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the world wanted to do things. And I was very competitive and athletics was so important to me.

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And I moved on to high school and into college. I was always kind of a late bloomer, a small kid.

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I was third string in high school until my senior year when I played,

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and I was third stringer in college for two years before I finally started.

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But I wanted to be successful. And the more I bought into the world's formula for success,

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in good grades, in popularity, in athletic achievement, in lots of friends, in the social life,

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the more I bought into that world philosophy, the more I pushed God out of my life.

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And yet the whole time I was telling myself I was a Christian.

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And I kind of kept that in the back of my head. I didn't want anyone to really know.

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I wanted to live like everyone else but have the confidence that I was going to heaven and was saved.

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And one of the verses that maybe even I twisted to justify that is Romans 8.28,

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that you hear people say all the time, all things work together for good for those that love God.

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Well, I thought about that verse, and at the end of 1981 when I graduated from Dartmouth,

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I was successful finally by the world's model. I was going to go to Los Angeles to play pro football

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for the Los Angeles Rams. That was my dream and my goal, something I'd always wanted since I was a little kid,

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since my dad had played and I loved playing quarterback.

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And yet after being successful and finishing college, I knew that there was something wrong.

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I felt something wrong. I'd felt the compromise in my values.

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I'd seen myself turned from a leader into a follower. And I'd seen that I was very selfish.

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All those things going against what I knew God planned for us to have in our lives.

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And I thought again and opened up my Bible to Romans 8.28 and read the verse.

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And there was more to it than what I'd read that first time.

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It says, all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose.

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And a light bulb went on in my head and said, Jeff, you've been called according to your own purpose for 20 years.

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And you've called yourself a Christian, but you've been trying to be Jeff Kemp's own boss.

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You've been trying to do things the world's way. You've been trying to become happy and popular and successful.

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And you've done that in the world's eyes, but it hadn't worked.

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So I made a true commitment, a full life commitment that Jesus Christ would be the purpose and the center and the goal in my life.

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The Bible started becoming my game plan instead of what the crowd was doing around me.

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And prayer was the main tool for entering into the battles that you face each day playing football in the NFL

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or trying to find a good Christian wife, which God soon brought into my life.

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And after making that commitment in 1981, God fulfilled not only a purpose in my life, but a plan.

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And the plan isn't always easy. It's not intended to be.

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We usually grow closer to God in the tough times than in the easy times when we tend to take credit for things.

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And I've been traded twice in the NFL and I've been a fourth stringer.

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I've struggled, and yet I thank God that my career has gone that way because it's always made me hold on tight to the Lord.

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My wife Stacey became a Christian a year before we met.

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And we now have two little boys who have been married for five years.

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And God is working great things in my personal family and my larger family as we go through this incredible process of political running for office.

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But Christ is the center and I just enjoy the chance to get to share it with all of you. Thank you.

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We're glad to have you here tonight. It may be one of these days you get traded to the Vikings. You never know, right?

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They've got two good quarterbacks. I don't know if I want to come here.

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Well, just give them time. Just give them time.

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Are there a number of other Christians who are working with you at the football organization you're with now?

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You may be interested to know that on every single football team in the National Football League,

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there is a chapel service on Sunday morning before the games since we can't go to church with our families.

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And every team I believe has Bible studies. Some of them are pretty small.

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The Seahawks have about eight or nine believers who bring their wives, their girlfriends.

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And we have a very strong fellowship, a good little discipleship group.

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And Steve Largent and Paul Scancey are two of my very best friends on the team.

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And Steve Largent for a long time has been a leader in standing up for Christ.

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Not only by espousing his faith in front of others and professing Christ, but by standing for excellence as a Christian.

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I mean, we're called to do all things heartily as unto the Lord.

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I don't know anyone who does things more heartily unto the Lord than Steve Largent,

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who's proven that you don't need to have all the talent in the world to glorify God through whatever he's called you to do.

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Well, thanks for coming tonight and sharing with us in this service.

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I know there are probably some people who want autographs after the service.

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I don't know if you're available for that or not, but I might be one of them.

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But God bless you, and we're thankful for men like you who are representing the Lord as well as a team in athletics.

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God bless you.

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Okay, thanks.

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Thank you, Randall.

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I understand that Mark and Roxanne Henderson have a little boy, is that right?

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Bradley?

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Brady?

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Brady.

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And what's his middle name?

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Joe.

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Joe.

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Okay.

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Joel, excuse me.

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Well, I'll get it right, you know.

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His eyes are going, my ears are going.

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So we congratulate them.

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We're happy for them.

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John and I are good friends.

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And for those of you who may be visiting tonight, when I make a comment like I did a few moments ago, it's all in fun.

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John and I tease each other all the time.

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And I know John, you didn't take offense at that, did you?

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Yeah.

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Any more than I did when he remarked about my tie a couple of weeks ago.

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So I guess it was about a month ago now that I was asked to speak at a retreat for Small Church 22.

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It was up at a camp between Little Falls and Long Prairie.

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I was to arrive there about 8.30 on a Friday evening and left in plenty of time to get there.

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I had good directions, but the direct D got lost.

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And as I was driving around central Minnesota with the temperature about 10 below zero, not knowing where I was,

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I decided to stop and ask at some farm homes.

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I could not find anybody who would answer the door.

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I don't know if they were all out playing bingo that Friday night or if they were scared by this imposing figure who came to the door.

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I'm not sure what the reason was.

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But I stopped at one place that looked inviting, lights were on.

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As I got out of my car and walked toward the door, there was a deck that came out from the door.

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And just as I was about to step on the deck, I heard this deep growl from underneath the deck.

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And I looked down and saw two bright eyes staring at me from Rin Tin Tin in a bad mood.

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And he moved out from under the deck toward me.

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I started backing up.

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And he was ferocious.

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He did not have a collar on or a rope or a chain.

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I reached in my pocket and found the only weapon I had, which was a camera,

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which I intended to place right behind his tonsils when he jumped at me.

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I backed up as fast as he was coming at me.

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And as I was backing up, I backed over a snow drift and fell flat on my back.

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At that point, I could see him making one last leap on this preacher and going for my juggler vein.

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I did escape, however, got back in the car, and the adrenaline was flowing through my body so badly I could hardly drive.

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I shook.

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And at that point, I was ready to come back to the Twin Cities, to civilization, I'll tell you.

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Well, it reminded me of that verse in the scripture that says,

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The devil is like a roaring German shepherd, walking about, seeking whom he may devour.

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We have an enemy that we fight.

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We've been talking about that in the mornings.

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But we have not only an enemy without, we have an enemy within.

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And that is our theme for tonight as we turn to Romans chapter 6.

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We're talking about this matter of victory over sin.

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In Romans chapters 6, 7, and 8, we have God's answer to that.

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In chapters 6 and 7, he speaks about our union with Jesus Christ.

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And in chapter 8, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

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Because of those two facts, you and I can know victory over sin.

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Now, I hope you have an outline that was placed into your hand when you came in, do you?

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Oh, good. I see most of you shaking your head yes.

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If you don't have one, by the way, you might want to lift your hand and I should get one to you.

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If you do not have an outline, yes, we have some who need them.

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We'll move ahead, but you just keep your hand up and they'll work up the aisles and hand you the outline.

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Last week we looked at the first part of this key statement that says we died to sin.

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Let's read together verses 1 through 3. I'll read you follow along in your scripture.

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What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?

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May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

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

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The key phrase in those three verses is found in verse 2 where it says we died to sin.

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Last week we focused on the first key word, we, our identity.

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Who are we?

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If you men will just work up the aisle, there are some with hands up here at the front.

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Oh, you're out of them? Okay, we'll make some more next week then.

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Sorry about that. Maybe you can look on with somebody near you.

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We, who are we who have died to sin?

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The answer is that we are, in Paul's language, in Romans, saints.

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It doesn't mean that we're sinlessly perfect.

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It doesn't mean that we're part of some super spiritual group.

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But all who have been called of God to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ as his own are saints.

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Those who have been set apart from the secular to be sacred.

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Those who have been called out from the profane to be God's own personal possession.

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All believers are saints.

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Our essential identity is no longer as sinners, though we still sin.

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But there has been a radical transformation in us.

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We are brand new people. We are people that we were not before.

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We are new creatures in Jesus Christ.

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We have a new identity.

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And because of that identity, the apostle says, how can we, considering who we are, continue to live in sin?

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It's ludicrous. It doesn't make sense, he says.

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That we who have been called by God to be saints, who have been set apart by God for special purpose,

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that we should continue living in sin.

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That's our identity.

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Now we want to talk briefly about our enemy, which is found in that same phrase, we died to sin.

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The enemy here is the one within us. It is sin.

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Not sins, the acts or the expressions or the deeds, but rather that which is the root of the deeds, sin.

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As a power, as a force or a principle that is within us.

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Sin as a power force entered into the creation in the garden.

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It came through Adam, as it says back in chapter 5 and verse 12.

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Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered into the world.

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The word entered there has the idea behind it of coming in through the door.

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Sin was not a part of God's creation in this world until that point when Adam opened the door by his disobedience.

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And sin entered, and along with sin came its partner, death.

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And it says, so death spread to all men.

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That is, it spread out like a vapor, permeating, penetrating all of the human race, because it says all sinned.

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Now the tense of that verb means that all sinned at one time, one occasion.

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And that one occasion was when Adam sinned.

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When Adam sinned in the garden, he represented all of us.

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We were still in him. Very literally we were in him. Genetically we were in him.

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And when he sinned, we sinned. Sin brought death.

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And as it says in verse 21, sin reigned in death.

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Sin is an enemy. Sin is the power of evil that holds all men who are in Adam as slaves.

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Chapter 3 in verse 9 says that. It says, we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks, or Gentiles that is, non-Jews,

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are all under, under sin. Under the bondage, under the enslavement of sin.

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Sin is the master of all men. Sin is a power, is a principle, is the master of all men.

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That is the enemy, sin.

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Let's think for a moment now about our identification.

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We see that key thought in the word died. It's the verb here.

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He says, we died to sin.

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Now the tense of that verb means that we died once and for all to sin.

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Paul is not saying here that we continually die to sin.

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Nor is this a command. Paul is not saying here you should die to sin.

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But what he says is that you did die to sin.

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You died to sin.

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Now the question is, if we died to sin, when was that?

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Well, the answer is we died to sin when Christ died.

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That's what he says in verse 3.

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He says, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

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Just as we sinned in Adam and incurred the condemnation of death,

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so through our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we were identified with Him in His death.

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We died together with Christ. How?

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Well, he says through baptism. We've been baptized into His death.

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What does that mean?

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Well, first of all, I'd like you to take your finger and just feel your Bible right there at verse 3.

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Now don't get into verse 4, but just feel verse 3.

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Is it wet in your Bible? Is there any water there? No? Not of mine either.

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Often when we see the word baptize, we immediately think of water baptism.

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And that's legitimate. We baptize people in our baptistry.

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The word baptize means to dip, to immerse.

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And it's a very beautiful picture of our death, burial, and resurrection with the Lord Jesus Christ.

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But keep in mind that when you see the word baptize, it does not always mean water baptism.

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And indeed here it does not.

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The word baptize not only has that literal meaning of to dip or immerse,

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but it also has a figurative meaning. A figurative meaning.

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It means to identify with.

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Let me give you an example of that in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

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He says, I do not want you, verse 1, to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud

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and all passed through the sea. And he says, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

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Now there are a number of things that we could point out there, but the thing I want you to notice is that it says

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they were all baptized into Moses. What does that mean?

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Well it means that on that occasion, as they passed through the sea on the dry ground,

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that they were identified with Moses as their great leader.

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It was sort of a picture of water baptism in a way, wasn't it?

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Because there was the water vapor over them in the cloud.

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There was the water on each side of them, although they didn't get wet.

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The Christian army did, but there was water all the way around them.

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But the point here in the word baptized into Moses is that they were identified with Moses as their leader.

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And that is the meaning of baptism in Romans chapter 6.

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What it means is that we were identified with Jesus Christ at the moment that we were saved.

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We were united to Him, or identified with Him.

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So that what happened to Jesus at that moment also happened to us.

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Now that's a key thought.

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What happened to Jesus happened to us because we were identified with Him at the moment that we trusted Him as Savior.

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We were identified with Him in His death.

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We were united to Him in His burial.

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And we were raised together with Him so that all that happened to Christ at that instant happened to us as well.

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Now there are other texts in Scripture that we could look at to talk about this.

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Let me just give you a couple of references for your own study.

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Colossians chapter 2, verses 9, 10, 11, and 12.

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Again in verse 20 of that same chapter.

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Then Colossians 3, verses 1 and 4.

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Ephesians 2, verses 4 through 7.

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And then of course the great Galatians 2, 20.

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These verses all speak to the same truth of our identification with the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Now although this word is figurative here, you need to understand that this identification with Christ is actual.

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It's not fanciful.

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It's not the figment of imagination.

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It's not a daydream.

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It's not theoretical.

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But we were actually identified with Jesus Christ.

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We were united corporately to Jesus Christ at that moment that we trusted Him.

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As Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 13.

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We were all baptized into Christ Jesus.

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Again that's a dry verse.

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We were all identified into the body of Christ Jesus.

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It says there, made one with Him.

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So we died with Christ.

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We died to sin.

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But now we have to ask a very practical question.

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And that is, in what sense then have I died?

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When it says that I have died to sin, in what sense have I died?

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Have I died to the guilt of sin?

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Well, yes, in a sense that is true.

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We no longer have the guilt of sin to condemn us.

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And what a blessed relief that is to know that the guilt of sin is no longer charged to us.

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I spoke to a lady this afternoon on the telephone who is wracked with misery and torment in her soul.

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Because she cannot understand release from guilt.

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She's a Christian.

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She's trusted Christ.

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But she still feels terribly guilty over things in her past.

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Praise God that when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ,

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at that moment we die to the guilt of sin.

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We're no longer guilty in the eyes of God.

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We are justified.

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We are righteous.

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Not just forgiven so that the sins are taken away.

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That's blessed in itself.

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But we have added to us righteousness.

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So that God sees us righteous in Christ.

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That's justification.

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But I believe that when it says here that we died to sin, it means more than that we died to the guilt of sin.

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Does it mean that we have died to the possibility of sin?

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No, it doesn't.

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And even the Apostle Paul will testify to that in chapter 7.

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So hang in there for his testimony.

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It's tremendous.

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The transparency of the Apostle.

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When it says we've died to sin, it doesn't mean that we have no longer the possibility of sin within us.

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Because we can, and sadly we do, sin.

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So he's not saying that we died to the possibility of sin.

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But what he is saying is this.

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When he says in verse 2 that we died to sin,

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he means we have died to the reign of sin in our lives.

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We've pointed out the verse in chapter 5, verse 21, that sin reigned in death.

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In the sphere of death.

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Sin reigned as a taskmaster, as a cruel death spot over our lives before we were saved.

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And those who have not yet heard, those that we heard sung about earlier this evening,

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are still under the reign of sin.

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Held in that cruel bondage to sin.

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But you and I who have come to Jesus Christ,

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who have received from Him grace and forgiveness,

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we have died to the reign of sin.

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We have died to its rule, its dominion, its mastery over us.

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We have finished now with the reign of sin.

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And we are now under the reign of grace in our lives.

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Again, chapter 5, verse 21.

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As sin reigned in death, before we were saved, when we were still in Adam.

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He says even so grace might reign through righteousness.

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That's what happens now that we're saved.

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Grace is reigning in our lives, not sin.

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We have been taken out of sin's territory, as Paul said to the Colossians.

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He says God has translated us out of the domain of Satan.

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And has placed us into the kingdom of His dear Son.

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So no longer are we under the reign of sin.

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No longer are we a part of the domain or the kingdom of sin.

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We are now under the reign of grace and we belong to the kingdom of His dear Son.

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Now that is an actual fact.

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That is truth that the Word of God teaches us.

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But we have to keep in mind that there is a distinction between what the facts are

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and what our experience may be.

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We have to distinguish between what the facts are in God's Word

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and what our experience may be at the moment.

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Paul says that we are no longer under the slavery to sin.

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But in experience there are times when we obey sin and we do what it tells us to do.

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And even though it's a fact we're free from it, we yield to it.

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Though we shouldn't.

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One commentator points to the slaves after the Civil War

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who were given their freedom from the cruel bondage that they experienced.

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And yet because many of them had all of their lives been in slavery

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they did not know what it was to be free.

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The fact was that they were set free.

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There was a document stating that they were no longer in bondage to their owners.

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And yet many of them for a long time had difficulty with the facts in experience.

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They remained as servants.

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They did not know how to act, how to appropriate,

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how to live in light of the new truth about them.

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And there are many of us Christians who are just like that.

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God has set us free.

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That's the fact.

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We no longer have to obey sin.

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But in the case with most of us we have lived a long time under bondage to sin.

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And the result is that we still have yet to fully implement the facts into our lives.

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You say, wait a minute, if I am really truly free from the reign of sin

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why am I still tempted to sin?

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Why is there still this enemy that allures me and entices me to disobey God?

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Why do I still experience that if in fact I am dead to sin?

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The answer to that is simply this, that sin didn't die.

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God doesn't say here in Romans chapter 6 that sin died.

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He says you died.

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Sin is still very much alive.

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And it dwells in you as a power, as a force to be reckoned with.

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It's an enemy that lives inside of you.

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But the fact that we have to write in our hearts, Paul says in fact in verse 3,

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do you not know there is something that we need to know?

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And that is this truth that when we came to Jesus Christ and trusted him as Savior,

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at that moment we died, we died to sin, though it still lives.

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We died to it and we have been therefore released from slavery to it

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so that we no longer have to obey sin.

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Now my friend, that is the key to victory.

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It is this truth that we died to sin.

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Paul goes on from here now to tell us how to use that key.

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As it were how to turn the key in the lock and open the door so that we might experience

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this victory more consistently in our lives.

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We'll take that up next week. Let's bow together.

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Father, this truth is so transforming and life changing that it's like dynamite, it's powerful.

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And I pray that you will write it on the heart of each person here who's yours, each saint of God.

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May we know this truth.

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Grant that we shall be able to understand who we are now in Christ, that we're somebody in Christ,

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that we're part of your new creation, that we're your new people,

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that we're citizens of a new kingdom, that we're no longer under the old taskmaster and system.

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And as we know that, I pray that by grace the Spirit of God will enable us to use that truth

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as a key to victory in our experience as we battle with sin, which is still very much alive as our enemy.

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Lord, each week as we build this truth that you're going to speak to us,

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may it be an exciting and a releasing, a liberating experience for all of us.

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May we know the truth and may it truly set us free to experience the quality of life

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that you've made possible for us in Christ.

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In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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God bless you. We thank you for being here for the service tonight.

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Now, there's some important meetings after the service. We encourage your attendance at them.

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And if you're not going there, may God give you a safe journey home and a fruitful week as you walk with Him.

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God bless you.