1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,080 Oh, thank you. I've enjoyed the music tonight. Paul and Kim Vanderwerf ministered to us last. 2 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:15,320 They're rather new attenders in our church, and that's who they are in case you didn't 3 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:23,080 recognize them. Thank you, all of you who ministered to music this evening so effectively. 4 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:29,360 Let's open our Bibles together, Romans chapter 6, as we focus again at two verses that we 5 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:34,200 covered last week, verses 12 and 13. 6 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:42,600 Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts. And 7 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:50,760 do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, 8 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:56,960 but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments 9 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:01,720 of righteousness to God. 10 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:09,100 Whatever you may think of his politics, the Reverend Jesse Jackson is a man who is able 11 00:01:09,100 --> 00:01:19,120 to move audiences by his oratory. His ability to turn a phrase, to repartee, is outstanding, 12 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:24,400 at least among the candidates in his political party. And I was listening to a program the 13 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:30,120 other night, and they were asking as to why it is that the other candidates are very reticent 14 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:37,920 to attack his positions or his statements. And there were several reasons given for that, 15 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:42,080 but among them was the fact that the other is a little scared of what he may say, because 16 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:46,400 he has the ability to capture something in a phrase and to make it live. 17 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:52,320 My brother-in-law teaches for a high school in the Cincinnati area. It's in an inner 18 00:01:52,320 --> 00:02:01,880 city part of Cincinnati. And on an occasion several years ago, Jesse Jackson went there 19 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:07,880 to speak. Now normally when they would have an assembly, the students were not particularly 20 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:14,560 respectful, did not exactly pay close attention to what the speaker might be saying. But when 21 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:19,560 Jesse Jackson spoke, they were all ears to hear what he had to say. 22 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:25,000 The one message that Jesse Jackson communicated that day, and which they repeated back to 23 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:30,680 him and chanced, which caused the whole auditorium to reverberate, was the little phrase that 24 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:37,800 maybe you've heard him use on the news occasionally, I am somebody. Except he didn't say it like 25 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:45,240 that. I am somebody. That's how he would say it. And the students were chanting that back 26 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:54,560 and forth, I am somebody. I want you to know tonight that as a child of God, as a saint, 27 00:02:54,560 --> 00:03:06,520 one of God's called out ones, you are somebody. You are. You are a new person. You are someone 28 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:14,840 that you were not before your salvation. Notice how the apostle Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 29 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:29,720 chapter 5. Would you turn over there with me? He speaks about his ministry among them. 30 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:36,800 And he declares to them that even sacrificially he had given himself for them. He says it 31 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:46,240 is for you. In verse 13. Now in verse 14 he says, for the love of Christ controls us. 32 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:52,600 That word control is from a verb that means to hold together or to press together. The 33 00:03:52,600 --> 00:04:00,020 idea is confinement or restriction. The apostle Paul is saying that there is something that 34 00:04:00,020 --> 00:04:08,120 sets a boundary around his life. You know when that happens power is created. Some people 35 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:14,480 think that you can just live the way you want to live. That's power. No, not at all. It's 36 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:19,760 when there is constriction that there is power. You take water out of a bucket. You can throw 37 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:25,280 it and get something wet. But you put water into a hose and constrict it. And then you 38 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:30,320 put a nozzle on the end of the hose and you play with that nozzle. You can get a lot more 39 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:38,120 power and force out of that water than you can if you throw the water out of a bucket. 40 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:43,320 Paul is saying here that his life is under restriction and control. There are boundaries 41 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:51,080 set upon him by the love of Christ. Having concluded this he says that one Christ died 42 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:59,200 for all. Therefore all died. He is saying here basically the same thing he said back 43 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:06,680 in Romans. One died for all, therefore all died because we were all identified with Christ 44 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:17,440 in his death. And he died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves. 45 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:23,880 That is, for the advantage of themselves. But rather for him or for his advantage who 46 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:31,360 died and rose again on their behalf. The person who claims to be saved but who entirely lives 47 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:40,440 for himself had better question his conversion. Because Jesus Christ died for us and rose 48 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:46,840 again and we have been identified with him in death, burial and resurrection. So that 49 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:52,600 we might not any longer live for ourselves. There is a change made in our life. But for 50 00:05:52,600 --> 00:06:03,000 him who died for us and rose again. Therefore from now on he says, we recognize no man according 51 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:11,040 to the flesh. That is by mere externals. Even though we have known Christ according 52 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:19,120 to the flesh. Yet now we know him thus no longer. What is he saying here? He is saying 53 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:29,640 Christ died and rose again. No longer is he as he was before. In his fleshly earthly body 54 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:38,520 a change has taken place. He has been raised a new person. In the sense that he has a new 55 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:47,200 body. A glorified body. An eternal body. Unlike the body he lived in during those years upon 56 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:53,920 the earth. Therefore he says if any man is in Christ. Now that is Paul's phrase isn't 57 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:59,280 it? For the saved. In Christ. That is our spiritual position. He says if any man is 58 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:09,800 in Christ. He is a new creature. Just as Jesus Christ is not what he was before when he lived 59 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:17,440 upon the earth. Oh the same glorious person. The God man yes. But he is different now. 60 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:24,520 Resurrection has occurred. A glorified body. So he says there is a change in the person 61 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:34,920 who is in Christ. He is a new creation. He says the old things passed away. With a certain 62 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:41,640 finality he says that. The old things. The word there is the word our chaos. It is the 63 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:52,680 word that is the root for our word archaeology. The study of old things. Things that are from 64 00:07:52,680 --> 00:08:01,400 an earlier time. The apostle says that those things from our earlier time before conversion 65 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:09,000 have passed away with finality. He says behold new things have come. And the result is that 66 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:16,360 we continue to experience them he says. New things all the time. We are not the same people 67 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:26,080 that we were before. The new man. The deepest self. The real me. The real you. Is perfectly 68 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:34,520 righteous as Paul says in Ephesians 4 verse 24. Our new nature now is that it has been 69 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:42,880 created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. That is what he says about us. We are 70 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:50,160 created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. That is our real being. Our essential 71 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:58,560 us is brand new. Something that was not even in existence before now exists because we 72 00:08:58,560 --> 00:09:08,000 are a new creation. Peter joins with this in 2 Peter chapter 1 when he says in verse 73 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:17,920 4, for by these, talking about God's glory and excellence in verse 3, by these, he God 74 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:29,360 has granted or bestowed to us his precious and magnificent promises, his very great promises, 75 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:39,240 in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature. What an amazing statement 76 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:49,840 that is. It doesn't mean that we have become gods, but it means that we now are partakers 77 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:58,560 of the very nature and life of God himself by the promises that God has given to us. 78 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:07,520 Only escaped, he says, the corruption that is in the world by lust. That word corruption 79 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:17,720 is an interesting word. It refers to a slow rotting process. I think you might agree with 80 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:26,080 me that the culture in which we live has gotten pretty rotten. That's just the way human 81 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:36,320 culture is apart from God. He says here that by lust, by strong driving passions, the world 82 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:47,400 is corrupting. It is rotting. It can have an ugly, stinking picture, but he says that 83 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:57,400 we, by the grace of God, we have escaped that. We, instead of corrupting, actually now are 84 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:04,280 partakers of the very nature, the very life of God himself. What an amazing statement. 85 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:09,120 Because we are saved, that is true of us. We're in Christ. We are new creatures. We 86 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:18,120 are not what we were before. We are what we were not. Therefore, someone says, are you 87 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:29,120 saying that a Christian is without sin? Absolutely not. I am not saying that. The capacity to 88 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:37,000 sin and to choose to sin is still within us. That is clear from the text we have read from 89 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:48,280 Romans chapter 6. Someone says, what about the sin nature within us? It may be a matter 90 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:56,920 of semantics or terminology to some, but it seems to me that the word nature in a biblical 91 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:06,240 context refers to our essential being, what we really are. I think we see that in Ephesians 92 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:13,560 2-3 when it says, we were by nature children of wrath. That is a statement regarding the 93 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:22,600 real nature of the sinner, the real essence of him. He is by nature in his essential being, 94 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:32,560 an identity, a child of wrath. When we understand nature in that, what I think is a biblical 95 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:38,440 context, we have to understand that we who are saved have a new nature that has been 96 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:48,640 radically changed from what the old one was. In his book Birthright, David Needham says, 97 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:55,440 if those who use this terminology, that is sin nature, meant by it that in a general 98 00:12:55,440 --> 00:13:02,080 way, Christians, because they have not yet received the redemption of their bodies, have 99 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:09,200 a tendency to produce fleshly sinful behavior out of harmony with their innermost being, 100 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:16,440 I would find no fault with the terminology. But he goes on to say, one's nature is not 101 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:27,640 simply something a person has, but rather that which a person most deeply is. You see, 102 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:33,200 there's the distinction, and I agree with what Needham says in that regard. 103 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:44,040 Now we still have a question. If then my deepest identity, my essential nature is righteous, 104 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:52,920 then from where does evil originate within me? The answer to that, it originates in sin. 105 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:58,800 That's what the apostle Paul says. Now let me just review with you what we studied last 106 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:04,800 week, and that is that the key to victory is in the truth of our identification with 107 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:11,600 Christ in his death and resurrection, and that we turn the key, as it were, in the door, 108 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:17,580 and open the door to experience victory by taking three actions, by knowing the truth 109 00:14:17,580 --> 00:14:27,560 of our identity with Christ, by considering it to be true, by calculating it to be actual, 110 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:35,960 and thirdly, by presenting ourselves to God and our members as instruments of his for 111 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:40,840 righteousness' sake. Now it's particularly upon the last part of that that I'd like 112 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:48,720 for us to look tonight as we think about the fact that every person, every one of us submits 113 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:59,160 himself to a king who reigns over us. It is either sin, which is still in us, or it is 114 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:06,880 God. Either we yield ourselves to sin or to God. There's really no ground in between 115 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:16,640 it. It's like a light switch. It's either on or off. Either sin is reigning or God is 116 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:25,360 reigning. Now let's think for a moment about the reign of sin. The Bible teaches us that 117 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:39,160 sin as a power, sin as a principle, as a force, operates within our body, that it dominates 118 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:47,220 our bodies if it's allowed to. The truth of our death with Jesus Christ does not mean 119 00:15:47,220 --> 00:15:55,480 that sin as a power died because it did not. The believer died, but not sin. Sin is still 120 00:15:55,480 --> 00:16:02,780 very much alive within the believer. Keep that in mind. The truth of our identity with 121 00:16:02,780 --> 00:16:11,800 Christ does not mean that sin somehow died. It still lives. The truth of identity is that 122 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:19,800 I as a believer died and live anew as a new person. But sin lives. It still lives in my 123 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:25,440 body. Notice that Paul does not say in verse 12, 124 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:33,840 Do not let sin reign in you. Do you see that? I'm back in Romans 6 by the way. If I lost 125 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:41,120 you somewhere along the trip. In Romans 6, 12, he does not say, Do not let sin reign 126 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:51,200 in you. But he says, Do not let sin reign in your mortal body. Notice the distinction 127 00:16:51,200 --> 00:17:00,640 between the personality, the you, who you are, your identity, and your body, your mortal 128 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:07,440 body. The emphasis here is upon the temporariness of the body. He says, Do not let sin as a 129 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:18,200 power, as a king, as an authority reign in your mortal body that you should obey its 130 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:30,200 lusts. Beloved, as long as we are in this body, sin will be seeking to employ our bodies, 131 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:40,560 to dominate our bodies, and us through our bodies. The apostle Paul sees the redeemed 132 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:50,200 person as a new creature in Jesus Christ, but as one who still has sin in his body. 133 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:57,000 Now we see that for example in chapter 7 and verse 18. Just look over there quickly. We'll 134 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:03,120 cover this later in detail. But just look what he says here. I know that nothing good 135 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:13,880 dwells in me. That is, says Paul, in my flesh. He's not thinking about him as a person, as 136 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:20,020 the new Paul, because the Holy Spirit dwells in him. But he is saying there is nothing 137 00:18:20,020 --> 00:18:30,080 good that dwells in me. That is, I mean my flesh. Down in verse 20 he says, If I am doing 138 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:37,240 the very thing I do not wish, that is sin, I am no longer the one doing it. He says it's 139 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:44,520 not really me, the new me. I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in 140 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:54,640 me. Then in verse 23 he says, I see a different law or principle in the members of my body, 141 00:18:54,640 --> 00:19:00,960 waging war against the law of my mind, making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in 142 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:08,120 my members. Notice where he places sin in its operation. It's in the members of his 143 00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:15,920 body. He says in verse 24, Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of 144 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:22,440 this death. Now Paul is not saying that the physical body itself is essentially sinful. 145 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:29,820 That is not what he's saying. But he is saying that sin as a power operates within the body. 146 00:19:29,820 --> 00:19:40,000 Notice what he says in the middle of the verse, We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting 147 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:48,440 eagerly for our adoption as sons, i.e. the redemption of our body. In other words, our 148 00:19:48,440 --> 00:20:00,000 bodies have not yet been redeemed. Our bodies are mortal, and sin still operates within 149 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:07,480 our bodies. We long for that day when our bodies will be redeemed, when Christ comes, 150 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:15,940 and there will be no more sin operating in us at all. Paul is saying that sin uses the 151 00:20:15,940 --> 00:20:24,880 natural appetites and instincts of our bodies as a means of expressing evil. I mean even 152 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:31,800 those appetites that are God given, the instincts that God has put within us. Sin seeks to use 153 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:41,760 those to express itself in its evil. And that desire of sin to do so sets up a battle within 154 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:49,920 us. Paul describes this in Galatians chapter 5 as a struggle between the flesh and the 155 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:58,760 spirit. The flesh, I understand, to be that pattern of thought, attitude, and action that 156 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:05,760 is left over from what we were before as the old man. The old man himself is gone. He's 157 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:13,200 dead. He no longer exists. But there is a pattern left in me in my personality, in my 158 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:20,520 humanness. There is still a pattern left in me that the Bible calls the flesh. And sin 159 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:29,880 seeks to use that old pattern. It seeks to use the appetites and the desires of my body 160 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:39,720 to dominate me as the new man so that sin is expressed and served. Barnhouse gives a 161 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:47,320 tremendous illustration of this. If you would just bear with me as I share it with you. 162 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:54,080 It's a few paragraphs, but it's catching. He says, one day I was visited by a young 163 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:59,680 man in his 30s who had a personal problem which illustrates the text we're discussing, 164 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:06,120 the same one we're discussing. He told his story somewhat like this. I work for such 165 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:12,320 a company and I have a private office. Several months ago my secretary was absent and I had 166 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:18,800 to use another girl. One day when she brought papers for my perusal she got too close. And 167 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:26,200 when she leaned over the desk she let her hair trail across my face. I fought it down, 168 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:32,360 but after all I am a man and toward the end of the day I put my hand on her and she came 169 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:39,760 right back to be kissed. Even while kissing her I was visualizing my two children running 170 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:47,800 to meet me and my wife standing at the door. I hated what I was doing, but I kept on. I 171 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:52,960 had the greatest desire to push her from me, but I kept pulling her to me. My body was 172 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:59,720 doing one thing and my mind was doing another. When I went home that night I hugged my children 173 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:04,520 so hard that one of them cried. And when we got him to laughing I told them that it was 174 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:10,280 because I loved them so much I had tears in my eyes and my wife's eyes were shining. 175 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:15,000 We all clung together in one of those moments that are indescribable. My wife was supremely 176 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:20,240 happy because I walked around the house that evening touching familiar things that we had 177 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:26,780 scrimped to buy expressing my love for the home and for her and before God I was never 178 00:23:26,780 --> 00:23:34,580 more true. Next day the office intrigue began all over again. I was never more miserable 179 00:23:34,580 --> 00:23:42,600 in my life. Before a month had gone by I realized that my lust and my love were in a terrible 180 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:48,440 battle. When I came home there was everything that I wanted in life. When I went to the 181 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:55,600 office the machine of my body seemed geared to something terrible that was purely mechanical 182 00:23:55,600 --> 00:24:01,440 and which I wanted to get out of more than any fly ever wanted to get off fly paper. 183 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:08,920 I heard my wife tell someone that I was becoming more and more a homebody and that all I wanted 184 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:14,960 to do was stay at home and it is true. I follow her around the house, talk with her in the 185 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:20,400 kitchen where she is working and watch her as she puts the children to bed. This morning 186 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,840 when I left the house she told me that she thought she was the happiest woman in the 187 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:30,640 world because I showed so much that I loved her alone. I could hardly talk. In fact tears 188 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:38,240 came to my eyes when I lifted a lock of her hair to dry them and I said to her, I love 189 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:44,440 you more than life itself. She cried and I crushed her to me until she screamed and smiled 190 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:53,320 at the same time. Then I ran off to my train but now what shall I do? That was the story. 191 00:24:53,320 --> 00:25:00,080 Barnhouse continues, with the husband's consent I called the wife to my office and told her 192 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:08,600 the story. Fear leaped to her eyes but I reassured her. We took a taxi and went to his office. 193 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:14,680 He was expecting us and I stood by as they embraced and she said, I know, I know, I understand, 194 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:22,820 it's all right. Then I called the other girl into the office. The scene that followed typified 195 00:25:22,820 --> 00:25:27,200 the mortal struggle between the flesh and the spirit both striving for the mastery of 196 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:32,600 that body. But the wife was not striving. She knew that the mind, soul, and heart of 197 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:37,520 her husband had never been away from her. She understood the glandular warfare of his 198 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:43,860 body and that his lust had sprung to life in response to the lure of strange flesh. 199 00:25:43,860 --> 00:25:50,720 She looked at him with complete understanding and love. The secretary stood there speechless. 200 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:56,800 I said to her, she knows all about it. She loves him and he loves her completely and 201 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:03,080 he has never had any thought toward you except one of animal lust. You were never wanted 202 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:10,560 except physically and you are not wanted at all from now on. Do you understand? I asked 203 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:16,480 her to wait in the hall while I prayed with the couple. Then I went out and saw the secretary 204 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:22,880 dabbing her eyes and I talked to her about her need of Jesus Christ. 205 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:28,120 Well that's something that happened decades ago in Barnhouse's ministry in Philadelphia. 206 00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:38,960 Let me tell you that's as relevant today as it was then. How is it that we can control 207 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:50,200 sin that is still operating in our bodies seeking to use its natural appetites and instincts? 208 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:58,040 On the one hand, we have to stop presenting the members of our bodies to sin. That's 209 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:05,640 what Paul says. He says we need to stop that. Do not go on presenting the members of your 210 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:14,200 body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. Our bodies with all of their appetites, with 211 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:26,360 all of their propensities, their powers, their faculties, we must stop presenting to sin. 212 00:27:26,360 --> 00:27:33,960 And folks, we can do that because of the truth that we have looked at in verses 1 through 213 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:44,120 11 in Romans chapter 6. What I am saying is that sin's reign will be no more active in 214 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:56,960 me than I allow it to be. Sin is no longer a master any more than I allow it to be a 215 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:09,520 master in my life. As the apostle says in Romans 8 and verse 13, if by the Spirit you 216 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:18,560 are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. That's my responsibility. 217 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:25,440 By the power of the Holy Spirit to put to death what the body wants and what sin is 218 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:34,400 seeking to use the body to do. No longer, he says, should you present or put at the 219 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:45,200 disposal of sin your body and its members. Don't let sin use your body any longer as 220 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:55,760 a weapon against God and against righteousness. But he says on the other hand, present yourself 221 00:28:55,760 --> 00:29:00,560 to God. We have looked at the reign of sin. Let's just think briefly about the reign 222 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:09,320 of God. Just as sin may dominate us, so may God. Sin produces unrighteousness. God produces 223 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:16,500 righteousness. The first thing that we must do is to recognize sin as it operates in us 224 00:29:16,500 --> 00:29:24,980 and deal with it. Once we have done that, we need to take a positive step. That positive 225 00:29:24,980 --> 00:29:31,360 step is in the middle of verse 13, present yourselves to God. Notice something. Before 226 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:38,760 he said in verse 13, yes verse 13, the first part of the verse, he says, do not go on presenting 227 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:48,120 the members of your body to sin. But now he says, present yourselves to God. You see the 228 00:29:48,120 --> 00:30:03,120 difference? We cannot present ourselves to sin because we as a new self or new selves 229 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:08,640 are righteous and created in true holiness. We can present the members of our body to 230 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:19,840 sin. But we can present ourselves, what we really are, as new creatures to God. Present 231 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:31,160 yourselves, who you are now, to God as those alive from the dead and, he says, your members 232 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:37,920 as instruments of righteousness to God. As one who is resurrected, only the Christian 233 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:45,240 is resurrected. As one who is resurrected, you and I can present ourselves and our members 234 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:53,840 to God. The verb tense here is such that it means once and for all. It doesn't mean that 235 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:59,880 we're not going to have to come back to this point many times, even in the same day. 236 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:08,760 But Paul's point seems to be set your flag here. Say, here it is, Lord, this is the decision 237 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:18,400 I make by faith. I say that I and the members of my body are your servants and I give you 238 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:26,240 all that I am to produce righteousness. And we set the flag there and if we step back 239 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:32,440 from that flag at some points, we need to come back to it and recognize that we've 240 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:41,120 slipped, but reconfirm that the flag is here, that we are God's servants. We are created, 241 00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:46,440 beloved, to serve him. That's why we have died and been raised again that we might not 242 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:52,000 any longer live for ourselves, but for him and be his servants. 243 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:58,280 Do you remember where we started in this whole study back in Romans 6? The question was, 244 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:04,960 how can we, considering who we are, considering the new people that we are in Jesus Christ, 245 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:16,340 how can people like us continue to live in sin? It's incongruous. It's unthinkable. 246 00:32:16,340 --> 00:32:22,880 It's even reprehensible to consider that because of who we are now in Jesus Christ, that we 247 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:31,200 should go on presenting ourselves to sin, to serve it. Because we have died to sin. 248 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:39,680 It's no longer our master. We have been raised to serve a new master, Jesus Christ, and we 249 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:47,720 should present ourselves to him and let him be our king. So I ask this question, practically 250 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:53,360 speaking tonight, I mean honestly, in the way that it really is in your life, who is 251 00:32:53,360 --> 00:33:05,440 king? Who is your king? Is it sin that still operates in your body, your mortal body? Oh, 252 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:16,600 and tonight renounce that activity as being a monstrosity, as being abnormal, as being 253 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:25,640 freakish, for it is. Because as a new person in Jesus Christ, that is not at all what is 254 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:34,480 in harmony with who you are. But rather tonight proclaim Jesus Christ as king and lord of 255 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:45,080 your life. Let's bow together. I wonder if you would just like to respond quietly to 256 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:59,920 God where you're seated. Pray to him. Talk to him about who's king. And if sin has been 257 00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:11,160 on the throne of your life, reckon with it. Be done with it. And present yourself to God. 258 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:16,360 And the members of your body, with all of its appetites and its propensities, present 259 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:35,520 your body to God to serve him to live righteously. Heavenly Father, apply this word to our lives. 260 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:41,840 Oh, may it be a living word to us this evening personally. And may the living Spirit of God 261 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:52,560 who inspired these living words cause it to be indelibly written, written upon our hearts. 262 00:34:52,560 --> 00:35:04,240 And may we begin to enter more and more and more into the experience of Romans 6. And 263 00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:13,040 so consider and present ourselves to you as those who have been gloriously raised from 264 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:41,040 the dead to serve you. In Jesus' name, amen.