egyptians, oh run, leave it. Makes a good movie. But it's not true. They just walked through dry ground. Nothing was getting stuck. There was no hurry. It was not dependent on their effort. It was on God. God was doing it all. And they walked through on dry ground, and Pharaoh's army was destroyed. No more power over those people. Could not capture them, could not tell them what to do anymore. So thus, verse 30, thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. And the people feared the Lord, believed the Lord and his servant Moses. So let's go back then and take another look at Colossians chapter 2 and verse 12. Married with him in baptism. This isn't talking about a water baptism. Again, water, that is a picture, it's a tangible thing. There's something we can see that you go down into the water, you come out of the water. That is for believers. Remember, uh, with the nation of Israel that happened after the Passover, after the death of the innocent lamb. And so now it comes to the power of Pharaoh's army has been destroyed. They don't have to go back and serve, even though they have that desire to always want to go back and always go back to the old life. They don't have to do it. So you're buried with him in baptism, whereof also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God. God is the one doing this. Have you ever had an operation? Could you imagine telling the surgeon, hey, let me give you a hand there. Let me hold that for you. Let me take care of that. No, you're kind of out of it, right? And they do their thing, and you come too, and you don't have a part of it. Well, this is God's operation. We don't have a part of it. What we do is we simply take it by faith. It says, we are risen. You don't have to try to be risen. You don't have to try to be buried with none of that. You simply take those things by faith. And what is faith? It's relying on someone or something that they will do or they've done something for you. It's a reliance. It's not just a knowledge. You can know that there's several cars out there that can take you someplace, but you'll probably only get in one of them and rely on one of them to actually do it. There's a difference between knowing something. Well, I know that Christ died for the sins of the world. Okay, are you trusting that he paid for your sins? Are you relying on him? Very different. Well, I know that I've been set free from the power of sin. I know that I've been buried and risen with him. I know these things. Are you relying on it daily? There's a difference. In fact, let's go to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 6, and we'll see some of this. Romans chapter 5, Paul talks about how that grace abounds, superabounds over any sin. You can't uh commit a sin that grace does not cover. And so the natural question of carnal man would be, well, oh, so I can just go send my head off. And so he brings up that question in chapter 6, verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? You know, uh John Yates, who teaches, most of you have, or some of you have been in Faith Bible Institute, John H who teaches, does a great example uh talking about these things. He said, Imagine a husband, uh, you know, uh, this couple, uh, they're gonna get married and they're they're exchanging vows on the wedding day. And uh uh the wife says, Uh, I promise to love and honor, cherish you, be faithful to you uh till death do us par. And the husband goes, Oh, you mean no matter what? Sickness and health? No matter what, you're gonna be faithful? Well, then I'm just gonna live like I'm not even married. Would that be his response? If it is, there's a problem. And it's the same thing. God says, I'm paying for your sin, I've done it all, I've done all that. So would should we have the idea that, oh, you've paid for all my sin, I should go send my head off? No, God forbid. You've got the you've got the wrong thinking. It's being totally carnal. He says, Know you not, chapter 6, verse 3 of Romans, know you not that so many of us were baptized into Jesus, were baptized into his death. He brings it up again. This is again, this is not a water baptism. This is baptism without water. Therefore, you're buried with him by baptism into his death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should also, or also should walk in newness of life. Remember the nation of Israel, old life, slaves, bondage, Passover die, lamb dies, innocent lamb dies, they're delivered out. Pharaoh wants to pursue them, uh, take them back as slaves. God takes care of that in the Red Sea, takes away his power. And what did the people want to do? Did they want to go on to live their new life and live a life of faith and just trusting God and go into the promised land and serve him and made his name known? No. We want to go back to Egypt. Things are gone our way. We miss the onions and the cucumbers, and oh, if we could just go back. You know, there's sometimes believers get that way. Oh, the old life, when I did all this sin. Don't glorify sin. Don't talk about the things we used to do. It's sin. Don't go back. Romans 6 says. For we, verse 5, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we should also be in the likeness of his resurrection. New life. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified, our sin nature, our flesh, is crucified with him. Why? Because you've been placed in him. Remember, the apostle Paul mentioned that also in the book of Galatians, uh, chapter 2, verse 20. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of Man who loved me and gave himself for me. How can the Apostle Paul say, I'm crucified with Christ? He didn't come to know Christ till after the resurrection. Because he's been placed in Christ. So when Christ died, he died. When Christ died on the cross, if you're a believer, you've been placed in him. You're dead to self, you're dead to the sin nature, the flesh. Our old man is crucified with him. You don't try to be crucified. It's God's operation, it's what he has done for you. You see, our our justification being saved, Christ died for us. Our sanctification, our service, we have to be dead to self. We die. So he says, uh, you're crucified with him that the body of sin, the strength, the power, might be destroyed, just like Pharaoh's army. That henceforth, from this moment on, you should not serve sin. See, this is going to get into service. You have justification, Christ died for your sins. You have sanctification, you are dead to self, so that you can serve. Nation of Israel, same thing. Justification, that picture is them being delivered from the Egyptians during the Passover. Other sanctification, passing through the Red Sea. Pharaoh's army has no more power over them. The service, enter into the promised land by faith and serve God. Justification, sanctification, service. So there's things that we have to know as believers. Know that we've been placed into Christ, know that we're crucified with him, for he that is dead is freed from sin, meaning freed from the power, sin cannot make me, my flesh cannot make me do anything. Now I can willfully do it, but it has no power over me. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we should also live with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he lives unto God. Likewise, reckon. So here's the first thing, you have to know these things, then you reckon it. This is an accounting term to understand, to take an inventory. If you've ever been in a situation of survival, uh, the first thing you do is you take an inventory of everything that you have, every resource. You need to know those things, because you might need them. And the apostle Paul is using that concept. He says, likewise, reckon yourself also to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. You need to take an inventory, you have to account that to be true. Know that when Christ died, your old self, your old man was crucified with him, you've been buried with him, you've been risen with him, you have all things that pertain to life and godliness. You've been blessed with all spiritual blessings, you have to take a hold of those things by faith. And you can't do it if you don't know them. It says, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey the lust thereof, neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God. As those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Yield, that's the next thing. You have to know these truths. You have to take an inventory, understand what you have, and then you yield yourself over. If you've ever flown, you yield yourself to the plane that you're in. It's going to take you where it goes. If you think of an instrument, whether it's a piano or guitar, it all depends on whose hands it's in, to what it's going to sound like. We can yield ourselves to our flesh, our old self, and it's going to be fruit of unrighteousness. We can yield ourselves to God, and it's going to be the fruit of righteousness. You're going to serve one of two masters. You're going to let yourself be used of sin, or let yourself be used of God. He goes on to say, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then shall we sin? Because we're not under law but under grace, God forbid. Know ye not to whom you yield yourselves, servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey, whether it's sin unto death or obedience and righteousness. But God be thanked that you were servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart, that the doc that form of doctrine which was delivered to you, being made then free from sin, you have become a servant of righteousness. You have to know these things, you have to count them to be true, you yield yourself over to God, and you have that fruit of righteousness. It manifests, it makes itself real in your life. Let's go back to Colossians chapter two. There is the warning to not be spoiled through uh philosophy, vain deceit, through the enticing words, tradition of men, the rudiments of the world. Uh don't do that. Don't be led astray from Christ, because you have everything you need in Christ. You've been separated from that flesh, that sin nature of yours, through the circumcision made without hands, the putting off of the flesh, the sins of the flesh, the circumcision of Christ. You've been buried with him in baptism. Uh you've been you've been risen with him through the faith of the operation of God when you're trusting that this is what God has done for me. You take that by faith. You're relying on what he says is true. Raised him up from the dead. And what was Israel's problem? They wanted to go back to their old master. Well, remember what Jesus says. You cannot serve two masters. You will love the one and hate the other, and that's a biblical idiom to say you'll favor one over the other, uh, or you'll love one and you'll despise the other. I remember years ago I worked at a restaurant. Actually, there's one that I met Becky, and uh later that our the owner of that great guy, loved working for him. He he bought another restaurant, a supper club, and he went in partners with another guy. So we had two bosses, and we had some employees come from one restaurant, and some employees come from another one. Now, how many know that that's a recipe for disaster? Because you have two masters. Uh one boss was uh very, very professional, uh, very organized. The other one laid back was an understatement. I won't even, but two different bosses, very, very different. And it was tough because you started liking the one and despising the other. One would want something done very uh professionally, the other one uh did not care. You can't serve two masters, you cannot serve God and Satan. You can't be in the flesh and in the spirit. Uh you can yield yourself to one or you can yield yourself to the other. You can't yield yourself to both. Uh you will start to love one and hate or despise the other. So my question would be which master do you love? Which master do you want to serve? Is it the old life in the flesh? Or is it Christ in the new life? It's one or the other. Let's pray. Father, thank you for who you are. Thank you for all that you've done for us. By sending your son to die in our place, to pay for our sins, by giving us your spirit that we can live in newness of life by by placing us in Christ his death, burial, and resurrection. So thank you, Father, for all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen.