WEBVTT 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:23.760 Today's reading is from Romans chapter six, verses one to fourteen. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:26.399 What shall we say then? 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:29.440 Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:30.640 By no means. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.520 How can we who died to sin still live in it? 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:39.679 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:50.399 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:57.359 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:07.040 We know that our old self was crucified with him, in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.640 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:15.040 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:19.200 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:21.840 Death no longer has dominion over him. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:25.680 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:28.319 But the life he lives, he lives to God. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:33.439 So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:38.640 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:52.239 Do not present your members as 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. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:57.040 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace. 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:05.760 Welcome to uh to City. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:13.280 If you're new or visiting with us, we are in the book of Romans or in that passage that that Abby read for us. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:19.599 It'd be great if you have uh a Bible or uh a smartphone with web access. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:20.800 You can look it up. 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:27.759 Uh but we're back in uh in Romans chapter six after a brief uh break over the last uh couple of weeks. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:36.479 Imagine you were uh you were writing uh a handbook for a for a new religion, kind of religion 101. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:40.960 What would the uh what would the first page uh be about? 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:45.520 What is any uh religion worth its salt uh about? 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:48.719 What does any religion worth its salt uh do? 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:56.879 Uh the answer, I think, for religion 101 is that it should make people good. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:02:59.680 Should make people good people. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:12.319 Uh that's what religion is kind of for, at least that's what people think religion is for, that if you're religious, you're supposed to be uh a good person, certainly a better person than either you were or than most other people. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:14.319 That's the cell. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:19.520 You follow this path, this belief system, and you'll be a better person. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.680 And the question then is so flip over to page two of your religion manual. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:25.280 Uh, so you want people to be better. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:27.039 Question is, how do you do that? 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:29.759 How do you make people good? 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:31.680 How do you make people better? 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.400 Well, religion has two ways. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:38.960 Uh, the first way is you give people rules to follow. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:44.879 People need rules, uh, they need to be kind of hemmed in, controlled morally. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:52.000 So you need to give people five pillars or 613 laws or the eightfold path, that sort of thing. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:59.680 People need a uh a bit of a firm hand morally in order to become better, right? 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:02.400 You just can't let this kind of moral free-for-all happen. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:03.919 That would be that'd be chaos. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:07.759 You know, if you were designing a religion, first thing you need is you need some rules, right? 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:08.240 Okay. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:19.920 Uh uh second thing that you need um that go hand in hand with the rules is you need uh a mixture or a balance of carrots and sticks, right? 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:31.680 So if you're making a religion, you've got the rules, and then you've got carrots and sticks in order to incentivize carrot-like uh good behavior and sticks to disincentivize bad behavior. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:42.959 So uh you have hope on the one hand, you're going to achieve, reach this um this apex, this zenith, heaven, nirvana, whatever you want to call it. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:45.199 That's the that's the thing that you're journeying to. 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:49.439 That's the big carrot that keeps people in the rules, right? 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:55.680 And then on the other hand, you need some sticks, you need the thread of the thread of judgment. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:58.160 So obviously, hell's the big ticket item there, right? 00:04:58.319 --> 00:04:58.480 Okay. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:02.319 Again, if you're writing down how to design a religion, you're you're channeling your inner L. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:03.360 Ron Hubbard, right? 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:06.959 Uh, you think, okay, well, hell's the big ticket item, but you can actually do other things. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:09.040 You can do things like guilt. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:11.519 That can be uh a disincentivizing thing. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:18.160 You just make people feel ashamed, and that's kind of keeps them on the on the path, keeping the rules, right? 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:30.240 Uh or you can do social pressure, uh pressure to to conform, pressure to uh to say certain things, uh, the threat of uh the threat of rejection. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:42.399 Uh you uh have this implicit um the uh you can communicate implicitly this idea of actually if you stray off the path, if you don't keep the rules anymore, then you'll be out of the community. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.199 Uh we're going to we're going to reject you, right? 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:47.040 So uh what do you need to do? 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:48.240 You need your rules. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:52.079 You think about, okay, what kind of rules do I want for the religion that I'm creating? 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:53.920 What kind of carrots do I want? 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:54.240 Okay. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:55.519 What's your what's your hope? 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:57.279 What is the thing you're journeying towards? 00:05:57.519 --> 00:05:59.120 What are your what are your sticks? 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:01.839 That's how that's how you create a religion. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:07.439 You know, decent religion worth its salt, it's going to uh gonna create good people, right? 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:12.959 Then you look at Christianity and you realize that it's a terrible religion. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:16.399 It's a really terrible religion. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:23.120 Because just before we uh read chapter six, Paul makes this comment. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:29.360 Actually, the verse just above it, again, you can look at the uh at the end of Romans chapter five. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:33.839 Here's what he says about the rules uh in Romans 5, uh verse 20. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:37.600 He says, Now the law came in to do what? 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:40.079 To increase the trespass. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:42.560 That is to increase the sin. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:43.680 So what's Paul saying there? 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:48.160 Paul's saying that actually what the rules do is the rules make you more sinful. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:55.279 The rules are doing the opposite of what they should be doing, they're actually making you worse. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:59.199 And he's going to unpack this in uh in Romans chapter 7. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:04.480 But just to give you a brief taste, basically he uses the idea of envy, of coveting. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:09.759 And he says, Well, I had no idea what coveting was until I read the rule, do not covet. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:16.720 And as soon as I read the rule and found out what it was, it aroused in me all of these envious desires. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:20.079 And so the law made me more sinful. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:21.759 So you think, oh gosh, right? 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:26.240 So the the rules thing doesn't seem to work. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:30.240 I mean, Christianity, Christianity is a terrible, terrible religion. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:45.040 And what's worse, Paul has been telling us for the first five chapters that if you have faith in Jesus, that there's no more judgment for you. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:49.120 So the big stick has been taken away. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:52.240 So what's the incentive to actually keeping the rules? 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:53.920 Why would you bother? 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:00.240 If there's no more judgment and it's all just carrots all the way down. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:06.959 Heaven and grace and uh life and adoption and hope and joy and all these things. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:11.279 Well, that might keep you on the straight and narrow, but you need a good stick. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:15.600 But Paul said that actually Jesus has already taken the judgment. 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:22.480 But God is so gracious, so loving, so kind that he took the judgment upon himself, into himself. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:29.600 And so no matter what we do, we will never face his anger because of faith in Jesus. 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:32.080 Christianity is a terrible religion. 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:36.000 It doesn't get the rules right, it doesn't get the sticks right. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:42.960 What a disaster! How on earth are you gonna make good people with this sort of religion? 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:49.279 Surely if there's no more rules and if there's no more thread of judgment, then it's gonna lead to moral chaos. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:52.000 Why would you lead a better life at all? 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:58.000 In fact, why not sin as much as you can? 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:00.000 Surely that's the thing to do. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:08.799 If Paul has been saying that I see, the more you sin, the more God's grace looks amazing, then why not sin it up? 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:10.720 If you're taking notes, you write that. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:15.759 Your pastor on Sunday, the 5th of May, said, sin it up. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:21.120 Because that will make God's grace look more impressive. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:33.919 Richard Dawkins was uh was talking about the death of Jesus, uh, and he said uh quite uh quite tongue-in-cheekly, he said, Well, Jesus died for sins. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:39.039 And so if you don't sin, well, Jesus died for nothing, and you wouldn't want that now, would you? 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:47.840 Many of us don't think that we're just gonna sin it up. 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:54.799 But lots of us here who are followers of Jesus quite like the grace loophole, don't we? 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:57.759 Because we still want to sin from time to time. 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:08.960 There's still things that we want to do that we know that are wrong, uh, but where our mind goes that we wouldn't want to say it, I'd lie, is think, well, I'm gonna do it. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:15.440 And I know it's wrong, uh, and I do love Jesus, but uh I'm gonna I'm gonna come to him afterwards. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:20.720 I'm just gonna say I'm sorry, because it's kind of it's kind of his job to to forgive me. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:25.759 And so we've got this kind of loophole that grace creates. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:35.519 So the religious person looks at Christianity and thinks it's a disastrous religion because it's gonna lead to moral chaos. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:42.159 This grace idea is just gonna lead to an absolute free-for-all and never really make good people. 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:50.879 The atheist, like Richard Dawkins, well, he sneers at Christianity because if Jesus took your sin, well, you may as well have some sins to take. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:11:02.159 And then the spiritually immature Christian thinks that grace is kind of like a like a get out of jail free card when you want to do stuff that you know that you shouldn't. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:08.559 And Paul knows that all of these thoughts are building as he's writing the letter to Roman to the Romans. 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:13.360 And so he begins in verse 1 of chapter six with a question. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:15.360 He says, Well, what should we say then? 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:18.879 Are we to continue to sin that grace may abound? 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:26.799 And then he immediately answers the question just with this emphatic statement, three words, by no means. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:43.679 Essentially, his answer is this is if you think that the abounding grace of God and his free gift of salvation has no impact on how you live now, you're crazy. 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:56.559 You're absolutely crazy, and you have not understood, Richard Dawkins, religious person, immature Christian, you have not understood what I've been saying for the last five chapters. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:58.639 So let me spell it out for you. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:02.559 He says, you died. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:05.840 You died to sin. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:06.879 Verse 2. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:07.759 By no means. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:11.360 How can we who die to sin still live in it? 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:21.039 Christianity doesn't change you with rules, it doesn't change you with threats of judgment. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:23.360 Do you want to how Christianity changes you? 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:25.200 It kills you. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:28.240 It kills you. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:30.159 At least the old ye. 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:35.519 It kills the old ye and raises up a new ye. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:37.759 That's what Paul's saying here. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:43.039 You died, part of you, the old part of you, died. 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:48.000 And a new part has been raised from the grave. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:52.879 And that is how you live as a different person. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:54.639 Now, what does this mean? 00:12:54.720 --> 00:13:02.320 Let's unpack this idea, and this is really point one, I guess, which is to say, you are dead to sin. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:05.039 You are dead to sin. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:06.879 What does that mean? 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:10.720 Let me tell you what it doesn't mean. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:11.279 Okay. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:16.720 It doesn't mean that you no longer sin. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:18.320 I don't know if you've noticed that. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:29.440 If you're a follower of Jesus, maybe from time to time, you find yourself, oh, actually, I I I still seem to be still seem to be sinning. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:40.000 There was a there was a movement uh in the uh in the 1800s uh that's kind of it's dieted out in a lot, certainly a lot of the West. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:48.000 Um what was called kind of the holiness movement, this idea that you could become kind of sinlessly perfect this side of heaven, right? 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:57.440 And uh in the 1800s, there was a uh there was a man who wrote a book uh called Holiness and How I Achieved It. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.799 Um kind of manual for how to live a sinlessly pure life. 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:11.519 And the story goes that he was at a uh he was at a pastor's conference uh with a very famous London pastor uh called Charles Spurgeon. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:15.360 Uh those of you who've been Christians very much say, uh, a Spurgeon illustration? 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:17.919 Huh, we haven't had one of those in years. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:22.320 Uh so there's loads of apocryphal stories about Spurgeon, but the story of this one I think is quite funny. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:29.440 It goes along the way that they're at this pastor's conference and this man's book, Holiness and How I Achieved It, has uh has just come out. 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:34.080 And all of the pastors are kind of looking at Spurgeon to kind of see, well, what is he going to say? 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:40.000 Is there going to be this great argument, this great debate on the nature of sanctification and holiness in the Christian life? 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:44.080 And Spurgeon says nothing until the very last morning at the conference. 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:46.240 They're all sitting around there at breakfast. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:15:03.039 And Spurgeon got up and he picked up a pitcher of milk and he dumped it over the guy's head, thus revealing that the man actually had still some work to do in achieving holiness because of the rant and tirade that he went off on. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:09.440 So it can't mean that you no longer sin, right? 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:12.000 That'd be a silly thing to suggest. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:22.000 It also doesn't mean that you have no desire to sin if you are a Christian, that it doesn't have some sort of influence on your life. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:28.960 Again, it's not something that I feel, but I hear that on the grapevine that some of you might feel influenced to sin from time to time. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:32.639 That there is still a desire there. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:39.360 It also doesn't mean that one day you will die to sin. 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:42.639 And that you're slowly moving away from it. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:44.639 No, you know, Paul says that you died. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:46.960 You died to sin. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:50.799 So what does it mean? 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:53.279 Here's what it means. 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:54.639 Are you listening? 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:08.399 Paul is saying that sin no longer has the power to control you. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:12.240 Sin no longer has the power to control you. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:24.399 That is not to say that sin no longer has any influence in your life, that sin doesn't arouse desire in you, but that there is something, there's a shift of power. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:36.080 Before a person becomes a follower of Jesus, they actually cannot help but follow sin's control and rule. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:48.960 That's not to say that if you're not a Christian, you only do bad things, but it is it is only by the work of God that you can you can respond to him as you ought. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:53.919 And until that takes place, you're kind of controlled by sin. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:59.120 In fact, this is what Paul has been saying, that sin is a kind of power that reigns. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:00.639 So 521. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.360 So sin reigns in death. 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:11.200 Sin is a is a ruler over us before we are set free by Jesus, before we die. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:15.279 Before you're a Christian, sin is in charge. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:22.240 And its super weapon that it uses against everyone eventually is death. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:23.359 521. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:25.440 So sin reigned in death. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:34.240 But if you've already died, then sin no has no more power to control you. 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:38.240 It does not reign over you. 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:42.400 It has no more dominion over your life. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:43.920 No. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:47.920 Some of you sitting there are saying, well, hold on a second, Mark. 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:55.680 I I'm actually really struggling with sin, and it feels pretty darn powerful. 00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:58.319 And I'm following Jesus. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:05.200 It seems super present and super controlling in my life. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:09.039 What do you mean that I have died to sin? 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:12.079 Think of it this way. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:25.119 Imagine that where you once lived was ruled by a vicious tyrant and his army. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:33.200 His control over you was absolute, and his reign was evil and a big brother-esque. 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:39.519 It was a totalitarian, tyrannical regime over your life. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:58.799 And then one day, a good, kind ruler came in and toppled that tyrant, cast him down from his place of power, never to be reinstated again. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:04.480 But that tyrant and some of his army have fled. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:15.920 They have fled into the fields and villages of your life and still nigh to this day rage a guerrilla war against you. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:26.480 That while the tyrant will never take the throne again, he's still exerting an influence in your life. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:39.519 One day he will finally be defeated, but right now there is a kind of civil war going in going on in the country of your life. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:46.319 They still fight, and sometimes it feels like their presence is very threatening. 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:51.039 Sometimes they even win the battle that day. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:57.039 And maybe even from time to time you search them out. 00:19:57.759 --> 00:19:59.279 You want to trade with them. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:01.119 You know it's not a good idea. 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:07.519 You know that it's gonna harm you, but still you go in search of them. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:11.759 Sin is an overthrown tyrant. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:22.640 You died, and its power over you ended, though its presence and influence still persists. 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:36.480 But you must, follower of Jesus, brother or sister, you must, if you take nothing else home today, realize that sin's tyrannical power has been broken over your life. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:44.400 If that's true, when did it happen? 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:46.640 When did you die? 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:54.799 I'm gonna jump down to verse five and then I'll um unpack the verses above. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:57.440 Let's have a look at verse five. 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:02.079 For if we have been united with him, who's the him? 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:03.359 It's Jesus, right? 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:13.039 If we've been united with Jesus in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:15.039 When did you die? 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:18.480 You died when Jesus died. 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:23.680 You died when Jesus died. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:26.079 Hold on. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:27.759 But how is that true? 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:29.359 What's going on there? 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:30.640 That sounds mad. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.599 I'm alive in 2024. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:36.240 He was alive a few minutes ago, right? 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:38.640 Uh or on earth, he's still alive. 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:41.599 Uh his earthly ministry was over 2,000 years ago. 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:44.960 How is it that when Jesus died, I died? 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:52.720 Well, the answer is there in verse 5 that we have been united to him. 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:58.960 Remember all that we talked about when we looked at the second half of chapter 5? 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:06.400 All of Humanity, in a sense, is united to either Adam or Christ. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:10.319 That we are either in Adam or we are in Christ. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:12.960 Joined to Adam, we experience death. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:16.319 Joined to Christ, we experience life. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:32.799 This idea that the believer is united to Jesus is one of the most important and most neglected truths in all of the modern church. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:41.920 That you are inextricably joined by faith to Jesus in such a way that when he died, you died. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:45.680 And when he rose again, you rose again. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:56.079 Brother or sister, you are united to Jesus, inextricably linked to Christ. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:58.319 Your life is bound up with him. 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:00.960 When he died, you died. 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:03.839 And when he was raised, you rose. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:10.559 This is why Paul, so coming back up the verses, this is why Paul uses the image of baptism. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:16.880 Not because baptism causes the union with Christ, right? 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:22.079 We do not believe that that baptism joins us to Jesus. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:28.880 No, rather, what baptism does is it symbolizes a spiritual reality. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:37.839 Baptism dramatically represents this idea of being united to Jesus in death and raised to newness of life. 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:48.880 He's saying, in a fact, to the Roman Christians, he says, You remember, remember, when you were submerged under the water, that symbolized your death with Christ. 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:52.480 You went into a breathless grave. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:24:01.599 And then you were raised back up again, just as Christ was raised, in order that you might show the world that you are a new person. 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:08.720 And so baptism is a picture of union with Jesus. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:13.039 So why don't we continue to sin? 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:18.079 Why don't we continue to sin it up in order to show the greatness of God's grace? 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:19.920 Well, Paul's answer is because you died. 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:21.680 You died to sin. 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:26.720 No longer are you under its tyrannical rule. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:30.160 No longer do you need to obey its dictates. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:36.079 So Christianity doesn't change your life the way a religion does. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:38.640 With rules and carts and sticks. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:51.200 It changes your life by destroying the power of sin over your life and uniting you to Jesus in his death and in his resurrected life. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:58.559 Now, a couple of implications of this teaching, right? 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:00.400 So you're dead to sin. 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:01.839 Why does that matter? 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:03.839 What sort of impact does that have? 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:05.119 Two implications. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:08.960 First, the old you is gone. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:11.759 The old you is gone. 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:14.319 Have a look with me at verse 6. 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:27.759 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:34.000 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:38.640 The old you is gone. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:46.000 Here at the start of verse 6, Paul is talking about the old self and how he or she was crucified. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:48.160 What is this old self? 00:25:49.759 --> 00:26:15.599 Well the old self is your old ways of thinking, your old desires, your old drives, the things that you valued above all else, the thing that that uh that controlled and activated you, that actually your desires have changed, you have a different value system, you want different things now that you've died, now that the old self has been crucified. 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:23.599 It is the it is the inner, it is the personality and ego of the old person. 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:26.799 And many of you, I'm sure, feel this. 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:49.680 Those of you who have become followers of Jesus later on in life, say in your late teens, early 20s, or beyond, you think back to before you met Jesus, before you became a follower of Jesus, and you think, well, hold on, I'm a I'm a completely different person. 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:52.720 I don't recognize that guy. 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:55.519 I don't recognize that woman. 00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:03.359 I have different longings, different desires, different things control and drive me. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:04.559 Yeah. 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:08.319 Because the old person was crucified. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:10.640 The old person died. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:13.519 Then he goes on, we're still in verse 6. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:14.799 He says, The old person died. 00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:25.920 The old person was crucified with him, that is, with Jesus when he was crucified, in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:28.240 It's a curious phrase. 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:29.680 What does it mean? 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.880 Well, it doesn't mean that Paul thinks that your body is inherently sinful. 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:40.160 Sometimes is what Christianity people think Christianity teaches. 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:47.599 That the things you do in the spirit, the religious pursuits, uh, they're they're the good holy things. 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:51.440 The stuff that you do in the body, particularly sex, that's kind of mucky, right? 00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:56.079 So don't, don't, body things, bad, spirit things, good. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:58.960 That is not a Christian idea. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:02.559 That's a Greek idea, that's a Platonic idea. 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:05.759 That does not exist in Christian thought. 00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:08.799 No, God loves the material. 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:13.759 He made a material world and is redeeming a material world. 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:25.039 And so, whatever Paul means here by the body of sin, it's not that Paul thinks that uh that your physical flesh is inherently sinful, right? 00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:29.200 No, rather what Paul is saying, and it's quite a simple point, really. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:34.720 It's like saying, if you're going to sin, you're going to do it in your body. 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:35.839 Right? 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:41.200 Uh if you're going to steal something, you don't steal it conceptually, right? 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:44.240 You use your limbs to take the thing, right? 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:46.559 Your body does the sin, right? 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:49.519 Or you know, adultery, fornication. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:55.680 Again, obviously there is a conceptual element to that, but it's a physical act. 00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:57.599 Or lying. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:28:59.920 You know, use your tongue to do that. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:05.599 It's saying that if you if you're going to sin, you're going to do it in your body. 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:08.880 And so let's join these two together. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:22.559 And what we realize is that what Paul is saying is that God crucified the old, the old you, the old thing that motivates and drives you, so that actually you might live differently in the body. 00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:34.480 So the body of that gives itself over to sin because it's enslaved to sin might now present itself to God. 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:38.319 That might actually live differently. 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:46.640 A life that is no longer enslaved to sin, but set free. 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:49.599 That's what he says in verse 7. 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:52.079 That's the answer to the kid's question. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:57.599 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:16.640 Some of you, I'm sure, are here this morning and you're you count yourself as a follower of Jesus, you're trusting Jesus, and you feel like there is no hope for you when it comes to sin. 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:29.279 There is something that is so habitual, so ingrained that feels like its power has never faded. 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:32.640 Feels as vicious as ever. 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:37.359 And you're convinced that there's nothing can be done to help you. 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:42.240 I need to tell you something. 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:47.119 I believe that you're being told a lie. 00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:50.640 I believe that you're telling yourself a lie. 00:30:54.960 --> 00:31:06.559 One of the most liberating things to realize for you as a follower of Jesus is that sin's power has been broken. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:14.880 You can say no to sin. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:19.200 And sin wants you to believe that you can't. 00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:22.559 It's lying to you right now, going, it's not true. 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:24.400 I'm gonna get you later. 00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:25.440 Right? 00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:27.200 It's telling you lies. 00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:30.400 We believe lies all the time. 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:39.279 There comes a point where we need to arrest our own soul and say, let me speak some truth to you. 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:41.519 I've been set free. 00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:42.640 I've died to sin. 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:48.799 Yes, the presence and the influence of sin remains in your life, but its power has been broken. 00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:51.440 Think of it this way: go back to the tyrannical country. 00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:53.759 Imagine, imagine in that land. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:03.599 The tyrant is sent down from his throne and he is he is on the run, he's in the fields and villages, he's in the countryside, but he still is able to broadcast. 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:06.559 He still breaks in over the channels. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:11.119 He still gets his message out over social media and over the radio and over television. 00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:13.839 And he still says, I'm still in charge. 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:16.240 Don't you believe that there's a good king on the throne. 00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:16.960 There's nobody there. 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:17.839 I'm in charge. 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:19.039 I'm in charge. 00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:22.000 You will never be free while I'm in charge. 00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:24.480 He's controlling the media. 00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:39.519 And in a sense, in coming back, in coming to what Paul is saying here, in coming to God's word, it's like going to the Capitol and walking into government buildings and saying, ah, the good king is there. 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:51.279 That all of the stuff that I'm reading and that I'm hearing, and that it's constantly on my on my radio that I turn it on and on my Instagram feed as I doom scroll, that it's all lies. 00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:57.039 I can say no. 00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:05.599 Holiness, and that's I mean, holiness is kind of like a muscle to be exercised. 00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:12.960 Goodness me, like I have sat so many people have I have sat with and had this kind of conversation with. 00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:18.799 And then the next week or two weeks later we meet, and they're like, I said no. 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:21.920 I said no to that, to that thing, to whatever it is. 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:23.839 I said no to it. 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:27.279 Not every day, but I did it a couple of times. 00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:28.079 I said no. 00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:29.759 I didn't realize that I could. 00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:32.720 You can try it. 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:45.440 Do not believe the lie that sin's power remains over your life if you are a follower of Jesus. 00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:50.319 You died, and its power was broken. 00:33:54.319 --> 00:34:06.240 Yes, its presence might seem very near, and its rule very terrible. 00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:12.400 But that tyrant's on the run. 00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:16.000 The old year's gone. 00:34:18.320 --> 00:34:21.440 The second implication is that you are alive to God. 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:24.400 Verses 8 to 11. 00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:25.360 Let me remind you of them. 00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:26.719 Have a look with me. 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:36.559 Now, if we've died with Christ, we believe that we'll also be raised with him, so that we'll also live with him. 00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:41.440 We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. 00:34:41.760 --> 00:34:45.119 Death no longer has any dominion, any rule over him. 00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:49.760 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. 00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:52.079 But the life he lives, he lives to God. 00:34:52.400 --> 00:35:01.119 So you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:05.519 You see, Jesus didn't just die, did he? 00:35:06.079 --> 00:35:07.039 He rose. 00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:10.960 He rose to newness of life. 00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:15.280 He rose to live a life that would never be touched by death again. 00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:20.880 Because the power of sin would never touch him again. 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:29.360 And you, believer, follower in Jesus, are united with him in his death and resurrection. 00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:33.119 Sin's great super weapon has been disarmed. 00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:37.039 It is no longer something to fear. 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:48.320