Romans 6:1-11

[0:00] Good to be back in God's house. Turn with me to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. Give you a minute to get there. I'm going to read 11 verses here tonight.

[0:21] Romans chapter 6. Now I'm going to go back and go one by one through each verse and break it down and explain what God's saying to us through His Word. Talking about a subject, it's kind of really overlooked I think by the church, by a lot of teachers, a lot of preachers.

[0:40] I have no doubt that Brother Spencer teaches it and preaches it regularly because he's faithful to the Word. I've been studying it and I want to break down and show you some things that God showed me through the Scripture tonight.

[0:55] We're going to read these verses here. Romans 6 and verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

[1:08] God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death.

[1:20] Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like His Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. Even so, we also should walk in newness of life.

[1:34] For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

[1:54] For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, died no more.

[2:07] Death hath no dominion over him, for in that he died, he died to sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed unto sin, but alive, unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[2:25] I'm going to pray and then we'll get into it here. Lord, thank you for another opportunity just to be able to try to do the best that I can to teach your word.

[2:36] I'm nothing, I'm nobody, just a sinner saved by the grace of God. And I pray that you would take the Scripture tonight, Lord, and help us to glean from it that we would not just know and learn stuff for knowledge, but that we would grow closer to you through your word.

[2:53] Sanctify us with your word here tonight. God and I pray that it be anybody here tonight that's lost. It may seem like a strange thing to say on a Thursday night, but I do pray God that if there'd been anybody here that's here, it's lost.

[3:07] God, that you would draw them to you, Lord, for salvation. And God, I pray that you would be glorified in this reading and studying your word tonight and help each one that's here to have ears to listen, Lord, and help us to understand, comprehend what you're saying to us here in your word.

[3:22] Help me not to stray from it. God, I pray that you'd help me to be plain-spoken in what I'm saying, or not to be smart in my own ways, but God just to be plain-spoken in what your word says.

[3:34] I love you, and I thank you for saving me, and I thank you for your grace and mercy in Jesus' name. Amen. So, Spencer, I was here a couple Thursdays ago, and he kind of was in Romans, and just kind of give you an intro of what's going on here.

[3:52] The book of Romans, it was written to the church that was in Rome at the time, the Christian church that was in Rome. Paul actually wasn't there when he wrote the letter to him. He was desiring to go there, and it's what Brogess Mentor had said.

[4:06] The other time, he had been hindered to be able to go there. He had a desire to go there, and he said in part a spiritual gift into him. He wanted to teach him the Word of God, but most likely the church in Rome was started by believers that were converted at Pentecost.

[4:23] They came from Pentecost, went back to Rome, and they started a church there, and they were growing. They were a church that was already established. As much as our Catholic friends would like to say that Paul or Peter started the church in Rome, God started the church there, and they started at Pentecost, and then it went on to Rome.

[4:44] Just to kind of give you an idea of what's happening up at this point, Paul, in chapters 1-5, he's laying the foundation. Romans is probably my favorite, not probably it is my favorite book in the Bible.

[4:57] In chapters 1-5, Paul's giving the foundation of our faith is the gospel of Jesus Christ. All through those chapters, and justification by faith, how we're saved is by grace through faith, and he really nails that home, drives it home in chapters 1-5, but that's where it gets us up to this point.

[5:17] And then now in chapter 6, he turns to the issue of what we would call sanctification, which is just a big word of saying to be made more like God, to be conformed to his image, to grow in holiness and grace and knowledge of the Lord.

[5:33] That's just the plainest way that I can put it, that's what it means. But that's where we're at here in chapter 6. And so I guess you can ask the question here, what is sanctification? Well, I pretty much just told you.

[5:47] After you're born again is when you start your process of sanctification. You're sanctified, and then you become sanctified. God works in you in the process throughout the rest of your life as a believer until the day that you go and to be glorified.

[6:03] And so it's something that's a progressive thing that we see in the life of a Christian. It's maturing in our faith and being made more like Jesus Christ each day of our lives.

[6:14] Okay, what is sanctification? Not. Now, I could probably stay here all night and tell you what it's not. It's not something that happens before you're saved. We do not grow into Christians.

[6:27] We're not born and we start doing things here and doing things there and then one day, we just all of a sudden wake up and we're Christian because we've been doing all these things for a long time. That's not how sanctification works. We are dead in sin.

[6:42] When we become regenerated by the Holy Ghost, by the Holy Spirit, then at that point we begin to grow in Christ. It's not something that happens prior to salvation. So just a couple of things that we hear pretty often.

[6:57] A lot of times you'll hear people say, I've got to get a few things taken care of and then I'm going to get into church. I've got some things I've got to take care of in my life and I'm going to get into church.

[7:08] Well, and I'm sure you all know this, but just as plain as I can put it, coming to church or starting to come to church, it's never safe to anybody.

[7:20] I'm sure you've probably heard the old saying that I can go and stand in the car all day long. I go and stand in the garage all day long. It doesn't make me a car. Same with salvation. I can come to church every Sunday, every Thursday, Sunday night, every night of the week. I can come out here and sit by the door when nobody's here.

[7:37] None of those things make me a Christian. So that's something that we do hear a lot. Never save anybody and those things that we do doesn't make us closer to God, any closer to God because we're still, remember, we're still dead in our trespasses and sins.

[7:51] Or you'll hear somebody say, well, I quit doing XYZ. You name it. I quit smoking pot. I quit getting drunk. I quit taking pills. I quit cussing, those type of things. That doesn't make you a Christian either. It's something that we try to do.

[8:05] People try to do. A lot of people, maybe you've been in that boat. I know I have tried to do things in our life that straighten ourselves up. We quit doing this, quit doing that, quit doing this. None of those things are, none of them have any weight, honestly.

[8:20] Vody Balkam once said, and I think it's a good quote. Missy shared it here. I think it was last week, but he made the comment, hell will be filled with people who didn't drink, didn't cuss and may even have been baptized.

[8:35] Why? Because none of those things make you a Christian. Not one of those things. So a lot of times we see people trying to do the things that happen during the process of sanctification before they're even saved, before they're even justified.

[8:49] And so that's just a couple of examples. I could go probably all day with examples of that. But what that's doing there is what we read in Matthew 23 and 25.

[9:00] It says, thinking that they can clean up, okay? It says, making clean the outside of the cup and of the platter. But within they are full of extortion and excess.

[9:13] It's pretty plain and simple. You've heard the old saying, putting lipstick on a pig. That's basically what it's doing. But once we're saved, we begin to grow, grow in Christ, grow in holiness.

[9:27] And God grooms us each day of our life in different situations, different things we go through to make us more like Christ, no matter what it is. And it's all for His glory too. I was thinking about this just an illustration of cleaning up the outside.

[9:42] We've all been, please don't get offended when I say this. We've all been to funerals before. And unfortunately, we all have to go to funerals. And we'll go to funerals and a lot of times they'll cut our hair, they'll put our best clothes on, all these things.

[9:57] And then you'll stand around and say, well, he looks good on you. Or she looks good on you. And I can't help but to think every time anybody's ever said that, I want to say, no, he looks dead or she looks dead. Nobody ever, a dead person, they're looking good.

[10:11] A dead person cannot do anything. It's respectable. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but I kind of was thinking about this today and it came to my mind. It doesn't matter what we do, what we look like. None of those things make us a Christian.

[10:27] So verse one and two, we'll break it down here. It says, what shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?

[10:41] So kind of in reference to chapters one through five, when Paul was teaching on justification by faith, talking about the grace of God, you kind of see this question come. It says, what shall we say then?

[10:57] Shall we continue in sin? In chapter five we read that grace, we're sin abounds, grace abounds that much more. We read that, but then we see this question come up. Well, what shall we say? Shall we continue in sin?

[11:10] Shall we just sin because grace abounds and use that as our excuse? Well, you can see pretty clearly here in verse two, it's a strong statement. God forbid.

[11:22] I would dare to say, if the apostle Paul has asked this question, he probably, that was probably an answer where he was not very happy to have to answer that. I could almost see him saying, well, I just told you for five chapters you knucklehead. Didn't you understand what I said in the previous chapters?

[11:39] He says, God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? It's something that's commonly quoted, never really explained that much.

[11:56] God's grace must not be abused. It can be abused. It can, people do it all the time. They abuse the grace of God and use it as a pull their grace card out. They do this and do that and pull the grace card. Well, I'm saved by grace and that is so true. We are saved by grace. Don't get me wrong.

[12:12] I am the farthest person from somebody that's legalist than anybody you've probably ever seen. But we are saved by grace, but it's not an excuse to just sin because we're saved.

[12:24] And that's what Paul's getting out here when he says God forbid. And that's the Holy Ghost inspired those scriptures. So it's not just Paul that's saying that. But we run into a thing throughout the scriptures and even in the day and age that we live in.

[12:38] It's a thing called anti-nominism. So it's a big word, but I'm going to tell you exactly what it means. It's just an abuse of God's grace. It's something where people use grace as a license to do this or to do that. And they say, well, I'm covered by grace.

[12:53] I've covered by grace. What it is, I read an article a couple days ago that called it Convictionless Christianity. And that's a good way to explain it, I believe. It's a true statement because these people use grace as a get out of hell free card a lot of times.

[13:10] Doesn't confront the believer with the life that's full of repentance. That's what a true believer's life looks like. Not repenting because we're not saved or to be saved. We're saved, but then we live a life of repentance because of who we serve, who our master is, who our Lord is.

[13:27] I'm not just going back and saying, Lord, please don't cast me out. Please don't cast me out. I'm saying, God, I'm sorry, I've messed up. I've messed up again. And God's still there to say my grace will come. But thank God for that.

[13:41] But anti-nominism is something that's the opposite of that. It doesn't have, there's no confrontation of sin. It's Convictionless Christianity.

[13:53] It was a good way, good definition that I read. It doesn't keep us focused on Christ and Him crucified. Anti-nominism rejects kind of the moral laws of God and says, well, just because we're saved, doesn't mean that we have to, we don't still live morally.

[14:07] We don't still do those things. Well, Jesus said Himself that He didn't come to abolish the law and the prophets. He came to fulfill them. He wasn't just coming and saying, all right, Old Testament, you're out of here.

[14:18] Now there's a lot of crazy laws that people think that we have to follow. We don't. But we still should live a life that has morals because that's God's character. The Ten Commandments just is a picture of who God is, His character. And we see that. And that's what Jesus Himself even preached.

[14:35] So verse two here has got something big I want us to look at. As Christians, someone who's been born again, you go from being dead in trespasses and sins, Ephesians chapter two, to being dead to sin.

[14:51] Right. Romans six into it says, how shall we that are dead to sin, living any longer therein? So Ephesians two says we're dead in sin. Romans chapter six says we're dead to sin. That's a big difference there. We go from being dead in our sins, lost on our way to hell to being dead to sin.

[15:10] What does that mean? Well, that could probably raise a question to a lot of people that would read this, they would read it and say, wait a minute now, does that mean that I'll never sin again because I'm dead to sin?

[15:23] I'm dead to it. I'm not going to, I'm not ever going to sin again. Well, you can find people that will tell you that. There's a whole group of people that preach a thing called sinless perfection and they're deceived, honestly. That's the God's honest truth.

[15:38] But we go from being dead in sin to dead to sin, but only Jesus can make that change. Only Jesus can do that. Jesus Christ is the one that makes dead men become alive.

[15:52] Think of it with Lazarus, the story of Lazarus in John chapter 11. Only Jesus Christ can go to that tomb and say, Lazarus come forth. I could go, Spencer could go, Seth could go, any of you could go and say, Lazarus, come out of there.

[16:04] It wouldn't, it wouldn't do any good. It wouldn't do any good. It wouldn't, it wouldn't cause the death to leave. Only Jesus Christ can do that. But that's not what it means. It doesn't mean that we're sinless. It doesn't mean that we'll never sin again.

[16:17] And as a matter of fact, we're still really good at sinning. Every one of us are. To be honest, if you're honest with yourself, you've probably, and I have to, sin more in the past 20 minutes that we've been in here than you'd like to admit with thoughts and things in your mind.

[16:33] Because that's just who we are. We're still, we're still fallen creatures because of Adam and our fallen nature. The sin that entered mankind because of the fall that happened in the garden, we're still sinners at our best.

[16:45] It's been said, quoted all throughout church history. I'm not even real sure who the quote goes back to, but it says that the best of men are men at best. On our best day, we're not good enough. Each one of us. And so to say that we never sin is really, to be honest with you, it's just heresy.

[17:04] But to answer the question with scripture, we'll go to 1st John chapter one, verses eight through 10. You don't have to turn that if you don't want to. I promise I'll read you from the Bible.

[17:16] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, now why would we have to confess our sins if we didn't have any? He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him, who's him? Jesus Christ.

[17:36] We make him a liar and his word is not in us. So to answer that question, because we're dead to sin, does that mean that we'll never sin again? The scripture very clearly answers it. Anytime we have questions with the scripture and stuff that says, we don't have to go, I don't have to go to somebody else for the answers.

[17:54] I don't have to wait for a priest to tell me something. I can go straight to God's word and it always clears it up. It's not going to contradict itself. His word is true. The Bible says, let God be true and every man a liar. I can tell you something and get it wrong and honestly just be lying to you. You don't even realize it.

[18:10] But God's word is true. But it says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. So thinking that we're quote unquote, wholeer than man and we don't sin and we live this perfect life and all these things, none of those things are true.

[18:25] We're still just vile, wretched sinners at our best. That's what we are. But it says we deceive ourselves and the truth's not in us. Now on towards the end of that, to me, it gets a little bit more serious. To deceive myself is bad.

[18:40] But on towards the end, it says, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar. Now that's blasphemous, calling God a liar. God's not a liar. Actually, he's the total opposite of God is truth.

[18:52] And so if we go to the end of that, we see that if we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. And John wasn't writing in 1 John here to a bunch of heathen, unsaved people. He was writing to the church because so many times throughout those books, that 1st, 2nd and 3rd Johnny calls them beloved, my little children. That's not terms that was used for lost people, for the heathens that were around them.

[19:16] It was terms for the church. And so we see that there. That answers that question that comes up is, well, because I'm dead to sin, does that mean that I'll never sin again? Absolutely not. That's not what it means. And if anybody ever tells you that, just know that it's not true.

[19:30] Not because Marcus said it on a Thursday night, I love a room because that's what the Bible says. Alright, verses three and four. Know ye not that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death.

[19:44] Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like His Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. Even so, we should also walk in the newness of life.

[19:56] So these verses, the scripture that I read there, that's an illustration of being dead to sin and raised to a new life in Christ. Where with Jesus Christ in life and in death, there's no separation for a child of God with God Himself. There's no separation.

[20:11] We may be here on earth, but we're still not separated from Him. We still have the Holy Spirit here, in confidence and lead us in God. There's no separation from Him. Newness of life that is talking about here. What that means? It just means something new.

[20:25] It's something that's brand new. Newness of life. Something that was not before, but now it is. It's a different life, is honestly what it is. We're raised to walk in the newness of life. So when you've been saved, when you've been born again, you are joined together with Christ in life and in death.

[20:42] And so, 2 Corinthians 5 and 17 from your scripture says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new.

[20:54] So basically what this scripture is saying in verses 3 and 4, I know there's a whole lot. I mean, honestly, we could probably say on verses 3 and 4 and get into a lot of different things. But basically what this saying is being united, being covered up in Jesus is just an easy way to say it.

[21:11] It's what the scripture speaks of there. Verses 5 through 7, For if we be planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

[21:24] Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. So planted together here, that means what I just said a second ago, it means to be in union with Christ.

[21:39] Philippians 3 and verse 10 says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable to his death.

[21:51] Conformable means to become like. To become like Christ in our life, being planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

[22:03] We're planted together with Christ. So what that looks like in his death, what did Christ do? Isaiah 53 talks about the suffering servant. The life of a Christian is something that's not talked about a lot, but it includes suffering.

[22:20] Being made conformable unto his death, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. So as believers in our life, it's not something that we see really a lot here now, but may be coming is persecution of a Christian person and something that it's a lot more prevalent other places in the world.

[22:44] But to know him and the power of his resurrection and sharing the fellowship of his suffering. So the sufferer for Christ is to know him and the power of his resurrection, but being made conformable unto him in his death.

[22:56] The old man that talks about here, our sin has caused us to be dead. We're dead men. Our old sinfield man, the first Adam, this is what Adam is a picture of, the first sin.

[23:12] Adam, it was totally depraved. Our old man is totally depraved. It's good at nothing but sinning. Paul Washer says all the time, he says that if it wasn't for the restraining grace of God, every one of us before we were converted, we would make Adolf Hitler look like a choir boy.

[23:29] And that's true. We don't like to think of ourselves that way. We think, well, I'm, you know, I ain't that bad of a person. No, you're worse than you think you are. And I am too. So our old man is totally depraved, just completely lost. There's nothing good that we did.

[23:44] The only thing that we're good at honestly is sinning as our old man. The redeeming grace of God comes along. And I love this saying, but it lays the axe to the root of the old man, the old sinfield man, the grace of God comes in and makes a, takes a stony heart and makes it a heart of flesh.

[24:01] Thank God for that. Only Jesus can do that. I could, like I could put lipstick on this pig all day long, but it's not going to make a difference. In God's eyes, I'm still totally depraved. I'm still lost. I'm still on my way to hell. But Jesus Christ came through and laid the axe to the root and the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ regenerates men and women and causes us to be born again.

[24:23] Thank God for that. The scripture says that if the sun shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. That's John 8.36. So being born again, we're no longer in chains of bondage. The old man is in bondage, enslaved to sin. Not only are you not good at anything but sinning, but you're also a slave to it.

[24:42] The things that you do, the things that you enjoy, you're enslaved to those things. It's crippling. It's something that we in ourselves cannot do anything about.

[24:54] We're just a servant of the devil. We're dead and there's nothing that we can do. But Jesus Christ says, if the sun shall make you free, you're free indeed. The old man has passed away and we are free in Christ. Thank God for that.

[25:09] An example here. If you went to the doctor for your yearly checkup or something and found through some tests in the chat some kind of crippling disease, the bad news you learn is that it has a very high death rate. Something that none of us would want to hear.

[25:29] The good news is that the doctor has a medicine on hand that will actually heal you from the disease with just one dose. You can take the medicine and be healed and it's simple as that. You're really burdened down with this news, but the good news is that the doctor has something that will heal you from that. Just like us that are born again, we were once in bondage.

[25:55] Like this person in this example was in bondage to the diagnosis that they got. They were crippled by the bad news that they got. But the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is what makes us go from being in bondage enslaved to being children of God, being born again.

[26:10] We're set free and we can now live like this person had a dose of this medicine that helped them. That's how we are. We're dead. Jesus Christ comes along and makes us new and now we can live. Now we have life even though we were alive before we were dead in our sins.

[26:25] But once we become Christians, we now can live. Verse 8 says, Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Being dead with Christ. Galatians 2 and 20 says being crucified with Christ is how it puts it there.

[26:41] We don't only have our relationship with Christ here and now, but we also have a promise we shall also live with Him. What an awesome, just a glorious promise that God made is that if we be dead with Christ, we believe also that we shall live with Him.

[26:59] That's the hope that we have for tomorrow. As Christian people, this is our blessed hope that the Bible talks about. We're saved now. We're dead with Christ. We have a new life, but not only that, when we leave this life, it doesn't matter whether it's through a disease, through whatever, through something sudden.

[27:17] We believe because this is what the Bible says. If we die, we are with the Lord, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord. And that's the hope that we have. We believe that we shall live with Him. Verses 9 through 11, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead died no more.

[27:38] Death hath no dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died under sin once, but in that He lived under God. Likewise, I reckon you also yourselves to be dead under sin, but alive under God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[27:54] So we asked the question, what assurance do I have that I can actually progress in being sanctified and my sanctification? How do I know in my life that from the point that I'm saved that I can actually grow and be more like Christ?

[28:10] How do I know that God's going to save me, but then also work and cause me to be somebody that really loves Him more and really cares about Him more and cares about people more and loves His Word and loves to pray and all these things that we know about Christians.

[28:28] What assurance do I have that that's going to happen in my life because I'm a Christian? Number one, it's sitting really number one that I had wrote down, but number one is because God said He would.

[28:40] He said that He that began a good work in you will complete it to the day of Jesus Christ. It's not an if and maybe. He began salvation and He's going to finish it.

[28:51] And I promise you this, we're not stronger than God and there's nothing that God's going to do to separate us from Him because He promised that He would continue and work in us. But what He said He would do.

[29:04] What assurance do I have that I can progress? Number one, we see in verse nine Christ is raised from the dead. If Christ hadn't raised from the dead, the Bible says that we're still in our sins. All this is in vain.

[29:17] We would be out here tonight and it wouldn't be for any reason. It'd be pointless. It would be like a bunch of maniacs honestly just sit around for this long and listen to somebody talk. It'd all be in vain. It would be pointless.

[29:28] But I have assurance not only my salvation but that God's going to grow me and make me more like Him in my life. Number one, because Christ is raised from the dead. Number two, I like this one that says because He will never die again.

[29:42] He came one time to die and He'll never die again. When He liveeth, the Bible says He liveeth under God. Thank God for that. That's assurance that we have. What other assurance do I have?

[29:54] His death has no dominion over it. He rose from the grave on the third day victorious. It wasn't if and or maybe he was victorious. That's the assurance that we have. He died under sin one time. He didn't have to keep coming down here, keep dying for sin.

[30:09] He died under sin one time. He made the perfect sacrifice one time. Mankind in the Old Testament, you look at the sacrifices that were made. It was a bloody and just a nasty time of sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice.

[30:24] And it was never ever going to be good enough. But there was one man that came. He was perfect and lived a perfect life. And he only died of sin one time.

[30:36] That's how we know as Christians we're going to continue in our walk with the Lord and grow and to be more like Him. Because He lives, He lives under God. It's secure not only in the Son but in the Father.

[30:49] Thank God for that. We are also dead to sin and alive to God. So not only are we dead with Christ, we have the newness of life that we're dead to sin.

[31:01] And I talked about that earlier. It's not saying that we'll never sin anymore. It just says that our relationship with sin has changed. When we become a Christian, we're not the same person that we used to be. We don't like the same things that we used to like.

[31:12] We don't go to the same places we used to go. And it's not just because we just stopped doing those things. It's because the work of the Holy Spirit in our life helps us to do that. We're dead to sin and we're alive under God and Jesus Christ.

[31:23] Number seven, it's because He's not left us alone. John 16, 13 and 14 says, When He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth. He shall speak not of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear.

[31:37] That shall He speak and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me for He shall receive of mine and shall show it under you. Because we've not been left alone. It's the promise that we have that we can go from salvation and to glorification in heaven. That's the promise we have because we're not left alone.

[31:58] God, when He left, He sent the Holy Spirit to come. And it indwells us as children of God. We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. That's what sanctifies us. That's how we walk from day to day in our life.

[32:10] It's the work of the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit that kept you from doing something crazy. It's the Holy Spirit that keeps me from doing something crazy. And it's also the Holy Spirit that chastises me when I do something that is crazy.

[32:23] When I do something that's against God's will. And so He's not left us alone. Philippians 2 and 12 tells us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Now a lot of times it's just left there. Work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

[32:37] It's up to you. You're saved. But work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. But thank God for the next verse. The next verse. It says, But for it is God who works in you. Both to will and to do His good pleasure.

[32:53] Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. But hang on. It's God that works in you. It's not up to you and it's not up to me. I can go out and do all these things. That's not going to make me any closer to God.

[33:05] But the work of the Holy Spirit in me is what draws me closer to God. It can wear an attire, wear an asoe, carry in whatever, you know, the biggest Bible you've ever seen.

[33:16] None of those things are making me closer to God. Not one of those things are. Becoming a member of a church, these different things. None of those things are causing us to become closer to God.

[33:27] The more holiness and sanctification are pretty much interchangeable in the Scripture. But we think of holiness as somebody that has long hair, wears a long skirt.

[33:40] There's nothing wrong with those things. I'm not knocking them by any means. But just because we do those things, that doesn't make us any more holy or any more sanctified. The things that cause us to be more holy and more sanctified is the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

[33:54] It's as simple as that. God didn't make it complicated. He really did. Thank God for it because simple mind and folks like me can understand it. It's the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It's God that works in you.

[34:07] Both to will and to do His good pleasure. God's the one that works in us. It's all of God. Salvation, sanctification, glorification. Everything from the time that we're saved, all of it is of God. All of it's of God.

[34:23] If it were of us, it'd be of works. It'd be of ways. We would be wasting our time if it was of us. It would be something that we could do. Well, if I could do it myself, I wouldn't need God.

[34:36] If I could save myself, I wouldn't be here tonight. You all wouldn't be here tonight. Salvation is by grace through faith, as Peter says. I'll say this and then I'll sit down.

[34:48] Charles Persian once said, sanctification grows out of faith in Jesus Christ. Remember, holiness is a flower and not a root.

[35:00] It is not sanctification that saves, but salvation that sanctifies. I believe that's a true statement. We're not sanctified to be saved.

[35:11] We are saved and then we're sanctified and then we're glorified. Thank God that he put it that way. So where does that leave us? We're all guilty of breaking God's law.

[35:22] Each and every one of us are. Every one of us deserve death. The bad news about that is you can do absolutely nothing to change it. There's not one thing you can't lift a finger. There's nothing that you can do to change that.

[35:33] The good news is that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He's the only perfect man that ever lived with a perfect life, being a perfect sacrifice. He satisfied the death sentence that each and every one of us have.

[35:48] Only Christ can do that. He took the wrath of God that you and I deserve. And as I read tonight, he only died in the sin one time. He rose again victorious on the third day for our justification about what Jesus says.

[36:05] So for people that are not Christians, there's no such thing as sanctification. People can start living right. That's what you hear a lot. I'm going to start living right. I'm going to start going to church. I'm going to start doing this. You're not a Christian.

[36:18] If that's what your salvation is to you, you're not a Christian if that's the case. There's no such thing as sanctification for people that are not saved.

[36:30] Before we were born again, there's no sanctification that's already taken place in our life. Once we become Christians, then God begins to work in us. That he's promised to finish. Thank God.

[36:42] Remember that our lives after becoming Christians, we live to the glory of God. That's what our job is as Christians. You say, well, what's the will of God in my life to glorify God?

[36:53] That's what we're here on earth to do. We've all got something different things that we can do and do. But we're here. We're left here to glorify God. And to become more like Jesus Christ, to be make conformable to his death.

[37:07] That means we're not going to be the most popular people. We're not going to be the most wealthy people. Maybe sometimes people are wealthy. Maybe you'll get lucky in that sense. And Sheriff said, money is for me. I don't know.

[37:19] But we're not here for those things. Those things are worldly things, currently minded things. But to become more like Jesus Christ, he was a humble servant.

[37:31] Never had a place he even laid his head. That's right. He wasn't here to make a name for himself. He was here to do the will of God, the Father, the sin. So to answer someone's question, what should I do?

[37:44] If I'm the person you were talking about earlier that said, I quit doing these things. I started doing things that were churchy. I started coming to church. I started carrying the Bible. What should I do?

[37:55] Because based on what you're telling me, Mark, I'm really not a Christian. That's a dilemma to be in there. But I've explained to you tonight what the gospel is.

[38:07] In chapters 1 through 5, Paul explains how to be justified as by faith. I've shown to you tonight through a few verses. There's a lot more I probably could have said in Romans 6, what sanctification looks like to grow in Christ.

[38:23] But you may ask yourself, well, what do I do if I'm that person that's done all these things? But I've never really, truly been born again. Jesus Christ preached these exact words, repent and believe the gospel.

[38:35] It was a message of repentance that John came preaching, Jesus came preaching. It's a message that we still teach and preach today. Nothing's changed. Repent means a turn from the wickedness that you live in and trust in what Jesus has done on your behalf.

[38:52] It's only a work of God that can do that. It's not just a decision you make on a whim. You don't wake up one day and say, I think I'm going to be a Christian today. God does that work in me. Don't forget that. Repent and believe the gospel.

[39:05] Amen.